Al Dente

Rice Pasta Couscous (And Don't Forget Frogs)

After living in Barcelona for 12 years, Jeff Koehler is technically considered a resident. Luckily for us, the American food writer and photographer has retained the curious eye of the outsider, roaming his adopted home for recipes and stories.

We talked on the phone about his new book, Rice Pasta Couscous, a cross-cultural journey around the Mediterranean to see the similarities and differences of how people view these staples of family meals. Oh, and along the way, he shared the secrets for making perfect couscous without any special equipment. Here are some highlights from our talk: 

On how he wound up living in Barcelona: Her name was Eva. "We were in London. I was studying drama, and she was studying organic chemistry. We shared a kitchen...When she went back to Barcelona to do a PhD, I followed her." And that meant an introduction to her mother's weekly family gatherings over paella. "Everything goes through the paella. I met the family over the paella, and eventually we said we were going to get married over the paella. I saw this simple staple become this anchor of the whole family."

On how the book was born: Through those same weekly dinners, seen through other eyes. "My friends in Morocco, it's the same for them on Friday, after the mosque, to go to the mother's house for couscous...In Algeria, one of the guys told me, you can make other dishes, but couscous is obligatory, from birth to death, couscous is at every important milestone. My friends in Naples, the mother told me a meal isn't a meal without pasta." It became clear there was a story in the similarities and differences between these traditions.

On keeping it real: It's possible to find recipes in the book simple enough for a quick dinner, say, orzo with brown butter and cheese. But one of Koehler's chief goals was authenticity, "traveling around the nooks and crannies," and replicating what he found in kitchens from Lebanon to Catalonia. That means many more labor-intensive recipes, and some with unlikely ingredients, such as the traditional frog and eel stew he found in Croatia. ("How many frogs do you add?" I asked, taking notes on the recipe. "As many as you can catch.") 

He knows many people won't be able to cook the more unusual recipes, but some will.

"I definitely didn't want to avoid stuffed pigeon with liver, it's one of the great Egyptian dishes...Some people, they can find it. There are a couple people out there who will be very happy to do it." Even with pastas, he does include well-loved standards, but "there are so many great pasta traditions that have nothing to do with the classic Italian style of boiling and saucing."

On what "the Mediterannean" really is: A lot bigger than most people realize, and more than Tuscany and Provence. "Tunisia is 87 miles from southern Italy...You can have, in Tunisia, cuttlefish or squid sauteed with garlic, the same as in Italy, but with cumin, a completely different taste."

On researching: "You can say to somebody, I really want to talk about rice. They say, I don't know the history of rice. I don't want (to know) that. I want to know, how do you use it in your life? How does your mother make it? Then you get a four-hour answer."

On his next project, Country Cooking of Spain: A highlight will be how no food that can be used or preserved is thrown away. He'll include vinegars and oils and preserved savory foods and more. "There's a big chapter on innards and extremities."

On what to do if you don't own a couscoussiere: Don't worry about it. Real diehards will say it's the only way to make couscous, and there are recipes where "the couscous is being steamed in the vapor of the stew, and  so it does take, to an extent, some of the flavor"--but, Koehler said, using it all the time "for me is not reality, even though I have one and can get the real stuff and we make it." 

Using the boxed instant stuff is fine, he said, so long as you ignore the directions. Instead, he does it this way: Dissolve a teaspoon of salt in 2.5 cups warm (not boiling) water. Pour 1 lb couscous into a very wide, shallow dish and dribble the salty water over it. Mix with a fork. Let it sit for 10 minutes to absorb the water. Drizzle in 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil. Toss with both hands, lifting the grains and letting them fall through your fingers. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, transfer the couscous to an ovenproof baking dish, and bake, turning the grains from time to time, until steamy warm, 10 to 15 minutes. If you like, add a tablespoon of butter or smen (clarified and preserved butter). Fluff with a fork.

