Oven Baked French Fries

I love French fries but they are such a bother to make and usually, especially because deep frying is usually the method of preparation, the clean up is an even greater bother. In the summers at home I like to pull purple potatoes from my garden and make blue potato chips anyway; there is nothing more delicious.  I would never, however, attempt to do this without a deep fat fryer. 

Here in my little kitchen there is no room for appliances or space for the bother. So I satisfy french fry cravings by making them in the oven which, as it turns out, is an easier method all around and, as a bonus, eliminates the need to dispose of all that oil.

Ingredients:

2 Russet or Idaho potatoes

2 Tbl. Olive oil

Pepper

Preheat the over to 450 degrees.

Slice the potatoes into good sized fries and place them in a bowl of cold water. I leave the skins on because I like them that way. Soaking the potatoes in cold water takes some of the excess starch out of them.

Pour out the water and rinse the potatoes in fresh water. Dry the potatoes and bowl, as best you can, with a paper tower. Pour in the olive oil, black pepper, and mix the potatoes around so that they are coated in oil. (I have tried this by putting the potatoes on a baking sheet and then adding the oil and mixing it around. It never works as effectively as doing it in a bowl.)

Lay the potato slices out on the baking sheet in a single row with air between each slice. This part is important. If the potatoes are too close together or on top of each other they will not get browned evenly and will end up soggy.

Pop the baking sheet into the over and bake for approximately one hour, though if you have laid out the potatoes with precision the baking time may be less.

A special warning: For some reason oven baked French fries seem to have a mind of their own. If I have planned out the timing well, the potatoes will be done earlier than expected. In that case I turn down the oven and let them sit until I’m ready. 

The conundrum comes when they take longer than expected, usually because they have been crowded onto the baking sheet. In that case a decision has to be made; hold up the meal and wait or serve them as a second course. I’ve learned to go with the second course so I don’t get too impatient and end up with soggy fries.

Chickpea and Couscous Soup

I recently saw a recipe on the Martha Stewart website with a technique that I have added to my repertoire. The recipe was for an eggplant and tomato soup.

To make the base for this soup slice plumb tomatoes in half; put them cut side down on a baking sheet with olive oil and bake for about 30 minutes in a 450 degree oven.

Remove the pan from the oven and the skins of the tomatoes will be puffed up like little hats. Pick off the skins, puree the tomatoes with an electric hand held blender, and you have the foundation for a vegetable soup. No need to make, buy, or think about vegetable stock. I have to confess that my enchantment with this technique comes from the delight of just pulling the skins off the tomatoes.

I used this base to make a hearty Lebanese style soup with chickpeas and pearl couscous. The original recipe called for vegetable stock but I used the pureed tomatoes and water instead.

Ingredients for two portions:

2 Tbl. olive oil

1 chopped onion

1 peeled and sliced carrot

3 cloves of minced garlic

1 tsp. cumin

½ tsp. paprika

½ tsp. cinnamon (or one cinnamon stick, I didn’t have)

¼ tsp. ginger

Pinch of saffron

Pepper

1 can of chick peas that have been drained and rinsed

5 small tomatoes baked, peeled, and pureed

4 cups of water

¼ cup pearl couscous (In Lebanon it is called Moghrabia which is similar to Israeli couscous)

2 Tbl. lemon juice

Handful of finely chopped parsley

Sauté the onions and carrots in olive oil over medium heat until the onions are translucent. Mix in the garlic and spices and cook for a few minutes so that they are well blended. Add the chickpeas and coat them with the spices. Mix in 4 cups of water and the pureed tomatoes. Bring to a boil and cook the mixture for ten minutes. Add the couscous and let it simmer until the couscous is done, about 30 minutes.

Stir in the lemon juice and sprinkle with parsley.

Trio of Hors D’Oeuvres Part 2: Chunky Mint Hummus

(c) Mikkel Vang

This chickpea crostini was not a traditional hummus, but more of a chopped chickpea salad. It was delicious on the crostini, but it would have been good on toasted pita as well.

All I did was drain the chickpeas, chop them coarsely, and add the other ingredients. Once everything was mixed I put everything in a bowl, covered it, and let it sit in the fridge for about two hours (this is variable though…whatever amount of time you have is fine).

