Za’atar – Fresh Herb & Spice Blend

I tried fresh za’atar for the first time a few weeks ago, and it was really surprising – like a taste you recognize but can’t quite put your finger on. When I taste it, I get the pungency of oregano, the woodsiness of thyme, and a zest that reminds me of mint. Za’atar is from the marjoram family, and it’s pretty hard to find fresh. I lucked out with this plant because the Union Square Greenmarket happened to carry it.

Za’atar is not only a fresh herb but also a spice blend used in Middle Eastern cooking. The blend is traditionally comprised of crushed, dried fresh za’atar, toasted sesame seeds, and ground sumac with salt and other spices or herbs. The blend differs from region to region and even from household to household. Lebanese za’atars include orange peel, nigella seeds, and anise, whereas the Syrian version includes roasted cumin and paprika and the Israeli version, dill weed and garlic.

Although za’atar can be found at Middle Eastern groceries and even Whole Foods, using dried or fresh thyme makes a great approximation for homemade variations. Sesame seeds add nuttiness and sumac tartness. In the Middle East, unleavened bread is first dipped in olive oil and then za’atar. It’s awesome as a dip for crudités when mixed with yogurt and sour cream and also makes a versatile spice rub for anything from fish to meats.

Sumac

Sumac is a deep burgundy-colored spice powder made from crushed sumac berries. The flavor is tangy and pleasantly sour with fruit undertones. Sumac trees are found predominantly in the Mediterranean region and throughout the Middle East, and the spice is a staple in Middle Eastern cooking. It is used as a souring agent and is a key ingredient in za’atar.

Creamy Cauliflower Puree with Fenugreek

So it’s the middle of summer. I know a bathing suit looms in the near future, and despite all attempts I’ve let things like pork buns, sausage orecchiette, a hot dog on the run, and delicious pastries from Duane Park Patisserie interrupt an otherwise (mildly) healthy flow of food. Let’s not even bring up the subject of wine.

My fridge is loaded with fruits and veggies, sending subliminal messages of health across my apartment. I was seriously in the throes of a carb-craving the other day, and with nothing other than fruits and veggies decided to get a little creative. The result? A lusciously, creamy cauliflower puree flecked with crushed fenugreek leaves.

Okay, so in reality, this still has butter and some milk, but it’s definitely better for you than equally buttery mashed potatoes. The cauliflower, cooked until super tender, is fresh and creamy when pureed. Fenugreek, as a seasoning, is used in so many different cultures – South Asian, Ethiopian (like in the clarified butter), Iranian, Turkish, Afghani…to name a few. I chose the leaves here over the seeds because the flavor of the leaves is much more subtle and lacks the typical bitterness of the seeds. Fenugreek leaves have a flavor not unlike celery, and, when warm, emit a sweetness of sorts.

This is a sinfully easy side dish to make. Fenugreek leaves can be purchased at most specialty spice stores, and even health food stores. Enjoy!

Ingredients

Yields 6 to 8 servings

3 small heads or 2 large heads of cauliflower, cored and cut into even-sized florets

3 garlic cloves

6 cups milk

1 stick butter

1 ½ tsps ground fenugreek leaves*

chopped chives

salt & freshly ground pepper

Procedure

In a medium pot, bring cauliflower, garlic, a pinch of salt and milk up to a simmer. Do not boil. Simmer covered for 12-15 minutes or until cauliflower is very tender.

Strain cauliflower and garlic from milk mixture, reserving both. Melt butter with ground fenugreek in a small saucepot for 5 to 7 minutes.

Puree cauliflower in a blender with 1-1 ¼ cups of reserved milk and melted fenugreek butter, working in batches if necessary. Adjust milk amount based on desired texture of the puree. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper and garnish with chives.

*In order to grind the fenugreek leaves without any of the stems, place a small sieve over a paper towel. Add fenugreek leaves and crush the leaves between your fingers and/or against the sieve, itself. The ground fenugreek will fall through the sieve onto the paper towel.

Open-Faced Soft-Shell Crab Sandwich

I have a mild obsession with crab, and I’m pretty sure it all started around the age of 5.

I went on a mini crabbing expedition of sorts with my family in the Arabian Sea. It was a day trip really – out on the water on this creaky boat, where we caught these beautiful, huge blue crabs. Thrilling. They were cooked right there on the spot with a ton of spices and butter. I remember breaking them apart, yanking out the soft, sweet flesh, and sopping up the buttery spices with naan. It was a vivid taste memory I will never forget.

I felt like I was in heaven…until around 6 hours later when I became the sickest ever. I literally thought I was going to die. Who knows what was in that water. But I must really love crab because, unlike tequila, the experience never deterred me from future consumption.

