Fearless Kitchen

Recipe: Rabbit Barida

Recipe Source: al-Warrāq, Ibn Sayyār. Annals of the Caliphs' Kitchens. Nawal Nasrallah, trans. Brill, Leiden, 2007 p. 214

This past July I had the opportunity to teach a class on cold dishes from the medieval Arab world at a gathering of medieval history enthusiasts up in Maine. The class went very smoothly, much better than I had imagined. (If you're reading this and you were in the class, thank you for making it such a pleasant experience.) I liked the idea of teaching this class because it gave me an opportunity to cook from my favorite cookbook in the whole wide world, medieval or modern. I served some samples in the class; this was one of them. I've also served it at one of our Sunday open houses, mostly to give me a chance to serve it.

Rabbit is kind of an unusual meat in the modern West. I think that might be changing, though. My local Greek market was selling them frozen – not unusual to find them frozen in an ethnic market. Recently I got a phone call from my husband from a large chain grocery store near our house that shall remain nameless. (They remain nameless because they once sold me a rotten duck.) This store was selling rabbit fresh, and lots of it. I'm pretty pleased by this, since rabbit meat is tasty and relatively lean. I will spare you the health benefits listed by al-Warrāq, as they might cause this website to be barred by safe search.

Anyway, I didn't make a lot of changes to this recipe. I try not to when I'm re-creating a medieval recipe. That said, there were some changes that I just had to make. I couldn't chop the rabbit easily and it would make the rabbit more difficult to serve during the class if I had, so I treated it more like a pulled rabbit. The rabbit was roasted on our Big Green Egg – there is no suggestion in the recipe that the rabbit should have been roasted in this manner in period, but we know that they were using a similar tool to roast meat in period and there is no indication that it should not have been used in this case. We rubbed the rabbit with our Greek-style rub, because it works well with rabbit. The vinegar I used was red wine vinegar. The soy sauce is a stand-in for murrī, which was made in almost the same way. Someone else has made murrī following a period recipe and it apparently tastes like soy sauce, and the recipe is similar to soy sauce, so it makes a good substitute. I couldn't get the two different types of asafetida so I used what I had. I couldn't get rue so I used rosemary – very different flavors, but much less likely to cause a harmful reaction. I ran out of caraway seeds and so left them out when I served this to my class. The "different spices" I used were based on personal preference.

The sauce went over decently, but out of all of the meat dishes I served this one was the least popular. It was probably the least familiar to modern Western palates, and the sweet and sour flavor wasn't necessarily to everyone's taste. (It also had to compete with a beef bārida that was incredibly popular, so that probably has a lot to do with it.)

Rabbit Bārida (serves 2 – 3 as a main course; approx. cost per serving not available)

1 rabbit, roasted, carved and cooled. We roasted the rabbit on our Big Green Egg and we think this is the best way of doing it, but there is absolutely no reason you couldn't do this in your oven at home. Roast at 375 ̊until done; if you're using the Egg cook over indirect heat.)

¾ ounce ground cumin

½ ounce ground coriander

1 gram asafetida

3 grams caraway seeds

12 grams olive oil

15 grams sugar

2 whole onions, peeled

Equipment:

• Bowl
• Whisk

1. Carve the rabbit and arrange it on a platter.
2. Combine the remaining ingredients in a bowl. Mix well and allow to sit. I probably let it sit about an hour before I served it the first time. For the class, I let it sit an hour and then removed the onions; the sauce continued to sit for a good 48 hours.
3. Just before serving, remove the onions from the sauce. Pour the sauce over the meat and serve.

Recipe – Lamb Burgers

Recipe Source: Kochilas, Diane. Mediterranean Grilling. W. M. Morrow, New York, 2007 p. 107

I will be the first to tell you that I'm not often a fan of burgers. It's so hard to get them done the way I like them. In fact, there is only one place where I will actually order a burger: Christopher's, in Cambridge. They will serve it to me cooked to my desired degree of doneness (or rawness, to be fair) and I know that I won't get sick from the meat. Even my husband won't cook a burger that rare. Anyway, lamb is different. Lamb has more flavor than beef, even when the cheap cuts are used. It's possible to thoroughly cook a lamb burger and still have it taste good.

