I have always enjoyed books on the food of different countries. One of my favorites in the past decade has been The Heritage of Spanish Cooking by Alicia Rios and Loudres March. This meets all my criteria: it is lavishly illustrated, discusses the presentation and history of food in Spain, has many recipes, a lot of trivia (both cultural and food-related). I especially enjoy the extensive presentation of other Spanish art relating to food, including cookware, still life, paintings of people, etc. in addition to the photographs of the dishes.
I prepared this dish to go with an inexpensive bottle of 2007 Tres Ojos - a Calatayud Old Vines Garnacha (=Grenache) from a D.O. region not far from the Rioja district. We enjoyed it. Though perhaps not stellar, it certainly represented a change from our typical carafe of House Red. Together with a salad and grilled zucchini with Romesca sauce the dinner was complete. We were served with a culinary trip to eastern Spain, all courtesy of Rick's Unamerican Cafe.
Cordero al chilindrón
Ingredients:
2 Lamb arm chops
1 oz chopped ham
3 cloves minced garlic
1 chopped bell pepper
2 sliced carrots
1t olive oil
1 can diced tomatos
1 can garbanzo beans, drained
1 sprig parsley
2 oz white wine
salt and pepper to taste
Method:
1. Saute the ham and the lamb chops and put in casserole (with the lamb on top)
2. Spread the drained garbanzo beans around the chops
3. Saute the carrots, pepper and tomato
4. Add the remaining garlic, parsley and wine
5. Let simmer, then add to casserole
5. Bake at 450 for half an hour
Two servings, each:
cal 620
carb 55
Modified from a recipe found in:
The Heritage of Spanish Cooking
ISBN 0 09 178186 8
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Prime and Wine*
I've been looking for two years. I found it .. and it's the wrong end of the season. My favorite produce stand has been closed since 2008. Aichholz: You can still find the name on the web, but the tent is gone and the family sold the land they used to grow the Silver Queen corn. The farmer was tired, so he drove off into the sunset in a red Corvette and, well - what do we do now?
We grow our own basil. That's one answer. But where can we go for good corn? My Local Grocer sells it of course, but it's not just worthy of the name. It is not even as good as my grandfather used to grow (he was a doctor, retired when I knew him, and grew a lot of vegetables for my grandmother).
After an errand downtown that lasted past noon, I drove east from Milford about five miles to visit two of my favorite places for locally grown stuff. Rouster's Apple House has been in the orchard business for around 70 years. In the summertime they give city folks who make the drive a chance at pick-your-own blueberries and such. In the fall Rouster's becomes the Apple Capital of Ohio, with as many kinds of apple as there are ways to eat them. A mile and a half closer to home, Shaw Farms, a family owned and operated farm for over 200 years. They still have great corn this late in the season - they think Silver Queen is outdated, but what they sell looks and tastes a fair treat.
I really love locally grown produce, but I scarcely think this makes me a locavore, any more than it makes me a vegetarian. If really good things are grown close by I'm certainly willing to make a trip to find them, but nobody within driving distance grows artichokes like they do in Watsonville. My goal is flavor. I confess it.
Anyway .. dinner tonight turned into one of those it-doesn't-get-any-better-than meals. A couple of the little $5 pre-packaged, 4-ounce, bacon-wrapped beef tenderloins (marked down for less by My Local Grocer as a Manager's Special); two ears of corn and a tomato from Shaw Farms; a small bunch of that really thin asparagus from My Local Grocer, grilled - and later, a baked apple from Rouster's with a small bit of fat-free ice cream on top. Altogether (including a perfectly elegant foundation of sauteed mushrooms, onion and basil together with a glass of the House Red) a total of under 900 calories and just over 100 grams of carbohydrate.
The preparation and cooking was so simple as almost not to bear writing down:
I seared the tenderloins on each side for 5 minutes then put them in a 450º oven for half an hour. While the meat was in the oven, the sliced mushrooms and chopped onion simmered in the pan dripping with ¼ cup of red wine and ¼ cup of fresh basil leaves. While the mushrooms cooked, the water for the corn boiled and the corn itself was shucked. I trimmed the asparagus and laid it on a cold grill, then melted butter in the microwave for dipping. I set a timer and went off to read a book...
With seven minutes to go, I:
Turned the grill on high,
Put the mushrooms in a dish and laid two slices of beefsteak tomato on them,
Placed the corn in the water,
Microwaved the mushrooms for a minute,
Placed the tenderloins on the tomato slices,
Took out the corn,
Scooped the asparagus from the grill, and
Served it all up.
