Chickpea Tagine with Chicken and Apricots

Any harsh words I had for the Minimalist the other day completely evaporated when I tried the April 9 recipe this past Friday. True, he still has the problem of claiming moderately difficult recipes are 30-minute meals, but his recipe twist on a tagine (an hour to an hour 15 to prepare) hit the right tone by giving instructions for a simple(r), healthy all-in-one meal. The dark meat chicken itself was incredibly flavorful, but the sauce, similar to an Indian gravy, was divine and we could have eaten it on its own. Every time I took a bit and tasted the sweet apricots or the piquant ginger or the rich cinnamon, I smiled at the unique flavor. Even better, the ingredients as a whole made an incredibly healthy dish. Be sure and let the bulgar sit for a few minutes after cooking to let it expand and absorb the sauce. No bulgar? The dish would taste just as good over couscous.

Chicken and Vegetable Cobbler

Last week I went to save Mark Bittman's Chickpea Tagine with Chicken and Apricots recipe in my gmail "recipes" folder and was surprised to find I had another Minimalist chicken recipe to try-- the Chicken and Vegetable Cobbler from the March 10 NY Times had gotten buried in my e-mail. Fortunately (?) we had a gray day here last Saturday that screamed for warm comfort food.

First the good: this dish is chock-full of healthy vegetables, and given that the broth is cream-less, a good deal healthier than a Marie Callendar pot pie. The buttermilk biscuit dough was simple to whip together and the mushrooms (I subbed out baby bellas for button) give the classic dish a gourmet flair.

Then the bad: between the leek, the mushrooms and the carrots, this dish takes a surprisingly long amount of time to prep and then a shockingly long time to bake (45 minutes!). I used frozen carrot coins to save time and added them in at the same time as the peas; be warned, though, that while the frozen veggies are fine for the first serving of this dish, they turn to mush when you reheat leftovers. Further, I think it's a stretch to reference this as a one-pot dish (see paragraph 5) when you end up with a sticky, gooey food processor to clean, along with a pot.

I'm tempted to say I'll have a Marie Callendar from now on and use all the extra time to burn the extra calories, but I'm too afraid to look at the nutrition info :)

Enchilados Camerones

May's Real Simple featured a "my mother's best recipe" article that completely surprised me. I was expecting 50s-style casseroles, but the recipes were varied and interesting, including this Puerto Rican recipe for Enchilados Camerones. These mouth-watering shrimp tacos are a fresh alternative to the heavy, cheesy Tex-Mex my husband and I love but shouldn't eat as often as we do. The recipe reads almost like a Latin version of cacciatore, but the tomato-based sauce for the shrimp ends up making a warm, mild salsa. It was my first time using sweet smoked paprika and I was amazed that it smelled just like barbeque Lay's potato chips! The trickiest part of the recipe was making sure the shrimp cooked. I had to turn the heat down fairly low on the sauce to get it to simmer, and had difficulty determining when the shrimp were opaque due to the sauce. I ended up turning the heat up to medium and cooking for several minutes longer. With simple canned black beans on the side, this ended up making an impressive spread that I'm sure guests would gobble up as fast as we did!

Ginger Almonds

Alton Brown whipped up these Ginger Almonds on the recent "Live and Let Diet" episode of Good Eats. Although I'm a big fan of snacking on plain raw almonds, these are a tasty alternative if you get bored. The ginger is truly the most prominent flavor, but it's softened by the strong roasted flavor of the nut. It took me longer than 30-45 seconds to get the arbol chile to release scent; still, the chile flavor is not prominent in the final product. One of the commenters suggested using chili powder, which I may consider next time. Plus, that would make all of the ingredients, except the almonds, pantry staples. All in all, the worst thing about this recipe is that these are so addictive the quantity I'm consuming will counteract the "diet" nature of these.

Marinara Sauce

Making mirepoix is one of my favorite things to do in the kitchen. The peeling, the chopping, the crying over onions-- if you crush a couple garlic cloves as well, it's better than therapy! I always end up with with extra celery, carrots and onions, and a great way to use up the extras is in a simple spaghetti sauce, like Giada de Laurentiis' marinara sauce, that you can make and keep in the freezer to use in other recipes later on. If you were bottling this sauce as a type of Prego, it would be "Chunky Garden Fresh." Sometimes I like to throw in some red wine to tone down the tanginess but really this recipe is all about complementing Eggplant Parm, Manicotti or Penne alla Vodka (and using up your mirepoix!)

Vanilla Bean Bundt Cake with Vanilla Glaze and Strawberries

The April 2010 issue of bon appetit contains on article on "The Great American Cake," and this Vanilla Bean Bundt Cake with Vanilla Glaze and Strawberries stuck out as the perfect "dinner party" cake-- a cake that even a group with diverse tastes will love. Given my obsession with bundt cakes and the current strawberry clearance, I was sold! Sure enough, this buttery treat is a true vanilla (not white) cake and the slightly crunchy crust created by the bundt cake pan makes this a superior version of the Sprinkles vanilla cupcake.

The cake recipe is uber-simple except for the bizarre grease, flour AND non-stick cooking spray combo used to prep the pan. I like to follow instructions to the letter so I couldn't stop myself, but I would suggest that less OCD bakers nix the Pam. Also, don't worry about how thick the batter is when you fill the pan-- this is a not a light and fluffy angel-food type bundt cake.

One more thing-- don't tell my husband I opened up a new bottle of Woodford Reserve for this recipe... I only used a teaspoon...