Chicken and spinach calzones

1 batch Definitely the Best Pizza Crust
2 chicken breasts, grilled and sliced thinly
1 1/3 cups frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1/2 cup goat cheese mixed with 1/2 cup milk
1 cup mozzarella, shredded
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Cornmeal
Marinara sauce for dipping (at least 1/2 cup per person)

Prepare dough and let rise once. Punch down and divide into four balls. Cover gently with plastic wrap and let rise 30 minutes to an hour.

Roll dough out to about 9-10 inches in diameter. Spread goat cheese mixture in the shape of a D on one half of a dough round. Leave 1/2 inch of plain dough along the edge. Scoop 1/3 cup spinach onto the cheese. Cover with chicken slices. Top with shredded mozzarella.



Dip your finger in water and run it along the edge of plain dough. Fold the dough over the half with toppings, lining the edges up well. Press edges together gently with your finger. Sprinkle the edge with flour, then seal by pressing closed with a fork. Make the seal about 1/2 inch. Make 2-3 slices in the top of the dough with a sharp knife - be careful not to pull the dough.



Place the calzone on a baking sheet or baking stone sprinkled with cornmeal.



Repeat with remaining dough and filling. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden. Serve hot with marinara sauce.

Mushroom pilaf

I started off with something quite different in mind, but I really like how this turned out!

1 cup mixed wild rice
1/2 cup brown rice
1 cup bulgur
1 cup black mushrooms (I rehydrate dried ones), chopped
2 cups broth
1-3 cups water according to cooking directions for your rice
1 Tbsp olive oil

Heat olive oil over med-high heat. Add rice ance cook until translucent, browned and starts to smell yummy. Add mushrooms and broth. Add as much water as needed according to your rice instructions. Cover and reduce heat. Cook as directed.

Beef tagine coucous

This recipe originally called for lamb and the addition of turmeric, which I didn't have. It did not call for carrots or prunes, but we had both and thought, "why not?". In the end, we prefered the prunes over the apricots. I tweaked a few amounts of ingredients to our taste, but overall this is a basic beef tagine. Serves two, ready in two hours.

1-2 Tbsp olive oil
2 large onions, diced
1 lb beef, cubed

Spice mix:
2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp chili powder

Sauce ingredients:
3 cloves garlic, crushed
3 carrots, sliced into rounds
small handful dried apricots, chopped
small handful raisins
4-5 prunes, pitted
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1/2 tsp beef bouillon
1 Tbsp honey
1/4 cup water
Juice of 2 lemons
Salt to taste

Mix together the spices and coat the meat.



Heat the oil in a large pan and brown the onions well, then add the meat. Stir often until nicely browned. Add all remaining sauce ingredients. Stir well, bringing to a boil.

Reduce heat to low and simmer 1-2 hours or until the meat is very tender. Serve over coucous.

San Diego fish tacos

I am all over this.

Mom's granola

Mom used to make this in Africa when we were little. I adapted it a bit based on my pantry stock, but the same overall recipe.

In a large bowl, mix:
2 cups whole wheat flour
6 cups oatmeal
1 cup dried coconut
1 cup wheat germ (I subbed ½ cup cornmeal + ½ cup wheat bran)
½ cup powdered milk (opt)
2-3 cups peanuts

In another bowl mix:
½ cup water
1 cup oil
1 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla
½ tsp maple flavoring (opt)

Add wet ingredients to dry and mix thoroughly. Spread on 2 non-stick cookie sheets or cookies sheets lined with parchment paper.

Bake at 250 degrees for one hour or until dry and golden. Cool completely, then store in airtight container. Eat plain, as cereal, over yogurt or in trail mix.

Southern fried green tomatoes

3-4 firm, green tomatoes
½ cup milk
½ cup flour
2 eggs, beaten
½ cup cornmeal
salt
olive oil

Slice the tomatoes into half inch rounds and salt.

Heat 1-2 Tbsps olive oil over medium-high heat in a non-stick skillet.

Set up four bowls: one for milk, one for flour, one for egg and one for cornmeal. Dip each round in this order, allowing each addition to coat it well.



Cook the rounds until golden brown, flipping occasionally. Add more olive oil if needed.

Serve plain, with goat cheese (or feta) or on a salad.

Open-faced veggie sandwiches

1 medium carrot, cut into thin rounds
1 large zucchini, cut into thin rounds
1-2 sliced red bell peppers
1 sliced purple onion
2 crushed garlic cloves
¼ c Italian dressing
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar or lemon juice
Goat cheese (or feta)
Basil pesto
French bread, sliced in half

Spread pesto on both sides of bread and toast in the oven.

