So the CC posted on his Instagram a suitably random post about how even vegetable-hating kids love the CC's mac-n-cheese. Lo, to his surprise, there was an inundation of requests for the recipe.
The recipe will be provided but since chez CC we tend to be of analytic bent, let's back up a little and ask ourselves a few questions.
Why is what the CC doing working for kids?
Why exactly?
Here are the claims:
[1] Kids are irrational.
[2] Kids won't eat anything green.
[3] Kids hate vegetables.
These are empirical observations that can be backed up in spades. The CC is not going to contest these observations and concerns. They seem to be real.
They are also demonstrably false as the CC's recipe would contest. After all, the CC is working empirically in the real world against a real set of kids and it's working great!
So let's back up one more time and ask why is this even happening?
Why?
There are two plausible answers - one evolutionary and one cultural.
Evolutionarily, all bitter flavors are banned. There's a very good reason for this. Bitter flavors generally speaking correspond to alkaloid poisons. It takes a very sophisticated palate to start appreciating bitter flavors in vegetables — okra, eggplants, broccoli, kale, spinach, brussels sprouts — even beer and wine!
Culturally, basically kids will eat whatever you shove in their face. Shove enough spicy food slowly amped up and they will learn an appreciation for spicy flavors. Shove bland food in their face and they'll only eat chicken nuggets.
So now we're ready to proceed — kids will eat complex flavors as long as you keep the vegetables on the "sweeter" side and the flavors "familiar".
Both of these words are basically garbage - "sweeter" is all relative - if you roast brussels sprouts properly, they'll turn "sweet" and of course, and as the Greeks might've told you in 3rd century BCE, all of "familiarity" is in the eye of the beholder.
So now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's proceed.
What we're gonna do is pick vegetables that kids perceive (falsely) as sweet and we're gonna cut them into small enough pieces so that they don't stand out (very chef-like) and we're gonna go back to the two classical evolutionary devices — carbohydates and fats.
We're also going to the use full panoply of French and Italian classical cooking devices to make a superior meal — yes, that means understanding bechamél and sauce Mornay. Escoffier to the rescue!
Hey, think of the kids!!!
You wouldn't expect otherwise with the CC and yet, not so hard. Also, it's eminently available for assembly ahead of time. Just pop it in the oven later.
Ingredients
(serves 6)
2 cups macaroni
2 tbsp butter (no substitutions!)
4 cups whole milk (no substitutions!)
4 tbsp flour
2 cups gruyère
2 cups parmigiano-reggiano
1 large zucchini (diced)
1 large carrot (diced)
1 cup french beans (diced)
1 cup broad beans (slivered)
1 cup fava beans
1 cup peas
1 cup cauliflower florets (cut as small as realistic)
1 cup celery (skin shaved and then diced - skin shaving is not optional!)
fresh rosemary/sage (slivered finely - optional)
salt
pepper
panko (Japanese-style bread crumbs)
Recipe
Cook the macaroni in heavily salted water until done. Depends on your brand. Roughly 12 minutes.
Make the bechamél. Heat the butter in a pan. Add the flour and let it "cook" until it is golden. Immediately add the milk. Let it cook completely till it thickens.
(What is really happening is that the milk proteins are denaturing.)
Add the salt and pepper. Add the rosemary/sage (optional.) Taste and adjust. Don't forget the cheese will add extra salt.
Toss in the vegetables one at a time in the order of "hardness" - first the carrots, then the french beans and broad beans, then the fava beans, then the cauliflower and zucchini and celery - finally the peas.
Add the cheese to turn the bechamél into what is technically called sauce Mornay — you can do it at the same time as adding the macaroni. Toss it all together.
Layer in a baking dish. sprinkle heavily with the panko breadcrumbs all over.
The next step depends on your baking dish.
If you have a shallow baking dish, preheat your oven to 350° F. If it's deep (like the CC's), preheat to 400° F.
Cook the dish covered for 25 minutes. Cook uncovered so that the surface crisps for about 10-15 minutes. Check towards the end because there's a tendency of burning.
Serve with a crisp salad (for the adults).
Showing posts with label peas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label peas. Show all posts
Sunday, September 9, 2018
Sunday, July 19, 2015
Chilled Pea-Broth Basil Soup
The CC is finding abundant fresh shelled peas at his local farmers' market these days. The season is coming to a close and this luxury will soon go away.
Experienced cooks know not to throw away the shells of the peas. We've talked about pea-broth risotto on this blog before but there's something else that works like magic.
The peas tend to be starchier later in the summer and this recipe works perfectly with them. It's involves using the pea-broth to make a chilled soup which goes down easy in this absurd summer heat.
The recipe is a little laborious since it involves making the pea-broth and then making a soup based on it but it's easier than it sounds. You just need some pots and a dishwasher (either mechanical or of the human kind!)
The ideal accompaniment to this as a light summer meal is parmesan toast.
Ingredients
Pea Broth
1 lb organic pea shells (yes, they need to be organic!)
1 large onion
olive oil
6 cups water
salt
pepper
Pea Soup
pea broth (from above)
2 tbsp butter
2 shallots
1/2 cup peas
3-4 cups basil
salt
Recipe
Notes 1: You need a lot of basil because flavors are muted with cold soups. Same goes for salt and pepper.
Notes 2: When the soup cools, it will separate out. Just whip it again with a whisk before serving.
Notes 3: Do NOT use cream as you see in a lot of online recipes. Yes, there is a place for cream in the soup world but it has a tendency to flatten out the recipes and make all soups taste the same. This is all about the pure taste of summer peas!
First, make the pea broth. Fry the onions in the olive oil till they are limp. Add the shells and fry them for a bit. Add the water, salt and pepper and let cook for at least 30 minutes until the pea shells are limp. Blend with a stick blender. The shells are fibrous and will never blend completely.
Filter the broth using a strainer pressing down to extract the maximum amount of the broth. Toss the fibrous residue.
In a separate clean pot, heat up some butter. Fry the shallots on a medium-low heat. Add the pea broth and bring to a boil. Add the peas and let them cook for about 10-12 minutes until soft. Turn off the heat.
