Sweet Jesus, fall is here at last!  Nothing says fall to me like sweet potatoes.  They take me right to the Thanksgiving dinner table, even in the middle of April.  My normal sweet potato routine is to bake them and add some butter and brown sugar.  Simple and delicious, no problems here! This potato was so remarkably complex.  Never have I had a sweet potato with chickpeas and pomegranate seeds, so I wasn't sure what to expect.  I didn't hate it.  It was just a lot of ingredients to the point of overkill.  Sweet potatoes have such a strong flavor, and so does tahini, so all the other flavors seemed to get lost in the shuffle.  This potato was tasty, but I had trouble tasting the sun dried tomatoes or the lemon.  Was it necessary to even bother with those?  I don't know the answer.

Honestly, I have to say I prefer my simple butter and brown sugar sweet potato to this creation, however I am really glad I tried it.  It reminds me of how when I go to the cheesecake factory and always get the dutch apple caramel streusel cheesecake.  Every time.  It isn't like we go to the cheesecake factory all the time, so when we go, I am not going to waste a cheesecake opportunity on a risk.  But a time or two, it happened.  They were out of my #1 favorite cheesecake and I had to pick something else.  And you know what?  My favorite has never been ousted from the top spot.  Dutch apple caramel streusel will always be my number one.  But I still ate and very much enjoyed the other cheesecakes.  Sometimes it is for the best that we are forced to try new things. :)

I will give props to this potato, it was SUPER filling.  This would make a really good vegetarian lunch that will keep you satiated for a good while.  Might be worth a try?

You will need:

4 sweet potatoes (each about 3/4 - 1 pound)

2 TBSP olive oil, plus extra for drizzling

1/4 cup tahini

1/4 cup hot water

1 TSP lemon zest

2 TBSP fresh lemon juice

1 TSP honey

1/8 TSP ground cinnamon

1 can of drained and rinsed chickpeas (15.5-oz can)

2 TBSP sun dried tomatoes packed in oil, sliced

3 TBSP minced fresh parsley leaves

2 TBSP toasted pine nuts

2 TBSP pomegranate seeds

Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper

I will share the recipe way and the fast way.  I used the fast way.  Recipe way:  preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Line a half sheet pan with parchment paper and use a baking rack over the paper.  Scrub  your potatoes well, pierce all over with a fork.  Coat the surface of the potatoes with a thin layer of olive oil.  Place potatoes on the baking rack, and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until potatoes can be easily pierced with a knife.  Remove from oven and set aside.

Natalie's fast way, because she works hard all day and doesn't want to spend hours in the kitchen making dinner: scrub your potatoes well.  Pierce several holes in the skin with a fork.  Lightly dampen a paper towel for each potato.  One at a time, wrap your potato in the damp paper towel.  It doesn't need to be extremely tight, but not loose either.  Microwave for 4 minutes.  Flip potato upside down and microwave another 3 minutes (or less depending on how cooked your potato feels midway through).  Boom, baked potato in minutes.  I microwave them one at a time because when I put more than one in they seem to heat unevenly and I have one that is very under done and one exploding from the heat.  I don't even oil them when I do this, so maybe it will save us a few calories.

For the topping, whisk together the 2 tbsp olive oil, tahini, hot water, lemon juice, lemon zest, honey and cinnamon.  Once those are combined, toss with the chickpeas, sun dried tomatoes, parsley, pine nuts, and pomegranate seeds.  Taste for seasoning.

Now to assemble, slice your potatoes lengthwise halfway through and press the ends to 'open' the inside.  Drizzle with some olive oil and add salt and pepper.  Pile in the chickpea mixture and top with some extra pine nuts, pomegranate seeds and/or parsley.  Dig in!

Perfect Basmati Rice

This recipe is 100% about the process, and not the ingredients.  Obviously.  It is only rice, water and salt.  Like many things in the kitchen, I can find 10 different ways to do one set of instructions incorrectly.  I'm really special like that.


In real time, I am about 10 recipes into the Aarti Paarti cookbook and I make this rice to go with every dish.  I really feel like I am a pro.  It is an unfamiliar feeling, being confident in the kitchen, but I can get used to this.
I have used several different cooking vessels while making all this rice and my favorite has to be the nonstick saucepan such as this: Simply Calphalon Nonstick 1-Quart Sauce Pan
It is just the right size for the recipe and the rice comes off the bottom without sticking.  I found when I used the dutch oven pot to make this recipe, the surface area of the bottom was just too large.  Much of the rice stuck to the bottom so there was less for eating. The water, while the same measurements in all the pots and pans, seemed lower to the bottom, so the water evaporated a lot faster than in the saucepan.  The result was rice that was undercooked and dry. This is all a moot point if you have a rice cooker, those make perfect rice without breaking a sweat!  I have a teeny city kitchen though, so I need to be prudent with my appliance purchases (but I'm not.) Without further ado, here is how you make Aarti's Perfect Basmati Rice:


You will need:
1 cup basmati rice
1 3/4 cups water
1 TSP kosher salt


Follow this process to the letter, and it should come out as soft pump little grains of tastiness.


In a separate bowl add your rice and cover with water.  With clean hands, run your fingers gently through the grains to help them release their starches.  The water will turn cloudy.  Drain the cloudy water off the rice and repeat until the water remains mostly clear when you are delicately jostling the rice. 
Once you have all the starch rinsed out of your grains, cover the rice with water and let sit for 30 minutes.  This time lets the grains soften and gives a head start on the water absorption.


When you are at about 25 minutes into the soaking process, put the 1 3/4 cup of water, and 1 TSP kosher salt on the stove to boil.


::Ding:: the 30 minute timer has gone off, your rice is done soaking.  Drain off the water from the rice.  I usually pour the whole bowl of rice and water into a metal sieve so it catches all the grains. 


By this time the salt water should be at a boil, you can now add your rice.  Stir for the rice to all be covered by the water.  Once the rice is in and the water has come back up to a boil, cover and simmer on low heat for 15 minutes.


After 15 minutes your rice should be perfectly done, and you will just need to maybe fluff with a fork before serving.