Romesco Sauce

As the story goes, it all began in El Serralo, a neighborhood along the port of Tarragona. During the 1700s, fishermen would take ingredients that they had lying around -- such as almonds, bread, dried peppers, olive oil, salt and wine to create a sauce. That sauce would be served alongside whatever was left of their catch. 

As with most recipes, there may be as many variations on a romesco sauce as there are chefs and cooks who prepare it. However, there are three basic common rules. First, the base of the sauce usually consists of roasted tomatoes or roasted peppers (roasting the latter is slightly easier than roasting the former. Second, the peppers and tomatoes are pureed, thickened by the addition of almonds, and toasted bread. Third, the sauce is then emulsified with olive oil.  These rules get you to a sauce, which will be rich, and smoky, but it is what comes next that provides you with a truly wonderful sauce.

The variations in a romesco sauce relate to the additional ingredients that may make their way into the recipe. Ingredients such as garlic, chile flakes, and sherry vinegar. All of these ingredients add depth of flavor or heighten the piquancy of the sauce. One may also add paprika or smoked paprika, the latter if you really want to underscore the smokiness of the roasted peppers or tomatoes. 

One final note about this sauce: while its origins may lie with fishermen using the sauce to flavor fish and other seafood, a romesco sauce basically works with anything and everything. It is a great accompaniment to beef, chicken, turkey, and vegetables, as well as most fish and seafood. I prepared this sauce years ago to accompany grilled seafood, but the sauce showed its true versatility when I prepared it for our fondue dinner on New Year's Eve. 

ROMESCO SAUCE

Recipe from Gordon Ramsay's Cookery Course

Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 red peppers

1 thick slice of ciabatta or farmhouse white bread,

     crusts removed and torn into chunks

Olive oil

3 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped

3 vine ripe tomatoes (like plum)  on the vine

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 teaspoon chile flakes

4 tablespoons of blanched almonds, toasted

     and roughly chopped

1 lemon, juiced

1-2 tablespoons of sherry vinegar

Sea salt, to taste

Ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

1.  Prep the bell peppers.  Heat a grill until very hot.  Put the peppers on a foil lined baking tray and place under the grill.  Cook for 5 minutes turning regularly until he skin is blackened and blistered all over.  Transfer to a bowl and set aside to cool.  

2.  Continue making the romesco sauce.  Cook the bread chunks for 2 minutes in a small frying pan with a dash of oil, then add the garlic and cook for a further minute until the garlic is tender and the bread toasted.  By this stage, the peppers should have cooled and it will be easy to peel and rub off the charred skins.  Peel, deseed and roughly chop them, then place in a blender.  Roughly chop the tomatoes and add to the peppers with the bread and garlic.  Blitz to form a rough paste.

3.  Continue making the romesco sauce.  Add the smoked paprika, chile flakes, almonds, lemon juice, vinegar and a pinch of salt and pepper to the blender and blitz until well mixed.  Taste and adjust the seasoning.  With the motor running, slowly pour in 6 tablespoons of olive oil.  Taste and adjust the seasoning again if necessary.  Allow the sauce to come to room temperature and stir well before serving. 

PEACE.

Qidreh

"Under international law, the responsibility for protecting civilians in conflict falls on the belligerents. Under military occupation, the responsibility for the welfare of the population falls upon the occupiers." -- Kofi Annan

In the days and weeks following the October 7, 2023 barbaric attacks by Hamas against Israelis and foreigners, Israel proceeded to impose a complete blockade and then inflict a relentless military campaign upon the Gaza strip. Israel directed its self defense not simply toward Hamas, but also at more than two million Palestinians who live in Gaza. 

Israel's response has resulted in unimaginable suffering for those innocent people, who saw food stores run out, clean water run dry, and medical supplies become scarce. Supporters of Israel's strategy blamed all of the Palestinians' suffering on Hamas (or worse, they equated innocent Palestinian people with Hamas). The terrorist organization had control over Gaza since 2006 and which, during that time, entrenched itself amongst the civilians. The innocent Palestinians became the human shield of Hamas. Yet, Israel nevertheless chose to drop bombs and shoot missiles at that shield. The Palestinian people are caught between two warring sides, with indefensible losses of life and indescribable suffering. 

As I watched the unfolding events, a profound sadness overwhelmed me for the everyday Palestinian people. Those individuals who were just trying to make a life for themselves and their families, overcoming obstacles and shouldering burdens imposed upon them because of who they are and where they lived, not for what they have done. I have explored Palestinian culture and cuisine, with its ties to the sea and its roots in the ground. Now, in this post, I take a step back, because the situation has become much more dire for the everyday Palestinian people and their future in Gaza.

