oven roasted chick peas

This is a recipe that I forget where it came from. I think it happened after I "discovered" kale chips last year and decided to try to oven roast/fry nearly everything. These chick peas have become the single-most popular (and requested) party snack I make.

The recipe is really easy to modify or adapt to your particular tastes - I often omit the cayenne if I am bringing it to a group of unknown human mouths who might not love the warm kick. You really can't go wrong unless you put dried herbs in - those babies will burn and make your delicious fried orbs taste horrible - trust me. 

If you are going to make a big batch, it is worth it to buy dried chick peas and soak and boil them yourself. It  takes more time, but is so much cheaper. (if you do this, you will need to add more salt) That said, canned chick peas aren't that expensive and you are the boss of you, so do what feels right. 

oven roasted chick peas

2 cans of chick peas, drained and washed well

1/4 cup olive oil 

1/4 tsp smoked cinnamon

cayenne (you can substitute something more mild like aleppo, but hold off and add it half way through cooking)

sea salt (you are going to use this 2x)

1/2 tsp ground celery seed

1 tsp toasted onion powder or garlic powder -both if you are awesome

2 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin 

Pre-heat oven to 400F

1. Drain those chick peas really well

2. Spread them out on to a sheet pan or a baking dish - you don't want them doubled up

3. Generously coat the chick peas in olive oil - you should see extra puddling 

4. Sprinkle on the spices and salt. You will be tempted to roll the chick peas around to coat them DON'T. It will cause most of the deliciousness to fall off into the oil. 

5. Place the peas in the oven for 35-45 minutes - you are going to want to flip them at least 2x

6. Done = the chick peas shrinking to half their size, and darkening without burning. If you see some of them start to flake off their outer shell and crisp, you are there. 

So now you have a choice - take them out of the oven when they are crispy on the outside and a little soft in the middle, or keep on cooking for another ~10 minutes to get them to be more like the texture of spicy Indian snack mix. I prefer them the first way, but the second is also great

7. Remove from oven and allow to cool in the pan. 

8. If you manage to not devour them immediately, store in an air-tight container. If you make them a few days ahead of time, they will get a little soggy. You can pop them back in the oven, or a toaster oven, for a few minutes on 400 until you hear them start to sizzle, remove, cool, and serve. 

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cherry almond butter cookies that will blow your socks off

I was invited to a party where the host cannot eat dairy or cane sugar. Not wanting to disappoint - and knowing the crowd was a pretty open-minded bunch of heck-yeah-I-will-try-a-new-weird-food people, I thought I would attempt a dessert. No gluten, no grains, no sugar, no butter, no problem. These cookies were a giant hit. 

I basically made a modified version of The Ambitious Kitchen's Flourless Almond Butter Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies. They are on the cakey-side of cookies, but who cares because they taste awesome and don't have a gritty or weird texture. I am not so subtly looking at you coconut oil and rice flour cookies of sadness. 

Cherry Almond Butter Cookies

1 cup creamy almond butter
4 dates (pitted)
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 egg
1/2 tsp kosher salt (plus more to sprinkle on top if you like)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
1/4 cup chopped dried cherries
1/4 cup pistachios 

preheat oven to 350F 

1. In a mixer with a paddle attachment combine the almond butter, dates, maple syrup, egg, salt, baking soda, and extracts. Beat on medium speed for 1 minute.
2. Scrape down bowl, beat again for another minute. 
3. Stir in the cherries and pistachios
4. Spoon out 2-3tsp portions of the batter onto lined cookie sheets (parchment is your best bet here). 
5. Bake at 350F for 7-12 minutes
6. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes on the cookie sheets, then you can transfer them to a cooling rack. 

These things taste so so so so good, but they will stick together if you stack them in a Tupperware - you have been warned.

double twist on summer favorites

This is less of a recipe and more of a eureka moment. Same friend who cannot eat any grains, and nearly no carbohydrates, was in town at the start of tomato season. I really love a fried green tomato blt. It is probably my favorite sandwich of all time. The combination of the crunchy fried green tomatoes, soft, sweet ripe tomatoes, plus well there is bacon, which rules in general... it is just prefect.

In attempts to make something similar, and use up stuff in the freezer, I began wondering about the possibility of hazelnuts. I had some left over hazelnut meal from a recipe I tried (hazelnut strawberry tart, pictured on the faceybook, that tasted good but didn't hold together well enough to share the test recipe.)