Right now, I’m loving soft-shell crab season, which goes from April to October/November. Walking through Chelsea Market, I stopped by The Lobster Place, and they had live ones (frozen ones don’t compare). So I nabbed them, and, though I obviously can clean them, my heart couldn’t take it. I turned my head while they snipped off the eyes, gills, and aprons. At one restaurant, I had to mercilessly rip the claws off of around 150 langoustines in one sitting while they tried to scurry away…it’s hypocritical, and I’m likely in karmic trouble, but I avoid the killing part wherever I can.

The inspiration for this dish is the infamous Singapore black pepper crab. I wanted the peppery flavor without the soy and oyster sauces, so I lightened this with a little white wine and stock and mellowed with some cream to make a thin, sauce that gets spooned over (and absorbed into) thick brioche. Rather than typically deep-frying the soft shells, I kept the crab a little lighter by dredging in a seasoned flour and shallow frying. With the sweetly caramelized onions, the spicy chilies and black pepper, the creamy sauce over crunchy, buttery bread and, of course, the crispy crab on top, this is more meal than sandwich. Enjoy!

Ingredients

Yields 6 open-faced sandwiches

Crabs:

½ dozen soft-shell crabs, cleaned, rinsed, and dried

2/3 cups rice flour

1/3 cup cornstarch

2 tsps salt

½ tsp black pepper

1 ½ tsps onion powder

2 ½ tsps garlic powder

1 tsp paprika

Oil

Butter

Topping:

3 to 4 tbsps of butter

6 to 8 curry leaves

4 small or 3 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced

1 green chili, minced (you choose based on your heat tolerance: poblano, jalapeno, Serrano, thai)

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 scallion, thinly sliced

1 ½ tsps black pepper

1/3 cup white wine

1/3 cup vegetable or seafood stock

¼ cup cream

Handful of cilantro, finely chopped

Salt and lemon juice to taste

6 pieces of thick-cut bread, preferably brioche, toasted and kept warm in 200° F oven

Procedure

Preheat oven to 200° F.

In a large bowl, sift together rice flour and cornstarch, and add salt, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and paprika. Make sure the crabs are dry, and dredge in the seasoned flour, shaking off any excess.

Heat a ½“ of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add a few tablespoons of butter for taste. When the oil is hot and shimmering, place crabs in the skillet undersides up. Cook for about 2 minutes until that side crisps, and then flip and cook for another 2 minutes. Remove and place on a rack on a baking sheet. Keep warm in the oven until ready to serve.

A few things: 1) There will still be some residual moisture in the crabs so be careful. When they are wet, they pop and sputter. 2) Don’t overcrowd the pan – fry in batches if you must. Steamed, crowded crab is yucky.

Turn the heat down to medium low, and pour off the excess oil from the skillet. Add a few tablespoons of fresh butter. Add in the curry leaves and onions, and cook on medium-low. You want to caramelize the onions slowly to bring out their natural sweetness, not brown them. Stir frequently to make sure cooking is even.

After 10 minutes, add in the chilies, garlic, scallions (reserving some for garnish), and black pepper. Cook for another 5 minutes or so. Deglaze the pan by adding the white wine and scraping up any bits from the bottom of the pan. Cook until the wine is almost completely reduced. Add in the stock and cream and reduce by half. Add cilantro (again, reserving some for garnish) and salt and lemon juice to taste.

Serve by placing a piece of warm, toasted brioche on a plate or in a bowl. Spoon onions with sauce over the bread, and place a crispy soft-shell crab on top. Garnish with scallions and cilantro.

A Trinidadian BBQ

I recently went to a bbq my husband’s family was throwing, and I thought I’d give you a glimpse into what a Trini bbq looks like. I’m not sure this could really be termed “typical” because his family is definitely comprised of foodies and make sure you have a staggering number of delicious dishes from which to choose.

I was starving when I got there which was such a bad move on my part. West Indian culture (much like many other cultures I could detail…) dictates that the chance an event starts on time is slim to none. I knew this! and still showed up hungry, but, luckily, my mother-in-law snuck me some phulourie.

Typically a street food, these little fried dough balls are made from split pea or chick pea flour mixed with curry spices. They are traditionally served with a thin, fruit chutney or, like here, a tamarind sauce. Deliciously poppable. And really hard to stop eating even when you AREN’T hungry. I quickly devoured these goodies and used all the willpower I could summon to stop, so I could leave room for the serious food ahead.

To paint the scene, we had brought some friends and positioned ourselves strategically on a table in the middle of the deck, so we could partake in all the conversations around us. Ladies were sitting next to us, chatting away and swooning over a pair of 9-week-old twins, the newest additions to the family. Men were out on the lawn in chairs discussing cricket and politics, while the kids were throwing around a football. We were heavily embroiled in a card game, and the trash-talking was reaching a new height at the point the food was brought out. Everything halted, and cards were thrown to the side to make room for the plates…

It was impossible to choose what to eat: jerk chicken, sweet and spicy pork ribs, hot dogs, sausages with onions and peppers, grilled fish…and those are just the proteins! The sides were equally dizzying – regular potato salad, sweet potato salad, lo mein, peas and rice, and callaloo. So the lo mein may be confusing, but it shouldn’t be. Trinidadian cuisine is multi-cultural and has been influenced by the ethnicities that inhabit the island. Chinese and Indian traditions are interwoven into the cuisine yielding dishes like lo mein or even the phulourie, which are really close to pakoras and bhajis in South Asian cuisine.

