I’ve been trying out new recipes recently – not due to a New Year’s resolution or anything like that (although i have made such resolutions in past years!), just to avoid boredom. The other day I decided to crack open my copy of The Complete Middle East Cookbook by Tess Mallos. This cookbook covers a variety of countires and cuisines, including a section on The Gulf States (e.g. Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Oman) and Yemen. Have you ever seen a cookbook with Yemeni food before? I haven’t! And if you need a recipe for brains, this is the book for you. I thought I saw one in every chapter, but on looking at the index I only see 6 – but really, do you need more than 6 ways to cook lamb brains? I certainly don’t!

Anyway, this week’s winner recipe was a Turkish carrot pilaf. I wasn’t expecting much when I picked it out, but I knew we had carrots that could be put to good use. However, we were pleasantly surprised by the end result – it’s quite tasty and rather rich! The peppercorns add a surprising punch and contrast with the carrots when they pop in your mouth. A good pilaf has a crunchy crust on the bottom – the center of mine got a bit burned (boo!) but the majority of it came out great. I heated up the leftovers tonight by filming a pan with oil, plopping in the leftover rice, then leaving it over low heat for about 10 minutes – resulting in a new crunchy crust, yum!

Türkistan Pilavi – Turkistan Carrot Pilaf
(The Complete Middle East Cookbook, p 124)
Serves: 5-6
Cooking time: 30 minutes

2 cups long grain rice (I had jasmine rice on hand)
1/4 cup butter
2 cups coarsely grated carrots (about 4 medium) (I used the big holes on a box grater, but the food processor might be faster)
1/2 tsp whole black peppercorns (I used 1 tsp)
1 tsp sugar
3 1/2 cups chicken stock (I used water)
salt

1. Wash rice until water runs clear. Drain well.
2. Heat butter in a heavy pan, add grated carrot and peppercorns and fry over medium heat for 3 minutes, stirring often. Sprinkle in sugar towards end of frying.
3. Add rice and fry for further 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
4. Pour in stock and add salt to taste. Stir until boiling, then reduce heat to low. Cover with lid and cook over low heat for 25-30 minutes. Remove from heat and place a cloth or 2 paper towels under lid and leave covered for 10 minutes before serving.

Here are two dishes that combine dried fruits with veggies, and use up common ingredients from my CSA share: kale with garlic and cranberries, persian-style carrots with apricots.

We gets lots and lots of kale in our share – and I’m not that great about using it up. I blanch and freeze some to use in soups, but I’ve been trying to find other uses. Around Thanksgiving (either linked from NPR or from Splendid Table) I found this recipe at Gourmet magazine, for Kale with Garlic and Cranberries. I’ve made it twice now,  with two different kinds of kale (lacinato and curly). I liked it better with the lacinato – the curly had a less appealing mouth feel – maybe from the texture, or maybe I used less olive oil that time. To make it more of a Michigan dish (and to use what I had on hand!), i substituted dried cherries for the dried cranberries. Dried cherries tend to be sweeter, softer, and less waxy than dried cranberries (in my experience) so cranberries might make this more tart.

We also get lots of carrots in our share. I primarily use them in soups, but quite some time ago I’d marked a recipe in (wait for it…) Madhur Jaffrey’s World Vegetarian. I finally got around to trying it this fall, and really enjoyed it – so I made it again! The original recipe calls for apricots, but I didn’t have any on hand, so I used dried peaches instead. Here is my rendition:

Persian Style Carrots with Dried Peaches

1 Tab olive oil + 1 tab butter
1 smallish onion (3 oz), peeled, halved lengthwise, and then cut crosswise into 1/8 inch thick half rings
4 med carrots (10 oz), peeled and cut crosswise but at a slight diagonal into 1/4-inch-thick oval slices
6 dried peaches, cut into halves (or smaller)
1 Tab sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup plus 2 Tab vegetable stock

Put the oil + butter in frying pan over med-high heat. When hot, put in onion, carrots, and dried fruit. Stir and sauté for about 5 minutes, or until all the ingredients just start to brown. Put in the sugar and salt and stir for 10 seconds. Put in the stock and bring to a boil. Cover and cook on med-high heat for about 4 minutes, or until the liquid is absorbed and the carrots are tender.

The cookbook claims this serves 4, but it’s been more like 3 servings for us (that is, both adults eat a serving at dinner, and there’s a serving left over for someone’s lunch!).

My husband suggested one could cut the pieces smaller and use this like a chutney (he suggested pork) instead of a side dish. We haven’t done this yet, but I’m sure it would be tasty.