NO cooking required tabbouleh

Barefoot Contessa Parties! is the gift that keeps on giving. It is the source of my lemon bars, apple crostata, Asian grilled salmon and orzo with roasted vegetables. I haven't tasted a bad recipe yet! This is another wonderful recipe from the cookbook that would taste great with Moroccan chicken and yogurt mint sauce. I've always bought Tabbouleh, this was my first time making it. It's super easy & tastes better as it sits in the fridge. Unlike many Contessa recipes, there is no butter and this is healthy!
The tastes of the fresh mint and fresh parsley against the nutty lemony grain are so pleasing to the palate. There is no cooking involved, just some cutting.

Tabbouleh (Barefoot Contessa Parties)
Serves 8

1 cup bulgur wheat
1 1/2 cups boiling water
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
1/4 cup good olive oil (I use less!)
3 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 cup minced scallions, white & green parts (1 bunch- note: these are shallots in Canada)
1 cup chopped fresh mint leaves (1 bunch)
1 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley (1 bunch)
1 cucumber, unpeeled, seeded and medium-diced
2 cups cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 tsp freshly ground pepper

Place the bulgur in a large bowl, pour in the boiling water and add in lemon juice, olive oil and 1 1/2 tsp of kosher salt. Stir, then allow to stand at room temperature for about an hour.

Add the scallions, mint, parsley, cucumber, tomatoes, 2 tsp of salt and the pepper; mix well. Season to taste and serve, or cover and refrigerate (a day or two will make it taste better!).

I just got her new cookbook, Barefoot Contessa at Home, stay posted for reviews of her new recipes! In case you're interested, she is going on a book tour to promote the new cookbook.

Spicy Filets & Cool Mint

Coffee rubbed filets- YUM


In my 4th of July post, I talked about how it was worth it to smell up your small apartment for some good grill marks. I have finally decided that without a fan or outdoor bbq, grilling recipes are a big commitment....to having a smoky apartment for 2 days. With that being said, I have been experimenting. I made Bobby Flay's coffee rubbed steak last night after picking up 1 lb of beautiful beef tenderloin from Citarella.
Instead of grilling ribeyes, I roasted 2 filets for 25 minutes at 425 degrees until they were medium rare. Not only does my apartment not smell, the result was exponentially better! Once you make the spice rub once, you have leftovers for 2 more times, I will definitely be making these juicy filets for guests, Lee told me it was one of the best meals I have ever made him- restaurant quality! What a charmer :)

NOTE 12/24/06: Since I originally posted this, I have tried this recipe again with filets from other grocery stores. Here's my learning: the reason the beef from Citarella tasted better was cause it was center cut USDA Prime...I am no meat expert, but much to my surprise, the taste difference is undeniable. As Ruth Reichl writes in the book I am reading now, "Garlic and Sapphires", "great steak is bought, not cooked". This recipe was case in point.

I also made Geneve's Moroccan chicken. Instead of grilling it like I did last week, I baked it in the oven. It tasted great as well. With the baked Moroccan chicken, I made a yogurt mint sauce that cools down the spicy bite of the chicken. I got the idea from a recipe card I picked up @ Williams Sonoma. Try this easy & healthy yogurt mint sauce with chicken or the spice rubbed beef:

Low Fat Yogurt Mint Sauce (adapted from a Williams Sonoma recipe card)

1 cup of fat free Greek Yogurt (I use Fage 0%)
1/2 cup fresh mint, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 Tbsp of lemon juice

Weekend Chocolate Treats

Whenever I so much as walk past the Grand Hyatt Singapore , I make it a point to nip inside and pick up a bag of chocolate chip cookies from Mezza9. Those melt-in-your mouth cocoa-rich cookies don’t come cheap, mind. For something like $6, you get less than 10 cookies which a greedy goose like me can (and naturally, I do) easily inhale in one short sitting. As luck would have it, last week, while searching for a quick exercise in kitchen therapy, I flipped through my as yet unused copy of Paris Sweets and decided on the simple sounding recipe for Korova Cookies by Pierre Herme. Little did I realise that I had stumbled upon the recipe for those same chocolate chip cookies I often lust over at Mezza9 — well, almost.


Korova, says the brilliant Dorie Greenspan and author of Paris Sweets, was the name of the milk bar in Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange and the name of this restaurant located off Champs-Elysees for which Pierre Herme created these cookies. Think ice-box cookies gone luxe with 1/3 cup of the best Dutch-processed cocoa, 150 grams of the finest bittersweet chocolate you can find, and a good half-teaspoon of fleur de sel to take it to great heights.

The difference between the Korova Cookies and the ones from Mezza9 is essentially the size of the chocolate chips used — Mezza9 uses whole chocolate chips, while the recipe for Korova calls for the chocolate to be chopped into small bits.



