Roots of All Evil (Roasted Carrots w/ Maple Tahini Sauce)

It's time for a Halloween recipe...This lusciously disgusting side dish is sure to get looks of confusion as your Halloween party guests ask, "What are those?"  They may not recognize these gruesome looking root vegetables, but these are carrots...purple carrots to be exact! See, not so scary...

Throw a little maple syrup and heat on these tubers and...they become the absolute perfect side dish to kick off my annual Summer of Halloween, a dish I like to call, Roots of all Evil. 💀
Dare your guests to try one of these sweet maple roasted carrots smothered with a maple tahini sauce topped with crunchy pistachios and tart pomegranate seeds. An unusual, elegant and savory palette of flavors that belies the macabre exterior... Enjoy!
                         🎃🎃🎃  124 days until Halloween  🎃🎃🎃

Roots of All Evil (Roasted Carrots with Maple Tahini Sauce)

Halloween-adapted recipe from Closet Cooking
Serves 4

2 lbs. purple carrots, peeled, cut in half lengthwise
1 T oil
1 T maple syrup
cooking spray

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray or line with parchment paper. Arrange carrots in a single layer and baste with oil/maple syrup mixture. Roast carrots in 400 degree oven for 20-30 minutes, turning once.

Maple Tahini Sauce
2 T tahini
2 T lime juice
1 T soy sauce
1 T maple syrup
1 clove garlic, grated
2 T water (add more if needed to thin sauce)

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl and top roasted carrots with sauce and garnish with pomegranate seeds, pistachios and parsley. Enjoy!

Optional:
pomegranates, garnish
pistachios, garnish
parsley, chopped, garnish

More Halloween recipes:

 Grubs Au Gratin

Roasted Fingers and Toes

Roasted Brains

Tandoori Chicken Pizza

They say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and I agree. 

We have a gem of a pizza place here in Lakewood called, Laventina's Pizza. They make the most amazing Tandoori Chicken Pizza. It's loaded with beautiful Indian spices, not only in their chicken, but in a delicious Tandoori paste that replaces the usual pizza sauce. It's then topped with cheese, Tandoori chicken, fresh tomatoes, red onions, cilantro, and thinly sliced jalapenos that lend just the right amount of heat. 
It is absolutely superb! So when I taste something this delicious, I want to try to recreate it here at home. So , if you aren't local to Lakewood and can't pick up the original, here is my humble attempt to recreate Laventina's Tandoori Chicken Pizza. Enjoy!

Note: Plan to marinate the chicken overnight for best flavor. Also I used naan flatbread instead of making my own pizza dough and used Serrano chilies instead of jalapenos. 

Tandoori Chicken Pizza

Tandoori Masala Spice Mix (recipe from Pepperscale)
3 T paprika
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp ground fenugreek seeds
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp black pepper

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl. Before use, heat powder in a large skillet for 30 seconds to 1 minute stirring until fragrant. Do not heat longer than a minute you do not want the oils to burn.

Tandoori Chicken
1 1/2 lbs chicken thighs, boneless, skinless
salt and pepper
1 cup Greek yogurt
2-3 T  Tandoori Spice mix

Marinate Chicken Thighs- Salt and pepper boneless, skinless chicken thighs and place in a plastic ziploc bag. In a small bowl, combine 1 cup of  Greek yogurt and about half of the prepared tandoori masala spice mix (2-3T) Add yogurt mixture to the chicken in the ziplock bag and squsih around to coat chicken. Refrigerate 2 hours or over night. Grill chicken and then chop into bite-sized pieces.

Tandoori Paste Pizza Sauce
2 T Tandoori Spice mix
2 T olive oil
2-3 T ketchup*
salt (to taste)

Heat spice mix with olive oil in a skillet until fragrant. 20-30 seconds. Add ketchup until mixture resembles a paste. Add salt to taste and set aside. 
*secret ingredient 😉

Tandoori Chicken Pizza
6 Naan Bread
Tandoori Paste Pizza Sauce (above)Tandoori Chicken, grilled and diced (above)
3-4 cups Mozzarella cheese, grated
2 small tomatoes, seeded and diced
1/2 small red onion, sliced
1-2 small serrano pepper, thinly sliced, seeds removed
cilantro leaves
red pepper flakes (to taste)

Assemble pizzas: Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Brush Naan flatbread generously with Tandoori paste. Add mozzarella cheese, chicken, onions, tomatoes and serrano pepper slices. Place in oven and bake for 10-12 minutes or until cheese is bubbly. Garnish with cilantro leaves and red pepper flakes to taste for more heat.