Heat a non-stick skillet to med-high and cook carrot slices in Italian dressing for 3-4 minutes. Add remaining veggies and sauté until tender crisp. Sprinkle on vinegar or lemon juice.

Scoop veggies onto pesto toast and top with goat cheese or feta.

Midnight-craving cake

I can't take credit for the recipe. Here it is. But I can take credit for making a smaller version one night when we were both in the mood for birthday cake!

Just peachy French toast

1/2 loaf day-old French baguette bread, sliced into 3/4 inch thick rounds
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk
dash nutmeg
dash cinnamon

2 large fresh peaches, sliced
2 Tbsp powdered sugar

Mix eggs, milk and cinnamon. Dip bread rounds in egg mixture, soaking for about a minute on each side.

Place rounds in hot non-stick skillet (med-high heat). Cook for 1-2 minutes on each side, or until browned.

Serve warm, topped with powdered sugar and peaches.

Accidental iced coffee

1. Stumble out of bed and head for coffee maker.

2. Pour a mug of coffee.

3. Add milk and sugar. Stir.

4. Take a sip.

5. Gag and cough a bit, then dump it out into the sink when you realize it's yesterday's leftovers and not a fresh pot.

Morning sunrise bread

Why call it Morning sunrise bread?
Well, I started making it in the morning. I let it rise out in the sun. And it's bread!

Makes two 9 x 5-inch loaves...or 1 large and 2 small ones

This bread recipe first appeared in the first JOY of COOKING edition in 1931. They said, "It is an even-grained all-purpose bread that stales slowly and cuts well for sandwiches." We said, "It's awesome!" Of course, I made a few adjustments, so this is my revised recipe.

Combine in a small saucepan and heat until warm (105° to 115°F):

1 cup milk
1 cup water
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon salt

Combine in a large bowl and let stand until the yeast is dissolved, about 5 minutes:

1/4 cup warm (105° to 115°F) water
1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast

Have ready:
4 1/2 cups all-purpose or bread flour

2 cups whole wheat flour (I used a multigrain mix)



Add the lukewarm milk mixture to the dissolved yeast. Stir in 3 cups of the flour and beat 1 minute, then stir or work in 3 more cups flour. Toss the dough onto a floured board and knead until it is smooth, elastic, and full of bubbles, gradually adding more flour until the dough no longer sticks to your hands. Place the dough in a greased bowl, turn the dough over once, and cover with a cloth. Let rise in a warm place (75° to 85°F) until doubled in bulk, at least 1 hour.



Punch down the dough and, if time permits, allow it to rise until doubled once more, then punch it down again. Divide the dough in half, shape into 2 loaves, and place in greased 9 x 5-inch loaf pans. Brush with oil, then cover with a clean cloth and let rise again until almost doubled in bulk.

Preheat the oven to 450°F. Bake the bread 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350°F and bake about 30 minutes longer. Bake until the crust is golden brown and the bottom sounds hollow when tapped. Remove the loaves at once from the pans. Rub butter on the crusts, then cool completely on a rack.

Middle Eastern pita bread

Major advantage of this recipe: bread in under an hour. The yeast is used for flavor, not as a rising agent.

1 1/2 cup warm water
1 1/2 Tbsp sugar
3 tsp yeast
3 Tbsp olive oil
3 3/4 cups flour
3 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place a baking sheet or pizza stone in the oven.

Heat water to about 110 degrees (hot, but not so hot that you can't keep your finger in it) in a large bowl. Stir in the sugar, then yeast. Let sit about 10 minutes or until foamy. Whisk in olive oil. Add flour one cup at a time. When it forms a ball, pulling away from bowl, turn it out onto a floured surface. Knead well until smooth and elastic, about 10-15 minutes. Cover gently with plastic wrap and let rest 10 minutes.

Knead in salt. Cut into 12 pieces and shape into balls. Cover again and let sit another 20 minutes.
Cut a piece of aluminum foil about 8x8 inches. Spray lightly with olive oil.



Roll out one piece to the thickness of a slice of processed cheese. Gently lift up the dough and place it on the foil. Put it in the hot oven on the baking sheet or stone. Let cook about 5-8 minutes or until puffed and brown. Once browned pull it out and immediately put it in a sealed ziplock bag. This will soften the bread as it cools to make it chewy rather than tough.



Repeat 11 times.

Fresh cucumber salad

1 English cucumber, chilled
1-2 purple onions
1 round fresh goat cheese (chevre)
Balsamic vinegar

Wash the cucumber well. Peel strips off, making stripes of green and white. Slice the cucumber thinly and place in a bowl. Peel and slice onions, adding to cucumber. Pour about 1-2 Tbsp of balsamic vinegar, or to taste. Toss to coat. Sprinkle on goat cheese and serve.

