Steaks Marinated in Sumac--A More Exotic Grilling Idea

Whenever I visit a Middle Eastern food store, I am always intrigued by a variety of different spices it sells. I would love to use them all but often have no idea where and how to add them.

Last year, I got a box of spices coming straight from a Turkish food market in Istanbul--the famous Spice Bazaar, also known as Egyptian Bazaar. It had ten small capsules filled with a variety of spices. Some, like mint, cumin, curry, or saffron, I knew very well and used very often, but others, like sumac, I probably ate, but never cooked with.

Having sumac already at home, I called my Afghan friend for advice and have learned that it is mostly used for meats, especially grilled ones, like kabob. I got from her a simple recipe for steaks that are marinated briefly in sumac and grilled. I also learned that in Turkish cuisine, for example, sumac is also added to hummus and salad because of its slightly salty and sour taste. In many Middle Eastern restaurants sumac is put on the table, as a basic spice, alongside salt and pepper.

Basically, it can be used whenever a recipe, especially coming from the Middle Eastern tradition, calls for a "squeeze of lemon". Since the grilling season is approaching, here is the simple recipe I got from my friend, to introduce sumac to our summer diet.

Stakes Marinated in Sumac
(Serves four)

Ingredients:
4 pieces of New York strip steaks,
2 garlic cloves, minced,
1 tbsp ground coriander,
2 tbsp sumac,
salt and pepper to taste.

Preparation:
1. Rub garlic and all the spices onto the meat and let it marinate for about an hour.

2. Grill or fry on oil and serve with salads, potatoes, rice, or middle-eastern bread.

Radish and Potato Salad--Into Spring

After reading the recipe below, someone may wonder why, of all the ingredients, just radish is on the front picture. The answer is because radish was the reason why I came up with this salad. I bought a fresh bunch of it, smooth and beautifully purple, just one more time to convince myself that my kids do not like it.

To me, radish brings the sweetest childhood memories of spring when I watched it grow in our garden, to pull it later from the soil, once it got suddenly big enough, often times overnight. Then we washed it, sliced it, and ate. Sometimes it was just radish on bread with butter and salt on top. Sometimes it was sliced over a spread of cream cheese or added to cottage cheese, together with English cucumber and chives. It was incredibly crunchy, peppery and gently spicy, but somewhat spicier than the one I am buying now--when I ate the radish from my garden, I could feel a slight pinch on the tip of the tongue.

I still like radish a lot and use it eagerly in salads, especially in the early spring. I came up with this salad by adding almost every crunchy vegetable that I could find in my refrigerator. It came out very crunchy, but the young baby potatoes I added gave it nice softness in mild contrast to the radish and the rest of it. I make this salad quite often these days and eat for lunch.

Radish and Potato Salad
(Serves four)

Ingredients:
1 bunch of radish, cut into small cubes,
1 cup yellow bell pepper (it is important for it to be yellow as I find it more delicate), cut in small square pieces,
1 cup of cucumber, cut into cubes,
3-4 celery sticks cut into thin slices,
half a bunch onion spring chopped,
1/4 cup fresh dill chopped,
2 cups cooked baby potatoes cut in half, or bigger potatoes cut into cubes.

Dressing:
3 tbsp olive oil,
1 tbsp mustard,
1 tsp sugar,
2 tbsp white wine vinegar,
salt and pepper.

Preparation:
1. Place all the vegetable cut into small, similar size cubes in a large bowl.
2. Make dressing in a small bowl by stirring all ingredients until they form a smooth, thick sauce.
3. Pour the dressing over the vegetables, mix, let it infuse for 30 minutes and serve.

Hazelnut Chocolate Tart--Polish Mazurek

I usually do not post two desserts one after another but I have just made a few typical Polish Easter treats, which I would like to share. Besides, our Easter pastry is so good that it can be made all year round.

First of all, there are all kind of babkas, in particular, made from a yeast dough with candied fruits and raisins. Another typical one is mazurek. I suppose it falls within a tart category. It is very crispy, short and thin, and can be made with a variety of toppings--nuts, poppy seeds, cheese, as well as dried fruits and preserves.

A secret of a good mazurek lies in the quality of the crust, which must be thin and, in any event, not thicker than the topping. The one I make most often comes from my grandma's recipe book. She made her mazureks with farmers' cheese or poppy seed paste. They were so good and tempting that when my big family gathered for holidays, my uncles were attacked them long before they appeared on the Easter table.

