Check out this slide-show at The Huffington Post. Pretty interesting. I’ve had 4 items on the list and would say that Saffron is probably the most “important” to our cooking. Good thing a few strands go a long way.

Hey y’all!

So, I think I have drafted this post three different times now.  With each draft, time just slipped away from me and what I’d written was no longer relevant.

For instance, the I began this post while I was writing a term paper for High Tech Marketing on the adoption of Electronic Medical Records…who can spell FUN!?!  The next time I started to write this post, it was the beginning of my fall “break” and time ended up getting away from me.  We call it a break at school because that makes everyone feel a little better about how hard we are working.  However, I will tell you that during my break I was on campus twice for school projects and at work for a couple of days as well.  Even with all of that going on I had so much fun this break – which is why time slipped away from me!

First, I found a local carniceria in Boulder where they sell pork hocks!!  This was a huge feat (no pun intended).  My mom and I have looked for pork hocks for some time to no avail.  In the South we use pork hocks for flavoring black-eyed-peas, field peas, and green beans.  Can you spell YUM?!?  After I met Mike I learned that he and his family regularly eat and make something similar to head cheese (which is something that we also eat in the south) called studenina.  The main difference is that his family uses pork hocks instead of pig head.   So, you can just imagine how happy we both were to have found a shop in Boulder – not the easiest town in which to find this type of food.  You better believe we made studenina.  I will share that recipe with you later when we have it perfected!  But in the meantime, here’s a picture:

Next, we ate deliciousness at our friend’s house for Turkey Day as I’m sure you all did.  As if we didn’t have enough food at Thanksgiving, the next day we ate the following: Egg McMuffin meal, Mexican food for lunch, moules frites for dinner, followed by a late night samosa for a snack.  I ended up in the ER that night with what I think was my third gallbladder attack.  Ha!  The last time this happened to me, I was eating a deep fried peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  A little tip for you: If you think you have a diseased gallbladder (usually runs in the family) you can always test it out by eating some really fatty food….just make sure to have some good pain meds on hand!

The day after my attack, we got a Christmas tree and decorated the house and made some Indian food with mom.  Today, I finally just sat down to finish this post and realized that I have to start over for a third time.  And so, for my third attempt I have shared the joys (and pains) with you of my lovely break.

As a digression, I must interrupt myself to make a delicious sandwich which I don’t have pictures of but I will share the recipe with you:

Rachael’s Sandwich-Inspired by my favorite ingredients

Ingredients:
1 poached egg
1 piece of Canadian Bacon
2 Tablespoons of goat cheese
1/2 avocado sliced
2 slices of your favorite sandwich bread
a little salt and pepper
your favorite hot sauce (optional)

1.  Toast your sandwich bread and spread the goat cheese on one piece
2.  Heat up a piece of Canadian Bacon (microwave is fine for 25 seconds) and put on the other piece of bread
3.  Put your sliced avocado on the Canadian Bacon side of the sandwich
4.  Put your poached egg on top of the goat cheese side….the cheese helps to grip the slippery egg and keeps it from sliding
5.  Add salt, pepper, and hot sauce to taste if you like
6.  Close the sandwich and enjoy!

Do you need a tip on poaching eggs?
I learned this from Mike.  Crack the raw egg in a coffee cup.  Fill a frying pan with enough water to cover an egg (about 3 inches) and about 2 tablespoons of white vinegar.  Bring the water to a boil and turn off as soon as it reaches a boil.  Then dip the cup (with the egg) in the water sideways (as if you were trying to scoop water out with the cup)and slowly release the egg.  Once you have released all of your egg into the poaching water, cover with a lid for about 8 minutes or so.  Use a slotted spoon to remove the egg from the water, blot with a paper towel, and you should have a perfect poached egg.

Back to the Soup
It would be a crime to write a post without some lovely pictures and so, back to the original intent of this post: a delicious soup that I make often.  I call it Carrot and Corn Soup. Very original, I know. I like to share this soup with others because I think it’s comforting, easy to make, easy to freeze, cheap and full of ingredients that you probably have around your house (aside from a couple of the spices).  Great for fall or winter, I based this recipes on several others that I have either tried or read about.

Carrot and Corn Soup
1 bag of carrots peeled and cut in half
8 ears of corn shucked, and boiled and cut off the cobs. (If corn isn’t in season, you can use a bag of frozen corn)
1 shallot peeled and diced
1 large onion peeled and diced
salt and pepper
1-2 tablespoons of olive oil
1-2 of those 48 oz cartons of chicken broth…probably only one and then if you need to add a little more you can always use some bouillon cubes and water
1/2 to 1 whole tablespoon of saffron
1/2 to 1 whole tablespoon of yellow curry powder

First prepare your ingredients with a mise-en-place:

Mise-en-place

Next saute your onions, shallots, and corn together in some olive oil:

Meanwhile boil your carrots for about 10 minutes:

Then add some broth and your saffron and curry to your corn, shallots, and onions:

Next, puree your corn mixture and carrots.  I use my processor but you could use a blender.  You will probably have to do this in several batches:

Lastly, mix together in your pot and serve.  It’s also nice (although I didn’t do it this time) if you fry up some prosciutto or pancetta and sage to serve on top!

Happy eating!

]]> http://thetastebudz.wordpress.com/2009/11/29/challenge-5-meat-breyani/ Sun, 29 Nov 2009 17:23:41 +0000 zee01 http://thetastebudz.wordpress.com/2009/11/29/challenge-5-meat-breyani/ http://spatulaspoonandsaturday.wordpress.com/2009/11/29/a-most-excellent-rogan-josh-and-saffron-rice/ Sun, 29 Nov 2009 10:04:55 +0000 Kat http://spatulaspoonandsaturday.wordpress.com/2009/11/29/a-most-excellent-rogan-josh-and-saffron-rice/

Book: Food Safari by Maeve O’Meara (recipe by Kumar Mahadevan) Theme: Indian Recipe: Rogan Josh

This week flew, didn’t it? The Cookbook Challenge Week 2 theme is Indian. I have been itching to buy myself an Indian cookbook as I love making Indian food but never really got around to it. The Food Safari book is the companion to the Food Safari series (which I love and have on DVDs despite not having a functional TV at home). It has amazing recipes – which better still can be watched individually on the SBS Food website.