-- Rebekah Denn

Epicurious.com Embraces the New and Safeguards the Old

When  I worked at Gourmet magazine more than 15 years ago, I sat in the library and marveled at the librarians when Thanksgiving rolled around. A couple weeks before the big day, the phones would start ringing off the hook. Frantic cooks were gearing up and needed to locate a long lost favorite recipe that had been misplaced or lost.  The librarians were often told that the stakes were high because family dynamics depended on exactly THAT recipe.

Back then there were no recipe databases. Computers were just emerging, so the method for locating the long lost favorites was tedious. Each librarian had to cradle the phone and simultaneously thumb through fifty years of indices trying to find exactly the right recipe being requested. Indeed, this sometimes took days because the readers were often very precise--they didn't just want any recipe for oyster stuffing they wanted the recipe for oyster stuffing that appeared more than thirty years ago. Once the precise recipe was located, the librarian would have to Xerox it and send it via snail mail. Or, if time was short, she’d have to fax it or read it out loud while the loyal reader painstakingly transcribed it by hand!

Clearly, those days are gone now. Thankfully, many of those tried and trues are being safeguarded online thanks to Epicurious.com. When I woke up early this morning, I realized I’d better check up on my online recipe box where I store some of my favorite Gourmet recipes. I hadn’t accessed it for some time, but I knew I'd be needing it soon.  All seemed okay when I surveyed my online collection, but I decided to check in with Tanya Wenman Steel  via email.  Wenman Steel is the Editor-in-Chief of Epicurious.com and is also the author of Real Food For Healthy Kids. 

She replied promptly via email this morning and assured me that all was in order, writing, ”We will continue to house all of the Gourmet recipes and have recently added to the 140,000 strong database with recipes from the best of Random House’s cookbooks. Jacques Pepin, Lidia Bastianich, and Julia Child are some of the cookbook authors that have been added as a result of this new partnership.”   She also noted that their epi iphone application is about to hit one million downloads and that the shopping list feature is proving to be very popular. 

This all made me smile, because years ago the Gourmet librarians and I never could have imagined anything so deliciously efficient or historically valuable!

--Melissa A. Trainer

My Mother's Vegetable Soup

I am sitting here with my mother's hand-written recipe card for vegetable soup. It is yellowed and stained. My mother died of breast cancer when I was 19, but when I cook her recipes, she comes back to me.

Men may still edge out women in big professional kitchens around the world, but go into any home kitchen, and there you will find women, mothers and daughters, grandmothers, aunts and sisters.

Look into a kitchen before any holiday meal, and there they will be--chopping, mixing, stirring, laughing. And if you look really hard, you'll also see the ghosts of great grandmothers and long-passed aunts, dancing to the rhythm of the kitchen.

My Mother's Vegetable Soup

Bring meat and bones to a boil, covered.

Add diced:
1 onion
3 carrots
2 celery
2 parsnips
1 can tomatoes
1/2 cup beans
1/4 cup barley
1 tablespoon salt
5 peppercorns

Tracy's notes: I bring 1-2 pounds of short ribs and about a pound of marrow bones to a boil in a large pot filled with 12-14 cups of water. Once the pot has come to a boil, I lower the heat to a simmer and cook the meat and bones for 1-1/2 hours, covered. I'll uncover the pot every so often to skim the foam off the top. Then I'll add the other ingredients and let the soup cook for another 2 hours or so.

Parsnips are sweet and I often leave them out. I use cannellini beans that have soaked in water the night before. I love barley, so I usually use 1/2 cup. If I can get fresh cherry tomatoes, I use them, 12-16 ounces, cut in half, instead of the canned tomatoes. I add them the last half hour. Then I season the soup to my own taste, adding salt and pepper as necessary.

I cool the soup and leave in the refrigerator overnight. This step is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY! In the morning I skim the fat off the soup. Marrow bones produce a huge amount of fat. If I want to eat the soup the same day I cook it, I omit the marrow bones.

I like to serve the soup as a first course, and the short ribs as a second course. Or I'll serve one short rib in each bowl of soup. I serve the marrow bones with fresh rye bread. I'll spread the marrow of one bone over the rye bread, sprinkle with salt, and I'm in heaven.