Add the basil and blend the mixture together until it is very smooth. Check for salt and and some if necessary. You can strain the soup if you want a finer presentation or just leave it as is for a slightly more rustic version.
Chill the soup. It will take at least 6-7 hours before it is nicely cold. Serve.
Experienced cooks know not to throw away the shells of the peas. We've talked about pea-broth risotto on this blog before but there's something else that works like magic.
The peas tend to be starchier later in the summer and this recipe works perfectly with them. It's involves using the pea-broth to make a chilled soup which goes down easy in this absurd summer heat.
The recipe is a little laborious since it involves making the pea-broth and then making a soup based on it but it's easier than it sounds. You just need some pots and a dishwasher (either mechanical or of the human kind!)
The ideal accompaniment to this as a light summer meal is parmesan toast.
Ingredients
Pea Broth
1 lb organic pea shells (yes, they need to be organic!)
1 large onion
olive oil
6 cups water
salt
pepper
Pea Soup
pea broth (from above)
2 tbsp butter
2 shallots
1/2 cup peas
3-4 cups basil
salt
Recipe
Notes 1: You need a lot of basil because flavors are muted with cold soups. Same goes for salt and pepper.
Notes 2: When the soup cools, it will separate out. Just whip it again with a whisk before serving.
Notes 3: Do NOT use cream as you see in a lot of online recipes. Yes, there is a place for cream in the soup world but it has a tendency to flatten out the recipes and make all soups taste the same. This is all about the pure taste of summer peas!
First, make the pea broth. Fry the onions in the olive oil till they are limp. Add the shells and fry them for a bit. Add the water, salt and pepper and let cook for at least 30 minutes until the pea shells are limp. Blend with a stick blender. The shells are fibrous and will never blend completely.
Filter the broth using a strainer pressing down to extract the maximum amount of the broth. Toss the fibrous residue.
In a separate clean pot, heat up some butter. Fry the shallots on a medium-low heat. Add the pea broth and bring to a boil. Add the peas and let them cook for about 10-12 minutes until soft. Turn off the heat.
Add the basil and blend the mixture together until it is very smooth. Check for salt and and some if necessary. You can strain the soup if you want a finer presentation or just leave it as is for a slightly more rustic version.
Chill the soup. It will take at least 6-7 hours before it is nicely cold. Serve.
Sunday, July 6, 2014
Rouz Jerbi (Riz Djerbian, Tunisian Spinach Rice)
This is one of the strangest yet most awesome recipes that the CC has seen.
When the CC first encountered it he was mystified. Wouldn't 50+ minutes of steaming turn the vegetables into mush? Was he getting something wrong?
No, he was just forgetting something.
Rice is deeply hygroscopic.
It will absorb moisture like nobody's business so you need to store rice in a humidity-free environment. In fact, it is so hygroscopic that if you ever drop your cellphone inside water and it doesnt' work, first dry it out and then put it inside a sealed bag filled with dry uncooked rice. Chances are it will work in a few days.
The CC has given this advice to quite a few people and they were just baffled. The CC argued, "What do you have to lose? A few cups of cheap rice, right?" Right down to the last man and woman, the smartphones have come back to life. One friend whose young daughter had mastered the art of grabbing his smartphone and throwing it in the toilet particularly appreciated the CC.
Science. It works, bitches!
The recipe is from the island of Djerba in Tunisia. The CC has provided the French spelling as well since Tunisia was a French Protectorate and you are more likely to encounter the dish under that name.
In this recipe, a mélange of dry rice, spinach, parsley, vegetables, chickpeas, optional meat, and a ton of spices are steamed for about 50 minutes. The rice does most of the absorption (including the liquid given off by the spinach and vegetables) and what you get is a perfectly steamed mixture that is intensely flavored and smells magical.
The dish can be extremely spicy but you can control the heat with the amount of harissa that you add to it. It has a slow burn.
It's not a hard dish in the least. You could do the prep in 30 minutes but you will need to endure two phases of steaming with by a precise interlude where you turn everything over and recommence.
Just think two de-stressing cocktails because minus the prep and the tiny amount of the interlude, you're not exactly working very hard. Even the prep is easy.
A steamer works perfectly here but the CC improvised since he has none in his apartment. The recipe is quite forgiving.
You absolutely need a long-grained rice. Short varieties are not going to work in this dish.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups long-grained rice (e.g. basmati)
2 large onions (chopped fine)
4 cloves garlic (chopped fine)
1 large potato (cubed into large pieces)
1 large carrot (cubed into medium pieces)
1 large tomato (chopped into fine pieces)
1 cup cooked chickpeas
1/2 cup peas
2 large bunches of spinach (chopped into fine slivers)
1 large bunch parsley (chopped fine)
chicken/lamb/beef ‐ (optional) ‐ cubed into small pieces
1/2 cup tomato paste
1/3 cup olive oil
1-2 tbsp. harissa
4 tbsp. coriander seeds (roasted and ground fine)
1 tbsp. caraway seeds (roasted and ground fine)
1 tbsp. turmeric
2 tsp. red chilli powder (or to taste)
Recipe
First, toss the rice with the tomato paste and olive oil and mix thoroughly. The goal is to coat the rice with the oil to make sure that each grain remains separate. This is the aesthetic hallmark of Arab cuisine which you will see everywhere from Northern Africa to Iran to India.
Then you just add all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix them thoroughly.
The mixture must then be steamed in a tightly-sealed steamer for about 25 minutes. At that mark, you must pull it out into a bowl, very gently mix everything together and steam it again for about 20-25 minutes. (Add more water to the bottom if necessary.)
The length of the second steaming depends on the age of your rice. The older it is, the less you will need to cook it.
Rouz Jerbi
When the CC first encountered it he was mystified. Wouldn't 50+ minutes of steaming turn the vegetables into mush? Was he getting something wrong?
No, he was just forgetting something.
Rice is deeply hygroscopic.
It will absorb moisture like nobody's business so you need to store rice in a humidity-free environment. In fact, it is so hygroscopic that if you ever drop your cellphone inside water and it doesnt' work, first dry it out and then put it inside a sealed bag filled with dry uncooked rice. Chances are it will work in a few days.
