Culinary Quiz 2012

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Here at Gunternation we’re very excited about the work that Slow Food is doing. So excited, in fact, that we’re helping to lead the Dublin Convivium.  Learn more about Slow Food and have a bit of craic 24 July at the Sugar Club at the Slow Food Dublin Culinary Quiz 2012. There are some fantastic prizes to win, including a cookery course at Dunbrody House, dinner for two at Peploe’s, Stephen’s Green and a night away at a fabulous hotel. The grand prize will be a hamper of wine and fine foods for each member of the winning team containing products from Sheridan’s Cheesemongers, Aine Chocolates, Lakeshore Irish Virgin Rapeseed Oil, Nicholas Mosse Pottery and much, much more. A table of up to five is a mere €50 and all of the proceeds will go to the Slow Food 1000 Gardens in Africa Project. Please register at our TicketBud site.

 

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Aegean Pita Pizza

Quick from Scratch: Aegean Pita Pizzas

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Allow me to introduce you to my favorite cookbook. Sure, I have prettier cookbooks, cookbooks I like to read like novels, cookbooks  that look great on a shelf, but this one is falling apart, stained, riddled with notes and has pages I have to peel apart.  Quick from Scratch: Real food for busy weeknights from Food & Wine Books is the cookbook I return to time and again. It has recipes I’ve nicknamed “Baby Soup” and  “Fu Manchu Pork” (doesn’t everyone have nicknames for favorite recipes?). I’ve even given it as a gift.

Unfortunately, the book is out of print and the recipes aren’t available on the Food & Wine website. So, I will share some of our favorites with you. The first is a dead simple Mediterranean-style sandwich/pizza that’s perfect for summer. I’ve changed the recipe slightly by using lamb but use beef instead if you prefer. I love to top it with the garlicky tzatziki sauce but it’s entirely optional.

Aegean Pita Pizzas

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Aegean Pita Pizzas
Serves 4
Allergy Tree Nuts, Wheat
From book Quick from Scratch: Real food for busy weeknights
Classic ingredients of the eastern Mediterranean--dill, mint, cucumbers, tomatoes and feta cheese--are layered with ground lamb on a toasted pita for a quick and original dish, something between a pizza and a sandwich.

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup pine nuts
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 4 cloves garlic (minced)
  • 6 spring onions (sliced)
  • 1 1/2lb ground lamb
  • 3/4 teaspoons dried oregano
  • 1 1/2 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 2 1/4 teaspoons salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper (freshly ground)
  • 4 plum tomatoes
  • 1 cucumber (peeled, seeded and cut into 1/4-inch dice)
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1/2 cup black olives (e.g. Niçoise or Kalamata, pitted)
  • 6 pitas
  • 5oz feta cheese (crumbled)

Directions

1. In a medium frying pan toast the pine nuts over moderately low heat, stirring frequently, until golden brown, about 4 minutes. Remove. Or toast the pine nuts in a 350F (180C) oven for 6 minutes.
2. In the frying pan heat 1 tbsp of the oil over moderate heat. Add the garlic and scallions and saute for 1 minute. Add the lamb, oregano, mint, 1 tbsp dill, the allspice and 1 1/4 tsp of the salt. Cook until the meat loses its pink color, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the pine nuts and 1/4 tsp of the pepper.
3. In a medium bowl, combine the tomatoes, cucumber, lemon juice, the remaining dill, the olives and the remaining 1 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper.
4. Heat the broiler (grill). Put the pitas on a baking sheet. Toast under the broiler until one side is lightly browned, about 1 minute. Flip the pitas. Spoon the lamb mixture onto the pitas, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Sprinkle with the feta cheese and broil until the cheese is melted and beginning to brown.
5. Cut the pitas in half. Top with the cucumber salad and a drizzle of the remaining olive oil. Serve one and a half pitas per person.

Note

  • Substitute ground beef for the lamb if you prefer.
  • Don't use canned black olives--they're nasty.
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Tzatziki

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Allergy Milk
Dietary Vegetarian
Misc Serve Cold
Region Greek
Website Gunternation

Ingredients

  • 500g Greek yogurt
  • 1 Medium cucumber (peeled, seeded and grated)
  • 1/4 cup minced parsley
  • 4 cloves garlic (minced)
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Directions

1. Mix all ingredients in a medium bowl. Adjust seasonings to taste.

Note

Some minced dill and/or mint is a nice addition.

