I know it’s a bit of a cliche for a food blog to have a post about roasted tomatoes, but I don’t care. I’ve had a batch of tomatoes roasting in the oven for about 6 hours now and the smell is driving me crazy. I have nothing else on the brain but those tomatoes…how many I’m just going to pluck off the sheet and eat, how many I might have on a toasted rustic deli roll from Acme Bread Company, how many I’ll try to save for a creamy pasta sauce, and how many will vanish every time Rourke cruises by the tray as it’s cooling. Argh, WHY must they take so long to cook?!?!

The first summer I tackled roasted tomatoes I was overwhelmed by the number of blog posts about it. I imagine it’s only gotten worse. Everyone has their own favorite method — cut side up or cut side down? 200 degrees F for 8 hours? 175 degrees F for 12 hours? 350 degrees for 4 hours? what herbs and seasonings?

After some trial and error of my own last summer, I’ve settled on my preferences:

• I like San Marzano tomatoes.

For the most part, you need to use a roma-type tomato, i.e. one that is fleshier than it is juicy. Otherwise the juice in the tomato will take forever to evaporate.

I’ve tried cherry tomatoes and they don’t work as well for me. Too much skin or something.

• I roast them cut side up.

Seems like if you roast them cut side down, some like to call this tomato confit. I didn’t bother trying this method because if you do it this way, you’re supposed to slip the roasted tomatoes out of their skin after you pull them out of the oven. That is too much work for me. Messy-sounding, too.

• I use whole peeled garlic cloves, fresh thyme, salt, and pepper. Then drizzle olive oil all over it — a few tablespoons worth. If you intend to store any of these tomatoes I would drizzle a little more, since you can use the oil to cover the tomatoes in the jar.

• I roast them in the oven at 225 degrees F until they look like the below picture. Usually about 7 hours or so. If I start to get impatient, I crank the oven up to 300 degrees F around the 6 hour mark. I would love to try the 175 degrees F for 12 hour thing, but I just don’t have the patience for that. Some folks put it in the oven at night before they go to sleep and deal with it that way, but I’m just a big wimp when it comes to fire safety and won’t leave the oven on like that overnight.

• Always use a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Do not use aluminum foil.

Rimmed baking sheet so that your olive oil doesn’t run all over the place, and

Do not use aluminum foil, as it will react unfavorably with the acid in the tomato. I’ve never tried this myself to test this theory; it’s one of those things that I’ll just trust. I would cry many, many tears if after 7 hours of roasting tomatoes they tasted bitter.

• To store, discard the thyme sprigs and put the roasted tomatoes and any garlic cloves in an airtight, glass container. Add enough olive oil to cover. Allegedly, it will keep in the refrigerator for about a week, but they’ve always found their way into someone’s belly before that. Keep in mind that in a day or two the oil will solidify. It’ll liquefy again if you put the container out at room temperature.

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Lots to chop. Having a sous chef is very helpful.

This fruit salad, based on one I saw recently on the Cooking Channel’s Everyday Exotic, is far from flat. In addition to the ginger and cilantro, the original recipe has Thai basil which I replaced with fresh mint, and a red chile, which I replaced with a serrano chile because I had one on hand the first time I made this and really liked it. With its sweet, spicy dressing, this will make a beautiful, healthy side dish at your next BBQ.

Tropical Fruit Salad

You can eat this as soon as you make it, or keep it in the fridge for a few days. It will last a week, but the ginger and serrano will get more pungent over time, so if you’re making extra, consider reducing those ingredients a little bit so they don’t overpower the fruit.

Tropical Fruit Salad
adapted from Everyday Exotic

1 mango, peeled and diced
1/2 pineapple, peeled and diced
1/4 honeydew melon, peeled, seeded and diced
1 serrano chile, very finely diced
2 Tbsp. thinly sliced mint
1 Tbsp. thinly sliced cilantro
1 Tbsp. grated or finely minced ginger
2 Tbsp. honey
Juice of 1 lime
2 Tbsp. black sesame seeds

Mix everything but the sesame seeds in a large bowl. Garnish with sesame seeds.

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First off, I need to apologize for giving you a headache with the photo. I’m sure there’s a Photography 101 class that tells you not to use a busy background for your photo, but use one I did. And it matched the food to boot! There’s a fashion faux pas analogy I could make here, but it’s escaping me at the moment.

