French Fridays with Dorie: Hummus & more

First I made the hummus...

It didn't take much time! Chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, salt & pepper. Simplicity never tasted so good.

Then I made the sweet potato chips...and I burned the first butch. I doesn't matter how interesting Angela's post for her Pumpkin Seed Oil Bunt cake is, when the timer goes off you have to go and check the oven...

Then I baked a few more sweet potatoes. Here in Zagreb I can only find red-skinned, white-fleshed sweet potatoes, they are not very photogenic but they taste yummy. I baked some thinly sliced celery root to supplement the vegetable quota of the day :)

Then I made the chicken...Trevor reminded me last week that I have a bush of rosemary thriving on my windowsill which is in desperate need of trimming... so Balsamic Rosemary Chicken was born.

You would think that's enough. I made this week's FFwD chosen recipe, a zesty hummus. I have sweet potato chips to dip into the hummus and I even have chicken to make everything a full meal. But no. I want more...I want...grapes and apples and fennel. So I made it again. Last week's recipe, that is, only this time I swapped the bitterness with the drunken sweetness of fennel. I am going to say just one thing...grapes and fennel are a match made in taste heaven. 

I cannot give you the recipe for the wonderful hummus I made today. You have to buy Dorie Greenspan's book "Around My French Table". But I promise it is worth every cent...I mean who would have thought grapes and apples in butter....magic....

I can give you the recipe for the Baked Sweet Potato & Celery Root Chips and the Balsamic Rosemary Chicken so here you go....

Baked Sweet Potato & Celery Root Chips
For 4 - 6 people
Ingredients
1 kg sweet potatoes
1/2 celery root (about 300gr)
Olive oil or coconut oil (2 - 4 tablespoons each)
Turmeric
Thyme
Paprika
Onion powder
Garlic powder
Ground cumin
Sea salt & ground pepper
Procedure

Pre-heat oven to 150 C.

Slice the sweet potatoes very thinly using a mandolin.  If you don't have a mandolin you can use a very sharp knife but please be very careful.  I left the skin on but you can peel it if you want. 

Peel the celery root and slice it thinly with a knife or a mandolin. 

Put the sweet potatoes in a bowl.  Add half of the olive oil and whatever seasoning you like. I used paprika, garlic powder and thyme. Mix them very well with your hands.

In another bowl mix the celery root slices with about 2 tablespoons of coconut oil turmeric, cumin, onion powder, salt and pepper.

Lay the slices out on a oven pan covered with baking paper. It is better for the slices not to overlap with each other. This will mean that you have to bake them in batches. If you are pressed for time and don't care about how crispy the chips become you can put them all together but there is a big possibility that they will turn out a bit soggy. 

Bake the sweet potatoes for about 35 minutes, checking frequently, or until they are nice and crispy.  

Balsamic & Rosemary Chicken
Recipe from "The Food Lovers Make it Paleo" by Bill Staley & Hayley Mason
Serves 2

Ingredients

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 garlic cloves, chopped

2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, minced

4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 200 C.

Rinse the chicken breasts and pat them dry with a paper towel. Place them in baking dish.

Drizzle the olive oil over them and rub them to evenly distribute the oil. Sprinkle them with salt and pepper. Rub them with the garlic and rosemary and put them in the oven.

Roast for 20 - 30 minutes (depending on the oven) until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 75 C. 

Remove from the oven and pour the balsamic vinegar over the cooked chicken. Prepare yourselves for a bit of sizzling action!!

Enjoy!