Camacho Watcho

The challenge has begun…

As a quick refresher, I challenged myself to cook all the recipes in the April issue of Bon Appetit during the month of April (17 main entree recipes plus appetizers, etc. and I’ll be out of town for 10 days in the month of April…yikes!). I just loved all the Spring-y veggies that were featured in the salads and pastas in this issue. Good-bye wintery root vegetables…hello Spring greens!

So back to the challenge…I’ve actually made several recipes thus far, but for this post, I’ll just talk about three: Moroccan-Style Vegetable Stew with Harissa Yogurt Sauce, Flank Steak with Artichoke-Potato Hash and Aleppo-Pepper Aioli, and Sauteed Chicken Cutlets with Asparagus, Spring Onions and Parsley-Tarragon Gremolata.

Moroccan-Style Vegetable Stew with Harissa Yogurt Sauce

I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed to see turnips featured in this Moroccan stew, therefore I made it a point to make this recipe first to then move on to better, greener things. I personally think this would have been a better recipe for the January or February issue…just my opinion.

Overall I liked, not loved, this recipe but it was mainly because I think Bon Appetit short-changed the cooking process. A stew like this works best when the flavors have time to blend together. The mint stood out nice and bright, but none of the other spices (cumin, paprika, coriander) came through – perhaps it needed more? They suggest blanching the vegetables first to shorten the overall cooking time but I found that blanching did next to nothing. I ended up cooking the stew for over an hour versus the fifteen minutes that they tout (after blanching the veggies). But even an hour didn’t do the ingredients justice. I would suggest skipping the blanching and simmering the stew for an hour and a half. Better yet, make it the day before and let the flavors blend together in the refrigerator. Rewarm on the stove and you’ll be ready to go!

The saving grace of the stew, however, was the harissa yogurt – Greek yogurt mixed with minced garlic, harissa and olive oil…so good! I’m thinking this would be a great sauce to use on pita sandwiches or just to dip some grilled naan in. Yum!

Flank Steak with Artichoke-Potato Hash and Aleppo-Pepper Aioli

Again, this was another wintery feeling meal, but I was at least excited about the artichokes. The flank steak was amazingly tender for this cut of meat (it was Thousand Hills Cattle). The hash was good, but I had some issues with getting the potatoes crisp. I don’t know if it was just me or the recipe. If I make it again, I will wedge the potatoes raw, toss them in olive oil with salt and pepper and throw them in the oven to roast until tender inside and crispy outside, then just mix them with the artichoke mixture after. Seems a little easier to me than boiling, slicing, and browning later.

The aoili was really good which I was happy about since I went to three places looking for Aleppo pepper. I finally found it at Penzey’s Spices on Hennepin (thanks to The Wedge for helping me!). I followed the aoili recipe but didn’t think it brought enough heat, so I doubled the amount of pepper. It was barely there, but it brought a nice, subtle heat on the finish, unlike some pepper that is hot just for the sake of being hot. I’m looking forward to experimenting with other recipes using this pepper (once I’m done with this challenge, of course).

Sauteed Chicken Cutlets with Asparagus, Spring Onions and Parsley-Tarragon Gremolata

I loved this dish! It was bright, light and very Spring-y (finally!). While it does make for a light dinner, it would also be perfect for a lunch get together. Next time I make it, I’ll deglaze the pan with white wine before adding the broth to give it a kick and I’ll serve it with couscous and garnish with orange slices. Also, the Parsley-Tarragon Gremolata would be great on grilled fish. Just thinking about it makes me hungry!

Note: All recipes can be found on Epicurious.com. The links to recipes there always break, so I’m just linking to their homepage.
Post Note: The Epicurious link is just not working – the website is www.Epicurious.com.

Tags: challenge, Food, recipes

This entry was posted on Friday, April 10th, 2009 at 4:17 am and is filed under Food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.