[Molly] I'm putting together a picnic date night.
I don't know what I'm more excited for.
Hanging out with Nick, or eating this meaty pita.
Come for the view, stay for the food.
We'll feast on my meaty arayes
with yoghurt-y tahini sauce.
This is so flavorful. It explodes with flavor.
Sweet and chewy couscous salad
with pistachios and dates.
Mm, I love dates.
Cold curry cauliflower,
and the most fun dessert ever,
my white chocolate potato chips,
covered in fizzy rocks.
It's gonna be impossible not to have a fun date night with these.
Oh, yum!
Yay!
Hey, this is me, Molly Yeh!
This is my husband Nick, this is our growing family,
and this is our home,
our farm on the North Dakota-Minnesota border.
The place where I eat, sleep, and breathe food.
With spring planting approaching,
Nick is about to get really busy in the fields,
so before he peaces out,
I'm packing up a picnic to take
to a super-romantic date spot,
the top of the parking garage in town.
It has a great view of the city, why not?
For our main course, I am making arayes,
which are a Lebanese street food,
that are basically the best spiced,
juiciest burger of your life,
cooked inside of a fluffy pita,
so you get crispy, fried outer edges
and inside, it's soft and juicy,
and the meat fuses with the pita
for such a delicious texture, and great flavor, too.
I'll start with the beefy filling.
My pan is heating here over medium,
and I'll drizzle in a little oil to help cook some onions.
I've got one chopped yellow onion here.
Let's stir this around with a pinch of salt.
Just bring out their sweetness, and to soften them.
I think these are looking pretty good and soft.
I'm gonna toss in the garlic, I've got five cloves.
Oh my gosh, we're gonna have garlic breath.
Along with four teaspoons of the Baharat,
which simply translates to spices in Arabic,
and it's this awesome, all-purpose spice blend
that's both savory and warm and a little sweet.
I kind of think of it as a savory pumpkin spice.
You can buy it from some specialty stores,
but you can also make it from scratch with common spices.
Mine is a mixture of cinnamon and cumin,
some floral cardamom and coriander,
paprika, allspice, cloves, nutmeg, and black pepper.
I love cinnamon and cumin together.
They both go deliciously on ground beef.
And I'll allow the spices to toast, and the garlic to cook.
This only takes a minute or two.
Ah, that cinnamon is good.
I'll get this off the heat, and let it cool just slightly.
Now, into my food processor,
I'll combine half a cup of toasted pine nuts.
Pine nuts are so buttery,
and bring in some toasty notes to the meat.
And one cup each of fresh cilantro and fresh parsley.
And since this is all getting ground up in the food processor,
I can just give this a really rough chop.
This combination of the cozy,
dark spices and the fresh herbs
and then the buttery pine nuts.
This so flavorful. It explodes with flavor.
Toss these in, and the onions...
Now I'll blend this up until it's finely ground, but not pasty,
and this is gonna allow the meat
to have a nice, uniform texture
when you bite into it.
And it'll also enhance the flavors,
since you're exposing the surface area
of all of these tasty ingredients.
[sniffs] That smells good.
I'll get my pitas ready,
so these are pretty thick pitas,
I love using homemade pitas for this.
You could also use store bought.
I'll slice these in half, to expose the pockets.
I'm only gonna make four now.
This batch does make a lot of arayes,
but Nick is going to be excited about that,
since there will be leftovers for him to take out
on the tractor tomorrow.
I'll make sure there's an opening for the meat in here.
So there's two and a half pounds of lean ground beef.
I'll season this with two teaspoons of salt.
I always wanna try to evenly distribute it over the meat.
And I'll combine it with the pine nut mixture.
And it's just gonna be most efficient if I get in here with my hands.
This is combined...
I'll add a layer of olive oil to my pan here.
And while that heats up, I'll start forming my arayes.
I'll just take a little ball of meat and squish it,
all the way to the bottom of the pita
and all the way to the sides,
kind of like a dumpling.
I'm getting so excited.
I don't know what I'm more excited for,
hanging out with Nick,
or eating this meaty pita.
And this will go exposed side down into the pan.
