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Ouzi: National Dish of Jordan

For those of you who aren’t aware I’m having a love affair with middle eastern / african food, and wanted to share my recent introduction to a wonderfully flavorful new dish from Jordan I had while enjoying live Belly Dancing, Shisha and microbrews: Ouzi, sometimes referred to as Mansaf. At its core, the dish is just your basic chicken and rice, but with all the flavors, it is truly much more. Enjoy!



Serves 4-6

Ingredients:
• 8 Chicken thighs
• ½ cup low fat, plain yogurt, divided
• 2 tbl Four Spice mixture (equal parts Ginger, Cloves, Nutmeg and Black Pepper)
• 1 cup brown rice
• Pinch of Saffron
• ¼ cup each almonds and pine nuts
• ½ cup shredded carrots
• ½ cup frozen peas, thawed
• 3 cloves garlic, minced and divided
• ½ bunch parsley, chopped and divided
• 2 tbls Lemon Juice, divided

Directions:

Prep ahead:
1. Prep the Chicken: Wash and clean thighs; marinate 12 - 24 hours in a combination of ½ yogurt, ½ garlic, salt and pepper
2. Toast and chop almonds and pine nuts: prep a medium skillet over medium heat, add almonds and pine nuts, watching carefully. As soon as they start to brown, remove pan from heat, cool and store up to 3 days.
3. Make the Dressing: Mix 1/4 cup yogurt, minced garlic, olive oil, lemon juice and parsley well, and store up to 3 days.

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 375 F
2. Prepare brown rice as directed, using low sodium chicken or veggie stock for extra flavor.
3. Preheat a medium skillet with 2 tbls of olive oil, wipe excess yogurt and garlic from chicken thighs. Dust skin side with four spice mixture.
4. Put thighs skin side down in skillet until crispy, turn over, dust with spice mixture and repeat. Remove excess fat and place in oven while remainder of dish is prepared.
5. Mince onion and garlic, sauté until translucent in butter. Add rice, 1/4 cup of stock, saffron, and remaining lemon juice, mix well, simmer for 2 - 3 min. Add in carrots and peas, mix well, remove from pan and let cool 2 - 3 min. Add in toasted nuts and remaining parsley.
6. Serve on a platter with chicken on the bed of rice and drizzle with yogurt dressing.

Alternatives: traditionally, ground lamb is added into the rice mixture; remove chicken skin for lower fat alternative; use ½ water, ½ stock for lower sodium; add feta to the rice for some extra tang and creaminess

Creamy Pumpkin Pasta

Thank you to momadvice.com via craftzine.com for introducing me to this Creamy Pumpkin Pasta recipe! The recipe calls for sausage but it can easily be omitted for a vegetarian dish.

Creamy Pumpkin Pasta

• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 pound package of Sweet Italian Turkey Sausage (removed from its casing)
• 2/3 cup to 2 cups pumpkin puree (depending on your personal taste)
• 1 can chicken broth
• ¼ cup half & half
• ½ cup sour cream (low-fat or fat free)
• ¼ tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp salt
• ¼ tsp white pepper
• 1 tsp sage
• 2 tbsp fresh parsley, minced
• ¼ cup Romano Cheese, shredded
• 1 pound penne or rotini pasta

In a large skillet sauté the garlic in the olive oil on medium heat. Add the turkey sausage and cook until no longer pink, breaking the meat up with your spoon as you cook it. Remove turkey sausage and garlic from the skillet. Pour the chicken broth into the skillet and deglaze the pan using a wire whisk, to bring up all of the flavors stuck to the pan. Whisk in the half and half, sour cream, pumpkin, and seasonings. Simmer for ten minutes. Meanwhile, boil the pasta in salted water until al dente. Drain pasta and stir into the pumpkin mixture along with the turkey sausage, simmering for another three minutes or until the sauce thickens and hugs the pasta. Stir in parsley and garnish with Romano and more parsley.

Side Note- If the sauce is too thick, thin it with a little addition of chicken broth until you get it to the right consistency.

Easy Berry Pie

We've been thinking about this pie ever since trying it at a dinner party last summer. Aside from being impressed with the taste, we were blown away that someone actually made their own pie crust in a Brooklyn kitchen. And though, like many people, making a pie from scratch struck fear into our hearts -- the mess, the cracking, and oh, the lattice crust! -- we begged for the recipe.

And it's really freaking easy.

The dough didn't stick, the crust didn't tear, and the fruit stayed sweet and not-mushy. Perfection. This is our new every-time crust recipe, and we figure it would be easy to substitute four cups of any fruit you want -- we're thinking next time some seasonal strawberry rhubarb goodness might be in order.

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 cups blackberries
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1 cup quartered strawberries

Wash and dry the fruit; toss it in the sugar and flour. Then, the crust:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup Crisco

Mix the flour and salt. Cut in Crisco (a potato masher works well) until the lumps are pea-sized. Move the dough over to the side, then add cold water one tablespoon at a time, moving the wet dough to the other side (mixing large and small lumps) until it's all moist. (About 10 tbsp; add flour if it's too damp.) Flour your hands; knead until it doesn't stick.



Form two balls, one bigger than the other. Roll out the larger ball for the bottom crust and place in pie pan. Roll the smaller one and cut into long strips. Then just layer them on top of each other, or feel free to weave them through to make the lattice extra perfect (the crust will probably hold up enough to do this without much trouble). Crimp the edges with a fork; trim the crust at the edge. Slide a few small corners of butter under the lattice.

Cut a circle in tinfoil and pinch it around the edges of the crust. Bake for 20 minutes at 375, then remove the foil and bake for 20-30 more until the edge is golden. Brush on some warm water.