Mediterranean dishes are known for their amazing heart-health qualities with their healthy oils and bright-coloured vegetables. This dish is no exception with its inclusion of pomegranates. When in season, pomegranates are widely available. Typically, kisir, a traditional Turkish side dish, is made with bulgur. We’ve adapted it using millet, a healthy gluten-free alternative.
Wines are always personal. No one has the same taste buds. While some might lean toward whites, others glom onto reds. This dish deserves something light and fruity—either red or white. So look for a Gamay or a Rosé. Even a Pinot Grigio works well with this dish.
Pomegranate molasses or syrup can be found in specialty food shops or Middle Eastern grocery stores. To make your own, boil pomegranate juice until thickened. Refrigerate for up to 1 month. Use tablespoonfuls to flavour a myriad of dishes.
Per serving:
To make chicken, preheat oven to 350 F (180 C).
In small bowl, combine sumac, cardamom, and salt. Stir to blend. Divide equally among chicken thighs, massaging seasoning under skin with your fingers.
Heat 10 in (25 cm) ovenproof or cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add ghee or butter and heat till it almost begins to smoke. Add chicken thighs, skin side down, allowing for space in between each. Fry until skin becomes a rich golden colour, about 5 minutes. Flip chicken and sear underside just until lightly browned. Remove to dish.
Whisk stock, pomegranate molasses, and maple syrup in skillet. Boil vigorously, with lid ajar, until reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Return chicken to skillet along with any juices that may have collected. Tuck thyme sprigs around chicken and sprinkle with red chilies.
Bake, uncovered, in oven for 35 minutes or until meat registers 165 F (75 C) when tested with a meat thermometer in thickest portion of meat. Remove from oven when done.
Meanwhile, in dry saucepan over medium heat, toast rice or millet just until grains are pale golden and they begin to smell aromatic, about 3 or 4 minutes. Stir in boiling water and return to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook for 15 minutes. Remove from heat; keep covered and allow to rest for 10 minutes.
While rice or millet cooks, whisk oil, pomegranate molasses, tomato paste, and salt in small bowl. Set aside. Combine tomatoes and their juice, cucumber, and yellow pepper in large bowl and set aside.
When rice or millet is cooked and has finished resting, stir in oil mixture to evenly coat. Transfer to bowl with tomatoes and gently fold in.
To serve, place a generous ladle of kisir into each of 4 serving bowls. Rest a chicken thigh on top. Drizzle with some pan juices and scatter with pomegranate seeds, toasted almonds, and chopped herbs. Add black pepper to taste.
Lime juice and ginger add a tropical whiff to this French-Japanese mashup, where seaweed tendrils and Dijon mustard bring out the umami flavours in mushrooms and eggplant. The ingredients might seem to be strange bedfellows, but they work. The result is somewhere between a quiche and a soufflé, with a gluten-free eggplant crust featuring punchy mustard and citrus. This makes for a hearty vegetarian main for brunch, lunch, or dinner with a side salad, or a filling side dish. Fresh or dried If you don’t have fresh thyme and parsley, use 1 tsp (5 mL) dried thyme (divided) and 1 Tbsp (15 mL) dried parsley. The flavours won’t be as pungent, but a little flavour is better than none.
These are the perfect two-bite appetizers. Though the first bite likely won’t “wow” you, the more you chew, the more the salt from the dulse soaks into the avocado and tomato. Wait for it. You can also turn these into breakfast à la avocado toast by substituting a piece of your favourite bread for a slice of baguette. What’s in a name? Theoretically, this should be called a “DLTA” because of the avocado (dulse, lettuce, tomato, and avocado). And if you left out the lettuce, you’d have a “DTA.” A DTA would arguably be a better overall eating experience, since lettuce slightly waters down the rich and creamy result and makes it harder to keep the tomatoes from sliding off the top of the crostini. But the juicy lettuce is actually helpful, since it spreads the salt from the dulse throughout the entire bite, making the “wow” moment come sooner. Besides, neither DLTA nor DTA is as fun an acronym as DLT.
This triple-threat recipe is made with (up to) three types of seaweed. Wakame is essential for the pesto, but kombu boosts the umami punch of sautéed garlic and cherry tomatoes, while kelp noodles are a low-carb substitute for flour-based noodles. Because kelp noodles can be hard to find (you’ll likely need to order them online), feel free to use your favourite boxed linguine, zucchini noodles, shirataki konjac, tofu, or yam noodles instead. You can also leave out the vongole (clams) to keep the recipe plant-based, or use mussels, which are usually more affordable than clams. Both clams and mussels are generally sustainable, as, like seaweed, they’re farmed without feed or antibiotics, unlike many farmed fish operations. Double-duty pesto Make a double batch of seaweed pesto, and enjoy it with eggs, scrambled tofu, or toast.
Spicy popcorn? You bet. This Japanese seven-spice blend combines salty and spicy notes for a healthy snack. If you don’t make your own togarashi, check the container before adding it to your popcorn to make sure it doesn’t contain salt. For an even simpler recipe, skip the togarashi and just grind a few pieces of nori and a pinch of salt in a blender or spice grinder to sprinkle on your popcorn instead. If you’re fresh out of nori, you can always grind wakame, arame, or dulse instead, leaving out the pinch of salt for dulse or any seaweed you taste and find already salty. Shichimi togarashi This customizable spice blend generally features sansho pepper, a.k.a. Japanese prickly ash, a green peppercorn with a citrusy taste, along with seaweed flakes, chili pepper, and dried citrus peel—often yuzu or mandarin orange. If you can’t find sansho, look for Sichuan peppercorn, which has a slightly stronger mouth-tingling effect. You can buy dried orange, mandarin, or tangerine peel. Or you can dehydrate your own, in which case you might as well dehydrate a 1/8 in (3 mm) thick piece of fresh ginger along with the peel. If you can’t handle a lot of chili pepper heat, reduce the pepper to your taste.