Of course, no West Indian bbq would be complete without the pepper sauce! The main ingredient of these sauces is the scotch bonnet pepper, which is beyond hot but with such incredibly distinct flavor. And this sauce, which is made by my husband’s uncle (from whom I’m still trying to pry the recipe…), will make your eyes water with the best of them. Although now, he tells me he’s coming with even more thunder and going to grow Bhut Jolokia, the hottest pepper in the world, to make some sauce. Can’t wait to try….a little, tiiiiny drop.

Such a great weekend. I will definitely be cooking some of the authentic, Trinidadian dishes I mentioned above in the coming months…

Peaches w/ Cardamom Streusel & Honey-Vanilla Cream

I headed up to Ellsworth Hill Orchard in Litchfield, Connecticut this last week to do some summer fruit picking and came across these beautiful, juicy Flaming Fury peaches.

The farm was scenic and serene and loaded with peaches, blueberries and several plum varieties. I got completely carried away out in the orchard and was a bit obsessed with finding the perfect peach (to my husband’s dismay in the insanely sweaty heat). All I could think about was pairing sweet peaches with cardamom for a super easy summer dessert.

Cardamom is a really aromatic spice from the ginger family with camphorous notes and the ability to translate equally well in both sweet and savoury dishes. It’s used in everything from Danish pastries to Indian curries to Middle Eastern coffee. Like ginger, it can be pretty overpowering, so I tend to use it sparingly in cooking. My mom and I actually throw the bruised pods into our mugs of green tea to bump up the flavor.

There are green, white and brown varieties of the spice, and, here, I use the green ones. I remove the seeds from the pods and manually grind them with a mortar and pestle. But ground cardamom is fine to use as well.

Baking the peaches really brings out the sweetness, and cardamom, in place of traditional cinnamon, creates a delicious, crunchy streusel to layer on top. It does not get any easier than mixing a few ingredients in a bowl, spooning the crumbly mixture on top of halved peaches, and throwing it all in the oven. I serve this dish with whipped honey-vanilla cream, which balances out the residual tartness in the peaches. A lovely way to indulge in summer’s fruit. Enjoy!

Ingredients

Yields 4 to 6 servings

Baked Peaches:

½ cup packed light brown sugar

1/3 cup flour

3/4 tsp ground cardamom

½ tsp salt

3 tbsps butter, room temperature (but not completely soft) and cut into pieces

4 peaches

Cream:

1 cup heavy cream

3 tbsps honey

½ vanilla bean, scraped OR 1 ½ tsps of vanilla extract

Procedure

Preheat oven to 400° F.

In a bowl, mix together brown sugar, flour, cardamom and salt. Cut in butter using your fingers or a pastry scraper until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Halve peaches on the vertical, remove pits, and scrape off any rough bits. I do this at the last second, so that the peaches don’t turn brown. Also, I leave the skin on as a preference – you can remove the skin if you like.

Arrange peaches in a buttered baking dish. Top with streusel topping and bake for 25 minutes. Remove and let cool briefly.

Whip the heavy cream by hand or by using a hand or stand mixture. Before it is fully whipped, add in the vanilla and honey, so that it becomes evenly distributed (but not over whipped!).

Serve peaches warm with a side of the honey-vanilla cream.

Phulourie

Phulourie, a snack or side dish in the West Indies, are little, fried dough balls that are made from split pea or chick pea flour. They are mixed with garlic and curry spices and are traditionally served with a thin, fruit chutney or tamarind sauce. Although often labeled a street food, they may be served at all types of occasions.

Callaloo

Callaloo, the ingredient, is a green leafy vegetable similar to spinach that comes from the taro plant, also known as the dasheen bush. Callaloo, the dish, is a soup-like side dish served in West Indian culture, that is made with callaloo, okra, coconut milk, garlic and peppers and may include salt pork, pumpkin, crab, other seafood, and other aromatics.

Ethiopian Nit'ir Qibe

Ethiopian Nit’ir Qibe

When I saw this article on ghee, I thought it might be interesting to talk about how to clarify butter. Clarified butter has long been synonymous with traditional Indian cooking, a delicious form of fat in which to fry up spices or brown onions. What was interesting in the article, though, was the inclusion of the spices in the bottled ghees, not typically done in an Indian household. Spicing clarified butter is actually an Ethiopian tradition, the resulting fat called nit’ir qibe.

