Coriander and Cumin-Rubbed Chickpeas, Charred Corn Relish, Steamed Okra and Fried Onions

Coriander and Cumin-Rubbed Chickpeas, Charred Corn Relish, Steamed Okra and Fried Onions

Corn is, to me, one of the most quintessential summer foods. While it is available year-round, I buy it almost exclusively during the summer when it seems to be at every Greenmarket booth. As I see it, it's a great, simple addition to almost every meal (as you can see from many Make-It-a-Meal suggestions). Normally I just steam it, enjoying the corn fresh with butter. Every so often, however, I get the urge to do something more creative. At those times, I turn to cookbooks -- in this case, Courses: A Culinary Journey. A complicated book (by a chef on a cruise line), I find it's best for inspiration. In there, I found a recipe for Charred Corn Relish. That seemed simple enough, but certainly not enough for a meal. It was served with catfish -- not an option when cooking for the vegetarian, though, if you're so inclined please feel free to try it out! Instead, I opted for chickpeas, one of my favorite legumes. I have to say, these battered and fried chickpeas were one of the best things I've ever made. While they were great with all the accompaniments, they'd also be a wonderful appetizer, served with drinks.

Wanting to include a green vegetable, I decided to go with okra, one of the few green vegetables that the vegetarian is extremely fond of. Being lazy, and knowing how flavorful the rest of the dish would be, I steamed the okra and tossed it with butter (similarly to how I usually cook corn). However, in order to up the flavor quotient of the rest of the dish, I allowed myself to be inspired by Stir-fry Okra, Chillies & Shallots from. So even though my okra was simple, I used lots of spices for the rest of the dish.


This "dish" is actually several different components. Feel free to make only one part, or several -- whatever works for your time constraints and tastebuds. Everything works well together or separately. At the end of the post, under "leftovers", there are some suggestions for how else to use each component. Bon appetit!


Coriander and Cumin-Rubbed Chickpeas, Charred Corn Relish, Steamed Okra and Fried Onions
adapted from Courses: A Culinary Journey and Ahaar


For a non-vegetarian alternative, you could substitute catfish filets for some or all of the chickpeas.

• 2 lbs. chickpeas
• juice from 1 lemon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon coriander seeds, ground
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• grapeseed oil, for frying
• kernels from 3 ears fresh corn
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 6 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 shallot, diced
• 3/4 cup canned black beans
• 1 green jalapeno pepper, chopped
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• juice from 1 lime
• juice from 2 lemons
• 2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
• 2 teaspoons Italian parsley, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon Himalayan salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ancho chile powder
• 1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
• grapeseed oil, for frying
• 1/2 teaspoon Himalayan salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper, ground
• 3 cups okra
• 2 teaspoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon Himalayan salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper, ground

Drain chickpeas. Pour in a large bowl and squeeze lemon juice on top. Season with mustard, cumin and coriander seeds. Toss well to combine. Make seasoned flour by combining flour, salt, turmeric, paprika, cumin and cayenne pepper in a large bowl. Add chickpeas and toss well until coated. Remove chickpeas, reserving remaining seasoned flour. Heat grapeseed oil in a heavy saute pan and fry chickpeas for 6 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate and let drain. (If you were to make this with catfish, now would be the time to cook it -- treated the same way as the chickpeas.)

Charred Corn Relish

Heat a heavy pan (cast-iron if available) until very hot. Add corn kernels to pan and allow to char, cooking undisturbed. Add bell peppers and cook, stirring, 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and add garlic and shallot. Cook 2 minutes. Remove from heat, add black beans, jalapeno pepper, olive oil, lime juice, lemon juice, cilantro, parsley, salt and chile powder. Keep warm.

Separate onion rings and dredge in seasoned flour. Heat grapeseed oil in heavy saute pan (the same one used to fry the chickpeas) and fry onion until lightly browned. Season with salt and pepper and transfer to a paper towel-lined plate. Let drain and keep warm.

