Fearless Kitchen

Recipe: Turkey Stew (Stifado)

Recipe Source: Harris, Andy.  Modern Greek.  Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 2002 p. 82

The last time I went down to New Jersey to visit my in-laws was the week before Thanksgiving.  It was a kind of harried trip - we were down there for a specific meeting, and squeezed in a bunch of other visits and meetings and errands just to take advantage of the fact that we were down there.  I didn't really get such a chance to chat with my in-laws, which in a lot of ways is too bad.  I really like my father-in-law.  I know my husband has listened to his stories a thousand times or more, but they're mostly new to me.  My father-in-law grew up in rural Greece during the Depression and World War II.  It's interesting to hear his perspectives on historical events.  He loves to talk about his mother's cooking.  He tells me his sister Zenovia's cooking is most like his mother's.  I'd love to get over there and meet her someday.  Anyway, the last time I was down there he told me he found a Greek cookbook that he loves.  "Reading this book," he told me, "I was struck by how much like my mother's cooking it was."  This was surprising to him since the author was not, in fact, Greek.  He produced the cookbook.  It is the book listed above.  He was surprised and delighted to find out that I already have this book on my shelves.

I was thinking of my father-in-law when I was making up my menu a few weeks ago, and so I pulled this book off the shelf and decided to find something from it to cook.  I found myself wondering about his mother, the first Sophia.  (Not the first Sophia, but the Sophia for whom Fearless Baby is named.)  I never knew her.  Neither did my husband, or even my mother-in-law.  She passed away when my father-in-law was quite young.  I've been assured I would love her.  I'm sure I would have.  She reared six children in a time of great deprivation - six children who lived through challenging times to become successful, vibrant, intelligent people.

I'm sure this recipe bears no resemblance whatsoever to Yaya Sophia's cooking.  I made a few changes because I always do, and they might not be the same kinds of changes she would have made.  The biggest change is turkey.  The original recipe called for chicken, although I think stifado is traditionally made with rabbit.  I'm learning to enjoy or at least tolerate chicken, but I have to be careful of my source.  Chicken from certain mega-producers has a certain very unpleasant effect on me, I'm not sure why.  My grocery store of choice that week only stocked chicken from that mega-producer, so I decided to go with turkey instead.  I bought a big old turkey breast and used it instead.  I didn't have enough shallots or pearl onions to use just one of them, so I combined them.  Then I got frustrated with peeling the pearl onions and just chopped up a couple of large onions to make up the remaining quantity.  Maybe it was wrong of me but I was pretty busy at that point.  I increased the garlic and I added some dried basil and cayenne pepper.  The basil just seemed natural to me, showing my Italian roots I guess, and the cayenne seemed necessary given the weather.

The results were okay.  They weren't spectacular but they were okay.  I kind of felt like the turkey lacked flavor so that was kind of disappointing, but this also turned out to be a very filling dish.  With the right turkey I think this could be a real treat.

Turkey Stifado (serves 4; approx. $3.59/serving)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 pound onions, chunked

10 oz pearl onions, peeled

6 oz shallots, peeled

1 turkey breast, cut into 4 - 6 pieces

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

7 garlic cloves, crushed

1 1/2 pounds canned plum tomatoes

1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 bay leaves

1 cinnamon stick

1 teaspoon whole cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon dried basil

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 1/4 cups red wine, plus more for the cook if desired

Equipment:

• Large saucepan or large deep skillet
• Slotted spoon
• Plate

1. heat the oil in the saucepan.
2. Add the shallots, onions and pearl onions.  Saute until softened.
3. Evacuate the onions to a plate using the slotted spoon and set aside.
4. Combine the flour, turmeric, salt and pepper.
5. Dredge the turkey pieces in the flour mixture.
6. Brown the turkey pieces in the oil, then set aside.
7. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, spices and bay leaves to the pot.  Saute 10 minutes.
8. Add the wine and cook 5 minutes.
9. Return the chicken pieces and onion mixture to the pan. Bring to a boil.
10. Reduce heat and simmer about 1 hour or until the sauce thickens.
11. Serve hot.

