[narrator] It's Valentine's,
so I'll spice some things up right
with a dinner date on the farm.
Ta-da.
[narrator] Juicy roasted sumac chicken
dripping with bright zhoug.
Talk about some sexy thighs, you know what I'm sayin'?
[narrator] Sweet and peppery Matbucha
on a fluffy bed of whipped feta.
[Molly] This is so flavorful.
[narrator] Veggie fried rice
with warming Middle Eastern spices.
It's almost too pretty to eat.
[narrator] And for dessert, deliciously, dangerous
chocolate cardamom cake donuts.
[Molly] These are love at first bite.
Happy Valentine's Day.
[upbeat music playing]
[Molly] Look at these beauties.
[narrator] Hey, this is me, Molly Yeh.
This is my husband Nick.
This is our growing family
and this is our farm
on the North Dakota, Minnesota border.
The place where I eat, sleep, and breathe food.
[upbeat music playing]
It's Valentine's Day.
So, Nick and I are celebrating
with a spiced up dinner on the farm.
For something sweet, I am making my chocolate
cardamom cake donuts,
which are tender rich donuts
with a sweet crackly shell and moist cakey innards.
They're a love letter to your taste buds.
To make my dough, I'll start by combining
a quarter cup of melted, unsalted butter
that's cooled slightly
with two-thirds of a cup of granulated sugar.
And I'm using melted butter here to get that
signature dense cakey quality of a cake donut.
I'll get this onto my stand mixer
and mix this until it's creamy and combined.
[mixer whirring]
Unlike making a layer cake batter,
I don't actually wanna incorporate that much air
into this mixture because I want the donuts
to have a super dense quality.
Add three egg yolks one at a time.
I'm just using the egg yolks
to yield an extra rich texture.
[mixer whirring]
Two teaspoons of vanilla extract.
Vanilla enhances chocolate deliciously.
And then a signature quality of old-fashioned cake donuts
is something tangy,
so either buttermilk or sour cream.
I'm going with sour cream
because there's more fat in it,
and more fat means more moisture in the cake.
I'll add three quarters of a cup of it.
[country music playing]
Now, for my dry ingredients, I'm gonna plop them
just right on top of the wet ingredients.
So, I'll get my bowl off of the stand mixer.
I'll use a combination of cake flour and all-purpose flour
to get a great, tender cakey texture.
One and a quarter cups of cake flour.
There's a lower protein level
in cake flour than all-purpose flour,
so it's not as dense, it's not as bulky.
And then three quarters of a cup of all-purpose flour.
Two teaspoons of baking powder
is what is going to help the donuts get crunchy.
And then one cup of unsweetened Dutch cocoa powder
that has slightly darker, more bold flavor.
And it's Valentine's Day.
You gotta have some chocolate.
A half teaspoon of instant espresso powder
enhances the cocoa flavor,
a teaspoon of kosher salt.
Chocolate tastes best when it's paired with
a good amount of salt, like an extra quarter teaspoon
and then you might think you would need.
And then three quarters of a teaspoon
of ground cardamom.
It's woodsy, it's floral.
It's a little bit citrusy.
I'll give the dry ingredients a rough whisk
before I incorporate them in with the wet ingredients.
These donuts are loosely inspired by Turkish coffee,
which is typically spiced with cardamom,
and I find the combination of cardamom
and coffee totally enchanting.
So delicious.
I'll mix this until it's combined to form a dough.
[upbeat music playing]
[mixer whirring]
And the final texture is gonna fall
somewhere between a super thick batter
and a really wet dough,
and that is going to yield the best texture of donuts.
My dough is combined.
I'll roll it out into a 9 by 9 inch square,
just under half an inch thick,
and cut that into nine pieces.
I'll cut out their centers using about an inch
on a quarter circle cutter.
I'm obviously gonna fry these up, too.
They look great.
So, what's ultimately gonna help these donuts
achieve their signature crackly shell
is if they go into the fryer when they're cold.
So, I'll get these onto my baking sheet here
and stick 'em in the freezer for 30 minutes
while I get going on my glaze.
[country music playing]
[Molly] This is just a basic glaze, powdered sugar,
water, vanilla,
salt, mix, mix, mix.
I'm ready to fry.
I've got a couple of inches of neutral oil
heating in my cast iron pot here to 350 degrees,
and I'll fry these in batches
for two minutes per side until they're crisp.
