The Makings of a Middle Eastern Lunch

Hard to believe it's already Thursday and another Saturday is nearly upon us. I'm still thinking about last weekend's 75-degree weather and super-chill Mediterranean style lunch. A trip to NYC will prevent me from repeating that meal this Saturday, but if I could, I would, in half a heartbeat. It's the obvious way straight to my heart: breads, spreads, salad, and a glass of wine. Easy to please, no?

I might as well pass along the recipes I used in case you're interested in replicating my lunch last Saturday. Really not hard, really really tasty. Whip up a greek salad to accompany the spreads here, get (or make) some good pita or laffa (shepherd bread), and wash it all down with some cold, fruity white wine. My mouth is totally watering.

First up: Muhamarra, the Syrian red pepper and walnut spread with a kiss of pomegranate syrup. Next, a lovely walnut hummus from Heidi at 101 cookbooks topped with paprika and sumac, the tart Middle Eastern condiment. Finally, labneh (at long last) -- the thick, tangy yogurt cheese finished with a drizzle of good olive oil and a sprinkling of za'atar, a Middle Eastern plant ground into a fine powder and mixed with sesame seeds.

Last week was the first time in a long time that I've been able to bring a part of my experience in Israel into my home in DC, and I'm still riding the wave.

(Also -- shout out to my little bro, who turned 23 today. Yowza!)

Muhammara adapted from Epicurious

1 12-ounce jar roasted red bell peppers in olive oil with garlic, drained 1 cup walnuts 1/3 cup breadcrumbs 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 2 teaspoons pomegranate molasses or fresh lemon juice 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper Pita chips

Blend all ingredients except pita chips in processor until coarse puree forms. Season with salt. Transfer to bowl; serve with chips.

Hummus en Fuego adapted from 101 Cookbooks

1/2 cup walnuts, toasted 2 cups cooked (or canned) garbanzo beans, drained 1-2 medium cloves garlic, to taste juice of 1 lemon (about 4 tablespoons) 1/4-1/2 cup hot water 1/4 cup olive oil 1 Tbsp za'atar (or paprika)

To make the hummus, give the walnuts a spin in the food processor, just until they are a sandy texture. Add most of the garbanzos, 1 or 2 tablespoons of the oil, 1 clove garlic, and lemon juice. Now process until smooth. Drizzle in the water a bit at a time and puree more, until the hummus is creamy and billowy. Taste; if desired, add the second garlic clove. Let the processor run for a minute or so at this point, to incorporate air into the puree and give it a light texture. Taste, adjust the seasoning - more salt, more lemon juice, etc.

Serve in a shallow bowl, drizzled with plenty of the remaining oil and paprika, sumac, za'atar or other Middle Eastern spice. Heidi garnishes with cured olives and red pepper oil, another lovely option.

Makes roughly 2 1/2 cups.

Labneh

1 quart greek or regular yogurt 1 tsp salt olive oil za'atar

Stir salt into yogurt. Line a wire mesh strainer with either cheesecloth (at least two layers) or paper towels. Spoon yogurt into strainer; set over a bowl, cover loosely with saran wrap, and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, bowl will contain much of the whey. For regular yogurt, strain an additional 3-4 hours or more, for maximum thicknes. Greek yogurt will be ready after about 8 hours.

Serve in a shallow bowl; drizzle olive oil, and top with a generous sprinkle of za'atar.

Zucchini Ricotta Tart

D and I host Friday night dinner pretty regularly. Being the slight lunatic that I am, prep usually starts on Tuesday, if not earlier. I start thinking about themes, poking around online and in my cookbooks for possible main courses, and trying to decide what vibe I want to create. Is this an apps and wine crowd, or more of a straight-to-the-table kind of meal? Are we going meat or dairy? (Usually we do dairy; I simply can't part with butter for dessert.) Is it cold enough for soup or even a one-pot-meal? Etc.

This past weekend, D and I were so pooped from the long week that we decided to do just the two of us for dinner. Our friends Kira and Dina also wanted something low key, so we decided to combine forces. K and D would bring salad and a vegetable side, I'd make soup, some sort of tart, and dessert. We had challah in the freezer and plenty of wine on the rack.

Plans to cook notwithstanding, the week was absolutely crazy and I had only enough time to make soup (ginger carrot, on the blog soon) and a cake (fig-polenta, kinda great, also up soon). The tart just didn't happen. I rushed home from work on Friday with not much time, not much time at all to spare, and scrambled to put something together. Spotted: one yellow squash in the fridge. Half a tub of ricotta. Some pecorino romano cheese. A bit of fresh mint. Frozen puff pastry. Each tasty on its own, but would it all go together? Oh Hell Yes.