Savory crêpes

1 cup flour
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 Tbsp oil

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour and the eggs. Gradually add in the milk and water, stirring to mix. Add the salt and oil. Beat until smooth. Let the batter sit one hour, then whisk again before cooking.

Heat a lightly oiled frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup or less for each crêpe. Tilt the pan with a circular motion so that the batter coats the surface evenly.

Cook the crêpe for about 2 minutes, until the bottom is light brown. Loosen with a spatula, flip and cook the other side. Serve hot, with filling. As a general rule, savory crêpes are filled, then rolled.

Filling ideas: ham, grated cheeses, scrambled eggs, mushrooms, steamed spinach, goat cheese, etc...

This recipe makes about 8 crêpes. Recipe for dessert crêpes here.

Hungarian apricot bread

Okay, so it's not actually a Hungarian recipe...but I did make it for the first time while in Hungary.

1 1/4 cups flour
1/4 cup oatmeal
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1-2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon almond extract
2/3 cup peach or apricot yogurt
12 large ripe apricots- peeled, pitted and diced

In a large bowl, combine flour, oatmeal, sugar, salt, baking powder and spices. Add vegetable oil, egg and yogurt; mix well. Fold in diced apricots. Pour into geased loaf pan. Bake in preheated oven at 400 degrees for 25 to 35 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Hungarian cherry soup

To answer your question, yes this is served as a main course and not a dessert. But you can do whatever makes you happy.

1 1/3 lb pitted sour cherries
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp lemon zest
cinnamon stick
1-2 cloves
1 Tbsp flour
3/4 cup sour cream

In a large saucepan, combine cherries, sugar, lemon and spices. Bring to a gentle boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove cinnamon stick.

Slowly mix flour into sour cream until smooth. Stir into cherry mixture to thicken. Cool completely, then chill in fridge.

Serve in a bowl, topped with fresh whipped cream.

Updated - goat cheese lasagne!

This recipe is one I change every time I make it (like the zucchini in the photo), but this is the basic recipe. It uses mostly goat cheese, which is high in protein, and adds carrots to the tomato sauce for added nutrition and rounder flavor. And...(drum roll, please!) I figured out the nutritional information here.

10-12 lasagne noodles
2 cups tomato puree
1/4 cup cooked carrot puree
2 1/2 cups frozen spinach, thawed
4-6 rounds of fresh goat cheese (chevre)
1/3 cup shredded mozzarella
4 cloves garlic, crushed
Italian seasonings
Sugar

Mix together goat cheese, spinach and garlic.

In a separate bowl, mix the tomato and carrot puree with 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning and 1 tsp sugar. Taste, adding more seasonings if needed.

In a baking dish spread a layer of tomato sauce, then as follows:

noodles
cheese mixture
tomato sauce
noodles
cheese mixture
tomato sauce

Repeat until all ingredients have been used. Top with mozzarella. Bake at 350 degrees until bubbly and golden.

Fiesta pizza

2 pita bread rounds (or tortillas)
1/2 cup cooked ground beef with taco seasoning
1/3 cup salsa
1 red pepper, seeded and sliced
1/4 cup corn
1 small onion, chopped
black olives (opt)
shredded Gouda, Monterrey Jack or Cheddar cheese

Spread the salsa on the pita rounds, going to within 1/2 inch from the edge. Top with shredded cheese, then ground beef. Add remaining toppings. Broil until cheese melts and starts to brown.

Broccoli turkey bake

I was going for a good comfort food recipe, and found it. :)

1 lb turkey breast tenders
2-3 cups broccoli, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 cups cooked rice
1 cup cooked quinoa
1 cup frozen, sliced mushrooms
1 cup milk
1/3 cup light cream (15 percent)
1/4 cup porto wine (opt)
1/2 to 1 cup shredded Gouda (or other mild cheese)
1 Tbsp butter
2-3 cloves crushed garlic
2 cubes chicken bouillon
Rosemary
Thyme
Salt and pepper

Cook rice and quinoa.

Steam the broccoli until just bright green.

Slice turkey into bite-sized pieces. Cook in butter over medium heat until white all the way through. Add garlic, porto and mushrooms and cook until half of liquid evaporates. Add milk, cream, bouillon, pinch of thyme and two dashes rosemary. Once it begins to thicken, stir in cheese until melted.

In a large baking dish, stir together rice, quinoa, sauce, and broccoli. Spread out evenly, then broil 5-10 minutes until browned.

Tomato basil salad

Very simple, very good.

