• 1/2 cup orzo pasta, cooked to package directions
• 1 can chick peas, drained
• 1 can basil, garlic, oregeno seasoned tomatoes
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1/2 yellow or green bell pepper, diced
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 6 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp salt

This can be made two ways.

The easy way is dump everything into a bowl, mix well, and chill. Yes, it’s that easy.

The less easy way is to saute the diced bell peppers and onions in the olive oil until they’re golden brown. Then add everything else, mix well, and chill.

Either way, trust me when I say this is best served cold. Warm, it’s adequate but unimpressive. Cold, somehow the flavors really pop.

Tags: beans, Parve, pasta, Vegan

I’m still on a quest to make Lentil Rice a fraction as good as what I can get at a local Persian restaurant. This orzo pilaf bears a superficial resemblance, but doesn’t taste a darn thing like it. It’s pretty good on its own, though.

• 1 1/2 cups orzo, cooked according to package directions
• 1/2 cup brown lentils
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp coriander
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp basil olive oil

Boil the lentils in at least 6 - 8 cups of water for 30 minutes. Add the orzo. Cook for another 10 minutes.

Drain the pasta and lentils.

Mix the OJ, spices, salt, and olive oil in a large bowl. add the lentil and orzo mix. Stir until well blended.

This makes a great hot side dish.

Tags: beans, Parve, pasta, Vegan

Oh, plantains. The crispy carmalized surface, the smooth buttery center, the melt-in-your-mouth taste. I can’t resist them.  Put a plate in front of me and I turn into a creature with all the self control of a goldfish. Where did those two dozen slices go? Ow.

This savory side dish version of plantains is just as crack-o-licious but without that feeling that you’ve smuggled dessert onto your dinner plate.

• 4-6 mottled yellow plantains
• 1/2 cup peanut oil
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp coriander
• 1/2 tsp allspice

These are not bananas. Pick firm yellow plantains with only a little bit of black on the skins.

Heat the peanut oil to boiling in a deep skillet. Don’t substitute canola or vegetable oil. You’ll end up with a totally different flavor.

Mix the salt, coriander, and allspice, then set them aside.

Peel the plantains and cut the fruit into 1 inch wide slices. I like mine cut long on a diagonal because it gives more surface area to caramelize.

Once the oil is boiling, toss in a single layer of slices. Let them sizzle for 6-7 minutes per side, or until a delicious dark golden brown.

Drain the slices on a thick wad of paper towels.  Before they cool, sprinkle them with the salt and spice mix. Rinse, lather, repeat until you’re out of plantain slices.

Serve hot as a side dish. These will have a little sweetness to them, but people are going to be pretty confused if you serve this as a dessert.

Tags: fruit, Parve, Vegan

• 1 pint strawberries
• 1 box fresh raspberries
• 1 box fresh blackberries
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Strawberries play a neat trick. If you coat them in sugar, the juices sweat right out of them. Those juices can then be used  for a variety of things, but my personal favorite is as a glaze topping on other fruit. This is so simple it hardly deserves to be called a recipe, but so few people have heard about it I had to share.

Cut the strawberries into rough chunks. This isn’t art. Mix them with the half a cup of sugar, cover the mix in plastic wrap, then go away for a couple hours. If you want to let them sweat overnight, that’s fine.

When you come back, your strawberries will be soaking in a puddle of their own sweetened juices. Drain the juices and add the black pepper. Yes, really. Trust me here.

In the spirit of keeping things simple, pile your other berries into a glass and drizzle them with the strawberry juice before serving.

DAIRY VARIATIONS

* If you’re not vegan, top these suckers with freshly whipped creme. It only takes three minute with a hand mixer.

* Chocolate pudding. Oh, yes. Sure, you could schmancy it up by using mousse if you want, but I love plain old chocolate pudding topped with fresh berries and drizzled with strawberry juice.

Tags: fruit, Parve, Vegan

Those of you kind enough to plug me into your RSS readers may wonder where I’ve been for the last few months. Since this blog is where I store personal recipes, the less time I have to cook, the less likely I am to post.

