Beef & Lamb Kofta Kabobs

I love ground meat. All kinds of ground meat. Turkey, beef, lamb, chicken, I love them all. Shepherd's Pie, meatballs, hamburgers, chili, sloppy joe's, meatloaf, tacos, lasagna; really, I can go on and on! I love the different ways to spice the meat and that it's an incredibly versatile ingredient.

Beef & Lamb Kofta Kabobs

During a recent trip to Istanbul, we tried many different Kofta Kabobs. Twice a day for 5 days and one day I tried three different kinds. It was research people, RESEARCH! I'm willing to eat for my craft. Kofta mixtures are as different as the people who make them. Some are more mild, while others have a heavy coriander flavor and yet others are incredibly spicy. I think that I've measured out a flavorful blend of spices that doesn't overpower the palate with any particular flavor and isn't too hot. Feel free to modify it to your personal taste!

Enjoy!

All ingredients mixed together in one bowl

Form flatish logs, about 4" long, around two pre-soaked wooden skewers
(so that the skewers don't burn on the grill)

Ready for the grill!

Preheated your grill
(I used an indoor cast iron grill that goes over two burners)

Serve with a tangy Greek yogurt dipping sauce!

Beef & Lamb Kofta Kabobs
My favorite picture of the bunch ;)

Beef & Lamb Kofta Kabobs

Makes approximately 20 kabobs

Ingredients

2 pounds ground beef
1 pound ground lamb
1 small white onion, grated
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup flat leaf parsley (tightly packed), finely chopped
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp ground ginger (or 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger)
freshly ground black pepper
kosher salt

40 wooden skewers, soaked in cold water for 20-30 minutes

Directions

1. In a large bowl mix all ingredients together.
2. Make small flat-ish logs, about 4" long, out of the mince meat mixture and wrap them tightly around two wooden skewers.
3. Preheat grill on medium/high. (Outdoor charcoal grills work best, but these kabobs were made on an indoor stovetop grill and were fabulous!) and cook kebabs, about 4 minutes on each side.

Eat, Drink & Be Yummy!

Carrot Croquettes with Yogurt Dipping Sauce

Keeping things interesting is always a challenge. It's so easy to fall into a food routine. I often make zucchini pancakes because they're easy and I somehow always have zucchini or summer squash on hand. But why not make something similar with carrots?!

Carrot Croquette with Yogurt Dipping Sauce

This dish has as much flexibility as I love with most of my go-to recipes. Add whatever herbs and seasonings you like. Don't want to fry them on a skillet? Bake them at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. No panko? Breadcrumbs will work just as well.

These were a big hit with the kids, as well as a small dinner party that I hosted. All of the other appetizers were cold, so I was able to make these and serve them immediately. These carrot croquettes are yummiest when they're immediately made, but you can make a batch big enough to refrigerate and then reheat.

Enjoy!

Inside shot of the Carrot Croquette

Carrot Croquettes with Yogurt Dipping Sauce

Makes approximately 25 croquettes

Ingredients

For the Carrot Croquettes:
1 pound carrots, thinly shredded

3 cloves garlic, finely minced/grated
1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs, plus more for coating

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For the Yogurt Dipping Sauce:

1/3 cup Fage 0 (or any other kind of Greek style yogurt)

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 cloves garlic, grated

1 tablespoon parsley, finely chopped.

Vegetable oil for frying

Directions

Combine all ingredients for the Yogurt Dipping Sauce. The sauce can be made up to 1-2 days in advance.

1. Drain as much liquid as possible from the finely shredded carrots by putting them into a kitchen towel and squeezing out excess liquid.

2. In a large bowl, combine finely shredded carrots with garlic, panko, eggs, salt and pepper.

3. Using a 1.5 tablespoon ice cream scooper (I like uniform croquettes) or soup spoon, scoop out a spoonful of the carrots. Gently flatten and form into a 1 1/2 inch patty. 

4. Gently roll in reserved panko to coat. Place on a platter. Repeat with remaining carrots.

5. Heat skillet with a couple of tablespoons of vegetable oil over medium/high heat.

6. Working in batches (adding a couple of tablespoons of oil after each batch), fry croquettes until golden brown on each side (approximately 3 minutes per side). Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain excess oil.

7. Serve & enjoy.

Eat, Drink & Be Yummy!

