Week of March 8

In true New England fashion, winter skulks out (throwing a sucker punch on occasion) and spring limps in. Almost 60 degrees today, but tomorrow we're expecting a high of 34 and 5 inches of snow. It makes the sun feel that much more precious, does it not?

Writing up a menu plan for a chilly week while you're sitting in the sun in a t-shirt can be challenging. I just thought about cozy, warming foods and went from there.

Menu for the Week
Sunday
Lasagna
Green salad with pickled shallots and pomelo

Monday
East African groundnut soup (this one's been in my reader for a while - time to try it)
Pickled carrot salad

Tuesday
Jacket potatoes (so much more fun than baked potatoes, which is what they are)
Roasted cauliflower with garlic, anchovy and parsley
Green salad

Wednesday
Red beans and rice (I got a locally raised and smoked ham bone to try in this)

Thursday
Roasted broccoli and shrimp (from the Amanda Hesser's NY Times recipe - too many positive endorsements to ignore!)

Friday
Pizza (was so good last week, figured we'd do it again)

Drink of the Week: Pisco Sour

Beppo and I were introduced to the Pisco Sour by the engaging and knowledgeable bartending staff at Eastern Standard. In this drink, we were introduced to two new things: pisco, a Peruvian brandy (essential ingredient in a pisco sour) and drinks with eggs in them.

Let's get the egg issue out of the way: Most of us have probably had egg drinks and not known it. Any drink with a light froth on the top was (hopefully) made with an egg or egg white or a bar mix containing powdered egg whites or the appallingly named mixer-additive called "Foamy Head" (yum).

Anyhoo, for anyone out there who's squeamish about the idea of a raw egg in your cocktail: get over it I say. The egg white in this drink provides a creaminess that you can't get any other way. Think of it as a meringue float on the top of your cocktail - plus, it's additional protein to fortify you for the night ahead. If you're making your drink at home, this is yet another great motivator to get you to buy local fresh eggs.

Pisco Sour
In an iced cocktail shaker, vigorously shake together:

• 1 1/2 ounces pisco
• 1 ounce simple syrup
• 3/4 ounce lemon juice
• 1 egg white (this will be enough if you're going to make two drinks at once)

Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and dot with several dashes of Angostura bitters. (for a totally awesome looking flamed Angostura option, look on Jeffrey Morganthaler's website).

May 13 - Edited to add my How2Heroes video on making a Pisco Sour!

Beets with Garlic Sauce

One more dish from the WBUR Meet Up. I love beets and this is a great way to serve them. Even better, everything can be made ahead as this is a dish that benefits from being served at room temperature.

The garlic sauce is a Greek dish called "skordalia" (Prounounced: "score-tha-LEE-ya"). There are several versions of skordalia. At its root, skordalia is a sauce that is heavily seasoned with raw garlic. You'll see recipes that call for potatoes, bread, nuts and/or eggs as the thickener. Traditionally this sauce is made in a mortar and pounded by hand, but most modern cooks will use a blender, food processer or mixer (stand or handheld).

My version of skordalia ia adapted from The Greek Vegetarian by Diane Kochilas. I strongly recommend this book to anyone who wants to cook Greek vegetarian meals. There's more to Greek cooking than gyros and spinach pie!

To cook my beets, I use a non-traditional technique (at least it's not one I see elsewhere very often). I cut the root end and leaf end off the raw beets. Using a vegetable peeler, I peel the raw beets. Then I cut them into slices, wedges or whatever other shape I want. (The beets will be very hard, so be sure to use a sharp knife and be careful not to hurt yourself.) I lay the beets in a single layer in a baking dish and add about a 1/4 cup of water. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake in a 375-degree oven until the beets are tender (about 30-45 minutes depending the age and cut of the beets).

Beets with Skordalia
Serves 4-6 (more if being used as part of an appetizer spread)

• 1-2 bunches of beets (enough for about 1-2 beets per person, depending on the size of the beet)
• 12 ounces of potatoes (russets or yukon golds), about 2 large russets
• 4 -6 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed in a garlic press
  
• 1/2 cup of toasted walnuts or hazelnuts, chopped fine
  
• juice of 1 lemon
• approximately 1/2 cup olive oil
• approximately 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste
  

Cook the beets according the method above or another method of your choosing. The beets should be cut into wedges or 1/2" slices. Season with salt and pepper and a sprinkle of red wine vinegar.

Make the skordalia: Peel the potatoes and cut into chunks. Put in a pot of salted water and bring to a simmer. Cook until tender and then drain.

Put the potatoes into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachement (or use a large bowl and a hand mixer). Add the garlic, nuts, and lemon juice. With the paddle, mash the potatoes together with these ingredients. With the mixer running on low, blend in half the oil and half the vinegar. Stop the mixer and taste. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Turn the mixer back on and blend in more oil until the mixture is slightly fluffy and airy (lighter than mashed potatoes). Turn off the mixer and taste again. Add in more salt or vinegar if needed: you want a blend of salty, sour and garlicky.

Serve the beets on a bed of skordalia, or with it on the side. If desired, garnish with more chopped nuts or chopped parsley or dill.

If you have any leftovers, make a quick "hash". Chop up the beets and mix them together with leftover skordalia. Put the mixture in a non-stick skillet with a wee bit of olive oil over medium-high heat. Saute on both sides until crispy. Serve with a fried egg (I also made a quick "sauce" of parsley, more garlic and red wine vinegar to spoon over the top).

Ugly but Good

Can we agree that sometimes really ugly food tastes pretty good? This lentil salad is a perfect entry into that category (in fact I just made a tag for it - ugly food deserves respect). It's another one of the dishes I made for the WBUR meet up. Clearly, even I wasn't enamored of its looks - this is the only picture I took of it.