While everyone focuses upon the savagery of Hamas' central tenet (that is, the eradication of the Jewish people living in Israel or Palestine), there have been many statements by officials of the Israeli government that suggest the same outcome for the Palestinian people living in Gaza. These statements include, but are not limited to: 

• October 9, 2023: Israel's Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, stated, "we are fighting human animals and we will act accordingly."
• October 10, 2023: Israeli Army spokesperson says the emphasis is on damage, not precision.
• October 28, 2023: Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu invokes the biblical passages about Amalek, in which the prophet Samuel conveys God's command to King Saul that the Hebrew people "punish the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them," adding "do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys." 
• November 13, 2023: Israel's Agricultural Minister, Avi Dichter, described the current war as "Gaza's Nakba," which is a reference to the original Nakba that resulted in the displacement of over 700,000 Palestinians when the State of Israel was created in 1948 (many of whom fled to Gaza).
• November 14, 2023: Israel's Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, called for the voluntary migration of the Palestinian people out of Gaza, claiming it was the right humanitarian solution to do (it is also the first and principal step toward ethnic cleansing). 
• November 17, 2023: The Deputy Speaker of Israel's Knesset, Nissim Vaturi, stated that, "We are too humane. Burn Gaza now no less."

Statements like those set forth above suggest an objective that involves far more than simply eradicating Hamas. They are opening a door to take action against the Palestinian people who live in Gaza, forcing them to flee their homes in what could become another Nakba. (The original Nakba refers to the dislocation of Palestinians when Israel was established.) Israel's "self-defense" appears to involve little differentiation between everyday Palestinians and Hamas fighters, as evidenced by block after block of destroyed buildings, the targeting and destroying of civilian infrastructure, and the devastating boycott, denying the people of Gaza the very things they need to survive (like food, water, medical supplies, and fuel).

Two pictures: (L) Palestinians fleeing during the Nakba in 1948 and
(R) Palestinians fleeing the current conflict. 

Accountability for the above is deflected by a range of defenses. For example, the death toll of Gazans is often discounted as Hamas propaganda. More disturbingly, those who challenge Israel's "self-defense," are labelled as anti-Semitic. The calls upon Israel to international law and refrain from imposing collective punishment upon the Gazan people supposedly become anti-Semitic because it is believed that the challengers have not held other countries to such standards (regardless of whether that is true or not). Simply put, it is not anti-Semitic at this present moment in time to call upon people to be not only human, but humane. Our history should shape our future, where everyone on both sides learns from our prior failings and mistakes in order to prevent us from repeating them, time and again. One should not use the failings of the past as a defense to the failures of the present. We need to call out violations of human rights and international, calling for their cessation and remediation. 

I have been doing so in my own small way, by focusing on the Palestinians as a people. I wanted to do what I could to restore their humanity by recognizing their struggles while learning about their culture and cuisine. That cuisine can be best summarized by a headline to an article that I read: Dill, Fish and Resilience: The Holy Trinity of Gazan Cuisine.  To be honest, I don't cook with a lot of dill because it is not my favorite herb. Yet, many of the recipes that I reviewed included dill, and a lot of it. Dill can be found in salads, seafood dishes, soups and stews. As one put it, dill "is the smell of Gaza." Where the French have mirepoix and the Spanish have sofrito, the use of dill, in combination with chiles and garlic, provides a base for much of Gazan cooking. The other key element of Gazan cuisine, as it is for all Palestinian cuisine, is olive oil. The olive tree has an especially important place in Palestinian cooking. 

Yet, Palestinian cuisine also includes some more intangible ingredients. One of which is generosity. It features itself not only in the dishes, but also in the offering of food to others, especially those who are less fortunate. (Given the Palestinians' plight, that is really saying something.)

Whalid Al-Hattab serves Jarisha to his poor neighbors. Source: Arab News

The other intangible ingredient to Gazan cuisine is resilience. When one talks of food in Gaza, the discussion often gets intertwined is Israel's blockade of the territory. This blockade predated the events of October 7, 2023; and, its imposition has bordered on not just inhumane, but also irrational. At various points in time, basic food items -- such as pasta, lentil and coffee -- have been denied to the Gazan people by Israel. Indeed, even crayons were once blocked from entry into Gaza. The arbitrary denial of food and ingredients has had a negative impact upon not just the cuisine, but the every day meals for Gazans. Yet, Gazans continue to prepare dishes with what they have, and continue to share those dishes with the have-nots. 