 

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Taking It to the Streets

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In general, if you want to thrill food lovers, invite them into your kitchen and cook for them. Tell them stories of your mother Aruna in Bangladesh, preparing meals for her ten children. Entice them with aroma of onions meeting garlic and ginger and cardamom, cinnamon and turmeric. Pass around bowls of your secret spice mixtures. Make food you love and then feed it to them. This will make food lovers smile and feel that joy that only sharing a meal can bring. You will have given them a gift.

Bill and I had such a food lovers’ day today, hosted by Sarajit Chanda and Sarah Nic Lochlainn in their Fuchsia House restaurant in Ardee. Sarajit and Sarah invited food bloggers to a master class of  Street Food dishes that will be showcased in the upcoming Bangladeshi Street Food meets Irish Craft Beer evening on 12 July. Tom Doorley will be speaking at this event, and is working with Sarajit and Sarah to pair the dishes with Irish Beers and Ciders. After sampling the menu today, I can tell you the €50 ticket will be money well eaten. And there will be craft beer.

Sarajit kicks off the cooking class

The Bangladeshi Street Food dishes Sarajit cooked today are familiar Indian restaurant offerings: Lamb Roganjosh, Chicken Curry, Onion Bhaji, Auburgine Bhaji, Dhal, and Spinach with Prawns. Street Food from any cuisine is food that people actually eat–everyday people in their everyday lives. Sarajit’s versions of these dishes represent the best of those everydays–days with local meats and veg, the very best spices, everything that is needed and nothing else.

Roganjosh ready for eating

Aubergine coated with salt and turmeric, ready for frying

The moment of onion bhaji creation

A few things we learned today:

  • Pakora and Bhaji are two words that mean ‘fried’ and bhuna means to stir until thickened.
  • A paste of equal parts pureed garlic and ginger can keep for a few weeks in the fridge, or can be frozen. And it tastes great in just about anything.
  • Cream and ghee are not widely used in Bangladeshi cooking, or at least not in Aruna’s recipes.
  • Lentils are a common breakfast food in Bangladesh, and are frequently eaten at every meal. (I’m seriously considering adding lentils to my breakfast rotation.)
  • If you don’t have time to make your own garam masala, you can get pretty far with cardamom, cinnamon and bay leaves
  • Making a paste with dry spices and water will prevent the spices from burning. Make it up to an hour beforehand to intensify the flavor of the spices.
  • Turmeric is the go to spice in Bangladeshi cuisine. After a visit to Bangladesh, your toothbrush will be yellow.

The best part, the eating

Sarah and Sarajit also told us a lot about their Aruna sauces venture, and the patience and creativity required to bring their sauces to market. Each pouch represents loads of time, trials, and attention, and the benefits of an adhesive expert–not that easy to stick things to refrigerated plastic it turns out. Recent winners on Dragon’s Den, Aruna sauces are available in many retail outlets in Ireland. Look in the refrigerated section!

After meeting Sarah and Sarajit today, hearing their stories and seeing them in their kitchen and restaurant, I thought, wow, these guys are doing exactly what they should be doing. It was a real pleasure to spend time with them today, and to be taught and fed so graciously. And dining with fellow food bloggers is always great craic!

Old Recipe; New Kitchen

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I have so much to tell y’all, I’m not sure where to start. So, I’ll start with right now.

Bill is in the kitchen making Chicken with Many Peppers.  Chicken with Many Peppers entered our lives at least ten years ago. Bill has made it dozens of times. I think I even made it once. It’s a bit of a staple, although we haven’t had it in a while. It’s back tonight. In Ireland we have to forgo the poblano peppers, but we usually have a stash of chipotle chile in adobo.* Tonight Bill made whole wheat and spelt tortillas to accompany the dish.

Whole wheat and spelt tortillas. The butter goes in the chicken dish, but buttered tortillas are not a bad idea.

