Gigi's Kitchen Adult Purposeful Programs Taste of Morocco

GiGi’s Kitchen Adult Purposeful Programs Taste of Morocco

Notes to Parents/Caregivers- Week 6: 1. This week we are working on expanding your participant’s palate. We will be focusing on using herbs and spices instead of salt. 2. This recipe calls for couscous. Ideally you want to get the small couscous, not the larger Israeli type. If you have time, you can order it online. If not, any couscous will do! If no couscous is available, you can use white rice in a pinch. 3. There are three “levels” of couscous in this recipe depending on how adventurous you are feeling: a. The simplest is plain couscous, which is very bland until you pour that flavorful Tagine sauce over it. This is what was included with the original Raddish recipe. b. The next level up is mixing roasted vegetables into the couscous. I have suggested some vegetables commonly included in Moroccan cuisine, but feel free to change them up to your taste. If you wish to do this version, please have the vegetables to roast pre-cut. We will begin class throwing those vegetables right into the oven. c. The full recipe including the spices. If you are not sure about how you or your family will accept this style of cooking, you may want to omit the spices in the couscous. I love this type of cuisine and we will add the extra spices for that full on flavorful punch! 4. We will probably not have time to bake the tea cakes provided as the optional recipe. If you want these for dessert, I would suggest you bake the cakes before class and allow them to cool while we prepare dinner. They will then be cool enough to ice once dinner is done. 5. To make Moroccan tea, in a small (3-4 cup) teapot add 1 teabag of green tea (to be authentic use gunpowder green) and 1 teabag of spearmint herb tea. Add boiling water and steep 5 minutes. To be really authentic, pour into clear teacups with a spring of spearmint in the cup. Moroccan tea is usually very sweet, but add sugar or honey to your taste. 6. This week’s recipes are based on the May kit from Raddish (www.raddishkids.com). 7. Please print out the handout and have it ready. I will be reviewing the rules each week at the start of class, and we will take some time to talk about this week’s topic. 8. As always: a. Please set out all ingredients and equipment before class starts. There is nothing more frustrating than finding that you are a couple steps behind because you were searching your cabinets for something, and it isn’t fair to hold up the whole class. b. Please plan to be your participant’s “sous-chef”. In other words, you may be asked to prep some things, or run and find something in your kitchen. You may also be asked to have some things pre-prepped for a given lesson- please make sure you read the instructions for each week.

GiGi’s Kitchen Rules 1. Put long hair up in ponytails. 2. Wash your hands: a. First thing before touching any food b. If you cough or sneeze into your hand c. After touching raw meat (before you touch anything else)d)After you touch anything greasy 3. Use knives safely a. Make sure your fingers are safe i. Push down on the top of the knife ii. Hold food with claws not squids! b. Try to make a flat surface on your food as soon as possible 4. Keep pot handles on the stove facing away from the front. 5. Always use potholders when touching pots and pans!

Substituting Herbs and Spices for Salt and Sugar Compiled and adapted from the Spices, Inc. website www.spicesinc.com In the name of searching out healthier food alternatives, people are always trying to eat less salt or less sugar. While we certainly have a bit of a sugar and sodium problem here in the United States, they are necessary parts of the diet. They just need to be be consumed in careful moderation.

What’s the Big Deal About Eating Sugar? Since sugar is naturally present in lots of food, how can we avoid it? The problem is that sugar, even natural sugar, tends to live in high calorie foods. Thousands of years ago when our food supplies were limited, high sugar foods meant that we would have greater potential to survive. But now sugar is a little too available- meaning that those excessive calories are no longer burnt during periods of hard labor or famine. Instead, they are converted by the body into fat, which can lead to several health issues like diabetes and heart disease. Even if you do burn enough calories in a day, sugar is also a source of inflammation, which can cause seemingly arbitrary symptoms such as bloating, sluggishness (after your initial sugar high wears off), and congestion and breakouts of the skin.