The dish of Qidreh is not Gazan in origin, unlike Zibdiyet Gambari or Gazan Dagga. Its origins lie in the West Bank city of Hebron. Qidreh actually refers to the copper pot used to prepare the meal.  However, like most recipes, there are regional versions of Qidreh. For example, cooks in Jerusalem add chickpeas to the rice. Gazan cooks use much more garlic and a range of spices. I selected a recipe that draws not only from the traditional Hebron dish, but includes the chickpeas from Jerusalem and enough spices to make me believe that there is a nod to Gaza in the meal. The one variation on the recipe is that, rather than using a seven spice blend like Baharat, I used the Palestinian Nine Spice blend. 

I don't know what the future holds for Palestinians in Gaza (or the West Bank), but, if the past is any indication, it is not a good one. As long as far-right governments control the Israeli government, as long as extremist settlers wage violence upon Palestinian communities in the name of a greater Israel, the risk that a people, along with its culture and cuisine, may become endangered. All because of an inability or unwillingness to differentiate between those who wage terror and those who face terror.

QIDREH

Recipe from Fufu's Kitchen

Serves 5

Ingredients (for the lamb):

• 12 cuts of medium sized lamb (preferably lamb shoulder)
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoons salt
• 1 tablespoon ground allspice
• Boiling water
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder 
• 1 onion, quartered
• 4 bay leaves
• 4 cardamom pods
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 cinnamon stick

Ingredients (for the rice):

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 20 garlic cloves, halved
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon seven spice (or Palestinian Nine Spice)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups basmati rice
• 15 ounces chickpeas, drained

Ingredients (for the garnish):

• 1/3 cup slivered almonds or pine nuts
• 1 tablespoon ghee

Directions:

1. Brown the lamb. Rinse the lamb pieces thoroughly under cold water and trim excess fat if necessary. Pat the lamb dry.  In a large pot, add the olive oil on medium heat allowing for it to warm up. Once the oil is hot, add the lamb pieces and sear for 4 minutes each side to achieve a light browning. Season with half of the salt, pepper, and all spice from the ingredient list. 

2. Prepare to stew the lamb. Add enough boiling water to cover 2 inches over the lamb. Let this simmer covered for about 30 minutes. If residue rises to the top, skim it off. At this point add the rest of the seasonings and components on the ingredient list for the lamb. Allow to simmer for another 1.5 hours on low to medium heat. Once the time has passed, check the tenderness of the meat. Depending on cut and size, it may need more time but should be ready. take out the lamb pieces through a strainer on top of a bowl and reserve the lamb broth.

3. Prepare the rice. Wipe the same pot used to cook the lamb and add the olive oil with the onions. Sauté until fragrant, which is about 5 to 8 minutes and then add the garlic and saute for another 5 minutes. Season with all of the spices in the rice list and add the rice and chickpeas to this as well. Give it a nice stir so that everything is coated. Take a majority of the rice out and put on a plate to the side. Leave a layer of rice in the pot and top it with half of the lamb pieces and then add the remaining rice and top of the remaining lamb. Add enough lamb broth to cover the rice 1 inch over. Put a heat proof plate that fits on top of the pot. Store extra broth in a container to use for other purposes.

4. Cook the rice. Cook the rice covered with a lid for about 20 to 25 minutes on low to medium heat making sure not to scorch the bottom of the pot. Once the liquid is evaporated and the rice is cooked through, turn off the heat. allow for the rice to stay in the steam for another 5-10 minutes before serving on a platter of your choice.

5. Finish the dish. Top with toasted slivered almonds and/or pine nuts in ghee. Enjoy with a refreshing salad and plain yogurt. 

PEACE. 

Grilled Seafood with a Romesco Sauce

A few weeks back, my beautiful Angel and I hosted our wine club dinner.  The theme of the Wine Club was "The F Word," or the recipes of Chef Gordon Ramsay.  I really wanted to focus on some of the cooking that inspires the Chef.  I have watched a lot of his shows, including The F Word and Gordon Ramsay's Great Escapes.  I also searched through many of his recipes to make sure each course would have distinct flavors and ingredients.

For the first course, we made Grilled Seafood with a Romesco Sauce.  The recipe is heavily influenced by Spanish cuisine.  With all of its coastline, from the Bay of Biscay to the Mediterranean Ocean, Spain is particularly well known for its seafood.  I have watched many a food show about Spanish cuisine, only to see the fresh seafood, such as sardines, tuna and squid.  

