Salsa

 Happy (Re-) Birthday to my blog! Em Hungry is a real website now with a registered domain name and everything, and it feels great! After 5 years of using blogger, which served me quite well, I decided to remodel and turn my hobby into a real site. I’m in the mood to celebrate, so I brought chips and salsa.

Chermoula

I’d like to introduce you to my new friend, chermoula. Though we met scarcely two and a half weeks ago, we have become fast friends. We do everything together. Or, at least, I hope we will soon.

Chermoula, or charmoula, is an herb sauce or marinade used in various North African cuisines. It varies from region to region in its exact composition, but a typical Moroccan preparation uses parsley. This is the kind I first tried at a little Moroccan restaurant in upstate New York. It came on a colorful plate, surrounded by warm, toasted triangles of pita bread. For an unassuming green sauce, it packs a lot of flavor. It is wonderfully fresh from the herbs, bright from lemon juice, and earthy from cumin and other spices. It was my favorite dish of the evening, despite trying many other wonderful things. Now that I know how easy it is to make at home, it may become a permanent resident of my refrigerator.

Chermoula is typically served with fish or meat and also goes great with fresh bread or roasted vegetables. I tried roasting diced potatoes in chermoula. In retrospect, it might have been even better to roast the potatoes on their own (diced, with olive oil and salt in a 425 degree oven) and then put the sauce on, but it took restraint to stop eating them even the way I did it.

Fun Fact: Parsley and cilantro, along with other leafy greens, are rich in vitamin K. This vitamin is essential for making blood-clotting proteins in the body. Vitamin K deficiency is rare, however, because certain bacteria in your intestines produce it. Babies are usually injected with vitamin K at birth as a precaution because they have not yet developed as many intestinal bacteria.

Chermoula

Adapted very minimally from NYT Cooking

2 teaspoons cumin seeds

½ teaspoon coriander seeds

2 cups parsley (medium-large stems removed), about 1-2 bunches

1½ cups cilantro (stems mostly removed), about 1 bunch

3 large cloves garlic

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

¼ cup fresh lemon juice

½ teaspoon salt, more to taste

1 teaspoon paprika

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Toast the cumin and coriander seeds together in a small skillet over medium heat, tossing/stirring occasionally until fragrant and slightly darkened. Let cool, then grind in a mortar and pestle or electric spice grinder. Set aside.

Peel and halve the garlic cloves. Add the parsley, cilantro, garlic, olive oil, and lemon juice to a food processor or blender or tall narrow vessel (if using immersion blender). Chop/blend until the herbs and garlic are well chopped and incorporated into the lemon juice and oil. Add the remaining ingredients and reserved spices, and continue to chop until the mixture has reached a smooth paste-like consistency. Add additional salt, lemon, or garlic to taste.

Snack Series: Zucchini Butter

Though I would be the last person to talk smack about a good zucchini bread recipe, when it gets to be that time of year where garden-growing friends are trying to foist off watermelon-sized summer squash on all their acquaintances, it’s only a matter of time before all the sugary, oily overhead costs of endless loaves of zucchini bread start to, uh, weigh me down. Sometimes I need a little savory counterpoint. That was my mindset when I came across this zucchini butter recipe on one of my favorite food websites.

This is a great recipe not only because it’s delicious but also because it’s versatile, makes great use of large quantities of zucchini, and requires little more than the vegetable itself to make something spectacular. It’s nice and smooth and garlicky – if you want it to be – and goes well with a variety of flavors.

I particularly like this

• On Toast (plain or Parmesan cheese toast, as pictured)
• With Eggs (especially in an egg sandwich! With cheese. Always with cheese.)
• As a Sandwich Spread with
• Sausage + Spinach + Dijon Mustard
• Tomato + Cheese
• Grilled Cheese

Find the recipe here!  Zucchini Butter Recipe

I use about 3-4 cloves of garlic when I make it, and I like to let the zucchini butter get a bit brown and caramelized.

Pear Butter

I generally have a hard time with summer ending. The fruit aisle at the grocery store transitions from stands bursting with cherries, berries, and peaches to a pathetic selection of approximately three fruits that are actually good in winter plus a bunch of pale, anemic fruits that are coaxed to survive through the dead of January. The plus side is that the few good winter fruits are very good and very versatile. Pears are one such fruit, and I think they are underappreciated. If you disagree, perhaps this pear butter can persuade you otherwise.

