Stir-Fried Walnuts with Dried Prickly-Ash Pepper Leaves

My exploration of the Mindfulness Foodways (and, for that matter, my cooking in general), has encountered some obstacles in recent weeks. A variety of issues have prevented me from being able to be in the kitchen. Those same issues have impacted my ability to meditate, as I find myself too exhausted to do much of anything. 

Yet, it is those moments when I need to meditate. I am not a Buddhist and I have had no formal instruction. (Just like I am not a chef and I have had no formal culinary instruction.) My interest in mediation led me to the Plum Village, which is the Buddhist temple and mindfulness center founded by Thich Nhat Hanh. The teachings of Master Thay impressed me insofar as it opened my eyes to all the ways that I could meditate throughout the day: whether it was while walking, while sitting and even while cooking. 

For a while, I would meditate at various points during the day. Events and issues would inevitably begin to overwhelm me and I would lose my focus on mediation. I would go days without meditating, trying to concentrate on the issues that lay before me. That is where I have been over the past few weeks (which explains the lack of posts on this blog). 

Even in the maelstrom of these issues, there have been moments where I have been able to find some peace, which enabled me to try to meditate while cooking. All it takes is a simple recipe, like this one for stir-fried walnuts with dried prickly-ash pepper leaves, which comes from my Buddhist temple cookbook. I could focus on the ingredients, which, at first, seemed out of reach. After all, few households around where I live would have dried prickly ash pepper leaves. (Those are the leaves from the plant that gives us Sichuan peppercorns.) Taking some breaths and centering myself in the present moment, I remembered that I had some curry leaves from my favorite local Sri Lankan market. I also knew I had the other ingredients, such as the  perilla oil and rice syrup, in my pantry.  

This very simple recipe gave me a moment that I needed. I could meditate for a moment as I prepared a dish that was different, and very enjoyable. I just need more of those recipes and moments.  

STIR-FRIED WALNUTS WITH PRICKLY-ASH PEPPER LEAVES

Recipe from Wookwan, Wookwan's Korean Temple Food, at pg. 77

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

• 300 grams of walnuts, washed and dried
• 10 grams of dried prickly-ash pepper leaves (or substitute)
• 1 tablespoon perilla oil (or untoasted sesame oil)
• 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil
• 1 tablespoon rice syrup
• 1 tablespoon roasted sesame seeds
• 1 teaspoon fine salt

Directions:

1. Stir-fry the walnuts. Heat a pan, add the grapeseed oil and walnuts. Stir-fry well and add salt. Add in the rice syrup and stir. 

2. Add the leaves. Add the prickly-ash pepper leaves and stir. Turn off the heat and add perilla seed oil and sesame seeds. Stir well to mix. Plate and serve immediately. 

ENJOY!

Fennel Rubbed Leg of Lamb with Walnut Romesco Sauce

Julia Child once remarked, "you don't have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces, just good food from fresh ingredients." That is what fueled this recipe. I was looking for a way to make a really good lamb dish, but I wanted a recipe that is easy to make. 

In the end, I used two recipes. The first recipe was for lamb meatballs with a Romesco sauce. I had no intention to make lamb meatballs.  I actually had a boneless leg of lamb, but the thought of pairing that meat with a Romesco sauce seemed to be the perfect idea.

As an aside, a Romesco sauce originated in the Catalonian province of Tarragona.  It is a sauce prepared by fishermen to be eaten with fish. The basic ingredients for a Romesco sauce include tomatoes, garlic, nuts (typically almonds, pine nuts, or hazelnuts), nyora peppers (a small round red pepper) and olive oil. Beyond those ingredients, there is no standard recipe. Romesco sauces vary by region, by cook and even by ingredients. Thus, one could easily swap almonds with walnuts, or substitute a nyora pepper with a standard red bell pepper or another type of pepper. That is the beauty with a Romesco sauce. One could also add other ingredients, such as sherry vinegar and chipotle pepper, to add additional layers of flavor to the sauce.

I decided to use the walnut Romesco sauce from the lamb meatball recipe; however, I still needed a recipe for the leg of lamb itself.  I found a recipe that had the rub I wanted to use: a simple mixture of fennel and garlic, combined with black pepper and crushed red pepper. I decided to include the parts of the recipe that called for carrots and added some potatoes to the roast. The rest of it is relatively easy: preheat the oven,  put the rub on the lamb, sear the lamb, stick the lamb in the oven, roast until it reaches 135 degrees Fahrenheit, pull it out to rest, and dinner is almost ready to be served. 

