Kale is King

In October, the kale in our garden is majestically huge and ready to be picked.

Kale salad can be thrown together in minutes. For that reason, I keep a supply of lemons, farmer's market onions and homemade croutons on hand. Then anytime, I can grab a handful of kale, some sprigs of parsley, a few leaves of mint and I'm good to go. If I spot a green pepper on the vine or some ribs of crunchy celery I'll grab those, too.

Ingredients:

Few handfuls of kale (curly or Lacinato)
Sprigs of Italian parsley
2 small mint leaves
1 lemon
Pecorino Romano Cheese
Croutons (recipe next posting)
Optional: Small crunchy green bell pepper or celery or a few white button mushrooms

Chop the kale and herbs fine. (A ceramic knife makes chopping a breeze. I recommend the Kyocera Revolution Series 6" knife.)  Add chopped sweet onion. (The farmer's markets still have sweet ones that aren't too pungent) and if you want add a small green bell pepper, celery and/or a few white mushrooms. Squeeze half a small lemon and drizzle with good quality olive oil. Toss well with edge of knife or hands. 

Then add some shaved pecorino romano cheese and a sprinkle of kosher salt and toss again. Place in bowl and throw on a few homemade croutons. (See next posting for homemade croutons.)

The Salmon Cure

Cured Salmon Recipe

One 2 lb. wild caught salmon filet

2 tbs. coriander seeds crushed

1 tbs. cumin seeds crushed

1 tsp. each of lemon, orange, and lime zest finely grated

1 lemon sliced thin

1 tbs. fresh dill chopped or teaspoon dried dill

1 c  kosher salt

1/2 brown sugar

1/2c granulated sugar 

1/4 c tequila

fresh ground pepper

Mix together spices, pepper, salts and sugars.

Thinly slice lemon. 

 Ask fish store to remove skin for you or do it yourself. 

Brush both sides of fish  with tequila and press zest and dill into flesh. Place fish into sugar/salt mixed and cover thoroughly both sides. (One shown here was not skinned but it's better to remove skin because it's easier to serve later.)

Place lemon on top of sugar/salt mixture before wrapping fish up. 

Tightly wrap the salmon in the plastic wrap forming a neat square packet so all sides are sealed. 

Place in glass pyrex dish and weigh down with weights. (Can use metal weights or stones.) 

Refrigerate for 48 hours. Drain fluid from dish after 24 hours. For drier, texture refrigerate for another day. Remove the salmon from the refrigerator and scrape off the curing ingredients. The texture should have a raw appearance but be firm in texture. 

Slice against grain in paper thin slices. Serve with mustard dill sauce, creme fraiche, chopped onion, capers, dill etc.

French-Style Yogurt

Remember that yogurt we ate for breakfast every morning in Paris? I brought the empty jars home in my carry-on! The day I got home, I ordered a yogurt maker and set out to replicate that creamy texture.

I tried using a powdered starter, then a variety of fresh yogurts. Stonyfield whole milk plain yogurt gives a good taste and texture. So does Sophia's Sheep and Goat's Greek Yogurt.  I add a dash of local fresh heavy cream from Tiverton, RI when I want a creamier dessert-like yogurt. Experiment to get the taste and consistency you like. The addition of powdered milk gives it a thicker consistency.

Creamy Yogurt Recipe:

42 oz. or 6  7oz yogurt cups of organic whole milk

1/4 cup heavy milk (optional). Use less milk if using cream.

2 tablespoons Organic Valley non-fat  dry milk. If you like it thicker use more, or less if a thinner consistency is desired. 

7oz of favorite organic plain whole milk yogurt (Stonyfield works well for the yogurt and milk.)

Flavorings of choice: instant coffee, vanilla extract or vanilla paste, sour cherry jam etc.

Sterilize jars in boiling water before making. Make sure you have a candy thermometer to test temperature because yogurt needs to cool to 110-115 degrees. 

Add milk to medium size saucepan until it just begins to boil (before it starts to rise up.) Remove from heat and cool until temperature reaches 110-115 degrees.

