Breaking of Two Fasts Dinner

It's Looking better and better!

Just like Morocco

Risotto of the Vigil

Wow are you stinky!

Oh My God!

We decided to have one last dinner for Barbara. We went out to lunch with Robert and Darryl and planned a dinner with them. They said they would bake a cake to contribute to the dinner. In retrospect it turned out to be a “Breaking of the Fast Dinner”. The Harira soup is traditionally made for the breaking of Ramadan Fast by Muslims. The Risotto of Vigil is a risotto made in Italy to break the Christmas Eve Fast in Italy. All we needed was a Jewish Breaking of the Fast dish to be totally ecumenical. Maybe a Pastrami sandwich from Langer’s.

We wanted to use the lamb bone from our smoked lamb dinner. When we were in Morocco we had a wonderful Harira Soup made from lamb bones. Cathy found a recipe for it and made the soup from the Moro Cookbook. It tasted exactly like the one in Morocco. It was loaded with lentils and dal.

I baked a bread and enhanced the visual aspect of it by folding the ends in on itself. It looked quite professional with the crease down the center. I will try that trick again on my next loaf. Robert had donated some Rupuntzel Yeast from Germany and it was interesting working with a different yeast.

We went to Palate and wound up with wheel of Vacharon Cheese from Jura. There were only 12 wheels imported to America. It is very runny and stinky and was delicious with the fresh baked bread.

For the main course we made Risotto of the Vigil. We make this risotto every Christmas Season. This risotto is always a winner. Cathy enhanced it by using chunk of slab bacon instead of salt pork and flat iron steak instead of chuck.  She also used 2 cups beef stock, 2 cups veal stock and 1 cup water for the liquid and added beef bone marrow to the rice with the cooked beef. We picked up the salt pork and flat iron steak at McCall’s Meat and Fish. This combination made for an incredibly rich and wonderful risotto. You can find the unmodified recipe in our blog of December 22, 2009. Click the date to get the recipe, but enhance the recipe as I documented above to make it even better!

Darryl made a Chocolate Cake that was like a cross between a brownie and a mousse. It was totally rich. Wow!

A very special dinner!

Harira Soup

Moro – The Cookbook

Sam and Sam Clark

We always imagine the name of this soup being spoken with a guttural Islamic tongue, and being eaten without ceremony at the edge of a busy bus station somewhere in Morocco. The flavours of the spices and coriander are very evocative, and only the bus fumes are missing. On reflection the best hariras we have tasted have had a slightly sour taste, given either by slight­ly fermented flour or lemon juice.

Serves 4

350g neck of lamb in 3 or 4 pieces, or shank

2         litres cold water

1         large onion, finely chopped

3         garlic cloves, finely chopped

3         celery sticks, finely chopped

a pinch of saffron strand

½         teaspoon ground cinnamon

½         teaspoon turmeric

¾         teaspoon ground ginger

nutmeg (5 grates on a fine grater)

2         large bunches fresh coriander, washed and chopped

100         g small green lentils

120g         chana dhal (small, split and skinned chickpeas)        

1         dessertspoon tomato puree

3         rounded dessertspoons plain flour or fine semolina flour soaked in 50ml water

Juice of 1 lemon

50g         unsalted butter (optional)

1 lemon, quartered

sea salt and black pepper

Put the neck of lamb into a large saucepan with the water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes, skimming off any scum or fat as it appears. Add the onion, garlic, celery, saffron, cinnamon, turmeric, ginger, nutmeg, salt and pepper as well as half the coriander. Cook for half and hour before adding the lentils and chana dhal, then simmer for another half-hour. Take out the pieces of lamb. The lamb should now be soft enough to be pulled off the bone and flaked a little. Return the lamb meat to the pot, along with the tomato puree, flour mixture and lemon juice. Season the soup with salt (because of the lemon juice this soup may need more salt than one would expect). Continue to cook for 10 minutes, or until the pulses are soft. Take off the heat, and stir in the butter and the remaining coriander. Serve with a wedge of lemon and, if you're feeling exotic, sweet dates at the side.