FOOD ON THE FOOD

Bulgur Salad with Chard and Olives

I cannot get enough of this salad! Basically, it's tabbouli, the Middle Eastern grain salad with fresh herbs and tomatoes, but with other stuff subbed in for the tomatoes, like Swiss chard and olives. Lots of parsley and cilantro combined with a generous shot of lemon keep the flavors bright. It's good for picnics, barbecues, or hasty lunches out of a Tupperware container at work. Next week, consider switching out the chard and olives for grilled zucchini, pattypan squash, and dare I hope for eggplant? Too soon? Only the hot July sun knows for sure. Then, in August and September, it's tomato time. Wait your turn, tomatoes. You're not the only game in town!


Bulgur Salad with Chard and Olives (print-friendly version)

This recipe makes a lot, at least 8 servings, so I hope you're hungry!

1 1/2 cups medium bulgur wheat
Kosher salt
1 bunch Swiss chard, stems removed, sliced into thick strips
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (from 1 to 2 lemons)
2 medium cloves garlic, minced and mashed to a paste with a pinch of salt
1 large shallot or small onion, finely diced
1/2 cup mixed country olives, pitted, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper

Combine the bulgur wheat and 1 teaspoon of salt in a large bowl. Bring 2 1/4 cups of water to a boil and then pour over the wheat. Cover the bowl with a large plate and let set until the water has been absorbed and the bulgur is tender, about 1 hour.

Wash the chard and place it wet into the pot. Cover and steam over medium heat until wilted and tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Drain the chard, run it under cold water, and squeeze it dry.

Combine the lemon juice, garlic, and shallot, and let sit for at least 15 minutes.

Gently fold the olives, cilantro, parsley, oil, Swiss chard, and lemon mixture into the bulgur. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Refrigerate until cold.

Source: Adapted from Fine Cooking and Tasha DeSerio.

Local Ingredients:
Bulgur Wheat: Baer's Best, Lover's Brook Farm, South Berwick, ME via Russo's, Watertown, MA
Swiss chard, cilantro, parsley: Waltham Fields Community Farm, Waltham, MA

Lemony Asparagus Hummus

 Have you gotten your hands on any local asparagus, yet?  I did.  At Verrill Farm.  Where else have you guys found it? 

Regardless of where your asparagus came from, have I got a treat for you.  I mean, besides roasting the spears with little more than olive oil and some salt and pepper.  Lemony asparagus hummus.  I can’t stop eating this stuff.  Luckily, I don’t have to because it’s just asparagus and chickpeas and a few other little things that aren’t bad for you at all. 

Just try and stop me.  I dare you.

 

Lemony Asparagus Hummus

Serve with simple olive-oil-brushed, salt-and-peppered pita chips.  Or try the dukkah-spiced pita chips that accompanied this recipe in Yankee Magazine.

2 cups fresh asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 15-oz. can chickpeas, drained and rinsed well
2 medium cloves garlic
2 Tbsp. tahini, sesame paste
Zest of 1 lemon
Juice of same lemon
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Meanwhile, fill a large bowl with ice water and set aside.  To the boiling water, add a generous pinch of salt and the asparagus.  Return water to a boil and cook about 4 minutes, until spears are tender and bright green.  Drain asparagus and submerge in the ice bath for a minute or two to stop the cooking.  Drain and set aside.

In a food processor, puree the chickpeas, garlic, tahini, lemon zest, lemon juice, and asparagus.  With the machine running, slowly pour in olive oil and process until combined.  Season with salt and pepper.  Serve with pita (bread or chips) and vegetables.

Source: Adapted from Yankee Magazine in an article by Annie Copps. 

Phyllo Isn’t Scary

Okay, let’s cut the chitchat and get to a recipe for a change. 

It was my dad’s, um, 49th birthday over the weekend, so I had to get off my lazy butt and make him some baklava.  His words, not mine.  This is one of the very best things that I make, so you can pretty much stop reading me after this (finally, right?).  It ranks right up there with this, and reminds me, lest I forget, of my character flaws where my sweet tooth is concerned. 

Baklava isn’t particularly hard.  It’s just a little time-consuming so I usually reserve it for special occasions.  And though phyllo has a reputation for being high-maintenance, it’s really not that bad.  Honest.  Personally, I think making pie dough without a food processor is way scarier.  In fact, when the Preschooler was a toddler, I had him help me by painting melted butter on each layer of phyllo with a wide brush.  He, of course, only wanted to paint the same spot over and over again until it was saturated and the bristles tore gashes through every single layer underneath.  But, it doesn’t matter.  No one’s checking every layer.  If a sheet breaks, just stick it back on there and keep going.  See:

For shame, Baklava.  Cover up your goodies!

Phyllo can be found in the freezer section, usually near the frozen pie crusts and such.  You’ll need to give it time to defrost (a few hours at room temperature or overnight in the fridge).  Some brands of phyllo come in sheets just the right size for a 9”x13” pan.  The stuff in the big, long yellow box, though, needs to be cut in half.  A pizza-cutter works great.  You’ll want to keep the dough covered in plastic wrap while you’re working, with a slightly damp towel on top of the plastic.  Then, you can pretty much take as long as you like to work.

Use whatever nuts or spices your heart desires.  Pistachios, almonds, acorns.  I’ve tailored this so it comes out just the way I like it.  To hell with all of you.  Walnuts, cardamom, enough sugar syrup so it’s drenched in sweetness, yet still crispy.  God, how does it stay crispy and moist at the same time? 

