Rice and Lentils with Crispy Onions (Mujaddara)

Prep Time: 60 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes

Grade: A+

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: America's Test Kitchen TV (Season 15) 
Recipe Source: Cook's Illustrated (September 2014)

I recently tried a recipe from Food52 that everyone rated very highly for Mujaddara and I was unimpressed. I love lentils, rice and caramelized onions, but the flavor was lacking. All the spices went into the yogurt sauce, which made it gritty to me.

So I decided to finally try ATK's version which had been on my Try list for a while. It did not disappoint. This was really delicious. Yes, it is a lot more work that the Food52 recipe, but probably worth the trouble.

You have to make the crispy onions first, which involves salting and pre-cooking the onions in the microwave, rinsing to remove the salt, then drying them, before frying in a lot of oil. I almost substituted normal caramelized onions instead, but decided to try the original recipe at least once.

The crispy onions are definitely delicious, but I still might go with caramelized onions next time, which I also find delicious. I'd probably use 2 T of fat for the 2 pounds of onions and let them slowly caramelize, but finish up with some high heat to crisp them a bit in parts. It will still take a long time, but will be simpler. Also, I found the onions to be too heavy and filling for me. I actually still felt full from the fat the next morning, which is not a feeling i enjoy.

The yogurt sauce is simpler with just lemon, garlic and salt, and it was perfect. The rice and lentils were much more flavorful as the spices were added when they were cooked together (after par-cooking separately.)

Overall, this is a great recipe. I hope that I can streamline it a bit and make a little faster now that I know what I'm doing. It is very delicious.

Blueberry-Orange Cornmeal Muffins

Prep Time: 13 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Grade: A-

Make Again: Yes
  
Recipe Source: Everyday Food  (Video with recipe)

I tried a "healthy" blueberry muffin recipe from Everyday Food a month or two ago and was underwhelmed. But this seemed quite different, so I tried it and really liked them. I used lemon instead of orange because I didn't have an orange. Not surprisingly, that worked fine.

The mixture is quite thick, but I was warned in the video (from link) that this would be the case, so I didn't worry. I did skip adding the flour to the blueberries for that reason though.

These have a nice little glaze on top and a slightly crunchy texture. These are not the "best" blueberry muffin, but good if you want something different and like cornmeal.

Lemon Yogurt Mousse

Prep Time: 43 minutes
Cool Time: 6-24 hours 
Grade: A

Make Again: Yes
Recipe Source: The Best of America's Test Kitchen 2011


I was kind of disappointed with the best of 2011 book when I first looked at it after borrowing it from the library last week. There are several recipes from the Light & Healthy 2010 in there, and it seemed like there were other repeats in there. The only CI books I get anymore are these yearly annuals, so I expect to not have repeats.

It seems like a strange assortment of recipes, and I'm not sure how many I will try. However, this Lemon Yogurt Mousse looked good to me, so I decided to try it first. This one recipe may be enough to convince me to buy the book. I don't think it is on-line anywhere. I am guessing the recipe comes from this book but I don't know for sure.

It is a perfect summer recipe. Light, and refreshing. There is a berry sauce at the bottom of the dish, which is a nice little addition and complements the lemon nicely. (Strawberry, blueberry or raspberry - I used strawberries.)

After making the sauce, you make the mousse with egg whites, sugar, greek yogurt, lemon and some heavy cream. I was previously annoyed at having to purchase heavy cream for a light recipe earlier, so I was happy to be able to use some up with this recipe.

The most difficult part of the recipe is whipping the whites and sugar by hand while the bowl is over simmering water to get the eggs to 160 degrees. That takes almost 10 minutes. Otherwise the rest of the recipe is not too bad.

This one is really good. I will definitely make again. It would be good for summer entertaining, because it is a cold dessert and can be made ahead.

Tandoori Chicken

Prep Time: 15minutes
Marinade Time: 4+ hours
Cook Time: 25-30 minutes

Grade: B

Make Again: maybe

Recipe Source: The Best Chicken Recipe
Recipe: America's Test Kitchen TV Show  (Season 10)

This was not bad, but since I am squeamish about eating chicken on the bone, and skin, I probably missed out on a lot of the flavor. I later used some of the marinade on a boneless chicken breast and grilled the chicken using the method from the magazine, which worked well. But still the flavor didn't wow me. It was good, just not exciting. I remember loving the way the Tikka Masala chicken breast tasted without the sauce, so I think I would used that recipe instead of this one when I want a yogurt based marinade with Indian flavors.

