Fearless Kitchen

Recipe: Georgian-style Salmon with Tomatoes and Herbs

Recipe Source: Cramer, Marc. Imperial Mongolian Cooking. Hippocrene Books, New York, 2003 p. 158

Okay, I will be the very first to admit that salmon is very low on my list of preferred fish. I think I've gotten burned out on it. You know how it is: salmon is on just about every menu. Whenever someone hears that you like fish, immediately they decide to make salmon. It is readily available and it is cheap. Furthermore, a good friend of ours is simply obsessed with salmon. She eats it every day. I'm not kidding. So my eyes usually just glide over salmon when I see it in the store. The thing is, though, like I said it is available very cheaply, especially for fish. The salmon I get from Costco – fillets frozen individually – is decent quality and we need to be including more seafood in our diets. I therefore must learn to swallow my distaste and make salmon dishes that are healthy and filling.

This recipe certainly fit the bill. I made a few changes, as I am wont to do. I served this over some farro; I really like farro and I'm trying to vary our grain intake. I did not use three pounds of salmon. We are three people, one of whom is quite small, and we do not need to eat three pounds of salmon. I used three fillets. I used chili powder for paprika and a combination of cilantro and parsley for the straight cilantro called for in the recipe. (I realize that this is the opposite of my usual modus operandi, but I hadn't planned to make this dish when I did my grocery shopping. I didn't have enough cilantro.) To make up for the lack of fish volume I doubled both the tomato and lemon volumes.

The result was pretty amazing, if I do say so myself. I loved this dish, my husband loved this dish, and my daughter could not get enough of it. There were leftovers, and I ate them the next day for lunch. While this dish was much better warm, it was perfectly adequate served on some whole-wheat pita bread cold.

Georgian-style Salmon with Tomatoes and Herbs (serves 4; approx. $7.14/serving)

1 small package farro, prepared according to package instructions

4 tablespoons olive oil

3 salmon fillets, skinned and cut into cubes

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

3 tablespoons chili powder

1 bunch chopped fresh cilantro

1 bunch chopped fresh parsley

3 red onions, thinly sliced

6 lemons, thinly sliced

6 bay leaves

4 pounds tomatoes, thinly sliced

¾ cup white wine

Equipment:

• Large, deep saucepan or Dutch oven

1. Coat the bottom of the saucepan with olive oil.
2. Sprinkle the fish cubes with salt, pepper and one tablespoon chili powder.
3. Add successive layers of herbs, onions, lemons and bay leaves. Sprinkle with another tablespoon of chili powder.
4. Layer the tomatoes on top. Sprinkle with chili powder and pour the wine over the top.
5. Cover and bring to a boil.
6. Reduce heat to low and simmer 20 minutes.
7. Layer the farro on the bottom of your serving vessel. Pour the contents of the saucepan over the top and serve.

Recipe: Kohlrabi Borani

Recipe Source: Kremezi, Aglaia. Mediterranean Hot and Spicy. Broadway Books, New York, 2009 pp. 88 – 9.

Many years ago I joined a CSA program. I was really, really dissatisfied with it. The food was of very poor quality – I mean, I don't need my food to be all that pretty but rotten and wormy just annoys me. Furthermore, there was absolutely no inventory list provided with the box of vegetables and not all of the produce consisted of things one might find in the local supermarket. I'm an adventurous eater with a wealth of resources to draw on, but I need at least a little something to go on. One of the strange, alien vegetables was this thing that looked vaguely like a Klingon turnip. I had no idea what it was and neither did anyone else that I knew.

Later I left that job. I started this blog. I learned that the Klingon turnip was in fact a kohlrabi. Of course I never saw kohlrabi in the supermarket, but it kind of stayed in the back of my mind as a personal challenge. I would find kohlrabi and I would make something tasty from it.