FENNEL RUBBED LEG OF LAMB WITH WALNUT ROMESCO SAUCE

Recipes adapted from Epicurious

Serves 6-8

Ingredients (for the Romesco Sauce):

• 1/2 tablespoon chopped walnuts
• 1 small red bell pepper, halved, seeds removed
• 1 medium tomato, cored
• 1 garlic clove, unpeeled
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon chipotle powder or chile powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
• Kosher salt

Ingredients (for the lamb):

• Kosher salt
• Ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons fennel seeds
• 4 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
• 4 garlic cloves, finely grated
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 1/2 pounds small or medium carrots with tops
• 1 bag of small mixed potatoes, sliced in half

Directions:

1. Make the romesco sauce. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Toast walnuts on a rimmed baking sheet until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Toss bell pepper tomato and garlic with oil on a clean rimmed baking sheet and roast until browned and softened about 20-25 minutes. Let cool.  Remove skin from bell pepper, tomato and garlic, discard.  Puree walnuts, bell pepper, tomato, garlic, oil, vinegar, chipotle chile powder, parsley and paprika in a food processor until smooth. Season with salt and ground black pepper. 

2. Prepare the rub for the lamb.  Using a mortar and pestle, coarsely grind fennel seeds and red pepper flakes. Transfer to a small bowl and mix in garlic and 3 tablespoons of oil.  Evenly rub lamb all over with spice mixture, making sure to work it into every nook and cranny.

3. Sear the lamb.  Reduce the heat of the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Heat remaining 1/4 cup of oil in a large heavy skillet over medium. As soon as oil is hot and shimmering, add lamb to skillet and cook, carefully pouring off fat as needed into a small bowl and until golden brown, about 3 to 5 minutes per side. Trim tops from carrots.  Place lamb in the center of a roasting pan, pour reserved fat over the lamb, season with salt and pepper.  Place carrots and potatoes around the lamb. 

4. Roast the lamb. Roast the lamb until an instant read thermometer registers 135 degrees for medium rare, about 75 to 90 minutes.  Transfer to a cutting board and let rest for 20 minutes.  Slice the lamb in 1/2 inch slices. 

ENJOY!

Torshe Kebab

Food provides a way to travel at any place around the world, without having to go anywhere. If you have a recipe, you have a passport. That piece of paper can take you just about anywhere if you have an open mind and a desire to learn, can take you just about anywhere. This has been especially important for me during this time of COVID, because of the inability to travel and the lack of desire to waste time watching television or tablets. 

Recipes can come from anywhere.  A couple of years ago, my parents bought me a copy of Naomi Duguid's Taste of Persia.  They knew of my love for Persian food, especially kabobs.  (For those who read this blog, you may have seen my posts about Kubideh, Chenjeh and, for my Around the World in 80 Dishes personal culinary challenge, Jojeh Kebabs.)  I thought that the Taste of Persia cookbook would not only enable me to learn more about those kebabs, but to explore more about Persian cooking.  As an added bonus, the cookbook also explores the cuisines of neighboring countries, such as Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia, as well as particular ethnic groups, such as the Kurds.  

There was one recipe in that book that I have wanted to try for a while.  It was a recipe for Torshe Kebab. (The word "torsh" means sour, so the recipe is actually for Persian sour kebabs.) This recipe would take me to the northern Iranian provinces of Gilan and Mazandaran, which lie along the Caspian Sea. From what I could ascertain, the recipe originated in Gilan.  The marinade used in the recipe -- with its walnut paste and pomegranate sauce -- is used not just for these kebabs, but also as the basis for Fesejan or Fesejoon, which is a stew of chicken, duck or lamb. 

Torshe kebabs are typically prepared with beef, usually from the sirloin or tenderloin cut.  As beef can be expensive, cooks may make the kebab with chicken, goat or lamb. While the particular protein can change, the walnut paste and pomegranate sauce remains the same. It serves two important purposes as a marinade.  The combination of walnuts and pomegranate not only tenderizes the meat, but it also adds a lot of flavor to the meat of the kebab. For that reason, while the recipe contemplates a short marinade time of 1 to 2 hours, I would marinate the meat overnight.  

The recipe also provides a way to broil the kebabs, but the best way to prepare them is to grill them.  Once the kebabs are finished, they should be served with rice and/or a salad. If you are looking for a drink, consider making some doogh.

