Lamb Flatbread with Pine Nuts

Every year my husband and I buy ourselves some new cookbooks at Christmas. This year we bought The Big Book of Breakfast and Jerusalem. While The Big Book of Breakfast is delightful and has some great ideas to spice up your breakfast routine, Jerusalem blows it away.

Written by two men from different parts of the city, Jerusalem is packed with lovely stories, rich history, and stunning photos. In fact, the first time I cracked it open I sat and read it like a normal book. It is full of colorful stories that provide a peek into two very different cultures and all of the ways those cultures combine in a kaleidoscope of culinary joy.

It was impossibly difficult to choose which recipe to try first. So I just chose based on what ingredients were readily available. The great thing is that so many of the ingredients were already in my pantry - chickpeas, paprika, couscous. Once I got started, inspiration swept through me. The flavors and textures were just fantastic.

Now my goal is to make every recipe in this book before the year is over (it's a big book). This recipe is a variation on the Stuffed Eggplant recipe in the book. We didn't have eggplant but we did have some delicious flatbread. We made the stuffing, with a few little tweaks, and piled it on top of the flatbread which had been smeared with tahini. I served it with some chopped cucumber that I tossed with a little salt, lemon and parsley. I could eat this every day. Seriously.

In a large, deep skillet heat oil and saute onion, garlic, a pinch of salt, cumin, paprika, and cinnamon until onion is soft and spices are fragrant. Add lamb, parsley, tomato paste, pine nuts, lemon juice and sugar. Cook until lamb is browned. Serve on flatbread with tahini. You could also add some rice or couscous for some extra texture.

Meal Makeover: Jambalaya

Frozen meals are great when you're in a pinch and need something fast and delicious. But one or two additional steps can take that one bag meal from this:

To THIS:

Bumblebee has these new frozen seafood meals and we got to try one for FREE! The meal itself looked good enough, but I couldn't help trying to kick it up a notch. So I decided to use their Spicy Shrimp Romesco to make jambalaya. The result? A festival of awesome.

2 cups diced peppers
1/2 cup diced yellow onion
3 cloves garlic, sliced
5 sausages, sliced
1 tbsp vegetable oil*

1 tbsp paprika

1/2 tbsp onion powder

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp worchestershire sauce

1/3 cup chicken broth

1 package Bumblebee Spicy Shrimp Romesco 

1 can small red beans, 14 ounces, rinsed and drained

2 cups cooked rice

Salt

Hot sauce

Heat a large pan over high heat. Add peppers and onions. Caramelize until golden.

Add oil, garlic and sausages and cook until garlic is golden brown. Reduce heat to medium and add chicken broth to deglaze the pan.

Add paprika, onion powder, pepper, worchestershire sauce, beans and Spicy Shrimp package contents. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes.

Stir in rice. Salt and hot sauce to taste. It's time to eat!

*Don't use olive oil or any other oil with a low smoking point.