Fearless Kitchen

Recipe: Yogurt and Cayenne Dip (Acili Esme)

Recipe Source: Wright, Clifford A. Little Foods of the Mediterranean. Harvard Common Press, Boston, 2003 pp. 56-7

I served this dip at our Fourth of July party and I have got to tell you that I have rarely seen such an easy dish to make. Seriously – it just doesn't get any easier than this. You might be thinking, "Oh, cayenne. I can't serve that to guests, their mouths will catch fire, my drapes will ignite, there goes the house." Well, that's not the case. The yogurt really mitigates the heat of the cayenne, leaving only flavor behind. Even my most capsaicin-challenged guests were able to eat this. It was probably the most popular dip I served that day, much to my surprise.

I did make a few changes. I used all Greek yogurt instead of a mix of regular and strained. I omitted the dill and the olive oil. I also served it with crackers and carrots instead of with French bread. The scallions went into the dip instead of as a garnish. And as usual I increased the garlic. Again, this was much, much more popular than the other dips I served that day.

Yogurt and Cayenne Dip (Açili Esme) (Makes about 8 servings; approx. cost per serving not available)

2 teaspoons kosher salt

12 garlic cloves

2 ¼ cups fat-free Greek yogurt

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 scallions, sliced

Equipment:

• Mini-prep mini food processor
• Bowl

1. Combine the garlic and salt in the mini-prep and process to a coarse paste.
2. Scrape the contents of the mini-prep into a bowl and combine thoroughly with the remaining ingredients. Serve.

Recipe: Artichokes with Beans and Almonds

Recipe Source: Başan, Ghillie. The Complete Book of Turkish Cooking. Anness Publishing, London, 2007 p. 134

Here we go with another backlogged recipe. This recipe was kind of a different treatment of artichokes. Pretty much the whole top of the artichoke gets discarded. This was great for my compost heap. The frugal shopper in me kind of gasped at the amount of waste, though, and I didn't enjoy this so much that I would make it again. I made a few changes, like reducing the olive oil and omitting the sugar. It wasn't bad, and my husband liked it, but he's an artichoke fan. I'm not sure that I can recommend it, given the amount of waste, but if you happen to really love artichokes and want to do something with them I guess here you go.

Artichokes with Beans and Almonds (serves 4; approx. cost per serving not available)

4 large artichokes

2 cups fava beans, shelled and cooked

2 tablespoons olive oil

Juice of one lemon

¾ cup toasted almonds

1 bunch dill, chopped

14 oz diced canned tomatoes

Equipment:

• Large bowl of acidulated water
• Large sauté pan with lid

1. Prepare your artichokes: Trim the stalk and make it even. Pull off all the leaves. Dig out the choke and cut out the base into a nice neat cup. Drop into a large bowl of acidulated water. Repeat with the remaining artichokes.
2. Put the artichokes in the sauté pan.
3. Combine the oil, lemon juice and ¼ cup water and pour over the artichokes.
4. Cover and gently poach 20 minutes.
5. Add the beans and almonds. Cover and cook another 10 minutes.
6. Add half the dill. Season to taste and turn off the heat.
7. Remove the artichokes from the pan and arrange on a serving platter.
8. Combine the tomatoes with the pan mixture, then heap into the cups. If there is any of the pan mixture that does not fit into the cups, serve it on the side.

Recipe: Saj Borek

Recipe Source: Helou, Anissa. Mediterranean Street Food. HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 2002 pp. 92-3

I honestly didn't believe this recipe would work. I looked at the recipe for the dough, and then at the instructions, and I said, "There is just no way." Still, it looked delicious, and it looked like it would be good finger food, so I decided to try it. Much to my delight it worked just fine. What's more, I needed to make this ahead of time. I was worried about the dough getting too sticky and disgusting overnight in the refrigerator, but a quick trip to the oven at 400 ̊returned the dough almost to perfect original crispness. I wound up having more people than expected for dinner that Sunday, so I cut the boreks in half and served them that way. They were a real hit.

I did make a few changes. I doubled the recipe and I used frozen spinach for the sake of convenience. I also added some spices to the filling. I did this because the filling just looked a little bland to me. I asked myself, "What can I do here?" and the spices just kind of fell out of the cabinet. Again, people really seem to have enjoyed these, so I guess I did something right.

Saj Borek (serves 16 as an hors d'oeuvre; approx. $0.60/serving)

2 cups flour, plus more for rolling

1 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup water

1 ½ cups crumbled feta cheese – use high quality feta here, preferably not from a cow

4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

½ pound frozen chopped spinach, thawed

¼ teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Pinch kosher salt

About 10 grinds fresh-ground cubeb

1 stick butter, melted

Equipment:

• Rolling pin
• Stand mixer
• Large bowl
• Large frying pan – I used a nonstick pan I had, and it worked well.

