From Suq to Shuk

Italian for dinner - Steak tossed in gremolata, with potatoes, shallots, spinach and a Caprese salad

I make a lot of Asian food.  Some days, you want to forego all of those complex combinations of myriad spices and sauces etc., and all you really want is a nice piece of meat.  With new instructions from my doctor to consume more iron, steak and spinach for dinner it was.

I've been having intense cravings for meat for about a month.  Stewed, stir-fried, in shawarma... doesn't cut it.  I wanted a thick steak that I could cook to a perfect medium rare and enjoy for its carnal essence.  Allison joined me for just such an endeavour.  I had been eating mostly vegetarian meals with a few pieces of chicken and the odd beef stew in the mix and Allison and I had both expressed a desire to eat a good piece of meat.  Good pieces of meat are expensive in this country and so we split one.  Before dinner, Allison and I sat and reviewed the film she'd been editing of me.  The week prior, we had made several forays to the Shuk where Allison recorded me giving my expert advice on several purchasing methods.  The clip came out better than I could have anticipated and I am truly looking forward to the final product (to appear here, and elsewhere, some time next week).

My first venture on Thursday was to the butcher and my second to the Shuk.  I already had an Italian meal in mind (thanks in part to Giuliano Hazan), and I bought some spinach, shallots, new potatoes, parsley, meyer lemons, purple basil, tomatoes and mozarella.  While I love how fresh everything at the shuk is, at times I wish it were pre-washed.  It took me quite a while to wash all the potatoes, spinach, parsely and basil.  The first thing to get some heat was the potatoes.  I decided to employ two methodds in cooking them.  First I halved and peeled 13 shallots, lay them flat side down in a baking dish and poured in a bit of tea.  I then mixed the potatoes with olive oil in a separate bowl and placed them atop the shallots.  In this way, the shallots were braised while the potatoes roasted.  They vapour emanating from them gave the potatoes a sweet note as well.  While they were doing their business in the oven, I got making the spinach.  It was very simple.  I sautéed some garlic in butter, added meyer lemon juice,  brought it to a simmer, put the spinach in and covered the pot  then puréed it all with a bit more butter.  It was tart and delicious.  I then made the salad, and left it in the fridge for after our maincourse.  I cooked the steak to rare, let it rest, sliced it and tossed the slices in a skillet with gremolata and olive oil.  It came out perfectly.  My only regret was not having more steak.

The following recipe may appear simple, but washing all those herbs takes time!  This is, however, a very fun meal to have with all non-vegetarians consuming it blissfully.  May came over with some pizza and joined in our conversation as we carnivorously consumed our plates.  While she did not consume any meat with us, she did enjoy a lovely taste of potato with spinach.  Enjoy all.

 

 

Ingredients:

For the potatoes and shallots

About 20 new potatoes, washed, scrubbed and left to dry, then half lengthwise

13 shallots, halved and peeled

2 tbls of olive oil

1 tsp of cayenne pepper

2 tsp of salt

1/4 cup of earl grey tea (hot)

For the spinach

40 grams of butter, cut into two 20 grams pieces

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 medium shallot, minced

the juice of two meyer lemons

1 large package of spinach (about 1.5 lbs), washed well

For the salad

2 large balls of fresh mozarella, sliced thinly

3 vine ripened tomatoes, sliced thinly 

15-20 leaves of purple basil (depending on how many slices of cheese and tomatoes you get)

extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar to sprinkle on top

a pinch of salt

for the steak

1 600 gram boneless rib-eye

the zest of 1.5 meyer lemons

2 cloves of garlic

about 1.5 tbls of chopped parsley

3 tbls of olive oil

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 200C/400F.  Lay the shallots flat side down in a baking dish and pour in the tea.  Combine potatoes in a bowl with olive oil, salt and cayenne, mix well so that everything is perfectly coated.  Pour atop the shallots and place in the oven for 50 minutes.

Heat 20g of the butter in a dutch oven over low heat, add the garlic and shallot. After about 4 minutes, add the meyer lemon juice, raise heat slightly and bring to a simmer.  Throw in all of your spinach and leave the lid on for 5 minutes, take the lid off and leave for another 3 minutes.  Then purée with the extra butter and S+P to taste.  Keep warm.

Lay all ingredients for the salad on a serving platter. Leave in the fridge until ready to serve.  Sprinkle on oil and balsamic when ready to serve with the pinch of salt.

When the potatoes are done, turn the heat on the oven off but leave the potatoes in.  Place two dinner plate and a serving bowl in the oven to get warm.

