Overall the instructions in the book were clear and shown in order of preparation and cooking, which I like because it means I don’t have to go searching for a step or a missing ingredient. If you’re not crazy about the taste of cloves, like Jay is, you can omit them or just put in very little. The recipe calls for crushed cloves for the chicken rub (called baharat) and later whole cloves for the entire dish. I only added the cloves to the baharat and it was more than plenty. Originally this was supposed to be a chicken and almond pilaff but guess what, I completely forgot about the almonds and I even have a whole stash I meant to use for cooking. No matter, it was still amazing. Unfortunately, once it was cooked it looked like a huge pot of slop. I don’t know what it is about me and slop these days. But, do try it out.

Recipe can be found here on Google Books.

1 chicken leg, cut into pieces, keep bones

1 cup rice, uncooked

Approx 6 cups of water

2 or 3 bay leaves

2 large carrots, cut into small chunks

2 potatoes, cubed

half a leek, chopped

3 garlic cloves, chopped

3 pickled jalapeno peppers

Salt and pepper to taste

Oregano and dried mint to taste

Put the chicken pieces and bones along with the rice in a large pot and fill with the water. Place over medium high heat and bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium low and add the rest of the ingredients. Cover and let it gently bubble for about 40-45 minutes. Near the end, I added two pieces of cooked corn I had in the fridge. “That’s a big garnish, don’t you think,” Jay the smart ass said. For a tangy flavour you can also add fresh cilantro and lime juice.

Makes 2 Servings:

1 onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 lb fresh cremini or white button mushrooms, quartered

1/2 lb fresh portobello mushrooms, stems removed and diced

1 (15oz) can pinto beans, rinsed and drained

1 (4.5 oz) can chopped green chiles

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried thyme

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 fresh ground pepper

4 tsp fresh lime juice

In a pan, cook onion until soft, about a minute. Add the garlic and stir constantly for about 20 secs then add the mushrooms. Cook until mushrooms have released their liquid and then reabsorbed it, about 5 mins. Stir in the beans, chiles, spices, and salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook until thickened (I’m not sure what they mean by this because I didn’t notice any “thickening”) for about 15 mins. Serve and squeeze some of the lime juice on top. I sprinkled some shredded Havarti cheese.

It was tasty and flavourful…but not as fantastic as I thought it could be. It’s more of a side dish than as a main meal as the book says it should be. It’s very good because it has lots of protein and fibre but if you’re eating a whole bowl of the stuff, it can be a little boring. Needless to say I didn’t eat a full serving and I put the rest away in a container.

Two days later my little sister came over and she was hungry. “You have food at your place right? I’m reeeeeaaaally hungry.” Unfortunately I hadn’t done any groceries yet and I didn’t have much in my fridge except the leftover ragout. I brought out the container and told my sister to try it but she didn’t seem too keen on it, “Hm, smells spicy…do you have anything else?” Sigh.

1/4 of a jar of Classico pasta sauce

3/4 of a can of diced tomatoes

generous splash of heavy cream

1 1/2 servings of leftover Tex-Mex Ragout

Make 2 servings of whatever pasta you like, I used angel hair. Heat the ragout in a pot along with the tomatoes and pasta sauce, stir. Once it’s heated, add the cream and stir until it’s all blended and heated through. Serve over noodles.

So very yummy! I think I’ll be making more pasta sauces like this one.

Anyway, the recipe says to use lean ground beef but I had left over ground turkey from turkey shepherd’s pie I made before. Here is how I made the sauce:

Recipe for approx 2-3 servings

200g Lean ground turkey

1/3 of a large white onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

2 pickled jalapeño peppers, chopped

1/4 tsp cumin

1/8 tsp cinnamon

1 cup of canned tomatoes, chopped

1 tbsp tomato paste

2 tsp fresh cilantro, chopped

1 avocado, mashed

In a pot cook turkey meat and break it up and cook until it’s brown. Add the onions, jalapeño, and garlic, cook until soft. Next add the cumin and cinnamon, stirring constantly for about 30 seconds. Mix in the tomatoes and paste, bring to a boil and then lower heat and let it simmer for about 15 minutes. You can add salt and pepper but I didn’t add any. Remove from heat and throw in the cilantro and avocado until it’s all mixed in. Serve over cooked noodles.

The book says each serving is worth 5 points but I’m wondering if my version is worth less points because I used turkey instead of beef. But, because I used an avocado I probably brought up the points to 6 haha. No matter, it was very tasty.

Chili Verde

Serves 4

1 kg pork, cut into bite size chunks

1 onion, chopped

2 bay leaves

1 whole garlic bulb, cut in half (this confused me for a minute and in the end I peeled an entire bulb and cut each clove in half)

1 bouillon cube (I used chicken)

2 garlic cloves, chopped

450g fresh tomatillos, husks removed, cooked in a small amount of water until just tender, then chopped. Or canned which is what I used

2 large fresh mild green chilies, such as poblano, or a combination of 1 green bell pepper and 2 jalapeño chilies, seeded and chopped (I used green pepper and jalapeño)

3 tbsp vegetable oil

1 cup pork or chicken stock

1/2 tsp mild chili powder, such as ancho or New Mexico

1/2 tsp ground cumin

cilantro

Place the pork in a large pot with the onion, bay leaves and garlic bulb. Add water to cover and the bouillon cube and bring to a boil. Skim off the scum that rises to the surface. Reduce heat to very low and let it simmer gently for 1 1/2 hours or until meat is very tender.

Place the chopped garlic, tomatillos and chilies (and bell pepper if using)  in a food processor and puree. Heat the oil in a deep sauce pan and add the tomatillo mixture and cook over medium-high heat for 10 minutes or until thickened. Add the stock, chili powder and cumin.

When meat is tender, remove from pot and add to the sauce. Let it simmer gently for 20 minutes, or until flavours are combined. Garnish with cilantro and serve with flour tortillas and lime wedges.

Green chilies, bay leaf, grated ginger, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon and cumin seeds

Recipe for tandoori chicken:

3 green chilies, chopped (again, pickled jalapeño peppers)

3 tbsp onion paste (I didn’t know what onion paste was so I just grated an onion until I had the required amount)

1/2 tsp garlic paste (same deal only I used my garlic press to get the “paste”)

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp coriander

1 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

Mix all ingredients with a bit of oil in a bowl. Normally, you’re supposed to make this with chicken parts but I had just bought two chicken breast and I wanted to use those. You’re also supposed to coat the chicken parts with the mixture and let it sit for 6 hours. I rubbed the mixture on the chicken and only let it sit for about 10 minutes. Jay was hungry…so was I. I placed the chicken in the oven and let it cook for about 30 or 40 minutes at 410F. Again, I wasn’t timing it so I don’t know how long it took to cook. It just “looked” ready.

One word of caution; both the rice and chicken are very hot and spicy, so go easy on the chilies if you can’t handle the heat. Also, if you’re rubbing the tandoori mixture on chicken, it might be a good idea to use gloves as now my nails are stained yellow from the turmeric. That’ll look attractive at my friend’s wedding on Sunday!

When everything was ready I was bathed in a wonderful aroma of spices. I could taste the cinnamon and the cardamom in the biryani and the turmeric and cinnamon in the chicken. Oh so good!

Jay sat down to eat and I stared at him expectantly.

“You know that when you do that I’m forced to say your food is amazing,” he said.

“Yeah, I know, that’s why I do it,” I joked.

He became very serious and said, “Wow, this really is amazing…Wow”