Fried Chickpeas/Hominy with Chorizo and Spinach

This recipe comes from the master of simplicity himself, Mark Bittman. It's a great crowd pleaser. I had a few cans of hominy left over from previous posole recipes and was trying to find a way to incorporate them into a non-soup dish. This is the perfect answer. Canned hominy is about the same shape/consistency as chickpeas and holds the flavor of the chorizo and sherry just as well. The bread crumbs are a bit much though, feel free to decrease the amount or neglect them altogether.

Ingredients

1/4 cup olive oil, plus more for drizzling

2 cups cooked or canned chickpeas, as dry as possible

Salt and black pepper

4 ounces chorizo, diced

1/2 pound spinach, roughly chopped

1/4 cup sherry

1 to 2 cups bread crumbs.

1. Heat the broiler.

2. Put three tablespoons of the oil in a skillet large enough to hold chickpeas in one layer over medium-high heat. When it’s hot, add chickpeas and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

3. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, shaking the pan occasionally, until chickpeas begin to brown, about 10 minutes, then add chorizo. Continue cooking for another 5 to 8 minutes or until chickpeas are crisp; use a slotted spoon to remove chickpeas and chorizo from pan and set aside.

4. Add the remainder of the 1/4 cup of oil to the pan; when it’s hot, add spinach and sherry, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook spinach over medium-low heat until very soft and the liquid has evaporated. Add chickpeas and chorizo back to the pan and toss quickly to combine; top with bread crumbs, drizzle with a bit more oil and run pan under the broiler to lightly brown the top. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Yield: 4 servings.

Chocolate Truffles with Anejo Tequila and Chipotle

Chocolate Truffles with Anejo Tequilla and Chipotle

Oh Rick Bayless. God of Mexican food. I mean, honestly, why wouldn't you combine chocolate, tequila and chili? All good things combined to make one amazing dessert. Oh yes. Amazing.

Ingredients

12 ounces 60% dark chocolate, roughly chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon chipotle chile powder
3 tablespoons anejo tequila or creme de mezcal
1/4 cup sifted cocoa powder for coating the truffles
1/4 teaspoon chipotle chile powder for coating the truffles


Directions

Place a medium saucepan filled with about 1 inch of water over low heat. Bring the water to a simmer.

Scoop the chopped chocolate into a heat resistant bowl which will fit in the saucepan without touching the water.
In a separate small saucepan, heat the heavy cream to a simmer. Pour the cream over the chopped chocolate, let sit for 1 minute, then stir.
Place the bowl onto the pan with simmering water and continue stirring until almost all of the chocolate has melted, about 2 minutes. Remove the bowl from the heat and add the tequila and the chipotle chile powder. Continue stirring until all the chocolate has melted.
Place the ganache mixture in the refrigerator to chill. It will take between 1 to 2 hours for the ganache to harden enough to roll into balls. Mix together the cocoa powder and chipotle chile powder. Using 1 tablespoon of ganache, roll into small balls. Place them into the cocoa powder mixture and roll to coat. Arrange the truffles on a serving tray and refrigerator until ready to serve.

COOK'S NOTES: There is a danger of the chocolate separating when you're heating it over the simmering water. If that happens (i.e. if you see the chocolate change colour and start to ooze oil), pour some hot water into the bowl with the chocolate and keep stirring. That should whip the chocolate back into shape and give it that nice glossy look again. This is a life-saving tip and has saved me on more than one occasion!

Italian Eggs over Spinach and Polenta

Italian Eggs over Spinach and Polenta

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 (16-ounce) tube of polenta, cut into 12 slices (or soft polenta, made by combining 1 cup polenta with 2 cups boiling water, stir occasionally until water is absorbed & polenta is fluffy)
  • Cooking spray
  • 2 cups fat-free tomato-basil pasta sauce
  • 1 (6-ounce) package fresh baby spinach
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded Asiago cheese

Preparation

Preheat broiler.
Arrange polenta slices on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Coat tops of polenta with cooking spray. Broil 3 minutes or until thoroughly heated.
While polenta heats, bring sauce to a simmer in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in spinach; cover and cook for 1 minute or until spinach wilts. Stir to combine. Make 4 indentations in top of spinach mixture using the back of a wooden spoon. Break 1 egg into each indentation. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes or until eggs are desired degree of doneness. Sprinkle with cheese. Place 3 polenta slices on each of 4 plates; top each serving with one-fourth of spinach mixture and 1 egg.

