Moroccan Chicken Bastilla

One of my favorite dishes in Moroccan cuisine is Chicken Bastilla (pronounced bastiyya). It is a meat pie filled with ground chicken, spices and almonds enclosed in warqa (Moroccan pastry that is similar to phyllo dough) and then sprinkled with a generous amount of powdered sugar and cinnamon. I know it sounds interesting, but the flavors and textures are incredible.

Typically you eat Moroccan food with your hands and you can use bread as a utensil. This course for instance is served piping hot and you have to puncture though the dough to allow the steam to escape.

Moroccan food consists of many courses of  hot and cold salads, soups, tender meats, fruits, desserts and teas.













Moroccan Chicken Bastilla
Serves 6

Ingredients

• 1 cup slivered almonds
• 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar, plus extra for sprinkling on finished dish
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 onions chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 carrots chopped
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 4 cups shredded cooked chicken
• 6 phyllo sheets, thawed

Directions

1. Heat oven to 400°F. Add almonds, confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice to food processor and pulse for 30 seconds until finely chopped.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook for about five minutes until softened. Add remaining 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, cumin and salt; cook for 1 minute. Stir in carrots and 3/4 cup chicken broth and cook for about 5 more minutes; until carrots are softened. Remove from heat and stir in chicken until well mixed.
3. Coat a 2 quart shallow baking dish with nonstick cooking spray; sprinkle 1/2 cup of almond mixture over bottom. Spoon chicken mixture into casserole; sprinkle with remaining almond mixture. Evenly pour remaining chicken broth on top.
4. Melt remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. Place one sheet of phyllo dough on top of casserole dish. Brush entire surface lightly with some of the melted butter. Place next sheet of phyllo dough and brush with butter. Continue with remaining sheets and butter. Bake  20 to 25 minutes, until filling is hot and phyllo is browned. Sprinkle casserole with additional confectioners sugar and cinnamon.

Croc Pot Apple Chicken

One of my go to dinners (and one that I brag about a lot) is a recipe I found in some cook book for apple chicken. I remember the first time I suggested making it for dinner, Phil wasn't that impressed, since he is not really a fan of dishes with fruit. But now it is a staple in our house and one of his favorite fall meals.

It is also nice, to put it in the croc pot, set the timer and when I come home from work the house smells delicious and dinner is done.

Croc Pot Apple Chicken

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 1 onion, sliced
• 2 bonless chicken breasts
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 1/4 cup apple juice
• 2 tablespoons butter, cut in chunks
• 2 granny smith apples, sliced

Directions

1. Put onions in bottom of a 3 quart slow cooker and then top with chicken and sprinkle thyme, pepper, salt and brown sugar. Pour in chicken stock and apple juice. Then add the chunks of butter.
2. Cover and cook on low for 5 hours. Then stir in apples; cover and cook for 1-2 hours longer or until chicken is thoroughly cooked and apples are tender. Serve over mashed potatoes.

Ricotta Gnocchi with Balsamic Glaze and Fried Sage

I took inspiration for this dinner from this recipe. I remember reading the recipe a few weeks back and kinda forgot about it until after I made dinner and I was looking through my bookmarked recipes.

Its funny how you can get ideas and inspiration, store it in the back of your mind and then put it all together and think you came up with something great, only later to find that I already saw a similar idea somewhere else.

I used the gnocchi's that I made a few days ago and put in the freezer. But this sauce is so fast and easy that it can quickly add great flavor to even store bought frozen pasta, which is a big plus during the week.















