Cook Lisa Cook: July 2015

Monday, July 20, 2015

Baked Eggplant with Cumin

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Delicious, spicy eggplant, ready to enjoy! We adore eggplant and this recipe is super simple and just a bit different, one of our favorites.

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Steamed eggplant dusted with spice, ready for the oven.

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Baked Eggplant with Cumin

2 lbs. medium eggplants
6 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp. paprika
1 heaping tsp. ground cumin
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
salt
fresh ground pepper
lemon juice

Preheat oven to 450F. Wash and dry the eggplant. Slit the skin in several places to prevent bursting then steam in a steamer until tender, about 35 minutes. Allow the eggplant to cool and then cut lengthwise in quarters. Add the oil to an oven proof baking pan and lay the eggplant slices skin side down. Sprinkle the eggplant with the paprika, cumin, cayenne,salt, pepper and garlic. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the eggplant is soft and slightly toasted.
Enjoy!

Monday, July 13, 2015

Doro Wat ~ Spicy Ethiopian Chicken Stew

We adore spicy food here in the Cook Lisa Cook house so when we spied this recipe for Doro Wat on Nom Nom Paleo’s site, we just knew it had to be made.

The original recipe called for a tablespoon of the spice berbere but Michelle said that they used 1½ tablespoons because they’re masochists, so we figured what the heck, if they can do it, we’ll be masochists too, so we went for the larger amount.

The berbere gave the dish a wonderful flavor and it was hot…but not spitting fire hot so it was perfect for us…well not Maisie.

The chicken was absolutely delicious, the flavors were just amazing. The eggs in the dish were…well…interesting but we felt they just weren’t quite needed. Maybe if the eggs had been simmered in the sauce, I don’t know. I know that we’ll make and enjoy this dish again but probably sans eggs.

Doro Wat ~ Spicy Ethiopian Chicken Stew (adapted from here)

3 pounds chicken drumsticks (about 10 drumsticks), skin on or off
Kosher salt
¼ cup ghee
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
6 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated (about 1 TBS.)
1 1/2 TBS. berbere seasoning (more or less to taste)
1/4 tsp. ground cardamom
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 cups chicken stock
4 hard-boiled eggs, quartered into wedges
Juice from 1 lime (optional)

Thoroughly season the drumsticks with salt, and set aside. Heat the ghee in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the sliced onions, and let them cook undisturbed for 1 to 2 minutes. Season liberally with salt, and gently turn over the pile of onions every 3 to 4 minutes to ensure even cooking. Once the onions have softened and significantly reduced in volume, about 15 minutes, turn the heat to medium-low. Continue cooking, turning over the onion pile every 10 minutes or so, for 30 to 40 minutes or until golden brown and nicely caramelized, tender and sweet.

Stir the garlic and ginger into the caramelized onions, and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the berbere, cardamom, and black pepper. Next, pour in the chicken stock and stir to mix well. Nestle the drumsticks into the liquid, and bring the contents of the pot to a low simmer. Cover and cook, turning the drumsticks occasionally, about 45 minutes or until the meat is tender and cooked through.

Once the chicken’s done, remove the lid of the Dutch oven and turn the heat up to medium-high. Cook for 5 to 10 minutes until the liquid is reduced by approximately one-third. Add lime juice, do it now. The citrusy zing adds a nice, zesty brightness to this long-simmered dish. Transfer the chicken drumsticks to a serving platter, garnish with the egg wedges, and ladle the spicy sauce on top.

Enjoy!

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Baked Jalapeno Popper Dip

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Seven weeks down and five to go before it’s back to school for Miss. Maisie. We can’t believe how quickly summer is passing and honestly none of us are looking forward to it being over and returning to the school year schedule. One of the things that we’re really enjoying this summer is our time relaxing out on the dock, sipping our cocktails and snacking on appetizers, such an enjoyable way to spend summer evenings. So of course when it came time to search out a recipe on our assigned Secret Recipe Club blog Colie’s Kitchen, we were on the lookout for appetizers.

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There were many recipes on Nicole’s blog, both appetizer and non-appetizer which caught our attention and were in the running for this month’s recipe. I mean how delicious do Southwest BBQ chicken, Southern fried corn, Avocado mozzarella salad, or bunuelos sound? I mean seriously, difficult choices. But then there were two recipes which really sparked the debate on which to make and it came down to either Nicole’s cold Jalapeno popper dip or her hot Jalapeno popper dip. I mean it’s Jalapeno popper dip two ways! We adore, ADORE, the taste of jalapeno poppers as evidenced by two of our other favorite recipes, Jalapeno Popper Soup and our Totally Outrageous Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese Sandwich, yes we do love our jalapeno poppers! In the end it was the hot dip which won the coin toss and it was made for the ladies of book club. Now you’d think that some hot spicy dip would be too much for the ladies who read but let me tell you, they were scraping that serving dish clean, licking their lips and asking for the recipe. Needless to say the dip was a huge hit and super simple to make and thus, has been added to the make-again-and-often recipe list.

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We did of course change Nicole’s recipe a bit. Her recipe calls for a mix of cheddar and parmesan cheese and we thought that we had both in the house but when we were preparing the dish we found that we were out of cheddar and only had about a 1/3 cup of parmesan so we went with what we had and that was mozzarella. We also added crumbled bacon and that was a very last minute decision. Seriously, we had put the dish in the oven and two minutes in, pulled it out and added on some bacon. Not sure what possessed us to do that, but it sure was delicious. Check out Nicole’s recipe or use ours, either way, if you’re a jalapeno popper lover, you won’t be disappointed.

Baked Jalapeno Popper Dip (Adapted from here)

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese (room temperature)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 cup mozzarella cheese
1 (4 ounce) can sliced jalapenos, diced (use diced chilies for less heat)
1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup crumbled cooked bacon

Preheat oven to 375F. In a bowl mix together the cream cheese, mayonnaise, mozzarella cheese and the diced up jalapenos. Lightly grease a baking dish (I used a shallow 1.5 qt. oven safe dish) and spread the jalapeno cheese mix evenly. Top with the shredded Parmesan cheese and bacon. Bake for 20-30 minutes until bubbling and golden brown on top. Serve hot with crackers or tortilla chips.