Anyway, last week there were a couple of hot days in the Bay Area. Folks on the East Coast who are reading this would likely guffaw if I told you the exact temp and humidity. You might say that “dry heat” isn’t as bad as humid heat or some such. But heat is still hot! On such days I try to find alternatives to firing up the stove, which generally means a sandwich and a salad for dinner. There are only so many mixed baby green salads I can stomach, though, so I was excited to see early girl tomatoes at the farmer’s market the other week.

Early girls might be my favorite variety of tomato. I think it has the perfect proportion of flesh to juicy seeds, and it has a concentrated, sweet tomato-y flavor. Perfect for sandwiches and salads.

If you wanted to go simple, you could just mix chunks of tomato and avocado with a pinch of salt and call it a day. It would be delicious. BUT if you wanted to be a rockstar you would whip up a mustard thyme vinaigrette in 2 more minutes to bind the two together. Your choice.

Tomato Avocado Salad with Mustard Thyme Vinaigrette
– serves 1 as a side -

1 medium tomato, cut into chunks
1 medium avocado, approx the same size as the tomato, cut into similarly sized chunks
2 Tbsp. champagne vinegar
1/2 tsp. honey mustard
extra virgin olive oil
thyme
kosher salt
black pepper

1. Make the vinaigrette by first adding a small pinch of salt to the vinegar and whisking. The salt should take the sharp edge off the vinegar without actually tasting salty. Adjust the amount of salt until you get to this point. Whisk in the honey mustard, and then slowly drizzle in the olive oil while constantly whisking until the vinaigrette is the consistency that you like. Add a pinch or two of fresh thyme and a few grinds of black pepper to taste.

2. Gently mix together the tomato and avocado in a bowl and dress it with the desired amount of vinaigrette. Enjoy!

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They’re a healthy snack. They can be used to great effect in either savory or sweet dishes. Mmm… carrot cake. And carrots make great pickles.

Jar of Spicy Pickled Carrots

The canned jalapeños come with carrots. They're not as good as mine.

Spicy Pickled Carrot Sticks

1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into sticks
4-5 whole pickled jalapeño peppers*
1 Tbsp cumin seeds
1 1/4 C water
3/4 C white vinegar
1/4 C apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup white sugar
3 garlic cloves, lightly crushed
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 Tbsp salt

1. Toast the cumin seeds in a dry skillet, over medium heat, for about 3 minutes.

2. Add the cumin seeds, water, white vinegar, cider vinegar, sugar, garlic, bay leaves, and salt to a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil, uncovered. Simmer for about two minutes.

3. Put the carrots and jalapeños in a glass or metal bowl and pour the hot brine over them. Cool, uncovered, to room temperature. If you’re planning to keep the carrots in a glass jar, you can do this right in the jar. An empty pickle jar is handy for this project, but far from necessary.

4. Store in an airtight container in the fridge. They’re ready to eat after one day.

* Is it cheating to use pickled jalapeños? Maybe. You could certainly use fresh peppers. Or just about any other veggies. But I like the flavor of the pre-pickled ones in the can. And if I’m short a little brine when I put everything in the jar, I’ll top it off with brine from the can.

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Roasted broccoli is a staple in our kitchen. The basic recipe follows Cooks Illustrated — put a sheet pan in the oven and pre-heat to 500°, toss broccoli with olive oil, salt, and a pinch of sugar, and cook the broccoli on the pre-heated pan for 8-10 minutes. It’s salty, sweet, and a little bit crunchy on the ends. I’ve toyed with adding various seasonings, but never had much luck. A little bit of extra sauce doesn’t really add anything. Inspired by the dish at EOS, I came up with a gem.

Sesame Roasted Broccoli

After trying the sesame roasted broccoli at EOS, I thought of using tahini, or sesame paste. Tahini is thick, which helps the sauce coat the broccoli and get into all the little crevices. It has a strong nutty flavor when roasted, sort of a blend of sesame oil and peanut butter. This makes a great side with grilled chicken or fish.

Sesame Roasted Broccoli
– serves 4 as a side -

1 lb of broccoli — about 3 heads, with stems.
3 Tbsp. tahini
2 Tbsp. light soy sauce
1 Tbsp. minced ginger
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. sugar

1. Put a sheet pan in the oven and pre-heat to 500°.

2. Prep the broccoli. If the ends of the stem are dried out, trim an inch or so. But you want to leave most of the stem. It has a lot of flavor and some moisture that will prevent the crown from drying out in the high heat. The recipe won’t work quite as well with just florets. Cut each head of broccoli into quarters.

