Leek and chickpea stew

It's cold on Feb 8th. It's so cold that to have any cold food would be an act of will, and far from an act of desire. It's also so cold I don't feel like walking to the market in my neighborhood and I feel nostalgic for the day when there was a small fruit and vegetable stand next to my building.

It's also a lucky day for me, since my fridge contained everything I needed to make a quick and delicious vegetable stew. It didn't go without using a magic spice, as you will see later on.

To make this stew you need:

2 leek stalks, sliced
2 very large carrots, grated
1 can chickpeas (with the water inside)
1 cube vegetable bullion (use organic low sodium bullion)
5-6 white pepper corns
5 pieces of saffron
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp butter

Use the butter to cook the leeks over medium heat. Cook until slightly translucent, add the carrots and chickpeas, spices and water and cover for 20 minutes. You can enjoy the stew on its own, or serve with Greek yogurt, if you happen to be in a warm part of the world.

No bake apple cardamom protein bars

In the No bake protein bars recipe from a few days ago, you saw how easy it was to combine simple ingredients to make delicious home made bars.

Today's version is more of a Saturday morning amusement, as it requires slightly more time.

To make you need:

3 large apples or 1 cup sugar free applesauce
2 cups oat bran
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp peanut butter or sesame tahini
2 scoops protein powder
pinch cinnamon
pinch cloves
pinch nutmeg
pinch ginger
2 cardamom pods, seeds crushed

Use a steaming basket to steam the apples (halved, seeds and core removed) if you don't have applesauce. In about 15 min, you can remove from the heat and scoop out the flesh and mash it with a fork. Mix the warm sauce with all the spices and the butters. Add protein powder and then start mixing in the oat bran. The mixture will be soft like very soft play dough. Make bar sized shapes and coat in soft rolled oats or instant oats. Keep refrigerated for a few hours to allow the bran to harden up the bar. Enjoy as a snack or take to the gym with you and give some to friends, like I am going to do today.

Cardamom is a wonderful spice for apples, and this recipe is deeply transformed by it.

Honey pepper salmon with coconut mango

Honey pepper salmon is probably the easiest way to cook salmon, fresh, or frozen. I prefer fresh for the tender and moist texture. To make it, you need:

salmon steak
1 tbsp honey per salmon steak
crushed white/black pepper
pinch sea salt

Grab a shallow pan and place over medium heat. Coat salmon with some pepper and split the honey between both sides, sprinkle with the sea salt and place in the pan. 5 minutes on each side should be enough to get the nice browned look of the steak.

For the mango coconut salsa, you need:

1/2 mango, cut in large cubes
2 tbsp coconut milk
a few rosemary leaves

Cook all of the ingredients together over medium heat until the mango browns and serve on top of the salmon. Enjoy with some coconut cream and try not to lick the plate (if nobody's watching I would go for it).

No bake protein bars

I have been back in Bulgaria for two days now and it's time to start spending more time in the gym and in my car between house visits. This means I have two options for food: to fast (not eat) or to prepare something to take with. Protein bars are a wonderful option, and the home made variety are a way better choice than the store bought.

Making a homemade bar gives you some serious advantages:

* You get to use very high quality protein powder
* You get no nasty preservatives aftertaste
* You use fresh quality ingredients
* You get to have fun

In Bulgaria, this also saves you money, since most store bough protein bars are 3 and 4 times more expensive than in the US.

Today I made these awesome Pumpkin Coconut Bars, and it took me exactly 5 minutes.

Here is what you need for 2 regular size bars:

2/3 cup pumpkin, cooked, drained (or from a can)
1/2 cup oat bran
2 tbsp cranberries/raisins/other dried fruit
1/3 cup coconut flakes (unsweetened)
2 tbsp peanut butter 2 (powder peanut butter) or 1 tbsp natural peanut butter
1 scoop protein powder
dash cinnamon
dash cloves
dash nutmeg
pinch sea salt

Mix all the ingredients and use foil to flatten and fold in bar shapes. Use coconut flakes to coat the bars.
Wrap in paper to take to work and enjoy them as a meal with some nuts on the side, or just as a snack with some coffee or tea!