Ricotta Gnocchi with Balsamic Glaze and Fried Sage

Ingredients


For the gnocchi:

• 1 (8 ounce) container ricotta cheese (I use part skim)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 1 cup all-purpose flour, or as needed

For the balsamic glaze & fried sage

• 2 shallots, diced
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• handful of sage leaves
• 1 tablespoon peanut oil
• salt

Directions

1. In your mixer with the dough hook, add the ricotta cheese, eggs, Parmesan Cheese, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and Italian seasoning until evenly combined. Mix in 1 cup of flour. Add additional flour if needed to form a soft dough.
2. Divide the dough into 3 or 4 pieces, and roll into 1/2-inch-thick ropes on a floured surface. Take the back of a fork and press lightly along the length of the rope to create some texture. Cut each rope into 1-inch pieces, and place on a lightly floured baking sheet.  
3. Bring large pot of water to boil and season with salt.
4. Add gnocchi's to water and cook until they are floating about 3 minutes.
5. In a small sauce pan over medium heat, add 2 tablespoons butter and shallots and cook for about 5 minutes to soften. Add remaining butter and brown sugar and cook for about 2 more minutes to dissolve sugar. Add Worcestershire sauce and balsamic vinegar. Turn heat to low and reduce for about 5 minutes while gnocchi's cook.
6. In small frying pan on medium heat add peanut oil. Once oil is hot add sage leaves and cook until crisp about 3 minutes. Take out and place on paper towel and season with salt.
7. Once gnocchi's are cooked, remove from water and toss in balsamic sauce. Add fried sage and serve.

Sweet Potato Casserole With Pecan Crumble

I know it is close to Thanksgiving  and you may already have your entire meal planned, but I wanted to share with you a recipe I made last year for Thanksgiving dinner. This take of the typical sweet potato casserole got rave reviews and I think you should change your side dish plan, and make this one in its place. You wont be disappointed.


I am not a huge fan of sweet potato casserole, I think it is a texture thing, but this one was really, really good. I even had at least five of our Thanksgiving guests (we usually have dinner for around thirty people) ask for this recipe (I think one even took my food stained copy that was laying around the kitchen, since I still cant find it)

Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Crumble
adapted from November 2011 Saveur

Ingredients:

For The Filling:
3 pounds sweet potatoes
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
6 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1" piece ginger, finely grated
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

For The Crumble Topping:

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/4 cup finely chopped pecans

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed and chilled

1/4 cup mini marshmallows

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 425°. Place sweet potatoes on parchment paper-lined baking sheet and bake until soft, about 1 1/2 hours; let cool for 30 minutes, and then remove skins. Pass poatoes through a food mill into a large bowl; stir in sugar, butter, cream, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, eggs, ginger and pepper. Pour mixture into 1 1/2 quart baking dish and smooth top; set aside.

2. Reduce oven temperature to 350°. Stir together flour, oats, sugar, pecans and salt in a bowl; add butter and using your fingers, rub butter into flour mixture until large crumbles form. Mound crumble mixture over filling, dot with marshmallows and bake until filling is hot and crumble and marshmallows are browned, about 30 minutes. Let cool about 15 minutes before serving.

Cinnamon Bun Waffles

I have quickly become obsessed with Pinterest. The recipe ideas (most of them are really fattening but look so good), but once in a while it is OK to splurge on calories, right?

I once saw a pin on Pinterest where somebody made waffles out of cinnamon buns. Brilliant!  Then I saw one where somebody put brownie mix into a waffle maker, which would be really good with a scoop of ice cream. And then I saw one with shoestring hash browns into a waffle maker, I think this would be really good with some caramelized onions and a fried egg on top. 

Wow, what else could I put in the waffle maker other than waffle mix?!?

So on Saturday, I loaded the waffle maker with the refrigerated cinnamon buns for breakfast and the outcome was incredible!

Depending on the size of your waffle maker, I used three buns per waffle. Usually we keep the heat setting on 3 for our Overnight Belgian Waffles  but I noticed it was better to turn the heat down a tad since the first batch was a little dry.

Once you peel them off the waffle maker, spread on the cream cheese icing and enjoy!

Buffalo Chicken Pot Stickers

I planned on reheating the gumbo last night for dinner, but when Phil and I were sitting around talking, I mentioned making buffalo chicken stuffed shells in the next coming weeks and that got Phil craving something buffalo chicken.

