Carrot Puree with Egyptian Dukkah

This is a magical combination from Ana Sortun, the chef of Oleana in Cambridge, Massachusetts and author of Spice, Flavors of the Eastern Mediterranean. It’s been high on my list of things to make at home for a while and now I don’t why I was waiting.

Dukkah is an Egyptian spice mix that, in this version, mixes toasted almonds and toasted cumin, coriander and sesame seeds. Sortun also adds toasted coconut flakes. Other versions add dried mint. While dukkah is a versatile addition to all kinds of food, Sortun serves it as a bread condiment along with carrot puree and olive oil. The carrot puree is a coarse mash with oil, vinegar, harissa, cumin and ginger added, making it smooth and bringing out the sweetness of the carrots, with a counterpoint of spice.

 

At the restaurant, you dip the bread in olive oil and then in the dukkah (or add the dukkah to the oil) and spoon on the carrot puree. Honestly, the carrot puree is fabulous on its own and I could imagine skipping the bread and oil and simply adding the spice and nut mixture straight into the carrots. Or skipping the carrots and piling the dukkah on bread dipped in olive oil. Other than halving the recipe, I made this straight from the cookbook, though I paraphrased the method and left out the unnecessary salt. To make dukkah, you should have a way of grinding the spices. I use a small former coffee grinder that I reserve for spices. I suppose a mortar and pestle would work too but the sesame seeds should be ground to a paste.

 

Dukkah, adapted from Ana Sortun’s Spice, Flavors of the Eastern Mediterranean

¼ c blanched almonds

4 ½ tsp coriander seeds

1 tbsp cumin seeds

1 tbsp sesame seeds (white, untoasted)

2 tbsp unsweetened dried shredded coconut

¼ tsp or less salt

¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper

In a sauté pan over medium heat, brown the almonds, stirring (about 4 minutes). Remove to a board to cool and finely chop them.  Place in a small bowl.

Wipe out the sauté pan and add the coriander and cumin seeds, toasting them over medium heat until fragrant (about 2 minutes).  Remove to a spice grinder, let cool and then grind them, adding them to the almond mixture.

Wipe out the pan and add the sesame seeds, toasting them until lightly brown (about 2 minutes). Remove to the spice grinder.

Wipe out the pan and add coconut, toasting it until lightly brown (about 2 minutes). Add to the sesame seeds in the grinder. When cool, process to a paste and add to the spice and nut mixture. Season with salt and pepper.

Carrot Puree, adapted from Ana Sortun’s Spice, Flavors of the Eastern Mediterranean

1 lb carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

2 sp harissa

½ tsp ground cumin

¼ tsp ground ginger

Salt and pepper to taste (I omitted this)

In a large saucepan cover the carrots with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat to simmer the carrots until tender but not mushy (about 20 minutes). Drain the carrots and return them to the pan for 30 seconds to a minute over high heat to dry out. (Don’t let them burn. The point is to eliminate the surface water.) Mash the carrots with a fork, leaving them a little chunky. Sprinkle the carrots with white wine vinegar and add the olive oil and spices. Season with salt and pepper if desired. (This doesn’t need salt.)

 

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Shrimp Jambalaya

I’ve been wanting to make Jambayala since Mardi Gras and finally got around to it, partly because I had some frozen shrimp and shrimp stock in my refrigerator, some red and yellow peppers, a partial can of tomatoes and a little bit of ham. The idea just jumped out of the fridge at me. I’m sure the real Nola folk would laugh at my version but it came from the New York Times (double laugh?).

Jambalaya is like a pilaf or a risotto in that the rice is sautéed in a pan in which you’ve already sautéed vegetables (and in this case ham) in butter and/or oil. Wine and stock are added, along with seasonings. I made the stock from the shells of the shrimp I was adding to the jambalaya supplemented by stock from my freezer. The shrimp is added just at the end. This is the kind of dish my mother called “more-ish.”

Shrimp Jambalaya based on a 2008 recipe from The New York Times

2 tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, diced (about 1 c)

½ medium red bell pepper, diced (about ½ c)

½ medium yellow bell pepper, diced (about ½ c)

Optional: ¼ c chopped flavorful aged ham

1 c long grain white rice (or long grain brown rice that has been parboiled for a few minutes to start the cooking process (or you can buy par-boiled rice, not my taste)

1 clove garlic, minced

¼ tsp cayenne

¼ tsp paprika

½ tsp dried thyme

¼ c dry white wine

¾- 1 c chopped canned (or fresh) tomatoes

3 c (more or less) shrimp stock (see recipe below)

1 lb shrimp, peeled and cleaned, and cut into small pieces if large

¼ chopped parsley

Optional: 1 tbsp chopped chives or scallions

Salt and pepper to taste

Saute the onions, bell pepper and ham (if using) in the warmed olive oil over medium heat for about 8 minutes, until the vegetables start to brown slightly.

