Recipe: Reconstructed Tarte Tatin

Reconstructed Tarte Tatin with Spun Sugar

This quick tarte tatin-style dessert is based partially on a method by Dieter Schoemer that I read about in Culinary Artistry, which I'll be reviewing soon. I made it as a full size dessert that would serve 4 with ice cream, but you could also do it as individual portions, which I think would be quite striking. The main idea is to cook the crust separately from the apples and caramel so it remains crunchy. I added the easy but cool looking spun sugar topping. You could do this with a normal flaky pie crust instead of puff pastry too.

Reconstructed Tarte Tatin
Serves 4

• 3 baking apples, peeled, cored, and sliced medium
• 1 c. sugar
• 2 T. quince or apricot jam, warmed to a spreadable consistency
• 2 T. butter
• 1/4 t. cinnamon
• 1/8 t. nutmeg (preferably fresh ground)
• 1 pinch sea salt
• 1 sheet all-butter puff pastry, defrosted

1. Preheat oven to 400 degress.
2. In an ovenproof skillet, heat 2/3 c. of the sugar over medium heat, stirring occasionally until it turns into a light caramel. Be careful! Caramel will burn you very easily. Add the apples, toss, dot with butter, and put in oven.
3. Cut a 10 inch circle out of the puff pastry and put on a cookie sheet in the oven.
4. Bake the apples until tender and the puff pastry until golden brown (which will be at different times) and remove both from the oven.
5. In a clean skillet, melt the remaining sugar into a medium caramel and let start to cool in a ramekin.
6. Using a paring knife, cut a rim around the puff pastry, about 3/4" in from the edge to create a "dish" into which to place the apples. You aren't removing any pastry, just letting the center drop.
7. Lay the apples in concentric rings, tucking them under the edge. Glaze with the jam, warming it slightly in the microwave if needed. Pour over the leftover apple cooking juice and caramel, reducing a bit if needed. If you want to add some Calvados, don't let me stop you. Sprinkle with the cinammon, nutmeg, and sea salt.
8. To make the spun sugar, take the tines of a fork, dip them in the caramel and pull vertically. If it is as the right temperature, it will form a thin strand. Carefully use your fingers to stretch it. Lay the strand over the tart and repeat until it looks cool. (There are more technical ways to do this that include adding water, corn syrup, cream of tartar and so on. But I didn't have any problem with this technique.)
9. Serve with vanilla ice cream!

Recipe: Leftover Mujadara Becomes A Quick, Warming Soup

A few weeks ago I posted a recipe for Mujadara and I made it a second time only a few days later, so we had a lot of tasty rice, lentil and caramelized onion leftovers around the house. As much as I love this dish, I couldn't finish them all off. I just happened to have some leftover broth from dried shiitake mushrooms lying around, and it hit me that the two together would make a nice soup. Shiitake broth is a favorite for me because if you have the dried mushrooms in your pantry, you can have a rich stock in just 15 or 20 minutes. I use it a lot as the vegetarian base for stir-fry sauces instead of chicken broth. Here's the soup "recipe", if you can call it that! The savory flavors of the mushrooms and caramelized onions make a rich base for the lentils and rice. As simple as this sounds, it is pretty rapture inducing.

Leftover Mujadara and Shiitake Soup
Vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free
Serves 2

• 2 c. leftover mujadara
• 2 good handfuls of dried shiitake mushrooms
• parsley
• extra virgin olive oil
• sea salt
• fresh ground pepper

1. Put the mushrooms in a microwave safe bowl, fill with water to cover, and microwave about 5 minutes, until they reach a boil. Or do this on the stove. Remove from heat and lest rest about 10-15 minutes, then put through a fine mesh strainer, squeezing the juice out of the mushrooms. You should have a strongly flavored broth, adjust as necessary.
2. Slice the tender parts of the mushrooms.
3. Combine the broth, mushrooms, and mujadara in a pot and bring to a simmer.
4. Serve, garnished with the parsley, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Foraging In Belltown and Downtown Seattle (With Mini-Reviews of Lola, Local Vine, Sazerac, and Wild Ginger)

Catholic Seaman's Club, Seattle, WA

Saturday night. A rare date night, even rarer now that I'm working some restaurant hours. Normally we would plan a dinner someplace nice, but we know we have our first trip to the Herb Farm coming up soon, and it seemed unnecessary to be too specific. Instead we decided to catch a bus to Belltown and just see what caught our eye.

Stop #1 - Lola - Tom Douglas' Greek venture in Hotel Andra is one of our favorites, often for brunch. This time I tried one of their several ouzos and we had an appetizer that was uncannily similar to the phyllo wrapped feta and citrus salad I made the other day. Their version had a creamier, non-spicy filling and an arugula and grape salad, and was served with a thyme and honey oil, so the flavors were different but it was plated so similarly it was a bit freaky. We also had their incredibly smooth and garlicky tzatziki which is served with just-baked pita. Like all of Douglas' ventures, Lola is reliable and stylishly excellent.

