New Orleans

Oysters and gumbo and beignets, oh my!

Trip to New Orleans

The CC departs for New Orleans tomorrow.

He will leave with a Mark Twain quote:

New Orleans food is as delicious as the less criminal forms of sin.

Oysters, ahoy!

Rolled Anchovies with Capers

These are anchovy fillets that are rolled around a caper. Eaten as an antipasto with some toasted bread or a cracker, it's like a rush of umami to the mouth.

How come the CC had never experienced them before?

They should be marketed as adult candy!

Pea-Broth Risotto

(Recipe: link.)

The Triumphant Return

The CC is back! Or at least the CC's computer is back from the dead.

Shopping trip in Astoria today.

Spanakopita, feta, salted anchovies, anchovies with capers, seafood salad, tarasamolata, baklava.

Happiness is a great grocery store!

Pasta with Cauliflower, Anchovies, Green Olives & Capers

Computer Crash

The CC has had a catastrophic hard-drive crash. Luckily, he's a big believer in backups so it should be fine.

The blog will be on hiatus for a week or so till he can get stuff up back and running.

Pasta with Anchovies, Greens & Beans

The Tuscans really really love their beans. They are mocked as being mangiafagioli (= bean-eaters) but they understand the glory of the bean.

This is a simple straightforward dish that has really deep complex flavors. It's umami-laden and nutritionally complete and costs almost nothing.

The frugal Tuscans know a few things!



Ingredients

1 1/2 cup rigatoni (substitute by penne)

1/2 cup borlotti beans (fresh or dried, read below)
6 anchovies
3 cups wild greens (e.g. wild arugula, dandelion greens, etc.)

2 cloves garlic (chopped fine)
olive oil
parmigiano-reggiano (grated)
sea salt
black pepper

Recipe

First, cook the beans in salt water. If they are fresh, they will take less than 15 minutes to cook. If dried, about an hour. Separate but reserve the water.

Bring a pot of heavily salted water to a rolling boil. Toss in the pasta and cook until al dente (roughly 12 minutes.)

Meanwhile, fry the garlic in some olive oil. When golden, toss in the anchovies, and the beans. Sauté for a while. Add the beans and fry for about a minute. Toss in the water reserved above. Toss in the greens and cook for about 2 minutes.

Toss with the pasta, and serve with the parmesan and plenty of fresh black pepper.

Fada ni Khichdi

Documentary evidence has it that when the Emperor Shah Jahan (of Taj Mahal fame) finally conquered what is modern-day Gujarat, he was so enamored of the extraordinarily humble khichdi (a traditional rice and lentils dish) that he insisted that the royal chef make it regularly!

The chef, used to making much fanciful stuff, was more than a little peeved at making something so pedestrian. The royal chef fancified it a bit (but not too much) and a compromise was reached of making it at most "once in a while" which translated to "weekly" since Emperors can insist on pretty much get away with anything that they desire!

That this is not just some legend comes down to us in the form of the royal chef's cookbook/notes which have survived intact.

What this tells you is that even Emperors get tired of the same ol', same ol' no matter how fancy it is. Novelty is the name of the game, and even a peasant dish from a newly conquered territory can fascinate the Emperor and from there on, be elevated to finer culinary standards.

It should be noted that this is a trend among most high-end restaurants today which are busy trampling all over themselves to turn offal and lentils into new dishes, both substances being the cheapest of the cheap, and thus the provenance of the peasant not the gourmand.

The dish below is a traditional variation on the Gujarati khichdi that uses cracked wheat instead of rice (again variation and novelty, and it's even "traditional".)

The idea works on the same principle as a risotto but the mixture tends towards the soft and chewy but not mushy. The vegetables add color, nutrition and texture.


Ingredients

1 cup yellow moong daal (split yellow daal)
3/4 cup bulgur wheat #3 (coarsest grind)

1 cup potatoes (diced into cubes)
1 cup green peas
1 cup green beans (diced)
1 cup cauliflower florets
1 cup carrots (diced into cubes)

1 cup onions (diced fine)
2 tbsp ginger + green-chilli paste

1/2 tsp turmeric
sea salt (to taste)

1 stick cinnamon
3 cloves
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp black peppercorns
asafoetida

3 tbsp ghee

Recipe

Soak the moong daal and the cracked wheat in ice cold water separately for at least 30 minutes.

