Fearless Kitchen

Recipe: Cauliflower Kuku

Recipe Source: Batmanglij, Najmieh. From Persia to Napa. Mage Publishers, Washington DC, 2006 p. 122

I made this dish for a Sunday open house that now appears to have been in the distant past. By that I mean that I served this dish in June. In my defense, I served it at the end of June. I wanted something a little bit different that I could make in advance, and this certainly fit the bill. Much to my surprise, it went over pretty well. People really seemed to like it. Since it can be served warm or cold it makes a great dish for picnics or for parties.

I made a few small changes to the recipe. I doubled it for one thing, since I never know how many people to expect. I increased the garlic, because that's what I do, and I increased the cumin because I simply love cumin. When given the choice between parsley and cilantro I chose cilantro. This is because I really like cilantro and don't much care for parsley. I used soy milk when given the option because that's what we usually keep on hand. I used goat cheese, which was given as an option, but I did not reduce the amount of salt. Most of the diners would have been exercising heavily in extreme heat and would welcome the extra salt.

Cauliflower Kuku (serves 12; approx. $1.47/serving)

6 tablespoons olive oil

2 red onions, thinly sliced

8 garlic cloves, crushed

2 small cauliflower heads, cut into florets

3 teaspoons kosher salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon ground cumin

½ teaspoon turmeric

2 Serrano chilies, finely chopped

½ teaspoon Aleppo pepper

1 cup chopped fresh cilantro

12 eggs

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 tablespoons flour

1 cup soy milk

1 cup goat cheese, crumbled

Equipment:

• Large skillet or sauté pan
• Large bowl
• Two 9" springform pans, well lubricated

1. Preheat your oven to 400 ̊.
2. Heat the oil in the skillet over low heat.
3. Add the onion. Sauté 5 minutes or until translucent.
4. Add the garlic, cauliflower, salt, spices, serranos and cilantro. Sauté until the cauliflower is softened, 5 – 10 minutes. Allow to cool.
5. Combine the eggs in the bowl with baking powder, flour, soy milk and goat cheese. Whisk to combine well.
6. Add the vegetables. Mix.
7. Pour into the prepared pans.
8. Bake 20 – 25 minutes, until firm. Allow to cool.
9. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Recipe: Khushknanaj

Recipe Source: al-Baghdādī, Muhammad ibn al-Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn al-Karīm al-Kātib. Kitāb al-Tabīkh, also known as A Baghdad Cookery Book. A. J. Arberry, trans. 1939 edition, re-published in Medieval Arab Cookery. Prospect Books, Devon, 2001 p. 86.

I've tried to make a treat called khushknānaj before, but I didn't post it. I was obviously missing something in that recipe, because the "confection" I got could have been used to replace cobblestones down by Faneuil Hall. When I was planning the menu for the big feast up in Maine I needed desserts, and I tend to prefer medieval Middle Eastern desserts to medieval European desserts. I decided to give it another try, this time using a different recipe. For those of you keeping track, this one dates to the thirteenth century AD. I was kind of nervous about it – I really didn't have enough of the other two desserts to get by. Something in this one caught my eye, though, and suggested a way to avoid making something that could be used to pave downtown streets. The recipe for the dough, not unlike the other one, called for flour and oil. However, there was another instruction: "Leave to rise."

Wait a minute. Rise? There's got to be something missing here. I'm not sure how, but maybe it's one of those things where part of the recipe was understood. You know, the way some chefs write "muffin method" instead of listing instructions. If the dough was supposed to rise, there needed to be something else besides flour and oil. Now, I don't personally know enough about bread chemistry to develop my own risen bread recipe, so I turned to my usual source: King Arthur Flour. What I did was probably akin to bibliomancy: I opened the King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion to a random page. My intent was to then flip through the book until I found something suitable. However, the page I opened to was page 232, which presented a recipe called "Beautiful Burger Buns." Interesting, I thought to myself. Furthermore, the introductory notes to the recipe were, "Soft, vaguely sweet and golden yellow…" I decided that this was the recipe I would use as a dough for my khushknānaj. I had to make some small changes here to make the recipe work. I quadrupled the recipe, and I used the sesame oil called for by al-Baghdādī instead of the butter called for in the burger buns. I used active dry yeast instead of instant, which I proofed before using. I omitted the optional onion and onion powder for reasons that are probably quite obvious to you.

