Recipes

Long Day Lentil Soup

Staffing a 6:45am conference on a Monday, preceded by staffing the first night of the conference on Sunday night, is not my idea of a perfect start to the week. That’s not to say I’m not a positive person. However, leaving before the sun rises puts a little bit of a damper on even my positive attitude.

For those who care to know, the conference went well. There were lots of attendees, I helped promote my firm (the one I work for – you know, my day job), and I met some very interesting professionals. As the afternoon came to a close, the only thing I wanted to do was get home, get into my sweats and have warm soup. Once I turned on Bravo and watched 10 minutes of The Real Housewives of New Jersey – don’t judge me, you secretly watch mindless, trashy television too – I was ready to get my soup on. Long Day Lentil Soup, or at least that’s what I’m calling it today. Disclaimer I might not have gotten it 100% right the way she does it, I made a few modifications. The Long Day Lentil Soup, however, hit the spot. It was just what I needed to unwind. I squeezed some lemon juice, and sprinkled some Stacy’s Pita Chips on top. Yum.

 

 

 

Long Day Lentil Soup Recipe 

Ingredients

1 Onion, chopped
2 cups Red Lentils
1-2 teaspoons Cumin
1/4 teaspoons Turmeric
Diced Baby Carrots
Salt to taste
Vegetable Oil
 
 

Directions

Check lentils for stones, removing the stones.
Wash the lentils in water 3-4 times (add water, drain, add water, drain, etc.)
Fry 1 onion in vegetable oil until golden
Add lentils, stir
Add water covering the lentils over an inch
Add 1-2 teaspoons cumin and 1/4 tsp turmeric
Add diced carrots baby and Salt
Once it boils, turn to medium heat- keep stirring. If the mixture is thick, add water.
After simmering for 15 minutes,  remove from heat and puree in blender. To keep the thickness of the soup, only puree for a couple seconds. 
 

Serve with squeezed lemon juice.

Mini Mana’eesh

When I think Mana’eesh, I think long summer vacations in Amman, Jordan. Before my summers became obsolete – starting in college with summer courses and then in the “real world” where PTO means barely a week away from email – there was a time when my family, would leave for Amman at the end of June and return right before Labor Day weekend. We spent endless hours with family and friends, attending lunches, dinners, and weddings, staying out late at the local cafes and best of all waking up late-morning to go to my favorite place for mana’eesh – Kan Zaman.

If you haven’t been to Kan Zaman, you’re in for a treat. It’s a hilltop medieval castle turned restaurant where low tables and chairs are met with traditional Jordanian décor. The whole place feels like you just zapped back into “the old days.” Outside this family-friendly restaurant, an Arabian horse and carriage await – tips are highly recommended. And if you didn’t get enough of the old-time feel, walk toward the back of the restaurant and it’s there that most Jordanian-Americans dress up in traditional Jordanian garb and take photos in a very traditional Arabic setting. I guarantee if you’ve seen those photos hanging at someone’s house, they’re from Kan Zaman. My parents still have those family photos hanging up in their home.

 

If you’re in Jordan and interested in visiting, Kan Zaman is located at Airport Road, about 15kms from 7th circle in Amman

 

Let’s talk Mana’eesh. Traditionally, a breakfast item, you can find two varieties – za’atar and cheese. My personal favorite is the za’atar. It looks like a pizza and consists of flatbread topped with a mixture of olive oil and za’atar, baked to delicious goodness. I’ve been known to eat more than one.

I can’t recreate Kan Zaman’s Mana’eesh, but I can definitely try. While large mana’eesh are easy enough to make, I’ve taken the idea to the next level and found an even easier way to make this nostalgic breakfast item.

 

 

Best Served with Labaneh and Olives

 

 

Mini Mana’eesh Recipe

Ingredients
1  can (16.3 oz) Pillsbury® Grands!® refrigerated biscuits 
3 tablespoons Olive oil
1/4 cup Za’atar
 
 

Directions

Place biscuits on a baking tray
Using your fingers, flatten the biscuits
In a small bowl, mix olive oil and zaatar together (add more oil and zaatar as needed. It should be a runny consistency)
Spoon zaatar mixture onto each biscuit
Bake at 350 degrees for 14-17 minutes

Filet Mignon with Rosemary and Mushroom Gravy

Filet-Mignon

I made this recipe for the first time back in May. I found this on Epicurious. I was drooling at my desk just reading the recipe. I couldn’t wait to buy the ingredients and get busy cooking it. Needless to say it was a success and it’s now one of my favorite dishes. When I made the filets and gravy last time – I incurred some collateral damage. Somehow, when I was taking the steaks out of the oven, a seemingly easy task, I burned my left arm. I medermaed the heck out of it but I still have a scar. However, if you don’t burn yourself like I did, you’ll end up with a delicious meal.