I was able to find some very large squid at a local Asian supermarket.  These squid were perfect because their thick bodies would stand up well to the grilling.  There are a couple drawbacks to using these large squid.  First, they are whole squid, which means they have to be cleaned.  The best thing to do is to first chop off the head, remove the beak and set aside the tentacles. After that, take a pair of poultry shears (or scissors) and cut down the top of the body very carefully.  You have to do your best not to disturb the internal organs.  (If you do, you could end up with a big mess.)  Once you have cut down the length of the body, you can remove the internal organs and everything else until you have a large squid steak.  You should then score the inside of the squid to make a hatch-like pattern.  This helps with the second problem.  The large squid tend to be tougher and a little chewier than the smaller ones that you usually find in a grocery store.  It is said that scoring the squid helps to make the large squid more tender to eat.  

As for the other principal component, romesco sauce originated in the Catalonian city of Tarragona. It is said that local fishermen made the sauce to be served with their catch.  The principal ingredients of the sauce -- roasted peppers, almonds, vinegar and olive oil -- are combined to produce a sauce that is not only perfect for seafood, but also works with any other protein (especially chicken or pork).  Romesco sauce even goes well with just some crusty, rustic bread.

Overall, this recipe produced a very good start to our wine club dinner.  While it may not have reached the standards of a Michelin star chef like Chef Ramsay, I think it both the flavors and the plating were fairly good for me.  

GRILLED SEAFOOD WITH A ROMESCO SAUCE

Recipe from Gordon Ramsay's Cookery Course

Serves 4

Ingredients (for the seafood):

4 medium to large squid, prepared and cleaned

12 king prawns, shell on

2 tablespoons of parsley, chopped (for garnish)

Ingredients (for the romesco sauce):

2 red peppers

1 thick slice of ciabatta or farmhouse white bread,

     crusts removed and torn into chunks

Olive oil

3 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped

3 vine ripe tomatoes (like plum)  on the vine

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

4 tablespoons of blanched almonds, toasted

     and roughly chopped

1 lemon, juiced

1-2 tablespoons of sherry vinegar

Sea salt, to taste

Ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

1.  Make the romesco sauce.  Heat a grill until very hot.  Put the peppers on a foil lined baking tray and place under the grill.  Cook for 5 minutes turning regularly until he skin is blackened and blistered all over.  Transfer to a bowl and set aside to cool.  

2.  Continue making the romesco sauce.  Cook the bread chunks for 2 minutes in a small frying pan with a dash of oil, then add the garlic and cook for a further minute until the garlic is tender and the bread toasted.  By this stage, the peppers should have cooled and it will be easy to peel and rub off the charred skins.  Peel, deseed and roughly chop them, then place in a blender.  Roughly chop the tomatoes and add to the peppers with the bread and garlic.  Blitz to form a rough paste.

3.  Continue making the romesco sauce.  Add the smoked paprika, chile flakes, almonds, lemon juice, vinegar and a pinch of salt and pepper to the blender and blitz until well mixed.  Taste and adjust the seasoning.  With the motor running, slowly pour in 6 tablespoons of olive oil.  Taste and adjust the seasoning again if necessary.  Allow the sauce to come to room temperature and stir well before serving. 

4.  Grill the seafood.  Heat a griddle pan over high heat until hot.  Lightly score one side of the squid in a diamond pattern before cutting into strips.  Toss the prawns and squid together in a little olive oil and season with a little salt and pepper.  Place the prawns on the hot griddle and cook for 2 1/2 to 3 minutes.  Starting diamond side up, cook the squid for about 1 minute on each side.  Leave it to curl up and give it a furhter minute until just cooked.

5.  Plate the dish.   Serve the seafood hot, garnished with parsley, and with the romesco pepper sauce alongside.

ENJOY!

Grilled Calamari with a Red Pepper Sauce

A couple of weeks ago, I had the privilege of cooking a three course meal for my parents.  The theme of the meal was two fold: (1) grilled dishes and (2) most of the ingredients were to come from the West Side Market in Cleveland, Ohio.  My first dish was Grilled Apricots, Burrata and Arugula Salad, which was very good.  The second dish was an appetizer: grilled calamari with a red pepper sauce.

This recipe is a simplified version of a recipe that I found on Saveur's website.  The reason that this recipe is "simplified" is the lack of access to certain ingredients, such as aji dolce peppers and sherry vinegar.  I decided that I would simply make my own red pepper sauce that would parallel a romesco sauce.  A romesco sauce is a Spanish sauce made with roasted peppers and almonds that is often served with seafood.  However, a romesco sauce is very versatile and it can be served with really any kind of meat, including beef, chicken and turkey.

