Fruit Salad

The CC just adores the name mostly because it totally lies about the underlying subject — well, maybe not about the "fruit" part — but this ain't no bloody salad!

This Indian dish has so much amazing science and trickery inside of it that it's worthy of the slipperiest of slippery gods. (Oh, Agni! Oh, Loki!)

What is it?

Fruits in a milk reduction with complex spicing.

When stated like that, it sounds so boring which it totally is not. It's a masterpiece of complex chemistry with that assured magician's sleight of hand which veers it towards genius.

One day the CC returned to his apartment where his roommate greeted him sheepishly, "I'm sorry. I ate it all. I couldn't resist."

The CC knew even back then the kinda effect this dessert has on people so he just said, "Why don't you go shopping? We'll make it again, and we'll make a party of it on Friday?"

And we partied.

He grilled the steaks, his girlfriend (now wife) cooked the rest of the meal, and the CC had already spent his time earlier reducing milk for dessert. We were poor graduate students but we had a blast.

How does it work?

You reduce whole un-homogenized milk until it resembles a thick soup. You add cardamom, saffron, and slivered almonds. Then you cool it down till it's really ice-cold. You add fruits in a bowl, pour the soup all over it and eat it.

When the CC added the citrus fruits to the bowl, the roommate yelled, "It's gonna curdle." Logical thinking but dead wrong! That's the magic trick.

When the proteins are denatured and the final product ice-cold, the citrus doesn't have enough time to make the milk curdle. Eat it right away or GTFO, as the kids might say these days.

The more variety of fruits you add the better. The CC prefers apples, oranges, pomegranates. You may prefer something else. Go nuts!

(The citrus fruits must be peeled. The tannins in the skin have a higher probability of making it curdle.)

What's the problem?

It's hard work. It's an insane amount of work specifically since the kinda burners that we have in apartments are rather puny.

All you're doing in the most important step is "reducing" milk i.e. you're removing the water from the milk and simultaneously denaturing the proteins.

This is one of the truly rare cases where the CC is going to talk about specific equipment. You are best off with a enamel-coated cast-iron pot — something like a Le Creuset.

There's a reason for this. The CC grew up with this dish. It took hours and hours and hours and hours of stirring. It always does. Back in the day, the CC thought that having a book would be an antidote which was logical until he dropped the book into the flames and the house almost caught on fire. Not so great after all.

What's so great about the enamel-coated iron pot is that it heats the milk uniformly.  From the sides as well as the bottom. The milk bubbles away at a uniform rate. You stir occasionally and try not to worry too much.

You'll worry anyway.

You want the milk to reduce by half. It'll change color because the water goes away and the bright white milk turns cream-colored.

The CC wants to point out that most Indian desserts involve reducing milk into various levels of submission. When looked at in that light, this is the easy end of the spectrum!

Ingredients

(serves 6)

2 gallons whole milk
sugar

6 cardamom pods
saffron
1/4 cup slivered almonds

1 orange - segmented, skin peeled
1 apple - cut into cubes
1 pomegranate - seeds separated

Note 1: The product itself is not amenable to storage but the milk mixture absolutely is. You can make more and just pour it over the fruits right before serving.

Note 2: When you serve it, it's great if you can chill the bowls ahead of time. It's not strictly necessary but it's nice.

Recipe

Heat up the milk in a pot. When it comes to a boil, reduce the heat and start stirring. Keep stirring. This is gonna take the better part of two hours or so.

Add the sugar to taste. The CC prefers less but your tastes may vary.

Keep stirring.

Seed the cardamom pods and crush them to a powder in a mortar and pestle.

The milk should reduce by half and the color changed from bright white to almost cream-colored.

You didn't miss the memo about keeping on stirring, right?

When reduced by half, add the cardamom powder, the saffron, and the almonds and take off the heat. When it has cooled down, stick it in the refrigerator till it is ice cold.

Put the fruits in a bowl. Pour the milk mixture all over it. Serve at once.

Holi Hai! (होली है। )

It's the festival of colors and even though New York is hit by the largest snow storm in years, it would be remiss of the CC to not present the ne plus ultra of Indian recipes.

It's called thandai (ठंडाई - literally: coolant.)

It's traditionally served with bhang (edible cannabis - which is legal in India!) but even without that it's truly terrific. It's very sweet but you can cut back.