This may seem a little strange to you, and the true historical purist may be a little put off by my little leap based on three words. However, the recipe worked. It was the most popular dessert that night. The little almond-filled rolls transported well, kept well at room temperature and delighted most of the people who ate them.

Khushknānaj (makes 32; approx. $0.38/ea.)

4 cups water

4 ounces sesame oil

4 eggs

55 ounces flour

40 ounces sugar, divided

4 teaspoons salt

4 tablespoons active dry yeast

1 pound almonds

2 ounces rosewater (you can probably get away with more, but not everyone loves rosewater as much as I do so I toned it down for polite company.)

Equipment:

• Stand mixer
• At least 2 large bowls, one of which can certainly be the one from your stand mixer
• Food processor
• Baking sheets

1. Combine the yeast with 1 cup sugar and the water. Set aside until very frothy.
2. Divide the flour between 2 large bowls, one of which can be your food processor bowl.
3. Add 2 ounces sesame oil to each bowl along with 2 eggs each and 2 teaspoons salt each. Mix well.
4. Add ½ the yeasted water mixture to each bowl (i.e., 2 cups per bowl.) Mix well and knead until the dough is soft and smooth. Cover and set aside in a warmish place (my kitchen in July certainly counted) for at least an hour, or until visibly risen.
5. Meanwhile, combine the remaining 32 ounces sugar with the almonds and rosewater in the food processor. Process until finely ground and well combined.
6. Divide the dough into 32 pieces, roughly equal.
7. Stuff some of the almond mixture into the middle of a piece of the dough, then cover the hole with the dough. Repeat with all of the dough and set aside another 30 minutes or so.
8. Preheat your oven to 375 ̊.
9. Bake your little cookies 12- 15 minutes, or until golden and delicious. Cool completely before serving.

Recipe: Alexandrian Sauce

Recipe Source: Anonymous.  The Treasure of Useful Advice for the Composition of a Varied Table.  Thirteenth century AD, probably Egyptian.  Published by Lilia Zaouali in Medieval Cuisine of the Islamic World, M. B. DeBevoise trans., University of California Press, Berkeley, 2007 p. 130

Just to make it clear, this recipe is for a sauce whose origins are in Alexandria, not a sauce made from Alexandrians, okay? That would be a very different website and probably would involve law enforcement in some way.

So, the main course for the big medieval feast we prepared up in Maine was roast beef with two sauces. This is not the way it was intended. I intended to serve three sauces. Unfortunately for me, I left one at home: the Alexandrian sauce. The two sauces I brought were certainly adequate and delicious, so I don't know that we needed this sauce, but I was kind of looking forward to it. I said a lot of bad words in the privacy of my tent that night.

So this recipe didn't get tasted that night, but I did sample a little of this in my kitchen before packing it up and putting it in the wrong place. This is a really simple sauce – really, really simple. I made the first version of the recipe. For the hot spices I used ground ginger and pepper. I probably could have included something else here too, but my brain was pretty fried by this point. In flavor it kind of reminded me of my husband's Lemon Sunshine Sauce. It would have been fine on roast beef, but I definitely think that this would go better on chicken or possibly even some kind of vegetable. It would probably make a decent salad dressing if you were so inclined. If you're not trying to be historically accurate, some kind of crushed red pepper would go really nicely here.

