Marrakesh Vegetable Curry

This evening, guest blogger Allison and I got together for a good old-fashioned gabfest, which, when you get the two of us in a room, usually involves enough f-bombs to make a sailor blush. Since she’s been associated with this blog since the beginning, it was only fitting that we make a meal together which could be featured in a post.  After moving to New Jersey, which has quite a large Indian population, I’ve had a love affair with their food, especially curries.  This is a Moroccan twist on a traditional curry, thanks to the addition of orange juice, which provides a surprisingly delicious hint of citrusy sweetness.

What You’ll Need:

• 1 medium eggplant, cubed
  
• 1 green bell pepper, cubed
  
• 1 red bell pepper, cubed
  
• 1 medium yam or sweet potato, cubed
  
• 2 large carrots, chopped
  
• 1 medium zucchini, chopped
  
• 1 medium onion, diced
  
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
  
• 1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
  
• 2 tbsp brown raisins
  
• 1 cup orange juice
  
• 1 tbsp curry powder
  
• 1 tsp. turmeric
  
• 1 tsp cinnamon
  
• ½ tsp cayenne pepper
  
• 2 tsp salt
  
• 2 tsp. black pepper
  
• 4 tbsp olive oil

What To Do:

Cube the eggplant, green and red bell peppers, and sweet potato, dice the onion, mince the garlic, and chop the carrots.

 

Heat a Dutch oven over medium heat, then add 2 tbsp of the olive oil.  Saute the vegetables for 5 minutes.



While the vegetables are cooking, you can begin to make your spice mixture. Heat a small saucepan over medium heat.  Pour in the remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil, then add the cinnamon, curry powder, turmeric, salt, cayenne pepper, and black pepper. Use a spatula to evenly mix the spices, then remove them from the heat.

*Note: Not all spatulas are created equal.  I learned this the hard way, by causing a giant FAIL:



Yes, that is my spatula melted into two pieces.  I was wondering why it looked like a piece of pasta had fallen into my spice mix before I realized it was plastic, not dough.  As Benjamin Franklin once said, “Beer Silicone utensils (and bakeware!) are proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”  Indeed, Ben.  INDEED.

ANYWAYS.  Back to the curry: Pour your spice mix over the vegetables in the Dutch oven, which should be reducing in size thanks to the time spent simmering.  Add the orange juice, garbanzo beans, zucchini, and raisins.  Cover the pot, reduce the heat to low/simmer, and cook for 20 more minutes, stirring occasionally.



When I opened the pot, I was immediately assaulted with a garden-y, citrusy sensory overload.




The orange juice and spices cook down into a rich, thick sauce that coats the vegetables and was immediately absorbed into the brown rice I served this with. This is an extremely filling dish thanks to all the fiber and protein in the veggies, but none of us could stop ourselves from going back for seconds.  I recommend having some crusty bread or a pita on the side so that you can soak up all the sauce from your bowl once you’re done!  I’m excited to eat this tomorrow as leftovers, as I think it definitely has potential to be one of those dishes that is better after sitting overnight and letting the flavors meld together. You could easily throw in some spinach (mine was a little past its prime, so I was forced to exclude it), slivered almonds, or any other vegetables you might like. The raisins were an interesting inclusion that, in my opinion, could easily be doubled the next time around. I also think this would be excellent with a squeeze of lemon juice to enhance the hints of orange, or instead using a carrot-based juice.  There’s lots of room here for adaptation, and I strongly encourage playing around with the ingredients to suit your own tastes!  Regardless of what you use, you can’t go wrong with such a flavorful, healthy addition to your dinner menu.

Chocolate Toffee Crunch Trifle

For the past five and a half years, I’ve been lucky enough to work in a lab that feels more like a collection of friends and family than random coworkers.  We have a nice tradition of going out to lunch for someone’s birthday, followed by a cake/pie/dessert of the birthday person’s choice.  About a year ago, I made this trifle for my university’s church fellowship summer picnic, and it was a huge hit.  Before I brought it to that event, it sat in my workplace’s refrigerator for the day, where it served as an endless source of temptation to my labmate, Jason.  He practically begged me to let him have some, which, of course, I did not. Recently, Jason was preparing to defend his Ph.D. thesis, and I told him that for his celebration afterwards, he could pick any kind of cake or dessert he wanted and I would make it for him.  Not surprisingly, this was his top choice!

What You’ll Need

• 1 box of chocolate chunk brownie mix
• 1 3.9 oz. box of sugar-free, fat-free instant chocolate pudding
• 1 14 oz. can fat-free sweetened condensed milk
• 1 12 oz. container fat-free whipped topping (Cool Whip)
• 2 2.8 oz. Heath brand toffee bars
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 3 tbsp. granulated sugar
• ½ cup water

What To Do:

Prepare the brownies according to the box’s instructions, then let them completely cool.  I recommend letting them cool for at least 2 hours, since the firmer the brownies are, the better. Once they are cooled, cut the brownies into 1” squares.

In a large bowl, mix together the condensed milk, water, and pudding mix until it is fully blended (it will be fairly runny).

