Healthy Inspirations

Today was my annual check-up. Luckily, given that my primary care physician is lovely, the 2+ hours long appointment was not as unpleasant as it could be. And while I've quit smoking and got a great all-clear recently after surgery, the holidays have provided plentiful rich food and drink. . .

Let's just say the scale was not kind. Surely a fluke, probably a seismic shifting of the earth or problem in the buildings structural integrity that led to the floor tilting, etc., etc.

Nonetheless the health scares of late and scale results led me to think that my recent indulgences (French-style hot chocolate with whole bars melted into milk being one very unfortunate new recipe.. . )should be a tad less frequent.

So this great article in the Times inspired me to think of making some lighter fare. Asian inspired, probably with a heavy leaning towards Japanese and not my beloved coconut milk-heavy Thai curries, lots of ginger, fresh steamed healthy goodness which is light but flavorful.

Ah well, if there is any hope of looking cute in all those party dresses then perhaps a bit more healthy living could be arranged.

Food and Friends

I find the best meals tend to be with good friends and the best dishes tend to be those that are the most spontaneous, cooked while sipping wine in the kitchen and gabbing with good company.

Having just spent Thanksgiving near Traverse City, I realized that my dinner invite to one of my oldest and dearest friends, S., was not well-timed for cooking a gourmet meal. Whoops. However she is like family and as my fridge, pantry, and bar have been well stocked of late, I figured an improvised meal would be possible.

The freezer tends to be underutilized in my kitchen, but when I do use it, I realize how hugely helpful it is to keep good frozen food. Buschs had had a sale on frozen wild shell-on shrimp a few weeks ago, so I had bought an extra pound and chucked it in there thinking it could come in handy. It did.

My mother, bless her, always buys extra produce with me in mind, so I had a beautiful large eggplant, bell peppers, fresh tomatoes and fresh herbs in the crisper drawer in my fridge. And then of course I had some olive oil (Colavita extra virgin and my current obsession, a Chilean varietal from Fustinis) , butter (you really can't go wrong with butter), sea salt from the always reliable Trader Joes, canned organic chopped tomatoes, fresh garden grown jalapenos, onions from the farmers' market, and french feta cheese and couscous from the Middle Eastern store, all of which I set out, mulling what to do and sipping a lovely 2009 Chenin Blanc. (Thanks again, Whole Foods!)

I initially thought I would make karades guvec, a Turkish shrimp casserole that is baked in a clay pot, and incorporate eggplant in the stew. So I set to peeling and salting the eggplant, and thawing the shrimp.

Though, while I am not engineer, the shrimp to eggplant ration already looked a bit off. . .

And as the onions and garlic sauteed and were joined with the red bell peppers, tomatoes, and eggplants, S. came, the conversation and wine flowed. As we launched into our catch up, it was clear that my initial plan would not work or be too time consuming to tweak.

So I switched to a far easier ratatouille and decided to cook the shrimp shell-on in a very hot pan with just some olive oil and green onions. I had fresh rosemary, thyme and sage all of which I chopped and added to the eggplant mixture which was cooking down, and the shrimp cooked very quickly. While a pain to peel while eating, they tend to be so much more tender when cooked with the tail, shell and legs still on.

And in the end, for an extremely improvised dinner it was not bad at all. S. and I both agreed that the couscous could have been more flavorful (I only used butter and sea salt) but the ratatouille and shrimp were both tender and flavorful, and complemented each other better than I planned.

But more importantly, it was so nice to spend an evening with someone I have known for the better part of 23 years. Laughing, commiserating, and going down memory lane. That the evening was accompanied with good food and better drink was a lovely bonus. As is the fact that my 1990s pictures of S. and I remain happily in the non-digital world - MC Hammer pants and crop tops not being my most elegant of looks. . .