This dish was the least faithful to my theme, because the key ingredients -- calamari, roasted peppers and almonds -- came from the grocery store rather than the West Side Market.  The reason is that, by the time I got to the seafood vendor, the calamari was picked over and what was left was really too small to grill.  I really wanted a nice combination of big bodies and tentacles.  I also had to get the peppers and almonds from the grocery store, although I could have bought some red peppers and roasted them on the grill and then pureed them.  Even though this aspect of my theme fell short, the dish itself still worked out very well.

One final note: the calamari should be grilled whole.  It is not worth the effort to grill calamari rings.  The reason is that the rings will cook too fast and spend only about a minute or two total on the grill.  I wanted to keep the calamari on the grill for as long as I could without overcooking it.  So, look for large bodies and good sized tentacles for this dish. After grilling the calamari, you could serve the bodies whole, which I did, or cut them into rings. 

GRILLED CALAMARI WITH A RED PEPPER SAUCE

Recipe adapted from Saveur

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds of calamari, bodies and tentacles

1 jar of roasted red peppers
1/4 cup of sliced almonds, toasted
2 cloves of garlic, diced finely
2 tablespoons of flat leaf parsley
1 tablespoon of smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1/4 to 1/2 of olive oil
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil

Directions:
1.  Make the red pepper sauce.  Combine the red peppers, toasted almonds, flat leaf parsley, garlic, smoked paprika and cayenne pepper in a blender.  Blend the ingredients, and add the olive oil slowly in a stream.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Move the sauce into a small saucepan and heat the sauce.  Do not let the sauce come to a boil.

2.  Grill the calamari.  Thread the squid bodies on skewers, about two bodies per skewer.  Thread the tentacles on a separate skewer.  Baste the squid bodies and tentacles liberally with olive oil.  Heat a grill to medium heat (about 300 degrees Fahrenheit).  Place the skewers on the grill.  Grill the skewers about two minutes per side.

3.  Plate the dish.   Place a couple of squid bodies on a plate, with a couple of the tentacles.  Spoon the sauce over the squid. Serve immediately.

ENJOY!

Andalucian Asparagus

It is spring time and, of course, thoughts turn to all of those wonderful vegetables that happen to be in season right now.  One of those vegetables is the asparagus.  This vegetable has been around for centuries.   The earliest reference to asparagus can be found on an Egyptian frieze that dates back to 3,000 B.C.  

Fast forward to recent times, and I can say that I was never a big fan of asparagus.  I never ate it as a child or even as an adult.  I have only begun eating the vegetable in recent years.  Although my favorite way to prepare asparagus is to grill the vegetable, I have been looking at other preparations.  

I recently came across a recipe for Andalucian Asparagus, which is apparently a homage to the way the vegetable is prepared in southern Spain. The asparagus season is a very important one in Spain, and its availability leads to dishes like this one.  The recipe calls for using the thin asparagus, although the ones I used were a little more on the thicker side.  The recipe also calls for removing the crust from the bread used to make the topping; however, I did not want to waste that crust.  So, I just left the crust on the bread.

ANDALUCIAN ASPARAGUS

Recipe from The New Mediterranean Cookbook at 295

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:

2 pounds of young asparagus

1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil

4 garlic cloves peeled

12 blanched almonds

1 2-inch slice of crusty country-style bread, 

     crusts removed, cut into cubes

1 tablespoon very good quality sherry vinegar

Sea salt

Directions:

1.  Prepare the asparagus.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Trim the asparagus, rinse and set aside.

2.  Prepare the topping.  Heat half the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat.  Add the garlic, almonds and bread and saute, stirring occasionally, until all the ingredients are nicely browned, about 5 to 7 minutes.  Do not let them burn.  Transfer the almonds, garlic and bread cubes with a slotted spoon to a food processor or blender.  Add the vinegar and about 1/2 teaspoon salt and process briefly until the mixture is a coarse meal.  

3.  Saute the asparagus.  In the oil remaining in the pan, saute the asparagus over medium low heat until the stalks change color and start to become tender, about 5 to 7 minutes. (You may need to add another tablespoon or two of oil.)  Remove the asparagus and place in an ovenproof gratin dish.  Bring a cup of water to a boil and pour it over the asparagus.  Then sprinkle the almond-bread mixture over the top.  Bake for 15 minutes or until the asparagus is thoroughly cooked and most of the liquid has boiled away.  Serve immediately.

ENJOY!