I've made this dish twice now – the first time we forgot to take pictures. I made a few changes as I usually do. The biggest change was in omitting the pine nuts, because I haven't managed to find them. I also omitted the butter, because I really don't think it needed more fat. I also increased the garlic, decreased the oil and played around with the spice proportions a bit. I omitted the mint as well to accommodate my husband's food allergy. I added some cilantro to the burgers to make up for it, and to mitigate the parsley flavor.

Lamb Burgers (makes 6 burgers; approx. $1.89 ea.)

6 garlic cloves, crushed

½ teaspoon kosher salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

½ teaspoon allspice

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cumin

½ teaspoon dried thyme

¼ cup water

1 pound ground lamb

2 red onions, grated

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

½ cup chopped fresh cilantro

6 burger buns, toasted or not (your call)

Equipment:

• Big Green Egg or other grill (you can cook these indoors if you must, but it won't be very good)
• Food processor makes the grating easier. If you don't have one, use a box grater and a really big bowl.
• Mini-prep mini food processor

1. Combine the garlic, salt, olive oil, tomato paste, spices, thyme and water in the mini –prep. Process to a paste.
2. Prepare your grill for medium-high, direct-heat cooking.
3. Combine the lamb, onions and herbs in the large bowl. Knead until thoroughly mixed (or process, your choice.) Form the contents into six patties.
4. Paint both sides of each patty generously with the paste from the mini-prep.
5. Cook to your desired degree of doneness. I like rare. I am in the minority.
6. Serve.

Recipe: Lamb Chops with Honey Lemon Glaze (Guest Post from Fearless Grill)

Recipe Source: Original

I recently bought a new set of accessories for my Big Green Egg smoker that promises to expand both it's capacity and versatility – the adjustable rig, spider, and sliding grids from the Ceramic Grill Store. This setup, among other things, allows you to cook at different heights in the Egg. By moving the meat closer to the coals (which burn at over 1200 degrees), you can quickly sear a piece of meat, and then move it farther away, with the Egg still set at the same dome temperature, to roast the meat to your desired doneness. For my first cook with this setup, I decided to try something with a glaze, since that would need to be finished at a lower temperature to set the glaze. I had some lamb chops in the fridge that I hadn't gotten around to using yet, and set out to test out my new toys.

For the glaze, I went with something simple, similar to one that I used on some pork chops a few months ago.  I like the match of lemon with lamb, so I used lemon juice instead of the orange juice I used with the pork. I also used fresh garlic instead of the garlic powder I had used the previous time. I also made more of the glaze than I needed to brush on while cooking, so I could drizzle some over the finished chops on the plate.

I really liked the new setup for cooking. It was really convenient to change the level of cooking, rather than having to pull the food out and wait for the temperature to drop after searing. By being able to keep the overall temperature of the cooker lower, I also used a lot less charcoal during my cook. I was a little concerned about the glaze burning, but having the meat much further away from the fire than the standard setup in the Egg made that a non-issue. We liked the way the meat came out. I got a nice sear on the outside cooking low over the flame, and finishing high in the dome let the glaze set up without overcooking the meat. The glaze matched pretty well with the lamb. You could taste all the flavors, but none were overpowering, and it didn't add too much sweetness. I'm going to try the glaze again as a sauce for chicken wings at a party this weekend.

Lamb Chops with Honey-Lemon Glaze (Serves 2. Approx. Cost Per Serving Not Available)

Equipment Required

• Big Green Egg or other grill
• Adjustable rig (optional)
• Long grilling tongs
• Grill brush

4 lamb shoulder chops

Several sprigs fresh thyme, chopped

Sea salt

Fearless Greek Rub (Note: This will make more than you need. Save the rest for use on lamb, chicken, or turkey. It works great on all of them)

3 tablespoons kosher salt

3 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon dried thyme

 

Honey-Lemon Glaze

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 serrano chili, finely minced