This recipe is such a winner. It’s spicy, and oniony and meaty. The lamb was just so soft and rich. We have a bit of love for this Kashmiri specialty in our house because Josh orders a rogan josh when he is out of ideas at Indian restaurants simply because of its name. We amazingly enough never made it at home. I told Josh the night before about the idea of making rogan josh for the Cookbook Challenge and came home to find that he had defrosted the lamb chops, bought some tomatoes and fennel seeds and already made a start on chopping up the onions so I ended up backseat-cooking and helping him chopping things instead. He did most of the cooking.

We tweaked the recipe a little bit due to availability of ingredients – substituting here and there. But the full recipe, including a video, is available on the SBS Food site.

Rogan Josh (serves 4)

1. 1/2 kg lamb loin chops (about 4-5), bone removed, excess fat trimmed (keep some) and cut into cubes
2. 1/2 kg red onions (about 3 large ones), sliced
3. 1 tsp of salt
4. 2 bay leaves (we used fresh but I’m sure dried is the norm)
5. 1 tsp of cloves
6. 1/2 tbsp of green cardamon pods
7. 1 piece of cinnamon quill
8. 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
9. 1 fresh bird’s eye chilli, halved lengthwise (keep the stem)
10. 2 tbsp of jarred ginger and garlic paste *
11. 1 fresh large ripe tomato, chopped
12. 2 tsbp of tomato paste
13. 1/2 tsp tumeric powder
14. 1/2 tsp chilli powder
15. 1 1/2 tsp of ground coriander
16. 2 tsbp of fresh coriander leaves, chopped

Heat a bit of oil in a frying pan and add dried whole spices: bay leaves, cloves, cardamon pods, fennel seeds and cinnamon quill. Add the sliced onions and cook on medium heat until they are nice and browned. Add the ginger and garlic paste and the powdered spices. Add a bit of salt and toss around. Add the chopped tomato, tomato paste and the rest of the salt.  Turn the heat up and add the meat and toss around until they are sealed. Add a bit of water, stir and leave to simmer for half an hour. Turn off the heat and add chopped coriander and toss through.

Saffron Rice (serves 4)

I found a few of the saffron rice recipe online so I just kinda made things up here. The rice turned out beautifully but alas it wasn’t at all yellow despite the saffron being quite strong. I suppose ’saffron’ rice at Indian restaurant just has the colouring in it because they never really tasted like real saffron to me.

1. 2 cups of basmati rice, washed
2. 1 red onion, finely chopped
3. 1 large pinch of saffron threads, soaked in 3 tbsp of hot water for 10 minutes
4. 1/2 tsp of cardamon pods
5. a few pinches of salt

Add a bit of oil in the rice cooker (you have to keep holding down the cook button) until it’s hot. Add the onion and cardamon and fry for a few minutes. Add rice and toss around gently until the rice becomes too hot to touch. Add about 3 1/2 cups of boiling water (this water depends on your rice cooker and your rice) and throw in the saffron and its water. Stir. Leave to cook in the cooker.

To serve, sprinkle with crispy fried shallots. I just use the bottled ones.

* Available from Indian grocery store. Fresh ginger and garlic are better of course but because we use so much of it, this is much more convenient. I normally sprinkle some chopped fresh ginger in at the end of curries to give it that fresh ginger taste to compensate for the use of jarred paste.

Update 2/12/2009: see what everyone else made for the Cookbook Challenge Week 2

To celebrate Cook Japan’s little sister getting a new job, I thought I’d invite her round for one of her favourites dishes…Risotto alla Milanese…

This is a famous Milanese version of risotto cooked with saffron.  The think is, I’ve never cooked risotto before in my life…so given that I also invited my risotto-cooking cousin as well it was a real gamble hoping that I could pull this meal off…

…but before I even started worrying about risotto I’d also decided to make a raft of antipasti dishes to get the dinner started.

So along with some olives, artichokes, sun dried tomatoes and Italian meats from the shops, I also opted to make a variety of toppings for some crostini.  First up was grilled vegetables (easy), followed by a cannellini bean and garlic puree that was then topped with rosemary infused olive oil…

We also tucked into some porcini mushrooms grilled with herbs and mozzarella…

…and some lemons stuffed with mozzarella, basil, anchovy fillets and sun dried tomatoes which were really yummy!

So with all that taken care, it was down to the pièce de résistance…my first time at the hands of a pot of risotto, but this was not any old risotto, it was a double first as it was cooked in my trusty Cook Japan rice cooker!

First up, chopped shallots were braised in butter and olive oil then in went the Arborio rice which was cooked until translucent along with the wine…

…all that was left was to add the saffron infused stock and the remaining stock, switch the rice cooker to “porridge” mode and tuck into the rest of the food while we waited.

No need to constantly stir the risotto and pay attention to the stove, instead after 20-minutes it switched to “keep warm” so in went some more butter then just before serving a pile of grated parmesan to finish the dish off….

…of course I’m biased, but I thought it was really nice and more importantly my sister who lived for a few years in Milan, where she got her love for the dish, though it was great. 

So next time you want to make risotto do it in the rice cooker!

It’s certainly getting wintery out there, and perhaps one of the most unlikely seasonal foods right now looks like it should adorn any self-respecting summer salad.

