Ms. Jaffrey’s Weeknight Lamb – Kheema Matar

Posted on November 14, 2010 | 7 comments

If you ask me, this is a perfect mid-week meal for the wet, cold, dark season. I admit, it really doesn’t look pretty or delicious. I’m not sure it’s possible to photograph browned ground lamb beautifully. You’ll just have to trust me and Madhur Jaffrey whose recipe this is – or maybe read the ingredients list. I love lamb in any preparation, but combined with garlic, ginger, coriander, cumin – that really gets my attention. Kheema matar tastes wonderful and the aroma is positively seductive. Adults and children will be very happy with this menu.

Don’t freak out about the length of the ingredients list for a mid week meal. Check it out: Once you’ve made this dish once – you’ll see how quickly it comes together. Here are all the ingredients laid out:


Really, how long could such a small amount of chopping possibly take? 10 minutes tops.

Kheema matar

for 4-6

  • 4 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1/2 medium sized onion (the size of a tennis ball) minced
  • 6 or 7 medium sized cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 1/2 pounds ground lamb
  • 3-4 tbsp grated fresh ginger
  • 1-2 hot green chilies (for children use 1 medium sized jalapeno, seeds and ribs removed; for adults or those who like spicier food use  1 or 2 serranos)
  • 1 tsp ground coriander (from a brand new jar or freshly ground!)
  • 1 tsp ground cumin seeds
  • 1/8-1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 10 ounces water, divided into 6 and 4 fl ounces respectively
  • 7 ounces frozen petite peas
  • 6 tbsp chopped cilantro
  • 1 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp garam masala (buy small amounts in the bulk section)
  • 1 1/2 tsp lemon or lime juice

Begin, by finely chopping the onion, garlic, chilies,and cilantro. Grate the ginger and squeeze the lemon juice. When chopping chilies, it is a good ideas to protect your hand by either wearing rubber gloves designated for the purpose (mine are labelled with indelible marker “beets and chilies”) or covering your hand with a plastic produce bag as shown below:

Keep the onions and garlic separate from the other ingredients as they will be added to the dish on their own. In one bowl, combine the fresh ginger, chilies, ground coriander, cumin and cayenne. In a second bowl, put the peas, chopped cilantro, salt, garam masala, lemon juice and 4 fl. ounces of water. Measure 6 ounces of water in a liquid measuring cup and set aside.

Heat the oil in a wide, heavy saute pan over medium high heat. When the oil shimmers, add the onion and fry until lightly browned. Add the garlic and stir until fragrant – about 30 seconds to 1 minute.

Add the lamb and the contents of the bowl containing the ginger, green chilies, ground coriander, cumin and cayenne. Stir to mix all the ingredients and brown the meat. I like to do this with a stainless steel wire potato masher – it is the best tool for the job. See?

Add the 6 ounces of water and raise the heat until the mixture is simmering. Cover and turn the heat to low. Simmer for 30 minutes.

While the lamb simmers, you may want to start some basmati rice and make the green beans. I also bought some naan and heated them in the oven and served some Greek yogurt (about 3/4 of a cup) into which I grated a small clove of garlic and stirred in a 1/2 tsp of sea salt.

When 30 minutes is up, add the contents of the bowl containing the peas, cilantro, salt, garam masala, lemon juice, and the 4 ounces of water. Stir and raise the heat, bringing to a simmer once again. Cook a further 10 minutes. Taste it – you may want more salt or lemon juice.

Serve with rice and steamed green beans. You may want to try the Spicy Green Beans also from Ms. Jaffrey. To be very authentic to her childhood dish, Ms. Jaffrey would have you include a fire-y lime pickle but I didn’t happen to have any.

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Fear of Frying: Kabocha Squash Tempura

Posted on November 8, 2010 | 3 comments

A few weeks ago, I consumed a completely embarrassing amount of the most crisp, succulent kabocha squash tempura at the home of some really lovely people who I don’t happen to know very well and who are excellent cooks. (I felt SO lucky to be included!) We were standing around in their kitchen sipping one of those apricot-floral half dry German wines and smacking on the crisp golden edges of this squash which had been finished with the light crunch of sea salt. I was utterly gluttonous – we all were. Afterwards we watched as they cleaned and cut geoduck into satiny sashimi. If you have never seen a geoduck at all, seeing one being cleaned will be quite a surprise for you – I’m not kidding! I was delighted to eat geoduck sashimi but I will gladly leave the prep to someone else. The tempura, however, inspired me to address my deep rooted fear of frying things at home.

It’s not that I’m afraid I’ll set the kitchen on fire and I’m fine with the clean-up. I do own the kind of thermometer that can go in searingly hot fat. And I’m not afraid of cooking with fat for health reasons – once or twice a year making french fries, who cares?

Here’s what it is: I don’t want to own a deep fat fryer (too big and messy and they only do that one thing) and I hate the idea of having to fiddle around with the stove the whole time to get the heat right. I imagine I would be irritated if the oil starts to smoke too much or if the batter is too heavy or if the oil is not hot enough. And if the food comes out leaden and greasy? – I would hate that. Or if we’re talking fried chicken, what if the outside is golden and crisp while the inside remains scarily raw? Yuck.

Fried food must be crisp, golden, light – nothing short of perfect – the first time out or I don’t want to have anything to do with it. There’s no rescuing a failure in frying. Yet, despite all my nervous notions, I decided to try to make tempura anyway. The memory of that delicious tempura drove me to it.

Kabocha has a very tough exterior

The most difficult thing was slicing the kabocha squash which has an extremely beautiful but leathery skin. In the interest of keeping it very simple and because our hosts at the dinner party used it, I decided to buy a box of tempura mix – just add water and stir – so the batter was a no-brainer. (hey, what kind of cooking blog is this anyway?) Our hosts shallow fried the tempura, so I did too. Not a big deal. Very simple. The clean-up was a breeze.

Guess what? Making tempura was easy! Nothing to quail over at all.

