We’re over a week into September, which means autumn is right around the corner. I love fall, it’s my favorite season. I love the crisp in the air, wearing cozy sweaters, and drinking too many pumpkin spice lattes. But this year, I don’t feel ready yet for crunchy leaves and hot apple cider. I want more sun, more time outside, more frolicking on the beach. Time marches on though, the sun is setting earlier, it’s started getting chillier and I’ve been craving warm comforting foods. This is where the carrot and coriander soup comes it. I find it to be a perfect transitional summer-to-autumn meal.

I don’t think “transitional meals” are a thing, but they probably should be. I’m not ready for root vegetables and hearty stews yet – it isn’t truly fall. But it’s getting cold and I want something warm. Also, I’m not ready to give up on the bright fresh flavors of summer. This soup does everything I need it too. It’s warm and a little it thick for fall. But it’s also a a bit sweet from the carrots, bright from the cilantro, and overall not to heavy.

And now that I’ve said cilantro, let’s talk about the difference between cilantro and coriander. Here in the UK coriander is both the plants, its leaves, and the seeds. In the US (and according to Wikipedia most of North America), the plant and leaves are called cilantro and the seeds are called coriander. Why the difference? I have no idea. The best I could find was that cilantro is the Spanish word for it and coriander comes from the it’s full Latin name, Coriandrum sativum. 

So I had a real difficulty deciding how to name this post since I used both words and both types of ingredient are in the recipe. Real tough dilemmas right? Anyway I decided on carrot and coriander because both are use and I’ve adapted this from a BBC recipe. Whatever you call it, this is a really nice, fairly light, but cozy soup for this transitional days when it’s not yet fall but not really summer yet.

I think the only drawback is that you start with vibrant orange carrots and end up with a dark soup. This is not your pretty and flashy kind of meal but this is about taste not aesthetics. While I’ve mentioned taste, can I say something sort of ridiculous? This is totally a vegetarian soup, and vegetarian soups have their place – but I think this soup is much tastier with chicken broth. I’ve made it with both vegetable and chicken broth, and I think the chicken broth gives it a more complex and rich flavor. Why have a meat free soup with chicken broth? I don’t really know, except to say that I like the flavor. I say do what you like and whatever you think tastes better.

Adapted from BBC Good Food.

Messy level: This is so much easier if you have an immersion blender. If you don’t have an immersion blender decide if your blender of food processor is better and stick with that. I started with my food processor knowing it was junk, and then had to switch to my blender. It made more dishes and a huge mess.

Carrot and Coriander Soup

 

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Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

26 mins

Total time

46 mins

 

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 potato, chopped
• 450g/ 6 regular full-sized carrots, peeled and chopped
• 6.5 cup/ ~1.5 liters vegetable or chicken stock
• salt and pepper, to taste
• large bunch of cilantro, leaves and stems (about ¾ a supermarket packet)

Instructions

1. Heat the vegetable oil in a large pan over medium heat.
2. Once the oil is hot add the onion. Fry the onion for about 5 minutes, or until softened and starting to brown.
3. Add in the ground coriander and potato. Stir and cook for 1 minute more.
4. Add the carrots and the stock. Bring everything to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer.
5. Taste and add salt and pepper to your liking.
6. Simmer for about 20 minutes or until the carrots are tender.
7. If you have an immersion blender add in the cilantro then use the immersion blender to blend the soup ingredients until smooth. Otherwise, add the cilantro and then use a regular blender of a food processor and blend the soup until smooth. You might need to do this in batches if your machines don't have enough space.
8. Return the soup to the pot. Taste it and adjust salt if necessary. Reheat if needed and then serve with crusty bread.

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It’s wasn’t until my mid-twenties that I realized it was possible to season corn. I thought the only thing you could do with corn was put butter on it. Then, on Christmas my cousins were visiting and they wanted to watch the hilarious and ridiculous movie Nacho Libre. The movie is about a monk who secretly moonlights as a wrestler and sometimes when he and his sidekick are about town they eat a seasoned Mexican corn on the cob. That movie has stuck with me in many ways, and one of them is that corn doesn’t have to be plain. 