I choose not to use the pomegranate seeds because pomegranates were out of season at the time, but they would have added a nice tart flavor. And, I’m sure this comes as no surprise to anybody, but I also severely cut the amount of salt in half. The finished product tasted fine, but if you are going to cut out some of the salt, giving the salad extra time to marinate is not a bad idea.

Ingredients:
1 can (15.5-ounce size) chickpeas
2 scallions (white and light green parts), chopped
1/4 cup fresh mint
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds (optional)
1 bag (16-ounce size) store-bought crostini

Thanks to Real Simple for the original recipe!

Trio of Hors D’Oeuvres Part 1: Zucchini and Parmesan Crostini

My friends and I like to cook dinner together, with each of us assigned one portion of the meal.  Some of us like to cook more than others, so more often than not those of us into cooking prepare the bulk of the meal and let our other friends tie up the odds and ends.  I’ll let you guess which category I fall into.

Periodically, however, I get assigned the unenviable task of bringing hors d’oeuvres (or appetizers for you un-French people).  I hate being given this task because the assumption seems to be that the hors d’oeuvres person is supposed to bring expensive cheese and salami, which can end up running $30-$40. 

Several months ago my number came up while I was feeling a little broke, and hoping to buck the system I decided to bring Crostini and Three Homemade Dips.  Everybody was skeptical to say the least, happy as they were in their cheese and salami bubble.  The results, however, were undeniably delicious and satisfying for all involved. 

As a bonus, because most of the ingredients were things I already had around the kitchen or growing in my little pot garden outside, all it cost me was the price of a loaf of bread and a can of chick peas.  Not bad for being the hors d’oeuvres person.

This part 1 recipe was by far the night’s favorite.  Here’s how I made it:

Zucchini and Parmesan Crostini

This chunky zucchini dish uses flavors that are common in zucchini side dishes but yields something perfect for serving atop toast. 

I made this recipe a little bit ahead of time so that the flavors could set.  The prep time was really quick, no more than 15 minutes, and it yielded about 2-3 cups of crostini dip/topping which was good for about 20-30 Crostini. 

I started by using a cheese grater to finely grate two large zucchini (no cooking or peeling necessary).  Then I spread the grated zucchini out on a clean dish towel and rolled it up tightly to get rid of the excess moisture.  If you plan to add salt (I did not because I find parmesan cheese salty enough and lemon flavorful enough), sprinkle it on top of the zucchini and let it set for a couple of minutes before the next step.

After the zucchini had been dried out, I added about three handfuls of grated parmesan cheese, one large clove of garlic that I crushed in a garlic press, a few sprigs of finely sliced fresh basil, a couple of pinches of thyme, and enough olive oil to bind the whole thing together.  I added the juice of a small lemon, a little lemon zest, and a lot of pepper because, frankly, I like pepper.  Then I just stuffed the whole thing into a covered bowl and let it sit in the fridge while I made the other dips.

To accompany the dip/topping, I made crostini by slicing, brushing with olive oil, and toasting a loaf of good French bread.  I let people load up their own bread and served the zucchini concoction in a bowl, which was better for transport and easier for all involved.

Ingredient List:

2 Zucchini

1-2 cloves Minced Garlic

Sprig of Basil

Couple pinches of Thyme

Three handfuls Parmesan grated to taste

Juice and some Zest of 1 small Lemon

¼ cup Olive oil

Pepper to taste

Thanks to Serious Eats for the original recipe.

Ginger Syrup

I am a person of habits. I usually eat the same thing for breakfast everyday. When I arrived in Beirut, I needed to find a breakfast food that I could easily put together each morning. I settled on yoghurt, pomegranate, sliced almonds, and ginger bits in ginger syrup. I learned how to make ginger syrup from my mother who served it each morning with fresh fruit and yoghurt. It is easy to make and gives yoghurt a lovely zing.
Ingredients:

1/2 cup of peeled ginger chopped into small bits

½ cup sugar
1 ½ cups water

Combine sugar and water in a pan and bring them to a boil. Add the ginger and simmer for ten minutes. Cool and pour into a container. The ginger syrup will keep in the refrigerator for as long as it lasts.

The syrup can be combined with seltzer to make home made ginger ale. Pour it over ice; add a slice of lemon, and a piece of fresh mint for a refreshing non-alcoholic drink.

