From Suq to Shuk

Winter pasta - root vegetables in a lemon-cream sauce with mini penne

Delicious!  So delicious in fact that I barely noticed that I was catering to my good vegetarian friend Levitz and left out all the meat products.  This meal came after a number of days of not eating very much and I wanted something to fill me up.  By the time I decided to do all of this, it was dark, the Shuk was closed and I was forced to do my shopping in the supermarket in Dizengoff Centre.  The place is a madhouse.  Mega Ba'Ir, the supermarket that I occasionally frequent there, actually has a tremendous assortment of produce, meat, dairy products - in short, it's a pretty good supermarket.  The great exception to that statement is that the lovely Russian ladies that they've pulled out of retirement to work the registers move at a speed somewhere between a snail and a turtle.  For that reason, I spent about 15 minutes perusing the supermarket, and over 20 minutes waiting on line to pay.

The fact that I went out to shop at 6:30 in the evening and only returned by 7:30, meant that we ate late.  It didn't really matter, however, as my friend Jordana came over with her boyfriend and we chatted for a good amount of time while I got the food in motion.  To chatting eventually turned to a lively though civil argument about secular vs. religious values and communities with all parties expressing their views rather forcefully.  Eating commenced and the debate died down.  Between the stimulating company and the flavourful food, it was overall a lovely winter evening.

This is a relatively simple dish to make and not overly time consuming.  Recommend you make it at home.  Enjoy.

Ingredients:

30 g butter

1 Meyer lemon

1 tsp fennel seeds

1 clove of garlic, thinly sliced

2 large parsnips, peeled and diced

1 large celeriac (celery root), peeled and diced

2 sunchokes (Jerusalem artichokes), peeled and diced

1 medium Yukon gold potato, peeled and diced

1 medium turnip, peeled and diced

1 zucchini, washed and diced

500ml of 15% cream

1 500g box of mini penne

S+P to taste

1 thai chilli, thinly sliced for garnish

Directions:

Grate Meyer lemon zest and set aside in a small bowl.  Juice the lemon in a large bowl and and fill 2/3 with cold water.  After peeling, leave all vegetables in the water during prep and immediately return to water after diced.  Strain only once ready to add to the pot.

Melt the butter over medium-low heat in a sauce pan and add the meyer lemon zest, garlic and fennel seeds.  Allow to sweat for 3 minutes, then add the root vegetables and cream.  Mix well and bring to a simmer.  Cover and lower the heat in between low and medium-low.  Allow to simmer covered for 15-20 minutes or until the root vegetables are al dente (add the zucchini half way through).  Add S+P to taste.

Meanwhile boil water and prepare the mini penne according to the directions on the box.  When ready, strain, return to the pot and toss with 1 tbls of olive oil to keep from sticking.  Transfer too large spoonfuls of pasta to a bowl, add one large spoonful of the sauce then repeat once.  Top with chillies and serve immediately.  B'Teavon!

Impromptu noodles with May

A few weeks ago I went to the Shuk with the intent purpose of stirring up some savoury and olfactory memories of Southeast Asia.  Having had a thoroughly European culinary education in terms of technique, I was somewhat hesitant to buy a wok.  After my trip to Asia, I realised that no mastery of Asian flavours could make up for the lack of Asian techniques.  The most tasty specific dish I ate the entire time I was in Southeast Asia was a stir-fried beef and noodles dish that I bought for a dollar on the streets of Phnom Penh.  I have yet to recreate that specific dish, but I've made a few variations.  With a good deal of vegetarian friends, the past 6 months has seen me omit meat from my dishes with far greater frequency than one would expect.  At first glance, I was some what perplexed by the Asian vegetables on offer at the shuk as they were not those to which I was accustomed.  Having just been to Cambodia and Vietnam, I felt more comfortable in using them.  The day that I made this particular dish, snow peas made their first appearance of the year in the Shuk.

So... I used my new noodle ladle/strainer in the preparation of my noodles.  Did all of my prep work ahead of time for I have learned that when it comes to stir-frying in a wok, there's no time to finish the prep once the cooking process has begun.  Originally only May was to come to dinner but she asked if her friend Dalit could join us and I happily acquiesced to her request.  I wanted to add a bit of meat to my meal with out polluting it for the lovely vegetarian May.  My solution was to buy a bit of smoked duck breast, which I then fried in its own fat like bacon and top the already plated stir-fry with such.  I have recently found a stable source of mico-herbs, including micro-Thai basil (rather strange since there's no large size Thai basil, but whatever).  The food and company were  both delightful.  Enjoy.