I don't want it to be too hot,
and have the pita burn on the outside
before the innards of the meat are cooked.
And I'll let these go for five to seven minutes,
until the beef is brown and some of the fat renders.
I can't remember when the first time I learned about arayes was.
I've always loved Lebanese food.
The first time I saw a picture of arayes, I was like,
I have to have that.
Okay, I'll give 'em a flip.
Oh, yeah! [gasps]
See those crispy, golden edges of the pita?
And the meat has crisped up beautifully as well.
I'll keep these going for a few minutes on both sides.
And in that time, I'll whip up a creamy yoghurt sauce for dunking.
This'll be a creamy, cooling contrast
to the hot, meaty burgers.
The base of my sauce is plain, Greek yoghurt.
And half a cup of tahini
will add some rich nuttiness.
Arayes are Middle Eastern,
they're popular across the Middle East,
and tahini is a staple of Middle-Eastern cooking.
The juice of a lemon to brighten things up.
A couple of cloves of garlic.
And the acidity in the yoghurt
mellows out the garlic so nicely.
We'll finally chop some cilantro and parsley.
Toss it in.
A little of the Baharat,
to enhance the Baharat that's in the meat.
Some kosher salt.
Black pepper.
I'll bring it together with some olive oil.
And stir it up until it's thick and creamy.
I'll flip these over now.
It's smelling heavenly in here.
These still need a couple more minutes.
I hate the term "date night"
but occasionally we like to shake things up,
and find some elevation.
One time we just went up onto the parking garage,
and looked out over the town.
And it was exciting.
We really are so boring.
I'll package these up.
Nick is gonna go crazy.
I'll package up some sauce, too.
I am not waiting for Nick. He will understand.
Mm-hmm.
The crispy and juicy textures,
and all of the flavors
that are happening in this are fantastic.
Coming up, a fun twist on traditional pasta salad.
It's chewy and salty
with sweet, wait for it,
dates! Duh!
Scattered throughout.
Between the kiddos and Nick's farm season,
we haven't had that much time to get away
for a legit date recently,
but tonight's the night.
To go along with my arayes,
I'm whipping up a couscous salad with pistachios and dates
that is such a delicious combination of sweet and salty,
and it's got chewy dates scattered throughout
that are like sweet little surprises.
I've got my couscous simmering away already,
and now I'll make the dressing,
which is super tasty,
I'm gonna start by grilling a lemon,
which is such an easy way
to bring in some new personality to a lemon.
When you grill it in a hot skillet like this,
it caramelizes, and mellows out,
and gets a little sweet,
and it also looks cool.
I'll let this just hang out until it starts to brown,
and I'll grab my other ingredients in the meantime.
What I love about this salad is that,
it eats like a pasta salad,
but you're basically making a deconstructed pesto,
and tossing the greens, with the pasta,
so you get kinda two sides in one.
You get all your veggies in this pasta salad.
Let me actually check on this,
because this seems to be browning really quickly.
Oh, it's getting there.
I want, like, three times the amount of brown color.
So I'll work on my greens mixture,
I'm gonna add three big handfuls of Swiss chard
that's coarsely chopped to my food processor.
Swiss chard is so nice and sturdy, and it's also bitter,
and the bitterness with the sweetness of the dates is so tasty.
You can also use kale,
or even collard greens would be good, or spinach.
I'll coarsely chop three scallions.
Since this is all getting blended up,
I don't need to be too precise with the chopping.
And then one cup each of cilantro and parsley.
And then a half cup of mint for such delicious freshness.
This is a great pasta salad to make over the summer
if your garden is overflowing with herbs.
You definitely wanna bring toothpicks when you eat this salad,
but it is 100% worth it.
Let me check my lemons.
That's the color that I'm looking for!
I can smell the smokiness.
All of those greens just blended up
into that little, tiny, bitty amount.
Carrying on with my dressing.
I'll heat up four tablespoons of olive oil,
a quarter cup,
and sprinkle in two teaspoons of coarsely cracked coriander seeds.
I love the flavor of coriander,
which is kinda citrus-y,
but I also love the texture of it.
