Recipes by Ingredient + Prep – Page 58 – Writing With My Mouth Full

Fragrant Rice-Stuffed Cornish Hens

I could barely cut the carrots after my bootcamp workout, but I was determined to eat after preparing and cooking this dish for an hour.

I was looking through my archives and remembered how robust the rice mixture was in the Greek gemista, or stuffed tomatoes, recipe. I wanted that smell of herbs and raisins together, but I also wanted to eat, believe it or not, chicken. Cornish hens were on sale in my supermarket, so I ended up picking them instead. They’re smaller and takes less time to cook anyway. I called my mother to make sure there were still raisins in the cupboard. She also had walnuts handy, so I used them in lieu of almonds or pine nuts.

The great thing about stuffing is that you can use almost anything. If I found leftover bacon in the fridge–yeah, right–I would use them; same for chopped Chinese sausages or sautÃ©ed ground meat. I threw in arugula and baby carrots for more festive coloring. The result? Fragrant rice-stuffed Cornish hens a month before Thanksgiving.

Ingredients:
2 Cornish hens, washed thoroughly and dried with paper towels
2 cups cooked rice
1 small carrot, roughly chopped
1 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup walnuts, crushed
2 handfuls of arugula
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 shallots, finely chopped
2 tbsps pomegranate molasses
2 tbsps chili powder
salt, pepper, oil

1. Preheat oven to 350Âº. In a small bowl, mix some oil and chili powder with salt and pepper until pasty. Spread paste all over hens using a spatula. Let marinate while you prepare the rice mixture.
2. To prepare the rice mixture, sautÃ© garlic and shallots in some hot oil. Add carrots and cook until tender. Add arugula and mix until wilted. Add the rice, raisins and walnuts. Mix well. Season with some salt, pepper and molasses. Toss for a few more minutes until all the flavors have penetrated the rice. Remove from heat.
3. Spoon some rice mixture a little at a time and stuff the inside of the hens. Use a spatula to make sure you get as much rice in the hens as possible, but without over-stuffing. Transfer stuffed hens to a baking dish and bake for 45 minutes, turning after 20, or until clear juice comes out of the thighs when pierced with a fork. Switch the oven to broil and brown the hens for 8 extra minutes.

Pork Chops with Honey and Anise

The day after I came back from Tunisia, I had bacon for breakfast, pork barbecue for lunch and was craving pork chops for dinner. We didn’t participate in Ramadan while we were there, but not having pork for two weeks was difficult enough. You simply can’t take the pork away from the Filipino.

When pork chops look firm and fresh at the butcher’s, I can’t help but pick them up. Add some honey for a little bit of sweet, sticky taste, and a little oyster sauce to make them salty, and they evoke autumn–in that Chinese sort of way. I scraped the leftover bits of marinade from the pan and tossed a bunch of boiled baby bok choy with it to make a vegetable side dish.

Ingredients:
4 pork chops
about 8 tbsps honey
4 whole star anise
3 tbsps oyster sauce
4 cloves garlic, minced
dried chili flakes
black peppercorns
salt

1. Make marinade. Whisk together the honey and the oyster sauce in a small bowl. Add anise, garlic, peppercorns and chili flakes. Season with some salt. Using a spatula, rub the marinade onto the pork chops on both sides. Set aside for at least an hour or refrigerate overnight.
2. When ready to cook, preheat the oven 350Âº. Bake for about twelve minutes per side. The marinade burns easily, so check on the chops often to make sure that you do not overcook the meat.

Roasted Neck of Lamb with Vegetables

Ah, fall. There were those weird couple of days when the weather turned muggy and humid, but it now feels like Mother Nature is catching up. The leaves are starting to turn and I’m beginning to feel too lazy to get up from my warm and cozy bed. All I want is to drink a full-bodied red wine and eat some lamb. After I start my day, that is.

This was an easy recipe from Nigel Slater’s The Kitchen Diaries. I’m not at all familiar with him, but the book design was so tempting that I couldn’t leave Strand bookstore without it. I initially wanted to use lamb chops instead of the suggested neck, but when I went to the halal store next door, they only had the neck left. I also picked up three chungus, the African eggplants they always have in stock.