However, the pomegranate is apparently very much in it’s element at the moment. The sharpness of the seeds contrasts with the sweet sauce in this dish and the colours bring a reminder of summer to the otherwise wintery lamb and chest   nuts. Christmas in Morocco anyone?

By the way, the tagine as a cooking implement is by no means strictly necessary here, a large pan with a well fitted lid will do the trick.

Tagine of Lamb, Chestnuts, Saffron and Pomegranate

Serves 4

You’ll need

• 2 tbs butter or ghee
• 1kg diced lamb (I used shoulder, but leg is also good)
• 2 onions, chopped finely
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped finely
• 1 1/2 inch piece of fresh root ginger, peeled and finely chopped
• 250g peeled chestnuts (I roasted my own, but you can get them frozen or vacuum packed)
• 1-2 cinnamon sticks
• pinch of saffron threads
• 1-2 tablespoons runny honey
• seeds of 1 pomegranate
• small bunch fresh mint leaves (chopped)
• small bunch fresh coriander leaves (chopped)
• Salt & pepper

Do it!

1. Heat the tagine/pan and add the ghee (or melt the butter)
2. Add the onions, ginger and garlic and saute until softened and coloured
3. Stir in the saffron, cinnamon and add the lamb
4. Pour in some water to almost cover the meat and bring to the boil
5. Once it’s boiling and smelling great, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for about an hour
6. In this time you can roast your chestnuts for about 20 minutes in a hot oven (about 200 C) if you need to. Remember to put a little cross in the flat side of each chestnut with a small knife, or the lovely smells of your tagine will be accompanied by a version of the 21-gun salute!
7. After an hour of slow simmering, add your roasted and peeled chestnuts and stir in the honey.
8. Re-cover and cook gently for about 30 minutes more.
9. By now the meat should be lovely and tender. Season to taste with salt and pepper and toss in about half each of the pomegranate seeds (click here for the best way to deseed it), chopped coriander and chopped mint.
10. Sprinkle the remaining seeds and herbs over the top and serve with some fluffy, buttery couscous or some bread for mopping up.

Rice Pudding or Kheer. mmmm…a sweet delicacy! This traditional sweet pudding is usually made with either rice or vermicelli, prepared in every part of India during special occasions and events. This Kheer is very easy to prepare except the elaborated cooking time. The end product is just mouth-watering and satisfying to your sweet tooth. We both like really thick consistency with mild sweet flavor. This pudding tastes best after having chilled about 5-6 hours. The hint of cardamom, nutmeg and saffron gives a special taste with nice and rich cream color. This Kheer perfectly match with puffed Puri/paratha/roti and any subji or you can enjoy as it is.

Rice Pudding/Kheer Recipe:

Ingredients:

4 cups Milk – preferably whole milk |1/2 cup uncooked Rice (I used Jasmine rice, does work fine) |Sugar – to taste | 1/2 tsp Elaichi (Cardamom) powder |Nutmeg powder – a pinch | Saffron – few strands, soaked in 2 tsp warm milk | chopped Almonds and Pistachio

How to:

1) Wash the uncooked rice 2-3 times and soak at least for 30 mins. In a heavy bottomed pan, bring 3 cups of milk to a boil. Add the drained rice to it and keep stirring on low heat.

2) After 20-25 mins, you will notice that the rice become soft (but not mushy) and overall the kheer become thick and creamier. At this time, add sugar to your taste. Give it a stir. If you feel your kheer is very thick, add some milk. I always need to add extra milk to gain perfect consistency.

3) Cook for 5-7 mins more with occasional stir. Remove from the gas and let it cool for sometime. In a small bowl, mix the remaining milk, cardamom powder, nutmeg powder and saffron milk. Add this to kheer and stir well. Once it cooled down to room temperature, chill it for at least 3-4 hours. Garnish with silvered almonds and pistachio or any nuts you love.

Enjoy with puffed puri/paratha or roti!

]]> http://apetcher.wordpress.com/2009/11/20/spain-2009-castilla-la-mancha/ Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:00:48 +0000 Andrew Petcher http://apetcher.wordpress.com/2009/11/20/spain-2009-castilla-la-mancha/

The temperature was dropping by a few degrees each day and the next morning was very chilly indeed when we returned once more to the Plaza Mayor for breakfast at the same little restaurant/bar. The food was simple but satisfying and after filling ourselves up with toast and a sort of tomato puree and/or marmalade topping we set off across the great plain of La Mancha in an easterly direction towards the city of Cuenca.

La Mancha is an arid but fertile, elevated plateau of central Spain, the largest in the Iberian Peninsula, stretching almost two hundred kilometres between the Montes de Toledo and the western spurs of the Cerros de Cuenca.  On average it is six hundred metres above sea level and the climate is continental, but with extreme weather fluctuations.  This is one of the most sparsely populated areas of Spain and agriculture is the primary economic activity, principally wheat, barley, oats and vines, but it is severely restricted by the harsh environmental conditions that exist on account of its lack of rainfall, the harsh exposure to wind and sun and by the almost complete absence of trees.    In fact years of neglect and lack of investment have created a serious land erosion problem on these hot dry plains.

I am making it sound dull and unappealing and I must correct that immediately because this was absolutely not the case.  On the first part of our journey we negotiated a narrow road with hairpin bends and expansive views and then we dropped down to the parched flat plain.  On either side of the long straight road there were gently undulating fields with the most attractive colours.  Many of the fields were recovering from producing this year’s crops and others were lying fallow and this produced a stunning vista of subtle autumnal colours and variations of tone; champagne and parchment, cream, olive, grey lavender, gold and russet red all lying crushed under the burden of a vivid blue autumn sky. 

One of the most interesting crops grown in La Mancha is the autumn crocus which is the precious source of the world’s most expensive spice – Saffron, which is harvested from the dried stigma of the flower and is an essential ingredient of a Spanish paella and responsible for giving the dish its distinctive golden yellow appearance. 