Add the rice, garlic, peppers and thyme and stir to coat the rice in the oil.

Add the tomatoes and stir to combine. Add 2 c of the stock, bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer, partially covered for about 20 minutes, checking that it doesn’t dry out and adding stock (or water) if it does.

Add the shrimp and cook for about 3 minutes until it turns pink.  Stir and set aside for the liquid to absorb fully, about 5 minutes. Adjust the seasonings. (I don’t add salt but if you do, add it at the end.) Garnish with parley and scallions or chives as you wish.

Serves at least 4.

Shrimp Stock

Shrimp shells, rinsed

Oil

Onions, garlic, other ingredients optional

White wine

Water

Peel the shells from the shrimp, rinse and pat dry. Saute the vegetables, if you’re using them, in a little olive oil to soften. Add the shrimp shells and turn up the heat, stirring the shells until they turn pink. Add a splash of white wine and let it evaporate. Add enough water barely to cover the shrimp shells and cook slowly, partially covered, for about 20 minutes. Drain, pressing down on the shells to capture the trapped flavor but not so much as to render the stock cloudy.  Can be frozen.

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Mango Salsa

While driving the other day, I listened to “A Prairie Home Companion”  on NPR spoofing a marital mini-spat in which the wife was trying to get her husband to stop chuckling, so she just re-named him “Chuck.” Well  I need to say that my now re-named husband “Chip” has a salsa obsession. He loves his bowl of tortilla chips and something to go with them. I object to those very expensive jars of glop sold in the grocery store as salsa, so during the summer, I can tomatillo sauce, several types of tomato salsas and peach salsa. The pantry by now is getting thin, so I’ve been looking for new alternatives beyond the other standards like hummus.

How we came to have a glut of organic mangoes in our markets is beyond me, but we’re enjoying them every which way. Here’s a flavorful salsa with sweet and hot peppers, red onion, lime juice and cilantro, all ingredients that I happened to have on hand. The relative amounts of ingredients can vary by taste and availability, but my rule of thumb is to mix colors (orange, violet, red, green), textures (soft mango, crunchy onions, semi-crunchy peppers, and crisp herbs), and tastes (sweet and hot at least).

Mango Salsa

1 yellow mango, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice

2-3 tbsp minced red onion

2-3 tbsp minced red pepper

2-3 tsp minced jalapeno pepper

2-3 tbsp chopped cilantro

Juice of 1 lime

Combine all ingredients and let sit for a few minutes to “get acquainted” before serving.

Note about cubing mangoes: Mangoes have a central pit that clings to the fruit. So the best way to produce cubes, after peeling the mango, is to grid the fruit. I grid it pole to pole along the widest part (the pit is like a bulging ellipse) since it lays flatter that way. Laying it flat, I cut through to the put this way that way to produce squares, then stand it up vertically and peel the cubes off the pit.

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Dark Days Week 16: Pan-roasted Mushrooms and Roasted Tomatoes on Polenta

At one time, communities throughout the US had their own gristmills, where farmers could take their grain to be ground, leaving a small amount for the miller as his pay. We still see remnants of those buildings throughout the northeast. A couple of weeks ago, a writer named Scott Peacock, who collaborated with late Edna Lewis on a cookbook about southern food, was interviewed on NPR about his “Alabama Project,” a series of interviews with older folks about their food memories. One of the interesting stories compared biscuits and cornbread. Rural families routinely grew their own corn and took it to the community mill for grinding and therefore cornbread became a mealtime staple. However, wheat flour had to be purchased and therefore, with the family’s limited resources, biscuits were treated as precious. At breakfast time, people would fill up on the previous evening’s cornbread since there wouldn’t be enough biscuits to satisfy their hunger.

We don’t grow wheat in any quantity around here either, and the local flour mills that still operate in places like Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, source organically grown wheat from the Midwest. Corn, for us too, is another matter. There still are functioning mills, including one in Pittstown, New Jersey, that I believe organically raises corn and grinds its own cornmeal.  Freshly ground meal or flour has a shorter shelf life than commercial flour (no surprise) and I was pushing my luck with a bag of coarse cornmeal that I purchased at our local health food store. It was stored in an airtight container but I probably should have refrigerated or frozen it.