Clean okra and trim stems. Steam 8-12 minutes, whole. Once cooked, chop into 1/2-inch chunks. Toss with butter, salt and pepper.

Serve chickpeas topped with corn relish and fried onions, okra on the side. Enjoy!

Make it a meal: This dish (or dishes, depending on how you see things) is really a meal in itself! Serve with

Separate dishes

 a rose -- I'd recommend a 2010 Biohof Pratsch. Bon appetit!

Leftovers: Because there are so many components, I'm going to suggest leftovers for each one. Toss leftover okra and fried onions with kasha. Combine corn salsa with chopped kumato tomatoes to freshen it up. Serve with tortilla chips. Finally, combine some cultures (and add extra seasoning to packaged food) by heating leftover chickpeas (or catfish) with creamy polenta with spinach & carrots, courtesy of Trader Joe's.

Links to other fried onion noshes: 

• How to Make French Fried Onions from Gluten Free Mommy
• Onion Strings from The Pioneer Woman
• Oven-Fried Onion Rings with Dipping Sauce from Brown Eyed Baker
• Red Lentils with Cumin and Fried Onions from eCurry
• Peperonata from Simply Recipes

Roasted Rosemary Cod

Rosemary-Roasted Cod with Salsa Verde

Lately I've been wanting fish. Maybe it's the recent spate of warmer temperatures. Either way, last week, I 

Cod, Roasting in the Pan

kept thinking about cod. Cod is thick, rich, buttery and difficult to overcook. Because by itself it has a quiet flavor, I like pairing it with more pungent tastes like rosemary. Even though it grows year-round, I associate rosemary's loud flavor with winter. It marries surprisingly well with fish, so I decided to cook it with the cod, grounding the dish in winter although it's certainly on its way to spring. Just like the weather these days. Next post will be the tofu variation. Enjoy!


Roasted Rosemary Cod
(adapted from Craft of Cooking)

• 2 tablespoons peanut oil
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper, freshly ground
• 1 lb. skin-on cod fillet
• 1 skewer fresh rosemary
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 sprig fresh thyme
• 2 tablespoons salsa verde

Warm a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2 tablespoons peanut oil. Swirl around pan. Salt and pepper both sides of cod fillets. Place them, skin side down, in pan. Pan-roast about 7 minutes. Flip over, reduce heat to medium and add rosemary leaves, butter and thyme. Cook another 5 minutes. Remove 

Rosemary-sprinkled Cod

from pan and serve with salsa verde.

Make it a meal: We also had this with pearl barley, spinach and Beaujolais Nouveau. For dessert I had some sottocenere and we each had a tangerine. Bon appetit!

Links to other Roasted Rosemary Cod noshes:

• Bacon Wrapped Cod with Rosemary and Lemon from Culinary Disasters
• Roasted Rosemary Beets from Guilty Kitchen
• Roasted New Potatoes from Simply Recipes

Halibut and Spicy Yogurt Sauce

Since I've started blogging regularly again the past couple of months, though with little increase in readers, I began thinking about why I started blogging in the first place. Honestly, it wasn't for the food blogging community (that was an added bonus!); it began purely as a way for me to keep track of the food I was making--kind of a 21st-century collection of recipe index cards. See, I was living in Paris and, for the first time, solely responsible for what I (and, usually, the Boy) were eating. This meant not only was I cooking regularly, but I was also encountering new ingredients and preparations every day. Not to mention that I was learning about meal planning and attempting to keep us healthy at the same time. So it came as a pleasant surprise that I was creating so many delicious recipes. And, late one night while the Boy was with his family in China, I wrote my very first post. Believe it or not, that was over 4 years ago!
All of this is to say that, now I've re-entered the blogging world, I've noticed a significant in my cooking and my comfort in the kitchen, developing and adapting recipes. So, reviewing some of my earliest posts while deciding what to make for dinner tonight, I stumbled upon my third post: filet de mulet et sauce piquante de yaourt. I decided to tweak it and remake it (adding some fronds from my leftover fennel) and was thrilled by how well it came out. Served alongside a leafy green salad for two, this was a light and easy summer meal. Enjoy!
Halibut and Spicy Yogurt Sauce
Halibut:

• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 bay leaves
• fennel leaves from 2 sprigs
• 1 pound halibut, filleted
• dash kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon fish spice blend
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, ground
• about 8 cups water, or as needed

Preheat oven to 350 F. Coat bottom of a glass baking pan with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Place 1 bay leaf and 1 fennel leaf on each side of pan. Rub halibut with salt, fish spice blend and pepper. Cut into 2 fillets and place each one on top of bay leaf and fennel. Cover with water, until fish is completely submerged. Cook 12 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the Sauce:

• 1 tablespoon mustard, prepared, the spicier the better!
• 4 teaspoons orange juice
• 1 teaspoon capers
• fennel leaves from 3 sprigs
• 2 cloves fresh garlic, sliced (from my CSA!)
• 3-5 tablespoons yogurt

In a small bowl, stir together sauce ingredients until sauce is all 1 color. Once fish is cooked, serve with sauce spooned over. Serves 2.
Links to other halibut noshes:

• Grilled Halibut with Garlic Cilantro Sauce from Kalyn's Kitchen
• Steamed Halibut, Roasted Porcini Mushrooms, Pickled Sea Beans, Lemongrass Sauce from wrightfood
• Halibut with Lemon, Butter, Caper and Dill Sauce from Closet Cooking
• Halibut Mousseline with Salmon from Il Forno

Truite rose envelopee de la poitrine fumee et farcie par le romarin

I have a confession to make: I'm squeamish about fish. Not eating fish; I'm perfectly happy to eat it, including the gloopy jarred gefilte fish almost none of my friends can stand. And I rather enjoy cooking fillets. But I can't deal with a whole fish. First of all, in order to even cook it, you have to gut it, which is always a big bloody mess that makes your kitchen reek for weeks afterwards. I don't usually have a problem with blood; I eat my meat rare, or saignant [literally, bloody]. So maybe it's fish blood. I don't like fish blood.

But today I went to a market in search of fresh spinach and passed by a fish stand. The little pink trouts were so cute--just the right size for a meal for one. And they were inexpensive. Since Davey's in Amsterdam until tomorrow and the Boy is back in the States for a few weeks, it was just me for dinner tonight. And when I'm not feeding anyone but myself, I'm always more inclined to experiment. I decided to go for it and bought one trout, asking the saleswoman to "la vider, s'il vous plait [literally, to empty it out]." I brought the gutted fish home and it lay in its blue plastic bag in my fridge until I mustered up the courage to deal with it.

When I finally took it out of its bag, I almost hid it back in the fridge. There was blood everywhere, slowly dripping out of the hole in its stomach. But I rinsed it under cold water, convinced myself that it wasn't actually still bleeding, and set about making dinner.

You know what? It was delicious. I served it with my spinach and a thick slice of pain de campagne, also from the market.

Truite rose envelopee de la poitrine fumee et farcie par le romarin
(based on a recipe at Food Network.)

Serves 1.

1 whole pink Trout, cleaned
Salt and Black Pepper
1 sprig fresh Rosemary
3 slices Bacon
1/2 Lemon, sliced

Pre-heat broiler. If, like me, you don't have one, simply raise the rack of your oven so a glass baking dish will be close to the heat source. Then set the heat to about 300 C.

Dry Trout with paper towels and rinse off any residual blood. Stuff Salt and Pepper into the cavity, along with the Rosemary. Salt and Pepper the outside of the Trout and wrap three slices of Bacon around it.