Trim the fat off the steak and reserve.  Chop the garlic, parsley and lemon zest together until they have all been incorporated into a course paste.  Form the steak into a circular shape and then tie with butcher's twine around the centre to keep its form.  S+P both sides.  Heat a cast-iron skillet over medium heat and add the beef trimmings. After 6 minutes, remove the trimmings.  Place the steak in the skillet, leave for exactly 4 minutes on each side.  Remove to from the skillet, turn off the heat, and cover the steak with tin-foil.  Remove the tin-foil after 4 minutes, remove the butcher's twine, then slice into 1/2" thick sliced.  Heat skillet over medium-low, add the gremolata.  After 1.5 minutes, throw in the steak, toss consistently for another 1.5 minutes, then remove.  Transfer the steak from the skillet to the serving bowl that you've warmed in the oven.  Plate all ingredients and enjoy!  B'Teavon!!!!

Welcoming Judith back to Tel Aviv with Israeli flavours

Last Tuesday marked the arrival of my dear friend Judith of TasteTLV.  It is indeed to my blog that I owe our friendship.  Judith, Kassandra and I became friends in April over a lovely meal that I prepared.  They were my very first foodie friends in Tel Aviv and it was with great displeasure that I saw Judith depart for the US only a month after we met.  In today's world however, skype allowed us to develop our friendship further over the past months despite the distance and it was with relish that were reunited.

As our friendship began with food, there was no better way to celebrate Judith's arrival than to eat.  Personally I hate surprises, but Judith, Kassandra and our other friend Rebecca love them.  Kassandra and Rebecca planned a surprise dinner party for Judith for the day after she arrived and I was selected as chef.  To keep the surprise, I had to prepare the meal at my house and bring the food over at the last minute.  Matters were complicated however when Judith joined me for my Shuk run the morning of the meal.  I fibbed and claimed that the ingredients were being purchased for a paid event the next day and despite my discomfort the ruse was successful.  Some of Judith's closest friends in Israel gathered at Kassandra's apartment while Rebecca kept her busy at the dog park and Kassandra's boyfriend came and fetched me and my dishes.  Judith, all the while, had been planning to take us out to dinner unaware of our plans.  She became distraught when her friends acted aloof and seemingly inconsiderate of her desire to get the evening underway.  Finally her disappointment turned to shocked delight as she discovered that the evening had been engineered in her honour.

The food I prepared employed three staples of Israeli cuisine: eggplant, rice and coffee.  I stewed beef with coffee and cardamon, prepared rice with celery, saffron and asafoetida and made a Chinese eggplant Meyer lemon purée.  The results were fabulous and only but a small bit of rice remained at the end of the meal.  Present were two 13-month old girls, Judith's daughter Shai and our friends Liat and Simon came were their daughter Aliyah.  The two expressed utter fascination with the plates of food with so many textures before them.  Messy clothes abound, we all took joy in their pleasure and in the pleasure of good company.  Alas, Judith and Shai are only visiting for a month, but that month is sure to be filled with many culinary delights.

  

Ingredients:

For the beef

3 tbls of olive oil

1 large onion, diced

2 cups of coffee

12-15 pods of cardamon

3 lbs chuck, fat and sinew removed, cut into 1"x1"x1" cubes (or as best you can)

1 large carrot, sliced into thin discs

S+P to taste

cilantro for garnish

For the rice

2 cups of basmati rice

1 small head of celery (pref organic), washed and chopped

2 tbls of grapeseed oil (or other neutral oil)

1 tbls of mustard oil

1 tbls of cumin seeds

3 cups of boiling water

10 strands of saffron

1 tsp of asafoetida

For the purée

10 Chinese eggplant

2 meyer lemons

40 grams of butter

3 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly

1/2 tsp of fennel seeds

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 175C/350F.  Heat 1 tbls olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium and allow heat thoroughly.  Add the onions and sautée for 8 minutes stirring occasionally.  Move the onion to one side of the pan and add a little more olive oil to the empty space.  Add the beef in batches, browning it, mixing it with the onions and pushing it to the side of the pan.  Repeat until all the beef has been browned then add the cardamon and mix thoroughly.  After about 1 minute, add the coffee.  Add enough boiling water until the beef is just submerged then add the carrots and mix in.  Add 1 tbls of salt and mix in.  Bring to a simmer then transfer to the oven and leave for 2 hours.

Combine the juice of half a meyer lemon with plenty of cold water in a large boil. Peel the eggplant, slice it into discs and transfer to the lemon water immediately to keep from browning (it's easiest to peel all of the eggplant first and leave the whole peeled eggplant in the water before you slice it, then return the slices to the water).  With the meyer lemon that is still whole, zest the entire thing.  Heat the butter over the low in a large sauce pan and combine with the garlic and meyer lemon zest.  Add the juice of the zested meyer lemon to the pot and mix with 1 tsp of salt.  Strain the eggplant and then pour over the juice from the remaining of the other meyer lemon.  Transfer to the pot and pour in water to come up half way (only submerging half of the eggplant).  Raise the heat to medium and bring to a simmer.  Cover and turn the heat almost all of the way down and allow to simmer for 30 minutes.  The eggplant will release water so after thirty minutes all of the eggplant should be cooked and submerged.  Purée well with an immersion blender.