It'll add some crunch to the salad,
and Aleppo pepper, which is smoky,
and not too spicy.
And all I'm doing is warming the spices,
allowing them to infuse the olive oil.
The oil is starting to take on that red, orange-y color of the Aleppo pepper,
and that's all I'm really looking for.
I don't need to heat this for too long.
So I'll season with some salt,
I'm adding kind of a lot of salt right now,
because it'll season the couscous in addition to the dressing.
And it's squeezing my charred lemon.
This'll be just a really nice,
light dressing on the couscous.
This isn't your typical, mayonnaise-y pasta salad.
This one is super bright.
I'll whisk this up.
I think the couscous is done cooking.
I'll give it a little fluff.
It's kinda like rice,
where you wanna fluff it with a fork when it's done.
You don't wanna get in there with a spoon
or spatula and compact it.
You want it to be fluffy.
Okay. I'll toss the couscous with the dressing.
Now, into my bowl I'll chop up two Persian cucumbers to toss in.
I love these little guys. They're so flavorful.
One cup of feta.
Feta is salty, and a little creamy.
I love it. Oh, I can't forget my greens.
Mm. [sniffs] So fresh and herby.
And then the true stars of the show,
chopped, roasted, salted pistachios.
Pistachios are the best nut, because they're green.
And lastly, chewy sweetness, in some chopped dates.
Ooh, they're so sticky.
Mm, mm! I love dates!
Okay, I'm gonna toss this.
Look at all these pretty colors!
There's a lot going on in this salad,
but it all works so well together.
Mm!
Really good texture is that south couscous,
with the crunchy nuts.
And all the fresh greens in there,
I feel like I have Swiss chard in every single one of my teeth right now,
so I'm gonna cover up my teeth with my lips.
I'll finish this just by sprinkling with some extra Aleppo pepper.
Pretty.
Next, I'm stepping up my side game
with something bold, cold and oh, so gold, it's incredible!
I'm packing up a picnic to eat with Nick
at our super exclusive date night spot.
Next up, cold curry cauliflower.
I'm just gonna roast some cauliflower
and toss it with a really delightful curry oil,
and some crushed nuts and raisins.
It's super easy and super flavorful.
To start, I've got a head of cauliflower
that I've chopped into florets.
And I'll just scatter it on my rimmed baking sheet here.
We roast a lot of veggies at our house.
I'll bring it together with some olive oil.
Cauliflower is a great canvas for curry oil,
because it takes on the beautiful,
yellow color from the curry.
I'll toss this with some olive oil and a good pinch of salt.
And then I'll spread it out all over my pan,
I don't want it to clump together and steam,
because then it won't get crispy.
I'll roast this at 400 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes,
until it's crisp.
I'll just be infusing some neutral oil
with an onion and curry powder,
It'll be really lovely, and it'll just get glossy
and delicious on the cauliflower.
Really, the cauliflower is just a vehicle for curry oil.
I'll get a tablespoon of neutral oil heating in my saucepan.
I'll soften up my onion.
This is the type of dish that Nick loves.
He's a big vegetable eater.
He's quite the health nut,
and having a salad like this around,
just hanging out in the refrigerator,
means that when he comes in
for a quick break from the tractor, he can just grab it.
These onions are soft.
They're nice and sweet now.
I'll sprinkle in a tablespoon of curry powder,
and allow it to toast.
I love curry powder.
It's got some of the same ingredients
as the Baharat that's in the arayes,
but it's also got turmeric and ginger,
and I love smelling that ginger.
Okay, I'll let this toast come to life.
There have been some amazing smells in this kitchen today.
I'll add about a half a cup of neutral oil.
I'll heat this for just about a minute or two,
so that the oil can pick up on the sweetness of the onion,
and the curry flavors.
Okay, and then I'll remove this from the heat,
and I'll let it cool, undisturbed,
so that the spices can seep to the bottom,
and same thing with the onions,
because when I pour it out, I only want the oil.
All right, I think I'm still on my cauliflower.
That's got some good brown bits on there, this'll be nice.
I'll let this cool briefly,
and work on the remaining ingredients in my dressing.