3 garlic cloves, finely minced

1. Combine the ingredients for the honey-lemon glaze in a bowl, and whisk to combine thoroughly.
2. Apply the Fearless Greek Rub to all sides of the chops. You can apply it up to two hours before cooking, if desired.
3. Prepare your grill for cooking. In my large Big Green Egg, I set up for direct cooking at a dome temperature of 400 degrees Fahrenheit. I put in my adjustable rig and spider to cook at multiple levels. Note that if you don't have an adjustable rig, or if you're cooking on another type of grill, begin by setting up at the highest possible temperature to sear. Then pull the meat out, lower the temperature to 400 degrees, and put the meat back in to set the glaze.
4. Using a grid on the spider close to the coals, sear the chops for 60-90 seconds per side.
5. Move the chops to a grid on the highest level of the adjustable rig. Brush both sides of the chops with the glaze, close the lid, and allow to cook for 2-3 minutes. Apply another coat of glaze, flip the chops, and let cook for another 2 minutes. This should give you medium-rare chops. Adjust timing for your preference.
6. Remove the chops from the grill. Put on a platter, pour the remaining glaze over the chops, and sprinkle with the fresh thyme and sea salt.

 

 

Recipe: Fragrant Grilled Swordfish

Recipe Source: Hsiung, Deh-Ta et al. Thai & Asian. Anness Publishing, London, 2009 p. 232

This was originally supposed to be a chicken recipe. It looked pretty easy despite the number of ingredients and it looked fairly light. After I made my menu, I decided that I would make this with fish because we didn't have any fish on the menu for the week. When I went to the market, the woman behind the counter recommended the swordfish. It was not the most expensive fish on offer, it looked pretty tasty, and I decided to give it a go. The result? It was everything I wanted it to be: light, satisfying and delicious. The sauce was sweeter than I would normally like but my husband was wild for it.

I did make a few changes, besides the obvious one. I used hot pepper sesame oil for the sesame oil, because I wanted more heat. I increased the amount of garlic in the whole recipe. I didn't have cilantro with roots so I used regular cilantro where roots were called for and I omitted the sugar from the marinade. I used habaneros for the red chilies, because they were better than the red chilies my market had that day. The original recommended serving this with white rice, but I was serving a pasta dish as a side and figured that would be overkill.

Fragrant Grilled Swordfish (serves 4; approx. $4.97/serving)

1 pound (more or less) swordfish steaks

2 tablespoons hot pepper sesame oil

5 garlic cloves, crushed

2 sprigs fresh cilantro, finely chopped

2 habanero chilies, finely chopped

2 tablespoons fish sauce

6 tablespoons rice vinegar

4 tablespoons turbinado sugar

½ teaspoon salt

5 more garlic cloves, crushed

1 more habanero, finely chopped

3 bunches fresh cilantro, finely chopped

Equipment:

• Small saucepan
• Big Green Egg or other grill (I prefer charcoal to gas, but whatever you have is fine. You can also cook this indoors under the broiler if you must.)
• Bowl
• Zip-top plastic bag

1. Combine the oil, first round of crushed garlic, 2 sprigs of cilantro, 2 habaneros and fish sauce in the bowl and combine well.
2. Put the swordfish in the plastic bag. Pour the marinade over it and let sit about 1 – 2 hours.
3. Meanwhile, combine the vinegar and sugar in the small saucepan. Heat over medium heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved.
4. Add the salt and stir until the mixture starts to thicken.
5. Add the remaining ingredients, stir well, and remove from heat.
6. Preheat your grill for direct cooking over medium-high heat.
7. Grill the swordfish until done, 4 – 5 minutes per side.
8. Transfer the fish to a serving platter. Pour the sauce over it and serve. I garnished with lime wedges and a little bit of lime zest.

Recipe: Spiced Lamb Shoulder Blade Chops

Recipe Source: al-Warrāq, ibn Sayyār. Annals of the Caliph's Kitchens, Nawal Nasrallah, trans. Brill Press, Leiden, 2007 p. 360

If it seems like I'm sharing a lot of recipes from this source, there's a good reason. My husband and I recently taught a class in medieval ceramic cookers, and this cookbook is just full of medieval recipes that require (or go really, really well with) medieval ceramic cookers. I'm also teaching a class in July on medieval dishes from the Middle East that are intended to be served at room temperature, and this book has several chapters on that class of dish. Finally, it's my favorite cookbook.