3. Mix the remaining ingredients in a bowl. If it’s more of a paste than a sauce, you can thin it out with a little bit of vegetable oil, sesame oil, or water. It just depends on how thick your tahini is. You want it to be a thick sauce, but still pourable.

4. Toss the broccoli with the sauce until it’s evenly coated.

5. Put the broccoli on the pre-heated pan and roast for 8-10 minutes.

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When at the market, I often find that the best tomatoes are the ones that smell the most like tomatoes. I know it sounds odd, but the nose does know which tomatoes will taste the best!

Eating corn and tomatoes out of hand is quite a lot of fun, however there is a more refined way to enjoy these summer delights together – in a salad. Just chop them into bite size pieces, add fresh herbs, apply a little seasoning and voila, you have a lovely salad that makes the most of summer’s bounty.

Shown served on bread.

Summer Salad of Fresh Tomatoes and Corn

1 lb fresh tomatoes
2 ears of fresh corn, cooked (approx 1 ½ cups kernels)
½ of a medium red onion (optional)
1 T minced fresh herbs – basil, oregano or thyme
2 T extra virgin olive oil

For tomatoes, heirlooms are best in this recipe because their juice combines with the olive oil to create a lovely dressing. Ripe cherry tomatoes are a good second choice.

Chop tomato(es) into small pieces and place in a medium sized bowl. Next cut corn from cobs and roughly chop to separate kernels. Add to bowl.

Mince red onion and add to bowl. Mince herbs and add to bowl. Drizzle salad with olive oil and generously season salad with salt and pepper. Stir salad to combine and let sit at room temperate for 30 minutes to allow flavors to meld. Do NOT refrigerate before serving as cold degrades essential flavor compounds in tomatoes.

Serving suggestions:
1) topping for toasted bread
2) side dish for grilled meat
3) as a light supper, add crumbled feta or mozzarella cheese

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I’m cursed by a total inability to cook the “magical fruit” from scratch. Every time I try, I end up with rock-hard nubbins that would be better as pebbles on the bottom of a fish tank than dinner.

Fortunately, there is a wide selection of the canned variety at the store.

While I like bacon as much as the next girl, I don’t miss meat ONE BIT when eating this bean gratin: creamy beans in a savory sauce, topped with crunchy bread crumbs and salty cheese. You have got to try it – healthy, hearty, cheap and easy. Hard to beat.

How did this delectable bean dish enter my life? I ordered a similar bean gratin at Nopa one night, years ago. Since then, it’s become one of my favorite dishes at the restaurant, even as it changes to incorporate seasonal ingredients. I wanted to try replicating it at home but I was nervous about making the right sauce. Then a friend of mine mentioned a dish she had at Ubuntu and a recipe for the dish in the New York Times… and although that dish is more of a soup, the flavors seemed right, so I adapted it to make this bean gratin. The results = good.

I chose butter beans — big, creamy beans — for the recipe. Apparently they are in the lima bean family, but they are pale yellow and much larger and softer. Lima beans originated in Lima, Peru. Who knew, though I guess it should have been obvious.

The butter beans I bought at the grocery store (in a can!) were from Italy (wait, I thought they were Peruvian!). A true staple of the cooking of so many cultures, beans have traveled all over the world, so they seem to “come” from everywhere. In a past life, I did some PR work related to beans and nutrition and learned a bit about beans’ history and culinary trends. (I know it’s a “commercial” site, but the papers on the “professional” pages are really informational and pretty interesting.)

In total, this recipe took me about a half an hour to prepare from start to finish. Serve with a green salad for a quick weekday meal.

Giant Butter Bean & Feta Gratin
- serves 6 -

olive oil
1 large carrot, diced
1 large rib celery, diced
1 large leek, white and green parts only, diced
1/3 of a head of garlic, minced
1t red chili flakes
1T fresh rosemary, minced
1 28-oz. can whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes,* drained and chopped + about 2-3T of the tomato juice
2 14-oz. cans butter beans
2T fresh parsley, chopped
salt & pepper
feta cheese
dry bread crumbs

Saute carrots, celery, leeks, garlic, chili flakes, rosemary and a pinch of salt and pepper in a few tablespoons of olive oil in a dutch oven until vegetables are just starting to soften. Add tomatoes, tomato juice, beans and parsley. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mixture should have a little liquid, like the beans are in a tomato sauce — not a soup. Add more tomato juice if needed, or simmer to reduce the liquid.