Other recipes to try:

Thai Chicken Enchiladas

Spicy Pork Wonton Tacos

Vegetable Ceviche

Kale Salad with Walnuts and Golden Raisins

It's been a while since I've posted a salad recipe. What better time to share salad recipes than in summer, right? If you don't know, I looove salad and most of the time, I make the same basic salad every week so my kids will eat it too. Maybe I'll adjust the ingredients a bit depending on what I have on hand, but its essentially the same. Rather, I save my experimental ingredient salads, like this one, when it's just my husband and I. No need to hear the unnecessary cries from my kiddos...Ewww, what's that? For me, salad is comfort food. I feel like there's something missing from my diet if I don't have salad for lunch every day. So I was happy to see this Kale Salad with Walnuts and Pecorino on Instagram from Smitten Kitchen. It looked so yummy, that I was inspired to give it a go. I know some may be grimacing because, lets be honest...its kale and kale is hard to like. I like kale, but I've also had kale I didn't like. For me, if I'm eating raw kale in a salad, it has to be chopped small, rubbed and paired with something sweet, preferably fruit or a sweet dressing or both. So, I decided to make a small adjustment by making the dressing with orange juice and honey rather than just lemon juice as called for in the original recipe and it was absolutely delicious! My personal litmus test is whether my husband likes it, since he is not a fan of kale. I gave him a small bite of my salad...and then another...and then he wanted his own bowl. 😁That's a win in my book! Enjoy! 

Kale Salad with Walnuts and Golden Raisins

Slightly adapted recipe from Smitten Kitchen

Serves 4

1/2 cup walnuts, roasted and chopped
1/4 cup golden raisins
2 T apple cider vinegar
2 T water
1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 small clove of garlic finely minced or grated
pinch of kosher salt
2T olive oil (first addition)
1 bunch of kale (I used curly kale), rubbed and washed
1/3 cup Pecorino cheese, grated
2 T olive oil, (second addition)
juice of whole orange
1 T honey
salt and pepper to taste

Prepare Walnuts: Heat oven to 350. Toast walnuts on baking sheet for 10 minutes, turning once. Let cool and then chop. 

Prepare Raisins: Place raisins in a small bowl and add vinegar and water. Let soak in liquid for 30 minutes or so. (Oops, the original recipe calls for heating the raisins in a saucepan to re-hydrate with vinegar, I missed that step and just let them soak while I prepped everything else)

Prepare Crumbs: Toast breadcrumbs, garlic, olive oil in a skillet until golden brown. Salt to taste. Set aside.

Prepare Kale: Remove tough stems from kale and rip curly leaves into small bite sized pieces. Rub torn kale between your hands to soften leaves. Rinse and spin leaves and transfer kale to a large bowl.

Prepare Salad:
Add pecorino cheese, raisins (without the vinegar mixture), walnuts, olive oil, orange juice, and honey and toss until coated. Taste and add salt and pepper and adjust with left over vinegar, honey or orange juice. Let salad sit for 10 minutes to let the flavors meld. Toss with Breadcrumbs before serving. Enjoy!

More Kale recipes:

Autumn Slaw with Candied Pumpkin Seeds

Kale Salad with Strawberry Mango Salsa

Braised Kale and Onions with Balsamic Butter

Moroccan Chicken with Couscous

It may be the first day of summer, but in my heart and mind it's always fall. I am drawn to warm comforting foods despite the time of year. If I can braise a chicken or short ribs on an unseasonably cool summer day, I will. Hell, I'll fire up the oven and turn on the air conditioning on the hottest day. I look for signs of fall color in fallen leaves all year long. Fall color happens all year long if you look for it. I color my surroundings with browns, oranges and reds in the things I buy for my home. In fact, the garden I planted last week is filled with muted oranges and deep reds. So it's not surprising that I made this gorgeous dish that not only screams fall color, but the comforting flavors of fall as well. This luscious dish of chicken leg and thigh meat braised with vibrant carrots and sweet apricots in a sauce made with warm spices of cumin, cardamom, and turmeric are sure to warm the soul on the darkest of fall ...summer evenings. 🌝Enjoy!

Moroccan Chicken with Couscous

(Adapted recipe from Teri Villanueva @ ChefTech Cooking School. The original recipe calls for lamb.)

