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Cumin-Rubbed Lamb Chops with Dates

August 5, 2013 Rivka
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I've wanted to write about lamb for the longest time. Though we don't eat much meat around here, lamb is one of my favorites, and several months ago, I treated us to a big package of individually-wrapped grassfed lamb chops. Made two, tucked the rest in the freezer for a special occasion.

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Then Friday night rolled around, and we found ourselves with no dinner plans and a fantastic bottle of pinot in need of drinking. It's been a tough month for us, but now it's not July anymore. It's August, we have (less than!) one month left of summer, and I want to drink it from the fire hose, make it last. Who needs a special occasion? Lamb is the special occasion.

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We uncorked the pinot around 6. Why wait for dinner to get our weekend started? We sipped as I cooked. D set the table for two. While the spice-rubbed lamb sizzled under the broiler, I cut up a couple nice tomatoes, sliced them into wedges, and dressed them simply with olive oil, maldon salt, and chives. Some green beans went into a big skillet with a bit of diced shallot and some hazelnut picada leftover from a cooking experiment. And then there was the sauce, an effortless mix of beer and dates that reduced to a glaze, the dates sticky and soft, that we used to finish the lamb. I pulled a leftover challah from the freezer, tossed it in the oven, and when it was nice and hot, we sat down to a simple, delicious summer dinner.

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If you've got the funds, this is a great dish to make for company. Plan for about 2 chops per person. While it's still warm out, serve with a nice salad and some fresh green or shelling beans. But this dish can carry you right into fall. I'm already looking forward to serving it with mashed sweet potatoes over the holidays. Is it too early to talk about the end of summer? Probably. So pretend I never said anything, and serve these up on the porch, basking in the summer light. Happy August, friends.

Cumin-Rubbed Lamb Chops with DatesInspired by this recipe from Gourmet Live Serves 2

4 individual lamb rib chops 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1 teaspoon ground coriander 4 cloves, ground (or 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves) 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 cup pale or amber beer 1 tablespoon date syrup or brown sugar 8 dates, halved lengthwise and pitted 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

For the lamb chops: Preheat the broiler.  Combine cumin, coriander, cloves, and salt in a small bowl. Place chops on a rimmed baking sheet lined with tin foil, and liberally sprinkle both sides of each chop with the spice mix. Transfer chops to the oven and broil for 3-4 minutes on each side; 3 minutes for medium-rare, 4 minutes for medium. They should emerge sizzling.

Meanwhile, make the sauce: Pour the beer into a wide saucepan set over medium heat. Add date syrup or brown sugar and salt. Bring to a boil and cook about 3 minutes. Then add dates in a single layer. Cook the sauce for 3-4 more minutes, watching it carefully to ensure that it doesn't burn. This will depend on the size of your flame, so really do watch it carefully; beer evaporates pretty quickly. By the time the beer has reduced to a glaze, the dates will be soft and sticky. Turn off the heat.

When lamb chops are finished, remove the chops to a plate and pour the accumulated lamb juices into the pan with the glaze. In my case, the chops finished almost exactly when the glaze finished, so I added the juices and cooked the mixture for a couple more minutes, to thicken it a bit. If you like a thinner sauce, no need to continue the cooking. Either way, once you've added the juices, taste the sauce and adjust salt and/or sweetness as necessary. If the mixture is too salty, add a tablespoon or two of water.

To serve: Plate the lamb chops, 2 per person. Drizzle the glaze overtop, and divide dates between the two plates. Serve immediately.

Tips: If the glaze reduces too quickly and the chops aren't ready, add a tablespoon of water to the glaze to give it some more time. If the chops finish too quickly, set them on a plate and tent with foil to keep warm. The chops can also be reheated in a very low (200-degree) oven for 5 minutes prior to serving.

In appetizers, gluten-free, main dishes
1 Comment

Zucchini with Basil, Pine Nuts, and Croutons

July 15, 2013 Rivka
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Well, London may have the edge when it comes to strawberries, but DC is just bursting with amazing fruits and vegetables this time of year. And I'm going to go out on a limb and say that eating that summer produce is way, way more fun when your A/C works. Because since May, ours hasn't. And now it does. And cold air, it is wonderful. (In other news: if you've come over to our house in the last couple months and been inexplicably hot, sorry about that.)