Fill individual ceramic or clay dishes (that you can put in the oven) with about 3/4-1 cup of the bean mixture (whatever fits). Sprinkle generously with crumbled feta cheese and about a teaspoon of dry bread crumbs. Drizzle with olive oil to moisten the bread crumbs. Broil about 8-10 minutes or until the topping is slightly browned.

* San Marzano are meaty plum tomatoes.

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You have to have a ton of patience to make bread and preserve jam. It’s very time consuming but worth the investment (and the clean up!).

I’ve been making the same walnut bread for the last few months as I got frustrated making challah, a traditional braided egg bread served on the sabbath. There is an art and science to making challah and quite honestly it never tastes as good as my sister-in-law’s. At one point I asked her what she does to make her challah so yummy. She said to use King Arthur’s flour and Land O’Lakes unsalted sweet butter, and that I should check the temperature of my oven with a thermometer to make sure it was accurate. I did all this but it still wasn’t as moist, sweet, or delicious.

As I was flipping through my Cooking Light I noticed a recipe for sweet challah but also a walnut bread which is braided (similar to challah). As a plus, walnut bread is healthier!

The first time I made the walnut bread it was gobbled up within 24 hours. It’s delicious toasted or immediately after slicing. In my first bite I realized this is how I’d like my challah to look and taste — moist and delicious with a golden brown crust that’s hard to stop eating. Even the end pieces are hard to resist.

As I was making my second batch, I started researching how to make jam. During the berry season I stocked up on fruit from the farmer’s market and froze it. I thought strawberry mint jam would be a great, refreshing combination so I combined several different recipes to come up with a jam that is both sweet and tart. I noticed that all the recipes required 1 to 3 cups of sugar. I couldn’t imagine using that much so I reduced it to 6 tbsps and added honey. To balance the sweetness, I added in the zest of a lemon and it’s juice for tartness. It was the perfect combination.

While making jam is pretty easy, preserving it is precise and time consuming. This is how I did it:

1. Prior to starting the jam, I washed the preserving jars in hot, soapy water. Once they were dry I put the jars and lids in boiling water for 20-25 minutes to sterilize them (an easier alternative is to put the jars and lids face up on a baking sheet — not touching — and put them in a 175 degree F oven for 20-25 minutes). If you are using the boiling method for sanitizing the jars, you need to use a sterile set of tongs (place the tongs in boiling water for a few minutes) to grab the jars and lids out of the water. Allow the jars and lids to dry and cool completely before using.
2. Once the jam came to room temperature, I filled each glass jar to the top, leaving about 1/4 inch or less (you may want to consider using a funnel). I wiped the edges to make sure there wasn’t any jam outside or on the rim. I affixed the lid and screwed on the top.
3. I then placed each glass container in a pot with water to cover about 2 inches above the tops. I brought the water to a boil and let it boil for 10-12 minutes. I used sterile tongs to lift the jars out and place them on a rack to dry and cool.
4. Within 12-24 hours the tops of the lids should make a popping sound and become concave which will signal the jars are sealed. To test this you can unscrew the top and try to pull off the lid. If the lid doesn’t lift off then you did it right! My husband and I were on the couch when we heard the first pop from the kitchen and immediately high-fived each other. It’s amazing how the little things make us happy!

Next time around, cinnamon sugar apple walnut bread and strawberry mint & basil jam…stay tuned!

