Fearless Kitchen

Recipe: Roast Duck with Sage

I have been craving duck recently.  I don't know why, but when I think about what I want to eat on any given day for some reason the first thought that comes to my mind is "duck."  This is not really a good thing.  Duck is fatty.  So am I.  I do not need to add to my extra fat by consuming something whose mission in life it is to stay warm on chilly ponds in winter.  This craving has plagued me for a while, though, so I finally gave in.  I figured once in a great while is probably an allowable indulgence.  After all, if I've been craving it for months it must have something my body needs right now, and clearly abstaining hasn't done me much good either.  I decided to go ahead, pick up a duck and have it on a special occasion.

The special occasion I chose was the day after my big medieval-history party.  I knew I'd be craving something a little indulgent, so my brain would feel vaguely rewarded or something.  I  don't know.  My friends Laura and Kevin were going to join us for dinner.  While Kevin, a vegetarian, had no intention of partaking of the duck, I figured Laura would enjoy it.  After all, being married to a vegetarian means she doesn't indulge in meat all that often either.  The boys were going off to a regional sports practice, so I was left alone with the duck.  I decided I would cook in our Big Green Egg.

The problem was that the day was intermittently windy.  This made it hard to stabilize the Egg's temperature.  I was going for rare.  What I got was well-done.  Oh well.  No one really complained - except me, of course - and my daughter has been joyfully feasting upon the leftovers.

Roast Duck with Sage (serves 4; approx. $5.18/serving)

1 duck

2 lemons, thinly sliced

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

1 handful fresh sage leaves

Equipment:

• Big Green Egg (optional; you could make this indoors but it wouldn't be nearly as good)

1. Preheat your Big Green Egg to 425 degrees.
2. Rub the flesh under the skin of the duck with kosher salt and black pepper.
3. Slide the lemons and the sage under the skin as well.
4. Roast until the internal temperature is to your liking; 140 is usually rare.
5. Remove to a cutting board and tent with foil.  Let rest for at least 15 minutes.
6. Carve and serve.

Recipe: Roast Chicken with Persian Stuffing

Recipe Source: Shaida, Margaret.  The Legendary Cuisine of Persia.  Interlink Books, New York, 2002 p. 177

A dear friend recently introduced me to a new "Mediterranean" market within a reasonable distance of my house.  There are no words to describe how happy I am about this.  The Middle Eastern market I had been using in Quincy seems to have closed and while the Greek market in West Roxbury is very nice it doesn't have some of the more unusual ingredients I frequently have to substitute out or omit altogether.  Now I can get verjuice instead of having to make it up.  Now I can get rue, although I still need to be very judicious about using it.  Now I can get barberries.  That brings me to this recipe.  I chose it for a recent Sunday dinner specifically because it contains barberries.  I now had barberries and I wanted to show off my new acquisition.

I made a few changes.  I couldn't find dried peaches anywhere at all so I used dried mango.  Perhaps they don't use mango so often in Iran.  I couldn't say.  I do know that I like mango, so I figured it was an okay substitute.  I doubled the recipe because we actually had a good-size crowd.  I omitted the basting step, which eliminated a few ingredients, reduced the cost per serving and made this a much simpler recipe to prepare.  I cooked it on the Big Green Egg, which had a lot to do with how I got away without basting it.  Finally, I omitted the walnuts because of my daughter.  I used breadcrumbs instead.

This stuffing was pretty amazing if I do say so myself.  Everyone seems to have loved it.  The recipe did prepare rather more than strictly necessary for the stuffing of the two chickens I used, but that was okay.  I was able to cook it up on the stovetop without a problem.  Now, Thanksgiving is in a week.  Maybe you've got a house full of relatives coming.  Maybe you're sick of your family's traditional stuffing.  Try this one out.  You will not be disappointed.

Roast Chicken with Persian Stuffing (serves 8; approx. $4.42/serving)

2 chickens

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

2 lemons, thinly sliced

6 tablespoons dried barnerries

10 slices dried mango

10 tablespoons dried sour cherries

2 ounces dried breadcrumbs

4 onions, diced

1 can tomato paste

Equipment:

• Large skillet or saute pan
• Aluminum foil
• Big Green Egg (optional - you can roast this in your oven, but it will be much better in the Egg.)

