Fearless Kitchen

Recipe: Cauliflower Kuku

Recipe Source: Batmanglij, Najmieh. From Persia to Napa. Mage Publishers, Washington DC, 2006 p. 122

I made this dish for a Sunday open house that now appears to have been in the distant past. By that I mean that I served this dish in June. In my defense, I served it at the end of June. I wanted something a little bit different that I could make in advance, and this certainly fit the bill. Much to my surprise, it went over pretty well. People really seemed to like it. Since it can be served warm or cold it makes a great dish for picnics or for parties.

I made a few small changes to the recipe. I doubled it for one thing, since I never know how many people to expect. I increased the garlic, because that's what I do, and I increased the cumin because I simply love cumin. When given the choice between parsley and cilantro I chose cilantro. This is because I really like cilantro and don't much care for parsley. I used soy milk when given the option because that's what we usually keep on hand. I used goat cheese, which was given as an option, but I did not reduce the amount of salt. Most of the diners would have been exercising heavily in extreme heat and would welcome the extra salt.

Cauliflower Kuku (serves 12; approx. $1.47/serving)

6 tablespoons olive oil

2 red onions, thinly sliced

8 garlic cloves, crushed

2 small cauliflower heads, cut into florets

3 teaspoons kosher salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon ground cumin

½ teaspoon turmeric

2 Serrano chilies, finely chopped

½ teaspoon Aleppo pepper

1 cup chopped fresh cilantro

12 eggs

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 tablespoons flour

1 cup soy milk

1 cup goat cheese, crumbled

Equipment:

• Large skillet or sauté pan
• Large bowl
• Two 9" springform pans, well lubricated

1. Preheat your oven to 400 ̊.
2. Heat the oil in the skillet over low heat.
3. Add the onion. Sauté 5 minutes or until translucent.
4. Add the garlic, cauliflower, salt, spices, serranos and cilantro. Sauté until the cauliflower is softened, 5 – 10 minutes. Allow to cool.
5. Combine the eggs in the bowl with baking powder, flour, soy milk and goat cheese. Whisk to combine well.
6. Add the vegetables. Mix.
7. Pour into the prepared pans.
8. Bake 20 – 25 minutes, until firm. Allow to cool.
9. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Recipe: Melons with Vinegar

Recipe Source: Anthimus. On The Observance of Foods. Mark Grant, trans. Prospect Books, Devon, 1996 p. 71

Planning meals for camping can be tough. All right, it doesn't have to be. You can just eat baked beans or beef stew from a can, heated over a tiki torch, if that's what you have to do. I myself have consumed hot dogs cooked on sticks over a fire. We've been going to this one camp in Maine every summer since we started dating, and I can assure you that we don't eat that way there. (For one thing, the site doesn't allow fire pits.) The dinner has gotten a bit bigger every year and I'd say we feed between thirty and fifty people at this shindig – and it's almost all with stuff we can fit into two coolers. Other people contribute, of course, which makes it even more fun. Since we're camping with a bunch of medieval history enthusiasts, I've tried for the past couple of years to make as many of the dishes documentably medieval as I can.

Medieval food, contrary to what I certainly believed in my youth, did not consist entirely of gruel. People had taste buds then just as they have taste buds now, and a look at any of the medieval cookbooks available in translation will show you a treasure trove of delicious delicacies from centuries long gone by. The problem I have lies in finding recipes that a) can be made ahead and brought into camp, b) can be re-heated in primitive facilities, c) can tolerate life in an overstuffed cooler rather than in a proper refrigerator, and d) are interesting enough to be worth the effort. That's a little more challenging… And that's why this recipe appealed to me so much.

Anthimus was a Byzantine physician exiled to the court of the Ostrogoths in the beginning of the 6^th century AD. He was sent from there to be the ambassador to the Frankish court, which seemed (to him, at least) to be even more barbaric than the Ostrogothic court. This book, which is really just a really long letter, is intended to show the Frankish king which foods are healthy and how to prepare them (sometimes.) I've seen this described (including on the back of my copy) as the first French cookery book. I'm not sure about that – after all, the author was Greek and picked up quite a bit in Italy – but it was at least written for people who became French.

So what about this recipe appealed to me, besides it being a very early-period dish? Well, it has three ingredients. That's a good start. If I left the melons whole until I got there, it would be very easy to transport and wouldn't need refrigeration. It was colorful and it was easy. Really, it doesn't get much better than that, whether you're re-creating a medieval recipe or pulling something together for the family trip to the Adirondacks.

I'm not sure when watermelons made it up to Western Europe, but I strongly suspect that they were not the "melons" intended by Dr. Anthimus. In all honesty, I did purchase cantaloupes and Tuscan melons. Unfortunately transportation was less kind to them than I would have hoped, and some of them went spectacularly bad before the party. Someone else had brought some watermelon, and to stretch the dish out to its original proportions I added it to the mix. It did make the dish prettier, didn't it?

