Soft Pretzels

These are my new favorite thing to make. I know this because I made them twice in one week. And I have every intention of making them again this weekend. They are that good.

If you are from a city that has good soft pretzels, you probably don't need to know how to make them at home. But if you grew up in one of these soft-pretzel-topias, then moved away, then this recipe is for you. These will satisfy your soft pretzel needs.

The first batch I made, I ended up eating 3/4 of the pretzels myself (I let Nic have a little bit) in three days. If you're wondering, that is about 2 large pretzels a day, on average. What I'm saying is, if you really love soft pretzels, then these are not something you want to make when you're on a diet.

I've made these pretzels two ways now. The first time I made them the suggested way, by dividing the dough in 8 pieces, and making 8 large, doughy pretzels. They were amazing. The second time I was making the pretzels for a get-together, and I thought something a little smaller would be more appropriate, so I divided the dough in 16 pieces, and made smaller versions of the pretzels. These were also good, but I think I preferred the larger pretzels because they had a better ratio of doughy inside to crisp outside, for my taste.

Either way they're great. Next time I think I am going to try making them into pretzel bites (ala the movie theater, with molten cheese on the side, mmmm.) I also have some big plans for hot dogs wrapped in pretzel dough.


Soft Pretzels
Adapted from Alton Brown, 2007
Makes 8 large or 16 small pretzels

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups warm water (110-115 degrees)
1 tbs. sugar
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 package active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp.)
22 oz. all-purpose flour (4 1/2 cups)
2 oz. unsalted butter, melted (1/2 stick)
vegetable oil
10 cups water
2/3 cup baking soda
1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 tbs. water
pretzel salt (or sea salt or kosher salt)

Equipment:
stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment

Directions:
-Combine the water, sugar and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the yeast on top. Let sit for 5 minutes or until the mixture begins to foam. (If the mixture doesn't foam, throw it out and start over with new yeast.)
-Add the flour and butter to the mixer bowl. Using the dough hook attachment, mix on low until well combine. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 4 to 5 minutes.
-Remove the dough from the bowl, clean the bowl, then oil it well with vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and sit in a warm place for about 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in side.
-Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper, set aside.
-Bring 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in an saucepan.
-In the meantime, turn the dough onto a slightly oiled work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces (or 16 equal pieces for small pretzels). Roll out each piece of dough into a 24 inch rope. Make a U-shape with the rope, holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other and press onto the bottom of the U to form a pretzel shape. Place on parchment lined sheet pan.
-One by one, drop the pretzels into the boiling water for 30 seconds. Remove them from the water with a spatula or a slotted spoon and return them to the sheet pan. Brush the top of each pretzel with the egg yolk mixture and sprinkle with pretzel salt. If you don't have pretzel salt, use sea salt or kosher salt.
-Bake until dark golden brown in colors, approximately 12-14 minutes (10-12 minutes for smaller pretzels). Transfer to a cooling rack for 5 minutes, then serve warm.

NOTE: These can be flash frozen after the baking soda bath, then stored in ziploc bags in the freezer. Defrost before continuing with the recipe. They don't taste as amazing as they do fresh, but they're still great.

Key Lime Pie

I know I've said this a million times (or maybe five), but I'm not much of a dessert person. So when I was having people over for dinner Saturday night, I let my friend Jeff who was visiting from out of town decide what to make for dessert. He immediately suggested key lime pie, and luckily I had just noticed a recipe in this month's Gourmet magazine. Unluckily, it required us squeezing 2 lbs. of itty bitty limes. And by "us" I mean Jeff and his girlfriend Kat. I delegated that task. I'm a good kitchen manager.

Other than the lime squeezing, the pie came together pretty easily. Since it has to chill for eight hours, it can be made well ahead of dinner, so it's not in the way while everything else is cooking. The flavor was great--really, really tart. I liked the almonds in the graham cracker crust. They added a nice crunchy texture. I served the pie with homemade slightly sweetened whipped cream, which I highly recommend to balance out the tartness of the pie. I wouldn't have been able to eat the pie by itself, and I like sour things. Next time I think I will add a blackberry puree drizzle to compliment the lime too.