If you add too many cold donuts,
it'll drop the temperature of the oil.
And if you try to fry with oil that's not hot enough,
don't make a greasy donut.
They smell so chocolatey.
I'm ready to seeing some of the crackles forming.
When I was little, I liked the airier
yeast risen donuts more, but in my distinguish age,
I love a dense cakey donuts so much.
Oh.
I dream about these crevices
and how much glaze it's gonna be trapped in there
and how crunchy they're gonna be.
Oh, these look awesome.
I'll transfer them to a wire rack so they can cool briefly.
I'm glad I have my glaze on standby,
because you've gotta glaze
these donuts while they're warm.
You've gotta enjoy them while they're warm.
Now, as soon as they're cool enough to handle,
I'll get them swimming in my glaze
and coat them completely to give them a shell.
Drop them in,
turn them around to coat. Oh.
Look at the way that the glaze is catching
in those crevices.
This is a beautiful thing.
Look at that.
I love you.
Keep on dunking.
[upbeat music playing]
I'm doing it.
[upbeat music playing]
Those are so chocolatey,
and the cardamom is the ideal touch.
These are love at first bite.
Sorry, Nick.
[upbeat music playing]
[narrator] Coming up, juicy chicken
with a spicy twist
your heart and stomach won't resist.
Rhyme.
[upbeat guitar music playing]
Nick loves meat, so for Valentine's Day,
I'm giving him what he wants.
Thick thighs.
I'm making my roasted sumac chicken with zhoug.
It's juicy, tender meat with a crispy fatty shell
and finished with a spicy Yemenite sauce.
To get going on the marinade,
I'll start with a quarter cup of olive oil.
It's gonna be the tastiest shell on the chicken
and then grade in a couple of cloves of garlic,
just enough to make it taste good
but not so much that you have garlic breath.
Although if you both have garlic breath,
they cancels each other out.
It's the rule of garlic on Valentine's Day.
And I'm grating it in with my fine zester
to help it really incorporate with the mix.
It sticks better to the chicken that way.
And then I'll zest in a whole lemon and juice it in.
I'm using chicken thighs,
so they're fattier than chicken breasts.
And the counterpoint of all the bright flavors
with fatty thighs is what makes this dish irresistible.
The very second thing Nick ever cooked for me
at his little apartment in Washington Heights
after we first started dating was chicken breasts.
It was totally inedible.
He didn't season it or anything.
I think he just took it out of the package
and put it in the oven for, like, forever.
It was still a great date, though.
Nothing has changed.
I don't think he would know how to make a chicken
if it whacked him across the face.
But it's fine.
I love cooking, obviously,
and he loves doing the dishes.
The acidity from the lemon juice will tenderize the meat.
I want a tender thigh.
Some chopped cilantro, a beautiful freshness.
A tablespoon of honey will balance out
all of these bright flavors,
and then it'll also caramelize on the skin of the chicken.
Ugh, chicken skin is the best.
And then a tablespoon of sumac,
which is one of my favorite spices.
It has kind of a vinegary vibe.
It's also a pretty red, and it's Valentine's Day.
It all makes sense.
A teaspoon of smoked paprika, a teaspoon of cumin.
Cumin and sumac are really lovely together.
Two teaspoons of kosher salt
and then half a teaspoon of freshly cracked pepper.
Just whisk this all together.
The flavors here are inspired by Middle Eastern cuisine.
There are bunch of ingredients that I keep on hand
at all times, and these flavors go so well
with the herby zhoug that I'll be topping it with.
So, between the sumac
and the olive oil and the cumin,
these flavors live in the same world as zhoug.
And then get my chicken thighs in here,
their bone and skin on.
I'm gonna rub this marinade all over
so the flavors can make full contact with the meat.
And then I'll let it marinate in the fridge for two hours.
I'll bring it to room temperature
and then roast at 425 degrees for 30 minutes
until the skin is so crispy.
And in that time, I'll make my zhoug.
[upbeat music playing]
Zhoug is a Yemenite sauce that is both hot
and fresh all at the same time
because it's loaded with peppers
and tons of fresh herbs.
It's great on chicken.
I also make it whenever I make hummus.
It's good on eggs.
It's a little bit deceptive
because it kinda looks like pesto,
but you wanna eat it in much smaller quantities than pesto.