Kabocha Tempura

  • 1 Kabocha squash
  • 1 box tempura mix
  • sea salt
  • canola oil for frying


With the squash set on a stable cutting board, slice down through the center firmly and carefully. I cut right down through the stem. Once you manage to slice through the exterior, you can wedge the blade back and forth a bit and gently force the halves apart.

With a soup spoon, scrape out the seeds and guts of the squash which are very similar to a pumpkin.

Sliced and peeled kabocha

Cut the halves into slices 3/8″ thick, then peel off the skin. Chill the squash in the refrigerator

Prepare the tempura mix, following the instructions on the box. I found I had to thin mine quite a bit with water. It should be thinner than pancake batter, just barely clinging to the squash.

Film a 10″ heavy bottomed saute pan with a 1/4″ of canola oil and heat until shimmering over medium high heat. If the oil starts to smoke, remove from heat until smoking subsides.

Crisp and almost done

Dip 3-4 slices of squash into the tempura batter. CAREFULLY lay them in the hot oil with tongs. The squash should take 3 minutes per side. You can check as soon as the batter seems to set – it should be barely golden when finished. Flip when the underside is golden and continue to fry for another 3 minutes.

When both sides are golden, remove the tempura to a platter lined with paper towels and sprinkle with sea salt.

These are very fine with cocktails.

I think of this shallow fried tempura as the gateway project to a whole world of deep fried foods that until now have seemed unattainable to me because of my fear and impatience. Look out – fried chicken and samosas are just around the corner!

If you are interested, here is a link showing how to clean a geoduck:

How To Clean a Geoduck

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Carrot Cake

Posted on October 26, 2010 | 3 comments

I haven’t always been a fan of carrot cake. To say that I actively hate carrot cake would be untrue but I’ve never craved it. (To put it in context- if you asked me if I’d like a slice of Roasted Clementine and Chocolate Tart? Yes please, I’ll take one right now!) Carrot cake doesn’t call to me that way. The truth is, until this weekend,  I hadn’t even eaten a piece of carrot cake in over 20 years.

Why? The memory of those sticky, bloated, too sweet raisins for one thing. And those crummy little bits of walnut. I love walnuts. Walnut cake, walnut ice cream, toasted walnut halves with beets. Walnuts are the king of nuts and it kind of drives me nuts (yes really!) to see them in a supporting role.  Would Laurence Olivier take the role of a mere page?! I don’t think so. I wouldn’t put them in brownies or chocolate chip cookies either. Don’t even get me started on that Carrot Cake / Pineapple variation. I’m not totally sure where this prejudice came from. But guess what? It all changed for me last weekend.

When I was asked to make a carrot cake for a fall baby shower, I was nonplussed. How about Parsnip Cake? – I thought, or Persimmon Cashew Cakes?!  Carrot Cake? But I could make anything you want! No, carrot cake please! was the answer – it’s perfect because it’s fall. So I did a little reading. I read every one of my carrot cake recipes. (There are so many!) Of course there are variations beyond mere pineapple! Of course you can skip raisins. Of course you don’t have to gutter the walnuts.

For example, carrot cake can have coconut instead of walnuts, currants instead of raisins. The sometimes gloppy and heavy cream cheese frosting can lighten up with lemon rind and juice. One can make beautiful ribbons of carrot, candied in maple syrup to garnish that swath of now tart ivory frosting. When I began to change up the classic recipe, the process started to get really fun! This was no tired, old-fashioned, cafe carrot cake, getting stale under a glass dome. No. I borrowed a little of this and a little of that, combined recipes and, wow -I guess I love carrot cake! Enough like the original not to disappoint a traditionalist but irreverent enough to please an obsessive cake eater like me. Very pretty too.

I combined fragments from Joy of Cooking, the Weekend Baker by Abby Dodge, the Barefoot Contessa Parties by Ina Garten, and The New Best Recipe from Cooks Illustrated. The stole of toasted flaked coconut is me. Thanks to Maria for the nudge which dashed all my boring preconceived notions. What a fun project. And it was perfect because it’s fall.

Here’s what I did. All of the parts are fast and beyond easy.

Carrot Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Preheat oven to 350.

  • 1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
  • 1 c. sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp cloves
  • 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg (or ground if that is all you have)
  • 1/2 tsp ground allspice
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/3 c. vegetable oil
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 1/2 c. finely grated carrot
  • 1 cup shredded sweetened coconut
  • 1 cup currants
  1. Butter and flour (2) 9″ round cake tins.
  2. Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, allspice, and salt in a large bowl.
  3. Pour the vegetable oil into a 2 cup liquid measuring cup. Add the eggs. Whisk with a fork.
  4. Whisk the dry ingredients with the oil and eggs mixture until smooth.
  5. Fold in the carrots, coconut and currants until evenly combined.
  6. Divide the batter between the two cake pans and bake for 25-30 minutes.  Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then transfer to a cake rack to cool completely.

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting in the Food Processor

  • 12 ounces of cold cream cheese
  • 1 c. unsalted butter – can be cold, better at room temperature
  • 2 1/2 c. confectioners suger, measured then sifted.
  • 1/2 tsp table salt
  • 3 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 2 tsp finely grated lemon zest (a good job for a microplane grater)

Place all ingredients into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until evenly combined. You may have to scrape the bowl once or twice. Do not over-process.

Maple Candied Carrots

  • 1 cup of finely grated carrot
  • 2 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 3 tbsp maple syrup

Melt the butter in a medium sized heavy saute pan. Add the carrots and the maple syrup. Stir over medium high heat until the liquid is reduced and the carrots are glistening. You will see small candy bubbles on the side of the pan, browning slightly.  The whole process of cooking the carrots should take about 3 minutes. Turn all the carrots onto a paper towel lined plate and cool.

Toasted Coconut

  • 1 1/2 c. wide coconut shavings

  1. Preheat oven to 300.
  2. Spread 1 1/2 c. coconut in large roasting pan.
  3. Toast for 10-15 minutes stirring every 5 minutes. Watch for burning.
  4. Transfer coconut immediately to dinner plate to stop browning.
  5. When cool, store for up to 2 weeks in a tightly sealed container.

