Best of 2015 - Part 2

We start off every year with a recount of some of the very best things we ate in the prior year. I had a slightly difficult time determining the best restaurant dishes from 2015, but home-cooking was off the charts, particularly in the first half of the year. Let's reminisce, shall we?

January

We started off the year adventurously by cooking octopus and serving it with cannelini beans and a smoked paprika vinaigrette. It was easy and delicious. I just wish I could buy larger octopi in a standard supermarket.

We had tried the always-on-the-menu butternut squash toasts at Cunningham's, and I wanted to replicate it at home. It was simple enough - the recipe is actually from Jean-Georges Vongerichten, and is found in several places on teh Innernets. I think my homemade toasts were at least as good as the restaurant's, maybe even better, because I got to use up a winter squash that had been hanging around for a little too long and was serving more as a table ornament than a food product.

February

We had never tried freekeh (a roasted green wheat product) before, but we had some in the cupboard, waiting for the right recipe. It showed itself in the form of a rice pilaf flavored with grape leaves, sorta like a deconstructed dolma; I replaced the rice with the freekeh and was quite happy with the results. Lamb meatballs and oven roasted tomatoes completed the dish, which was hearty and satisfying.

In February, I also made spaetzle for the first time, flavored with sweet potato. A potato ricer was employed to make the pasta, as was a colander, strainer, sheet pan, large bowl, and several pots and pans. After browning the spaetzle, I topped it with sauteed onions, snails, cauliflower, mushrooms, and a ton of fresh parsley. The dish exceeded my expectations, and I remarked on Facebook that this had been an ambitious undertaking. Someone commented that it wasn't so ambitious; German housewives made spaetzle all the time. Thanks for attempting to rain on my parade, smug little fuck, but I'm not German, had never made these before, and it felt like I had cooked all day to get this relatively simple-seeming dish on the table. Worth it, though. It was, as you kids today like to say, awesome.

We make ribs fairly often - they're actually pretty simple, if you use Alton Brown's technique. I usually flavor them differently each time; this Korean version from February was the tastiest ever.

March

I really loved these muffins made with whole Meyer lemons, rind and all. They were moist and lemony, and smelled really beautiful. They froze well, too.

April

Gnocchi can be made from potatoes or from ricotta cheese. These delicious gluten-free babies are made mostly from spinach, with a little ricotta and oat flour to keep them together.

Roasted duck legs with winter squash puree. Yes.

July

Muhammara is a dip made with walnuts and bell peppers. Trader Joe's makes a version, but you can make it at home easily enough.

August

Mr Minx usually gets chocolate cake for his birthday. This year, I added about twice as much sour cream as normally called for to get a cake that was truly moist and needed no frosting.

September

I fell in love with chamomile ice cream at the Fancy Food Show last summer, so when Republic of Tea sent a sample can of  honey chamomile tea, I had to make gelato with it. Seems odd, sure, but it was fan-freaking-tastic.

November

Made by swapping out semi-sweet chips for white chocolate ones, these white brownies are better than any standard blondie.

I wasn't quite sure how a chicken pot pie flavored with jerk spices was going to turn out, but it was a big success, from biscuit to gravy.

December

Mr Minx has quite a way with potatoes. He's made several of these enormous fried potato cakes over the years, and I have to keep myself from eating the whole thing every time. And I'm not a big potato fan. Although not a latke, this one was just in time for Hanukkah.

Lots of good eats in 2015 - will there be as many in 2016? Stay tuned....



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Freekeh with Grape Leaves and Feta

Browsing the very excellent food site Food 52 the other day, I found an intriguing recipe for something the recipe writer called a grape leaf pilaf. It wasn't actually a pilaf, as she directs the rice should be cooked "as instructed on package," which means boiled or steamed. I thought I might like to make it as an actual pilaf, browning the rice with onions then simmering it in a seasoned broth. We already had a jar of grape leaves in the cupboard, which I had purchased for an abandoned project. All we needed was the feta and herbs, and some sort of protein to go with it. Lamb seemed to make sense, and we had that, too.

Once I had everything together, I realized that rice would make a better accompaniment for the chicken dish I planned to make the following day. I found a bag of freekeh, a roasted green wheat product, in the cupboard (lord, there's so many weird things in there) and thought I could give that a spin. I had never worked with the stuff before, hadn't even tasted it, so rather than make pilaf, I cooked it in the rice cooker. The package indicated that it should be cooked like rice, with twice as much water as grain. I still wasn't going to have a pilaf, so I'm not calling it that.

The freekeh smelled wonderful as it was cooking, and tasted rich and nutty. The texture is a little crunchy, like brown rice or bulgur. It really was the perfect grain to use with tangy grape leaves and feta cheese and made the dish into something far more interesting than boring old steamed rice could have done.

For the meaty aspect of the dish, I made meatballs out of a mixture similar to this one, only without the nuts or spices other than salt, pepper, and garlic. I also roasted some grape tomatoes to add a bit of sweetness to the otherwise tangy meal. It was riiiillly good. Hearty, yet light, full of flavors and textures. Definitely a keeper. The freekeh would go well with chicken or shrimp, too.

Freekeh with Grape Leaves and Feta

1 cup freekeh
1 onion, chopped
Olive oil
1 cup chopped grape leaves from a jar
1/4 cup chopped dill leaves
1/4 cup chopped mint leaves
1 lemon, juiced
Salt and pepper
Crumbled feta cheese

Cook freekeh as you would rice (or according to package directions).

While freekeh is cooking, saute onion in a bit of olive oil and a pinch of salt until translucent and just beginning to brown. Add chopped grape leaves, herbs (reserving some for garnish), and lemon juice. When freekeh is done cooking, add it to the pan of onions and grape leaves. Stir well to combine. Taste for seasoning and add freshly ground pepper and a bit of salt, if needed. (The grape leaves are quite salty, so you might not need to add any additional.)

Before serving, drizzle freekeh with a bit of olive oil and sprinkle on the feta and reserved herbs. Serve hot, cold, or at room temperature.

Posted on Minxeats.com.