Ingredients:

1 large package of wheat noodles, boiled, strained and set aside

1 tbls peanut oil

2 stalks of lemon grass, bottom part only and well bruised

6 slender Thai eggplants, sliced into 1" discs

2 asian (small) shallots, minced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

3" galangal, peeled, crushed with the back of a knife then sliced thinly

1.5 tbls sugar

1.5 tbls fish sauce

1 tbls sweet Thai soy sauce

~1 lb of snow peas, cleaned

1/4 cointreau

1 bunch cilantro, washed and 1/4 of the stem chopped off

1 bunch of green garlic (asian chives/garlic chives), washed

50 grams sliced smoke duck breast

micro Thai basil and sriracha to garnish

Directions:

Heat the oil in a wok over medium heat.  Add the lemongrass and stir fry for 2 minutes.  Add the eggplant and stir fry for another 6 minutes.  Move to the side, add a little bit more oil and add the shallots, garlic and galangal to that open space.  Mix with the rest of the contents of the pan, add the sugar and mix in.  After 1 minute, add the fish sauce and allow to evaporate completely. Add the noodles, sweet Thai soy sauce and snow peas and stir fry for 2 minutes. Add the cointreau and allow to evaporate completely.  Turn off the heat and stir in the cilantro and green garlic.

In a sauté pan, heat the slices of smoked duck lying flat over medium heat.  When you've reached the appropriate crispiness, transfer to a plate lined with paper towel.

Plate noodles and top with crispy duck, micro Thai basil and sriracha to taste.  B'Teavon!

 

Leemor's Indian Birthday Dinner

Thursday marked two decades of life for my brother Isaac, and an unspecified number for my dear friend Leemor.  Alas, I was unable to see my brother on his birthday, but I nevertheless prepared a feast for Leemor and our friends that was truly a delight from beginning to end (save a few minor injuries).  Leemor had originally attempted to organise a pot luck.  I asked for some co-ordination in the choices of food so that we didn't end up with disparate dishes that clashed.  Eventually I offered to do all the cooking and our friends Tami and Dan graciously offered to host the meal in their home.  With an initial prediction of 12 diners, the majority of whom were vegetarian, I decided to create a menu that was both affordable, flavourful and filling for those both vegetarian and those accustomed to eating meat.  Indian food is typically vegetarian and so I decided to make an Indian meal.

The first dish that imagined was black dal.  Lentil are cheap, nutritious, tasty and filling.  I bought a 1.5 kilos of black beluga lentils, without realising just how much they would expand.  Had I only served the dal, there would have been enough for 30 people.  I prepared the dal at home along with a variation on my mothers recipe for cooked carrots.  With Leemor's help, I then transported those along with the rest of my ingredients and some equipment over to Tami and Dan's apartment.  There I made 5 more dishes, a spicy chickpea and mint dish that I've made several times in the past, pomegranate and saffron fried onions, saffron rice cooked in the oven, raita and a green papaya-radish salad with a cilantro dressing.

I incurred my first injury while slicing through the third of four large onions and right into my thumb, then promptly ran around the house like a madman looking for a band aid.  Leemor treated my injury and then I got back to the rest of the cooking.  Several hours later, I took the knuckle of my right middle finger through the julienne setting on the mandalin along with the green papaya and got a lovely set of four parallel cuts.  After a second round of acting like a maniac, our hostess Tami treated my second injury and then very politely kicked everyone out of the kitchen for me.  I decided that more than enough green papaya had been sliced, and that the salad would have to do as it was.

Injuries aside, the evening went swimmingly.  Leemor further treated my condition with some Johnny Walker Blue Label that was far more effective than the band-aids.  Tami collected all the guests in the living room for a group photo and crowned the birthday girl with a surprise floral diadem.  The 12 guests turned out to be 16 but there was more than enough food.  We all took our places at the table and dug in.  The night was equally pleasurable for its company as it was for the food.  I hope that our lives will be full of many more such happy occasions.

Ingredients:

For the dal

1 tbls mustard oil

1 tbls ghee

1 tbls coriander seeds

2 tsp mustard seeds

1 small stick of cinnamon, broken up coarsely with the back of a knife

1 Spanish onion, diced

4 cloves of garlic, minced

3" of ginger, peeled, crushed with the back of a knife then coarsely chopped

3 dried chillies, two of them seeded

1 tsp of garam masala

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1 tbls of jaggery or brown sugar

the juice of one lime

1 400ml can of peeled tomatoes, half the juices discarded

1.5 kilo dal, picked for stones then soaked for 20 minutes in cold water.