Clarifying butter is relatively simple; butter is cooked at a low temperature until all of the water has evaporated and the milk solids have settled at the bottom. Decanted or strained, this liquid now becomes an excellent cooking agent, which, unlike whole butter, can withstand high temperature cooking (and is also great for dairy intolerance since almost all of the milk solids are gone).

In nit’ir qibe, butter is slowly melted. Once the foam subsides, certain herbs and spices are added and gently cooked in the butter at a low temperature for about 20 minutes. The clarified butter starts to take on the character of the spices, infused and aromatic – it’s completely delicious. The smell alone as I make it drives me nuts. It also keeps incredibly well, lasting in a sealed container in the fridge for about a month.

Garlic, ginger, fenugreek, turmeric, cardamom, sacred basil…all of these are typical in a spiced Ethiopian butter. Sometimes red onions are included, sometimes not. I’ve also seen dried oregano in certain homemade versions. This is again one of those traditions that differs from household to household – the secret recipe guarded for only the cook in the house to know.

Unlike ghee, this delicate and expensive infusion is not used for sauté purposes. It’s actually a finishing agent, added to an Ethiopian stew at the end of the cooking process to elevate and warm the flavor. I love to do a simply seared fish and spoon a bit of nit’ir qibe on top to lightly spice it. And that’s the beautiful thing about this: if you aren’t in the mood for something heavily spiced, this is a more subtle approach.

Lovely on plain rice. Warmed, a decadent dip for shellfish. Delicious on morning breakfast toast. Bumps up a grilled steak. The uses are endless…

Quick Bread with Bacon, Medjool Dates & Nigella Seeds

I was reading this article in the New York Times on what the French call a cake salé, and it inspired me to create my own exotic version. A cake salé is close to what we call a quick bread or a quick loaf in America (think zucchini bread, cornbread, or even muffins).

The main ingredients of any quick bread are flour, baking powder (and/or soda), fat, eggs, and liquid; the flavor is really up to the imagination. It’s chemically leavened, so it’s much faster to make than traditional bread, which requires a whole process leavening with yeast. This loaf is incredibly easy to make and really versatile. I’ve been serving it warm for breakfast, but it would also make a delicious lunch paired with a simple salad.

I mentioned to a girlfriend the inclusion of dates in this bread, and I got a wrinkled nose reaction. She believed dates to be the shriveled up nonsense that’s in trail mix. At that point, she hadn’t tried Medjool dates, which are amazing – plump, sweet, and creamy with thick, soft flesh and a taste closer to caramel and honey than to fruit. (She’s now addicted). They are also incredibly nutrient dense, high in fiber and an excellent source of potassium. They are eaten throughout the Middle East, to break a fast or served with a thick, Arabic coffee at the beginning of a meal.

For this recipe, I couldn’t get the idea of bacon out of my mind. I’m such a fan of sweet and savoury – it’s a richness of flavor that can’t be matched – and bacon tastes fantastic with a hint of sweetness. With the caramelized leeks, the honey of the dates, and the slightly bitter, thyme-like bite of the nigella seeds, the flavor of the bread is really well-rounded – great as a stand alone but also wonderful as an accompaniment to a larger meal. Enjoy!

Ingredients

Yields 1 8½” x 4¼” x 2¾” loaf pan

4 slices bacon, chopped

3 tbsps butter

1 leek, white and light green only, thinly sliced

1 ½ tsps nigella seeds

salt

3 dates, skinned and pitted*

¼ cup + 1 tbsp vegetable oil

3 eggs

1/3 cup milk

1 ¼ cups flour

1 ½ tsps baking powder

1 tsp salt

¼ tsp black pepper

Procedure

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Heat a skillet over medium-low heat. Add bacon and cook until just starting to crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon into a bowl to cool.

Heat another, clean skillet on low. Add butter. When foam subsides, add leeks and stir to coat completely with the fat. Add nigella seeds and a few pinches of salt to draw out the moisture. Cook on low, stirring frequently, for 15 to 20 minutes until the leeks are well caramelized. Remove with a slotted spoon and add to bowl with the bacon.

Combine dates, oil, eggs, and milk in a blender or food processor. Blend for 30 seconds on low or pulse until dates are finely chopped. This helps to distribute the dates in the batter. The goal isn’t to have them pureed, just chopped a bit more finely, so they don’t clump in one place in the batter. Add this liquid to bacon and leeks, and stir to combine.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt and pepper and whisk so that all of the ingredients are well combined. Fold in the liquid to the dry ingredients using a spatula. Do not overmix. You just want everything to come together. It should be a wet, sticky, clumpy dough – like muffin batter.

Pour batter into a greased 8 ½ “x 4 ½” loaf pan. Bake at 350° F for 40-45 minutes until golden brown.

* To remove the skin from the dates, simply heat water to a boil. Pour over dates and let sit for 1 minute. Carefully remove from the water, and peel off skin – it should slide off easily.