Although the Dark Days Challenge, a blog event that challenges participants to use only sustainable, organic, local and ethical ingredients, has folded for the year, I am continuing through to the original April 15 close. I find it a useful forum to focus on the topic of local, organic food, especially in the winter when little is growing. This week, I took advantage of local cornmeal, local Toma cheese, my homemade butter, organic tomatoes that I harvested at our CSA last summer, roasted with garlic and thyme, and froze, and our ever present local mushrooms, which I pan roasted with winter savory and thyme. I made the polenta in the microwave since I had little time on a weeknight to cook it on the stove (which I find tedious) or in the oven (my usual method). Polenta is served either as a relatively soft mush, as I did here, or is spread in a cake tin to cool, after which it is sliced and grilled.

Roasted tomatoes are great to have on hand since they become an instant sauce or add depth of flavor to soups and stews. I typically use up the last of the plum tomatoes this way, since by the end of the season, I’ve had it with canning. However, if you’re craving tomatoes in the winter, even the store bought plum tomatoes will be improve by roasting them.  I roast halved tomatoes in olive oil, cut side down, at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, remove the skins and turn down the heat to 250 degrees and roast until slightly leathery but not dried out, about 2 hours.

Polenta

½ c coarse stone ground cornmeal

1 ¾ c water

½ tsp salt

1 tsp butter or olive oil

¼ c grated cheese (Cherry Grove Toma or Parmesan)

Oven method: mix cornmeal, water and salt in an ovenproof baking dish, cover and place in a preheated 325 degree oven. Uncover after 20 minutes and still in the butter or oil. Re-cover and bake for another 30-40 minutes, stirring a few times, until cooked. It should still be a little soupy. Mix in cheese if using, and serve immediately for soft polenta or spread in a cake pan until firm. Refrigerate and slice to grill.

Microwave version: Mix ingredients and microwave, covered with a plate for 8 minutes. Remove carefully (dish will be very hot), stir in butter or oil and return to oven, covered. Microwave for another 5 minutes, remove and stir again. It should be starting to clump. Repeat once or twice more, or until the cornmeal is cooked (taste it) and there is still some liquid in the pot. It will continue to cook. Mix in cheese if using, and serve immediately for soft polenta or spread in a cake pan until firm. Refrigerate and slice to grill.

Pan-roasted Mushrooms

1 lb mushrooms, preferably a mixture of types

1-2 tbsp olive oil

1 shallot, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

Salt and pepper

3/4 tsp dried thyme or winter savory or 1+ tsp fresh thyme or savory

Fresh herbs such as lovage, parsley, or tarragon

Optional: butter

Clean and slice the mushrooms. Working in batches that cover the bottom of a pan in one layer, sauté the mushrooms in olive oil over medium high heat until browned on one side. Toss. Add a portion of the shallot, garlic and seasonings and continue to cook for a few minutes until the shallots are cooked. Add a touch of butter if desired and remove to a bowl. Repeat with the rest of the mushrooms.

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Pear Cardamom Sorbet

This looks like snow but is an explosion of flavor: pears, cardamom, and coconut, each with its own identity yet melded into a tasty experience. I had poached some pears in a cardamom-infused simple syrup and used them in a quick bread for the Spice Rack Challenge. In addition to the syrup, infused with crushed whole cardamom seeds (not the pods, the little dark nuggets inside), I had a few slices of pear left over. The syrup was sitting in the fridge getting deeply steeped and spiced for a couple of days, when we ran out of sweet stuff for the sweet tooth in the family.  If I had had more poached pears, I would have pureed them as the base for sorbet, but to keep this dairy free, I used light coconut milk.

Pear Cardamom Sorbet

1 ½ – 2 c cardamom-pear poaching liquid

2 poached pears

1 14 oz can light or regular coconut milk

Puree the ingredients in a food processor and chill thoroughly.  Process in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s directions.

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Pickled Cauliflower with Pork and Penne

When I pickled cauliflower in the fall, it was this dish that I had in mind, and I was not disappointed. It came from Eugenia Bone’s Well-Preserved, a great canning book that provides recipes for the preserved products. The cauliflower was slightly sweet, so I was dubious, but by changing proportions of the ingredients, and adding onion and hot red pepper flakes, the dish was a winner. I love the fact that pickled vegetables don’t always have to be considered antipasti.

I intended to make my own pasta for this, from locally processed whole wheat flour, or at the least, but I ended up with an organic whole wheat pasta. With local pork, wine, cheese, onion, garlic, thyme and parsley (from my garden), and homemade chicken stock, this was a quality meal for the Dark Days.

