Menu Diary: Persian-inspired Autumn Supper

I seem to have dropped off the blogging tear in 2011! But I would love to start a diary of menus, to keep track of what I make and serve at different gatherings.

Tonight:

pomegranate-rosewater martinis

cashews with spicy pineapple dust

a big salad of green grapes, walnuts, parsley, pomegranate seeds, persimmon and pistachio-lemon oil 

a big steaming "zereshk polo" made with spaghetti squash instead of basmati rice, topped with pistachios, barberries, carrot strings, saffron, and onions caramelized in butter

roasted cauliflower served with four sauces (tahini-mustard, mint-cilantro, mango-chilli, tamarind)

lamb, salmon and shrimp seared with za'atar, Aleppo pepper, dried lemon
(and, in the case of the lamb, a little pomegranate syrup, too)

saffron panna cotta

Moroccan mint tea

Randy Mayor; Jan Gautro

Warm Brussels sprouts by way of Beirut

I've been refining this since last year. This year, I caramelized the Brussels sprouts in a hot wok, with olive oil, salt, and crushed red chilli pepper, then tossed them with halved green grapes, yogurt, and za'atar, and drizzled the whole thing with balsamic syrup and a few pomegranate seeds for garnish. I served this warm right after I made it.

Light Apple Cake

I saw a recipe for baked apple cider doughnuts on thekitchn when I was trawling the web for dessert ideas for Thanksgiving. I made one cake with it instead of eight doughnuts, and garnished it with some persimmon rings. We had it with spiked mulled apple cider.

Tuscan Kale Salad

I made this salad for Thanksgiving 2011. I rinsed and removed the ribs from two bunches of organic Tuscan kale (also known as lacinato kale or dinosaur kale) and tore the leaves into bite-sized pieces and let them dry for a bit while I made a vinaigrette. The vinaigrette: 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, 4 teaspoons honey, 4 teaspoons mustard, and a ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil. The key here was to let the kale marinate in the vinaigrette for several hours (in yesterday's case, three or four hours) to soften. I tossed it a few times over the course of the afternoon while I was cooking other dishes, and tossed in about two cups of pomegranate seeds before serving it.

Pear, Walnut and Raisin Cake

YIELD - One 8 inch cake

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) (200g) butter softened

1 cup (200g) granulated raw cane sugar

1 1/2 (200g) cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup raisins

3 eggs

1 lb pears (450g) – peeled, cored and sliced.

1 Tbsp raw sugar or granulated sugar (for sprinkling)

1/3 cup (50g) walnuts, chopped

Glaze:

2 1/2 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp brown sugar

1 1/2 Tbsp rum



Procedure

* Preheat the oven to 180C/350F and grease an 8 inch round pan or springform.

* Measure raisins in 1/3 cup and fill raisins to the top. Next, add enough rum to fill the measuring cup. Set aside and allow to soak.

* Sift the flour, baking powder and set aside.

* In mixing bowl, beat the sugar and butter together. Add the eggs, one at a time.

* Reduce the mixer speed and add the flour mixture or fold it in by hand.

* Spoon this mixture into a prepared cake pan and place the pear slices on top of the cake.

* Sprinkle with the 1 Tbsp of sugar, dot with the remaining butter and scatter the walnuts and the rum raisins on the pears.

* Melt glaze ingredients and drizzle over pear and walnuts.

* Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Let cool.

Ruby Salad

2 small beets

1 medium red onion

radicchio (1 head)

seeds from 1 pomegranate

2 blood oranges or 1 ruby grapefruit, supremed

Pomegranate vinaigrette ingredients:

3 tablespoons pomegranate molasses / reduced pomegranate juice / pomegranate syrup

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

salt

pepper

Wash, trim, and place beets onto foil squares, and top each with a teaspoon or so of olive oil, plus some salt and pepper; wrap in the foil and roast at 400°F for about 45 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool.

Peel and halve red onion, then slice crosswise. Put about 1/8 of the thin semicircular onion slices into a small bowl of cool salted water.

When beets are cool, peel them, and cut them into bite-size wedges (each wedge about 1/8 of each beet).

Rinse and pat dry radicchio. Quarter, then slice crosswise. Arrange in platter.

Top radicchio with beets. Top radicchio and beets with citrus segments.

Drain onion slices and scatter them over the salad. Scatter pomegranate seeds atop the salad.

Whisk vinaigrette ingredients and add salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle vinaigrette over salad.