TORSHE KEBABS

Recipe from Naomi Daguid, Taste of Persia at 165

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 cup walnuts or walnut pieces

1/2 cup pomegranate molasses

1 teaspoon sea salt

2 garlic cloves, mashed or minced

2 tablespoons sunflower or extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup minced fresh flat leaf parsley (optional)

2 pounds boneless lamb or goat shoulder, or 

     boneless beef top round or hanger steak, cut into 1 inch cubes

Sugar (optional)

Fresh tarragon leaves (optional)

Directions:

1.  Prepare the marinade.  To make the marinade, place the walnuts in a food processor and pulse to drop them to smaller than raisin size.  Add the remaining ingredients and pulse to blend.  Transfer to a large bowl.  (Alternatively, very finely chop the walnuts and pound to a coarse powder in a large mortar.  Transfer to a large bowl, add the remaining ingredients, and stir to blend thoroughly.

2.  Continue the marinade.  Add the meat to the bowl and stir, turning to make sure all surface are coated with the marinade.  Cover and set aside to marinate for at least 1 hour or as long as overnight; refrigerate if the marinating time is more than 2 hours.  

3.  Preheat the grill.  Bring the meat to room temperature. Preheat a charcoal or gas grill. 

4.  Prepare the kebabs.  Brush off the most of the marinade that is clinging to the meat and reserve the marinade.  Thread the meat onto metal skewers so that the piece are barely touching each other, not crowded together, this helps the meat to cook evenly.  

5.  Cook the kebabs. Place the skewers 4 to 5 inches from the coals or fame and grill, turning occasionally for 7 to 12 minutes, depending upon the heat of your fire and the desired degree of doneness.  Alternatively, you can broil the meat.  Preheat the broiler with a rack about 5 inches below it.  Line a baking sheet with parchment or lightly oil it.  Place the pieces of meat on the sheet and cook for 8 to 10 minutes turning the meat at the halfway point and checking it for doneness after 7 minutes.

6.  Prepare the sauce.  When the meat is grilling, or once it comes off the grill, pour the marinade into a small saucepan, add about 1/2 cup of water, and bring to a boil over medium heat.  Cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally.  Taste it and season it with salt if you wish; if it is too tart for your taste, add a teaspoon of sugar or more to taste.  You might want to stir in some tarragon leaves once it comes off the heat.  Pour into  a small serving bowl. 

7.  Finish the dish.  Remove the meat from the skewers, put out a platter of herbs, rice and the sauce. 

ENJOY!

Malohta (Green Beans with Walnuts)

Green bean dishes are somewhat tricky for me. The difficulty does not come from cooking with green beans.  Instead, the trick is finding a recipe that I will want to eat ... and eat again.  A while back, I came across a rather simple dish of sauteing beans in butter, garlic, salt and a little lemon juice.  That recipe has become a standby, and I make it often.  Too often, in fact.  And, recently, I decided that I needed to find another green bean dish to make.

I turned to the trusty Internet to find me a recipe, focusing on one that I would like enough to make again and again.  After perusing recipes, one recipe caught my eye ... Malohta.  This is a Turkish green bean dish that originates from the Black Sea region.  I decided to give this dish a try and I have to say that I was not disappointed with the result.

The one ingredient that sets this dish apart is the use of walnuts.  I've seen many a green bean recipe that used almonds.  Walnuts provide a different taste and texture to the dish.  The pinch of coriander also adds some additional flavor that was lacking in other green bean recipes.  When the walnuts and coriander are added to more traditional ingredients, such as garlic, lemon juice and crushed red pepper, the end result is a very tasty green bean dish.

MALOHTA (GREEN BEANS WITH WALNUTS)

Recipe from Binnur's Turkish Cookbook

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Approximately 1/2 pound of green beans, washed and trimmed

2-3 tablespoons of lemon juice

1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

1/3 cup of walnuts, ground

1 garlic clove, smashed with salt

1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper

1 pinch coriander

Salt

Pepper

Directions:

1.  Cook the beans.  Cut the beans in 2 or 3 pieces depending on how long they are.  Boil in salty water until they are softened, then drain.  Pour lemon juice and olive oil and toss.

2.  Finish the dish. Mix the walnut with garlic red pepper, coriander, salt and pepper.  Toss with green beans.  Leave in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours before serving. 

ENJOY!

Spinach, Pear and Kerrygold Salad with Sweet Dressing

Recently, I made Carrot Soup with Coriander, Curry, Ginger and Chives for my Angel and I needed something else to make it a meal.  Clare has been craving salads, so I decided to prepare a salad for her.  I looked through the three pregnancy books that I have but there were no salads that captured my attention at that time.  So, I turned to the Internet, surfing pregnancy websites for a good, healthy salad. 

I came across a recipe for Spinach, Pear and Gruyere Salad with Sweet Dressing.  The recipe appeared on several pregnancy websites and it caught my attention because of the accompanying description.  "This recipe is especially for pregnant and breastfeeding women...."  I thought I could not go wrong with this recipe.  