Combine the rice, celery, cumin and oils in a baking dish and mix well.  Leave in the bottom of the oven under the dutch oven for ten minutes.  Meanwhile, combine the saffron, 1tsp of salt and asafoetida with 3 cups of boiling water.  Stir with a spoon and allow to infuse for 5 minutes.  Remove the rice and the meat from the oven (do not remove the lid from the Dutch oven).  Combine the rice with the infused water, cover well with tinfoil and place in the oven for 25 minutes.  Remove the rice and return the meat to the oven for 5 minutes to reheat slightly before serving.

Plate and top with cilantro for garnish.  Serve immediately.  B'Teavon!

Chicken tagine with tomatoes, preserved limes and dill

Before leaving for my month long sojourn in North America, Ilan and I got together to prepare some limes for preservation - a process that takes six weeks.  Having done so several days before I left, I need wait little time after coming home taste the preserved limes and incorporate them into my dishes.  Although I had originally intended to do this in order to have limes in the off season, preserved limes have little in common with the flavour of the fresh variety.  Ilan came over to taste the fruits of our endeavour and both of us were shocked and delighted at the truly exceptional and unexpected flavour we encountered.  The limes had taken on a slightly gelatinous texture and there taste lied somewhere between a pickled cucumber and an olive.  This is quite logical as cucumbers are normally pickled in vinegar, a highly acidic substance, and olives are normally pickled in salt.  Having preserved our highly acidic limes by stuffing them with salt, we created a substance that was doubly pickled.  Preserved lemons are a staple of Moroccan cuisine and can be bought jarred at speciality stores.  I decided that the most fitting first use of my newly concocted ingredient would be to put them in a tagine.

 The results can only be described as intense.  The combination of the limes with tomatoes made the overall level of acidity quite high.  I tried to mitigate this by introducing potatoes into the mix but that wasn't sufficient in and of itself.  The acidity of the dish was eventually muted when I mashed the cooked potatoes into the dish's juices after plating.  Having prepared to chicken legs and being the only diner, I reheated the remainders of the dish the next day and this time pulled all of the meat off the bone and mashed the whole thing together.  I didn't photograph that stage, but you can get the idea.  Had I devoted more time to this meal, I would have added some plain white rice to absorb the acidic juices without having to mash all of the potatoes.  Nonetheless, the flavours were excellent and with a little tweaking this could become a perfect dish. Enjoy.

    

Ingredients:

1/2 white onion, peeled and cut into 4

1" of ginger, peeled

2 thai red bird chillies, 1 seeded, the other left in tact

2 large cloves of garlic

2-3 small pieces of Vietnamese cinnamon

1 tbls walnut oil

7 roma tomatoes, halved lengthwise

1 large yukon cold potato, diced into 1/2" cubes

1 preserved lime, quartered and then sliced thinly

1/4 cup of dill + more for garnish

2 chicken legs

S+P to taste (only for the chicken, the preserved limes will ensure that the rest of dish is salt enough)

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 205C/400F.

Combine onion, garlic, chillies, ginger and cinnamon in a high rimmed bowl and purée with an immersion blender until perfectly smooth.  Add the walnut and purée further.  Add one of the roma tomatoes to the mix and purée again.  Pour this mixture into the bottom of the tagine and pile on all the other ingredients making sure that they are evenly spread.  Salt your chicken and place it atop the vegetables. Place the lid on the tagine and leave in the oven for one hour.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool with the lid on for about 10 minutes.  Remove the lid and then remove the skin from the chicken, and serve. 

B'Teavon!

Roasted chicken breast with lemon and onions and fettucini with tomatoes, garlic and basil

So it's been a million years since the last blog post but I've been busy.  First I was busy being sick and all I had to eat was chicken soup.  It was about 9000 degrees in Tel Aviv and the last thing I wanted to do was turn on my oven. Then I was travelling.  A few days in Vancouver were followed by a few days in Washington state and then another few days in Vancouver.  During that time I ate some lousy airplane food, some delicious food from my aunt and grandmother, and some of the best wedding food I've ever had.  Finally, I've arrived in NY and I'm staying in my parents' house, the entirety of which is air conditioned, making it quite pleasant to cook in without passing out from heat exhaustion.

So last night, with the urge to cook desperately needing to be satisfied, I made chicken and pasta.  My mother, brother and I went out shopping for meat, vegetables and some household staples (salami, olives and cheese to be precise).  Those household staples were purchased at Murray's Cheese, and establishment whose apron I often sport in my Tel Aviv kitchen.  On offer was some fresh pasta and we chose fettucini.  I made a very simple sauce for that pasta which consisted of butter, garlic, tomatoes, S+P and at the last minute some basil.  It was positively delicious as one could suspect.