Now we were on the ‘Ruta de Don Quixote’ which is the golden thread that binds the Castilian tourist industry together in a ribbon of castles and windmills stretching from Cuenca to Toledo.  Don Quixote is a novel written by the seventeenth century Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra and is regarded as the most influential work of literature to emerge from the Spanish Golden Age.  It is the story of a man who believes that he is a knight, and recounts his adventures as he rights wrongs, mistakes peasants for princesses, and  “tilts at windmills,” mistakenly believing them to be evil giants.  As one of the earliest works of modern western literature, it regularly appears high on lists of the greatest works of fiction ever published.  In 2002 a panel of one hundred leading world authors declared Don Quixote to be the best work of fiction ever written, ahead even of works by Shakespeare, Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky.  Cervantes has also been credited with shaping modern literary style, and Don Quixote has been acclaimed as “the first great novel of world literature”.  Since publication in 1605 it is reputed to be the most widely read and translated book in the world after the Bible.

From Chinchón to Cuenca was a distance of about one hundred and twenty kilometres and for most of it we followed the route of a new motorway still under construction.  There was barely any traffic on the original road so it left us wondering just why it was being built.  For long distances there was also the new high speed railway line linking Madrid and Valencia because since the 1990s Spain has engaged in a frenzy of high-speed rail building and is fast catching up with France and Japan, the world leaders, and by 2010 will have the most extensive high-speed rail network in the world as the Government stitches its disparate regions together with a €100 billion system of bullet trains designed to traverse the countryside at up three hundred kilometres an hour. 

After roughly half way the landscape began to change and we left behind the patchwork of fields and farmland and as we started to climb through hills it became more dramatic with steep sided hills and pine forests and busy rivers dashing madly through narrow gorges.  Eventually it stopped climbing and the landscape flattened and we made our final approach into Cuenca.  At first this wasn’t especially promising, Cuenca is a big city and capital of the fifth largest province in Spain and to reach the old town it was necessary to drive through the modern part, which wasn’t especially notable or exciting.

The Tenant’s back again…first, let me ask all of you who regularly come to these wonderful dinners: Where do you put it all? I always end up at the end of one of these Bistro 185 wine dinners feeling as if I am filled to the very top of my body with wonderful food, unable to fit in one bite or one drop more, and the rest of you are just sitting around sipping the rest of your wine, or ordering coffee…how do you do it??

If that gives you the impression that last night’s dinner was a winner, it should. It was a real feast of incredible food Spanish-style, paired with wines that fit the mood and the dishes beautifully.

I can’t say I’m a wine expert, but I enjoy tasting the different kinds offered and seeing how well they go with the courses, and it’s always an adventure.

First came the tapas. You got to see yesterday what the tapas trays looked like, and they were filled with delicious treats. From the olives, nuts and cheeses to the specially prepared items like the crabmeat-stuffed deviled eggs, the salt cod fritters (passed around separately) with garlic aioli, and the Spanish tortillas — alternating layers of tortilla and potato slices, served cold with more of the aioli — these were a great exploration of appetizers Spain-style. So were the gazpacho shooters: narrow little shot glasses of cold, spicy Spanish vegetable soup, each topped with a shrimp. The wine for this course was Ramon Bilbao Crianza 2006: a deep cherry-red wine with a fruity, smoky flavor. All the Ramon Bilbao wines are produced in the Rioja Alta wine region of Spain.

Next came a bowl of tiny sautéed clams, swimming in the chorizo broth you saw a picture of cooking up on the stove yesterday. The little clams absorbed the rich, spicy flavor of the sausage-filled broth, so delicious that after having picked the clams out of their shells with the clam fork to eat them, you needed to switch to your spoon to scoop up every flavorful drop of the chorizo sauce. The original plan was to serve this course with Ramon Bilbao Limited Edition 2006, but as it turns out the 2006 vintage isn’t ready yet, so we were supplied with the 2004 vintage instead, which made a fine accompaniment.

Next came the Chicken Marbella. How did it taste on top of Yukon Gold mashers? Absolutely delicious! Because this was Spanish food, many of the dishes were spicy and pungent, with a heat that lasted long on the tongue. But the astringency of the green olives in this dish was counteracted beautifully by the addition of prunes, which contributed a special sweetness and made for a nice change of pace. And the mashed potatoes did a wonderful job of soaking up the sauce! It was accompanied by Volteo Viura Sauv Blanc Viognier, a blended wine whose lighter, fresher, flowery-buttery flavor also provided a contrast to many of the heavier red wines on the menu. Volteo wines come from Castilla-LaMancha, the world’s largest vineyard.

By the time you’ve enjoyed appetizers and a few courses at a dinner like this, you’re ready for a light, refreshing salad course, and that’s just what the Orange and Fresh Fennel Salad provided. The organic honey and lemon vinaigrette was the perfect taste to go with the combination of greens, orange slices and slivers of fennel — a sweet, juicy, delight. The wine, too, was just right for it: Volteo Rosé Garnacha, full of fruity scents and crisp flavor.

Last, but certainly not least, of the main courses was the South African Lobster Tail, Sea Bass and Scallop in Saffron Broth with Timbale of Saffron Rice with Peas and Roasted Red Peppers. Mere words cannot describe the pure, smooth, buttery sublime flavor of this lobster tail. The sea bass, coated wonderfully with the saffron broth, tasted almost as rich, as did the scallop. I overheard another diner saying he had never in his life eaten such a well-prepared scallop. The rice was a nice addition as well; it served as a little starch to play off the richness of the seafood. The wine for this course was Cruz de Alba Crianza 2006, an unusual choice to my mind because it’s a heavier, redder wine than I’m used to thinking of as ideal for a seafood course, but it worked well. This wine is produced in one of Spain’s fastest developing wine regions, Ribera del Duero.