Ingredients:
2 pounds neck of lamb, chopped
3 plum tomatoes, halved
2 baking potatoes, peeled, chopped
1 large eggplant, chopped
1 large red onion, quartered
6 cloves of garlic, peeled
5 sprigs of rosemary
olive oil, salt, pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400Âº. Season lamb with salt and pepper. Set aside.
2. In a shallow roasting pan, toss all the ingredients together, except the lamb, with some oil, salt and pepper. Bake, uncovered, for thirty minutes.
3. Remove roasting vegetable from the oven, toss gently and add the lamb. Turn the oven heat up to 425Âº and roast for another twenty minutes, or until the lamb is golden brown and slightly pink inside.

Preserved Figs and Frisée Walnut Salad

I can always count on Cameron to introduce me to something simple, yet presentable, in the kitchen. I’ve had figs before, of course, but their taste never jumped off my plate. At least until she served a mixed salad with them one night when I came over for dinner. It was a bright appetizer that started off an equally delicious meat dinner. After a recipe search, I bought my own fresh figs and preserved my own.

Ingredients:
12 pieces of fresh figs, washed, halved
1 cup sugar
1 cup red wine vinegar
1 tsp whole cloves
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cardamom, grounded
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp powdered ginger
1 tbsp cinnamon powder

For the salad:
1 head of frisée, torn in smaller pieces
a handful of walnuts, crushed
a large chunk of Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled
olive oil

1. In a bowl, combine all the spices with the sugar. Add the vinegar and stir until completely mixed. Add more sugar if it’s too sour to your taste, but it should be a perfect balance of tart, spice and sweetness.
2. Put the figs in a sealable glass jar. Pour in spice mixture. Cover and refrigerate for a week. To make sure that the figs get equal treatment from the spice mixture, invert the sealed jar every day or so. They should be ready, and preferably consumed, after a week in the fridge.

Related post/s:
I love pickling and preserving

Pressed Taleggio Cheese Sandwich

I walked in Sur La Table to pick up some kind of exotic dark chocolate to satiate my craving last week and I ended up leaving with something heavier: a cast iron grill press. I don’t know what came over me, but as soon as I saw it in the store, I had to have it. I imagined using my Le Creuset grill pan more and pressing the beef steaks and the lamb chops I expect to cook this autumn and winter, but then The Times published an article devoted to grilled cheese with a recipe from Los Angeles.

I first discovered taleggio at Otto on their mushroom pizza. I remember that after tasting it, I went to Di Palo the next day to buy some. I baked it with mushrooms, too, but using a tart shell. Taleggio has a very strong and tangy smell that I find appetizing, so my mouth watered as soon as thought of it melted in between pressed bread. And who doesn’t like paninis, right? You can use a heavy pot lid–cast iron if possible–if you don’t have a press.

I used cinnamon raisin bread instead of just raisin, and I picked up the apricots from the dry goods aisle. I love the arugula here, so if you can get the spicy kind, the better. As a last touch, I sprinkled some of Terra de Sal’s flor de sal from Portugal. The sandwiches made a very sophisticated brunch on Sunday morning.

Ingredients:
half a pound taleggio cheese, rind removed, at room temperature
8 slices cinnamon raisin bread
15 dried apricots
1 tbsp capers
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
half a stick unsalted butter, softened in microwave for 15 seconds
arugula, throughly washed and dried with a paper towel
olive oil, salt

1. Place apricots in small saucepan and add enough water just to cover. Bring to full boil and immediately remove from heat. Mix in capers, mustard and teaspoon of olive oil. Pulse in blender to chunky consistency. Set aside.
2. Spread one side of each bread slice evenly with some butter. With buttered sides down, top four slices with a spoonful of the apricot mixture, a handful of arugula and equal portions of cheese. Top with remaining slices, buttered side up.
3. Place large skillet over high heat and melt a small knob of butter. Reduce heat to low and add sandwiches. Using an iron grill press, put on top of the sandwiches and press. Cook until browned and crisp on both sides, about 2 minutes a side. Transfer to a platter lined with paper towels, and sprinkle each with a pinch of salt. Cut in half and serve.