Serves 4-6

--Tracy Schneider

Pucker up! It's National Pickle Day

Sweet, dilled, bread-and-butter, half-sour or wicked hot (like those Tabasco pickles), it doesn't matter how they're seasoned, I flat-out love pickles. The crunchy-tart-cured cukes are the not-so-secret ingredient in my favorite potato salad. They take sandwiches and burgers to exciting new places. I don't know about you, but I won't even bother with a tuna sammie if I can't pair it with a pickle.

Lately, I've been working on perfecting a different kind of pickle. Pickled peppers. I was inspired by Molly Wizenberg's pickled pepper recipe in a recent issue of Bon Appetit. It's so simple. The biggest challenge is finding the colorful sweet, hot peppers now that the growing season has passed. But I bet that recipe would work even with jalapenos.

Those peppers have been featured on the menu at Delancey, the restaurant Wizenberg's husband, Brandon Pettit opened this summer in Seattle. I've been making pizza at home just so I have an excuse to break out the spicy pickled peppers. Which are also great on tuna sandwiches and salads and, heck, straight out of the jar.

One minor adjustment I made to the original recipe was to swap out the chopped shallots for a generous helping of pearl onions. Because I have equal amounts of mad love for peppers and onions. Man, my mouth is watering just thinking about that quickly disappearing jar of pucker powered pickled peppers.

I'm planning on toasting to National Pickle Day by breaking into the green beans I pickled in August. Going to dunk one into a fiery Bloody Mary and drink to the age-old tradition of pickling. Long may we brine!

--Leslie Kelly

Happier Holidays With My Slow Cooker

I’m starting to gear up for the holidays at my house.  At this time of year, I stock up on cooking and baking staples and double check that my favorite cooking gear is in order and at the ready.  I have my usual tried and true holiday recipes that I’ll be making, but I’m seriously exploring how I can use my slow cooker more efficiently over the next few weeks.  It seems like such a sensible solution during the busiest time of year.

We had a birthday in the family recently, and I decided to make our celebration a little more festive by serving mulled apple cider.  Of course, the vessel for the job was my slow cooker.  I put the cider and the mulling spices in the slow cooker and turned it on to high around 2 pm. By the time we arrived home again at 5 pm, the cider was warm, aromatic, and ready to be ladled into mugs.

I had never done this before, but it worked out beautifully and everyone enjoyed a nice warm cup of all natural cider after a cold afternoon of walking and skateboarding at the park.  The kids had been pining for sodas, but no one grumbled when they discovered mulled cider was the beverage at hand.

This simple solution tweaked my curiosity and now has me wondering what else I can make in order to simplify my holiday preparations. Maybe I could cook my mashed potatoes and keep them in there on warm. Maybe I could make a warm crab dip and serve it right from the crock. Or, maybe I could do a mulled wine for the adults…

One good resource I’ve discovered is The Taste of Home Slow Cooker Classics Cookbook.  Boasting more than 300 pages, the book features recipes for appetizers, beverages, soups, sandwiches, side dishes, and meats.  All of the recipes have been carefully tested by the Taste of Home editors and originally hailed from busy home cooks!   Do you use your slow cooker over the holidays? If so, I'd love to hear about it...

--Melissa A. Trainer

Southern Foodways Symposium 2009: A Weekend of Food and Music (and More Food)

I think the reason it's taken me over two weeks to write about this year's Southern Foodways Symposium in Oxford, Mississippi, is because I'm still stuffed from three days of power eating: pork every which way imaginable, biscuits, fried chicken, and even Momofuku Milk Bar cookies and Crack Pie (TM). Hosted by the University of Mississippi's Center for the Study of Southern Culture, this year's symposium explored the cultural and culinary crossroads of Music and Food, and brought together a sold-out crowd of 300-plus like-minded chefs, food writers, academics, restaurateurs, and serious eaters. This was only my second year attending SFA, but I fell hard for Oxford. Its literary and culinary charms alone make it a town where the birthplace of William Faulkner and the local late-night guilty pleasure called chicken on a stick (sold at the Chevron station) are held with equal respect.