S+P as desired

4 cups of milk

For the chickpeas

3 large cans of chickpeas, drained

6 thai green chillies, sliced thinly (with the seeds)

about 50 mint leaves, washed and dried

2 tbls butter

2 chickpea flour

1 tsp turmeric

S+P to taste

For the onions

2 tbls of vegetable oil

3 large Spanish onions, sliced radially

15 strands of saffron

1 tbls of brown sugar

the juice of one lime

the juice of one pomegranate

S+P to taste

For the rice

6 cups of basmati rice

1/3 cup vegetable oil

15 strands of saffron

9 cups of boiling water

a few pinches of salt

For the raita

1.5 cups of greek yoghurt

1.5" of ginger, peeled and grated

1/2 cup of seltzer (soda water)

For the salad

1/2 large green papaya, peeled and sliced on the julienne setting on a mandalin

1 bunch of cilantro, stems chopped off and reserved for the dressing

about 40 mint leaves

about 8 large radishes

For the dressing

the cilantro stems

the juice of one lime

1/3 cup of vegetable oil

2 medium cloves of garlic

1 tsp of mustard

S+P to taste

Directions:

Heat the mustard oil and ghee over medium in a dutch oven and add the coriander and mustard seeds.  When the mustard seeds begin to pop, add the onion and cinnamon.  Sautée for 8 minutes, then add the garlic, ginger and dried chillies.  Sautée for another 3 minutes then add the cloves, jaggery and garam masala.  Deglaze the pan with the lime juice, then add the tomatoes.  Break up the tomatoes in the pot with a wooden spoon.  Strain the lentils and add them to the pot.  Add water to cover and bring to a simmer then add a few pinches of salt.  Add water every 10 minutes or so, ensuring that the lentils are always submerged as they expand.  After half an hour, put the lid on but open just a crack.  Lower the heat to medium-low and leave for another half an hour.  Remove from the heat and purée well.  Mix with milk over low heat before serving.  Add S+P.

Strain the chickpeas.  Bring 4 cups of water to a boil in a large pot.  Add the chickpeas, cover and simmer on medium-low heat for twenty minutes.  Turn off the heat, strain out half of the water, add the chillies to the pot and return the lid.  Combine the butter, chickpea flour and turmeric in a small bowl and mash together with a fork until you've created a homogenous paste (a roux).  Turn on the heat to low, remove the lid, and gently mix the roux into the chickpeas.  Keep warm.  Toss with the mint (with the heat off) before serving.  Add S+P to taste.

Heat the oil for the onions in a large pan over medium.  Add one handful at a time until all of the onions are in the pan.  Once the onions are soft, be sure to create empty spaces in the pan from which steam can escape.  Sauté the onions for a total of 15 minutes, then add the saffron and the sugar.  Sauté for another 5 minutes then add the lime juice.  Once evaporated add the pomegranate juice.  Turn off the heat, and cover to keep warm.

Pre-heat the oven to 175C/350F.  Combine the rice, oil and saffron in a large baking dish and mix well, ensuring that all of the rice is coated in the oil.  Boil the water in a kettle, then add to the pan.  Add a few pinches of salt then cover well with tin foil.  Place in the oven for 35 minutes, then serve.

Combine all ingredients for the raita in a bowl and whisk gently.

Fill a large bowl with cold water and the juice of half a lime.  Slice the radishes on a mandalin (without a comb) into the bowl and leave in the fridge.  Combine all other ingredients for the salad in a bowl.  Toss the with strained radishes when ready to eat.

Combine all ingredients for the dressing in a high rimmed bowl and purée.  Place in a small bowl and allow each diner to pour atop as much as s/he likes on the plate.

Recipe for the carrots will come another time.

B'Teavon!!!

Impromptu pasta with Tami - Pepperoncino infused linguini and a clementine, fennel seed date sauce with mint

The other day my friend Tami and I each spent the afternoon working on some school work and planned to meet up at 6 when our brains couldn't take it anymore.  I had purchased some ingredients that I had intended on using for a salad but as my hunger grew more vociferous, I decided to make a pasta sauce instead.  I had a package of pepperoncino infused linguini that I'd bought at KaDeWe during my April trip to Berlin.  I figured that now would be as good a time as any to finally eat them.  I decided to make make a butter sauce for the pasta rather than a tomato based one and I had clementines, dates, onions, and spices before me from which to choose.  Citrus, specifically oranges, clementines and the like, go well with fennel.  Alas I had no fennel but I did have fennel seed.  I melted the butter in a sauce pan over very low heat and added my onions and spices while the butter was still hard so that they would sweat rather than sizzle.  With the onions cut very thinly they transformed into a second kind of noodle.  I added the date last and allowed them to simmer long enough in the pan juices to take on the other flavours without loosing their crunch.  After boiling the pasta I tossed it with olive oil to keep from sticking and some mint for freshness.  Having originally intended to make a salad, I had quite a lot of chopped endive which I threw on top of the pasta at the last minute for some bitterness and yet another texture.

Tami is a vegetarian who seldom eats pasta.  To her credit, she has a much better balanced diet than may of the vegetarian I know who mostly subsist off of carbohydrates.  Rather than the typical spaghetti in red sauce, this pasta had a plethora of ingredients, flavours and textures that may have gone a long way in convincing her that when pasta is well prepared it need not be heavy and boring.  While it's not the quickest meal to make, it only took half an hour to prepare and the results were delightful.  Try it at home.  Enjoy.