1. Preheat your Egg or oven to 325 degrees.
2. Rub the space under the chicken skin with kosher salt and black pepper to taste.  Slide lemon slices under the skin.
3. Heat the oil in the saute pan.
4. Add the onions and fry until golden.
5. Add the breadcrumbs.  Fry briefly.
6. Add the dried fruit.  Fry for another minute.
7. Add the tomato paste.  Mix thoroughly and set aside to cool.
8. When the Egg or oven is ready, stuff the chicken cavities with the stuffing.  If you have stuffing left over, set it aside.
9. Roast the chicken until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees.
10. Remove the chicken from the Egg and tent with foil; the internal temperature will continue to rise and the chicken will be thoroughly cooked when you are done.  Set aside for at least 15 minutes.
11. Meanwhile, if you have more stuffing than chicken cavities, transfer the stuffing to a deep saute pan or saucepan with a lid.  Add about 1/2 cup of water.
12. Bring to a boil, then clamp the lid on and reduce heat to very low.  Cook about 5 minutes.
13. Serve.

Pulled Beef

Recipe: Pulled Beef

Recipe Source: Based on a post made by 'Fishlessman' on the Greeneggers.com forum at http://www.greeneggers.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&func=view&id=103156&catid=1

I had seen a reference to this recipe a while back while perusing the Greeneggers.com online forum and I had bookmarked it to go back and try it later. I was at the butcher shop recently picking up some meat for another recipe when I saw some really nice looking chuck roasts on the shelf, so I decided to grab one and finally test this recipe out. Jess was going to be coming home from a weekend of bringing Fearless Baby to see Grandma and Grandpa, so I thought it would be nice to have dinner for them when they got back. My roast was about 3.5 lbs, so we invited some friends over to eat it with us.

I mostly followed the recipe as written since I hadn't ever tried making anything like this before. I left out the Guinness in the drip pan that the original poster suggested, as I didn't think that would add much to the flavor and frankly would rather drink the beer. I rubbed the meat with some Dizzy Pig BBQ Dizzy Dust that I had on hand, and put it in the smoker with some oak wood chunks for smoke. I left off the additional sugar that the original author used, both because the rub I used already contained some sugar and because Jess doesn't like things sweet. I also left out the seltzer that the original author mixed with the sauce while wrapping, as I didn't have any handy. t used my Maverick ET-73 remote thermometer to keep track of the temperature, since I really had no idea how long this would take to cook. I estimated it would take about 90 minutes / lb, which is my usual rule of thumb for brisket, but it took it's time getting up to the 170 degree mark. Once wrapped in foil however, the temperature came up quickly. The total cook time ended up around 7 hours, or about 2 hours per pound.

I made a few changes to the sauce as well. The original called for an equal mix of mojo sauce (a lime-juice, olive oil, and garlic based sauce), cider vinegar, and white vinegar as a base. However, when I started to mix it up, I realized we were out of cider vinegar, and I really had no desire to go back to the store. I ended up using 2 parts white vinegar to 1 part fresh lime juice, and mixed in some other ingredients I had on hand to approximate the original. One other change I made was substituting chipotle powder for the cayenne pepper, both because I think it is more flavorful and because one of my guests doesn't like things overly spicy, and the chipotle is somewhat milder than the cayenne.

Overall, this recipe was a big success. The meat was flavorful and juicy, the sauce tasted great, and everyone really enjoyed it, including Fearless Baby, who kept asking for 'more meat'! We thought it was a great substitute, albeit a more expensive one, for pulled pork, which we can't eat anymore due to the pork allergy Jess developed. The meat seemed a little fattier than I expected. I'm not sure if that was the particular piece of meat I got, or if it's just a difference in how fat renders off of beef as opposed to pork. It was still really good, and I'll definitely be serving this again when I can find this cut of beef.

Pulled Beef (Serves 4-6. Approx. Cost per Serving Not Available)

Equipment Required

• Big Green Egg or Other Smoker
• Aluminum Foil
• Remote Thermometer (recommended)

3 1/2 to 4 pound beef chuck roast
Yellow mustard
Your choice of spice rub
Hamburger rolls

For the Sauce

1/2 cup lime juice

1 cup white vinegar

1 tablespoon hot sauce1 tablespoon chipotle powder
1/2 tablespoon black pepper1/2 tablespoon garlic powder

1/2 tablesppon turbinado sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

1 tablespoon olive oil
1) Calculate your cooking time, using an estimate of approximately 2 hours per pound of actual time in the smoker, plus the lead time for the smoker to heat up, and at least 30-60 minutes to let the meat rest after removing it from the smoker.