Gyros Sandwiches

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 10+ minutes

Grade: ??

Make Again: Maybe

Recipe Source: Cook's Illustrated (May 2007)

I have mixed feelings about this one. I'm not sure I like lamb, so cooking with it was hard for me. The meat smelled a little off, but I wasn't sure how it should smell, so I think that affected how I thought it would taste. It wasn't bad, but I worried that it wasn't good, so I didn't enjoy it as much as I probably would have if I wasn't thinking about the meat being old.

I did really like the Tzatziki sauce, and it was an easy recipe that can be frozen. I think I might try again with ground beef, because I do think it is a good recipe.

Better Bran Muffins

Prep Time: 19 minutes
Cook Time: 16-20 minutes

Grade: B+

Make Again: Maybe

Recipe Source: Cook's Illustrated (May 2007)

I liked these, but I think I might like the Bran Muffin from the Best Light Recipe better. (However, these have less calories - 237 without the raisins.) CI also has a previous regular recipe and both of their earlier recipes use Wheat bran instead of All-Bran cereal, which is where this recipe gets its bran. I will have to try the other ones again and compare. These are good for breakfast and not quite as sweet as other muffins so I like to have these on hand.

These take a little longer to make than most muffins because you have to grind the cereal in the food processor, and then you let the wet mixture sit with the cereal in it for 5 minutes.

Chicken Tikka Masala

Prep Time: 35 minutes
Cook Time: 20-25 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Cook's Illustrated (October 2008)

This was delicious and fairly easy. I did find that it had too much sauce though, which is a common thing for me. So, I saved half of it and froze it, and cooked only 3 chicken breasts, since that it a common size for me to get. Then I was able to make this twice. The frozen sauce tasted just fine to me and still spicy and good.

The first time I had trouble getting the chicken cooked in a timely manner, and I decided my pan was not close enough to the burner. The 2nd time it was. But, then it caught on fire! Luckily, I stayed calm while seeing this big flames in my oven, and got some baking soda and was able to put it out and not wreck the chicken - phew! I didn't want to waste any of the deliciousness of this recipe.

The biggest pain is cleaning the wire rack afterwards. I am going to try to grill these next time, because an easy recipe becomes a pain when you have this to clean.

Lemon-Drizzled Lemon Muffins

Prep Time: 12 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Muffins A to Z

These are really nice muffins (a little bit cake like), but the recipe makes very small muffins. I usually get 9 more reasonably sized muffins from this. I should probably double the recipe next time, if I have enough lemons for zest.

Roasted Cauliflower with Curry-Yogurt Sauce

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 30-35 minutes

Grade: B

Make Again: Maybe

Recipe Source: Cook's Illustrated (January 2007)

Some of the prep time can happen while the cauliflower starts roasting. It actually took me 8 minutes to prep the cauliflower and get in in the oven, so this recipe really takes less than 40 minutes, and most of it is unattended while roasting. I prepped all the sauce ingredients, and sauted my onions (should have been shallot) and spices, then waited to prepare the sauce until the cauliflower was almost done. I used less oil than the recipe called for (2 T instead of 4 T) and used some olive oil spray to spray florets instead.

I'm not sure if I love this recipe. It seems more complicated than my previous way of roasted cauliflower, which was just to cut florets and season with 1 T of olive oil and salt. I might use the sauce recipe again which was good, but very spicy.

Banana Bread

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 55 minutes
Cool Time: 10 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Sources:

Cook's Illustrated Magazine (March 1998)

Baking Illustrated

The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

This is a very good banana bread recipe, that I use often. The only flaw is you do need to have a little bit of plain yogurt on hand.

Chicken Curry Kebabs

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Marinade Time: 1 hour (up to 1 day)
Additional Prep: 15 minutes
Grill Time: 10-15 minutes
Rest Time: 5 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

I liked the yogurt curry combination in this marinade and the chicken was very good. Another nice thing about this recipe is that you can marinade up to 1 day, so you have much of the work done before you actually cook the dinner.