Key Lime Pie
Adapted from Gourmet, March 2009, originally from Town Hall Restaurant, San Francisco

Ingredients:
7 (5"X2 1/2" graham crackers, broken into small pieces
3/4 cup almonds
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted

2 (14 oz.) cans sweetened condensed milk
zest of 2 key limes, grated on a microplane
1 cup fresh key lime juice (from about 2 lbs. fresh key limes)
4 large egg yolks
2 drops green food coloring for color (optional)

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack in middle. Butter a 9 inch pie plate.
-Pulse almonds in a food processor until finely chopped. Add graham crackers and sugar and pulse until they are a fine crumb.
-Transfer crumb mixture to a bowl and mix with melted butter.
-Press crumb mixture evenly onto bottom and side of pie plate.
-Bake until lightly browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Cool completely. (Leave the oven on.)
-Gently whisk together filling ingredients (sweetened condensed milk, lime zest, lime juice, egg yolks, and food coloring, if using) in a medium bowl until smooth and pour into cooled crust.
-Bake 15 to 20 minutes until just set in center. (It will still appear jiggly, the filling will set as it cools.)
-Cool completely on rack, then chill pie loosely covered in the refrigerator at least 8 hours.

Note: Pie can be chilled up to 2 days.

Tilapia Ceviche

I don't usually test recipes before I serve them to company. There are just way too many recipes I want to try, and my friends don't like to venture across the Potomac that often. (Moving to Northern Virginia is D.C.'s equivalent of moving to Brooklyn from Manhattan.) But even though I don't test recipes, I try to stick to ones that I feel relatively confident making. So I was a little nervous when Nic said he wanted to make ceviche for the friends we were having over Saturday night.

We've both eaten a lot of ceviche, but I had never made anything like it at home before. Now that I have, I think I will be serving it a lot more. It is really easy to throw together, most of the time it is just sitting in the refrigerator. Ceviche is the perfect appetizer because it can be prepared well ahead of time and dished out right before serving, leaving you free to pull together the rest of your meal (which if you're like me, is essential, since I normally underestimate how long this takes by at least 45 minutes).


The most important part of the ceviche I think is getting a very fresh fish. I sent Nic to the Whole Foods fish counter to request their freshest fish, and that is how we ended up with the tilapia. The type of citrus that you use can also really alter the flavor of the ceviche. This time we used mostly lemon (because that was cheapest), but I think it would be interesting to try a lime and grapefruit combination. I'm looking forward to trying other combinations of fish, citrus, and other flavors soon.

Tilapia Ceviche
10 servings

Ingredients:
1 lb. fresh tilapia filets, cut into 1/4 inch slices
juice of 9 large lemons
juice of 3 limes
juice of 1 orange
1 medium red onion, sliced thinly
1 jalapeno, seeds removed and finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
handful of fresh cilantro
1 tbs. olive oil
salt
1 to 2 avocados, chopped
3 green onions, green parts chopped (optional)

Directions:
-Place tilapia, citrus juice, onion, jalapeno, garlic and cilantro in a glass bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit in the refrigerator for 6 to 7 hours. When the tilapia is "cooked" it will be opaque and will flake fairly easily. Most of the citrus will be absorbed.
-Take the tilapia out of the bowl and shred it into small pieces. In a clean bowl, mix together the tilapia, olive, oil and salt to taste.
-Take the onion, jalapeno, garlic and cilantro, out of the bowl and roughly chop together.
-Divide onion mixture between 10 small dishes. Top onion mixture with tilapia ceviche, divided evenly between dishes. Garnish with a generous amount of avocado and some green onion.
-Serve immediately.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi

I love gnocchis. When I was growing, gnocchi night was such a treat. There were never any leftovers. My dad would carefully dole out even portions to all of us, and my brothers and I ate really fast hoping we could get seconds.

Nic does not share my love of gnocchis. He's tried them a few times, and he thinks they are a slimey, doughy mess. When I said I wanted to make sweet potato gnocchis, he was not excited.

This was my second attempt at gnocchis. My first attempt (at regular potato gnocchis) really was a slimey, doughy mess. The sweet potato gnocchis turned out much better, which is good since I made them for dinner Saturday when I had a bunch of friends over.