Put the Trout in a glass baking dish and broil for 5 minutes. Flip the Trout, being careful not to let the Bacon fall off. Broil for another 2 minutes. Add Lemon slices to pan, lower heat to 250 C (if not using a broiler) and cook 2 more minutes, until Bacon and skin of Trout are crispy and Trout is cooked through. Serve.

Cabillaud aux tomates, rhubarbe et oranges

Cabillaud aux tomates, rhubarbe et oranges, avec pommes de terre nouvelles.

Sorry for the extended silence; my folks came out here for Passover, so most of the eating has been with them, which, while it was fantastic, I didn't end up posting. Also, it's still Passover, which means lots of dietary requirements, so I was having trouble coming up with exciting Kosher for Passover meals.

I also missed the orange-themed IMBB because of my visitors, but I decided to play around anyway. Sadly, this turned out more red than orange, so keep an eye out for more orange-colored food.

The sauce should be sweet-and-sour, a very Jewish flavor combination in my opinion. I like my sweet-and-sour sauces more sour than sweet, so feel free to increase the honey and decrease the lime juice.

Cabillaud aux tomates, rhubarbe et oranges

Sauce

3 Oranges
2 tbsp Olive Oil
2 finely chopped Onions
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp + 2 tsp Thyme Honey
Salt and Black Pepper
4 stalks Rhubarb, poisonous leaves cut off as well as white bottom of the stalk, fibrous strings removed with a vegetable peeler
1 cup 100% Orange juice
Cinnamon to taste
1 can peeled plum Tomatoes, quartered and 1/2 cup liquid
Juice of 3/4 Lime

Using a vegetable peeler, take a long strip of zest from one of the Oranges. Place it in a small saucepan covered in cold water and bring to a boil. Drain and pat dry, then mince finely. Peel 2 Oranges, including white surrounding the flesh. Chop, removing all seeds. Set minced zest and chunks of Orange aside.

In a skillet, heat Olive oil over medium heat. Add Onions and cook, stirring every so often, for 5 minutes. Add orange zest, Ginger, 1 tsp Honey, Salt and Pepper. Continue cooking over low heat, stirring, for 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile, start on the Rhubarb. Cut the stalks into chunks and place them in a pot. Add 1/2 cup of the Orange juice, 2 tsp Honey, Cinnamon and Salt to taste. Bring to a boil, then simmer at medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, for 6 minutes.

Once the onions are soft and sweet, add remaining 1/2 cup Orange juice and boil for 3 minutes, scraping down the sides to prevent burning. Stir in Tomatoes and juice and turn heat up to medium-high and cook about 10 minutes. Add Rhubarb mixture and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add orange chunks and simmer over low or medium-low heat for 5 minutes. Add Lime juice and Salt and Pepper to taste.

Let sauce cool to room temperature, then place in fridge for at least 1 hour and up to 12.

Fish

4 fillets Cod
Water
Salt and Pepper

Pre-heat oven to 180 C (350 F). Place Cod in glass baking dish and cover with Water. Add Salt and Pepper. Cook about 9 minutes, until fish flakes easily.

Cover Cod in sauce and decorate with wedges of remaining Orange. Serve room temperature or even chilled.

Sole au coco

Sole is probably my favorite fish, so when the Boy said he wanted fish for dinner tonight, I was definitely hoping there would be some nice-looking sole at the Marche des enfants rouges, which is open until 2 pm--late for a Sunday. When we got there, the fishman was packing up and had two kinds of fish left: a white fillet and, you guessed it, sole! I asked him for two soles and asked him to skin them.

After a beautiful day with a picnic by the Seine, ice cream at Dammon and watching kids play in the sandbox in the park near Notre Dame, the Boy and I came home, hungry and looking forward for a light, springtime meal to mark a perfect end to our day. My favorite way to eat sole is sole meuniere, so I decided that was what I wanted to make, with fluffy mashed potatoes, asparagus and a salad. Instead of dipping the sole in milk and then flour, as is usually done, I tried giving the fish an exotic flavor by adding coconut milk to the milk. This added just the essence of coconut to the sole. And while it cooked, I poured the rest of the milk into the as-yet-unmashed potatoes, tying the two dishes together quite nicely.

