Girl Meets Farm Season 14 Episode 05
It's Valentine's, so Molly Yeh spices things up with a dinner date on the farm! She gets cooking with Juicy Roasted Sumac Chicken dripping with hot and tangy Zhug sauce, sweet and smoky Matbucha on a fluffy bed of whipped feta, Veggie Fried Rice with warming Middle Eastern spices and deliciously dangerous Chocolate Cardamom Cake Donuts for dessert!
Year started: 2018
IMDB rating: 6.5
Categories: Food
Stars: Molly Yeh
It's Valentine's, so Molly Yeh spices things up with a dinner date on the farm! She gets cooking with Juicy Roasted Sumac Chicken dripping with hot and tangy Zhug sauce, sweet and smoky Matbucha on a fluffy bed of whipped feta, Veggie Fried Rice with warming Middle Eastern spices and deliciously dangerous Chocolate Cardamom Cake Donuts for dessert!
Year started: 2018
IMDB rating: 6.5
Categories: Food
Stars: Molly Yeh
Category
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FunTranscript
00:00It's Valentine's!
00:02So I'm spicing things up right with a dinner date on the farm.
00:05Ta-da!
00:06Juicy roasted sumac chicken dripping with bright jug.
00:11Talk about some sexy thighs, know what I'm saying?
00:13Sweet and peppery macbucca on a fluffy bed of whipped feta.
00:17That's so flavorful.
00:19Veggie-fried rice with warming Middle Eastern spices.
00:22It's almost too pretty to eat.
00:23And for dessert, deliciously dangerous chocolate cardamom cake donuts.
00:28These are love at first bite.
00:30Happy Valentine's Day.
00:34Look at these beauties.
00:36Hey, this is me, Molly A.
00:38This is my husband, Nick.
00:40This is our growing family.
00:41And this is our farm on the North Dakota-Minnesota border.
00:44The place where I eat, sleep, and breathe food.
00:52It's Valentine's Day.
00:54So Nick and I are celebrating with a spiced up dinner on the farm.
00:58For something sweet, I am making my chocolate cardamom cake donuts.
01:02Which are tender rich donuts with a sweet craggly shell and moist cakey innards.
01:08They are a love letter to your taste buds.
01:10To make my dough, I'll start by combining a quarter cup of melted unsalted butter.
01:16And I'm using melted butter here to get that signature dense cakey quality of a cake donut.
01:26I'll get this onto my stand mixer and mix this until it's creamy and combined.
01:30Unlike making a layer cake batter, I don't actually want to incorporate that much air into this mixture because I want the donuts to have a super dense quality.
01:42I'll add three egg yolks, one at a time.
01:45And just using the egg yolks yields an extra rich texture.
01:48Two teaspoons of vanilla extract.
01:54Vanilla enhances chocolate deliciously.
01:57And then a signature quality of old fashioned cake donuts is something tangy.
02:02So either buttermilk or sour cream.
02:04I'm going with sour cream because there's more fat in it and more fat means more moisture in the cake.
02:10I'll add three quarters of a cup of it.
02:15Now for my dry ingredients, I'm going to plop them just right on top of the wet ingredients.
02:20So I'll get my bowl off of the stand mixer.
02:22I'll use a combination of cake flour and all-purpose flour to get a great tender cakey texture.
02:29One and a quarter cups of cake flour.
02:31There's a lower protein level in cake flour than all-purpose flour.
02:35So it's not as dense.
02:37It's not as bulky.
02:39And then three quarters of a cup of all-purpose flour.
02:42Two teaspoons of baking powder is what is going to help the donuts get crunchy.
02:49And then one cup of unsweetened Dutch cocoa powder that has slightly darker, more bold flavor.
02:56And it's Valentine's Day, you gotta have some chocolate.
02:58A half teaspoon of instant espresso powder enhances the cocoa flavor.
03:03A teaspoon of kosher salt.
03:05Chocolate tastes best when it's paired with a good amount of salt.
03:08Like an extra quarter teaspoon than you might think you would need.
03:11And then three quarters of a teaspoon of ground cardamom.
03:14It's woodsy.