Stop #2 - So we are walking down 2nd Ave. and out of the blue, there is my friend from Adobe, Kevin, walking his Bijan Frise. No, that isn't a type of lettuce, it is a dog, smarty pants. Turns out he lives in Belltown, and he recommended Local Vine, which is a very stylish and modern wine bar owned partially by Jason Wilson of Crush fame and one of Food and Wine's Best New Chefs of 2006. Definitely very hip. You can order a glass anywhere from around $8 up to something like $2000 for the 2003 Screaming Eagle. Sure. I'll probably settle for some Whimpering Crow but whatever. One fine thing is that you can taste before you commit to a glass. I had a nice Bordeaux and Sarina had a glass of bubbly. We shared the truffled popcorn and speculated about the rather odd customer a few tables away in his all-white cult clothes. I was probably raised by wolves, but I didn't know about the cool trick with the champagne flutes that are etched so that all the bubbles emanate in a tight funnel in the center of the glass. Whoa dude.

Interlude - After watching the baker at Macrina ice a cake, we were peering in the window at the Catholic Seaman's Club (pictured above), a haven for sailors on shore leave and a landmark in Belltown that is a throwback to an era in Seattle's maritime past. We chatted for a few minutes with a gentleman who turns out to be none other than Father Haycock. He told us sadly of how leaves are often only a few hours now, and many of the sailors don't have visas that allow them to safely wander the streets anyhow. Yet another consequence of 9-11.

Stop #3 - When I first started visiting Seattle regularly as a telecommuter for Adobe, like 8 years ago, I'd stay at Hotel Monaco. For some reason Sazerac seemed really cool to me then. Anyhow Sarina mentioned it for some reason, and it brought back memories of their hush puppies so I insisted we cab down there. Man, the 80's called and they want their giant thumbtack wall sculpture back. No more hushpuppies. I had a classic Sazerac cocktail, which turns out to be sweeter than my preferred beverage style. The appetizer pizza was good, but I think this place is kind of due for a makeover.

Stop #4 - At this point we just wanted a quick dessert before grabbing a cab back to the homestead. Wild Ginger was in sight and I was too addled to think harder, though 611 Supreme sounded appealing too. We had a really good chocolate torte and a very moist polenta cake, which I washed down with a pear brandy from Oregon's magnificent Clear Creek Distillery. It has that intensity of an eau de vie with crystal clear pear flavors. Dang.

Wha a fun and romantic date night! We might not have hit the single most interesting four spots in walking distance, but it was a treat to do dinner and drinks as all individual plates at a pace that suited our mood, with a nice stroll in between and no plan needed upfront. And this is a very vegetarian friendly way to dine, since even the most meat-heavy restaurants tend to have a few veggie appetizers.

Details:

Lola
2000 4th Ave
Seattle, WA
(206) 441-1430

Local Vine
2520 2nd Avenue at Vine Street
Seattle, WA 98121
(206) 441-6000

Sazerac
1101 Fourth Avenue
Seattle, WA  98101
(206) 624-7755

Wild Ginger
1401 3rd Ave.
Seattle, WA 98101
(206) 623-4450

Resources for Finding Local Food

Everyone talks about eating locally and sustainably, but it isn't always that easy to track down all the great products available in your area. I bet that there are many more farmer's markets, u-pick-em farms, farms that sell direct, and other exciting stuff in your neck of the woods than you realize! I just learned from Nicole over at Farm To Philly about LocalHarvest.org and FoodRoutes.org. Both have search engines where you can look for say, a goat dairy near Seattle, or a farmer's market in Bozeman. Very cool stuff. Try them both, the databases are different, and there is lots of other great info on the sites as well.

Phyllo Wrapped Feta and Chard with a Citrus and Olive Salad

Phyllo Wrapped Feta and Chard with a Citrus and Olive Salad

One of the really cool things about working at Cafe Flora is the open menu, where any employee can propose seasonal dishes to be added to the quarterly menu, and then a manager's meeting selects the best ones. The picture above is an item I've been testing for the winter. The phyllo dough is filled with feta, swiss chard, and seasoned with Ras El Hanout, which gives it a slow warming burn along with complex sweet spices. The salad is simply mandarin orange, pickled onions, blood olives, and parsley with a citrus rosemary dressing, and I've got some Zatar on the plate for a little extra color and flavor. I took it in for an initial tasting by the folks in the kitchen yesterday and I think it went over well.

This was kind of fun for me because for some reason I've never used phyllo (aka filo) dough before. I don't know why not. I think the recipes always sounded a little fussy, like it was going to fall apart and you had to be so careful to keep it covered and so on. Not so, it was actually very easy and forgiving. If it crumbles a little, you just kind of roll around it and no worries!

Seattlest + Last Week For South 47 Farm

Produce at South 47 Farm in Redmond, WA

Many thanks to Dan over at Seattlest for the kind article about the blog and my internship! They are definitely the site to watch if you want a broad perspective and absolutely up to the minute news of what is going on in our fair city.