Alexandrian Sauce (makes about 1 cup; approx. $0.22/ounce)

4 ounces olive oil

8 ounces lemon juice

1 tablespoon black pepper

1 tablespoon ground ginger

Equipment:

• Whisk
• Small bowl

1. Combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl.
2. Whisk well to emulsify.
3. Re-whisk just before serving to ensure that the liquid and the oil have not separated.

Recipe: Plum-Honey Preserves with Scented Geranium Leaves

Recipe Source: McClure, Susan (ed.). Preserving Summer's Bounty. Rodale Press, Emmaus, 1995 p. 297

My in-laws came for a recent visit and they were bearing gifts. They brought a present for me for my birthday. They brought presents for the Fearless Baby because she's a wonderful baby. They brought a father's day present for my husband (an absolutely wonderful picture of him with our daughter.) And they brought a huge potted scented geranium. My father-in-law enjoyed the marmalades I made him for Christmas last year, and he remembered how his mother used to make jams and marmalades when he was a little boy back in Greece. One of the ingredients he remembers her using was scented geranium leaves. He happened to have a large scented geranium plant on hand and thought I might like it.

He was not mistaken. I've seen a few recipes calling for scented geranium leaves, but I've always ignored them since I didn't know where I would find a scented geranium. Now I've got one, but I couldn't wait to use it. I added a few leaves – a very few leaves – to the very next batch of preserves I made. That was this batch. I have to say that while I could have added more leaves for a more pronounced flavor, I really liked this jam. It's not too sweet and the geranium leaves really give it a slightly more unique touch.

Plum-Honey Preserves (makes 4 8-oz jars; approx. cost per serving not available)

16 plums

1 cup honey

4 scented geranium leaves

Equipment:

• Water bath canner
• 4 8-oz canning jars with lids and bands
• Canning funnel and ladle
• Large saucepan

1. Prepare your canning equipment for canning. Leave the jars, etc. at 180 ̊.
2. Working over the saucepan, pit the plums and cut them into large chunks. I realize that most home-ec teachers would tell you never to do this as it increases the risk of cutting yourself. Be careful. Don't bleed into the jam. You're working this way to collect the juices that absolutely will leak out of the plums as you cut. Don't bother peeling the plums – it's an exercise in futility and the skins make a really pretty color for the finished product.
3. Add the honey to the pot and bring to a boil over low heat, stirring frequently.
4. When the mixture looks soupy, go ahead and increase the heat to bring it to a full rolling boil. Skim off any foam that springs up.
5. Stir slowly, not vigorously, for 15 – 20 minutes. The mixture will become translucent and slightly darker, and will feel thicker when stirred.
6. Stir in the scented geranium leaves.
7. Pour into the jars, leaving ¼" headspace.
8. Seal and process 10 minutes in the boiling water canner.
9. Remove from the canner and let cool completely before labeling and storing.

Recipe: Almond Pound Cake with Whipped Cream – Nectarine Filling

I was kind of struggling to think of a dessert one Sunday. I had put it off far too long and was feeling no inspiration whatsoever. Almond pound cakes have always gone over well when I've made them in the past, why not do one again? I knew I had to do something to make this a little more interesting than just the same pound cake I keep making. I decided that whipped cream was a good option. When in doubt, add whipped cream. I also had a jar of my semi-failed nectarine in amaretto jam on hand. I decided to slice the pound cake in half like a sandwich, fill it with whipped cream and the nectarine-amaretto filling, and put it back together.

For something that came together in such a lazy way, I think this went over pretty well. People who'd already decided to not eat dessert that day changed their minds. I liked it too – it was tasty, and moist, and had just enough fruit to make it colorful.

Almond Pound Cake with Whipped Cream and Nectarine Filling (serves 8; approx. cost per serving not available)

1 Almond Pound Cake

1 jar Nectarines in Amaretto Syrup

2 cups whipped cream

Equipment:

• Nothing special

1. When you've made your pound cake, allow it to cool completely.
2. Slice the pound cake in half horizontally.
3. Spread the cut side of both halves with the whipped cream.
4. Carefully pour the nectarines in amaretto syrup onto the bottom half.
5. Carefully put the top half back onto the bottom half.
6. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap (optional), then refrigerate until ready to serve.

