handmade cassole Archives

The Food of Morocco has arrived!!!

October 26, 2011 By Valerie

We have all been anticipating the arrival of Paula’s new book, The Food of Morocco. When it arrived, I thumbed through the 500+ pages over a course of a few days. The photographs are stunning and the recipes, oh the recipes! I chose the Butternut Squash and Tomato Soup as my first creation. She described it as a soup “to keep both body and soul warm.” It was the most incredible squash soup I have ever tasted in my entire life. I found myself licking the spatula like it was cake batter. I was able to make use of my beautiful butternut squash from Loon Organics.

1 yellow onion coarsely chopped
Coarse salt
1 1/2 T EVOO
2 pounds butternut, kabocha, or kalabaza squash, halved, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1 1/2″ chunks (about 6 cups)
2 T tomato paste
1 t La Kama
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 pound crumbled or shredded goat cheese
1 t harissa (I used sriracha)
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Toss the onion with 1 teaspoon coarse salt and the oil in your cazuela, cover and steam over medium-low heat until the onion is soft, about 10 minutes.

Add the squash, cover with a sheet of parchment paper and a lid, and steam for 20 minutes.

Add the tomato paste, spices and 4 cups hot water and bring to a boil, then cook at a simmer until the squash is tender, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat.

Transfer soup in batches to a blender, and puree until smooth; add the cream, 3/4 of the cheese, and the harissa to the last batch of soup and puree until velvety.

Return soup to cazuela and season with salt and pepper to taste. Ladle soup into warm bowls and top each portion with a light sprinkling of remaining cheese. (serves 4)

Immediately after taking my first bite, I wished I had doubled the batch! Paula suggests thinning it with hot water and adjusting seasoning, if it gets too thick. I thought it reheated perfectly. I served it with homemade bread, and I think I’ll make it again next week with kobacha. We are featuring this amazing cookbook right now. It is not only an amazing cookbook, but it also makes for a lovely coffee table book. The images and stories have bumped Morocco to the top 5 on my travel bucket list. (sorry Japan) Go to Facebook, and join the Moroccan cooking group for more recipes and information.

Bell Peppers Stuffed with Israeli Couscous and Lentils in your tagine

March 16, 2011 By Valerie

I created this dish to show the versatility of our Flameware Tagine.

This recipe is adapted from a slow cooker recipe. This was also my first time making a dish with Israeli couscous, and I am excited to have discovered a new ingredient to add to my future creations.

6 large bell peppers (I use the 4 bump peppers because they stand up better)

Did you know? 4 bump are female, and 3 bump are male. Female peppers have more seeds, and therefor are heavier and more expensive.

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 small yellow onion — minced
2 cups cooked Israeli couscous
1 1/2 cups cooked lentils — drained (I used red, but any will do)
1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes — reconstituted or oil
packed, drained and chopped
1 tablespoon minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1/3 cup tomato paste
2 tablespoons orange juice
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 cup water
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Slice off the tops of the peppers and remove and discard the seeds and
membranes. Removing the stems, chop the pepper tops and set aside.
Arrange the peppers upright in your tagine.

Multitasking with my Flameware collection

Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large flameware skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and chopped pepper tops, and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.

I steamed my couscous in my veggie steamer. I made sure to leave the lid on, and tried to limit my fluffing. It was ready after about 20 minutes. My lentils were cooked in my flameware saucepan. 1 1/2 cups lentils and 1 cup water over medium heat for about 15 minutes. (cook until water is absorbed)

In a medium-size mixing bowl, combine the couscous, lentils, onion mixture, sun-dried tomatoes, parsley, and oregano and season with salt and black pepper to taste. Mix well and spoon into the pepper cavities, packing lightly.

In the same bowl, combine the tomato paste, orange juice, sugar, mustard, and water, stirring to blend. Add the cayenne and season with salt and black pepper to taste.

Using the same bowl... — Using the same bowl…

Pour over and around the arranged peppers in the tagine. Cover and bake for 4 hours at 400 degrees, until the peppers are fork-tender but still hold their shape.

Arrange in Tagine... — Arrange in Tagine…

Remove from oven, and let stand 15 minutes. You can serve this meal right from your tagine. I reheated this the following day, and put it on top of a bed of greens for lunch.

HAPPY NEW YEAR…CASSOULET DAY 3 Before

January 8, 2008 By Vivid Image

The second day (Thursday) is a light schedule. The process is to imitate duck confit. A confit is an old method of storing meats by rendering out fat and storing the meat covered with fat. In this case, we are not using fat, but the cooking method known as sous vide to tenderize the duck meat. After cutting up the duck (this was about the only part where we purchased an ingredient), it is placed overnight in a bag with herbs. Paula Wolfert gives full instructions in her book “The Cooking of SW France“. The beauty of this is that it takes 2 days instead of weeks.

The result was excellent. The duck meat becomes silky smooth instead of stringy. Betsy did cheat the instructions a bit. The recipe calls for using just the legs, but she used pretty much the whole thing.