GastroJoe

A Fistful of Lentils

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 04:07:22 GMT

Last Sunday I decided to do something I always said I would do when I got back stateside but never really got around to it till recently. I heard via random email connection that Jennifer Abadi, a pretty good (and active in NYC) food instructor would be giving a personal cooking demo on recipes from her latest cookbook "A Fistful of Lentils: Syrian-Jewish Recipes from Grandma Fritzie's Kitchen." I knew the location of where this was going to be held, and as it's pretty small I figured it was going to be either really packed and a waste of 20 bucks, or really personal and a total steal. Thankfully it was the latter!

The demo was great not only because it was basically Darym and I getting a personal cooking demo from a great and knowledgeable chef/instructor, but because we got to hear the stories behind the food, what made the food that Jennifer was presenting uniquely Syrian or why not all Middle Eastern should be clumped into one category. Actually, the food she made for us that day was Egyptian, so it was a little confusing at first trying to figure out what was "Egyptian," what was Syrian, Persian or what Syrian-Jewish cooking so different from Syrian cooking. The vibe was really great too. The owner would take pictures and chat with us, we'd ask questions and get our faces right up in the demo, smelling all the different spices while Jennifer would pop a cashew and talk about cooking with her family and relatives. It was relaxing and yet I still feel like I took a lot away from the experience. Not bad for 20 bucks...

The dish I want to mention is Dukkah, described as a "ground spice dip." Turns out, this means a dry, powdery dip that you need to place with a bowl of olive oil so that the bread can get dipped in the oil and then stick to all the dry dip. The recipe was really easy and I'll mention that a little smoke while roasting is good, but it's a fine line between smoking and charring... but the smell of roasting cumin, coriander, cashews, hazelnuts, sesame... it made the smell of regular PB go from once comforting and nutty to BORRRINGGGG in comparison.

I bought the cookbook so as I'm trying out various recipes I'll post the results and stories up on here. I'll be tackling my next cooking challenge tomorrow evening however, so you'll probably get to hear about that one first: I'll be cooking new recipes for new people, so keep them fingers crossed for me, and lets hope that coffee really does bring out the flavors of a flank steak...

Morning-time Tinkering with Mascarpone

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 13:41:10 GMT

Quickly jotting down before I head to work.

Got creative this morning at tried messing around with the leftover mascarpone from the Mac and Cheese recipe (see first entry). I hear honey is good with it (and I think I heard that from the top of the mascarpone canister...) so I put some honey at the bottom of a rammikin (i can't spell) and mashed and folded mascarpone into it. I cut up some strawberries and had at it.

Tasted like cheesecake, but it was a bit too bland. I'm a big fan of adding spicy things to sweet things (red pepper and chocolate, mole, both wonderful things) so I added some paprika to the mix.

It reminded me at first of the candy you can buy in Tiajuana, Mexico...those watermelon pops covered in hot and spicy seasoning. But either I didn't add enough paprika (I was scarred to overdue it as I wanted to actually eat this mascarpone) or the paprika wasn't strong enough, because I would've loved a bit more kick.

Suggestions? Maybe paprika and clove (not for heat so much as variety)? paprika and crushed red pepper?

I need to learn more about spice combos!

Halvah is my Hero, The Hummus Place my Sanctuary

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 04:17:48 GMT

Since I don't have a whole lotta spare time on my hands, and when I do have spare time I tend to love to do a whole lotta NOTHIN... I can't write every entry to be about my cooking adventures. So this blog will also cover new restaurants, special ingredients, interesting foodie and culinary articles, etc etc. I mean, as much as I love cooking, I love eating more... and I often will skip the cooking for a nice night out eating with friends, letting somebody else handle the kitchen. Good times, good times...

And I'm so glad that I untied the apron strings tonight because damn!... I LOVE ME SOME HUMMUS PLACE.

So, the Hummus Place (and really they didn't pay me to put this up here, I just love giving credit where credit's due) is an Israeli restaurant in the city with cheap prices, good-sized portions, tasty food, and awesome, friendly service. It is the restaurant of choice for out-of-office meetings at work, and normally the people I bring there enjoy the place.