Assembling the cake

  1. In the center of a 10″ or larger flat plate, dab 2 tbsp of the frosting.
  2. Center one of the carrot cakes on the plate using the frosting as “glue” to hold it in place.
  3. Put 3/4 of a cup of the frosting on the cake and spread carefully up to the edge.
  4. Center the second cake on top. Then, using a scant 1/2 cup of frosting, carefully spread a very very thin layer of frosting all over the cake. This is called a crumb coat and it will keep the frosting crumb free ( Crumb-y frosting looks very messy.)
  5. Place the cake in the refrigerator for a half hour so that the crumb coat has a chance to set.
  6. Then proceed to frost the rest of the cake.
  7. Holding the cake over a roasting pan or a half sheet pan to catch the falling coconut, press handfuls of coconut gently into the frosting until the sides of the cake are completely covered.
  8. Take about 1/2 cup of the candied carrots and looking directing down over the top of the cake, heap the carrots artfully right in the center. Ta-da!

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Peas Pasta Ham and Cream

Posted on October 25, 2010 | 5 comments

Peas, Pasta, Ham and Cream. Sigh. I have made this so many times I have been dreading to write about it. I have to write about it though, because I can make it with my eyes closed. Also I always have all these ingredients on hand. Even the cream (or rather especially the cream). And my kids, dare I say all kids, like Peas Pasta Ham and Cream.

Once, there was an actual recipe that I followed in Marcella Hazan’s Marcella Cucina. In fact the first time I made this, we made the handmade garganelli (a homemade hand formed macaroni) as she recommended, used gorgeous leftover Christmas ham and ate it the day after Christmas with a really good Pinot.

Times have changed and the method has morphed accordingly. What we have now is a down and dirty last minute preparation that you can get on the table in the time it takes to boil the water and cook the pasta. I don’t think my fast version has lost too much credibility. Ok, it doesn’t have the carefully crafted (seemingly!) simple luxury of that post-Christmas meal of 12 years ago, but everybody likes this dish. At least at our house. And my sister’s house. In fact, I believe it was after I showed my sister how to make this that she said “You need to start a blog. I need more recipes like this and so do all my friends.”

Oh – and another thing: in my version you’ll only need one pot. So nice.

Peas Pasta Ham and Cream

This is a great dish to offer the sort of kids who only want to eat pasta with butter – it’s a kind of gateway dish to something more exotic.

It’s a good idea to keep frozen Petit Peas in the freezer at all times.

For an older baby, you can make this with orzo.

Asparagus makes a good variation – use the pencil thin variety and cut them into small pieces – add to the pasta water just as you would add the peas.

  • 3/4 lb pasta – any type will do but I like pipe rigate because the little pipes catch peas like crazy so kids are less likely to leave all the peas on the plate
  • 1 c. frozen petite peas – the regular kind are too mealy
  • 3/4 – 1 c. heavy cream
  • 1/4 lb thinly sliced ham (I like a Breton style ham. I might avoid a heavily smoked one. If you can get it, prosciutto cotto would be perfect)
  • Reggiano Parmesan (you could also use grana padano but do NOT use anything called cheese that comes out of a green tube –  that would be weird and wrong)
  • Sea salt and freshly ground (I prefer coarsely) black pepper
  1. Start a large saucepan of water, full to almost an inch away from the rim, over hight heat
  2. When the water is boiling add 2 tsp of salt and then the pasta. Stir thoroughly  – this isn’t really quite enough water to ensure that the pasta wont stick to itself. So stir it a couple of times as it cooks. Set the timer for 3 minutes less than it takes to cook the pasta.
  3. If you haven’t already, slice the ham cut into 1/4 inch ribbons and grate 3/4 cup of cheese plus more for serving. (I think the beauty of this dish is that the pasta cooking time is just the right amount of time to do slicing and grating)
  4. When the timer goes off, add the peas and set the timer for 3 minutes.
  5. Drain the peas and pasta in the colander and give them a good shake to get the excess water off.  Return them to the saucepan.
  6. Add the cream and turn up the heat, getting it to simmer and stirring all the time. Stir for 2 minutes or so until the cream coats the pasta and has thickened slightly. Remove the saucepan from the heat and toss in the 3/4 c. grated Parmesan and the ham.
  7. Grind some black pepper and sprinkle some sea salt over the top. Stir and taste, adjusting the seasoning as necessary – you may want more cheese, more pepper, who knows?
  8. Serve with a bowl of grated Parmesan on the side.

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Pear Cake with Cardamom

Posted on October 14, 2010 | 11 comments

‎”Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.” – George Eliot

Delicious quote. I’m not sure how I made it through my entire life never having heard it. (thanks Jackie T!)  Back to school, fall, the papery sounds of dry leaves and mucky sounds of wet ones – it all adds up to one thing for me: after school cake. If you’ve never baked a cake to eat on a sunny (or rainy!) fall afternoon, you should. One sweet, short, attainable project is a very satisfying thing. Also, it makes me very happy to see my kids come in the door, drop their backpacks and get that giddy look: Hey – it smells good in here!

An after school cake shouldn’t be a show-off cake or a time-consuming cake. There’s this dried apple cake from Cook’s Illustrated that I used to make all the time. But it’s kind of the overachiever type, and it is pretty fabulous, lush with apple flavor and a melting texture. Sad that it’s such a pain. You have to simmer the dried apples with cider until all the liquid is absorbed, then puree them with applesauce. Add the dry, then the wet, then the dry ingredients. A lot of rigmarole and dirty bowls. I think dragging out the food processor pushes me over the edge. It’s just an after school cake after all.

Then I had an epiphany in the form of Pear Cardamom Cake. It comes from a Swedish cookbook that is put out by one of the larger Swedish grocery stores – think Safeway. (As if Safeway could produce such a fantastic book – ha!) A Safeway cake is actually a fairly terrifying prospect. Pear Cake with Cardamom is another story.