I usually make my mazureks with nuts. And my favorite is the one I post today, which is best made with hazelnuts. The crust needs to be baked first and the topping needs to be added later. Because most of the ingredients are baked or dried and no perishable products are used in its preparation, this mazurek can stay fresh for quite a while, if of course my family can allow for it.

Hazelnut Chocolate Tart

Ingredients

Crust:
2 sticks butter (about 250 g) room temperature,
2 egg yolks,
1/3 cup sugar,
2 cups flour, plus about 1/2 extra for cleaning hands.

Topping:
2 cups hazelnuts,
2 cups chocolate chips (I like to use Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips),
1 cup raisins,
4 tbsp table cream or half an half,
1 jar apricots or plum preserves.

Preparation

Crust:
1. In a small bowl, using a small whisker or spoon, mix egg yolks with sugar and cream for about for 1-2 minutes, until they turn smooth and pale yellow.
2. Put butter and 2 cups of flour in a large bowl and using fingers make crumbles.
3. Add egg mixture and working as fast as possible make a dough. The faster all ingredients are combined the shorter will be the dough, as tart crust does not like to be kneaded for too long. If the dough is still too wet add more flour, also to clean hands, however, use no more than extra 1/2 cup.
4. Wrap a dough in a plastic foil and let it chill in a refrigerator for at least an hour. Such a dough can be stored in a refrigerator for up to three weeks, or can be frozen if you want to keep it even longer.
5. Take the dough out of refrigerator and let it stay in room temperature for at least half an hour.
6. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough an a surface dusted with flour. If have space in a refrigerator, you can actually first roll the dough out, transfer it to on a rolling pin to baking tin and put it in a refrigerator like that.
7. Preheat oven to 375 F and bake crust for about 25 minutes. It should be gold on top. Take the crust out and let it chill completely.

Topping:
1. Put hazelnuts on a hot and dry (no oil) frying pan and moving them all the time toast them slightly. Let them cool down and working with hands remove any loose peel.
2. Place raisins in a small bowl, cover them with warm water, and leave aside for 20 minutes. Strain the raisins on a colander, and pat them with paper towel to dry them completely.
3. Place chocolate chip in a medium-sized pan, add cream, and melt them over a low heat, stirring continuously until they turn into a thick and smooth sauce.
4. Spread preserves evenly over the crust. Toss it with roasted hazelnuts and raisins.

5. Pour the warm chocolate sauce on top.

6. Let the tart chill in a refrigerator for about 2 hours, so it sets, but later it does not need to be kept in a refrigerator.

Cut in rectangles and serve.

Frozen Cheese Dessert--Simple Easter Delight

This is one of the many fond memories of my childhood. I rediscovered it a few years ago when we had a very hot summer-like Easter. Instead of all the baked desserts, that we traditionally serve on that occasion, I made this frozen cheese dessert. It was simply too hot for anything else.

Suggesting some relation to the Jewish Passover tradition, in Poland this dessert is called pascha, very aptly for being part of the Easter menu. It is made from farmers' cheese (twarog or quark), eggs, dried fruits, and nuts.

In my hometown, it was a specialty of a café that bore a misleading name "Cocktail Bar". It was all kids' favorite hangout, sponsored by the local dairy. It served no alcohol, closed early, and was famous for its milk shakes and other innocent delicacies, pascha among them. I went there often with my father, after a visit to an art exhibition and a Sunday walk through the old town.

Pascha and ice cream made from farmers' cheese were my favorite items on its menu. I was not allowed to eat ice cream if the weather was too cold (according to a common belief, eating ice cream on a cold day would give you cold or flu) but I was allowed to order a frozen cheese dessert as something more substantial and not as cold as ice cream. The best part of this was that I did not mind this compromise at all.

I liked it so much that I learned to make it. The original recipe included raw egg yolks, but nowadays I skip that part. I also use cream cheese instead of farmers' cheese and add honey instead of sugar, not only to sweeten it but also to compensate for the missing egg yolks. As I am not afraid of calories, to make it even more self-indulgent, I also add heavy whipping cream, or sour cream, and mascarpone.

It tastes absolutely yummy, but another nice thing about this dessert, besides its taste, is that it can be made a day or more ahead and kept in a freezer for a few weeks.