2) At the appropriate time, start up your smoker and set it up to cook at 250 degrees Fahrenheit. In my large Big Green Egg, I set up for indirect cooking, and added some oak chunks to my fire for smoke flavor.

3) While the smoker is coming up to temperature, prepare your meat. Sprinkle the meat with your spice rub, then add a thin layer of yellow mustard, and liberally apply more spice rub. This helps create a nice flavorful bark on the outside of the meat. Don't worry - it won't taste like mustard.

4) When the smoker's temperature has stabilized at 250 degrees, put in the meat. I strongly recommend using a remote thermometer to monitor your progress, so you aren't constantly having to check on it.

5) While the meat is cooking, mix together the ingredients for your sauce in a bowl, whisk together, and set aside.

6) When your meat's internal temperature reaches 170 degrees Fahrenheit, lay out some aluminum foil on a work surface, remove the beef and place on the foil. Turn up the edges and pour about 1/4 of the sauce over the meat. Wrap tightly, add another layer of foil, and return to the smoker.

7) When the internal temperature of the meat reaches 205 degrees Fahrenheit, remove from the smoker, cover the foil-wrapped meat in a cloth towel, and move to a cooler to rest for at least 30 minutes. With pulled pork, you can keep warm and ready to pull this way for up to 4 hours. I assume it would be similar with this recipe, but we were hungry, and I only let mine rest for 30 minutes.

8) Carefully unwrap the meat from the foil, and using two forks, pull the meat apart until it is well shredded. Serve on hamburger rolls, with the remaining sauce on the side.

Recipe: Medieval Stuffed Apples

Recipe Source: Coquinaria.nl.  I have no idea who the translator is; if it's you please let me know so I can properly cite you.  Find the original recipe here.

I've been kind of into the Netherlands lately and I'm not really sure why.  It's not like I know a lot about the Netherlands.  I know their history to some extent, but only as it touches upon other places.  I know about William of Orange because of his impact on English history.  I know a little about their struggle for independence from Spain because of how it impacted the reign of Elizabeth I.  I guess that the real pull that the place has on me is New York.  New York, for those of you who don't already know this, did not start out as an English colony.  The first European settlers were Dutch.  What we now know as New York State was called New Netherlands and the city they founded there was called New Amsterdam.  (The land belonged to other people before the Dutch, but I know even less about them to my great chagrin, and none of what I do know is at all relevant to a food blog.  Although if you do have any information on the diet of the first native New Yorkers please do get in touch with me.)

Anyway, I've found a couple of medieval Dutch recipes online.  Now, I don't have the best impression of a lot of Northern European cookery.  In my head it's all cabbage and boiled pork.  I know that this is not accurate by any stretch of the imagination but there you have it.  Both of these recipes involve, at least in some way, apples.  In my imagination, which is sometimes given to excess, I can understand what it is that drew those colonists to New York and it is the apple.  In my head I can just see an early Dutch colonist turning to his wife and saying, "This is great apple country!"  Except he says it in Dutch.  I love apples.  Upstate New York, my native land, is pretty fantastic apple country and I take great delight in gorging myself on apples every fall.

Back to the recipe.  The original only mentioned apples as a variation.  The recipe is for a stuffing with which you can stuff all sorts of things, from birds to eggs to, well, apples.  I was looking for a period side dish to serve at a Sunday open house and when I saw that you could stuff apples with it I said, "Ooooo!"  Now, I did make one fairly major change.  The recipe, which dates to 1484,  called specifically for pork.  I am hideously, ghastly allergic to pork.  But I could stuff apples.... I almost decided not to make the dish but then I changed my mind.  I've used turkey as a substitute for pork on several occasions and with the exception of bacon (turkey bacon is an abomination and must be stopped) it makes a very satisfying alternative.  I decided to use ground turkey here.