03:15It's floral.
03:16It's a little bit citrusy.
03:18I'll give the dry ingredients a rough whisk before I incorporate them in with the wet ingredients.
03:24These donuts are loosely inspired by Turkish coffee, which is typically spiced with cardamom.
03:28And I find the combination of cardamom and coffee totally enchanting.
03:33It's so delicious.
03:35I'll mix this until it's combined to form a dough.
03:40And the final texture is gonna fall somewhere between a super thick batter and a really wet dough.
03:45And that is going to yield the best texture of donuts.
03:50My dough is combined.
03:52I'll roll it out into a nine by nine inch square, just under half an inch thick, and cut that into nine pieces.
04:00I'll cut out their centers using about an inch or a quarter circle cutter.
04:06I'm obviously gonna fry these up too.
04:12These look great.
04:13So what's ultimately gonna help these donuts achieve their signature craggly shell is if they go into the fryer when they're cold.
04:20So I'll get these onto my baking sheet here and stick them in the freezer for 30 minutes while I get going on my glaze.
04:26This is just a basic glaze. Powdered sugar, water, vanilla, salt, mix, mix, mix.
04:35I'm ready to fry.
04:36I've got a couple of inches of neutral oil heating in my cast iron pot here to 350 degrees.
04:42And I'll fry these in batches for two minutes per side until they're crisp.
04:47If you add too many cold donuts, it'll drop the temperature of the oil.
04:51And if you try to fry with oil that's not hot enough, it'll make a greasy donut.
04:57They smell so chocolatey. I'm ready to see some of the craggles forming.
05:01When I was little, I liked the airier yeast-risen donuts more.
05:05But in my distinguished age, I love a dense cakey donut so much.
05:12I dream about these crevices and how much glaze is going to be trapped in there and how crunchy they're going to be.
05:25Oh, these look awesome.
05:26I'll transfer them to a wire rack so they can cool briefly.
05:30I'm glad I have my glaze on standby because you've got to glaze these donuts while they're warm.
05:35You've got to enjoy them while they're warm.
05:37Now, as soon as they are cool enough to handle, I'll get them swimming in my glaze and coat them completely.
05:44It gives them a shell.
05:45Chop them in.
05:46Turn them around to coat.
05:47Oh, look at the way that the glaze is catching in those crevices.
05:53This is a beautiful thing.
05:55Look at that.
05:56I love you.
05:58Keep on dunking.
06:02I'm doing it.
06:05These are so chocolatey and the cardamom is the ideal touch.
06:17These are love at first bite.
06:19Sorry, Nick.
06:24Coming up, juicy chicken with a spicy twist your heart and stomach won't resist.
06:30Crime!
06:35Nick loves meat, so for Valentine's Day, I'm giving him what he wants.
06:42Thick thighs.
06:44I'm making my roasted sumac chicken with Joug.
06:49It's juicy, tender meat with a crispy, fatty shell and finished with a spicy Yemeni sauce.
06:57To get going on the marinade, I'll start with a quarter cup of olive oil.
07:00It's gonna be the tastiest shell on the chicken.
07:03And then grate in a couple of cloves of garlic.
07:06Just enough to make it taste good, but not so much that you have garlic breath.
07:10Although, if you both have garlic breath, it cancels each other out.
07:13It's the rule of garlic on Valentine's Day.
07:16And I'm grating it in with my fine zester to help it really incorporate with the mix.
07:21It sticks better to the chicken that way.
07:23And then I'll zest in a whole lemon and juice it in.
07:28I'm using chicken thighs, so they're fattier than chicken breasts.
07:31And the counterpoint of all the bright flavors with fatty thighs is what makes this dish irresistible.
07:38The very second thing Nick ever cooked for me at his little apartment in Washington Heights,
07:44after we first started dating, was chicken breasts.
07:47It was totally inedible.
07:49He didn't season it or anything.
07:51I think he just took it out of the package and put it in the oven for, like, forever.
07:56It was still a great date, though.
07:58Nothing has changed.
07:59I don't think he would know how to make a chicken if it whacked him across the face.
08:04But it's fine.
08:05I love cooking, obviously.