The CC has given this advice to quite a few people and they were just baffled. The CC argued, "What do you have to lose? A few cups of cheap rice, right?" Right down to the last man and woman, the smartphones have come back to life. One friend whose young daughter had mastered the art of grabbing his smartphone and throwing it in the toilet particularly appreciated the CC.
Science. It works, bitches!
The recipe is from the island of Djerba in Tunisia. The CC has provided the French spelling as well since Tunisia was a French Protectorate and you are more likely to encounter the dish under that name.
In this recipe, a mélange of dry rice, spinach, parsley, vegetables, chickpeas, optional meat, and a ton of spices are steamed for about 50 minutes. The rice does most of the absorption (including the liquid given off by the spinach and vegetables) and what you get is a perfectly steamed mixture that is intensely flavored and smells magical.
The dish can be extremely spicy but you can control the heat with the amount of harissa that you add to it. It has a slow burn.
It's not a hard dish in the least. You could do the prep in 30 minutes but you will need to endure two phases of steaming with by a precise interlude where you turn everything over and recommence.
Just think two de-stressing cocktails because minus the prep and the tiny amount of the interlude, you're not exactly working very hard. Even the prep is easy.
A steamer works perfectly here but the CC improvised since he has none in his apartment. The recipe is quite forgiving.
You absolutely need a long-grained rice. Short varieties are not going to work in this dish.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups long-grained rice (e.g. basmati)
2 large onions (chopped fine)
4 cloves garlic (chopped fine)
1 large potato (cubed into large pieces)
1 large carrot (cubed into medium pieces)
1 large tomato (chopped into fine pieces)
1 cup cooked chickpeas
1/2 cup peas
2 large bunches of spinach (chopped into fine slivers)
1 large bunch parsley (chopped fine)
chicken/lamb/beef ‐ (optional) ‐ cubed into small pieces
1/2 cup tomato paste
1/3 cup olive oil
1-2 tbsp. harissa
4 tbsp. coriander seeds (roasted and ground fine)
1 tbsp. caraway seeds (roasted and ground fine)
1 tbsp. turmeric
2 tsp. red chilli powder (or to taste)
Recipe
First, toss the rice with the tomato paste and olive oil and mix thoroughly. The goal is to coat the rice with the oil to make sure that each grain remains separate. This is the aesthetic hallmark of Arab cuisine which you will see everywhere from Northern Africa to Iran to India.
Then you just add all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix them thoroughly.
The mixture must then be steamed in a tightly-sealed steamer for about 25 minutes. At that mark, you must pull it out into a bowl, very gently mix everything together and steam it again for about 20-25 minutes. (Add more water to the bottom if necessary.)
The length of the second steaming depends on the age of your rice. The older it is, the less you will need to cook it.
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Pea Soup with Miso
The weather has still been unseasonably cool out here and this soup is a perfect little pick-me-up. It's equally versatile served warm or cold and it's a cinch to make.
Ingredients
1 leek (both white and green parts - chopped)
4 cups peas (frozen is fine)
4 cups dashi (or chicken broth)
4 tbsp. white miso
3 tbsp. mirin (substitute with 1 tbsp. sugar)
1 scallion (finely chopped for garnish)
2 tbsp. butter
black pepper
Recipe
Note: You don't need to add salt because the miso is salty enough.
Heat up the butter in a heavy pot. Fry the leeks until they are softened. Add the peas, black pepper and the broth and let it cook until the peas are tender. About 10 minutes.
Purée the mixture and pass it through a sieve. Toss out the solids.
Reheat the mixture. In a small bowl, add a little bit of the broth to the miso and let it dissolve. Add the mixture back into the broth. Thin the soup if desired. Taste for salt (you shouldn't need any.)
Do not boil the miso.
Serve at once. Garnish with the scallions.
Ingredients
1 leek (both white and green parts - chopped)
4 cups peas (frozen is fine)
4 cups dashi (or chicken broth)
4 tbsp. white miso
3 tbsp. mirin (substitute with 1 tbsp. sugar)
1 scallion (finely chopped for garnish)
2 tbsp. butter
black pepper
Recipe
Note: You don't need to add salt because the miso is salty enough.
Heat up the butter in a heavy pot. Fry the leeks until they are softened. Add the peas, black pepper and the broth and let it cook until the peas are tender. About 10 minutes.
Purée the mixture and pass it through a sieve. Toss out the solids.
Reheat the mixture. In a small bowl, add a little bit of the broth to the miso and let it dissolve. Add the mixture back into the broth. Thin the soup if desired. Taste for salt (you shouldn't need any.)
Do not boil the miso.
Serve at once. Garnish with the scallions.
Monday, May 12, 2014
Asparagus, Peas & Parmesan Purée
This is another one of those magical combos which is perfect for spring and easy to make.
The CC made it with fresh peas because he had some but frozen is fine here.
The CC has served this on a bruschetta topped with the asparagus spears and also as a pizza base. Toss with pasta if you like. It's truly amazing.
Ingredients
1 bunch asparagus
1 1/2 cup peas (frozen is fine)
1 1/2 cup parmigiano-reggiano
black pepper
salt (if necessary)
Recipe
First cut up the asparagus. Separate the tender spears and set aside. Then for each stem decide by pressing where the woody bottom portion is and discard. Set the stems aside.
Steam the stems and the peas for about 8 minutes.
Then steam the spears for no more than 1 minute. Be careful. You want some texture left here. They are very soft and will just go limp and disintegrate.
Blend the stems, peas, parmesan, and black pepper in a blender with some water.
Add some more salt to the paste if it needs it. Depends on the saltiness of the cheese really.
(You can also thin the paste if you like if you want to toss with pasta, etc.)
The paste and the spears are now your friends. Top a toasted piece of bread with the paste and top with the spear. Watch them disappear!
The CC made it with fresh peas because he had some but frozen is fine here.
The CC has served this on a bruschetta topped with the asparagus spears and also as a pizza base. Toss with pasta if you like. It's truly amazing.
Ingredients
1 bunch asparagus
1 1/2 cup peas (frozen is fine)
1 1/2 cup parmigiano-reggiano
black pepper
salt (if necessary)
Recipe
First cut up the asparagus. Separate the tender spears and set aside. Then for each stem decide by pressing where the woody bottom portion is and discard. Set the stems aside.