1. Combine the flour, teaspoon of salt and the water in the bowl of your stand mixer. Knead until the dough is firm and smooth.
2. Separate the dough into 8 pieces, roll into balls and let rest 30 minutes.
3. In the large bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. I found mixing with my hands worked best.
4. Flour your work surface and roll out a circle of dough as thin as you can. The 12-inch diameter specified in the recipe seems ambitious, but pastry was never my strong suit.
5. Put about 1/8 of the spinach mixture into the center of the dough.
6. Fold two ends of the circle in toward the middle just a bit, then roll the dough to form something that looks a bit like an egg roll. Set aside and repeat with the remaining dough.
7. Heat the frying pan over medium heat. Do NOT grease the pan.
8. Cook about a minute per side, until the dough is crisp. Repeat until all your rolls are finished.
9. I cut them in half, arranged them on the platter and poured melted butter over them just before serving. You can also brush them with the butter as directed in the original, but that's harder to do if you've cut them in half.

Recipe: Lamb Chops in Garlic Tomato Sauce

Recipe Source: Basan, Ghillie.  The Complete Book of Turkish Cooking.  Anness Publishing, London, 2007 p. 204

The weather in New England can be kind of weird.  The temperature can go from mild and sunny to stormy and damp to icy and dry in three days (sometimes even less.)  When I made this, early in March, the weather was cold and damp and kind of unpleasant.  A few days later we got a spell of bright warm sunshine, which makes me feel a little silly talking about this hearty, meaty, delicious dish.  To be quite honest I would probably enjoy this just as much in the heat of August as I did in chilly damp March. 

I did make a few changes.  I omitted the butter out of respect for my husband's preferences.  I changed the cut of lamb chop, using shoulder blade chops instead, because they were considerably less expensive.  I increased the number of chiles, omitted the sugar (because if my grandmother caught me putting sugar into anything with tomatoes she'd pinch me), and increased the amount of garlic by a whole lot. 

Lamb Chops in Garlic Tomato Sauce (serves 4; approx. $4.07/serving)

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 lamb shoulder blade chops

1 onion, finely chopped

3 serrano chiles, finely chopped

8 garlic cloves, crushed

1 bay leaf

2 teaspoons white wine vinegar

1 14-oz can diced tomatoes (use 2-3 fresh in season)

1 green bell pepper, finely chopped

Oregano, kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Equipment:

• Large, deep saute pan or pot

1. Heat the oil in the pan.  Brown the lamb chops on both sides, then remove from the pan and set aside.
2. Add the onion, serranos and garlic.  Fry gently until the onion begins to brown. 
3. Add the vinegar, bay leaf, green pepper and tomatoes.  Lower the heat and simmer 30 minutes. 
4. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
5. Return the lamb to the pan.  Make sure it is completely covered in the sauce.  Cook until the meat is tender, about 15 minutes.
6. Transfer to a serving platter, cover in sauce, sprinkle with oregano and serve. 

Recipe: City-Style Artichokes

Recipe Source: Goldstein, Joyce.  Taverna.  Sunset Books, Menlo Park, 1996 p. 61

Artichokes are one of those foods that I always feel guilty about.  I feel guilty because while I should like them - they're very popular in the Mediterranean, they're healthy, they're not cabbage - I just don't.  I've had some preparations, such as the Sauteed Artichoke Hearts with Lemon I did for Easter, that I don't actually dislike, but for the most part it seems like too much work for too little reward.  Just getting the darned things to an edible state is more of a challenge than I'm usually looking for.  Unfortunately for me, artichokes are one of my husband's favorite vegetables.  I'm quite fond of the man - we've been married for five years, after all - so sometimes I get this strange urge to cook artichokes for him.  This dish was born from that sinister urge.

I did make a few changes.  I reduced the amount of oil, for one.  For another, I used frozen peas instead of fava beans (okay, that was suggested by the book, but still).  That was really it.  The flavor was actually pretty decent.  I'm not entirely sure that I understand the purpose of the flour here, but I added it all the same.  It does make quite a lot of food - the book says four to six, but I'd say four to six if you've just survived a year in the jungle with no food but bananas to sustain you.  Otherwise, you can easily get eight to ten servings of this as a side dish.  We did.  We sent the leftovers home with two of our guests, who assured us that they lasted a good two weeks with no loss of taste or quality.  The fact that this is served at room temperature makes this a great make-ahead dish for entertaining.

