Baklava

We end our Greek feast with a Greek favorite, Baklava. This dessert is a layering of buttery phyllo dough and slightly sweetened nuts. Many cultures and countries claim it as their own, but the first real record of baklava comes from Turkey, which then spread it throughout the Mediterranean during the Ottoman Empire.

The ingredients used in baklava will differ depending on where in the world you are. Turks prefer pistachios while Syrians use almonds and walnuts. The filling might be flavored with cinnamon, cloves, or cardamon. The syrup usually incorporates the same spices as the filling, but may also include lemon juice, rose water, or orange-blossom water. But it is always nutty, buttery, and delicious.

Our recipe comes courtesy of my Greek-American friend's mother. She's tried just about every baklava recipe out there, and this one is her family favorite. Although baklava isn't very difficult to make, it can be time consuming, especially if you've never worked with phyllo dough before. So be sure to give yourself plenty of time if you're making this for a special occasion.



Baklava
adapted from the Lowe Family
Pictures by Caroline

1 pound phyllo dough*
1 pounds walnuts**
1 pound almonds
1 pound pistachios
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter, melted

1. Heat oven to 350°. If phyllo sheets are frozen, bring to room temperature before using.
2. Grind all nuts together in a blender or food processor, leaving some pieces; do not grind them to a powder.
3. Combine nuts with cinnamon, sugar and nutmeg.
4. Brush a 9 x 13 inch pan with melted butter. Unwrap phyllo sheets and unroll them. Keep phyllo covered with a damp cloth, so they don't dry out.
5. Put one phyllo sheet in pan. Using a pastry brush, brush it lightly and evenly with butter. Top it with 4 more sheets, brushing each one with butter. Evenly cover the fifth sheet with the nut mixture. Cover it with another sheet of phyllo, brush it with butter, and top it with 4 more sheets, buttering each one. Cover with nut mixture and repeat process until you reach the top of your pan. Butter the top layer.
6. With a very sharp knife, cut pastry into square or diamond shaped pieces, 1-2 inches wide (cutting all the way through the layers of nuts and pastry). This will allow the syrup to sink into the baklava, and make it much easier to serve after it is baked.
7. Bake for 40 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.
8. While baklava is baking, make syrup.
9. When baklava is done baking, remove from the oven and immediately pour the syrup over the top. Let cool and then serve.

Syrup
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup honey
2 cups water
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2-3 tablespoon lemon juice

1. Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Cook over low heat until sugar dissolves, stirring occasionally.
2. Once sugar dissolves, bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer for about 5 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and let cool.

*You will probably be left with about 8 sheets extra.
**The only criticism we received for this recipe was that some people felt there were too many nuts. If you're not crazy about loads of nuts, you may prefer to reduce the quantity of nuts to about 2-2.5 pounds.

Souvlaki with Yogurt-Garlic Sauce

Greek week continues. These souvlaki are delicious, seriously. The grilled meat and vegetables combined with the yogurt sauce make a perfect pair. In fact, if you have been looking for a good Greek-style yogurt sauce, you needn't look further, because this one is great and is quite simple to make.

This recipe calls for a lot of marinating time, so plan ahead if you can, the longer you can marinate the more flavorful everything will be. To make it a complete dinner, we paired these souvlaki with our Greek Salad recipe and warmed flat breads. It turned out to be a truly wonderful dinner. It was fresh, healthy, and delicious.

Souvlaki with Yogurt-Garlic Sauce
Adapted from The New Greek Cuisine by Jim Botsacos with Judith Choate

Pictures by Caroline
Makes 4-6 servings

1 ½ cups extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic
1 tablespoon dried Greek oregano (I used regular oregano, and it tasted great)
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
2 pounds very lean boneless lamb from the leg, or filet of beef, cut into 1 ½ inch cubes
3 yellow bell peppers cut into 1 inch squares
36 red pearl onions, peeled and blanched (I couldn’t find pearl onions, so I used red onion instead)
36 cherry tomatoes

Yogurt-Garlic Sauce (below)

