Fearless Kitchen

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.

Recipe: Baked Turkey Breast with Turnips

Recipe Source: Wise, Victoria Jenayan.  The Armenian Table.  St. Martin's Press, New York, 2004 pp. 165-6.

I chose this dish for two reasons.  The first is turnips.  My husband loves turnips, so every once in a while I like to make turnips for him.  I don't mind them, they just weren't really a part of my culinary world growing up so I don't think of them often.  The second reason was the turnip greens.  I'm a big fan of dishes that incorporate a) green leafy things and b) vegetables in general.  I happened to have a bunch of turnip greens on hand, so this recipe was just what I needed. 

I did make a few changes, of course.  The first change was the poultry.  The original wanted a whole chicken, quartered.  I prefer turkey, so I decided to use a turkey breast.  I also decided not to quarter it.  The second change I made was to increase the amount of turnip greens, which I did to use up all of that bunch that I had.  The third change was to use kalamata olives that had been pitted instead of the mild green olives with pits that the original called for.  The reason for that was that I had pitted kalamatas on hand and wanted to use them up.  The result was an extremely delicious dish that I would be quite pleased to serve for company. 

Baked Turkey Breast with Turnips (serves 4; approx. $8.55/serving)

3 turnips, peeled and cut into 1/2" wedges

1 bunch mustard greens, chopped

1 turkey breast

1 onion, halved and thinly sliced

1 tomato, cut into wedges

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

3/4 cup white wine

1 cup pitted kalamata olives

Equipment:

• Dutch oven

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Put the turkey breast, onion, tomato, bay leaf, paprika, salt and pepper into the Dutch oven with the wine.  Turn to coat, making sure that the skin side is up when you finish.
3. Cover and bake 30 minutes.
4. Turn the turkey and bake, uncovered, 25 minutes.
5. Tuck the turnips and olives under the turkey and bake, uncovered, another 30 minutes.
6. Remove the bay leaf and stir in the turnip greens.  Cook uncovered another 3 minutes.
7. Serve immediately.

Recipe: White Bean Dip

Recipe Source: Branca, Laura Ward.  Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant.  Simon & Schuster, New York, 1990 p. 63

Every year, on the first day of baseball season, we invite a few friends over and watch at least half an inning of every televised baseball game.  This year it was a little difficult to pull off.  You see, this year, Opening Day fell on the Monday after Easter, and we spent Easter in New Jersey this year.  I was going to have to make all the food ahead of time.  As a result, we only had some dips and some cheese to serve.  This was one of the dips that I made.

My husband liked this dip very much.  I was less impressed by it.  We've been through this before, but I like strong flavors.  This was not strongly flavored, as in at all.  I omitted the garnishes, since this was part of a larger spread, but this just didn't do it for me.  I think it needed more lemon and maybe more garlic. 

White Bean Dip (Makes about 6 cups; approx. $0.44/serving)

2 cups dried white navy beans

6 cups salted water

1/3 cup olive oil

1/3 cup lemon juice

6 garlic cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

Equipment:

• Food processor or immersion blender
• Large mixing bowl (if you're using the immersion blender)
• Large saucepan

1. Soak your beans in water overnight.  Drain.
2. Put the beans in the saucepan with the 6 cups salted water and simmer until tender.  This should take about an hour, but it may take longer. 
3. Drain, reserving the cooking liquid. 
4. Put all the remaining ingredients into the mixing bowl.  Use the immersion blender to puree.  If the mixture seems dry to you, add some of the bean cooking liquid. 
5. Serve.

Recipe: Georgian Cheese-Filled Quick Breads (Emeruli Khachapuri)

Recipe Source: Alford, Jeffrey and Naomi Duguid.  Flatbreads & Flavors.  HarperCollins Pubilshers, New York, 1995 pp. 292-3.

Are you afraid to make your own bread?  Has it always seemed like a daunting task to you, the kind of alchemy that should be better left to people with extensive training and possibly better insurance?  I used to feel that way.  I used to be terrified to bake bread.  I've never been a very good baker in the first place, and bread just seemed so much more complicated.  I've gotten over it, although my husband's breads still always turn out better.  This recipe will help you get over it too.  It is a very quick bread to make, and it is delicious. 

The filling seemed oddly familiar to me as I was making it.  I sat there and I thought about it, and it occurred to me that the filling was almost the exact same filling as tiropita, a cheesy Greek dish that I usually serve as an appetizer.  As soon as my husband tasted the bread, he said, "Hey, this tastes kind of like a tiropita!"  He was very into the breads.  I thought they were good, but filling.  I served them up with the Vietnamese beef stew for New Year's Day.

Emeruli Khachapuri (makes 8 breads; approx. $0.84/serving)

4 ounces Cheddar cheese, grated

2 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

2 tablespoons plain, fat-free Greek yogurt

1 egg

3 - 4 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoons salt

2 cups plain, fat-free Greek yogurt

Equipment:

• Medium mixing bowl
• Large mixing bowl
• Rolling pin

1. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
2. Combine the cheeses in the medium bowl with the egg and 2 tablespoons yogurt.  Mix well and set aside.
3. In the large bowl, combine one cup flour, the baking powder and salt. 
4. Add the yogurt and stir well. 
5. Start adding flour until you can work the dough with your hands easily. 
6. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead 3 - 4 minutes. 
7. Divide the dough into 8 pieces. 
8. Roll each piece out into a (rough) circle. 
9. Spoon 1/8 of the filling into the middle of the circle, then fold up the sides of the circle to overlap in the center.
10. Repeat with the remaining circles.
11. Bake on the bottom rack of the oven 5 - 6 minutes, or until golden. 