Ingredients

(serves 2)

2 cups milk

8 cashew nuts
8 blanched almonds
8 pistachios
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp black pepper
4 long peppers (pippali)
4 green cardamoms
4-6 dried rose buds
1 tsp poppy seeds
pinch of saffron

2 tbsp sugar (or more to taste!)

Note 1: The CC has gone easy on the sugar. It's much more sugary than this.

Note 2: The rose buds are not optional. That's what gives the dish its characteristic fragrance. You can find them in your local Chinatown.

Note 3: It also sometimes features magaz seeds (edible kernel of watermelon seeds) but it's reasonably exotic and the CC left it out. Add 8 of them if you have them.

Note 4: The sugar in the recipe catalyzes the bhang in your brain and gives a "higher high". The nuts which have fat help dissolve the fat-soluble cannabis.

Note 5: The recipe has connections to Mughal culture. The Mughal Emperors were massive opium addicts. Oddly, alcohol wasn't much in fashion possibly because of Muslim edicts. The same logic of catalysis and sugar applies to opium.

Note 6: All the spices used are considered "cooling spices" in Indian cooking which makes sense since Holi comes on the cusp of the absurdly hot Indian summer.

Note 7: The black pepper and long pepper are "hot spices" and they're there for "balance". A ridiculous concept but you must enter into the medieval Indian mindset.

Recipe

Soak all the ingredients in the milk for at least two hours. Blend in a blender finely.

Strain and serve cold.

Lamb Tagine with Apricots, Dates & Almonds (Mrouzia)

Let's face it, chez CC, we are crazy but not insane. There is a massive difference. We recognize the limits of our ambition.

This dish is a classic of Moroccan cooking and it is great in winter. It needs to be made in a tagine ideally. The lamb is organic, the almonds were peeled by hand, the dates are authentic. The pita, however, at the right comes from Astoria. As we said, we're crazy but not insane. We can't do everything.

This is a rich winter dish. It takes time, effort and excellence of ingredients. Ironically, it's not hard. You throw everything into the tagine and then the dish makes itself while you enjoy a soothing drink.

It's medieval-ness should be obvious. The combination of meat and nuts, sweet and savory in the same dish gives it away on the first reading.

Ingredients

1 lb lamb (cut into chunks)
1 large carrot (cut into large chunks)

1 onion (diced fine)
2 cloves garlic (minced)

1/3 tsp. dried ginger
1 stick cinnamon
2 tbsp. ras el hanout

1/3 cup blanched almonds
1/3 cup dates (pitted and quartered)
1/3 cup dried apricots

6 cups water

butter

pinch of saffron
salt
pepper

Recipe

In a tagine, heat up some butter and fry the onions and garlic. Add the lamb but fry it just for a minute. Add everything except the saffron and let cook at a low heat until tender (roughly 40 minutes.)

Add the saffron. Stir and serve.

Buttermilk Roast Chicken & Green Bean Salad

This is the closest you are likely to come to the ethereal ideal of the Southern fried chicken without frying the chicken.

It pulls out all the tricks of marination to make it memorable.

Most importantly, it can all be made ahead of time and quickly assembled on a Monday (attn: office monkeys!)

Also, this assembly totally and utterly rocks for a picnic (or an office) eaten at room temperature.

For the vegetarians, the side salad is slap-your-mama good^™ so there's something in here for everyone.

It just requires a tiny bit of effort ahead of time. For about 5 minutes. Surely even you have that!


Ingredients (Buttermilk Roast Chicken)

8 chicken thighs, or legs (with skin)
2 cups buttermilk
5 cloves garlic (smashed)
1 tbsp sweet paprika
4 tbsp fresh ground pepper
2 tbsp sea salt

Recipe

Marinate the chicken with the buttermilk, smashed garlic, sweet paprika, pepper and sea salt for at least 24 hours. Preferably 48.

Preheat the oven to 425°F.

On a baking dish, arrange the chicken legs. (Throw the marinade away.) Drizzle with olive oil lightly and sprinkle some more paprika, sea salt and black pepper.

Roast for roughly 30 minutes until they are a bit brown.

Ingredients (Green Bean Salad)

1 lb green beans (trimmed)
1 large red onion
2 stalks celery
4 radishes (sliced real thin)
1/2 cup whole almonds
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup water
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp sea salt

olive oil

Recipe

Slice the onion into really fine rings.