Recipe: Celery with Peas

Recipe Source: Milona, Marianthi.  Culinaria Greece.  H. F. Ullmann, 2007 p. 395

I'm on something of a celery kick.  I'm not sure why I'm on a celery kick.  Sometimes an ingredient just kind of seizes my imagination and I have to run with it until I get bored.  I suppose there are worse foods on which I could fixate.  At least celery is healthy.  I once read somewhere that you burn more calories eating celery than you take in.  (This leads to the question: whose bright idea was it to eat foods that offer no energy at all?)  It offers a lot of fiber, I know that much, although I suspect cooking it kind of degrades the nutritional value of the vegetable.  Anyway, I wanted to make another celery dish and this was the first one that came up in my search.  It had the added appeal of peas, which my daughter of course adores.

I made some changes to this recipe.  The first change I made was that I drastically reduced the quantity of olive oil.  I know olive oil is a "healthy" fat, but when you're my size you just don't need that much of any fat, healthy or no.  (If you own a copy of this book you'll probably notice that the section heading is "Rich in Olive Oil."  Yes, my version of this recipe takes it out of this category.  No, I don't care.  I'm the one who has to eat it.)  I added garlic.  Garlic is good and garlic is good for you and I just couldn't conceive of this dish without garlic.  I increased the amount of dill because dill is one of my husband's favorite flavors.  I added some fresh oregano and thyme as well on general principles.  I substituted honey for the sugar - I really like the flavor of honey, and if I'm going to add sugar it should be in a flavor I like.  I also increased the lemon juice.  I added some potatoes because I had them on hand and wanted to use them up.

I'm pretty satisfied with the way this turned out.  It was a pretty mellow, tasty side dish that pleased the people I fed it to, and you can't ask for more than that.

Celery with Peas (serves 8; approx. $0.82/serving)

2 heads celery, chopped

1/4 cup lemon juice

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 onions, finely chopped

5 garlic cloves, crushed

2 cups water

5 potatoes, roughly chopped

1 pound frozen peas

1 bunch dill, finely chopped

1 handful mixed thyme and oregano, chopped

1 teaspoon honey

Equipment:

• Large saucepan

1. Heat the oil in the saucepan.
2. Add the onions and garlic.  Saute until the onion is translucent.
3. Add the celery, potato and water.  Cover and simmer 15 minutes.
4. Add the peas and herbs.  Simmer another 15 minutes, uncovered.
5. Combine the honey and lemon juice.  Add to the saucepan.
6. Bring the saucepan to a boil and cook about 3 minutes.
7. Serve.

Recipe: Meatballs in Avgolemono Sauce

Meatballs were a major component of my childhood.  They were always the same.  They were always pure beef - never a mix of meats - and always cooked in my grandmother's miraculous red sauce.  That sauce, whose recipe is a closely guarded secret, flavored the meatballs and was in turn flavored by them.  They were a special treat on Sunday afternoons - and sometimes, if I were especially good or had had an especially difficult week, I might find one on a plate while dinner was still being prepared, just for me.

These are not those meatballs.  I can't make those meatballs.  My grandmother's sauce recipe was a closely guarded secret.  I do have the recipe, but I can't make it anymore.  It was very heavy on pork products, which I am no longer able to consume.  I could make meatballs the same way and cook them in a different sauce, and I've done so but it just isn't the same.  It is far better to make other meatballs, meatballs that are unrelated to my grandmother's masterpieces.  That way I don't get angry at innocent lumps of meat.

And there are other meatball recipes out there.  You see them all over the Mediterranean from Greece all the way around to Morocco going by variants on the name kefte. Sometimes they're beef.  Sometimes they're lamb, or chicken, or even fish.  Sometimes they're even tofu, although I cannot recommend that course of action as a matter of principle.  (My old roommate did make a tasty dish involving tofu "meatballs" once, but it's still tofu masquerading as meat and I cannot recommend it.)  There are the Swedish meatballs (Viking meatballs according to some) that show up at cocktail parties.  There are some other Northern European type meatballs that seem to involve pork in some way; I avoid them and can't talk about them with any intelligence.  But there are lots of meatball recipes out there.