Corn on the cob is one of those great tastes of summer. It’s August though, so summer is starting to wind down and I’ve been thinking about what foods I want to have (or over indulge on) before the season is over. Corn was definitely one of them. I associate corn on the cob with meals outside – either a crab feast at my parent’s house or outside on a patio at the beach.

I think about coming home from a day out in the sun, shucking the fresh corn and no matter how careful you are strands of silk always get on the floor. Then, when it’s time for dinner and you take just one cob to start with. As the sun starts to set, everyone is full and happy. There’s a glow from the sunset and a glow from eating and drinking a bit too much and you pick at the leftovers. And then you do it, go for just one more corn on the cob. Because why not? Soon corn will be out of season and you’ll have to wait for summer again. And now I really want to go the beach and have a feast outside.

In the summertime I love grilled corn because you can get those caramelized burnt kernels that are a little crispy and taste sweet and bitter at the same time. I don’t have access to a grill though, so I had to try something different. The whole aim of this corn experiment was to season the corn, so I definitely couldn’t boil it if I wasn’t herbs to stick to the corn. So, I decided to roast the corn.

Of course, roasting means that I then have to turn the oven on. And turning on the oven makes the whole apartment hot – but that just adds to the authentic summertime feel right? But, roasting them you can get a little bit of that caramelized flavor during cooking. There won’t be any char, but I did have some areas where the kernels got darker and sweeter.

Now classic butter is a great addition to corn on the cob. It served me well for nearly 25 years. But this recipe takes butter and amps it up a notch. Spicy cilantro lime corn on the cob might sound like it’s doing a lot – but it’s a great combination. The taste is fresh and bright from the citrus and herbs but with a nice tingly cayenne pepper heat that lingers on your lips. The flavor is bold but not at all overpowering so it’s easy to pair with other foods. And of course, there’s still loads of butter.

Most importantly, this corn is so easy to make. All you do is mix the seasonings into the butter, slather the butter onto the corn, and then roast the corn. It’s easy people! It elevates the basic recipe for corn on the cob to something a little bit more special, and something great to serve to family and friends. So make some corn, get outside, and enjoy these last few weeks of summer.

Adapted from Food Network.

Messy level: You aren’t going to have to do many dishes with this recipe. However, I found that actually making this recipe can be quite messy. I think it’s easier to mix the butter and seasonings with your hands and then also use your hands to slather it on the corn. For me, that makes the seasoned butter more uniform and allows you to completely and lavishly cover the corn. Few dishes, but greasy hands. It’s a trade off.

Spicy Cilantro Lime Corn on the Cob

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

40 mins

 

Serves: 6 servings

Ingredients

• aluminium foil
• 6 ears of corn
• 1 stick/113 grams of butter
• ¼ cup chopped cilantro
• 1 lime, zested and juiced
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C.
2. Rip off six sheets of aluminium foil. Make sure each sheet is large enough to wrap up an ear of corn. [Note: You can do this step later, but it's best to do it early so you can put the buttered corn directly onto the foil and not anywhere else]
3. Remove husks and silk from ears of corn.
4. In a small bowl, using your hands or a fork, mix together the butter, cilantro, lime zest, lime juice, salt, cayenne pepper, and garlic powder. Mix until everything is uniformly blended.
5. Divide the butter in 6 equal pieces. It will be about 1⅓ tablespoons for each piece of corn. Slather each ear of corn generously with the butter mixture.
6. Wrap each cob individually with aluminium foil.
7. Place on a baking sheet. Leave at least 2 inches in between each cob. If you crowd the cobs it will take longer to cook.
8. Bake the cobs in the oven for 30 minutes. The corn will be hot and steaming!
9. Remove from the aluminium foil and let cool slightly. If you'd like more flavor, sprinkle a little extra cilantro, zest, cayenne, or salt on top of the corn - whatever will please your palette!