Some people, and you know who you are, will be losing your mind here.  Not only am I substituting out a period ingredient, but I'm replacing it with one that was unknown in Europe in 1484.  I think that it is perfectly acceptable to substitute or omit period ingredients where safety is concerned.  Usually when I do so it's a safety issue that affects everyone (Yes, I know they used pennyroyal like we use parsley.  It's al

so toxic under certain very common circumstances so I don't use it unless I know no one dining with us will possibly be affected.)  While in this case the safety issue only affects a small number of people - I can think of three including myself in my own social circle - it is a safety issue nonetheless.  Furthermore, large parts of the Netherlands were ruled by Spain.  We know from Nola that at least some cooks were accustomed to cooking for people who could not consume pork.  Now, Nola was working in Naples but he was working for an Aragonese ruler, and the King of Spain at this point was Aragonese.  I feel that it isn't much of a stretch to say that a cook in an area influenced by Spain might well have also substituted something else for pork.  Furthermore, at least in later times the Netherlands became known for tolerating certain folks who did not consume pork.  (Stuyvesant in New Amsterdam fought allowing Jews into the colony but his masters back in Europe firmly told him that he had to.)

So, now that I've justified using something other than pork for this recipe, let's talk turkey.  Turkey is the most delicious white meat that you can find.  It's probably just the result of Thanksgiving, but somehow the smell and taste of turkey are just eternally wedded to autumn in my mind.  (Not that I won't eat turkey at other times of year.  It's just more abundant in the fall.)  It is also incontrovertibly New World and therefore wildly inappropriate for a recipe that dates to 1484.  Okay.  That's all true.  I've certainly heard of turkey being recommended in later (still pre-1600) periods as a substitute for other birds that are not readily available as food in the modern United States - peacock or swan, for example.  I could have used chicken, but I happened to have ground turkey on hand.  Furthermore, while we modernly think of chickens as cheap protein sources they don't appear to have been thought so in the medieval period.  I could have used ground beef or ground lamb, but both of those have

very strong flavors of their own and would not have been quite right here.  If I were entering this into a period cooking competition I would not have used turkey.  I was not entering this into a period cooking competition.  I was serving this to some friends out on the back deck.  If you care that much, go ahead and use pork.

Medieval Stuffed Apples (serves about 12; approx. cost per serving not available)

15 apples (I used Macintoshes because that's what I had on hand.  I'm not sure what variety available in the medieval Netherlands would be available now.)

1 pound ground turkey

6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and roughly chopped

1 tablespoon black pepper

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

Kosher salt to taste

Scant 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Equipment:

• Roasting pan
• Frying pan
• Food processor
• Optional: Big Green Egg or other wood-fired oven.  I could have easily made this indoors but the kitchen was hot enough and I think the smoke from the wood in the Egg really added something very tasty to this dish.

1. Brown the turkey in the frying pan.  I don't think I used any added fat, but if you're more comfortable with it use a little olive oil to prevent burning. The turkey should be fully cooked.
2. Let the turkey cool a little.
3. Transfer the turkey, eggs, spices and salt to the food processor and grind to a paste.
4. Slice the top off each apple.  Reserve the lids.
5. Hollow out a space in the center of each apple.  I used a melon baller to do this but you can use a spoon or whatever.  It's important to leave enough substance to the walls of the apple that it can still stand up in the roasting pan.
6. Fill the space you've just hollowed out with the turkey mixture.
7. Replace the top of the apples and arrange them in a roasting pan.
8. Roast in the Big Green Egg about 10 - 15 minutes at 350 degrees.  If you are cooking indoors cook in a 350 degree oven.  You can probably afford to go a little over time, but don't cook the apples so much that they collapse.  The stuffing ingredients are fully cooked so this is not a safety issue.
9. Serve.

Smoked Lamb Meatballs

Recipe: Smoked Lamb Meatballs (Guest Post from Fearless Grill)

Recipe Source: Original

I was going to be alone for dinner tonight, and was rooting through the fridge looking for something to make for myself. I found a package of ground lamb that Jess had pulled out of the freezer for yesterday's dinner, but didn't get around to using. We weren't going to be around the rest of the week, so I decided to use it rather than refreezing it or letting it go to waste. I originally was just going to make some burgers out of it, but quickly realized we didn't have any bread or rolls. I was spending the evening watching Fearless Baby and therefore didn't want to do anything too complex, so I decided to make some meatballs and cook them up on my Big Green Egg smoker.

I hadn't really ever made meatballs before, so I wasn't too sure what to do. I talked about it with Jess as she was on her way out the door, and she told me to make sure to put in an egg and some breadcrumbs to hold them together. Otherwise, I just made it up. I started out with the package of ground lamb and put it in a large bowl. I added some breadcrumbs, but couldn't find an egg anywhere, so I ended up just skipping it. For flavor, I added a finely chopped onion, some salt, pepper, and garlic powder, and some chopped fresh herbs from our garden. I also zested a lemon and put that in, and thoroughly mixed it all together. I decided to cook them slow to get some smoke flavor into them, and set up my smoker to cook at around 275 degrees. I expected them to take about an hour, but when I went to check on them, I realized that Fearless Baby had distracted me, and they had actually (over)cooked at a higher temperature.