  

Ingredients:

25 grams of butter

1 medium Spanish onion, sliced thinly radially

2 small thai red chillies, slit open

1/4 tsp of coriander sees

1/4 tsp of cumin seeds

1 tsp of fennel seeds

the juice of two large clementines

6 dates, halved, pitted then sliced thinly on a diagonal

1 large endive, sliced and the discs from the core discarded

1 tbls green peppercorns, crushed the the back of a knife

1 package of pepperoncino infused linguini

2 tbls of extra virgin olive oil

the leaves of 10 sprigs of mint, washed and dried

salt to taste

Directions:

Place the butter in a sauce pan in one large chunk and heat on the lowest possible setting.  Move the butter around the pan to coat it and add the onions, chillies and spices to the pan while the butter is still melting.  Break apart the onions with a silicon spatula and mix everything evenly in the pan.  Allow to sweat for about five minutes.  Add the clementine juice, raise the heat ever so slightly and bring to a simmer.  Allow to simmer for 10 minutes then add the dates.  If the dates are not submerged, add 1/3 cup of water to the pan.  Allow to simmer gently while you prepare the pasta.

Boil and ample amount of water in a large pot, when it comes to a rolling bowl, add 1 tsp of salt.  Boil the pasta according to the directions on the package, strain immediately when ready.  Return to the pot and toss with olive oil and mint leaves and a bit of salt.  Turn off the heat on the sauce.  Plate the pasta and then pour over the sauce.  Sprinkle atop as much green pepper as you desire then add the endive.  Serve immediately.  B'Teavon!

Bruschetta for the New Year

Although I neither attended nor prepared a large meal for Rosh HaShana, I decided to make something light but satisfying that was representative of the season and the holiday.  At the end of the summer we have the most beautiful tomatoes in Israel, and I was pining for some bruschetta.  Traditionally on Rosh HaShanah, we dip apples in honey to commemorate the sweetness of the new coming year.  While I forewent the honey, I decided to incorporate apples into my bruschetta.  I combined the apples with the usual ingredients for a bruschetta - tomatoes, shallots, basil, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  To give it an extra kick I used chilli infused olive oil and added some mint for freshness.  Rather than adding minced garlic to the mix, I used the typical Italian technique of scraping the toast with garlic to impart its intense raw flavour.  Unfortunately the apples that looked best were Gala apples and they were somewhat mealier than the Pink Ladies that I would have preferred.  Try to make this recipe with a hard apple like Pink Lady or McIntosh.  It's a simple thing to prepare and quite delicious.  Enjoy!

  

Ingredients:

1 ciabatta, sliced diagonally into 1/4" thick pieces

1 large clove of garlic

1 large gala apple, cored and 1/4" dice

3 roma tomatoes, cored and 1/4" dice

1 shallot, finely chopped

10 large basil leaves, finely chopped

10 mint leaves, finely chopped

1 tbls of chilli infused olive oil

2 tsp of high quality balsamic vinegar

S+P to taste

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven to 190C/375F.  Toast the bread in the oven for 10 minutes.  Remove and allow to cool.  Turn off the oven.  Once cool, scrape one side of each slice of toast with the garlic and set aside.

Combine all other ingredients in a bowl and toss well ensuring that everything is evenly coated.  Place atop the toast and serve.  B'Teavon!

Back to TLV with some NY ingredients: Rice noodles in a coconut milk sauce with Thai eggplant and a shaved green mango salad with a spicy avocado dressing

Sunday morning I arrived back in Tel Aviv with a suitcase worth of ingredients brought back from New York.  Some of those ingredients were fresh and I was faced with using them immediately or freezing them for later usage.  The Kaffir limes I purchased were holding up but some of the Kaffir lime leaves were turning brown so I picked out some green ones and was intent to use them for the first dinner I made after having returned.

My month long adventure in North America was packed with culinary delights, some prepared by me and some by others.  Alas, so much time has elapsed that I cannot give accurate recipes for them all and so I thought I start my first post in a while with the most recent dishes for which I can remember the recipes.  Lots of pictures and descriptions of the other dishes I ate over the past month are coming up, but first a delicious meatless meal inspired by thriftiness and some vegetarian friends.

I perused the Shuk for the first time in a month and discovered a number of lovely ingredients which are sure to appear in my next meal.  Monday night, however, I stuck with the Thai eggplant and green mangoes now in season and on offer at the Asian vegetable stand in the Shuk.  The problem I often encounter in vegetarian meals is that they are either too light and dissatisfying or made to heavy with an abundance of legumes and grains.  I looked for a balance.  Furthermore, it's about 1000 degrees in my kitchen in the summer and it is my goal for the rest of the season (which in Israel lasts until mid-October) to reduce the use of my oven and make meals that require less heating.  For that reason, I only used the burners for an hour.