Freekeh with Summer Squash and Brown Butter

I was having lunch with a Lebanese girlfriend of mine recently when she pointed out freekeh on the menu. I had never heard of it, so, of course, I had to order! It was served like a pilaf to accompany a fish, tasted like a nuttier, slightly smoky brown rice, and had a toothsome texture.

After some research, I was really surprised that it’s not more well known. Freekeh is a roasted green wheat and can be found throughout Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and Jordan. It’s an incredibly healthy whole grain, comparable (if not superior) to quinoa, a rich source of nutrients with high fiber and protein. It’s harvested young and then roasted in the fields over an open fire, giving it that smoky quality.

The mixed summer squash at the Union Square Greenmarket looked too shiny and beautiful to resist the other day, and I thought it would pair well with the freekeh. I roast the squash off here with some sweet cherry tomatoes and prepare the freekeh similarly to rice. The coriander and cinnamon work really well with the sweetness of the squash and the smokiness of the freekeh, and the pine nuts are great for texture. This is so delicious I’ve given up my carnivorous ways for a few days, snacking on it at intervals.

And the pièce de résistance? Nutty, glistening, warm brown butter. I love to use brown butter in place of regular butter in a dish like this or even in breads and cakes; it really elevates and deepens the flavor.

Freekeh also goes by the name frik, farik or even roasted green wheat, so if you are shopping for it, I would ask by all names. I picked up my freekeh at Sahadi’s on Atlantic Ave. in Brooklyn, but I know a number of the Middle Eastern specialty shops in the area carry it. Kalustyan’s also carries it in store and online.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

Yields 4 to 6 servings

2 cups freekeh, whole (not cracked)

1 lb mixed summer squash, medium dice

¾ cup cherry tomatoes, whole

olive oil, salt, & pepper

2 ½ tbsps canola oil

1 onion

½ tsp ground coriander

½ tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp white pepper

1 scallion, thinly sliced

4 garlic cloves, minced

3 cups vegetable or chicken stock

¼ cup pine nuts, toasted

4 tbsps brown butter *

handful of parsley, chives, and/or cilantro, chopped

Procedure

Preheat oven to 400° F.

Pour freekeh in a bowl and pick through for any stones or off pieces. Rinse freekeh with several changes of water until the water runs clean. Cover the freekeh with fresh water and soak for a half hour. Strain off all excess water.

Combine diced squash and tomatoes in a bowl. Lightly coat in olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a baking sheet in a single layer and roast for 15-20 minutes until soft but still with a bit of firmness.

Heat a pot or a dutch oven over medium-low heat. Add canola oil. When hot, add onions and coat with the fat. Add coriander, cinnamon, white pepper and a pinch of salt to draw out the moisture. You just want to sweat out the onions until they are translucent, so be careful the heat isn’t too high or they will start to brown.

When the onions are translucent, add scallions and garlic. Cook for one minute, and then add freekeh. Toast the freekeh in the pot, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. The freekeh should become aromatic.

Add the vegetable or chicken stock, and bring up to a boil. Lower to a simmer and simmer covered for 45 minutes. Turn off heat, remove cover, and let stand uncovered 5 minutes.

Toss in the summer squash, tomatoes, pine nuts, and brown butter. Add chopped herbs and adjust seasoning as necessary.

* Brown butter is really easy to make, but it has to be watched. Simply heat the butter in a pan over medium low. Once the foam starts to subside, watch the color of the milk solids that sink to the bottom of the pan. They should turn brown, and the butter should take on the smell of toasted hazelnuts. At that point, remove immediately from the heat by pouring into another container. The solids go from brown to black quickly, so it’s important to stop the cooking process as soon as the hazelnut stage is achieved. Also, I like to scrape the solids off the pan into whatever I’m cooking – there’s a ton of flavor there.

Sugar Plum Sherbet with Star Anise

My tongue just twisted writing the title to this! The unbearable heat in NYC has lead me to more inventive ways of cooling down. What could be better than a homemade, refreshing fruit drink made with seasonal ingredients and interesting flavors?

Sherbet in America has come to take on a sorbet-like connotation, but the origins are really in the word “sharbah”, which is Arabic for “a drink”. Sherbet (or sharbat as we called it growing up) is a soft drink of sorts made from fruits, flower petals, and/or herbs. These are often extracted with sugar and lime juice to form a syrup, which is then diluted with water, milk, or evaporated milk and served over ice. Falooda, a South Asian sherbet, has always been a favorite of mine; it’s intoxicatingly flavored with rose syrup – will have to make it soon. Hibiscus, screw pine (amazing and unique), and saffron are other flavors often used in sherbets.

Turkey, India, Afghanistan – to name a few – all have their versions of sherbet. I’ve been researching Turkish food more as I’m planning a trip there for later this year (seriously canNOT wait), and I came across a recipe for sour cherry sherbet. That was the inception of this recipe. In the greenmarket, I stumbled upon these luscious, burstingly-ripe sugar plums and thought these one-up a sour cherry any day.