The chicken was slightly more complicated.  I had made a similar version of this chicken at my aunt's house in Vancouver several days earlier but I made it with chicken legs rather than chicken breast.  I braised the chicken legs in Vancouver but I chose to roast the chicken breast for a better result.  The breasts came out more tender than the legs but the legs produced a better juice.  You win some, you lose some.  It was the first full meal I'd made in a while and it was quite delicious.  Today, my mother and I went to the Hudson Street Farmer's Market, picked up some incredible vegetables and duck, and this evening the two of us made an even better dinner.  You'll have to wait to hear about that tomorrow.  For now, here's an excellent chicken recipe.

       

Ingredients:

2 tbls of olive oil

2 tsp of coriander seeds

1 tsp of black cumin seeds

1 onion, sliced radially

1/4 tsp of ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper

3 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly

the juice of 1 lemon

1 cup of white wine

1 lemon cut into 1/8's

2 whole chicken breasts, skin on (4 halves)

S+P

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven to 400F/205C.

Heat the olive oil in a large cast iron skillet over medium.  When hot, add the coriander seeds.  After 4-5 minutes, when the coriander is really fragrant, add the cumin.  Immediately add the onion to the pan after the cumin and lower the heat to medium-low.  Mix the onion around in the pan.  Sauté for about 10 minutes or until tender and golden brown.  Add the garlic, cinnamon and the cayenne, then deglaze with lemon juice and half the wine.  Allow those liquids to reduce completely then move the onions to one side of the pan and add the chicken skin side down.  Allow to brown for about 4 minutes, then flip them over, add the rest of the wine and put the pan in the oven for ten minutes.  Remove and allow to rest for another 4 minutes before serving with the pasta and a salad.  B'Teavon!

Beef short-ribs in the tagine with plums, shallots and new potatoes, with a lime aioli and herb toast

So the plums didn't shine through, but the dish was delicious!  Beef short-ribs (or asado as they call them in Israel), are quite inexpensive here because Israelis don't really know what to do with them.  Most recipes call for braising them but I decided to take a different approach - cooking them in the tagine.  I've actually cooked them this way before but I used quite different ingredients this time.  While the plate was not terribly colourful, it was full of flavour.  

I had Kassandra over for dinner last night and she did me the great favour of bringing me two limes from the States (which probably came from Mexico originally, but whatever).  I had planned to make lime confit but I just didn't feel like doing that much work.  I decided to go for a lime aioli.  I looked up some recipes online and they looked ridiculous.  Four egg yolks, 2 limes, xanthum gum, mustard, garlic and lots of olive oil - all in a food processor.  Well I've made aioli on a number of occasions and I knew that all of that was unnecessary.  1 egg, 1 lime, some garlic, and olive oil.  That's all you need (well some salt too, but that's a given).  YUM!  Aioli of course is a very versatile sauce as it's simply garlic mayonnaise made with olive oil rather than vegetable oil, but YUM!  My recipe does require an immersion blender because you need the ability to move it up and down while the blade is spinning but it's super easy.

I had a bunch of bread left in the freezer from my time at Zomer, and so I defrosted then toasted a nice white loaf with herbs and green onions inside.  It was an excellent way to soak up the juices from the short-ribs as well as an excellent pedestal for the lime aioli.  The meal was truly scrumptious, and not very difficult to make.  I highly recommend you try to make it at home.

  

Ingredients:

For the short-ribs

3 yellow plums, halved and pitted

3 red plums, halved and pitted

9 mini shallots, peeled and the coarse bits cut off

6 cloves of garlic, peeled

6 new potatoes, washed and quartered

1 3-bone short-rib

1 tbls of kubeba (if you don't have it, use 1/2 tbls black pepper, 1/2 tbls corriander seed - not a real substitution but it will do)

Salt

For the lime aioli

the zest of one lime finely grated (ideally on a micro-plane)

the juice of one wedge of lime (about 1/8 of the lime)

1 egg

1 large clove of garlic

1 cup of olive oil

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 175C/350F.  Heat a grill pan over medium, allow to get hot.  Dust the short-ribs with salt then mark them off, 3 minutes on either side on the grill pan.  Combine all other ingredients in the tagine.  After marking off the short-ribs, transfer them to the tagine.  Leave in the oven for 2 hours and 15 minutes, then they are ready to serve. (no oil or other liquid is necessary because there's plenty of both coming from the short-rib)

Combine all ingredients for the aioli in a very high rimmed bowl, with only 1 tbls of the olive oil.  Mix very well with the immersion blender until all of the garlic is incorporated with no chunks.  Pour in 1 tbls of olive oil at a time and continue to blend moving the immersion blender up and down as you do so.  Repeat until all of the olive oil has been incorporated.

Serve with toast and a bit of sriracha.  B'Teavon!