Fellow Al Dente contributor Leslie Kelly chronicled her time in Oxford in a previous post. Here are some of my favorite moments (and meals) from my time in Oxford.

• The Bottletree Bakery (whose sweets have been celebrated by Ms. Oprah Winfrey) was the setting for Thursday's supper, dubbed "Pig in a Bottle(tree)" with former Oxford chef Dan Latham, who studied all-things salumi with Mario Batali and is now with Jim 'N Nick's Bar-B-Q, taking center stage. After flying cross-country all day and driving down from Memphis (with a quick stop for rib-tips at Neely's Interstate Barbecue) I had only an hour to spare before I was sitting down to a family-style dinner. Highlights included a passed plate of chicken liver toast along with thick slabs of smoked fresh ham and hunks of sharp cheese. An ethereal bowl of rigatoni with ricotta, onions, late-summer squash, and jalapeño peppers made the rounds along with local grits with smoked ham and kale with local field beans. Porchetta sandwiches with jalapeño pesto sealed the deal.

• One of my favorite memories of last year's visit to Oxford was multiple breakfasts at John Currence's Big Bad Breakfast. Esquire knew what they were talking about when they selected BBB as one of the top 50 breakfast spots in America. The menu celebrates Oxford's literary heritage with tips of the plate to Larry Brown (Big Bad Breakfast Plate), Donna Tartt (The Secret History), John Grisham (Pel-"Egg"-Can Brief), and Jonathan Miles (Dear American Airlines). Sadly, this year's trip permitted only one visit but I made the most of it, ordering The Cathead (a breakfast biscuit as big as a cat's head with an over-medium egg, cheese, and country ham) with a side of cheese grits and even more pork with a side of Currence's bacon. He rubs his pork bellies with a Tabasco mash from Louisiana's Avery Island creating a smoky and spicy bacon that's not to be missed. Currence's City Grocery and his new joint, Snackbar, also served as end-of-the-night gathering spots.

• One of the first presentations on Friday, "From the Field to Your Ear," by Ralph Ellison scholar Robert O'Meally, the Zora Neale Hurston Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, effortlessly wove together James Brown's "Make It Funky," Bessie Smith's "Gimmee a Pigfoot (And a Bottle of Beer)," and the "I yam what I yam" section of Ellison's Invsible Man.

• Walking the few blocks from Oxford's Lyric Theater to the Powerhouse in a Biblical downpour. Even with an umbrella (not very Seattle of me, I know) I was soaked to my boxer shorts, but Susan Spicer's Tabasco Lunch helped get my pilot light burning once again. Conceived as a tribute to renowned New Orleans chef Buster Holmes (1905-1994), lunch featured Buster's red beans and rice with hot sausage, a mirliton slaw, and a fried chicken thigh. Sweets included strawberry chocolates spiked with Tabasco (which I wolfed down prior to the meal) and a slice of pecan pound cake with peach compote and a generous scoop of whipped cream.

• South Carolina musician Marshall Chapman, author of the memoir, Goodbye, Little Rock and Roller, was a crowd favorite as she bookended her "On the Road" talk with a playful acoustic set. She rattled off memories of meals eaten throughout her travels with her bandmates and her decision to only tour cities with the best opportunity for decent food: Texas, Louisiana, the Southern coastal cities, and New York City. After the applause died down, SFA director John T. Edge added, "One of the best parts of my job is asking an open-ended question of an intellectually curious individual."

• During the National Peanut Board book signing (picture Black Friday with cocktails as people were elbow to elbow with stacks of cookbooks for holiday gift-giving), I got to meet David Chang. I've exchanged e-mail with Dave a few times and had recently interviewed him, but it was a double-thrill that he was chatting with Allan Benton when I ran into him. I tried not to geek out too much, but it was like bumping into Superman and The Incredible Hulk. Benton, of Tennessee's Benton's Smoky Mountain Country Hams, immediately asked me to drop the "mister" when addressing him and then went on to praise Dave. "I wouldn't be anything without these chefs putting my product on their menus." (You can read Dave's recap of his time in Oxford on his GQ blog.) At some point in that evening I had a cocktail incorporating boiled peanuts. I think it involved boiled peanut "milk," whiskey, amaretto, and toasted marshmallow syrup. Put that in a punch bowl and you've got yourself a holiday party.

