i hope you eat good food, grow beautiful things, and have more love than you know what to do with.
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 …
If someone were to ask me what I would most likely die of, the answer would probably be Vitamin A toxicity. I love liver (which has a whopping dose of Vitamin A per serving) and organ meat in general, but liver pate has a huge …
About a week ago, my sister gave me a batch of sourdough starter she got at a breadmaking class, and I got thrown into the weird and wonderful world of naturally leavened bread. It was both a terrifying and delicious undertaking, but I realized just how seriously people took their starters, even going so far as to name the little beasts (and, in one horrifying instance as in the case of the restaurant my sister worked at, bestowing the titles Kanye and Taylor to their batches). In many ways, they are like pets, requiring regular feeding and watering, but they are relatively easy to maintain. A feeding every day at room temperature, or once every week in the fridge. The best part is, they make amazing bread. The one I got from my sister is approximately 6 years old, and I designated March 2nd (the day I got them) as their new birthdays.
My first loaf came out a bit dense–but no less delicious, since many recipes are only approximations depending on how much starter you put in, and what the consistency of it is. Personally, some of the materials they use, like a proofing basket, was ultimately unnecessary for me, as was letting it sit overnight in the fridge. There are some complex recipes out there, but I always prefer ease of making something when it comes to deciding if I will continue doing it and my subsequent ones, which you see here, came out great–with a complex and acidic flavor native to sourdough.
I found that a higher water to dough ratio made sure they would proof better and have a softer more springy end result. As long as the dough is still workable (with a generous dusting of flour to prevent it from sticking), a little softer is totally fine. I also don’t have a dutch oven but I improvised and used a nabe pot (Asian Clay Pot) usually used for stews.
Ingredients:
1. Combine flour, water, starter, and salt together in a bowl and cover to proof in a relatively warm place for 3 – 4 hours. I found that it’s okay to still have some lumps in it as the water will eventually get to it and the gluten formation will still occur–it will also be kneaded out in the second proof.
2. Remove and knead in a generously dusted area for about 2 – 5 minutes, just working it into a round shape. Place in a floured (a light dusting is fine) dutch oven or nabe pot, smooth side up, tucking the folds under, make an x shaped cut across the top (or whatever shape you prefer) and allow to proof for another hour.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, spritz the top with water and bake, covered, for 25 minutes. Remove cover and bake for another 25-35 minutes until top is golden. Remove pot from the oven, cool for a few minutes, and carefully remove the bread. Serve warm with some butter or olive oil herb dip!
It’s the season for shungiku (also called tong ho in Chinese, and edible chrysanthemum/garland daisy–not to be confused with Chrysanthemum nankingense) which means I can get a big bag of it for real cheap at the Asian supermarket. It has a distinctive herb taste but …