My study buddy, Molly, has lost motivation. She either sleeps all day, or plays with a shiny ball. When she decides I’m done studying for the night, she comes and sits on my laptop or on my notes.

And I usually stop then. Who can resist that face?

Meanwhile…..

Fatimah made me this “Graduation Kunafa” because she thought it would be better than Graduation cake. I agree.

And here are some gratuitous Molly pictures….

because she’s so cute.

Many of you, dear Readers, have been asking why my blog has not been updated for a ridiculously long time. “Exam Week” came early this year and has rather turned into “Exam Two Months.” When one of your classes is a law clinic, where you have real life clients and conferences outside of the law school, things get hectic at random times of the year. I can only say that, though I’m overworked and rather stressed, I love the work I’m doing and am privileged to be a part of these projects. Alhamdulillah. I just pray for the strength to get it all done well in time! I’m counting down to Graduation on May 9, InshAllah!

The blog will return soon, InshAllah (God willing!). Thanks for your patience and dedication.

And no, Bagpipe Man has nothing to do with this post. I just liked the expression on his face. It’s about how I feel when I think about writing my Trusts and Estates outline.

Molly Kitty.

Also known as The Good Ship Mollipop.

*Squee!* She doesn’t really meow – she kind of chirps. So we call her Chirpy. Or Mollichirps.

Or The Pops. Or Poppy.

kthxbai.

A few months ago, a beautiful little joy came into my family’s life. Maiyar Al-Zoubi, my husband Ameir’s new baby sister, was born in August.

When Baby Maiyar came home, we had to keep the other girls busy, of course. So Maryam and I helped them paint a big, colorful banner that said: “Marhaba Ahlan wa Sahlan Maiyar! Welcome, We Love you!”

We had a great time with the banner – I really recommend doing this when you need to keep six little hands busy. It kept the girls amused and occupied for hours. It was relaxing for Fatimah, who loves art and helped paint a little bit, too. Maryam and I traced out the letters and divided them up equally between the girls (so that there would be no “She got more than me!” fights.) Each girl got one capital letter and several lowercase ones, and Maryam and I did the rest. It was also a great way to teach the girls about mixing primary colors to get secondary colors.

This soup is named after Maiyar, because I took it to the hospital while Fatimah was in labor. I wanted something nourishing and subtle – nothing too overpoweringly flavorful.

This sunset hued soup is smooth and heartwarming, perfect for cold winter days (which seem to be continuing on FOREVER). It freezes really, really well, so it’s perfect to make in advance. I pack it in two-serving sizes in a ziplock bag and lay flat to freeze.

Ameir also calls this “Taiyyaba’s Butternut Squash Soup That’ll Knock Your Socks Off.” The pictures are from when I made this at Thanksgiving (made ahead, frozen, reheated and kept warm in the slow cooker until dinner) and fancied it up with a drizzle of cream on top. There is actually no cream in this soup, but the texture will make you think it does!

Winter Squash Bisque

1 medium or small butternut squash, diced
3 carrots, diced, or enough to make equal parts butternut squash and carrot
1 onion, diced
1/2 – 1 tsp sugar
1 – 2 cloves garlic, minced or diced
1 can canellini beans, rinsed
1 – 2 cans diced tomatoes
about 1 quart of chicken or vegetable broth or stock
1 tsp cumin
1/2 – 1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4 – 1/2 tsp cinnamon
salt and black pepper

Put the diced squash and carrots in a big bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and season with the spices. I put much less in this soup than I would for a curried vegetable soup. Originally, it was to give Fatimah (and through her, baby Maiyar), something flavorful but not too spicy – but now I realize that it really lets the naturally subtle flavor of the butternut squash come out. I added just enough so I could lightly smell the spices. The cinnamon adds a beautiful semi-sweetness – I really suggest trying it. Cinnamon is used in a lot of Morrocon dishes with red meat (which is often cooked with pumpkin – so this is a very well-tested flavor profile!)

Spread the carrot and squash onto a lightly oiled cookie sheet and roast at 450F for about 7-10 minutes, then turn over and roast the other side for the same amount. In about 20 minutes total, depending on how small you’ve cut the vegetables, they should be soft enough to smoothly poke a fork through.

At this point, turn the broiler on and give the vegetables some color. This part is not necessary, but it adds another layer of flavor.

While the vegetables are roasting, heat some olive oil in a pan and add the onions. (Just the onions!). For this soup, I caramelize them. Stir to combine the onions with the oil, then spread in a single layer. Cook over medium-low heat for about 5-10 minutes, then sprinkle with sugar (brown or white) and cook for about 20 minutes.

After about 15 minutes, you can add the garlic too, since we’ll need it for this soup. While we’re caramelizing, might as well get some sweetness into the garlic as well! You’ll see the onions start to get golden brown and very soft. Taste as you go and get them as dark as you want (or have time for – truly caramelized onions can cook for an hour or more. See here and here.)