Recipe: Bulghur Pilav

Recipe Source: Branca, Laura Ward.  Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant.  Simon and Schuster/Fireside, New York, 1990 p. 82

When we host Sunday dinners, I tend to have a few carbohydrate-heavy dishes on the menu.  The main reason for having these dinners in the first place is that we have a lot of people doing a lot of physical activity, and at least for my husband what he wants under those circumstances is .... well, carbs.  Carb dishes - pasta, rice, bulgur - can be stretched to feed a lot of people and tend to be fairly simple to prepare.  I made this for a Sunday dinner a few weeks ago, and brought the leftovers to a Labor Day cookout the next day.

Bulgur Pilaf (serves 20 as a side; approx. $0.15/serving)

2 onions, chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

4 teaspoons dried basil

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon dried tarragon

3 cups bulgur

2 cups warm water

Equipment:

• Saucepan with a lid

1. Warm the oil in the saucepan.
2. Saute the onions in the oil for a few minutes. 
3. Add the salt and pepper, basil, bay leaf and tarragon.  Cover and cook over low heat 10 minutes. 
4. Add the bulgur and toast 2 minutes.
5. Add the water, cover and bring to a boil.
6. Reduce heat to very low and let bulgur steam. 
7. Serve warm or at room temperature. 

Recipe: Georgian Plum Sauce

Recipe Source: Cramer, Marc.  Imperial Mongolian Cooking.  Hippocrene Books, New York, 2003 pp. 58 - 9.

I'm not entirely certain what it was that attracted me to this sauce, but whatever it is deserves my gratitude.  It's a little unusual in being a relatively light, fruit-based sauce.  It's also unusual in that, being a fruity sauce, it is not sweet.  This is important, because I do not like sweet with my savory.  The original recipe recommended serving it with grilled lamb and that's what I did here, but I can see it going well with a number of other main dishes.  Chicken would probably be bland enough to really showcase the plum flavor.  A light fish, like tilapia, would probably also not be misplaced.  I'm going to advise against tofu, though. 

I didn't make a whole lot of changes to the recipe.  I accidentally used more water than was called for, and while using less would have made the plum flavor more pronounced I don't think that the dish was ruined by any means.  I did increase the garlic, and I also probably used more cilantro than was called for.  All in all, this was a delicious sauce, a great antidote to the kind of rich, creamy, dairy-based sauces so common in more Western cuisine. 

Georgian Plum Sauce (makes about 16 ounces; approx. $0.21/ounce)

1/2 lb plums, pitted (this was two plums for me.)

4 garlic cloves, crushed

3 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon chili powder (you can use paprika if chili powder is too much.  I won't even mock you.  Much.)

3 tablespoons lemon juice

Equipment:

• Saucepan
• Blender

1. Bring a pan full of water to a boil and add the plums.
2. Remove from heat and allow to sit 10 minutes.
3. Return to heat and bring to a "gentle" boil.  Cook uncovered 15 minutes.
4. Remove the plums, reserve 2 cups of the liquid and set aside.
5. In the blender, combine the plums, garlic and cilantro.
6. Add the water, 1/4 cup at a time, blending well between each addition.
7. Return the mixture to the pan and add the salt and chili powder.  Bring to a boil.
8. Remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice.  Use immediately or store in a clean glass jar in the fridge until ready to use. 

Recipe: Salted Turnips and Radishes with Scallions

Recipe Source: Wise, Victoria Jenanyan.  The Armenian Table.  St. Martin's Press, New York, 2004 p. 42. 

My reason for choosing this recipe was very, very simple: my husband loves turnips and he loves radishes.  I'm not overly fond of either of them, but I don't have any strong objections to them either.  I figured that he would like this, and he did.  I only made one real change: the original wanted this to be served atop softened Armenian cracker bread with butter.  We didn't have any cracker bread, and I wanted this to be specifically a vegetable dish.  Furthermore, we're not into butter.  Not on bread, anyway.  Otherwise, there were really no changes to be made.  It's a really amazingly simple dish, and if someone else hadn't already published this in a book I'd feel really silly posting it as a recipe at all. 

Salted Turnips and Radishes with Scallions (serves 4; approx. $0.65/serving)

3 small turnips

1 bunch radishes

Kosher salt

2 scallions, thinly sliced

Equipment:

• No special equipment is required for this recipe

1. Peel the turnips and cut them into thin wedges.
2. Trim the radishes and slice thinly.  Leaving a little bit of the leaves at the top will help greatly as you try to slice the radishes thinly.
3. Arrange the turnips and radishes on the serving platter. 
4. Sprinkle the vegetables with kosher salt to taste, then top with the scallions.
5. Serve.