A few weeks ago I took the dog for a walk at a local farm. That's right. The site used to be the estate of some wealthy New Englander and now it's a park. The people who run this site manage a small farm. It is a nice farm and they have a little farmstand on site. This particular week I found my quest was likely to be fulfilled. There was not one kind of kohlrabi but two: purple and green. I bought one of each and contemplated what I would do with my treasure.

What I wound up doing was re-making the beet borani dish I made for the Fourth of July and bringing it north for the big medieval event. This is not a period recipe and I have no idea as to whether or not kohlrabi is period, much less period to the part of the world from which we get borani. Borani, however, is named after a Persian queen from very early in the medieval period, so I decided it was appropriate enough to serve. It was quite a hit.

Kohlrabi Borani (serves about 30 as a side dish; approx. $0.35/serving)

1 bunch (about 5) green kohlrabi

1 bunch (about 5) purple kohlrabi

1 bunch dill, chopped

½ bunch marjoram, chopped

5 cloves garlic, crushed

2 cups toasted walnuts, chopped

4 cups Greek yogurt

Equipment:

• Large saucepan
• Sauté pan with lid
• Large bowl

1. Separate the kohlrabi bulbs from the greens. Dice the bulbs. Wash and coarsely chop, but do not dry, the greens.
2. Bring a saucepan of lightly salted water to a boil.
3. Add the diced kohlrabi bulbs and cook until tender. Drain.
4. Heat the sauté pan.
5. Add the kohlrabi greens. Reduce the heat, cover and allow to steam for about 4 minutes. Shake the pan a couple of times during this period to prevent burning.
6. Combine all the ingredients in the large bowl. Mix well.
7. Refrigerate at least 3 hours before serving.

Recipe: Beet Borani

Recipe Source: Kremezi, Aglaia. Mediterranean Hot and Spicy. Broadway Books, New York, 2009 pp. 88 – 9

The good news is that you've probably seen the last of the strawberry recipes, at least for this year. The bad news is that it doesn't mean the end of pink things. In this case, our friends decided to host an impromptu party on July 4^th. By "impromptu" I mean they called at 11 for a 1 PM start time. That was fine, it was informal. Of course we couldn't make it right away, since we'd been away all weekend and had much to do around the house, but that gave me time to make this dish and let it chill for a while before heading over. Unfortunately we missed most of the dining, but we did wind up getting hungry later on in the process and ate it then. I'm so glad we got to serve it because it was such a hit!

I made a few changes to the original recipe, as usual. I used a head of green garlic from our farm share for the regular garlic. I omitted the jalapenos because we were serving folks who don't handle spice well – one of the dinner guests things black pepper is a little too much heat for him! I changed the walnuts for pecans since I used them for another recipe and I added some fresh Greek oregano to the dill because I had it and it smelled good while I was thinking about the recipe.

Beet Borani (serves 8; approx. $1.66/serving)

1 bunch beets, cleaned, with their greens

½ bunch dill, finely chopped

5 sprigs of fresh Greek oregano, chopped

1 head green garlic, bulb only

1 cup toasted pecans

4 cups Greek yogurt

Kosher salt to taste

Equipment:

• Medium saucepan
• Sauté pan with lid
• Large bowl

1. Fill the saucepan with salted water and bring to a boil.
2. Add the beets and cook until tender.
3. Meanwhile, chop the greens. Wash but do not dry them.
4. Put the greens in the sauté pan. Place over high heat.
5. Cover and cook 2 – 3 minutes. The water clinging to the leaves will steam the greens until they are wilted.
6. Remove from heat. Drain both the greens and the beets. Let them cool.
7. Mix the remaining ingredients in the large bowl.
8. Add the vegetables and more salt, if desired.
9. Chill at least 3 hours and serve.

