Preheat oven to 425. Combine all ingredients. Spread on a baking sheet and roast for 30 minutes or until crisp (when they start to pop).
Penzey’s Spices
Bring 6 cups water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Remove the pan from the heat, add the tea and sage leaves, and cover the pan. Wrap a kitchen towel around the pan and set it aside for 10 minutes to allow the tea to steep. Then strain the liquid into a teapot and serve hot, with a bowl of sugar on the side.
Epicurious
Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy pot. Use a tagine if you have one, but if not a big dutch oven will do. Add the cinnamon, coriander, paprika, turmeric and cumin to the pot.
Add the lemon, onion, fennel, garlic and green olives to the pot and cook until softened, for about 15 minutes. Taste for salt.
Meanwhile, brown the merguez sausage in a skillet over medium heat and reserve the cooking oils. Set aside.
Add the tablespoon of flour and mix well. Add 3 cups of chicken broth and allow to bubble for 5 minutes.
Place the merguez, plus the oil rendered from the merguez, and the remaining vegetables into the pot. Add the chickpeas, dried apricots and the raisins. Continue to cook over medium for 15 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender and the merguez is cooked through.
For the couscous, follow the directions on the box, and stir in the turmeric before covering the pot to give the couscous a bright yellow hue.
Garnish with cilantro and serve with couscous.
Laila Gohar, Food Republic
Spicy Afghan Green Sauce
Meatballs
Make the Spicy Afghan Green Sauce: Combine all the ingredients in a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. This can be done 1 to 3 days in advance. It is best to make the sauce at least 1 day in advance to give the flavors time to blend.
Preheat a grill to about 375°F for direct cooking.
Make the meatballs: Place the cumin, coriander, cardamom seeds, and star anise in a small skillet over medium heat and toast until fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes. Let cool, then grind in a spice or coffee grinder. Add the turmeric, seasoned salt, black pepper, cinnamon, and cayenne and mix well.
Place the ground lamb in a large bowl. Add the spices along with the onion, ginger, garlic, mint, feta, and spinach and mix well, but do not overmix as this will result in a tough texture. Form the mixture into meatballs 1 to 1 1/2 inches in diameter.
Place the meatballs on the grill grate and cook for about 14 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 160°F on a meat thermometer, rotating the meatballs frequently to ensure that they caramelize evenly.
Serves 10-12.
Ardie A. Davis and Paul Kirk, Epicurious, May 2013
Preheat oven to 375. Place the vegetables in a shallow baking dish. Add the oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and spice blend. Toss well to coat. Carefully spread into a single layer and place the pan in the oven. Roast for 45 minutes. Note: Vegetables can also be roasted on a pan in a gas grill. Cool vegetable mixture, or let rest overnight in the fridge.
Rinse and drain the white beans and place in a blender with 2 c. of the vegetable mixture. The vegetables should have exuded quite a bit of liquid so make sure to include some of this in the 2 cups. Blend the beans and vegetables. Add the chili powder and oregano and the lemon juice. Blend well and pour into a bowl. Serve with any firm cracker.
Penzey’s Spices
Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl.
Knead by hand for about 8 minutes (or let the KitchenAid do it for you).
Collect dough into a large lump in the bowl. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel. Place covered bowl in a warm-ish area and leave until the dough has risen to about twice its original size.
When sufficiently puffy, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Gently roll and stretch dough into a 12 inch rope. Using a sharp knife, cut the dough rope into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a smooth ball, then use a rolling pin to flatten each ball into a 6 or 7 inch diameter circle.
Set dough circles onto a lightly floured surface. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise for about 30 minutes. After the 30 minutes, they should be just slightly puffier than they were at first.
At some point during the time when the dough circles are rising, preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. When dough circles are ready, place 2 or 3 circles on a wire cake rack, and place rack directly on an oven rack. Bake for 4 to 5 minutes. Pitas are done when they are puffed and their tops are slightly brown.
Remove pitas from oven and place them in a sealed brown paper bag (or just cover them with a damp kitchen towel) until they are soft. Once softened, cut pitas as desired.
Pitas can be stored in some kind of sealed container for several days. You can also freeze them for 1-2 months.
Erica Freeman
Make the dough as directed. Preheat oven to 400 F. Lightly oil a baking sheet.
To make the filling, in saute pan over medium heat warm the oil. Add the onion and saute until tender, about 5 min. Transfer to a bowl. Add the lamb, parsley, nuts, spices and seasonings and mix well.
Divide the dough into 12 portions and roll out in 3 in rounds. Top each round with a heaping spoonful of the filling, then bring up the three edges of the round to meet in the center and press together to seal. The pasties will be triangular.
Place on the prepared baking sheet. Brush the pastries with oil. Bake until golden, 15-20 min. Serve warm with yogurt.
In a small bowl dissolve the yeast in warm water and let stand until bubbly, about 5 min.
In a large bowl stir together the flour and salt. Add the yeast mixture and oil, mix well and knead briefly on a lightly floured work surface until smooth and elastic.
Shape the dough into a ball and place in an oiled bowl. Turn the ball to coat all surfaces with oil. Cover the bowl with a damp kitchen towel and or plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until almost double in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours. Punch down the dough before use.
Use dough for spinach pies or meat pies.
Prepare the dough according to directions.
Preheat the oven to 400 F. Lightly oil a baking sheet.
Stem the spinach, chop coarsely, and wash well to remove traces of sand. Drain well, place in a colander and sprinkle with 1 tsp of salt. Let stand 1 h. Squeeze all moisture out of the spinach and then chop coarsely.
In a large saute pan over medium heat warm the oil. Add the onion and saute until tender and translucent, 8-10 min. Add the allspice, stir well and cook for 1 min longer. Stir in the chopped spinach and cook, stirring occasionally, until the spinach wilts, a few minutes. Stir in the pine nuts, lemon juice, mint, pepper, and salt to taste. Remove from heat.
Divide dough into 12 equal portions and roll out each portion into a 6 in round. Spoon about 1/3 c of the spinach mixture into the center of each round. Bring up the three edges of the round to meet in the center and press together to seal. The pastries will be triangular.
Place on the prepared baking sheet. Brush pastries with oil. Bake until golden, 15-20 min. Remove from the oven and brush the tops with olive oil. Serve warm.
Place the water, lamb, onions, split peas, spinach, scallions, salt and pepper in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer 40 min. Stir in the rice and cook over moderate heat for about 25 min, stirring occasionally. Add the yogurt. Stir 1 minute without boiling and remove from heat. Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the mint and stir for 1 min. Add to the soup and serve.