Did I leave anything still cooking?
No, and I remembered to turn off all the burners, too...
Later, I baked apples:
Ingredients:
2 apples
2t raisins
2t honey
2T apple cider
cinnamon
Method:
Preheat the oven to 350º
Core the apples (NOT all the way through)
Drizzle the honey into the cavity and add the cinnamon and raisins
Set the apples in individual baking dishes with the cider
Bake for 40 minutes
Serve them with a small scoop of fat-free ice cream
A couple of notes:
- I learned about grilled asparagus from the Dilly Deli in Mariemont. It's not hard.
- "Each stalk of asparagus knows where it should break," and this is perfectly true. But I've come to take a couple of representative stalks from a bunch and break them, then cut them all at about that length.
- I melted far more butter than we ate (with a smashed clove of garlic, some oregano and some pepper). After dinner the dish with the butter was almost as full as in the picture.
- I never said the corn shucked itself.
And for those nay-sayers - Job's friends who say, "Rick, you're kidding yourself:"
- The cost for the ingredients was under $12 - not counting gas.
- The calories and carbohydrates for everything in this post total less than half of my 2000 cal/225 gram daily target.
- At 2AM (when I wrote this) I checked my blood glucose, and it was 103, a great number. And this is the proof of the pudding.
Web resources:
http://sites.google.com/site/roustersapplehouse/home-2
http://www.shawfarms.com/index.html
http://www.dillycafe.com/
* for those who don't remember, "Prime and Wine" was a Cincinnati restaurant chain, a subsidiary of Frisch's with locations at Northgate and Kenwood.
We grow our own basil. That's one answer. But where can we go for good corn? My Local Grocer sells it of course, but it's not just worthy of the name. It is not even as good as my grandfather used to grow (he was a doctor, retired when I knew him, and grew a lot of vegetables for my grandmother).
After an errand downtown that lasted past noon, I drove east from Milford about five miles to visit two of my favorite places for locally grown stuff. Rouster's Apple House has been in the orchard business for around 70 years. In the summertime they give city folks who make the drive a chance at pick-your-own blueberries and such. In the fall Rouster's becomes the Apple Capital of Ohio, with as many kinds of apple as there are ways to eat them. A mile and a half closer to home, Shaw Farms, a family owned and operated farm for over 200 years. They still have great corn this late in the season - they think Silver Queen is outdated, but what they sell looks and tastes a fair treat.
I really love locally grown produce, but I scarcely think this makes me a locavore, any more than it makes me a vegetarian. If really good things are grown close by I'm certainly willing to make a trip to find them, but nobody within driving distance grows artichokes like they do in Watsonville. My goal is flavor. I confess it.
 |
| hot off the grill |
The preparation and cooking was so simple as almost not to bear writing down:
I seared the tenderloins on each side for 5 minutes then put them in a 450º oven for half an hour. While the meat was in the oven, the sliced mushrooms and chopped onion simmered in the pan dripping with ¼ cup of red wine and ¼ cup of fresh basil leaves. While the mushrooms cooked, the water for the corn boiled and the corn itself was shucked. I trimmed the asparagus and laid it on a cold grill, then melted butter in the microwave for dipping. I set a timer and went off to read a book...
With seven minutes to go, I:
Turned the grill on high,
Put the mushrooms in a dish and laid two slices of beefsteak tomato on them,
Placed the corn in the water,
Microwaved the mushrooms for a minute,
Placed the tenderloins on the tomato slices,
Took out the corn,
Scooped the asparagus from the grill, and
Served it all up.
Did I leave anything still cooking?
No, and I remembered to turn off all the burners, too...
 |
| worth every penny... |
Ingredients:
2 apples
2t raisins
2t honey
2T apple cider
cinnamon
Method:
Preheat the oven to 350º
Core the apples (NOT all the way through)
Drizzle the honey into the cavity and add the cinnamon and raisins
Set the apples in individual baking dishes with the cider
Bake for 40 minutes
Serve them with a small scoop of fat-free ice cream
A couple of notes:
- I learned about grilled asparagus from the Dilly Deli in Mariemont. It's not hard.
- "Each stalk of asparagus knows where it should break," and this is perfectly true. But I've come to take a couple of representative stalks from a bunch and break them, then cut them all at about that length.
- I melted far more butter than we ate (with a smashed clove of garlic, some oregano and some pepper). After dinner the dish with the butter was almost as full as in the picture.