Green Beans with Toasted Almonds and Lemon

Every other year, Clare and I spend Thanksgiving with her parents.  Clare's parents, Frank and Geri, have a tradition of spending the holiday with some longtime family friends.  All of these families consider themselves to be extensions of one another, creating one big family for the holiday.  

Both Frank and I love to cook; and, when it comes to preparing the Thanksgiving meal, we are both more than willing to do our part.  This year, the hosts had not only a gargantuan turkey (over twenty pounds if I recall correctly), but bags of fresh green beans. I will readily admit that I am not a fan of green beans. I usually steer clear of them whenever ordering at restaurants and I do not use the ingredient very often in my own cooking.  However, we needed a vegetable for the dinner, and, the green beans were that vegetable.  

What happened next is a collaboration between Frank and myself.  We decided to blanch the green beans to keep their color, and, just before the meal was ready, we would saute the beans in a little butter, add some toasted almonds and parsley.  We would finish the side dish with some lemon juice to add some acidity and lightness to the dish. The end result was a green bean dish that even I liked.  

GREEN BEANS WITH TOASTED ALMONDS AND LEMON

A Chef Bolek Collaboration with Frank Savage

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1/2 pound of green beans, washed and trimmed

1/4 to 1/3 cup of slivered almonds, toasted

2 tablespoons of unsalted butter

1 teaspoon of parsley flakes
Pinch of crushed red pepper

1/4 lemon, juiced

Salt, to taste

Freshly ground pepper, to taste

Directions:

1.  Blanche the green beans.  Bring a pot of water with a teaspoon of salt to a rapid boil.  Add the green beans to the pot and cook for two to four minutes, depending upon the size of the beans.  Prepare a bowl full of ice water.  After the beans have cooked, remove them from the boiling water and place them into the ice bath.  Drain the beans and set them aside.

2.  Toast the almonds.  Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Spread the almonds on a sheet pan.  Place the sheet pan in the oven.  Toast the almonds until they begin to turn brown.  Remove from the oven. 

3.  Saute the green beans.  Heat the butter in a sauce pan over medium high heat.  Add the beans and saute for about three minutes until they are warmed through.  Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.  Sprinkle the almonds, the crushed red pepper and the parsley flakes.  Finish with lemon juice.  Serve immediately.

ENJOY!

Reshmi Kebab

It was another Steak Night, and, oddly enough, I did not have any desire to have a steak.  It may have been all the Texas Barbecue Brisket and Baltimore Pit Beef that I have been eating recently.  It may have been that occasional desire to try to make something different.  Given how good the brisket and pit beef were, I will chalk it up to the latter reason. 

In any event, I was perusing some recipes on Saveur's website and I came across one for Reshmi Kebab.  These kebabs are a part of northern Indian cuisine.  They also became a part of  Mughlai cuisine, which was developed in the imperial kitchens of northern India (in regions such as Uttar Pradesh and Delhi).  Mughlai cuisine was strongly influenced by the Persians, which explains a lot.  Kebabs have a prominent place in the cuisine of Persia (or Iran).  I have made a couple different Persian kebabs, such as Kebab-e Jojeh (Chicken Kebabs) or Kebab-e Chenjeh (Lamb Kebabs).

While this dish may have Persian influences, its character is uniquely Indian.  These kebabs are made with minced or ground chicken and a wide array of fragrant ingredients common to Indian cuisine, such as garam masala, onions, garlic, cardamom, paprika and allspice.  The kebabs are supposed to be grilled over charcoal; however, I cooked them in the broiler.  I chose this alternative because I did not sufficiently flat and wide skewers to cook them on the grill and I thought the broiler would help to provide the characteristic char on the outside of the kebabs.

RESHMI KEBAB

Recipe from Saveur.com

Makes 6 skewers

Ingredients:

1 1/4 pound of ground chicken

2 tablespoons of garlic, finely chopped

2 tablespoons of ginger, finely chopped

1 tablespoon of hot paprika

1/4 cup of blanched almonds

1 1/2 tablespoons of heavy cream

1 tablespoon of garam masala

3/4 teaspoon of ground cardamom

3/4 teaspoon of ground allspice

1 egg white, lightly beaten

2 tablespoons of canola oil

1 yellow onion, minced

Kosher salt, to taste

Ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

1.  Prepare the kebabs.  In a bowl, mix chicken, garlic, ginger and paprika and let it sit for thirty minutes.  Place the almonds in a bowl, cover with boiling water, and let sit for ten minutes.  Drain and puree in a food process with the cream, garam masala, cardamom, allspice and egg white.  Add to the chicken mixture.  Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat, add onions and cook, stirring, until deeply caramelized for about eight minutes.  Stir the onions into the chicken mixture.  Season with salt and pepper.