Once the onions are sweet and caramelized, add the white beans to the pot. Also add the diced tomatoes. If you want the soup more tomato-flavored, use two cans. Let the beans and tomatoes simmer till the beans are tender, about 15 minutes.

Add the roasted vegetables back into the pot. At this point, you’ve got a thick stew to eat over couscous, with some grilled steak. Stop here, if you like.

Pour half or more of the vegetables into a blender. Add 1/2 quart of stock and blend until smooth. You can leave it half chunky, or blend it all completely smooth. Add more stock until it is the consistency you like it. I usually end up using the whole quart of stock.

That’s it! Roast veggies, cook onions, cook beans, puree. How easy is that?! I’ve even roasted the veggies the day before and just cooked the rest up the day of serving. If you dice the vegetables beforehand and keep them in the fridge, this soup can be on the table in 30 minutes. Freeze it in ziploc bags for a hot dinner on a cold day. When you reheat, you might need to add more stock, so have a little extra in the fridge (or you could use milk for something creamier).

This was part of another phenomenal “afternoon tea” sessions, which are quickly turning into “try every recipe we can in 5 hours” sessions. (Thanks to Ayesha, Sara, Amy, Maryam, and Samra for a great afternoon!) These chicken meatballs were accompanied by Ayesha’s butternut squash risotto and some homemade marinara sauce.

Baked Chicken Meatballs
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen.

I’m sure you can read SK’s instructions just as well as I can, so I’ll just tell you what I did differently. We made a double batch, so the measurements described should be halved if you’re only using one pound of chicken.

I used turkey bacon instead of pancetta, but the second time I made it, I did not use it at all. To the meatball mixture, I added 1 tablespoon chipotle and about 1 or 1 and 1/2 tsp each cumin and coriander. I forgot how much exactly, but the extra half tsp. will just add an extra kick if you’re in the mood. The smokiness of these spices is enough to make up for the lack of pancetta/turkey bacon.

I also complied with SK’s “accident” of adding tomato paste to the meat mixture itself. It added an extra punch and smooth texture to the meatballs, and I highly repeating following this mistake!

Notice that, for one batch, SK uses 3 slices of bread soaked in milk. I actually used the same amount for two batches. It was moist enough without having to add another 3 slices of bread. Also, I think I forgot to add the egg, but it still came out perfectly. It is a very forgiving recipe!

These really are delicious and easy meatballs – easy for a weeknight supper or a party. Try them!

After a long day, I just want to collapse on the couch and eat pizza. After a stressful day, I often want to cook. Something about rhythmic chopping, sauteeing, using my hands to create a beautiful meal relaxes and satisfies me.

These little gems were the perfect remedy for a cold, stressful day. Chopping turnip and carrots into small pieces is an excellently safe way to get some frustration out!

The recipe for these root vegetable dumplings comes from my new favorite food blog, The Kitchn, by Apartment Therapy. It is a very well-described recipe, so I’ll just mention what I did to make it my own.

The vegetables I used were onion, garlic, carrots, celery, cremini mushrooms, and turnips. This is also a great place for parsley stems, because they’ve got the consistency of celery and give a nice bright kick; they’ll cook down into the mix. Once they started getting well browned and a little dry, I added homemade turkey broth instead of water.

This is what resulted.

This stuff is pure gold. Vegetable caviar. I have so many plans for this stuff. Can you imagine this loveliness rolled into cabbage leaves and braised in a tomato sauce, like a carb-free malfouf (arab-style cabbage leaves stuffed with rice and meat)? How about spread over crusty bread with some ricotta to balance the savory? Made a little saucier and poured over polenta or couscous (*oh my god dreamy sigh*) with some cheese on top. oh. em. gee.

ANYWAYS that’s beside the point for now. Carry on with the dumpling process.

Now, instead of using water to simmer these, I again used turkey broth, simmering the dumplings in batches. I served the broth with the final dumplings as a soup. If you do it this way, be careful to taste the broth before serving it. It may have concentrated from the simmering and boiling, so water it down a little if it’s too strong.

And done! Later on, when the broth was finished, I had the leftover dumplings over some sauteed kale, paired with a fried egg. So. much. good.

I was always destined to be a foodie. My favorite short stories, or favorite parts of longer tales, were always about what food everyone was eating. So naturally, I loved the story of Stone Soup. The story of the old man who started with a rock and some water, and ended up with a mouthwatering stew was entirely enchanting to my child self. I could always taste the savory broth on my tongue and smell the strong aroma by the end of the story.