- I never said the corn shucked itself.
And for those nay-sayers - Job's friends who say, "Rick, you're kidding yourself:"
- The cost for the ingredients was under $12 - not counting gas.
- The calories and carbohydrates for everything in this post total less than half of my 2000 cal/225 gram daily target.
- At 2AM (when I wrote this) I checked my blood glucose, and it was 103, a great number. And this is the proof of the pudding.
Web resources:
http://sites.google.com/site/roustersapplehouse/home-2
http://www.shawfarms.com/index.html
http://www.dillycafe.com/
* for those who don't remember, "Prime and Wine" was a Cincinnati restaurant chain, a subsidiary of Frisch's with locations at Northgate and Kenwood.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Greek Night
Cooking food from a place never substitutes for actual travel. At best it conjures a sense of nostalgia for a place you've never been - especially if it tastes good. But if you actually get to go to a place you are likely to have culinary experiences that will stay with you.
We were in Venice for three days in 2005 .. a time so packed with experience that to my memory it feels like a week. From a small window in a wall along an alley off a street near La Salute we bought two slices of a vegetable pie that was the best thing either of us had ever eaten. I've nearly duplicated the filling (it had onions and zucchini and a lot of peppers in it) but never the crust... Not a tomato in sight. No garlic, either. And no taste of olive oil.
I've never been to Greece. I've been close .. but that's not the same. I do have a well-thumbed book of recipes by the Greek Orthodox Ladies Philoptochos Society of Charleston, South Carolina, which represents a secondhand, second tier of nostalgia. The recipes are excellent. If we ever get to the Greek Islands I should be well prepared...
Greek food on a Monday evening. I had a lamb shoulder chop, a small eggplant and some spinach in the fridge. With the internet not far off, I found a lamb and eggplant stew, served in the shell of the eggplant. This brought the idea of Greece to the fore. And the spinach .. um .. Spanekotyropeta! If you can say it you can make it. A short trip to My Local Grocer for frozen phyllo and feta came next, followed by a somewhat longer period of wondering what I'd gotten myself into...
Looking over the recipes, I managed to eliminate half a cup of olive oil and three tablespoons of flour without blinking. I also took some time and trimmed the lamb very close into small cubes.
Two other preparation choices paid off handsomely. The original recipe for the eggplant involved scooping out the filling and chopping it in cubes. This is a lot more work than it sounds like. Instead, I roasted the two halves, the way you would for baba ghanouj (broil for half an hour, cut side down and the pulp just lifts out).
When it came to assembling the phyllo, I invented a new shortcut and sprayed the sheets with olive cooking spray instead of brushing with olive oil. Faster! More even! Much less frustrating, as brushing with oil inevitably wreaks havoc with the sheets of pastry. I made more layers faster.
Less effort than I feared, but no time for photographs: Nancy called, leaving work, while I was in the midst of assembling the spanekopeta (no, I didn't answer the phone .. them phyllo sheets dry out and flake off in a heartbeat .. but I did call back two minutes later). Dinner was on the table when she got home.
LAMB STEW IN A BAKED EGGPLANT BOAT
Ingredients:
1 med. eggplant
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 Roma tomato
1T tapenade
8 oz lbs. lamb stew, lean
1t oregano leaves
1/2 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1T flour
1 oz Parmesan cheese, grated
water
salt and pepper to taste
Method:
Halve eggplant and broil, cut side down, for half an hour
Trim meat, dice tomato, chop onion
Saute diced lamb in water
Season with salt, pepper, and oregano
Scoop out eggplant
After 15 minutes, add tomato, onion, eggplant, tapenade and garlic and simmer for 10 minutes.
Dust with flour and stir while the mixture thickens
Add cold water and stir until a heavy stew has formed
Spoon stew into eggplant shells and top with grated Parmesan
Brown in oven
Makes 2 servings, each:
342 cal
20 carbs
SPANAKOTYROPETA
Ingredients:
1T olive oil
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb spinach, rinsed and chopped
1/2C parsley, chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
8 sheets phyllo dough
olive pam
Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C)
Spray pam in a 9x9 inch square baking pan
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat
Saute onion, green onions and garlic, until soft
Stir in spinach and parsley, and continue to saute until spinach cooks down
Set aside to cool then squeeze out moisture
Mix together eggs, ricotta, and feta and fold into spinach mixture
Take a deep breath
Lay 1 sheet of phyllo dough in prepared baking pan and spray with pam
Lay three more sheets of phyllo on top, spraying between layers
Spread spinach and cheese mixture into pan and fold overhanging dough over filling
Spray with pam
Layer remaining 4 sheets of phyllo dough then tuck overhanging dough into pan to seal filling.