Attitudes about baking come from a totally different place in Sweden. Swedes have a long baking tradition but unlike American bakers they bake without any angst. I have never encountered a Swedish recipe that requires sifting, alternating the wet and dry ingredients, simmering then pureeing. Often you can get away with one bowl. You could mix the whole thing with a fork. Which is what I like about this cake. Which is why I had to translate the recipe. A child could make this cake. An adult will love this cake. A delicious autumn and a happy fall.

Pear Cake with Cardamom

  • 1 stick of butter, melted
  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp brown sugar
  • 2-3 tsp cardamom – if your cardamom has been sitting around already ground up for awhile – add the larger amount;  freshly ground – 2 tsp should be enough
  • 1 egg
  • 3/4 c. + 2 tbsp milk
  • 2-3 ripe Bartlett pears (if they aren’t lusciously ripe – don’t even bother – just use a can of pears, in pear juice, drained then cut up) Peel them and cut them into 1/2″-3/4″  pieces.
  • fine fresh breadcrumbs from the heel of a loaf of sandwich bread or dried breadcrumbs from a box – about 1/2 cup
  • 2 tbsp slivered almonds
  • 2 tbsp pearl sugar

1.  Preheat oven to 350.

    Toasting breadcrumbs for the cake pan
    The prepared cake pan
    2.  If you are using fresh breadcrumbs, while the oven is preheating, put the crumbs in a 9 x 2 round springform cake pan and put it in the oven for 5 minutes or so – until they are dried out and crisp. Don’t burn them. When they are done, put them on a plate and let the pan cool off for 5 or 10 minutes. Then rub it with a tbsp of butter and toss the crumbs back in, turning the pan over the sink so the crumbs lightly coat the interior of the cake pan.
    3.  In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and cardamom with a fork.

    4.  Add the egg and milk and mix using the same fork.
    5.  Stir in the melted butter.
    Ripe Bartletts6.  Fold in the pears
    7.  Turn the batter into the prepared cake pan.
    8.  Toss the almonds and pearl sugar over the top.
    9.  Bake for 40-45 minutes and cool on a rack with the sides of the pan loosened but not removed.

    This cake can be eaten warm – I would wait about 20 minutes once it comes out of the oven.

    If you have no IKEA nearby or if you hate to go there, here is a link to order pearl sugar: Lars Own Swedish Pearl Sugar

    I hate to write an “Easy” recipe with a sort of obscure ingredient but it is a truly easy cake and the crunch that the pearl sugar provides – you just can’t duplicate it easily with other sugar products. The almonds + the sugar = very satisfying crunch.

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    Surf and Turf. My way.

    Posted on May 17, 2010 | 5 comments

    Surf n’ turf makes me think of Outback Steakhouse or Olive Garden – not that I’ve ever been to either place; I can only surmise. As much as I like steak and shrimp, I have to ask: isn’t it kind of over the top having them both at once? And yet, it was Sunday and we had a too small steak in the freezer and coming back from a soccer game, we just happened to pass Mutual Fish where they always have something I want. Right in front in a big plastic tub of ice chips were a heap of rosy pink shrimp. Surf and Turf? I  guess so.

    Sometimes Sunday is a good day to make a huge elaborate meal like spaghetti bolognese – the 4 hour long Marcella Hazan version – or a Roast Chicken with Bread Salad, like the one Judy Rogers makes at Zuni Cafe.  Today was a napping Sunday – a day where the weather threatens to rain but it never quite does and it’s too warmly muggy outside. I fought it all afternoon and then at about 4:30 I just wanted to go to sleep and I did.  Waking up on the couch bleary eyed and sleepy at 5:15, I dreaded pulling dinner together.

    I was fortunate though in two ways: 1. I had that small thick steak and a pound of large shrimp waiting in the refrigerator. Also a bag of arugula – that was key. 2. I fell asleep perusing Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. When I woke up at 5:15 I began flipping through hoping for easy and wonderful and I found something right away – lucky me. Although it’s hardly surprising. Somehow Ms. Hazan always perks me up. I get curious. I want to do the right thing. I hope she would approve. I want to get to work. Not too much work in this case. We were eating by 6:15.

    Here is what I found:

    Grilled Shrimp Skewers & La Fiorentina.

    Shrimp and steak? It could be predictable and pedestrian. Here – I don’t think so. I haven’t ever seen shrimp prepared with breadcrumbs on the grill. The breadcrumbs became wonderfully crisp and the large shrimp were moist, flavorful and tender. The recipe is so straightforward, and because the shrimp were large they took no time to clean. I do have to admit the Fiorentina was just for inspiration. My humble steak was no Chianina T-bone. The truth is, salt, pepper and olive oil are all a good piece of beef really needs. For this menu, aside from the shrimp and the steak, all of the other ingredients you might reasonably have on hand. It’s the method that kicks it. That is what I love about Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. There aren’t any culinary acrobatics. Although the meal was composed of simple ingredients using simple techniques – I made something we all loved  – there wasn’t a scrap left!

    Sunday Menu

    • Grilled Shrimp Skewers
    • Grilled Beef
    • Arugula with olive oil and lemon – as a bed for the beef and shrimp
    • Grilled Asparagus
    • Red Quinoa with Sea Salt, olive oil and garlic (If you didn’t have quinoa, a rustic loaf of bread would be perfect. If I had had one in the house – that would have been my first choice. Less messy too.)