Recipe: Melons with Vinegar

Recipe Source: Anthimus. On The Observance of Foods. Mark Grant, trans. Prospect Books, Devon, 1996 p. 71

Planning meals for camping can be tough. All right, it doesn't have to be. You can just eat baked beans or beef stew from a can, heated over a tiki torch, if that's what you have to do. I myself have consumed hot dogs cooked on sticks over a fire. We've been going to this one camp in Maine every summer since we started dating, and I can assure you that we don't eat that way there. (For one thing, the site doesn't allow fire pits.) The dinner has gotten a bit bigger every year and I'd say we feed between thirty and fifty people at this shindig – and it's almost all with stuff we can fit into two coolers. Other people contribute, of course, which makes it even more fun. Since we're camping with a bunch of medieval history enthusiasts, I've tried for the past couple of years to make as many of the dishes documentably medieval as I can.

Medieval food, contrary to what I certainly believed in my youth, did not consist entirely of gruel. People had taste buds then just as they have taste buds now, and a look at any of the medieval cookbooks available in translation will show you a treasure trove of delicious delicacies from centuries long gone by. The problem I have lies in finding recipes that a) can be made ahead and brought into camp, b) can be re-heated in primitive facilities, c) can tolerate life in an overstuffed cooler rather than in a proper refrigerator, and d) are interesting enough to be worth the effort. That's a little more challenging… And that's why this recipe appealed to me so much.

Anthimus was a Byzantine physician exiled to the court of the Ostrogoths in the beginning of the 6^th century AD. He was sent from there to be the ambassador to the Frankish court, which seemed (to him, at least) to be even more barbaric than the Ostrogothic court. This book, which is really just a really long letter, is intended to show the Frankish king which foods are healthy and how to prepare them (sometimes.) I've seen this described (including on the back of my copy) as the first French cookery book. I'm not sure about that – after all, the author was Greek and picked up quite a bit in Italy – but it was at least written for people who became French.

So what about this recipe appealed to me, besides it being a very early-period dish? Well, it has three ingredients. That's a good start. If I left the melons whole until I got there, it would be very easy to transport and wouldn't need refrigeration. It was colorful and it was easy. Really, it doesn't get much better than that, whether you're re-creating a medieval recipe or pulling something together for the family trip to the Adirondacks.

I'm not sure when watermelons made it up to Western Europe, but I strongly suspect that they were not the "melons" intended by Dr. Anthimus. In all honesty, I did purchase cantaloupes and Tuscan melons. Unfortunately transportation was less kind to them than I would have hoped, and some of them went spectacularly bad before the party. Someone else had brought some watermelon, and to stretch the dish out to its original proportions I added it to the mix. It did make the dish prettier, didn't it?

Melons with Vinegar (serves about 50; approx. cost per serving not available)

1 mini-watermelon, cut into chunks

3 cantaloupes, cut into chunks

½ cup white wine vinegar

½ cup water

Equipment:

• Small bowl

1. Arrange the melon chunks in an attractive way on the platter. (I had help in this from Nikki and Andrew.)
2. Combine the vinegar and water in the small bowl. Mix very well to ensure that the vinegar is well diluted.
3. Sprinkle the diluted vinegar over the melons.
4. Serve.

Recipe: Sweet and Sour Onions

Recipe Source: France, Christine. Barbecue. Anness Publishing, London, 2004 p. 179

This recipe tasted like barbeque sauce. I'm not kidding. I made it for my husband's birthday dinner, and it did make an excellent accompaniment to the ribs he finally got to make for himself. Since I wasn't able to partake of the ribs, it allowed me to get a little sample of the barbeque sauce. It was a relatively popular dish, although I suspect some of that popularity was in the mistaken assumption that this was the sauce for the ribs.