Anyway, this was a dish we prepared for the class we taught in May. The original recipe called for lamb ribs. We couldn't get lamb ribs so we substituted shoulder blade chops, which were cheaper than other cuts and looked like they'd stand up to that style of cookery. It's an incredibly easy dish to make. We omitted a basting step because we felt that the Big Green Egg kept the meat sufficiently moist without it.

Spiced Lamb Chops (serves 4; approx. cost per serving not available)

4 lamb shoulder blade chops

½ cup red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon kosher salt

½ teaspoon ground coriander

½ teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon cumin

½ teaspoon cinnamon

Equipment:

• Big Green Egg or other ceramic cooker (You could probably get away with making this on a gas grill or even indoors, but it will lose a certain something)
• Zip-top plastic bag
• Bowl
• Whisk
• Combine all the ingredients except the lamb chops in a bowl. Whisk well to combine.
• Put the lamb chops into a zip-top plastic bag. Pour the marinade over them, seal and refrigerate overnight.
• Prepare your tannūr for indirect cooking over high heat (550 degrees)
• Cook the lamb chops about 15 minutes, or to an internal temperature over 140 degrees. If you like your lamb more well-done, let it cook longer.
• Let the chops rest a few minutes, then devour.

Recipe: Turkey with Herbs

We recently had plans to host both of our parents for dinner.  This created a kind of complicated menu planning process.  Everyone has their things that they don't like, and some people have dietary restrictions for health reasons.  While a celebratory dinner for us would usually involve lamb, my mother won't eat lamb, so that was right out.  Pork would have been okay for everyone except... well, except for me, so thatwas right out.  Anyway, we finally settled on turkey for our main course.  Turkey is good.  It's got a better flavor than chicken and I think I only know one person who won't eat it.  (Well, except for vegetarians, anyway.)  The herbs were mostly left over from making other dishes, although the sage was included specifically for the turkey. 

This dish was delicious.  Even though my parents canceled at the last minute due to a sudden death in the family, there were no leftovers.  If you don't have a Big Green Egg you can certainly make this indoors, although you might want to reconsider using smoke.  You could probably make this on a regular gas grill with a smoker box, but I'm not really familiar with how those work so can't give instructions.

Turkey with Herbs (serves 6; approx. $3.92/serving)

1/2 turkey

1/2 package fresh thyme

1/2 package fresh marjoram

1 package fresh sage

1 tablespoon kosher salt (reduce this if you're cooking indoors)

10 grinds fresh-ground cubeb

1 lemon, sliced thin

Equipment:

• Big Green Egg or other smoker
• Small bowl

1. Prepare your Egg for indirect cooking at 350 with apple wood smoke.  Fearless Grill says he might have used oak for this, but it was probably apple. 
2. Finely chop the herbs.  I usually like to do all the herbs together because I think it makes them mix together more thoroughly, but that could just be in my head. 
3. Combine the herbs with the salt and cubeb in a small bowl and mix thoroughly. 
4. Rub the herb mixture into the turkey flesh under the skin.  Do this carefully - you want to leave the skin on the bird while you cook, but there should be plenty of places where you can get a little bit under the skin. 
5. Slide the lemon slices under the skin as well. 
6. Cook until the internal temperature of the bird reaches 160 degrees, which was about two hours for us.  I'd start checking the temperature sooner than that though - there's nothing nastier than overcooked turkey. 
7. Remove the bird from the Egg.  Tent with foil and let rest a MINIMUM of 10 minutes. 
8. Carve and serve. 

Recipe: Fish Steaks with Mango and Avocado Salsa

Recipe Source: Fleetwood, Jenni.  One-Pot, Slow-Pot & Clay-Pot Cooking.  Anness Publishers, London, 2006 p. 187

Fish are a great way to eat healthier without going vegetarian.  They tend to be low in fat (this varies depending on the species of fish, but is going to be lower than a steak by any estimation) and high in all sorts of things that nutritionists will tell you that you need.  I am not a nutritionist, so I'm just going to say that they're tasty and healthy and leave it at that.  They have an added benefit for the time-pressed cook: they cook up quickly.  In fact, overcooking will absolutely destroy your fish, so fish work really well for weeknight meals. 