The pictures above and below are from South 47 Farm over in Redmond. If you are looking for a little less commercial vibe to go pick pumpkins, and an all organic farm, this is the place to go. They close Oct. 31st this year so hurry out and do the corn maze (for bigger kids, it takes awhile), pick some pumpkins, and buy the last of the seasons' vegetables.

We took Mini-Me out there for their wonderful Farm Tots program which always includes a quick educational talk, arts and crafts, petting the pygmy goats, picking some produce (this week it was a sugar pumpkin), and a hayride, all for $7 lousy bucks. You can't beat that with a stick, but there are only two days left, the last one of the year is this Friday, 10/26.

Hayride at South 47 Farm

Review: Flying Apron Bakery - New Vegan, Gluten Free Bakery in Seattle, WA (Fremont)

Sorry for the poor picture quality today, all I had was my cell phone when I wandered in to the new Flying Apron Bakery in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood with a few minutes to kill before a doctor's appointment. My eyes lit up to see a happy looking bakery in the spot where a tasty but doomed crepe restaurant had hung around for a few years. Turns out Flying Apron has been around for years, but has recently closed two old locations and consolidated all operations over to Fremont.

I was midway into a maple-pecan muffin before I read the sign that told me that everything here is vegan, gluten free, and wheat free. I was pondering a familiar but just off the tip-of-my-tongue (no pun intended) flavor, which turned out to be chickpea flour. It is a common ingredient in Indian sweets, with a somewhat peanuty character that I really enjoy. It made good sense in this quite tasty and very moist muffin.

I'm a vegetarian of course, but not normally a huge fan of vegan sweets. I have to say though, I've had some impressive ones lately including the German Chocolate cake at Cafe Flora (not to mention the savory waffle). Flying Apron is doing this in style, producing treats you'd be happy to eat even if you normally love butter and wheat. Those of you with stringent food requirements will also appreciate that they clearly label each and every item with the ingredients.

I can't call this a full review since I only had one muffin, but if you are vegan or need to avoid wheat, I think this place would be well worth a trip. Please add a comment if you go and let us all know what you liked or didn't like.

Details:
Flying Apron Bakery
3510 Fremont Ave North
Seattle, WA 98103
(206) 442-1115
http://www.flyingapron.net

One Day Of Work, Two More Meals, Happy Campers (Including Recipe for Spicy Angel Hair Pasta)

Cornmeal Pancakes From Joy of Cooking

Friday night, put in a good day of work at Cafe Flora. When I got home around 9, Sarina hadn't really eaten dinner and was in the mood for pasta. You know you love to cook when that sounds like good fun! I made her a spicy angel hair pasta with breadcrumbs that comes together in about the time it takes the water to boil (recipe below).

If a friend asks you for an easy and flavorful vegetarian dish, this would be a good one to recommend. You've got the heat of the chili flakes, the pungent garlic, crunch from the breadcrumbs, a little acid from the lemon, and a bit of saltiness. Just don't overcook the pasta.

Then this morning, Mini-Me wanted pancakes, and we decided they should be corn pancakes, from the Joy of Cooking. Picture above. Yep, I like mine a little burned. She ate almost of 5 of them, and she's only 2.5 years old.

Sometimes it just doesn't need to be any more complicated than these simple, delicious things.

By the way, have you checked the expiration date on your baking powder and baking soda recently?  I recently replaced some that was out of date and boy are things rising better now!

Here's the Angel Hair recipe:

Spicy Angel Hair Pasta
(For 1, but easy to multiply)
Vegetarian, and vegan if you omit the parmesan

• 1/4 lb angel hair pasta
• 1 slice country bread
• olive oil
• 2 large cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. chili flakes (or to taste)
• butter
• lemon
• parmesan (reggiano), grated
• sea salt
• pepper
• parsley

1. Start boiling a pot of salted water
2. Toast bread until quite dark, cool a bit, then chop with a knife (or food process or whatever, but I like kinda coarse breadcrumbs for this)
3. When the water boils, heat a big frying pan or skillet over medium flame
4. Drop the pasta
5. Put a good amount olive oil in the skillet, and add the garlic and chili flakes
6. After a minute or two, add the breadcrumbs and stir occasionally
7. When the pasta is al dente (probably 4 minutes for angel hair), drain it well and add right to the skillet
8. Add a good nub of butter, a handful of parm, a squeeze of lemon, salt and pepper to taste, and quickly toss a few times with tongs. Taste and adjust, quickly.
9. Serve piping hot in big bowls, garnished with a generous amount of more parm, a few more grains of sea salt, fresh ground pepper, and parsley

My First Week Working At Cafe Flora

Cafe Flora, Seattle, Washington

I've always had a desire to work in professional kitchens, but other than a few months over 20 years ago at Green Gulch Farm (in Marin county, part of the San Francisco Zen Center), I haven't done it. So I'm taking a few months off from my day job to intern and see if it is something I really enjoy. The folks at Cafe Flora, the much-loved Seattle vegetarian institution, have been incredibly kind to let me work there and learn the ropes.