I combined about a cup of hazelnut meal, salt, ground coriander, ground celery seed, ground cumin, cayenne pepper, toasted onion powder, garlic powder, and ground black pepper. I dipped the slices of green tomato in an egg wash (egg, salt) and then into the hazelnut mix. Fried in bacon fat these rounds wouldn't fool a southerner, but they were tasty and satisfying.

The salad is a slight adaptation of my previous attempt at a blt salad. Instead of a mayo-based dressing I used avocado. Just a whole avocado, the juice of one lemon, and some salt proved to be a fantastic creamy dressing for some mixed greens. Adding chopped, ripe tomatoes and crumbled bacon just took this over the top.

 Be mindful. Bacon-laced foods will attract beasts.

nearly carb free friendship - sugar free gluten free pudding

Friendship is weird. It is wonderfully complicated and gets better once you have gone through something really unpleasant together and come out the other side still wanting to talk to each other. So when a friend tells me I can't eat _____, I feel a special need to try to ease the transition. Us, those whom gluten cannot pass our lips, understand better than most, what it feels like when your food life is messed with.

That is how a nearly carb-free dessert was concocted. Count yourself among my pals, and a lover of sweets, well this is my best effort at a chocolate dessert for you. 

This recipe takes two days to make, which is ridiculous if you compared it to traditional pudding, but consider it like you would icebox pie, something that needs the power of the refrigerator and time to make delicious. 

There are three steps: creating the licorice syrup, soaking the chia seeds and cocoa powder, and then combining and cooking. Using both the licorice and stevia worked well together. Licorice has that sweetness that doesn't hit till your finished and your palate is nearly cleaned, and the stevia hits more up front at the start of the first bite - so together they work pretty well and don't test chemically or too weird.  (Surprisingly, the finished product does not taste like licorice at all!)

This isn't going to be a sweet dessert, it is going to end up tasting like a chocolate pudding like thing but its no pudding pop. You might be tempted to add more sweetener(s), don't. Adding more stevia or licorice results in a very off-putting mess that tastes more like you lost a dare and had to eat an entire packet of Equal. 

Licorice "syrup" 

3-4" piece of licorice root, bent into pieces if you can

1 1/2 cups of boiling water

1. In a heat safe bowl, pour the boiling water over the licorice root. 

2. Allow to steep for at least 2 hours, overnight if you can. 

The water will turn light yellow, then bright yellow.

Pudding base

1 cup coconut milk - the pour-able-when-cold kind from a tetra pack

1/4 cup chia seeds

1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

pinch of sea salt

1. Combine all ingredients - you are going to need a fork or whisk to break up the cocoa powder

2. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight

Finished product

1/4 cup of the licorice syrup

Pudding base

4 drops liquid stevia extract

1. In a saucepan, boil 1/4 cup of the licorice syrup. 

2. Once it has come to a boil, add in the pudding base, stirring constantly. The whole goal is to cook the mixture so it doesn't taste like raw cocoa powder. This will take about 10 minutes, or until the mixture darkens and no longer tastes chalky. 

3. Remove from the heat and add in the 4 drops of stevia. 

4. You can enjoy it warm, or return it to the fridge to chill. Using the pour-able coconut milk will help prevent the pudding from separating or hardening when cold. 

I couldn't pick a name - faux-pioca doesn't have quite the right ring to it. I am calling it pretty darn delicious. 

gluten free digestive tea

Most teas labeled "good for digestion" contain gluten. For some reason, malted barley gets tucked into tea bags as the digestion helper. Since barley is not one of the 8 mandatory allergens that must be disclosed (in the USA), it is often hard to know which teas are safe - I am staring you down "natural flavorings". For the most part, I grab some ginger chews and forgo the landmine of packaged teas.

A little inspiration from a local blog, and I decided to create my own winter mix.

1 part dried elderberry (immune system support)
1 part dried milk thistle (supports liver function)
1 part dried rose hips (high in vitamin c)
1 part dried hibiscus flours (beautiful red color)
1 part dried orange peel (tastes awesome)
0.5 part dried ginger root (pieces, not ground), the digestive aid

The resulting "tea"* really needs to steep for 5-10 minutes. It is a little peppery from the ginger and has a great bright right color with a gentle sourness; you can add some honey to round out the flavor. I hand-filled some teabags and you can see in the back I store them in a zip-lock. The rest I saved for when I am at home can can use a metal brew basket.