Remove, and dry thoroughly.

(To be blunt, this last part is painful because it's hard to get enough surface area to get the stuff to dry thoroughly. Do the best you can but remember, the drier it gets after soaking, the greater your chances of making the dish "memorable".)

In a seperate vessel, bring roughly 4 cups of water to a simmer. Keep warm.

Bring the ghee to a simmer. Toss in the cinnamon and fry for a bit. When fragrant, toss in the cumin, cloves, black peppercorns and asafoetida. Fry for a bit. Add the onions and fry languidly for 3-4 minutes until limp but not colored. Add the turmeric and ginger-green chilly paste and fry for a while.

Fry the potatoes for a bit.

Then fry the daal and the cracked wheat for a bit. Add 3 cups of water, and let cook at a low simmer for about 8 minutes. Add more hot water if it gets dry.

Towards the end, add the rest of the vegetables and let cook together. (Yes, this is a little tricky since you need to time everything exactly.)

Kinoko Gohan

The Japanese are great mushroom lovers. Even the Japanese word for "mushroom" has a wonderful etymology. It's comes from 木 (ki =tree) and 子(ko derived from kodomo =child.) It means "child of tree" since mushrooms grow under trees.

This is a mushroom lovers' dish. It's a basic every day dish in the same vein as asari gohan except that it uses mushrooms instead of clams.

There is a trick here though.

A variety of mushrooms all of varying textures are first cooked in umami-laden dashi, and then separated. The rice is then cooked in the doubly umami-laden mushroom broth.

There is a synergistic effect from the glutamate ions in the dashi and the 5'-ribonucleotide guanosine monophospate that is found in mushrooms. When foods rich in glutamate are combined with ingredients that have ribonucleotides, the resulting intensity of taste is far far higher than the sum thereof!

Completing the experience, you have a textural addition of seaweed and scallions.


Ingredients

1 3/4 cup japonica rice

1 package shimeji mushrooms
8 shiitake mushrooms
3 eringii mushrooms
1/2 cup oyster mushrooms
1/2 cup maitake mushrooms
1/2 cup enoki mushrooms

1 piece aburaage (fried tofu)

1 piece ginger (julienned as fine as you can)
1 cup dashi
2 tbsp shoyu (soy sauce)
1 tbsp sake
1 tbsp mirin
2 tsp sugar
salt

1 bunch scallions (sliced at a steep diagonal)
nori (julienne strips)

Recipe

Wash and "polish" the rice in cold water until the surface starch is eliminated and the water runs clear. Takes between 4-6 washings. Drain and let sit wet for at least 30 minutes.

Soak the aburaage in boiling water to remove the oily part. Remove after 10 minutes, and cut up.

Boil the mushrooms and aburaage with the dashi, ginger, soy sauce, sake, mirin, sugar and salt for just 3-4 minutes. The mushrooms should still have a bite.

Separate the mushroom broth from the mushrooms.

Cook the rice in this broth till done. Top with the mushrooms, cover the lid and let sit for 7-8 minutes.

Top each portion with the sliced nori and scallions.

The Thermodynamics of Tagines

Tagines work like closed nuclear cooling towers. The purpose of the hyperboloid cover is to cool the evaporating liquid and recycle it back slowly into the cooking pot thus allowing it to cook at a low temperature in the barest of liquid.

This also has the advantage of having the meat, vegetables or fish cook in their own broth. The broth is extracted from the underlying ingredients, turned into steam which condenses and drops back down. You get an intensely brothy liquid since the entire system is "sealed" for all practical purposes.

The heat supply from the flame is kept intentionally low. This is basically a very efficient braise with the heat coming from below rather than all around. It's very heat efficient compared to a traditional braise since you are not wasting time heating an oven where air is actually a very poor conductor of heat. Important for a culture where fuel was traditionally a very large expense.

