Shrimp

One of my favorite Indian dishes is Goan Shrimp. We use a recipe from the New York Times adopted from Sami Saran. This is a spicy and delicious rendition. I highly recommend it!

The recipe can be found in our blog of: August 9, 2008. Click the date to get the recipe. We serve it over Basmati rice, that we make in the Indian tradition, boiled not steamed.

We started with a Persimmon and Pomegranate Salad with Prosciutto and Almonds dressed with Saba.

This was a dinner made from two of our favorite recipes! A real winner. 

Swordfish

We made another dinner from The Balthazar Cookbook by McNally, Nasr & Hanson: Grilled Swordfish with Beurre Noir. This is a wonderful recipe. We served it with rice. Swordfish and Salmon are the two fishes that I will eat as leftovers. This dish was perfect when served later on. The swordfish was beautiful, we purchased it of course, at McCall’s Meatand Fish.

Grilled Swordfish with Beurre Noir

The Balthazar Cookbook

McNally, Nasr & Hanson

The nutty dark butter that accompanies this grilled swordfish is enriched with raisins, capers, and pequillo peppers—just a few moderate changes to the classic beurre noir preparation.

SERVES   8

¼         cup olive oil

6         swordfish steaks (about 1 inch thick)

½         teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper

¼         pound (1 stick) unsalted butter

2         tablespoons capers

3         tablespoons golden raisins

2         tablespoons dried pequillo peppers

2         tablespoons pine nuts

2         tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley

Juice of h lemon (about 2 tablespoons)

Rub the olive oil over the swordfish and season with the salt and several turns of a peppermill.

Heat a grill or grill pan to medium-high. When hot, add the swordfish steaks and cook for about 4 minutes per side for a moist and medium doneness; test by peeking into the center of the steak with the tip of a sharp knife—the fish should be tender, juicy, and opaque. As always with fish, undercooking is preferable to overcooking. Plate the fish while the beurre noir is completed.

Melt the butter in a saute pan over a medium flame. It will foam, then begin to turn a dark brown, nutty color. Add the capers, raisins, peppers, pine nuts, and parsley. Swirl the butter and then add the lemon juice.

Spoon the buerre noir over the swordfish and serve immediately.

Chicken and Potatoes

Guillermo was visiting from Italy and brought us some real Italian Sun-Dried Tomatoes. He also brought us large container of Olive Oil.

We invited Tom to join us. We had lots of left over Rotisserie Chicken. We served it with Wolfgang Puck's Lyonnaise Potatoes from ModernFrench Cooking for the American Kitchen. This is a great recipe. You can get it from our blog of: June 23, 2012.

We started with a Persimmon Salad with Pomegranates and Saba. It is a favorite fall salad for us. Our neighbor Katsue had given us fresh Pomegranates and Persimmons. We really appreciated it. They were far better than the store bought ones.

It was a delicious dinner and we used the carcass of the carved up chickens to make a great stock which we froze for further use.

Rotisserie Chicken

Next on our rotisserie experiments was Chicken. We decided to use two chickens placing them tightly on the spit. I did some research on rotisseries and realized I should cover the grill while it is spinning around. The advantage is the heat is retained and the smoky flavor is intensified.

The chicken was delicious. It was a totally successful experiment. Robert, Darryl and Shuman joined us for dinner.

Robert and Darryl brought a delicious Greek Salad with Black Cured Olives. I love Greek Salads and their interpretation was fantastic.

Once again we put Potatoes under the rotisserie to cook and catch the drippings. This is a great way to cook!

For dessert we bought a Chocolate Mouse-like Cake from Proof. Darryl delicately cut it for us. 

Risotto

Fall says beets and we had a Roasted Beet Salad as a first course. We then made a wonderful Risotto with Shrimp and Red Peppers from TheBalthazar Cookbook by McNally, Nasr & Hanson. This year we have re-discovered this wonderful short cookbook. It is excellent!

Risotto WITH SHRIMP AND RED PEPPERS

The Balthazar Cookbook

McNally, Nasr & Hanson

6         cups Chicken Stock

6         roasted red bell peppers, cut into 1/2-inch dice

30       medium shrimp, peeled and deveined

1-1/2   teaspoons salt

Freshly ground white pepper

4         tablespoons olive oil

2         tablespoons unsalted butter

½        yellow onion, minced

1         garlic clove, minced

2         cups Arborio rice

½        cup white wine

3         scallions, cut into 1/4-inch rings on a bias

2         tablespoons chopped fresh basil

½        cup grated Parmesan

Although risotto can share a plate with such diverse ingredients as shellfish, mushrooms, or butter and Parmesan, the method for making this creamy dish remains steadfastly the same, regardless of what you might add to it. Choose either Carnaroli or Arborio rice.