Add layers depending on the amount of filling and phyllo
Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes
Cut into squares and serve while hot.
Makes 3 servings, each:
440 cal
62 carb
In retrospect, I could have used a bit more salt and doubled the amount of garlic.
Image of Santorini used by permission:
http://historylink101.net/greece1/rf-b-santorini_island.htm
I wish I could take my own.
We were in Venice for three days in 2005 .. a time so packed with experience that to my memory it feels like a week. From a small window in a wall along an alley off a street near La Salute we bought two slices of a vegetable pie that was the best thing either of us had ever eaten. I've nearly duplicated the filling (it had onions and zucchini and a lot of peppers in it) but never the crust... Not a tomato in sight. No garlic, either. And no taste of olive oil.
I've never been to Greece. I've been close .. but that's not the same. I do have a well-thumbed book of recipes by the Greek Orthodox Ladies Philoptochos Society of Charleston, South Carolina, which represents a secondhand, second tier of nostalgia. The recipes are excellent. If we ever get to the Greek Islands I should be well prepared...
Greek food on a Monday evening. I had a lamb shoulder chop, a small eggplant and some spinach in the fridge. With the internet not far off, I found a lamb and eggplant stew, served in the shell of the eggplant. This brought the idea of Greece to the fore. And the spinach .. um .. Spanekotyropeta! If you can say it you can make it. A short trip to My Local Grocer for frozen phyllo and feta came next, followed by a somewhat longer period of wondering what I'd gotten myself into...
Looking over the recipes, I managed to eliminate half a cup of olive oil and three tablespoons of flour without blinking. I also took some time and trimmed the lamb very close into small cubes.
Two other preparation choices paid off handsomely. The original recipe for the eggplant involved scooping out the filling and chopping it in cubes. This is a lot more work than it sounds like. Instead, I roasted the two halves, the way you would for baba ghanouj (broil for half an hour, cut side down and the pulp just lifts out).
When it came to assembling the phyllo, I invented a new shortcut and sprayed the sheets with olive cooking spray instead of brushing with olive oil. Faster! More even! Much less frustrating, as brushing with oil inevitably wreaks havoc with the sheets of pastry. I made more layers faster.
Less effort than I feared, but no time for photographs: Nancy called, leaving work, while I was in the midst of assembling the spanekopeta (no, I didn't answer the phone .. them phyllo sheets dry out and flake off in a heartbeat .. but I did call back two minutes later). Dinner was on the table when she got home.
 |
| Cooking in Greece .. it's a slippery slope |
LAMB STEW IN A BAKED EGGPLANT BOAT
Ingredients:
1 med. eggplant
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 Roma tomato
1T tapenade
8 oz lbs. lamb stew, lean
1t oregano leaves
1/2 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1T flour
1 oz Parmesan cheese, grated
water
salt and pepper to taste
Method:
Halve eggplant and broil, cut side down, for half an hour
Trim meat, dice tomato, chop onion
Saute diced lamb in water
Season with salt, pepper, and oregano
Scoop out eggplant
After 15 minutes, add tomato, onion, eggplant, tapenade and garlic and simmer for 10 minutes.
Dust with flour and stir while the mixture thickens
Add cold water and stir until a heavy stew has formed
Spoon stew into eggplant shells and top with grated Parmesan
Brown in oven
Makes 2 servings, each:
342 cal
20 carbs
SPANAKOTYROPETA
Ingredients:
1T olive oil
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb spinach, rinsed and chopped
1/2C parsley, chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
8 sheets phyllo dough
olive pam
Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C)
Spray pam in a 9x9 inch square baking pan
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat
Saute onion, green onions and garlic, until soft
Stir in spinach and parsley, and continue to saute until spinach cooks down
Set aside to cool then squeeze out moisture
Mix together eggs, ricotta, and feta and fold into spinach mixture
Take a deep breath
Lay 1 sheet of phyllo dough in prepared baking pan and spray with pam
Lay three more sheets of phyllo on top, spraying between layers
Spread spinach and cheese mixture into pan and fold overhanging dough over filling
Spray with pam
Layer remaining 4 sheets of phyllo dough then tuck overhanging dough into pan to seal filling.