I must admit that by the time the dessert course came around, I didn’t have much room left for both the desserts and the Drysac Sherry served with them (although it was very good). The treats assembled for us on this plate were a rich, eggy Spanish flan, blanketed in caramel; an almond cake deep with flavor, topped with sliced almonds; a tiny chocolate mousse in a chocolate cup, with a strong mocha-coffee flavor; and a deep, dark, rich chocolate truffle that just melted in your mouth and flooded it with heavenly chocolate flavor. What a way to end our mini-visit to Spain! Hats off to Chef Ruth Levine and her staff for making this another wine dinner to remember.

If all this doesn’t persuade you that the next Bistro 185 Wine Dinner, set for December 15, is not to be missed, I don’t know what will! Watch this space for more details.

5:15 P.M. – LATEST UPDATE – MY PLUMBER HAS JURY DUTY!  WILL LET YOU ALL KNOW WHEN I CAN COOK AGAIN!

2:30 p.m. – LATEST UPDATE – FED-EX JUST DELIVERED MY KOHLER PART!  CALLING PLUMBER TO COME ASAP!!!

WILL POST WHEN KITCHEN SINK IS UP AND RUNNING!!

Status Update: Still doing dishes in the bathtub!!!

The good news is, Kohler sent out my new faucet yesterday, so it will arrive today and hopefully be installed this afternoon.  The repairman who came out to fix my dishwasher was NOT a certified Miele technician (like they advertised…don’t get me started) so I am still in “dirty dishes hell” over here!

I thought this might be a good time to pass on cooking and blog about another of my MOST “favorite things,” La Tienda!!!

http://www.tienda.com/

La Tienda.com is an American, family run company based in Virginia, with the largest selection of Spanish food online.  They also import and sell the most divine Spanish ceramics, wine bottles, glazed, terra cotta serveware, food, cookbooks, etc.

If you are not familiar with this amazing company, I encourage you to get acquainted.  Here is a link to their “about us” page:

http://www.tienda.com/support/about.html

I discovered La Tienda while searching for a place to buy “cazuelas.“  I have bought many sets of them now, not only for me, but for my friends. They come in several different sizes and make unique and lovely gifts for anyone who loves to cook.

My house is stocked with lots of things from La Tienda and I’m ready to start placing orders for Christmas gifts any day now.

Check out their site – you’ll get lost – I guarantee it.  Not only will you find beautiful household items, but they feature delicious Spanish recipes and they sell the most extraordinary Spanish foods — like their Imported Jamón (Spanish Hams), Imported Spanish cheeses (the 2 lb. Manchego wheel is my favorite) Spanish wines, honey and too much to list!!!

This is a terrific place to shop online for Christmas – but be careful….I’ve bought goodies from La Tienda many times that were intended as gifts, only to fall in love and keep them for myself!!!

http://www.tienda.com/

Do people make fun of your complexion?

Never worry about that if your really cautious and ready to try the below tips!

Make a face pack with cucumber juice and lemon juice. Extract three tablespoon of cucumber juice, mix a tablespoon of lemon juice and combine it with rose water. Apply it on the face neck and arms or on the sun exposed body parts. Leave it for twenty minutes or more and then wash off. Apply it twice daily, for better results.

Gram flour is very helpful in preventing suntan and bringing the color back to the skin. Mix it with lemon juice, which proves to be excellent bleach, and blend in some yogurt. Apply it every day, before taking bath, for twenty minutes and then rinse off. See the results in a few weeks only.

Turmeric is also an excellent skin-lightening agent and is used in various beauty creams too. Take half teaspoon of turmeric, mix it with milk (preferably raw) and add a few drops of lemon juice. Apply it thoroughly on the face and the neck and leave for twenty-five minutes. It may sting a little, but that only means it is working. Now, rinse off with water.

You can make your own home made bleaching agent too. Take one-teaspoon turmeric powder, mix half spoon of curd in it and add a few drops of olive oil. Put in half spoon of curd and a pinch of salt. Mix the ingredients thoroughly and apply on the face and neck. Keep on for 15-20 minutes and then rinse off.

Papaya pulp can also be applied directly to the skin, as a skin lightener. Drinking coconut water and applying its milk to the face also proves helpful in getting back the fair complexion. In addition, the mixture of leaves of Holy Basil and crushed orange peels can also be applied on the skin, to improve its complexion.

The blend of milk powder with almond oil, honey and lemon juice also brightens the face and gives it a glow. Another remedy would be to mix buttermilk with oats and thoroughly apply it on the face. Leave it for some time and then rinse. It helps in exfoliating the skin and bringing out the natural color.

Saffron is an excellent skin-whitener. Mix two, three strands of saffron with little milk and leave it for sometime. When the water turns pink, apply it on the face and neck. Keep for 10-15v minutes and then rinse off. It is one of the most effective home remedies.

With all the home remedies, make sure to add lots of fresh vegetables and fruits to your diet. Incorporate protein and drink plenty of water. Use sunscreen lotion and umbrella when going out.

Following the above remedies, you will find yourself fairer within few months. You will never believe your eyes when someone tells you that “You look gorgeous”

The Yale Farm is known for our d’Avignon radishes, our hand-mixed salad greens, and out Sungold tomatoes, but just last week I learned of a very different crop at the farm that is at its peak harvest. Dotted all over the berm under our horsechestnut tree are tiny, delicate saffron crocuses! (To give a sense of scale, the flowers are no more than four inches tall.)

Armed with a pair of pliers, the harvest began. Saffron comes from the stigmas of the eponymous crocus, and should ideally be harvested on the first day that the flower blooms. There are three threads to the stigma, each no more than an inch and a half long, that are delicately plucked out of the flower and laid out to dry.

