My Life in a Pyramid

Scalloped Potatoes Au Gratin: A Creamy Winter Favorite

January 11, 2012 in Dinner, Homemade, Lunch

Delicious and creamy scalloped potatoes au gratin

It’s almost mid-January, and there’s nothing better than a hearty dish on a cold winter’s day. When you’re super duper hungry (try to think back of such a time if it’s been a while), what do you immediately crave? A juicy carrot? An apple? I think not!

You most likely crave something with fat that is hearty and satisfying, like your mother’s chicken soup, or a juicy leg of pastured lamb, a hearty bowl of vegetarian chili, or some potatoes layered with cream and cheese … mmm. A delicious memory of that last one – the potatoes with cream and cheese – somehow nudged me in my dreams the other night, and I was inspired to replicate it at home. I couldn’t quite remember where I’ve had it, but it had registered in my brain as something I should definitely making. When the Advent fast was over, and we celebrated Christmas in my household, I made this dish for a potluck at my uncle’s and it was a hit!

There is some ‘controversy’ in the foodie community about the “correct” name for this dish – is it scalloped potatoes or is it potatoes au gratin? I did a little bit of Googling, and found that many people use the terms interchangeably, though technically ‘au gratin’ has grated cheese on top and is lightly browned, whereas the scalloped potatoes do not have any cheese. Technicalities! In this case, I decided to name the dish Scalloped Potatoes au Gratin because the potatoes are cut into thin slices, made with cream and milk, and topped with cheese. So it’s a fusion of the two recipes, and I found that they get along very well together. It’s a pretty rich dish, but it’s bowl-lickin’ good!

Since this isn’t a recipe I grew up making, nor is it one that is traditional in Egyptian households, I had to read a few others’ versions of it before I could come up with my own ingredient list and method. This version, from Real Simple was pretty much what I had in mind, but it lacked a little bit of ‘character’ so I added the fresh thyme and ground nutmeg for a little extra flavor. I was going to go with just the sauteed onions, until I came across this recipe from The Brown-Eyed Baker, which also includes some minced garlic. And because I genuinely feel that garlic and potatoes are meant to be together, I added that in as well.

I’ve made this recipe twice so far, and the results come out almost identical both times – a good sign! The creaminess in every bite will fill you up and warm you up on a cold day in a way that almost no other dish can (other than soups, which are awesome at this time of year!)

The thyme and nutmeg impart a really beautiful taste in this dish.

A note about potatoes: It’s wise to opt for organic potatoes, because conventional potatoes have some of the highest pesticide residues among all crops. Check out this site, “What’s on my Food?” to get an idea of the pesticide content of different foods. Here’s the one for potatoes.

Opt for organic potatoes whenever possible.

Without further ado, here’s the recipe below, courtesy of Recipage, which now allows embedding of the printable recipe right within the post. That’s right: you can simply click “Print” below to get an awesome print-out of this recipe to bring to the kitchen. (I know from experience that bringing the laptop/phone to the kitchen to follow a recipe ain’t the best idea… trust me on that one!)

Scalloped Potatoes au Gratin

by Heba Saleh

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Keywords: bake simmer entree side gluten-free nut-free soy-free sugar-free vegetarian potato French winter

Ingredients (Serves 8-10)

8 medium organic Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/8 inch thick
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped and sauteed in ghee
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced and added to the onion saute
2 tablespoons grass-fed ghee, plus more for the baking dish
2 cups whole grass-fed milk
1 cup grass-fed heavy cream (or if you don’t have cream on hand, just add an extra cup of whole milk)
1 bay leaf, crushed
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1/4 teaspoon organic ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons unrefined mineral salt (like Himalayan, which I buy online here)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
about 1 cup of grated grass-fed Gruyère or Dubliner Irish cheese, shredded on top

Instructions

(1) Wash, peel and chop potatoes: Wash the potatoes under running water, peel them and slice them into 1/8 inch pieces.

I don't have a mandoline, but chopping them into fairly equal slices wasn't difficult to do manually.

(2) Chop and saute onion and garlic: In a large pot, chop 1 yellow onion and mince 2-3 cloves of garlic and saute them in 2 tablespoons of grass-fed ghee until they have released their aroma and have turned a golden color.

(3) Add other ingredients to the pot: Add all chopped potatoes, and the rest of the ingredients with the exception of the grated cheese (2 cups milk, 2 cups cream, teaspoon of fresh thyme, 1 crushed bay leaf, 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 2 teaspoons unrefined mineral salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper).