*Technically a tea has to include actual tea leaves, but I am going to take the vernacular liberties here.

KABLAM - the result tastes awesome and doesn't ironically cause digestive unrest.

kale chips

I did not want to make them. Kale chips seem like the "hip new health food", and I admit that I am the type of person who baulks a bit at food trends. (I dislike cupcakes and 2008 did not change my mind.)

It took seeing a small 2oz package of kale chips for over $6 to break me. I got a pound of kale, went home, used the googler, and made a batch myself.

All the recipes seemed too simple. Wash kale. Remove stem. Toss with olive oil and salt. Bake at 350F for 15-20 minutes.

I was wrong. Really wrong. THESE ARE AWESOME!!
They have the crisp-ness and salt of a potato chip, but are more interesting and super thin. They almost shatter in your mouth (in a good way). They are so addictive I nearly polished off the entire batch!

Urfa pepper

It might be time, but I will never admit I have a problem. I collect dried herbs and spices. I sort of find unexplained joy and pleasure in trying a new one for the first time. There is a thrill to seeing something for the first time, mentally playing with what it might smell and taste like. Then there is the joy of trying to sniff the item through the packaging, without looking completely ridiculous (if you have figured this out, please share, I fail even when sniffing coffee). The whole way home I get to hem and haw about what this product MIGHT taste like, and what it might play well with in the kitchen.  

When I saw urfa pepper in the Armenian market in Watertown, MA I grabbed a bag and let out an audible "oooooh".

Here pictured next to a bag of alleppo pepper. (I couldn't resist them either, especially when I saw how oily the bright red flecks were)

The peppers are dried and sweated in the sun. The flavor is somewhat similar to an ancho; they are smokey and raisin-like, but urfas have an earthier quality, deeper smokey flavor that is less hot and less sweet. I love using it on roasted root vegetables and meat. It might be my new favor chile.

"real" injera

Teff is a very tiny grain - in the grass family - that is the basis of Ethiopian injera. It is a thin bread, that is sour, with a soft, spongy texture. Its sometimes described as a thin pancake or a thick crepe, but it is much more. It functions as plate and utensil in Ethiopian cuisine.

My first visit to D.C. I saw injera at a gas station, and began my hunt for some "real injera", injera that is made with just teff. The D.C. metro area has the largest population of Ethiopians in the U.S., but all the injera - at restaurants, markets and gas stations - are cut with wheat and or barley flour. Teff, outside of Ethiopia is extremely expensive, around $10 a pound.

I decided to give it one more try, at Dashen Ehtiapain Grocery in Silver Spring. There were over 7 different types of injera, but all, even the darkest in color, were cut with barley or wheat. The clerk was very helpful, going through the bags of bread and then eventually given tips to making injera from scratch - he said it was key to mix the teff flour with water and let the larger particles settle to the bottom and discard them. 

‎This is my first attempt at injera, and while the recipe couldn't be simplier, I feel like I might be missing something. Maybe the dough needs to ferment longer. Maybe there needs to be more water? Perhaps I should have added oil to make it easier to handle. I am not sure. But the results, even though a little ugly at first, were delicious!

I have secretly thought that teff might taste like pumpernickel. This injera is very sour, more sour than sourdough - which makes sense, because you are basically cooking just the sourdough starter. There are hints of pumpernickel - aka rye - flavor, which leads me to think that a teff-based fauxpernickel is in my future. 

Injera
1/2 cup teff flour
3/4 cup water

1. Combine teff flour and water in a jar. Stir well.
2. Allow to sit, uncovered, at room temperature for 2-3 days, or until bubbles form.

Time to make the injera!
3. Stir up the starter.
4. Add a pinch of salt.
5. Stir again.
6. Pour onto a lightly greased, flat-bottom pan.
7. Cook only on one side, till bubbles form and the dough darkens.

The first batch stuck, so I switched to the caste iron skillet, which worked a lot better.

With pratice, the shapes improved and they stuck less!