For my peppers, I'm using jalapenos,
which is a nice middle of the road spiciness.
It's a heat that I can handle.
And I'm removing the seeds and the pith,
and I'm chucking everything into my food processor.
And next my herbs,
a combination of parsley and cilantro,
and I'm not even gonna pick them off the stems.
I'm just gonna coarsely chop these leaves
and the tender stems off because the tender stems
are totally fine to use in this.
The juice of a lemon,
four cloves of garlic,
some kosher salt, and then cumin and coriander
make it citrusy and floral.
Okay. I'll pulse this all together until it's paste-y.
And then I'll let the processor run
while I drizzle in a quarter cup of olive oil.
[food processor grinding]
[upbeat music playing]
Ah, yum.
There's so much flavor in this sauce.
I'll pour it into a serving bowl.
I'm smelling that chicken, so let me check on that.
Ooh.
Oh, man. [sniffs]
That is some good-looking chicken skin.
True love is Nick not caring if I peel all
of the skin off of one of these.
All right. You can hear how crispy it is.
[chuckles]
Hmm.
The brightness of the zhoug
with that crispy, fatty chicken
is a match made in Valentine's Day romantic heaven.
Talk about some sexy thighs, you know what I'm saying?
Chicken looks cute, too.
[upbeat music playing]
[narrator] Next, my Matbucha is everything
your taste buds dream of,
a dip, a salad, a sauce, and a spread all in one.
Swoon.
[upbeat guitar music playing]
This side dish is just like Nick,
always there for you when you need it most,
and it makes me so happy.
I'm making Matbucha,
which is a cooked tomato and pepper salad
that's common in Moroccan cuisine,
and it is so delightful.
It's sweet and smoky,
and I'm nestling it on a bed of fluffy whipped feta
and scooping it up with fresh pita.
I can't wait.
I'm starting with a good glug of olive oil in my pot here.
And to this, I'll add loads of garlic.
The ingredients to this Matbucha
are really quite simple,
but the magic comes from how they all
melt and mingle together.
And they get cooked for kind of a while,
so their flavors truly develop.
And then a tablespoon of sweet paprika
to bring the smokiness.
I'll let this sizzle for just about a minute
and allow the paprika and the garlic to bloom.
Matbucha is a cooked salad.
It literally, in Arabic, means cooked.
It's sort of like a thicker dip
that you can get away with eating just by the spoonful.
I make this all the time, especially in the winter.
I get my vegetables by reaching for a can
of tomatoes and a jar of roasted red peppers,
and cooking them together into the salads.
It's simple, but it's very comforting.
Okay. I'm smelling that paprika and that garlic.
I'll add in my tomatoes now.
I have a 28-ounce can of whole peeled tomatoes.
And then I'll break them up with my spoon
into little bits.
And I like using the whole peeled tomatoes
because they taste a little better
than the crushed tomatoes.
And then two roasted red bell peppers.
I'm just dumping them out of the jar here.
A teaspoon of sugar will caramelize as this cooks
and balance out the acidity of the tomatoes.
A couple of good pinches of salt.
And then a few cracks of pepper.
I'll bring this to a boil and then reduce to a simmer
and cook it uncovered for a good 35 minutes
to allow this to reduce and thicken.
And you never wanna rush it, because it truly needs
all of that time for its flavors to meld
and for this to transform into magical Matbucha.
In that time, I'll get going on my feta.
This spread is smooth and so tangy from the feta.
It is the ideal platform for my Matbucha.
And I'm just tossing it all into a food processor.
It's so easy.
I love the way that feta,
which is such a crumbly cheese,
transforms into a fluffy
cloud-like consistency in this.
This is eight ounces of feta.
It's briny, it's tangy,
and it's so salty in the best way.
Three quarters of a cup of whole milk Greek yogurt.
We'll add that creamy element and more tang.
This is, like, tang on tang.
I'll often add just a plop of yogurt to Matbucha
for that creamy element, but I'm going the extra mile
and making it super special with the feta spread.
Clove of garlic
and the zest of half lemon.
Lemon and feta never been better.
And then a drizzle of olive oil.
That extra bit of richness goes a long way in this.
I'm not adding salt
because there is quite a bit of salt in feta.
And I'll just whiz it up until it's creamy.
