Great recipes for keeping cool: Provençal green bean and chickpea salad , Orzo salad with chicken and mango; brown rice salad with chickpeas and grapes.
By FAYE LEVY, YAKIR LEVYChicken with lemon 521(photo credit: Courtesy)
Recently, we faced the challenge of preparing our Shabbat meals during a historic heat wave. We had guests coming for Friday night and for Shabbat day, and we wanted a menu that would be simple and refreshing, composed of dishes that cook quickly and would allow us to avoid heating up the kitchen for too long.For Friday night, we planned on serving baked salmon fillets as a main course, accompanied by a Provençal green bean and chickpea salad with black olives (see recipe). This would make a light, fresh, colorful entree, and the cooking time would be short.Then some of our invitees told us that they would like to have roast chicken on Friday night.We therefore decided to roast chicken legs and serve them with rice pilaf, the green bean salad and Israeli salad. We prepared a double portion of chicken and rice so that we’d have some to use for Saturday’s lunch.While the chicken was roasting, we put a pan of eggplants and sweet red peppers in the oven. From the chopped roasted vegetables we made ajvar, a Balkan spread flavored with garlic, olive oil and lemon juice, and served this appetizer at both meals with halla and pita from a nearby bakery.For Shabbat day, we thought people might not be in the mood for hamin (cholent). Instead of a hot main course, we’d put together an entree salad using our roast chicken. One possibility was Ronnie Fein’s easy orzo salad with chicken and mango, which we could prepare with our cooked rice instead of the orzo. The recipe, from her book Hip Kosher, has a simple dressing of olive oil flavored with orange peel and cloves and combined with lime juice (see recipe).We also considered serving the tabbouleh with chicken and pineapple, created by Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough, authors of Grain Mains. It’s flavored with green onion, soy sauce, rice vinegar and lime juice, and we could make it with our cooked rice instead of bulgur wheat.Since our guests were Israelis, we figured that Weinstein and Scarbrough’s brown rice salad with chickpeas, which has eastern Mediterranean flavors, would be the best choice. The salad has chopped tomato, minced garlic, olive oil, lime juice, Mediterranean herbs, sesame seeds and red grapes (see recipe). To it we could add strips of roast chicken.For us, a selection of luscious summer fruit makes the best dessert during this season, as so many fruits are at the peak of their quality at this time. Our big platter of watermelon, peaches, nectarines, plums and cherries was so tempting that even the bowl of chocolate-dipped almonds couldn’t compete.Provençal Green Bean and Chickpea Salad This colorful salad is a favorite of ours – as an appetizer, as a summertime accompaniment for grilled fish, or as a light main course with feta cheese and whole wheat bread. It tastes best at room temperature or slightly warm.For the finest results, use a flavorful olive oil and fresh garlic and herbs.To keep the beans bright green, use a technique favored by French chefs – rinse them in cold running water as soon as they are cooked.Makes 4 to 6 servings❖ 450 gr. (1 pound) green beans, ends trimmed, each broken into 3 pieces ❖ Salt and freshly ground pepper❖ 1 to 1½ tablespoons lemon juice, or more to taste ❖ 1 large garlic clove, finely minced ❖ 2 to 3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, or more to taste ❖ 1½ to 2 cups cooked chickpeas or a 400-gr. (15-ounce) can, drained ❖ cup very thin slivers red or sweet onion (optional) ❖ 3 ripe plum tomatoes or fairly small round tomatoes, diced ❖ ¼ cup to cup black olives, preferably oil-cured Niçoise type or Kalamata, halved and pitted ❖ 1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme ❖ 2 to 3 Tbsp. chopped fresh basilPut green beans in a saucepan of boiling salted water to cover and return to a boil. Cook uncovered over high heat for 5 minutes or until crisp-tender.Drain, rinse with cold water and drain well.In a small bowl whisk lemon juice with garlic, salt, pepper and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Combine green beans with chickpeas, slivered onion, tomatoes and olives. Add dressing, thyme and half the basil and mix well. Taste, adjust seasoning and add more oil or lemon juice if needed.Sprinkle with remaining basil.Orzo Salad with Chicken and Mango The recipe for this quick and easy salad is from Hip Kosher. “Orange peel and cloves infuse a spicy-citrusy quality to this salad,” wrote author Ronnie Fein. Sometimes she mixes in dried cranberries.Fein recommends serving this kind of salad at room temperature, warm or slightly chilled. “Cold masks flavor, so don’t serve a salad straight from the refrigerator. If you’ve done the preparation in advance, let the salad stand at room temperature for about a half-hour before you plan to serve it.”You can substitute lemon juice for the lime juice. If you’d like to use rice instead of orzo (pasta shaped like barley or rice), use about 4 cups of cooked rice.Makes 4 to 6 servings❖ Peel of one orange (in strips) ❖ 8 whole cloves ❖ 2 cups orzo pasta ❖ 3 to 4 cups cut-up cooked chicken❖ ½ cup raisins or currants ❖ 1 mango, peeled and chopped ❖ 2 Tbsp. minced cilantro (fresh coriander) ❖ ¼ cup lime juice ❖ Salt and freshly ground black pepper to tastePlace the olive oil, orange peel and cloves in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes.Set aside to cool. When cool, remove and discard orange peel and cloves.Cook the orzo according to package directions, drain the pasta and put it in a bowl. Add the chicken, raisins, mango and cilantro and toss the ingredients. Pour in the flavored olive oil and lime juice and toss the ingredients again. Season to taste with salt and pepper.Brown Rice Salad with Chickpeas and Grapes This recipe is from Grain Mains.Authors Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough recommend toasting the sesame seeds. If you like, add 2 or 3 cups cooked chicken in cubes or slivers. If you already have cooked rice, use 2½ cups.The recipe calls for cutting the grapes in half and mixing them with the salad, but you can use them whole as a garnish instead.Makes 6 servings❖ 1¾ cups plus 2 Tbsp. water ❖ ¾ cup long-grain brown rice ❖ A 400-gr. (about 15 ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed ❖ ¾ cup red grapes, halved and seeded ❖ 1 tomato, chopped ❖ 1 small garlic clove, put through a garlic press or finely minced ❖ 3 Tbsp. olive oil ❖ 1 Tbsp. fresh lime juice or lemon juice ❖ 2 tsp. minced fresh marjoram leaves or 1 tsp. dried marjoram ❖ 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves or 1 tsp. dried thyme ❖ 1 tsp. sesame seeds ❖ 1 tsp. mild paprika ❖ 1 tsp. salt ❖ ½ tsp. ground black pepperTo cook the rice, mix the water and rice in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Cover, reduce the heat to low and simmer until the water has been absorbed and the grains are tender, about 40 minutes. Set aside, covered, for 10 minutes to steam.Dump the cooked rice into a large serving bowl. Stir in everything else: the chickpeas, grapes, tomato, garlic, oil, lime juice, marjoram, thyme, sesame seeds, paprika, salt and pepper. Toss it all before serving.Faye Levy is the author of Healthy Cooking for the Jewish Home.
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