I wanted my eggplant and noodle dish to come out as white as possible to best contrast the herbs with which I topped it.  I steeped a number of spices and aromatics in coconut milk for 45 minutes allowing it to reduce slightly and thicken, then strained it, returned it to the pot and cooked my eggplant in it.  I boiled some "rice spaghetti" as the packaging announced, strained the spaghetti and combine it with the eggplant and coconut milk and topped it with some cilantro, mint and Japanese chilli rings which are more aesthetic than the more ubiquitous flakes.

Having devoted my hour of burner usage to the noodle dish, I decided that the accompaniment should be entirely raw.  I shaved the green mango on a wide gauge on a grater and combined it with red onion and pomegranate, an item not present when I last visited the Shuk in July.  Because the salad was so simple, I made a rather complex avocado dressing.  Often the avocado emulsions I make serve better as a purée for they come out so thick, so I thinned this one with water to make it more of a dressing.  The combination of Thai and Japanese flavours that used was delectable and I highly recommend you try it if you've got the ingredients at home.

Since I've been seriously jetlagged, I set the dinner for 9 and at 9:30 on the dot Tami and Dan showed up and all that was left to do was to make the noodles.  May, who had planned on just stopping by to say hello, arrived just as the food was ready and all of sat down to a scrumptious meal.  Enjoy.

   

Ingredients:

For the noodles

1 large can of coconut milk

2" of galangal, crushed with the back of a knife and lightly chopped

1 medium clove of garlic, sliced thinly

1 stalk of lemon grass, trimmed and well bruised

1/2 kaffir lime

4 kaffir lime leaves, bruised

1 tbls of coriander seeds

5 white cardamon pods

2 Thai eggplant, sliced into 1/4" thick discs

150g dry rice noodles

Salt to taste, if you wish, add white pepper

mint leaves, cilantro and chilli rings/flaked to garnish

For the salad

2 green mangoes, peeled and shaved down to the pit on a coarse grater

1 red onion, sliced radially (if you like less, use half)

the seeds of 1/2 pomegranate

1 avocado

1/2 tsp of green curry paste

1" inch ginger, peeled and crushed with the back of a knife

1 small clove of garlic

1 green thai bird chilli

the zest of one Kaffir lime

4 mint leaves

3 sprigs of cilantro

2 tbls of yuzu juice

1 tbls of rice vinegar

2-3 tbls of water

S+P to taste

Directions:

Combine all ingredients for the noodles except the eggplant and the noodles in a sauce pan and bring to a simmer.  Allow to reduce over medium-low heat for 30 minutes, then cover for an additional 15.  Strain the coconut milk discarding the solid contents and reserving the liquid.  Add salt to taste. Return to the sauce pan and bring to a simmer again over medium heat while covered.  As soon as it's simmering, enter the eggplant into the sauce pan making sure that all the pieces are coated in the coconut milk, place the cover on and return the lid, allow to simmer for 15 minutes.

Boil water and follow the directions for your rice noodles on the package as they differ with size and brand.  Strain the noodles after cooking and then pour in the pot with the coconut milk, combine, turn off the heat and return the lid.  Plate when ready to eat and top with mint, cilantro and chilli rings.

Combine the first three ingredients for the salad in a bowl and mix well.  Combine all other ingredients, save the water, in a high rimmed bowl and purée thoroughly with an immersion blender.  Add 1 tbls of water at a time until you've reached the desired consistency (thin enough to pour over a salad) - you may use more or less than the suggested quantity here.  Plate the salad and top with dressing.  

B'Teavon!

Quick dinner for a hungry boy - a slightly different take on pasta with tomato sauce

Last night, I was hungry.  I've been eating way too many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (of which I ended up having two last night as well), but I thought I ought to have some sort of variety.  I had some yellow cherry tomatoes sitting around and decided to make bow-tie pasta with tomato sauce.  I thought of going for something a little more asian.  I simmered some garlic, ginger and lemongrass in lime juice and water, before puréeing my tomatoes into the mix.  The result was quite liquid so I thickened it with a mixture of flour, coriander, turmeric and mustard oil.  I used very little mustard oil.  I wanted a bit of a kick so I sliced up a green chilli and threw that in at the end.

What I got was tasty but in leaving out all the fat I opted to have my second serving with a whole bunch of butter too.  Not necessary!  I just wanted the fat.... The sauce was delicious and if you've got good knife skills the whole thing should take 20 minutes.  Enjoy!

Ingredients

2 cups of bow-tie pasta

1.5" inches of ginger, crushed, and coarsely chopped

3 cloves of garlic, crushed and coarsely chopped

the juice of one lime

1 stalk of lemongrass, bottom part only, well bruised

S+P

about 30 yellow cherry tomatoes

1 tbls white flour

1/2 tsp coriander powder

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 tbls mustard oil

1 chilli, sliced thinly

Directions:

Follow directions for the bow-tie pasta on the box and sprinkle over a bit of olive oil after having strained them to keep them from sticking.