Sole au coco

2 skinned, not deboned, Sole fillets
1/4 cup Coconut Milk
1/4 cup Milk
1/2 cup Flour
Salt and Pepper
25 g Butter
1/2 Lemon

Pre-heat oven to 240 C. Combine Coconut Milk and Milk in a bowl. Mix Flour, salt and pepper in another bowl. Heat butter in a pan over medium heat. Dip Sole first into the Milk mixture, then into the Flour mixture. Fry Sole in pan, 1-3 minutes each side. Transfer Sole to a baking dish and place in the oven. Cook 3 minutes each side. Serve each fillet with 1/4 lemon.

Housewarming Puttanesca

Last Saturday night, the Boy and I finally threw our belated housewarming party. We invited my crazy acting school friends and Jess from college came in for the weekend from Cambridge where she's studying. As usual, we made way too much food, but it was fun and everyone likes left-overs.

Normally at my friends' parties, everyone brings a little something and the host makes something like a quiche (or several) and cuts them up in little pieces. Or else we have an International party, which means everyone makes something from there country. In the past, I've done Chopped Eggs and Onions (Jewish) and Mac and Cheese (American), but neither of those choices appealed to me. And I'm scared of making Chinese food for the Boy. So on to our adopted culture--Italian.

After poring over recipes and decided I should probably do something vegetarian-friendly (though not technically vegetarian), I decided on a Puttanesca sauce, borrowing the recipe from Jen at Roast Chicken Reasoning.

The puttanesca was great, spicier than I usually make it, and even permitted me to make a trip to the awesome spice store to buy chilies. Kym the Canadian brought smoked salmon and oysters and with several bottles of wine and one of bubbly, we had a delightful dinner.

Puttanesca
Adapted from Roast Chicken Reasoning.

We had a ton of pasta left over, so I would say this serves about 8 people. I recommend it over spaghetti.

1/2 Olive Oil
8 cloves Garlic, smashed + 6 cloves Garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon dry Cayenne Peppers
4 cans Diced Tomatoes
100 g Black Olives, sliced
4 heaping teaspoons Capers
1 bunch Curly Parsley
2 canned Sardine fillets
1 handful Celery greens

Heat the oil over high heat in a frying pan. When it is hot enough that it sizzles when some water is flicked in, add the smashed Garlic. Fry them until golden and crunchy but not burnt.

Remove the garlic "chips" and save them. Add the Peppers and chopped Garlic. Fry for 2 minutes. Add the cans of Tomatoes, lower heat to medium-high and let come to a boil.

Gently stir in the Sardines, Olives, Capers and Parsley. Allow the sauce to reduce and thicken, cooking it for about 35 minutes over medium heat.

Add the Celery Greens and salt to taste. Spoon it onto freshly made spaghetti. Add parmesan cheese as desired.

Bar hollandaise

First off, this is a post about fish (bass, to be more specific), not about a bar. Just wanted to get that clear. Wednesdays are the day I have to go down to the 14e, right next to a giant, gorgeous fish store. So, even though the Boy had said he refused to have fish after eating it almost exclusively in China, I took him with me and he was so bowled over by the beautiful whole bass lying in wait on ice that he agreed it would be a suitable meal, provided I didn't cook it with soy sauce and ginger. Since I have neither of those two ingredients in the house, it was a very easy promise to make.

We picked out a bass and asked the fishmonger to cut it up into two big fillets for us, skin on, as the whole fish would have been too big for our oven! I decided to cook it similar to how I had the Mullet, but without a spicy sauce and this time I also used up some of my giant stalk of celery, greens and all. I made a simple Hollandaise sauce to go with it and we had a package of miniature cheese ravioli, covered in grated gruyere, a baguette and a dry white wine.