It is a good thing, however, that I do not simply place blind trust in things I find on the Internet.  I check the labels of everything that goes into a dish for my beautiful Angel.  And, when I checked the label for Gruyere cheese, I discovered that it is unpasteurized.  It appears that much of Gruyere cheese is unpasteurized. One of the most fundamental dietary principles is that pregnant women should not eat unpasteurized cheese, because of the dangers of listeriosis.  I quickly "86'd" the Gruyere cheese and substituted it with a pasteurized cheese, namely Kerrygold Irish Cheddar.  That worked out well, because Clare really likes Kerrygold.  

SPINACH, PEAR AND KERRYGOLD SALAD WITH SWEET DRESSING

Recipe adapted from Kid's Health

Serves 4

Ingredients (for the salad):

8 cups of raw spinach

2 medium pears, sliced thin and cut into 1/2 inch pieces

2 ounces of Kerrygold Irish Cheddar

4 tablespoons of walnuts

Freshly ground pepper

Ingredients (for the dressing):

2 tablespoons of canola oil

2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons of maple syrup

Directions:

1.  Prepare the salad.  Wash and dry the spinach, tear into smaller pieces if necessary, and place in a large bowl.  Add the sliced pear.  

2.  Prepare the dressing.  Whisk the canola oil, apple cider vinegar and maple syrup.  Heat in a microwave safe container for 30 seconds.

3.  Finish the salad.  Toss the spinach and pears with the warm dressing.  Garnish with the sliced Kerrygold cheese, walnuts and freshly ground pepper.  

ENJOY!

Pan Seared Tilapia and Cortez Bay Shrimp with Roasted Raddichio Salad

It has been a while since I tried to create a recipe or make a Chef Bolek Original.  The reason rests with the fact that I have been extremely busy at work.  By the time I get home, I either don't feel like cooking or I just want to make something quick. There were a couple of nights where I tried to make something original and "blog-worthy," except what I ended up with was something straight out of Hell's Kitchen.  As I looked at and ate the dish, I could just picture Gordon Ramsey in the room, screaming and swearing at me or the dish.  "What is that," Ramsey would yell in his Scottish/English accent, "that $#*+ is f*<k!^g disgusting.  I expect more from you."  So, with those thoughts in my head, the dishes never made it to the blog.  That is one reason why I have not been posting as much as I usually do. 

Still, the whole point of this blog is to chronicle the adventures of someone who, unlike Chef Ramsey, has no professional training, no Michelin stars, and no (recent) restaurant experience. Clare tells me that I should post the good, the bad and the ugly, but, quite frankly, while the good looks good, the bad is bad and the ugly can be ... at times ... downright ugly.

My greatest inspiration is my beautiful wife, because much of what I cook, I cook for her.  Recently, I wanted to make a nice dinner for her.  I purchased some Tilapia and some shrimp.  While that satisfied the protein for the dinner, I needed some vegetable or other side dish.  I saw a head of radicchio -- it is hard to miss the pinkish-purplish mass in the midst of greens -- and remembered my effort at grilling radicchio.  Radicchio is a very bitter vegetable, but grilling or roasting it helps to blunt the bitterness.  Add in some roasted sweet onions, along with some shallots and shiitake mushrooms sauteed in butter, and I had the makings of a warm salad. Some toasted pine nuts and walnuts, with whole parsley leaves, would finish the dish. 

As for the shrimp and fish, both are prepared with a simple saute. I wanted the protein to be relatively simple and experiment a little with the roasted radicchio salad.  The salad was good, but still a little too bitter for me.  An alternative that might help to reduce bitterness even further is to baste the radicchio quarters with a mixture of olive oil and butter or just use butter. 

This dish will not win any awards or, perhaps, Chef Ramsey's approval, but Clare liked it.  That is good enough for me.  

PAN-SEARED TILAPIA AND CORTEZ BAY SHRIMP

WITH ROASTED RADICCHIO SALAD

A Chef Bolek Original
Serves 2

Ingredients (for the fish):

2 fillets of tilapia

Salt, to taste

Ground pepper, to taste

1 lemon, juiced

Ingredients (for the shrimp):

6 large shrimp (16/20 count)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 pinch of aleppo pepper or crushed red pepper

2 tablespoons of white wine

Salt, to taste

Ground pepper, to taste

Ingredients (for the radicchio):

1 head of radicchio, sliced into wedges and cored

1 sweet onion, sliced into wedges

1 shallot, sliced thinly

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1/8 cup of olive oil
2 tablespoons of butter

1 tablespoon of pine nuts, toasted
2 tablespoons of walnuts, toasted

Directions:

1.  Roast the radicchio.  Preheat the oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit. Lay the radicchio wedges and onions on a large rimmed baking sheet and brush with the olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Roast for 10 minutes to fifteen minutes, or until crisp around the edges and just tender. Serve at once.