2-3 ripe tomatoes, washed and sliced
1 onion, sliced
1-2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1-2 tsp olive oil or Pampered Chef Basil Blend Oil
salt

Put all in bowl and toss to coat. Chill, and voila! Also good with mozzarella cubes.

Poulet Yassa - the tutorial

Poulet Yassa is a spicy, lemon dish with chicken (poulet, in French) and carmelized onions served over rice. Originally Senegambian, Yassa has become popular throughout West Africa. Visitors to Senegal love Yassa - can't get enough Yassa! It's so good that we actually served this at our wedding rehearsal dinner!


Chez Mamy's in Dakar

2 lbs chicken pieces (or one chicken leg per person)
2 lbs onions, chopped or sliced (at least 2-3 medium onions per person)
4-5 sliced carrots (not traditional yassa ingredient, but we like it)
1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp bouillon
black pepper
salt
dried hot peppers or hot pepper sauce (we use Scotch Bonnet)
2-3 lemons (juice)
6 cups cooked rice
Sliced green peppers and tomatoes

Heat oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken pieces carefully. Cook until browned and juices run clear, about 15-20 minutes. Flip occasionally to keep from overcooking.


Fried chicken waiting...

As chicken cooks, slice onions into thin "smiley faces".

Once chicken is cooked, put it aside on a plate lined with paper towels.


Cutting the onions takes a while, but don't skimp! They cook down a lot!

Save 1/2 oil. Reduce heat to lowest setting. Add onions and sauté very slowly (2 hours absolute minimum) until caramelized and light yellow in color. Stir the onions every 15 minutes or so. If after 30 minutes they don't look very different, you've probably got the heat on just right. At an hour they should just begin to be translucent. At two hours they should be floppy. Keep going! But don't turn up the heat. The slower, the better. Really good Yassa needs at least six hours!


Onions after about 30 minutes


Onions after about two hours


Onions after about three hours

Once the onions are completely carmelized, add Dijon, lemon juice, bouillon, hot pepper, salt, and pepper. (This is where we add cooked, sliced carrots.) Turn up the heat to med-low. Let simmer for about an hour, stirring and tasting every 15 minutes until just how you want it.


Sauce Maggi and Dijon mustard

Here's a tasting guide:
- If too bland, add bouillon and Dijon
- If not too lemony, add just a bit more
- If not quite spicy enough, slowly add more pepper and hot pepper sauce
- If you have sauce Maggi, use it!
- some people add a few Tbsp vinegar and/or soy sauce

Add chicken 15 minutes before serving, or sooner if you want the meat to fall off the bones.

Serve over white rice and top with freshly sliced veggies.


The final version - modified a la Masson

Yogurt cake

This cake recipe, 'gateau au yaourt', is often taught to French children who are just learning to cook. It's very much like a sour cream pound cake, but you can play with the flavors by using different fruited yogurts. For this batch I made cupcakes, used pineapple yogurt, and added a half of a cherry on top. (We don't like pineapple yogurt, so rather than alternating who has to eat the one out of six-pack that is, we just freeze them. When I want to make this cake, I pull one out to thaw.)

Pour 1 pot of yogurt, the flavor of your choice, in a mixing bowl. Now use the yogurt cup as your measuring tool.

2 yogurt cups flour
1 1/2 yogurt cups sugar
1/2 yogurt cup oil
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 t vanilla
Orange or lemon zest (opt)

In a large bowl mix together yougurt, sugar and oil. Beat in the eggs and stir in vanilla. In a small bowl mix flour and baking powder. Stir it into the yogurt mixture. Add zest, if using.

Pour into greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until browned and knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Veggie quesadilla

2 flour tortillas
1 cup frozen broccoli, thawed
6-8 slices sun-dried tomatoes
sliced mushrooms
shredded Gouda cheese (or Cheddar)
sour cream (opt)

Lay the tortillas flat on a plate. On half of each, layer veggies and top with cheese. Microwave for 30 seconds on high, more if needed. Serve with sour cream.

Summer fruit crisp

3-4 peaches or 7-8 apricots
2 handfuls sweet cherries or summer berries
1/2 cup flour
1 cup oats
1/2 cup sugar
tiny pinch salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
dash ground cloves
1/4 cup butter, chilled

Cut the fruit in half, removing the pits. Cut the larger fruit into 1/2 inch slices.

Layer the fruit in a baking dish. Sprinkle with 1-2 Tbsps sugar. In a bowl, mix the flour, remaining sugar, salt and cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Slice the butter into chunks and mix it into the dry ingredients until it looks like pea size crumbs. Sprinkle crumbs over fruit.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes in preheated oven at 350 degrees, until lightly golden.

Coming soon...

A step-by-step Poulet Yassa tutorial!

Come and get it, toubabs.