My first night I worked the pantry station. Pantry is responsible for all of the cold food that we serve: making a few different green salads, a soba noodle salad, a (vegetarian) pate plate, cheese plates, and plating and saucing all of the desserts. I was trained by T. who was in her last few nights on the job before moving on. She was great at getting me up to speed. After watching her make a few salads she let me try it and it went ok. The main thing is to have your station set up logically, so when you go to make a dish, all of the ingredients and utensils you are going to need are already gathered together. That way you aren't likely to forget anything.

The good feeling is when you get a nice rhythm and routine going. For example, here's how I make a Caesar salad:

• ticket hits the printer, check it for any special requests (to go, dressing on side, split, vegan, substitutions, etc.) and whether it is small or large
• put on gloves
• grab a cold plate from the middle reach in and put it on the counter
• grab the bowl and tongs from the other reach in cooler and fill it with the right amount of romaine
• add croutons
• grab the drip-cut pitcher with the Caesar dressing, pour a healthy amount on the greens, toss them with tongs, and mound on the plate
• return the bowl to the cooler
• top with fried capers and parmesan
• wipe the rim of the plate
• slide it to the server pick up area and tear the ticket
• clean up any mess

It sounds like a lot to remember but it is actually easy because each step leads you to the next. You don't want to have to think, it should just be like tying your shoes. You don't question it and do it in a different sequence the next time unless it is intentional because you think you might have found a more efficient way. At the same time, you do want to use your head to figure out what order to do things in when you get busy, making multiples of the same salad at once, or doing several salads and then several desserts for example.

The next night I worked with T. again but I made most of the plates and she helped out by bringing backup ingredients from the kitchen. Today I graduated to running the station by myself, coming in early in the morning to prep and set up, doing all the plates for lunch, and then taking inventory, re-icing everything and cleaning up to hand off to the evening pantry cook before I left. It was a good feeling to know I could handle the station myself for a moderately busy lunch. We'll see how I do when we are slammed and I'm getting five tickets at a time! 

Pantry at Cafe Flora is unusual because it is in the dining room. It has been fun for me to be in the front of the house, paying attention to how the servers do their job and the very pleasant atmosphere. I definitely have a different awareness as an employee instead of as a customer.

One thing I've understood much more clearly this week is how much a restaurant depends on good prep to serve good food. Every day there is a general kitchen prep list as well as specific lists for some of the individual stations. There are yam fries to be cut, stocks and sauces and soups to make, vegetables to be cleaned and chopped, cheese to be grated and portioned and so forth. And each of those things needs to be done with attention to detail, to make sure that the end result you are going to serve is delicious. It is also critical to be organized and know how much you need of every item so that you neither run out nor need to waste it, and to have everything properly labeled and placed so you can find it.

I've also worked a couple shifts just doing general prep instead of pantry. There is a definite learning curve and everyone has been really patient with me, happily telling me where to find ingredients and equipment and showing me exactly how the prep of each item should be done. We have recipes of course, but it really helps to have someone show you how the chanterelles should be cut for the risotto cakes, or the safest way to drain a huge stockpot. It feels great to be getting to the point where I can look at the list and see several things I can do confidently, and then be able to ask for an overview of a few more.

Anyhow that is the report after my first 5 shifts. I'm hoping to have the opportunity to help out and train on some of the other stations, so I'll keep you all posted about what I'm learning.

Welsh Cakes from Alford and Duguid's HomeBaking

Mini-me started the morning with my favorite refrain: "want make something!", which means she'd like us to cook something together. I was a bit bored of our regular muffin routine, so I pulled out Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid's HomeBaking thinking of scones and settled on something related but a bit different, the "Welsh Cakes" you see above.

I don't have the author's permission so I can't reproduce the recipe here, but the basic concept is somewhere in the neighborhood of a typical biscuit or scone, but with no baking powder or soda, and all the liquid coming from eggs. They are flavored with the usual sweet spices (nutmeg, cinammon, ginger, cloves) but also get a little spike of black pepper, and are baked like pancakes on the stovetop in a skillet instead of in the oven. The recipe called for currants but I was out, so we used chopped dried blueberries instead. The results were delicious: buttery, both moderately flaky and tender, and with a fairly intense flavor unscathed by the typical chemical aftertaste from the leavenings. According to Wikipedia, this unleavened variation is more correctly known in Wales as a "Llech Cymreig".

Alford and Duguid's strong point is to bring together a big group of recipes via a theme and tie them together with photos and tales of their travels. I'm a big fan of all of their work. The HomeBaking book focuses on rustic baked goods from around the world. Nothing in here is meant to be pretty in the way of fancy pastries, but they all have an earthy and honest beauty that is easy to appreciate.

That said, there were a couple of nits I might pick with this particular recipe. First, it calls for 2 extra-large eggs. It is pretty much a universal standard that recipes use large, not extra large. I just used 2 large and they turned out just fine. If it had called for 3 XL, I probably would have used 4 L. Also, it tells you to roll them out 1/4" thick, and that you will get 12 or 13 cakes. I don't think they measured, because a full 1/4" would only give you about 8-10 cakes. I find this is the case with many recipes that call for dough to be rolled out, and you have to use your own experience as a baker to see how thick they should really be.

