Brooklyn Forager

I have a confession to make. Some nights, I just don't want to cook. Period. I know that happens to us all, but somehow the guilt comes rushing in every time.

For nights like those, I am trying to amass easy, tasty and healthy meals to save us from the call of takeout pizza. One of my favorite sources for inspiration for these meals is The Splendid Table Weeknight Kitchen emails. They're not always as simple as you'd like for a Tuesday, but the recipes are almost always a success.

This one was particularly successful because I mostly have the ingredients on hand at any given time. I haven't solved the wrap/flatbread as a pantry item yet since we don't go through them quite fast enough, but they are easy enough to pick up on the way home.

For me, the yogurt sauce is the star here, but the flexibility of heat and flavor for the garbanzos is great. There is so much potential for variety! If you play with it, let me know how it goes!

Spicy Garbanzo Bean Burritos with Cucumber Yogurt Sauce (adapted from the Splendid Table e-mail)

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1-1/2 cups thinly sliced onion (about 1 medium onion)
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• Two 15-ounce cans garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 6 large flour tortillas

Cucumber Yogurt Sauce 

• 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt (I used 2%)
• 1 small Persian or English cucumber, peeled and grated on medium holes (about 1/2 cup)
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat a large sauté pan over medium and add the oil. Add garlic and onion and cook for 6 minutes. Add the coriander, cumin, red pepper flakes, and paprika and mix well. Add the garbanzo beans and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Season with salt and pepper and then stir in the cilantro.
2. As the garbanzo beans finish cooking, make the sauce. Mix together all of the ingredients in a small bowl.
3. Spoon 1/2 cup of the garbanzo bean mixture onto each tortilla and top with some yogurt sauce. Fold up tortillas on one end, roll tightly and serve. 

I love Momofuku anything.  Needless to say, then, when I saw this recipe written up here and here, I knew it would be a matter of time before I made it myself.  

My favorite noodles at Momofuku noodle are the Cold Spicy Noodles for which I have yet to find a recipe (blogsphere - is it out there?).  Since I can't make those, these were a decent substitute for my ramen noodle craving. 

In order to make this a more complete meal, I marinated some shrimp in soy sauce, sriracha, garlic and lime juice briefly and stir-fried them with shredded carrots.  As has been suggested in other interpretations of this dish, you would do well to try the noodles topped with stir-fried chicken, tofu, bok choy or even a gooey poached egg.  

(Side note re: shrimp - I didn't write down my recipe before some useless fact replaced it, but the marinade was good enough to try again.  Look for a recipe in the future.)

The dish also gave me a chance to showcase our very own homegrown scallions! I did use some from the market since I wanted to get some whites in there, but it was nice to have the local touch from the garden.

The taste of these noodles is undeniably good.  My chief complaint is the effort involved in mincing massive quantities of ginger and the hefty kick of eating all the minced ginger left in the bottom of an otherwise empty bowl.  I may experiment with larger slivers of ginger to minimize chopping time and ginger exposure.  Otherwise, with David Chang, how can it not be wonderful? 

Ginger Scallion Noodles
adapted from Momofuku

• 2 1/2 cups thinly sliced scallions (greens and whites; from 1 to 2 large bunches)
• 1/2 cup finely minced peeled fresh ginger
• 1/4 cup grapeseed or other neutral oil
• 1 1/2 tsp light soy sauce
• 3/4 tsp sherry vinegar (try with Shaoxing rice wine!)
• 3/4 tsp kosher salt, or more to taste
• 1 pound ramen noodles

1. Combine scallions, ginger, oil, soy, vinegar, and salt in a bowl. Taste and check for salt, adding more if needed. If possible, let sauce sit for 15-20 minutes before dressing noodles.
2.  While sauce sits, prepare the noodles according to package directions. Drain and toss with Ginger Scallion Sauce.  Enjoy!

I started out my enjoyment of cheese in a very limited fashion - all Cracker Barrel Cheddar, all the time.  While there are still some cheeses that I'm not rushing out to try, I have expanded my tastes greatly over time.  For my new love of feta, I credit my husband.  A friend showed me that feta really isn't all that strong and really is good, but his insistence on Greek salads for much of the last year at a local pizza joint made me actually start craving feta on my own. 