Yellow gazpacho with a cilantro emulsion and red pepper - a Pan-African Gazpacho

I've been spending most of the past days deeply immersed in my studies.  I have been so immersed that I have often forgotten to eat until the very end of the day leaving me feeling week before I force something down my throat.  Well the other day I decided to plan a meal into the day in order to ensure that such would not be the case. Ilan met me at the supermarket by his house and before entering we had a quick discussion about what to make.  Ilan suggested gazpacho and I thought that would be an excellent idea.  Rather than make a red gazpacho, however, I decided to make a yellow one as the supermarket to which we went is one of the few that carries yellow cherry tomatoes.  While my grandmother and mother each have their own recipes for gazpacho, I developed my own based on one I had seen in a Spanish cook book. 

Going through the supermarket, there were other flavours that I wanted to add to but would have ruined the lovely yellow colour, mainly cilantro and some red jalapeños we saw.  The cilantro was destined for an emulsion with some olive oil to make up for the olive oil that didn't put in the gazpacho.  The jalapeños turned out to just be mini sweet red peppers, but they made it into the soup nonetheless.  Green, yellow and red are the Pan-African colours featured on numerous African flags. We thought that aesthetically this was similar.

All in all it was delicious, heartily recommend it. Enjoy!

    

Ingredients:

1/2 loaf of Italian white bread, crusts removed and cut into 3/4"x3/4" cubes

4 cloves of garlic

1/4" slice cut off a yellow grapefruit

40 grams of cilantro, washed

1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp of dijon mustard

S+P

400 grams of yellow cherry tomatoes

3 Israeli/Persian cucumbers, completely peeled of green

3 yellow bell peppers, cored and ribs removed

1/2 a small Spanish onion

2 mini red peppers, sliced into batons

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven or toaster oven to 125C/250F.  Combine the bread with three of the cloves of garlic (in their jackets) in a baking dish and place in the oven for 25 minutes.  Remove the bread and allow to cool for 15 minutes during which time return the garlic to the oven and raise the heat to 150.

Combine the other clove of garlic, raw and peeled, with the cilantro, olive, mustard and the grapefruit juice from the slice of grapefruit you've cut.  Blender extremely well in a blender, remove to a bowl.

Cut away all of the pith (white part) of your now juiced slice of grape fruit and reserve only the zest.  Coarsely chop the zest and combine it with the yellow cherry tomatoes in a blender.  Blend very thoroughly until completely liquid.  Add 3-4 cubes of bread at a time to the blender and blend until completely incorporated.  Repeat until the all the bread is gone.  Add the cucumbers and blend. Add onion and garlic and blend.  Leave the blender running and add one piece of yellow bell pepper at a time until all incorporated.  Add S+P and serve with the slices of red pepper.  B'Teavon!

A big fat steak with rice and confit onions, with a lovely delicate vichyssoise to start

I have been bombarded with visitors but said bombardment has been a positive delight.  Friends from all different stages in my life have been visiting in the month of May and it has been my pleasure to feed them.  My best friend from high school, Bethany, is here with her boyfriend Gabe and the two of them treated me to some very beautiful steaks indeed.  The day after purchasing the steaks we went to the Shuk together with my friend Carina who is also visiting from Denmark/Geneva (long story).  Sadly, giant on the bone 500g rib eyes are slightly difficult to present beautifully but nevertheless the meal was positively scrumptious.

Bethany does not like fruit in her savoury dishes but I managed to slip some past her.  The preparation of the vichyssoise was truly a group effort as I peeled and prepared all the vegetables as well as prepared the soup but it took all three others present to strain it properly.  At the last minute I decided to add some contrasting flavours by making a mint gremolata to the soup.  All I can say is, YUM!

I decided to broil the steaks so that all three could be prepared at once.  They were enormous!  To accompany the steaks I prepared a pilaf with roasted cherry tomatoes and roasted garlic that was also scrumptious.  In that way, I was able to cut out the dried cranberries/raisins/apricots etc that I had originally intended on putting in the pilaf.  The confit onions just seemed like a natural dish condiment to enhance the steak.  All in all, it was delicious, and I believe that my guests will attest to as much.  In a truly French style, we had salad after the meal, a lovely Caprese with purple basil.  Enjoy!

   

Ingredients:

For the soup

60 grams of butter

1 large leek, white part only, cut down the middle

4 cups of chicken stock

4 branches of celery, chopped

6 large potatoes, diced

3 pink lady apples, peeled and diced

S+P

250 ml of 15% cream

15 mint leaves

the zest of 1 lemon

1 very small clove of garlic

1 tsp of green pepper corn dijon mustard

For the rice

20 cherry tomatoes

1 head of garlic peeled

1 tsp of cayenne pepper

1 tsp of garam masala

2 tbls of olive oil

2 cups of short grain rice

For the steak and onion confit

1 tbls grapeseed oil

2 large onion, sliced radially

1/4 cup of cointreau

S+P

1 tbls of olive oil

3 500g bone-in rib-eye steaks

For the salad

20 cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

2 large balls of mozzarella, sliced into sticks

8 leaves of purple basil, sliced thinly

2 tbls of olive oil

1 tbls of balsamic vinegar

S+P

Directions:

Leave the potatoes and apples in a bowl in water with some lemon juice after peeling at all times before putting them into the soup.