How Much Sugar Are You Supposed to Have? Its reported that the average American consumes about 94 grams of sugar each day- not hard to imagine considering sugar is an ingredient in most processed foods. But that’s almost 4 times the amount that a grown woman should be consuming (25 grams) and men should have no more than 34 grams. Children are recommended to have 12 grams, which is equivalent to just one can of soda a day. When reducing the amount of sugar in a diet, it can be extremely confusing trying to identify the "good guys" and the "bad guys." When looking at sugar that occurs naturally in food it is important not to mix the two up- while a cup of strawberries might have 10 grams of sugar, there are also a number of vitamins it can offer to help nourish the body, in addition to dietary fiber- which makes the release of sugar slower in the body so that your energy levels don’t go from 0 to 100 (then back to 0 again). Foods that contain very few (or no) other nutritional benefits are known as "simple sugars"- like white sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, or agave. "Complex Carbohydrates," as their name suggests, are foods that are a mix of sugars, fibers, and starches, meaning the body’s metabolism of these foods are slower and more sustainable.

Why Not Cut Sugar Out Altogether? Besides just being nearly impossible, sugar is an integral part of the flavor experience! The crispy part as you bite into some barbecue chicken, the caramelization on onions, the sweet satisfaction of cake- it offers flavor and also balances heat, acidity, and saltiness. More than that, desserts have likely been equated with rewards for most people when growing up. For some people, comfort foods resemble buttercream topped cupcakes or a stack of Oreos, and these cravings have a deeper emotional tie beyond just a physical experience. But the combination of psychological and physiological effects that sugar has can lead to an addictive quality that can start to verge on unhealthiness. How do you ration your sugar intake? One way could be just stopping and savoring your food. If you are on a low-sugar diet, then when you do crave cake like crazy and it’s your birthday, eat ONE slice of cake. While artificial sweeteners might be a great option for people with diabetes who need to strictly monitor their glucose for health reasons, artificial sweeteners are far more potent than natural sugars, meaning that over time they can actually alter your body’s ability to gauge sweetness of foods, meaning natural sugars will start to lose some complexity and unsweet foods will just taste… bleh. Instead of trying to cheat by using synthetic sweeteners where you’re used to sugar going, consider getting inventive and creative with different spices. Here are some suggestions: • Cinnamon is a great sugar substitute where sugar would be used as a garnish or a finishing touch. Think muffins with crunchy sugar on top, or a bowl of oatmeal that you might generously coat with some refined sugar. Replace these with a dusting of cinnamon and enjoy. You won’t miss the sugar with the warm sweetness you’ll gain from the cinnamon. • Allspice performs in a similar fashion. It is good when used in place of decorative sugar or for a mild sweetness to recipes that you may use sugar for. Sauces, soups, or glazes all come to mind. • Ginger is perfect in place of sugar for fruit heavy recipes. Ginger is zingy and warm, giving any dish that may already be loaded with natural fruit sugars a more complex flavor profile. Try this in place of refined sugars in baked good recipes, like in fruit tarts or in danishes. Despite providing you with some good sugar substitutes, it would be irresponsible of us to not mention that no matter how much sugar you substitute with your own hand, you should still pay attention to the amount of sugar you are eating in prepackaged goods. Even potato chips have sugar in them, believe it or not! Be sure to read any nutrition labels you can get your hands on when you are shopping at the grocery store and make informed choices about how much sugar you are putting into your body. As a note, not all types of sugars are listed on a nutrition label, they typically lump all sweeteners together under "sugar," so you may be consuming artificial sweeteners even if you are trying to avoid them.

What’s the Big Deal About Eating Salt? So, you’re trying to cut some salt out of your diet. The reason may be because you hear all about the bad things salt does to your body, or maybe because your doctor told you that it’s medically necessary. Great, now your food has lost all flavor, right? "I probably won’t ever eat tasty food again," you think. Salt is an essential part of the human diet and the body. Too much salt however can cause damage. Sodium forces you to retain water, which puts extra pressure on your blood vessels and forces your heart to work harder to pump blood. Plenty of food has sodium in it already, so you don’t want to add any extra! Herbs and spices will help you make flavorful dishes without maxing out your daily sodium allotment in one sitting. So yes, you will eat tasty food again, without all that added stress on your heart. You are probably eating more salt than you think you are! The American diet is loaded with sodium from all the processed foods we tend to eat. Frozen meals, which are quick to make for dinner, are often full of sodium. Sometimes one serving of macaroni and cheese can have as much as 30% of the daily amount of sodium recommended for a person…and we all know that no one ever eats a single serving of macaroni and cheese!! Eating these foods occasionally is okay, but cooking fresh food is the best way to control how much sodium is in your diet, and seasoning food without salt really helps.