Serves 6

Bring 5 cups of the stock to a low simmer and keep warm on the stove until needed.

Meanwhile, combine the roasted red peppers with the remaining 1 cup of stock in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Cook for 10 minutes. Transfer to the bowl of a food processor and blend until smooth; some very small pieces of pepper will remain.

Dry the shrimp with paper towels and season with 1/2 teaspoon of the salt and a few grindings of white pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large sauté pan over a high flame for 1 minute. Add half the shrimp and cook for about 1-1/2 minutes per side, until they look like cooked shrimp. Remove with tongs to a plate and than sauté the remaining shrimp in the same oil. Set the cooked shrimp aside.

Melt the butter in a large Dutch oven along with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil over a medium-low flame. Add the onion, garlic, and 1/2 teaspoon of the salt. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onion is soft and translucent, about 2 minutes. Add the rice and stir for 2 minutes, both to coat each grain and to toast gently. Add the wine and stir until it has been absorbed, about 1 minute.

Begin adding the warm chicken stock, about 1/2 cup at a time. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon and let each addition be absorbed before adding the next. When the last 1/2 cup of stock has been absorbed, add the sliced scallions. Then, in 3 increments, stir in the reserved red-pepper puree, again letting each addition be absorbed before adding the next. Taste the rice along the way, cooking it only until it's tender, not to where it's mushy.

Stir in the reserved shrimp, the basil, Parmesan, the remaining V2 teaspoon of salt, and white pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

Partial   Cooking Of   Risotto

Risotto purists insist on the importance of the full cooking process just before serving. While that is ideal, it's not practical for the home cook who wants to spend time with guests, or for many restaurants where 20 minutes of stirring one dish would bring the pumping rhythm of the kitchen to a halt. To partially cook risotto, follow the recipe to the point where the rice is a firm al dente, reserving 1/3 of the Chicken Stock (2 cups). Spread the risotto on a sheet pan and refrigerate, covered with plastic wrap. Just before serving, heat the reserved stock in a saucepan. Place the partially cooked risotto in a pot over medium-low heat and resume adding the stock according to the recipe completion.

Roasted Bell Peppers

We roast peppers using two different methods: over a flame and in the oven. Flame-roasting is convenient when roasting just a few peppers, because it's as simple as setting the pepper over a burner and allowing direct contact with the flame. While the whole pepper sits on the flame, the skin turns black, blisters, and is then easily rubbed off by hand. The pepper is then cored and sliced. Oven-roasting, however, produces a more mellow flavor, with a softer, moist flesh, preferable in fresh salads or on sandwiches. There's also the added benefit of being able to roast a whole pan's worth at once. Choose whatever method is most appealing according to need and convenience.

Makes   6   Peppers

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Toss the peppers with the olive oil. Lay the peppers, skin side up, on the lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with the salt. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes, until the skin blisters and blackens. Remove from the oven, put the pep­pers in a bowl, and cover tightly with plastic wrap. The accumulation of heat will cause the skins to bubble and separate from the flesh. When they're cool enough to handle, the skins can be pulled off easily.

Use immediately or store in the re­frigerator, submerged in olive oil and covered.

Ingredients

6  bell peppers, any color, cored and stemmed, cut into wide strips

½ Cup Olive Oil

2 teaspoons Salt

Rotisserie Lamb and Pasta

Click the arrow above to see a short movie of our lamb cooking

Robert and Darryl joined us for our 2^nd experiment with the rotisserie. This time we decided to rotisserie lamb, and have potatoes cook underneath them, constantly being marinated by the drippings from the lamb.

We had eaten a wonderful dinner at Mozza and Nancy said she had just made the most incredible Lamb Shawarma recipe. It was from Ottolenghi and Tamimi new cookbook: Jerusalem. We thought that we would use this recipe. It is a winner. The lamb was perfect. Although the lamb recipe calls for cooking in the oven, we simply put the lamb on the skewer and used the rotisserie. Once again, it took longer than I expected to cook the lamb and a meat thermometer was a necessity. I did realize afterwards that I probably should cover the rotisserie when it is running to raise the temperature and get more of a smoky flavor.

We started with cheese from the Cheese Store of Silverlake.

