I haven’t posted an update to this blog in a very long time due to the fact that my camera died an untimely death. I’ve been cooking a whole lot since but didn’t feel compelled to post any updates w/o photos. I bought myself a camera for the holidays so will be updating this blog on a regular basis from now on, hopefully twice a week on average. This camera allows me to take far superior photos than my little point and shoot, so I’m pretty motivated to take lots of photos too.
My camera happened to arrive on the same day as the last house dinner which I was cooking, so I didn’t even bother really looking at the manual, but instead got to cooking and taking photos. For dinner I made a curry of seasonal veggies (winter squash, sweet potato, carrots) and tempeh. The processed I used is what I typically do when making a curry. I started out by sautéing onions and ginger in coconut oil along with a mix of ground spices (cumin, fennel, coriander, cinnamon, cayenne, turmeric in this case). Once the spices coated all the onions, I added some chopped canned tomatoes (not self-canned, that will be next winter) and stirred everything together for 3-5 minutes. Finally, I added the veggies and enough water to cover, brought it to a boil, and let it all simmer until the veggies were cooked. The final touch is to add some coconut milk and cilantro before serving.
Blueberries were in abundance at the market this week and I picked up a whole flat along and my roommate also scored a large quantity. The best way to enjoy blueberries in my opinion is to simply eat them by the handful, but I really felt like doing something very different with them. Fruit and meat is something that goes together well and the combination is well known in certain dishes such as the famous tajines of Morocco and the infamous Canadian bacon and pineapple pizzas of the US. Following up on the success of my Strawberry-Cardamom Pork Chops, I wanted to spice up the blueberries and use them in a chicken dish.
Blueberries have a very fresh and bright taste to them and I needed something that would match that and make it pop. I chose to pair them with Thai basil from the market, lemon grass, ginger, and a few jalapeños; all spicy and at the same time very bright flavors that go well with a beautiful summer day. The blueberries and spices were thrown into the VitaMix and pureed into what turned out to be very gelatinous mixture. I’ve used the combination of spices before so it must be some component of the blueberries that caused this and it is something worth researching later.
I tend to not cook with chicken except to roast them fully these days. Buying a whole chicken makes much more economic and ecological sense than buying individual pre-cut parts. After roasting, the bones can be used for stock and the chicken can be shredded to be add to stir-fries, sandwiches, quesadillas, or whatever else you imagine. There are various theories and methodologies that different people swear by for roasting a chicken and I myself have become very fond of slow-roasting, starting with high heat – 450F – for the first 30 minutes and then turning the temperature down to about 300F for a few hours, letting the chicken cook to the point of falling apart and ending up a sticky gooey skin. This time around I went with a more standard quick roast with 450F for 15 minutes followed by 350F for about 1.5 hours but to retain moisture and flavor, I stuffed the blueberry mixture under the skin of the chicken. This is done by taking a very sharp knife and carefully separating the skin from the meat, peeling it back a bit and using hands and a brush to get everything in there. The end result was perfectly crispy on the outside and very juicy on the inside with an amazing sweet and spicy taste.
I had about two cups of the blueberry concoction leftover along with all the giblets. Giblets and blueberries? Why not I asked myself and proceeded to sauté the giblets in some coconut oil and then simmer them with the blueberries until they were tender. This was all thrown into the food processor and what came out was a lovely blue-black puree with an amazing contrast of flavors: richness from the heart, pungency from liver, sweetness of the blueberries, and the spices bringing everything together. It was divinely robust tasting and not something I could eat much of in one sitting. This would make an ideal potluck pleaser, specially spread on some sesame encrusted rice crackers and topped with a cilantro leaf.
The weather here in Portland was actually nice and summer-like for a few days and this called for meal that was not too spicy or multi-layered, just simple combinations of foods that are full of freshness and brightness. I had just received my brand new Vitamix the day before so soaked some garbanzo beans for making homemade falafel and was excited to try out the dry blade to grind some homemade flour. I made a quick trip to the Interstate Farmer’s Market before I cooked and returned home with some Enlish peas, fava beans, and cucumbers that would all be incorporated into the final meal: Homemade falafel, homemade flat bread, a fava- pea raita, fried paneer cheese, and salad with a peach dressing made by my roommate.