Steam the stems and the peas for about 8 minutes.
Then steam the spears for no more than 1 minute. Be careful. You want some texture left here. They are very soft and will just go limp and disintegrate.
Blend the stems, peas, parmesan, and black pepper in a blender with some water.
Add some more salt to the paste if it needs it. Depends on the saltiness of the cheese really.
(You can also thin the paste if you like if you want to toss with pasta, etc.)
The paste and the spears are now your friends. Top a toasted piece of bread with the paste and top with the spear. Watch them disappear!
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Orecchiette with Peas and Buttermilk-Parmesan Sauce
This is emphatically not an Italian dish. It's clearly a riff on "Alfredo Sauce", which while invented in Rome and which was itself a riff on fettuccine alla Romana, was definitely made for Americans. Rumor has it that its popularity owes itself to the Hollywood duo of Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford.
The substitution of cream by buttermilk makes sense. For one, you get a much stronger tangy lactic flavor. Secondly, you get a strong umami taste. It's also lighter. The emulsification works the same way as in the original.
The peas come from another classic Italian dish - pasta with peas, ham and cream. Similar idea just with fresh peas. Fancier versions substitute the ham with prosciutto.
The combination works magic and it requires a light hand. The peas definitely need to be fresh. Frozen is not going to cut it. It's also a dish where you need to make the sauce quickly while you are making the pasta at the last minute and toss it all together.
The reason to use orecchiette is to cradle the peas while holding on to the sauce. Substitute with conchiglie (shells) in the same logical vein.
Even with questionable authenticity, this dish is definitely both simple and magical.
Ingredients
(serves 2 generously)
2 cups conchiglie
1 cup fresh peas
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 tbsp. butter
1/2 cup parmigiano-reggiano
black pepper
1/3 cup chopped parsley
Recipe
Bring the heavily-salted pasta water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook till al dente. Roughly 12 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat up the butter in a pan at medium-low heat. When melted add the peas and let the sautée for a bit. Add the buttermilk and let it warm up and boil at the lowest possible heat. Add the parmesan and whisk the sauce.
Add the drained pasta, black pepper and parsley and toss thoroughly.
Serve.
The substitution of cream by buttermilk makes sense. For one, you get a much stronger tangy lactic flavor. Secondly, you get a strong umami taste. It's also lighter. The emulsification works the same way as in the original.
The peas come from another classic Italian dish - pasta with peas, ham and cream. Similar idea just with fresh peas. Fancier versions substitute the ham with prosciutto.
The combination works magic and it requires a light hand. The peas definitely need to be fresh. Frozen is not going to cut it. It's also a dish where you need to make the sauce quickly while you are making the pasta at the last minute and toss it all together.
The reason to use orecchiette is to cradle the peas while holding on to the sauce. Substitute with conchiglie (shells) in the same logical vein.
Even with questionable authenticity, this dish is definitely both simple and magical.
Ingredients
(serves 2 generously)
2 cups conchiglie
1 cup fresh peas
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 tbsp. butter
1/2 cup parmigiano-reggiano
black pepper
1/3 cup chopped parsley
Recipe
Bring the heavily-salted pasta water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook till al dente. Roughly 12 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat up the butter in a pan at medium-low heat. When melted add the peas and let the sautée for a bit. Add the buttermilk and let it warm up and boil at the lowest possible heat. Add the parmesan and whisk the sauce.
Add the drained pasta, black pepper and parsley and toss thoroughly.
Serve.
Monday, February 10, 2014
The Indian Peas' Process
"What is it about Indians and peas?" a friend asked the CC recently, "Why are they so obsessed about them?"
A most worthy question and certainly one that requires more than an offhand answer and since its her birthday, the CC will answer at leisure.
("Does the CC ever answer not at leisure and without copious footnotes?" is the query from the peanut gallery which is a question he will ignore.)
Perhaps this should be a series? "What is it about Russians/Korean/Japanese and mushrooms?", etc. which follows roughly the same line of questioning and the same analogous answer as well.
The answer, slightly speculative as it might be, involves geography, growing seasons and plant biology.
Peas are ancient and have grown all along the Mediterranean and the near East since ancient times. Even in what is modern-day India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, we are talking at least 2500 B.C.E. or earlier.
Peas are annual plants. They produce a seed within the year and die.
Peas are a cool season crop. They can only germinate from late spring to early summer. In fact, last summer, the CC couldn't get fresh peas at all the farmers' market because the waves upon waves of heat destroyed all the pea crops.
India lies just north of the equator and has a short winter but an even shorter spring. Summer arrives with a vengeance right around April.
So the answer should be clear. You can only grow these for the shortest of growing seasons in the winter which is not as cold as the rest of the world. The window is barely a few months (Feb. to late Mar.) which explains its nature as "delicacy" not particularly different from the way that asparagus is considered a delicacy in Europe or North America.
In fact, the Mughal emperors used to grow them in Kashmir which has an extended growing season for peas because of its altitude. We have additional evidence from ingredients in rare royal dishes which are paired with peas like mushrooms. These are not any old mushrooms. They were morels (gucchi) from Kashmir. Morels are seasonal, rare and expensive and require foraging since they couldn't be cultivated easily.
(We are just beginning to understand the science to cultivate them right now!)
Also, if you look at it from the Emperor's perspective, you can't just chomp down a bunch of foraged stuff. You have to have an "official taster" to make sure you're not getting poisoned from mushrooms which means you need even more of them than just for the dish.
Almost every modern-day Indian dish that substitutes the common button mushroom comes from these rarefied dishes that served Emperors once upon a time!
In the modern world, all of this is not particularly germane because you can get ingredients shipped from anywhere in the world right down to your home. Not to mention frozen stuff which doesn't matter if you are going to purée the peas anyway.
However, cultural habits are reinforced by geography first and foremost and modern technology cannot make up for millennia of habit. (Have absolutely no argument for the fact that "habit" and "culture" are nothing more than pseudo-legitimatized bias in some shape or the other!)
So peas. And Indians. And pea-shelling, pea-eating, pea-loving Indians.