Robert brought over Gnocchi and cooked it at our house as a first course it was very light and the tomato sauce was excellent. We loved it. He also brought a Cucumber Salad as side dish for the lamb.

Dessert was Chocolate Chip cookies and Ice Cream. This was a very special dinner. The lamb looks intimidating but it isn’t. Just follow the directions!

Lamb Shawarma

Jerusalem

Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi

2 tsp black peppercorns

5 cloves

½ tsp cardamom pods

¼ tsp fenugreek seeds

1 tsp fennel seeds

1 tbsp cumin seeds

1 star anise

½ a cinnamon stick

½ a nutmeg, grated

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1 tbsp sweet paprika

1 tbsp sumac

¾ tbsp Maldon sea salt

25g fresh ginger, gratedn (we left out)

3 garlic cloves, crushed

40g chopped coriander, stems and leaves

60ml lemon juice

120ml groundnut oil

1 leg of lamb, with the bone, about 2.5-3kg

Jerusalem proudly boasts its own indigenous Hebrew vocabulary, made up of random words that substitute the common names for words like liquorice, piggyback, lollypop and others. The flatbread referred to in the city as 'esh tanur' (burning furnace) is the carb of choice for encasing shawarma, slices of spiced meat and fat arranged on a large spit that rotates continuously near a hot grill, regularly 'shaved' with a large knife for passing customers. As well as meat, the flatbread includes chopped salad, tahini, fries, pickles and amba, a mango and fenugreek sauce originally from India that has been adopted into the Jewish version of shawarma via Iraqi immigrants.

Sami remembers that when he was growing up going for shawarma was a bit of a luxury, as it was quite expensive. In Arab shops it was sold in a pita with a condiment of onion marinated with salt and sumac. The fries had to be good!

This is hardly a proper shawarma recipe. But then again, we wouldn't expect most readers to have a vertical rotating skewer at home. Still, the marinated lamb leg ends up tasting close enough to the real thing, which is as common and popular in Jerusalem as it is anywhere else in the Middle East.

The first 11 ingredients, also known as Lebanese spice mix (similar to the Yemenite hawayej , make a versatile mixture that can be used to marinate fish, meat or root vegetables before roasting or grilling. You can double their quantity and keep half in a sealed jar for up to three weeks. If you don't have a spice grinder you can use a pestle and mortar to make this mix, but you would need to substitute ground cinnamon for cinnamon sticks, cardamom powder for pods and leave out the star anise.

Always serve the shawarma with fresh cucumber and tomato salad, dressed with lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and chopped parsley or coriander. It really needs the freshness and moisture. On top of that, you can serve rice or bulgar and/or Tahini sauce. If you wish, you can add some peeled waxy potatoes to the roasting tin about 90 minutes before the lamb is ready, and toss them in the cooking liquids every now and then.

Put the first 8 ingredients in a cast-iron pan and dry-roast on medium-high heat for a minute or two, until the spices begin to pop and release their aromas. Take care not to burn them. Add the nutmeg, ginger and paprika, toss for a few more seconds, just to heat them, then transfer to a spice grinder. Process the spices to a uniform powder. Transfer to a medium bowl and stir in all the remaining ingredients, apart from the lamb.

Use a small sharp knife to score the leg of lamb in a few places, making 1.5cm deep slits through the fat and meat to allow the marinade to seep in. Place in a large roasting tin and rub the marinade all over the lamb; use your hands to massage the meat well. Cover the tin with foil and leave aside for at least a couple of hours or, preferably, chill overnight.

Preheat the oven to 170°C/150°C Fan/Gas Mark 3%.

Put the lamb in the oven with its fatty side facing up and roast for a total of about 4.5 hours, until the meat is completely tender. After 30 minutes of roasting add about a cup of boiling water to the pan and use this liquid to baste the meat every hour or so. Add more water, as needed, making sure there is always about half a centimetre in the bottom of the tin. For the last 3 hours, cover the lamb with foil to prevent the spices from burning. Once done, remove the lamb from the oven and leave to rest for 10 minutes before carving and serving.

The best way to serve this, in our mind, is inspired by Israel's most renowned shakshuka eatery - Dr Shakshuka, in Jaffa, owned by Bino Gabso. Take six individual pita pockets and brush them liberally inside with a spread made by mixing together 120g chopped tinned tomatoes, 20g harissa paste, 20g tomato paste, 1 tablespoon olive oil and some salt and pepper. When the lamb is ready, warm up the pitas in a hot, ridged griddle pan until they get nice char marks on both sides. Slice the warm lamb and cut the slices into 1.5cm strips. Pile them high over each warm pita, spoon over some of the roasting liquids from the pan, reduced, and finish with chopped onion, chopped parsley and a sprinkle of sumac. And don't forget the fresh cucumber and tomato. It's a heavenly dish.