Risotto a la belge

Sometimes it is great to have a recipe to rely on, and this one is particularly yummy. It is also a great website for those who have lived, live, or will travel to Belgium. In my humble opinion, some of the best food (and fashion!) to be had in Europe is in that little country.

Bon appetite!

Thanksgiving, Past and Future

This year’s Thanksgiving was, modesty aside, The Best Ever. Naturally I attribute that to two key factors - excellent food, for which I was partially responsible - and a healthy amount of Moet et Chandon White Star and Evolution from the Sokol Blosser vineyard in Oregon - for which I was fully responsible for. Family gatherings can be tense in the best of situation, but loosening everyone up, albeit in a reasonably civilized way, ensured that the final prep, dinner, conversation, desert, and subsequent card games all flowed smoothly if not a little hazily.

This year was the second time in my life that I made the turkey. Now cooking in my house is very daunting as everyone is an amazing cook and thus, a spot on critic. So rather then completely winging it (no pun intended) I decided to stick as closely to a recipe as possible. Naturally, that didn’t fully happen and what turned out was an improvisation of two recipes. One was for the actual brining, which I shall forever do before roasting any poultry, the second for roasting the turkey. I found both on epicurious.com, which has always proved reliable in my experience and usually has very helpful user comments.

The first step, after we bought the 13.15lb (5.9 kg) monster was to wash it thoroughly and remove giblets and organs. I then found a pot large enough to put the bird in so that it would completely submerged in the brine, plunked it in, and improvised the following brine recipe.

Rather then adding a whole three pounds of kosher salt, I added approximately 1 1/2 cups, and while we didn’t have marjoram, I used fresh rosemary instead. This was done the day before to let the Turkey soak overnight, and the whole concoction looked something like this:

The hardest past was probably washing the bird after the brine, because you really do want to do it thoroughly, but it is a large, slippery, unwieldy thing.

As to the actual bird, I decided to improvise on the Porcini Mushroom Turkey with mushroom gravy recipe with fresh baby portobello mushrooms instead of dried porcini.

What that meant was that I boiled approximately 8 ounces of the mushrooms (cleaned and sliced) and using maybe 1/4 of that for the mushroom butter that went under the skin and the rest for the gravy. Thinking back on it, 1 1/2 sticks of butter under and over the turkey’s skin is a bit much, but it made the meat unbelievably juicy.

For the actual bird, my mother had brought homemade chicken stock from her cafe, and I had saved the mushroom broth, so I combined both of those to put in the roasting pan with the bird and the fresh herbs. Luckily there had been a farmer’s market at the Corner Brewery the week before and one of the vendors and been kind enough to give me a ridiculous amount of fresh rosemary, thyme, and sage (alas no parsley or we would have had us a good old Simon and Garfunkel moment) for only five dollars.

There was extra butter, so in addition to putting it under the skin (a very intimate process not for the squeamish) and in the cavity (ditto), I put it over the skin as well instead of the olive oil the original recipe called for.

So as the bird was ‘doing its thing’ roasting in a separate roaster oven we have, I started the prep for the gravy. Again, I substituted fresh portobello’s and used regular onions for shallots. I started the gravy with a blend of the chicken and mushroom stock, and added some pan drippings later once the bird was out and tenting. The sauce was way too much for the 5 of us, however I refrigerated one part, and froze a good 2 cups of it for future use. The part initially saved was used with the last of the turkey breast, sauteed mushrooms, and extra fresh herbs to create a sort of post-Thanksgiving Fettucini Alfredo. I don’t usually much care for cream sauces, but given this had more broth and white wine in it then actual cream, it was surprisingly light and yet still onctueux.

I was told by no less than my father, one of the kindest people I know but with a highly sophisticated palate, that it was the best turkey he had ever eaten, and my mother, who has even more discerning taste buds, seconded this. It was pretty damn good, and though time consuming, surprisingly easy to make. In the future, I would roast it in a conventional oven as I think it lets the skin brown more and maybe try it with a mix of mushrooms to add even more woodsiness and richness to the flavor.