Lentils are a great budget-conscious food. But they can also be jazzed up with some pretty elegant ingredients. In addition to lentils (just regular green ones from the supermarket), this salad contains roasted kohlrabi pieces, caramelized onions, parsley and feta cheese. It's seasoned with a toasted cumin and red wine vinaigrette.

Treat this recipe as more of a guideline. Hold back some lentils when you're mixing everything together - add more in as you: you want a nice blend of lentils and vegetables. You'll know when it looks right. Keep checking your seasoning: shoot for a nice contrast between salty and sour. If you're adding feta, keep that in mind and don't oversalt before you add it to the salad. To make this a full meal, add a hard boiled egg to each serving and serve the salad over or alongside a green salad with some pita bread or foccacia.

Lentil Salad with Kohlrabi and Caramelized Onions
Serves about 8

• 1 pound lentils (pick through them for stones and give them a good rinse before cooking them)
  
• 2 large onions, peeled and cut into thin slices
• 2-4 cups of "roastable" vegetables, cut in chunks (I used kohlrabi, but you could broccoli or butternut squash or peppers or mushrooms or what have you - left over cooked vegetables would be great in this)
• 1/2 - 1 cup chopped parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 pound feta (or goat cheese or farmer cheese)
• red wine vinegar
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

Cook the lentils: In a large saucepan (the lentils will nearly double in volume) place the lentils are cover them with 2" of water. Add a generous pinch of salt. Bring to a simmer and cook until the lentils are tender. Depending on how old the lentils are, it will take between 30-45 minutes for them to cook. When they are cooked, drain them and set them aside.

Make the rest of the vegetables: Saute the sliced onions over medium heat until dark brown (not burned) and caramelized. Roast the chopped vegetables in a 400-degree oven until they are cooked through to your taste.

Put the onions and roasted vegetables in a large bowl with the parsley and cumin. Add half of the lentils and stir gently to combine. Add more lentils until you get the proportions you want. Drizzle the salad with vinegar and oil (about equal amounts of each). Sprinkle with salt and a good amount of freshly ground pepper. Add the feta and stir to combine. Taste and adjust for acid and salt as needed.

This is good right away, but also holds really well so you can make a day or so in advance. It tastes best at room temperature.

Ouzo-Cured Salmon

Ouzo-haters, don't turn away!

I made this salmon, recipe originally found here at Kalofagas, for a Meet Up (Eat Up!) at WBUR in conjunction with their Public Radio Kitchen project. The Public Radio Kitchen provides a great aggregation of Boston-area food and restaurant blogs. The Eat Up was the first opportunity (for large a number us) to meet in person. I offered to bring along a large spread of food for the attendees. A few other folks brought treats as well, and in occurrence similar to the miracle of the loaves and fishes, we all got plenty to eat! Some pictures from the event are here.

Here's the full menu of what I provided for the event:

• Ouzo-Cured Salmon with Carrot Tzatziki
  
• Lentil Salad with Roasted Kohlrabi and Caramelized Onions
• Roasted Beets with Skordalia (Potato-Garlic Sauce)
• Butternut Squash Baklava (savory, not sweet)
• Rosemary Foccacia
• Citrus Salad with Pickled Shallots, Kalamata Olives and Arugula (Sunday's cover shot)

I thought I'd share some of the recipes with you, starting with the salmon. The hardest parts of this dish are finding really high quality salmon (let your fish guy or gal know that you'll be curing it and that you need great quality product) and slicing it thinly enough (sharpen that knife!) when you're ready to serve it. This recipe can scale (no pun intended) up or down, depending on the size of the fillet you're using. The ouzo flavor isn't prominent, it just provides a nice herbal note to the salmon.

Ouzo-Cured Salmon
For appetizer servings, plan on 2 or 3 ounces of salmon per person.

• Salmon

For every pound of salmon you use:

• 3 tablespoons ouzo (or vodka - if using vodka and you still want an anise flavor, add 1 tablespoon aniseseed to the cure mixture)
• 2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons coarse-ground black pepper
• zest of one orange
• zest of one lemon
• 1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper flakes
  

Put the salmon, skin-size down, on a large sheet of plastic wrap in a container large enough hold the salmon in one flat layer (The salmon will exude more liquid - make sure the dish you're using has sides high enough to contain any drips: rimmed baking sheet, roasting pan, large Tupperware container, etc.).

Drizzle the salmon with the ouzo. Mix together the remaining ingredients and rub on the flesh. Wrap the plastic around the fillet tightly, trying to keep the liquid inside the plastic. Cover the fish with a cookie sheet, plate or some other flat item (you want to weight the fillet down, so make sure it's entirely covered. Weight down the sheet with a heavy item (a can, bag of flour, cast iron skillet, etc.) . Place the salmon in the refrigerator for one to three days (the flavor gets stronger the longer it cures).

Unwrap the salmon and pat it dry. Using a very sharp knife, slice very thin slices across the fillet. Garnish with citrus (I used kumquats and some dill fronds). Serve with carrot tzatziki.

Carrot Tzatziki

This is a play on the more traditional cucumber tzatziki. To make a cucumber version, substitute 1 cup of shredded, drained cucumber (about half an English cucumber - the one that's wrapped in plastic in the supermarket). This recipe is adapted from The Greek Vegetarian by Diane Kochilas.

• 2 cups thick Greek-style yogurt (Fage is a good brand. Trader Joe's sells one too)
• 2 medium carrots, shredded
• 1-2 cloves of garlic, pressed or minced
• 1/4 cup chopped dill
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• salt and pepper to taste
  

Mix all the ingredients together. Adjust salt to taste. If you need more tartness, add a little more lemon. As the tzatziki sits, the garlic flavor will become more pronounced. For best results, make this the day you intend to serve it.