This salad came about because of one of those cravings.  I have had a box of Trader Joe's Israeli couscous on my shelf for awhile and wanted to use it.  I also have relatively unfettered access to mint from our herb garden (I've been instructed to let the other herbs have a chance to grow before I dive in).  With these three ingredients, I found myself with an interesting couscous salad and a new way to make shrimp.  By combining these two recipes, a regular dish in our household was born. 

I served this with an interesting value wine that I picked up on the $12 and under table at Brooklyn Wine Exchange.  I've found myself looking for white wines as the weather turns bright, but I'm over a lot of the oaky buttery chardonnays that I used to enjoy.  Enter the 2008 Ermita de Nieve Verdejo, a Spanish white with a lot of floral perfume and some pineapple notes that made it crisp enough and bold enough to be very enjoyable with food.  It is touted as a great alternative to sauvignon blanc.  I recommend checking it out if the weather ever heats up again!

Roasted Sea Salt Shrimp (adapted from The Barefoot Contessa, see above)

• 12 jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined
• olive oil
• sea salt
• fresh cracked black pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

1. Preheat oven to 400F. (If you have a convection or toaster oven, think about that since it heats up the kitchen way less!)
2. Toss shrimp with olive oil, garlic, sea salt and pepper to taste.  Spread evenly in foil-covered baking dish. 
3. Roast for 5-6 minutes.  (Watch closely.  It's easy to go just a touch over the edge and end up with dry shrimp). 

Toasted Israeli Couscous with Feta and Mint (adapted from Fine Cooking, see above)

Serves 4

• 1 1/3 cup Israeli couscous (one Trader Joe's package)
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped mint (spearmint, peppermint or pineapple mint work well)
• 1/2 English cucumber or regular cucumber, peeled, seeded (if necessary) and diced
• 1 cup grape tomatoes, sliced in halves or thirds depending on size
• pickled red onions or sliced red onions
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tbsp pickling liquid from onions or red vinegar
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup finely diced or crumbled feta cheese
• 1 tsp. lemon zest, optional

1. Add two tablespoons olive oil to heavy saucepan (or large skillet if you want to dirty two pans).  Add couscous and saute gently until golden brown. 
2. Add water or broth as directed by couscous package, roughly 10 minutes. (See original recipe for suggestions if needed.)  Drain and rinse under cool water.  Add couscous to large bowl and toss with cucumber, tomato, onions and mint. 
3. In a small bowl, mix 1/4 cup olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar and black pepper.  (Add zest if using.)  Add feta to dressing.  Toss dressing with couscous. 
4. Add roasted shrimp or another protein.  Consider grilled chicken, seasoned tofu, pine nuts or other options as well. 
5. NOTE: We ate two servings on the first night and the leftovers one day later.  The dish still tasted fresh and maybe even a bit better as the flavors melded. 

Way back when I made risotto with my homemade stock, I also found myself with tons of shredded chicken straight off the bone.  The process of making stock made the meat literally fall off the bone, so I wasn't faced with my usual situation - I'm somewhat averse to the whole bone thing, so I leave way too much meat on the bones when faced with them without assistance. Those bones were picked clean this time!

With so much meat, I really should have made an effort to see how many different recipes I could make like some other challenges I've seen out in the blogosphere.  I intend to do that in the future, but this time I had one thing in mind.  Enchiladas! I used to consider this dish an unhealthy indulgence that I made once in awhile since there are very few dishes where I use something from a can that isn't beans or coconut milk (okay, there are probably more things....but you get the drift). Now, I found a recipe to make enchilada sauce from scratch which eliminates the processed factor and makes things all around more fun!

Besides the development in sauce, this recipe packs in more vegetables than your typical enchilada recipe and certainly could handle even more.  I thought about mixing in some black beans (especially if you want to use less chicken) or chopped spinach.  As usual, you could throw in chopped sweet peppers if you actually eat those things :) I'd love to hear about other suggestions.

And finally, besides all of the fun that I had making the enchiladas and thinking up revisions, I will leave you with the ultimate eater's recommendation - my husband says: Best.  Enchiladas.  Ever. 