I decided on one recent Sunday that I wanted meatballs.  I threw them together.  Rather, I pulled together some ingredients and told my friend what to do with them, which worked out admirably.  Then I made the sauce.  I decided on an egg and lemon sauce - the Greek avgolemono - for a very simple reason: I'd zested two lemons for pie crusts and I needed to do something with them.  I'm actually quite fond of avgolemono, but I don't make it often because of the fat content.  It really isn't that bad, but the eggs turn some people (like my husband) off.  (Now that I think of it, I wonder how it would work over toast for breakfast....)

Anyway, these were delicious.  I only got 3.  I'd planned to go back for more, but do you know what my pesky husband did?  He cleared them from the table after everyone had taken some, then he put the leftovers in a container and hid it in the back of the fridge!  He ate them the next day.  It's a good thing he makes a good Martini or I'd be quite irate.

Meatballs in Avgolemono Sauce (serves 8; approx. $1.02/serving)

1 pound ground beef - I use a very lean beef, but follow your own tastes.  You're the one who has to eat it.

1 egg

1 cup breadcrumbs

1/2 teaspoon ground paprika

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 cup vegetable broth

1 1/2 cups water

Juice of 2 lemons

1 teaspoon cornstarch

Equipment:

• Mixing bowl
• Large saute pan
• Bowl
• Medium saucepan
• Whisk

1. Combine the beef, egg, breadcrumbs, paprika and seasoning in the mixing bowl.  Use your hands (clean, obviously) to thoroughly mix the ingredients.
2. Form the mixture into balls about the size of walnuts.
3. Heat the oil in the saute pan.
4. Add the meatballs.  Fry on all sides until browned and thoroughly cooked.  Transfer to the serving vessel.
5. Heat the broth in the saucepan.
6. Combine the eggs and the lemon juice in a bowl.
7. Whisk in the cornstarch.
8. Whisk about a ladle full of the hot broth into the egg mixture, then slowly pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan.
9. Heat over gentle heat 1 - 2 minutes.
10. Pour over the meatballs and serve.

Stuffed Grape Leaves - Dolmades (Guest Post from Fearless Grill)

Recipe Source: Greek Heritage Cookbook, published by the Philoptochos of St. George Greek Orthodox Church, Port Arthur, Texas p. 31

While Jess was away for the weekend, I needed to come up with some dishes to serve to the guests at our weekly Sunday open house. While I was certainly planning to make some items on the smoker, I wasn't really going to have time to cook during the day so I wanted something I could make in advance and serve cold. Dolmades, a traditional Greek dish, certainly fit the bill and are one of my favorite non-meat dishes. A quick perusal of the pantry found a couple of jars of grape leaves, and I was ready to go.

I've used this recipe countless times, and have made a few adaptations based on my own preferences and to keep the cost down. I chop the onion into fine pieces, rather than grating it as the recipe suggests. I find grating onions to be a pain, they end up as onion mush, and they are going to cook long enough that the texture won't be noticeable in the final dish. I leave out the mint because I'm allergic to it, and add a bit of extra parsley and dill to make up for it. I also leave out the 1/2 cup of pine nuts the recipe calls for. I have tried it with and without the pine nuts, and I don't really notice them when they are there. Since pine nuts are expensive, I don't bother with them anymore. I reduce the salt called for from 2 teaspoons to 1. Finally, the original recipe calls for chicken broth. In the past, I've successfully substituted Lemony Vegetable Broth, which makes this a completely vegetarian dish, but I didn't have any on hand so I went with the chicken broth this time. One other note: the recipe calls for a 16oz jar of grape leaves. Around here, I can usually find grape leaves in 8oz jars. If you get a good batch and most of the leaves are intact, you can usually make this recipe with an 8 oz jar, so don't open the 2nd one unless you need it. They will keep for a long time if unopened, so don't waste it. You can always make more later.

I prepared my dolmades the night before I planned to serve them, and stored them in a reusable plastic container in the refrigerator until we were ready to eat, at which time I simply plated and served them. No reheating required (though they are equally tasty hot). As usual, all my guests loved them, and there were no leftovers. They actually disappeared a bit too fast, and I only got to eat a few of them.