This particular fish dish was made for a Friday night dinner a while ago, so long ago in fact that I'm having trouble remembering what my thought process was.  (As of this writing, I have about a month's worth of recipes sitting in an untidy pile next to my chair, desperately waiting for me to write them up before I forget them entirely.)  I did make some changes, and the biggest change I made was to use halibut steaks instead of swordfish steaks.  They were cheaper.  The other changes were to use two steaks instead of four (because we're only two, or at least only two eating dinner at this point), using habaneros for the red chiles (because the only red chiles at the market were insipid), increase the garlic (general principles), reduce the olive oil (ditto), and increase the cilantro (personal preference.)  I also had my husband cook it on the Big Green Egg, which I feel made this an absolutely wonderful dish.

Grilled Fish Steaks with Mango and Avocado Salsa (serves 2; approx. $13.57/serving)

2 halibut steaks

Zest and juice of two limes

6 garlic cloves, crushed

2 habanero chiles (or other red chiles as you please), finely chopped, divided

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1/4 bunch chopped fresh cilantro (approx.); divided

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

1 mango, chopped

4 scallions, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons lime juice (plus extra for the avocado)

1 avocado, chopped.  Dropping the pieces into a bowl of acidulated water will prevent the avocado from discoloring. 

Equipment:

• Zip-top plastic bag
• Large bowl
• Small bowl
• Bowl of water with lime juice for the avocado
• Big Green Egg or other grill.  You can do this indoors if you wish. 

1. Combine the lime zest, fresh lime juice, garlic, one chopped habanero, 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, half the chopped fresh cilantro and the salt and pepper in the small bowl.
2. Put the fish steaks in the plastic bag and pour the marinade over it.  Seal and refrigerate at least two hours. 
3. Make the salsa.  Combine the remaining ingredients in the large bowl. 
4. When you're ready to grill, prepare your grill for direct heat cooking at 425 degrees. 
5. Grill until done, turning once.  This will vary depending on the thickness of your steaks but shouldn't be more than about 5 minutes per side.
6. Arrange the fish bits on your serving platter Pour the salsa over the top and serve. 

Recipe: Yogurt-Marinated Chicken

Recipe Source: Trang, Corinne.  The Asian Grill.  Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 2006 p. 119

I made this dish for a recent Sunday dinner.  It was perfect for my purposes: I could marinate it well ahead of time, it got cooked on the grill, and it was light but tasty.  The original recipe was very much aware of being an adaptation of Tandoori Chicken. 

I made a few changes.  I forgot to score the chicken, just plain forgot, which probably extended the cooking time a little bit.  Since we were cooking on the Big Green Egg that didn't matter so much, but if you're cooking on a regular gas grill (or indoors) you might want to consider that.  Where the choice was given I chose rice vinegar over coconut vinegar.  I only had chicken breasts so that's what I used.  I increased the garlic and ginger, and where "spice route blend" was called for I used Kuwaiti Spice Mix.  I did this because I had mixed up the Kuwaiti Spice Mix that weekend and really enjoyed it.  It is not the same, not even close, but it is still delicious. 

Yogurt-Marinated Chicken (serves 8; approx. $2.44/serving)

1 cup nonfat Greek yogurt

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 shallot, grated

6 garlic cloves, crushed

3 tablespoons grated ginger

2 teaspoons Kuwaiti Spice Mix

3 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts

Equipment:

• Big Green Egg or other grill.  You could do this indoors, but you wouldn't want to.
• Bowl
• Zip-top plastic bag

1. Cut the chicken into chunks and put it in the plastic bag.
2. Combine the first 7 ingredients in the bowl and pour over the chicken.
3. Seal the bag and marinate overnight.  Turn the bag occasionally.
4. Prepare your grill for medium-high heat direct cooking.
5. Grill your meat until it is done, about 15 minutes.  Turn frequently to prevent burning. 
6. Serve.  Garnish with additional lemons.

