This is a great spring/summer dish with lots of fresh flavors; it’s another throw-together meal that was created out of desperation and lack of planning.

Ginger-Sesame Noodles

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces udon
• 3 carrots
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2″ piece ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup sesame seeds

Prepare udon as per package directions; drain and set aside. Dice the carrots into 1/4″ cubes. Heat a sauté pan over medium-high heat and add vegetable oil and carrots. While carrots are cooking, grate or juice ginger (see below). When carrots have just begun to soften, add ginger, red pepper, sesame oil, vinegar, and soy sauce. Stir to combine. Add noodles to pan and toss to coat. Continue to cook until noodles are heated through and begin to take on a bit of color. Add sesame seeds and toss well before serving.

Serves 4-6.

Ginger tip: Keep your ginger in the freezer.To season, cut off the required amount and microwave for 20-30 seconds. Cool and squeeze ginger over a bowl to release the juice. This is my favorite way to get fresh ginger flavor into a dish without the hassle of grating.

Our household’s take on traditional Kashmiri Chicken: buttery and fragrant. Intense, decadent, and filling. I’m not sure how to describe this dish short of throwing out more strings of adjectives, so I’ll let this one speak for itself. Delicious over basmati rice with a side of homemade pita to mop up all that sauce. Yum.

Kashmiri Chicken

Ingredients:

• 1/4 lb (1 stick) butter
• 2/3 cup minced shallots
• 10 whole black peppercorns
• 2-3 whole cardamom pods
• 1 2-3″ cinnamon stick
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon minced ginger
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 6 chicken thighs with bones and skin
• 1 cup plain yogurt, plus extra for garnish

In a cast iron dutch oven or other wide, heavy pan with lid, melt butter over medium heat. Add shallots and spices; cook, stirring often, 1-2 minutes or until fragrant. Add chicken to pan, skin-side down, and cook until lightly browned. Move chicken to edges of pan to create well in center and slowly add yogurt to butter sauce, stirring briskly to prevent breaking. Reduce heat to low and cook 45 minutes to one hour, or until chicken separates easily from bone. Garnish with a dollop of extra yogurt just before serving.

Serves 4-6.

Bonus picture! (I’m so easily amused – I love the steam coming off the chicken.)

Hummus! When I alluded to it in the pita bread recipe I posted a short time ago, my intention was to post the accompanying hummus recipe as an immediate follow-up. Meatloaf and toaster pastries somehow snuck their way in before the hummus settled in to the “you should post this now” section of my head. Ah, well.

There’s not much to say about homemade hummus other than to note that it kicks the ass of anything you can buy in a supermarket. It’s completely worth the time and effort that goes into it, although you can lessen that a bit if you buy your tahini paste (if that’s the case, omit the sesame seeds, sesame oil, salt, and water and substitute 2-3 tbsp of the paste).

Hummus

Ingredients:

• 3 tbsp sesame seed
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1-2 teaspoons hot water
• 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2-3 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1-2 tablespoons lemon juice (to taste)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Special equipment:

• Mortar and pestle
• Food processor

Process sesame seeds and salt with mortar and pestle until seeds begin to break down. Add sesame oil and hot water as needed and continue to process until the mixture is smooth and thick. This is your tahini paste.

Place tahini, chickpeas, cumin, garlic, and olive oil in food processor and pulse until smooth. Add lemon juice, salt, and pepper to taste. Move to bowl; cover and refrigerate for one hour to allow flavors to blend. Serve with pita, crackers, veggies, or a spoon.

Freshly made pita, warm from the oven, is a great pleasure. It feels somehow decadent, especially when served with home-made hummus, but pita, like so many other flatbreads, is easy to make.

Home-Baked Pita Bread

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cups warm water
• 1 tablespoon honey or 2 teaspoons agave nectar
• 2 teaspoons yeast
• 3-4 cups flour*
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 3 tablespoons olive oil

Dissolve the honey or agave in the warm water and stir in the yeast. Set aside to proof for 10 minutes. In a large bowl, sift or whisk together the salt and 3 cups of the flour. Add the yeast mixture and the oil. Mix with your hands or a sturdy wooden spoon, adding additional flour as necessary, until the mixture forms a ball. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 8-10 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Lightly oil a spot on your work surface and place the dough there. Cover with a lightly dampened towel and a large inverted bowl, and allow to rise until doubled (about 1 hour).