I have to say, I think I prefer plain gnocchis still, but these are still pretty good, and the sweet potato flavor is really strong. Oddly enough, Nic really liked these. Of course the brown butter and sage "sauce" doesn't hurt. Make sure you cut the gnocchis on the small side. The texture will be better that way. Mine turned out a little too doughy in the center because they were too big. Also try to use as little flour as necessary to allow the sweet potato flavor to really stand out.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi
Adapted from Bon Appetit, December 2005
Makes 10-12 servings

Ingredients:
2 1 lb. sweet potatoes, pierced all over with fork
12 oz. (1 1/2 cups) part-skim ricotta cheese
1 cup finely grated Romano cheese (about 3 oz.) (original recipe calls for Parmesan)
2 tbs. (packed) golden brown sugar
2 tsp. plus 2 tablespoons salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg
2 3/4 cups (about) all purpose flour
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
6 tbs. chopped fresh sage

Directions:
-Place sweet potatoes on a plate and microwave on high until tender, turning occasionally, 5-8 minutes.
-Let the potatoes rest until they are cool enough to handle. Cut in half, scoop out the flesh, and mash it in a medium bowl.
-Transfer 3 cups of mashed sweet potatoes to a large mixing bowl. Add ricotta cheese and stir until combined.
-Add Romano cheese, brown sugar, 2 teaspoons salt, and nutmeg and mash to blend.
-Mix in flour, about 1/2 cup at a time, until soft dough forms.
-Turn dough out onto floured surface and divide into 6 equal pieces. Rolling between palms and floured work surface, form each piece into 20-inch-long rope (about 1 inch in diameter), sprinkling with flour as needed if sticky.
-Cut ropes into one inch pieces. Roll each piece over tines of fork to indent. Transfer to baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
-Bring large pot of water to boil; add 2 tablespoons salt and return to boil. Working in batches, boil gnocchi until tender, 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer gnocchi to clean rimmed baking sheet. Cool completely. (Can be made 4 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.)
-When ready to serve the gnocchi: Melt butter in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook until butter solids are brown and have toasty aroma, swirling pan occasionally, about 5 minutes. Add chopped sage and season with salt and pepper.
-Add half of gnocchi to the brown butter-sage sauce. Sauté until gnocchi are heated through, about 6 minutes.
-Remove gnocchi from sauce with a slotted spoon and transfer to a serving dish. Repeat with remaining gnocchi.

Note: Gnocchi can be frozen after they are boiled and cooled, make sure they are dry. Thaw, then continue with recipe as indicated.

Romano Cheese Pull-Apart Rolls

My great-grandmother (Grandmom Julie) used to make cheese bread every Easter. She would mix mounds of flour with piles of freshly grated Romano cheese right on the table top, adding the wet ingredients into a little well in the center. When she baked the big circular loaves, the entire house filled with a cheesy aroma. My favorite part of Easter was going to her house for a slice of cheese bread and a hard boiled egg (died the strangest colors, colors I don't think could come from the packet of food die.) My mom has tried to make it a few times since she passed away, but it is hard to replicate. Maybe her table top doesn't have the same seasoning effect.

I haven't tried to make Grandmom Julie's cheese bread yet, but when I bit into these rolls, they instantly reminded me of it. These rolls are light and airy (where Grandmom Julie's cheese bread was dense). The cheese flavor is also a little more subdued in these rolls, although I suppose you could amp it up by adding more cheese. I usually only make rolls or bread when we have company coming for dinner--because I'm afraid I'll eat the entire batch myself if I make it otherwise--but these are so wonderful, I might start making a half batch for myself every week.

Romano Cheese Pull-Apart Rolls
Adapted from Gourmet, February 2009

The original recipe calls for Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, but I prefer Romano. Asiago or another strong, hard cheese would probably also work.

Ingredients:
2 tsp. active dry yeast
1 tsp. honey (or sugar)
2/3 cup warm milk (105 to 115 degrees), divided
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus 2 tbsp. for sprinkling
1 1/4 cups finely grated Romano cheese (1 1/3 oz.)
1 tsp. salt
3 large eggs
5 tbs. unsalted butter, cut into 1 tbs. pieces and softened
1 tbs. water