Notwithstanding these pet peeves, both the book and this recipe are outstanding.

You Have Mousse In Your Freezer (I Think)

What if I were to tell you that you have chocolate mousse in your freezer this very instant? Am I psychic? Did I break in to your house and anti-burgle a delicious dessert as a complimentary gift for visiting my blog?

Nope, I'm talking about ice cream. I was recently struck by the idea that the ingredients in a good chocolate ice cream and a good chocolate mousse are pretty close. They both start with dark chocolate, heavy cream, egg yolks, and sugar. Some mousse recipes add beaten egg whites as well. So I've been experimenting with barely melting leftover ice cream and putting it in a nitrous-fill whip cream dispenser. It definitely works, you just dispense right into serving glasses, and chill for a little while. It comes out ultra-light and fluffy. You can add egg whites in there too, just give a good shake before dispensing and they will aerate beautifully.

Tonight I tried a version using espresso gelato and egg whites and folding it into cooled melted chocolate beaten with the yolks. Unfortunately I rushed the cooling of the chocolate and it turned grainy, so no picture! Clearly there are lots of other flavor possibilities both with the ice cream base and whatever you choose to add to it.

I haven't tried whipping with a blender or by hand instead of with a whip cream dispenser, but I imagine it would work fine.

However I don't want to claim this method is ready for prime time. The biggest issue I've had so far is that the resulting mousse tends to be a bit too sweet. So this is more of an invitation than a recipe. Anyone else up for giving this a shot and reporting back successes or failures?

Hummus Showdown - Abu Shukri vs. Taami

Hummus with Chickpeas and Falafel at Taami in Jerusalem

One of my very favorite days on our recent trip to Israel was the day that Sarina and I had stupendous hummus for a late breakfast and equally astounding hummus for lunch. In the morning we visited the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem and walked around the outside the Dome of The Rock and Al-Aksa mosque, then walked out through the Muslim quarter. Right by the fifth station of the cross we found Abu Shukri, and though it was a bit early we weren't about to miss this legendary experience. We weren't disappointed. You can see in the bottom picture, incredibly creamy chickpea puree topped with a few whole chickpeas and a puddle of fruity olive oil. The garnish tray included pickles and a few balls of falafel.

Then after a tour of the Israel Museum and a flustered circle through mad traffic with a sleepy toddler and an expensive parking ticket, we made our way to Taami, which Hillel had told me about. We waited a few minutes for a seat in the tiny place at the top of Shamai street and once again stuffed ourselves silly, stopping only to top each other with adjectival glee.

Those of you only familiar with hummus (which can also be spelled humus or hummous) outside of the Middle East are probably thinking: (1) a whole restaurant devoted mainly to hummus? (2) even if so, why would anyone care? Answers: (a) yep, all over, and everyone has their favorite place (b) because most of the hummus in the rest of the world would be better suited to mortaring bricks or caulking bathroom fixtures than eating. The real thing is a velvety smooth, silky puree of chickpeas, sesame tahini, lemon juice, garlic and salt. Certainly not Thai Pepper Hummus or any other absurd flavor. You can often have it garnished with more chickpeas, falafel, pine nuts, tomatoes, or other tasty bits, and there is usually a side tray of pickles and olives, but the main event is that puree.

When I was in Delhi a few years ago, I was struck by the fact that the top-shelf Bukhara restaurant at the Maurya Sheraton was known far and wide for their dal, basically a simple lentil soup. (It was damn good, with a lot of kidney beans and ultra buttery.) I was seated about 10 feet from Rahul Gandhi, considered likely to be a future Prime Minister of India. In America, a restaurant that caters routinely to future presidents isn't going to be famous for lentil soup, or chickpea puree. It made me feel proud as a vegetarian to see folks so passionate about humble, delicious dishes.

One thing is for sure, if you want to get an Israeli talking, just ask them where to find a good hummus restaurant.

As far as these two places go, I think you should visit both. I'd give a slight edge to Abu Shukri for the hummus itself, but I liked the lively atmosphere at Taami more (of course we were there at a better time of day).

If I ever manage to make hummus this good at home, I'll definitely pass on the recipe to all of you. My first attempt was a bit too grainy. Current theory is that I need to find true Middle Eastern chickpeas instead of Mexican garbanzos. There are so many recipes on the web and in cookbooks it is a bit mind boggling to know where to start. Feel free to add comments below if you have an opinion!

Details:
Taami
3 Shamai St
Jerusalem 94631 Israel
+972 2 561 9265

Abu Shukri
63 Al Wad Rd. at Via Dolorosa
Old City, Jerusalem, Israel

Hummus with Chickpeas at Abu Shukri in the Old City of Jerusalem

Strudel from Forno Marco Roscioli in Rome, Italy

Strudel from Antico Forno Marco Roscioli

I have been to the mountaintop, and there I found strudel. Antico Forno Marco Roscioli has been making beautiful breads, pizza and pastries for only 35 years. Which I guess makes them a bit of an upstart on the Roman scene. I found them after a morning of strolling around Campo dei Fiori and my only regret was I only had room for the stellar pine-nut and raisin strudel with deliciously moist breadcrumb filling. Dang!