In the fridge I had some left over shredded chicken breast waiting to get used and wonton wrappers. I love having wonton wrappers since they are very versatile. You can stray from typical Asian fare and make raviolis - stuff them with anything you can think of and boil them as you would, mozzarella sticks - wrap up string cheese and spray with non-stick spray and bake in oven, mini lasagnas that bake in a cupcake tin, lay them on a cookie sheet and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar for a baked chip for a sweet dip etc... I usually buy egg roll wrappers and since they are larger and then cut them if needed. 

Buffalo Chicken Pot Stickers

• 1 cup shredded chicken
• 1/8 cup Franks Red Hot 
• 1/4 cup blue cheese dressing
• 1/4 cup shredded cheese
• 1/4 cup scallions
• 1 package of egg roll wrappers
• small cup with water
• 2 tablespoons peanut oil
• 1/4 cup chicken stock

1. Cut egg roll wrappers to make 4 smaller triangles. 
2. Mix all ingredients together and lay a small scoop (about a tablespoon size) in the center of the triangle.
3. Dab your finger in the water, wipe on the long end and one of the short ends of the egg roll wrapper. This is the "glue" that holds everything together. Fold together to form a smaller triangle and seal the edges. Use more water if needed to help bond seams together. You can play around with shapes, I just do a triangle because it is quicker and easier.
4. Once all wrappers are sealed up and ready, heat oil in a frying pan and place all of the triangles in the pan to lightly brown one of the sides, about 2 minutes. Do not touch or turn over.
5. Gently add stock to pan and cover. Cook about 3 minutes. Serve immediately.

Pumpkin Gnocchi with Fancy Creamy Sauce

With all of the cooking we did over the weekend, I made a batch of pumpkin gnocchi to freeze for later, for a dish I saw that combined the gnocchi with a Crème Fraîche–Sage Sauce.  

Crème Fraîche is a fancy French word for a less sour, sour cream (and a little thinner). It is sometimes hard to find in the food store, unless you try a specialty store, and it is a little more costly.

You can easily make your own crème fraîche at home with one cup heavy cream and two tablespoons buttermilk and let it sit out overnight in a warmer, dry space. Once it has sat and thickened, store it in the fridge. Crème fraîche can also be used in dessert in place of whipped cream, or a bit on top of a creamy soup.

Since I didn't buy buttermilk (let alone have it sit out overnight in the heavy cream), I made a mock crème fraîche with heavy cream and a little bit of Fage Greek Yogurt, since that is what I had on hand. You could also do it with heavy cream and sour cream. I also heard of people using heavy cream and cream of tartar, but I haven't tried that technique.

When I was making the pumpkin gnocchi's , I also added about 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon to add to the fall flavors with the pumpkin.

Cooking up a Storm!

This weekend we were cooking up a storm! I made three batches of ricotta gnocchi's, one batch of pumpkin gnocchi's, sausage gumbo, lasagna soup and two loaves of pumpkin bread. More recipes and pictures to come.

What is nice about the gnocchi's is that they don't take much time at all, and you can freeze them easily for later.

I wouldn't really call the shapes that we make, gnocchi's they are more like logs. Delicious logs that expand in your stomach before you realize you ate too many and are now way to stuffed.  I serve these with some basic tomato sauce, but these would taste great with any sort of gravy/sauce.

Ricotta Gnocchi's

• 1 (8 ounce) container ricotta cheese (I use part skim)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 1 cup all-purpose flour, or as needed

1. In your mixer with the dough hook, add the ricotta cheese, eggs, Parmesan Cheese, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and Italian seasoning until evenly combined. Mix in 1 cup of flour. Add additional flour if needed to form a soft dough.
2. Divide the dough into 3 or 4 pieces, and roll into 1/2-inch-thick ropes on a floured surface. Take the back of a fork and press lightly along the length of the rope to create some texture. Cut each rope into 1-inch pieces, and place on a lightly floured baking sheet. If you run out of room on your baking sheet, you can put down a layer of wax paper and place more gnocchi's on top of the first layer.
3. Place in the freezer until frozen solid and then add to Ziploc bag until ready to use.
4. When you are ready to eat them, bring a large pot of water to boil. Season with salt and add gnocchi's. Cook until they are floating about 5 minutes if frozen, maybe 3 minutes if fresh.