I also personally love the combination of plum with vanilla, and the star anise creates a beautiful perfume to the drink. The plum-tartness is balanced out well by the creaminess of the evaporated milk, and the result is actually quite delicate, more fruity than creamy. The milk can be left out of the recipe for those who don’t tolerate it well or simply want to watch calories – it’s delicious as a simple fruit drink over ice. I mixed a little sugar and cinnamon to create a rim on a martini glass and served it that way – lovely. Enjoy!

Ingredients

Yields approximately 9 to 10 cups

8 cups water

1 ½ cups sugar

1 ¾ lbs sugar plums (1 carton)

½ vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped

2 star anise pods

1 can evaporated milk

Ground cinnamon and sugar (for glass rim, optional)

Procedure

This is super easy.

In a medium pot, heat water on high. Add sugar and stir to dissolve.

Add whole plums, vanilla, and star anise. Bring up to a boil and lower to a simmer. Simmer, partially covered for 15 minutes. Uncover, and simmer for another 5 minutes. Throughout the simmering process, you want to mash the plums with a spoon – they come apart really easily.

Strain through a cheesecloth- lined mesh strainer. Pick up the ends of the cheesecloth and twist to squeeze all of the juice out of the plums. You may need to let it cool a bit before doing this. Discard the solids.

Let juice cool for a few hours in the fridge. Add evaporated milk. Serve over ice or in a cinnamon sugar-lined martini glass.

South African-Style Shepherd’s Pie

The World Cup madness of a few weeks ago had me reminiscing about South Africa. A year and a half ago I spent some time there and actually cooked with a Dutch couple in their home in Kalk Bay, an incredible experience.

I love South African food; it’s truly a multi-ethnic cuisine, a rich combination of all of the cultures that inhabit the country – Dutch, Malay, Indian, Arab, Portuguese, German and, of course, the indigenous Africans (Khoikhoi, Xhosa, Zulu). Gertie, the lady of the house, was incredibly knowledgeable about Cape Malay food. Cape Malay people are a community of Muslim, Malaysian heritage that arrived in South Africa from Java in the 1600’s. Their food has become synonymous with South African cuisine, bringing much of the spice, curries, and chilies.

We ate such a feast that night! South African rock lobster, rack of karroo lamb, old cape malva pudding (which I now HAVE to make. it’s beyond. look out for it soon), and the dish I am showing you today, bobotie. Before I discuss bobotie , I have to mention the wines we had with this meal. Gertie paired a Gewurtraminer with the bobotie because it’s both spicy and sweet, and the Gwertz complemented it wonderfully. But the most AMAZING wine was the 2007 Diemersfontein Pinotage. It literally tasted like chocolate and coffee, two of my personal favorites. The flavor of it stays with me until today. Unfortunately, to ship it home costed more than the wine, itself, so we didn’t. And now I can’t find it anywhere in the U.S….sad.

But, anyway, bobotie is an absolutely beautiful alternative to shepherd’s pie. It traditionally starts with either ground lamb or beef, spiced with curry powder and apricot preserves, and is layered on top with an egg custard. Amazing – spicy, sweet, with a creaminess from the egg custard. I actually use a combo of ground beef, veal, and pork, and, instead of apricot preserves, I use red currant jelly. It comes out richer and with a more robust flavor. Oh, and also, I don’t use curry powder….ever. Curry is a blend of spices, so, although the traditional recipe uses a pre-fab powder, I give a personal blend.

This makes a lovely casserole (all men cheer!), but I made it in individual portions here in soufflé ramekins – automatic portion control and it looks much prettier. Baking it in a water bath is also key to creating a luscious egg custard and not some sort of dried-out frittata layer. Enjoy!

Ingredients

Yields 4 10-ounce ramekins

Meat Filling:

1 slice white bread or brioche

2/3 cup milk

1 yellow onion (small)

2 ½ tbsps canola oil

1 or 2 green chilies, jalapeno or serrano

¼ tsp ginger, grated

1 ¼ lbs ground beef, pork, & veal (ask the butcher to do it thirds)

½ tsp turmeric

½ tsp cumin

½ tsp coriander

¼ tsp garam masala

½ tsp hot paprika

¼ tsp cayenne

½ tsp black pepper

3 garlic cloves

4 tbsps red currant jelly

2 tbsps malt vinegar

1 plum tomato, roughly chopped

salt

Egg Custard:

4 eggs

¾ cup heavy cream

pinch of salt

chives, for garnish

Procedure

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Place bread in a bowl and cover with milk. Let sit until ready to use, turning if necessary to make sure entire piece of bread is soaked.

