Lemon Chicken Soup with Rice

This is not a chicken lemon rice soup like one orders at a Middle-Eastern restaurant. There is no cream in this recipe and hence lacks the thick, rich, creaminess of that style of chicken lemon rice soup; although, this version is much lighter and healthier. It has a nice flavor with the bay leaves, allspice and lemon juice. Add this with some sourdough bread and you'll have an excellent Spring meal.

Lemon Chicken Soup with Rice
Serves 6

1 cup chopped chicken
6 cups low-salt chicken broth
2 bay leaves
4 tsp onion, very finally minced
1 carrot, peeled, halved, and chopped into small pieces
1 stalk celery, halved and chopped into small pieces
1/4 tsp ground allspice
Couple grinds of crushed pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup cooked rice (brown basmati, texamati, etc)
2 tsp olive oil
juice of 1-2 lemons

Combine chicken, broth, bay leaves, onion, carrots, celery, allspice, pepper, and salt. Cook 10 minutes at a slow simmer. Add rice and simmer another 15 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in olive oil and lemon juice. Just start with juice from 1 lemon and taste. Add more as desired.

Falafel with Lemon Tahini Dressing

I'm not much of a fan of Falafel so I wasn't too excited about making this when my wife Stephanie asked if I could try it. Most Falafel I've had is really dry and not very flavorful, even the one's at good Middle-Eastern restaurants. This recipe did have a different approach since the Falafel is baked, not fried, and I added a bit of curry instead of Tumeric (if you want more authentic substitute the curry I have with 1 tsp of Tumeric.)

To make it more of a meal, we used add some pita bread, humus, and tabbouleh. The flafels will crumble a bit because they are baked and I may have had my mix a bit too wet, so be careful with the water (I reduced it from the recipe I used so the reduction is accounted for in the recipe listed here. Hopefully that helps.) Stuffing the Falafels in the pita with some lemon tahini and tabbouleh really made this meal excellent and one you'll want to add to your list, especially if you are vegetarian or want to reduce meat intake.

Falafel
Serves 6

3 Tbsp olive oil for baking
3 garlic cloves
1 small onion
1/4 cup tightly packed parsley
2 15-oz cans chick peas, drained
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp curry
1/8 tsp cayenne
black pepper to taste
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp olive oil
2/3 cup oat flour

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and spread olive oil on it. Mince garlic in food processor. Add onion to food processor. Chop. Add parsley and chop too. Add remaining ingredients except oat flour in processor and combine. Get the batter where it is wet but will hold together. You should be able to form balls. Refrigerate batter for 1 hour to make it easier to roll balls. Recipe makes 16 2-inch falafel balls. Place on oiled, foil cookie sheet and gently press down slightly. Cook for 15 minutes, turn and cook about another 20-25 minutes. Serve with Lemon Tahini dressing.

Lemon Tahini Dressing
Makes 1 cup

1 garlic clove
1/2 cup sesame tahini
3 Tbsp lemon juice (1 lemon)
1/2 cup water
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cumin
1/8 cayenne

Puree garlic in food processor. Add lemon juice and tahnini to blend, pour in water a little at a time to get consistency desired. Add salt, cayenne and cumin. Store in refrigerator in airtight container. Will keep for a couple weeks.