Bill made tonight’s dinner in the new-to-us kitchen in our new-to-us house. We moved two weeks ago, after only eight months in our last house. We had been thrilled with the last house, primarily because of the kitchen. The kitchen had a beautiful oven and a gas hob and an American-size refrigerator with an ice maker. I thought I had adjusted to European ice habits **, but one clink of those frozen cubes brought me all the way back to full ice obsession. The kitchen was its own room with a door, and the kitchen had a window.

This is the old kitchen. It was a proper kitchen.

But the landlords decided to move back into their house with the lovely kitchen (and really nice bathroom!), so we were again on the move. Bill looked deep into his cook’s heart and found the three things he needed: a gas hob, a refrigerator larger than a dorm fridge, and a window. I was worried we wouldn’t find a place with that hob/fridge/window combo. Bill was looking at places online and was repeatedly bewildered and slightly horrified by the pictures of kitchens he found there. A week after we found out we needed to move, I was sitting in the lovely, proper kitchen with our Alabama friends Kenyon and Ami. I was telling them that I did not think we would find an acceptable kitchen. I said I felt a little weird praying for a kitchen with a window, but I was anyway. I really hated to see Bill give up his kitchen with a window.

Around 6:30 we had cracked open a bottle of wine when Bill burst through the front door. “You need to come see this house I just viewed,” he said. “Can we bring our wine?” we said. So we hopped in the car and drove five minutes, put our wine glasses in the cup holders and walked into a house with a gas hob, a reasonably-sized refrigerator and a kitchen window. And a kitchen skylight. “I could be happy in this kitchen,” Bill said. We liked the rest of the house, Ami and Kenyon gave it their approval, so we told the guy we’d take it. We drove back home and finished our wine. “What were you saying to me just three hours ago about kitchen windows?” Ami said.

Bill has been busy sorting the new kitchen. It’s not as nice as the last kitchen, but he’s finding things he likes about it, like a great bit of counter for chopping in front of the window. And there’s a nice leaning spot by the hob.

Bill finding his way in the new kitchen

The best part of the new place is the location. Still close to our Philipsburgh favorites Bombay Pantry and Lilac Wines, and much nearer to some pubs, Kennedy’s, a butcher and a green grocer. We can see the butcher from our house. Buses are much more convenient. I’m five minutes from the stop, and the bus drops me right in front of my office. The one downside to the new house is we’re down to one bathroom, but I think we’re going to be just fine.***

Hick’s smoked ham, swiss & Ballymaloe relish on my sandwich at lunch today at Kennedy’s.

 

* Mexican cooking ingredients are going to be so much easier to acquire now that My Mexican Shop is on the case.

** I once asked for ice in a German hotel; there was none. Not in the hotel restaurant. Not in the hotel bar. Not in the hotel period.

*** We are contemplating a second refrigerator.

The one where Bill becomes addicted

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A few weeks ago we bought a pork belly from Ryan’s farms at the Honest 2 Goodness  Saturday market. Bill had seen several recipes for Red Braised Pork Belly and was keen to give it a try.

Braising meat is a fairly simple enterprise. The most effort comes from preparing the pork by blanching in boiling water for a few minutes, dunking in cold water and then cutting into bite-sized cubes (a bit challenging with a slippery pork belly). The cubes are browned in oil, then removed. The recipe called for caramelizing some sugar in the oil, but turns out it is difficult to tell when sugar has caramelized in a black pan. Caramelized or no, add in chicken stock, star anise, a cinnamon stick, a crushed nob of ginger, soy sauce, black pepper and the pork to simmer on low heat for 1.5 hours. Then remove the lid and simmer for an additional half hour to reduce the liquid. Finally, throw in some sliced spring onions and cilantro/coriander.

Such a luscious meat needs simple friends. Steamed Napa cabbage (bok choy if you’ve got it) and boiled rice worked perfectly. Many times you want a crispy fat cap on your pork belly, but in this dish the gooey fat is terrific, melting into the rice. Some recipes even suggest removing the leanest part of the pork belly, as it will not turn very tender. Bill left it on, and it worked fine. Not super tender, but had lots of flavor. Another hour of braising may help if you keep the lean strip.

We both loved this rich pork with bright Asian flavors, and as you can see below, it changed Bill’s life.