Of course, this wouldn't be complete without the CC providing a favored recipe. This one is a Gujarati classic that is both simple and lip-smackingly delicious.
Ingredients
2 cups fresh shelled peas
3 small tomatoes (chopped really fine)
1 tbsp. dhanajeeru (equal parts cumin + coriander, roasted, and ground fine)
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp amchur (dried green mango powder - NON-NEGOTIABLE!)
1 tsp chilly powder (or to taste - not so important)
pinch of asafoetida
1 tbsp. corn flour or chickpea flour
oil
salt
Recipe
Heat up the oil. Fry the asafoetida till it is fragrant. Add the rest of the spices and the tomatoes and fry till they are soft. Add the peas and some water and let it cook till done.
Sprinkle the flour all over and mix vigorously till the sauce is thickened.
Eat with rotis or parathas. The CC is biased. He prefers the latter.
This stores well. Easy to reheat too although the peas will not have the starchy crunch which is partly what makes the dish so irresistible.
A most worthy question and certainly one that requires more than an offhand answer and since its her birthday, the CC will answer at leisure.
("Does the CC ever answer not at leisure and without copious footnotes?" is the query from the peanut gallery which is a question he will ignore.)
Perhaps this should be a series? "What is it about Russians/Korean/Japanese and mushrooms?", etc. which follows roughly the same line of questioning and the same analogous answer as well.
The answer, slightly speculative as it might be, involves geography, growing seasons and plant biology.
Peas are ancient and have grown all along the Mediterranean and the near East since ancient times. Even in what is modern-day India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, we are talking at least 2500 B.C.E. or earlier.
Peas are annual plants. They produce a seed within the year and die.
Peas are a cool season crop. They can only germinate from late spring to early summer. In fact, last summer, the CC couldn't get fresh peas at all the farmers' market because the waves upon waves of heat destroyed all the pea crops.
India lies just north of the equator and has a short winter but an even shorter spring. Summer arrives with a vengeance right around April.
So the answer should be clear. You can only grow these for the shortest of growing seasons in the winter which is not as cold as the rest of the world. The window is barely a few months (Feb. to late Mar.) which explains its nature as "delicacy" not particularly different from the way that asparagus is considered a delicacy in Europe or North America.
In fact, the Mughal emperors used to grow them in Kashmir which has an extended growing season for peas because of its altitude. We have additional evidence from ingredients in rare royal dishes which are paired with peas like mushrooms. These are not any old mushrooms. They were morels (gucchi) from Kashmir. Morels are seasonal, rare and expensive and require foraging since they couldn't be cultivated easily.
(We are just beginning to understand the science to cultivate them right now!)
Also, if you look at it from the Emperor's perspective, you can't just chomp down a bunch of foraged stuff. You have to have an "official taster" to make sure you're not getting poisoned from mushrooms which means you need even more of them than just for the dish.
Almost every modern-day Indian dish that substitutes the common button mushroom comes from these rarefied dishes that served Emperors once upon a time!
In the modern world, all of this is not particularly germane because you can get ingredients shipped from anywhere in the world right down to your home. Not to mention frozen stuff which doesn't matter if you are going to purée the peas anyway.
However, cultural habits are reinforced by geography first and foremost and modern technology cannot make up for millennia of habit. (Have absolutely no argument for the fact that "habit" and "culture" are nothing more than pseudo-legitimatized bias in some shape or the other!)
So peas. And Indians. And pea-shelling, pea-eating, pea-loving Indians.
Of course, this wouldn't be complete without the CC providing a favored recipe. This one is a Gujarati classic that is both simple and lip-smackingly delicious.
Ingredients
2 cups fresh shelled peas
3 small tomatoes (chopped really fine)
1 tbsp. dhanajeeru (equal parts cumin + coriander, roasted, and ground fine)
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp amchur (dried green mango powder - NON-NEGOTIABLE!)
1 tsp chilly powder (or to taste - not so important)
pinch of asafoetida
1 tbsp. corn flour or chickpea flour
oil
salt
Recipe
Heat up the oil. Fry the asafoetida till it is fragrant. Add the rest of the spices and the tomatoes and fry till they are soft. Add the peas and some water and let it cook till done.
Sprinkle the flour all over and mix vigorously till the sauce is thickened.
Eat with rotis or parathas. The CC is biased. He prefers the latter.
This stores well. Easy to reheat too although the peas will not have the starchy crunch which is partly what makes the dish so irresistible.
Monday, January 27, 2014
Sopa verde de elote (Green Corn Soup)
This is an insanely brilliant dish made of innumerous "green" components and it's the ideal thing to be eating in the depths of this bone-chilling winter that we are having here in New York.
This recipe is quite easy but do follow the instructions scrupulously. The tastes do not quite come together until the end so you will need to have some faith.
The source is Diana Kennedy whose research is fastidious and the recipes correspondingly mind-blowingly delicious.
The idea is "green, green, green". There are five green components in the recipe and they are all necessary to get the taste right. The corn is the supporting player because, well, corn and Mexico, right? Originator of the product and all that.
The real stars are the greens.
Ingredient
4 large tomatillos (or 10-12 small ones)
1 large onion (finely chopped)
2 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
4 cups corn kernels (frozen is fine)
2/3 cup green peas (frozen is fine)
6-8 sprigs cilantro
2 poblano chillies (prepped, read below)
3 large romaine lettuce leaves
5 cups chicken broth
butter
salt
fried tortilla strips
Recipe
Remove the papery skin of the tomatillos and cook the fruit in water till they are soft. Drain and set aside.
Meanwhile, prep the poblano's. Roast them directly over an open flame till they are scorched. Put them in a paper bag or just wrap in aluminum foil for 10 minutes. When they are soft, remove the blackened skin. Do not wash them. Dip your hand in water if you need to and rub off the skin. When skinned, cut open and remove the seeds and the veins from inside and chop into large pieces. Don't worry too much. They will get puréed.
Turn the tomatillos into a sauce in the blender and set aside in a bowl.
Put the corn, green peas, cilantro, poblano peppers, lettuce leaves, and 2 cups of broth into the blender and blend to a fine mixture. Pass this mixture through a medium food mill and set aside in a separate bowl.