Recipe: Mushrooms with Onions and Cilantro

Recipe Source: Trutter, Marion. Culinaria Russia. H. F. Ullmann, 2007 p. 219

I don't know what it is about the fall, but around this time of year I find myself craving mushrooms. Naturally mushrooms aren't to everyone's taste. Some folks are allergic. Some medications interact with mushrooms in ways that just aren't good. Some folks are concerned about the safety of mushrooms. And some folks find the concept of eating fungus to be more than a little repulsive. For me, though, they're a delicious and delightful treat that seem to match quite well with fall weather.

I made a few changes to this recipe, because I had to. I doubled the recipe, as I was making this for a Sunday open house. I mixed cremini mushrooms with button mushrooms for the mushrooms, since they were the same price at the supermarket. I also added a generous sprinkling of Aleppo pepper at the end to give it a tasty, pepper-y feel without adding too much heat. Finally, I substituted beer for the mushroom stock. The beer was a plain Sam Adams ale, if I remember correctly. The result was a very tasty side dish that was devoured in its entirety.

Mushrooms with Onions and Cilantro (serves 10; approx. $2.05/serving)

6 onions, finely chopped

6 tablespoons butter

2 pounds mushrooms – white button, cremini or a combination of both works well here – quartered

1 bottle ale

2 ½ cups chopped walnuts

2 bunches cilantro, finely chopped

1 pinch kosher salt

1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper.

Equipment:

• Large sauté pan

1. Melt the butter in the sauté pan.
2. Add the onions and cook until softened.
3. Add the mushrooms and beer. Simmer until the mushrooms are barely cooked.
4. Add the walnuts and cilantro.
5. Season with kosher salt and Aleppo pepper. Serve.

Recipe: Okra Stew

Recipe Source: Wise, Victoria Jenanyan. The Armenian Table. St. Martin's Press, New York, 2004 pp. 225 – 6

I was trying to clear out some space in my freezer recently, and I came across some frozen okra. I'd purchased a large pile of it in a fit one day, after trying four different supermarkets – during okra season – and finding that none of them had any okra. Well, I've been able to find okra a little more reliably lately, and so I don't feel that I need to hoard it like a dragon. (An okra dragon.) I decided to use it for one of our Sunday dinner dishes, since it would fill out our offerings nicely. My husband objected. He hates okra. Usually I have to wait until my father-in-law comes to town to make okra, but this time I didn't. And do you know what? It turns out that one of our guests is almost as fond of okra as I am. Who knew?

I made a few changes to this recipe. I changed the proportions of most of the spices to match my personal preference. I also omitted the corn, since I didn't think I had any. I omitted the cilantro, too. The result was a very tasty stew that came together very easily and satisfied a lot of people.

Okra Stew (serves 12; approx. $1.47/serving)

1 pound frozen okra, cut into pieces

1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

2 tablespoons butter

1 onion, chopped

2 tomatoes, chopped

1 tablespoon cumin

1 pinch saffron

1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper

5 small red potatoes, diced

1 cup water

Equipment:

• Large bowl
• Sauté pan or wok

1. Combine the okra, salt and vinegar in the bowl. Set aside for 30 minutes – 1 hour.
2. Melt the butter in the sauté pan over medium-high heat.
3. Add the onions and cook until the onions soften.
4. Add the tomatoes and cook until they begin to render their juices.
5. Add the spices, potatoes, water and unrinsed okra. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer 30 minutes.
6. Serve.

Recipe: Spicy Borani

Recipe Source: Kremezi, Aglaia. Mediterranean Hot and Spicy. Broadway Books, New York, 2009 pp. 88-9

I made this originally for my in-laws on their most recent visit, but I didn't make it in time to actually serve it to them. The dish needs to sit for a minimum of three hours and I just had too much going on. It got away from me. Fortunately we were hosting Sunday open house the next day. I could feed it to those guests. I've seen a lot of variations of borani, frankly, and I've been wanting to try them for quite some time but something always stopped me. This time someone added jalapenos and I really feel like that was the tipping point, when I decided to go for it.