Directions:
-Stir together honey and 1/3 cup of warm milk in a the bowl of a stand mixer, and sprinkle yeast on top. Let stand until the yeast is foamy, about 5 minutes. If the yeast doesn't foam, dump it out and start over with new yeast.
-Whisk together 2 1/2 cups flour, cheese, and salt. With mixer on low, add flour mixture to yeast mixture along with the remaining 1/3 cup milk.
-Increase mixer speed to medium and beat in 2 eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
-Beat, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally, until a soft dough forms, about 3 minutes.
-Beat in butter, one tbs. at a time. Beat until dough is elastic, about 2 minutes. (Dough will be very sticky.)
-Scrape dough into center of bowl, sprinkle with remaining 2 tbs. flour, and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise at warm room temperature intil doubled in size, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
-Punch down dough (do not knead) and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Cut dough into 12 equal pieces. Roll each into a ball by cupping your hand and pushing dough against work surface as you roll in a circular motion.
-Arrange rolls 1 inch apart in a buttered 9 inch cake pan or spring form pan. Cover with a clean kitchen towel (not terry cloth), and let dough rise until doubled in size and dough fills pan, 1 to 1/2 hours.
-Preheat oven to 375 degrees with rack in middle.
-Whisk together remaining egg with water and brush on top of rolls. Bake until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes.
-Cool rolls on a rack at least 20 minutes.

Notes: Rolls are best fresh out of the oven. They can be frozen for up to one month. Thaw, then reheat on a baking sheet in 350 degree oven until warmed through, 5 to 10 minutes. (I didn't try this myself, but Gourmet says it will work.)

Roasted Red Peppers...and a good excuse

I am back from my longest expanse of non-blogging since I started this shindig. And I know that I am coming back with a not-very-exciting post. A how-to for making roasted red peppers. I can feel you deleting me from your RSS readers now. Please don't!

First of all roasted red peppers are possibly the easiest thing to make that most people buy pre-made. I'm not going to say that the jarred variety is tasteless or anything, but it is definitely more expensive. Plus when your peppers start to get a little bit past pretty, you can always roast them up to avoid wasting them. (Not that I do that of course. My produce is always perfectly fresh, local, organic, and seasonal... bell peppers are in season somewhere in February I'm sure.)

My favorite way to eat roasted red (or orange or yellow) peppers is on a good piece of bread. End of story. Sometimes I put them in my hummus. But this little pizza type thing I made last night was also delightful. And ridiculously easy. It would make a good appetizer for guests. Or if you're like me, you can just eat the whole thing yourself in front of the TV. (Interestingly, the episode of Good Eats I was watching was on making pizza dough. So if you need some dough to make a pizza like mine, check out Alton's technique. My pizza is literally just dough, baked half way until it puffs up, then topped with roasted red peppers, some of the oil they are stored in, salt and pepper, and grated Romano cheese, then baked the rest of the way. I make all my pizzas in a 550 degree preheated oven on a preheated cast iron skillet. I lack a pizza stone, but this works.)

Now that I have tried to make my roasted red pepper technique sound invaluable, on to my excuses. I do have an excuse for my long absence! Not that you're interested, but I have two: 1) I ran my second marathon. 2) I had to find and book a place to have my wedding next year.

The second was much more painful than the first, I assure you. The thought of giving up during the marathon never once crossed my mind, but Las Vegas sounded like a viable option some days as I e-mailed venue after venue and did endless calculations of rental+food+tax+....

I did learn a few food-related things from these distractions. First of all, sports jelly beans are much better than Gu. Trust me. Also, "crudite" is my least favorite word of all time. Caterers are always telling you about their crudite, like you're supposed to get excited about some carrot sticks and celery stalks. Puh-lease. Just because it's French doesn't mean it's impressive.

Roasted Red Peppers
Aunt Jenny taught me this, particularly the brown bag trick.

Ingredients:
red, orange, or yellow bell peppers, or a combination
olive oil
garlic cloves
salt
Directions:
-Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Cover a cookie sheet with foil.
-Place the bell peppers, whole, on the cookie sheet and roast for five to ten minutes. Check often, and when the peppers start to char slightly, turn them. Continue until all the sides are withered and slightly charred.
-Remove the peppers from the oven and place in brown paper bag. Close the bag. (This will make it easier to remove the skins.
-Once the peppers have cooled, remove the skins, stems and seeds. Place the roasted peppers in a jar and cover with olive oil. Crush two to three garlic cloves (depending on amount of peppers and taste) and put them in the jar with the peppers. Sprinkle lightly with salt. Shake gently to combine, and store in the refrigerator.

These keep for about two weeks. But they rarely last that long.

Battle Stuffed Pork Chop

There is an ongoing battle in my kitchen. The battle is over who is the sous chef and who is running the show. Obviously, I'm running the show, but Nic still insists on calling me "sous chef Kate." We have very different approaches to cooking. I lean toward a few flavors, preferably ones that are already in the fridge, and minimal mess making. Nic leans toward putting as many different elements into a dish as humanly possible, with no regard to what we already have.