Pickled Cauliflower with Pork and Penne adapted from Eugenia Bone

2 tsp olive oil

1 tbsp minced garlic

2 tbsp minced onion

½ lb ground pork

¼ c dry white wine

1 tsp dried thyme leaves

Black pepper and red pepper flakes

¼ c homemade or good quality chicken stock (more if necessary)

¼- ½ lb whole wheat penne pasta (I used 1/4 lb for 2 servings)

1 pint pickled cauliflower, drained

¼ c grated Parmesan cheese

1 tbsp minced parsley

Warm the oil in a sauté pan and lightly cook the garlic and onion over medium-low heat for about 2 minutes, until the onion becomes translucent and the garlic fragrant. Add the pork and stir frequently to break up the pieces, for about 5 minutes. Add the wine and seasonings and cook, uncovered, until the wine evaporates, about 3-4 minutes. Stir in the chicken stock and cover the pan, cooking for another 5-6 minutes, until the pork is crumbly and moist.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta in boiling water and drain.

Add the cooked pasta to the pork and stir to combine. Add the pickled cauliflower and a little more chicken stock if the mixture seems too dry. (It’s not a very saucy dish.) Adjust the seasonings if necessary. (I did not add salt since the cauliflower pickle contained a little salt and so did the cheese.)

Turn into a serving bowl and toss with Parmesan cheese and parsley.

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Cardamom Quick Bread Two Ways: with Mangoes and Pears

Cardamom seed pods, lightly crushed with the side of a knife (like peeling garlic) reveal a bunch of little black or brown nuggets, aromatic ingredients that are the basis of our chai and incorporated into sweet and savory dishes. Like star anise, cardamom imparts a characteristic but elusive aroma and flavor, and has a lingering presence, slightly hot, slightly sweet. I associate cardamom with Indian food – chutneys and chicken – or with Scandinavian food, mostly baked goods, but I’ve been known to incorporate it into strawberry jam come canning season.

For this month’s Spice Rack Challenge, I poached winter pears – Anjou, but I could have used Bosc — in a simple syrup rendered fragrant and flavorful with lightly crushed cardamom seeds. This tasted as great as it smelled. I folded some of the pears into a cardamom quick bread batter. Since I was making the quick bread in two medium-sized loaf tins rather than a full sized loaf pan, I had the luxury of changing fruits, so added cubed fresh mango to the second loaf.  Both were great with tea steeped with a crushed cardamom seed, not quite chai but delicious and refreshing.

To cube mango, peel it and slice it lengthwise and crosswise into squares the size you want. Starting at one end, cut the cubes out by placing the knife with flat side against the pit. The first couple of pieces are hard, like prying the first brownie, but they slide out later.

If our local organic grocery market hadn’t run out of bulk cardamom pods, (is everyone doing the same thing?) I might have made a chicken dish with cardamom. I sure hope someone in the Spice Rack Challenge does since I could use a good recipe or method.

By the way, you should consider buying tiny amounts of spices from a purveyor with a healthy turnover who sells spices by the pound and not the jar. The spices stay much fresher and less prone to lose their vitality aging in the drawer.  Whenever possible, grind your own spices. For the cardamom bread, I used pre-ground cardamom that I happened to have on hand.

Fruited Cardamom Quick Bread

½ c butter, softened

½ c light brown sugar

½ c granulated sugar

2 eggs

1¾ c flour

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 tsp ground cardamom

2 c pears poached in cardamom syrup and cubed (or mango cubes)

OR

1 c poached pears, cubed and 1 c mango cubes

1 c chopped pecans

Confectioners’ sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two medium sized loaf pans (approximately 4 x 8 x 2 ½ inches).

Cream the butter until light and fluffy and gradually add the sugar, creaming until light. Add the eggs and thoroughly combine. Sift the dry ingredients together and fold into the butter-sugar-egg mixture. The batter will be thick. Carefully fold the fruit and nuts into the batter, trying to distribute them evenly. (If making this with two kinds of fruit, put half the batter in a separate bowl and add the fruit. Repeat with the other half. Turn the batter into the pan and bake for about 35 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, and unmold onto a rack to cool. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar and store in an airtight container.

Poached Pears in Cardamom Syrup

This recipe can be varied by adding different flavorings (vanilla bean, for example) or no flavoring at all.

6 cardamom pods

2 c water

¾ c sugar

Juice of 1 lemon

4 ripe Anjou or Bosc pears

Piece of parchment paper cut to fit the pan

Crush the cardamom pods gently with the side of a knife to release the seeds from the husk. Lightly crush the seeds with a mortar and pestle.

Bring the water, sugar, and cardamom seeds to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the sugar.