2.  Cook the kebabs.  Build a charcoal fire in a grill (or heat the grill on medium-high or start the broiler in your oven).  Divide the chicken mixture into six portions, form each around the length of a flat metal skewer.  Grill (or broil) the chicken, turning, until charred, about four to five minutes. 

 PAIRING THIS RECIPE

If you happen to have a couple of bottles of Taj Mahal or Kingfisher handy, then you are set for this dish.  If not, then look for a good pilsner or lager.

ENJOY!

Almond Crusted Tilapia

We had a bag of sliced almonds lying around after Clare made the Warm Cheese Tart with Cinnamon and Sliced Almonds. Looking to work a little creativity in the kitchen, I decided to use the leftover almonds as breading for a couple of fish fillets.

I first ground the almonds into "bread crumbs."  Then I consulted The Flavor Bible to decide what I could add to flavor the almond crumbs.  I decided on three additional flavors ... green cardamom, paprika and cayenne pepper.  All three flavors work well with almonds.

As I prepared the almonds, I realized that the texture of the ground almonds presented some issues when it came to breading.  The ground almonds tended to clump together, as if there was some moistness in the almonds.  I feared that this would present some difficulty when it came to cooking the fish.  I had planned on sauteing the fish in a pan with only a little oil; but I became concerned that the breading to come off of the fish.   I ultimately decided that, rather than sauteing the fish, I would increase the amount of oil and basically fry the fish.  The additional oil would cook the breading faster and help keep it bound together during the cooking process.  

I should note that the almonds created a rather thick breading, which was fine for both Clare and myself.  If you would like to lighten the breading, I would suggest adding a cup or two of flour in place of a cup or two of ground almonds. 

ALMOND CRUSTED TILAPIA

A Chef Bolek Original

Serves 2

Ingredients:
2 Tilapia fillets
4 cups of sliced almonds, ground into powder
8 green cardamom pods, toasted and ground into powder
1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon of paprika powder
Salt, to taste
Pepper to taste
1 large egg, beaten
1/4 to 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil

Directions:
1.  Make the breading.  Put the ground almonds, ground cardamom, cayenne and paprika on a plate, salt and pepper to taste.  Mix all of the breading ingredients together. 

2.  Bread the Tilapia fillets.  Beat the egg in a bowl.  Dip the tilapia fillets in the egg and then in the breading mixture.  Let the tilapia fillets sit for five minutes or so before cooking them.

3.  Cook the Tilapia fillets.  Heat the oil on high heat.  When the oil begins to shimmer, reduce the heat to medium-high heat and place the fillets in the pan.  Cook for about four minutes and then flip.  Cook for about four minutes more or until the fillets are opaque and begin to flake.

PAIRING THIS RECIPE

Looking at this recipe, the pairing must take into account, not only the fish, but also the almond breading.  Given the richness and weight of the almond breading, a lighter wine or beer seems appropriate. Here are a couple of suggestions:

Dr. H. Thanisch -- Bernkasteler Badstube Kabinett 2009.

100% Riesling

Mosel Valley, Germany

Flavors of apples and bartlett pears

Le Chapeau -- Pinot Noir Cuvee Napoléon (2010).

Pinot Noir

Corsica, France

Light body with strawberry and raspberry flavors

Pub Dog -- Hoppy Dog Pale Ale.

India Pale Ale

Gaithersburg, MD

Lighter than average hop flavor

ENJOY!

Warm Cream Cheese Tart with Cinnamon and Almonds

I am not the only one who cooks in our family.  My beautiful wife, Clare, is also a great cook and a great baker.  Every once in a while, I ask my Angel to provide a guest blog post so that I can share some of the amazing and delicious things that she makes for family, friends and, of course, me.  She has already provided guest blog posts about Cuban Bread, Loyalist Bread, Salmon Burgers, Peach Cobbler and Parmesan Soufflé.  So, without further ado,

A Guest Blog Post by Clare ...

For a couple of recent parties, I have made a warm cream cheese tart with cinnamon and almonds.  The recipe comes from Frank Stitt's Bottega Favorita, which is a cookbook of recipes from Frank Stitt's restaurant, Bottega, in Birmingham, Alabama.  I first made this recipe as part of our wine club dinner.  The warm cream cheese tart was an excellent dessert course that provided a sweet ending to the meal.  I made this recipe again for a Christmas party.  Both times that I have made this recipe, it has turned out well (so, well in fact, that Keith insists that there be some left over for him to eat).