Pour a small amount of liquid into small bowl and mix with your flavoring then reserve. Add yogurt to cooled milk in saucepan and stir. Add flavored mixture and the powdered milk.  (I add cooled mixture to a Vitamix blender and mix at very  lowest speed for two seconds but light hand mixing is fine. Don't overmix as too many bubbles make a foamy top on yogurt.)

Fill yogurt cups and place in a yogurt maker such as the Euro Cuisine one shown here. Set time for 7 hours. When done put lids on jars and refrigerate for a few hours. 

Before putting lids on you can drizzle vanilla bean paste on the tops if desired.

Or swirl in some of your favorite preserves. Try blueberry, raspberry, strawberry or sour cherry.

Flower Power Biscuits

These flower-shaped buttermilk biscuits melt in your mouth.  Split them and add your favorite filling. Shown here is a rhubarb mustard and serrano ham inspired by the beer mustard and wingman ham tiny biscuits at North in Providence, RI, a restaurant with a Momofuku inspired menu.

Buttermilk Biscuit Recipe

2c all-purpose flour (plus flour for rolling out dough). 
1 tsp aluminum-free baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
10 T cold butter cut into small pieces
1 cup buttermilk or creme fraiche
1 egg, beaten 

Preheat oven to 425. Whisk together dry ingredients in large bowl. Cut the cold butter into the flour with a pastry cutter until it forms small pea-shaped crumbs. Add beaten egg and buttermilk. Stir lightly with wooden spoon until all mixed together but do not overmix. On a floured surface pat down down so it is about 1" thick. Dust top of dough with flour. Cut with a small biscuit cutter. (I use the Joie Flower cutter, as I like the way it pops the dough out.) Place biscuits on a greased baking sheet. Bake for about 12 minutes. (Try adding 1/4 c buckwheat flour to this recipe with 1 3/4 c all-purpose flour for a slightly different taste and texture.)

How to Make Creme Fraiche

Few things are as quick and easy to make as creme fraiche. In fact, you can make this on your way out the door. All you need are two ingredients: buttermilk and heavy cream. Plus a clean jar. Creme fraiche can be spooned on fresh fruit, pies, soups or spread on biscuits and smoked salmon to name a few. French in origin, creme fraiche was traditionally the cream from cows that became sour after it was left out of refrigeration. Because unpasteurized milk is no longer the norm and our milk products are mostly ultra pasteurized, we have to add a lactic culture to make creme fraiche. We achieve that by adding buttermilk or whole milk yogurt to the cream.

The naturally occurring bacteria cultures prevent it from spoiling by making it more acidic, so you don't have to worry about it sitting out on your counter unrefrigerated as it thickens. If you don't have access to buttermilk you can use a whole milk yogurt as a substitute in the recipe below. It will have a slightly different taste

Creme Fraiche Recipe

2 tablespoons buttermilk

1 cup cold heavy cream

Add 2 tablespoons of buttermilk (or yogurt) to a cup of heavy cream, and let the mixture sit out in a clear jar  in a warm place for 12 to 24 hours. (It may take as little as 12 hours if the room temperature is warm but more time for cooler rooms.)  Leave it uncovered until it thickens. If you need to cover you can put a fresh dish towel over the top. After the allotted time,  the mixture will thicken so that it is spoonable and become tangy in flavor. Cover it and store it in the fridge, where it will continue to mature.  So easy---a five year old could make it...

Avocalada Breakfast To Go

My go-to breakfast when i am on the move is a take on Miamo Spa's Avocalada Smoothie. My east coast version of it has a thicker consistency and can be eaten with a spoon like a pudding. What I love about the Avocalada is that it satisfies my hunger and boosts my energy better than a heavier breakfast. It's also fast to make and can be refrigerated if there is extra left over.

Have a good supply of avocados on hand and get your to go cups ready! 

Avocalada Recipe

1 avocado
4-5 chunks of pineapple
1/4 cup coconut milk (A good tasting one is Native Forest's unsweetened Organic Coconut Milk) 
1/4 cup So Delicious Coconut Milk in carton
1 tablespoon of Navitas Maca Powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
A squeeze of lime juice
Agave syrup to taste.