Add layers depending on the amount of filling and phyllo
Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 40 minutes
Cut into squares and serve while hot.
Makes 3 servings, each:
440 cal
62 carb
In retrospect, I could have used a bit more salt and doubled the amount of garlic.
Image of Santorini used by permission:
http://historylink101.net/greece1/rf-b-santorini_island.htm
I wish I could take my own.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Picadillo: mince with a difference
I found this recipe in the 'Things I Never Knew' department of this blog. Picadillo is a Latin dish made from ground beef. With slight differences (typically the addition of potato or chayote) , it is the same dish as 'giniling,' from the Philippines. However, as I looked over the various recipes, they reminded me strongly of a dish I've known all my life, one of the first I ever learned to cook: 'mince' (as in 'Mince Pie'*)
In fact, the name 'picadillo' comes from the Spanish word 'picar,' meaning "to mince" or "to chop," just as 'mince' refers to 'minced meat.' Which is what most of the English speaking world calls 'ground beef.' In any case, picadillo represents a cultural variant of a dish well-known worldwide. The American equivalent (though the sauce is sweeter and more liquid than I prefer) is, of course, the 'Sloppy Joe,' which is served on a bun but goes equally well over rice.
Similarly, the 'hamburger' is the American variant of the meat-in-pastry form factor known around the globe. India it is called a 'keema samosa.' In parts of China you will find 'char siu bao' - 叉烧包 - (though in Hawaii you should ask for 'manapua'). Most cultures prepare a version of this dish as well.
Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef/pork
4 cloves garlic
1 green pepper, diced
1 onion, diced
2T cider vinegar
1t red wine vinegar
1/3C wine
1 can tomato paste
1T tapenade
4C raisins
salt and pepper to taste
Method:
Saute and simmer (in this order)
meat
garlic, pepper, onion
vinegars and wine
tomato paste, tapenade and raisins
then add salt and pepper as you like
simmer until blended, and serve over rice
The main difference between my cooking method and that found in most traditional recipes: I start cooking the ground beef with a little water in the pan to prevent sticking. This seems a bit more to the point that starting with the "1/4C lard or oil" most recipes call for. Even ground beef with 10% fat ("Ground Sirloin" at My Local Grocery) contains more than enough fat to saute both it and the vegetables, and adds all the flavor one could wish for.
3 portions, each
400 cal
30 carbs
(not counting the rice)
Photo by Ruben Gallardo from www.entrepucheros.com
This recipe is a conflation from various sources
For comparison purposes, this is my traditional recipe for 'mince' - cooked the same way, and almost identical in terms of calories and carbs.
Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef**
1 clove garlic
1 green pepper, diced (optional)
1 onion, diced
2T tomato ketchup
1/3 wine
salt and pepper to taste
* The 'Demon Barber of Fleet Street' had it wrong in one respect. I know from my father (He burned himself severely as a boy. When he put his arm to his mouth he remembered the taste) and from others (I have no direct experience in this matter) that the dish known in Polynesia as 'long pig' tastes delicious. There was a reason the customers kept coming back...
** Don't you be telling me that in parts of the world this recipe would begin with "a pound of ground hound..." Elijah and Loki would be offended.
In fact, the name 'picadillo' comes from the Spanish word 'picar,' meaning "to mince" or "to chop," just as 'mince' refers to 'minced meat.' Which is what most of the English speaking world calls 'ground beef.' In any case, picadillo represents a cultural variant of a dish well-known worldwide. The American equivalent (though the sauce is sweeter and more liquid than I prefer) is, of course, the 'Sloppy Joe,' which is served on a bun but goes equally well over rice.
Similarly, the 'hamburger' is the American variant of the meat-in-pastry form factor known around the globe. India it is called a 'keema samosa.' In parts of China you will find 'char siu bao' - 叉烧包 - (though in Hawaii you should ask for 'manapua'). Most cultures prepare a version of this dish as well.
 |
| picadillo with rice: a cross-cultural yang and yin |
Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef/pork
4 cloves garlic
1 green pepper, diced
1 onion, diced
2T cider vinegar
1t red wine vinegar
1/3C wine
1 can tomato paste
1T tapenade
4C raisins
salt and pepper to taste
Method:
Saute and simmer (in this order)
meat
garlic, pepper, onion
vinegars and wine
tomato paste, tapenade and raisins
then add salt and pepper as you like
simmer until blended, and serve over rice
The main difference between my cooking method and that found in most traditional recipes: I start cooking the ground beef with a little water in the pan to prevent sticking. This seems a bit more to the point that starting with the "1/4C lard or oil" most recipes call for. Even ground beef with 10% fat ("Ground Sirloin" at My Local Grocery) contains more than enough fat to saute both it and the vegetables, and adds all the flavor one could wish for.