Stuffed Grape Leaves (Makes 35-45 pieces. Approximate cost per serving not available)

For the stuffing:

1 tablespoon olive oil 1 large onion, finely chopped

1/2 cup chopped green onion

1 tomato, minced

Heaping 1/2 cup fresh dill, chopped

Heaping 1/2 cup parsley, chopped

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 cup long grain rice, uncooked

1/4 cup water 1/2 cup chicken broth

Juice of 1 lemon

Additional ingredients

2 8 oz. jars of grape leaves (note that you may only need one)

1/4 cup olive oil

Juice of 2 lemons

2 cups chicken broth

Equipment required:

Medium saucepan with lid
Medium pot with lid

1. In your saucepan, sauté the onions in the olive oil until tender. Stir in the remaining ingredients for the stuffing. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat, and let simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

2. Remove grape leaves from one of the jars. Rinse the leaves to remove brine. Use any torn or small leaves to line the bottom of your pot.

3. Lay a grape leaf flat on a plate. Put one teaspoon of the filling in the center of the leaf (Note that this won't look like much, but as the rice cooks, it will swell up and fill the roll). Fold the broad end of the leaf up. Fold in the sides, and roll up the leaf to complete. This may take a little practice to get right.

4. As you complete each roll, place them tightly together in the pot, stacking them in layers as the pot fills up. When you are done rolling, pour the olive oil, lemon juice, and broth over the rolls. Layer any remaining grape leaves on top, and place a small ceramic plate on top to weigh the rolls down and prevent them from moving around while cooking.

5. Cover the pot, and allow to simmer for 1 hour. If you are going to serve immediately, allow to cool, drain off the liquid, and turn onto a serving platter. If you are going to serve later, carefully remove each roll from the pot, and place in a reusable plastic container.

Technorati Tags: Greek, Greece, Dolmades, Appetizer, Grape Leaves

Recipe: Spanakorizo – sort of

Recipe Source: Harris, Andy. Modern Greek. Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 2002 p. 58

I love my CSA farm share. We participated in a different CSA program years ago and we were very displeased with it. The vegetables were not as high quality as we had expected and we didn't know what half of them were. Now that we've had a kid, though, my husband is a lot more open-minded on the subject of organic vegetables et cetera than he used to be. And running this website for so very long has given me a better knowledge of some of the vegetables. I chose this program because it came very highly recommended by some folks whose opinion on the quality of the produce I trust and because they specifically said that the grow collard greens.

Anyway, having this box of goodies show up every week has changed the way I plan my menu and shop and I think that's been good for me. Instead of coming up with a list of dishes and buying what's on the list, I look at the vegetables I've gotten and say, "Okay, what do I want to do with these?" It's really cut down on my food bill, even though I'm using organic produce when I might not have chosen organic before, and it's forced me to be more creative. I've been having fun with it.

My in-laws came to town for a visit around Father's Day and I prepared a meal for them. I knew my husband wanted a dish with carbohydrates. I don't mind carbs if they've got vegetables somewhere in them. My father-in-law loves spanakorizo, so I figured that was a good place to start. I didn't have quite enough spinach to make this dish so I combined it with the kale. I switched out the white rice for brown, which I increased because that just didn't look like enough rice to me. I omitted the mint because of my husband's allergy. I increased the dill because I had some left over from a previous week and I added it to the mixed herb bunch. I also added some dried thyme and basil, reduced the olive oil, used green garlic for the garlic and added the stems from the green garlic to the scallions.

Spanakorizo has never been my favorite dish and it still isn't, but this wasn't bad all things considered. The quality of the ingredients really stood out.

Spanakorizo (serves 4; approx. $3.42/serving)

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 heads green garlic, separated, both chopped

6 scallions, chopped

1 cup brown basmati rice

½ bunch fresh dill, finely chopped

1 bunch mixed herbs – mine was parsley, cilantro and dill – finely chopped

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon dried thyme

1 tablespoon dried basil

1 bunch fresh spinach washed and chopped

1 bunch fresh dinosaur kale, washed and chopped

Kosher salt to taste

Equipment:

• Large saucepan with lid

1. Heat the oil in the saucepan.
2. Add the scallions, garlic and garlic stems with the salt. Sauté until softened.
3. Add the rice and herbs. Sauté until the rice is well coated in the pan mixture.
4. Add 2 cups water. Bring to a boil.
5. Add the spinach and kale. Stir until wilted.
6. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 30 minutes or until the rice is cooked.
7. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Recipe: Dandelion Greens with Feta

