Jun 29 2008
Cooking with Jess, Part II
Arabesque Cookbook by Claudia Roden
Coming off my successful macaroni and cheese dinner (see earlier post) and another delicious pesto pasta and sausage meal, I was feeling confident as I began my latest cooking adventure. Sadly, I was quickly humbled by Claudia Roden, author of the seductively beautiful cookbook, Arabesque: A Taste of Morocco, Turkey, and Lebanon. I chose a seemingly easy Turkish-inspired recipe, Chicken with Tomato Pilaf. While I must admit the tomato sauce and chicken breasts were easy to prepare, my attempt at a simple yet scrumptious Arabesque meal was foiled by my cooking of the basmati, or long-grain rice. So as not to bore you with inconsequential details, I will say only this: I began cooking the rice at 7:30 and did not put a spoonful of tomato pilaf (still slightly hard) into my mouth until 9:15…ugh. It should also be noted that the rice should actually take between 30 and 50 minutes to cook (depending on the type of rice) and that I most likely had the tomato sauce to rice ratio way off.
Despite the mildly crunchy texture of the basmati rice and the ridiculously long time it took to (not even fully) cook, I must concede that the flavors in this recipe are great. The parsley and quartered lemon were wonderful compliments to the tomato flavor, and if one could appropriately time cooking the basmati, I’m certain this recipe would be a success. I am still determined to try other recipes from this cookbook, although if I have trouble steaming rice, I’m not sure how successful I will be with the Lebanese Spinach Pies or the Moroccan Roast Duck with Apricots that both sound (and look) oh so yummy.
Read more: Book Reviews, Food & Wine, Middle EastJess is a GCB alum and now contributes to the travel blog as often as she can. Jess attended Middlebury College so she loves the Green Mountain State. She also studied abroad in Paris for a semester and has traveled through much of western Europe and the UK. Her most recent travels include trips to Portland, OR, Los Angeles, CA and Spain (Madrid and Andalusia). She lives in Brooklyn, NY.