Melt butter in a large Dutch oven over medium-low.  Add the leaks and sauté until soft.  Add the celery, after two minutes, add the chicken stock.  Bring to a simmer and add the potatoes and apples. Add boiling water to cover, then allow to simmer for 20 minutes.  Blend thoroughly with an immersion blender and then pass through a chinois.  Pass the remaining contents of the chinois through a tamis.  Allow to cool in the fridge for at least two hours before serving.  Chop all other ingredients very finely together nearly into a paste  then mix with the mustard.  Serve that with the soup.

Pre-heat oven to 175C/350F.  Combine the tomatoes, garlic, garam masala, cayenne and olive oil in a baking dish or Dutch oven.  Roast for 45 minutes uncovered.  Remove and raise heat to 190C/375F.  Combine the contents of the pan with the rice and 3 cups of water.  Cover well or if using a Dutch oven put on the lid and return to the oven for 20 minutes.  Check the rice and if necessary return to the oven for another 5 minutes.  Add S+P.

Heat the grapeseed oil in a saucepan over medium.  Once hot, add the onions.  Sauté for 6 minutes, then add the cointreau.  Add 8 cups of water then allow to reduce until nearly all the liquid has evaporated.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  (Always add salt at the end - water reduces, salt does not)

Turn up the heat on the oven to max and change the setting to broil.  Coat the steaks in olive oil, S+P then place on an oven sheet lined with tin-foil.  Place on the upper most rack of the oven for 4 minutes, then flip and leave in for another 4 minutes.  Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 3 minutes.  Serve with rice and onion confit.

Combine all ingredients for the salad in a bowl and toss.

B'Teavon!

Osso Bucco with apricots and mint over squid ink tagliatelle with a tomato salad

Today I had the pleasure of hosting two good friends, one whom I see once or twice a month and another whom I see far less frequently.  Oren came in from Jerusalem for the weekend, and Julien was visiting from Paris.  Julien had contacted me on facebook chat earlier in the week saying that he was in Tel Aviv and thought of me.  He apparently didn't realise that I live here now, and so he was quite surprised when I asked him what he was doing for the evening and if he'd like to get dinner.  He treated me to a really tremendous dinner at "Neve Tsedek - A Place for Meat" and today I was happy to in some way return the favour.  Julien and I met in Barcelona in the summer of 2003 and have met up in New York, London, Paris and Tel Aviv since.  Due to the infrequency with which we see each other, a lot has to be filled in on our sporadic encounters and it was to each's delight to find that the other was doing so well.

Oren and I had planned to make this meal earlier in the week and due to schedule restrictions we decided to make it a lunch.  Oren came over bright and early and we sat, had coffee and talked for a while before we got to cooking.  Oren is one of the few persons I entrust with tasks in the kitchen and his presence was a tremendous help in the preparation of the meal as well as being good company.  Julien arrived at two o'clock and witnessed the final preparations of the meal including the salad, dressing and pasta.  The pasta I used was one of the two packages I picked up at KaDeWe in Berlin and it was very tasty indeed.

Having planned this meal earlier in the week I went to my butcher on Thursday with the intention of buying skirt steak.  Skirt steak being the hot commodity that it is in this country, they were out and so I decided to go for something a bit different.  Rather than an other flank steak or an expensive rib-eye or sirloin, I decided to go with Osso Bucco (lit. "bone hole" in Italian), which is the cross cut of a leg of veal, beef or lamb, so named for the the hole left in the centre of the bone as the marrow cooks out.  The variety available was veal and I was quite pleased with that.  Osso Bucco is generally braised and that was exactly what I did with it.  I've made a number of varieties in the past.

Apricots are in season and I had picked some up at the shuk earlier in the week.  Because I had some long shifts the two days prior at work, I was unable to get to the Shuk again in the order to prepare for this meal so I relied on the contents of my fridge and pantry for ingredients.  Unfortunately I chose to use a pot that was somewhat smaller than necessary and so despite the effort I made to keep the meat from buckling along the bone while being fried initially, I couldn't fit them into the pot lying flat and thus have heat applied evenly.  Furthermore, I had to figure out how to split two pieces of osso bucco amongst 3 persons.  The flour that covered my osso bucco dissolved into the braising liquids to combine with the other ingredients for a truly lovely thick sauce.  For that reason, I opted for pasta.  The result was excellent, to which my two guests have promised to attest.  While there are a number of ingredients involved, the process was not terribly difficult and I hope that someone will replicate it and enjoy it.  Enjoy!