Of course, the meal I threw together most haphazardly was actually my favorite in quite a long time. Maybe I'm just a fan of al fresco cuisine, but seriously -- what could be better than a simple soup, a light, fresh salad, and an easy puff pastry tart? Not much, in my opinion.

As a shout-out to my dear friend Sarah, who strives to be a more instinctive cook, let me point out that puff pastry is a wonderful blank slate on which any number of delicious tarts can be made. Zucchini/pecorino-ricotta/mint was great, but here are some other ideas:

• onion, feta mushrooms (sound familiar?)
• mushroom and goat cheese -- saute mushrooms in olive oil; either cover tart with mushrooms and sprinkle goat cheese overtop, or put mushrooms and goat cheese (and maybe some ricotta) into a blender, and spread that on top of the puff pastry -- and then top with some grated parmesan or bits of goat cheese. yum.
• spread tart with a thin layer of ricotta; top with thin slices of zucchini, red pepper, and tomato, with slices of parmesan or mozzarella and basil leaves interspersed.

As I write this, I'm realizing that any of the ingredients above would be great with any other. If you don't like olives, love red peppers, dig pesto, and want to skip the zucchini, just go for it. I'd say the key is to have a layer of something smooth, topped with a layer of thin vegetables, and topped with something super savory and strong (herbs, hard cheese, etc). Feel free to leave other tart ideas in the comment thread.

Zucchini Ricotta Tart

• 1 8x8 (or larger) square of puff pastry, thawed and unrolled according to package directions
• 1/3 cup ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup grated pecorino romano cheese
• grated zest of one lemon
• 1 zucchini or yellow squash, sliced as thinly as possible (I did not use a mandoline -- you can, but definitely don't need to
• 1/4 cup kalamata or other greek olives, halved
• salt and pepper to taste
• handful of mint leaves, julienned

Preheat the oven to 350. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and put the puff pastry on top.

In a small bowl, mix the ricotta, lemon zest, and a small handful of the pecorino. Add salt and pepper to taste. Spread mixture onto puff pastry, leaving a 1/4-inch border around the edge.

Slice the zucchini very thinly; lay slices slightly overlapping in rows, again leaving a border. Sprinkle with olive slices, and top with the remaining pecorino.

Bake for about 30 minutes (or according to package directions), until golden at the edges and crisp all the way through. Slice into quarters for a main dish, eighths for a side or app; sprinkle with mint, and serve warm or at room temp.

Another Caponata Recipe

I know I've posted caponata on the blog before, but it's such a go-to recipe that I'm not surprised to see it up here again. Caponata is easy to make, very flavorful, and a true crowd-pleaser, even among the most carnivorous eaters. I made it this time as my contribution to a potluck lunch at work in honor of a colleague's last day, and was quite surprised by how popular it was with the meat-lovin crowd. I promised them I'd post the recipe, so even though I've already got a caponata recipe on the blog, here's one more.

This one takes its inspiration from a favorite dish that my mom used to make, called Huachinango a la Veracruzana, or Red Snapper, Veracruz style. It's essentially a whole red snapper (we used filets), baked in a tomato sauce that's laced with jalapeno peppers, green olives, capers, and raisins, and spiked with cinnamon. The flavors are assertive but balanced, and the dish is really tasty. I basically substituted eggplant for the snapper, and held the olives but put in some olive juice to lift the other savory flavors. I also had been eating too many jalapenos, so I subbed in chili flakes instead. If you've got green olives, they'd go great in this dish. I also browned the tomato paste in its own pan to make its flavor more complex, though that step is totally optional.

One of the best things about a chunky caponata like this one is that in addition to being a dip, to be eaten on crackers or baguette, it can double as a pasta sauce. I spooned some if it on top of some whole wheat rigatoni and topped it with feta cheese for an easy and tasty lunch.

This caponata also helped break a slightly frustrating cycle where everything coming out of my kitchen was just so-so. I leaned over this caponata pot, smelled its strong tomato and onion aromas, and thought, oh yea. This is gonna be good.

How good? Good enough that I ate it on pasta the next day.

