February – Sheet Pan Roasted Cauliflower with Chick Peas
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February – Sheet Pan Roasted Cauliflower with Chick Peas

Chickpeas (also called garbanzos or ceci beans) have been popular in the Middle East for many years, and are a staple ingredient in many of the region’s most well-known dishes like hummus and falafel. They are an excellent source of carbohydrate, protein, fiber, B vitamins (especially folate), and some minerals.

We frequently enjoy them tossed into a salad, a few cans are always on the pantry shelf. Have you tried them roasted? You can roast them to a crispness that will rival any nut. Simply toss them with olive oil, salt and any combination of spices you fancy. Then roast them in a 350 degree oven until crisp. Served that way they are excellent as a snack before dinner with your 5pm cocktail.

Lately I have been adding them to the sheet pan when I roast vegetables. The ones on the edge end up toasty and crunchy while the ones in the middle are softer and creamy.

Sheet Pan Roast Cauliflower with Chickpeas

Sheet Pan Roast Cauliflower with Chickpeas

This is an excellent side dish or vegetarian main with the addition of rice or flatbread.

I don’t really have a recipe for this, it’s a ‘no recipe’ recipe.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F. Cut or break a head of cauliflower into pieces about 1-2 inches in size. If the stem is thick, consider peeling it as you would broccoli. Then cut into manageable pieces. Drain and rinse a can of chickpeas. Spread the cauliflower and chickpeas on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. You could add any spices at this time…cumin or baharat or zaatar. Mix it all up and spread everything out evenly. Roast for about 40 minutes until you see the edges turning toasty brown.

Serve with a scattering of chopped scallions, or cilantro, or parsley, or celery leaves, or anything green that is in your fridge or garden. Squeeze some lemon over the top.

Sheet Pan Roast Cauliflower with Chickpeas

Sheet Pan Roast Cauliflower with Chickpeas

 

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In My Kitchen – February 2024

Sherry from Sherry’s Pickings hosts a friendly community of bloggers who post monthly about their kitchens and/or kitchen gardens. It is a collection from around the world detailing what is new related to food, or kitchen gadgets, or simply life in general, over the past month (and sometimes longer). Click on the link to Sherry’s Pickings to read them all. Following is my own summary from the past month.

There has been a lot of cooking going on in my kitchen over the past month. The weather has been very wet, so staying in by a cozy fire with something sending out aromas from the oven seems the way to go.

As always, chicken has played an oversized role.

Our daughter has been visiting with her dog, Belle. One night she cooked a delicious one-pot recipe to raves from diners. She has given me permission to post it. Stay tuned for that one.

One Pot Chicken with Rice, Cherry Tomatoes, and Lemon

One Pot Chicken with Rice, Cherry Tomatoes, and Lemon

Another night there was a definite Korean influence to a sheet pan dinner of Gochujang Chicken with Carrots and Grapes.

A new cookbook, From Salt to Jam by Karina Meynink, inspired a roast chicken stuffed under the skin with an addictive mix she calls kettle furikake. I am looking forward to trying more of her sauces and seasonings.

From Salt to Jam: Make Kitchen Magic With Sauces, Seasonings And More Flavour Sensations - Meynink, Katrina

Kettle Furikake

Kettle FurikakeIt is a mixture of kettle potato chips, nori, black and white sesame seeds, fried shallots, and gochugaru (Korean chilli flakes).

The next night this same savory mix found its way on top of a simple stir fry with salmon.

There have been some vegetables and salads along the way as well to add a healthy note.

Sheet Pan Roast Cauliflower with Chickpeas

Sheet Pan Roast Cauliflower with Chickpeas

And a favorite winter salad of shaved Brussels sprouts.

Petra from the blog Food Eat Love inspired me to try making crispy summer rolls in the air fryer. They need a bit more work to perfect, but were a delicious alternative to deep frying. Click the link to her blog to see the recipe for the filling.

Crispy Summer Rolls

Crispy Summer Rolls

The dogs play an outsized influence on our lives. This is Shanna, half asleep after her breakfast ‘dessert’ of a peanut butter kong. Clearly, she claims it. Let the two other dogs beware.

Shanna

Shanna, even though half asleep, she claims this kong as her own. No touching. Mine!