I did make a few changes to the recipe. First – I used baby spinach because it was easier without realizing the frankly high price of bagged baby spinach. That is the reason for the high cost per serving. Don't make that mistake. If your market carries regular old spinach, use that. Second, I reversed the proportions of parsley and cilantro. This was a matter of personal preference. I much prefer cilantro to parsley. I increased the garlic and I substituted hazelnuts for walnuts. In the end I really liked this dish, and so did the people who ate it.

Spicy Borani (serves 8; approx. $2.99/serving)

1 ½ pounds spinach, chopped and rinsed

½ cup chopped fresh parsley

1 cup chopped fresh cilantro

3 cups Greek yogurt

8 garlic cloves, crushed

3 jalapeno chilies, finely chopped

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

½ cup chopped toasted hazelnuts

Equipment:

• Saucepan
• Colander
• Large bowl

1. Put the spinach in the saucepan. Don't add water: the water that clings to the leaves after rinsing it should be sufficient here.
2. Cover and steam over high heat 2 – 3 minutes. Be careful not to let it burn.
3. Remove from heat and transfer the spinach to a colander. Drain, cool, and then squeeze with your hands to dry as much as possible. Do not squeeze then cool. You will burn yourself and be sad.
4. Chop the spinach finely and transfer to the bowl.
5. Add the parsley, cilantro, yogurt, garlic and chilies. Stir well.
6. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
7. Cover and refrigerate overnight, or for at least 3 hours.
8. Transfer to a serving dish, sprinkle with hazelnuts and serve.

Recipe: Pomegranate Lamb Kebabs

Recipe Source: Cramer, Marc. Imperial Mongolian Cooking. Hippocrene Books, New York, 2003 p. 115

Anyone who knows me knows that pomegranate is probably my favorite fruit. I love pomegranate and everything flavored with it. I was trying to think of a recipe for one Sunday open house and came across this one. It included pomegranate flavor, which was key. It also involved lamb, my favorite meat. It could be started ahead of time (in fact, it had to be started ahead of time) and finished quickly just at serving time. Finally, I was able to re-use a plum sauce I made last year that was really, really tasty.

This recipe made a lot more meat than I had skewers. This was not a major problem. A friend of ours was having a barbeque a couple of nights later – more of an "eat-the-leftovers" kind of deal than anything formal. The lamb was still good, so we brought it. Nothing was harmed by spending an extra couple of nights in the marinade.

I did make a few changes to the recipe. The most significant change I made was adding a half cup of pomegranate molasses to the marinade. I did this because I felt that the pomegranate juice I could get my hands on was too sweet and didn't give enough sourness to the dish. I also increased the amount of garlic and doubled the recipe.

Pomegranate Lamb Kebabs with Tkmeli (serves 8 with some leftovers; approx. $3.42/serving)

4 cups pomegranate juice

½ cup pomegranate molasses

½ cup olive oil

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 bay leaf, crumpled

4 garlic cloves, crushed

4 pounds leg of lamb, cut into cubes

2 large eggplant, cubed

1 recipe Georgian Plum Sauce

Equipment:

• Skewers
• Big Green Egg or other grill. You could probably cook these under the broiler in your kitchen if you had to, or in a grill pan.
• Colander
• Zip-top plastic bags
• Bowl

1. Combine the pomegranate juice, pomegranate molasses, olive oil, kosher salt, bay leaf and garlic cloves in the bowl and mix well.
2. Put the lamb cubes in a zip-top plastic bag and pour the marinade over them. Refrigerate overnight, turning when you think about it.
3. About half an hour before you cook, salt the eggplant and put it in a colander. After half an hour, rinse off the brown juices.
4. Thread the meat and eggplant alternating on skewers.
5. Grill over medium-high direct heat.
6. Serve with the plum sauce.

