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.

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.

Beijing and Hong Kong Food

Eating wild blackberries while hiking an unrestored section of the Great Wall;
Having a Baishi apricot blossom tea ice at the sculpture garden of the Pace gallery in Beijing's 798 Art District;
Yogurt snacks at Wangfujing Night Market in Beijing;
Hot pot ingredients come to you on a conveyor belt on "Gourmet Street," the food court at Oriental Plaza in Beijing;
Shaved ice, red bean, and condensed milk desserts;
Mung bean popsicles -- many people were cooling off with these at Tiananmen Square, so I had to try one;
Tasting fine jasmine and osmanthus green and oolong teas in Hong Kong;
Even Starbucks has adapted to the Asian preference for jellies.

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: 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.)

Making Yogurt at Home

I love requests! I just got one to do a post on how to make yogurt at home, which reminded me that someone else had previously asked about making paneer, which leads into the question of what to do with whey after you've separated the milk solids from it to make cheese (paneer).

So, one at a time, in this mini-series on homemade dairy products : ).

Yogurt

The basic concept behind yogurt is to allow certain helpful strains of bacteria* to culture and ferment milk.

• Yogurt is digestible by people who are lactose intolerant, because the bacteria that culture the milk break down the lactose in it - they "eat" some of it, and leave lactic acid as a by-product - hence that "tang" that yogurt has.


• Yogurt is incredibly nutritious and satisfying, being rich in protein, calcium, riboflavin, vitamins B6 and B12, and delivering to our gastrointestinal tracts an inoculation of "good bacteria." Our guts are all about population dynamics - imagine a war between good and bad bacteria: the more good bacteria, the less of a chance bad bacteria has.

I usually start with about a half gallon of whole, organic milk (I like Organic Valley or Ronnybrook). I take a pot, rinse it with water, pour the milk in, and scald the milk over medium heat.

[This does two things: 1) kills whatever else might be in the milk, so that later, when I "inoculate" the milk with the yogurt bacteria culture, it can spread like wildfire throughout the milk without competition; and 2) heats the milk, since ultimately I'm going to need the milk to be warmer than human body temperature for the yogurt bacteria to thrive.]

After scalding the milk, I let it cool away from the stove to a little warmer than human body temperature: 45 degrees Celsius or about 113 degrees Fahrenheit. [You can use a thermometer, or just taste test the milk, to figure out when it's ready: when it feels pleasantly warm and drinkable to you, like the temperature of a nice warm but not too hot shower, or a cup of tea that's cooled down just enough to become easily drinkable, it's ready. A hotter temperature would kill the bacteria.]

While the milk is cooling down, I preheat the oven to its lowest temperature (170 degrees Fahrenheit).

When the milk is that perfect, warm temperature, you stir in either live yogurt starter culture, following the directions for that (nowadays, freeze-dried starter cultures are sold in grocery stores like Whole Foods; Yogourmet is one brand), or a small amount of previously made yogurt (I like Erivan, and I add about half a cup's worth to a half gallon of milk; once you've started making your own yogurt, just save the last half cup to get the next batch started).

You have to then keep the mixture at that nice, perfect, warm temperature for 6-12 hours. I make yogurt at night, and leave it overnight, covered, in the warm, 170-degree Fahrenheit oven. (After it's reached 170 degrees and I've put the yogurt in, I actually turn the oven off when I go to bed, and the yogurt stays warm enough just being in that insulated place.) Other people keep it in a good thermos overnight.

In the morning, voila, you have home-made yogurt, just in time for your smoothie or yogurt-and-granola!

*Some yogurt-making strains of bacteria include Streptococcus salivarius subsp. thermophilus, Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus, L. acidophilus, L. casei, and Bifidobacteria.

Recipe: Raspberry Yogurt Cake

Raspberry Yogurt Cake for 3 to 4

2/3 cup whole wheat pastry flour (keep 1/6 cup aside)

1/3 cup ground almonds/almond meal/almond flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

pinch salt

1/3 cup (2/3 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup raw turbinado sugar

2 teaspoons fresh orange juice

2/3 teaspoon almond extract

1/3 teaspoon finely grated orange zest*

1 large egg

1/3 cup plain yogurt

1 cup fresh raspberries (or any berries)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter cake pan. (I used a silicone mini muffin pan, which needs no butter.) Whisk flours (leaving 1/6 Cup aside), baking powder, and salt in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in large bowl until creamy. Beat in orange juice, almond extract, and orange peel. Add egg and beat. Mix in yogurt. Add dry ingredients to batter and beat until just incorporated. Toss 1/6 cup flour and raspberries in large bowl. Fold berry mixture into batter. Spoon batter into prepared pan (or mini muffin pan); smooth top. Bake cake until wooden skewer inserted near center comes out clean (about 1 hour 10 minutes in a regular cake pan; my mini muffins took 20 minutes or so, I think). Cool. Invert.

*I have to make a shout-out here: zesting citrus used to take me forever. This zesting tool has changed my life, and now I find myself routinely adding citrus zest to vinaigrettes, frozen goodies, veggies, seafood - pretty much anything I'm putting citrus juice into. Because the flavor imparted by zest comes from the oil in the citrus peel, it does not evaporate (that's why so many baking recipes call for zest). And the zesting tool does not peel away too much, so you don't get any of the bitter white pith.

Adapted from raspberry yogurt cake recipe in Bon Appetit, July 2008.

Recipe: Matcha Yogurt Panna Cotta

I'm having a tea party for two with a close friend and am remembering the tea jellies I had when I visited Japan several years ago. I tried recreating one to serve at my little tea party and came up with this take on yogurt panna cotta, which is not so much jelly-like as custard-y. (I think it will go over better; I think I'm somewhat unusual in enjoying the creamy jellies you get in Asia.) I'm still experimenting with a milky black tea jelly. I'll keep you posted.