Slow roasted veggie chips

We had a variety of root vegetables from the farmer's market: red beets, yellow beets, parsnip, sweet potatoes, carrots.
It was very easy and simple to slow roast them.

For a start preheat the oven to 325 F.

Wash, fully or partially peel the roots and cut them in thin big pieces, preferably round and even. Go for 2-3 mm pieces, knowing that the more water a vegetable has (like beets) the thicker you can cut.

Spread on a baking sheet with some sea salt, olive oil and fresh ground pepper and roast for an hour, or until they turn crisp.

Use as chips, with or without dip or add to salad or soup instead of croutons. The taste is very deep and earthy and goes very well with winter moods and need for comfort food.

Tamales

You can make tamales with any type of filling. Traditionally, you find pork or chicken, cheese, or beans inside. The tamal goes back as far as 8000 BC and is rumored to have been used by the Inca armies for sustenance on long trips.

I think the traditional tamale has a ton of calories mainly because it's prepared with generous quantities of lard. Most tamales range between 140 and 280 calories depending on how big and fatty they are. The ones featured in this recipe are around 170 calories each, not bad at all for how filling they are.

Tamales have three main parts: the corn husk, which is used during the steaming, the starchy dough (usually corn masa) and the filling. Some fillingless tamales exist (tamal sordo), but the filling for me is the most exiting part. I recently ordered sweet corn tamale at a restaurant and was very disappointed to find nothing inside.

Here is what you need to make 6-8 decent sized tamales, like the olive and goat cheese ones I made today:

Corn husks
2 cups homini or 2 cups ready masa
3 tbsp butter
1/2 cup fresh goat cheese (cream cheese works too)
1/2 onion
1/3 cup slow roasted tomatoes
1/2 cup olives
1 tbsp canned green chiles (or other hot peppers, seeds removed)
sea salt
dash pepper
dash paprika

To make this a shorter process, you will cook everything in the following order:

1. Soak the corn husks in warm water
2. Chop up the onion and start cooking it with 1 tbsp butter over medium heat.
3. Puree the homini to get masa or prepare the masa with hot water as directed on the package. For those of us in Bulgaria, just make thick kachamak. Salt the masa and add 2 tbsp butter. Set aside.
4. In a separate bowl, chop up the olives and mix with the cooked onions, goat cheese, roasted tomatoes, paprika, salt and pepper.
5. Take the husks out of the water, squeeze it out. Take one of them and tear thin strips of it to use as ties for the tamales.
6. Take a handful of the masa, spread it over the inside of a husk, place the filling on top and roll up and together. Fold the edges of the small husk parcel and tie with a corn husk tie. For a step by step instruction on how to do it, click here!
7. Place all in a steaming basket and cook for 45 minutes.

8. Let them slightly cool off before serving.

Enjoy with salsa or sour cream sauce.

As alternative fillings try these:

beef + chilies + cheddar

chicken + cream + blue cheese

beans + chillies + Manchego cheese

slow roasted tomatoes + basil + Parmesan

asparagus + garlic + cream cheese

raisins + cooked apples + walnuts + cinnamon

Let me know how you tamale! I am planning to get some friends together for a whole day of tamale making once I am back in Bulgaria. What do you say?

Sunday afternoon, fruit and friends

We spent a beautiful Sunday afternoon with Greg and his girlfriend. His hobby is growing fruit and he has an amazing garden full of citrus trees, grapefruits, oranges, kumquats, persimmons, dragon fruit and tons of bushes and berries that weren't in season yet. He talks about his fruit trees like they are both friends and children and he cares for them with unparalleled love and attention. It's always an inspiration to see a person so deep into his hobby.

We got to sample many of the wonderful fruits he had picked off his trees and he made this amazing fruit salad for us, that seemed to season itself. It was as simple as pomelo, star-fruit and blood oranges, but it's the most exciting fruit salad we have had in a long time.

Thanks, Greg!