Also on the dinner menu was the wild-rice and chestnut stuffing my mother makes’ every year (unbelievably good, also time consuming but fairly straightforward). I had my dad send me the recipe the first year I cooked Thanksgiving dinner by myself, but have been unable to locate the .pdf file or the recipe online. As suggested by the title, the stuffing involves loads of wild rice and roasted chestnuts, is cooked with chicken broth and celery, flavored with fresh thyme and the rest I will leave to your imaginations. Because the bird was brined we did not stuff it, but baked the cooked stuffing.

Other sides were roasted Brussels sprouts (the only way I eat them), mashed yams, and a lovely cranberry-orange sauce whose recipe was from a girl who works at my mom’s. I’m not a huge fan of cranberry sauce, usually finding them far too sweet, but this one had no added sugar and fresh orange rind, so it had a lovely citrusy, aromatic bitterness.

For desert I made a maple-pumpkin pie, with the best crust recipe I’ve ever found, all from November’s edition of Real Simple.

I made the crust the day before and was really hesitant about rolling out. All previous crusts I’ve used have been with the “pat-in” method, and I’m really no baker. However with my mother’s help, we rolled it out evenly and it turned out flaky, not too sweet, and buttery. I think I’m going to use the recipe next time I make my caramelized onion quiche.

So as I get ready to go back to Berlin (where ironically, I cooked my first Thanksgiving dinner by myself) my brother and I are planning to have a late Thanksgiving dinner for him and some of our friends. It will also be a Festivus celebration (dorks that we are). I suspect we will substitute 2 roast chickens for the turkey as it is hard to find a reasonable sized one, and I will bring canned pumpkin, ready roasted chestnuts, maple syrup and other ingredients from the States. I also suspect we won’t make all the trimmings, but definitely the stuffing and one other veg. Either way, it should be a good time and a fantastic trip.

Lazy lunches, lazy bloggers

Well, I will admit that as bloggers go, I have hardly been ideal.

My plan of using this blog as a release, a means to muse about those things that I deeply care about, namely eating and recalling experiences that revolve around the table, got set aside as life became complicated and less then ideal during the past few months. While stress used to always increase my appetite, since my 2os I've found that it leads to the exact opposite: no desire to eat or willingness to cook, and worst of all a diminished sense of taste. But things are on the upswing, and I plan on eating, cooking and writing more regularly.

Today was one of those days where I promised myself that if I finished certain dreaded tasks, I would prepare a nice lunch and take the time to write. As I've successfully been fighting a cold (which dare not become swine flu) I also figured the healthier, the better. Breakfast had already consisted of some raspberries, a handful of walnuts and a banana, after the requisite coffee in bed and mellow Lou Reed to ease into the day. Having worked a few solid hours, I peeked in the fridge and came up with the following. It involved minimum time and effort, but was rather tasty.

My lunch consisted of a mixed green salad with a cilantro/lime/garlic dressing made a few days before, half an avocado with just squeeze of lime juice and salt, a mini faux-salad caprese with some fresh mozzarella, sliced tomato, and healthy swig of extra virgin olive oil, and a small portion of roasted portobello mushrooms with balsamic vinegar. All accompanied by a small glass of a Oregon pinot noir.

Having just written all of that, it does sound like quite a bit, but in fact, it looked like this:

It was also quite light and very easy to make. Most of the lunch considered of cutting and assemblage, but the two recipes I wanted to share were for the dressing and the mushrooms.

Cilantro/Lime/Garlic dressing:

finely mince a small bunch of fresh, preferably organic, cilantro

finely mince a clove of garlic

add the juice of one lime and a roughly equal amount of olive oil to the mixture

add salt and crushed red pepper to taste

whisk or emulsify, taste and add up a teaspoon of sugar if the lime is too tart.

I ended up emulsifying the mixture in a blender, but I imagine that whisking could work just as well. In that case the cilantro and garlic would really have to be very finely chopped.