City-Style Artichokes (serves 8; approx. $1.77/serving)

Juice of two lemons

3 tablespoons flour

6 large artichokes

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, chopped

8 scallions

3 carrots, peeled and diced

2 large white boiling potatoes, diced

1 cup frozen peas

1/2 bunch chopped fresh dill

Salt and pepper to taste

Equipment:

• Large bowl, and I'm not kidding
• Good sharp paring knife
• Large saute pan

1. Fill the large bowl with cold water and the juice of two lemons.  Add the flour.
2. Snap off the tough outer leaves of the artichoke.
3. Using the paring knife, trim the dark green bits from the base and the stem. 
4. Cut the artichoke into quarters lengthwise and cut out the chokes.
5. Trim off the top 1/3 of the artichoke.
6. Drip the bits into the water.  This prevents discoloration.
7. When you've prepped all the artichokes, heat the olive oil in the saute pan.
8. Add the onion.  Saute until softened.
9. Add the scallions and carrots.  Saute until tender, another 5 minutes.
10. Add the artichokes (sans water), potatoes and enough hot water to cover the vegetables. 
11. Cover and cook over low heat about 15 minutes.
12. Add the peas.  Cover and cook another 10 minutes. 
13. Season to taste.  Remove from heat and serve at room temperature. 

Recipe: Eggplant Stew

Recipe Source: Basan, Ghillie.  The Complete Book of Turkish Cooking.  Anness Publishing, London, 2007 p. 128

This dish has it all, if your definition of "all" consists entirely of nightshades.  Yes, we have potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants and bell peppers.  And best of all?  It's darned good. I made this dish to bring camping over Memorial Day weekend.  When we go camping we usually wind up feeding a lot more people than just the two of us, and I like to be prepared. 

The original was intended to serve four as a main dish; I easily got eight servings out of it as a side and probably could have gotten more.  I didn't make a whole lot of changes, because I was in something of a rush, but I did increase the amount of garlic.  Oh - the original wanted to use sugar with the tomatoes, but if my sainted grandmother had caught me using sugar with tomatoes she'd have pinched me black and blue.  I used a bay leaf instead.  The original wanted to be served hot, with yogurt.  I served it cold and dairy-free to no great detriment. 

Eggplant Stew (serves 8 as a side dish; approx. $1.65/serving)

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 potatoes, diced

2 teaspoons ground coriander

6 garlic cloves, crushed

1 14-oz can chopped tomatoes

2 teaspoons tomato paste

1 bay leaf

1 large eggplant, diced

2 green bell peppers, diced

1 bunch parsley, chopped

1 bunch dill, chopped

Equipment:

• Wide, heavy pan

1. Heat the oil in the pan and add the potatoes. 
2. Cook over medium heat until slightly softened, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the coriander and garlic.  Mix well.
4. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste and bay leaf.  Mix well.
5. Add the eggplant and peppers.
6. Top up the liquid with enough water to surround the vegetables.  Bring to a boil, partially cover and cook 20 minutes.
7. Remove the lid and let cook another 10 minutes.
8. Stir in the parsley and dill.  Remove from heat and serve. 

Recipe: Beet and Yogurt Salad

Recipe Source: Basan, Ghilie.  The Complete Book of Turkish Cooking.  Anness Publishing, London, 2007 p. 89

Portion sizes are funny things sometimes.  The original version of this recipe stated that it served four people.  I accidentally misread the original recipe and only bought one beet instead of the original four.  I therefore quartered all the other ingredients (except the garlic, naturally, which I increased by one clove).  What I ended up with would have easily served four people.  I guess if you're feeding sumo wrestlers (or the Patriots' Vince Wilfork), go with the original quantities.  If you're serving this as a side dish, use the quantities here.

Beet and Yogurt Salad (serves 4; approx. $0.44/serving)

1 beet, peeled

1/2 cup yogurt

3 garlic cloves, crushed

Kosher salt and grains of paradise to taste

Equipment:

• Food processor with grater attachment OR a box grater  
• Large bowl

1. Grate the beet.  This is easier in a food processor, but do what you have to do.  Just don't bleed into the food.
2. Mix the yogurt, garlic and grains of paradise in the bowl.
3. Add the beet mixture and mix until no more white yogurt is visible.  Use your hands if necessary; the beet juice will come out of your skin.
4. Add kosher salt to taste.
5. Serve.