Details:
Via dei Chiavari, 34
Rome, Italy
39 06 6875287

See sign, prepare to salivate

Recipe: Otsu Noodles (Sesame Soba Noodle Salad)

Otsu Noodles

I've been making variations of this dish for years, but I always thought of them just as "how I like to make sesame noodles". But I just read this post on Heidi's site (and the followup at Amateur Gourmet) and the light went on that  by "sesame noodles" people pretty much universally mean a dish made with peanut butter and wheat-based noodles, and that what I make is much closer to Otsu! In any case, seeing it on 101cookbooks made me leap out of my chair and turn the refrigerator inside-out to see what I was going to put in the version that most definitely had to be made right now. This is one of those vegetarian dishes that will easily please meat eaters who like Asian flavors, and is especially good to take for a potluck because it is served cool or at room temperature.

Grilled Eggplant and Tofu Otsu Noodles
Serves 4
Vegetarian and vegan

For the sauce:

• 1/4 c. toasted sesame paste (tahini)
• 2 T. tamari or other soy sauce
• 1 T. sweet soy sauce (kecap manis) or 2 t. sugar
• 2 t. rice vinegar
• zest from 1/2 lemon (or yuzu if you have it, or lime)
• juice from 1 lemon (ditto)
• 1 healthy knob of ginger, peeled and grated
• 1 t. or more Sriracha or hot sauce of your choice, or 1/2 t. cayenne pepper
• black pepper to taste
• 2 pieces of Balinese long pepper, crushed, if you have it

For the noodles:

• 9 oz. soba (Japanese buckwheat noodles)
• 1 english cucumber, cut into strips and then 1" pieces
• 1 heavy eggplant, slice into 1/2" thick rounds
• 1/2 lb. extra firm tofu
• 2 green onions, sliced thin
• 1/3 c. toasted sesame seeds
• sea salt (like Maldon)
• 1/2 head iceberg lettuce for serving, leaves pulled apart and washed (optional)

1. Whisk or blend all of the dressing ingredients together, and let it sit for flavors to develop while you make the noodles and vegetables.
2. Prepare the noodles according to the package directions. For mine that meant boiling for 4 minutes. Don't let them overcook. Rinse in cool water.
3. Brush the eggplant with a bit of oil and grill or broil until deep brown on both sides and thorougly tender. Let cool, then slice rounds into 2" x 1" batons.
4. Slice tofu into approximately 2" x 1" x 3/4" rectangles, dry with a paper towel, and saute in a single layer with a bit of oil over high heat until nicely browned on all sides. Alternatively, you can use a pre-flavored tofu product of your choice.
5. Taste and adjust the dressing. Does it need more salt? More acid? More heat? Is it too thick? You want a fairly liquid texture, not pasty, and it should be highly flavored.
   
6. Reserve 2 T. of the dressing and 1 T. of the sesame seeds.
7. In a large bowl, toss together the noodles, dressing (reserving 2 T.),  sesame seeds (reserving 1 T.),  cucumber, eggplant, tofu
8. To serve, line a platter with the iceberg lettuce, the mound the noodles on top. It is often hard to get the vegetables to mix in, so you may need to take your tongs and distribute them a bit. Garnish (in order) with: the remaining sauce, the green onions, the remaining sesame seeds, and a couple pinches of good sea salt and a grind of black pepper.

Other good variations for the sauce would include miso, wasabi, and/or fresh garlic. For the vegetables, I think this dish likes umami flavors more than a lot of green vegetation, so I'd be more inclined to do something like shiitake mushrooms than say zucchini.

Addendum! I'm making this my entry for the World Vegetarian Day and Vegetarian Awareness Month contest over at Coffee & Vanilla.

Recipe: Mujadara (Rice, Lentils and Caramelized Onion Pilaf)

Mujadara (Rice, Lentils and Caramelized Onion Pilaf)

Mujadara (also spelled Mujadarah or several other variations) is delicious, inexpensive, simple to make, and one of my wife's favorite foods. Since she got us this beautiful new serving platter I felt a batch was overdue. It is simply a mixture of rice and perfectly cooked lentils, spiked with a big dose of caramelized onions and a bit of cumin and cinnamon. It makes a hearty vegetarian one dish meal served with just some Greek yogurt and maybe a cucumber salad, or it can be part of a larger Middle Eastern feast.

Although this dish is very simple, unless you have a lot of leftover caramelized onions on hand, it does take a good bit of time. If you are following the recipe below you might want to double the onions and make extra to freeze or refrigerate, since they make a flavorful addition to many meals.