1. Combine the olive oil with the garlic, oregano, and salt and pepper to taste in a small mixing bowl. Remove ¼ cup, reserving the remainder. Place the meat in a medium mixing bowl, add ¼ cup marinade, tossing to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
2. Remove the meat from the refrigerator. Working with one skewer at a time, thread on the meat, onion, and tomatoes in a random order. (Note: I generally soak my wood skewers in water before using, so that they won’t burn on the grill.)
3. Place the filled skewers in a shallow nonreactive pan large enough to hold them in a single layer. Pour on the reserved marinade, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 8 hours. (Note: I didn’t have 8 hours to marinate, only about 1, and they were delicious. Marinate as long as you can; the longer the better.)
4. Heat up your grill. Remove the souvlaki from the refrigerator, carefully remove any excess marinade with your fingers; season with salt and pepper to taste. Place the skewers on the hot grill, turning occasionally for about 8 minutes, or until meat is lightly charred and medium-rare. The time will depend on the desired degree of doneness for the meat.
5. Remove the skewers from the grill. Serve with the Yogurt-Garlic Sauce and warmed flat bread.

Yogurt-Garlic Sauce from The New Greek Cuisine

by Jim Botsacos with Judith Choate
Makes about 1 ¼ cups

½ large hothouse cucumber, peeled
3 garlic cloves, minced
¾ cup Greek yogurt*
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Line a colander with a double layer of cheesecloth. Place the colander over a bowl deep enough to catch the draining liquid without the liquid touching the bottom of the colander.
2. Roughly chop the cucumber and then place it in a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Add the garlic and process just until finely chopped. Transfer the mixture to the colander and set aside to drain for about 30 minutes, or until all the juice has drained off.
3. Pull the cheesecloth up and tightly twist the ends together to force out any remaining juices into the bowl. Discard the cheesecloth and cucumber, remove the colander, and reserve the juice in the bowl. (Note: We actually did this backwards; we used the drained cucumber in our sauce, and discarded the juices.)
4. Place the yogurt in a nonreactive mixing bowl. Whisk in the reserved cucumber-garlic juice along with the lemon juice. The sauce should be the consistency of creamy vinaigrette. You may not need all of the juice. When blended, season with salt and pepper.

*You can either buy Greek yogurt, which is creamy, thick, and rich. Or you can make your own alternative, which is what I did, and it worked out really well. Line a colander with a double layer of cheesecloth and place it in a bowl deep enough to catch the draining liquid. Use four cups of conventional, plain yogurt to get 2 cups of drained thick yogurt. Place the conventional yogurt in the prepared colander and let it drain for 12 hours (I did it for about 6 hours and it worked great). Discard the liquid and measure out the desired amount of the thick yogurt.

Greek Salad

We are going Greek. This is the first part of an entire Greek dinner to be posted this week. Greek food, at least the Greek food I have had, always taste's so fresh, and this salad is no exception. This salad is unique because there is no lettuce involved, but it is delicious and healthy. One note, if you are like me you might be tempted to skip the olives and use dried parsley, don't! Both the olives and the parsley add important flavors to this salad to make it just perfect. This salad can be combined with our Souvlaki with Yogurt-Garlic Sauce or as a side to almost any meat dish. Enjoy!

Greek Salad
Adapted from Bon Appetit, July 2001

Pictures by Caroline

3/4 pound tomatoes, seeded, diced (about 2 cups)
2 cups diced seeded peeled cucumber (from about 1 large)
1 cup diced red bell pepper (from about 1 large)
1/4 cup pitted kalamata olives, quartered
1/4 cup diced red onion
3 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese (about 2 ounces)

Toss all ingredients, except cheese, in a medium bowl to blend. Gently mix in cheese. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.)

Chocolate Confetti

This post is written by Brad, Caroline's husband. I am guest posting to add a fabulous chocolate treat because Caroline likes to pretend that she doesn't know how to make it, even though it is about the easiest thing on earth to make.

Irish Apple Cake

This cake, known also as Kerry Apple Cake, is a traditional Irish dessert. It can be served cold or warm, and is excellent when accompanied by chilled cream, custard (or pudding), or vanilla ice cream. Bear in mind that this cake is not a typical Betty Crocker box cake; it is much less sweet and almost more similar in consistency to a biscuit than to your typical crumb cake. But it's still very tasty and worth trying, if only in honor of St. Patrick's day...a few days late.

Irish Apple Cake
from Irish Food and Cooking
Pictures by Caroline

2 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
3 or 4 cooking apples, peeled and sliced
3/4 cup sugar, divided into 1/2 cup and 1/4 cup
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 375° F and butter a 8 or 9 inch cake pan.
2. Mix the flour, powder, salt and cloves in a bowl. Cut in the butter and mix until the mixture is like fine breadcrumbs.
3. In a separate bowl, gently stir sliced apples and 1/4 cup sugar together.
   