January – Easy Sheet Pan Gochujang Roasted Chicken with Carrots and Grapes
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January – Easy Sheet Pan Gochujang Roasted Chicken with Carrots and Grapes

Sheet Pan Gochujang Chicken with Carrots and Grapes

Sheet Pan Gochujang Chicken with Carrots and Grapes

Are you looking for an easy and tasty sheet pan dinner? Look no further than this one that has marinated chicken roasting along with carrots and sweet red grapes. We served this with brown rice to soak up the delicious sauce. You might want to make extra marinade for an even easier second dinner.

Note: There are two ways to make the marinade. You can grate the ginger and garlic and add them to a bowl with the rest of the ingredients; or do as I did and chop them into large pieces and process them in a mini food processor.

I ‘roll’ cut the carrots on the diagonal to expose more surface area. If you haven’t used this technique before, it’s a handy one to have in your back pocket. It increases the surface area and makes them both easier and faster to cook because you have exposed more of the fibers. You slice the peeled carrots on the diagonal, then roll them half way around and cut again. If you are not familiar with the technique (also handy for asparagus and zucchini), here is a link to a video with an explanation.

Ingredients:

Marinade:

  • 6 tablespoons of Korean gochujang
  • 4 tablespoons of soy sauce
  • 2″ piece of ginger, grated (see note above)
  • 2 peeled and grated garlic cloves (see note above)
  • 4 tablespoons of neutral oil such as canola or grapeseed

Other ingredients:

  • 4 to 5 chicken legs (mine were small) or an equivalent of bone-in and skin-on thights
  • 4 to 5 carrots, cut into 1 inch chunks (roll cut for more surface area)
  • a few bunches of red seedless grapes
  • Chopped scallions and cilantro for serving

Method:

  1. Mix the marinade ingredients together in a large bowl
  2. Add the chicken (turning to coast with the marinade) and allow to marinate for a few minutes up to an hour (put in the fridge if longer than a few minutes)
  3. Meanwhile line a sheet pan with foil for easier clean up and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F
  4. Remove the chicken from the marinade and place, skin side up, on the sheet pan.
  5. Add the carrots and grapes to the remaining marinade in the bowl and toss to coat.
  6. Add the carrots and grapes to the sheet pan, placing them around the chicken. Pour any remaining marinade over all.
  7. Roast for 40 minutes or until browned and the chicken is cooked through.
  8. Garnish with chopped scallions and cilantro
Sheet Pan Gochujang Chicken with Carrots and Grapes

Sheet Pan Gochujang Chicken with Carrots and Grapes

January – Shaved Brussels Sprout Salad
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January – Shaved Brussels Sprout Salad

During the warmer summer months I gorge on sun ripened tomatoes from hot inland gardens. Once winter starts, I avoid the tasteless and long traveled ones available in the grocery store. Instead, my passion runs to Brussels sprouts. Roasted until bronzed with a few charred leaves, they are sweet and don’t resemble the over cooked boiled ones served in school cafeterias. I frequently snack on the crisp dark brown outer leaves that are loose on the sheet pan.

Most vegetables in the Brassica family profit from being roasted. It’s certainly my favorite way to cook them, or most any vegetable. Simply cut them into 1-inch pieces, drizzle with a bit of olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Then roast (cut side down) in a 425 degree oven, maybe turning once although not required, until done to your liking with edges that are brown and starting to carmelize. This usually only takes 30 to 40 minutes, hands free. Your time is then available for anything else you plan to serve.

But raw, thinly sliced Brussels sprouts are also delicious. Even better, a salad using them can be made ahead and is frequently even better the following day. A food processor with the thin slicing blade makes short work of it or you can use a sharp knife. Trader Joe’s sells pre-sliced sprouts although they are not quite as thin as I like them. They do work well in a stir fry though.

 

Brussels sprout salad

Brussels sprout salad

What’s in there? I see dried cranberries, chopped dates, pine nuts, and fresh goat cheese in addition to the shaved sprouts. Toasted walnuts would also be excellent in this salad. Although it’s difficult to see in the picture, there are also roasted outer leaves of the sprouts to add a toasty note.

This recipe originally came from the blog Love & Lemons, you will find the link here. They use grated parmesan instead of fresh goat cheese, and the dates are my own addition.

If you would like to add the roasted outer leaves, just peel them off before shaving the sprouts. Toss them with a little olive oil and salt on a parchment lined sheet pan, and roast at 425 degrees F. for about 25-30 minutes until crisp and brown. Add them at the very last minute to the salad.