Usually we compromise and we make only one dinner. But when we got these awesome, thick pork chops from the store this weekend and decided they were perfect for stuffing, we thought it would be fun to have a mini Iron Chef battle. And battle stuffed pork chop was on.


Nic made an apricot and pine nut stuffed pork chop wrapped in bacon with an apricot glaze (pictured above and above that). In the spirit of his style of cooking this required a trip to Whole Foods. But it was delicious, and very pretty when it was sliced open. The saltyness of the bacon balanced the sweetness of the apricot. Of course, I still insist that using bacon is kind of like cheating. What doesn't taste good wrapped in bacon?


I made a sage "pesto" and feta stuffed pork chop with lemon. Even I have to admit my dish was not nearly as pretty on the plate since there was no contrast of colors, but the flavors really popped. The acidity from the lemon helped balance out the salty, savory flavors from the herb and cheese.

(Did you like my fun food descriptions there like "balance," "popped." Ok, so I probably don't have a future as a professional food writer.)

In the end, we couldn't decide which dish tasted better. And don't think that's because we were being nice to each other. If one of the dishes had lagged behind, the other person would have definitely said something. But since Nic definitely won on presentation points, we will give him the win for Battle Stuffed Pork Chop. Tune back in for the next Battle.

If you're deciding which to make, I'd say Nic's is more impressive for company (bacon wrapped+glaze looks impressive), but mine has slightly less ingredients if you're going out to grab some stuff for a weeknight dinner. They're both ridiculously easy to make though (despite the detailed instructions that make them sound harder than they are).

Nic's Bacon-Wrapped, Apricot-Stuffed Pork Chops

Ingredients:
thick cut boneless pork chops, 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick

for each pork chop
4 to 5 dried apricots (unsweetened)
2 tbs. apricot jam
2 tbs. pine nuts
1/2 tsp. fresh thyme
1/4 tsp. salt
4 strips of bacon

for the glaze
left over apricot mixture from stuffing the pork chops
apricot jam
white wine

Directions:
-Optional: Soak the pork chops for about 2 hours in a salt water brine (enough water to cover the chops and about 1 tbs. of kosher salt for each pork chop). The pork chops can sit in this brine for up to 24 hours in the fridge.
-Remove the pork chops from the refrigerator about 30 minute before cooking to bring to room temperature.
-Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
-To make the cavity in the pork chop for stuffing, first cut a one inch wide incision in the side of the pork chop half way between the top and the bottom. Using a small knife, widen the cavity inside the pork chop, without making the incision larger. Be careful not to poke another hole through on the sides.
-In a food processor, combine the apricots, jam, pine nuts, thyme and salt, and pulse several times until the mixture forms a thick, chunky paste.*
-Using a small spoon, spoon the apricot mixture into the pork chop and stuff it. Don't over-stuff or the apricot will leek out while cooking.
-Place four strips of bacon, overlapping slightly at the edges, on a cutting board. Place the stuffed pork chop on one end of the bacon. Grabbing the edges of the bacon, role the pork chop until it is completely wrapped in the bacon.
-Repeat with all the pork chops.
-Heat an oven-proof skillet large enough to hold all the pork chops over medium-high heat. Use a small amount of oil in the skillet just to prevent sticking.
-When the skillet is hot, place the pork chops into the skillet with the seam of the bacon down.
-Let the bacon brown on all four sides (about 3 to 5 minutes per side), then put the skillet into the preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes (depending on thickness), or until the internal temperature of the pork chops is 160 degrees (so says the USDA, but if you don't want it to get too dry, take it out at 155 and let it rest under foil for 5 minutes).
-While the pork chops are cooking, put any leftover apricot mixture from stuffing the pork chops into a small sauce pan. Add about twice as much apricot jam as you added stuffing. (If there is no leftover stuffing, about 1/2 cup jam should be enough). Add 2 tbs. of white wine, and place the saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, the goal is just to warm the glaze. After about five minutes, if the glaze is still too thick, add more white wine gradually until it reaches the desired consistency.
-When the pork chops are done, serve topped with the apricot glaze.

*If you don't have a food processor, finely chop the apricots, pine nuts, and thyme and mix with the jam.