4. Mix the eggs, 1/2 sugar and vanilla.
   
5. Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir just until combined. Gradually add the milk (not all at once!), stirring as you go. The batter should be a stiff dough, but you may need to add a bit more milk if it is too difficult to stir.
   
6. Layer apples and batter in pan, beginning and ending with batter (you should have three layers of batter and two layers of apples). Sprinkle top of batter with white sugar.
   
7. Bake 30-40 minutes, or until springy to the tough. Cool on a wire rack.

Salmon in Phyllo

If you like salmon, or you only like it so-so, this is the recipe for you. Why? Because you get the healthiness of the fish (although this recipe includes a lot of butter), but it's wrapped in dough, and you get to dip it in a creamy, mustard sauce...hard to go wrong there. Here are a few hints, when you make the mustard sauce stir it constantly after you put the cream in so that it doesn't burn. Cook it until it's thick enough that when you pull a spatula through it leaves a trail for a moment (as seen in the above, left picture). Next, use fresh phyllo dough, which I didn't and it made things, shall we say, difficult. I've made this recipe before and it was much easier with fresh phyllo dough. I had some in my freezer that had already been open, and it was dried out and made wrapping difficult. If you use fresh dough, it is much easier, I promise.

I served this recipe with some white rice and steamed veggies, so I figured it would be okay to have some Peanut-Butter Finger Bars or Milk Chocolate Chunk-Peanut Butter Cookies (guess I in a peanut-butter chocolate mood; nothing unusual about that).

Salmon in Phyllo
Recipe from Better Homes and Gardens
Pictures by Caroline

Salmon:
1 pound fresh or frozen skinless salmon fillets, about ½ inch thick
1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted (I ended up using almost twice this amount because my dough was so dried out; again, use fresh phyllo)
2 tablespoons snipped fresh dill or 1 teaspoon dried dill
Dash salt
Dash black pepper
8 sheets frozen phyllo dough (18x14-inch rectangles), thawed
1 recipe Mustard Cream Sauce

1. Thaw salmon, if frozen. Rinse salmon; pat dry with paper towels. Cut salmon into 4 serving-size pieces, in necessary (I like to cut mine into about 2 inch pieces). Brush some of the melted butter over each salmon potion. Sprinkle with dill, salt, and pepper. Set aside.
2. Unfold phyllo dough; cover with plastic wrap. Lay 1 sheet of phyllo dough flat; brush with some of the melted butter. Top with another sheet of phyllo dough. Brush with more butter. Add 6 more sheets of dough (a total of 8 sheets), brushing each sheet with butter. Cut into four 9x7-inch rectangles (or as big as you need for your salmon pieces). Place a salmon fillet, buttered dies down, in the middle of a dough rectangle. Fold a long side of the dough over salmon; repeat with the other long side, brushing dough with butter and pressing lightly. Fold up ends. Repeat with remaining rectangles, butter, and salmon. Arrange bundles, seam sides down, on a baking sheet. Brush with butter.
3. Bake in 375° oven for 15 to 18 minutes or until phyllo dough is golden and fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Serve with Mustard Cream Sauce.

Mustard Cream Sauce:
1/3 cup dry white wine
3 tablespoons finely chopped shallots (about 1 small shallot)
1 cup half-and-half (I used milk and it worked fine)
4 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon white or black pepper
1 tablespoon Dijon-style mustard

Combine 1/3 cup dry white wine and 3 tablespoons finely chopped shallots in a small saucepan. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, about 5 minutes or until the liquid is reduced to about 3 tablespoons, stirring occasionally. Stir 1 cup half-and-half or light cream into 4 teaspoons all-purpose flour. Stir into sine mixture with 1/8 teaspoon white or black pepper. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly (sauce may look curdled). Stir in 1 tablespoon Dijon-style mustard. Cook and stir for 1 minute more.

Brown Soda Bread

In honor of St. Patrick's Day today, and my love for all things Irish, this week will boast two traditional Irish favorites. And by traditional, I mean the real thing- not an Americanized, "fusion" style Irish dish, full of butter or raisins or seeds, etc, but something that could have appeared on any family's table in Ireland. Our first Irish recipe is soda bread, which happens to be one of the easiest ways to bring a little taste of traditional Ireland to your home. And did I mention that it tastes a lot better than pre-packaged corned beef that shares a frightening resemblance to spam?