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I have been craving mussels for weeks. It started when we were in Paris and I saw people eating a bowl full of mussels outside of a charming cafe. It continued after I was in Greenwich and we went out for fish and chips and I saw a server bring mussels to a nearby table. Every time I saw them they looked so good, but for some reason I wasn’t eating them! Why wasn’t I eating mussels?!

So, I took matters into my own hands and decided to make mussels at home. When Ryan and I lived in Arlington, VA we used to like a place called Fatty Shorty’s (it no longer exists). We would get green curry mussels with bread and sausages slathered with mustard and topped with onions. Although the place didn’t last long, we thought it was delicious and those mussels were the inspiration for making this recipe. 

Making mussels at home is something that sounds a bit scary, and I think that’s because there are so many rules associated with mussels. When you buy them, you want to remove any that are chipped or already open. You want to clean them to get the silt out. And you need to remove the beards, but in a certain way so you don’t prematurely kill it. Then, once they are cooked you don’t want to eat any that haven’t opened. See, so many rules?!

But in fact, mussels are really simple to clean and prepare, quick to make, and delicious to eat. The longest part, and it’s hardly strenuous, is making a flavorful and complex broth that you’ll use to steam the mussels. Then, once you put the mussels in to steam, it takes just minutes (2-6 minutes). It’s glorious and quick. And then you can slurp up all that broth using a spoon or the empty mussel shells. In fact, my number one recommendation for making mussels at home is that you also buy a nice baguette so you can use the bread to sop up the amazing broth you worked so hard to create. I was silly and forgot nice bread so Ryan and I had to use hot dog buns.

Also, if you like mussels but fear making them at home, here’s one last plug: I bought 1 kilogram of mussels for £4 from my local fish monger. Yeah I went to a fish monger and not the grocery store, I’m cool like that. When you go out to eat, a bowl full of mussels can be pretty expensive and I’m always left wanting more. Make these at home and you’ll have enough mussels for 4 people for under £10. Can’t get much better than that.

Cleaning process learned from Smitten Kitchen Cookbook. Recipe adapted from Serious Eats.

Messy level: Slightly messy largely because of the cleaning process. Otherwise, all you have to do is a little cutting and everything else is cooked in one large pot.

Coconut Curry Mussels

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Cook time

15 mins

Total time

30 mins

 

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 2 pounds mussels
• 8 sprigs cilantro, leaves and stems separated
• 4 garlic cloves, divided
• 2 small thinly sliced shallots, divided
• ½ teaspoon whole coriander seeds
• ½ teaspoon chili flakes
• zest from 1 lime
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• salt
• 1 15oz can coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon Thai green curry paste
• 1 stalk of lemon grass, cut in 1" pieces
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 serrano chili, thinly sliced (optional)

Instructions

1. Remove any mussels that are cracked or already opened. Put the remaining mussels in a large bowl and cover with cold water. Let it sit for 10 minutes. This is done to clean them.
2. Spoon out the mussels. Don't pour them out otherwise the silty water will just go back on to the clean mussels.
3. Remove the beards from the mussels. Do this by pulling the beard toward the hinge. More info can be found here. Ok, now your mussels are ready to cook!
4. In a food processor combine the cilantro stems, 2 garlic cloves, 1 shallot, chili flakes, lime zest and a pinch of salt. Pulse until everything is finely chopped and combined.
5. Scoop 2 tablespoons of coconut milk into a large pot. Add the vegetable oil. Heat over medium heat until very hot.
6. Add the remaining garlic, remaining shallots, green curry paste, lemongrass, and everything from the food processor to the pot. Cook, stirring occasionally for 4-5 minutes. It should start smelling nice.
7. Add the remaining coconut milk, sugar, and fish sauce to the pot. Turn the heat up a bit and bring to a simmer. Let it simmer for 3-5 minutes. Taste and season as desired.
8. Add the mussels to the pot. Give them a stir and cover. Cook for 3-6 minutes or until all the mussels are open.
9. Once the mussels are cooked, stir in the cilantro leaves, lime juice, and serrano chili.
10. Serve with bread and eat immediately

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A few years ago I went to a wine tasting thing at Whole Foods. It was a good deal. For something like $5, I got a glass, tastes of 5 different wines, 5 bites of complementing foods, and booklet listing the wines and recipes. It was fun to try new things with relatively low risk – and of course anything I liked I could purchase while in the store. My favorite thing was a delicious carrot salad, which I’ve thought about many times over the years.