Frozen Cheese Dessert
(Serves 8-10)

Ingredients:
Two 8 oz boxes of cream cheese, room temperature,
One 6 oz box of mascarpone cheese, room temperature,
2 tbsp heavy whipping cream (or sour cream),
1 cup running honey,
2 tbsp lemon juice,
1 tsp vanilla extract,
1 and 1/2 cup different chopped dried fruits (figs, apricots, golden raisins),
1/2 cup crushed pistachios.

Preparation:
1. In a large bowl, using electric mixer beat cream cheese until smooth.
2. Add heavy whipping cream and mascarpone and beat until all cheese is combined.
3. Pour honey into the bowl with cheese and run the mixer until all the ingredients become one smooth cream, about 3 minutes.
4. Add vanilla, beat for one minute, and add lemon juice. Once again run the mixer for about two minutes.
5. Add chopped dried fruits. Mix gently with spatula.
6. Line a square dish with a plastic foil, overhanging it beyond dish walls. Pour in the cheese mix, spread it evenly and smooth  with a spatula. Sprinkle with pistachios, gently cover with the overhanging foil, and freeze for at least 8-12 hours.

Take from the freezer about 15 minutes before serving. Cut slices and serve when it is slightly soft but still frozen.

Thai Style Ginger Carrot--Replica of a Missing Hit

There used to be a wonderful dish called Thai Style Ginger Carrot, which I bought regularly at the frozen food section of my Trader Joe's store. It was a simple dish of shredded carrot--orange and yellow, shredded ginger, and some slivered almonds. It was not spicy at all, despite ginger, but wonderfully crunchy and savory and tasted not the least like a ready made frozen food. It was a very popular dish also for my kids, who do not like carrots in any other incarnation. So, on my weekly trip to TJ's, I was always buying a few bags of ginger carrot and served it as often, as they asked for it.

Unfortunately, as many good products, one day it has disappear forever. I have learned that it has been discontinued due to insufficient client interest. Strange, as often times my local store was not able to keep up with the demand. But perhaps DC area consumers are different and most elsewhere this product was not popular enough to be sold nation-wide.

When the other day my son asked about ginger carrot, I decided to recreate it myself. I bought a bag of shredded carrot, and a big piece of ginger. The rest was just improvisation.

There were obvious ingredients that you could taste and see--carrot, ginger and almonds, but the sauce in which they were fried was not so evident. It was not very greasy but tasty in a way that made the whole difference. I made the base sauce form oil and soy sauce, but it was not rich enough, as it was in TJ's ginger carrot. Since the dish was coming or was inspired by Thai cuisine I added a little bit of peanut butter to the sauce--thinking about the taste of a typical pad Thai. That made the whole difference. The sauce became thicker and very similar to what we remembered. Here is how I made it.

Thai Style Ginger Carrot
(Serves four as accompaniment)

Ingredients:
4 cups (10 oz) shredded carrot,
2 tbsp ground ginger,
1 tbsp olive oil,
1 tbsp peanut butter,
1/3 cup slivered roasted almonds,
2 tbsp light soy sauce,
1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley.

Preparation:
1. Heat oil on a large roasting pan, and when hot, add ginger and fry for about one minute.
2. In a separate bowl, mix peanut butter and soy sauce into a homogeneous sauce, and add it to ginger.
2. Throw carrot and almonds into the pan and coat with the sauce.
3. Fry for about about 3-4 minutes--carrot should be al dente and crispy.
4. Take off from the heat, add chopped parsley, and serve.

Pineapple Roasted in Rum--Cuban Style

I tried a fresh pineapple for the first time many years ago when not much food was on the shelves of Polish food stores. My neighborhood vegetable store with his obnoxious manager was selling them together with all the other typical vegetables that were so dirty that you hardly could see their color.

Those pineapples were coming from Cuba, as did some other strange products that one could find in Polish foodstores even during the worst economic crisis--Cuban cigars, Havana Club Rum, stuffed baby crocodiles, and oranges that looked like grapefruits. But these pineapples were really wonderful. I think that arrogant man must have been a KGB agent to get them for his little smelly shop.

At that time all I knew what to do with those pineapples was to peel them and eat straight. They were my exotic luxury.