Heat up the butter in a large pot. Add the onions and garlic and let it fry for at least 5 minutes. Add the tomatillo sauce and let it cook until the raw smell disappears. This step is crucial.
Add the second blended broth with salt to taste and let it cook for 5-6 minutes. This mixture has a tendency to stick to the bottom so make sure you keep scraping. Add the rest of the broth and let it cook for at least 20 minutes.
Serve with the fried tortilla strips on top.
This recipe is quite easy but do follow the instructions scrupulously. The tastes do not quite come together until the end so you will need to have some faith.
The source is Diana Kennedy whose research is fastidious and the recipes correspondingly mind-blowingly delicious.
The idea is "green, green, green". There are five green components in the recipe and they are all necessary to get the taste right. The corn is the supporting player because, well, corn and Mexico, right? Originator of the product and all that.
The real stars are the greens.
Ingredient
4 large tomatillos (or 10-12 small ones)
1 large onion (finely chopped)
2 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
4 cups corn kernels (frozen is fine)
2/3 cup green peas (frozen is fine)
6-8 sprigs cilantro
2 poblano chillies (prepped, read below)
3 large romaine lettuce leaves
5 cups chicken broth
butter
salt
fried tortilla strips
Recipe
Remove the papery skin of the tomatillos and cook the fruit in water till they are soft. Drain and set aside.
Meanwhile, prep the poblano's. Roast them directly over an open flame till they are scorched. Put them in a paper bag or just wrap in aluminum foil for 10 minutes. When they are soft, remove the blackened skin. Do not wash them. Dip your hand in water if you need to and rub off the skin. When skinned, cut open and remove the seeds and the veins from inside and chop into large pieces. Don't worry too much. They will get puréed.
Turn the tomatillos into a sauce in the blender and set aside in a bowl.
Put the corn, green peas, cilantro, poblano peppers, lettuce leaves, and 2 cups of broth into the blender and blend to a fine mixture. Pass this mixture through a medium food mill and set aside in a separate bowl.
Heat up the butter in a large pot. Add the onions and garlic and let it fry for at least 5 minutes. Add the tomatillo sauce and let it cook until the raw smell disappears. This step is crucial.
Add the second blended broth with salt to taste and let it cook for 5-6 minutes. This mixture has a tendency to stick to the bottom so make sure you keep scraping. Add the rest of the broth and let it cook for at least 20 minutes.
Serve with the fried tortilla strips on top.
Friday, January 24, 2014
Matar ka Nimona (Green Peas in Green Pea Curry Sauce)
This is a reasonably obscure dish from the Northern agricultural belt of India, and like all rural recipes, it is both simple and superb.
Even the name is outstanding. All those m's and n's caressing each other. The CC has been muttering (sic) the title to himself all day long sometimes a little bit sarcastically but mostly sweetly.
The recipe is made at a time when fresh green peas flood the rural markets which explains the dual purpose of the peas. You need to make the excess work somehow.
Let it be noted that this will not work with frozen peas. The curry portion will work fine but you need the starchy nature of fresh peas to make the other component work.
Lately the CC has been seeing fresh shelled peas from Georgia in the markets. He also sees them, of all places, in the Korean markets. So try and hunt around. You'd be surprised where they can be and you really don't want to miss out on this recipe.
Ingredients
3 cups fresh peas
2 cups cilantro leaves (yup!)
4 Thai green chillies
4 cloves garlic
1 piece of fresh turmeric (or 1/2 tbsp. ground)
1 tbsp. cumin seeds
water
salt
Recipe
Take 1 cup of the peas, the cilantro leaves, chillies, garlic, and turmeric and grind to a paste. A food processor makes quick work here.
Heat up some oil in a pan. When shimmering, add the cumin seeds. Let them color but not burn. Add the liquidized sauce from above. Be careful because it is wet and will splatter.
Let it fry until the "raw" smell has disappeared. Roughly 5-6 minutes. Add the remaining fresh peas and salt to taste until they are tender. Be careful not to overcook.
Serve with parathas or rice.
Even the name is outstanding. All those m's and n's caressing each other. The CC has been muttering (sic) the title to himself all day long sometimes a little bit sarcastically but mostly sweetly.
The recipe is made at a time when fresh green peas flood the rural markets which explains the dual purpose of the peas. You need to make the excess work somehow.
Let it be noted that this will not work with frozen peas. The curry portion will work fine but you need the starchy nature of fresh peas to make the other component work.
Lately the CC has been seeing fresh shelled peas from Georgia in the markets. He also sees them, of all places, in the Korean markets. So try and hunt around. You'd be surprised where they can be and you really don't want to miss out on this recipe.
Ingredients
3 cups fresh peas
2 cups cilantro leaves (yup!)
4 Thai green chillies
4 cloves garlic
1 piece of fresh turmeric (or 1/2 tbsp. ground)
1 tbsp. cumin seeds
water
salt
Recipe
Take 1 cup of the peas, the cilantro leaves, chillies, garlic, and turmeric and grind to a paste. A food processor makes quick work here.
Heat up some oil in a pan. When shimmering, add the cumin seeds. Let them color but not burn. Add the liquidized sauce from above. Be careful because it is wet and will splatter.
Let it fry until the "raw" smell has disappeared. Roughly 5-6 minutes. Add the remaining fresh peas and salt to taste until they are tender. Be careful not to overcook.
Serve with parathas or rice.
Monday, February 18, 2013
Comeback
Every blog needs a comeback and now that the CC is back, he's shelling ten pounds of peas that he bought.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Beans, Good Ol' Beans
Everyone here knows that the CC is crazy about them (both fresh and dried) and that he adores them with a passion only rivalling his love for anchovies.
However, how many know that the famous Roman surnames are actually derived from beans? (Possibly, their families made their fortunes in the bean agricultural trade.)
Cicero is derived from chickpeas (modern-day Italian: cece/ceci.) Fabius refers to fava beans (modern-day Italian: fava/fave.)
Lentulus should be self-evident, and Piso refers to peas (pisello/piselli.)
However, how many know that the famous Roman surnames are actually derived from beans? (Possibly, their families made their fortunes in the bean agricultural trade.)