Kash and Pasta

Kashmera Shah our Bollywood actress was in town and joined us for dinner. We had a delicious tomato salad with Burrata Cheese and Pesto. It is always fun having dinner with her and hearing her stories of Bollywood and TV in India. We look forward to seeing her again soon.

Rotisserie Pork

Here is a short video of the pork on the Rotisserie.

We went to a charity event: Alex’s Lemonade Stand. This is one of the premier food charity events with chefs from all over the country cooking. We had a Rotisserie Pork Sandwich that was absolutely fantastic. I decided I wanted to try making a pork roast on the rotisserie. Only problem was that I didn’t have a rotisserie.

I didn’t know exactly what to do but I decided to Google Rotisserie and Weber (we have a Weber Grill, in addition to the Egg). To my surprise, I found out that Weber made a Rotisserie Attachment. I ordered it via Amazon and it promptly arrived. I had never used one, and I then Googled “rotisserie” to get some ideas how to best use it.

We coated the pork with Fennel Rub that Mozza2Go sells. It is an excellent choice for pork. The key was cooking by an indirect method, without having the coals directly under the pork, low and slow. We studded the pork with slivered garlic and placed it on the spit. It actually is easier to use a rotisserie then to grill, because you don’t have to watch it as closely. Simply have an estimate of how long the pork should take per pound (about 20 minutes) and occasionally glance at the rotisserie to make sure the coals were still hot adding more if needed. When the allotted time was up we checked the temperature with an instant read meat thermometer, and continued to cook until the pork reached the temperature we were looking for (about 160).

It was great! We look forward to rotissering lamb and chicken in the future.

We invited Tom and Bea to join us for the dinner. We started with a new recipe for us: Mascarpone-Parmesan Polenta from the The Balthazar Cookbook by McNally, Nasr, Hanson. Because the pork took longer to cook then we expected, we served the polenta as a first course. I thought (especially when we re-heated the polenta) that it had a slightly sour taste that I didn’t particularly like. I don’t think we will make it again. The dinner, was a huge success we all loved the pork. With the pork we served Cauliflower that we bought at Forage. For dessert we had an absolutely amazingly rich Chocolate Carmel Tart from Proof. Boy was it good! 

It was an amazing night. Perfect.

For some people, polenta will only ever taste as good as what comes with it. But this version, with mascarpone and Parmesan, can stand on its own, as well as complement most meat dishes. The basic technique yields soft polenta, to be served in mounds; frying or grilling it produces firm pieces. Grilled polenta requires chilling, so start well in advance.

SERVES   6

2         cups Chicken Stock

2         cups whole milk

2         cups half-and-half

2         cups dry cornmeal polenta

8         tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut in pieces

1         cup mascarpone

1/2  pound grated Parmesan (about 1 cup)

1/4  teaspoon salt

1/8  teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Bring the stock to a boil in a saucepan. Keep warm over a medium flame.

In a medium saucepan, bring the milk and half-and-half to a foamy simmer. Reduce the flame to medium and add the polenta to the foaming milk mixture, stir­ring continuously. When the mixture begins to thicken, begin adding the hot stock, 1/2 cup at a time. As with risotto, let the stock absorb completely before adding the next 1/2 cup, stirring all the while.

When all of the stock has been added, reduce the flame to low and add the butter, mascarpone, and Parmesan, stirring well to blend. If the consistency overall is too thick, add a bit of milk or stock. Stir in the salt and pepper.

Spoon-serve immediately or grill in the following manner: Spread the soft polenta in a buttered casserole dish or sheet pan and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight. Cut 3-inch circles from the cooled pan and either pan-fry in 2 tablespoons of oil or grill, lightly brushed with oil.

Barley Risotto

We ordered a copy of the new cookbook: Jerusalem by Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi. We have 2 other cookbooks by them and like them very much. I went through the book and chose Barley Risotto with Marinated Feta as the first recipe to make from the book.

This is an unusual dish and I didn’t like it as much as other dishes we have cooked from the book. I did however like the Marinated Feta, and will use that part of the dish in other ways.