08:07And he loves doing the dishes.
08:09The acidity from the lemon juice will tenderize the meat.
08:13What a tender thigh.
08:15Some chopped cilantro.
08:17A lot of beautiful freshness.
08:19A tablespoon of honey will balance out all of these bright flavors,
08:22and then it'll also caramelize on the skin of the chicken.
08:25Chicken skin is the best.
08:29And then a tablespoon of sumac, which is one of my favorite spices.
08:33It has kind of a vinegary vibe.
08:36It's also a pretty red.
08:37And it's Valentine's Day.
08:39It all makes sense.
08:40A teaspoon of smoked paprika.
08:42A teaspoon of cumin.
08:44Cumin and sumac are really lovely together.
08:46Two teaspoons of kosher salt.
08:48And then half a teaspoon of freshly cracked pepper.
08:51Just whisk this all together.
08:54The flavors here are inspired by Middle Eastern cuisine.
08:58There are a bunch of ingredients that I keep on hand at all times.
09:01And these flavors go so well with the Herbie Joug that I'll be topping it with.
09:06So between the sumac and the olive oil and the cumin,
09:10these flavors live in the same world as Joug.
09:14And then get my chicken thighs in here.
09:16They're bone-in skin on.
09:20I'm gonna rub this marinade all over so that the flavors can make full contact with the meat.
09:25And then I'll let it marinate in the fridge for two hours.
09:28I'll bring it to room temperature and then roast at 425 degrees for 30 minutes until the skin is so crispy.
09:35And at that time, I'll make my Joug.
09:37Joug is a Yemeni sauce that is both hot and fresh all at the same time because it's loaded with peppers and tons of fresh herbs.
09:53It's great on chicken. I also make it whenever I make hummus.
09:57It's good on eggs.
09:59It's a little bit deceptive because it kind of looks like pesto, but you want to eat it in much smaller quantities than pesto.
10:06For my peppers, I'm using jalapenos, which is a nice middle-of-the-road spiciness.
10:11It's a heat that I can handle.
10:12And I'm removing the seeds and the pith.
10:15And I'm chucking everything into my food processor.
10:18And next, my herbs, a combination of parsley and cilantro.
10:21And I'm not even gonna pick them off the stems.
10:24I'm just gonna coarsely chop these leaves and the tender stems off because the tender stems are totally fine to use in this.
10:31The juice of a lemon, four cloves of garlic, some kosher salt, and then cumin and coriander.
10:40Make it citrusy and floral.
10:43Okay, I'll pulse this all together until it's pasty.
10:48And then I'll let the processor run while I drizzle in a quarter cup of olive oil.
11:00Yum.
11:02There's so much flavor in this sauce.
11:05I'll pour it into a serving bowl.
11:07I'm smelling that chicken.
11:09So let me check on that.
11:10Ooh.
11:11Oh, man.
11:13That is some good looking chicken skin.
11:16True love is Nick not caring if I peel all of the skin off of one of these.
11:22All right.
11:23You can hear how crispy it is.
11:25Mm-hmm.
11:26Mm-hmm.
11:27Mm-hmm.
11:28Mm-hmm.
11:29Mm-hmm.
11:30Mm-hmm.
11:31Mm-hmm.
11:32Mm-hmm.
11:33Mm-hmm.
11:34The brightness of the jus with that crispy, fatty chicken is a match made in Valentine's Day romantic heaven.
11:41Talk about some sexy thighs, know what I'm saying?
11:44Chicken looks cute, too.
11:51Next, my matvuca is everything your taste buds dream of.
11:55A dip, a salad, a sauce, and a spread all in one.
11:59Swoon.
12:00This side dish is just like Nick.
12:11Always there for you when you need it most.
12:13And it makes me so happy.
12:15I'm making matvuca, which is a cooked tomato and pepper salad that's common in Moroccan cuisine.
12:21And it is so delightful.
12:23It's sweet and smoky.
12:25And I'm nestling it on a bed of fluffy whipped feta and scooping it up with fresh pita.
12:32I can't wait.
12:33I'm starting with a good glug of olive oil in my pot here.