In fact, I mentioned this carrot salad two years ago when I made pici pasta. When I attempted it then, the carrot salad came out too soupy, I found the recipe unclear, and the amazing flavor I had remembered didn’t come through in the final product. Even so, I never forgot that carrot salad and I’ve thought of it from time to time when too many carrots lingered in the fridge.

Then recently, Pinterest showed me some beautiful pictures of carrot salads and I decided it was time to try again. I did a bunch of research, I made a list of the ingredients I’d like to include, and I started to create my own salad. Two years ago when I tried this I was put off by the idea that this was like coleslaw. I find coleslaw kind of unappetizing because it’s usually swimming in mayonnaise, and I’m not a great fan of things smothered in mayo. But, coleslaw doesn’t have to be in mayo! People, I looked it up.

Seriously, the English major in me went to the dictionary and here it is: coleslaw is usually made of shredded cabbage, but something also carrots and other vegetables, and those vegetables are dressed with mayonnaise OR vinaigrette. So yes, technically this is coleslaw because it is dressed with vinaigrette.

But this is so much better than your regular coleslaw. It’s got lots of ferocious crunch, a hint of sweetness, bright citrus and cilantro flavors, and just a bit of moisture from the dressing. Ryan and I had it as a side with some roast chicken, I had it as a late night snack, perfect to bring to lunch and add something healthy to your work day, and it would be great to bring to a picnic. And finally, as I said when I made roasted broccoli – I’m always looking for new and delicious ways to make vegetables and this will definitely do it.

Messy level: Fairly easy clean up. The messiest part is grating the carrots, but if you buy them already shredded then that’s one less tool to clean. Otherwise, it’s basically all chopping, measuring, and mixing. Once you add the vinaigrette the carrots will get a bit damp and some liquid will collect at the bottom of the bowl, but this is unlikely to create much of a spill or mess.

Raw Carrot Salad

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Total time

10 mins

 

Serves: 2.5 cups

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
• juice from half a lemon
• 2 teaspoons agave or honey
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon salt
• pinch of pepper
• pinch of cinnamon
• 2 cups grated carrots (about 2-3 medium to large carrots)
• ¼ cup raisins
• ¼ cup chopped pecans
• ¼ cup pumpkin seeds
• 2 tablespoons roughly chopped cilantro

Instructions

1. In a small jar with a lid, or in a bowl, add the olive oil, white wine vinegar, lemon juice, agave, cumin, salt, pepper, and cinnamon. If using the jar cover with the lid and shake until well mixed. If using a bowl, whisk all the ingredient together until well mixed. Set aside
2. In a medium bowl add the grated carrots, raisins, pecans and pumpkin seeds. Mix until everything is mixed and all the ingredients are spread through out.
3. Pour the vinaigrette over the grated carrot mixture. Stir so that everything is coated.
4. Add in the cilantro and mix gently.
5. Sprinkle a little extra cilantro on top if desired. Serve!

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One of my new kitchen gadgets is the inspiration for this blog post. At my bridal shower a family friend gave me a Moroccan tagine. When I opened it I was impressed by how beautiful it was, but I had no idea how to use it! The tagine is a ceramic cooking vessel made up of two parts. The bottom is like a dish, and the top is a cone shaped lid. There is a small hole at the top of the cone to let out the heat and steam.