Overall, I think the flavor was right, but they were not as supple and soft as I think they are suppose to be. They fell apart when I used them to pick up food. But they really were delicious with left over Peruvian chicken - with hot sauce, rice and beans and sauteed asparagus with caamelized onions. Not bad for a last-minute, late-night dinner.

gluten free soft pretzels

I walked a fine line between these two recipes and came up with something nearly perfect. The texture is SPOT ON. The flavor needs a little work. I think the dough needs to proof another time, get more yeasty and less rice or corny. These were fantastic hot, eaten the in the German style, split open with butter. Some really strong grain mustard and a little honey also was delicious. They didn't keep super well the next day, but I threw the left overs in the toaster oven and enjoyed a harder, crunchier version. This gives me some very specific thoughts about bagels... yes, bagels.

Soft Pretzels
1 1/2 cups water
2 tbsp instant yeast
2 cups sweet rice flour
1 cup corn starch
1 cup potato starch
1/4 tsp salt
4 tsp xanthan gum (yes, this much)
**
a few tablespoons of oil for rolling out the dough
2/3 cup baking soda & 10 cups water for boiling the pretzels
kosher or sea salt for sprinkling on the pretzels

1. Combine the water and yeast, let proof. (10 minutes or so)
2. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients and mix well.
3. Add the dry into the wet and mix.
4. USE A DOUGH HOOK FOR THE FIRST TIME IN OVER 3 YEARS

5. Scrape the dough down and cover with plastic wrap or a wet towel. Allow to proof until it has doubled (maybe an hour or so, more if your kitchen is cool)
6. With well oiled hands, pull off balls of dough and shape them into sticks. (I tried for the traditional pretzel shape, but the dough is not resilient enough, so finger-thick sticks it is.)
7. Allow these sticks to proof, doubling in size - about 20-40 minutes.
8. Bring the 10 cups of water and 2/3 cup of baking soda to a boil. (Preheat your oven to 500F)
9. One at a time, place the dough sticks into the boiling water.
10. Remove after 30 seconds - you will notice a color change (darker dough) and they will puff up a little)
11. Sprinkle with salt and bake at 500F for about 6-10 minutes - this really depends on how thick your dough is. You are going for brown with some golden brown on the edges. Blistering is a good sign. You can take them darker if you like.
12. Enjoy them warm!

Marvel at the crumb structure. Eat too many and lie on the couch rubbing your belly (optional).

lentils

French lentils are beautiful.

They have great olive and slate blue colors and the insides are a lighter green. They are the prettiest pulse. They also hold up the best during cooking - not that other lentils and daals aren't delicious, they just tend to be more creamy and these retain their saucer shape when simmered.

I feel foolish calling it a recipe, because its mostly a list of proportions, but you get the idea. Its sort of like giving a recipe for steamed rice. That said...

1 part lentils : 2+ parts liquid

1. In a sauce pot, heat a few teaspoons of oil over medium high heat.
2. Add in your lentils and stir around till all are coated in the oil.
3. Keep stirring for a minute or two.
4. Add in your stock/broth or water. (you seriously want to go with some flavorful broth)
I had 1 cup of lentils, so I added 2 cups of broth, plus a little extra. 
5. Add in a bay leaf and a few pinches of salt.
6. Simmer over medium heat for 20 minutes. Test a lentil for salt and texture. They should hold together but be soft through, not hard. If they are too firm, add a little more liquid and then cover and allow to steam.

During the last 2 minutes of cooking, I added a block of frozen spinach and served over rice.

Gluten Free Crackers Recipe

I will buy several gluten-free replacement foods, but crackers seem to be the biggest rip-off. Yes, I realize that non-gluten grains and ingredients cost more and usually require special equipment, but I can proudly say I am no longer in the market for $4 boxes of snacks.

This recipe is an adaptation of Elena's Pantry's Sesame Crackers. The biggest difference is that I changed the proportions, rolled them a lot thinner and swapped out sesame for caraway seeds - the little guys in rye bread and optional addition to Irish Soda Bread. The end product looks a bit like Wheat Thins, but the flavor is totally different. They are light, crisp and really caraway-y. It reminds me of eating pumpernickel toasted with butter after school. The only thing that was missing was some really sharp cheese to assist in the downing of these treats.

Caraway Crackers
1 egg
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sea salt (plus more for sprinkling)
1 3/4 cup almond meal
1/4 cup caraway seeds

1. In a bowl, combine the egg, oil, salt and combine with a fork until the egg is broken up and the mixture is well combined.
2. Add in the meal and seeds. Mix well until it forms a dough and everything is wet.
3. Divide the dough in half. Roll 1/8 inch thick between two sheets of parchment paper.*
4. With a pizza cutter or a knife, score the dough into squares - you are in charge of how big you want them. Sprinkle with salt. 
5. Bake at 350F for 6-10 minutes (depending on how thin you got your crackers), until the edges of the outer crackers begin to brown.
6. Allow the crackers to cool, then snap them apart. Store in an air-tight container.