Mujadarah (Rice, Lentil, and Caramelized Onion Pilaf)
Serves 4 as a one dish meal
Vegetarian, vegan, and gluten free

• 3 pounds white onions, sliced moderately thin
• 2 T. butter
• 2 T. vegetable oil
• 1.5 c brown or green lentils (not red lentils or french lentils!)
• 2 c. long grain white or brown rice (I prefer the brown for a bit more character)
• 1/4 t. ground cinammon
• 1/4 t. ground cumin
• salt and pepper
• flat leaf parsley for serving

1. Melt the butter along with the oil and 1 t. salt in your largest skillet, and add the onions. Set heat on medium-low and stir occasionally until very soft, about 45 minutes. Turn heat to medium high and keep cooking and stirring often until deeply browned and sweet, another 20 minutes or more. Deglaze pan with white wine or vermouth and stir into the onions to get more flavor. See "caramelized onions" in Joy of Cooking for a more thorough description of the process. If pressed for time you can do a higher heat version of this but the results won't be as tasty.
2. Meanwhile, cook the rice and the lentils separately according to your usual method. The lentils need to be watched carefully. You don't want them still crunchy , but you definitely want to retain their shape. We aren't making lentil soup here. Some folks cook the rice and lentils together but I don't think that gives you enough control over the texture.
   
3. When everything is cooked, fold the rice, lentils, spices, half of the onions, and more salt and pepper together in a large bowl. Taste and adjust seasonings.
4. To serve, form a large mound, top with the remaining caramelized onions and chopped parsley, a grind of pepper and a few grains of sea salt. Pass a bowl of thick Greek yogurt to mix in as desired. It is really good at room temperature, and just gets better after a day in the refrigerator.

Campo dei Fiori Market, Rome, Italy

Arugula

For today's post I'm just going to let the pictures do most of the talking. Sorry for those of you on slow connections. These are all images from a morning stroll through the Campo dei Fiori market in Rome. Unfortunately we didn't have a kitchen at this point in our trip, so other than fruit, I had to eat this bounty with my Nikon!

The arugula above is used in many ways including as an uncooked pizza topping, and is much better than we normally get in the US. It is crisp and just slightly bitter. It adds a nice strong flavor component to many vegetarian dishes.

Blueberries, blackberries, white currants, and strawberries

Those strawberries were so delicate and flavorful. You could tell they weren't bred just to travel 2000 miles.

The white currants come in for their close-up

I came home with these peal-like, slightly tart white currants, and Mini-Me scarfed them all up.

Zucchini Blossoms

Man was I jealous of the zucchini blossoms that Italian cooks get. Even at farmer's markets in the US they usually seem like an afterthought of whoever is growing the squash, and are always terribly expensive and usually about to wither. In Rome there were huge baskets of them that looked like they were picked an hour earlier. Even average places would have whole pizzas covered with them. You could taste them more that way than you can with the typical treatment of stuffing the with cheese, battering, and deep frying.

Trimming vegetables for sale

The market itself had a nice vibe, and isn't that huge. Above you can see some of the folks that work there getting watercress and green beans ready to display.

Hot Peppers, Eggplant and Borlotti Beans

The best advice for choosing many types of vegetables is to find ones that feel heavy for their size. These eggplant were like little cannonballs.

I love that we have so many great farmer's markets in Seattle (and many places in America) now. I only hope that they get more frequent and closer to home. It would be awesome to be able to cook with ingredients this fresh every day. On the plus side, most of our farmer's market produce is certified organic or at least unsprayed, while in Israel and Italy I didn't see a whole lot of labeling.

You might also want to check out Heidi's post about her favorite Roman market - turns out she was there at the same time as us!

How To Find A Good Restaurant on Short Notice

I imagine many of us have intentions of doing lots of research before we visit a new place to find out the restaurants we really want to try. However, sometimes we don't do enough planning, or the place we want to visit is closed, or we're simply out and about when suddenly the need to eat strikes. How to quickly pick a restaurant that stands a good chance of being delicious? I've developed a few tricks over the years. None of them are perfectly reliable of course, but I think they do improve your odds.

1. Look where all the tourists are going - and then run the other way. Almost any restaurant that caters mainly to tourists just doesn't have the motivation to do a great job. They don't have many repeat customers, and most of the people they serve are only interested in having a fake "authentic" experience and getting out cheap.


2. Look where locals are eating. For example, I was strolling through Rome with my daughter, getting a bit desperate for lunch and despairing of all of the obvious tourist traps. I happened to spot a restaurant in an alley where there were obvious locals eating. The men were in nicely tailored suits and an older woman was having a panini and a glass of white wine, all speaking Italian. The meal was nothing spectacular but it was quiet and quite decent and the proprietress was personable and took great care of the bambina.


3. Ask a local, but be skeptical. Remember that a lot of people don't have great taste, and others, especially in tourist areas, will simply send you to their cousin's great uncle's place. That is especially true when asking at your hotel - they might even get a cut.


4. Grab a free paper. Especially in the US, one of the local "free papers" you find at a cafe or street stand can be an excellent source of independent reviews. You can also study the ads to figure out what the more promising areas of town are for your preferred type of venue.


5. Surf menus. Many restaurants put a menu outside, and you can learn a lot from them. Check out whether what is offered sounds good and whether the price is right. Of course as a vegetarian, I'm specifically looking to see if they have at least one entree that meets my needs. If the vegetarian options sound like an afterthought, I'll move on.