Heat pan over medium-low heat. Add oil and sauté onions and chillies for 1 minute. Add ginger, turmeric, cumin, coriander, garam masala, hot paprika, cayenne, and black pepper and sauté another 4 to 5 minutes until onions are translucent. Add garlic and cook for under a minute or until it becomes fragrant.

Increase heat to medium-high. Add meat and brown for 3 to 4 minutes. Add red currant jelly, malt vinegar, and tomato, lower heat and simmer uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes.

Transfer mixture to a bowl using a slotted spoon and let cool briefly. Wring out excess milk from bread and add to meat mixture. Mix thoroughly. Fill 4 10-ounce ramekins ¾ full with meat mixture and place ramekins in a baking dish.

Combine eggs, heavy cream and pinch of salt and pour to fill ramekins. You want to bake these in a water bath, so fill baking dish with boiling water until it comes at least halfway up the sides of the ramekins.

Bake for 30 minutes or until the custard is set. Let cool for a few minutes before serving.

Moroccan Preserved Lemons

Preserved lemons are an incredibly distinct and subtle ingredient used in North African, Middle Eastern, and even certain East Asian cuisines. They may be added to soups, stews, salads, rice dishes, tagines, used as a stuffing, baked in a savory or even sweet pie…there are endless uses. Since it takes a month or so for the lemons to preserve and the flavor to really develop, I wanted to get on it immediately. I’ve been envisioning a beautiful sauce or even a bright salad to be served with summer’s grilled fish dishes and a cold goblet of rosé for a summer Sunday “family” dinner party…and maybe a friendly game of spades.

Although the flesh is used, it’s truly the peel and pith that are the celebrated ingredients. Meyer lemons are great for this because they naturally have a softer peel that eats very well. A cross between a lemon and a mandarin, their sweetness is an added bonus. If only regular lemons are available, go with them – that’s the tradition anyway.

Many recipes call for various spices like coriander and bay leaf to be included in the pickling liquid; some even add rose or orange blossom water. I’m keeping this super simple because I want these little lemons to be as versatile as possible. Enjoy!

Ingredients

Meyer lemons or regular lemons

Sea salt

Lemon juice

Sterilized jar

Procedure

I’m not giving exact quantities because it really depends on how large the jar is that you are using. You want enough lemons to fit in the jar and be completely submerged in lemon juice. You also want to be able to apply some level of pressure on the lemons so the juice oozes out of them.

Start by slicing each lemon into quarters but still keeping them intact at the stem end. Then, take ¼ tsp of sea salt per lemon and rub it onto the inside flesh. Place each lemon into the jar pressing down as you go. When the lemons are all prepped and in the jar, add enough lemon juice to cover completely. Weight down or use the lid of the jar as pressure and seal.

At this point, you just want to store them in a cool place. As I mentioned, they will take about a month, but they do look beautiful on the kitchen counter!

A South Indian Gazpacho

A friend of mine asked me for a gazpacho recipe and was looking for something a little different than the traditional. She wanted it to be fresh and healthy but with a more robust flavor. At first I considered making a white gazpacho, which is a delicious combination of almonds, grapes, garlic and bread. But summer shorts are upon us, and carb-minimization is in full effect.

I, then, thought about this East African stew I grew up eating. It’s called chana bateta and is made with chickpeas and potatoes in a thin, tart broth. That broth, in turn, got me to thinking about a popular South Indian soup called rasam as they share a very similar flavor profile. Rasam is a thin, peppery, tart soup that is often served to warm up winter nights or to help remedy a cold.

While at Devi, I often saw it used in various ways. My time there and the spices and ingredients at that restaurant will never cease to inspire me. I truly enjoyed working with Chef Mathur, who was innovative in his own right (thus helping to earn the restaurant a Michelin star in both 2007 and 2008).

Rasams come in all different forms – tomato, lemon, pineapple, and even mint, and it’s one of those recipes that is different for each household. Some have daal as an ingredient; some don’t. This is a completely different expression in that it’s a cold gazpacho-like soup with the flavors and ingredients of a rasam.

Tamarind is a requisite ingredient in every rasam, and I usually use the brick form. This requires soaking a nob of it for a period of time in hot water followed by straining and pressing to extract flavor – it’s a longer process but has a more developed flavor when using it for curries, chutneys and the like. For a quick cold soup like this, though, the jarred tamarind concentrate works really well (because, really, isn’t the ease the whole point of a cold soup like this?).

Although the soup is cold and refreshing, it has spice to it. You can always modify the amount of jalapeno depending on its heat, sub in a bell pepper, and add or remove chili powder to your tolerance level. I also cook the spices and the garlic because I’m not a fan of those raw. For a hot summer day, I think it becomes even better, with an iced, fresh mint tea made from steeping actual mint leaves in hot water with sugar and then pouring over ice. Or even serving it with a crisp, cold Sauvignon Blanc, because, after all, you did save on the carbs…Enjoy!