Seasoning Without Salt When you begin cooking without salt, at first it may seem a little intimidating. Some people have become habitual salters- adding salt without tasting the food first, or worse yet, adding it simply because it is what they have always done. Do either of these scenarios describe you? Herbs and spices are perfect for boosting your foods flavor and giving you a better experience without so much salt. They help you truly enjoy your food. If you stop and eat slowly, you will discover that your food tastes so much better than you ever thought it could.

What Spices Can be Used as a Substitute for Salt? There is no spice that exactly imitates the way salt tastes, but there are some that have similar profiles to salt. Instead of worrying about what spices taste like salt, you could try out some spices that will instead make your food more flavorful in different ways. You may find you prefer these in comparison to salt. Most of the excess salt we get comes from eating out often and eating lots of quick, highly processed grocery store foods. By selecting fresh ingredients and learning to adjust your taste buds to love flavors that aren’t overloaded with salt, you can incorporate salt substitutes that you may even grow to favor the flavor of instead of salt. • Lemon is an incredible salt substitute. It brightens flavors and brings out the good in other flavors while downplaying bitterness or unpleasantness, just as salt would. Often times, people who are looking to substitute salt directly will reach for lemon because it performs very similarly to salt in cooking.

• Basil is sweet and peppery and can be used in place of salt in a variety of recipes, particularly those from a Mediterranean cuisine. It works nicely as a garnish for salads and as an ingredient in pizza sauces in place of salt. • Oregano is warm and aromatic, lending its savory flavor quite nicely to dishes that usually have a lot of salt in them. Herbs in general are great salt substitutes because they add that flavor enhancement through their brightness, while contributing the illusion of more salinity through their more earthy undertones. Its great with vegetables and even as a salt substitute on some meat-based dishes. • Parsley is a less intense herb that you can use in place of salt. It does well to complement other flavors, it never overwhelms the dish. Use parsley in place of salt in potato dishes, omelets, on soft cheeses, and in homemade dressings. • Ginger is wonderful for flavoring meats and seafood. It has a sort of spicy flavor that is a step outside of the salty realm but is especially good if you want to complement the flavors of the meat and not necessarily overwhelm them, which salt can sometimes do. • Garlic goes on nearly everything, with the only exception we can think of being sweets. You probably weren’t too concerned about salting your ice cream though, so this is completely okay. Garlic is just a really tasty ingredient that helps any savory dish get some oomph into it. Garlic is also very good for your immune system. • Onion does the same thing for many savory dishes that garlic does. You want to enhance the flavors of a dish, not mask them or drown them out, and onion is a great complimentary flavor for a lot of foods. Meat, root vegetables, and soups all benefit from the addition of onion. Salt, like sugar, is often in foods we wouldn’t suspect. Remember to examine nutrition labels for sodium content too, as you want to get as little added sodium as possible. Eating fresh foods will automatically cut out some of the sodium from your diet, as canned and pre-made foods are often loaded with salt as a preservative and flavor enhancer. As with all things, enjoy sodium in moderation and swap it out for other flavors or seasonings whenever you can.

Compiled from: https://www.spicesinc.com/p-481-smart-sugar-and-salt-substitutions.aspx https://www.spicesinc.com/p-9864-too-sweet-on-sugar.aspx https://www.spicesinc.com/p-4004-the-guide-to-seasoning-without-salt.aspx

Moroccan Chicken Tagine Active Kitchen Time: 40-50 minutes Yield: Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients: ◾ ½ cup dried apricots ◾ 1 teaspoon ground cumin ◾ 1 large onion ◾ ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon ◾ 3 cloves garlic or 1 Tablespoon jarred garlic ◾ 1 teaspoon kosher salt ◾ 1 ½ pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs ◾ 2 Tablespoons olive oil ◾ ½ teaspoon ground turmeric ◾ 1 15 oz can garbanzo beans (chickpeas) ◾ ¾ teaspoon ground coriander ◾ ½ cup chicken stock ◾ ¼ teaspoon ground ginger

Equipment: ◾ 6-8 quart pot/Dutch Oven ◾ Cutting board ◾ Cooking Tongs ◾ Kitchen knife ◾ Cooking Spoon ◾ Measuring spoons ◾ Plate or bowl to hold ingredients during prep ◾ Measuring cups ◾ Large mixing bowl

Directions: 1. Chop apricots and set aside. 2. Chop onion and set aside. 3. Mince the garlic and set aside. 4. Put chicken in large mixing bowl. Sprinkle spices and salt on the chicken and turn with tongs. 5. Heat 2 Tablespoons olive oil in large pot over medium-high heat. Sear Chicken until browned on bottom. Use tongs to turn the pieces over. 6. Add apricots, onions and garlic. Cook, until onions are soft, about 5 minutes. 7. Drain garbanzo beans and add to pot with ½ cup broth. Bring to a boil. 8. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes. 9. Meanwhile prepare couscous. Add 1 Tablespoon olive oil and broth to saucepan. Bring to boil. 10. Turn off heat, add couscous and let sit 10 minutes.