Recipe: Cauliflower Stew with Tomato and Olives

Recipe Source: Wise, Victoria Jenanyan. The Armenian Table. St. Martin's Press, New York, 2004 p. 224

I've got a kind of weird obsession with vegetables. I don't feel that I've done my job unless at least three of the dishes on the table contain significant amounts of vegetable. They don't have to be vegetarian dishes, but they cannot consist of meat with a tiny piece of parsley to garnish. I made this during the spring for one of our Sunday open houses as one of the vegetable sides, and it went over pretty well. I did make a few small changes. I used a combination of colored cauliflower florets, because they were pretty and not much more expensive than buying a head of cauliflower. I did not use Kalamata olives, because I got distracted by some other kind of green olives that looked delicious. Even the most virulently anti-cauliflower people will enjoy this. It also reheats well, so it works as a make-ahead dish.

Cauliflower Stew with Tomatoes and Olives (serves 8; approx. $1.28/serving)

1 ½ pounds cauliflower florets

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tomatoes, chopped

1 cup good-quality olives – I used green olives here, Kalamata will suffice

2 more tablespoons lemon juice

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

Equipment:

• Large sauté pan
• Large bowl

1. Put the cauliflower florets in the large bowl. Add water to cover along with the first 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and the teaspoon of kosher salt. Set aside 30 minutes.
2. Heat the oil in the sauté pan over medium heat.
3. Add the tomatoes and little salt to taste. Cook 2 minutes.
4. Drain the cauliflower and add it to the pot with 1 cup water. Bring to a boil and cook 5 minutes. The cauliflower should be tender enough to be pierced with a fork, but not limp and soggy and nasty.
5. Transfer to the serving vessel of your choice. Add the olives, remaining lemon juice and a little parsley. Serve.

Recipe: Georgian Baked Beans

Recipe Source: Trutter, Marion, ed.  Culinaria Russia.  H. F. Ullmann, 2007 p. 256

I made this as part of my campaign to come up with make-ahead, healthy dishes we could eat during the week.  It had all the components I wanted in the dish.  It was healthy.  It could be made ahead of time.  It was vegetarian.  It was from a cookbook I haven't used in a while.  Unfortunately, I did not like it.  For some reason the dish always tasted raw to me.  As a result, I did not eat the beans.  I ate a pizza.  This kind of counters the original intention of making healthy meals ahead of time.  However, my husband really enjoyed this dish, and he hates beans. 

I made a couple of minor changes to the recipe.  I increased the garlic because garlic should be increased.  I used red wine vinegar, which isn't necessarily a change but a clarification.  I also used dill and cilantro as the "mixed herbs," dill and cilantro being among the herbs suggested. 

Georgian Baked Beans (serves 8; approx. $0.90/serving)

1 pound dried red kidney beans, soaked overnight and drained

2 cups walnuts

6 garlic cloves

5 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1/2 bunch cilantro, finely chopped

1/2 bunch dill, finely chopped

Equipment:

• Large saucepan
• Deep pie plate or earthenware baking dish
• Food processor

1. Boil the beans in plenty of hot water until tender.  This could take over an hour, so be prepared.  Drain when done.
2. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
3. Combine the remaining ingredients in the food processor with a generous pinch of kosher salt. 
4. Mix the walnut paste in with the beans and spread in the baking vessel. 
5. Bake about 20 minutes. 
6. Serve. 

Recipe: Azerbaijani Tandir Bread (Guest Post from Fearless Grill)

Recipe Source: Inspired by the recipe found on AZ Cookbook, at http://www.azcookbook.com/tandir-bread-tendir-choreyi/

We were recently asked to teach a class on use of ceramic cookers in the middle ages after Jess found documentation for 'an Egg-shaped ceramic cooker' in a 10^th century Arabic cookbook. While we recreated some of the recipes from that cookbook, I knew that one of the primary uses for such cookers was to bake bread (think nann in a tandoor), and I started looking around for some traditional bread recipes that could showcase this aspect of the versatility of a ceramic cooker. I found this recipe on AZ Cookbook, a blog dedicated to food from Azerbaijan, and loved the look and color of the bread, which was designed to be cooked in a Tandir, the Azerbaijani version of a ceramic cooker. Although I didn't have documentation for this particular recipe dating back to the middle ages, I decided to use it for our class anyway, as all the ingredients would have been available (substituting whole wheat for white flour anyway), and the techniques used would have been as well.