3 portions, each
400 cal
30 carbs
(not counting the rice)
Photo by Ruben Gallardo from www.entrepucheros.com
This recipe is a conflation from various sources
For comparison purposes, this is my traditional recipe for 'mince' - cooked the same way, and almost identical in terms of calories and carbs.
Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef**
1 clove garlic
1 green pepper, diced (optional)
1 onion, diced
2T tomato ketchup
1/3 wine
salt and pepper to taste
* The 'Demon Barber of Fleet Street' had it wrong in one respect. I know from my father (He burned himself severely as a boy. When he put his arm to his mouth he remembered the taste) and from others (I have no direct experience in this matter) that the dish known in Polynesia as 'long pig' tastes delicious. There was a reason the customers kept coming back...
** Don't you be telling me that in parts of the world this recipe would begin with "a pound of ground hound..." Elijah and Loki would be offended.
Monday, September 6, 2010
Old and New - Two Indian Recipes
"Don't ask ... don't tell." A workable philosphy, though by no means optimal. Particularly when it comes to the spices in my kitchen, and how long they've been there. When people comment on the apparent age of some of the bags, jars and cans they see on my shelves I respond variously. Three of my common replies may be one or two too many:
The Connoisseur- "These spices, they have aged like fine wine, no?"
Not true, alas .. it works more like the Basmati rice in the little brown zipper bag that advertises itself as 'aged.' My sources (the reliable ones anyway) tell me that - with rice in particular - age is no blessing. Like Beaujolais nouveau, fresh is essential.
The Historian- "The length of time I've had these approximates the duration of the caravan trip from Southeast Asia along the Silk Road at the time of Marco Polo."
Let me here state, without fear of contradiction, that some of the spices in my cupboard may have been around SINCE the time of Marco Polo. I know there is a jar of star anise somewhere around that has been on one shelf or another since Nixon left China.
The (Half?)-Wit- "Old Spice. Isn't that a well-known deodorant? I assure you, these taste better."
Uh, "ba-da-boom?" (though Major Bowes' gong would be more appropriate)...
I intend these remarks to fend off awkward comment, and freely confess they seldom work. But this stuff is expensive. I recently priced the box of saffron I used to get for $20 and it now costs $140. The little jars and cans are not cheap, either, and most of the uncommon ones are hard to find at My Local Grocery, which specializes in fifty house brands of seasoned salt.
Compromise takes several forms. I grow fresh herbs when I can. I generally use more of a spice than a recipe calls for. (Not always though. Indian 'hing' - in apothecary English, 'asafoetida' - adds a delightful dimension to certain foods when used in small quantities. Used in amounts larger than a small pea, it can make an otherwise wonderful dish taste like old, burned truck tires...) I seal the jars tightly when I put them back on the shelf. And I keep them around longer than I feel I should...
Let this apologia serve as an introduction to a pair of Indian recipes. They are both vegetarian - a subject I will take up at another time - and both are quite tasty in contrasting ways. The cauliflower is simmered in garlic, ginger and coconut; the eggplant dry fried with onion, cilantro, and garam masala.
My early exposure to (and love for) Indian foods has expanded my tastes eastward to Thailand and other countries in Southeast Asia. I'm very appreciative that the Internet brings a selection of family recipes into my living room, and I enjoy cooking them. The prep work is time consuming, but the results taste amazing, and provide a variety never found on the cheap buffet lines. Not getting any more turmeric stains on the large, glossy pages of Charmaine Solomon's "The Complete Asian Cookbook" is a big plus too.
And, I would never have considered either of these dishes if I didn't have a palette of spices to draw from.