I'll combine a splash of apple cider vinegar,
got some good brightness,
and also the apple notes are good with the curry.
A tablespoon of Dijon mustard,
for that zing.
It also helps emulsify the dressing.
A tablespoon of honey,
to balance this out with sweetness.
And a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice.
I'll drizzle in my curry oil.
I'm gonna leave the spices and the onion behind.
Okay.
This is a really nice combination of sweet and sour.
They're good supporting flavors for the curry.
It's such a pretty, bright yellow color.
And I'll season this with salt and pepper.
This cauliflower is so delicious at any temperature,
which is why it's awesome for a picnic.
Okay, this is combined, it's thickened slightly, 'cause it's emulsified.
And I'll get this cauliflower coated with this vinaigrette.
And to add some excitement,
I've got roasted almonds for some good crunch.
Nick loves them, we always have almonds at hand.
And golden raisins for pops of sweetness.
Oh yeah, I went heavy on the nuts.
This is gonna be good. [exhales]
Okay, let me take a taste.
Mm!
It's light, it's bright, it's happy 'cause it's yellow.
Yeah, that's good.
Still to come,
creamy white chocolate, crispy potato chips.
I'm about to rock Nick's date night world,
with an easy, addictive dessert.
Mm!
We're doing a date night dinner to go,
so dessert has gotta be easy and handheld.
I'm talking potato chips
covered in white chocolate and fizzy rocks.
These are dead simple,
but so delicious and hilarious to eat,
because when was the last time you ate fizzy rocks?
To start, I am chopping up
eight ounces of white chocolate.
I really like the added sweetness of white chocolate
with the super salty chips.
Good combo.
And this will also look really pretty, with the fizzy rocks.
And I'll melt this in my double boiler
with a tablespoon of coconut oil,
and it's important to always melt chocolate
either in a double boiler or gently in the microwave,
because if you get it too hot, it could seize up,
and then it won't coat the potato chips nicely.
And this is refined coconut oil,
so I'm not getting that coconut flavor,
which will help keep the chocolate
a little bit soft, once it sets up.
These potato chips are inspired by our town chocolate shop.
So I'm doing something a little different,
I don't wanna, like, blatantly copy them.
I'm adding the fizzy rocks,
which will add extra texture.
And conversation topics.
This is melted and smooth. I'll remove it from the heat, and then get my potato chips.
I've got five ounces of chips here,
and I like the crinkle cut ones for this,
because they can catch the chocolate.
Now, to coat this,
I'm not gonna be too precious about it,
and dip each one individually.
I'll just drizzle some of the chocolate over the bowl.
Just don't wanna break up the potato chips.
Give it another toss.
I'll spread these out onto my baking sheet
that's lined with parchment, so they don't set.
And then I'll spread them out evenly,
so that I have access to as much potato chip
surface area as I can.
I wanna make this my phone background.
Oh no, but first I have to add the fizzy rocks.
These are so fun!
And what's really cool is that once the chocolate hardens,
the fizzy rocks maintain their fizziness.
I think I wanna eat some first.
[laughs]
Mm-mm-mm!
Now it's, like, tie dye.
I feel like a child at summer camp.
I'll finish with a pinch of nonpareils,
just for a little extra crunch and color.
I think it's gonna be impossible
not to have a fun date night with these.
Okay!
These just take a few minutes to set in the fridge.
And then it's date night.
[Molly] Such good views out here.
You can see so many things.
And you can see the guy on top of city hall.
[Nick] Yeah.
[Molly] Okay, so the first time we came up here,
we went there, right?
It was before that building was built.
Did you find it comical that when I said
"let's go to the highest point we can in Grand Forks,"
I went to a three-story parking garage?
Yeah.
But it was still really fun.
[Molly] Mm!
[Nick] I will tell you,
-two things have changed in my life since I met you. -Okay.
I eat cauliflower,
and I hang out on parking garages.
[laughs]
[Nick] This is great.
-We should make this a tradition. -Yeah.
We should do this, this time next year.
Every seven, eight years.
Every seven years.
That'll work.
[Molly] Seven year tradition. Just like my OOF-da taco.