Fortunately, the higher temperature cook didn't hurt the flavor of the meatballs, and they didn't really dry out even though they had cooked to a higher temperature than I intended. Just to be sure, I decided to mix up a sauce to serve on the side from some Greek yogurt that also was lurking in the fridge, and I put it on some lemon cucumbers from our garden that needed to be eaten. Luckily, the egg proved to be unnecessary, and the meatballs held together just fine, both raw and after cooking. Overall, this dish came out pretty good despite it's unplanned nature and accidental overcooking. I'll be trying it again with a closer eye on the temperature to see how it does.

Smoked Lamb Meatballs (makes about 16 meatballs. Approx. cost per serving not available)

Equipment Required

• Big Green Egg or other smoker (you could just grill these, but they wouldn't get the smoke flavor or color

Meatballs

1 1/4 lb. of ground lamb
2 tablespoons unseasoned breadcrumbs
1 egg (optional)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 small onion, finely chopped
Chopped fresh herbs to taste (I used oregano, thyme, and rosemary)
Zest of one lemon

Fearless Greek Rub

3 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried thyme

Yogurt Sauce

4 tablespoons Greek yogurt
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 teaspoon cayenne or chipotle pepper  

1) Mix the ingredients for the meatballs together in a large bowl, and mix thoroughly. Let the mixture set up in the refrigerator for at least an hour to let the flavors meld.

2) Set up your smoker to cook at 250-275 degrees. In my small Big Green Egg, I put in my plate setter legs up with a drip pan between the legs. I used a mix of oak and apple wood chunks for smoke flavor.

3) When your smoker is ready, shape the meatballs into 1" to 1.25" diameter balls. Lightly sprinkle all sides of the meatballs with the Fearless Greek Rub. Note that the recipe will make more of the rub than you need. Save the extra to use for something else.

4) Place the meatballs on the grill of your smoker. Start checking the internal temperature of the meat after about 30 minutes, and continue cooking until they are done to your liking. Allow to smoke until the internal temperature reaches your preferred temperature for lamb. You are supposed to cook ground meat to 160 degrees for safety, but I prefer mine more rare and would pull at 140 or so.

5) While the meat is cooking, mix together the ingredients for the yogurt sauce, and refrigerate until ready to serve.

6) When the meat is ready, remove from the smoker and serve immediately, with the sauce on the side.

Recipe: Cumin-Flavored Pastries (Nimki)

Recipe Source: Westrip, Joyce. Moghul Cooking. Serif Cookery, London, 2005 p. 38

I've already mentioned the event I catered during the August non-vacation this year. The theme was supposed to be the Silk Road, with cuisines and treats from cultures that were involved with the medieval silk trade. India was certainly part of the silk trade in those days, but I haven't found a good source for medieval Indian recipes. (If you have a good source, could you please pass it along? I'm not kidding.) The event was a cocktail party, meaning that the food needed to be things people could a) eat with their fingers and b) just kind of graze on while socializing and drinking. It also needed to be relatively "neat" food – food that people could eat without fear of dripping on some very expensive and elaborate costumes. I was flipping through the book cited above when I found this recipe, and I immediately said, "A-ha!"

What is it about this dish that so piqued my imagination? It's the cumin, of course. Cumin is one of my favorite flavors in the whole world. It's the spice I'm most likely to increase when using a recipe. I don't know why it's my favorite spice these days but it is and I simply cannot get enough of it. It's got a nice, pleasant flavor, warming and enticing. It was clearly perfect cocktail party food. I did have to make a few changes. Since this was an ostensibly medieval event (I couldn't get actual medieval sources for some of the recipes) I couldn't use chili powder. (Chiles existed in period, but not in India.) I also had to tweak my usual garam masala mix. One of the changes I made to that mix involved turmeric – I figured that it would give the finished product a pleasant color, which could be problematic given that a) I was not deep-frying the pastries and b) I was going to have to freeze them and bring them from Boston. I also used olive oil for the ghee to keep costs down and because that's what I keep on hand.

Personally, I was delighted with these little pastries. My husband and child were equally enthusiastic when I did the test run. I will say that these were at their absolute best fresh from the oil, but they survived being frozen and re-heated in the Big Green Egg very well indeed.