CAULIFLOWER IN COCONUT SAUCE
Ingredients:
1 cauliflower
1/2 Roma tomato, chopped small
3 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
1/2" ginger, smashed and chopped
1 can whole green chilis, sliced lengthwise
1 can coconut milk (15 oz)
1T vegetable oil
1/2t cardamom
1/4 stick cinnamon
10 whole cloves
1/4t cayenne
Salt to taste
Method:
separate Cauliflower into small florets
add 1/2t salt to the cauliflower florets and pour boiling water over them. Cover and set aside for 5 minutes, then discard water and retain the florets
saute cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, green chili, garlic, and ginger for 3 minutes
add chopped tomato, cauliflower, chili powder and coconut milk and continue cooking to reduce sauce
salt to taste
serve hot, garnished with chopped coriander leaves
EGGPLANT BURTA/ROASTED EGGPLANT COOKED WITH TOMATOES AND SPICES
(baingan ka burta)
Ingredients:
1 eggplant (large is good)
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 can green chili, chopped
1/2 Roma tomato, chopped
1 bunch cilantro
1/2t cayenne
1/2t turmeric
1T vegetable oil
1/2t garam masala
salt to taste
cooking spray
Method:
Spray a baking pan with cooking spray; halve the eggplant put in pan, cut sides down; spray skin generously and broil for 30 minutes
When cool, scrape pulp from skin and mash with a fork; set aside
saute onions, minced cilantro stems and green chili
add tomato, cayenne and salt
when tomato is soft, add mashed eggplant, roughly chopped cilantro leaves and garam masala and cook on low heat for 7 minutes
Serve hot, garnished with toasted sesame seeds
Notes to both recipes:
- I served both these dishes with steamed rice
- Indian flatbreads would make a nice accompaniment
- Making these two dishes together, I used one can of green chilis, one tomato and one bunch of cilantro
- Since I prepared this for company, I have not figured the calories and carbs for these recipes - I made a sensible amount of rice and trusted to luck.
modified from a wonderful website for Indian recipes:
http://www.ammas.com/ar/home.cfm?r=v_arec&id=44&topicid=2
http://www.ammas.com/ar/home.cfm?r=v_arec&id=142&topicid=2
I altered some quantities (less oil, more onion, 'a bunch' of cilantro rather than 'a couple of fistfuls'), changed names to those I typically use (cayenne for red chili, cilantro for coriander, eggplant instead of brinjal), chopped the cilantro stems and added them earlier (separate from the leaves), and used canned coconut milk.
The Connoisseur- "These spices, they have aged like fine wine, no?"
Not true, alas .. it works more like the Basmati rice in the little brown zipper bag that advertises itself as 'aged.' My sources (the reliable ones anyway) tell me that - with rice in particular - age is no blessing. Like Beaujolais nouveau, fresh is essential.
The Historian- "The length of time I've had these approximates the duration of the caravan trip from Southeast Asia along the Silk Road at the time of Marco Polo."
Let me here state, without fear of contradiction, that some of the spices in my cupboard may have been around SINCE the time of Marco Polo. I know there is a jar of star anise somewhere around that has been on one shelf or another since Nixon left China.
The (Half?)-Wit- "Old Spice. Isn't that a well-known deodorant? I assure you, these taste better."
Uh, "ba-da-boom?" (though Major Bowes' gong would be more appropriate)...
I intend these remarks to fend off awkward comment, and freely confess they seldom work. But this stuff is expensive. I recently priced the box of saffron I used to get for $20 and it now costs $140. The little jars and cans are not cheap, either, and most of the uncommon ones are hard to find at My Local Grocery, which specializes in fifty house brands of seasoned salt.
Compromise takes several forms. I grow fresh herbs when I can. I generally use more of a spice than a recipe calls for. (Not always though. Indian 'hing' - in apothecary English, 'asafoetida' - adds a delightful dimension to certain foods when used in small quantities. Used in amounts larger than a small pea, it can make an otherwise wonderful dish taste like old, burned truck tires...) I seal the jars tightly when I put them back on the shelf. And I keep them around longer than I feel I should...
Let this apologia serve as an introduction to a pair of Indian recipes. They are both vegetarian - a subject I will take up at another time - and both are quite tasty in contrasting ways. The cauliflower is simmered in garlic, ginger and coconut; the eggplant dry fried with onion, cilantro, and garam masala.
 |
| Old friends - stalwart standbys |
And, I would never have considered either of these dishes if I didn't have a palette of spices to draw from.