Easy Brownies

I recently had a yen for chocolate and figured that the easiest way to satisfy that desire was to make brownies. I went to Google and found different recipes that didn’t really suit my needs. Many recipes use unsweetened chocolate and while this ingredient helps to make for good chewy brownies, I usually don’t have any unsweetened chocolate around.

(I stopped buying unsweetened chocolate long ago because, except for brownies, there isn’t much call for it. It keeps for a time but eventually gets a white misty surface and bleaches out.)

I found a recipe that looked easy, but needed my own special assistance. Basically it called for 5 Tbs. dark chocolate, 2 Tbs. unsweetened chocolate, 8 Tbs. butter, 1 cup sugar, 2 eggs, 1 egg yoke, 2 tsp. vanilla, and 2/3 cup of flour. (I’m sure it called for salt, but the only time I use salt is when I’m baking with yeast.)

I had no unsweetened chocolate, had an inexact measurement for butter, in Lebanon it comes in 200 gram bars, and didn’t want to be bothered with separating an egg. I had a few different odds and ends of dark chocolate that I had used for holiday baking; one was too bitter so I sweetened it up with another brand.

Ingredients:

6 Tbl unsalted butter

6 Tbl of dark chocolate

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup of flour

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare your pan by buttering and flouring it and including a parchment bottom.

(In this case, the recipe called for an 8 inch square pan, but all I have is a round cake pan, so I used that. I buttered the sides, bottom and fit in a piece of parchment paper that I cut out from tracing it around the bottom of the pan. Butter the parchment paper too.)

Break up the bits of chocolate and put them in a sauce pan with the butter cut into tablespoons.

(It is always hard to tell with chocolate because it comes in bars not in spoons so I usually eyeball an amount that looks like it will produce a good chocolaty flavor.)

(A word about melting chocolate and butter: the original recipe called for a double boiler. It is true that you can control the heat better with a double boiler, but I think it is too much trouble. If you are really careful, keep a constant eye on your chocolate, keep stirring it, use a very low heat, and take it off of the heat while stirring when most of the chunks are melted, you can do it straight from the stove. With a microwave, it is best to do it in spurts starting with 30 seconds at 50% and when it is really starting to melt, 10 seconds. Be sure to stir it once it begins to melt. Basically the butter will melt first and needs to be incorporated. The last of the chunks should be melted in the pan that is warm to the touch. For brownies I use a pan directly on the stove, because I can put in the rest of the ingredients and not have to dirty a bowl.)

Once the chocolate is melted, stir in the sugar. Making sure your mixture is not hot to the touch; add one egg at a time stirring after each addition.

Incorporate the vanilla and flour.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, pop it into the oven and bake for about 30 minutes. You’ll know it is done if you stick a toothpick into the center and it comes out with a bit of crumb. Don’t over bake the brownies.

Put the pan on a rack for ten minutes and then turn it onto the rack to cool. Cool completely before cutting the brownies.

I love frozen brownies for a midmorning snack, so I usually store them in a sealed plastic bag and keep them in the freezer. When I have them around my clothes fit a bit snugger.

This recipe yielded some of the easiest and best tasting brownies I have made in a while, so enjoy!

Sunday Night Dinner: Tomato Sauce Using Fresh Tomatoes

Pasta with Tomato Sauce is my go-to dinner on days that I am feeling lazy, but I usually make it with canned tomatoes. It’s easier and finding tomato skin in my pasta really gets on my nerves.

There are those times, however, when you’ve just returned home from the other side of the world, are slightly jet-lagged, and buy way too much food on your first trip to the supermarket. That was me on Friday, and one of the things that I bought on a whim was a package of seven small hot-house grown and slightly under-ripe plum (aka Roma) tomatoes.

Plum tomatoes, unless really fresh and ripe, are not great as salad fare goes. They aren’t all that sweet and never really reach a state of melting in your mouth and being totally delicious. Consequently, I almost never buy them fresh. For cooked fare, however, plum tomatoes are perfect. They are give sauces body and are flavorful when stewed.

After my Friday shopping bonanza, I thought making sauce from scratch would be a good way to use up my tomatoes on something that could feed me for a few days.

I make a lot of tomato sauce. One large batch is endlessly combinable with all sorts of foods and can feed you in an un-repetitive manner for days.