    Grilled Shrimp Skewers

    • 1 lb large shrimp – about 15-18
    • 3 tbsp olive oil
    • 1/3 cup dried bread crumbs (I make these when I have a few heels of soft sandwich bread and dry them out on a sheet pan in a 200 F oven for about 1/2 an hour)
    • 1 small clove of garlic chopped very fine
    • 1 heaping tsp parsley, chopped fine
    • Salt and pepper – freshly ground
    • A lemon sliced in eighths for squeezing
    • 5-6 short skewers – soaked in water
    1. Remove the shells from the shrimp and slice down their backs to remove the dark line. Leave their tails on – they look pretty.
    2. Rinse the shrimp in cold water in a colander and dry thoroughly with a towel.
    3. Place shrimp in a medium sized bowl. Pour the olive oil over the  shrimp – just to coat.  Don’t go overboard. You don’t have to use all of it.
    4. Sprinkle on the bread crumbs, evenly but lightly all over. Toss with a spoon. You may not need all of the bread crumbs depending on the size of your shrimp. Don’t make them look breaded with a gloppy coating. Sprinkle with a light hand.
    5. Add the garlic, parsley, salt and pepper and toss until evenly distributed.  Let them sit on the counter now for at least 20 minutes – you could leave them there for up to two hours.
    6. Set the grill to direct medium (or heat the broiler in your oven) 15 minutes before you want to cook the shrimp.
    7. Thread the shrimp on the skewers in even curls, piercing each shrimp twice, as seen in the photo below:
    8. Cook the shrimp on the grill for a few minutes per side – until they feel firm.  In the oven set them close to the heat. 1 1/2 or 2 minutes per side.
    9. Serve hot. The small squirt of lemon made this dish just right.

    Steak in the Style of La Fiorentina

    Somebody somewhere in Tuscany would certainly want to have words with me after this Fiorentina travesty. I know Tuscans take this steak preparation very seriously and would hate me throwing around “La Fiorentina” on some random cut of meat.  Also the idea that I would serve something so rare, luxurious, and symbolic of Tuscan cooking with…shrimp!?!?!  You’ll just have to bear with me. Anyway, even if I wanted a Chianina T-bone, they’re few and far between even in Tuscany. Today I went with a steak that Martin picked up, which the butcher at Whole Foods called “chateaubriand”.

    I am not nearly as knowledgeable as I would like to be about these matters, but even I know that Chateaubriand refers to a preparation of beef, not a cut. Whatever it was, it was not a T-bone – maybe it was a sirloin. It was fine.  Since I can’t tell you what exactly the cut was that I grilled tonight,  I will tell you how to make a flank steak in the Fiorentina style. (I have done this before and I know that it tastes wonderful.) To prepare a flank steak Fiorentina-style, grill the meat over very hot coals to get a deeply caramelized exterior and keep it rather bloody inside.  Salt and pepper are the only flavoring before grilling and olive oil dresses the meat afterwards.  I suppose I am committing further heresy as I serve mine on a bed of lightly dressed arugula with olive oil and lemon.  The arugula wilts just enough under the hot grilled beef and is completely delicious – bitter, salty and lemony with the mineraly meat juices further dressing it. The flavors remind me of the first time I had carpaccio.


    Grilled Flank Steak in the Fiorentina Style

    (with a nod to my good friend Lee, who introduced me to the arugula salad underneath!)

    • 1 – 1 1/4 lbs flank steak, about 1″ thick
    • kosher salt or coarsely ground sea salt
    • coarsely ground black pepper
    • fruity-sharp green olive oil – for dressing afterwards not before
    • 3-4 big handfuls of washed and dried arugula – I get the bag of wild arugula from Trader Joe’s when I am too tired to wash a real bunch.
    • 1 lemon cut in half
    • a very hot grill
    1. Bring the beef to room temperature by unwrapping it and letting it sit at room temperature for 20-30 minutes.
    2. Heat the grill on high.
    3. Generously salt and pepper the steak.
    4. Grill for 8-10 minutes flipping once half way through the cooking time.
    5. While the meat is grilling, toss the arugula with olive oil, salt and pepper and place on a large serving platter.
    6. The meat is done when it reaches 145 F on a meat thermometer. Allow the beef to rest uncovered for 5 or 10 minutes on a cutting board. Slice thinly and lay over dressed arugula. Squeeze the lemon half over the top.
    7. While the meat is resting grill the shrimp and the asparagus – the asparagus takes 6-8 minutes unless you have pencil-slim ones – which you should start checking after 4 minutes.

    If Ms. Hazan were here she would certainly give me a talking to. Oh well.

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    Not Falafel…

    Posted on May 14, 2010 | Leave a comment

    For the record this was a crazy menu to attempt on crazy Thursday. Again. But it didn’t have to be…

    Why did I decide to make pita bread from scratch on a Thursday? You have to stand there in front of a 500F oven whipping willfully floppy pieces of dough into the oven on a peel. When I read the recipe, it seemed that I thought that 3 minutes per pita “was all the time it would take”. Three minutes does sound really fast but you have to take into account all the dancing around in front of a hot oven x 10! And all the baking occurred at the last possible minute. Oops. It was my first time really working a peel and I probably shouldn’t have tried pita my first time out. The dough was all over the place. I was all over the place.

    But pita was not even the real goal for dinner tonight. I have been craving falafel. Good ones, not the tooth breaking rocks that masquerade as falafel at most places in Seattle (beware the Whole Foods take-out counter). Also, even though I know that real falafel are made with ground soaked dried chickpeas that haven’t been cooked (at least not until they meet their maker in the deep fat fryer) I wanted to make some kind of falafel with cooked canned chickpeas because that would be so fast, so perfect for crazy Thursday. Something you could make even if you forgot to soak the beans. Something that didn’t have to be deep fried. Without the homemade pita bread and the sauce (I didn’t tell you about the sauce yet) this would have been an easy night actually. Those chickpea patties, even though they were nothing at all like real falafel (what were they thinking, calling them “falafel” over there at Fine Cooking?), were still really good.

    The kitchen looked like hell (and felt like it too because of the very hot oven) afterwards and I was a little worse for wear but this was a great meal. If falafel made with canned chickpeas are nothing like a real falafel and are more like the ladies-who-lunch item from the fifties – the croquette – who cares? Since we’ve been trying to eat fewer meat dishes and the kids liked them even though they’ve never had them before – that’s success in my book. So what if only one of the pita breads (the one I photographed) puffed up. Dinner was delicious.