1 1/2 lbs. boneless chicken leg and thigh meat, chopped
2 T olive oil plus 1 T olive oil for browning
1/4 tsp. ground turmeric
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. cardamom
1 tsp. kosher salt

Add chopped chicken to a bowl, add 2 T olive oil and spices and mix to coat chicken. Cover and set aside. Heat 1 T olive oil in a large dutch oven and work in batches to brown chicken over medium-high heat. Set chicken aside.

1 yellow onion, chopped
3 carrots, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 T ginger, minced
2 T tomato paste
1 lemon, zested*
1 T honey*
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup dried apricots, chopped
1- 14oz can of garbanzo beans, drained**
1 1/2 cup couscous ** 
cilantro, chopped (garnish)

*I substituted 1T of my Meyer Lemon Jam for the lemon zest and honey.
**I used Trader Joe's® Harvest Grains Couscous Blend® that contained mini garbanzo beans and omitted the addition of the can of garbanzo beans. If you can't find Harvest Grains Couscous blend, use regular couscous and add a can of garbanzo beans as written in recipe above.

Add onions and carrots to the dutch oven and sweat for 5 minutes. Add garlic and ginger and cook for 5 more minutes. Stir in tomato paste and add chicken back to the pot. Add lemon, honey, chicken stock and apricots. *If using regular couscous and adding garbanzo beans, add the can of garbanzo beans to the pot at this time. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Prepare couscous according to package directions and set aside.

Seasoning Oil
2 T olive oil
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp cardamom
1/ tsp kosher salt

Heat olive oil and all spices over medium high heat in a small skillet until hot and fragrant, stirring constantly. Pour into chicken right before serving. Garnish with chopped cilantro.

 More recipes to try:

Shakshuka

Potato Gnocchi and Spinach Curry

Mulligatawny Soup

Hungarian Meatball Kabobs

The school year is over and summer is finally here!  I've spent the last few days just getting organized around my cluttered house. Tossing out my kid's old schoolwork, worn school clothes and trying to wrap up PTA stuff so I can finally focus on cooking, blogging and relaxing and just all around doing whatever comes up with my kiddos. Ahhh...summertime!
I'm also super anxious to get started on all my Halloween recipes for my annual Summer of Halloween. As you know, I spend all summer blogging new Halloween food and projects so you'll see a lot of those scattered about this summer. You'll also see non-halloween recipes as well. Like these mouthwatering Hungarian Meatballs.  These savory meatballs are tender and loaded with flavor from cumin and coriander and then threaded on skewers and served with a sweet and creamy red pepper paprikosh sauce. They are simply heavenly.
Truth be told, I made these months ago and I'm just now getting to blogging them. I've had a bit of writers block that has been very frustrating at times, but bare with me as I get back into the groove of cooking, taking pics and writing again. I have some really awesome Halloween ideas coming your way and a ton of appetizing new summer and fall dishes to share with you. Enjoy!

Hungarian Meatball Kabobs

(slightly adapted recipe from Cuisine at Home)

1 1/2 lb. ground beef
3/4 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup parsley
2 t. garlic powder
1 t. salt
1 t. coriander
1 t. cumin
1/4 t. red pepper flakes
1/4 t. pepper
1/3 cup cream (or milk)
2 eggs

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl and use a medium cookie scoop to make about 2 1/2 dozen meatballs. Pan fry in batches if desired, or place on a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes. Thread three meatballs on skewers and serve with Paprikosh Sauce over couscous and peas.

Paprikosh Sauce
1 T olive oil
2 cups red bell peppers
1 cup onion, diced
2 T. Hungarian Sweet paprika
1 T. fresh garlic, minced
1/2 cup white wine
2 cup chicken broth
1 cup tomatoes, diced
salt and pepper
1/2 cup sour cream

Saute onions and peppers in olive oil until onions are translucent, ~5-8 minutes. Add paprika and garlic, heat until garlic is fragrant  ~2 minute.  Add white wine and deglaze pan. Heat until wine is reduced by half. Add chicken broth and tomatoes and simmer until peppers are soft and sauce thickens. ~ 20 minutes. Turn off heat and add sour cream. Salt and pepper to taste and serve with meatballs. 

Serve with Couscous and Peas

More meatball recipes to try:

Lamb Kabobs with Yogurt Garlic Sauce

Albondigas with Chimichurri Pesto

Salisbury Meatballs

Greek Meatballs