Now that we're no longer hot from the moment we wake up in the morning, I can bear a trip down to the Sunday market. This past Sunday, I picked up some bright red, plump sour cherries, two pounds of rhubarb (for recipes I'll be telling you about soon), and some lovely baby zucchini.

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Baby zucchini is so, so pretty, no? All those different shapes and sizes? The little skinny sticks and the bigger, round patty pans? How can you not love them?

And yet, as is the case every year, I bring home a basket of those zucchini, and they sit. In the fridge. For days. Because people, I don't ever know what to do with them. They don't taste different than big zucchini, they just look different. So I feel like I have to leave them whole to preserve their cuteness. Otherwise, why not just buy the regular ones?

A couple years ago, I got hooked on this recipe for zucchini and snap peas dressed very simply with sesame oil. But not all baby zucchini can be left whole. At some point, you gotta cut the things up. Fortunately for me (and you), I've come up with a dish of zucchini sliced small enough that it can be eaten in a civilized fashion without your guests totally missing the fact that you sprang for the little guys.

The dish is inspired by something far more fussy from the legendary Dan Barber, a dish made with, yes, zucchini bread croutons. If you happen to have leftover zucchini bread lying around, this is a great way to put it to use. For the rest of us, say it with me now: summer is unfussy. Then go laugh at the fact that Oprah says this recipe takes 10 minutes. Really? Ba-ha.

Where were we? Yes. You're slicing baby zucs, getting 'em nice and browned, and tossing them with some basil oil, some toasted pine nuts, and some croutons. Simple? Simple.

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If you don't feel like making croutons, simply toast a couple pieces of bread, smear their toasted tops with some ricotta or goat cheese, and pile the zucchini on top. You can also top this with shards of a harder cheese, like parmesan or pecorino. Even a harder goat cheese would work well.

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While we're on the topic of do-what-you-want, if you -- like my beloved -- hate pine nuts (I know, how could she??), swap in almonds, hazelnuts, or no nuts whatsoever. If you don't love basil (again with D...crazy), try dill or mint. And if you don't feel like buying the baby zucs, big ones work just fine. I'm on a mission to make summer recipes flexible and un-fus-sy. I will prevail. And then we'll all not fuss one bit, and eat delicious summer food, and be very happy.

Zucchini with Basil, Pine Nuts, and Croutons Inspired by a recipe from Dan Barber serves 2-3 as a side dish or appetizer

1 pound small zucchini (about 5), trimmed and cut on the bias into 1" slices 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, separated 1/2 teaspoon flaky salt 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper juice of half a lemon 1/4 cup basil chiffonade 1/4 cup pine nuts 1 cup torn croutons (I like sourdough, but any bread will work) 7 or 8 big shards of a salty, hard cheese like parmesan or pecorino (optional)  

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and spread pine nuts onto a baking sheet in a single layer. Toast pine nuts until evenly golden, about 7 minutes. Set aside.

Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to a large heavy pan (I like cast iron) and set it over medium heat. When oil shimmers, add zucchini slices in a single layer. Season with salt and pepper, then let cook undisturbed for 3-5  minutes, until undersides are shiny and golden-brown. Patience is the virtue here; if you move the zucchini around too much, it will steam and not brown properly.

Flip browned slices onto their second side and cook for 3-5 minutes more. Meanwhile, transfer chiffonade basil (or other herb) to a small mixing bowl, and as the zucchini slices finish cooking, add them to the bowl and stir to wilt the basil. Add any oil that remains in the pan into the bowl, to help the basil wilt and emit its flavor.

Add the remaining olive oil to the same pan, heat on medium, and when it shimmers, add the croutons. Season with salt and pepper, and again, leave undisturbed for about 3 minutes until undersides are golden. Flip to get as many sides of each crouton as possible crisped and slicked with the oil. When croutons are golden and toasty, Remove to a plate.

To serve, arrange zucchini and basil, pine nuts, croutons, and cheese (if using) on a flat platter. Squeeze the lemon overtop and serve warm or at room temperature.