Believe it or not, this should really be the last of my Memorial Day recipes. I served this one on Monday. One of our guests has repeatedly expressed frustration with leafy green vegetables. She says that she knows she should eat more leafy green things and she really wants to do so, but she has yet to find dark green leafy vegetables that she actually likes. She says that they always taste bitter to her, and she's right. My friend has a very strong sweet tooth. A dish, no matter how savory, can never be sweet enough for her. I am the exact opposite. I don't even eat carrots because I find them to be too sweet. I love green leafy things. I savor that bitterness. Still, I've been resolved to find leafy green things that she likes.

In this case, I chose two strategies to mitigate the bitterness of the dandelion greens. The first was onions. All onions have a great deal of sweetness in them if treated right. I added garlic as well, because garlic is good for you. I also added some feta. The creamy taste of feta will cut down on some of the sharpness associated with the greens. I forget why I added the wine, probably just to round out the flavors and prevent burning.

The result was a success. This particular friend was pleasantly surprised to find that she really enjoyed this dish, and even took seconds. I loved it. Let me warn you, though, that one of our other guests still found the dish to be a little too bitter for her.

Dandelion Greens with Feta (serves 8; approx. cost per serving not available)

1 large bunch dandelion greens, washed and roughly chopped

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 red onions, thinly sliced

3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

Kosher salt to taste

1 package feta

¾ cup white wine

Equipment:

• Large wok or sauté pan

1. Heat the oil in the wok.
2. Add the onions and garlic with kosher salt to taste. Sauté until slightly softened.
3. Add the wine. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and cook until the onions and garlic are very soft but not colored.
4. Add the greens. Increase the heat and sauté until wilted.
5. Add the feta and stir until the feta is heated through.
6. Serve.

Recipe: Artichoke Hearts with White Wine and Herbs

Recipe Source: Kremezi, Aglaia. The Foods of the Greek Islands. Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 2000 p. 200

This is yet another dish from Memorial Day weekend. I really wanted to make something with artichokes for my husband. He loves them and I usually think they're not worth the effort it takes to prepare them, so he rarely gets them. Still, at that point they were very much in season and they were a favorite of his so I wanted to make them. Of course, I couldn't actually find any fresh whole artichokes that week. The best I could do was artichoke hearts, sold in vacuum-sealed bags in the produce section. I decided to go for it and ultimately was glad I did. After all, the irritating part about artichokes is the effort of preparation, and in this case that wasn't an issue!

Of course, I made a few other changes as well. Since I didn't have to prep the artichokes the lemon wasn't an issue, although I suspect that I added some just on general principles (it's been a while.) I increased the garlic and scallions, although I tried to be mellow about the garlic because we were serving guests. I also added some cilantro to the mix, because I'd bought it for other dishes but had to eliminate it at the last minute because of a food allergy. I didn't want it going all slimy and smelly in the bottom of my fridge so in it went. The results were decent. I don't think it was the star of the show by any stretch of the imagination but even the kids seemed to like it, and they're picky eaters!

Artichoke Hearts with White Wine and Herbs (serves 8; approx. $1.95/serving)

2 packages artichoke hearts

2 tablespoons olive oil

12 scallions, thinly sliced

6 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped

1 ½ cups dry white wine

1 bunch fresh dill, finely chopped

½ bunch fresh cilantro, finely chopped

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Equipment:

• Large wok

1. Heat the oil in the wok.
2. Add the scallions and sauté over medium heat for 3 – 4 minutes, or until soft.
3. Add the garlic. Sauté 1 minute and absolutely positively no more.
4. Add the artichokes, wine and enough water to cover (you shouldn't need much.)
5. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and cook 10 minutes.
6. Add the dill and kosher salt and pepper to taste. If you want to use some lemon juice this would be the time to add it.
7. Cook another 5 minutes.
8. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
9. Serve.