Brussels Sprouts, by way of Beirut

1.25 lb Brussels Sprouts, rinsed, quartered, and *thoroughly* dried

olive oil

1/2 C yogurt (thick Greek-style or plain, as you prefer)

4 Tbsp pomegranate syrup (pomegranate juice, reduced to a thick syrup)

4 Tbsp crumbled toasted walnuts

8 Tbsp Sliced Seedless Green Grapes

Ground coriander seed, black pepper, salt (about 1/2 tsp) and sherry vinegar, to taste

Handful pomegranate seeds

Mix the yogurt with the ground coriander seed and black pepper.

Deep fry the Brussels sprouts or sear the cut sides in a pan until well browned - almost burnt - or toss with olive oil and roast in the oven at 500 degrees Fahrenheit until crispy. The Brussels sprouts should still be green with browned outer leaves when cooked. Toss with salt and sherry vinegar.

Stir together until completely coated the Brussels sprouts, spiced yogurt, walnuts and grapes, then swirl in the pomegranate syrup so it looks kind of like a ribbon winding through the dish, garnish with pomegranate seeds and serve warm.

Superfood Indulgence: Dark Chocolate-Ginger-Walnut-Cherry "Bark"

Dark-Chocolate Bark with Ginger, Walnuts and Dried Cherries (or Cranberries)

This antioxidant rich indulgence packs omega-3s, vitamin C, and fiber derived from whole foods into one small, delicious (vegan!) package.

1 1/2 cups walnut halves (6 ounces)
9 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup dried sour cherries or cranberries (4 ounces), coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger

Preheat oven to 350°. Toast walnuts on a baking sheet for 8 minutes, until golden and fragrant. Let cool, then coarsely chop.

Line a baking sheet with parchment / wax paper. In a glass bowl, heat two-thirds of the chocolate in a microwave oven at high power in 30-second bursts until just melted. Stir until smooth. Add remaining chocolate and stir until melted. Stir in the walnuts, cherries and crystallized ginger until evenly coated.

Scrape the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet and spread it into a 12-by-8-" rectangle. Refrigerate for 10 minutes, or until firm enough to cut. Cut into 48 pieces (6 x 8) and transfer to a plate. Serve cold or at room temperature.

Recipe: Asian Pear Salad

The friend who put me up to blogging, her husband, their roommate, and her sister and I are cooking together sometimes these days. The other night we threw together a yummy South Indian-inspired meal of lemon rice, sauteed red cabbage with peanuts, chillies, and coconut, and egg curry.

We started with this very simple salad:

• 3 asian pears, julienned;
• the juice of 1 lemon;
• some wonderful heirloom cherry tomatoes;
• a ripe mango, julienned;
• literally just a *splash* of extra virgin olive oil, some black pepper, and a dash of ground coriander seed; and
• some fresh cilantro.

Food Poem Fridays: John Engels' CRANBERRY-ORANGE RELISH

Cranberry-Orange Relish
by John Engels

A pound of ripe cranberries, for two days
macerate in a dark rum, then do not
treat them gently, but bruise,
mash, pulp, squash
with a wooden pestle
to an abundance of juices, in fact
until the juices seem on the verge

of overswelling the bowl, then drop in
two fistsful, maybe three, of fine-
chopped orange with rind, two golden
blobs of it, and crush
it in, and then add sugar, no thin
sprinkling, but a cupful dumped
and awakened with a wooden spoon

to a thick suffusion, drench of sourness, bite of color,
then for two days let conjoin
the lonely taste of cranberry,
the joyous orange, the rum, in some
warm corner of the kitchen, until
the bowl faintly becomes
audible, a scarce wash of sound, a tiny
bubbling, and then
in a glass bowl set it out
and let it be eaten last, to offset
gravied breast and thigh
of the heavy fowl, liverish
stuffing, the effete
potato, lethargy of pumpkins

gone leaden in their crusts, let it be eaten
so that our hearts may be together overrun
with comparable sweetnesses,
tart gratitudes, until finally,
dawdling and groaning, we bear them
to the various hungerings
of our beds, lightened
of their desolations.

________________________________

P.S. What do you think of poem-recipes?

Recipe by Miz SunDrop: Cornbread Dotted with Dried Cherries

We used Indian green chillies (just 2, finely sliced -- nowhere near the 1/2 cup the recipe calls for!) instead of the canned kind. Enjoy!

1 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar

4 eggs

1/2 cup diced canned green chillies (or 2 finely sliced fresh Indian or Thai green chillies)

1 1/2 cups "creamed" corn (canned)
1/2 cup shredded jack or cheddar
1 cup flour

1 cup yellow cornmeal

2 tbsp baking powder

1/2 cup dried cherries

Cream together butter, sugar and eggs. Add remaining ingredients, mix well. Spread into a greased 9"x9" pan (double recipe makes a 9"x13").

Bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 minutes.