The dressing was great on a salad, kept well in the fridge, and would also work as a marinade for fish or chicken.

Easy roasted mushrooms with balsamic vinegar:

clean several baby portobello mushrooms

place with the body down on an aluminum covered tray and put in a pre-heated oven at 450F.

allow mushrooms to roast for about 15-20 minutes.

remove the mushrooms and put into a bowl, taking care to preserve the juices from the mushrooms on the tray.

let cool a little bit and then slice the mushrooms in half, add a splash of balsamic vinegar and salt to taste.

Ideally, I wanted to use pomegranate molasses instead of the vinegar, a dish I had eaten at a Persian restaurant in Chicago and dreamed of replicating. Alas we were all out, but la prochaine fois. . .

Merguez Adventures and DC foodie life

Being back in Washington has been surprisingly wonderful, both in terms of enjoying the city and my friends and colleagues who live here. Today was my first day back at work, and I got the surprising (and fantastic) news that I'll be probably posted in Istanbul. Very unexpected, but also exciting.

That being said, DC has offered much, especially food wise. 

First, I found the best Merguez I've had in my life at the tiny Wednesday farmer's market in the Georgetown Rose Garden. For those of you who don't know, Merguez is a lamb sausage from North Africa, well spiced but not necessarily spicy hot. I ate it often in Belgium, but this one was really the best in terms of being spiced properly, not too fatty, and just delicious. It is made by this lovely, half-Turkish couple who own Whitmore Farm in Emmitsburg, Maryland. I just went on their website and it seems like they do some amazing work with animals including the Tennessee Fainting Goat and Silver Fox Rabbits - once I can find a willing driver, I would love to visit the farm, it looks like a lot of fun.

The first cooking was straightforward, pictured below - grilled on a heavy bottom skillet, served with salad and bread, fantastically simple and delicious. 

The second was a dish I improvised this weekend for a friend, which was basically orecchiette with roasted vegetables, mushrooms and merguez. 

I had baby yellow squash / zucchini from the farmers market which I sliced match-stick style, and slow roasted with rosemary and olive oil for approximately 2 hours. 

While the veggies were roasting, I sauteed some baby portabella mushrooms and fresh garlic and stalks in olive oil with fresh rosemary, thyme and basil in a pan until they were just cooked through, and added some added some sliced merguez. At the same time, I cooked some pasta al dente (orecchiette) and added some of the cooking liquid  from the pasta to the sausage/mushroom sauce to make it more viscous. 

I then gently mixed in the zucchini with the sausage mixture, drained the cooked pasta, mixed it all in adding salt and pepper to taste, letting it rest for a few minutes and before serving. 

While I have no photographic evidence to back up the final product, it was very simple to make, reasonably healthy, and, I think, pretty tasty. It paired very well with a New Zealand Pinot Noir, as well as the three other bottles we decided to polish off with it - Napa Chardonnay, a 2003 Spanish Grenache and a sparkling Chardonnay from Argentina. 

Quite a lovely, if not tad lushy, dinner. 

Chickpea stew improvs

Having bought far too many greens (swiss chard and baby beet greens) at the market on Sunday, I decided something had to be done before they started wilting and that that something had to involve chickpeas (garbanzo beans). 

For some reason, I've been mulling over this amazing chickpea stew I had in Assisi, a town in Perugia, Italy, famous for St. Francis. This dish made me redefine how I saw chickpeas and value them beyond "healthy thing" or "thing to be pureed into hummus." It was a simple dish with chickpeas, tomatoes, olive oil, and fresh rosemary sprigs, all baked in individual clay pots to the point where the chickpeas reached a consistency of tender veal and blended with all of the simple but strong flavors in one happy, clean tasting food melange.

My own dish was a less simple and highly improvised. 