Saffron is the most expensive spice in the world — we grow it at the farm just for kicks, but its ideal hot and dry conditions, plus the labor intensive hand-picking that it requires, means that most of the saffron in the world is grown in Iran, Spain, and India.

What makes saffron so special? In its dried form, saffron is an essential ingredient in Italian, Middle Eastern, and South Asian cuisine. It has this amazing aroma, rich and somehow simultaneously sweet and bitter. Saffron often crushed and dissolved in water or wine to best impart the golden color it gives to any food it’s added to. Paella gets its color from saffron; many risottos use it, too. But I grew up using saffron in the Iranian food prepared by my mother and grandmother.

Iranians use saffron in everything — as a garnish, a rice platter is topped with about a quarter-cup of rice that is orange from soaking in it. Chicken in Iranain dishes is never flesh-toned but always a golden yellow from saffron. Iranain ice cream is characterized by red flecks of saffron and clots of frozen cream. The list goes on. After the jump is my mother’s recipe for sholeh zard, a traditional Iranian rice pudding whose name translates to “yellow soup.” Flavored with saffron and garnished with cinnamon, it’s perfect for cold fall days served either warm or cold.

Sholeh Zard

• 2/3 cup Basmati rice
• 2 cups water
• 3-4 tablespoons butter
• 1-1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 tablespoons rosewater
• large pinch saffron
• silvered almonds (optional)

Rinse the rice and place in medium-sized pot. Add water and butter and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally so that the rice does not stay whole. Smash with the back of a fork if necessary, and add more water if needed.

Once the rice is cooked, add sugar (taste as you add the sugar in stages so it is not too sweet). Cook some more until sugar melts and the rice pudding thickens. Stir in rosewater.

Add the crushed saffron to the pudding. (You may rub the saffron mixed with a tablespoon of sugar with the back of a spoon so it is crushed well.) Add a handful of slivered almonds. Simmer for a while. Note: you may adjust the pudding by adding water or boiling on higher heat if necessary to acquire the desired thickness.

Put the pudding in serving dishes and decorate with cinnamon to create an interesting pattern on it. If desired, cut a stencil from paper to print a pattern on its surface. Can be served warm or chilled.

Take some chicken thighs, add olive oil to a hot pan.

Brown the chicken in the pan, then remove.

Add chopped onion and red pepper to the pan.

Cook on a low heat until soft.

Add chopped mushrooms.

Meanwhile soak some saffron in a little hot water.

Once the mushrooms, onions and red pepper are cooked, add the chicken.

Add some freshly chopped parsley.

Add the saffron.

Add a couple of large spoonfuls of creme frache, you could use double cream, but I prefer creme frache.

Serve with some freshly cooked gnocchi.

Done.

Light but with a touch of Autumn

To give gifts that are home-made are very much appreciated. This recipe/gift is one that need to done asap, because it needs 4 weeks to settle.

First you need to find a nice a couple of bottles that you want to give as a gift. You can find some really nice ones in the shop and when empty they are not so expensive. Or if you are lucky to have a Oxfam or Charity shop close by you could find an old crystal carafe or something else that would be suitable.

• 1 orange
• 2 pkt of Saffron (1 gr)
• 1 liter of white wine vinegar
• Orange peel

Wash the orange and cut into slices. Put oranges slices into a large glass jar and add the saffron.

Pour over the vinegar. Put the lid on tight and leave to stand for 4 weeks in a warm and daylight area.

Sieve the vinegar from the orange slices. Pour into the cleaned bottles and  add some orange peel. Put the cork on and a nice label or ribbon which ever you prefer. Good Luck.

Wild Shrimp with Saffron Orzo

In the pantheon of quick, weeknight dinners, this dish ranks easily among my favorites, because it’s one that guarantees at least one day of leftovers, if not more, if you’re splitting it among two people.  It comes from Giada DeLaurentiis’s Everyday Pasta, which if you do not own, I would suggest getting if you’re as much a fan of dried semolina flour as I am but looking for alternatives to serving it with the reliable, if not a little dull, marinara sauce.

Michael had gotten a good deal on wild shrimp from Fairway (or maybe Westside) and wanted to do something with them, though he wasn’t sure what.  These seemed a little too good to be dumped into one of our favorite soups that includes tomatoes and coconut milk, so he opened up the floor to me to decide.  Knowing that we had a box of orzo, I rapidly developed a craving for this dish and placed my request; surprisingly, he acquiesced without any of the resistance I usually encounter when I suggest a pasta…again.

The real key to this dish is procuring saffron of some sort.  The real strands are once again readily procurable for us, but in the past we’ve also made it with safflower stamen as well, usually known as “American saffron.”  It’s a significantly cheaper option, as we’ve mentioned before, and while it doesn’t pack the exact same visual or flavorful punch as the Spanish original, it’s quite close and certainly budget-friendly.

You can find the original recipe here, but if you feel like adding a little more texture (like Michael did), slice half a red onion into half-moons and lightly saute them in a little olive oil and add to the pasta prior to cooking the shrimp.  Serve with your favorite salad, and you have a light, simple meal that will tempt you to eat the contents of the entire serving bowl–trust me on this.

if you haven’t noticed, i’m a huge fan of the vegan yum yum blog, and have constructed yet another tasty creation from it’s archives. tonights pick was the notso busco; i was compelled to make it because a) i love tempeh, and b) the sauce is reminiscent of my favorite tempeh marinade: wine, braggs (soy sauce) and balsamic vinegar.

if you aren’t a big salt fan, cut the soy sauce in half, i used braggs which i find to be less salty, and i loved it. the saffron risotto was equally delicious;i made it in my dutch oven, and to up the creamy factor (since its baked), i stirred in another 1 1/2 cups of water after the initial baking (350 for 30 min) and dropped the heat down to 300 and let it hang for another 15 minutes. although it wasn’t a time-saving rice-ipe (lolbarf), it freed up my arms from having to stir endlessly!

notso busco, rosemary saffron rice, and steamed kale

Although this is not a Scottish dish, I first ate it in Inverary whilst Emily and I were travelling over the winter holidays. Mussells are my favourite seafood, and when I had this dish, we both began trying to figure out the recipe.