6. Also look at the seasonality. If they are offering asparagus in June or a fresh tomato salad in December, you are asking for trouble. Also, if the menu has a hundred different items, ask yourself whether they can possibly do that many things well.


7. If there is no menu posted, so much the better. Now you can walk in and ask to see one, and get a better look at the inside of the place. Don't be the least bit ashamed to walk away if it isn't what you want.


8. Try to get a look at the food. If you can peek in a window or see someone already eating on the patio, often a quick glance will tell you whether it looks good.


9. Take advantage of technology. If you have a laptop with you, find a place with wireless and spend 10 minutes doing some quick searches for recommendations. Try chowhound or citysearch, or just google the neighborhood plus the word "restaurant" and read a few reviews. If you are savvy with your mobile phone, you can do it that way too.


10. Trust your instincts. Take a second to just feel the overall vibe of the place. If you sense there might be some love of food here, trust your gut and wander in. If not... hey, is that another menu I see down at the end of the block?

If you have other tricks that have worked for you, please add them as a comment!

Review: "Jovani" Restaurant, Tiberias, Israel

Delicious ravioli at "Jovani" TIberias, Israel

We're on our way from Jerusalem up to Vered Hagalil. No GPS, but this looks easy on the map. We just need to pass through Tiberias, stay on the same road headed north around the Sea of Galilee (Kinerret), and we should be there in half an hour. Pretty much follow the coast. Hmm, the road is turning inland. We must have missed the turn. Let's try again. Hmm, no obvious main road headed up the coast. All these side streets dead end. Maybe the turn was earlier. Argh! Three tries later we are punchy and very hungry and worried about a nap for Mini-Me.

Tiberias is one of those resort towns that I would normally avoid, especially for eating. But since we are desperate, we just park the car and pick the first place that looks half decent and hope they can give us directions along with lunch. The sign in English said "Jovani" and "Espresso Bar", but in Hebrew it is something closer to "Giovanni".

Boy were we glad we got lost! I'd been avoiding ordering pasta since we were headed shortly to Italy, but I broke down here. The ravioli in the picture above was simple but stellar, with a homemade tomato sauce that was practically vibrating with fresh flavors. We all shared that along with huge, beautiful Greek and Israeli salads.

And thus my continued amazement with food in this tiny country. Nothing fancy - in fact, ultra casual. The owner's daughter is chilling with her friends at the next table and the tab was maybe $40 for the four of us. It is just that the ingredients are insanely fresh and flavorful, and prepared with simple care, an experience that seems so infrequent in the US but the norm here. Like most Israeli restaurants (either kosher-dairy or non-kosher), it is a vegetarian paradise with lots of options and no stealth meat.

And the owner, who spoke excellent English, gave us directions too. We simply needed to follow that road that was headed inland for 7 Km, and it would head north again, have faith. Mmm. Not... so... much. We ended up making a huge box, going an hour out of our way and swearing that after we got settled we'd have to drive back south and figure out where the road really was just to satisfy our curiosity!

So I can't give you exact directions to Jovani, but if you enter town from the south it is one block left of the main street, in what seems to be the older downtown area filled with normal shops. I can't find anything about it on the web, though maybe someone who does Hebrew on their keyboard can track it down for us and add a comment? I've included a picture of the exterior below, and I'm sure a local could point you to it easily.

"Jovani" Restaurant in Tiberias, Israel

A Happy Welcome Home

Burekas, Bulemas, Pumpkin Filas, and Sweet Rosh Hashanah Rolls from Noni Sophie

We got home last night from our month-long trip to Italy and Israel. It was an exhausting 24 hours of travel but everyone held up well, and it was a joy to see Sarina's Dad waiting for us at the Seattle airport, ready to scoop our bleary little traveling family up into the minivan and home to bed. Her folks had thoughtfully made egg salad and picked up groceries for us, and Noni Sophie, Sarina's grandmother on her Mom's side, had sent along a beautiful package of Sephardic goodies to tide us over. You can see them in the picture above: burekas (the crescent shaped ones with a flaky dough), pumpkin filas (the triangles on the right), sweet rolls for Rosh Hashanah at the top, and the king of all savory pastries, the bulemas at the bottom.

Bulemas are filled with a mixture of feta and spinach, coiled up like snails, topped with grated romano, and sort of bake-fried. The dough is made lean initially but then you use a lot of oil as you shape them and more on the pan, so it ends up becoming very crispy and delicious. I have a tape of raw video of Noni Sophie teaching us how to make them. Some day I'll edit it down and give you all a video recipe.

So you can see we had a warm welcome and I feel very grateful to come back to such a wonderful family. I think the best trips both make you appreciate other cultures and leave you happy to be back home.

We went shopping at Whole Foods today to restock the house, and it was a definite culture shock. After a month of walking around incredible street markets with small individual purveyors, it was somewhat disturbing to be in a corporate behemoth.

I've got a few more posts to do about Israel and quite a few about Italy, some new cookbooks, and lots of recipe ideas to try, plus I'm getting ready to nail down my cooking internship for the next few months, so stay tuned - much blogging is about to ensue!