Because it's vegetarian, I use agar (which growing up was known to me as "china grass") instead of gelatin. Agar (also called "agar agar") is a flavorless seaweed that gels and melts at slightly higher temperatures than gelatin. Just like gelatin, you have to soak it, dissolve it in a hot liquid (up to boiling), and then cool. Acid and the enzymes in tropical fruits like papaya and pineapple break agar down, so use more agar if you're making a citrus or other acidic jelly, and cook tropical fruits and juices before mixing them with agar. You can substitute one teaspoon of agar powder for a teaspoon of powdered gelatin, or 1 1/2 tablespoons of agar flakes.

Matcha Yogurt Panna Cotta for 4

2 Tbsp. water

2 tablespoons agar flakes (or 1 1/4 teaspoons powdered agar)

1/2 cup whipping cream

2-4 tbsp. sweet matcha* (depending on how sweet you like it)

1 cup plain yogurt (use a mild yogurt, without too much of a tang)

Pour water into small bowl and sprinkle the agar flakes into it. Let soak 10 minutes.

Bring cream and sweet matcha to simmer in a heavy medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring until sweet matcha dissolves. Add agar mixture and whisk until dissolved. Remove from heat. Whisk in yogurt.

Divide mixture among ramekins. Cover and chill overnight.

Optional (if you don't want to serve in the ramekins): Slip a knife around the edges of each panna cotta to loosen. Set each ramekin in a shallow bowl of hot water for 10 seconds. Immediately invert onto a plate.

*You could also just use unsweetened matcha and add your choice of sweetener to taste.

P.S. I have to make a plug for the cute custard spoons I picked up in Japan from Muji. Everywhere I went, these were given to me to use when I was served yogurt or custard, and the family we stayed with also used these, so finally I had to get them, too. Looks like they now have something similar at Sur La Table.

Recipe: Biryani

Biryani is one of the most elaborately spiced dishes we make at home. It's like an ensemble opera and 100-piece orchestra in every bite: each flavor makes itself felt, but all of them work together. (And it's much better at home, so rather than order it at a restaurant, try this recipe or find a Persian/Pakistani/Indian/Bangladeshi/Malay friend who'll have you over when he's making some.)

You will find different variations of biryani along the route that Mughal travelers and merchants traveled long ago, from Iran to Malaysia. It's basically meat, eggs, and/or vegetables with intricately seasoned basmati rice. Since we don't eat meat, we most often make it with mixed mushrooms, mixed vegetables, salmon, or shrimp. (But, even as a non-meat-eater, I will say, lamb and goat biryanis seem to be what people really swoon over.)

It's best served garnished with some sliced boiled egg and sliced tomatoes, with some cooling raita and red onion salad on the side.

Mushroom Biryani (serves 6)

1" piece ginger, peeled, minced
5 cloves garlic, peeled, minced
a small pinch saffron
1/4 Cup warm milk
1 bay leaf
4 cloves
2 green cardamoms, crushed
2 black cardamoms (optional)
1" cinnamon stick
salt to taste
1 1/2 Cups brown basmati rice, rinsed and soaked
2 teaspoons oil
2 medium sized onions, peeled and chopped
2 teaspoons red chilli powder
1 tablespoon coriander powder
1/2 tablespoon crushed peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon cumin (seeds or powder)
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
2 medium sized tomatoes, peeled and pureed
1/2 Cup yogurt, whisked
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1/4 Cup fresh chopped cilantro
1/4 Cup fresh chopped mint
*15-20 medium sized quartered mushrooms

optional: a few drops of kewra (an aqueous extract of pandanus flowers)

*In place of the mushrooms, you could use any of the following: chicken, lamb, salmon, or other fish (cut into bite-sized pieces); shrimp (I recommend leaving the tails on for more shrimp-y flavor); or a mixture of vegetables (like diced carrots, chopped green beans, corn kernels, and cauliflower cut into very small, fine florets).

Soak the saffron in the warm milk and keep aside.

Bring 3-4 Cups water to boil with the bay leaf, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, 1 teaspoon salt and rice, then when it's boiling, reduce heat to the lowest and cover. Cook until the rice is about 3/4 done and then remove from heat, keep covered, and keep aside.

Heat the oil in a pan, add the onions, stir fry over high for 2-3 minutes until the onions are translucent. Add the ginger-garlic and cook briefly. Add the red chilli powder, coriander powder, black pepper, cumin and turmeric. Stir-fry briefly. Add the pureed tomatoes. Cook another 2-3 minutes until fairly thick. Add the whipped yogurt, garam masala, and half the cilantro and mint. Cook 2 more minutes, stirring. Add the mushrooms and salt to taste. Stir-fry 2-3 minutes (if you're using something other than mushrooms or vegetables, at this point, cook, stirring occasionally, until the meat/fish/shrimp is cooked).

If you like your biryani drier, at this point, mix the almost-cooked rice and almost-cooked mushroom mixture together in a shallow, ovenproof dish, mixing in the remaining cilantro and mint and saffron milk. (More classically, people layer the rice, mushroom mixture, additional fresh cilantro and mint, and saffron milk; I like consistent mixing.) Cover, making sure to seal the dish, and bake for 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove the cover for the last minute or so.

If you like your biryani more moist, mix the almost-cooked rice and almost-cooked mushroom mixture together in whichever dish will accommodate them both (for me, it's usually the pot I had the mushrooms in), mixing in the remaining cilantro and mint and saffron milk. Cover and cook on very low heat about 10 more minutes. Uncover and raise the heat to medium and cook a few more minutes, stirring occasionally, to evaporate some of the water.

For real dhaba flavor, sprinkle a few drops of kewra over the biryani.