Filet Mignon with Rosemary and Mushroom Gravy

Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients

  • Filet Mignon with Rosemary and Mushroom Gravy Recipe
  • Ingredients
  • For the Steaks
  • Vegetable oil cooking spray
  • 2 (8-ounce) filet mignon steaks
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • For the Gravy
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 large or 4 small shallots, minced
  • 2 cups (about 5 ounces) assorted mushrooms, such as cremini, shiitake and button, coarsely chopped
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/2 cup dry Marsala wine
  • 1 1/2 cups low-sodium beef broth
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary leaves
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

Instructions

    For the Steak
  1. Put an oven rack in the center of the oven.
  2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
  3. Spray a small baking sheet with vegetable oil cooking spray.
  4. Season the steaks with salt and pepper, to taste.
  5. In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat.
  6. Add the steaks and brown on all sides, about 4 minutes.
  7. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes for medium-rare doneness.
  8. Let the steaks rest for 5 minutes on a cutting board.
  9. For the Gravy
  10. In the same skillet used for the steak, heat 2 tablespoons of oil over medium-high heat.
  11. Add the shallots and mushrooms and season with salt and pepper, to taste.
  12. Cook until the shallots are soft, about 5 minutes.
  13. Add the wine and scrape up the brown bits that stick to the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon.
  14. Cook until most of the liquid has evaporated, about 2 minutes.
  15. Stir in the beef broth and rosemary.
  16. Whisk in the flour until smooth. Bring the mixture to a boil.
  17. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until half of the liquid has evaporated and the sauce has thickened slightly, about 10 minutes.
  18. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the butter until smooth. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
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Snack Time

A week or so ago, I was told we may have some friends over for dinner. So, of course, the planner that I am I made a menu and a list then went grocery shopping. It was the week before their wedding, so they weren’t able to make it – so I had some herbed goat cheese and Endives laying around which I had planned to use for an appetizer.

Not really sure what to do with endives, other than slip them in with some mixed greens on a salad, I made my appetizer anyway and served it while dinner was cooking in the oven.

 

 

 

Endive and Herbed Goat Cheese Appetizer Recipe

Ingredients

1 Endive (or more if you’d like)
3 Tablespoons Herbed Goat Cheese
¼ cup Chopped Walnuts

 

Directions

Wash the endives, peel apart carefully and dry on paper towels.
Mix together chopped walnuts and herbed goat cheese until mixed well.
Arrange endives on a plate, place a small piece of goat cheese on the end of each endive leaf.
Using the goat cheese walnut mixture, form a loose ball with your hands and place in the middle of the plate. Serve with crackers. 

Salmon Salad

After an afternoon of errands, and mostly shopping – and let’s not forget the ridiculously huge Burger Joint burger and side of fries, oh yea and a strawberry milkshake – I thought I should probably take it easy for dinner tonight. It was definitely one of those let’s pretend all the junk I ate today didn’t have any calories kind of day.  Salad is light, depending on the ingredients you use, so I went for a salad. I don’t really have salad items, however I had an unopened package of mixed greens, some smoked salmon and a brand new package of herbed goat cheese I knew I’d be able to put to use. From there, I created the salmon salad.  For dressing, I added a couple swirls of lemon juice.

 

 

Salmon Salad Recipe

Ingredients

Mixed Greens
Smoked Salmon
Capers
Herbed Goat Cheese
Pine Nuts
Lemon Juice
 

Directions

Mix together mixed greens, salmon, capers, goat cheese and pine nuts. Add lemon juice.

Easy Crab Parmesan Dip

Crab Parmesan Dip

A few months ago, I made a celebratory dinner of sorts which included an appetizer – Warm Crab Parmesan dip served with pita chips. Ever since then, it’s become one of my most popular dips. I don’t make it often at all because, as you’ll see from the ingredients, it’s not very heart-healthy. It’s really easy to make, and absolutely delicious. You can have it with pita chips, tortillas and even water crackers.

Since we haven’t had it in a while, and I just bought some pita chips at Safeway last weekend, I decided to make some. I’m telling you, people love this stuff – it’s perfect for a night in, or even to take along to parties.

Easy Crab Parmesan Dip

Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

  • 1/3 package of crabmeat
  • ½ cup cream cheese, softened
  • 1/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1/4 cup sour cream
  • 1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Mix together crabmeat, cream cheese, mayonnaise, Parmesan cheese, sour cream and garlic in a baking dish.
  3. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes, or until lightly browned.
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