12:36And to this, I'll add loads of garlic.
12:39The ingredients to this matvuca are really quite simple.
12:42But the magic comes from how they all meld and mingle together and they get cooked for kind of a while.
12:47So their flavors truly develop.
12:50And then a tablespoon of sweet paprika to bring the smokiness.
12:54I'll let this sizzle for just about a minute and allow the paprika and the garlic to bloom.
13:00Matvuca is a cooked salad.
13:02Literally in Arabic means cooked.
13:04It's sort of like a thicker dip that you can get away with eating just by the spoonful.
13:09I make this all the time, especially in the winter.
13:12I get my vegetables by reaching for a can of tomatoes and a jar of roasted red peppers
13:17and cooking them together into the salad.
13:20It's simple, but it's very comforting.
13:23Okay, I'm smelling that paprika and that garlic.
13:26I'll add in my tomatoes now.
13:28I have a 28-ounce can of whole peeled tomatoes.
13:31And then I'll break them up with my spoon into little bits.
13:35And I like using the whole peeled tomatoes because they taste a little better than the crushed tomatoes.
13:40And then two roasted red bell peppers.
13:43I'm just dumping them out of the jar here.
13:45A teaspoon of sugar will caramelize as this cooks and balance out the acidity of the tomatoes.
13:52A couple of good pinches of salt.
13:55And then a few cracks of pepper.
13:58I'll bring this to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.
14:01And cook it uncovered for a good 35 minutes to allow this to reduce and thicken.
14:07And you never want to rush it because it truly needs all of that time for its flavors to meld
14:13and for this to transform into magical metbuca.
14:16In that time, I'll get going on my feta.
14:20This spread is smooth and so tangy from the feta.
14:23It is the ideal platform for my metbuca.
14:26And I'm just tossing it all into a food processor.
14:29It's so easy.
14:30I love the way that feta, which is such a crumbly cheese,
14:34transforms into a fluffy cloud-like consistency in this.
14:38This is eight ounces of feta.
14:40It's riny, it's tangy, and it's so salty in the best way.
14:44Three quarters of a cup of whole milk Greek yogurt.
14:47I'll add that creamy element and more tang.
14:50This is like tang on tang.
14:52I'll often add just a plop of yogurt to metbuca for that creamy element,
14:56but I'm going the extra mile and making it super special with the feta spread.
15:00Clove of garlic.
15:02And the zest of half a lemon.
15:05Lemon and feta.
15:06Never been better.
15:10And then a drizzle of olive oil.
15:12That extra bit of richness goes a long way in this.
15:15I'm not adding salt because there is quite a bit of salt in feta.
15:19And I'll just whiz it up until it's creamy.
15:25Looks great.
15:26I'll plate it up.
15:27I've got my pita for dipping and some veggies and olives,
15:30and then all the different snacks.
15:32And the girls can just go wild.
15:34This is like an ideal weeknight dinner for us.
15:38And I like to serve this in a shallow bowl and spread a thick layer of feta along the bottom.
15:43Okay.
15:44Mmm.
15:45Mmm.
15:46Mmm.
15:47This is so flavorful.
15:50That's awesome.
15:52My metbuca has become super nice and thick.
15:56I'll spoon this right over the feta.
15:58When the feta and the metbuca mingle and mix together on your plate, it'll kind of become a pink color.
16:05This is perfect for Valentine's Day.
16:08A drizzle of olive oil.
16:09It'll look really pretty and taste good.
16:12Oh, yeah.
16:13Got some cilantro and parsley.
16:15I mean, this is just begging to be dunked with a pita.
16:20I'm gonna do like a half-spoon, half-dunking sitch.
16:33Mmm.
16:34Mmm.
16:35Those tomatoes are so sweet.
16:37Paired with that briny, tangy feta.
16:40This marriage is gonna last.
16:42Still to come, the secret to giving fried rice some extra special love like you've never seen.
17:01Our chicken needs the perfect pairing for our dinner, so for a stunning side, I am making my Middle Eastern veggie fried rice,
17:08which is fluffy, fragrant basmati rice that has poached eggs nestled right in it.