Recipe: Pollock and Leek Rice

Harris, Andy. Modern Greek. Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 2002 p. 110

Like many Americans I'm trying to do better. I'm trying to eat better. I'm trying to save money. I'm trying to be more conscious of my food sources. I'm trying to be better in so many ways, but I have to say that I don't always succeed, and part of the reason is that so many of the things I'm trying to improve on contradict each other. I'm sure many of you face the same kinds of trade-offs. For example: I'm trying to feed our family better. This means among other things including more fish in our diet. Unfortunately fish is expensive, even around here. It's also not easy to keep track of which fish are overfished, which fish are more likely to be contaminated… Whole Foods tries to make that part easier, at least, but in an effort to save money I'm trying to limit the number of trips I make there. (I'm not pretending to be an environmentalist – I drive an SUV roughly the size of Maine – but if I eat all the fish now, there won't be any for me to eat later. Besides, the fishing industry still makes up an important part of the cultural and economic life of my area so it behooves me to try and be conscious of overfishing issues.)

So as a result while I'm trying to include more fish in our diet I'm trying to make good choices in terms of which fish I use as well as trying to not use too much fish. This recipe also helped me to save in another way: time. It has plenty of vegetables, lean protein and brown rice. In short, it is a one-dish meal in itself. It also makes roughly a ton of food. The original said that it made 6 servings and I've stayed with that measurement here, but I would honestly say that unless this is your only meal of the day it will probably serve closer to 8 – 10. My biggest complaint about it was that it was a little on the bland side. Not to say that it was flavorless, but you know us – we here in the Fearless family like bold, loud flavors and these were subtle and muted. My husband added some hot sauce to it and liked it a little better.

I made a few small changes to the recipe. I used pollock instead of cod. Cod is one of those fish that, according to some sources anyway, is in danger of being overfished. There was an appropriate, more sustainably-sourced fish available to me at the time that had the advantage of being a full $10/pound less expensive than the cod so I went for it. I didn't have white onions on hand so I used a red onion. Instead of using spring onions, which were not available, I used an extra leek. I added a bit of turmeric to the fish to give it some color and just for the sake of having some turmeric. I used brown rice instead of white because it's healthier – I've actually come to prefer brown rice to white, believe it or not – and I omitted the mint because of my husband's allergy.

Pollock and Leek Rice (serves 6 at a minimum; approx. $4.63/serving)

5 tablespoons olive oil, divided

4 leeks, washed and sliced, divided

1 red onion, sliced

1 ¾ cups brown basmati rice

3 ½ cups water

2 teaspoons ground turmeric

Kosher salt to taste

Approx. ¼ bunch chopped fresh dill

4 garlic cloves, crushed

2 pounds pollock fillet, cut into chunks

Zest of one lemon

Lemon juice to taste

Equipment:

• Large saucepan
• Large skillet or wok

1. Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in the large saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add 3 of the leeks and onion. Sauté until softened.
3. Add the rice, dill, lemon zest and garlic. Sauté about 5 minutes longer. Make sure the rice is well coated in the pan mixture.
4. Add the water. Bring to a boil.
5. Cover, reduce heat and simmer until the rice is done. This will probably take about half an hour if you're using brown rice, maybe a little more or maybe a little less.
6. Meanwhile, sprinkle the fish with kosher salt and turmeric.
7. Heat the remaining oil in the skillet.
8. Add the fish and remaining leek. Sauté until the fish is cooked through – the amount of time this will take is dependent on the size of your fish chunks.
9. When the rice is done, transfer to a serving vessel. Top with the fish.
10. Squeeze a little lemon juice over the dish and serve.

Recipe: Artichokes with Pearl Onions and Potatoes

Recipe Source: Batmanglij, Najmieh. Silk Road Cooking. Mage Publishing, Washington DC, 2004 p. 175

Spring is not here. The lake still looks deceptively frozen. There are still heaps of snow in various parts of the neighborhood. It is still cold out. However, I can say with confidence that spring is on its way. Most of the snow in our yard has receded, and if the grass is a little on the yellow-and-brown side it is at least visible. We can access our compost heap. I can walk the dog in the neighborhood without ice shoes. In celebration of this fact I decided to make a few dishes featuring spring ingredients. Our growing season can't be said to have really started around here but at least it is a break from fennel and winter squash.