Homemade falafel is a very simply dish that does not take too much time or many ingredients. Soak the beans overnight, throw them in a food processor or good blender (like the Vitamix), add some turmeric, fresh parsley, salt, and a touch of baking soda (I actually forgot this and they turned out just fine). Let this mixture sit for about an hour then shape and cook Falafel are traditionally deep fried or sometimes pan fried as patties but to save on the mess and calories, I chose to bake them instead, with just a touch of olive oil brushed on top.
The terms raita and tzatziki are used interchangeably by everyone including myself and I am certain that historically they derive from the same dish. Raita is the Indian version and uses a different set of spices than tzatziki’s mint, dill, or parsley. In addition, raita in India is not limited to simply cucumber which is what one gets here in the USA. Growing up, we primarily ate the cucumber variety but other common ingredients include potatoes (not my favorite), carrots (and raisins sometimes, so sweet raita is also possible), and radishes. For this raita, I used quickly cooked fresh peas and fava beans along with ground toasted cumin seeds for the spice with a touch of lemon juice to add some brightness. Toasting the cumin seeds adds an incredible depth and earthiness to any dish to which they are added. The toasted, almost burn, flavor pairs specially well with the tartness of yogurt.
Paneer is the de-facto cheese of India and a key source of protein alongside yogurt in the mostly vegetarian country. It easily made by bringing milk to rolling boil and adding some acid (apple cider vinegar in this case) to cause coagulation. The resulting solids can be used as is but are more commonly are hung or pressed (or both to improve texture) in a cheese cloth to remove excess liquid and shape the cheese. I added turmeric to the cheese before shaping it to give a little bit of flavor and just pressed it directly with about 10lbs of various grains on top of it. The resulting cheese pancake was cubed and fried in some olive oil. Paneer does not melt under high heat but instead browns on the outside and gets soft and squishy on the inside, providing a great texture combination.
The flat bread was based on the focaccia recipe in the excellent Vegetarian Cooking For Everyone, a tome that in addition to an excellent coverage of vegetarian cuisine, includes a good introduction to bread making. Instead of making a loaf, I simply rolled the dough into small flatbreads that I brushed with some olive oil and zatar and cooked in a cast iron skillet.
The tasty salad dressing was made by my roommate and all I know is that it contained some fresh market peaches along with a combination of various flavoring including tamari, ume plum vinegar, cider vinegar, etc.
The meal was plated by starting with the dressing first and layering the salad, falafel, and raita on top. The combination of the tartness of the raita and the sweetness of the dressing went well together and the flat bread was consumed in great quantity by my household. All together a great summer meal. Hopefully we’ll have a few more of these summery days in Portland in which to enjoy more light meals like this one.
I returned home from Saturday’s trip to the the Portland Farmer’s Market with a bounty of vegetables and a whole flat of strawberries to work with. My cooking style is based on mixing local seasonal ingredients with Indian flavors and spices and the strawberries definitely posed a challenge. There’s a passage in the excellent book The Flavor Bible about not using strawberries to thicken a curry that I wholeheartedly agree with but I felt like there must still be someway to blend spices with the strawberries that would complement their flavor without overpowering it. My initial thought was ginger and lemon grass which I ended up not going with but still want to play with in the form form of a strawberry chutney. According to The Flavor Bible, cardamom pairs well with strawberries so I decided to go with this. My other market ingredients on hand were some Romano beans and turnips and to this I added a few Carlton Farms pork chops from my local grocer.
The strawberries where blended together with some whole milk yogurt and a bit of cardamom in which I marinated the pork chops for a day. These were then pan fried in some oil until tender and the marinade was reduced down to a very thick sauce that was dolloped onto the plate to dip the pork into as it was eaten. The turnips were first boiled and mashed. While they drained (they have a high moisture content), I fried some fennel seeds and cinnamon in a bit of butter to which I then added the mashed turnips and a bit of cream to finish them off. For the Romano beans I first fried some minced ginger in a bit of oil and then added the beans and some water for braising them until tender but still having a bite. I set the beans aside and added some lemon to the braising liquid and let this reduce down to a nice thick ginger-lemon sauce that mixed back with the beans.
The flavor and texture combinations were delectable though I do think I overdid it a bit on the cardamom. As a whole plated meal, this dish contains a number of spices that would usually mixed together into a masala of some sort that would be used to flavor a curry dish, giving it a deep flavor and heaviness. Given that it is currently summer and rather hot, I am getting away from heavy dishes and leaning towards lighter flavors that pop in the mouth and these dishes each do that individually, in some manner deconstructing the curry flavors back into individual spices that can be enjoyed without overpowering the palate.
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