    Here’s what I would do, in retrospect:

    1. Even though fresh pita is impressive and fun (did I mention that also it is completely delicious?!) – just buy some and warm them up in a low oven, well-wrapped in foil.
    2. Buy tahini sauce. I will tell you how I made it in case it isn’t available in a store nearby, but I am still looking for the perfect recipe and this one was NOT it. I would have it creamier – the flavor was still very very good though.
    3. If you haven’t replaced your spices in the last six months, do buy fresh ground coriander and cumin. Compared to the grubby old coriander I had been using for years (confession!) the new bottle of ground coriander was a revelation! – all lemon-y and herbaceous. Yum.

    Here is a photograph of the finished “falafel” which, as I have mentioned, look and taste nothing like real falafel but are still pretty good anyway:

    Falafel Sandwich

    • 2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
    • 4 tbsp olive oil + more for saute
    • 2 tsp ground cumin
    • 1 tsp ground coriander
    • 1/4 c. cilantro leaves
    • 1/4 c. flat leaf parsley leaves
    • 2 tsp sea salt
    • 1 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
    • 1/2 red onion cut into small pieces
    • 1 cup dry breadcrumbs
    • Sesame seeds (optional)
    • 4 (6″) pita breads, warmed

    The Salad

    • 1-2 romaine hearts, washed and torn into bite sized pieces
    • 1 1/2 cups small cherry tomatoes
    • 1/4 of a large red onion, thinly sliced
    • 1/2 English cucumber, peeled and sliced
    • a handful of flat leaf parsley leaves
    • 4 oz feta, crumbled (optional)
    • 10 pitted kalamata olives, quartered (optional)

    The Dressing

    • 6 tbsp olive oil
    • 3 1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar
    • 1 garlic clove, minced
    • 1/2 tsp kosher salt
    • 1/2 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
    1. Preheat oven to 425 F.
    2. Pulse chickpeas, olive oil, cumin, coriander, cilantro, flat leaf parsley, salt and pepper, onion and breadcrumbs until it becomes a chunky mass. Try forming a 2 inch ball into a small patty. If the mixture is still too crumbly, add a tablespoon or two more of the breadcrumbs. Form about a dozen 2 1/2″ patties. If you like, spray lightly with olive oil and lightly sprinkle the top and bottom with sesame seeds. Set aside.
    3. Make the salad dressing by combining the olive oil, vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper. Whisk.
    4. Place all other salad ingredients in a large salad bowl or on a large platter.
    5. In a large non-stick pan, heat 2-3 tbsp olive oil over medium high heat.
    6. Place medium sized heat proof platter or plate in the oven.
    7. Without crowding, place as many patties into the oil as you can. Brown 2-3 minutes per side to get a nice brown crust.
    8. As you complete the browning, place the patties on the platter in the oven.
    9. When all the patties are done, toss the salad.
    10. Take the patties, the pitas and the salad to the table.
    11. Everyone can assemble their own food as it pleases them.

    Here is the recipe for the imperfect but still acceptable sauce:

    Tahini Sauce

    1/3 c. tahini (I like the Joyva brand and I hate the Maranatha brand – although to be fair their peanut butter butter is my favorite!)

    • 1/3 cup water
    • 1/4 cup lemon juice
    • 1/2 tsp salt
    • 2 garlic cloves, minced
    • (full fat Greek yogurt)
    1. Blend all ingredients in a liquid measuring cup with a fork.

    This makes a very runny dressing which I thickened only moderately successfully with a large dollop of full fat Greek yogurt. I will work on this and get back to you.

    Here is the photo of the one successful pita. I believe the trick to getting them to puff is to roll them out very thinly before the second rise – a scant 1/4 ” and no more.

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    Impress your friends: Popovers

    Posted on May 9, 2010 | 7 comments

    Last night I was having dinner with some accomplished, double degree, articulate, well read, savvy, thoughtful, funny women who confessed to me that popovers, mere popovers, might be their undoing in the kitchen. “Too difficult. Aren’t they deep fried?” one said when I tried to describe how easy they are. “You must cook all the time.” (Okay – I do cook all the time – but that is so beside the point.)

    I totally get it. How do you get them to puff up like that?  Is it yeast?  Are they deep fried?  They must be terribly unhealthy. No, no and no.

    I guess I should have covered popovers before I covered Dutch Babies and Toad-in-the-Hole. You see Popovers are basic. SO easy. They fill in the gap of an otherwise boring meal. Lentil soup becomes quite sophisticated with a popover cozied up alongside. Popovers are a quick and easy answer to a hot dinner roll. They give you an excuse, should you be looking for one, to use honey or jam as a condiment at the dinner table. When I tell you the recipe you won’t believe how easy they are. Everyone will think you’re a culinary genius.

    Check it out:

    Popovers

    makes 12

    5 minutes to mix up, 35 minutes in the oven.

    • 1 1/4 c milk
    • 2 eggs
    • 1 tbsp melted butter (put it in a microwave safe bowl and heat for 30 seconds)
    • 1 cup flour
    • 1/2 tsp salt
    1. Preheat the oven to 450 F.
    2. Spray a 12 muffin tin or a popover pan thoroughly with canola oil. You want your popovers to fall easily from the pan.
    3. In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk the milk and eggs together. Stir in the melted butter. Set aside.
    4. In a medium sized bowl, whisk the flour and salt.
    5. Pour the milk, eggs and butter mixture into the flour and salt. Whisk until fully incorporated; allow a few lumps though. Don’t be too thorough.
    6. Using a ladle, divide the batter equally between the muffin cups. They will be about half full.
    7. Bake for 15 minutes and then turn down the heat to 350 F and bake for another 20 minutes. DO NOT PEEK until the last 5 minutes. The popovers should be nicely browned and crisp.
    8. When they are done, turn them out onto a wire rack and pierce them a little bit with a sharp knife to let the steam out. (so they stay crisp)

    Even though I have made popovers many times, I am still irrationally surprised at how they puff. It’s a small miracle and I have no idea what the science is behind it. And that is just fine with me.