CAULIFLOWER IN COCONUT SAUCE
Ingredients:
1 cauliflower
1/2 Roma tomato, chopped small
3 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
1/2" ginger, smashed and chopped
1 can whole green chilis, sliced lengthwise
1 can coconut milk (15 oz)
1T vegetable oil
1/2t cardamom
1/4 stick cinnamon
10 whole cloves
1/4t cayenne
Salt to taste
Method:
separate Cauliflower into small florets
add 1/2t salt to the cauliflower florets and pour boiling water over them. Cover and set aside for 5 minutes, then discard water and retain the florets
saute cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, green chili, garlic, and ginger for 3 minutes
add chopped tomato, cauliflower, chili powder and coconut milk and continue cooking to reduce sauce
salt to taste
serve hot, garnished with chopped coriander leaves
EGGPLANT BURTA/ROASTED EGGPLANT COOKED WITH TOMATOES AND SPICES
(baingan ka burta)
Ingredients:
1 eggplant (large is good)
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 can green chili, chopped
1/2 Roma tomato, chopped
1 bunch cilantro
1/2t cayenne
1/2t turmeric
1T vegetable oil
1/2t garam masala
salt to taste
cooking spray
Method:
Spray a baking pan with cooking spray; halve the eggplant put in pan, cut sides down; spray skin generously and broil for 30 minutes
When cool, scrape pulp from skin and mash with a fork; set aside
saute onions, minced cilantro stems and green chili
add tomato, cayenne and salt
when tomato is soft, add mashed eggplant, roughly chopped cilantro leaves and garam masala and cook on low heat for 7 minutes
Serve hot, garnished with toasted sesame seeds
Notes to both recipes:
- I served both these dishes with steamed rice
- Indian flatbreads would make a nice accompaniment
- Making these two dishes together, I used one can of green chilis, one tomato and one bunch of cilantro
- Since I prepared this for company, I have not figured the calories and carbs for these recipes - I made a sensible amount of rice and trusted to luck.
modified from a wonderful website for Indian recipes:
http://www.ammas.com/ar/home.cfm?r=v_arec&id=44&topicid=2
http://www.ammas.com/ar/home.cfm?r=v_arec&id=142&topicid=2
I altered some quantities (less oil, more onion, 'a bunch' of cilantro rather than 'a couple of fistfuls'), changed names to those I typically use (cayenne for red chili, cilantro for coriander, eggplant instead of brinjal), chopped the cilantro stems and added them earlier (separate from the leaves), and used canned coconut milk.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Pescado en Amarillo
Fish in Saffron Sauce
Spanish cooking. It uses so much garlic so well. A dish of beans will have a whole head of garlic (they call it a bird!) tucked in the middle and baked . I could talk about paella for days, but I won't. I'll focus instead on this apotheosis of white fish with saffron and aromatic vegetables, served over rice. Without the rice this recipe becomes a tapa for six, but it does perfectly well as a one dish meal for two, and stays within the parameters of a 2000 calorie diet.
Ingredients:
12 oz firm white fish, cut in 1-inch cubes
1T olive oil
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 finely chopped onion
1 finely chopped green bell pepper
1 finely chopped Roma tomato
2 bay leaves
1/4C stock
1C rice
2C water
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
A pinch of saffron
A grating of fresh nutmeg
A dash of cognac
Method:
start the rice
saute the garlic, onion, and green pepper in the olive oil on moderate heat, about 5 minutes
add the remaining ingredients except the fish and simmer for 5 minutes
add the fish and cook covered until the fish is firm and opaque, about 10 minutes
arrange the rice in a serving dish and top it with the fish
Serves two, each:
815 calories
105 carbs
Except for more garlic and more vegetables, this recipe came from here:
http://www.worldfamousrecipes.com/2006/05/16/verification/
Spanish cooking. It uses so much garlic so well. A dish of beans will have a whole head of garlic (they call it a bird!) tucked in the middle and baked . I could talk about paella for days, but I won't. I'll focus instead on this apotheosis of white fish with saffron and aromatic vegetables, served over rice. Without the rice this recipe becomes a tapa for six, but it does perfectly well as a one dish meal for two, and stays within the parameters of a 2000 calorie diet.
 |
| still life with spanish saffron |
Ingredients:
12 oz firm white fish, cut in 1-inch cubes
1T olive oil
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 finely chopped onion
1 finely chopped green bell pepper
1 finely chopped Roma tomato
2 bay leaves
1/4C stock
1C rice
2C water
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
A pinch of saffron
A grating of fresh nutmeg
A dash of cognac
Method:
start the rice
saute the garlic, onion, and green pepper in the olive oil on moderate heat, about 5 minutes
add the remaining ingredients except the fish and simmer for 5 minutes
add the fish and cook covered until the fish is firm and opaque, about 10 minutes
arrange the rice in a serving dish and top it with the fish
Serves two, each:
815 calories
105 carbs
Except for more garlic and more vegetables, this recipe came from here:
http://www.worldfamousrecipes.com/2006/05/16/verification/
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