Sunday Feast № 41 | Latin Braise Coc Co Co Coc, or Coconut Braised Chicken with Chorizo and Potatoes

The flavor combination read as perfect. Perfect enough to drown the pages with dribbling saliva.    I might be exaggerating, but mussing up of the pages was involved, followed by quick run through the cupboards and the fridge, and a grab for pen and paper to write a shopping list, to make about a half of the original recipe. Then I spaced out on changing the cooking time when recipes are halved, first time around at least, then I learned fast.    Adapting a recipe from from Food & Wine magazine October 2016 issue to a smaller portion, I went ahead and let it braise in the oven for about an hour the original called for. Now being mindful of the fact that the cooking smells, no matter how divine, after lingering overnight are less so, I opened to kitchen backdoor, and thus effectively removed smell as a cue to check in on the chicken. An hour later, I came back to a broken sauce and a rim of burn where it used to be. However, the chicken and potatoes were fine, and there to prove that my initial impetus to make this dish was absolutely justified. Two days later, I remedied the situation. See below. This one is here to stay as an alternative finish-the-chicken-in-the-oven-"go-to" to Pablo's chicken with potatoes and aioli. And that says something.

Sunday Feast № 40 | Apple Tart

Unlike making sweet pastry from scratch, I am not ready (if ever) to do puff pastry from scratch. It's easy, some say - you just need cold but pliable butter and a good rolling pin and get a'rolling. I suppose with the cooling weather, butter is easier to keep chill on the counter, but all that rolling - I don't know, and I am feeling lazy. Prepackaged puff pastry has been used in many cooking shows, so who am I to get THAT busy? As for that cooling weather, it is apple season, although in the Midwest apples seem to be always in season. I suppose other regions have apples galore and some of those, OK - plenty of those end up also here. This recipe from “Everyday Food: Great Food Fast” by Martha Stewart Living Magazine is very easy once you do the prep, which truth be told is mostly around the peeling, coring and slicing of the apples. Truth be told, I changed and ignored some, but you don't have to. The recipe asked for Granny Smith apples but I used Jonathan apples first time around because that is what I had - made for a sweeter tart than with Granny Smith. It asked to roll out the pastry while it is unfolded, but I did not first time around. The texture and most definitely the taste did not suffer much, but I was not lazy next time around, and neither should you be, says Mum, unless ... Serves 4-6, and disappears very quickly.

Sunday Feast № 39 | Spicy Chicken Stir-fry

Keeping it very brief this time. It's been a long while since I made this one, and since I am burrowing through my recipe notes, it was time to make it. The spices give this dish a warmth that has nothing to do with heat but everything with aroma. With this amount of vegetables, you can skip sides like rice or noodles, unless you absolutely must have them for a trio on a plate. Serves 4.

Sunday Feast № 38 | You saucy tart, Spaghetti alla Puttanesca

Spaghetti alla puttanesca means "spaghetti in the style of a prostitute", and is not a very old dish after all, but considering the taste profile, it has a fitting name. Saucy, briny, with a hint of spicy heat, with a color selection of red and black that imitates just right, say, Carmen's garb (Spanish, I know, but you get the reference), while taking care of you just the way you needed. I was so fixated on getting the visual right that the Kalamata olives I already had just would not do. They were not black enough. The recipe is adapted from "The Food of Italy: A Journey for Food Lovers" - I used fresh cherry tomatoes instead of canned ones, and dried oregano although I could've used 1 tbsp fresh oregano. Let's play.

Sunday Feast № 37 | Goat Cheese Pistachio Prune Savory Cake

As Rachel Khoo notes in her video, often cake is taken as something sweet, but French do savory cake. Music to my ears as I believe that cakes are perfect breakfast food. Think of them as something similar to muffins. This one being savory has the lower guilt factor, if you will, and as such can be paired with egg done you favorite way - sunny side up in my case, till I truly master poached egg. The recipe is from "The Little Paris Kitchen" by Rachel Khoo, adjusted to use goat cheese instead of sausage, the way she does it in the video of her show.    Hopefully, unlike me, you can bake it at a setting specified in the recipe below, or twiddle with it all by baking at 345°F for 45 min then 340°F for 10 min then 350°F for 10 min then keeping it in an off-oven for 5 min for a total of 70 min.    Absolutely not necessary, but I guess I like to twiddle.