(4) Bring to a boil and simmer: Stir well and bring to a boil. Quickly lower the heat before it spills over, and continue simmering until potatoes have cooked – about 30 minutes.

(5) Add to a baking dish and bake: Grease 9×13 inch baking dish with a bit of ghee, then pour the potatoes into the dish. Grate about a cup’s worth of cheese (I used the Irish Dubliner) on top, and bake in a 350F oven for 15 minutes. You may wish to brown the top a little by broiling for an additional 3-5 minutes.

Grate some cheese on top - make sure the cheese is grass-fed for it to be healthy.

Serve warm and savor the creaminess.

Tags: baked, bay leaf, Dubliner Irish cheese, grass-fed ghee, grass-fed heavy cream, Gruyère, nutmeg, potatoes au gratin, scalloped potatoes, thyme, whole milk
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Prasino (restaurant review): Sustainability Beyond an Organic Menu

May 20, 2011 in Dinner, Restaurant Review, Review

Anyone who knows me well knows that I’m into eco-friendliness and sustainability. Actually, even if you don’t know me well, you could have probably guessed (if you read this blog) that I fancy saving the earth from corrupting corporations and industrializing the food system.

So, to get me to like any restaurant or establishment, I have to be entirely convinced that the owners – hopefully family-oriented, sustainably-driven (as opposed to profit-driven) kinda people – have done their utmost to make sure their business is serving the public as much as it is generating revenue. There is nothing I devalue more than a restaurant that sells cheaply made – yet grossly marked up – food, or one that is unnecessarily wasteful in its practices. That’s why I can never justify paying $20+ on a plate of meat that is not grass-fed, pasture-raised and organic.

A friend from NY was coming to visit and we wanted to take her to a chic place with (at least) some of the specifications outlined above. We were really glad when our friend Iriny recommended this place Prasino that she had tried recently with her co-workers. The name, Prasino, which means ‘green’ in Greek, fits both the philosophy of the restaurant and its practices. I had browsed the website and was really impressed with all the steps taken by the owners to make sure the restaurant is as sustainable as possible.

Here are some of the things that totally won me over:

Organic, local food: Prasino partnered with Goodness Greeness, the premier source of organic foods in the Midwest. A lot of it seasonal, much of it local, and all of it organic. A restaurant with all organic food is almost unheard of – and very impressive.
All-natural meats and sustainably-sourced (wild-caught) seafood: Prasino partnered with Niman Ranch to provide sustainable and healthy meats that come from livestock that are humanely raised, locally sourced (as much as possible), never given antibiotics, never given hormones, and are fed completely vegetarian diets.
Organic eggs: I’ll have to come here for brunch because all their eggs are certified organic.
Locally-brewed organic kombucha: My favorite new drink. Thrive Kombucha is a small-batch, locally-brewed tea beverage company that uses only wild-harvested and certified organic ingredients. There were also all kinds of tasty (and organic) smoothies on the menu.
Pure, filtered water: Water filtered by the Natura System – an environmentally-friendly system alternative to the waste associated with conventional bottled water.
Awesome ‘recycled’ light fixtures and hardwood floors: The ‘scrap lights’ as they’re called (pictured below) tell a story of a journey from being dull, discarded cardboard boxes to becoming stunning, unique light fixtures. Handmade in Seattle by a company called Gray Pants. Tabletops and floors incorporate reclaimed (locally-sourced) wood.
Beautiful ambiance: The decor is clean, bright, airy and fun. Neutral colors, earthy tones – just the way I like ‘em. Oh, and there’s outside seating – sometimes I choose a restaurant exclusively based on that feature.
Well-priced!!! : You’d think that with all these cool sustainable practices and organic food, the prices would be through the roof. Not at all – it was cheaper or the same price as a regular restaurant with appetizers in the $7-$14 range and entrées in the $14-$30 range. And so many options!

I had a hard time picking drinks but went with a Kombucha-Mosa – Micro-brewed kombucha, fresh-squeezed orange juice – with muddled basil & agave nectar, which was delicious!

Sherif got an organic beer, of which I (naturally) took a few sips. Yum.

