i hope you eat good food, grow beautiful things, and have more love than you know what to do with.
We went over to my husband’s mom’s house for Easter yesterday, and came away with quite a bit of lamb. My husband actually really dislikes lamb and often complains about the gaminess of it. However, he is quite fond of Mongolian and Xi’an stir fries …
“…I was almost there when Nielsen’s head poked out from his cooking cell. ‘You miss your lunch, Mr. Herriot. You have tough time, you look tired, Wait there.’ He held up a hand. ‘I make you something.’ I stood in the doorway as he laid …
The wood stove is nearing the end of the season but that doesn’t mean I can’t use it for a last hurrah. Roasting peppers in it is especially fun and easy, as I can just nestle the peppers into the coals/wood, close the door, and come back about 15 minutes later for perfect fire roasted peppers. The smokiness is unparalleled, but you can do it in the oven if you don’t have access to a wood stove. Serve it with olive oil crackers (an easy recipe here) or a crusty french bread! I love it with a dollop of ricotta cheese, but a nice mozzarella or burrata would make it heavenly too.
Ingredients
1. Roast peppers in wood stove until outside is charred or in the oven at 400 degrees F for 45 – 60 minutes.
2. Run charred peppers under cold water and brush away skin. De-seed and dice.
3. In a pan over medium high heat, sautee garlic and onions until translucent, add peppers, olives, capers, balsamic vinegar, salt, tomato, alcohol, and sugar. Mix well and cook until alcohol has burned off.
4. Place into container and chill. Serve with burrata, ricotta, mozzarella, and toast points.
Once my onion chives are out, I know spring is right around the corner. A wonderful substitute for scallions, onion chives are a staple in my kitchen. They’re often the first to appear after winter, and the last to leave after fall. Allium schoenoprasum, common …
Rich and creamy grits are always welcome in this household. I usually keep a box of instant grits because slaving over a stove babying cornmeal isn’t exactly how I would like to spend my mornings. While the grits is cooking, the sausage is sizzling in …
You all know I’m a fiend for tartare–beef or fish. So any time there’s a tartare on the menu, I will usually get it just to try. Ethiopian steak tartare, called Kitfo, is aromatic and delicious, spiced with niter kibbeh, clarified butter that’s been infused with spices. Mine tends to be easy because I often don’t feel like clarifying the butter, but you can if you need to store large quantities of it. I absolutely adore this dish and if I visit an Ethiopian restaurant, I will always order it if it’s on the menu.
It’s served with injera (recipe), and in the platter above I have it with a spiced chickpea puree (recipe), fresh farmer’s cheese (recipe), and stewed collards.
If you are going to eat this raw, make sure you get the meat from your butcher and let them know you intend to eat it raw. I used a nice piece of prime rib, but you can use other types of beef–but make sure the fat has been trimmed away.
Recipe:
1. Cut beef into cubes and place in food processor to blend until smoothly chopped.
2. In a pot over medium heat, melt butter and add mitmita, cardamom, garlic powder, and salt. Gently allow to simmer until fragrant. Mix spiced butter with beef tartare and serve with injera. You can lightly sautee the meat so it’s rare instead of raw.
This particular dish has a fond place in my memories–a national Taiwanese specialty, it brings me back to days when my grandparents used to take us out into Flushing for lunch or dinner. My version is a bit more decadent than traditional ones you might …
This is a really easy side dish for those hot summer days when you just have very little appetite for anything else. I sometimes make this if I have leftover rotisserie chicken in the fridge, since it’s a fast and family-pleasing way to use it …
So here we are on an Ethiopian cuisine binge, mainly because my injera dough has finally fermented into the tangy and deep flavor its known for. I’m still experimenting with it (combining it with barley vs. wheat, fermentation time, etc.) but using my sourdough starter has really helped.
This is an easy breakfast as you can make everything except the egg and the spinach the night before and they’ll keep for a few days. You don’t have to use injera here, you can place it on top of a toasted slice of sourdough rye or sourdough wheat and it would be just as delicious!
Constructing This Breakfast
1. Spread chickpea puree over injera, sourdough rye, or sourdough wheat bread (depending on what you have.)
2. Top with egg, wilted spinach, cherry tomato quarters, and farmer’s cheese. Sprinkle mitmita spice blend on top, to taste (careful, it’s hot!)
Spiced Chickpea Puree
1. Over medium high heat, sautee garlic and onion in butter until fragrant. Add tomato, berbere spice mix, salt, lemon juice, cardamom, and turmeric (if using) and sautee for another minute. Place in food processor with chickpeas and blend until desired consistency. Add a little water if you find it difficult to blend.
Fresh farmer’s cheese is a snap to make and it’s absolutely delicious dusted with mitmita, an Ethiopian spice blend that’s heady, fragrant, and packing quite a bit of heat that contrasts nicely with the creamy cheese. It’s called Ayib Be Mitmita (so if you see …