My mom has instilled in me a desire to never waste food – she’s always repurposing and disguising leftovers into something new and often more delicious. So, I follow my mom’s lead and the moral (or, I should say, the cooking-related moral) of Stone Soup when I make homemade broths. In the same way that the old man made a rich meal from odds and ends that the rich villagers condescended to give him, I make an “Odds and Ends” stock that fills my house with savory fragrance and keeps me well souped and stewed for months.

Every time I make a salad, steam vegetables for dinner, chop an onion for the base of a chili – or at any time use vegetables for any reason, I save the root ends that get lopped off and out of the meal. Instead of throwing them away, I put them into a big ziplock bag and store them in the freezer. In the same way, every time I debone a roasted chicken, or cut the neck out of a bird (who eats that part, really?), I throw the carcass and bones into a separate freezer bag.

Once the vegetable and chicken bags are full, it’s time to make stock!

There are three main benefits I see to this method. First, I never waste the odds and ends of vegetables. Second, the variety of (cleaned) vegetable ends I end up with enriches and adds depth of flavor to the final broth. Third, I rarely have to buy extra vegetables or full chicken parts to make stock. Bones from roasted (or, ohmigosh grilled) chicken make for a deeper broth than raw chicken meat, anyway. Usually, the only “fresh” things I have to add are one onion and one head of garlic.

Odds and Ends Stock

What vegetable scraps end up in my broth? Pretty much anything!
- Tips and bottom ends of carrots, celery, zucchini, turnips.
- Broccoli stalks.
- Mushroom stems (portobella, cremeni, button – whatever).
- The blossom ends of onions, and that first greenish-white layer you take off, but not the peel of the whole onion. The same for shallots.
- The green outer/top parts of scallions and leeks that are too tough or slightly too wilted to cut up and cook, and the sprout/bottoms, too.
- Butternut squash peels and blossom ends.
- The tiny little garlic cloves that you don’t want to try to peel.
- Stems from a bunch of parsley or cilantro.

My rules are relatively simple: I make sure that everything is clean (I do not want dirt in my stock). I don’t add too much of one thing (not 3 whole broccoli stalks, not all onion peels, etc.)

The method is comfortingly easy. A few hours on a weekend afternoon are all you need.

Instructions here:

Put everything – poultry bones and vegetables – into a huge pot. I use only one kind of poultry at a time (turkey stock and chicken stock get made separately) but use bones from any method of cooking (roasting, grilling, tandoori spices, whatever). It’s okay if everything is frozen. I usually add one fresh onion, cut into chunks, and one big head of garlic, cut into half so that the cloves are exposed. No other “fresh” materials are needed.

Throw in some whole spices (cumin, black peppercorns, coriander seeds). I put just a little salt sometimes, not too much since everything will concentrate after a long simmer.

Cover the whole thing with water. If everything is really frozen, I start with a bit of tap-hot water to give it a head start, and then add cold or lukewarm water to cover.

Bring everything to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer this for as long as you possibly can – think of it like steeping a tea bag. The longer you do leave it in the hot water, the stronger it gets.

For the first hour of simmering, skim the gunk from the top about every 20 minutes. Just use a slotted spoon or a mini sieve to get remove foam or oil that starts forming at the top. After that, just let it go for three or four hours, coming back to stir every thirty minutes or so.

After about four hours, I remove all the solid materials. I pour the broth through a colander into a large bowl. At this point, it is still a little weak-tasting. I wash the pot, then the broth back into the pot and bring it back up to a boil. Then, I let it simmer again for another hour or two, tasting every half hour. This final step helps concentrate the flavors (and this is also why you do not need salt).

After an hour, I start tasting the broth until it is as strong as I want it to be. I’ve even boiled it down to be quite concentrated, so I could just thin it out with water to get to the level of flavor I wanted for a soup later.

I pour the broth into a bowl with a big surface area, so it can cool quickly. Now there are two options.

Option 1: measure out the broth by cups and put it into labeled ziplock bags. Lay this flat in your freezer till the bags freeze in a single layer, then stack them and use as you need.

Option 2 (what I usually do): once the broth comes to room temperature, stick it in the fridge. The next day, a bunch of the fat will have solidified at the top. I remove and throw away this. Sometimes, if I’ve concentrated the broth a lot, the rest of the stuff is now kind of gelatinous and jiggly. It’s okay! When it heats up, it’ll be brothy again. If you don’t want it to get to this stage, just boil it less. Now, after I’ve removed the fat, I pack it into ziploc bags like Option 1 directs.

And guess what! You’ve got a rich, golden brown, dangerously savory base for an infinite number of dishes. Once you’ve got the basic concept down, you can shake up the flavors. Make an Asian chicken broth with lime zest, ginger, cilantro, lemongrass, and dried chilis. Swap the chicken for fish bones and shrimp shells and you’ve got a seafood broth. OR forget the meat all together, and put in three or four full freezer bags of vegetables for a luscious vegetable stock.

The possibilities. They are endless.