Bar

2 fillets Bass
2 stalks Celery, sliced
Celery greens
2 Onions, sliced
1 stalk Parsley
1 Clove
2 tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar
Salt and Pepper
3 tablespoons Olive Oil
Water

Pre-heat oven to 180 C (350 F). Spread Celery stalks, Greens, Parsley and Onions over the bottom of an oven-proof glass pan. Add Clove, 1 tablespoon Vinegar, Salt, Pepper and 1 tablespoon Olive oil. Place Fillets, skin side down, on top. Pour Vinegar and Olive Oil over each one. Pour Water on top, until fish is completely covered. Put it all in the oven for about 12 minutes, until fish flakes easily with a fork.

While it cooks, make the sauce:

Sauce Hollandaise

2 Egg Yolks
Salt
2 teaspoons Water + pot of Boiling water
150 grams Butter

Boil a pot of Water. Put Egg Yolks, Salt and 2 teaspoons water in a bowl and rest it in the pot of boiling water. Beat the mixture with a fork or wisk, being careful it does not fall into the pot. When the eggs begin to solidify, add the butter. Serve warm.

Filet de mulet et sauce piquante au yaourt

What do you do when you have one container left of the best yogurt in the world, left over from the Salon d'Agriculture? Make a delightful yogurt sauce out of it to pour on top of the fish fillet you bought at the really sweet fishmonger down the block. After all the meat I've been having, fish sure seemed like the perfect idea. It even gave me an excuse to use both the good olive oil my mom bought us in January and the delightfully spicy mustard I bought at Place Monge when we were living down in the fifth.

I've been reading about cooking fish in a court-bouillon, so I wanted to try it out. But my only big pot is in the fridge with the left-over veal shanks. So I decided I'd have to settle with baking it in the oven. Then, just before I put it in, I had a startling revelation--why not just add water to the fish in the pan and do something like poach it? Well, that's what I did and it turned out very nice smothered in my sauce.

To make the sauce, I gently reworked a sauce for smoked salmon croquettes from The Gefilte Variations, my mom's cookbook. (Sorry for the shameless plug.) I was thinking of making a fish like breme (I believe it's bream in English though I'm not sure) or perch, but the fishmonger didn't have any. So he convinced me to go home with a red mullet fillet. With this meal, I also finally managed to make a dinner for just me, without left-overs and with very little clean-up. So, here goes. Just figure one fillet per person and as much sauce as you want. I have a little extra sauce, so if The Boy were home he could have had fish and sauce too, but there's not enough that it's worth saving (if that's any sort of guide).

Filet de mulet et sauce piquante au yaourt

2 tablespoons Olive Oil
1 sprig Bay Leaf
1 sprig Dill
1 fillet Red Mullet
Salt and Pepper
about 4 cups Water

Pre-heat oven to 180 C (350 F). Put one tablespoon of good Olive Oil in a glass pan, along with a sprig of Bay Leaf and a Sprig of Dill. Rub Salt and Pepper on the Fillet. Place it on top of the Bay Leaf sprig and drizzle another tablespoon of Olive Oil on top. Then add about 4 cups of Water, until the Fillet is completely covered. Put the Fish in the oven for about 12 minutes.

While it's cooking, make the Sauce:

1 tablespoon Mustard, preferably quite spicy
4 teaspoons Citrus Juice (I used an orange/grapefruit/clementine blend)
1-2 teaspoons Capers, drained
3 sprigs Dill, torn into small pieces
2 Garlic Cloves, sliced
3-5 tablespoons Plain Yogurt

In a small bowl, stir all ingredients together until completely combined.

When the Fish is ready (it will no longer be pink), take it out of the oven, move it to a plate and spoon as much Sauce as you want on top. For an easy vegetable, dip raw carrots or celery in the left-over sauce. That's it! Easy, no?

Update: I made a new variation!