In an interview on epicurious, Irish chef Rory O'Connell explains exactly what soda bread is: "What we would consider to be a basic table bread—what we call a brown soda bread, which is made with whole-meal flour, or a white soda bread, which is with white flour—is just flour, bread soda, buttermilk, and salt. That's the basic recipe. The white flour would have been more refined than the whole-meal flour, so that would have been for a slightly more special occasion."


To me, the most interesting thing about soda bread is the cross that always appears on the top. It actually has a scientific, as well as cultural, meaning. Cutting a cross in the top of the loaf allows the heat of the oven to more easily penetrate into the thickest part of the bread, helping it to cook faster and more evenly. Symbolically, the cross is the shape of a crucifix, which seems very appropriate in a Catholic country like Ireland. It also allows the bread to break more evenly into 4 parts.

Soda bread should be eaten on the day of baking, preferably with a healthy dose of butter or jam. Serve it with soup, fresh vegetables, or, if you insist, corned beef and cabbage.

Brown Soda Bread
from Irish Food and Cooking
Pictures by Caroline

4 cups whole-wheat flour
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups buttermilk

1. Preheat the oven to 400° and grease a baking sheet. Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir in enough buttermilk to make a fairly soft dough. Turn on to a work surface dusted with flour and mix lightly just until smooth.
   
2. Form the dough into a circle , about 1 1/2 inch thick. Lay on the baking sheet and mark a deep cross in the top with a floured knife.
   
3. Bake about 45 minutes, or until the bread is browned and sounds hollow when tapped on the base. Cool on a wire rack. If you prefer a soft crust, wrap the loaf in a clean dishtowel while cooling.

Chocolate Pound Cake

My fondest cooking memories involve two people: my mom, of course, and my former college roommate and dear friend Zillah. Since Zillah introduced me to this cake, let me tell you a little bit about our passion for cooking.

By a lucky mistake, Zillah and I ended up roommates our freshman year at college, where we quickly discovered that not only did we both enjoy eating tasty treats, we shared a love of baking them. We soon developed a weekly ritual of making something, usually chocolatey, in between the mounds of homework we had piling up. And the guys in the neighboring building quickly learned that it would be wise to stay up until the wee hours of the morning to try our concoctions, many of which came from this cookbook.

Eight years later, we were still cooking once a week (though our "baking night" had evolved to a much more elaborate cooking night, where everything we made took hours, strange ingredients, and exotic spices), until Zillah went off to grad school on the other side of the country. Now we have to make do with a few days spread sporadically throughout the year when we cook all day and force all our friends and family to stuff their faces with our feast. They don't really protest about it for some reason.

I can't remember the first time we made this cake together, but I've made it dozens of times since then. I've made it for bridal showers, parties, and just because I was hungry. It's chocolatey, but not overpowering, moist, but not sopping, and rich, but not heavy. It's great with powdered sugar on top, a drizzled glaze, or fresh fruit with a light syrup. It might even be better the second day.

Smiley Face Chocolate Pound Cake
from Forrest Gump: My Favorite Chocolate Recipes*
Pictures by Caroline

1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
1 cup brown sugar
6 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon soda
1/2 cup cocoa
1 8 oz carton sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 325° and grease and flour a bundt or 10-inch tube cake pan.
   
2. In a large mixing, beat butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until yellow disappears.
3. Combine flour, soda and cocoa.
   
4. Alternate adding sour cream and flour mixture to eggs and sugar, beginning and ending with flour. Mix at lowest speed just until blended after each addition.
   
5. Stir in vanilla.
   
6. Pour batter into the pan (you may have a bit too much batter for the pan; if you do, I suggest either eating the batter (it's really good) or pouring it into cupcakes, adjusting the bake time accordingly). Bake 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
   
7. Let cool on a wire rack.
   

*I wrote this recipe down years ago from Zillah's copy of this cookbook. The directions here are not word-for-word from the cookbook...but I promise they work just fine.

Fish Tacos

This recipe is a great place to start if you've never had fish tacos before. And if you're not usually a big fan of seafood, we recommend making this with Tilapia, which has a very very mild fish flavor. The fish marinates in orange and lime juice and a bit of spice, making it delightfully flavorful and citrusy. Add a little bit of lime sour cream, toppings and green salsa, and you're ready to eat!