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    Taco Night

    Posted on May 6, 2010 | Leave a comment

    Mexican Fiesta. To me, it sounds like the theme for a suburban street party. When I go visit my brother Matt and his wife Ariela in California though, he makes what my friend Candice calls Mexican Fiesta for dinner. Hands down this is the most versatile menu there is. Mexican Fiesta can be anything from a simple cheese quesadilla to the works: grilled skirt steak and chicken, pico de gallo, guacamole, black beans and more. What I love to do is sit in the sun at my brother’s house, lazily scooping up fresh guacamole with a pepper jack cheese quesadilla and a cold beer, watching our kids play. And I love it even more when he goes all out with grilled steak, chicken or fish and the beans and condiments and I can build as many different combinations on corn tortillas as I can imagine.

    Not only is this kind of  food very fresh and gorgeous to look at, it also has the advantage of scalability. The meal can easily be made for 1 or 2 people or 40 without any real headaches. You can make all of the components from scratch and make everyone you invited feel like they want to move in with you or you can buy most of the parts pre-made at Trader Joe’s and you’ll still have a very satisfying very quick meal. Vegetarians, vegans, meat eaters, dieters and even picky children are all easily accommodated and no matter what, dinner still tastes good. You can’t really go wrong.

    Here is the ultimate menu, the one I like to make for celebrating something. If I had the time or if the avocados were always as ripe and delicious as they were yesterday – I would always make it this way.  For a meal that tastes this lavish and feels this festive – it’s hardly any work at all.

    Menu

    • Grilled Skirt Steak with one of the rubs my brother and his wife make for us for Christmas – medium rare
    • Cumin and Coriander Black Beans
    • My brother Matt’s recipe for guacamole
    • Quick Pickled Onions
    • Grated Pepper Jack
    • Grated Monterey Jack
    • Medium and Hot Salsa – like pico de gallo (I would buy this.  Since I’ve had kids I don’t make salsa)
    • Marie Sharps Habanero Sauce (another tip from Matt)
    • Fresh Cilantro Leaves
    • Limes
    • Warm Corn Tortillas – search out the kind that are made of corn, lime and water – nothing else

    I made this menu last night for some very good friends who are taking off this weekend on a sail across the Pacific ocean.  They’ll be at sea almost a month before they see land and fresh food, so I wanted to send them off with the memory of something really fresh, made from scratch.

    Making this dinner is such a pleasure. The work really pays off.  I love that when I’m done preparing the food I have all these bowls filled with bright colors. The red flecked green guacamole, the confetti of the pico de gallo, bright pink ribbons of pickled onion with a deep red chile nestled just there, the steaming coriander scented black beans in a bright blue bowl, the wedges of translucent limes in a glass bowl, a plate of ruffled cilantro, slivers of creamy cheese in yellow bowls and (and this is probably not for everyone but I LOVE this part) the ragged slices of red skirt steak,with their deeply browned and smoky exterior on a butcher block cutting board. Finally the toasted warm scent of corn tortillas. The smell of all those things together – sharp and smoky and spicy and citrusy. Yum.

    If you are in a hurry though, the guacamole can be gotten from Trader Joe’s refrigerator case (the plain one is better – trust me), you could heat up black beans straight from the can (please rinse them first!), skip the pickled onions, one of the cheeses, the Marie Sharp’s and the cilantro and call it a day.  It would still be a really great meal.  Also if your guests don’t eat meat or if you want to have variety, grilled chicken, fish or shrimp would be wonderful instead of or in addition to the skirt steak. Or just have a big bowl of black beans. The endless possibilities!

    Dry Rubbed Skirt Steak

    Serves 4

    • 1 1/2 lbs skirt steak
    • 1 tsp chili powder
    • 1 tsp dry garlic
    • 1/2 tsp paprika
    • 1/2 tsp ground coriander
    • 1/2 tsp ground cumin
    • 1 tsp kosher salt
    • Canola oil spray
    1. Mix all dry ingredients together in a small bowl and rub all over skirt steak.
    2. Let sit at room temperature for 1/2 an hour.
    3. Spray all over the skirt steak lightly with canola oil. Grill over high heat for a TOTAL of 5 minutes – turning half way through.
    4. Allow meat to rest on a cutting board for 5 minutes before slicing thinly across the grain.  If you like your meat quite bloody you could grill it for 3 minutes total. I no longer like mine that rare.

    “Matt’s Awesome Guacamole” (with Matt’s excellent and illuminating directions)

    Serves 4

    Guacamole is three things: Avos, lime and salt. Lime and salt are pretty consistent but a good avo, either Haas or Fuerte , is hard to find, and is truly at the core of good guac. You can have a great recipe and bad avos and the guac’s bad. Or you can have a lousy recipe, and great avos and the guac’s great. So first and foremost, get some good avos.  Buen provecho!

    • 2 avocados
    • 2 tsp lime juice
    • salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
    • shake of cayenne
    • 1/2 medium sized tomato, diced
    • 1/2 small clove of garlic, finely chopped
    • splash of hot sauce (preferably Marie Sharp’s)
    • One small handful of cilantro, coarsely chopped

    You will benefit from a knife, a spoon and a fork in the making of guacamole. Knife to slice and chop. Spoon to remove the avo from the peel. (Don’t pre-dice, take out whole halves from the skin if possible) Fork to mix ingredients.  Throw all the ingredients into a bowl, and mix. Leave it smooth, but with some nice buttery slabs of avo too. Serve with a bowl of tortilla chips, a quesadilla or as a topping on a taco.

    Cumin and Coriander Black Beans

    Serves 4

    • 3 tbsp olive oil
    • 1/2 onion, finely diced
    • pinch of red chile flakes
    • 2 small cloves garlic, minced
    • 1 tsp ground coriander
    • 1 tsp ground cumin
    • kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
    • 2 cans of black beans drained and rinsed
    1. Heat the olive oil in a medium sauté pan over medium heat.
    2. Add the diced onion and cook until softened, 3-5 minutes.
    3. Add the garlic, chile flakes, cumin and coriander and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute.
    4. Add the black beans and stir until warmed thoroughly. Add salt and pepper to taste.