Anyhoo, this post is not about all the awesome stuff there but one item in particular that really blew me away tonight. A dessert actually (and yes, as I wrote the word "dessert" I had to say in my head "Strawberry Shortcake" so that I wouldn't write it as "desert"...but I digress) that I had little intention of trying before the waitress explained it in better detail, as a couple of the ingredients were completely alien to me. It is called "Kadaif" and I think the secret ingredient is (no, not salt)... AWESOMENESS.

...actually I'm pretty sure it's this stuff called halvah

(err, ignore that first picture on the wikipedia page, skip down to the "Israel" section for the real description of what I'm writing about).

So this Kadaif is as follows: crunchy but light ricey-like noodles, covered with vanilla-infused ricotta cheese that's made fresh at the restaurant (which also means you can't expect it to last to-go longer than 15 minutes. rats!), and sprinkled with a generous amount of this wonderful Halvah stuff, followed by a drizzling of honey dates.

A-Mazing.

For the DIY chef buddies reading this, check out the secret recipe for one of my favorite dishes at this restaurant (you can find it by clicking on the odd, turning graphic thing behind the menu), Shakshuka (a tomato and veggie stew with eggs and halumi (firm) cheese).

Dave's Mac and Cheese and Applesauce, 2.0

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 23:03:46 GMT

I did what I loathe to do when cooking for a dinner party, or for anyone who isn't my forgiving and understanding self. I did what I thought was the unthinkable: I planned to make a main course that I had never heard, seen, or made previously.

*insert gasps and shocked stares here*

Calm down, people...

There was some added pressure: a new, more discerning audience. My recent cooking adventures/attempts have been for one of two people: my roommate or my boyfriend. Both are eagerly supportive and appreciative of any cooking efforts I make, but as they are both very nice to me anyways... I suppose I feel as though I can mess up with them and it won't really matter.

But now, with six guests expected to show up... on came the pressure.

So I had my main dish down. Home-made baked Mac and Cheese. I got the base of this from a tv recepie, and ended up playing around with the cheeses, measurements, and additions till it fit what I wanted (I'm cut and pasting the recipie at the bottom of this entry. Enjoy!). But I needed a main dish. I got all kinds of ideas from my own searches and other people (Minestrone, Chili, Chicken and Broccoli, etc). But none of them really stood out to me, or (in the case of the chili) was WAY to heavy for a Friday night (yeah, hey, lemme fill all you fun 20-somethings up with all kinds of beans and cheeses and heavy, greesy food, right before you get trashed and head out to the next party! I'm sure that won't have any shitty consequences...no pun intended...ok maybe a little intended.)

Then I remembered how I never even liked Mac and Cheese growing up. I hated it actually. To this day I can still count on one hand the number of times I've eaten Mac and Cheese out of the box. The fake cheesey flavor, and the fact that it's ALL the flavor there is in that dish... would always gross me out. But my brothers ate a LOT of it. And I remember the way my brother Dave in particular would mack down on it: with plenty of ketchup and apple sauce.

Yeah... APPLE SAUCE.

I always thought it was so nasty until one day, I think on a dare or something, I took a spoonful of the stuff. Thinking that of course, this is going to be coming right back out of my mouth in no time, I was surprised to find that the apples really went well with the cheese flavor (and by "well" I mean I didn't try to throw any of it back up, out of my mouth and away from my taste buds). After a while I found out that apples actually taste damn good with cheese (REAL cheese, that is).

So the search was on for a beef dish that had some kind of apple-y something or another with it. Lots of recipes came and went on my computer screen and finally I settled on one from about.com (really. check it out) called "Curry Beef with Apples." And to start the whole thing off right, I decided to go with a roasted garlic with honey appetizer to showcase how sweet and savory can go well together, and that the unexpected can produce unexpectedly pleasant flavors (I think this was lost on everyone who isn't a giant food nerd at the dinner party, but eh that little detail was just for me to think about I guess), and for those who are like "Duh, of course garlic and honey are amazing together (and cheddar cheese and apples to boot!)"... well... many people are surprised to hear those combinations.