The author of this book gives an Athenian origin for this dish and it is indeed very similar to a very popular Greek artichoke dish. The author herself, however, is from Iran and there are some distinctly Persian touches in the recipe that I personally find endearing. The most glaring is the lime juice called for instead of the ubiquitous lemon juice. I'm not sure that I've seen saffron in a whole lot of Greek savory dishes either, although it's not unheard-of. I made a few changes as I usually do. I used baby artichokes because they cut down on prep time. I changed the order of a few things. I reduced the amount of olive oil and I used half of a giant turnip instead of carrots. I added a few spices and I omitted the olive oil drizzle at the end. Ultimately I think we both enjoyed this dish, although my husband seems to have gotten more out of it than I did. (He loves artichokes. I don't really see the appeal myself but to each her own.)

Artichokes with Pearl Onions and Potatoes (serves 4; approx. $4.61/serving)

1 package baby artichokes, prepped, halved and soaked in acidulated water (9 artichokes.)

2 tablespoons olive oil

10 ounces pearl onions, peeled

½ large turnip, peeled and cut into matchsticks

8 new small potatoes

1 package frozen lima beans, thawed

1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt

½ teaspoon cumin

½ teaspoon coriander

1 teaspoon black pepper

2 cups water

½ cup lime juice

1 tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in 2 tablespoons water

¼ teaspoon saffron dissolved in 1 tablespoon hot water

½ cup chopped fresh dill

Equipment:

• Large, deep sauté pan with lid

1. Heat the oil in the pan.
2. Add the onions, turnips, potatoes, lima beans, artichokes, salt, pepper, cumin and coriander. Sauté for a few seconds.
3. Add the water and lime juice. Bring to a boil.
4. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes.
5. Add the cornstarch mixture, saffron mixture and dill. Cook another 15 minutes.
6. Serve.

Recipe: Roasted Root Vegetables with an Egg and Lemon Sauce

As I know I've already mentioned, we threw a little birthday party for our daughter a little while ago. Both of our families live far away and had to travel to be there. The area where we live is kind of a culinary wasteland. You have your choice of chain restaurants, but none of them will accept reservations and on a Saturday night you could wait for hours. Neither of our parents are willing to do that, so we decided we'd feed them here. Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons the party ran late. This meant that the food couldn't be cooked until people left, and both sets of our parents decided it just wasn't worth it and left. This, in turn, left us with a huge quantity of food left over. Fortunately for us, some dear friends stayed with us and ate.

I've been trying to cook with more root vegetables lately. They're seasonal and more likely to be local than, say, fresh tomatoes in February. It's been hard to find root vegetables that I actually like but I've managed to find a few. They're included in this dish. The egg and lemon sauce is loosely based on one I found in a book by Diane Kochilas, but I made some changes to make sure that the egg was thoroughly cooked. (One of our dinner guests is pregnant and really doesn't want to take any unnecessary chances.) On the whole this was an okay dish. It satisfied people's need for starch without overwhelming them with carbs. The egg and lemon sauce might not be to everyone's taste but we all enjoyed it. Some people especially liked it spooned over turkey, so that's another use for it.

Roasted Root Vegetables with an Egg and Lemon Sauce (serves 10; approx. cost per serving not available)

4 potatoes, cut into wedges (I peeled them this time because they were less than new, but you should certainly leave the skins on)

2 celery roots, peeled and cut into wedges

2 rutabagas, peeled and cut into wedges

4 egg yolks

¼ cup lemon juice

3 cups Lemony Vegetable Broth

2 tablespoons olive oil

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Equipment:

• Roasting pan
• Saucepan
• Bowl

1. Preheat your oven to 450 ̊.
2. Combine the vegetable wedges in the roasting pan and drizzle with the olive oil. Toss to coat and season with kosher salt and black pepper, as little or as much as you'd like.
3. Roast until tender, about 40 minutes if I remember correctly.
4. Meanwhile bring the Lemony Vegetable Broth to a boil in the saucepan. Put the egg yolks in a bowl and whisk.
5. Ladle 1 ladle full of the boiling broth into the egg yolks and whisk to combine.
6. Pour the egg mixture into the boiling broth and whisk to combine. Cook until the sauce is reduced.
7. When the vegetables are done, transfer them to a serving vessel. Pass the sauce alongside.