I started a new day job a few month back. While that sucked up a lot of my time, Kosher Vegan Lasagna really suffered because I am also one of the very lucky few to score a paid blogging position. Yes - it’s food related.

I’ve taken a couple months to find my voice as well as figure out what I want to keep for myself (recipes) and what I want to give my editors (snark).

If you’d like to see what I’ve been up to, check out Grocery School.

I’ll warn you now…there’s a lot of bacon over there. Seriously. Personally, I’ve never liked the smell of the stuff, but somehow, it’s become amazingly fashionable among hipsters in the last year. Friends get a kick out of sending me bacon related links. Now at least I can put them to good use.

Ideally, I’d like to get back on a weekly posting bandwagon over here. Let me know if there are any specific ingredients you’d like to see in use or genres of recipe you’d enjoy. Otherwise, you can expect more of the same of my vaguely middle eastern inspired modern kosher cooking.

Sweet potatoes love lime. Don’t ask me why, but the two play ever so nicely together.

* 4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
* 3 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
* 1 large yellow onion, peeled and sliced
* 1 cup honey
* 3 limes, juiced
* 1 lemon, juiced
* 1/2 cup water
* 1 tsp salt
* 1 tsp fresh ground pepper
* 1 tsp cayenne pepper

Peel the sweet potatoes, cut them into big chunks, and throw them into the bottom of your crockpot. Next add the onion slices. Spread the chicken breasts on top.

Don’t use fake lemon or lime juice. The result is terrible. Go crazy just this once and buy some citrus fruit. Mix the honey, water, lemon and lime juices, peppers and salt in a bowl. Pour the mix on top of your chicken.

Put the lid on and cook on low for 6 - 8 hours.

Tags: Chicken, Crockpot

Great googly moogly! When did produce get so expensive? Yes, I’ve been saying this for years, and yes, it’s always been true. Somehow, it still catches me by surprise. I apparently ride the short bus to the farmer’s market. In the purity of my mind, anything made in a crockpot should cost about half what I pay for food that dirties three bowls and two skillets.

To my dismay, I’ve spent $20 today to make what was cheap food for poor people in Louisiana 50 years ago. That feels so wrong. However, it tastes so right. The recipe makes 6 - 8 servings, so I suppose it’s not actually a bank breaker. It also happens to be nearly fat free, sugar free, and salt free. Whoa. That’s way too good for you. Add on some fluffy, nutritionally void white rice and a loaf of french bread drowned in garlic and olive oil to balance things out. Without any added rice or bread, it has the added bonus of being Pesach friendly.

• 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken parts (breasts or thighs)
• 2 onions, roughly chopped
• 2 bell peppers (mixed: one red and one green or yellow), roughly chopped
• 2 pounds tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tsp paprika
• 2 tsp cayenne
• 2 tsp thyme
• 2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 head garlic, cloves peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and roughly chopped
• 1 cup white wine
• 8 fresh basil leaves (or 4 tbsp dried basil)
• 2 tbsp fresh oregano leaves (or 1 tbsp dried)

This is dump cooking. There’s no subtlety here. Roughly chop the onions, peppers, and tomatoes. Throw them in the crockpot. Add everything but the chicken. Give it a good stir. Now dump the chicken on top. Put the lid on your crockpot, set it to high, and come back in 4 hours.

You can also set it to low and come home after work. This is one of the great things about crockpots. They’re incredibly forgiving. The only thing you don’t want to do is put the chicken on bottom. Then it’ll be in direct contact with the heating element, so you’ll risk it drying our and turning unpleasantly crunchy.

Once you’re ready to eat, the chicken should be so fork tender it’ll fall apart when touched. Give it a good stir so it’s well mixed with all the veggies and spices. Serve hot on top of white rice. A nice loaf of garlic bread fills the meal out nicely.

VEGETERIAN VARIATION

I haven’t tried this, but I think it’d work.