I also have VERY LITTLE experience cooking with meat and beef in particular, so trying this dish, with a quick browning then braising process (see recipe below), using an unfamiliar spice combination (curry, clove and cinnamon) and throwing in apples on top of that... I didn't know if this was going to work, but if anything, i figured, the apples could be picked out and eaten separately and the Mac does have meat in it, so at least those who NEED meet at every meal wouldn't be too upset if I screwed up the beef and made it tougher than leather...

In the end, it worked out deliciously. The beef browning was a bit too fast and therefore the meat wasn't as tender as I'd hoped, but it was TENDER at least. And the apples cooked down at the very end and almost melded with the sauce, so that it wasn't like eating apples with mac and cheese so much as having an apple flavored sauce to mix the cheesy elbows around in. The cheesy cracker/parsley mix on top was a hit and I am SO happy that we couldn't find Panko breadcrumbs because that was the only reason I used the crackers and obviously it was fortunate switch!

I think the recipes have a long way to go. The Mac and Cheese could have some kind of sweet-smoked bacon and then the apples could be somehow incorporated into the dish itself.. but I'm not sure how I could do that yet without screwing up the entire thing. Also, I really want to try that Curry beef and apples with rice to see how it tastes with a plain starch, that way I can pick out the flavors better and think of new things to add to it. Otherwise, everyone seemed happy with little leftovers and many empty yet dirty plates.

Add a sweetened mixed berry and cream dessert and a couple shots of lime-infused Kettle One and bam!.... not a bad Friday night dinner party.

I'll eventually put pictures up with these posts! Not yet... .but soon! The dishes are posted below. Mazotoa! (enjoy!)

GastroJoe's Home-Baked Mac&Cheese
3 oz. butter

½ medium onion, minced

1 clove garlic, minced
salt

4 oz. all-purpose flour

1 cup chicken stock (I like to use a little extra)

2 cups half and half

8-9 oz. smoked Cheddar, grated (I often substitute with non-smoked white cheddar, or blend the two 50/50)

3 oz. mascarpone

2 eggs

1 pound cooked macaroni

4 ounces cheesey crackers, crumbled and crushed (I can't use the brand name on here probably, but we all know what I'm talking about)

¼ cup freshly chopped parsley leaves

8 strips of lean turkey bacon, fried and chopped
1 large tomato, cut into inch chunks

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium saucepan, melt butter, add onion and garlic and sweat over medium heat for 3 minutes with a pinch of salt until vegetables are translucent and aromatic. (In a separate pan, fry up some bacon, pat dry, crumble, and set to the side)

Add flour to the saucepan and stir with wooden spoon until the flour is completely incorporated with the vegetables, cooking for about 2 minutes.

Add the chicken stock 1/3 cup at a time, stirring vigorously to ensure no lumps form.

Bring to a boil and reduce to medium-low heat and simmer for 40 minutes.

Remove pan from heat and whisk in the half and half, Cheddar, mascarpone, and egg.

Toss sauce with macaroni, bacon bits and tomato pieces and place in a 2-quart casserole pan. Crush cheesy crackers and chopped parsley in a small mixing bowl and sprinkle on top of pasta. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, or until crackers are a brownish color at some of the tips.

Spicy Beef with Apples (from About.com)

Ingredients:

2 pounds stew beef, 1-inch cubes
2 tablespoons cooking oil 1 1/2 cups water, divided 1/4 cup lemon juice 2 cups onions, sliced 1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon salt 3 cups tart apples, cored, peeled, and cut in 1-inch wedges

Preparation:

Brown beef cubes in hot oil in heavy skillet.
Add 1 cup water, lemon juice, onion, and seasonings. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes.
Add apple and remaining water, mix and cook an additional 45 minutes, or until meat is tender.