*Parchment paper is not an option. You need it or several silpats to be able to rolls these out super thin and not have them stick. You cannot pick these up raw and transfer them to a cookie sheet, they will bunch up on you. (I tried, it failed)

fried rice

Fried rice is quite possibly the best use of leftover food food. It works best with day-old rice (the rice dries out and will absorb the sauce better) and there is almost nothing you cannot add to the mix. (Ok so chocolate might not be the beside idea here, but you get where I am going.)

Last year, this Bittman adaptation of a Jean Jorge recipe changed the way I thought about what fried rice could be. Its light, delicate, fragrant and not overpowering. I ate way too much of it, thanks to the culinary marvels of my friend Alex who convinced me via making it with me of how wonderful this recipe is. (And how the extra step of toasting the garlic and ginger is a mild pain but TOTALLY worth it.)

So friendly readers, I sit here, desiring this recipe, but lacking half of the ingredients. But that is the beauty of fried rice... I can still make a killer dish, and just add in other ingredients.

Saute the garlic in oil, over low heat. This is going to go slow, but burnt garlic is nasty, so stay with me.

Once the garlic is golden brown, drain it and the oil out of the pan. Make sure you get all the bits of garlic off the bottom of the pan.

Return 1 tablespoon of the garlic oil into the pan and turn the heat up to HIGH. Saute each vegetable over high eat (one at a time works best). Scallions for less than a minute, then remove and set aside. Carrots for a few minutes, peas for less than a minute. You are going for super fast, high heat cooking (if you have a wok USE IT).

Once the veggies are removed, add another tablespoon of the garlic oil in the pot and over high heat saute the rice, stirring continuously. Remove the rice after 1-2 minutes and stir it in with the veggies.

Return the rice and veggies into the hot pan and drizzle with wheat free tamari and stir constantly until heated through. You can serve as is, or sprinkle a few drops of toasted sesame oil over the top.
tada

gluten free veggie burgers (first attempt)

Meat is expensive; good meat even more so. I have come to realization that I have yet to find a good, affordable source of meat in Maryland. There are several vendors at the farmer's markets, but they are cost prohibitive.

I have narrowed down my rules to the following: no antibiotics, all vegetarian feed, local when possible, cheap cuts over all others.

So this means, I am eating a lot less meat.
I am a recovering vegetarian. I spent a lot of time trying to make my body enjoy soy-based faux meats until I realized that soy = "bubbles" and displeasure for all. So, while there are good sources of vegetarian, gluten-free meat substitutes they are hella expensive. So I decided to take a stab at creating a veggie burger of my own. There are a ton of ingredients, and I think far from the best possible burger, but it was good enough to serve to a crowd of gluten eaters! Plus I made a ton extra to store in the freezer.

Veggie Burgers
2 tbsp olive oil
2 medium onion diced, ~2 cups
1 stalk celery diced, ~ 1/2 cup
2 large carrots diced, ~ 1 1/2 cups
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp rosemary
1 tsp basil
1/4 tsp oregano
salt and pepper
1 can beans drained
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup wheat free tamari
1 1/2 cup cooked quinoa
3 cups cooked millet
5 cloves roasted garlic
1 tsp garlic powder
1 cup gf bread crumbs
4 eggs
1 tsp agar agar (not sure this did anything)

I started all the veggies in the oil, then added the spices to toast them a bit.

 Then threw in the beans

 I pureed about half of the mixture with a stick blender.

 In goes the millet and quinoa

 Sunflower seeds, and then the remaining ingredients when it became clear they were not sticky enough, I added the eggs and breadcrumbs and more seasonings.

 With a well greased scoop, I began making the burgers

13 burgers and one loaf

 I half froze the burgers on wax paper and then cut and stacked them before storing them in the freezer

 I baked the loaf at 350F for about 40 minutes, or until it was totally brown and crispy on the edge.

The flavor was good, really good. It did crumble and fall apart a bit. I think it needs more breadcrumbs and/or beans to help hold it together a bit better.
Not a bad first try.