Bring the lime juice and 1 cup of water to a simmer in a sauce pan.  Add the garlic, ginger and lemongrass and allow to simmer for 5 minutes.  Add the tomatoes and remove the lemongrass (reserve).  Purée the contents of the pot and then return the lemongrass to it after having been puréed.  Allow to simmer for another ten minutes.  Mix the flour, coriander, turmeric and oil together in a bowl.  Pour this mixture into the sauce and whisk in well.  Add the chillies, allow to simmer for one more minute them turn off the heat.  Pour over the pasta and serve.  B'Teavon!

Indian style split pea soup with melon, yoghurt and mint

Last night a vegetarian delegation of the best variety convened at my home for exercises in culinary indulgence.  Despite my own predilection for meat, many of my friends do not share it and at times the challenge of accommodating their preferences can be quite rewarding. Organic supermarkets in Israel sometimes have a wider variety of products available than normal supermarkets, and when perusing one the other day I came across yellow split peas.  I bought about 700 grams and was determined to make a soup with them.  The dinner for my vegetarian friends Tami, Dan, May and the ever lovely but not vegetarian Leemor offered the perfect opportunity to put them to use in a delicious and unexpected way.  

Traditional split pea soup is made with a ham bone and sometimes other pork products along with European herbs such as thyme, sage and bay leaves.  I decided that in foregoing meat products, the best route would be South Asian.  I have used green papaya, yellow papaya's starchy cousin, on a number of occasions in savoury dishes.  Oren and I had purchased a melon that was slightly less juicy than desirable and I decided to incorporate that into my soup.  I wanted to get the smoky flavour imparted on pea soup from bacon into the dish in another way, so I fire roasted some yellow peppers and incorporated them.  The soup turned out rather heavy so rather than enrich it with cream, I used milk.  To offer even better contrast in taste and texture, I added a yoghurt-mint-lime sauce and some fried bread then topped it with some fresh mint and Hawaiian black salt for colour (thank you Judith).  I also prepared a salad last night but having sat out in the eat while we ate our soup it became slightly less than photogenic and I decided not to include it in this post.

One of my typical complaints with an entirely vegetable based meal is that I often still feel hungry when it's over.  Not this time!  Everyone at the table's cries of deliciousness turned to statements of feeling abundantly full.  It was a truly scrumptious soup of which everyone served themselves seconds, and I intend to make further variations to perfect it.  The conclusion: yellow split peas go well with melon, especially with another 20 ingredients involved.  Enjoy.

   

Ingredients:

For the spice mixture

1 2" sliver of cinnamon

2 allspice berries

the seeds of 4 cardamon pods

3 cloves

2 Indian dry round chillies

1/2 tsp of fenugreek

1 tsp of cayenne pepper

For the soup

700 grams of yellow split peas

2 tbls of ghee

1 tbls of coriander seeds

1/2 tbls of mustard seeds

1 medium red onion, sliced radially

3 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly

1.5" of ginger, peeled, crushed and coarsely chopped

1 leak, white party only, thinly sliced

2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into discs

1/4 of an orange middle eastern oval melon (they just call it melon here, I suppose you could use cantaloupe), cut into large cubes

2 fire-roasted yellow peppers, cleaned, seeded and diced

1 cup of white wine

1.5 cups of milk

For the bread

ghee as needed

about 1 cup of white bread with the crust removed cut into 1"x1"x2" logs

For the yoghurt

1 cup of thick cow's milk yoghurt

the juice of 1 lime

about 10 mint leaves

2 tsp of salt

Directions:

Put the split peas in a wire strainer and shake away any dust.  Pick through the split peas for anything that's not a pea (grains of rice, stones etc).  Transfer to a bowl and immerse in water and strain repeating the process until the water cover the peas runs clear.  Cover the peas by 2" of water, cover in plastic wrap and leave in the fridge for 6 hours or over night.

Combine all spices for the spice mixture in a pan except the cayenne pepper.  Toast over low heat for about 5 minutes, then pulverise in a spice grinder.  Mix with the cayenne pepper.

Heat the ghee in a dutch oven over medium, add the coriander seeds.  After 3 minutes, add the mustard seeds, they should begin to pop almost immediately.  As soon as they are popping, add the red onion and sauté for about 6 minutes.  Add the garlic, ginger and leeks, sauté for another 3 minutes.  Add the carrots and the spices and sauté further for 5 minutes.  Add the melon and yellow pepper, mix well, then de-glaze the pan with the whine picking up all of the caramelisation from the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon.  Strain the split peas and add them to the pot.  Cover in boiling water and bring to a simmer.  Cover for 15 minutes.  Remove the lid and add more water to cover the split peas, cover for another 15 minutes.  Blend thoroughly with an immersion blender, add the milk and S+P to taste.