Cicero is derived from chickpeas (modern-day Italian: cece/ceci.) Fabius refers to fava beans (modern-day Italian: fava/fave.)
Lentulus should be self-evident, and Piso refers to peas (pisello/piselli.)
Monday, April 23, 2012
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Spaghetti with Crab Meat and Peas
Sometimes, there is a level of awesomeness that pictures simply don't do justice to. You need full-on Smell-O-Vision™ to appreciate this one.
That this is both easily made on a weeknight, and that it is definitely better than sliced bread means that the Italians just do some things better!
Garlic! Chillies! Olive oil! Exclamation Marks!!
Madre di Dio!!!
Ingredients
linguini (or spaghetti.)
1 cup crabmeat
8 cloves garlic (chopped roughly)
1/2 cup peas
1/2 cup parsley (chopped fine)
4 dried read chillies (crumbled fine)
1 cup white wine (optional, substitute by water)
olive oil
sea salt
black pepper
Recipe
Prepare the pasta in heavy-salted water.
Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a pan, fry the garlic and crumbled red-chillies languidly, add the crabmeat, peas, salt and black pepper and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the white wine. Let it cook for a bit.
Toss with the spaghetti. Top with parsley and more black pepper right before serving.
That this is both easily made on a weeknight, and that it is definitely better than sliced bread means that the Italians just do some things better!
Garlic! Chillies! Olive oil! Exclamation Marks!!
Madre di Dio!!!
Ingredients
linguini (or spaghetti.)
1 cup crabmeat
8 cloves garlic (chopped roughly)
1/2 cup peas
1/2 cup parsley (chopped fine)
4 dried read chillies (crumbled fine)
1 cup white wine (optional, substitute by water)
olive oil
sea salt
black pepper
Recipe
Prepare the pasta in heavy-salted water.
Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a pan, fry the garlic and crumbled red-chillies languidly, add the crabmeat, peas, salt and black pepper and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the white wine. Let it cook for a bit.
Toss with the spaghetti. Top with parsley and more black pepper right before serving.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Summer Risotto
This is a glorious farewell-to-summer treat.
At the farmers' market, the tomatoes were glorious but nobody wanted any because "summer was over" - well, it's not - the CC is still blasting fans and the occasional air-conditioning. That's the problem with going by dates rather than weather. Things are not always quite so.
Anyway, a crazy number of tomatoes were bought, and logic necessitated that a last ta-ta to summer was in order.
This is riot of colors (as you can see below.) Oddly enough, it also happens to follow the traditional rules of the Japanese washoku.
Ingredients
6 pounds ripe summer tomatoes (yep! you heard that right)
1 small yellow squash
1 small zucchini
1 ear corn (if available.)
1 cup peas (freshly shelled)
1/4 cup green beans (cut into medium length)
1/4 cup purple beans (cut into medium length)
1/4 cup yellow beans (cut into medium length)
1/4 cup Italian flat beans (cut to resemble the above)
1 large red onion (diced very fine)
4 cloves garlic (diced very fine)
2 cups arborio rice (or carnaroli.)
purple basil (lots!!!, shredded by hand or snipped with scissors)
3 cups excellent white wine (1 cup for recipe, 2 cups to drink)
olive oil
salt
pepper
1/2 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano
Recipe
Bring a pot of water to boil. Dunk the tomatoes in batches for about 8 minutes each (depending on ripeness.) Pass the lot through a food mill to get a rich broth of tomatoes. You should have about 8-12 cups of tomato broth. (This is work. Deal!)
Bring the tomato broth to a slow boil. A lot of foam will rise to the surface. Skim, baby, skim.
Reduce the broth for about 45-60 minutes until it is "sticky" (Logic: this is the Maillard reaction with some caramelization taking place.) This is the "hard" part but since, it quite literally requires no work, it cannot really be called that.
Reconstitute with water to bring it back up to the original 8 cups.
Now, we prepare a standard risotto.
On a seperate burner, keep the above tomato broth at a low simmer. It doesn't have to literally simmer just that it needs to be on the hot side so as to not drop the temperature of the risotto when you dunk a ladleful in.
Fry the onions and the garlic at a medium-low heat for about 6 minutes. Add the beans, and fry for an additional 4 minutes. Add the zucchini and yellow squash and fry for an additional 4 minutes. Add the rice and fry till the rice is translucent and the kernel of the rice is visible (this is really obvious if you actually make this recipe as opposed to just reading this post.)
Add salt and pepper to taste. At this point, the CC adds a cup of white wine he's been drinking (read below!)
Add two ladles of the hot tomato broth, and stir. Keep stirring while it cooks. You are releasing the starch in this process. Ladles of broth and stir, ladles of broth and stir. Yes, this is fuckin' boring but deal with it. Have the afore-mentioned white wine.
Towards the end, add the corn and the peas (Logic: they cook really quickly, and you don't want them to turn into mush.)
Turn off the heat.
Add the grated parmigiano-reggiano (the mantecura), and the purple basil. Serve immediately with lots of black pepper.
At the farmers' market, the tomatoes were glorious but nobody wanted any because "summer was over" - well, it's not - the CC is still blasting fans and the occasional air-conditioning. That's the problem with going by dates rather than weather. Things are not always quite so.
Anyway, a crazy number of tomatoes were bought, and logic necessitated that a last ta-ta to summer was in order.
This is riot of colors (as you can see below.) Oddly enough, it also happens to follow the traditional rules of the Japanese washoku.
Ingredients
6 pounds ripe summer tomatoes (yep! you heard that right)
1 small yellow squash
1 small zucchini
1 ear corn (if available.)
1 cup peas (freshly shelled)
1/4 cup green beans (cut into medium length)
1/4 cup purple beans (cut into medium length)
1/4 cup yellow beans (cut into medium length)
1/4 cup Italian flat beans (cut to resemble the above)
1 large red onion (diced very fine)
4 cloves garlic (diced very fine)
2 cups arborio rice (or carnaroli.)
purple basil (lots!!!, shredded by hand or snipped with scissors)
3 cups excellent white wine (1 cup for recipe, 2 cups to drink)
olive oil
salt
pepper
1/2 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano
Recipe
Bring a pot of water to boil. Dunk the tomatoes in batches for about 8 minutes each (depending on ripeness.) Pass the lot through a food mill to get a rich broth of tomatoes. You should have about 8-12 cups of tomato broth. (This is work. Deal!)