This is definitely the closest we can get to replicating the original Inverary dish; which was served with large mussells from the Isle of Mull.

Serves 2 (Rouille makes double and can be chilled for up to a week).

Ingredients:
For the rouille
1/4 tsp Saffron Threads
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 egg
2 egg yolks
1tbsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp light brown sugar
3-4 garlic cloves crushed
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Salt and fresh ground pepper
300 ml sunflower oil

For the mussells
600-800g large mussells
1 small onion or 2 shallots, diced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
Small nob of butter or olive oil
Splash of white wine
Parsley, choppped, to serve

Method:
Rouille
1. Put saffron threads in a small bowl add 2 tbsp hot water and leave to soak for 5 mins
2. Put the saffron and water in a food processor with the vinegar, egg, egg yolks, mustard, sugar, garlic, cayenne and half tsp each of salt and pepper.  Process to combine, then with the motor running, very slowly pour in the oil until the sauce is thick and creamy.
3. Chill until needed.

Mussells
1. Wash and de-beard the mussells, discarding any that do not close up with a strong tap.
2. Melt the butter in a large pot, or heat the olive oil, and add the onion/shallots and garlic. Heat gently until softened but not brown.
3. Add the white wine and bring to the boil.
4. Add the mussells, put a lid on the pan, and steam for 2-4 minutes, until the mussells have opened.
5. Discard any mussells which have not opened.

To Serve
1. With a slotted spoon, serve the mussells into two bowls.
2. Spoon over the cooking sauce from the mussells.
3. Spoon over the rouille.
4. Sprinkle with chopped parsely, and serve with warm crusty bread.

This past weekend my partner reached his half century mark.  Yes, I’ve been hanging out with a younger man for quite a long time.

We are not big on traditional celebrations or in celebrating traditional holidays and occasions, so the fact that his birthday came and went without much fanfare was just as it should be.   We prefer simplicity, the unconventional, and gift giving has mostly fallen out of favour.

So, when he announced he would make a wonderful, favoured and rarely enjoyed recipe for our supper, it could not have been better.  And, it used the scallops leftover from the great Ginger Seafood Soup.

delightfully flavoured seared scallops

Seared Scallops with Champagne-Saffron Sauce

• a generous pinch of saffron threads
• about 4 tbsp unsalted butter
• 20 large scallops, reserve juices
• 4 tbsp spoons champagne or sparkling wine, reserve leftovers
• 1 1/4c heavy cream (in recent years we substituteBalkan style plain yoghurt)
• ½ lemon
• salt & pepper
• fresh parsley for garnish

Over high heat in a dry nonstick fry pan, toast saffron threads until they just begin to give off their aroma.  Immediately place aside on a plate.

Melt half the butter, add half the scallops, fry for 2 minutes.  Turn and fry for a further 1 ½ – 2 minutes, until the flesh is opaque all the way through when you  pierce one with a knife.

Transfer scallops to a hot dish, cover and keep warm while cooking the second half in the same way, adding more butter as needed. Add to set aside scallops.

saffron threads

Add the saffron to the cooking juices and pour in the champagne, yoghurt(cream) and any reserved scallop juices.  Bring to a boil, lower the heat slightly and simmer for about 10 minutes until reduced to consistency of a creamy sauce (coating the back of a wooden spoon if you use cream).

Add fresh squeezed lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste.  Return the scallops to the pan and stir until just heated through.

Put on plates, garnish with parsley.

Enjoy with gusto, loved ones, and reserved champagne.  Simply lovely.

In early September, Ruth had the opportunity to create a very special catered menu for a highly special occasion: the wedding of our son Ari.

She wanted to create a wedding feast that would reflect the South American heritage of his bride, Ursula. With that type of cuisine in mind, here was the menu she devised:

Baby Lamb Chops with Curry Mojo Glaze

Seviche on Spoon

Tequeños

Chilean Sea Bass with Platano Maduro Frito (Fried Sweet Plantains)

Arepa with Roasted Corn Salsa

Mache and Baby Sprouts and Greens with Brunois of Mango, Papaya, Strawberry and Corn Nuts with Broken Sherry Vinaigrette

Black Bean, Goat Cheese, Roasted Pablano and Jalapeño in Saffron Ravioli with Spicy Tomato and Crème Fraiche Sauce and Annatto Oil Drizzle

Mojito and Pineapple-Basil Sorbet

South African Mini Lobster Tail with Hollandaise Sauce and Tomato-Basil Concasse

Black Truffle Risotto with Herb Paste and Sautéed Shrimp

Cuban Black Beans and Rice for Table

Pan Cubano and Medianoche Breads

Guava Cheesecake

Dulce Con Leche Crêpes with Sautéed Apple

Croque en Bouche

Not all these dishes may be familiar to you, so here’s a glossary:

Seviche — raw fish marinated in lime or lemon juice, often with oil, onions, peppers and seasonings, and served especially as an appetizer

Tequeños — fried breadsticks formed by wrapping dough around queso blanco; a popular appetizer in Venezuela, especially at weddings

Arepa — a bread made of corn, originating in the northern Andes, similar to a tortilla

Mache — a salad green with a mild, lettuce-like flavor

Brunois — a very small dice

Annatto oil — a dark red-orange oil made by infusing an oil with annatto (achiote) seeds, used in South American cooking

Pan Cubano — A Cuban type of bread, with a distinctive taste created by its starter and enriched with lard that creates a smooth texture

Medianoche bread — A sweet, eggy type of bread roll, the type used to make a smaller version of the “Cuban sandwich” known as the “midnight special” (that’s another story)

Croque en bouche — a tower of tiny cream puffs, glued together by a caramel glaze and drizzled with the glaze (ours had a large cake as a base)

Here are some pictures, courtesy of our son Zachary:
One of the nicest things about this wedding was, of course, was that we got to enjoy playing the exalted role of Parents of the Groom. Here we are in a position you don’t often see us: relaxing and enjoying our own food, right along with everyone else.