• An SFA tradition is loading up on several double-decker buses for the tree-branch-scraping Mr. Toad's Wild Ride to Taylor, Mississippi, home of the must-visit Taylor Grocery.It was pouring out and muddy--the wellies and Barbour jackets were out in full force--but Lynn Hewlett and his crew put out an unforgettable fried catfish feast. I spent too much time hanging out on the front porch eating hush puppies and talking barbecue, bourbon, and bitters with Hill Country's Elizabeth Karmel and missed the Sweet Potato brew that Durham's Fullsteam Brewery team had brought down with them. But I did get a sample of their Sparkling Scuppernong Ale.

• Do yourself a favor and watch the documentary Smokes & Ears, about Jackson, Mississippi's Big Apple Inn, home of two historic sandwiches: the pig ear and smoked sausage ("smokes").

• Another musical highlight was the Saturday morning invocation. Legendary Otis Clay and His Band made an early morning (very early, by musicians' standards) appearance and played a full-force, hour-plus set of shake-the-roof soul. Born in Waxhaw, Mississippi, Clay ("Chicago's deep soul king") had rolled in from the Windy City overnight, catching a few winks at a roadside reststop before our Saturday morning wake-up call. Looking around at the crowd he said, concerned: "This is a food symposium. But where's the food? I don't see any of you with any plates." John T. quickly appeared on stage carrying six sack breakfasts (filled with amazing cornmeal donuts and livermush sandwiches) for Otis and the band. Clay gave them the once over: "Those bags aren't greasy. I like my bags greasy."

• Saturday's lunch was cooked by Virginia native David Chang, who brought a little bit of Momofuku to Oxford (along with his insanely talented pastry chef Christina Tosi) with a killer "Rock and Pork" lunch that featured a baby lettuce salad with Benton's ham and a coffee vinaigrette, Bo Ssäm (slow-roasted pork shoulder with kimchi and bibb lettuce) and kimchi Brussels sprouts with peanuts. Slices of Crack Pie (TM) (think an intense pecan pie without the pecans) and a buffet of assorted Milk Bar cookies had us bouncing back for afternoon sessions with a wicked sugar buzz. Later that day, Roy Blount, Jr. took the podium, paused, looked around, and said: "I've got a piece of that pork from David Chang in my teeth. The thing is, I don't want to let it go.I want it to stick around with me all the way home."

• Finally, I know water is water is water, but I'm completely smitten with Arkansas' Mountain Valley Spring Water. Those bottles have such a retro charm. They're not available in Seattle but you can buy them online. I'm trying to talk myself out of ordering a case or two.

--BTP

My Alaskan Adventures with The Winterlake Lodge Cookbook

About four years ago at this time of year, my husband and I moved from Seattle to Anchorage, Alaska. Indeed, I landed in America's Last Frontier at the coldest darkest time of year. Of course our kids embraced the novelty of sledding, ice skating, and cross country skiing, but there were many bitterly cold nights when I retreated to the fireplace with a good cookbook and a hot toddy in hand.

One of my favorite books purchased shortly after I moved there was The Winterlake Lodge Cookbook by Kirsten Dixon. Dixon and her husband, Carl, have built Winterlake Lodge from the ground up. Located in a remote area, this Alaskan wilderness lodge has no road access and is an official checkpoint on the historic Iditarod Trail. The Dixons purchased the land from a homesteader in 1993 and have lived there since 1994.

I was particularly fascinated by Dixon's stories of life in the Alaskan Bush and with her recipes. Everything about Alaska was new to me then, and I was anxious to learn more. The photographs throughout the book were taken by Fred Hirschmann and are simply spectacular. They capture much of the inspiring beauty that can be found there--the luminiscent skies, the perfect untouched snow, the wildlife, and glacial peaks.  