Bring the tomato broth to a slow boil. A lot of foam will rise to the surface. Skim, baby, skim.
Reduce the broth for about 45-60 minutes until it is "sticky" (Logic: this is the Maillard reaction with some caramelization taking place.) This is the "hard" part but since, it quite literally requires no work, it cannot really be called that.
Reconstitute with water to bring it back up to the original 8 cups.
Now, we prepare a standard risotto.
On a seperate burner, keep the above tomato broth at a low simmer. It doesn't have to literally simmer just that it needs to be on the hot side so as to not drop the temperature of the risotto when you dunk a ladleful in.
Fry the onions and the garlic at a medium-low heat for about 6 minutes. Add the beans, and fry for an additional 4 minutes. Add the zucchini and yellow squash and fry for an additional 4 minutes. Add the rice and fry till the rice is translucent and the kernel of the rice is visible (this is really obvious if you actually make this recipe as opposed to just reading this post.)
Add salt and pepper to taste. At this point, the CC adds a cup of white wine he's been drinking (read below!)
Add two ladles of the hot tomato broth, and stir. Keep stirring while it cooks. You are releasing the starch in this process. Ladles of broth and stir, ladles of broth and stir. Yes, this is fuckin' boring but deal with it. Have the afore-mentioned white wine.
Towards the end, add the corn and the peas (Logic: they cook really quickly, and you don't want them to turn into mush.)
Turn off the heat.
Add the grated parmigiano-reggiano (the mantecura), and the purple basil. Serve immediately with lots of black pepper.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Pea-Broth Risotto
This recipe has summery goodness written all over it. It's a bit of work but not so much if you have an immersion blender (a "magic" tool, if ever there was one!)
Ingredients
1 lb organic unshelled peas (yeah, it needs to be organic!)
1 cup carnaroli rice
1 large red onion (diced)
basil
olive oil
basil
black pepper
salt
1 cup parmigiano-reggiano
Recipe
Shell the peas. Retain the shells. We are going to use the shells, and hence they need to be organic.
Fry half of the red onion for at least 4 minutes. Add the shells and fry at a low heat for at least 5-6 minutes. Add salt and pepper, and 4 cups of water. Bring to a simmer, and simmer at a low heat for 20 minutes.
Blend the mixture. The pods are absurdly fibrous and will not really blend. Strain the mixture through a sieve, and toss the fibrous part. You will be left with a lovely pale-green pea broth.
Bring the pea broth to a low simmer.
Now, we make a standard risotto using the pea broth.
Fry the rest of the diced onions in some olive oil. Add in the rice. Fry for a bit until translucent. Add the broth in ladle, and stir. Broth and stir, broth and stir, broth and stir till the risotto is almost done.
Add the peas towards the end. They will cook very fast. Add the basil as well.
Finally, the mantecura with the parmigiano-reggiano.
If ever there was green sex in a bowl, this would be it!
Ingredients
1 lb organic unshelled peas (yeah, it needs to be organic!)
1 cup carnaroli rice
1 large red onion (diced)
basil
olive oil
basil
black pepper
salt
1 cup parmigiano-reggiano
Recipe
Shell the peas. Retain the shells. We are going to use the shells, and hence they need to be organic.
Fry half of the red onion for at least 4 minutes. Add the shells and fry at a low heat for at least 5-6 minutes. Add salt and pepper, and 4 cups of water. Bring to a simmer, and simmer at a low heat for 20 minutes.
Blend the mixture. The pods are absurdly fibrous and will not really blend. Strain the mixture through a sieve, and toss the fibrous part. You will be left with a lovely pale-green pea broth.
Bring the pea broth to a low simmer.
Now, we make a standard risotto using the pea broth.
Fry the rest of the diced onions in some olive oil. Add in the rice. Fry for a bit until translucent. Add the broth in ladle, and stir. Broth and stir, broth and stir, broth and stir till the risotto is almost done.
Add the peas towards the end. They will cook very fast. Add the basil as well.
Finally, the mantecura with the parmigiano-reggiano.
If ever there was green sex in a bowl, this would be it!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
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Thursday, December 3, 2009
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Tuesday, September 22, 2009
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Sunday, May 10, 2009
Fresh Pasta
The CC has a new toy - a pasta maker.
It's easy enough to make fresh pasta (shown below - drying) but hoo boy! does the thing make an unholy mess!!! It's like a flour bomb went off in the kitchen.
Fresh pasta cooks very very quickly - barely three minutes will get you to al dente.
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The recipe is simple enough. Fry rosemary in butter, fry the peas. Add the fresh pasta, top with grated parm.
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Fresh Pasta with Rosemary and Peas
It's easy enough to make fresh pasta (shown below - drying) but hoo boy! does the thing make an unholy mess!!! It's like a flour bomb went off in the kitchen.
Fresh pasta cooks very very quickly - barely three minutes will get you to al dente.
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The recipe is simple enough. Fry rosemary in butter, fry the peas. Add the fresh pasta, top with grated parm..jpg)
Monday, August 4, 2008
Pasta with Pesto and Peas
Perfect for a hot summer's day.
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Ingredients
Pesto
basil
walnuts
1 clove garlic
olive oil
sea salt
peas (frozen is fine)
pasta
parmigiano-reggiano (grated very coarsely)
black pepper
Recipe
Blanch the peas in some salt water.
Grind the pesto. Add the peas. For the love of everything culinary, do not "heat" the pesto.
Add the pasta cooked al dente. Parm and black pepper on top.
.jpg)
Ingredients
Pesto
basil
walnuts
1 clove garlic
olive oil
sea salt
peas (frozen is fine)
pasta
parmigiano-reggiano (grated very coarsely)
black pepper
Recipe
Blanch the peas in some salt water.
Grind the pesto. Add the peas. For the love of everything culinary, do not "heat" the pesto.
Add the pasta cooked al dente. Parm and black pepper on top.
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