Ingredients:

  • 4 cups shaved Brussels sprouts
  • ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
  • ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
  • ½ cup pine nuts, toasted
  • ⅓ cup dried cranberries
  • 4 diced dates
  • 1/2 cup of crumbled fresh goat cheese
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method:

  1. Toss the sprouts, pine nuts, cranberries and dates together.
  2. Add the olive oil and lemon juice and toss again.
  3. Taste for salt and pepper.
  4. Crumble in the goat cheese.
  5. optional roasted outer leaves should go in just before serving

The salad can be made ahead through step 3.

Shaved Brussels sprout salad

Shaved Brussels sprout salad

Spinach and Artichoke Tarte Soleil (the joys of puff pastry) – January
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Spinach and Artichoke Tarte Soleil (the joys of puff pastry) – January

One of the items in my freezer is a package of puff pastry. I have found it invaluable. Countless numbers of both sweet and savory easy recipes are just around the corner using a sheet, and they all look impressive. Far more impressive than difficult.

For example, take a look at these savory tarts…

 

 

Or what about sausage rolls? Perfect with a cold beer for Super Bowl Sunday. Just slice them for individual servings. They aren’t exactly traditional since there isn’t a hard boiled egg anywhere, but then there isn’t any frying involved.

For a starter at Christmas I wanted something a little more impressive. The cookbook Delicious Gatherings, author Tara Bench (from TaraTeaspoon), had just the thing I was looking for.

spinach and artichoke tarte soleil

spinach and artichoke tarte soleil

She describes it as a show stopper, I heartily agree. It isn’t that difficult to make. You could use the same design for all kinds of fillings. This one uses canned artichoke hearts, baby spinach, scallions, an egg, and feta. She includes dill, it’s not one of my favorite seasonings so I left it out and substituted parsley.

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup of crumbled feta (about 2 oz)
  • 2 packed cups of baby spinach (about 3-1/2 oz)
  • 1/4 cup of chopped scallions
  • half a 14-oz can of artichoke hearts in water, drained and rinsed
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tablespoon of water
  • All purpose flour for dusting
  • 1 (17.5-oz) box of puff pastry, thawed
  • Sesame seeds

Topping:

  • 2 tablespoons flat leaf parsley
  • 2 Tablespoons chopped scallions
  • Zest of a half lemon
  • 1 tablespoon honey

Method:

  1. For the tart: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F with the rack in the lower third. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
  2. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment, add feta, spinach, scallions, and artichokes. Pulse until very finely chopped.
  3. In a small bowl, whisk the egg and water together to make an egg wash. Set aside.
  4. On a lightly floured surface, roll out one to the sheets into a 12-by-12 inch square. Cut a 12-inch-diameter circle out of the pastry using a plate or mixing bowl as a guide. Place the round onto the parchment paper on the baking sheet.
  5. Spread the feta cheese mixture evenly on the pastry, leaving a 1/2 inch border around the edge. Brush some of the egg wash around the edge of the first pastry sheet.
  6. Roll out the second sheet and cut into a 12-inch-diameter circle, place it on top of the first. Press gently around the edges to seal.
  7. Using the rim of a 3-inch cup or bowl, press it gently into the center of the puff pastry to make an indentation without pressing all the way through. This will guide your cutting.
  8. Use a sharp knife to cut the circle in quarters, cutting from the indentation in the center to the edge. Leave the strips attached at the center. Cut each quarter in half, the same way, creating 8 strips. Then cut each 8th into 3 strips, making 24 strips total. Carefully twist each strip twice without breaking it off.
  9. Brush the tart with the egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
  10. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until the pastry is golden brown. Cool before serving.
  11. For topping: Combine the parsley, scallions, and lemon zest. When you are ready to serve the tart, drizzle with the honey and sprinkle with the herb mixture.
spinach and artichoke tarte soleil

spinach and artichoke tarte soleil

New Year’s Eve supper included another dish using puff pastry. This time a potato tart garnished with crumbled potato chips.

Potato Chip Tart

Crispy Potato and Sour Cream Tart

It was perfect with an arugula salad and glass of chilled champagne. Just a smidgen of caviar to celebrate the end of the year.

Potato Chip Tart

Crispy Potato and Sour Cream Tart

 

I am taking this along to Fiesta Friday, perfect food to share at a party. Fiesta Friday is hosted by Angie. It’s Fiesta Friday #520 and the co-host this week is Jhuls from The Not So Creative Cook.