Ancient science figured out empirically but actually quite amazing!

Greek Salad

A Korean Meal in K-Town

Watermelon juice and soju, grilled octopus, and why yes! that's spam in the last picture! Memories of the Americans, and indigenizing rations to make them more appetizing. (The Philippines has a similar concept too.)

Shrimp Shells

If you buy fresh shrimp, save the shells. Boil in water for about 10-12 minutes, and it will make an amazing umami-laden shellfish broth.

Cod with Stir-Fried Pea Shoots, Beluga Lentils & Carrots

Medieval Recipes for Spring Fever

Almost every civilization has a system by which they link food with bodily "humors" and attempt to control it.

The Romans had one, and India has one. China has a very elaborate one.

The "humors" (= dosha) in the Indian Ayurvedic system are called vāta (wind), pitta (bile) and kapha (phlegm.)

While the system dates back to the second millenium BCE, there is a particularly intriguing book written by a royal physician in the 16th century.

Ksemakuthuhalam was written by one Ksemasarma (clearly an attributive name rather than a real one since ksema means "welfare".)

Let's get right off the bat to the one of the best recommendations:

During spring season, one should overcome the buildup of vāta, pitta and kapha by respectively embracing, kissing and enjoying intercourse with a damsel in the middle of her youth, moon-faced, lotus-eyed and made-up for the occasion.

The CC wonders what he recommends for a damsel with the buildup of vāta, pitta, etc. Perhaps a moon-faced, lotus-eyed, etc. young man? Or a moon-faced, etc. damsel?

In any case, spring is here and the CC, quite clearly, has all of his dosha's completely and utterly out of sync. It's time to overcome all this buildup of vāta, pitta, etc.

Let's get medieval!

A Sensational Woman in a Man's World

Anne Vallayer-Coster may very well be forgotten now but it's important to know that she was recognized as a progidy in her time. Her precocious talent was recognized, and rewarded at the French court particularly by Marie Antoinette.




What ended her career was the French revolution and the guillotine. Still she managed to maneuver her way by painting for Napoleon and died at a ripe old age.

Her masterpiece is the Still Life with Lobster.

In order to understand why it must, absolutely must be a lobster, you must read this.

Chickpeas & Cod & Clams - Oh My!

A Medieval Evening

The CC is making a lamb tagine with apricots, dates and almonds.

He just made his own ras el hanout and the house smells like a garden.

Pictures and recipes to follow.

Polenta

Let's get the obvious out of the way first.

Polenta is delicious but it's a pain to make. Thankfully, it's not difficult, it just requires a Zen attitude where you do nothing but stir. Patiently. (Bring a book and learn how to read it with the other hand!)

The discovery of the New World is what made corn popular in Europe. It transformed ancient food patterns into new ones with the discovery of a "cheaper" cereal.

Polenta is finely ground corn meal that is cooked slowly with water, salt and spices. It needs to be stirred frequently to prevent it from sticking, and this is boring. Also, towards the tail end it has a tendency to splatter so one must be careful.

Traditionally, it was made in a copper kettle that was hung over the fire with the kettle being whirled while the housewife walked back and forth doing her chores. The "mush" was poured out from the spigot and nobody asked too many questions.

Today alas, we have to stir it manually in an open pot over the stove. At least the non-stick coatings make this a relatively straightforward job!

There are multiple ways to enjoy it afterwards.

One is as a wet mush which is served as an accompaniment to meats, gravies, etc.

Another is to cook it and then pour it into a dish (and sometimes baked) where it will solidify into a "cake" which you can then cut up and serve with meats, gravies, etc.

Third is to take the solidified version and fry it again in olive oil or butter and some herbs to amp up the flavor. If you mentally thought that this is how you reheat it in older times in the absence of a microwave, give yourself a gold star.

The CC frequently makes it with dashi instead of plain water to give it a bit of an umami oomph.

Like all dishes that have multiple incarnations, preferences abound. The CC's is for the solider version.