For appetizers, we all shared Crimini Mushroom Bruschetta (Sea salt crostini, tomato vierge, fresh basil, parmesan, truffle), PEI Mussels (White wine, garlic, sea salt, chili butter, cilantro, crostini), and Line Caught Spicy Ahi Tuna Tartar (Firecracker sauce, chive, tobiko, sesame cracker). They were all really delicious – my favorite was probably the mussels. Love quality seafood.

Crimini Mushroom Bruschetta

PEI Mussels

Line Caught Spicy Ahi Tuna Tartar

For the entrée, I ordered the Roasted Half Amish Chicken (Truffle honey, roasted beets, sauteed greens, onion jus) and Sherif got the Braised Lamb Shank (Pappardelle pasta, tomato, feta, herb bread crumbs, ancho lamb sauce). Our friend Chris-Mary got the Roasted Beet Salad (Roasted beets, mixed greens, crumbled goat cheese, sweet & spicy pecans, orange segments, balsamic syrup, orange basil vinaigrette). The lamb was super tender and flavorful and the chicken was tangy and interesting – came with roasted beets too, and I love those!

Roasted Half Amish Chicken

Braised Lamb Shank

Roasted Beet Salad

We were all super stuffed, but we just had to taste their organic molten chocolate cake with fresh strawberries and organic vanilla ice cream. Heavenly.

Organic Molten Chocolate Cake

To say that we were impressed is an understatement. We will for sure be making it a habit to grab dinner or brunch at Prasino – quite possibly my favorite restaurant thus far (bold, true claim).

In case you’re wondering, this review was written of my own volition and without endorsement or compensation. Yes, I liked it that much that I spent close to two hours editing pics and writing this post to promote this fine and sustainable establishment.

One of my favorite pieces of decor – which I found really nifty and creative – are the ‘scrap lights’ … check out how intricately they’re made:

If you’re in or around Chicago (well, this one’s located it La Grange, a cute old Midwestern town), hit up Prasino!! And I can’t wait for the grand opening of the location downtown, hopefully later this summer.

Au Prasino: Eat Green, Live Well.

Tags: Chicago, Goodness Greeness, Local, Niman Ranch, organic farming, Organic food, Prasino, restaurant, Sustainability, sustainable food
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Creamy Chicken Soup for the Sustainable Soul

May 11, 2011 in Dinner, Food Movement, Lunch

I love chicken soup. It has cured me of many a cold growing up, and it continues to give me that fuzzy warm feeling. Growing up, mama always made me chicken soup with semolina (what we call in Arabic lesaan ‘asfour, translated quite literally as bird’s tongue). Before you start crinkling your nose in disgust, we did not actually eat bird’s tongue or anything – that was just our household nickname for semolina because it’s shaped like a mini bird’s tongue. What? You don’t see a resemblance? Oh well, haha.

My favorite soup as a kid was alphabet soup …I could never get enough of that.

The day mama made alphabet soup was a celebratory day for me, and I’d sit there and try to separate the letters – always using my spoon to fish for letters to spell out my name H – E – B – A. There were never enough H’s and always too many B’s. Weird.

My mom’s recipe was simple enough – I’d watch as she boiled a whole chicken for 45-50 minutes along with one cut up yellow onion, salt, pepper, bay leaves, and a couple of crushed cardamom pods. She’d carefully take out the chicken from the pot, careful not to break it apart, and strain the soup to take out the bay leaves, onions, and chicken liver, etc. Then came the pouring of the alphabets … which I sometimes helped with (I’d literally pour in the alphabets – major contribution, I know haha)

Now many years later, I often remember fondly the times that my sweet mom made me chicken soup whenever I was feeling sick, or if it was cold (or cloudy) outside, or simply because I asked for it! I love you Mama!

Even though I loved the soup as she traditionally made it (except I don’t think of the alphabets so highly now because they’re made of a refined grain – I prefer sprouted, organic grains), a few weeks ago - on an especially cloudy and dreary day in Chicago – I decided to be a bit creative with my chicken soup recipe. I was craving a creamy soup with thick juicy orzo and veggies.

So like mom, I decided to do it the old-fashioned way – by boiling a whole chicken and using that broth, instead of using some preserved broth in a can or carton (I don’t even advocate the organic broths – why buy it packaged when you can make it yourself!)