Recipe: Lamb Kebabs with Kuwaiti Spices

I had originally intended for this to be a main course for just me and my husband one recent Saturday night.  We decided, however, to go to the Cape with some friends that day, and we ate dinner while we were out.  (This would be where they announced their engagement, which was quite the pleasant surprise.)  Anyway, I decided to serve the meat in kebab form as an hors d'oeuvre for the next day's Sunday open house.  The extra day in the marinade did not hurt the meat in the slightest, and the result was delicious. 

Lamb Kebabs with Kuwaiti Spices (serves 6 as an hors d'oeuvre; approx. $2.44/serving)

3 lamb shoulder blade chops (a little over 1 1/2 pounds)

2 tablespoons Kuwaiti Spice Mix

6 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 cup Greek non-fat yogurt

Equipment:

• Big Green Egg or other grill (you can make these indoors as well if you really must)
• Skewers - metal or bamboo, doesn't matter
• Zip-top plastic bag
• Bowl

1. Combine the garlic, lemon juice, yogurt and spice mix in the bowl.  Mix well.
2. Cut the lamb into cubes, carefully removing as much as possible from the bones.  Put them in the plastic bag.
3. Pour the yogurt mixture over the lamb, trying to get some of the mix on all the lamb pieces. 
4. Seal the bag and stow in the refrigerator at least 24 and up to 48 hours. 
5. When you are ready to cook, thread the meat onto skewers.
6. Prepare your grill for direct heat cooking over medium-high heat. 
7. Cook the meat until it is as done as you would like it to be. 
8. Serve. 

Recipe: Simply Smoked Rabbit (Guest Post from Fearless Grill)

Recipe Source: Original

As mentioned in previous posts, we were asked to teach a class on using a ceramic cooker as part of a historical reenactment event focused on daily life tasks in the middle ages. We had found some recipes from period cookbooks and were set up cooking them on our Big Green Egg in preparation for our class, when the person teaching a class on butchering came up and asked us if we wanted to cook a rabbit she had just used for her demonstration. I had never cooked a rabbit before and wasn't quite sure what to do with it, but the chance to try some extremely fresh meat and something different at that was too good to pass up.

Since we weren't at home, I didn't have a lot of ingredients or spices with me, and I had to come up with something on the fly. Since rabbit is lean, I understand that the conventional wisdom is to add some fat to it, but we didn't have any oil, butter, or other appropriate fat with us. I did have a jar of my greek-style rub that I normally use for chicken, and decided to rub the rabbit with that, and cook it alongside a chicken I was also preparing. I wasn't sure what temperature to cook it at or how thoroughly to cook it. I ended up roasting it at 375 degrees Fahrenheit to an internal temperature of 160.

For having completely made it up on the fly, the rabbit was surprisingly good. The meat was really lean and clean tasting, with a nice smoke flavor from having been cooked on the Egg. Luckily, the meat didn't dry out, despite not having had any fat to add to it. The spice mixture turned out to be a good choice, as it added some flavor and spice to the meat without overpowering the taste. We ended up cutting it into small pieces so everyone attending could try a little, and everyone seemed to like it.

Simply Smoked Rabbit (serves 2)

Equipment Required

• Big Green Egg or other smoker

1 rabbit

Several chunks of apple or other fruit wood for smoking

Chopped fresh herbs, as garnish

Greek Style Rub

3 tablespoons kosher salt

3 tablespoons black pepper

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon dried thyme

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1. Mix the spice rub ingredients together, and coat the meat to taste. There will probably be some leftover rub. Save it to use on a chicken or lamb dish.
2. Prepare your smoker for indirect cooking at 375 degrees. On my large Big Green Egg, I set up with my plate setter legs up and a drip pan in the plate setter. I added several chunks of apple wood to the fire.
3. Once the temperature stabilizes, put the rabbit in the smoker, and cook until the internal temperature of the meat hits 160 degrees. This took about 45 minutes on our cook, but the rabbit was cut into parts. If you have a whole rabbit, it might take a bit longer.
4. Remove the meat from the smoker, allow to rest for 5-10 minutes, carve, sprinkle with chopped fresh herbs of your choice and serve.