Fish Tacos
adapted from Bon Appetit May 2008
Pictures by Caroline

2 cups chopped white onion, divided
3/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, divided
1/4 cup olive oil
5 tablespoons fresh lime juice, divided
4 tablespoons fresh orange juice
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano (preferably Mexican)
1 pound tilapia
Coarse kosher salt
1 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon milk
Corn tortillas
2 avocados, peeled, pitted, sliced
1/2 small head of cabbage, cored, thinly sliced
Green Salsa

1. Stir 1 cup onion, 1/4 cup cilantro, oil, 3 tablespoons lime juice, orange juice, garlic, and oregano in medium bowl. Sprinkle fish with coarse salt and pepper. Spread half of onion mixture over bottom of 11x7x2-inch glass baking dish. Arrange fish atop onion mixture. Spoon remaining onion mixture over fish. Cover and chill 30 minutes. Turn fish; cover and chill 30 minutes longer.
   
2. Whisk sour cream, milk, and remaining 2 tablespoons lime juice in small bowl.
3. Heat oven to High Broil. Broil fish with some marinade still clinging to them until just opaque in center, 3 to 5 minutes per side.
   
4. Meanwhile, heat tortillas until warm, about 10 seconds per side.
5. Coarsely chop fish; place on platter. Serve with lime sour cream, tortillas, remaining 1 cup chopped onion, remaining 1/2 cup cilantro, avocados, cabbage, Green Salsa, and lime wedges.

Orange Couscous

As tasty as this dish was, there's really not a whole lot to say about it. Take some couscous, mix in some freshly squeezed orange juice, and voila! A unique and delicious side dish, perfect for fish or a citrus-y chicken.

Orange Couscous
from Bon Appetit July 2008
Pictures by Caroline

2 cups water
5 to 6 tablespoons fresh orange juice, divided*
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon finely grated orange peel
1 10-ounce box (1 1/2 cups) plain couscous

1. Mix 2 cups water, 2 tablespoons juice, oil, and peel in medium saucepan; bring to boil.
   
2. Stir in couscous; cover and remove from heat.
   
3. Let stand until liquid is absorbed and couscous is tender, about 12 minutes.
   
4. Fluff with fork, adding orange juice by tablespoonfuls to taste. Season with salt and pepper

*I actually added several more tablespoons of orange juice. It resulted in stronger orange flavor, and helped to keep the couscous from getting too dry.

Peanut-butter Finger Bars

As a child, whenever I wanted to get on my dad's "good" side, I made him these. I found that sweetening my father's mood with his favorite dessert always increased my persuasive powers. Granted, it may have contributed to those extra pounds he found himself needing to work off 10 years later, but I had a grand time whipping up a batch just in time for his arrival home from work. My family grew up calling these Peanut-butter Finger bars, but my brother-in-law dubbed then"PBFBs" (pronounced "peebeefeebees"). My husband calls them peanut-butter oatie deliciousness.

These bar cookies have an oat-peanut-butter cookie crust with a chocolate-peanut butter frosting. I prefer them fresh out of the oven, just after the frosting has started to melt. They're super easy and tasty; I often make them when I need to bring a treat to an event, but am short on time or creative ideas. If you like peanut butter, and you like chocolate, (and really, how can you not, after the Milk Chocolate Chunk and Peanut Butter Brownies) these are sure to hit the spot.

Peanut-Butter Finger Bars (aka "PBFBs")
by the Hill Family

Cookie:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour
1 cup quick oats

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
   
2. In a large bowl, Cream together butter, sugars, egg, peanut butter and vanilla.
   
3. In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients. Add to the wet ingredients and mix until blended.
4. Pat dough into a greased 9 x 13 pan. Bake 22 minutes, or until golden brown.
   

Topping:
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup peanut butter
3-4 teaspoons milk

1. Sprinkle chocolate chips over HOT crust (it's very important for the crust to be hot!) Let chips melt slightly.
2. Meanwhile, mix powdered sugar, peanut butter and milk. Add more milk for a thinner frosting or less for a thicker frosting.
   
3. Pour the frosting over the melting chocolate chips (you may want to spread the chocolate chips out before adding the frosting; it will make it more even). With a spatula, spread frosting over entire pan, mixing the chocolate and frosting together.
   
4. Let cool slightly and serve.

Avocado and Black Bean Crostini

Okay, seriously, you have to make these, they are so, so good. The combination of flavors with the herb and parsley butter is just too good to pass up. I made these at my house, and everyone that was there just couldn't get enough of them. In fact, Kelly told me several days after we had these that she and her husband where still thinking about them.