Cocoa Nibs
There is an entire list of foods that I have yet to taste — an authentic tagine is one of them, as is an authentic cassoulet. Yet another was cocoa nibs which was within easy enough reach since it wouldn’t require my traveling hundreds of miles to persuade a French countrywoman or a Moroccan grandmother to cook one for me. When the nibs finally arrived, I excitedly tried almost every cocoa nib recipe that lay in my ever-growing library of cookbooks. That first weekend, I made a simple cocoa nib ice cream from Alice Medrich’s Bittersweet
and had a go at Emily Luchetti’s Cocoa Nib Florentines from A Passion For Ice Cream. I have to admit, it turns out I’m not that big a fan of cocoa nibs after all. They impart a nice chocolatey flavour to the ice cream, but they also burn and turn bitter easily, as I found out with my attempt at those Florentines. Anita of Dessert First was far more successful, so you may want to check out her post on them here.

The ice cream from Bittersweet was good. It was a Philadelphia style recipe that didn’t require a custard base, but it was a tad too milky for me. As a child, my mother would literally force down a cup of full-cream powdered milk, spiked with a teaspoon or so of Milo (presumably to make it more palatable). How I loathed it so. Alas, while I am a massive fan of Ms Medrich’s recipes, this one unfortunately brought back the taste of that childhood memory. Not so good. On a brighter note, an old friend of mine who popped by for dinner one night tried the ice cream and asked if he could take the whole tub home.

Fast forward to yet another Cocoa Nib ice cream recipe from Chocolate Obsession.This one had a richer custard base which I like a lot more (I like my ice cream dense and almost sticky). To add a little something extra to it, I also caramalised some nibs which I eventually decided to strewn over the ice cream as opposed to mixing it in as the recipe suggested. Now that’s also because I damn near burnt the nibs while caramalising them and was afraid I might spoil the flavour of my ice cream with any bitter crunch.

While I like this version of the Cocoa Nib Ice Cream, it’s not something I’d devour with abandon like I would, say, real rich dark chocolate ice cream. So I did the next best thing and turned it into an ice cream sandwich with the Korova cookies. Now that turned out to be a very good thing.

Chicken from Fez

Another weekend is here. It's Saturday and I've had my favorite breakfast: a Dunkin' Donuts hazelnut coffee and what seems to be one of my very last yogurt, granola and berries of the season. The berries of October are not tasting the same as the tart, juicy summer berries..go figure, the fruit vendor at the corner lied to me! After my breakfast, I headed to the gym and now I gotta make this post quick, I need to watch the Barefoot Contessa.

Thursday night, I made a very easy Moroccan chicken recipe that Geneve e-mailed me a few years back, well before we decided that our blogs would be our creative outlets. Until I get a kitchen fan or a backyard with a bbq, I have to stop making this recipe, so suburbanites, please enjoy it for me! The Le Creuset grill pan is really making my apartment smell like a bbq pit for 48 hours after.

The result is a succulent and spicy chicken that would be great with fattoush, hummus, babaghanoush and tabbouleh.

Play your Middle Eastern music, make some mint tea and enjoy this great Middle Eastern meal!

Geneve's Moroccan Chicken Skewers for 2
Marinade 2 chicken breasts for 30 minutes in this mixture and then grill:
1/4 cup olive oil
1/8 cup red wine vinegar
1.5 Tbsp cumin
3/4 Tbsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1/8 cup fresh parsley (I skip this if I don't have it)

It's quick, healthy and tasty, perfect for a week night.

Talia's Bridal Shower & "Oh My" Key Lime Pie

They say practice makes perfect....we are getting better at throwing these bridal showers every time....Today was Talia's bridal shower. The five bridesmaids combined efforts to make it all happen. The cream colored roses, accented with pink, were floating in gorgeous, modern glass vases thanks to Nicki. Anyone who reads this should ask Nicki to be a bridesmaid, she can save you a lot of money at your wedding...her new nickname is the "45 minute florist". The ladies were entertained with a game by Corryn (that she impressively conducted off her Blackberry). Jodi made beautiful invites and organized to get a makeup artist from the Giorgio Armani counter @ Saks to come do a "teaching demonstration" on the bride. Naomi kept everyone coming back for more of her peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and bought the bride her new makeup brush set. As for me, as you may have guessed, I made Magnolia cupcakes and Nigella's key lime pie. It was great to have Talia's mom in from Ottawa, Darren's mom in from Montreal and Jodi, the maid of honor, in from Toronto for the festivities!

Since I have already blogged about the cupcakes, here's the recipe to a Farber approved (Andre, Darren & Bob) key lime pie. In celebration of Nigella Lawson's debut on Food TV (Sundays at 1 pm), my timing couldn't be better. Love this dessert cause you can make it and freeze it and then whip it out to serve...It does require a lot of equipment, but it's easy to make, so don't be shy!