Melons with Vinegar (serves about 50; approx. cost per serving not available)

1 mini-watermelon, cut into chunks

3 cantaloupes, cut into chunks

½ cup white wine vinegar

½ cup water

Equipment:

• Small bowl

1. Arrange the melon chunks in an attractive way on the platter. (I had help in this from Nikki and Andrew.)
2. Combine the vinegar and water in the small bowl. Mix very well to ensure that the vinegar is well diluted.
3. Sprinkle the diluted vinegar over the melons.
4. Serve.

Recipe: Sweet and Sour Onions

Recipe Source: France, Christine. Barbecue. Anness Publishing, London, 2004 p. 179

This recipe tasted like barbeque sauce. I'm not kidding. I made it for my husband's birthday dinner, and it did make an excellent accompaniment to the ribs he finally got to make for himself. Since I wasn't able to partake of the ribs, it allowed me to get a little sample of the barbeque sauce. It was a relatively popular dish, although I suspect some of that popularity was in the mistaken assumption that this was the sauce for the ribs.

I did make a few changes. I doubled the recipe, although I left the oil quantity the same to reduce the fat. I substituted honey for sugar on a whim; I think it worked pretty well if I do say so. I also substituted sage for the parsley (personal preference) and dried dates for the raisins. Again, people really enjoyed it, so I guess it worked.

Sweet and Sour Onions (serves 12; approx. cost per serving not available)

2 pounds baby onions, peeled

½ cup red wine vinegar

3 tablespoons olive oil

6 tablespoons honey

6 tablespoons tomato paste

2 bay leaves

4 sage sprigs

2 ½ cups water

1 cup chopped dried dates

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Equipment:

• Large saucepan

1. Combine everything in the saucepan.
2. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer gently for 45 minutes. The onions should be tender and the sauce reduced to a thick paste.
3. Remove the bay leaves and sage from the pan.
4. Serve at room temperature. This recipe can (obviously) be made well in advance.

Recipe: Green Bean and Red Pepper Salad

Recipe Source: France, Christine and Steven Wheeler. Barbecues and Salads. Anness Publishing, London, 2002 p. 320

I made this salad for my husband's birthday dinner. This is the dinner he threw himself because it provided an excuse to make ribs. I wanted to serve side dishes that would go well with barbeque, and this one looked like a good idea. It was also pretty simple and straightforward to make. Finally, you can make it ahead of time, which was crucial for me. This dinner was given two days after returning from our trip up to Maine, where we lugged up food for about 50 and for a class I taught as well. The kitchen was an unmitigated disaster and I needed to get it clean – and all the food cooked – before people got there.

I made a few changes. I couldn't find pickled Serrano chilies so I used pickled jalapenos, which in hindsight wasn't necessarily a bad thing. We knew at least one of our guests did not deal well with spicy food. I also used butter lettuce in place of iceberg, because I detest iceberg. I also drastically reduced the amount of olive oil because my husband can't handle that much oil and this was his party.  I made up for it by adding about 5 tablespoons of the liquid that the jalapenos had been pickled in, which may have contained some oil but not a lot.  Finally, I added some oregano.  This salad went over pretty well, and the leftovers held up pretty well for an extra day.

Green Bean and Red Pepper Salad (serves about 10 as a side dish; approx. $0.81/serving)

12 ounces cooked green beans, quartered

2 red bell peppers, seeded and chopped

3 tablespoons (approx.) chopped fresh oregano

2 scallions, chopped

1 can sliced canned pickled jalapenos

1 head butter lettuce, shredded

2 ounces mixed olives

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

3 tablespoons olive oil

Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Equipment:

• Large bowl
• Small bowl

1. Combine the first 6 ingredients in the large bowl.
2. Lay out your shredded lettuce on your serving platter.
3. Top with the mixture from the bowl.
4. Combine the vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper in the smaller bowl. Drizzle on top of the salad.
5. Top with the olives and serve.

Recipe: Sweet Zucchini Pickle

Recipe Source: Hoffman, Susanna. The Olive and the Caper. Workman Press, New York, 2004 pp. 72-3.

Before I planned my menu for the big camping trip up in Maine I asked for suggestions. Only one person had any requests: she said she liked my salads and my pickled salads. This, while not even vaguely resembling a medieval recipe, looked tasty and like it would travel well. I decided to include it in my meal and people really liked it. It was pretty easy to come up with, it definitely traveled well, and it provided more vegetables for people to choose from. It was a little sweet for my tastes, personally (hence the catchy name), but most people really liked it.