Chicken Enchiladas (adapted from Tyler Florence)

• 1 4lb organic free-range chicken, shredded
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• Juice of 1/2 lime
• 1 red onion, minced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp olive oil (or chicken drippings if you cook the chicken yourself)
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels
• 4 chipotle peppers in adobo, roughly chopped
• 3 tbsp pickled jalapeno slices, roughly chopped
• 1 28 ounce can of crushed or diced tomatoes
• 1 1/2 cups of enchilada sauce
• 12 whole grain or whole wheat tortillas (or more depending on size and stuffing)
• 2 cups of grated Cheddar and Jack cheeses

1.  Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Add cumin, garlic, paprika, chili powder and cayenne to shredded chicken. 
3. Saute onion and garlic in olive oil (or chicken drippings) until fragrant and soft.  Add corn and chiles and mix well. Add tomatoes and saute for 1 minute.
4. Add chicken to tomato mixture and stir until heated all the way through and well combined.
5. Cover the bottom of 2 13 x 9 inch baking dishes with a thin layer of enchilada sauce. Spread small amount of sauce on a tortilla; fill with chicken mixture.  Roll tortilla closed and place seam down in the pan.  Top tortillas with remaining sauce and shredded cheese.
6. Bake for 15 minutes until cheese is melted and bubbling.

 Chicken Enchiladas

It has taken me a long time to get used to the traditional Greek flavor profile.  Some things are still growing on me, but in the last couple of years, I've really come around to spinach and feta and red onion, in particular.  I can lay credit at the feet of The Barefoot Contessa, for it was her Spinach Pie in The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook that turned me around.  Needless to say, it is also a classic Ina Garten dish and therefore not remotely healthy.

I was ecstatic, then, to find this recipe in the latest issue of Clean Eating Magazine which presents an easy light dish (once you wrestle with the phyllo) that incorporates the tangy cheesy elements of the spinach pie I love along with the healthy light feeling you should get when eating Greek foods. 

The recipe needed very little tweaking to make it a big hit in our house, although I spiced things up a bit because I couldn't leave well enough alone.  I believe it could use at least twice the feta, but my husband reminded me that I love cheesiness and it cuts against the lightness to add more.  The amount referenced below is the original amount, but if you love feta and have room for it in your healthy eating plan, shamelessly add more.  I added garlic, chili flakes and pine nuts because I think if you can, you should.  I did eliminate the sweet red pepper from this recipe which takes it down a notch vegetable-wise, but sweet peppers are one flavor that still falls outside my comfort zone. If you like, add 1 tablespoon or more finely chopped sweet red pepper.

Spanakopita Casserole (adapted from Clean Eating Magazine)

•  1 tsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup sweet onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 tsp dried red pepper flakes
• 3 large bags (27 ounces or 36 cups, loosely packed) of fresh baby spinach
• 1 tbsp fresh dill, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp fresh mint, finely chopped
• 1 large egg white
• 1/2 cup feta, crumbled
• 4 sheets phyllo dough (whole wheat if you can find it), 13x18 inches each
• Additional olive oil in mister or spray

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Heat olive oil in a (very) large saute pan over medium-high heat.  Add onion, garlic, pine nuts and pepper flakes and saute for about 2 minutes.  Add spinach in batches, letting each cook down slightly before adding more.  Cover tightly and cook, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes.
2. Drain spinach mixture and remove all excess liquid in a colander.  Set aside and let cool (this took quite awhile for me - if you're in a rush, put it in the fridge). 
3. When mixture has cooled, add dill, mint and egg white.  Mix well.  Fold in feta cheese and set aside.
4. Mist a 9x9inch casserole dish (1 1/2 quart volume) with olive oil.  Cut or gently tear each phyllo strip into 4 sections (approximately 3 inch wide sections).  Place 3-4 strips across casserole, overlapping slightly and letting phyllo hang over both ends of dish.  Place an additional 3-4 strips going in the opposite direction.  Mist strips with olive oil.  Continue layer as such until all strips are used, misting each layer.
5. Spoon spinach mixture into center of dish and gently spread evenly across phyllo.  Fold strips over to cover all spinach.  Mist lighly with olive oil.
6. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until lightly brown and crispy.  Let sit for 10-15 minutes before slicing.  This makes about 4 entree portions or 8 side portions.

Reheating: The microwave can make the phyllo mushy, so I recommend using a toaster oven to reheat portions.  Also, the phyllo will continue to brown on re-heating, so keep that in mind.