Nimki (Makes enough for about 6 people; approx. cost per serving not available)

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 ½ teaspoon cumin seeds

1 teaspoon black pepper

½ teaspoon ground cumin

½ teaspoon ground coriander

¼ teaspoon ground turmeric

3 tablespoons olive oil

½ cup water

Vegetable oil for frying

Equipment:

• Mixing bowl
• Rolling pin
• Pizza cutter
• Large skillet
• Slotted spatula
• Plate
• Paper towels

1. Combine the flour with the spices and salt in the mixing bowl.
2. Add the oil and combine well.
3. Add the flour gradually and mix to form a firm dough.
4. Knead 10 – 15 minutes.
5. Allow to rest, covered, at least 30 minutes.
6. Roll out the dough very thin. Use the pizza cutter to cut out roughly diamond shapes. (Freehand cutting is not my strong suit, but that did not affect the flavor!)
7. Heat the vegetable oil in the skillet.
8. Working in batches, fry up the pastries. Do not overcrowd the pan. As the pastries become brown, evacuate them to a plate covered in paper towels with the slotted spatula to drain off the excess oil.
9. Serve.

Recipe: Pennsic Roast Vegetables

Meals at the annual "vacation" are a bit different from here at home. The site has an extensive food court, filled with local vendors. When I first started going to this place with my husband we ate at the food court every night, because we were on "vacation" and did not want to be hassled with food prep and cleanup. We also shared our campsite with some folks who had rather different ideas about hygiene than we did and wanted nothing to do with preparing food on the same table they insisted on using to change their babies' diapers.  ("It's no different from food waste," they insisted.  Cholera isn't spread by carrot peels, folks.) Then we moved to a different campsite. Our new campmates, good friends and grownups all, shared our feelings about camp hygiene (we're all in favor). I also developed some health issues and thought that cooking and eating in camp would mitigate those issues. Finally, we picked up our Big Green Egg and started bringing it to camp. Now we cook in camp most nights. It's a communal effort and no effort is more communal than this dish.

I feel a little funny writing this recipe down since the most I did the first time it was made was lug some of the vegetables to Pennsylvania. (I hadn't managed to use up all our farm share vegetables before leaving, so I brought them with me.) We were discussing what we wanted to do for dinner and I was feeling pretty strongly that I Did Not Want To Cook. I said, "I've got some vegetables. Some onions. Some beets." Someone else said, "I've got some carrots." Someone else said, "I've got some potatoes." Another person said, "I'm not busy right now, I'll chop." And peel and chop he did. We chucked some fresh herbs and garlic in since we had them on hand and we stuck them under some chickens we roasted in the Egg. The results were pretty amazing. Everyone loved it. Even I loved it, despite the prevalence of sweet vegetables. There were no leftovers.

The version you see here is not the version we ate in camp. The version you see here is one I made last Sunday for our open house. Both my husband and I were very eager to try the roasted root vegetables again. We made some changes. I added a rutabaga because I had it on hand; it was fairly elderly and I didn't think it would last much longer. I also added a cup of white wine. We were going to be using a longer roasting time for logistical reasons and we didn't want the vegetables to dry out. I think I liked the original version a bit better, but this was still plenty tasty.

Pennsic Roasted Vegetables (serves 12; approx. $0.72/serving)

Note: This recipe presupposes that you will be roasting chickens at the same time.

1 rutabaga, peeled and chopped

8 carrots, diced

2 pounds potatoes, diced

6 beets, roots only, peeled and diced

4 onions, chopped

7 garlic cloves, chopped

1 handful fresh sage, chopped

Kosher salt to taste

1 cup white wine

Equipment:

• Big Green Egg
• Roasting pan

1. Prepare your Egg for indirect cooking. We did a lower-heat cook than we usually would for chicken, roasting 2 chickens for this version.
2. Fill the roasting pan with your vegetables and toss to coat.
3. Add the wine.
4. Place the roasting pan where you would place the drip pan. Note: If you must do this indoors, you could probably get away with a very large steam tray and some racks set over the steam tray, but I have not tried this and cannot vouch for it.
5. Roast until the chickens are done. We roasted these for about 4 hours, give or take, for Sunday dinner. We roasted them for a much shorter time in camp.
6. Transfer the vegetables to a serving dish and serve.