I didn't make a lot of changes to this recipe because there weren't a lot of changes to make. I did add a little bit of cubeb to the mix, as well as a little bit of ground coriander just to make it fit in a little better with some of the other dishes I was serving. I also had to use apple cider vinegar because I was out of white wine vinegar and at 3 AM your options are a little limited. Like I said, this went over pretty well. Be sure to make this the day before you intend to serve it. Hoffman says that it will last up to two months in the refrigerator, but you'd likely eat it well before then.

Sweet Zucchini Pickle (serves about 20; approx. $0.42/serving)

3 pounds zucchini, sliced to ¼" thick

2 onions, quartered and sliced to 1/8" thick

2 teaspoons kosher salt

½ teaspoon (approx.) fresh ground cubeb

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 tablespoon dry mustard powder

1 tablespoon mustard seeds

1 ½ teaspoons ground turmeric

½ teaspoon whole cloves

1 ½ cups brown sugar, packed

1 ½ cups apple cider vinegar

Equipment:

• Large seal-able plastic bowl
• Large saucepan
• Colander

1. Combine the onions and the zucchini slices in the colander with the salt and let stand ½ hour.
2. Combine the cubeb, coriander, mustard powder, mustard seeds, turmeric, cloves, sugar and vinegar in the saucepan. Bring to a rolling boil over high heat, then remove from heat.
3. Add the zucchini and onions to the pot and set aside to cool.
4. Transfer to the sealable bowl. Cover and seal.
5. Refrigerate at least overnight before serving.

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: Medieval Baba Ghannouj

Recipe Source: Recipe Source: Anonymous.  The Treasure of Useful Advice for the Composition of a Varied Table.  Thirteenth century AD, probably Egyptian.  Published by Lilia Zaouali in Medieval Cuisine of the Islamic World, M. B. DeBevoise trans., University of California Press, Berkeley, 2007 p. 66.

Okay, calling this "baba ghannouj" is probably a bit of a misnomer, because it's kind of different from a modern baba ghannouj. I think it's something to do with the sourness. I'm usually not the biggest fan of baba ghannouj, but this I liked. I made it to test a recipe before my class on bawārid, although I didn't wind up including this dip in the discussion that day. I did however serve it for our Fourth of July party, and no one realized that this was a medieval recipe.

As is usually the case with my medieval recipe redactions, I did not make many changes. (More garlic would have been welcome to my modern palate, but I digress.) I did have to make one change out of necessity. The original called for "sesame oil and oil of good quality." I had run out of regular sesame oil, and toasted sesame oil would have been all wrong. I decided to stick with all olive oil for this.

Medieval Baba Ghannouj (Makes about 16 ounces; approx. $0.28/ounce.)

1 large eggplant, cut into small pieces

3 small onions, peeled but left whole

½ cup olive oil

¼ cup water

1 garlic clove, crushed

¾ cup Greek yogurt (I used fat-free because that's what I have on hand, but full-fat would be more authentic)

About ¼ bunch parsley, finely chopped

1 pinch kosher salt

Equipment:

• Deep saucepan
• Immersion blender

1. Combine the onions, eggplant, olive oil, salt and water in the saucepan.
2. Cook over low heat until the eggplant is tender and cooked. You may need to add a little more water here and there; the measurement above is intended as more of a starting point since the original said "a little water."
3. Add the remaining ingredients and remove from heat.
4. Use the immersion blender to thoroughly puree the mixture.
5. Chill thoroughly before serving.

Recipe: Almond Butter Pie

Recipe Source: Day, Martha. Baking. Anness Publishing, London, 2009 p. 194

My friend's daughter Penny, who is two and a half, was recently diagnosed with Celiac disease. This has got all of us kind of becoming more aware of the gluten in our lives. It is just amazing what has gluten in it. Who knew, for example, that hoisin sauce has gluten? The diagnosis came just before our Fourth of July party. While Penny's mom told us not to worry about feeding Penny, she'd bring food for her, I thought it would be a fun challenge to see if I could come up with a few things at least that Penny could eat. Finding this recipe was great – the crust was a cookie-crumb crust. I decided to use gluten-free shortbreads for the crust. In order to accommodate my own peanut allergy, I switched to almond butter as well.

Penny did not eat the pie. Penny has always been an extremely picky eater and I am never offended when she doesn't eat my cooking. There were also lots of desserts that were much better than mine on offer, so there was some almond butter pie left over. That said, I really liked this. It was extremely sweet and if I make it again I might experiment with reducing the sugar, but on the whole I liked this.