Sunday Feast № 36 | Roasted Trout with Thyme

This is a recipe I picked up a long time ago. Really long time ago. It is the easiest way to prepare a meal that can be served on a bed of lettuce or with Turkish bread and salad or with some sautéed potatoes and salad, and paired with a nice sauvignon blanc or similar dry white wine. Till now, I always did it with a whole trout, head and all, but as it turns out fillets work just as well. They have the added advantage of visual assessment for doneness as you can see the flesh turning opaque. Clean, filling, and very satisfying.

Sunday Feast № 35 | Quinoa Salad

Don't know where this recipe came from. My guess is that it was from a vegetarian magazine or website or blog. It made it into my recipe notebook back when I didn't keep references. Let me know when you find a reference, but till then I encourage you to give this one a go. Make the whole batch, which is meant to have 12 servings, and make those servings larger for a stand alone lunch or eat the leftovers on the weekdays as your carry-with lunch. Chill in the refrigerator in a meantime, of course. With the magic of quinoa and freshness of vegetables and herb and fruit (yes, tomato is a fruit) and nuttiness, prove me that you are not feeling wholesome after having this salad. Let me know if used it as a side dish, if you used it a side dish at all, and what did you pair it with.

No rice cooker? Lost the box with cooking instructions? No worries. Bring 2 qt/2 L of salter water to boil. Add quinoa, cover, and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer for 12-14 min, or until quinoa is tender and small 'tails' bloom from the grains.

Sunday Feast № 34 | Baked Potato

Baked potato is so pedestrian, and so simply comforting for that very reason. Helen Russell in her book "The Year of Living Danishly: Uncovering the Secrets of the World's Happiest Country" wrote how in the rural Jutland, where she ended up living for a year ... or ... I digress, feasts seemed to include something with potatoes more often than not. That something many a time was a pork product of one kind or another, but that is beside my rambling point. The Russets at my local seemed appealing all of the sudden, especially so since I prefer to either roast or fry or boil potatoes (yes, in that order, with the latter the only choice for young potatoes) rather than bake them, and Russets are perfect for baking; hence, there was something new to do at home. For me. Armed with Ali's recipe for the perfect baked potato at Gimme Some Oven and simply dressing the finished product with butter, sea salt, ground pepper, and dill, I was set to have my Jutland inspired meal. However, rather than porky anything, I opted for a different nod to the Scandinavian - smoked salmon. The meaty and porky sides will come out later in the year when the temperatures drop and need to feast rises.

Sunday Feast № 33 | Roasted Romaine Hearts with Vinaigrette

I like lettuce as much as the next person who likes lettuce. Its coolness is wonderful for hot weather, and having something light or lightened up, but unless loaded with extras that go beyond the dressing and extras with heft that might drown it as the star feature, lettuce does not even remotely feel like a meal. It just does not hug the tummy. Alas. With a bit of roasting, yes - roasting of lettuce, before getting dressed up moderately, it can be transformed. This is my favorite way of making romaine hearts into a meal with them still at the center. Sometimes I skip the cheese, or sprinkle on few bacon-y or bacon-like bits. The recipe is adapted from Food & Wine magazine from October 2013 - a recipe that inclued crushed roasted pine nuts in the vinaigrette and shaved hard cheese instead of crumbled feta.

Sunday Feast № 32 | Pesto and Feta Cheese Pizza

Are you still sitting on some frozen pizza dough from the time you made pizza Margherita? Made a new batch?    I am the former, freezer is my treasure chest, and lusting for that pizza base crunch, but with something other than tomato sauce. Here is something easy I threw together.

1 30 cm/12 in pizza base ½ cup traditional basil pesto ½ small red onion finely chopped 1 cup feta cheese crumbled

Preheat the oven to 230°C/450°F. Spread pesto onto the pizza base. Top with tomatoes, red onions, and feta cheese. Bake for 8-10 min or until cheese is melted and brown.