Recipe: Sweet and Sour Okra

Recipe Source: Basan, Ghilie.  The Complete Book of Turkish Cooking.  Anness Publishing, London, 2007 p. 137

We entertained last night.  That only makes sense.  It was Sunday and we always have open house on Sunday.  However, poor planning on my part (I chalk it up to exhaustion) had led to only two planned dishes: a meat dish and a salad dish.  I'd intended to pick up some additional vegetables and just kind of be creative about it, but apparently I couldn't read the scrawled note in the margin of the recipe because I came home and still only had lamb and salad.  Half-panicked, I ransacked the freezer for some forgotten frozen vegetation and I came up with a bag of cut okra.  Yes!  I love okra!  My creative muse deserted me, but I fortunately had a recipe already bookmarked.  (Coincidence?  I think not!) 

I didn't make many changes - as I mentioned, my muse was on holiday in Bora Bora.  The recipe came out quite well, if I do say so myself.  Of course, I'm biased, because I really like okra.  I will say that this is slightly unusual: most of the recipes I have for okra call for tomatoes.  There are no tomatoes in this recipe. 

Sweet and Sour Okra (serves 6; approx. $0.49/serving)

1 lb frozen pre-cut okra, thawed

6 tablespoons lemon juice (juice of 2 lemons, approx.)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon raw sugar

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Equipment:

• Shallow mixing bowl
• Wok or saute pan

1. In a wide bowl, toss the okra with the lemon juice.
2. Leave the okra to soak 5 - 10 minutes.
3. Gather up the okra with your hands and put them in a colander, leaving the lemon juice behind.  Put the lemon juice in a cup.
4. Heat the oil in the wok.
5. Add the okra.  Toss to coat and cook 2 - 3 minutes.
6. Sprinkle with the sugar and cook another minute.
7. Add the reserved lemon juice and cook another 2 - 3 minutes.
8. Serve warm or at room temperature. 

Technorati Tags: Recipe,vegetarian recipe,vegan recipes,okra,Turkish food,quick recipes,easy recipes,side dishes

Recipe: Slow-Roasted Leg of Lamb with Pomegranate Glaze

Recipe Source: Wolfert, Paula.  The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen: Recipes for the Passionate Cook.  John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, 2003 pp. 206 - 7.

Okay, I know I've posted other pomegranate and lamb combinations before.  I just can't help it.  I love lamb.  I love pomegranate.  If I can combine the two flavors, why would I not do so?  (All right - because my readers are getting sick of it, because my mom thinks I'm going to turn into a pomegranate, and because eventually all the pomegranate and lamb recipes will blend together for my tasters.  I wave a dismissive hand at your logical reasons.)  This recipe is also significant for another reason: this was the very first time that I used the Big Green Egg all by myself.  Usually it's my husband's job to deal with the grill.  Grilling has always been considered a Manly Task in my family.  I can't imagine my mom working over the grill.  I try and my brain just won't compute.  It keeps trying to add five inches of height and a moustache.  The same goes for my grandparents - on both sides.  My mom's mom used to wait until my dad came over if my grandfather didn't feel like using the grill.  I'm serious!  I'm pretty comfortable cooking on the gas grill, and I'm very much okay with an open fire (although I haven't cooked over one since I was a very young kid.)  Since I'd already broken with tradition on the gas grill, only the mechanics of using the Big Green Egg were scary. 

I wouldn't be me if I hadn't made a bunch of changes to this recipe.  I just went ahead and chopped a whole onion instead of measuring out one cup - onions are good for you.  I also more than doubled the amount of garlic, because garlic is also good for you.  I used the Big Green Egg instead of roasting indoors.  This made it nearly impossible to make the gravy instructed by the recipe.  Instead, I added pomegranate juice to the marinade and reduced the lot by about half.  I used pomegranate juice instead of the stock called for in the recipe because I really, really did not want to dilute the pomegranate flavor.  Finally, I... kind of... well, I forgot about the parsley-red onion relish dictated by the recipe.  I don't think we really missed it, though, my earlier comments about onions being good for you notwithstanding.  I made this dish for one of our Sunday open houses, and while less than half of the expected guests stayed for dinner there were no leftovers. 

Slow-Roasted Leg of Lamb with Pomegranate Glaze (serves 8; approx. cost per serving not available)

1 boneless leg of lamb

2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses

1/3 cup water

1  1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1 finely chopped onion

10 garlic cloves, crushed

2 teaspoons tomato paste

1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper (you can substitute crushed red pepper or Cayenne pepper, depending on your tastes, if necessary.)