Walnut Bread
Adapted from Cooking Light
- makes two loaves -

1 1/4 cups rolled oats
1 cup boiling water
1 pkg dry yeast (about 2 1/4 tsp)
1/4 cup warm water
1 1/2 cups low-fat buttermilk
6 tbsps honey
3 tbsps canola oil
20.25 ounces AP flour (about 4 1/2 cups), divide
9 ounces whole-wheat pastry flour (about 2 cups)
2 1/2 tsps salt
1 cup finely chopped walnuts
Cooking spray

1. Toast walnuts. Chop or wait until after pulsing oats in next step and use same food processor. (Cooking Light doesn’t say to toast the walnuts but I think it intensifies the flavors).
2. Place oats in food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. Combine oats and 1 cup boiling water in medium bowl and let stand for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3.  Dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup warm water in the bowl of stand mixer and let stand for 5 minutes.
4.  Add buttermilk to oat mixture, stirring to combine. Stir in honey and oil. Add the oat mixture to the yeast mixture and mix with dough hook until combined.
5.  Weigh 13.5 ounces of AP flour (about 3 cups) and 9 ounces of whole-wheat pastry flour. Combine flours with salt.
6. Add flour mixture to buttermilk mixture. Mix dough on medium speed for 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Add remaining 6.75 ounces AP flour 1/4 cup at a time to prevent dough from sticking. Add walnuts and mix at medium speed until just combined.
7.  Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray. Cover and let rise in a warm place free from drafts for about an hour or until it’s doubled in size. You can test it by gently pressing two fingers into the dough and if the indentation remains the dough has risen enough.
8. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
9. Punch dough down and divide in half. Divide each half into 3 equal portions.  Working with 1 portion at a time (cover remaining dough to keep from drying), shape each portion into 14-inch ropes. Place ropes lengthwise on baking sheet (with silicone pad or coated with cooking spray). Pinch ends together on one end and braid ropes, pinching the loose ends together to seal. Repeat with the remaining dough. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes or until doubled in size.
10. Spritz top and sides of loaves lightly with water from spray bottle. Bake on center rack of oven for 24-28 minutes until golden brown (I shortened the cooking time from the original recipe as I like the inside to be soft). Remove and cool on wire rack.

Strawberry Mint Jam

2-3 pints of strawberries
6 tbsps sugar
6-8 tbsps honey
Zest from 1 lemon and it’s juice
1/2 – 1/4 cup chopped fresh mint, to taste

1. Sterilize glass preserving jars as detailed above. Please review important USDA preserving guidelines by visiting the National Center of Home Food Preservation website.
2. Place strawberries in a heavy pot and turn burner onto medium heat until fruit starts to produce liquid. Mash in pot. Add in sugar, honey, lemon zest and lemon juice. Mix, turn down heat to low and add mint.
3. Stir occasionally and watch fruit as it becomes thicker. I left it at a simmer for about 1 1/2 hours. Turn off burner once consistency you like is achieved. Cool and place in sterilized mason jars. Place domed lids and tops on jars and sterilize as detailed above and the preserving website. Once domed lids become concave, store and enjoy for up to a year.

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I guess since we started this food blog people think I’m into cooking or something. Craziness! So I’ve been perusing these lovely tomes, marveling at the pretty photos and just how heavy these books are. Together, they weigh 16 pounds. For a few days I had left them in a stack on an ottoman before my worry that they would permanently compress the foam got the better of me and I relocated them to a stiff surface.

Truth be told, I’ve been a bit intimidated by The French Laundry Cookbook so I’ve barely looked through it. So far, between the Bouchon and the Ad Hoc at Home cookbooks, I’ve been drawn to the former. I’ve made a couple of recipes from it and I have to say, I’m hooked. I don’t think I’m familiar enough with these books right now to say much more than I have, but I was so excited by the cauliflower gratin recipe that I needed to share.

The one rub, though, was that the recipe in the Bouchon cookbook calls for cream and I’ve declared January a “no cream month.” So I substituted evaporated whole milk and no lie, Rourke thought that I had used cream. hahahahahahha! I fooled him! I also tweaked the recipe a bit by steaming the cauliflower instead of boiling it.

Cauliflower Gratin
Adapted from Thomas Keller’s Bouchon cookbook
- serves 2 to 3 as a side -

1 head cauliflower (mine was about 2 lbs)
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 Tbsp minced shallots
1 thyme sprig
1 bay leaf
1 italian parsley sprig
5 oz. of evaporated whole milk
1/4 – 1/2 tsp prepared horseradish
1/3 cup grated emmentaler cheese
1 Tbsp panko or other toasted breadcrumbs
pinch of curry powder
kosher salt
black pepper
grated nutmeg

1. Remove and discard the green leaves from the cauliflower. Cut the florets into 1-inch pieces, reserving the core and the stems. You should have 4-5 cups of florets.

