Hi all - I got a few questions about the Fessenjan (Iranian chicken), and I have a lot of tools in my kit for all kinds of healthy cooking. I focus on local, seasonal, veggie stuff with no gluten or soy. I am an omnivore and do eat meat, so any recipe I post that contains meat you can assume that the meat I personally use is locally sourced, free range, organic, humane, etc., but I leave it up to you all how your source your meats, and I don't judge because I know how expensive it is to "eat clean". I only eat meat a few times a week, not every day, and try to think of it as an "enhancement", not the foundation of a recipe. Where I can, I'll offer alternatives to meat that will hold up in the given recipe.
Stand by. First TWO recipes coming right up! Mangia!
FESSENJAN - "a delight from Iran"
2-3 lbs. boneless chicken breast or thighs or combo of both
1 lb. walnuts or pecans or combo of both
24 oz. pomegranate juice
1/2 cup orange juice
2 tbsp. brown sugar
salt & pepper
grapeseed oil
1. Rub meat with some oil, salt and pepper. You can either grill on barbecue (low-med flame) or bake (350F for about 40 minutes), til cooked through but not dry.
2. Grind the nuts in a blender - coffee grounds consistency.
3. Put the juices in a small saucepan, bring to low boil to reduce a little bit.
4. In a small pot or large saucepan, put 2-3 tbsp oil, add the ground up nuts, stir and let them get toasty (about 5-7 minutes).
5. Cut the chicken meat into chunks or strips.
6. Add juice, sugar to nut mixture, add chicken pieces.
7. Simmer about 30 minutes, uncovered, to reduce the sauce a bit more. Add salt & pepper to taste, adjust sugar too.
--Makes 4-6 servings
--Serve over basmati rice. I like to make the rice with turmeric, chopped fresh cilantro, and butter. You can serve with a salad or any vegetable you like.
Ideas for vegans: I'd try potatoes and carrots or cauliflower, perhaps oven roasted. Tofu would work if it's super firm (although I am firmly anti-tofu).
STUFFED BUTTERNUT SQUASH
Ingredients:
2 small-medium butternut squashes
1 cup quinoa
2 1/2 cups veg broth or water
4 cups raw spinach, washed/drained/chopped
1 small - medium onion, peeled & chopped
E.V. olive oil
1-2 oz. dried wild mushrooms, chopped
salt & pepper
butter (optional)
white wine or sherry
either: 1/4 cup fresh pomegranate arils (seeds) OR 1/4 cup craisins
1. Preheat oven to 425F
2. Cut butternuts in half length-wise, scoop out seeds, brush or spray with olive oil, sprinkle salt & pepper
3. Place butternuts on parchment covered cookie sheet face up, BAKE for 45-55 minutes.
MEANWHILE
4. Put broth, quinoa, dried mushrooms, 2 tbsp butter, salt & pepper in medium saucepan, bring to boil on medium heat, stir, cover, low flame, simmer for 15 minutes/til quinoa coils pop open
MEANWHILE
5. Couple of tablespoons of olive oil in hot sauté pan on medium to high flame, add onions, sauté, throw in some wine, add salt, pepper, spinach. Cook til well wilted but still green. Drain.
6. Remove butternuts from oven - should be fork tender. Lower oven temp to 375F.
7. Gently, use a small knife to cut out squash "meat", leaving about 1/2" border. Cube and toss into spinach, add quinoa and pomegranate arils to that pan and stir gently.
8. Spoon mixture into butternut shells (you may have extra - just freeze it to use as a side later), should be mounded on top.
9. Drizzle or spray with EVOO.
10. Bake 10-20 minutes.
Serve warm, 4 servings, serve with a side salad and/or crusty bread or gluten-free biscuits.
Fessenjan sounds a lot like a dish my husband's Armenian grandmother used to make so I'm excited to try it! However, I'm a little confused about one step. Do you marinate the chicken in the sauce before you bake/BBQ it, or just pour the sauce on top after the chicken is cooked? Thanks!
Edit - re-read and it looks like you just put the sauce over the chicken. Just want to confirm I understand correctly, because this sounds like it would also be a nice marinade!
You're going to put the cut-up chicken into the sauce to simmer for a bit. (Step 6) This will make the chicken moist and flavorful.
@laura-f, thanks for the recipes. For the Fessenjan, I saw one recipe that included chickpeas with the chicken. I also like your idea of using oven-roasted cauliflower.
Here is Vegetarian Spicy Green Papaya Salad. It was given to my by a friend who is an excellent vegetarian chef, but this is my favorite thing she makes.
Green papaya salad isn't too hard to make but you have to use organic papayas because it's a big GMO item. Here you go:
1-Green papaya - peel it and cut it into chunks you can use your hand shredder to shred. It doesn't shred well in a food processor so I do it the old fashioned way. then take 3 firm tomatoes and scoop out the seeds and make tomato strips
2. sprinkle very lightly with salt and let it sit for a few minutes, then rinse it and pat it dry
3 There is a ground red chili paste which is just pure red chilies that can be found at most Asian markets and may even be at the supermarket. I take a big blob of that and an equal amount of minced garlic, then squeeze a whole lot of lime juice onto it
4. cut up a quarter bunch of mint and quarter a bunch of cilantro very, very fine and mix that in.
5. take honey roasted peanuts and smash them so they are fine, but not powder
6. mix some of them into the papaya mix and sprinkle the balance on top
there you go!
p.s.- the traditional version has things like fish sauce (gak!), and shrimp paste, which i would only use to seal the envelope on a letter to a mermaid. But that's just me.
I make this recipe a lot because it's easy breezy, tasty and healthy (I work till 6pm most nights so need to find easy recipes) hope some of you like it!
BAKED OLIVE OIL AND SPICY SHRIMP RECIPE
Another Wintertime family favorite:
ESCAROLE & BEAN, (With CHICKEN SAUSAGE/Optional) SOUP
NOTE: My soup contains spicy chicken sausage (can just leave that out or substitute with grilled spicy marinated tofu or Beyond Brand plant based spicy chicken sausage) and chicken stock but you can make this with vegetable stock:
1 Large pot
2-3 tablespoons of Extra virgin Olive oil
2 cartons of stock
6 to 8 peeled and chopped cloves of garlic
3-4 scallions chopped (save the green to add toward the end of cooking)
1 cup shredded carrots
2 bags of pre-washed and cut escarole (or two small heads of washed escarole chopped)
two cups of baby spinach
1/4 teaspoon red pepper chili flakes
2-3 bay leaves
1-2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1-2 teaspoons Mrs. dash or McCormick garlic or onion no salt spice mixture
2 tablespoons dried parsley
2 cans of white beans
the RIND from an aged parmesan cheese small wedge (and some of it finely grated for when you serve it later)
3 tablespoons white wine or white dry vermouth
Directions: Saute the chicken on medium (or tofu if using) and then add the garlic, the whites of the scallions, the carrots. Then add 2-3 tablespoons of wine to deglaze. Then start adding the escarole and stir/saute it while you keep adding till both bags are in the big pot. Then add the two cartons of stock and all the seasonings. Add the baby spinach and stir. Turn up the heat to high. Add the rind of the parmesan cheese and the beans and stir. when the soup starts to boil, turn down to low and partially cover so it simmers for 45 mins.
When ready to serve, fish out the bay leaves and discard. Also fish out the parmesan rind (you can cut the hard rind off and enjoy any remaining of the cheese though :-)
Serve with grated parmesan cheese on top of the soup and, optionally, with garlic bread - enjoy!