I have to say that it is important to make your own tart shell rather than buying a store bought one.While it takes extra effort, it really pays off in the end.  The tart shell recipe that is in Bottega Favorita is fairly easy to make, with one exception.  While the recipe says that you can refrigerate the dough overnight, I would recommend that you only refrigerate it only for an hour.  If you let it sit in the refrigerator overnight, it will take quite a while before the dough becomes workable again. 

The sweet pastry tart shell recipe will produce two tart shells.  You should double the filling and glaze recipes.  The outcome is two very delicious tarts that make great desserts for parties, and, of course, leftovers for Keith. 

WARM CREAM CHEESE TART WITH CINNAMON AND ALMONDS

Recipe from Frank Stitt's Bottega Favorita at page 122

Serves 10 to 12

Ingredients for the sweet pastry tart shell):
2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt
1/2 pounds (2 sticks) of unsalted butter
     cut into cubes and chilled
Scant 1 cup of confectioner's sugar
3 large egg yolks

Ingredients (for the filling):
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
8 tablespoons of unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup of sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Ingredients (for the glaze):
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons hot water
1 cup sliced almonds
Whipped cream

Directions (for the sweet pastry tart shell):

1.  Combine the flour and salt in a food processor and pulse to mix.  Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs.  Add the sugar and egg yolks and pulse again, just until the mixture comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.  Transfer the dough to a sheet of plastic wrap, divide in half equally, shape into two disks, and wrap in plastic.  Chill for at least 1 hour, or overnight.

2.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

3.  Roll the pasty rounds out on a lightly floured surface into two twelve inch circles.  Fit the dough into two 10 1/2 to 11 inch loose bottomed tart pans with fluted sides, pressing it evenly over the bottom and up the sides.  Line the tarts with foil and fill with dried beans or pie weights.

4.  Bake the tart shells for 20 minutes, or until the edges are very light brown.  Remove the parchment paper and weights and bake until lightly golden, about five to ten minutes more.  Cool on a rack before filling.

Directions (for the tart):
1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2.  To make the filling, combine the cream cheese, butter and sugar in a food processor and process until light and creamy.  Add the eggs and vanilla extract and process until smooth.  Spread the filling evenly ni the prepared tart shell.

3.  Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the center is set and the edges and light golden.  Remove the pan from the oven and allow the tart to stand for 2 to 3 minutes, while you prepare the glaze.

4.  Whisk the confectioner's sugar, cinnamon, and hot water together in a small bowl until smooth.

5.  Spread the glaze over the top of the tart.  Garnish the top with the sliced almonds.  Serve warm, with whipped cream.

Finally, I should note that although this is a warm cream cheese tart, it is also very delicious after being refrigerated for a while. As Keith would say ...

ENJOY!

Seffa de Couscous

While walking the aisles of my local supermarket, I came across some bottles of rose water.  I began to think about the type of dishes that would use this ingredient. Thanks to the trusty Internet, I was able to find a handful of recipes.  One recipe stuck out from the rest ... Seffa de Couscous. 

The dish is a sweet couscous dish that is popular in Morocco and Algeria.  The ingredients for this dish -- dried apricots, figs, dates, and raisins, along with cardamom, cinnamon and rose water -- really seemed interesting.  So, I gathered all of the ingredients, headed home and began my work in the kitchen.

This is a really easy dish to make.  Most of the work is cutting and dicing the dried fruits.  After poaching the dried fruit in a couple cups of boiling water, just add the rose water and prepare the couscous in accordance with its instructions

SEFFA DE COUSCOUS

Adapted from Tobias Cooks
Serves 2-4

Ingredients:

1 cup of Moroccan couscous

1 small handful of raisins

4-6 dried figs, diced

4-6 dried apricots, diced

4-6 dried dates, diced

2 spoons of sugar

1 orange, cut into sections

1/4 cup of roasted almonds

2 black cardamom seeds

2 green cardamom seeds

Cinnamon, to taste

1 tablespoon of rose water 

Directions:

1.  Prepare the couscous.  Heat up 2 cups of water in a pot to a boil. Add the diced fruits and poach them for a few minutes in boiling water.  Add the sugar, cardamom and rose water.  Then add the couscous and cook according to the couscous instructions.  

2.  Toast the almonds.  Heat a pan over medium high heat.  Add the almonds to the pan and toast until they become fragrant. 

3.  Finish the dish.  Remove the cardamom seeds.  Plate the couscous in a bowl or on a plate.  Place the almonds on top and sprinkle some cinnamon over the couscous.

ENJOY!