Chickpea & Edamame Salad

I always knew that wine and cheese (and women!) get better with age. I'd like to officially propose the addition of this salad to the list. The first day you make it, it will be delicious. The day after, it will taste even better and by the third day you're going to wish that you didn't eat so much on day 1 & 2! This is a great salad to make at the beginning of the week and then enjoy throughout as a snack or as a meal.

Chickpea & Edamame Salad with Carrots, Red Peppers and Dried Cranberries

I set out to recreate Pret-A-Manger's Chickpea and Edamame Salad Pot and ended up with so much more! It has subtle textures: a little crunchy, soft and chewy. Fantastic flavor, hitting on sweet, sour and savory notes. This colorful and healthful salad is a huge hit with the kids, a great option for dinner parties and holds up really well for potlucks. 

Chickpeas, Carrots, Edamame & Cranberries

One red pepper, diced

All salad ingredients into one bowl.

Trying to get "the shot"

Chickpea & Edamame Salad

Chickpea and Edamame Salad

Adpated from Mother Thyme

Serves 10-12 as a side

Ingredients

Salad

3 15.5oz cans chickpeas (garbanzo beans) rinsed and drained
2 1/2 cups shelled edamame (soy beans)
1 red pepper, diced
3/4 cup carrots, diced
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Dressing
4 tablespoons canola oil
4 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
Kosher Salt (about 1 1/2 teaspoons)

Freshly Ground Pepper (about 15 turns of the grinder)

Directions

1. In a large bowl combine chickpeas, edamame, red pepper, carrots and dried cranberries. Set aside.

2. In a small bowl combine dressing ingredients. Add kosher salt and pepper to taste (I've indicated what works well for us).

3. Add dressing to salad and toss to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning, if needed.

4. Serve at room temperature or chilled. 

5. Will keep in an air tight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

Eat, Drink & Be Yummy!

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Lamb Plov (Uzbek Rice Pilaf)

Plov warms my soul. Not because of the temperature that it is served at, but because it reminds me of family. This is not a dish that I've ever made or consumed by myself. It's meant to be shared with a crowd. When someone makes it, the invitation goes out to everyone, "Come over, I'm making plov." You know it's going to be a great night!

While vodka and cornichons aren't required when eating plov, I highly recommend them!

As I prepare to write out this recipe, I'm bracing myself for the onslaught of "my grandma didn't make it that way" comments. I'm ready! As with most traditional recipes, every person/family/village will have their version. After a lifetime of eating delicious versions of plov, my cousins mother-in-law took the time to teach me. (Thank you D&K for letting me have access to L for an entire morning!!!!!!) No more "eyeballing" the ingredients, I finally had a definitive list of ingredients and technique. Definitely needed to have the technique.

This recipe also fits my criteria need and love of flexibility. Once you get the base recipe and technique down it's easily adjustable. If you love carrots, use more! Love garlic, add more! Not a fan of cumin? Leave it out. Make whatever adjustments you want, but make it. Make it and enjoy it with the people you love!

**Note about photos: Please follow the recipe, as I didn't photograph every step of the process.**

Lightly brown the onions in a bit of olive oil.
Don't worry about softening them, there's plenty of time for that.

Shredded carrots from Trader Joe's or 4 large carrots, shredded.
Cut them a bit so that they aren't too long and stringy.

Saute the carrots with the onions for a minute or two.

Cut the lamb off the bone into bite side pieces.

Brown the lamb with the onions and carrots.

When all of the meat has browned, add enough water to cover the lamb.
About 2-3 cups, depending on the size of your pot.
Stir occasionally while the lamb braises, about 1 hour.

Add water and spices to the lamb.
Taste. Adjust for seasoning and then add rice.

Stir rice to coat each grain and try to make a "mountain" in the middle of the pot. If it doesn't happen, don't worry.
Cover with a heavy lid, placing a paper towel or clean kitchen towel between lid and pot. 

Plov!