Heat the ghee in a frying pan over medium and allow to heat through.  Fry each piece of bread for 3 minutes on each side, adding ghee as necessary.  Remove to a plate.

Combine all ingredients of the yoghurt in a blender or in a high rimmed bowl and blend with an immersion blender until even.

Ladle your soup into a bowl, place your fried bread in the centre, add yoghurt sauce and garnish with some fresh mint and black Hawaiian salt. B'Teavon!

A Big Indian Meal - Saffron Papaya Chicken, Black Dal with carrots tomatoes and mango, Ginger-turmeric Chickpeas, Basmati Rice and Raita

I've recently made a number of new friends through the lovely Leemor, the bulk of whom seem to be vegetarian.  I had invited several of them to dinner last night and decided to make Indian food with multiple components on the plate so that I could provide something vegetarian, while reserving one meat option for the meat eaters.  Well... no vegetarians showed up, but I produced a truly exquisite meal nonetheless.  Ilan joined me at 5 after I returned from the Shuk and helped me prep and kept me company while I created the meal.  Yesterday, I found fresh turmeric at the Shuk, and having remembered an Indian meal I prepared at Ilan's several months ago, I decided to make a variation on a chickpea dish that was quite memorable from that meal.  The one I had made at Ilan's house was made with ground turmeric and white flour, and the one I made home contained fresh turmeric and chickpea flour.  Chickpea flour contains far less gluten than white flour and easier to digest.  Fresh turmeric simply imparts a truly incredible taste that is often lost in the powdered variety that sits on shelves world wide for indeterminate periods of time.

After schlepping black beluga lentils from Kalustyan's in New York for several years, I finally found a place in Israel that sells them, and they're cheap!  14 NIS/kilo - or about $1.50/lb.  Black beluga lentils are my favourite lentils for both their size and colour.  My mother makes incredible dishes out of these lentils, but our styles for preparing them differ slightly.  I don't feel comfortable cooking the lentils in a sauce for fear that they will over cook.  For that reason, I boil them in plain water (after soaking them) for about 17 minutes so that they are nearly perfectly cooked.  In that way, I can create other flavourful components to which I can then add the lentil and simply cook them for another 5 minutes or so on low heat without destroying the integrity of the lovely lens shaped legume.

I had originally planned on making saffron rice, but having considered the colour profile of all my dishes, I decided that the saffron would do better in the chicken and allow the rice to simply be white.  This meal was very much influenced by my reading of "Curry: a Tale of Cooks and Conquerers", which imparted on me a very good idea about the processes through which Indian food is prepared rather than simply the elaborate mixtures of spice associated with that cuisine.  Undoubtedly, ginger figures far more prevalently in Indian cuisine that one might think, generally attributing that root more heavily to Chinese and Japanese cuisines.  For that reason, three of the five components on the plate contained ginger.

Certainly this meal represents a more modern concept of Indian cooking than a traditional one as so many of the ingredients were (relatively) recent imports to the Sub-Continent from European colonist--specifically tomatoes, chillies and papaya.  Nevertheless, Indians have wholeheartedly embraced the use of these ingredients since their arrival in the 17th century.

Having started cooking at 5 in the afternoon, five of us, Ilan, Kassandra, Rebecca Leemor and I, sat down to eat promptly at 9:30 at night.  Having announced that chillies were prominent in several dishes, Kassandra inquired as to whether the heat within them would prove as challenging as the Mexican meal she had last attended.  Thankfully, no.  While the chillies were certainly present, they caused no one to sweat profusely (the temperature imposed on us by Israel's climate did that well enough), and every aspect of the meal was flavourful and not masked by imposing heat.  Quite frankly, it was all delicious.  Enjoy!

 





      

Ingredients:

For the chicken

1.5 tbls of ghee

1 tbls of corriander seeds

1 tsp of mustard seeds

1/2 tsp of fenugreek seeds

1 onion, sliced radially

2 large cloves of garlic, minced

2 red chillies, seeded and minced

1.5" of ginger, peeled and minced

1 overflowing tsp of garam masala

1 tomato, coarsely chopped

1/4 cup of cointreau (or jaggery if you can find it)

about 6 or 7 strands of saffron

1 papaya, peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped

500 ml of coconut milk

2 chicken legs, skin completely removed

S+P

For the raita

3 Israeli/Persian cucumbers, peeled, seeded and diced

a small nub of ginger, peeled and minced

a few leaves of cilantro, minced

250 ml of cow's milk yoghurt

For the lentils

3 cups of beluga lentils

20 cherry tomatoes

2 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1" logs

1 tbls of garam masala

1 tbls of grape-seed oil

1 mango, sliced into strips

a large handful of cilantro

S+P

For the chickpeas

1.5 tbls of grape-seed oil

1 onion, sliced radially

2" of fresh turmeric, peeled and grated

2" of ginger, peeled and grated

2 large cloves of garlic, peeled and grated

1 600ml can of chickpeas, drained

1 tbls of ghee

1 tbls of chickpeas flour

2 medium green chillies, sliced and seeded

about 20 mint leaves

S+P

For the rice

1.5 cups of basmati rice

1 tbls of grape-seed oil

a pinch of salt

Directions:

Heat the ghee in a Dutch oven over medium.  Add the coriander seeds.  2 minutes later, add the mustard seeds and fenugreek, after one minute, add the onions, lower heat to medium-low.  Sauté for about 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, then add the minced chillies, garlic and ginger, sauté for another 3 minutes, add the tomato and garam masala.  After 4 minutes, add the cointreau, allow to reduce.  Add the saffron and one litre of boiling water, then add the papaya.  When the papaya is perfectly tender, blender thoroughly with an immersion blender.  Add coconut milk and one more litre of water and bring to a simmer.  Add the chicken, put the lid on the Dutch oven and turn the heat all the way down.  Allow to simmer closed for about 2 hours or more, opening the pot to stir the contents on the bottom about once every half and hour or so.  When finished, the meet should easily pull off the bones and almost melt into the sauce.

Combine all ingredients for the raita in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and allow to marinate in the fridge for a few hours before serving.

Pre-heat oven to 175C/350F.  Combine tomatoes, carrots, grape-seed oil, garam masala, S+P in a baking dish and roast in the oven for 40 minutes.

Pick through the lentils for rocks then soak in cold water for 20-30 minutes.  Boil water in a large sauce pan and then boil the lentils for exactly 17 minutes.  While boiling, remove the scum that rises to the top with a spoon.  After draining the liquid, transfer the lentil to another bowl and mix them around gently to let off as much steam as possible in order to stop the cooking process. 10 minutes before serving, combine the lentils with the tomatoes and carrots in the baking dish and add the mango as well, mix well, and return to the oven for about 8 minutes.  Remove from the oven and add the cilantro.

Heat the grape-seed oil in a large sauce pan over medium, when hot add the onion and lower to medium low.  Sautée for about 10 minutes, then add the ginger, turmeric and garlic.  Sauté for 2 minutes then add the chickpeas.  After 6 minutes, add about 2 cups of boiling water, bring to a simmer, and add the green chillies.  Combine the ghee and chickpea flour in a small bowl and mash together well with a fork creating a roux.  Add the roux to the pot 4 minutes after you've added the chillies.  When entirely incorporated and the sauce has thickened, turn off the heat and add the mint, S+P.

Wash the basmati rice about 3 or 4 times in a large bowl until the water runs clear, straining the water each time.  Combine the rice with the grape-seed oil in a large sauce pan and fry gently on low heat for about 5 minutes.  Add 3 cups of boiling water, bring to simmer, add a pinch of salt, then cover and lower the heat all the way down.  Leave like this for exactly 20 minutes, then serve.

Combine all components on the plate and enjoy.  B'Teavon!

Soup and salad week - orange and avocado salad

The next meal of soup and salad week was inspired by an article I read in the NYTimes Dining & Wine section about a recipe for Moroccan orange salad. The recipe was originally published in the Times in the 1980's.  I decided to make an orange salad as well but along different lines.  As always, I went to the Shuk for some inspiration.  I liked the idea of Moroccan olives in the salad with the oranges but I wanted something with more flavours.  I love avocado with oranges, but I wanted to add some other textures as well.  I settles upon shallot and fennel.  The latter I shaved on the mandolin to ensure that you wouldn't get too big a bite of anise flavour in your mouth.  When about to leave the Shuk, I noticed some dehydrated wasabi covered peas.  These were the real crunch I was looking for.  With the flavours of my salad crossing continental divides, I decided to create a dressing using both Asian and Middle Eastern flavours as well, to compliment the salad.  Lior proclaimed this to be the best tasting dish for the amount of time it took he has yet tasted.  (It took about 10 minutes).  Make and enjoy it.

  

Ingredients:

3 ripe hass avocados, cut into 1/4" strips

2 large navel oranges, supremed

1 small bulb of fennel, shaved on a mandolin

1 large shallot, cut into rings

1/2 cup of oil cured Moroccan olives

1/2 cup dehydrated wasabi covered peas

2 tbls of tahina

1 tbls of yuzu juice

1 tsp of soy sauce

S+P

Directions:

Whisk together tahina, yuzu juice, soy sauce and S+P well in a bowl.  Combine all other ingredients in a salad bowl, pour atop the dressing then toss.  Serve and enjoy.  B'Teavon!