17:14I'll build it all in my braiser.
17:16I'm starting with some yellow onion and yellow bell pepper that I'm cooking in some olive oil.
17:21I'll pile in some grape tomatoes and eggplant, which brings such great sweetness.
17:27And I'll just let this cook until the tomatoes start to break down and the eggplant develop some great color.
17:32I love fried rice.
17:34Typically, I make Asian fried rice with kimchi or whatever veggies we have, but I figured with that chicken,
17:40we should channel some more Middle Eastern flavors into this fried rice.
17:44I plant the central to Middle Eastern cuisine, and it's not a veggie that I use that often.
17:50But when it's salted well and has some great color, it is so, so good.
17:55I love it in this.
17:56My veggies are looking great.
17:58I'll throw in some garlic and some fresh oregano, which is so earthy.
18:04And then a teaspoon and a half of baharat, which is the delicious all-purpose seasoning
18:10that's typically used to season meat.
18:13It's got some great warm flavors like cinnamon and clove, as well as some cumin and coriander.
18:19I just love this stuff.
18:20Some crushed red pepper.
18:22The zest of a lemon.
18:26All right.
18:27Just let the spices toast.
18:30And now it's time for my rice.
18:32I've got basmati rice here.
18:34It's day-old, which means that it's extra-perfect for fried rice,
18:38because when rice is a little bit dry, there's actually more room within it to absorb the flavor.
18:45All seasoned with salt.
18:47And then just stir to incorporate this in with the veggies.
18:51Now allow the rice to heat up.
18:53Oh, these colors are so beautiful together.
18:56It's like confetti rice.
19:02Now one of my favorite ways to eat eggs is to cook an egg right in the center of a pile of rice.
19:09I'll create four little divots in here to catch the eggs.
19:13I've got my divots.
19:15I'll crack my eggs in, taking care not to break the yolk, because the runny yolk is one of the best parts of this.
19:24Four for four with no broken yolks.
19:27I'll cover this up and cook on medium-low for about seven minutes until the egg whites are set, but the yolks are still running.
19:36All right.
19:37I think the eggs are ready.
19:38Let me take a peek.
19:39Oh, those are perfect.
19:41The whites are totally opaque, but if you jiggle the pan, the yolks are still soft.
19:47I'll finish with a slew of pretty toppings.
19:49First, I've got to season.
19:50I want to make sure that those eggs are salted.
19:53I'll get a squeeze of lemon juice on here for more brightness.
19:56A drizzle of olive oil.
19:58Dollops of yogurt for that creamy cooling tang.
20:02Toasted pine nuts.
20:06They're so buttery.
20:08Some thinly sliced red onion.
20:10You could also use pickled onion.
20:12Black pepper.
20:13I love to see speckles of black pepper on my poached eggs.
20:17Fresh herbs.
20:18Parsley and cilantro.
20:20Now it's coming together.
20:22And lastly, I'll nestle in my lemon wedges for an extra little squeeze before we eat.
20:27Ta-da!
20:28I'm gonna go for it.
20:30Oh, that's a good oozy yolk.
20:37Mmm.
20:38Mmm.
20:39There is such a range of flavors in here.
20:42From the warm bahara to all of the brightness from the veggies and the lemon.
20:47It's almost too pretty to eat.
20:48Let's get this Valentine's Day dinner started.
20:51I'm so excited.
20:52I'm so excited.
20:53I'm so excited.
20:54I'm so excited.
20:55I'm so excited.
20:56I'm so excited.
20:57I'm so excited.
20:58I'm so excited.
20:59I'm so excited.
21:00I'm so excited.
21:01I'm so excited.
21:02I'm so excited.
21:03I'm so excited.
21:04I'm so excited.
21:05I'm so excited.
21:06I'm so excited.
21:07I'm so excited.
21:08I'm so excited.
21:09I'm so excited.
21:10I'm so excited.
21:11I'm so excited.
21:12I'm so excited.
21:13I'm so excited.
21:14I'm so excited.
21:15I'm so excited.
21:16I'm so excited.
21:17I'm so excited.
21:18I'm so excited.
21:19I'm so excited.