Chickpea stew with baby beet greens and swiss chard

Sautee fresh garlic greens in a little bit of olive oil in a non-stick pan or heavy bottomed skillet. Add an entire washed, spun and chopped bunch of baby beet greens including stalks into the pan and cook until greens are wilted and stalks translucent. Add an entire washed, spun and chopped bunch of swiss chard into the mixture in batches until all the greens are just cooked through. Place cooked greens in a separate bowl and put pan back on the stove top. 

If needed, add another swig of olive oil and sautee diced sweet baby peppers (approximately 3-4) and 2 large chopped ripe tomatoes. While the mixture is cooking, empty a can of chickpeas into a colander and wash several times. Add the chickpeas into pan and let simmer on the stovetop for at least 10 - 15 minutes. 

Place the cooked greens mixture and the chickpeas in an ovenproof casserole with cover. Add sliced fresh basil and fresh thyme, salt and red pepper to taste, and another dash of olive oil. Stir gently, cover, and place casserole in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees. Let the stew cook at least 30 minutes, remove from heat, adjust seasoning to taste and serve. 

The final product: 

I found the dish went wonderfully with this German Pinot Noir (who knew the Germans made good pinot?) and ate it on its own with blackberries and a wedge of stilton for dessert. 

Happy cooking. 

E. 

Transitions - new beginnings and first meals

The past few weeks have found me on the road, in the middle of a move, and finally, somewhat settled. Along the way has been many memorable meals (sadly fewer cooked than planned but posts to come), a few unexpected twists and turns, and a torrent of emotions far too personal (and probably banal) to share. 

Today was my first day alone in my new digs and c'etait pas mal du tout. There is nothing quite like looking around and thinking this is my place where I'm going to live by myself for a while. Yes, me, me, me, but it has been awhile since I've lived alone, and I like it. A lot. 

My parents were kind enough to help me move, treat me to lovely Lebanese mezes at Neyla's (where we spotted DHS Secretary Napolitano and her extensive security detail), brunch at le Pain Quotidien, as well as help me stock my fridge from the Dupont market and Trader Joes. 

Our first dinner in last night was a simple affair, a little homemade fresh salsa/pico de gallo (this time with fresh garlic bulbs and greens and amazing organic cilantro), crabcakes (bought from the crabcake guy at the market), a little ribeye and a large green salad. Not many recipes to share but a great night.

Tonight was my first night hosting, and I had two lovely ladies to entertain. I made some marinated olives  and toasted nuts (recipes below), cracked open some Oberon, and put on Elvis. We had a little girly dance party (much to the great amusement of my neighbors, I'm sure) and Miriam and I will get to spend tomorrow morning together while Liv is at work and the movers are packing them out.

Marinated Green Olives: 

Empty a package of Middle Eastern Green olives in a large bowl, including any juice it is packed in. Add the juice of one lime and one lemon, and cut up 1/2 a lime into small wedges and add to mixture. Chop up some fresh basil and oregeno, and add to mixture. Add kosher salt, red pepper, and dried mint to taste. Add a healthy dash of olive oil, stir, and let marinate at room temperature for at least one hour. 

Roasted mixed nuts: 

Heat a large non-stick pan until it is hot and add your choice of mixed nuts. I added pistachios, almonds, and peanuts. Add kosher salt, red pepper and dried mint and cook while shaking the pan until the nuts are fully roasted and the flavor evenly coated. 

Voila viola. For those of you in town, a tres bientot. For those of you near by, bienvenue!

Memories of Barbara and Turkish Macaroni with Lamb

Today I had the honor of attending a Celebration of Life event for an old family friend, who had passed away suddenly in March. 

Barbara was a remarkable woman and at the event, her friends and colleagues shared stories about just what a rich life she led. Among other things, she did many of the original illustrations at the University of Michigan's Natural History Museum, completed a PhD and worked in Women's Studies long before it became an established discipline, and raised two children as a single mom in the 1960s. 