      

Ingredients:

Quite a lot of grapeseed, vegetable or other neutral oil

2 slices of veal osso bucco, about 400 g each

3 tbls flour

1 tbls spice mixture

1 tbls of salt

2 tbls of olive oil

1 onion, sliced radially

the zest of 1 grapefruit

1 habanero, seeded and minced

6 apricots, chopped into mush

2 dried apricots, sliced thinly

2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into 1/8" thick discs

3 small cloves of garlic, peeled

6 ladels of chicken stock

2 large shallots, peeled and ends removed

6 new potatoes, quartered

1/2 bunch of mint leaves

1 package of squid ink tagliatelle

For the salad and dressing

10 yellow cherry tomatoes, quartered

10 red cherry tomatoes, quartered

3 spring onions, white part sliced thinly into rings and the greens of just one of them reserved

1 very small clove of garlic

1/4 cup of olive oil

the juice of 1/4 grapefruit

2 tsp of chopped basil

S+P

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven to 160C/325F.  Combine the flour, spices and salt on a plate and mix well.  Dredge the osso bucco in this mixture, well covered.  Tie around the middle tightly with butcher's twine and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat.  Add the onions and sauté for 5 minutes until translucent.  Add the grapefruit zest and habanero, and sauté for another 2 minutes.  Add the fresh apricot and allow to reduce for 3-4 minutes.  Move this mixture to the side and add the carrots and garlic with another dash of olive oil to the other side of the pan.  Allow to sit for 3-4 minutes like this, then mix everything together.  Add the dried apricot, one minute later, add the vegetable stock.  Bring to a simmer and add the shallots and potatoes.

In a medium cast-iron skillet, heat over medium with oil coming up about 1/2" up the sides (yes, I know it's a lot).  Shake off excess flour from the osso bucco, and fry one piece at a time, about 2 minutes on each side.  When done, transfer to the Dutch oven resting in the liquid but not immersed.  Put the lid on and transfer to the oven for 2 hours.

Keep that oil in the cast-iron skillet hot over medium heat.  You can enter the mint leaves (about 15 of them) in batches or one at a time like I did.  Enter in each mint leaf for ten seconds exactly, then remove to a plate with lots of paper towel.  The mint leaves should be crispy and translucent after cooling.

Boil the pasta for about 6 minutes, strain and then coat with olive oil to keep from sticking.

Remove the osso bucco from the oven and break apart the meat with tongs leaving some large pieces still in tact.  Toss with the remaining fresh mint leaves then pour atop your pasta and top with the fried mint.

Combine all ingredients for the salad other than the tomatoes and spring onion and purée well in a blender.  Combine the tomatoes and spring onions and pour atop dressing.  

B'Teavon!

Soup and salad week - mediterranean lentil soup with dersa and cherry tomatoes

Despite their appearance in two consecutive posts, the two cilantro-mint combinations were actually prepared about ten days apart.  On the second day of soup and salad week I prepared a spciy bell pepper and corn soup with Ilan.  I had envisioned making a lentil salad to accompany it but in the end I got lazy and the soup was quite filling.  Ilan had prepared lentils for me however, and so the next day I put them to use.  I was so happy with soup the day before that I decided to make another.  Not only was I excited to use the lentils but I thought this a perfect opportunity to begin to use some of the goodies I acquired in Berlin (hence the presence of so many pastes).  I also got to use some new bowls.

The last lentil soup I made was from an Algerian recipe that combine raw chopped with cilantro with some other flavour enhancing ingredients called a dersa.  I decided to make my own version for this soup with chopped cilantro, mint, clementine zest, garlic and green peppercorn mustard.  Oh man was it delicious.  This dersa would be an excellent accompaniment to meat as well.  Because the soup contained so many distinct solid ingredients, the smooth texture of dersa maintained a distinct contrast in your mouth whereas putting it in a puréed soup made have less effect.  

I prepared enough for 4 people, and through the course of the day I ate the whole thing.  I used very little fat however, and lentils are SO good for you.  The have the third highest percentage of protein of any vegetable or grain and are packed with iron too.  YUM! 

 

Ingredients:

2 cup of dry du Puy (small green) lentils, picked through for stones

2 tbls of olive oil

1 large onion, diced

1 shallot, minced

1 carrot, peeled and diced

1" inch of ginger, grated

3 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly

1 tbls of tomato paste

2 tsp of harissa paste

2 tsp of black olive paste

1/2 cup of red wine

2 cups of duck stock (or veal stock)

For the dersa

2 large hand fulls of cilantro leaves, stems removed

1 large handful of mint leaves, stems removed

the zest of 1 clementine

1 small clove of garlic

1/4" ginger, grated

1 tbls of green pepper corn mustard

2 tsp of olive oil

the juice of 1/4 lemon

Directions:

Was the lentils until the water runs clear, then soak in cold clean water for 20 minutes.  Strain, then boil for exactly 20 minutes.  Strain and cool immediately by stirring until most of the steam has escaped.