Substitute 2 cans of chickpeas for the chicken. That’s all. If you give it a whirl, let me know how it comes out. I think the chickpeas would do really well with these spices.

WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS

I normally don’t bother, but it turns out the entire crockpot of food only adds up to 40 points. Depending on how you divvy it up, that means only 5 (for 8 total servings) to 7 points (for 6 total servings). Rice and/or bread will bulk it up, but if you’re looking for something diet friendly, this will work.

Tags: Chicken, Crockpot, Pesach

I’m on a saffron kick this week. This is a lot like a dish you’ll find in some Indian restaurants, only without the dairy ingredients. I’ve substituted olive oil for ghee and soy yogurt for dairy yogurt. It’s not that hard to make, but the creamy saffron sauce makes for impressive plating if you’re trying to show off.

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 cup soy yogurt
• 1/4 cup golden raisins
• 1/4 cup very warm water
• 1/2 tsp saffron threads
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Don’t substitute turmeric. I know you’re thinking it. Stop right now. Get yourself some actual saffron. The flavor is incomparable.

In order to leach the most flavor possible from your saffron, soak it in 1/4 cup hot (but not quite boiling) water while you’re cooking. Trust me. This makes a world of difference. While you’re at it, leave the bay leaf soaking in there with the saffron.

Now, while your saffron is soaking, add your olive oil to a skillet and cook the chicken breasts. This should take about 7 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of your chicken.

Turn the heat down to medium. Now add your cinnamon, coriander and salt to soaking saffron threads. Give it a good stir, then add the whole shebang to your skillet. Mix it with the oil. Try to make sure the chicken gets a good coat of the spice mix.

Turn the heat all the way down to low. Now carefully add in your soy yogurt. You basically want to warm it through without curdling it. Stir the yogurt in a little bit at a time, making sure to keep the sauce as smooth as possible. If you see any lumping or curdling, remove the skillet from the heat, wait a few moments, then continue.

Keep stirring the plain soy yogurt mix until you have a thick, yellowy-orange sauce. Keep it over the heat until the yogurt has warmed through. Now remove the bay leaf and sprinkle the top with the golden raisins. Serve with basmati rice or naan bread.

If you’re in a mood for schmancy plating, carefully pour 1/4 cup of the sauce mix into a nice circle in the middle of your plate, put the chicken in the middle of it, and arrange a line of raisins along the middle. It’s also pretty if you put a nice circle of rice in the middle, drizzle the sauce in a ring around the rice and arrange the raisins around the sauce like points on a clock. Normally I wouldn’t put this much effort into displaying a meal so easy to prep, but something about saffron brings out a desire to show off.

Tags: Chicken

Luckily for me, God Hates Shrimp.I do, too. This means I’ve never had real paella complete with claws and whole sea bugs and bits of bivalve shells. Instead, I make this happy American Midwestern version. It’s been sanitized for your protection.

For those of you who don’t eat meat, you’re welcome to leave the chicken out entirely. It’s the saffron that really makes this recipe shine. There’s no comparing the flavor. If rice, peas, peppers, onions, and tomato aren’t enough texture variation or you, try substituting a 1/2 block of firm tofu cut into squares. If you do, wait until the very last minute to mix it in.

• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast pieces
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 4 - 6 garlic cloves, sliced or diced
• 1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and cubed
• 1 cup peas
• 1 cup risotto rice
• 2 cups low salt chicken or veggie broth
• 1 fourteen ounce can stewed tomatoes
• 2 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp white pepper
• 1/4 tsp saffron threads (soaked in 1/4 cup warm water)

Get your biggest skillet. If you don’t have a lid for it, a cookie sheet will usually work in a pinch. Start by soaking the saffron threads in 1/4 cup warm water. Trust me, you don’t want to substitute turmeric. A lot of people think that hey, turmeric will turn things bright yellow so no one will notice the flavor difference. These people have never had real saffron. Ignore them.