Almond Butter Pie (serves 16; approx. $1.48/serving)

8 ounces gluten-free shortbreads, ground to fine crumbs

4 ounces light brown sugar, packed

6 ounces melted butter

6 egg yolks

7 ounces sugar

4 ounces packed light brown sugar

4 ounces cornstarch

¼ teaspoon salt

2 pints evaporated milk

2 ounces butter

3 teaspoons almond extract

8 ounces almond butter

6 ounces confectioner's sugar

Equipment:

• 2 bowls
• 2 pie plates
• Heavy saucepan
• Whisk

1. Preheat your oven to 350 ̊.
2. Combine the cookie crumbs, 6 ounces brown sugar and melted butter in a bowl. Mix very well.
3. Spread the mixture into two pie plates and press to cover the bottom and sides of both plates.
4. Bake 10 minutes and let cool, but leave the oven on.
5. Combine the egg yolks, remaining brown sugar, regular sugar, cornstarch and salt in the saucepan.
6. Whisk in the milk slowly.
7. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, about 8 or 10 minutes.
8. Reduce the heat and cook until very thick, maybe 4 more minutes.
9. Beat in the remaining butter and almond extract. Remove from heat. Cover with plastic wrap very closely and leave to cool.
10. In the other bowl, combine the almond butter and confectioner's sugar. Use your hands for this – you're trying to get the consistency of fine crumbs here.
11. Reserve 6 tablespoons of this mixture and sprinkle the remaining on the bottom of the crumb crusts.
12. Pour the filling from the saucepan into the crusts, then sprinkle the remaining almond butter mixture over the top.
13. Bake 15 minutes.
14. Cool at least 1 hour before serving.

Recipe: Stuffed Mushrooms

Recipe Source: Carroll, John Phillip. Outdoor Cooking. Time Life Books, New York, 1997 p. 92

My husband had a birthday recently and I made these mushrooms as an appetizer. They turned into a side dish, which was okay. Then they turned into a snack later in the week, which was also okay. I will say that they taste better warm than cold, but they were still good. Anyway, at the party someone quoted some aphorism to me: "Life is too short to stuff mushrooms." I don't know who said that, but I do have to say that I strongly disagree if this recipe is any indication. These were not at all difficult to stuff. Stuffing the mushrooms was the least difficult part of the whole meal.

I did make a few changes. The biggest change was that I only used mushrooms instead of mushrooms and summer squash. I also increased the garlic, changed up the herbs a little, and used Kasseri cheese in place of grated cheddar. The Kasseri had a similar texture but different flavor that I thought would be fun. I also omitted the breadcrumbs. I'll pretend that I was acting out of consideration for friends who are watching their carbs, but the truth is I plain forgot.

Stuffed Mushrooms (serves 10; approx. $1.60/serving)

About 25 large stuffing mushrooms (5 packages, in my case.)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

8 garlic cloves, crushed

2 ounces grated Kasseri cheese

3 sprigs fresh oregano, leaves only

3 sprigs fresh sage, finely chopped

3 sprigs fresh tarragon, finely chopped

½ teaspoon kosher salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

3 tablespoons heavy cream

Equipment:

• Sauté pan
• Large bowl
• Large roasting pan

1. Separate the stems from the mushrooms and chop finely.
2. Heat the olive oil in the saucepan over medium-high heat.
3. Add the onion and garlic. Cook until starting to soften.
4. Add the mushroom stems and cook until the stems are very soft and most of the liquid released during cooking has evaporated.
5. Transfer the sautéed mixture to a bowl and add the remaining ingredients. Stir to combine.
6. Arrange the mushroom caps in the roasting pans.
7. Preheat your oven to about 375 ̊.
8. Roast the mushrooms for about 20 minutes.
9. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Recipe: Mango and Fennel Slaw

My husband was looking at his favorite website (the Green Egg forum) one day and gave a mighty sigh. "I want ribs," he groused.

"So make some," I told him.

He gave another sigh. "You can't eat them and ribs for one are a waste," he mourned.

"Well," I said after a moment's thought, "your birthday is next week. Why not invite some people over to share your ribs with you?"

And this is what happened. I made this dish as a side dish. Slaw is a traditional barbeque side dish, but I have a deep-seated loathing for cabbage. I know I've seen non-cabbage slaw in a few restaurants recently; what would be the harm in trying a non-cabbage slaw of my own? I decided on fennel and mango with red onion and I used the same dressing as I used for the Celery Root Slaw I posted in January 2009. The slaw went over quite well, if I do say so. People really seemed to enjoy it and there were no complaints about it being slightly non-traditional.

Mango and Fennel Slaw (serves 10; approx. $1.18/serving)

2 mangoes, peeled and sliced into matchsticks

3 fennel bulbs, very thinly sliced

1 red onion, very thinly sliced

2 ounces cider vinegar

½ ounce sugar

¼ teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon kosher salt

½ teaspoon ground cubeb

2/3 cup olive oil

¼ cup fat-free Greek yogurt

¼ cup buttermilk

Equipment:

• Large bowl
• Small bowl

1. Combine the vegetables in the large bowl.
2. Combine the remaining ingredients in the small bowl and whisk well.
3. Pour the dressing over the vegetables, cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours.
4. Serve.