The same family friend followed up at the wedding by giving us Mourad Lahlou’s book New Moroccan. I read through the book and got some tips on how to use the tagine, and I made a couple of stew-like meals and they came out pretty well. Pretty well – but not great. Every time Ryan and I would have a couple of ideas about how we could make it better the next time. I was feeling mildly discouraged, but then on William-Sonoma’s website I found a video of Mourad cooking the Chicken Legs with Preserved Lemons in a tagine! The recipe is also in his book, and so armed with all of these resources I felt sure I could finally use the tagine well. If you don’t have a tagine, don’t despair! If you have a dutch oven or some other ceramic cooking vessel that can go on the stove and in the oven, you can do this recipe!

Before getting to the recipe, I wanted to talk about the seasonings. First, I was skeptical about preserved lemons. Mourad’s book talks about how important preserved lemons are to Moroccan cooking and he gives details instructions on how to make them, but I was less than convinced I’d do it myself. But, Williams-Sonoma, always my favorite dream cooking and food place sells preserved lemons in the store so it saved me a step! They tasted pretty good in the recipe but straight out of the jar – OH MY! They are so salty, but also tangy from the citrus. It’s a powerful flavor. I was also a little put-off by the amount of spices required for the recipe. I didn’t have a lot of the spices in my cabinet before doing this, and so buying all those spices hurts the wallet a bit – but it is worth it. First, now I actually have the spices and can make it again. But, it also creates an incredible yellow broth that smells just decadent. Expanding my horizons from my usual salt, pepper, and garlic powder was truly worth it!

Anyway, let’s get to the recipe!

Ingredients:

4-6 chicken legs with thighs (use what fits in your tagine, mine only fit 4)

Salt

vegetable oil (Mourad uses duck fat, but I don’t have that kind of thing!)

5 cups thinly sliced yellow onions

2 tbsp ground coriander

2 tsp ground white pepper

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp saffron threads

1/2 tsp ground turmeric

1 1/2 cups chicken stock

4-6 quarter preserved lemon rind (as many rinds as you have chicken legs)

1/2 cup green olives, pitted and cracked

3-4 tbsp unsalted butter

Directions:

1. Salt the chicken legs and let sit at room temperature for 1 hour

2. Preheat over to 350° and make sure there will be enough space for the tagine in the oven. You might have to take out all racks except the bottom one.

3. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a pan at medium-high heat. Once it’s hot, add the chicken legs and cook, turning once until the sides are well browned. It should take 3-5 minutes per side. Remove the legs from the pan and set aside.

4. Heat 2 tbsp oil in the tagine on the stove. IMPORTANT NOTE: When using the tagine on the stove be sure to use a difusser! Without the difusser the tagine is likely to crack.

5. Add the onions and saute over medium-high heat. Stir often and cook until they are a nice brown. It should take about 15-17 minutes.

6.  Add the spices and a bit of salt to the onions. Stir for 1 1/2 minutes to toast the spices.

7. Return the chicken legs to the tagine, pour in the stock and bring to a boil.

8. Cover the tagine and put it in the oven. Cook for 40 minutes. When you remove it from the oven, the chicken should be tender and falling off the bone.

9. Remove the legs from the pan.

10. Return the tagine to a burner and simmer for 3-5 minutes to reduce the sauce. The soft should be thick enough to coat the back of the spoon. If you taste the sauce at this point it will have a little bit of a spicy kick to it.

11. Add the lemon rinds and olives if you’re using them.

12. When the rind and olives are hot whisk in the butter 1 tsbp at a time. Taste the sauce after each tbsp of butter has melted. When I made it, I put all 4 tbsps in at once. It made the sauce more creamy and less spicy. It was delicious, but I wish I had let some of the spiciness remain.

13. Serve chicken and place sauce, onions, lemons, and olives over the chicken.

This picture might not look all that impressive, but you can see the lemon rind (top middle of the plate), the sauce, onions, and chicken. The flavor was lovely and the chicken was so tender. We ate it over couscous!

Messy level: Two spoons. The final product looks messy, and moving the chicken can be a bit dangerous, but overall you’re cooking in one vessel.

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