She travelled the world, became particularly interested in Turkey and the Middle East, and was very involved with the Turkish American community in Michigan. An avid gardner, we all received seeds and planters at the celebration per her wishes, and I look forward to the flowers as well as the radishes, lettuce, and endive we'll get to enjoy on her behalf and in her honor. 

I had known Barbara all of my life, and was always touched by how she would always remember what I was up to academically or professionally, and challenged by the thought-provoking questions she would ask. 

Her family had come to eat dinner at the cafe the day after she passed, and came again this evening . While serving a table of 15 is never easy, they were a wonderful group to serve and it was inspirational to see how candidly they celebrated her life while still mourning a great loss.

Barbara would frequent my mother's restaurant and would often call and ask if we had any lamb with macaroni, her son's favorite dish. Even if we did not, it was easy enough to whip up a batch and she would walk in with her immaculately coiffed snow white hair, saucy red lipstick and shift dress, more often then now with an anecdote to share. 

I do not know the exact recipe of the dish, and have promised to not divulge cafe secrets. However, my version of it follows below. It is, like most of my favorite food, simple and comforting. 

In a heavy bottomed skillet saute about 1/2 onion of finely diced onion in olive oil until cooked through. Add about 3/4 lbs ground lamb (lamb is quite fatty, so you really shouldn't need a lot of olive oil in the skillet to cook the onions with, otherwise the dish will become too rich) and cook until the lamb in completely cooked through. Add 1 - 2 finely diced ripe tomatoes, a small spoonful of tomato paste and a small spoonful of red pepper paste, cooking until the tomatoes have wilted into the dish. Season with salt, pepper and paprika. 

Cook your desired pasta in boiling salted water until al dente, drain and return to pot, adding a generous pat of butter to melt in the pasta. We frequently use macaroni at the cafe, but I could see this dish being made with penne or fusilli, or even my favorite, orechiette.

Add the cooked ground lamb mixture to the pot, stirring well until blended through. Serve the dish with a garlic-yogurt sauce and sprinkle with maras pepper and dried mint. 

Dr. Barbara J. Bilge,  August 31, 1931 - March 2, 2009

Tuesday Turnarounds

There is no better way to improve a day than by to spend it cooking. Some might call it escaping reality, but it works for me and tends to make those I live with equally happy. So Tuesday became a spontaneous dinner party, one attended by a good friend, her two bottles of wine, and eventually my parents. Quality over quantity always rules when one thinks of guests. 

While waiting for my friend I set out the salsa, marinated olives and a Latin-American inspired yogurt dip which I had made earlier that afternoon. It has that nice balance of tangy and creamy goodness and was a lovely antidote to my salsa which turned out far too spicy. 

In a food processor, finely chop fresh cilantro, a bell pepper, jalapenos to taste and dried whole jalapenos. In a medium-sized shallow bowl put 2 cups of plain yogurt (preferably Greek or Middle Eastern, low or full-fat). Add the chopped cilantro-pepper mixture and stir well. Add 1/2 a lime's juice, a dash of cumin, dried mint, and salt and pepper to taste. Dip will only keep a day or two refrigerated. 

 

I also cracked open a really nice Chilean Sauvignon Blanc, just to get the creative juices flowing of course. 

For a long time I've been meaning to make a homemade version of Mac'n'Cheese, one of my personal vices combining both starch, cream, and really salty food. And I thought the addition of spinach would constitute the necessary vegetable/leafy greens portion of the evening as would the salsa that I made earlier in the afternoon. 

So the below recipe is going to sound complicated, but in fact all of the steps are straight-forward and the dish is very easy to assemble. 