Add the olive oil to a dutch oven and heat over medium.  Sauté the onions for 3 minutes, then add the shallots and sauté for another 4.  Add the carrot and the pastes and ginger and stir until well mixed.  Allow to sit for 2 minutes then add the red wine.  Allow to reduce almost completely then add the duck stock and the garlic.  Bring to a simmer and allow to reduce for 5 minutes.  Add the lentil, then pour in boiling water to just barely cover the lentil.  Bring to a simmer and cover for 5 minutes.  Add S+P and serve.

Chop the mint and cilantro together coarsely.  Add the clementine zest and continue to chop a bit further.  Mince the garlic and then add to the mixture and continue to chop until very fine.  Add the grated ginger and chop further.  Transfer to a bowl and mix with the mustard, olive oil and S+P. 

Place a quenelle of this mixture of the soup with some thinly sliced cherry tomato. B'Teavon!

Grilled lamb chops with cilantro-mint yogurt sauce, turkish flat bread and salad

This was the last meal I prepared in Berlin and I know it's been a long time coming.  The night before making this dish, Lior, Barbara and I were looking over her book KÖSTLICHKEITEN INTERNATIONALER KOCHKUNST, which is a 1970's cookbook of strange and exotic ingredients.  We were looking over recipes that called for swallow nest, elephant trunk and a whole range of other other items that one rarely thinks of picking up at the super market.  I had planned to make Russell, Barbara and the kids dinner the next night in any event, to thank them for their tremendous hospitality in Berlin.  The one dish that looked appetising was Turkish recipe for lamb and mint sauce.  Without relying on any actual recipes from the already anachronistic though beautiful cookbook, I took a note from the theme there in and made some international food art, if you will.

I prepared this meal our second to last night in Berlin.  Lior and I went down the Bergmanstrasse to the Turkish grocery where I purchased very reasonably price produce and meat.  The rack of lamb came to 17 euros for about 18 chops.  I also picked up some cilantro, mint, a butternut squash, a black radish from Turkey, some Turkish flat bread, Turkish yoghurt as well as a tube of harissa paste I took back with me to Tel Aviv.  Russell had already done some shopping at the organic supermarket earlier in the day so the other ingredients came from there.  I frenched the bones then cut the rack into double chops which I then marinated slightly in olive oil, salt and pepper before grilling them on a grill pan.  Unfortunately, I undercooked the lamb, but the grill pan stayed hot so every one went back to cook theirs a little more.  The sauce came out brilliantly and it was very airy and light.  I made a butternut squash soup as a first course to which I added roasted tomatoes for the first time and it was really delightful.  The salad was also quite good and I think the meal was successful over all.

   

Ingredients:

For the soup

2 tbls of butter

2 small onions, diced

2 large cloves of garlic, minced

1" of ginger, grated

1 butternut squash, halved and seed

3 tbls of olive oil

12 medium-small roma tomatoes

2 tsp of madras curry powder

5 new potatoes, washed well and quartered

the juice of 1 lemon

1 cup of white wine

1 cup of milk

S+P

For the lamb and sauce

2 double chops per person

2 tbls olive oil

1/2 bunch of cilantro, stems mostly removed

1 bunch of mint, stems removed

500 grams Turkish yoghurt

S+P

For the salad

3 carrots, sliced into the 1/8" discs

2 large cucumbers, quartered lengthwise then sliced thinly

2 large bell peppers, seeded, cored then sliced thinly

1/2 a large black radish, cut into match sticks, about 1.5"x1/4"x1/4"

1/2 a bunch of cilantro, very finely chopped

the juice of 1/2 lemon

1/4 cup high quality olive oil

S+P

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven to 190C/375F.  Coat each half of the butternut squash with olive oil and dust with salt and pepper, then place flat side down in a baking dish or on an oven sheet lined with tin foil.  Coat the tomatoes with the remaining olive oil and leave both in the oven for 50 minutes.  Heat the butter in a dutch oven over medium.  Sauté the onions for about 6 minutes, then add the garlic and ginger.  Add the curry powder, sauté for another 2 minutes then add the lemon juice.  Sauté for 1 more minute before adding the wine.  Allow the wine to reduce by half then add the potatoes.  Remove the squash from the oven, peel it then add it to the pot along with the tomatoes.  Pour over boiling water to cover the vegetables, then leave the lid on for twenty minutes and lower the heat to medium low.  Remove the lid, bring the heat back up to medium and allow to reduce for ten minutes.  Blend well with an immersion blender, add milk, salt and pepper and top with some chopped cilantro.

Combine the mint, cilantro, 1/4 of the yoghurt and 1/4 cup of cold water in a large bowl.  Blender thoroughly with an immersion blender and continue to add the yoghurt as you blend until it is all incorporated.  You can also do this with carbonated water for a great effect, make sure it's cold.

Allow the lamb to sit in the olive oil for at least 5 minutes with a bit of salt and pepper atop.  Heat the grill pan to medium and grill each chop for 3 minutes on each side (I only did two and they were undercooked). 

combine all the ingredients for the salad in a bowl and toss well

Combine everything on a plate with some turkish flatbread and enjoy.  B'Teavon!