Recipe: Pulled Pork Enchiladas

It seems very strange to me to be posting a recipe that I did not eat, but there you have it. We hosted a backyard barbeque for my husband's birthday, largely because it provided him with an opportunity to cook pork. Unfortunately he rather overestimated demand for pulled pork and we wound up with quite a lot of it left over. I certainly wasn't going to be eating it. No matter. We were having our usual Sunday open house that week, and I was going to be making food and leaving it there as I had other plans. Wonderful! My husband directed me to make pulled pork enchiladas with the leftovers and I complied.

This is a very simple, very basic recipe. I made it ahead of time and it was re-heated before serving, and then with the leftovers (again with the leftovers!) we brought them to a friend's house for an impromptu dinner party and re-heated them again. I've been assured that this did not cause any diminution in quality. I wish I could have tried them; they smelled soooo good while cooking!

Pulled Pork Enchiladas (makes 24 enchiladas; approx. cost per serving not available)

Leftover pulled pork, about 2 – 2 ½ cups worth (estimated)

16 ounces grated New York State cheddar cheese

8 ounces grated Pepper Jack cheese

16 ounces grated Monterrey Jack cheese

1 large jar mild salsa

1 can pickled sliced jalapenos

24 whole wheat tortillas

Equipment:

• Nothing special. I used aluminum steam trays to hold the enchiladas and contain them overnight, but if you're not doing that then a regular baking sheet should work just fine.

1. Preheat your oven to 350 ̊.
2. Lay out a tortilla on a work surface.
3. Sprinkle a little cheese on the tortilla, approximately toward the middle.
4. Sprinkle a little pork on top of the cheese. Add a couple of jalapeno slices and a little more cheese.
5. Fold the top and bottom of the tortilla in slightly toward the middle, then roll the tortilla shut from right to left. You should be left with a cylinder.
6. Transfer the cylinder to the baking tray or steam tray or whatever.
7. Repeat with the remaining tortillas.
8. Spoon the salsa over the tops of the tortilla cylinders, then sprinkle liberally with the remaining cheese.
9. Bake until the cheese is melted and browned slightly, about 8 minutes.
10. Serve.

Recipe: Eggplant and Feta Salad

Recipe Source: Flay, Bobby and Joan Schwartz. Boy Meets Grill. Hyperion, New York, 1999 p. 185

"I hate eggplant!"

If I had a dollar for every time someone told me they hate eggplant I'd be a very wealthy woman right now. Funny how there are rarely any leftovers. I think that people hate eggplant because they've always had it in some unspeakable, super-greasy format at some point during their formative years. I'm not hampered by any such mental scarring. We just didn't eat eggplant when I was a girl. I'm not sure why. Maybe it was the cost, as we didn't have a lot of extra money when I was a kid. Maybe it was the fuss – many traditional eggplant recipes have very involved preparatory steps, such as pre-slicing and salting and draining. My mom was very busy, working rather more than full time and raising two girls besides. A recipe involving that much prep work would have been unlikely to appeal to her, either then or now.

Maybe she'd had a bad eggplant experience in her youth. It seems unlikely, as my grandmother was widely acknowledged to be the absolute best cook ever in the whole wide world, but I guess anything is possible.

Anyway, since I don't have any preconceived notions about eggplant (besides delicious) I feel free to make tasty treats involving eggplant. This particular recipe was one I served for my husband's birthday party. The inspiration comes from Bobby Flay, but I made quite a few changes to it. Besides, you know, increasing the recipe. I got the Spouse to grill the eggplant on the Big Green Egg, and the Egg makes everything taste better. (Really. It does. Look it up. Scientific fact.) I omitted the chili powder because we had invited some friends who simply cannot handle any kind of heat in their food; I replaced it with cumin because I love cumin. I changed some of the steps around to simplify the recipe, as I was rather pressed for time. I omitted the red onion because I hadn't any and I changed red wine vinegar for a pomegranate balsamic vinegar that I had lying around. This was one of the most popular dishes we served that day and let me assure you that almost every person who took seconds informed me that they hated eggplant.