Key Lime Pie (How To Be A Domestic Goddess, Nigella Lawson)
*Use a 9 inch springform pan, a food processor and an electric mixer*

For the Crust
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp (or 7 oz) graham crackers
scant 1/4 cup softened, unsalted butter

For the Filling
5 large egg yolks
14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
zest of 3 limes
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp lime juice (of 4-5 limes)
3 large egg whites

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Put graham crackers and butter in a food processor and blitz until it's all reduced to oily crumbs. Press these into the pan, lining the bottom and going a little way up the sides and chill while you continue.

Use your stand mixer or a handheld mixer to beat egg yolks until thick, add the can of condensed milk, grated zest and the lime juice. Whisk the egg whites separately until soft peaks form, then gently fold into the yolk mixture. Pour into the lined pan and bake for 25 minutes, when the filling should be firm. I also whipped 1/2 pint of heavy cream and iced the top and decorated with limes. Leave to cool on a rack before unmolding and chill well. You can keep this in the fridge or freezer until you're ready to serve.

Hope everyone had fun today !
Naomi- would you like to guest blog your cookies ?

Kasha and Bow Ties

This was one of the side dishes in our pre-Yom Kippur fast. It comes from a cookbook I found at my mother's called "Jewish Cooking Made Slim"- what an oxymoron! It is a very traditional Jewish dish and is one of my favorites for a Friday night dinner or holiday. Although it tastes amazing, this version only has 147 calories per serving...if you can only enjoy one serving....that's the challenge.

Kasha and Bow Ties (serves 12)

1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup medium kasha (buckwheat groats)- I use Wolff's brand
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 cups boiling water
2 bouillon cubes, any flavor
1/2 lb bow tie-shaped noodles, cooked
up to 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 Tbsp diet margarine

Saute onion in oil over medium heat until translucent. Set aside. In large frying pan with lid, mix kasha and beaten egg thoroughly enough so that egg is completely absorbed by kasha. Stir and cook over medium hear until egg is set. Pour in boiling water and bouillon cubes, stir, cover, and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes.

Remove from heat, stir in onions, noodles, s&p and diet margarine. Cover and keep warm until ready to serve. It can be made a few hours in advance and microwaved.

The Foodblogger's Guide to the Globe

I just got tagged by Geneve at Geneve's Kitchen to participate in a MEME started by Melissa, an American cook living in Scotland at the Traveler's Lunchbox. This exercise calls for listing 5 foods that you would eat before you die. When I saw that Melissa, the creator of this very up my alley idea, loved Berthillon ice cream in Paris, I was sold. I went to Paris for the first time last summer and loved their ice cream (Karina- thanks for the suggestion!). My next question is: "what is a meme ?".

Here are the 5 things I would eat:

1. Tuna Tartare Avocado: I have been known to choose it on any menu, one of my favorites is at Alan Wong's Hualalai Grill on the Big Island of Hawaii. My homemade tuna tartare from the Barefoot Contessa is a real crowd pleaser as well.
2. A medium rare steak at Prime 112 in Miami, Florida
3. A packed to the rim falafel with chips, hummus, tehina and hot sauce in one of three places:
-Israel
-Mivami at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia
-L'As du Falafel on Rue Des Rosiers in Le Marais, Paris
4. A Sushi dinner (including an Aloha and Kamikaze roll) at Mikado in Montreal.
5. A dessert plate with creme brulee, chocolate molten cake, apple crumb pie and key lime pie (don't make me pick!!)

That was stressful! I'd like to pass the torch to Cathy from A Blithe Palate.

Feasting Before the Fast

Before the Yom Kippur fast on Sunday night, Lee and I hosted a feast for 3 of our close friends, Mark, Naomi and Dave....all lonely Canadians who couldn't make it back home for this 24 hour holiday.

One of the highlights of the feast was my mom's sweet and sour meatballs. I grew up with these meatballs and am delighted to keep the family tradition going! These meatballs exemplify "comfort food" at its very best and they are served to accolades everytime!

Mom's Sweet and Sour Meat Balls (serves 6)

2 lbs minced meat
2 eggs
salt and pepper
1/2 tsp fresh garlic
1/4 cup water
3 Tbsp bread crumbs
20 oz tin tomato juice
1 cup or less of ketchup
1/2 cup or less of sugar
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Combine meat, eggs, seasonings, water and breadcrumbs and mix well/ Form tiny balls. Combine remaining ingredients in a large saucepan and bring to boil. Add meatballs one by one. Once you have covered the bottom of the saucepan with the first layer of meatballs, make sure the first meatballs are greyish and do not burn before adding the rest of the meatballs to the pot. Cover and simmer for 1 hr and 15 minutes. Remove cover and simmer 15 minutes longer.

I cook the meatballs in a dutch oven and put them in the fridge after I finish making them. They're perfect for the holidays cause they can be made in advance. An hour before you're ready to entertain, simmer them on the stovetop.

The rest of the menu was walnut and panko crusted chicken, kasha and bowties and caramelized butternut squash. For dessert, we enjoyed Ina Garten's fabulous apple crostata...I also enjoyed it last night...again :) and chewy peanut butter chocolate chip cookies from another blogger at the Canadian Baker!