[food processor grinding]
Looks great.
I'll plate it up.
I've got my pita for dipping,
and some veggies, and olives,
and then all the different snacks.
And the girls can just go wild.
This is, like, an ideal weeknight dinner for us.
And I like to serve this in a shallow bowl
and spread a thick layer of feta along the bottom.
Okay. Ah.
Hmm. Hmm.
This is so flavorful.
That's awesome.
My Matbucha has become super nice and thick.
I'll spoon this right over the feta.
When the feta and the Matbucha
mingle and mix together on your plate,
it will kinda become a pink color.
This is perfect for Valentine's Day.
Drizzle of olive oil.
Look really pretty and tastes good.
[whispers] Oh, yeah.
Got some cilantro and parsley.
I mean, this is just begging to be dunked with a pita.
I'm gonna do, like, a half-spoon,
half-dunking switch.
Hmm.
Those tomatoes are so sweet
paired with that briny, tangy feta.
This marriage is gonna last.
[upbeat music playing]
[narrator] Still to come...
The secret to giving fried rice
some eggstra special love like you've never seen.
[upbeat guitar music playing]
[sizzling]
Our chicken needs the perfect pairing for our dinner.
So, for a stunning side,
I am making my Middle Eastern veggie fried rice,
which is fluffy, fragrant,
basmati rice that has poached eggs,
nestled right in it.
I'll build it all in my braiser.
I'm starting with some yellow onion
and yellow bell pepper
that I'm cooking in some olive oil.
I'll pile in some grape tomatoes and eggplant,
which brings such great sweetness.
And I'll just let this cook until the tomatoes
start to break down and the eggplant develops
some great color.
I love fried rice.
Typically, I make Asian fried rice with kimchi
or whatever veggies we have, but I figured,
with that chicken, we should channel some more
Middle Eastern flavors into this fried rice.
Eggplant is central to Middle Eastern cuisine,
and it's not a veggie that I use that often,
but when it's salted well and has some great color,
it is so, so good.
I love it in this.
My veggies are looking great.
I'll throw in some garlic
and some fresh oregano,
which is so earthy.
And then a teaspoon and a half of baharat,
which is delicious.
All-purpose seasoning that's typically used to season meat.
It's got some great warm flavors
like cinnamon and clove,
as well as some cumin and coriander.
I just love this stuff.
Some crushed red pepper,
the zest of a lemon.
All right.
Just let the spices toast.
And now, it's time for my rice.
I've got basmati rice here.
It's day old, which means that it's extra perfect
for fried rice, because when rice
is a little bit dry,
there's actually more room within it
to absorb the flavor.
I'll season with salt.
And then just stir to incorporate this in
with the veggies.
Now, allow the rice to heat up.
Oh, these colors are so beautiful together,
like, confetti rice.
[upbeat music playing]
Now, one of my favorite ways to eat eggs
is to cook an egg
right in the center of a pile of rice.
I'll create four little divots in here to catch the eggs.
I've got my divots.
I'll crack my eggs in,
taking care not to break the yolk,
because the runny yolk
is one of the best parts of this.
[upbeat music playing]
Four for four with no broken yolks.
I'll cover this up and cook on medium low
for about seven minutes until the egg whites are set
but the yolks are still runny.
All right.
I think the eggs are ready.
Let me take a peek.
Oh, those are perfect.
The whites are totally opaque, but if you jiggle the pan,
the yolks are still soft.
I'll finish with a slew of pretty toppings.
First, I've got to season,
kinda make sure that those eggs are salted.
I'll get a squeeze of lemon juice on here,
more brightness.
A drizzle of olive oil,
dollops of yogurts for that creamy, cooling tang.
Toasted pine nuts
that are so buttery,
some thinly-sliced red onion.
You could also use pickled onion.
Black pepper.
I love to see speckles of black pepper
on my poached eggs.
Fresh herbs, parsley, and cilantro.
Now, it's coming together.
And lastly, I'll nestle in my lemon wedges
for an extra little squeeze before we eat.
Ta-da!
I'm gonna go for it.
Oh, that's a good, oozy yolk.
Hmm.
There is such a range of flavors in here,
from the warm baharat to all of the brightness
from the veggies and the lemon.
It's almost too pretty to eat.
Let's get this Valentine's Day dinner started.
[cheerful music playing]