Kate's Sage "Pesto" and Feta Stuffed Pork Chops

Ingredients:
thick cut boneless pork chops, 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick

for each pork chop
2 tbs. fresh sage leaves
2 tbs. pine nuts
1 tbs. + 1 tsp. fresh lemon juice, plus extra for serving
1/4 tsp. salt, plus extra for serving
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
2 tbs. crumbled feta cheese

Directions:
-Optional: Soak the pork chops for about 2 hours in a salt water brine (enough water to cover the chops and about 1 tbs. of kosher salt for each pork chop). The pork chops can sit in this brine for up to 24 hours in the fridge.
-Remove the pork chops from the refrigerator about 30 minute before cooking to bring to room temperature.
-Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
-To make the cavity in the pork chop for stuffing, first cut a one inch wide incision in the side of the pork chop half way between the top and the bottom. Using a small knife, widen the cavity inside the pork chop, without making the incision larger. Be careful not to poke another hole through on the sides.
-In a food processor, combine the sage, pine nuts, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Pulse until the mixture becomes mostly smooth. Add the sage mixture to the crumbled feta and stir to combine.
-Using a small spoon, spoon the mixture into the pork chop and stuff it. Don't over-stuff or the mixture will leek out while cooking.
-Season the outside of the pork chop with a little lemon juice and a light sprinkling of salt and pepper.
-Repeat with all the pork chops.
-Heat an oven-proof skillet large enough to hold all the pork chops over medium-high heat. Use a small amount of oil in the skillet just to prevent sticking.
-Brown the pork chops on both sides, about 5 to 7 minutes.
-When the pork chops are browned on both sides, place the skillet in the preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes (depending on thickness), or until the internal temperature of the pork chops is 160 degrees (so says the USDA, but if you don't want it to get too dry, take it out at 155 and let it rest under foil for 5 minutes).
-When the pork chops are done cooking, season with a little more lemon juice and a light sprinkle of salt and serve.

Tabbouleh

I can't make tabbouleh without thinking of my roommate Marie laboring over many bunches of parsley, chopping with a knife that looked like it had a previous career as a letter opener. Marie was my French roommate in Cairo, and our knives (like everything else in our kitchen) were at least 50 years old and had never been sharpened. They probably weren't good enough to even bother sharpening to begin with.

But the dull little knife didn't deter Marie from making tabbouleh at least once a month to bring to expat potlucks all over Cairo. I remember watching her pull all the leaves off the bunches of parsley and mint with what seemed like infinite patience to me at the time. Then the slow process of chopping the herbs and the tomatoes and onions. Making tabbouleh seemed to be the ultimate labor of love.

I will never forget my awe when I came back to the states and got really sharp knives as a gift. Cooking became so much easier, it is unbelievable. And making tabbouleh became a much more manageable process.


Tabbouleh is one of my absolute favorite salads. Not only is it delicious, but you can keep the leftovers, and they even taste better the next day. (I dare you to try that with a regular lettuce salad that has the dressing on it. G-ross.)

This is more a how-to for making tabbouleh than it is a recipe, because the amounts are somewhat fluid. I recommend preparing all of the separate parts and adding them to the parsley gradually until you have the taste and proportions you like. I usually like a lower bulghur-to-parsley ratio than the pictures show, but I added my bulghur all at once by accident, then realized I had a little too much.

Idon't use a food processor to chop my parsley because I'm afraid of ending up with pesto. If you really can't bear the thought of chopping the parsley by hand (although a sharp chef knife makes this pretty easy) be sure to only pulse the food processor a few times.

Tabbouleh
Serves 6 to 8 as a side.

Ingredients:
2 large bunches of parsley
1 bunch of mint
1/2 cup fine bulghur wheat
1 1/2 plum tomatoes, or 1 large salad tomato
1/2 large white onion
juice from 1 1/2 lemons
2 to 3 tbs. olive oil
salt/pepper

Directions:
-Place the bulghur in a small sauce pan with 1 cup of water over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and cook for 15 to 20 minutes. The bulghur is done when it is soft and has absorbed the water. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
-While the bulghur cooks, take the first bunch of parsley and start to separate the leaves from the stems*, discarding the stems (or saving them to throw in a stock). On a large cutting board, using a sharp chef's knife, roughly chop the parsley. Run the knife through it in one direction, then run the knife through it in the other direction. Push the parsley back into the center and repeat.
-Put the first bunch of chopped parsley into a serving bowl, then repeat the process with the second bunch.
-Remove the mint leaves from their stems, and chop them. Chop the tomatoes and onion.
-Add the bulghur, mint, tomatoes, and onion to the parsley in the serving bowl. (If you think you have too much of any part, add it gradually).
-Squeeze the juice from one lemon into the salad. Add 2 tbs. of olive oil. Toss the salad.
-Add more lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper to taste.