Whisk the vinegar, water, sugar and the sea salt together. Soak the onion rings in the mixture for at least 30 minutes, preferably an hour.

Heat a small skillet with the olive oil. Fry the almonds until they are golden. Remove and let cool. When cool, cut into halves or thirds. (Yes, this matters. Roasting the almonds is simply not the same here.)

Assemble an ice bath. Water + Ice.

Heat a pot of water. Dunk the trimmed beans into the boiling water for about 5-6 minutes until tender. Dump out the water. Dump the beans into the ice-bath.

Remove the onions from the pickling liquid. Keep the liquid.

Assemble the salad. Beans, celery, radishes, almonds.

Make a vinaigrette with the pickling liquid and toss everything together.

Slap-your-mama^™ while eating!

Pesto Trapanese

While the traditional pesto is from Liguria, this one is from Trapani in Sicily.

It's made with the typical products of the region — almonds, tomatoes, chilli peppers. You can see both the medieval and North African influences in this dish.

It's simple yet sultry in that summery way.

Ingredients

1/2 cup almonds (blanched, skins removed)
1 clove garlic
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp grated Pecorino
1/2 cup (tightly packed) mint leaves
2 dried red chilli peppers
4 tomatoes (peeled, cored, diced)
1 tsp sea salt

Recipe

Put all the ingredients in a food processor, and process till blended. Leave it slightly grainy so that it has some consistency.

Toss with long-strand pasta that has been drained, and is still hot.

Serve immediately.

Edible German Food

There is only one thing that's wonderful about German food. It's called marzipan.

They really do it better than anyone else. Yes, it's only almonds and sugar — how hard can it be, etc.? So why do all other attempts suck, huh?!?

A friend was visiting recently from Germany. She asked what the CC wanted as a gift, and the answer was "lots of marzipan."

And he got it.

Pasta with Cauliflower, Raisins and Almonds

This recipe is so awesome that the CC has already posted it.

Twice.

Clearly, there was no response. So it's time for more high-pressure tactics. If one of you readers don't make it, and share in the mind-blowing gloriousness that is this recipe, and share your foodgasm with the rest of us, the CC will torture you by posting this recipe again and again until one of you surrenders.

The recipe has even been optimized for you slackers - you know who you are!

Yes, the CC has no shame! (But he does have cauliflowers.)


Ingredients

1 large cauliflower
1 large red onion (cut into very thin semi-rounds)
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup raisins
4 tbsp white wine vinegar

2 cups whole wheat pasta

4 tbsp capers (in salt not vinegar, finely chopped)
4 tbsp chives (finely chopped)
4 tbsp tarragon (finely chopped)
4 tbsp parsley (finely chopped)

parmigiano-reggiano
olive oil
salt
pepper

Recipe

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Stick the almonds to roast while the oven is preheating (roughly 10 mins.)

Toss the cauliflower florets with olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake in the oven until roasted and browned (roughly 40 mins.)

Meanwhile, put the raisins in vinegar, and add about a cup of water. Bring to a light boil for about 7 mins to plump the raisins. (Hint: the microwave is awesome at this task. Use it!)

Make the pasta just under al dente.

Heat some olive oil in a pan. Fry the onions until they are limp. Add the cauliflower, the raisins (with the liquid), all the herbs, salt and pepper, and the pasta. Toss well.

Serve topped with the roasted almonds, grated parmesan, and plenty of black pepper.

A Spectacular Meal in Córdoba!

This is one of those epic meals that you only encounter once in your life. Naturally, the CC disdains such absurdly romantic notions so he went there for lunch two days later, and experienced it twice!

The picture of tomatoes below is deceptive. A picture cannot do it justice; it was poetry on a plate.

They were "only" tomatoes, sprinkled with fleur de sel (fiori di sale), and drizzled with olive oil. However, the tomatoes had quite literally been picked minutes before from the garden. They were still warm from the heat of the sun, and smelled like TOMATOES.

When years from now, the CC has his "madeleine"-moment, these tomatoes will be it!

Salmorejo, Gazpacho
Ajo blanco (Gazpacho with almonds)
Tomatoes with fleur de sel and olive oil
Frituras de verduras (Fried vegetables)
Rabo del toro (Braised oxtail)
Flan
Espresso

Mizuna Salad with Sauteed Scallops, Radishes, Carrots, Beluga Lentils in an Almond-Lemon Vinaigrette

Linguini with Garlic-Scape Pesto & Fava Beans

In Which the CC Plays Detective ...