    Quick Pickled Onions

    These onions are new. In fact, I found the recipe yesterday and I can’t believe I have lived my whole taco eating life without making them. I didn’t take pictures of the food last night because I wanted to focus on my friends, but believe me when I tell you, these onions are gorgeous and tangy and spicy and ravishing and delicious. And so quick and straight forward to make you have no excuse not to try.

    • 3/4 c. white vinegar (the pickling kind – not fancy white wine vinegar)
    • 3 tbsp sugar
    • 5 allspice berries
    • 5 cloves
    • 1 bay leaf
    • 1 dried red chile
    • 1 red onion, thinly sliced; not insanely thin, as in sliced with a mandolin so you could read the newspaper through them but as thin as possible with a knife (hopefully a sharp 8″ chef’s knife)
    1. In a medium sized non-reactive saucepan mix the vinegar, sugar, allspice, cloves, bay leaf and red chile.
    2. Set the heat to medium high and simmer for 3 minutes.
    3. Add the sliced onion and toss until combined. Then simmer for 30 seconds.
    4. Place in serving dish and chill.

    My next project is to learn how to make my own corn tortillas. Obviously these would be for the ultimate version of this menu although from what I have heard they are not too über-chef for a regular old home cook like me!  I’ll let you know.

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    Not in Paris … sigh: The Club Sandwich and Curried Chicken Salad

    Posted on May 2, 2010 | Leave a comment

    Last week I was supposed to be in Paris. Taking the Metro, ambling through the Marais, eating macaron at Ladurée, ascending the escalator to the rooftop terrace of the Pompidou. When the volcano in Iceland started to erupt, I never thought it would affect me! I should have known. The last time I tried to go to Paris, the flight was scheduled for the day after 9/11. Maybe next time I plan to travel, I’ll try Rome.

    Anyway, missing my trip wasn’t so bad – not at all. I met my friends in Sonoma instead. I think any Parisian worth their fleur de sel would give their eye teeth to spend a week in Sonoma, particularly in the spring. The produce, the bakeries, the farm fresh eggs – all produced by people who are passionate about what they are making and growing. I was really lucky.

    I had some wonderful food last week but the most memorable was this appetizer I had at the Girl and the Fig. Sadly, I didn’t take a photo. Since I didn’t, imagine this: a shatteringly crisp raft of naturally leavened bread, browned in butter and olive oil topped with satiny deep pink slices of prosciutto and charred asparagus. A very fresh egg, also browned in butter, aloft. I have to repeat – this was an incredibly fresh egg – like laid 5 minutes ago – that fresh. Glittering fleur de sel and cracked pepper scattered over and around. And here’s the kicker. I’m not totally sure what it was really – they called it truffle vinaigrette – yet it was so emulsified it was thicker than mayonnaise. To me, it tasted like truffle butter, perfectly softened. Lying casually, one might say beige-ly, on the side of the plate, this truffle-y cream; a stealthily delicious taste to paint with the tip of your knife onto each bite. There might have been a drop of lemon there. The whole thing pushed me over the edge. I talked about it for several days afterwards.

    Honestly, I thought I was over truffles. I don’t know who I thought I was kidding.

    Even though the dish was very simple, it was the forthright presentation of the ingredients, the lack of showy sauces and transformative techniques; it was so utterly artless, so completely of the season, so fresh. I was knocked out.

    I might need to get my own chicken.

    After the week away, cooking felt really chore-ish when I got home. So I made sandwiches. So it wasn’t really cooking. Two kinds since Wednesday. We had club sandwiches then curried chicken. Sandwiches were how I got back to the routine.

    Club Sandwiches

    A Club Sandwich is incredibly easy to make – you just need to channel an assembly line mentality and you can crank them out quickly. I wish I had those ruffled toothpicks every time I make these.

    serves 4

    • 12 slices of sandwich bread – toasted (I like multi grain)
    • 8 slices thick cut bacon, browned until crisp
    • 8 slices chicken or 1 breast of chicken, grilled and sliced very thinly
    • 2 hothouse tomatoes, sliced thinly
    • 16 slices of English cucumber, sliced thinly (optional but highly recommended by me!)
    • 8 leaves of romaine, washed and dried
    • mayonnaise ( I like the Trader Joe’s brand)
    • toothpicks (if you can get ruffled ones – go for them)

    The layers go like this:

    On the bottom: Slice of bread with mayonnaise, topped with lettuce then chicken

    In the middle: Slice of bread with mayonnaise, topped with lettuce, tomato, cucumber and bacon – Sprinkle the cucumber and tomato with salt and pepper

    On the top: Slice of bread, bottom spread with mayonnaise.

    Hold all layers in place with a toothpick.

    If you are feeling fancy you could cut the crusts off. I never do this.

    Curried Chicken Salad

    for 2 generously

    Most chicken salad connoisseurs would have you gently poach a chicken breast so that the meat can be shredded before being tossed in lemony mayonnaise. They say that the meat soaks up the dressing better that way and that the shredded meat makes for the best texture. That’s fine. I have made chicken salad that way before and it is exemplary. Sometimes though, I have leftover grilled chicken and with that I like to make curried chicken salad – which is what we had on Friday for lunch. The grilled flavor is set off nicely by the curry powder and I am reminded of tandoori chicken which I love.

    • 1 leftover grilled chicken breast, torn into bite sized pieces or cut into 1/2″ chunks
    • 1/3 c. mayonnaise
    • 1 stick of celery cut into 1/4″ dice
    • 1 green onion, minced
    • 1 tbsp lemon juice
    • 1 tbsp minced cilantro (or parsley – but only as a last resort because cilantro is so perfect with curry)
    • 1 tsp curry powder – I like the pondicherry from the Whole Foods label
    • 3 tbsp raisins
    • 1 1/2 tsp honey
    • salt and pepper

    Toss all ingredients together in a medium sized bowl until well combined. Serve on toasted bread on which, if you are feeling cavalier, you have spread even more mayonnaise. Often I serve this with sliced cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce in a sandwich. Friday I was lucky I had the energy to even put it on toast.


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