Kale Salad with Chicken and Harira Soup

Hello Reverb! Thank you*, Nate Langworthy and the Reverb Team, for featuring Bake This Day Our Daily Bread as a local blog on the Awesome Reverb of Rochester! Your endorsement makes me feel vogue and hip as I frump through the more mundane days of medical school, memorizing textbooks and blinking into microscopes. I shall not disappoint, for I am delighted to join the cadre of underground eccentricity buzzing like a hornet’s wasp beneath the surface of Rochester. Bread and creativity is what I have to offer when the right-brained revolution comes. Maybe a jazz riff here and there.

*I can’t say thank you anymore without hearing Jimmy Fallon’s Late Night Thank You Note music in my head…anyone else experiencing this symptom? Home cooked meals have become something like my Thank You Notes to myself.

 

Kale Salad with Chicken and Harira Soup

Adapted from Food and Wine July 2012

Four 4-by- 1/2-inch slices peasant bread (the link is a bread I recommend making to go with this)

2 garlic cloves—1 peeled, 1 minced

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (1 ounce)

4 anchovies, minced

3 tablespoons malt vinegar

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Salt

Freshly ground pepper

1/2 pound Tuscan kale—stems trimmed, leaves thinly sliced crosswise

Two 3-ounce jars cocktail onions, drained and halved

3 cups shredded rotisserie chicken

Preheat the oven to 350°. Arrange the bread on a baking sheet and toast for 10 minutes, until crisp. Rub the hot toast with the peeled garlic clove, sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of the cheese and bake for 10 minutes longer, until the cheese browns. Let cool, then break into 1-inch croutons.

In a small bowl, whisk the anchovies, minced garlic, vinegar, lemon juice, Worcestershire and the remaining 2 tablespoons of cheese. Whisk in the oil; season the dressing with salt and pepper.

In a large bowl, toss the kale with 6 tablespoons of the dressing. Let stand for 3 minutes. Add the onions, chicken, croutons and remaining dressing. Toss and serve.

For the soup, OK, I know it looks like a list of a million ingredients, and it is—but stick with it—so worth the effort! It is a seasonal dish for Moraccans during Ramadan. This recipe makes a vat of the stuff and you’ll be bringing it to work for a week– and inciting envy in your PB&Jing colleagues.

 

Harira

Adapted from Penzey’s Spices

 ½ cup olive oil

1 large red onion, diced very fine

1 large white onion, chopped

½ lb beef stew meat, cut into small pieces

½ lb boneless, skinless chicken, cut into small pieces

1 cup finely chopped italian (flat-leaf) parsley

1 cup finely chopped cilantro

1/2 cup finely chopped celery

1/2 tsp. freshly ground white pepper

1 tsp. turmeric

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

2 cinnamon sticks

1/2 tsp. powdered ginger

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp Hungarian paprika

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tbsp chervil

1 tsp. salt (or more, to taste)

3 quarts chicken broth

46 oz tomato juice

1 28oz can crushed tomatoes

3 tbsp lemon juice

1 can or 1 cup garbanzo beans (chickpeas) that have been soaked, skins removed

1/2 cup lentils

1/2 cup thin egg noodles, broken spaghetti, or some other small pasta

¼ cup uncooked brown rice

2 eggs, beaten

*lemon or lime wedges for serving

Directions:

Heat the oil in a medium sized stockpot, add beef and chicken and cook, stirring, until nicely browned. Add the onion, parsley, cilantro, cinnamon and cinnamon sticks. Lower the heat and cook slowly for 15-20 minutes. Add the chicken broth, tomato juice, lemon juice, tomatoes and the remaining spices. Simmer for 30 minutes on medium low. Add the noodles, lentils, and rice and cook for 30 minutes. Add the chickpeas and cook for five minutes to heat through. Add the beaten eggs just before serving, pouring them in a thin stream into the soup while stirring. Serve with lemon wedges.

 

And what goes best with soup and salad? Bread toasted with parmesan and garlic butter smeared on top.