From Raddish Kids May 2020 kit, “Taste of Morocco”.

Roasted Vegetable Couscous 4 entrée or 6 Side dish Servings

Ingredients: • 1 small zucchini, quartered • ¼ cup slivered almonds or lengthwise and sliced in ½ inch pieces pistachios • 2 medium turnips or ½ rutabaga, • Optional spices: peeled and cubed ½“ o ½ teaspoon ground • 1 cup grape tomatoes turmeric • 1 small red onion, chopped o 1 teaspoon ground • 8-10 cremini mushrooms, coriander quartered o 1 teaspoon ground cumin • 8-10 baby carrots, sliced into ½” o ½ teaspoon ground rounds cinnamon • 5 tablespoons Olive Oil, divided • 1 cup cooked chickpeas • 1 cup chicken stock • kosher salt and black pepper to • 1 cup couscous taste • ½ cup raisins • Fresh parsley or cilantro

Equipment: • Saucepan • Cutting board • Cooking Spoon • Kitchen knife • Plate or bowl to hold ingredients during • Measuring spoons prep • Measuring cups • Large mixing bowl • Instructions: 1. Preheat your oven to 450°F. 2. In a large mixing bowl, drizzle four tablespoons of the olive oil and ¼ tsp kosher salt over the prepared vegetables. 3. Spread them out evenly on a sheet pan. Be careful not to over crowd the pan. 4. Put the vegetables into preheated oven for 30-40 minutes, mixing the vegetables every 10 minutes to ensure even roasting. 5. Once the vegetables are golden and caramelized, remove them from the oven. 6. Meanwhile, in a medium sauce pan bring the chicken stock, the spices and the remaining tablespoon of Olive Oil to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat and add in the couscous. Stir, cover and let sit for 10 minutes. 7. Once the couscous is done, fluff with a fork and toss it along with the roasted vegetables, nuts and raisins in a large bowl. 8. Top with chopped fresh parsley or cilantro. Serve hot and enjoy!

Adapted from: https://www.simplyscratch.com/2014/01/roasted-vegetable-couscous.html

Orange Blossom Tea Cakes Active Kitchen Tine: 20-30 min, bake time 13 minutes Yield: 12 tea cakes

Ingredients: ◾ ¾ cup all-purpose flour ◾ ¼ cup vegetable oil ◾ ½ teaspoon baking soda ◾ ½ teaspoon vanilla ◾ ½ teaspoon kosher salt ◾ 3 oranges ◾ 1 egg ◾ 1 cup powdered sugar ◾ ½ cup sugar

Equipment: ◾ 12 cup muffin tin ◾ Measuring spoons ◾ cooking spray ◾ Measuring cup ◾ Medium mixing bowl ◾ Whisk ◾ Large mixing bowl ◾ Spatula ◾ Small mixing bowl ◾ Wooden Toothpicks or cake tester ◾ Cutting board ◾ Zester or box grater ◾ Kitchen knife ◾ Citrus juicer

Directions: 1. Preheat oven to 350F. 2. Spray each well of the muffin tin with cooking spray. 3. Whisk flour, baking soda and salt together in medium mixing bowl. 4. Crack egg in large mixing bowl. Add sugar, oil and vanilla and whisk together. 5. Zest 2 oranges. Add 1 Tablespoon to egg mixture. Add ¼ teaspoon to the small mixing bowl for icing. 6. Juice all 3 oranges. Add ½ cup to egg mixture and 2 Tablespoons to zest in small bowl for icing. 7. Add dry ingredients to egg mixture. Stir until just combined. 8. Pour batter into wells of muffin tin approximately half full. 9. Bake 13-16 minutes until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. 10. Add powdered sugar to small bowl containing zest and orange juice. 11. Flip cakes onto plate. Spoon icing on top and let it drip down the side.

From RaddishKids “Taste of Morocco” kit, May 2020.