I did make a few changes. I doubled the recipe, although I left the oil quantity the same to reduce the fat. I substituted honey for sugar on a whim; I think it worked pretty well if I do say so. I also substituted sage for the parsley (personal preference) and dried dates for the raisins. Again, people really enjoyed it, so I guess it worked.

Sweet and Sour Onions (serves 12; approx. cost per serving not available)

2 pounds baby onions, peeled

½ cup red wine vinegar

3 tablespoons olive oil

6 tablespoons honey

6 tablespoons tomato paste

2 bay leaves

4 sage sprigs

2 ½ cups water

1 cup chopped dried dates

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Equipment:

• Large saucepan

1. Combine everything in the saucepan.
2. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer gently for 45 minutes. The onions should be tender and the sauce reduced to a thick paste.
3. Remove the bay leaves and sage from the pan.
4. Serve at room temperature. This recipe can (obviously) be made well in advance.

Recipe: John’s Lemony Birthday Cake

Recipe Source: Peterson, James. Baking. Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, 2009 pp. 8 and 46

So, my husband decided to throw himself a birthday dinner. While the dinner was really just an excuse to make an obscene amount of ribs, you can't have a birthday party without a cake. I really didn't have time to get wild and crazy with it – we'd just gotten back from the big camping trip up in Maine and I still had to finish excavating the kitchen from that mess. I decided that a basic genoise with buttercream would be good. The idea of a "quick and easy" buttercream also appealed to me.

The biggest change that I made in this recipe was switching lemon zest for orange zest. I did this because my husband loves lemon and it was his birthday cake. The result I'd have to say was mixed. The cake fell apart on me – literally a quarter of the cake came out of the pan separately from the rest. That said, buttercream hides a whole host of sins. I don't think any of our diners would have realized that I'd screwed up on the cake if I hadn't told them. I personally found the cake a little dry, but people seemed to like it well enough. Then again, they could just have been being nice.

John's Lemony Birthday Cake (serves 12; approx. $0.57/serving)

3 eggs

¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

½ cup plus 2 tablespoons cake flour

3 tablespoons melted butter

1 ½ pounds butter, sliced

2 ½ cups confectioner's sugar

2 tablespoons grated lemon zest

Equipment:

• Stand mixer with both paddle and whisk attachments
• 9" cake pan
• Saucepan
• Small bowl
• Bowl that fits over saucepan (heatproof, please!)
• Cake rack
• Whisk

1. Preheat your oven to 350 ̊.
2. Lubricate and flour your cake pan.
3. Bring a saucepan of water to a bare simmer.
4. Combine the eggs and sugar in the bowl that fits over the saucepan. Whisk until warm and frothy.
5. Transfer the egg and sugar mixture to the bowl of the stand mixer and fit with the whisk attachment.
6. Whisk 4 minutes. Remove about 1/5 of the egg mixture and put it into the small bowl.
7. Carefully fold in the flour.
8. In the small bowl, combine the reserved egg mixture and the melted butter.
9. Fold the butter mixture into the flour mixture.
10. Spread the batter out evenly in the pan.
11. Bake 25 minutes.
12. Let cool 5 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a cake rack.
13. Clean out the bowl of your stand mixer.
14. Beat the sliced butter for 5 minutes in the stand mixer with the paddle attachment.
15. Add the sugar and lemon zest. Beat until smooth. It is highly recommended that you start this on a slow speed or else your sugar will make a huge mess.
16. Switch to the whisk attachment and beat 5 minutes.
17. Slice your cool cake in half with a serrated knife.
18. Spread some of the buttercream frosting over the top of the bottom half, then carefully replace the top half.
19. Use the remaining buttercream to frost the remaining cake.
20. Decorate as you desire, then serve.