*You don't have to get every little piece of stem off, but try to at least get the large center stems from each sprig. I've seen tabbouleh made with the stems also thrown in, but I prefer it to be mostly leaves.

Where Have All the Girl Scouts Gone?

Maybe I'm getting antzy too soon, but isn't it Girl Scout cookie season? CNN is writing about Girl Scout cookie selling ethics, so it must be the season of the Thin Mint. Apparently there is a "a flock of 3.7 million Girl Scouts" and all their unethical parents are hawking their cookies for them at work so their daughters don't have to take time away from their "soccer, Hebrew school, karate" commitments.

First of all, you think with a flock that big I could score a box of Thin Mints, but I haven't seen one yet. What are my coworkers the most ethical parents around or something?

Second, why weren't my parents so unethical? I was a Girl Scout for (far too many) years, and my Dad never took that little sign-up sheet to work. Just like my parents never put that stupid sticker on their car that said "Proud parent of a Burnside Honor Roll Student." And you know what, I'm okay with that. Sure, I had to sit my little butt at a table outside the bank to sell my cookies in the freezing cold, but at least I know how to make correct change and talk to strangers now! Look, I've even made a career out of talking to strangers. Although, I have to say, I think strangers like Girl Scouts more than reporters. But the point is, what are parents going to do next, do their kids Hebrew school homework and play in the soccer games for them?

Back to the cookies. I'll take as many boxes of Thin Mints as I can fit in my freezer, please. And one box of those ridiculously sweet ones with the caramel and coconut for Nic. (I checked the cookie descriptions on my local chapter's site and apparently they're called Samoas now, but I'm pretty sure they were Caramel Delights back in my days in the old Green and White.)

And even though I object to the practice on principle, I will compromise my beliefs and buy from some Girl Scout's parent if need be. I'm a sucker for a Thin Mint.

What are you ordering? If you like the peanut butter ones, have no fear, the Girl Scouts are apparently immune to the recent peanut butter recall fiasco. Whew. Close call all you Do-Si-Doers.

Photo by Flickr user bandita (Creative Commons license)

Sweet Potato Hash

My little cold from last week morphed into something much grosser, and I have not really felt like cooking at all this week. I've barely felt like eating. But last night I summoned the energy to try out an idea that had been swimming around in my head for awhile. I'm supposed to be eating more sweet potatoes (so says the nutritionist/trainer that visits our little apartment gym once a month) and even though I do love them just baked with a little butter and cinnamon, I wanted to try something different.

The apple might sounds strange, but trust me it adds a great flavor to the dish that works really well with the sweet potatoes and the sage. If you're not a fan of bacon, you could substitute olive oil, but I think the bacon really gives the dish a lot of flavor, so it would probably be better to reduce the amount used before eliminating it all together. We had these with dinner, but they would be a great dish for a brunch. And the recipe is easy to scale up or down based on how many people you are serving.

Sweet Potato Hash
Serves 2

Ingredients:
2 sweet potatoes
4 strips of medium-cut bacon
1/2 medium apple (I used Gala), diced small
2 tsp. fresh sage, chopped

Directions:
-Poke holes in the sweet potatoes and bake in a 400 degree oven for 40 to 50 minutes. The potatoes should give a little when you poke them.
(Shortcut: Poke holes and microwave each potato for five minutes or until softened.)
-Let the potatoes rest until they are cool enough to handle.
-In the meantime, chop the bacon into cubes, about 1/2 inch across. Cook the bacon over moderate heat in a large frying pan, until the fat starts to reduce from the bacon and the bacon gets crispy.
-When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, pull the skin off. (It should come off fairly easy, you shouldn't need a peeler.) Dice the sweet potato into large squares.
-When the fat has reduced from the bacon, add the diced apples and sweet potatoes to the pan, then the chopped sage. Toss (or gently stir) to combine. Cook over moderate heat for 5 minutes, or until the apples become slightly tender.
-Season with salt and pepper and serve.