Grilled Courgettes with chickpeas, goat's cheese, and mint


As the weather gets warmer (finally!), I start getting in the mood for salads. Well, actually, I'm one of those people who's almost always in the mood for a salad. I know, call me crazy. But what I can't stand more than anything else is a salad without, how do I say, purpose.
We've all had them or at least seen them on restaurant menus. The afterthought put in by the chef to cater to the vegetarians, those on a diet, or those just looking for a guilt-free way to get their veggie quotient up. We could probably recite the ingredients by heart: romaine or iceberg lettuce, tomatoes (perhaps chopped), sliced cucumber, maybe if we're feeling daring a crumbling of feta or a sprinkling of black olives, toss with oil and vinegar, and there you have it. Ruffage on a plate.
This is not a salad.
This is an excuse to pay too much for no effort whatsoever.
So when it comes to making salads at home, purpose is the name of the game. I'm all for a salad main course, but if and only if the salad has some attitude.
Thankfully, this salad has attitude in spades. A little bit of Italian flavor, a little hint of the Middle East, and we've got something that might just restore your faith in the veggie section of your grocery.

Serves 4
Time: about 15 minutes

3 courgettes/zucchini, thinly sliced lengthwise
2 tbsp olive oil
50g crumbled goat's cheese
2 ripe tomatoes, deseeded and diced
400g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 tbsp chopped fresh mint
grated zest and juice of one lemon
1/2 tsp chili flakes

Preheat a griddle or frying pan, brush the courgette slices with some of the oil and cook for 1-2 min on each side.
Season and arrange on a platter.
Scatter the courgettes with the goat's cheese, tomatoes, and chickpeas, and drizzle the remaining olive oil.
Sprinkle over the mint, lemon zest, and chili flakes, then drizzle with the lemon juice and season to taste.
Serve immediately

Chocolate, Ginger, & Pistachio Biscotti


A recipe originally found in April's edition of Delicious magazine, but amended to include one of my favorite pairings of all time: ginger. I mean, really, when does chocolate, ginger, and nuts go wrong? I submit, never.
Anyway, these came out for me much more like crispy cookies than actual biscotti, but nonetheless delicious. They also seemed to make, rather than the advertised 25, about 10. Tops. I'm not sure how small they wanted me to divide the dough up, but my biscotti seem about average size and only produced less than half of what they claimed. Ah well. Delicious regardless.

Makes about 25 biscotti (LIES! About 10 really)
Time: 20 min. to make, 30 min to bake

Ingredients:

120g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
75g caster sugar
2 tsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
25g chilled unsalted butter, diced
1 large egg
1 tbsp olive oil
40g green pistachios
40g diced crystallized ginger
50g bitter chocolate chips (i.e. 70% cocoa solids) or chopped dark chocolate

Method

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C. Sift dry ingredients into a mixing bowl and rub in butter with your fingertips.
In a small bowl, beat the egg with the olive oil and stir into the mixture. Add the pistachios and chocolate chips or chopped chocolate, then knead together until everything is evenly distributed.
Turn the mixture out onto a floured surface. Roll the piece into a log about 3cm wide and 35cm long (or whatever will fit on your baking sheet).
Bake for 20 minutes until risen and firm but not hard.
Remove from oven and reduce temperature to 150 degrees C.
Slice the logs on the diagonal into biscuits, about 5mm thick, using a sharp serrated knife.
Lay out on baking trays and cook for a further 8-10 minutes until crisp.
Set aside to cool.

Can be stored in an airtight container for up to one week.