The CC had tapas at a Spanish restaurant quite a while back, and they had served pan-fried Marcona almonds with sea-salt. The CC tends to be more than a little sceptical of all the branding that goes on (Marcona, Shmarcona!)

What was so special about the "Marcona" almonds anyway? They seemed like your basic almonds with an almondy flavor (what else?)

The question was straightforward. Were the almonds special or was the prep special (pan-fried with olive oil with some great sea salt?) Or was it just the copious amount of wine consumed?

Well, the CC decided to replicate the completely obvious recipe (pan-fry, drain on paper towels, add finely ground sea salt) with cheap-ass almonds bought from a local ethnic market.

Bottom Line: It's the sea salt. There is nothing remotely special about the Marcona almonds but the sea salt makes a huge difference.

Almonds with Sea Salt

Foraging in Van Cortlandt Park

Best food experience of the CC's life (so far.)

Firstly, there were the wineberries everywhere. A sun-ripe sweet wineberry is the nectar of the gods on a warm sunny hike.



Next up, the golden jackpot! The CC found a large field of golden chanterelles.

Finally, the end result of what the CC did with them.

To borrow a Valley Girl facebook term -- OMG, you guys, OMG!!!!!!

Strozzapreti with chanterelles ♦ Ciabatta ♦ Flat beans with almonds

Garlic Scape Pesto (with Almonds)

This is truly delightful. Blend some garlic scapes, parmigiano-reggiano, olive oil and almonds, and a dash of lemon and serve with fettucine and a light rosé and you have a truly wondrous summer meal.

Sautéed Almond-Stuffed Dates

Ever see a recipe and you instinctively know it's going to be brilliant?

Ingredients

24 dates
24 whole blanched almonds
2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
fine sea salt

(Source: Patricia Wells)

Recipe

Pit the dates but don't cut all the way through. Stuff with the almond.

Heat the oil in a pan over moderate heat. Add the stuffed dates and sauté until they are lightly browned. Season lightly with sea salt and serve.

Brutti ma buoni

You have to love the Italians for these. The name translates to "ugly but good" which is an accurate enough description.

To those scared off by dessert and baking, the pressure is off. When they come out misshapen (and they will), you can claim that it was "intentional".

They are light and crispy because they contain no flour (like meringue cookies.)

Ingredients

6 egg whites
1 1/2 cups fine white sugar
2 tbsp ground cinnamon-cloves

1/2 cup hazelnuts (blanched)
1/2 cup almonds (blanched)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Recipe

Roast the hazelnuts and almonds till lightly toasted. Pulse in a food processor till they are broken. Do NOT grind to a fine powder.

Meanwhile, whip the egg whites till they form soft peaks. Yeah, this involves whipping air into the eggs and it takes forever and is very laborious. Deal.

The whipped egg whites are (G + S)/W in the classification scheme. They are not a sauce so they don't show up in the list.

Add the sugar, and mix till dissolved. Add the rest of the ingredients.

Put the mixture over a VERY LOW flame, and stir till thickened and golden (20 mins or so.) Do not let it burn. You need to keep stirring and scraping as it thickens.

Butter a cookie sheet and drop them into irregular lumps at intervals. Bake at 300°F for 30-40 mins until hard.

Orecchiete with broccoli, lemon and almonds

Basic. Simple. Delicious.

(The "holy trinity" of cooking.)

Ingredients

orecchiete

1 large broccoli (cut into florets)
1 red onion (thinly sliced into semi-rounds)
2 cloves garlic (thinly sliced)
6 anchovies
1 lemon (juiced + finely grated rind)
1/4 cup slivered blanched almonds

olive oil
sea salt
black pepper

parmigiano-reggiano (grated)

Recipe

Pretty easy. Fry the anchovies followed by the onion, garlic, lemon rind. Add the almonds and fry for a bit. Then the broccoli, salt and pepper. Add a bit of water to cook the broccoli. Add the lemon juice towards the end.

Meanwhile cook the orecchiete until al dente.

Mix and serve with the parm and black pepper to taste.

Niederegger

They make the best marzipan.

Fairway just started carrying it at a reasonable price. I'm a happy camper.