Recipe Revisits

I've somehow found myself with a good number of inexpensive, fresh zucchini and an abundance of dried cranberries, and I can't just let these thing sit around. One ingredient I put to use in a new recipe that's very, very similar to one I made before, and the other ingredient made for a tasty second try at a favorite dish.

Another Zucchini Stew
Waaay back in May, I whipped up a big pot of chicken, chickpea and zucchini stew and recall not being particularly enraptured with the flavors. With that tarnished memory in mind, I searched for some warm, tasty way to prepare the pair of zuccs I had in the 'fridge from Sprouts. Ziryab had a possible solution.

Mderbel qar'a (Algerian Zucchini Stew)2.25 lb. zucchini
2.25 lb. lamb shoulder, deboned and cut into six pieces
3 T butter
3 T peanut oil
1/2 C dried chickpeas, soaked and drained
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 t caraway seeds
1/2 t cinnamon
1 T vinegar
Salt
Pepper

1. Cut the zucchinis in thin slices, saute them in 2 tablespoons each of oil and butter and then drain on paper towels.
   
2. In a heavy pot, melt the remaining butter and oil
   
3. Add the meat to the pot, along with the garlic, spices and a little salt.
   
4. Saute the ingredients for 5 min., then cover them with water.
   
5. Add the chickpeas.
   
6. Cover the pot and cook its contents over low heat.
   
7. Once the meat is cooked, remove it from the pot to a serving dish.
   
8. Drop the zucchini slices into the sauce.
   
9. Add the vinegar to the pot and stir.
   
10. Top the meat in the serving dish with the zucchini and sauce.

Yield: 6 servings of unspecified size

Nutritional Info
Farouk Mardam-Bey's Ziryab: Authentic Arab Cuisine is a wonderful look at dishes from the Middle East, but it's not your run-of-the-mill cookbook. Don't turn its pages look for nutritional info.

The Faudie's Futzings
I've worked once with lamb, and I have no plans to do it again. Therefore, I substituted diced chicken breast for the lamb in this recipe.

And I only used one breast since I sort of planned to halve it--I was the only one partaking of the dish that evening--but I didn't completely halve all the ingredients. For example, I used a full amount of chickpeas called for, along with the full amounts of garlic, caraway seeds and cinnamon. I started out with about half the amount of zucchini I needed for a full batch, and I think I did halve the amount of vinegar, but I can't remember for sure at the present moment. Oh well.

Oh, and don't even think for once, Gentle Reader, that I used peanut oil and butter. I used a wee bit of olive oil for both the zucchini slices and the chicken.

Since I was working with chicken, which cooks a lot faster than lamb, this dish didn't take much time to prepare. That said, I did let the pot of goodness stew on low heat for some time to hopefully ensure the water I added (per step 4) was flavorful, not dull.

Did that stewing time yield a flavorful liquid? I'm not sure if that's what did the trick or if using the full amount of spices accomplished the task, but I can assure you, Gentle Reader, that both the liquid and the meat were resplendent with the sweetness of cinnamon and savoriness of garlic.
This stew was far more satisfying than the one I'd made months ago.

Still Keen on Quinoa
I was never fully satisfied with the quinoa pilaf with cranberries I made at the end of August. The dish was good--there's no disputing that--but it didn't fully capture the flavor of the Whole Paycheck quinoa salad I was attempting to recreate. As I had dried cranberries coming out my ears, I was eager to try again with this dish and see if a second attempt would yield better results.

Before my second attempt, I did a bit more recipe scouting online and contemplated a few recipes I didn't recall seeing before my first outing with quinoa. In my final search for recipe fodder, I discovered one from Whole Paycheck that I think might be the same quinoa salad I purchased at the flagship store. I melded it with one or two others I found, made an offering to the FSM and got to work.

Cranberry Quinoa Salad1 C quinoa
2 C water
4 T honey, divided
1 T lemongrass, minced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 1/2 t serrano peppers, seeded and very finely chopped
1 1/2 C whole cranberries
4 T fresh lime juice
1 T finely chopped fresh mint
1 T finely chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 C finely chopped red onion
Salt to taste

1. Rinse the quinoa several times.
   
2. Bring the water and quinoa to a boil, and simmer 20 min. or until all the liquid is absorbed.
   
3. Meanwhile, combine 2 tablespoons of honey with the lemongrass, garlic and peppers in a small bowl.
   
4. When the quinoa is cooked, stir in the honey mixture.
   
5. In a food processor or blender, chop the cranberries with the remaining 2 tablespoons of honey and lime juice, then stir this mixture into the quinoa.
   
6. Add the mint, cilantro, red onion and salt to the quinoa, tossing to combine.
   
7. Chill the salad until ready to serve it.

Yield: 4 servings
Serving size: About 9 oz.

Nutritional Info
Calories: 250
Fat: 2.5 g
Protein: 7 g
Carbs: 52 g
Fiber: 5 g
Na: 300 mg

The Faudie's Futzings
Even though I strongly suspected this recipe is for the salad I'd bought and loved from Whole Paycheck, I futzed with it. I can't help myself, Gentle Reader. Futzing defines who I am.

• I used approximately 2 tablespoons of honey since I was working with dried cranberries and hence didn't need 2 tablespoons for the chopped whole cranberries.
  
• Speaking of dried cranberries, I used two handfuls of 'em. The volume conversion of whole cranberries to dried cranberries is beyond my limited mathematical means. My apologies.
  
• Since I had no lemongrass, mint or parsley and no plans to include cilantro, I chopped half of a medium red onion and one green onion to add bulk to my salad.
  
• I juiced one lime, which probably wasn't the full 4 tablespoons but was probably at least half of it. To add to the citrus fun, I zested a Valencia orange and tossed it in.

It's probably pretty hard to get a sense of the final recipe from my notes, so I'll just give it to you, Gentle Reader. Feel free to play with it and let me know how it comes out.

The Faudie's Tangy Cranberry Quinoa Salad1 C quinoa
2 C water
2 T honey
2 generous handfuls of dried sweetened cranberries
Juice of 1 lime
1/2 of medium red onion, chopped
1/4 C balsamic vinegar
1 green onion, thinly sliced
1 T or more orange zest

1. Put the quionoa (rinsing is optional, depending on your quinoa source) and the water in a large saucepan, bring it to a boil, lower the heat, cover and allow to stand until all the moisture is absorbed.
   
2. Juice the lime directly into the cooked quinoa, add the balsamic vinegar, cranberries and onions, and then stir gently to combine and coat the grains, onions and fruit.
   
3. Add the honey and orange zest, then stir gently again to combine.
   
4. Add more honey to achieve the desired level of sweetness.
   
5. Serve warm as a side dish, or chill and serve as a cold salad.

I served my quinoa warm as an accompaniment to balsamic-glazed salmon. (The quinoa-hating boys had red jasmine rice we'd bought at the local Whole Paycheck. They don't know what they're missing out on!) I apologize for not writing about the salmon recipe, but there's not too much to say about it. I was skeptical (as were some reviewers) that balsamic would be a good match with salmon, especially when paired with Dijon, but I was wrong. The glaze was quite tasty, and I saved the leftover for use with plain 'ol chicken breasts some night.

But as for my quinoa recipe, you can undoubtedly see, Gentle Reader, it's ripe for additional futzings and additions. However, I doubt I'll be doing any. The flavor of my tangy cranberry quinoa salad was just right for me, so this Goldilocks is satisfied.