Pomegranate, Beet, and Blood Orange Salad

yield: Makes 4 first-course servings

4 medium beets
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup blood orange juice (from about 1 blood orange)
1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses (I used concentrated pomegranate juice)
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar (I used cider vinegar)
1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
3 blood oranges, peeled, cut into1/4-inch-thick slices
1 cup pomegranate seeds (from one 11-ounce pomegranate) (I used two)

Preheat oven to 400°F. Place beets in roasting pan and toss with 1 tablespoon oil, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Add 1/4 cup water. Cover pan with foil; roast beets until knife easily pierces center, about 50 minutes. Cool. Peel beets and cut into 1/3-inch-thick wedges. Whisk orange juice, pomegranate molasses, vinegar, and remaining 2 tablespoons oil in large bowl to blend. Season vinaigrette with salt and pepper. Place onion in small bowl; cover with cold water. Soak onion 1 minute, drain, and squeeze dry in kitchen towel. Add beets, onion, orange slices, and pomegranate seeds to vinaigrette in bowl; toss. Season salad with salt and pepper.

Urban Family Thanksgiving

My lovely guardian angel sister-friend Anne declared, "Let's have an urban family Thanksgiving dinner here!" And that is exactly what we did.

Here is what we served:

Lillet Blanc over fresh tangerine zest (on the rocks)

Assorted cheeses (an aged sheep's milk gouda, a garrotxa, a tangy blue, a creamy brie-like cow's milk cheese) with pumpkin butter, sunflower honey, fig-almond spread, sliced New York apples & crispbread

Butternut squash panna cotta

A red salad of pomegranate, beets, red onion & blood oranges

(A choice of Albariño or pinot noir with dinner)

Roast duck & cornbread dotted with dried cherries

Hazelnut, sage, & mushroom stuffing

Cranberry chutney

Shaved Brussels sprouts with pecorino romano

Gingered yams with mustard greens

Homemade pumpkin and cherry pies with mulled apple cider granita

Annie made pie crust from scratch!

Watermelon-Tomato Salad

For this fresh summer salad, I cut large cubes of organic watermelon and yellow and green heirloom tomatoes and sprinkled fennel fronds and slices of red onion that had been marinated briefly in lemon juice. A scattering of pepper and a truly tiny drizzle of grapeseed oil finished it.

Recipe: Lychee Royales

Lychee Royales

Mix lychee liqueur and chilled prosecco in a 1:3 or 1:4 ratio, to taste, and pour into a flute with one fresh lychee.

(We made virgin versions of these for the prego ladies, with lychee juice and sparkling water.)

Recipe: Fruit-Ginger Summer Rolls

Fruit-Ginger Summer Rolls (for 12)
2 cups julienned fresh pineapple
2 cups julienned mango
1 cup sliced scallions
1 each red and orange pepper, cored, seeded and julienned
1/2" piece minced ginger and 1/2" piece julienned ginger
1/2 Cup thinly sliced fresh Thai basil
1/4 C fresh lime juice
1/4 C honey or sweet chilli sauce
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
4 oz cellophane noodles
12 sheets (8" each) rice paper (found in grocery stores' Asian
sections)

Boil rice noodles in salted water for 3 minutes; drain; set aside. Mix basil, minced ginger, lime juice, honey, and sesame seeds in a small bowl. Fill a bowl with warm water. Soak 1 piece rice paper until pliable, but not entirely soft, 10 to 15 seconds. Lay flat on a cutting board. Layer pineapple, mango, bell peppers, julienned ginger, scallions, and rice noodles to form a log-shaped pile. Spoon some sauce over. Fold bottom edge of wrapper up and sides tightly in against filling. Roll up to top edge. Repeat with remaining ingredients. Cut in half on the bias.

Recipe: Lobster-Mango Cocktail on Jicama Squares

Lobster-Mango Cocktail on Jicama Squares (serves about 15 as an hor d'oeuvre)

1/3 cup mayonnaise or classic aioli

1/3 cup plain yogurt

2 tablespoons whiskey

1 tablespoon ketchup

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, or to taste

about 1 1/2-2 lbs. cooked lobster meat or langoustine meat, cut into 1/2" pieces and rinsed and drained

3 firm-ripe mangoes, finely diced

1 cup finely diced celery

2 large or 4 small whole Belgian endives, trimmed and sliced twice lengthwise and thinly crosswise

3 tablespoons thinly sliced scallion greens

salt and pepper

Garnish: paprika

1 big jicama, peeled and sliced into 1" squares

In a small bowl whisk together the mayonnaise/aioli, yogurt, whiskey, ketchup, lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste. In a large bowl, toss the lobster meat with the mango, celery, endives, scallion greens, and the sauce until combined. Spoon the lobster mixture onto the jicama squares and garnish with paprika.