Use 1 tbsp of the oil to cook the chicken pieces. This should take about 3 minutes per side. Once they’re done, set them aside on a plate. Now add the rest of the oil along with your onion and garlic. Give it a good stir and let those cook until the onion gets translucent.

Add the broth, rice, and all spices (including the saffron and water.) Bring it all to a boil, give it another good stir, then cover it and reduce the heat to low. Let it simmer for about 15 minutes.

Now add the undrained can of tomatoes, the red bell pepper chunks, the frozen green peas, and the cooked chicken. Stir until everything is well blended. Now cover it up again and let it simmer for another 5 minutes. If you’re using tofu, let everything else simmer for 3 minutes. Carefully stir in the tofu and let it cook for another 2 minutes. You don’t want to stir too  much or you’ll break the tofu into tiny chunks.

If it seems too wet, give it another good stir and let cook for 2 - 3 minutes longer. Otherwise, serve and enjoy. This goes well with a dry white wine and a crusty loaf of bread. It should make enough to feed 4 people at one meal or one student for 4 days.

Tags: Chicken

I thought I was making a super easy crockpot recipe - instead, it ended up needlessly complicated but so good I have to write it down before I forget how to make it again.

I’m sure there must be a way to cram all the spicy goodness into the marinade so you don’t need to mix anything up at the end. If you figure out how, let me know.

Now, one of the important things to realize about brisket is that it’s a tough cut of meat with a bad attitude. If you can force it into submission, the effort is worth it, but you might get your ass kicked a few times first.

In my opinion, there are two good ways to season a brisket - one is to marinate it for a day or two and the other is to use a strong spice rub right before cooking. This recipe relies on a marinade, which means you need to know at least one day in advance that you really want a brisket. Don’t let it soak for 15 minutes then call it done. You’ll regret it.

• 6ish pound trimmed beef brisket
• 1 bottle hard cider
• 1 head garlic
• 2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 1 tsp cinnamon

You’re a planner. You bought your brisket on Tuesday knowing you don’t want to eat it until Friday. Mix the cider, garlic, pepper, and cinnamon up in a cake pan. Now put the brisket in, fat facing up. Seal the top up with plastic wrap and pop it back in the fridge for a day. Don’t worry if you forget it’s there and leave it for two.

The day you want to make your brisket, just put it in the crockpot with the fat side up. Put on the lid, set your crockpot to “low” and go away for 8 - 10 hours. When you return, the magic of slow cooking will have brought a meal into your kitchen.

If you’re up to it, you can slice up an onion and add it atop the fat. If you want some side dishes, you can also add a layer of medium sized baking potatoes to the bottom of the crockpot (always put your veggies and starches underneath your meats when cooking in a crockpot) and let your meat rest on top of them. If you do, add 1/2 cup of the cider marinade.

Although I haven’t tried this, I think adding some sweet potatoes to the pot would also be tasty.

Regardless of what carbtastic friends you put in there with your brisket, cook it on low for 8 - 10 hours. I find it easiest to prep it the night before and leave it in the fridge. The next morning, start it cooking before you leave for work and come home to a nice dinner.

After 8 - 10 hours, remove the brisket from the crockpot and let it cool for about 15 minutes. Cut it against the grain for the nicest slices. Otherwise, it shreds. I you shread it, tell everyone you were really making BBQ and quickly pull out a bottle of sauce. Let’s assume you let it cool and cut it gently, though. Your beautiful brisket now needs a wet, messy, delicious sauce.

Post-prep mix:

1 cup strained crockpot juices
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp kosher salt
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tbsp coriander
1/2 tbsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper

Mix all of these together until fairly smooth. Cut the brisket into thin slices and drizzle them in the sauce. By itself, the brisket was pretty good, but soaked in this, well, we ate the whole thing in one day.

Now, while this is still a pretty easy meal, adding on that last step ruins it for Shabbos. I’d love recommendations on how to infuse something close to that much flavor without turning it into work at just the wrong time. What do you think?

Tags: brisket, kosher, meat