The book is organized by season, and Dixon artfully demonstrates how she manages to cook for her adventurous guests yearround, using everything from local halibut and salmon to wild blueberries and reindeer.  She peppers the book with anecdotal stories about homeschooling her two daughters and living life among some beautiful bears. Without a doubt, Dixon's book inspired me to get out and see Alaska first hand and to cook with the local fare, such as halibut, salmon, moose, and rhubarb.

I've made many of Dixon's recipes and one of my favorites is her recipe for Blueberry Bars. If you are hunting for a good book on Alaskan cooking, this is the one. I know, because I cooked from it when I lived in Anchorage and I continue to do so now that I am back in the Emerald City.

Checkout their official website where you can see the photos of Lodge and read about their Winter Wilderness Adventures.

Photo by Fred Hirschmann and sent courtesy of  Carl Dixon of Within The Wild.

--Melissa A. Trainer

Friday Links for Food Lovers, Thanksgiving Dessert Edition

It's Friday again! Here are a few desserts that we think will make your Thanksgiving super sweet:

• Try a Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake for a sweet twist on the standard Thanksgiving pie. (Canela and Comino)
• How do you make apple muffins better? Add sour cream. (Blue Jean Gourmet)
• A combination of two of my favorite things--whiskey and pecan pie. (Ezra Pound Cake)
• What's worse--tofurkey or Jones Tofurkey & Gravy Soda? (Jones Soda)
• Dutch apple pie is like the Chicago-style pizza of apple pie. (Steadfast Cooking)
• Everything tastes better with chocolate chips--even pumpkin bread. (The Naptime Chef)
• Add a new depth of flavor to your sweet potato pie by smoking the potatoes. (Patio Daddio BBQ)

Photo courtesy of Patio Daddio BBQ

--Spanno

The Rare Hyakume--the Sweetest Persimmon of Them All!

I spotted persimmons today in the grocery store, and I was happy to see both the fat round Fuyu and the taller, teardrop-shaped Hachiya. What a surprise then, to discover a third variety, the Hyakume. Shorter and plumper than the Hachiya, I wanted to learn all about it.

While the Hachiya is eaten only when it's very, very soft, and the Fuyu is eaten while it's still hard, the Hyakume, with it's chocolate-flecked flesh, is best eaten when slightly soft. Is it the sweetest of the three varieties? That's what people in-the-know tell me. But the Hyakume is hard to find; its growing season is shorter than either the Hachiya or the Fuyu. So if you see this rather rare treat, don't put off giving it a try. Then decide for yourself which persimmon is the sweetest.

I've never cooked persimmons, (they're so good just as they are), but I know there must be some great recipes for them out there. Any you'd like to share?

--Tracy Schneider

My Annual Turkey Baster Search Has Begun...

With Thanksgiving coming up, I've decided to take stock in the kitchen. I'm replenishing my baking supplies and checking the gaskets on my beloved Kuhn Rikon Duromatic pressure cookers.

This morning, I decided it was time to track down the turkey baster. I don't know about you folks, but Thanksgiving is the ONLY time I ever touch my turkey baster. I suppose I could use it to baste my roast chicken, but somehow I never get around to it.

My sons, however, LOVE the turkey baster for all sorts of projects. They employ it yearround.  It is for exactly that reason that I felt compelled to track it down today. My seven year old son loves to fill it with water and eject the water here, there, and everywhere. I can assure you that there have been many Thanksgivings around here where I've had to head out to the playhouse or the toy box hunting for the thing.  I've  usually returned with my two piece baster in hand. However, much to my husband's chagrin, there have been holidays where the thing couldn't be found and we've had to resort to ladling the drippings over the bird. 

I have my baster on deck right now, but there are still a couple weeks before Turkey Day officially arrives and it could disappear yet again. So, I've decided to invest in a new baster this year. Mine is looking a bit worn, and I'm thinking I'll just donate it to the creative souls in the family.

A quick  "turkey baster" search on Amazon revealed quite a selection, including those made by KitchenAid, Cuisipro, iSi and others. I suppose they are all basically the same, but I'm wondering if any of you have opinions on the best or the worst? Plastic, glass, or stainless? Dripless?

--Melissa A. Trainer