Aromatic Magic

The smells of the city are blowing my mind this week!  And not in a middle-of-the-summer-trash-collection-canceled kind of way.  Citrus is hitting the streets in leafy abundance, and the air is cool and dry enough that all I can smell in the neighbors' frying garlic.

Our little nest doesn't smell half bad either.  Last night I roasted a chicken with diced tomatoes and lemons.  Roasted it low and slow at about 300-325 for a very long time.  It was so juicy and tasty when it finally tapped on the oven door and said, "Excuse me, but I do believe I'm all done."  I only but the politest, vegetarian fed, free range chickens.

And to accompany our bird, a big pot of rice and lentils with fried onions and yogurt garlic sauce.  Wow.  Those amazing onions are well worth the cooking time.  They become something that can only be described as toothsome.  For the past few weeks, I've been reading Michael Pollan's most recent book Cooked, and I can't recommend it highly enough.  The tales of his apprenticeship in the elements of cooking have changed my approach for the better.  He says that good cooking requires patience, presence, and practice- the chicken and crispy onions wholeheartedly agree : )

And to flavor our rice and lentils, there needed to be a little something beyond the normal onion, garlic, cumin, coriander, salt routine.  That's not a bad combination at all, but there's no magic floating up from the steam.  I've found the magic, though, in a Moroccan spice blend called ras el hanout.  It is quite simply extraordinary!  

I make a big batch of it by grinding spices in my coffee grinder and keep it in a glass jar, ready to add to our lentils, shakshouka, roasted veggies, chickens, anything at all.  Aromatics slowly sautéed in oil, salt, and tablespoon of spice is really the most fundamentally magical step for any dish.  And it smells out of this world.  

Not when it's in the jar, mind, but once it hits the oil, all those volatile aromatic bits are released, and our kitchen cooking can take on the neighbors' sofrito any ol' day!

May your days be merry and tasty,
~Mersydotes