Barley Riotto with Marinated Feta

Jerusalem

Yotam Ottolenghi & Sami Tamimi

200g pearl barley

30g unsalted butter

90ml olive oil

2 small celery stalks, cut into 5mm dice

2 small shallots, cut into 5mm dice

4 garlic cloves, cut into 2mm dice

4 thyme sprigs

½ tsp smoked paprika

1 bay leaf

4 strips of lemon rind

1/4tsp chilli flakes

400g tin chopped tomatoes

700ml vegetable stock

300ml passata

1 tbsp caraway seeds

300g feta, broken roughly into 2cm pieces

1 tbsp fresh oregano leaves

salt

This vegetarian main course is a dish everybody loves, particularly children. Unlike the proper Italian risotto, ours does not require the exact precision and meticulous preparation, but still tastes sensational.

Rinse the pearl barley well under cold water and leave to drain.

Melt the butter and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a very large frying pan and cook the celery, shallot and garlic on a gentle heat for 5 minutes or until soft. Add the barley, thyme, paprika, bay leaf, lemon rind, chilli flakes, tomatoes, stock, passata (Tomato Puree)  and 1/2 a tablespoon of salt. Stir to combine. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce to a very gentle simmer and cook for 45 minutes, stirring frequently to make sure the risotto does not catch on the bottom of the pan. When ready, the barley should be tender and most of the liquid absorbed.

Meanwhile, toast the caraway seeds in a dry pan for a couple of minutes. Then lightly crush them so that some whole seeds remain. Add them to the feta with the remaining olive oil and gently mix to combine.

Once the risotto is ready, check the seasoning and then divide it between four shallow bowls. Top each with the marinated feta, including the oil, and a sprinkling of oregano leaves.

North African Meatballs (Boulettes)

We saw a recipe for North African Meatballs in the New York Times and decided to make it. We have been on a bit of a meatball groove and felt that we should give this recipe a try. I liked them and they sure were less messy than the Turkey and Corn Meatballs. Couscous is always a winner.

We started with a Pear Salad with Walnuts and Blue Cheese. Good fall salad.

North African Meatballs (Boulettes)

New York TImes

TOTAL TIME

1 hour 15 minutes

FOR THE SAFFRON TOMATO SAUCE

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 and 1/2 cups finely diced onion

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 inch piece cinnamon stick

Large pinch saffron, crumbled

Salt and pepper

3 cups chicken broth, vegetable broth or water

FOR THE MEATBALLS

1 and 1/2 cups cubed day-old firm white bread

1 cup milk

1 pound ground beef or lamb

1 large egg, beaten

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

4 garlic cloves, minced

1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon turmeric

2 teaspoons paprika

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

3 tablespoons chopped parsley

3 tablespoons chopped cilantro

3 tablespoons finely chopped scallion

All-purpose flour, for dusting

Olive oil or vegetable oil

FOR THE COUSCOUS (OPTIONAL)

1 cup giant couscous, m’hamsa, or medium couscous

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup golden raisins, soaked in hot water to soften, then drained

Salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon.

PREPARATION

1.   Make the sauce: Heat oil over medium-high heat in a wide, heavy bottomed saucepan. Add onion and cook without browning until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, tomato paste, cinnamon and saffron, and stir well to incorporate. Season generously with salt and pepper, and allow to sizzle for 1 minute more. Add broth and simmer gently for 5 minutes. May be made several hours in advance, up to a day.

2.   Make the meatballs: Put bread cubes and milk in a small bowl. Leave bread to soak until softened, about 5 minutes, then squeeze dry.

3.   In a mixing bowl, put squeezed-out bread, ground meat and egg. Add salt, pepper, garlic, nutmeg, ginger, turmeric, paprika, cayenne, cloves, coriander and cumin. Mix well with hands to distribute seasoning. Add 2 tablespoons each of parsley, cilantro and scallion, and knead for a minute. May be prepared several hours in advance, up to a day.

4.   With hands, roll mixture into small round balls about the size of a quarter. Dust balls lightly with flour. Heat a few tablespoons of oil, or a quarter-inch depth, over medium-high heat and fry meatballs until barely browned, about 2 minutes per side. Drain and blot on paper towel. Simmer meatballs in saffron-tomato sauce, covered, over medium heat for about 20 minutes, until tender.

5.   Meanwhile, make the couscous, if desired: Cook according to package directions, fluff gently and stir in butter and raisins. Season with salt and cinnamon, and toss well.

6.   Garnish meatballs with remaining parsley, cilantro and scallion. Serve with couscous and roasted tomatoes if desired.

YIELD

4 to 6 servings, about 36 meatballs.