Ingredients

Yields 4 to 6 servings

1 cup water

1 tbsp tamarind concentrate

2 tsp palm sugar

3 tbsp canola or other neutral oil

2 tsp black mustard seeds

½ tsp fenugreek seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp coriander seeds

10 curry leaves

3 garlic cloves

¼ tsp turmeric

½ tsp chili powder

5 tomatoes on the vine, medium dice

1 shallot, medium dice

½ to 1 jalapeno (or some combination of jalapeno and a half bell pepper), medium dice

Handful of cilantro, thoroughly washed

Procedure

Bring water to a boil, and add tamarind and sugar making sure both are fully dissolved.

Heat oil over medium-low heat. Add black mustard, fenugreek, cumin, coriander and curry leaves and listen for them to start popping. At that point, add garlic, turmeric, and chili powder and cook for a few minutes, stirring often to prevent sticking or burning of the spices. Quickly add a little water and remove from the heat if it looks like its about to burn.

Put tamarind mixture and cooked spices in the blender and blitz until the spices are thoroughly ground. The blender makes a fantastic spice grinder. Set aside in a bowl.

Using a food processor, process tomatoes, shallots, jalapenos and cilantro separately to achieve desired texture. Combine with tamarind and spice mixture and season to taste with salt and black pepper. I like to refrigerate for a few hours or even overnight to let all of the flavors combine. It’s a great do-ahead dish.

Savoury Roasted Cinnamon Popovers

I just looked at the title of this, and my mind immediately went to a breakfast association. The interesting thing is these popovers were conceived as a thought for an awesome dinner accompaniment: a hollow, savoury, buttery puff with which to scoop up extra sauce or even a jus.

I was eating Van Leeuwen cinnamon ice cream (out of the container) when I came up with the thought for these tasty treats. Van Leeuwen, which creates incredible artisanal ice cream, uses a Ceylonese version of cinnamon – the flavor reminiscent of Atomic Fireballs, those crazy hot candies we ate as kids that turned our tongues red. Although lovely, I prefer the more woodsy and subtle flavor of Vietnamese or Saigon cinnamon…Which I’ve read is actually a version of the cassia plant, not cinnamon after all.

Cinnamon is such a diverse spice and is a staple ingredient in many savory ethnic dishes; it adds such complexity and nuance to even a simple marinade. Whether part of Indian garam masala or a Mexican spice blend, the added note can elevate a simple dish to something much greater. Pan-roasting the cinnamon deepens the smoky-woodiness of the spice, which makes this even better as a savoury side. And who doesn’t love a popover? I mean their shapes alone are comical. And there is something about serving a warm baked (from scratch!) good at dinner that is suggestively decadent.

The best part is that this is a super easy recipe with ingredients most of us have on hand. Oh, and I’ve tailored it for use in a muffin pan. I feel like I don’t make them often enough to warrant the expense of popover tins and much prefer the smaller size. Although easy, the recipe is not without science, because getting these little guys to rise can be nerve-wracking. I’ve done it a million times and still stand watch peering through the hazily-lit oven (never open!) to make sure they are on track. So read the procedure carefully. And enjoy some luxurious dinner (or breakfast) popovers…

Ingredients

Yields 12 popovers in a traditional muffin pan

1 stick cinnamon or ¾ tsp ground cinnamon (Vietnamese, Saigon, whatever you like)

1 cup AP flour

½ tsp salt

1 cup whole milk

2 eggs

1 tbsp melted butter

melted butter for brushing

Procedure

Lower the rack in your oven to the 2nd rack from the bottom, and preheat oven to 450° F. Keeping the rack lower will prevent over-browning of the popovers.

Pan-roast cinnamon sticks or ground cinnamon in a sauté pan on medium-low heat until fragrant and toasty. If using sticks, grind in a spice or coffee grinder. You want to yield ¾ of a teaspoon of ground cinnamon.

Combine milk, butter, and eggs in a blender. Blend thoroughly. Add flour, cinnamon, and salt, and pulse until thoroughly combined. Don’t overmix. I like to pulse, scrape down, and blend until it just mixes through. You want to let the batter stand and come to room temperature (around 20 to 25 minutes). A room temperature or even slightly warm mixture will rise much higher and easier than a cold one.

When the batter is almost ready, place the muffin pan on a baking sheet and place in the oven for 5 – 10 min. You want to preheat the tin, and placing it on a baking sheet creates better heat from the bottom – again, all good for the rising of the dough. When hot, brush the muffin pan with butter to prevent sticking.

Fill the cups about halfway full and immediately place in the oven. Bake for 10 minutes at 450° F, and then lower temperature to 350° F for another 20. Don’t peak at them or they will fall! You want to keep the oven heat even. The puffs should be crusty on the outside and soft and hollow on the inside. I shut the oven off and leave the door slightly ajar, a technique used for gougeres, for another 3 to 5 minutes just to make sure.

Serve these delicious puffs warm!

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