Witchcraft.  That’s how.  Wanna join my coven?

Baklava

I like to clarify the butter and make the sugar syrup ahead of time so everything is ready to assemble when opportunity strikes.

1 package phyllo dough, defrosted
3 sticks butter

Syrup:
2 cups sugar
1½ cups water
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 Tbsp. corn syrup

Filling:
1 10-oz. bag finely diced walnuts (2½ cups)
½ cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. cardamom

Melt butter.  Skim foam off the top and discard.  Pour off the pure butter into a clean container, stopping short of the cloudy white stuff at the bottom.  Discard the white solids, and set the yellow clarified butter aside.

Place sugar, water, lemon juice, and corn syrup in a small saucepan.  Over medium-low heat, stir until sugar dissolves.  Then increase heat, bring to boil, and simmer for 5 minutes.  Remove from heat, cool, and chill in refrigerator.

Mix walnuts, sugar, and spices in a medium bowl and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350ºF.  Arrange stack of phyllo sheets on plastic wrap and cover with more plastic wrap.  Set a slightly damp dishtowel on top of that.  Using a pastry brush (or unused paint brush, 1-inch or wider), brush 9”x13” glass baking dish with melted butter. 

Place one sheet in the bottom of the dish and brush with butter.  Repeat this process until you have 12 layers in the dish.  Spread half the walnut mixture evenly over the dough.  Add 8 more buttered phyllo sheets.  Spread the remainder of the walnut mixture.  Top with 12 more buttered layers. 

With a sharp knife, carefully cut diamond shapes all the way through the layers by cutting diagonally across one way, and then diagonally across in the other direction.  Pour any remaining butter over the top.  Bake for 30 minutes.  Then lower oven to 300ºF and continue baking for 45 minutes.  Cool 10 minutes.  Pour cold syrup evenly over warm pastry.  Let cool completely before serving.  Store at room temperature.

Ana Sortun’s New Book: Spice

Okay, poultry week is officially over.  It’s time to move on to more serious business.

Last Wednesday, I went to a cookbook signing and demonstration by Ana Sortun (James Beard Award-winning chef of Oleana in Cambridge) at the CSCA.  Her book, Spice: Flavors of the Eastern Mediterranean, is a fascinating introduction to the herbs, spices, and cooking techniques of Turkey and its Middle Eastern neighbors.

What’s unusual about this cookbook is that the recipes are arranged by spice rather than by course.  She introduces you to three spices in the same general flavor family, like Aleppo, Urfa, and paprika (all chiles), and provides recipes that use those spices.  That way, if you’re fresh out of Aleppo and have to buy a whole container just for a couple of teaspoons, you don’t have to look far to use up the rest.  Assuming you like it.  And you will. 

Many of the spices covered are fairly common (cumin, oregano, nutmeg), but the way in which she uses them is not.  Fried haloumi cheese with pear and spiced dates; roasted beets with toasted orange aioli and pine nuts; squash kibbeh with brown butter and spiced feta.  I have one word.  Yum.

Other spices she showcases are still shrouded in a bit of mystery in this part of the world.  Take her recipe for chicken lamejun with roasted peaches, pistachio, and sumac.  If you’re starting to feel itchy all over, it’s not the same sumac.  This one is made from the berries of one of the non-poisonous varieties.  It’s subtle and lemony, without the pesky rash.

She brought in samples of sumac to taste, as well as za’atar (a wild herb that reminded me of marjoram) and fenugreek leaves (maple syrup in a surprising leaf form).  Sortun predicts that za’atar will be the next big thing in spice, with traces of it showing up on plates by Daniel Boulud and Jean-Georges Vongerichten.  There have also been murmurs that Frito-Lay is hard at work on their next ad campaign for Doritos with a Hint of Za’atar (how can we make this Arabic word seem less threatening?  I know, it rhymes with guitar!). 

To stock your spice cabinet, Sortun recommends Sevan Bakery in Watertown and Christina’s Spice Shop in Cambridge.  I would also add the Syrian Grocery in the South End.  But outside the city, you can’t beat mail order: www.kalustyans.com.

So, here’s what you’ve been waiting for: a sneak peek.  This recipe for whipped feta with sweet and hot peppers is tried and true (she gave it to me years ago for another story and, since then, I’ve made it approximately 453 times).  It features in the cookbook, except smoked paprika has been substituted for smoked black pepper because it’s easier to find.  I’m keeping the original, though, because I couldn’t make it any other way.

Whipped Feta with Sweet and Hot Peppers

3 red bell peppers, roasted*, peeled and seeded
2 cups French sheep’s milk feta
1 tsp. Aleppo chiles
½ cup olive oil
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. Urfa chiles
½ tsp. smoked black pepper

In a food processor, puree the roasted peppers and add the rest of the ingredients until it’s smooth and creamy. Pour into a bowl and chill for at least a half hour.  Sprinkle with more Aleppo and Urfa chiles.  Serve with cucumber or pita.

*To roast the red peppers, preheat the oven to 400˚F.  On baking pan, roast the peppers for about 8 minutes or until they collapse.  Put them in a bowl covered with plastic and let steam for 5 minutes.  Peel off the skin.  You can also cook the peppers over the flame of your gas burner.  Char on each side, about 3-4 minutes.  Let steam in bowl for 5 minutes and then peel.  Alternatively, you can set fire to them in your backyard.  When the flames subside, they’re done.)

Source: Ana Sortun (except for the backyard bonfire part.  That was me).  Used with permission.