More homeschooling stuff coming up soon, but first a couple of quickie posts on other topics. First up: food. I wanted to share two recipes I love.
Miso used to scare me. Fermented soy paste sounded like something that might take on a life of its own in the back of the fridge. Some morning you could open the fridge, half-awake, to grab the cream for your coffee, and there'd be an enormous amorphous many-armed blob preparing a coup, in the spot where you'd left an innocent-looking tub of miso the night before. Why take the risk?
Finally I took the miso plunge and so far there have been no hostile takeovers in my refrigerator. Sometimes I use it as a substitute for stock -- a spoonful of miso added to hot liquid -- if I have none on hand. Mostly I use it in a Crescent Dragonwagon recipe for stir-fry sauce.
Combine 1½ T. toasted tahini, 1½ T. red miso (you can also use white), 1½ T. honey or Sucanat (I use a little less), 1½ t. finely chopped ginger, and ½ c. water in a small saucepan. Whisk it smooth and simmer briefly, until it is slightly thickened. Serve it over stir-fried veggies and rice. You can also add orange juice or zest, garlic, or a smidge of toasted sesame oil. Quick and easy and yum.
I don't know why, but I had never bought saffron until this year. I also don't know why I finally tossed one of those little vials into my shopping cart, but I did. And I learned something I should have figured out years ago: saffron is a wonderful thing. That one vial made two batches of the recipe below, plus a panful of risotto Milanese to go with my husband's birthday osso buco, as well as beautiful sunshine-colored icing for stelline d'oro (a fun homeschooling project -- star-shaped cookies flavored with orange-flower water). I'm hooked.
In particular, I'm hooked on this recipe: Moroccan Chicken with Green Olives and Preserved Lemon. To make it, combine ½ t. ground ginger, ½ t. ground cumin, ½ t. black pepper (I use less because my kids complain fiercely about even mild heat), ¼ t. sweet paprika, ¼ t. crushed red pepper flakes, and a pinch of crumbled saffron threads. Set aside. Cover ½ c. green olives with water and set them aside too.
Next put 2 T. olive oil and 1 T. butter in a deep skillet over medium-high heat. In two batches, brown 3 lbs. of salt-sprinkled chicken parts (either a whole chicken, cut into serving pieces, or else 3 lbs. of legs and thighs). Remove the browned chicken to a platter. Pour off all but 1 T. of the fat in the pan and return to medium-high heat. Add one onion, chopped, and three cloves of garlic, likewise. (I use more onion and garlic and leave a smidge more fat in the pan.) After about 3 minutes, add the spice mixture and stir for a minute. Pour in ¾ c. water and scrape up the good stuff from the bottom of the pan. Return the dark meat chicken pieces to the skillet.
Cover the chicken and turn down the heat; simmer for ten minutes. Put in the breasts at this point if you're using a whole chicken; turn the other pieces over. Add the juice of half a lemon and sprinkle with 2 T. chopped fresh parsley. Cover again; give it twenty minutes more at a gentle simmer.
While the chicken is simmering, drain the olives and pit them. (This is not onerous if you know the trick of putting them underneath the flat of a knife and giving it a firm thump with your fist.) Rinse one salt-preserved lemon (this is optional if you don't have a specialty-food store nearby, but it's delicious) and chop it into half-inch pieces. Add the olives and preserved lemon to the chicken; turn the pieces once more. Give them ten more minutes.
Check to make sure the juices run clear, and remove the chicken pieces to a platter. Cover them so they don't get cold while you reduce the sauce. Add the juice from the other half of that lemon, and let the sauce cook down for five minutes. Add another 2 T. chopped fresh parsley. Serve the chicken with sauce on top and something on the side to soak it up.
I have to end this post now so I can go eat the leftover sauce out of its tupperware with a spoon -- that's how much I love this recipe.
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