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.

Fudgy, Fuss-less, Flourless Chocolate Cake

Hopefully you’re not too sick of chocolate after Valentine’s Day. And if you are, well, at least bookmark this for later because I’m excited to tell you about my birthday cake. I like to make my own birthday cake because it’s fun, I ensure that I get the cake I want, and I get to “clean” the batter bowl without sharing. While for past birthdays, I have gone the extra mile with towering layer cakes, fancy soufflés, and beautiful bundts, this year I wanted something simple. Perhaps it is my advancing age spurring me to laziness, but I just didn’t want to spend half my birthday on baking. However, I also wanted something decadently chocolate-laden.  This cake exceeded my expectations on all accounts.

This is the easiest and quickest cake recipe I have ever encountered that doesn’t compromise one bit on flavor. It tastes like a perfect hybrid between cake and fudge with a slightly crackly exterior that gives way to a moist and deeply chocolaty interior, and then it all gets covered in ganache that cools to the texture of truffle filling. It made a nice end to a very good birthday.

Stirring Ganache

The original recipe comes from the King Arthur Flour blog. I have made a few alterations, one of which is to bake it in a 9-inch round baking pan (because I don’t own an 8-inch one). If you choose to use an 8-inch pan, you will likely need to increase the baking time to about 25 minutes, as in the original recipe.

Fun Fact: I calculated some baking pan dimensions for you because I do this all the time for myself and forget to write the information down. I frequently substitute pan sizes in recipes with pan sizes that I actually own, but I like to be aware of the differences so I can adjust baking time accordingly.

8-inch diameter round pan: 50.24 sq. in.

9-inch diameter round pan: 63.59 sq. in.

8-inch square pan: 64 sq. in.

9-inch square pan: 81 sq. in.

9 x 13-inch pan: 117 sq. in.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

Adapted from King Arthur Flour (blog.kingarthurflour.com)

Cake:

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

½ cup (8 Tablespoons, or 1 stick) butter*

¾ cup sugar

pinch of salt*

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 large eggs

½ cup unsweetened, Dutch process cocoa powder

*if you use unsalted butter, increase the salt to ¼ teaspoon

Ganache:

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips OR chopped semi- or bittersweet chocolate OR a combination**

½ cup heavy cream

Chocolate covered caramels or other decorative candies, optional

**Both taste great, but it’s easier to get a smooth, picture-perfect ganache with the bar chocolate because it doesn’t have stabilizers

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9-inch cake pan lightly with butter. Cut a circle of parchment paper to fit in the bottom of the pan, and grease the top of the paper as well.

Place the chocolate chips and butter together in a medium large, heat-safe bowl. Melt the chocolate chips and butter together in the microwave, heating for 30-second intervals and stirring in between, until both are melted and smooth. (This step can also be done in a glass bowl set over a pan of simmering water.) Once the mixture is melted, stir in the sugar, salt, and vanilla. Add the eggs, and stir to break up and fully incorporate. Mix in the cocoa powder, just until combined.

Pour/scrape the batter into the greased cake pan, and bake for about 18-20 minutes until the top has formed a thin crust. (Sometimes I will check on it early, and the center of the cake wobbles a somewhat as I’m pulling the rack out. You don’t want a liquid center, but you don’t want the cake totally dried out either. The original recipe says the center should be 200 degrees Fahrenheit, but I don’t have a thermometer conducive to testing a shallow cake…) Remove the cake from the oven, and let cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Then cut around the edge of the cake to release it from the sides of the pan, and invert pan onto a cooling rack. Remove parchment, and let the cake cool completely.

Once the cake is cool, make the ganache by placing the chocolate and cream together in a heat-safe bowl. Heat in microwave for 30 seconds or so, until the cream is hot enough to melt the chocolate when you stir. If it needs additional heating time, return it to microwave for short intervals (10-15 seconds), stirring in between, until fully melted. (As with the first step of the cake batter, this can also be done in a glass bowl set over a pan of simmering water.) Pour the ganache over the top of the cake, and smooth it out with a knife or the back of a spoon, letting it reach the edges of the cake to run down the sides. If using, place decorative candies on top of the ganache. Let the ganache set for 2+hours, and enjoy!

Curry-Roasted Cauliflower

Perhaps you’ve noticed, perhaps you haven’t, but cauliflower seems to be having a heyday lately: one can easily find cauliflower masquerading as rice, mashed potatoes, steak, and even pizza crust. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and I have even enjoyed sampling some of these cauliflower concoctions, but sometimes it’s nice to eat a food that’s not trying to be something it’s not.

If the examples I mentioned above are considered health food, then this is probably the comfort food version of cauliflower. Coated liberally in a spiced vinaigrette, this cauliflower gets roasted in the oven until tender, golden brown, and so flavorful that I want to eat the entire pan every time. The only bad thing about this recipe is that it's always gone too quickly.

Fun Fact: Cauliflower is part of the cruciferous vegetable family, a group that also includes broccoli, kale, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage. Cruciferous vegetables provide sulfurous compounds that may aid in cancer prevention. Whether or not these specific compounds are responsible, an inverse association has been found between cruciferous vegetable consumption and cancer rates in large populations. So enjoy some cruciferous comfort food.

Curry-Roasted Cauliflower

adapted from epicurious.com

Large head of cauliflower, cut into bite-size florets (8-10 cups)

1 onion, peeled, cut lengthwise into 8 wedges and separated into layers

½ green pepper, cut into ¾-inch square pieces, optional

½ cup olive oil

2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar

1 Tablespoon paprika

3 ½ teaspoons curry powder

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground cumin*

1 scant teaspoon salt (closer to ¾ tsp.)

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Place the cauliflower, onion, and green pepper, if using, in a large bowl. Whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, spices, and salt, and pour over the vegetables. Toss well so that everything is coated. Spread the vegetables onto the baking sheet, scraping as much of the spice mix out of the bowl as possible. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the cauliflower is tender and golden brown, almost charred in some places. Serve warm or at room temperature.

*If you have the means, I highly recommend keeping home-ground cumin around. Many grocery stores sell cumin seeds in bulk. If you toast the seeds in a pan until fragrant, then grind in a mortar and pestle or coffee/spice grinder, your cumin will pack way more punch than the bottles of pre-ground spice you get at the store.

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.