2.  Saute the remaining ingredients for the salad. Heat a saute pan over medium to medium high heat.  Add the mushrooms.  Saute the mushrooms, stirring occasionally so they don't burn, until you begin to draw out the moisture (it will sound a little like hissing).  Add two tablespoons of butter and stir into the mushrooms.  Add the shallot and crushed red pepper.  Continue to saute until the shallot is translucent, about three to five minutes.  Remove from the heat and set aside. 

3.  Saute the shrimp.  Season the shrimp with salt and pepper.  Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat.  Add the shrimp and the aleppo pepper.  Cook the shrimp on each side for a minute or two, and flip, continuing to cook for another minute remove the shrimp and set aside.  Add the white wine and cook for a minute or two. 

4.  Cook the fish.  Add the fish to the pan and begin to saute the fish.  Add a tablespoon of olive oil if necessary.  Saute the fish for about four minutes and flip the fish.  Continue to cook for another four minutes or until done.  When the fish is nearly done, add the shrimp to the pan to heat the shrimp.

5.  Plate the dish.  Plate the fish and place the shrimp on top of the fish.  Plate the radicchio salad on the side.  Drizzle some lemon juice over all of the dish.

PAIRING THIS DISH

This dish calls for a white wine.  While selecting the ingredients for the grilled radicchio salad, I came across a white blend made with Colombard, Gros Manseng and Ugni Blanc.  This wine worked very well.  It had a slight tartness, from the citrusy flavors, that actually worked to reduce the bitterness of the radicchio. I was pleasantly surprised that the wine paired so well with the dish.  So here it is:

Alain LaLaine -- Domaine San de Guilhem (2010)

40% Colombard, 30% Gros Manseng, 30% Ugni Blanc 

Gascony, France

Flavors of lemon and melons

ENJOY!

Roasted Apples and Fennel with Walnuts

Every dish deserves a good side.  When I made my Garlic-Fennel Rubbed Pork Loin Roast, I struggled mightily to come up with a good side dish.  At first, I thought about mashed potatoes, and then truffled mashed potatoes.  Potatoes did not seem to be the best side for the dish, at least for me. 

My thoughts then turned to what is traditionally linked to pork ... apples.  Maybe it was all of those images of a whole pig with an apple stuffed in its mouth.  Wherever that image came from, I had the start of my side dish. 

I then consulted The Flavor Bible for additional ingredients to use in this side dish.  The first ingredient that jumped out at me was fennel, which is a good ingredient to pair with apples.  I was a little cautious at first because the pork roast used both fennel seed and ground fennel in the rub. However, I came to remember something I learned a long time ago ... the taste of the seed and the taste of the fruit or vegetable are not always the same.  Fennel seed and ground fennel provide strong anice flavors, which include some flower, spice and peppery notes.  While fennel itself also provides these flavors, roasting the fennel helps to mellow them. When roasted apples are added, the fennel does not stand out as much. 

In the end, I scoured the Internet to see if there was a recipe that I could use as a guide.  I found one from Country Living and adapted it for my dish.  I also added walnuts to the side dish, which was a suggested pairing for both apples and fennel.  When I served this dish, I added some walnuts, but, in the rush of things, I forgot to toast them.  I would suggest toasting the walnuts and sprinkling them over the apples and fennel just before serving the dish.

ROASTED APPLES AND FENNEL WITH WALNUTS

Recipe adapted from Country Living

Serves 4-5

Ingredients:
1 fennel bulb, trimmed and cut into 1/4 inch wedges
1.5 pounds of apples, such as gala apples
1 tablespoon of honey
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of ground black pepper
1 cup of walnuts

Directions:
1. Prepare the apples and fennel.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and toss.  Lay the apples and fennel out on a baking sheet in a single layer.

2.  Roast the apples and fennel.  Roast the apples and fennel for twenty minutes.  Turn the apples and fennel.  Roast for twenty minutes more until they are golden and cooked through.

3.  Toast the walnuts.  Heat a pan on medium heat.  Add the walnuts.  Toast the walnuts for a minute or two, shaking the pan to prevent any burning. 

4.  Plate the dish.  Sprinkle the toasted walnuts over the apples and fennel just before serving the dish.

ENJOY!