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

1 cup pomegranate juice

Equipment:

• Big Green Egg or other smoker.  This may also be prepared, without the smoke, indoors or using a smoker box on a conventional grill, although I'm not really sure how to tell you to go about that. 
• Large bowl, large enough to fit the leg of lamb. 
• Tongs and spatula
• Small saucepan

1. Five or six hours before you plan to serve, trim the excess fat off the lamb. 
2. In the large bowl, dilute the pomegranate molasses with the water. 
3. Add the olive oil, onion, garlic, tomato paste and Aleppo pepper. 
4. Add the lamb and turn to coat.  Let stand for 2 - 3 hours at room temperature, turning once or twice.  Note: yes, that says room temperature.  If you have cats, dogs, ferrets, other household carnivorous animals, nosy children or a lot of flies, cover the bowl with a plate and keep out of reach.  Keeping the meat at room temperature really helps the meat absorb the flavors faster.  I suppose you could marinate it in the refrigerator overnight if you're really concerned. 
5. About 3 1/2 hours before serving, soak three pieces of hickory wood chunks in water.  Note: if you are not using a Big Green Egg or other ceramic smoker, use the instructions for your smoker box or omit the smoke. 
6. About 3 hours before serving, prepare your grill for indirect heat.  Set a drip pan in the appropriate place in the place setter.  Heat the Egg to about 250 degrees.  Remove the lamb from the marinade, reserving the marinade.
7. Roast the lamb for 2 hours and 15 minutes.  Remove from heat and set aside.  You can let this rest for a good long time without any sacrifice of quality. 
8. Increase the temperature of the Egg to 450 degrees. 
9. Sear the exterior of the lamb for about 20 - 30 minutes.  A good target internal temperature is 130 degrees at this stage. 
10. Transfer the lamb to a cutting board, cover loosely with foil and let rest for 15 - 20 minutes.  The internal temperature should rise to between 135 - 140 degrees during this time.  Meanwhile, prepare the sauce. 
11. Pour the reserved marinade into the small saucepan. 
12. Add the pomegranate juice and bring to a boil over high heat. 
13. Reduce the sauce by half.  Serve the sauce on the side in a bowl or gravy boat. 
14. Carve the meat, arrange on the serving platter and serve.

Technorati Tags: Paula Wolfert recipes,Turkish food,lamb,Big Green Egg recipes,slow roasted,pomegranate,sauces,barbequed food,grilled food

Recipe: Bulgur with Dates and Nuts

Recipe Source: Basan, Ghillie.  The Complete Book of Turkish Cooking.  Anness Publishing Ltd., London, 2007 p. 153

This recipe was surprisingly easy to make.  Most of the time was spent letting things soak.  It keeps well and can be served at room temperature, which was very helpful when I needed to serve a large number of people with limited facilities.  I was also surprised to find that I actually liked the dish.  I'd thought, between the carrots and the dates, that it would be too sweet for my taste but it actually worked well. 

I did make a few changes, of course.  I substituted olive oil for the ghee, because I find olive oil easier to work with and because that's what I had on hand.  I omitted the pistachios, because I was out of them.  I also declined to serve it with ghee or yogurt, sacrificing authenticity for sanitation under the circumstances.  I also multiplied the recipe by two and a half, because that's how much bulgur I had on hand.  As I said, it was a really easy recipe that worked well under the circumstances, and I'm sure I'll be making it again - just in a smaller batch! 

Bulgur with Dates and Nuts (serves 20; approx. $1.41/serving)

5 cups coarse grain bulgur wheat, rinsed and drained

Boiling water

5 tablespoons olive oil

4 carrots, cut into matchsticks

2 cups almonds

9 tablespoons pine nuts

2 1/2 cups dried dates, roughly chopped

Pinch Kosher salt

1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped

Equipment:

• Large bowl
• Wide, heavy pan with a lid

1. Put the bulgur into the bowl and pour over boiling water to cover. 
2. Cover the bowl and set aside for about 25 minutes. 
3. In the meantime, heat the oil in the pan and add the carrots.  Cook about 10 minutes, until the carrots are tender and golden but not burned. 
4. Add the nuts, toss and cook another minute or so.  They should give off a nice, nutty aroma. 
5. Add the dates.  If they look dry add a splash of water.
6. Add the bulgur to the pan with the salt and mix well. 
7. Turn off the heat.  Cover the pan with a dish towel and then the lid and set aside 10 minutes. 
8. Transfer to the serving vessel.  Mix in the cilantro and serve.

Technorati Tags: bulgur,carrots,almonds,pine nuts,dates,vegetarian recipe,vegan recipes,Turkish food,recipe,side dishes