In a separate bowl, combine the whipping cream and the sugar.  Beat vigorously with a whisk for 2-3 minutes until the cream has reached a stiff consistency to the point that it forms peaks and does not fall off of the whisk when lifted.

Gently fold the whipped cream into the pudding mixture using a spatula.  You have to be careful not to overwork this mixture, as the whipped cream can lose its thickness, and you want this to stay light and fluffy. 

Continue folding until it is evenly mixed throughout and there are no remaining visible streaks of color.

Finally, break the Heath bar into a rough crumble (small chunks). Those of you in well-equipped kitchens can do this in about 3.2 seconds using your handy dandy food processors.  I, however, lack such a fun kitchen utensil (but it’s on my Christmas list, hint hint). Since I couldn’t use a magical machine to do it for me, I went the old-fashioned route and pounded the holy hell out of the candy bars with a can of beans while they were inside a Ziploc bag, reducing them to a fairly even consistency.  This extremely loud pounding may or may not have a) freaked the hell out of my cats, b) caused me to worry that I might dent my new counters, and c) ripped open the Ziploc bag, leaking toffee crumbs all over the counter whenever I moved the bag.  That’s just how I roll.

Now that all the fun stuff is done, it’s time to assemble the trifle!  It should go without saying that it helps if you have an honest-to-goodness trifle bowl, since they are deep enough for all of the layers in this dish.  If not, any deep bowl will work (glass is preferable since it’s so pretty when it’s done!).

Start out by covering the bottom of the bowl as completely as possible with your brownie squares.

Next, sprinkle a generous handful of the toffee bits over the brownies.

Then, spoon the chocolate whipped cream on top. Make sure you add enough to fully cover the brownies with room to spare (you will have plenty left over for the other layers!). Cover this layer with the fat-free Cool Whip, taking care not to mix the two cream layers.

Repeat this once more with the remainder of the ingredients.  The Cool Whip should nearly reach the lip of the trifle bowl once you’re done. 

I had some teeny-tiny toffee crumbs left over in my mangled Ziploc bag, which I then sprinkled on top for garnish.

This makes at least 8 healthy servings, and my coworkers managed to polish nearly the entire thing off minus the one scoop I managed to sneak away for my hubby.  My boss, who tends to have a bit of a sweet tooth, declared this “one of the best desserts he’s ever had”.  While I don’t like to use such lofty praise for my own dishes, this is pretty frickin’ awesome.  It’s seriously loaded with chocolate, which is not what I usually prefer, so I can only manage a small serving, but it’s delicious enough that even I am tempted to go back for seconds.  The use of the whipping cream helps balance out the chocolate pudding, and believe it or not, this isn’t overly sweet. You can leave the toffee bar out if you don’t like the texture, but I think the crunch brings this to a whole new level (I’ve tried it both ways).  All in all, this is a relatively easy dessert that will impress your guests and is sure to disappear quickly!

Tomato Basil Bisque

‘Tis the season…for soup! I am definitely one of those weirdos who loves to eat soup year round, and yes, I do mean even in the dog days of summer. However, I don’t think anyone can argue with the fact that soups are the perfect winter dish – warm, satisfying, and the overall epitome of comfort food.  While there are some great seasonal dishes, such as butternut squash soup, my all-time favorite is tomato soup.  I have so many memories from my childhood of eating grilled cheese sandwiches with Campbell’s tomato soup (come on, who DOESN’T?!) after playing outside on cold fall and winter days.  This soup is a slightly more grown-up version, but that doesn’t make it any less tasty.

Tomato Basil Bisque

What You’ll Need:

2 cans crushed tomatoes

16 fluid oz. chicken broth

18 basil leaves (one large handful), minced

1 cup fat free half-and-half

3 tbsp. butter cut into 1tbsp. chunks

2 tbsp. sugar

Salt and pepper to taste

What To Do:

Drain the tomatoes into a large soup pan and add the chicken broth.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes.

While the tomatoes are simmering, rinse the basil then roughly chop it into thin strips.

After the 10 minutes is up, add the basil and the sugar.  Reduce heat to low and cook for 3-4 more minutes. Finally, add the half-and-half and cubed butter.  Mix well, and cook on low until the butter has fully melted.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

I served this as an appetizer at dinner with some crusty Italian bread and OH MY GOD IT WAS AMAZING.  Sorry – I couldn’t restrain myself.  But seriously, this was some damn good soup.  I had to stop myself from eating so much of it that I wouldn’t have room for dinner.  This tastes exactly like the best tomato bisque you’ve had at a restaurant.  It’s got a strong tomato flavor, although it’s creamy enough to cut the acidity.  The basil isn’t overpowering but you could certainly add more or less depending on how strong of a flavor you like.  The best part of this soup is that it’s so easy to make – it only involves 6 ingredients! I was making this while preparing the rest of our dinner and I barely had to worry about it, beyond dumping things in the pot at different times. This also makes a giant amount of soup – I can’t wait for leftovers at lunch with a piping hot grilled cheese!