I made some pretty significant changes to the recipe and technique, the biggest of which was actually cooking the bread in a ceramic cooker (my large Big Green Egg), rather than in the oven as suggested by the author. To accommodate the shape of my Big Green Egg and the stone that I use to bake breads on, I made the bread round rather than the rectangular shape described in the original recipe. I used a teaspoon of active dry yeast from a jar, rather than a package of dry yeast. After doing a test run before my class I found that the proportions called for in the recipe made the dough much too sticky, and I added an additional 1/2 cup of flour to correct this. We also felt that the test bread was lacking a bit in flavor, and so we decided to sprinkle the top with some coarse grained salt in addition to the poppy seeds. This really helped to draw out the flavors. I cheated and made the dough in my stand mixer rather than kneading by hand as the original described, both for convenience and because the kitchen was a mess and I couldn't find the counter to knead the bread on it. Finally, I made the dough the night before the class, refrigerated it immediately, and then let it finish rising the next day, once we got to the site where our class was being taught. It's not necessary to let it rest overnight, but I did detect a bit of fermentation flavor in the bread, which I liked.

This bread was a big hit with the people who took our class, and we had no trouble finding takers for the two loaves we made. One nice thing about the bread was that the cross-hatched cuts in the dough, in addition to looking great, made it really easy for people to break off a small chunk of bread. This would make it a great choice to serve at a party. I tried cooking this without any added smoke (the loaf on the left in the picture), and also with one small chunk of apple wood added to the fire (the loaf on the right in the picture). The one with the smoke picked up a great color and just a hint of additional smoke flavor. I'd certainly recommend that method, unless you have an aversion to smoky flavors. One other finding was that the bread, while still good cold, was much better warm. If you plan to serve this at a party, put it out as soon as you cook it.

Tandir Bread (makes one loaf)

Equipment Required

• Big Green Egg or wood fired bread oven (preferred). You can make this in your home oven too.
• Rolling pin
• Pizza peel or sideless cookie sheet
• Food-safe brush

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 1/2 cups warm water

1 teaspoon table salt

3 1/2 cups bread flour

1 egg yolk, for brushing

Poppy seeds and kosher salt, for topping

1. Add the yeast and water to the bowl of your stand mixer. Allow the yeast to proof for about 10 minutes
2. Add half the flour and the salt to the bowl, and using your dough hook at slow speed, mix in the remaining flour until a ball is formed on the hook. Add flour if too wet, or a little water if too dry
3. Turn up the speed to medium-low, and knead for 6 minutes, or until the dough forms a smooth ball on the hook
4. Leave the dough in the bowl, cover with a towel or plastic wrap, and allow to rise for 90 minutes, or until doubled in size.
5. Set up your ceramic cooker to cook indirect at 400 degrees. Put in a baking stone to heat up with the cooker. If desired, add a small chunk of smoking wood to the fire (I used apple) to add color and flavor to the bread.
6. Punch down the dough and form it into a ball. Use your hands to flatten it and stretch it. Place on a floured surface and use a rolling pin to roll it out, till you have a piece of dough about ½ inch thick that fits your baking stone.
7. Coat a pizza peel or sideless cookie sheet with coarse cornmeal. Transfer the dough to the sheet, and allow to rise for another 15 minutes.
8. Use a knife to make shallow crosshatches across the bread. Brush with the egg yolk and sprinkle with the seeds and kosher salt.
9. Slide the bread onto your baking stone, and cook for 20-25 minutes, or until golden on top, and it sounds hollow when tapped.