Prepare a cream sauce by first making a roux by melting approximately 3 tablespoons butter and adding a slightly-lesser amount of flour. Cook the flour until it is nice and slightly browned, and  quickly add approx. 1 cup of milk while whisking rapidly. The mixture will lump up a bit and slowly add chicken broth (about 1/8 a cup at a time) until the mixture becomes smooth and creamy. Set the pot aside to cool. In a separate bowl,  lightly beat two eggs. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg to the cream mixture to taste. Once the cream is sufficiently cooled - it should be cool to the touch - slowly add the egg mixture again while whisking quickly to avoid the eggs cooking and curdling. Check  and adjust seasoning if needed, and set mixture aside. 

Thinly slice approximately 1/3 - 1/2 pound of your choice of cheese, preferably cheddar or something slightly tangy and that melts easily, and set aside. 

In a large heavy-bottomed casket, saute 1 sliced onion in olive oil. As the onions cook and absorb the fat, add chicken broth a tablespoon at a time to rehydrate the mixture. Cook onions  until they are completely translucent and a tad caramelized. Wash, spin-dry, and coarsely chop two bunches of fresh spinach. Add spinach in batches to the onions, until they are all just cooked through. Flavor mixture with thyme, nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste, and melt in a tablespoon of butter. 

Cook an entire box  of pasta until al dente. We only had spaghetti at home and it worked fine, but I think macaroni or fusili would work equally well. Drain pasta, return to pot, adding a splash of the chicken broth and some olive oil so the it doesn't stick together. 

In a regular-sized ceramic baking dish spread a layer of cream sauce, approximately 1/2 the pasta, and then 1/2 the cheese. Add the entire spinach mixture, and then the cheese, pasta, and cream sauce in the reverse order. Generously cover the mixture with bread-crumbs (I finished off the panko we had), thyme, red and black pepper, and a few small pats of butter. Cover casserole with aluminum foil and cook in a pre-heated oven at 350F for approximately  25 - 30 minutes. Carefully uncover the dish and put under the broiler until the bread crumbs are golden, depending on how powerful your oven is this can happen in 30 seconds to 2 minutes but it is good stand right by and immediately pull the dish out to avoid scorching the entire top. 

Serve immediately, preferably with a leafy green salad, good wine and company. 

For my first time ever of making homemade version of mac'n'cheese, I have to admit it turned out pretty darn good and I'll be adding this to my comfort food/feel better repertoire. 

Bon appetite. 

PS: for those of you wondering, the other two bottles were duly consumed and 7am came far, far too early this morning. But it was well worth it. 

Foodie Weekends

Food-wise, this weekend was about as good as it gets and I am feeling comfortably full sitting and writing on this chilly Sunday evening. We have the fireplace going, The Apprentice in the background (mother’s choice, not mine) a purring cat on my dad’s lap and my MacBook on mine - maybe our own Turkish-American version of a Norman Rockwell portrait? 

Friday started with me helping my dad make his amazing Adana Kebabs. I've had these kebabs in Turkey, and I can say with all objectivity that his version is by far the best. In the whole-wide world. This recipe being a highly guarded family secret I'll just tantalize you with pictures of the prep and invite you to stop by for dinner next time we are grilling. When the weather is nice, there are few better places in the world to eat than on our patio facing the woods and getting full late afternoon sun. 

 

My contribution to the evening was my highly improvised salsa fresca, enhanced by the grilled sweet peppers I had made a few evenings ago. The recipe is very easy and I change it around based on whatever ingredients are around: 

Wash, spin dry and finely chop fresh cilantro in a food processor. Empty into a large bowl. Finely chop 1/2 a sweet onion, a few cloves of garlic, and a jalapeno or two in the same processor, and empty it into the same bowl. Coarsely chop up a few over-ripe tomatoes and pulse in the food processor until it is chunky but not pureed, and add to the mixture. If the tomatoes are too ripe, then it is worth seeding them, otherwise the salsa will be too watery. If you have grilled sweet peppers, puree them in the processor and add to mixture. Add the juice of one lime, a generous dash of cumin, some extra hot pepper (either sauce or dried depending on preference), and salt and pepper to taste. 