Peel and core the pears and slice them lengthwise into six pieces, dropping them into a bowl containing the lemon juice. Place the pears into the poaching liquid, cover with parchment paper to keep the pears submerged, and let simmer until just tender and not mushy, about 5 minutes for Anjou (or Bartlett) pears and around 10 or so for Bosc pears. If they are still crisp, you can cool them in the liquid. Otherwise, remove them to a plate to cool so they don’t disintegrate.

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Mango Lime Sorbet

Our local organic produce market had a glut of ripe small yellow mangoes, which seemed like just the thing to spark up our cool gray weather. They were so delicious that they didn’t need any embellishment, just a hint of lime. Yummy served with a simple ginger wafer.  The recipe is based on David Lebovitz’s Mango Sorbet in The Perfect Scoop. He added dark rum to his, which I bet is great.

Mango Lime Sorbet adapted from David Lebovitz

3 small or 2 large ripe mangoes (about 2 lbs)

¾ c water

¾ c sugar

Juice of 2 limes

Warm the water and sugar together, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Set aside to cool. Add the lime juice to the water and pour into a food processor. Peel and cube each mango, dropping the pieces into the food processor as you go. (Slice the mango vertically, then horizontally, and pry the sections from the pit.) Blend the mixture until smooth and chill it thoroughly. Process the mango puree in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s directions. Makes about 1 quart.

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Dark Days Week 14: Celeriac and Potato Gratin

With daylight savings time upon us, the dark days don’t seem so dark anymore, except in the food department. We are still diligently working away at our plentiful roots and winter squash, among many other local provisions put away in the mad stash of late fall. This lovely, aromatic combination of thinly sliced celeriac and potato baked in milk and cream can be eaten as a meal or a side dish, and is adaptable to the addition of other ingredients such as sliced onions or bits of ham or bacon. There was a similar recipe published in the New York Times recently but this is my standard way of making this. I heat the potatoes and celeriac in warm milk and cream with a little salt and garlic, and then turn them into the baking dish.  This keeps them from discoloring and also makes them cook more evenly. I used waxy potatoes here and didn’t peel them because I thought their texture would be more compatible with the celeriac than floury potatoes.  Adjust the milk to the consistency of the potatoes.  I used a local cheese that reminds me of Gruyere.

Celeriac and Potato Gratin

2 large red or yellow potatoes

1 small or ½ large knob of celeriac

¾ c milk

¼ c heavy cream

1 clove garlic, thinly sliced

1 tsp salt

½ c grated cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter or oil a baking dish. Bring the milk and cream to a simmer on the stove, add the garlic and salt, and turn off the heat. Prepare the potatoes and celeriac by peeling them (or leaving the skin on the potatoes if you want) and slicing them thin, dropping them in the liquid as you go to keep them from discoloring. Bring the liquid to nearly a boil, adding more milk if necessary. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish, neatly arranging the slices on top. Sprinkle with grated cheese and bake for about 40 minutes or until bubbly and brown.

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Black Lentils with Roasted Carrots and Celeriac

An improvised dish that evolved as I went along, this one’s a keeper. It may not look like much, but the combination of flavors was amazing. Typically, when I cook lentils as a main course or side dish, I add diced onions, carrots and sometimes turnip to the legumes while they’re cooking. Flavored with some herbs, salt and maybe pepper, it makes a nutritious dish. However, this combination is amped up by roasting diced carrots and celeriac, and adding a dressing of walnut oil and sherry wine vinegar and a sprinkling of cress-like chickweed (really).  I had lightly salted the vegetables when roasting them, but with the oil and vinegar, I bet you could leave out the salt and not notice. I served this lukewarm with salmon and a celeriac salad also dressed with walnut oil.

Black Lentils with Roasted Carrots and Celeriac

1 c black lentils

2 c water (more if using green or brown lentils)

1 large carrot, peeled and diced in ¼-inch pieces

1 few slices of celeriac, peeled and diced in ¼-inch pieces (equal amount to carrot, sprinkle with lemon juice to avoid discoloration if not roasting it right away)

Olive oil

Pinch of salt (optional)

1-2 tsp walnut oil

1 tsp sherry wine vinegar or to taste

Herbs of choice (parsley, lovage, chickweed)

Rinse the lentils and pick them over to remove any small stones. Bring the water to a boil and add the lentils. When the water returns to a boil, lower the heat and simmer the mixture, covered or partially covered, until the lentils are tender but not mushy, approximately about 25 minutes. Check partway through and add more water if necessary.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the diced carrot and celeriac on a baking sheet, sprinkle with olive oil and a little salt and roast until tender, approximately 10 minutes. Remove to a plate and keep warm.

When the lentils are cooked, drain them and add the oil and vinegar. When ready to serve, toss with the carrots, celeriac and herbs.  Serves 4 as a side dish.

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