Punch down the dough and divide into eight equal pieces with a bench scraper or sharp kitchen knife. Form into balls, cover with the damp towel, and allow to rest for another 20-30 minutes. Place a baking stone, sheet pan, or inverted cookie sheet onto the center rack of your oven and preheat to 450° F.

When the oven is hot, begin rolling your pita to a scant 1/4″ thickness. Place each in the oven immediately after rolling and bake for 2-5 minutes (2 minutes for soft, chewy bread; 5 minutes for crispy bread resembling pita chips). The bread will puff as it bakes and deflate slightly when it cools.

Serve warm or room-temperature with hummus, tuna salad, or your favorite spread or dip. Makes 8 pockets.

*I find that a 50/50 mixture of wheat and white (all-purpose) flour works best, but have had good results with all-white flour.

Chef’s Tip: Kneading is a great workout for arms, shoulders, and core (helps you work off the bread in advance!) Not in the kneading know? There are as many kneading styles as there are bread recipes out there. Search your favorite “how-to” or video site for ideas, or check out this guy; I chose this video because his style is fairly similar to mine.

It’s a bit off-season to find properly fresh tomatoes, but don’t let that stop you from serving up some homemade salsa. Roasting adds a deeper, sweeter flavor to canned tomatoes, and the lime brightens things up. Perfect for Monday Night Football!

Roasted Tomato Salsa

Ingredients:

• Two 28-ounce cans diced tomatoes
• 2 dried chipotle peppers, rehydrated and coarsely chopped
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 lime, halved
• 3 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 bunch cilantro, minced
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

Drain tomatoes and spread thinly in a roasting dish or deep-sided sheet pan. Bake at 450 for 30-40 minutes or until sugars begin to caramelize. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, combine cooled tomatoes and remaining ingredients, stirring until well-combined. Add 1/3 of mixture to blender or food processor and process until smooth but slightly chunky. Return to bowl and stir into other ingredients. Chill for at least 4 hours before serving.

Serves 4-6.

Image by Micah Taylor.

Image by Don Lavange

When I was 19, I worked late nights in a diner, where one of the chefs liked to surprise me with random yumminess to get us both through the long hours. One of his dishes was a low-brow take on the Greek classic Saganaki, made in a cast-iron fish-broiling pan with what he had on hand, served with stale dinner rolls. This recipe for Chris’ “Midnight Saganaki” has remained in my head and heart for the last decade.

Midnight Saganaki

Ingredients:

• 2 cups feta cheese, crumbled
• 1/4 cup butter, cut into small pieces
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 2 lemon wedges
• bread, for serving

Place cheese in a shallow cast iron (or other broiler-safe) dish and top with butter. Sprinkle with paprika. Place directly under broiler and cook until cheese bubbles and begins to brown. Squeeze lemon wedges over cheese and serve immediately with bread to scoop up the cheese.

Serves 2 as an excellent midnight snack.

I discovered this dish at a Persian restaurant somewhere between Pennsylvania and Washington D.C.. The original dish was brown in color and not terribly pleasing to the eyes, but the taste was pure delight.

If you have access to pomegranate paste, I highly recommend substituting 3 or 4 tablespoons of the paste for the juice in the recipe. While paste is traditional, I have altered the composition of the dish slightly by using more widely-available pomegranate juice, which can be found in the produce section of most major markets. (I’ll admit, I’ve even used Grenadine in a pinch.)

Serve this stew over your choice of starches; basmati rice is traditional.

Khoresht Fesenjan (Chicken in Pomegranate Sauce)

Ingredients:

• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken, cut into 1/2-inch strips
• 1/2 cup finely ground walnuts
• 1/4 cup finely minced onion
• 1 cup pomegranate juice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/4 cup butter
• Water
• Salt to taste

In a large skillet, heat butter until it is melted and begins to foam. Add chicken and sautee until no outer traces of pink are visible and the meat begins to brown (the inside of the chicken will still be raw.) Add enough water to cover the chicken and bring to a boil. As soon as the water boils, reduce the heat to medium. Simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes, adding more water if needed to keep the chicken submerged.

After 30 minutes have elapsed, reduce heat slightly and stir in walnuts, pomegranate juice, cardamom, and salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until sauce is very thick.

Serves 4-6 over starch as a main course.