Lamb Kofte

In my search for new and different meals to bring for lunch, I stumbled across this Bon Appetit recipe for lamb kofte. I wanted food that was portable and utensil-less, making for easy eating during the work day. I've always found it weird to wield a fork a knife to cut a piece of chicken inside of a Gladware container. Lunch should not be a struggle, but rather a small moment of respite.

Enter the lamb kofte. Pita is a great option when another ham sandwich won't cut it. Of course, you could just make a ham pita. But instead of letting your lunch fall flat, let it fall on flatbread. Let's put some flavor into the mid-day meal with this Middle Eastern classic.

Lamb Kofte
Yields 6 servings, adapted from Bon Appetit Magazine

Ingredients
Yogurt Sauce
1 cup plain yogurt
2 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
Kofte
2 lbs ground lamb
1/2 cup fresh mint, minced
1/2 cup onion, grated
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp cumin
1.5 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
6 pitas
2 tbsp olive oil, divided
2 large onions, halved and sliced
Muhammara
1/2 cup roasted red peppers
1/2 cup water
3 tbsp molasses
2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

Directions
For the yogurt sauce, combine all ingredients in a medium bowl. Cover and chill.


For the kofte, gently mix lamb, mint, onion, garlic, paprika, cumin, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Use gentle motions and don't overwork the meat or else you'll have tough meatballs. Roll the mixture into 1.5" meatballs. Arrange them on a baking sheet lined with plastic wrap.


Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sliced onion and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Saute until golden brown, about 8 minutes. Set aside.


To make the muhammara, add roasted red peppers to the same skillet used to cook the onions, stirring for 1 minute over medium-high heat. Add 1/2 cup water and 2 tbsp molasses (pomegranate if you wish). Bring to a simmer, scraping up any brown bits. Cook until reduced to 2/3 cup, stirring occasionally, about 4 minutes. Mix in parsley. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then transfer to a small bowl.

Add 1 tbsp oil to the skillet and place over medium-high heat. Saute the meatballs in batches until just cooked through, 7-8 minutes.


To assemble the pitas, tuck the meatballs in the pocket (or place on flatbread if that's what you prefer). Top with onions, muhammara and tahini sauce. You can eat it cold or warm, depending on what you like.

What a perfect lunch this sandwich makes. No sliced deli meat and wilted lettuce. Instead, it's packed with delicious Middle Eastern flavors with that lovely caramelization in the background to unite it all. Tired of the usual bag lunch? Then you should opt for something decidedly international, but still totally portable.

Fall Flavors and Mock Falafel - 11.23.08

I've been cooking so much that I haven't had the energy to update the blog in the past couple of weeks. So here is my pre-Thanksgiving update:


I have wanted to cook with squash and I decided to go through with it. First is chicken curry in a roasted acorn squash. While baking two halves of an acorn squash in a 450 degree oven, you saute chicken, red bell pepper, and onion with curry powder, some milk and golden raisins (those with good eyesight will notice in the picture that I could not find golden raisins so I used regular raisins). As always with any milk-based sauce, you want to make sure not to overcook it and "break" it. After everything is done, serve the chicken inside the squash halves and garnish with chopped cilantro. I found this recipe in Men's Health Magazine, so it is reasonably healthy, very filling if you can finish an entire half of an acorn squash (I may quarter it next time) and has decent flavors.


The second dish is one you could make year-round since it does not rely on fresh squash. I combined pumpkin puree with toasted pumpkin seeds, lemon juice, asiago cheese, a lot of arugula, peppercorns, and salt in a food processor and blended until smooth. If you, like me, does not always want to make fresh pasta dough for ravioli, you can use wonton wrappers. The recipe I used called for cornstarch dissolved in water to seal up the ravioli. This worked very well and the ravioli did not burst when I boiled them (only for a few minutes until they float). For a sauce, I combined 6 tablespoons each of butter and chopped sage. I may have cooked the sauce a little too long, but the end result was a nice butter sauce with crispy sage in it. I used some shaved asiago cheese at the end as a final touch.


As an accompaniment to the ravioli, I made a very quick and easy steak dish. Start by patting the steaks dry and seasoning them with salt and pepper. Cook them in a pan with oil until they reach the desired doneness. Remove the steaks from the pan and add 4 sliced garlic cloves and about a cup and a half of coarsely chopped olives. This time around I used a combination of black and pitted kalamata olives. Cook this until the garlic is browned and everything is heated through. Top the steaks with the olives and garnish with chopped parsley. I've discovered I like my steak medium rare to give it a nice juiciness and flavor. The olives add a simple, rustic flavor that matches the steak well.