Some things I like to add when eating tomato sauce with pasta:

*Chicken, Shrimp, or Clams
*Sauteed Zucchini
*Olives and/or Capers

Some non-pasta dishes in which I use tomato sauce:

*Chicken parmesan
*Baked fish fillet with tomato sauce (I do variations on this theme.)
*As sauce for homemade pizza
*As a base for tomato soup – I sometimes combine leftover sauce with vegetable stock and simmered vegetables

I also season my sauce differently at different times of the year. In the winter I favor richer herbs like rosemary and thyme, whereas in the summer I like fresher-tasting herbs like basil or parsley.

The Recipe

7 small plum tomatoes
3 cloves of garlic
½ a large yellow onion
½ a red pepper
White wine
Salt, pepper
Herbs to taste

*These are the proportions that I used but it is just as easy to make a larger batch if there are two of you hoping to eat for a few days. These proportions made about three hearty servings for me.

Peeling the Tomatoes

This always seems like it is going to be a major process but is actually relatively quick and easy. Just boil up some water (I used the same saucepan I was planning to use for the sauce to save some sink space). Once the water is hot, cut a shallow slit into the skin of each tomato and place it into the pot.





After a few seconds, the tomato skin will start to loosen. When that happens, use a slatted spoon to take the tomatoes out of the pot and set them in a bowl to cool.

Once they are cool enough to handle, the skin comes right off!








The Sauce


While I was waiting for my tomatoes to cool, I diced my onions, red pepper, and garlic. I cut them relatively small for this recipe so that they would cook faster.

Then I poured some olive oil into the pot (just enough to coat the bottom), set it to medium heat, waited until the oil was hot, then added the onions, followed soon after by the red pepper and garlic.

Once the onions and peppers had cooked down a little, I diced and added the tomatoes. (They can be chopped to any size, depending on how chunky you like your sauce. I was in the mood for something uniform and smooth so I made my pieces small.)

Once all the vegetables had been added I peppered the mixture again, then let it simmer for a while on low-medium heat. Once some of the liquid had cooked off I added some rosemary, covered the pot, then let the sauce cook for for about 30 minutes on low. This softened any of the vegetables that were not yet tender and deepened the flavor.

When I uncovered the sauce I added some wine. I generally add red wine to tomato sauce but I only had white, so I went with it. Then I added a touch of balsamic vinegar too just because I thought it would taste good (it did!).

When it was done I served the sauce with pasta and added some fresh mozzarella for general deliciousness reasons. The mozzarella melts into the sauce and becomes stringy and delicious.

I put the leftover sauce into a covered pyrex bowl in the fridge because I planned on using it the next day. If you aren't sure when you'll be using the sauce, you can always freeze it.

Bon Appetit!

Simple Salads Part 3: The Salad

Once the greens are washed and dried and the dressing is made it’s time to figure out what you want to put in your salad.

In Beirut, fresh tomatoes, green pepper, and cucumbers are a must. The cucumbers here are mostly the tiny variety that we call Persian cucumbers in the States. They are perfect for salads because they aren’t too watery, don’t have to be peeled, and are very tasty. The tomatoes are flavorful and very fresh, as are the green peppers.

Of course salad is adaptable. You can add any raw vegetable, grilled meat, fresh or canned tuna, etc. The sky is the limit. But too many options, of course, can be overwhelming, and not everybody lives in a climate that offers delicious produce year-round, so here are some of my other favorite combinations:

Lettuce, grated carrots, and sunflower seeds

Lettuce, sliced red pepper, and walnuts

Lettuce, crumbled goat cheese, and blackberries

California Chickpea Salad: I often serve this as a meal in the summer. To make it I drain a can of chickpeas and mix them in a small bowl with a couple of teaspoons of dressing, chopped parsley and scallions. In another bowl I combine lettuce, tomato sections, green pepper, and cucumber, add the chickpea mixture, alfalfa sprouts, crumbled blue cheese, and more dressing. It’s a hearty salad but not heavy, which is perfect for the summer.

In my house, we usually have our salad after the meal, though many people eat salad as an appetizer. Either way, is always a good idea to toss the salad with dressing right before you serve it. If you want to have the salad ready to go beforehand, simply put all of the additions except the greens into the bottom of the bowl and pile the lettuce on top. Put the dressing on when you are ready to eat salad.