Basic Homemade Chicken Broth

by Heba

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 1-2 hours

Keywords: boil soup/stew low-carb nut-free soy-free sugar-free chicken

Ingredients (9 cups of broth)

1 whole organic, pastured chicken (preferably from a local farmer)
9-10 cups of filtered water
1 yellow onion, sliced into fourths
3-4 cloves of garlic, each chopped into halves
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
3-4 crushed bay leaves
3-4 cardamom pods, crushed a bit to expose seeds
unrefined mineral salt (to coat then rinse the chicken before cooking) and to add to broth
freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

(1) Rinse and salt chicken: First rinse chicken thoroughly under running water, and apply salt generously to skin and rub in. Leave for 10 minutes and then rinse off the salt.

(2) Add to pot with ingredients: I use my stainless steal strainer pot because it it deep, but you can use any pot that would fit the chicken and water without splashing everywhere when it’s boiling. Add filtered water, chicken, onion, garlic, cumin, cinnamon, bay leaves, cardamom, salt and pepper.

(3) Cook the chicken: Bring to a boil, then lower heat to medium and simmer for 45 minutes or so (you may need to cook on low heat for an additional hour or so if the chicken is a pastured one, since the meat tends to be naturally tougher)

*This is where the broth is complete and ready to make into soup. I eat the chicken on the same day but I like to broil it for a bit to get crisp.* Broil: Turn oven on broil to 375F. In a pyrex pan, add cooked chicken and add a tablespoon of grass-fed ghee to rub and cover the top of the chicken. Add any spices you have on hand (I like fresh thyme, rosemary and savory with black pepper). Broil for 10 minutes or until skin has turned a golden brown.

Now for the mouthwatering, heartwarming soup recipe I promised above …

Here’s what I came up with – I think you’ll like it:

Creamy Chicken Soup for the Sustainable Soul

by Heba

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Keywords: boil soup/stew nut-free soy-free sugar-free chicken winter fall

Ingredients (6-7 cups)

2 cups cooked organic chicken, diced (I used chicken breast from the whole chicken I had cooked the day before)
3 cups of homemade chicken broth (I’d advise making your own a la the recipe here – much more fresh than any store-bought kinds, even if organic)
1 tablespoon pastured butter or grass-fed ghee
1 cup organic baby carrots, chopped
1/2 cup organic celery, diced
1/4 cup organic green onion, chopped (you can also just use yellow or red onions instead if that’s what you have on hand)
1 cup organic sprouted orzo (with no additives of any kind) – for a gluten-free option, use quinoa or brown-rice orzo
1/2 teaspoon organic fresh oregano, chopped
1/2 teaspoon organic fresh basil, chopped
1/8 teaspoon organic fresh sage, chopped
1/4 teaspoon fresh savory, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon unrefined mineral salt (or to taste)
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 and 1/2 cups organic whole milk (preferably non-homogenized and raw)
2 tablespoons sprouted organic flour (use brown rice flour for a gluten-free option)
fresh lime juice, to taste (after cooking)

Instructions

(1) Chop veggies: Chop carrots, celery and onions and add to a large pot with 1 tablespoon of melted pastured butter or grass-fed ghee. Saute over medium high heat for 5-7 minutes, stirring constantly.

(2) Add orzo, broth, and spices: Stir in a cup of orzo, 3 or so cups of organic chicken broth (hopefully made from scratch at home), and the spices mentioned above (oregano, basil, sage, savory, salt, pepper). Bring to a boil then reduce to medium-low and cook for 5 minutes.

(3) Now for the creaminess: In a blender (I used my dinky bullet blender), combine 1 and 1/2 cups organic whole milk with 2 tablespoons of sprouted flour and blend for 10 seconds to mix evenly. Pour into soup slowly, stirring constantly until mixture starts to boil and get thicker – usually about 2-3 minutes.

(4) Dice chicken and add to soup: You should use cooked chicken, so you can easily use some leftover from the day before (as I did). Cook for a couple of minutes until chicken is hot. If you find that the soup has become too thick, add more broth (from the stock you have left) until you reach a desired consistency.

(5) Enjoy a bowl (or two): Add a few drops of fresh lime juice and enjoy! (I usually end up adding a bit more salt too ’cause it’s tastier that way!)

Next time you’re craving chicken soup, try this recipe and let me know what you think. If you’re sick, and have heard that homemade chicken soup cures colds, it has actually been scientifically proven … well, sort of.

Now back to my research of local and organic farms and grocery stores … I’ve been doing this for the passed two days and I can’t wait ( understatement) to become a sustainable locavore! Next time, I’ll (hopefully) be using a pasture-raised chicken from a local farm!