On today, 27 Messidor, we celebrate garlic! I had briefly thought of cooking Ina Garten’s 40 clove garlic chicken, but ended up deciding on Meera Sodha’s 100 garlic-clove curry from Made in India. She loves garlic!

100 Clove Garlic Curry 

3 tbs canola oil

3/4 tsp mustard seeds

100 cloves of garlic (around 8 heads of garlic) peeled

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp tamarind paste

1/2 cup coconut milk

First… peel the garlic. This took quite a long time and I regretted not buying a jug of pre-peeled garlic at the store. Once peeled, heat a large pan over medium. Add the oil and when it is hot, add the mustard seeds. After a minute or two, add the garlic. Cook for a few minutes on medium, then turn down to a simmer. Add a 1/2 cup of water and cover the pan with a lid. Continue to cook for about 20 minutes until the cloves are a bit translucent.

Add the salt, spices, tamarind paste and put the lid back on for a few more minutes. Add the coconut milk and cook for another 5 minutes. Enjoy!

Mes amis, today we celebrate coriander! The cilantro in our garden has already gone to seed, so I’m hoping to harvest some coriander berries and either dry them or pickle them  (or both). Today, I used coriander in a meat-filled samosa from the lovely Made in India by Meera Sodha. The samosa dough comes from Classic Indian Cooking by Julie Sahni.

Chicken Coriander Samosas 

2 tbs canola oil

1 large onion, diced

1 tbs crushed coriander seeds

1 fresh red chili, diced

1 lb ground chicken

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp garam masala

1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced

3 cloves of garlic, minced

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 tsp salt

1 medium bunch of cilantro, chopped

First heat a large pan and add the oil. cook the onion for about 8 minutes, until it begins to get translucent. Add the coriander, chili and chicken. Cook for about 10 minutes then add the cumin, chili powder and garam masala. Lastly, add the ginger, garlic, lemon juice and salt. Continue to cook until the chicken turns brown. Remove from heat and let it cool for a bit, then add the cilantro. Taste to see if it needs any extra salt.

For the dough:

1 1/2 cup of flour

1 tsp kosher salt

4 tbs vegetable shortening

6-7 tsp cold water

In a food processor, add the flour and salt and pulse a few times. Add the shortening and pulse until the shortening is blended into the flour. Ad the water and pulse until the dough forms on the blades. Remove from the food processor and gather into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 30 minutes while the filling cools. After 30 minutes, remove the dough and on a floured work surface, divide the dough in two. Keep one half wrapped in plastic as you work with the first. Divide the first half in to 8 equal parts. Roll the first piece into a 6-inch circle, then cut the circle in half. Each semicircle will make one samosa. Moisten half of one semi-circle and press the dough together to make a cone shape. Add a teaspoon of filling to the cone and moisten the top and close the samosa. Heat peanut, safflower, or other frying oil in a steep-sided pot until 350 on the stove top. When you’ve made 8 to 10 samosas, drop them in to the oil with a spider or slotted spoon. Fry until both sides are golden brown and then remove. Enjoy!

Today, 12 Messidor, we celebrate the artichoke! We’re flashing back to the 90’s (Gregorian) and making some artichoke dip with swiss chard instead of spinach. We celebrated chard on 6 Germinal, but right now chard is going gangbusters in our garden. I used Pioneer Woman‘s recipe as a base, but switched a few things around. Check out these lovely pictures of flowering artichokes.

Chard and Artichoke Dip 

1 stick of butter (divided)

5 cloves of garlic

1 large bunch of chard, middle stem removed and leaves sliced

2 14 oz cans of artichoke hearts, quartered

3 tbs flour

1 1/2 cup milk

8 oz of cream cheese

1/2 cup grated pepper jack cheese

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

salt and pepper to taste

pita chips

First, in a large pan, melt three tablespoons of butter. Add the garlic and saute for a minute or two. Then, add the chard and cook until wilted. Remove the chard and garlic to a strainer placed above a bowl. Heat the oven to 350.

Then, in the same pan, melt two more tablespoons of butter. Add the quartered artichoke hearts and cook for a few minutes. Remove and place in the same strainer as the chard. In the same pan, add the rest of the butter. When it has melted, add the three tablespoons of flour – you’re making a bechamel sauce. Whisk until the flour is fully incorporated in the butter and has cooked for a minute or two. Then, add the milk a few teaspoons at a time, mixing after each addition. Then, add the cream cheese. Mix until fully incorporated. Add the pepper jack and salt and pepper. Mix in the strained chard, garlic and artichoke hearts. Pour the mixture into a 9-inch oven-proof dish. Sprinkle the grated Parmesan on top and cook for about 15 minutes – until the dip is bubbling hot. Enjoy!

Mes amis,

On 8 Messidor, we celebrate the shallot! And rosemary! And sage! A three-fer! With the embarrassment of riches offered this Harvest Month, it’s hard not to combine some of the days. Today’s recipe comes from the truly delightful book, The Bob’s Burgers Burger Book – Real Recipes for Joke Burgers. First a fan-made cooking blog, then a book with the seal of Loren Bouchard himself, Cole Bowden cooked many of the joke burgers from the show. On Shallot Day of Harvest Month, we are cooking Hit me with your Best Shallot Burger.