In appetizers, sides, vegan, vegetarian, easy, healthy
3 Comments

Fresh Salmon Cakes with Ginger and Lime

October 5, 2012 Rivka
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salmon cakes

We've been having some of the most beautiful days in DC these past couple of weeks. The air is crisp but not yet cool, and the sun seems happy to shine all day long. It looks like summer from my office window, but it's starting to feel like fall.

The weather's confused my compass a bit in the kitchen. tomatoes and -- believe it or not -- peaches are still at the market for the taking, but apples cropped up early this year, and now they're everywhere. Most confusing of all, as I passed through the lower part of the Dupont market a few Sundays ago, I saw unlikeliest of early fall produce: fresh ginger.

Ginger typically doesn't come into season until mid-October, but there it was, at the end of September, and it was gorgeous. I'd used up my stash from last fall months ago and craved more ever since. Was I going to hold back? No, no I wasn't.

The first thing I do with market ginger is make ginger ice cream. It's been that way every year. Fortunately, I bought enough to have extra after the ice cream was frozen and tucked away. So I flipped to a recipe I'd tabbed back when I breezed my way through The New York Times Essential Cookbook, for fresh salmon and lime cakes.

Rid the image of canned salmon and/or disgusting amounts of mayonnaise from your mind. Shudder; sigh. These are no ordinary salmon cakes. They contain fresh, diced salmon; very little binder; and --surprise! -- wasabi, ginger, and kaffir lime leaves. Dipping sauce: lime juice, soy sauce, brown sugar. No mayo whatsoever.

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salmon cakes 2

These aren't burgers; they're cakes. Don't sandwich them inside a bun (unless it's one of those Asian steamed buns, which actually might be great with a shmear of hoisin and sriracha...whoa, what an idea!) But really, these don't belong in a kaiser roll. They belong on a plate, with a fork and knife -- the way the French might eat burgers, come to think of it.

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Dicing the salmon will be time-intensive. If you have a meat grinder, lucky you. If you're in a rush, you can cut the salmon into large pieces, put them into a food processor, and pulse a few times very quickly until salmon is coarsely chopped. After that, the work is minimal. You can have dinner on the table in 15 minutes flat. Now that fall's arrived -- with school underway, jobs busy as ever, and all of those fall Jewish holidays here -- there's not much else I can ask for.

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Fresh Salmon Cakes with Ginger and LimeFrom The New York Times Essential Cookbook Recipe says it serves 4-6, but I'd say it's more like 2-3; I doubled recipe and served 4 with not too many leftover

*Note: kaffir lime leaves aren't the easiest to find. If we're being honest, I had to try 3 stores before finally getting some. Your best bet is an Asian grocer. That said, you definitely can make these with lime zest. Fret not.

One 1-pound skinless salmon fillet 1 large egg white, lightly beaten 3 tablespoons rice flour 2 kaffir lime leaves, chopped, or zest of one lime 1 tablespoon minced or grated fresh ginger 1 teaspoon wasabi paste 3 tablespoons chopped chervil or flat-leaf parsley

1/4 cup fresh lime juice (from about 2 limes) 1/4 cup soy sauce 2 tablespoons brown sugar

Oil for frying (something neutral, like corn, canola, or vegetable)

Run two fingers along the top of the salmon to check for any pin bones. They run the length of the flesh, right along the middle. To pull them out, either use tweezers or a small piece of paper towel between your fingers (which mitigates the slipperiness of the fish). Pull in the direcfaces of the bone; they should slide out.

Dice the salmon into 1/4-inch dice. In a medium bowl, combine salmon, egg white, rice flour, lime leaves, ginger, wasabi paste, and chervil or parsley. Stir until everything is evenly mixed.

In a small bowl, combine lime juice, soy sauce, and brown sugar. Set aside.

Set a piece of plastic wrap or parchment paper on a baking sheet. Scoop 2-tablespoon portions of the salmon mixture into your palms, roll into a ball, flatten into a cake, and set on the baking sheet. Continue until all salmon has been used.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Put a baking sheet into the oven.

Heat 1/2 an inch of oil in a nonstick or castiron pan. When oil shimmers, add cakes, leaving at least 1 inch between them. Cook cakes for about 45 seconds on each side; do not overcook. When cakes have finished cooking, transfer them to the oven to stay warm while you cook the rest of the cakes.

Serve immediately, with lime dipping sauce on the side.