Recently, I noticed that it must be a pineapple season somewhere in the world. They are on display in all DC food stores, and on sale for 3-4 dollars a piece. I succumbed to their charm and bought three pineapples in the past two weeks. I let them ripen for a while while and decorate my kitchen. From the first one I made a salad. From the second one I made an upside down pineapple cake. The cake was good, although I am not sure if the pineapple in a cake was an idea that I would ever cherish again. I like them on their own, in particular when they are very mellow and honey sweet.

Following my appetite, I baked yesterday the third pineapple with spices and rum (not the Cuban though). Fruit desserts are already light and zesty, but the day was unusually hot so I added a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. It did the job but, in my opinion, the pineapple tasted more delicate and all the spices where more detectable when it was served alone, just in the sauce it was baked.

Pineapple Roasted in Rum and Spices
(Serves four)

Ingredients:
1 whole pineapple (cut in 8 slices);
3 tbsp honey,
4 tbsp orange juice from fresh orange,
2 tbsp butter,
2 tbsp dark rum,
3 anise star fruits,
1/2 vanilla pod,
1 cinnamon stick.

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 400F (200C),
2. Put butter, honey, orange juice, and spices in a small pot and heat just until the butter melts. Take off from the heat and add rum.

3. Cut bottom and top of pineapple and later going from the top to bottom cut off the skin removing all the hard parts.
4. Cut pineapple in half-inch slices and remove the hard core from the center of each slice.
5. Place the pineapple slices on a roasting pan and the rum sauce with spices on them.

6. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the slices are slightly brown.

Serve warm plain with sauce.

or with vanilla ice cream.

Bread Dumplings--Bread Recycling

I cannot speak for others, but in my culture bread has always been a symbol of hospitality and kindness, and throwing it away is considered a sin. Therefore I always feel very uncomfortable when a perfectly good bread becomes stale and there is not much to do with it. I collect all bread remains in a paper bag and use them for breadcrumbs (so useful for lining the baking tins) or use it for different dishes in which soaked white bread is needed.

But as I already said many times we are bread lovers, so I often have good breads at home. Many of them, especially an Italian ciabatta or a French baguette, or the one I make myself, become dry very quickly. Last month, I found a huge bag of stale bread in my pantry and it came to me that it could be used to make dumplings. I dug out the recipe to make it again and also did a little more research on that subject.

Surprisingly, my research yielded a lot of interesting recipes. For example. I learned that stale sweet bread can be turned into attractive desserts, very popular in France and England. Unfortunately, I almost never buy sweet bread or even a typical American toast bread. My recipe for today works with any European style bread, that has no sugar, or virtually no sugar in it. It is particularly worth trying if you happen to collect more stale bread than you know how to use.

Those dumplings can be served as a dish in itself or be done without mushrooms and served as meat accompaniment. Those who like hearty meals can add also fried bacon to the dough or put some fried bacon on top with instead or in addition to the mushrooms. If you are curious of that dish but do not have stale bread you can use breadcrumbs, although they have usually a little bit of sweetness that can be detected in those dumplings.

My favorite version was the vegetarian one, served with melted butter or shredded Parmesan, and accompanied by crispy cabbage or lettuce salad.

Stale Bread Dumplings
(Serves four)

Ingredients:
2 and 1/3 cup breadcrumbs (11 oz),
1/2 cup shredded cheddar,
8 oz white cup mushrooms,
2 eggs,
1/2 onion, thinly chopped,
1/2 cup table cream,
salt and pepper,
2 tbsp olive oil.

Preparation:
1. Wash mushrooms and grate them on a grater with large holes.
2. In a frying pan heat the oil, add onion, and fry it on a medium heat until transparent.
3. Add mushrooms, salt and pepper, and continue to fry for 5-8 minutes, until water evaporates and mushrooms become lightly gold. Take the pan from the heat and let it cool down.
4. Put the pieces of dry bread in a food processor and pulse them several times, until they make breadcrumbs.
5. Place the breadcrumbs in a large bowl and add mushrooms with onion, cream, cheese, and egg yolks.

6. Beat egg whites into a stiff foam and add to the dough. Using hands mix all the ingredients until they form a homogenous dough.
7. Form dumplings about one-inch wide and two-inch long. Place them on a board sprinkled lightly with flour.

8. In a large pot boil water with a tbsp of salt. Throw in dumplings and cook them for about 3 minutes from the moment they rise to the surface. Drain them on a colander.

Serve with melted butter or shredded Parmesan.

and with fresh salad.