In case you’re new to fruit “butter,” it’s simply fruit that has been cooked and pureed to a thick spread and sweetened. It often has spices added. I like it because it’s more full-bodied and less overwhelmingly sweet than jams and jellies. Also, it’s really easy to make (no pectin required). For this recipe, you pretty much just chop pears into a crockpot, stir it now and then, and then add sugar and a few spices.

This pear butter has just the right amount of sweet and spice. It makes a great addition to morning toast and is fancy enough to give as a gift. If you can bear to part with it, that is.

Fun Fact: Fruits in general are a good source of vitamin A, vitamin C, potassium, and fiber. Potassium is a mineral with many vital functions in the human body, including nerve transmission and muscle contraction. Minerals can be lost in cooking water, but they are not destroyed by heat.

Pear Butter

Adapted from Food in Jars by Marisa McClellan
5 cups chopped pears, cored but unpeeled (I used Bosc pears and was very happy with the result, but the recipe doesn’t specify a variety)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom

juice of ½ lemon

1 cup sugar, can add more to taste

Place the chopped pears in a crockpot, and cook on low, covered, for 1 hour.

Stir the pears, and prop the lid slightly open by a wooden spoon or other utensil. Continue to cook for about 5-7 hours, stirring the pears every hour. After 4 hours, mash and or blend the pears to the desired consistency. Stir in the spices.

During the last hour of cooking, add lemon juice and sugar to taste. Continue to cook until the mixture is thick and spreadable, and then store in a jar in the refrigerator. Enjoy on toast, fruit, yogurt, etc. Makes about 2½ - 3 cups, depending on how thick you make it.

My Friend, Peanut Butter

Peanut butter is a friend that I once took for granted.  It has always been there for me, but not until recently did I show it the appreciation it deserves.  If you, too, have been neglectful toward this noble condiment, simply using it as a last resort, I-only-have-thirty-seconds-to-make-lunch ingredient, I hope these two recipes will inspire you to spend a little more quality time with this valiant kitchen staple.

My roommate works at a smoothie place with the initials JJ. She once described a peanut butter chocolate banana smoothie that sounded so good, I tried it at home the next day. I still haven’t tasted the “JJ” version, but I’m too happy with this version to care.  This smoothie is thick like a chocolate shake, but it has enough redeeming ingredients in it to call it breakfast.

Picture of actual smoothie is forthcoming.  I was struggling to make a picture of brown sludge (albeit delicious brown sludge) look attractive.

This peanut sauce is good on everything: chicken, raw vegetables, noodles, fingers...  It’s peanut-y, pleasantly spicy (if you want it to be), and perfect.  I highly recommend it.

Fun Fact: Bananas are a climacteric fruit, which means they continue to ripen after picking.  As bananas ripen, one of the changes that occur is that the starches break down into sugars.  When stored in a chilled environment, however, the conversion of starch into sugar can be halted.  In other words, once the bananas reach your preferred level of ripeness, you can throw the whole bunch into the fridge.  They will change color on the outside but still be great on the inside.  On the other hand, if you want to make something sweeter like banana bread (or the chocolate smoothie below), then letting those starches disintegrate is great! And you were expecting something about peanut butter, weren’t you? 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie

1/3 cup milk

1 large, very ripe banana, sliced and frozen

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon cocoa powder (Dutch process or not Dutch process)

1 generous tablespoon peanut butter (natural or unnatural)

Blend all ingredients together until smooth.  (If using an immersion blender, it’s best to blend the banana a few slices at a time in the milk, scraping the bottom with a spoon between blends.)

Thai Peanut Sauce

Adapted from notderbypie.com, in turn adapted from In the Small Kitchen

1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated

2 gloves garlic, minced

1½ - 2 tablespoons sugar (use less if not using natural peanut butter)

2-3 teaspoons chili paste (sambal oelek or sriracha; both are excellent)

½ cup peanut butter

2-3 tablespoons soy sauce (start with less and add to taste)

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

¼ cup water

Blend all ingredients together until smooth.  This can be done with a blender or food processor, if desired.  Add additional sesame oil, soy sauce, and chili paste to taste.  Keep refrigerated.

The lettuce wraps pictured above contain the following:

tofu (see two of my favorite recipes here and here)

julienned carrots

julienned red bell pepper

sliced water chestnuts 

ramen noodles tossed with sesame oil and soy sauce 

seeded and sliced cucumbers (sprinkled with a tiny bit of salt and sugar to draw out water and concentrate the flavor) 

cilantro

limes

peanut sauce

extra sriracha

Other great lettuce wrap fillings include:

grilled chicken

bean sprouts

toasted sesame seeds

mushrooms

other noodles (udon, rice, etc.)