As a side note, I have seen a post on Twitter from the artist who designed the calendar that inspired this blog that there will be a Bastille Day sale of the calendar (26 Messidor).

Caramelized Shallot Burger 

10 small shallots

3 tbs butter

1 tbs red wine vinegar

2 sprigs rosemary

2 sprigs sage

1 lb ground beef

1 tsp chopped fresh thyme

1 4 ounce log of goat cheese, at room temperature

4 rolls

Arugula

First, peel the shallots and slice them. Melt the butter in a medium pan an dadd the shallots, rosemary and sage. Cook on medium-low until caramelized – about 20 minutes. Add the red wine vinegar and cook for a minute more. Remove from pan and set aside.

Then, make your patties. Season with salt, pepper and thyme. Cook the burgers over the stovetop or grill. Then, spread some goat cheese on the top buns, arugula on the bottom buns, patty and shallots in between. Enjoy!

 

Today, 7 Messidor, we celebrate the cucumber! Did you know that seedless cucumbers are marketed as “burpless”? Because cucumber seeds give people gas? We’re making a simple cucumber dish from the delightful Salad For Presient with some homemade tahini.

Cucumbers with Tahini 

1 cup of hulled sesame seeds

1/4 cup of olive oil

salt, for taste

3-4 persian cucumbers

hot sauce

First, slice the cucumbers and mix with a teaspoon of salt. Let them sit for about 30 minutes while you make the tahini.

Pulse the sesame seeds in a food processor and drizzle in the olive oil. Mix until a paste forms and add some additional oilve oil to thin it out, if necessary. Add salt to taste.

To serve, sprinkle some hot sauce on the cucumbers and serve with the tahini. Enjoy!

Two two-fers in a row! In the last post, we combined rye and thyme. Today, 3 Messidor, we’re combining onions and cloves (13 Messidor). We’re pickling red onions using a recipe from the always lovely Orangette. This is one of my favorite, most-repeated recipes – up there with Sunday Sauce. Orangette’s recipe calls for multiple dunkings of the onions in the vinegar mix. I usually do it this way, but when pressed for time, have also only dunked the onions once. Both ways are delicious.

Pickled Red Onions 

4 cups white vinegar

2 cups sugar

1 cinnamon stick

4 whole cloves

2 pinches allspice

1 dried chile

2 bay leaves

20 black peppercorns

1 1/2 lbs red onions

First, slice the onions on a mandolin. Next, in a larger pan, combine all the rest of the ingredients. Bring them to a boil.

You’ll be adding the onions in 1/3 at a time and then removing them to add in the next third, etc. For each third, let the onions submerge in the mixture for about 20 seconds, then remove them from the pot and spread them out on a baking sheet to cool. Add the next batch. Repeat the whole process three times, total.

Now, you’ll have all the onions cooling on the baking sheet and the brine still in the pot, but off the heat. Let everything cool down to room temperature and then combine the onions and the brine (and all the bits in the brine) into a large mason jar (or two medium jars). Refrigerate and begin to eat the next day. Enjoy!

 

 

At the hour of our glorious return to cooking the French Republican Calendar, we celebrate rye… and thyme! In a pie! Thyme finishes off Prairial for us (28 Prairial), as we’re skipping peony and hand cart. Then, rye kicks off our next month, Messidor – the harvest.

Today’s recipe comes from the lovely 101cookbooks.com. Rye is used in the crust and thyme is mixed in with the berry filling.

Berry Pie with Rye Crust 

2/3 cup rye flour

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup butter

1/3 cup cold water or beer

I made the crust in the food processor by mixing the flours and salt together first. Cut up the butter into small pieces and pulse 5 or 6 times in the machine until the butter is well-incorporated. Add the water or beer and pulse again until mixed. Remove and wrap in plastic. Store in the fridge until you’re ready to roll it out for the pan.

Filling

2/3 cups brown sugar

1/3 cup all purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 sprigs thyme, with leaves removed

2 lbs berries (I used a mix of strawberries, blueberries and raspberries)

2 tbs lemon juice

2 tbs butter

1 egg

Caster sugar

Preheat the oven to 425. Then, mix the brown sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon and thyme in a big bowl. Let it macerate for a few while you roll out the dough. Cut the dough in half and roll out the bottom crust for a 9 inch pie tin. Place the dough in the pie plate and roll out the top crust.

Add the berries to the pie plate and brush some water along the rim of the crust. Add the top crust and press the two crusts together. Brush the top of the pie with a wash of 1 egg beaten with a tablespoon of water. Cut some vents and put the pie in the oven. After 25 minutes of baking, remove the pie and add the caster sugar on top. If the crust is golden brown already, reduce the heat to 350 and cook for another 20 minutes. When the crust is a nice golden brown and the filling is bubbling, remove and let cool. Enjoy!