The last dish I've made is a little out of left field. It's a non-traditional version of falafel using pinto beans instead of favas. Combine mashed pintos with monterey jack cheese, tortilla chips or breadcrumbs, green onion, cilantro, cumin, and egg whites. Form this odd mixture into patties and cook in a pan with olive oil until the patties have a nice, crispy outside. I wanted to make an avocado spread for this, but my avocado went bad prematurely, so I combined sour cream with lime juice, onion, and tomato for a cool topping. I served these inside of pita with shredded iceberg lettuce. These falafel may not be as crispy as the usual ones are, but they turned out to be quite enjoyable anyways.

Moving & Mussel Night - 6/10/08

I know I have not updated the blog in a little while. Truth is I am packing up everything I own for my big move to North Carolina. This means my schedule has been a little more full and some of my cooking equipment is being packed away. Also, I went on vacation recently, which means eating out every day. But I do want to put out one final entry before the move.


One goal I have is to eat all of the food in the house to lighten the load of the move. I had some salmon burgers left in the freezer, so I decided to use up those along with some farfalle pasta and a bottle of putanesca sauce to make this dish. It is very simple and not bad on flavor if you are in a pinch or, like me, moving. Not all of the food I am eating is this sad, though. I am being invited out by friends who want to get in the last few nights we'll have together for a while.


I was invited to have dinner at a friend's family's home. I never like to show up to a dinner party empty handed, so I made these lamb kabob appetizers. The original recipe called for marinating the lamb in spices and buttermilk for at least 4 hours, which I'm sure makes the meat extra tender. I, however, wanted to optimize flavor and skip the dairy for one of the people in attendance. Hence, I used all of the spices in a rub: garlic powder, mint, parsley, cumin, salt, and pepper. I did not coat each piece, but I gave it a good amount of this spice mix. I then placed these on bamboo skewers (pre-soaked in water for about 30 minutes to prevent burning) alternatively with sliced red pepper, red onion, and a lemon wedge. I used my Foreman grill to cook these up with good grill marks in only about 2-3 minutes per batch.


Have you ever seen the pizza dough in the bakery area of Publix. Well, you can make an easy focaccia with it very quickly. First, make sure you let the dough come to room temperature. Sometimes I've been too impatient to take this step and the dough is very hard to work with when cold. Spread it out onto a greased pan of some sort. Here's a step you can omit if you want: push little dimples into your dough with your fingertips and spread some olive oil on top of the dough. The oil will well up into these pits for an extra burst of flavor. Now, you can put whatever you want on top of the dough. I usually use dried Italian herbs: garlic salt, basil, parsley, oregano, thyme, etc. But anything can work: sliced onions, fresh herbs, roasted peppers; cheese (mozzarella, feta, etc.), olives (hopefully pitted). Just remember that if you want a topping to be moist, put it on after you've baked the dough. Then just stick the dough into a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes until it is turning golden brown on the top. The garlic rolls in the picture are pre-made rolls with a little butter and fresh garlic on top. The garlic, since it is raw, adds some bite to the bread.


The main dish of the night: mussels. Mussels can be put into stews (see previous entry), paella, complex sauces from just about any type of cuisine and cultural background, but here's something I've learned: mussels are absolutely wonderful if you keep them simple. This is just the case. These mussels were steamed and then topped with melted butter and fresh garlic. Other small additions could be some white wine or a little saffron. The key is to have the seafood be the main feature. You want the fresh taste of the shellfish, almost tasting the ocean from which it came. When you are done with the mussels, feel free to mop up some of the sauce with your bread.


As a drink, they served a combination of passion fruit puree and mango juice blended with a little ice. This drink was simple in preparation, but wonderfully complex in flavor as the two fruits competed for your attention while still complementing each other. Lamentably, I was so ecstatic over the dessert that I forgot to take a picture before my plate was empty. One of my favorite foods, platanos maduros (ripe platains), was served with a warm, sweet mole. Before last night, I was used to mole being used only in more savory dishes as a part of the main course. But this was a combination of sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds (pepitas) and a dried pepper (I'm not sure which one, it was dark and rather large). These are toasted and the placed in a food processor with a little bit (not much) of tomato. I think it is then heated with a special dark (not very sweet) chocolate to make a delicious sauce for the platanos. It was not overly sweet and only had the faintest hint of spice. This dish was probably the most unexpected pleasures of the night.

Middle Eastern Chicken - 1/2/2008

Happy new year, everyone!!!. For 2008, I am trying to eat out less and cook more at home, which should mean more blog posts (in theory). The first dish of this year is Middle Eastern chicken.


I think I got this recipe from one of my stir fry books because it follows the usual stir fry method: cook meat, set meat aside, cook vegetables, make sauce, return meat, serve. The chicken is accompanied by onions, garbanzo beans, tomato, pistachios, orange juice, and parsley. On the side, I made some whole grain couscous flavored with olive oil and garlic. I meant to cook a vegetable, but I forgot until I was almost done cooking. The meal turned out pretty good and I the the only aspect I might change in the future is adding another spice or two to the mix.

I hope everyone has a fun, productive 2008.