(If you'd like to make these in advance, don't preheat the oven; just transfer the cooked cakes to a plate, refrigerate, and warm through in a 200-degree oven before serving.)

In appetizers, fish, how to use---, main dishes, easy
7 Comments

Sicilian Caponata

September 19, 2012 Rivka
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Growing up, caponata was a thick, saucy affair. The eggplant was cooked until it almost fell apart, then melted into tomatoes, raisins, olives, and onions until it DID fall apart.  The result was a dip you could eat alone, but it was even better spread on crackers or sandwiches. I loved that caponata, and I still do.

In college, I encountered caponata anew. My boyfriend at the time had a chef for a dad. Alan was an expert at so many things: his challah recipe was the first one I tried, his salad of perfect Berkley tomatoes sticks with me, and his caponata was the best I'd ever had. Alan made two kinds of caponata. One was redder, with plenty of tomatoes and red wine vinegar. The other was lighter, probably with white wine vinegar and golden raisins.  I'm pretty sure Alan thought about bottling it at one time, and wisely so. Both were excellent.

Not that I'm a stickler for authenticity,  but I've come to learn that none of those caponatas was authentic. True Sicilian caponata is more like a cooked salad. Every component is discernible, cooked carefully so that the flavors are married but not muddled. Caponata, like so much of the best cooking in any region, is about the slow, deliberate layering of complementary flavors. It's a dish that requires time and patience. With eggplant at the height of their season, I made time last weekend to make it the traditional way.

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eggplant chopped

Eggplant was diced, salted, drained, browned. Mise en place was prepared. Sweet time,  it was taken. Caponata wants to be coddled; the results make the coddling worthwhile.

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caponata mise en place

What you get, after the salting and draining and browning and cooking and adding and heating and finishing, is not unlike a traditional ratatouille. It's a delicate, precise dish: you can see the cubes of eggplant, the strips of roasted pepper, and the olives (I cheated and used green olives stuffed with pimento, but cerignola would be even better). This is no vegetable mush. We're getting classy here, people.

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Why classy? Well, if you can believe it, this little blog turned 5 last week. That's something to celebrate, now isn't it? Over apples and honey cake, I told you about how I want the pace around here to be less frenetic. Even in a weekend full of errands, work, and cooking for lots of people, I made time to coax eggplant into this caponata. While it cooked, we sat with a dear friend, drank her brother's homemade (award-winning!) beer, and laughed about all sorts of silliness. And you know what? The time alone felt like a celebration. Happy 5th birthday, NDP; here's to 5 more.

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caponata 5

Sicilian Caponata From Nancy Harmon Jenkins' Cucina del Sole: A Celebration of Southern Italian Cooking, via Saveur

2 eggplants (about 2 lbs.), cut into 1⁄2" cubes Salt 10 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 1 large yellow onion, coarsely chopped 2 anchovy filet, chopped 3 ripe medium tomatoes (about 1 lb.), cored, peeled, and coarsely chopped 2 ribs celery, diced 1⁄4 cup red wine vinegar 2 tablespoons sugar 2 tablespoons tomato paste 2 tablespoons golden raisins 2 tablespoons pine nuts 2 tablespoons capers, rinsed 12 pitted green olives, such as cerignola, coarsely chopped 1 red bell pepper, roasted, peeled, cored, seeded, and thinly sliced Freshly ground black pepper 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped basil 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley

Put eggplant into a colander set over a large bowl; toss with 1 tbsp. salt. Top with a plate weighted down with several large cans; let drain for 1 hour. Rinse eggplant and pat dry with paper towels. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add one-third of the eggplant and cook until golden brown, 7–8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer eggplant to a bowl. Repeat with oil and remaining eggplant.

Reduce heat to medium-low and add remaining oil, onions, and anchovies; cook until soft, 14–15 minutes. Add tomatoes and celery and increase heat to medium; cook until tomatoes release their juices, 5–6 minutes.

Add vinegar, sugar, and tomato paste; cook until thickened, 3–4 minutes. Add cooked eggplant, raisins, pine nuts, capers, olives, roasted peppers, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook until hot. Transfer to a plate; let cool slightly. Top with basil and parsley. Serve at room temperature.

Caponata will keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

In appetizers, gluten-free, vegetarian
5 Comments
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