These make a great appetizer, or you could even serve them as a light lunch I think. If you don't have the bread, just eat it on tortilla chips. It is not as good without the bread and butter, but it is still mighty tasty.

Chicken in Lemon Cream with Penne

Giada says it best: "Both the presentation and flavor of this subtle dish are quite elegant, so while it's easy enough to make for a weeknight dinner, you can certainly serve it to company."
And even if you aren't as obsessed with lemon as we are, I'm sure you'll love the blend of lemony sweetness with a pinch of spicy cayenne.


You may notice that the pasta picture below is not actually penne. I confess- we were out of penne and too lazy to go to the store, so we improvised with some rigatoni.

Chicken in Lemon Cream with Penne
from Everyday Pasta by Giada De Laurentiis
Pictures by Caroline

1 pound penne pasta
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, diced into 1-inch cubes
1 teaspoon herbes de Provence
pinch of salt, plus 1/2 teaspoon
pinch of black pepper, plus 1/4 teaspoon
1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
2 cups heavy cream
Zest of 1 lemon
pinch of cayenne pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large, heavy skilled over medium high heat. Season the cubed chicken breast with the herbes de Provence and a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook the chicken until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the chicken and set aside.
   
3. Pour off any excess oil from the pan. Add the chicken broth to the pan and cook over medium-high heat, using a wooden spoon to scrape the brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Add the cream, lemon zest, and cayenne. Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Add the pasta, chicken, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, chopped parsley, and lemon juice. Toss to coat the pasta and chicken with the sauce and serve.

Chicken, Potato and Kale Stew

Kale is a vegetable that we don't usually see in most main dishes...except, perhaps, when being used as a garnish. It's a form of cabbage, does not grow a central "head" like brussel sprouts or broccoli, and is packed full of vitamins A and C. This hearty stew is easy to make and full of vitamins, protein and fiber.

For a vegetarian variation, omit the chicken and double the beans.

Chicken, Potato and Kale Stew
Recipe and Picture by Kelly

Makes 4-6 servings

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3-4 small red potatoes, cut into 1-inch pieces
6 cups chicken broth
2 small chicken breasts (or 1 cup shredded chicken)
1 15 oz. can cannellini beans (white kidney beans), drained and rinsed
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon thyme
2 cups kale, roughly chopped
salt and pepper, to taste

1. Heat olive oil in a large pot. Add the onions and garlic, sauté 2-3 minutes.
   
2. Add chicken and sauté until light brown. Add 3 cups chicken broth. Simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes).
   
3. Remove chicken from pot. Shred chicken and set aside.
4. Add potatoes, spices, and remaining broth. When potatoes are nearly tender, add beans. Simmer about 5 minutes.
5. Add kale and simmer another 5 minutes.
   
6. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese and Focaccia bread.

Naan Bread

Naan bread has long been my nemesis. It's a traditional Indian bread similar to a pita, but much tastier. I never seem to be able to get it quite right. Maybe it's because I don't have a tandoori oven, fresh plain yogurt, or an Indian woman to show me how it's really done. Either way, I keep trying different recipes in hopes that one day I'll be satisfied. This recipe is easy and tastes fairly close to the real thing.

Naan Bread
Recipe from India's 500 Best Recipes
Pictures by Caroline

2 cups white flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon yeast
4 tablespoons warm milk
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons plain yogurt
1 eggs
2-3 tablespoons butter, for brushing

1. Sift the flour and salt together into a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, cream the yeast with the milk. Set aside for 15 mintues. Add the yeast and milk mixture, vegetable oil, yogurt and egg to the flour. Combine the mixture using your hands until it forms a soft dough (I got sick of kneading with my hands and used my Bosch mixer). Add a little lukewarm water if the dough is too dry.
2. Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes, or until it feels smooth. Return the dough to the bowl, cover, and leave in a warm place for about 1 hour, or until it has doubled in size.
3. Turn out the dough back on to the floured surface and and knead for a further 2 mintues. Divide into 3 equal pieces, shape into balls and roll out into teardrop shapes, about 1/3 inch thick.
4. Preheat the broiler to its highest setting. Place the naan on preheated baking sheets and bake for 3-4 minutes, or until puffed up. You may want to flip the naan so that both sides are lightly browned. Brush with butter and serve warm.