The ceremony was held in our backyard in Pepper Pike, and the lovely late summer weather helped create a magical setting for the perfect wedding and a lovely and intimate wedding dinner.

If you have an event like a small, intimate wedding coming up in your future — or want to plan something special for the holidays (sorry we can’t provide weather like this for that!) — we invite you to find out what Ruth can do for you. Visit the Ruth Levine Events Web site and call 216.404.0500 or send her an email to set your plans in motion.

My colleague Emily wrote  an article about our experiences during the Saffron Uprising and the creation of Digital Democracy. It was published by MobileActive:

On Sept. 26, the protests were still going strong. It was 11 am, and Aung Aung Ye was juggling two computers and a mobile phone from his office in Thailand. That morning he was on his mobile talking with contacts in Burma’s commercial capital, Rangoon. At 1:34 am EST, he told me that more than 10,000 people had gathered near Traders Hotel in downtown Rangoon.

By 1:40, the mood, still palpable electronically, changed. He had received frantic calls – the military had begun using tear gas and bullets against the peaceful demonstrators. His status message read, “Now, shooting in North/Oakalapa.” Two minutes later, it changed again – “Don’t brake my heart into a million pieces.”

Make sure to check out the rest.

When I moved to Montreal for my Master’s degree I was introduced to Persian and Afghani restaurants.  The flavors were familiar yet different.  They were not spicy like traditional Pakistani fare but indeed quite flavorful and had many layers of subtle spice.

Coming back to my Persian Chicken Kebab story, I needed to make some to go alongside it and I was reminded of the Afghani rice I used to eat quite often in Montreal.  Recalling its flavors I pondered on how to go about making it.  A challenge if you will.  I could have easily gone on to Google typed “Afghani Pulao” and instantly a recipe would appear.  But, I wanted to use my palette, my sense of taste to decipher the ingredients of this dish.

We often take our sense of taste for granted.  What would we be without it?  It’s like being blind or deaf, it is the lack of a vital sense.  Loving all things food related, I could not even begin to imagine what it would be like not to taste.  This brings me to to Grant Achatz, the chef at Alinea in Chicago.  He was diagnosed with Stage IV tongue cancer yet persevered through this “death sentence.”  He survived but lost his sense of taste, to him dying might have been a better option.  Nevertheless, his fearless spirit brought him back into the kitchen and he used his non-existent palette to continue his culinary pursuits and now slowly his sense of taste is returning to him.  But imagine, food brings us joy, unites us all and without this vital sense human bonding would not be the same.

Okay, had enough deep conversation yet?  *Snicker*   Where was I?  Oh yes, my self-inflicted challenge!  I know how to make a traditional Yakhni Pulao, so I used this as my starting point.  From my the remaining bones that I had butchered off of my chicken breasts I made a stock.  A simple stock comprised of onion, garlic, carrots, parsley, black peppercorns, cloves, salt, basically whatever you feel like adding to it.  The base was going to be simple, onions and garlic but what else could I add for the aroma and flavor present in Afghani pulao?  Another pantry raid!  Cinnamon, cardamom, bay leaves, saffron, cloves, nutmeg, peppercorns, dried red chilies, dried cranberries, pine nuts, almonds–all at my disposal!  Overflowing with excitement, I was ready to tackle this dish.

Afghani Pulao

Serves 3

Ingredients

1 cup basmati rice, soaked and washed

2 1/2 cups chicken stock (low sodium, free-range, homemade is best, but a good quality boxed one is fine)

1 medium red onion, sliced

3 garlic cloves, minced

3-4 tablespoons oil (I used a combination of Canola and Olive Oil)

1 cinnamon stick

1 bay leaf

2-3 cardamom pods

4 cloves

5-6 black peppercorns

pinch of nutmeg, ground

1/2 teaspoon crushed red chilies

1/2 teapsoon saffron threads

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon orange zest

2-3 carrots, grated

1 tablespoon each, blanched slivered almonds and pine nuts (add extra for garnish, if desired)

1/4 cup dried fruit (cranberries, raisins, golden raisins, apricots, currants–I had dried cranberries on hand)

cilantro leaves, for garnish, optional

1-2 tablespoons butter, optional

Method:

Add the oil to a pot.  Let it warm on medium heat add the onions allow to sweat.  When the onions are almost golden, add the garlic.  Next add all the whole spices including the crushed red chilies, salt, and nutmeg but not the saffron.  Toss in the dried fruit and nuts.  Let the nuts toast and the dried fried reconstitute.  After a minute or so add the chicken stock and bring to a boil.  When the stock is boiling add the saffron.  Let the saffron steep for 30 seconds.  Next, pour in the rice.  Allow to cook in the stock for about 15 minutes or until just undercooked.  At this point add the carrots and orange rind on top.  Turn the heat to low.  Use a kitchen towel and cover it over the pot tightly.  Then put the lid top and let the carrots sweat and the orange rind lets its oils perfume the rice.  Let it sit on very low heat for 10 minutes.  Uncover and fluff with a fork.  You may add butter for some extra richness at this point.  Place in serving dish garnish with extra nuts and cilantro leaves.

*I always serve Kachumbar or chopped salad with Pakistani rice dishes.  It is simply chopped onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, green chilies, cilantro leaves,  a squeeze of lemon or lime juice, salt, a pinch of red chili powder, and a pinch of cumin.