Miznon inspired cooking

I was so blown away by Miznon in Paris that recreating those dishes is the first thing I wanted to do when I hit this summer of cooking.  Lunch and dinner were both Minzon inspired.

Lunch was a pulled chicken salad doused with a lemon juice, oil olive, chickpea base that we concocted using the base of the hummus we made before putting in the tahini.  I made two beer can chickens on the grill and then pulled the meat from that.  I had to run an errand and the chicken was black when I got back but the meat still worked.  Phew.   To the chicken, we also added massive cilantro, thinly sliced red onions and salt.

We also made hummus.   Think ahead for hummus because the key is really soaking chickpeas overnight.  Place 1 cup chickpeas, 1 tsp. of baking soda and two smashed shallots in a large pot of cold water.  3/4 cup chickpeas covered in cold water about 2″ overnight (roughly 8-10 hours) in a covered bowl at room temperature.  Next day, drain and rinse.  Then add the chickpeas and 1 tsp of baking soda and covered in water about 2″ again in a medium saucepan, bring to boil, then down to simmer, skimming the top for foam, until the chickpeas are really soft (about 45 minutes).  In a food processor put 1/3 cup of lemon juice, 1 tsp. kosher salt, one shallot, and blend.  Put in 2/3 cup of tahini and 1/4 cup of ice water to this mixture and blend again.  Strain the chickpeas and keep the water that they were cooking in.  Add the chickpeas to the food processor, blend again. Add about 1/4 cup of olive oil very slowly while the mixture if being processed.  If it is too thick, pour a little bit of the water in that the chickpeas were cooking in until the consistency is what you want.  Serve.

We continued with the theme for dinner.  We began with baby roasted artichokes.  Clean them, cut them in half and pull out most of the outer leaves until really the only leaves left are soft.  Drizzle with olive oil and salt.  Roast at 350 for 15 minutes with the heart down and then flip it and let bake another 10 or so until crisp.  Serve in a bowl and drizzle with lemon and shaved Parmesan cheese.

Chunky Ratatouille.   Big chunks of eggplant, red peppers, whole small carrots including part of the tops and sweet onions.  Use a big frying pan, add olive oil, red pepper flakes (as many as you feel comfortable with) and a few sticks of thyme.  When the oil gets hot, brown the eggplant.  Continue to add more olive oil, salt to the vegetables and when you are done with the eggplant, put in a big bowl.  Then do the same with the onions, then the red peppers and last the carrots.  Put everything in that one bowl and mix, add salt for flavor and then roast in a large roasting pan for another hour at 350, or put it all back in the big frying pan and let it hang out on a low heat, covered while the flavors just set.

Roasted sweet potatoes.  Cover them with olive oil and salt and then wrap them in tin foil.  Throw them on the grill for about 45 minutes or until they are charred.  Cut into pieces, drizzle limes, honey and flaked salt on top.  Serve.

Lamb.  Rub with cumin, cardamon, paprika, salt, pepper and grape seed oil.  Roast until your liking.  20 minutes a pound for medium rare is usually right but a meat thermometer is key.  140/145 for medium rare.

Roasted Cauliflower.  Preheat the oven at 430.  Put a whole cauliflower in a large pot, 3/4 filled with water, put on a lid and bring to a boil.  Once it boils take it down to a simmer for 15 minutes.  Drain and then put on a baking sheet.  Cover the cauliflower with olive oil and sea salt.  Put in the oven and let roast for 30 minutes or until golden brown.  Serve with tahini or the hummus.  This is amazing.  Just slice is up and serve.

A day with a lot of cooking going on but worth every minute.  Leftovers the next day and everything was really delicious.