Lamb Plov

Serves 8-10 as an entree

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 large onions, diced
10oz carrots, shredded (1 bag from Trader Joe's) or 4 carrots coarsely grated
4 pounds of lamb shoulder, about 10 slices with bones, cut into bite size pieces
2-3 cups of water (approximately... read below)

4 ½ cups of HOT water (however many cups of rice you have plus ½ cup)
1 entire head of garlic (or 3 teaspoons crushed garlic)
2.5 tablespoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground corriander
3 tablespoons kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper

4 cups of jasmine (or other long grain) rice, rinsed and drained

2 thick paper towels or a clean kitchen towel

Directions

1. In a heavy bottomed cast iron pot, heat olive oil on High heat. Add onion, and saute until it starts to brown.

2. Add shredded carrots and saute until softened.
3. Add lamb and brown the meat.
4. Cover lamb with water (approximately 2-3 cups... depending on your pot size).
5. Let cook, uncovered, on Medium/High heat until majority of water has evaporated, stirring periodically. This takes almost an hour.
5a. If your lamb shoulder had bones in it... and IF you want to take the bones out, this would be a good time. Plenty of people cook plov WITH the bones, and that’s fine!! But I’d rather take the bones out now than have to think about it when I’m serving it to the kids.
6. Add 4 ½ cups of HOT water to the pot.
7. Add whole head of garlic and spices to the pot. Taste. It should be “stronger” than you think it should be, because once you add the rice, the flavor will dilute.
8. Add rice. Turn heat up to High.
9. Stir to get the rice kernels wet and try to make a “mountain” in the middle of the pot with the rice and meat. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. Don’t stress.
10. Bring to a boil and turn heat to Low.
11. Cover with a heavy lid... with a paper towel or a kitchen towel under the lid. I don't know why this step is necessary, but it is. So don't mess with it, ok?
12. Set timer for 35 minutes... and walk away. NO peeking!
13. When the timer goes off, turn off the heat... remove lid and towel. Fluff and taste. 

14. Add additional seasoning (salt, pepper, corriander, cumin), if necessary.

15. Have some sliced cornichons on hand... and enjoy!

Eat, Drink & Be Yummy!

Baked Crunchy Chicken Fingers

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I love play dates. Now that my oldest kid is nearing double digits, I've been told that it's no longer a play date; they now come over to hang out. Either way, I love it when kids play hang out at our apartment. There isn't much difference in the noise level going from 3 to 4 kids. The more the merrier! Plus, I love testing out my recipes on new palates. 

Baked Crunchy Chicken Fingers

A notoriously picky-eater friend came over to hang out a few weeks ago. Notorious in his kind disposition, hysterical demeanor as well as his refusal to eat anything other than chicken fingers and hot dogs. During past play dates food wasn't involved, but I knew that I'd be making dinner for the kids during this one. In the famous words of How I Met Your Mothers' Barney Stinson, "Challenge Accepted!" 

Wondering if I was successful in convincing this kid that baked chicken fingers might be better than store-bought and deep fried ones?  You betcha... He proudly devoured seven fingers. Seven!!! Go ahead and make your own. See the results first hand.

Dip chicken tender into egg, letting excess drip off.
Then coat with Chex mixture.

Evenly space chicken on a baking sheet

Baked for 20 minutes, until golden brown

Adult friendly too!

Baked Crunchy Chicken Fingers in action!
(Pay no attention to the tomato, chick pea and olive salad)

Baked Crunchy Chicken Fingers (close up!)

Baked Crunchy Chicken Fingers

Serves 4-6 people

Ingredients

2 pounds chicken breast, cut into "tender" pieces

2 eggs

2 tablespoons milk

1 1/2 cups Rice Chex, crushed into coarse pieces

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Trader Joe's African Smoke (about 10 turns of the grinder)

Few grinds pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 475 degrees, with rack placed in the middle of the oven. 

1. Using a square of paper towel, spread olive oil over a large baking sheet. Set aside.
2. In a shallow bowl, whisk together eggs and milk.
3. On a large plate, combine Rice Chex, paprika, dried oregano, garlic powder, salt, TJ's African Smoke and pepper. Mix well to combine.
4. One chicken tender at a time, dip into egg & milk mixture – let excess drip off before dipping into the dry mix. Coat the chicken tender with the seasoned cereal mixture. Place directly on the prepared baking sheet.
5. Continue process for all chicken strips, shaking plate (to evenly distribute chex and seasoning) between each chicken coating. When placing chicken on the baking sheet, make sure to leave space between the strips.
6. Bake 20 minutes or until chicken has cooked through and coating is nice and crispy. (Don't overcook or the chicken will dry out.)
7. Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes. Enjoy immediately.

Eat, Drink & Be Yummy!

Ribs. Oh, Ribs!

Ribs are fantastic. They're great for families and parties... as long as you have a little sister  wet wipes handy!  I love them because there's very little hands-on time. If we make them during the winter, they make the apartment smell amazing! I make them during the summer too... we just stay in the air conditioned rooms while they're baking, and we finish them off on the grill instead of the broiler.