2. Cut away and discard the exterior of the core, then cut the core into a fine dice. Cut the reserved stem trimmings into a fine dice as well and combine. You should have about 1 cup. If you don’t have enough, dice enough of the florets to make 1 cup.

3. Steam the florets until you’re able to pierce them easily with a knife, but while there’s still a small bite to the cauliflower. You can steam them until they’re completely tender if you like, but I like my veggies with a little bite to them. Steam in batches if you need to. I steamed the florets for about 4 minutes per batch.

4. Reserve approximately 1 cup of the steaming water. Put the steamed florets aside and season with salt to taste.

5. Add the butter and shallots to a saucepan over medium heat and cook until the shallots are translucent, 1 to 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, add the bay leaf, thyme, and parsley.

6. Add the finely diced cauliflower (stems and core) and 2/3 cup of the reserved steaming water and cook gently for 5 to 6 minutes, or until most of the moisture has evaporated and the cauliflower is tender. If all of the water evaporates before the cauliflower is tender, add more.

7. Add the evaporated whole milk and heat for 2 minutes. Do not let the mixture simmer or boil. Remove from the heat and discard the thyme, bay leaf, and parsley.

8. Pour the mixture into a blender and puree. As a precaution, place a towel over the lid before you puree and do not fill the blender more than 1/3 full. Puree in batches if necessary.

9. Add the horseradish and curry powder to the puree and blend to combine. At this point, sneak a taste of the puree and marvel that it doesn’t contain any cream.

10. Toss the puree with the florets and season with nutmeg, salt, and pepper to taste.

11. Transfer the cauliflower to an ovenproof dish. The cream should come about one-third or halfway up the florets. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to allow flavors to mature. The book says that you can refrigerate this for up to a day.

12. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Sprinkle the gratin with the cheese and the panko and bake for about 15 minutes, or until bubbling and the center is warm.

13. If you’d like, broil the gratin for an additional 2-3 minutes to brown the top, but be careful when you do this not to let it burn. Burnt cheese smells gross. Serve!

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Freekeh "Stuffing"

I was in our local Middle Eastern supermarket and came across a box of freekeh. Freekeh is called a green wheat because it’s harvested in early stages, dried, roasted and smoked giving it a green color. Similar to rice, it’s cooked with chicken stock or water but is much healthier. The freekeh I bought says it contains 2.8g total fat, 3.5 mg sodium, 71.5 g carbs, 15.8g dietary fiber and 12.4g protein for each 1/2 cup serving.  It’s rich in vitamins, minerals, low GI and low in carbohydrates. Freekeh is commonly used as a side dish like couscous, rice or pasta but also used to make salads, soups and even breakfast cereal (instead of oatmeal).

We were craving the poached turkey that my husband had made Thanksgiving 2008 as well as all the other traditional sides like stuffing. I didn’t want to make a heavy, fattening stuffing but I wanted the same flavors and earthiness. So, I decided to make a freekeh stuffing! I incorporated all the fresh ingredients I like in stuffing — mushrooms, shallots, thyme with wonderfully creamy, roasted chestnuts and a touch of sweetness from dried cherries. The result was a delicious, healthy, savory dish that we enjoyed even more than traditional American stuffing!

Freekah Stuffing

1/4 – 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 large shallot, chopped
8 large cremini mushrooms, chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh thyme
A couple dashes of Sumac
1.5 cups freekeh (carefully inspected, rinsed and drained)
2.5 cups chicken stock
12 chestnuts
1/4 cup chopped dried cherries
Salt and pepper to taste

1.  Inspect freekeh to make sure there aren’t any unwanted little pebbles. Soak in lukewarm water for 10-15 minutes. Drain in sieve and let dry.

2.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Use knife to cut a criss-cross gash in each chestnut. Bake for about 1/2 hour until gashes are opened. Cool, peel and chop.

3.  Heat butter in non-stick pot or large skillet. Add shallots and cook for 45 seconds to a minute.

4.  Add mushrooms and saute for a few minutes until mushrooms start to brown slightly.

5.  Add thyme, sumac, a few dashes of salt and a few grinds of fresh pepper. Mix well and add freekeh.  Toss in chestnuts and cherries. I forgot to add in the cherries so I did this at the end…either way is probably fine.

6.  Add chicken stock to pot and bring to boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Cover and heat until stock is absorbed. Toss and enjoy!

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