Simple Salads Part 2: Salad Dressing

Call me a snob, but I generally don’t like bottled salad dressing. (Though I have to confess when faced with a salad bar, I always go for the clumpy, white blue cheese dressing.) I don’t keep bottled dressings in my kitchen and am always silently appalled when bottled dressing comes out at a friend’s house.

The reason is simple. My mother taught me that it is just as easy to whip up salad dressing as it is to take a bottle of the prepared stuff out of the fridge.

These are the basic proportions that I use:

1/2 part Dijon mustard

1 part balsamic vinegar

3 parts olive oil

Pepper to taste

I can increase these proportions to fit any amount of dressing that I want to make whether in teaspoons, tablespoons, quarter, half, or even a cup. (If you use 1 teaspoon per part, it makes just enough for a salad for two).

This recipe can be spruced up as well. Sometimes, if I have a lot of fresh herbs around I put them in a mini chopper and then add the rest of the ingredients for an herby dressing. Also, at one point my sister gave me an excellent lemon olive oil that I used in place of extra virgin olive oil with excellent results.

For a bit of a change, I have been known replace the mustard with lemon juice, or use a different type of wine vinegar. (Recently, I’ve gotten into white balsamic vinegar, which is a bit lighter than the darker version.)

To mix, I put these ingredients into a small jar, secure the lid, and shake it until the mixture is emulsified. That’s it, easy as pie.

Simple Salads Part 1: Preparing the Greens

(c) Greens and Goats

Nothing is more refreshing than a crisp green leaf salad that is dressed with a tangy vinaigrette. At home I usually dry my lettuce in a lettuce spinner. When I moved to Beirut, however, I found that I had neither a lettuce spinner nor the cabinet space to store such a large single-purpose item.

I used to have an original Swiss lettuce spinner with the pull string at the bottom. After years of use, the string finally broke. Because the rest of the mechanism was beginning to wear away, I had to replace the spinner with a newer model, which has never worked as effectively as the old one. My lettuce was not getting dry enough, so I began to put a paper towel into the plastic bags that I store greens in to soak up some of the moisture. In my little Beirut kitchen, of course, I had to improvise a new approach to drying lettuce.

The spinner situation is a dilemma, of course, because washing lettuce carefully is important. There is nothing I hate more than biting into a salad and getting a mouth full of grit or sand. Fresh greens often come “pre-washed”, fairly clean, or really gritty. I find that even “pre-washed” lettuce is often too sandy for my taste so I usually give it a good rinsing.

For lettuce that looks fairly clean, I usually rinse it in a bowl of cold water then feel around the bottom of the bowl to see if there is any sand on the bottom. If the bowl has sand residue, I rinse it again.

It is the really dirty greens, such as farmer’s market lettuce, spinach, or arugula that can be a challenge. I usually give them three washings, each time pulling the lettuce out before discarding the water.

Keep in mind, if your pour the washing water over the lettuce, the grit will stay on the lettuce, so it is important to pull the lettuce out of the water and then pour it out. Because it is so time-consuming, it is a good idea to wash all of your lettuce at once so that it is ready for other uses later on in the week. (This is also a good idea with fresh herbs.)

I visited Kidron, Ohio a couple of years ago where there is a large Amish market with a number of interesting house ware items. One of these was a terrycloth cotton bag that they use for drying greens. I didn’t realize why it was light green, until I put a white hand towel into action. (Dark greens such as spinach and arugula stain a white towel.)

Basically the drying bag is a piece of plush cotton terry cloth that has been folded over and sewn up the sides. The top of the bag is also folded and sewn so that string can be put through it. To use it, put the lettuce in, pull the drawstring tight and whirl it around your head a few times. The strategy is surprisingly simple and effective.

Of course, I don’t have a sewing machine in Beirut so I bought a cotton hand towel and modified this strategy. I place the greens on one half, fold over the towel, then roll it up and gently massage the roll. If I’m going to use all of the lettuce that day, I just put it in the refrigerator rolled up. If I’m only going to use some of the lettuce or save it for a later time, I put it into a plastic bag, push as much air out of the bag as I can, seal it, and put it in the refrigerator.

When I first started doing this this, I put a piece of paper towel in the bag I stored the greens in to soak up excess moisture, but I found that the greens stayed fresh longer without the paper towel.

When I’m finished with the towel I hang it up to dry so that it’s ready for the next batch. Simple, space-saving, and effective.