Proudly sharing the dry rub recipe that we use on both spare ribs and baby back ribs.

Spare Ribs (Broiler finished)

Spare Ribs (Broiler finished)

Spare Ribs (Grill finished)

Baby Back Ribs (Broiler finished)

Ribs... Oh, Ribs!

Makes 2 racks of ribs

Ingredients

Two racks of ribs (baby back or spare ribs)

1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar

1 Tablespoon Paprika

1 Tablespoon Coriander

1 Tablespoon Chili Powder (Not the chili mix, straight chili powder)

2 Tablespoons Kosher Salt

1 Teaspoon Freshly Ground Pepper

(Based on this proportion, I make large batches and keep the mix in an airtight container.)

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

1. Generously cover both sides of the ribs with the rub. 

2. Wrap each rack of ribs in foil. Place on a rimmed baking sheet (there's a good chance that the foil will rip and leak... but that's ok.)

3. Bake, fat side UP, for 4 hours. 

4. Remove from oven. Open foil and let cool for a few minutes.

5. When cool enough to handle, remove foil and gently place ribs on broiler rack.

6. Use whatever barbecue sauce or combination of sauces that you like, using your hands (or a brush, if you're fancy) rub both sides of the ribs with the BBQ sauce. Use just enough to cover. Don't over-sauce the ribs.

7. Set broiler on "Hi". Broil the rack of ribs, fat side up, for 3 minutes, just enough to caramelize the barbecue sauce. 

8. Cool, cut and serve!

Eat, Drink & Be Yummy!

Bacon & Egg Carbonara

This winter season has been odd at the farmers market. A few weeks ago I bought cabbage, parsnips and turnips. My hands were cold when I was picking out the produce,  so I didn't really get to "feel" them. When I got home, all of the items were soggy and not crisp. Around NY, there isn't as much variety during colder months. 

Bacon & Egg Carbonara

It also depends on the day of the week that you go. So I had a lot working against me when I went last week on a super cold Wednesday morning. Stone Arch Farms had a small display of baked goods and a few dozen gorgeous eggs. The truth is that I bypassed the stand and continued walking through the market. But then I came back.

It's very rare that I can admit to letting the kids get the better of me. But here, I'll share that I'm a victim of succumbing to the kids request. What request? "Let. Us. POP. The. Yolk. PLEEAAAAASSEEEEEEE."  Sheesh. Of all of the things that I deny them, this pleasure I have to let them have. They love popping the yolk and then mixing it in with the hot pasta and cream sauce. Check the picture with the kids bowls... you'll see that the littlest one (on the far right) popped her yolk as I was taking pictures.

Seriously, the ingredients accidentally ended up near each other

Gently render the fat out of the bacon

Remove bacon from skillet

Saute onion and garlic, in the rendered bacon fat, until lightly browned

Add frozen peas, half and half (or CREAM!!!) and parmesan. Warm through

The picture plate and the kids dinner plates (popped yolk on the right)

Bacon & Egg Carbonara

Serves 5

Ingredients

12 ounces bacon, cut in 1/2 inch pieces
1 small onion, diced

5 or 6 cloves of garlic

3/4 cup grated parmesan

3/4 cup heavy cream (I didn't have cream today and used half and half. Go ahead and call the authorities)

10 ounce frozen peas

2 tablespoons parsley, fine chiffonad (plus more to garnish)
10-12 ounces long pasta, cooked as per instructions (reserve 1 cup of hot pasta water)

5 egg yolks

parmesan slivers to garnish
Kosher Salt

Freshly ground pepper

Directions

1. With skillet hot on Medium/High heat. Saute bacon until fat has rendered and the bacon has just started to crisp. Don't overcook the bacon! Remove from skillet, onto a paper towel lined bowl and reserve.
2. Into the rendered bacon fat, add the onions and garlic and saute until the onions have started to get a golden color.

3. Add peas, parmesan, heavy cream (or half and half if you forgot to buy heavy cream; D'OH!!!) and parsley. Saute to heat the peas through. 

4. Add pasta and coat with the sauce. Add some pasta water if the sauce is too thick.

5. Divide pasta between 5 bowls. 

6. Top with egg yolk and reserved bacon pieces.  Mix to combine.

7. Taste and add Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

8. Garnish with parmesan slivers and parsley.

Eat, Drink & Be Yummy!