Recipe: Mango Guacamole

Mango Guacamole (serves 15 as an hor d'oeuvre)

4 large or 6 medium ripe avocadoes

1 cup finely chopped white onion

2 fresh green chillies, finely chopped

1/4 cup fresh lime juice, or to taste

3/4 cup diced peeled mango

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

salt and red chilli powder to taste

Garnish: lime wedges

Halve, pit, and peel the avocadoes, and coarsely mash them in a bowl. Stir in the onion, chillies, 1/4 cup lime juice, and salt and red chilli powder to taste (I used at least a teaspoon of each), then fold in the mango and cilantro. Season with additional lime juice.

(Because I had used pineapple in other dishes we served at the baby shower, I had the scooped out half of the pineapple and served the guacamole in it.)

Recipe: Passionfruit Yogurt Mousse

Passionfruit Yogurt Mousse (for 12-20 depending on serving size)
3 tablespoons agar powder
6 cups passionfruit purée (I used a mix of 2 cups passionfruit puree and 4 cups mango puree)
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 cups plain yogurt
3 cups well-chilled heavy cream

pulp from 4 fresh passionfruits

In a small saucepan sprinkle the agar powder over 3/4 cup cold water, let it soften for 1 minute, and heat the mixture over low heat, stirring, until dissolved. In a blender blend together the purée, the sugar, and add the gelatin mixture, and blend the mixture well. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and stir in the yogurt. In a chilled bowl beat the cream until it holds stiff peaks, fold it into the passionfruit mixture gently but thoroughly, and divide the mousse among 12-20 dessert glasses. Chill the mousses for at least 4 hours or overnight. Garnish the mousses with a
small spoonful of fresh passionfruit.

(You could probably substitute 2 whipped, pasteurized egg whites for 1 cup of the cream for a lower in fat, higher in protein, airier version.)

On Valentine's Day, Be Good to Your Heart

I'm still fixated on all things Moroccan, so here's an idea for a heart-healthy Valentine's Day menu that Rick and Ilsa might have enjoyed.

Grilled Fish with Smoky Harissa for 2

1 red chilli
1 garlic clove, peeled
2 5- to 6-ounce firm white fish (such as halibut or mahi-mahi) fillets
1 large red bell pepper, quartered lengthwise, seeded
Olive oil for brushing plus 2 Tablespoons
1 teaspoon ground cumin, divided
1 teaspoon ground coriander, divided
1/2 a lemon

Prepare grill on medium-high heat. Thread chilli and garlic clove onto a skewer. Brush chilli, garlic, fish, and red bell peppers with oil; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sprinkle fish with 1/2 teaspoon cumin and 1/2 teaspoon coriander. Grill fish, bell peppers, jalapeño, and garlic until vegetables are tender and fish is just cooked through, about 4 minutes per side for fish and 6-8 minutes per side for vegetables. Grill lemon, cut side down, until charred, about 3 minutes. Transfer fish to plate and tent with foil to keep warm.

Peel charred parts of skin from bell pepper and cut stem from jalapeño, and transfer to blender, discarding peel and stem. Add garlic clove, remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon cumin, and 1/2 teaspoon coriander to blender. Process until coarse puree forms. Season sauce generously to taste with salt and pepper. (I like to add some soaked walnuts, too, for creaminess.)

Place 1 fish fillet on each of 2 plates. Squeeze grilled lemon over. Spoon sauce over fish.

Serve with a simple salad that should be made one day beforehand (so the wheat softens) of 2 ounces cracked wheat tossed with the juice of 2 lemons, 1 tablespoon olive oil, a tomato (peeled cored, seeded, and diced), a red bell pepper (roasted, peeled, seeded, and diced), two chopped scallions, a small cucumber (peeled, seeded, and diced), a diced celery rib, and add to taste chopped fresh parsley and mint, salt and pepper.

Sefrou abricot/galettes sucrees/mandelbrot (apricot cookies)
4 large eggs
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup olive or argan oil
3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
1/2 cup chopped pitted dates
1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Preheat the oven to 350° and spray a cookie sheet with grapeseed oil.

Beat 3 eggs with the light brown sugar. Add the oil, flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon, then fold in the chopped nuts and fruit.

Turn the dough out onto a floured board. Divide the dough into 2 pieces and form each piece into a roll about 14" long and 1 1/2" - 2" wide. Place the rolls on the cookie sheet, leaving an inch between them.

Beat the remaining egg and brush it over the dough. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Bake for 20 minutes on the middle rack. Let the rolls cool for 5 minutes. Using a serrated knife, slice each roll into 3/4" pieces. Lay the slices cut side up on the cookie sheet and return them to the oven for 15 more minutes, or until the cookies are golden brown. Let cool and serve with Moroccan mint tea.