Add all ingredients to Vitamix or blender and process. If too thick, add more So Delicious Coconut Milk. Add to bowl or to go cup. Drizzle with agave or vanilla paste. 

Making Manouche

My Lebanese friend Lulah gave us this recipe for making manouche (a.k.a. manoush, mamakeesh). While in Lebanon with Lulah, my friend Jane picked up a manouche 'oven' to bring back to the States (no easy feat packing the giant dome in a suitcase). But we are glad she did, because she and Lulah started getting a group of us women together for manouche nights. After these gatherings, I craved manouche for weeks. So I learned to make it at home, without the special manouche oven, to share with my family.

Manouche is a bread dough that is rolled out very thin, then plucked from the heat and often spread with zaatar, a mixture of sesame seeds oregano, thyme, sumac and sea salt (available at Lebanese or Armenian markets.) The Lebanese even eat it for breakfast, sometimes with with lebnah, a yogurt spread. We layered it with fresh mint, tomato, cucumber, onion, olives, and feta. Then we then roll it up quickly, slice it in half while it is still hot, and serve it immediately. It takes some practice getting the texture just right to be able to roll them. If overcooked the bread can get too brittle to roll. But undercooked it doesn't have the snap and texture (soft on the inside and slightly crisp). It doesn't take long before you get the hang of how long to cook it.

Today I am sharing this recipe because my son sent me a text from college this morning asking me how to make manouche. Guess he's got the craving too. They are just that good! This is for you Pete....

Lebanese Manouche Dough Recipe

Combine yeast, sugar, and warm water in small bowl. Stir to dissolve. Set aside for  5 minutes.

In large bowl combine flour, salt and mehleb (optional). This can be bought in Middle Eastern stores. Sold as mahlab, mahaleb,mahleppi, mahlebi.) It's a sweet spice made from grinding cherry stones from a cherry tree native to West Asia. They are  small tan kernels that have a rose scent and a bitter, almond-like taste. Mehleb adds a nice sweetness to the bread and you only need a pinch. Sometimes I add slightly more than a 1/3 teaspoon.

Using two fingers make a well in the middle of the mound of flour. Pour the yeast mixture into hole. Using a fork, gather up some of the flour from the perimeter of the mound and add it to the well. Stir it until it is absorbed. 

Add the milk, mixing the flour into it until it is all absorbed. Then knead the dough using the heel of your hand, punching it away from you. Fold it in half a few times. Move it to a floured surface and knead the bread, rotating a quarter turn, folding the bread, rotating another quarter turn etc. Do for a few minutes then put it back into a large clean bowl. Cover it with a slightly damp fresh dish towel and place in a warm space for an hour to let it rise.

After an hour, remove towel and punch back the dough a few times. Cover and let it rise for another 10-15 minutes. While the dough is rising again, in a small bowl add a quarter cup of zaatar. Pour olive oil into the zaatar to get a spreadable consistency. Set aside. 

When the dough is ready, it can be used, refrigerated or frozen. To use, divide it up into small fist-size balls. 

Roll out on a floured surface using a floured rolling pin. The dough will become more pliable as you work with it.

Get it as thin as possible and plop in into a hot pan. (Traditionally, the Lebanese use a round pillow to stretch the bread out after it is rolled but the same result can be achieved by using a small hand roller once the circle of dough is placed in the hot pan. The dough will tend to shrink and bubble and using the roller quickly will prevent that from occurring making for a nice thin bread texture.) You can use a large cast iron pan or a non-stick one. If the heat is too high, the bread may burn. Cooking it slower often gives a good result.

When the bread looks done it should be pliable but cooked throughout. You may need to try a few before you get the perfect texture. Too crispy and it's hard to roll. Once cooked,  brush each piece with the zaatar mixture. Add fresh sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, and sweet onion. Toss with black olives, feta marinated in spices and fresh chopped mint. You can refrigerate or freeze any leftover dough. When time to roll it out again, just bring it to room temperature to make for easier rolling.