Eggplant and Feta Salad (serves 20; approx. $0.51/serving)

6 eggplants, sliced about ½" thick

2 cups olive oil

1 tablespoon kosher salt

2 tablespoons ground cumin

½ cup pomegranate balsamic vinegar

24 ounces feta cheese, crumbled (use the good stuff here, the stuff from sheep or goat milk)

Equipment:

• Bowl
• Brush
• Grill – a Big Green Egg is best, but you can use a gas grill or whatever you've got

1. Preheat the grill to high.
2. Combine the salt, cumin and olive oil in the bowl.
3. Brush the eggplant slices with the oil mixture. Grill about 4 minutes per side, or until tender. Brush both sides.
4. Transfer the eggplant to your serving bowl. You can cut it up if you want, I didn't bother.
5. Add the feta to the bowl.
6. Drizzle with the vinegar.
7. Toss to combine thoroughly.
8. Serve.

Recipe: Iraqi Flat Bread

Recipe Source: This recipe is a combination of the khubuz al-Tannour recipe from Nawal Nasrallah's Delights from the Garden of Eden and Ibn Sayyār al-Warrāq's Nabatean Water Bread recipe from Annals of the Caliphs' Kitchens, which was translated by Nawal Nasrallah. Some of my own adaptations have been included here.

So, I've had my eye on a particular recipe in Annals of the Caliphs' Kitchens for a while. The recipe is for a bread called Nabatean water bread and it's used as a base for some other dishes, such as a tharid that was supposed to be served on Nabatean water bread. I was also enthusiastic about this recipe because I've been assured several times that there are no extant bread recipes from the medieval period because everyone just knew how to make bread. The thing is that something kept stopping me from working on this recipe. I think that the thing that stopped me was chemistry. Bread baking is chemistry. I barely passed chemistry. Also, the Nabatean water bread recipe called for seven and a half pounds of flour and I was doubtful as to whether or not my stand mixer could handle it. (I haven't been that kind to my stand mixer lately.) Dr. Nasrallah mentioned that she published a version of that recipe in her book on Iraqi cookery, Delights from the Garden of Eden. I had been planning on picking that book up anyway, so I decided to get myself a birthday present and ordered it from Amazon.com. Then I used the two to kind of adapt and make a version for me. I don't know how authentic it is, being, you know, not Iraqi. It is, however, delicious.

I do want to make a few notes about this recipe. The biggest change that I made was to use sugar to activate the yeast. Neither recipe called for sugar and I suppose it is entirely possible that the yeasts would have woken up on their own, but I just couldn't make myself do it. I dispensed with the stand mixer, using a combination of a wooden spoon and very, very wet hands. Keeping your hands wet is very, very important. If this is a problem for you do not make this bread. (Personally I'd recommend working it out, because this bread just plain rocks.) This dough takes on a life of its own. It devours everything in its path. (Is this because I used the sugar to activate the yeast, or is that common?) I thought it was going to eat the cat. It was absolutely worth it, though.

I made this to test a recipe for a class I was teaching on tannūr cookery at an even up in Maine and served our dinner on top of it. All three of us – me, my husband and our daughter – loved this bread. It has taken the place of pita in my heart. I'd like to try it with the combination of flours recommended in Dr. Nasrallah's modern version, I just didn't have enough of any of them. I'd like to think that this would be a great recipe for kids to help with, especially kids in the 2 – 5 year age range. They'll enjoy the messiness, the sponginess of the dough. The bread freezes remarkably well.

Iraqi Flat Bread (makes 16 small-to-medium sized breads; approx. $0.10/ea.)

1 ½ tablespoons active dry yeast

2 tablespoons raw sugar

4 ½ cups warm water

10 cups white bread flour (or a combination of white bread flour, whole wheat flour and wheat bran)

1 tablespoon kosher salt

Equipment:

• Big Green Egg or other tannūr like cooker. A brick oven will work. You can also make this in your oven and Dr. Nasrallah's book has extensive instructions on doing so.
• Very, very large bowl
• Aluminum foil
• Combine the yeast with the water and the sugar in a very, very large bowl.
• Set aside and wait until the yeast mixture becomes frothy.
• When the yeast is proofed, add the flour and salt. Stir with a wooden spoon until all the water is incorporated.
• Knead with wet hands until the dough is very soft and rather wet. Wet your hands every time the dough starts to stick to your hands. Cover and let rise about an hour in a warm place.
• Preheat your tannūr with a pizza stone to 500 ̊.
• Divide your dough into about 15 pieces. With wet hands, press each piece into a flat round disc. (I like to set them onto aluminum foil, Dr. Nasrallah prefers parchment paper.)
• Bake each piece directly on the pizza stone 10 minutes. Remove carefully and cool before serving.
• Important note: Do not stack the breads while they are cooling.