Did I mention that the dinner went really well with Bell’s Oberon? The 2009 batch just came out and is highly drinkable. 

Saturday morning we went to the Farmers' Market which has really expanded with the warming weather and ripening crops. We grabbed breakfast at Zingermans, and I tried their new Obama'bun, which I would highly, highly recommend. It is basically a pecan danish with a load of caramel on top. Probably not the healthiest breakfast choice but a great morning sugar rush. I also got to meet the lovely lady who makes the cookies I'm so fond of (shhh....they're cheaper at the Market....and bought a jar of her dulce de leche which I am very excited to try).

That evening my mom's cafe had their monthly prix fixe dinner, featuring lamb, chicken or shrimp Adana Kebabs well as an amazing mixed-meze plate and decadent tiramisu. Again, all of these recipes are family/trade secrets but maybe these pictures will whet your appetite and encourage you to stop by the cafe. We also make a mean kir a la turque, which I developed utilizing my vast expertise in, errrm, kir tasting, and it is quite the seller. . . 

Finally Sunday evening I volunteered to cook as my German food craving got the best of me. Once in a blue moon the urge to eat a good Sauerbraten with Knoedel, Bratwurst, Kaesespaetzle, or Schnitzel appears and I can think of nothing else until it is satisfied. 

When I was 17, I lived in a village called Ruderting for a year with a German (Bavarian) host-family and attended Gymnasium. It was my first real overseas experience, away from my parents in a country where I could legally drink, and in a household where pork ruled supreme. It was only after having gained 15-lbs that I realized everything in the house was literally cooked or baked in Schmalz, i.e. lard and not the Crisco-like fat I thought it was. 

My own variation of German food is quite a bit lighter than what I ate during that year, and it was a success with my parents, both of whose palates’ are about as sophisticated and critical as they come. 

Tonight's dinner featured lemon-thyme chicken schnitzel with panko, warm German potato salad, and roasted broccoli, all served with a great Californian Merlot, dill pickles and German mustard.  

The salad was the easiest bit as I modified a recipe I found on Epicurious.com which you can find here. Living in a pork-free household, I omitted the bacon and sauteed the onions in olive oil with a sprinkle of sugar, allowing them to really caramelize and cook well. Instead of beef broth, my mom was making chicken broth, so I “borrowed” some of that, and finally, I added paprika and thyme, giving the dish a slightly woodsy taste. The salad is really good served warm and was very easy to make. 

The schnitzel was also very easy to make, but just had several steps. 

Wash, dry and marinate thinly sliced chicken breasts in the juice of one lemon, thyme, salt and a dash of olive oil, letting the chicken sit at room temperature. Set out three shallow bowls, filling the first one with a few tablespoons of flour, the second with 3 beaten eggs, and the final one with panko. The third should be the largest and deepest as the more panko coating the chicken, the better. 

Add a few dashes of salt, thyme and black pepper to the flour mixture. Finely peel and chop about a square inch of lemon rind (I used the rind of the lemon I had juiced for the marinade) and add to the panko mixture. 

Heat a heavy-bottomed skillet with olive oil in it until the oil is very hot but not smoking. I actually used the skillet I had used to cook the onions in for the potato salad without even bothering to wash it, and I think it gave the oil more depth of flavor.  

Dredge the chicken in flour, then the egg mixture and then fully cover in panko breadcrumbs. Prepare three pieces of chicken and then carefully place simultaneously in the skillet. Brown the chicken fully on one side (approximately 3-5 minutes) and carefully flip over and cook on the other side until the chicken is cooked through. 

Place the cooked chicken pieces in a baking pan, uncovered in a hot oven, and continue making the chicken until all the pieces are cooked. Serve with lemon wedges and German whole-grain mustard. 

Und so ist unser Abend gelaufen und zur Ende gekommen - ich wuensche Euch alle eine leckere Mahlzeit und viel Spass beim kochen. 

Liebe Gruesse und bis dem naechst.