Recipe: Green Bean and Red Pepper Salad

Recipe Source: France, Christine and Steven Wheeler. Barbecues and Salads. Anness Publishing, London, 2002 p. 320

I made this salad for my husband's birthday dinner. This is the dinner he threw himself because it provided an excuse to make ribs. I wanted to serve side dishes that would go well with barbeque, and this one looked like a good idea. It was also pretty simple and straightforward to make. Finally, you can make it ahead of time, which was crucial for me. This dinner was given two days after returning from our trip up to Maine, where we lugged up food for about 50 and for a class I taught as well. The kitchen was an unmitigated disaster and I needed to get it clean – and all the food cooked – before people got there.

I made a few changes. I couldn't find pickled Serrano chilies so I used pickled jalapenos, which in hindsight wasn't necessarily a bad thing. We knew at least one of our guests did not deal well with spicy food. I also used butter lettuce in place of iceberg, because I detest iceberg. I also drastically reduced the amount of olive oil because my husband can't handle that much oil and this was his party.  I made up for it by adding about 5 tablespoons of the liquid that the jalapenos had been pickled in, which may have contained some oil but not a lot.  Finally, I added some oregano.  This salad went over pretty well, and the leftovers held up pretty well for an extra day.

Green Bean and Red Pepper Salad (serves about 10 as a side dish; approx. $0.81/serving)

12 ounces cooked green beans, quartered

2 red bell peppers, seeded and chopped

3 tablespoons (approx.) chopped fresh oregano

2 scallions, chopped

1 can sliced canned pickled jalapenos

1 head butter lettuce, shredded

2 ounces mixed olives

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

3 tablespoons olive oil

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Equipment:

• Large bowl
• Small bowl

1. Combine the first 6 ingredients in the large bowl.
2. Lay out your shredded lettuce on your serving platter.
3. Top with the mixture from the bowl.
4. Combine the vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper in the smaller bowl. Drizzle on top of the salad.
5. Top with the olives and serve.

Recipe: Sweet Zucchini Pickle

Recipe Source: Hoffman, Susanna. The Olive and the Caper. Workman Press, New York, 2004 pp. 72-3.

Before I planned my menu for the big camping trip up in Maine I asked for suggestions. Only one person had any requests: she said she liked my salads and my pickled salads. This, while not even vaguely resembling a medieval recipe, looked tasty and like it would travel well. I decided to include it in my meal and people really liked it. It was pretty easy to come up with, it definitely traveled well, and it provided more vegetables for people to choose from. It was a little sweet for my tastes, personally (hence the catchy name), but most people really liked it.

I didn't make a lot of changes to this recipe because there weren't a lot of changes to make. I did add a little bit of cubeb to the mix, as well as a little bit of ground coriander just to make it fit in a little better with some of the other dishes I was serving. I also had to use apple cider vinegar because I was out of white wine vinegar and at 3 AM your options are a little limited. Like I said, this went over pretty well. Be sure to make this the day before you intend to serve it. Hoffman says that it will last up to two months in the refrigerator, but you'd likely eat it well before then.

Sweet Zucchini Pickle (serves about 20; approx. $0.42/serving)

3 pounds zucchini, sliced to ¼" thick

2 onions, quartered and sliced to 1/8" thick

2 teaspoons kosher salt

½ teaspoon (approx.) fresh ground cubeb

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 tablespoon dry mustard powder

1 tablespoon mustard seeds

1 ½ teaspoons ground turmeric

½ teaspoon whole cloves

1 ½ cups brown sugar, packed

1 ½ cups apple cider vinegar

Equipment:

• Large seal-able plastic bowl
• Large saucepan
• Colander

1. Combine the onions and the zucchini slices in the colander with the salt and let stand ½ hour.
2. Combine the cubeb, coriander, mustard powder, mustard seeds, turmeric, cloves, sugar and vinegar in the saucepan. Bring to a rolling boil over high heat, then remove from heat.
3. Add the zucchini and onions to the pot and set aside to cool.
4. Transfer to the sealable bowl. Cover and seal.
5. Refrigerate at least overnight before serving.