Another Eggplant Caponata Recipe

olive oil, about 1/4 cup 6 garlic cloves 1 onion, coarsely chopped 1/2 tsp cloves 1 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp paprika 1/2 tsp chili flakes 1/2 tsp. cumin 1 tsp. coriander seeds, optional 2 eggplants, cubed into 1-inch pieces 2 Tbsp capers 1/2 cup tomato paste 1/3 cup raisins 1 1/2 cups water several leaves chopped fresh basil, optional 1 tsp dried italian spices (basil, oregano, etc) -- I use Penzeys Tuscan Sunset 1 Tbsp date honey (regular honey is also fine) 1/3 cup green olive juice (can also add 1/3 cup olives, if desired) 1 red bell pepper, coarsely chopped

In a large soup pot, heat olive oil on medium heat. Add onion and garlic; stir to coat, and cook for 3 minutes, or until translucent. Add all spices, toss to coat onions, and cook 2 minutes more. Add eggplant, stir to incorporate, and cook about 5 minutes until eggplant starts to soften and brown in spots.

(If you want to brown the tomato paste in a separate pan before adding to caponata, do so now. Put tomato paste in a small pan over medium heat, mush around, and cook about 5 minutes, until the bottom of the pan starts to turn brown. Add 1/2 cup water and, using a wooden spoon, scrape up the brown bits (called fond) into the tomato liquid. When all the fond has been incorporated into the tomato liquid, add the whole thing into the caponata along with the remaining 1 cup water. If not browning tomato paste, simply add it and all the water to the caponata. Stir to incorporate.

Add all remaining ingredients except for red pepper, stir to combine, and allow to simmer over medium-low heat for about 45 minutes, until well-incorporated. Now -- here's the tricky part -- taste it. Does it need more salt? More spice? Is the sweetness of the raisins and honey coming through enough for your taste? Add with a light hand in whatever direction you see fit, and continue to taste and adjust until what's in the pot makes you happy. Then add the red pepper pieces, and cook 15 minutes more.

Caponata will keep for at least 1 week stored in an airtight container in the fridge.

Cocoa Pear Crisps

It's not every day that a half-eaten fruit turns into something truly out-of-this-world. I suppose I should thank the odd confluence of events that brought about these treasures: one, I bought a mandoline last week. After reading oodles of reviews about the best mandolines on the market, I learned that the two cheapest models (the Benriner and the OXO) are actually the best. My waffling back and forth about whether the 75 bucks was worth it was for nothing: I threw restraint out the window and got my new toy guilt-free. That's one.

Two, Sarina and Robbie had iron chef night this weekend. Each of us picked a course, they revealed the secret ingredient, and we had a couple hours to make a dish featuring that ingredient and bring it over for show and tell. Is it screamingly obvious that there's nothing I'd rather do on Saturday night than play iron chef? I was thrilled. And the secret ingredient was cocoa. Awesome.

Three, iron chef awesomeness notwithstanding, my fridge was pretty empty this weekend. Having come down with an ugly cold last week, I didn't do much cooking at all -- and this weekend, we were off the hook again, so my supply was limited, which meant I needed to get pretty creative for the competition.

Four, I took a sliced pear to work, and had only eaten half of it -- so I had three and a half pears, the half of which was desperately in need of being used. After poking around in vain on Martha and Epicurious for some good pear recipes, I found one for pear chips. They were meant to be sliced paper-thin, sprinkled with a ginger-cinnamon-sugar mixture, and baked/dried in a very low oven until golden and crispy. What would happen, I wonder, if I added some cocoa to the mix? I'll tell you what -- pure magic.

Truth be told, I went cocoa-happy. I wanted the chocolate flavor to be assertive, despite its supporting role. I added 2 Tbsp of it, and I'm glad I did. Pears and cocoa get along marvelously, and the final product was tangy and spicy and a bit rich and bitter from the cocoa, not to mention perfectly crisp and crunchy. Is your mouth watering, too?

I should mention that I also added galangal, a lovely spice I got from Penzeys earlier this year. It's similar to ginger, prominent in Thai cuisine, and has spicy notes but is also an assertively fruity flavor. It's truly something special. If you have it, definitely use it here. If you've got a mandoline, you MUST try this recipe. If not, get yourself to amazon and have a mandoline for the price of dinner tonight. It's kinda totally worth it.

Cocoa Pear Crisps adapted from Epicurious

1 tablespoon sugar 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger 1/4 teaspoon galangal, optional 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 2 tablespoons cocoa 20 paper-thin pear slices (from 1 pear)

Preheat oven to 275°F. Mix sugar and spices in small bowl. Place pear slices on rack set over baking sheet. Alternatively, place slices on silpat-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with spiced sugar. Bake until almost dry, about 1 hour. I flip the slices half way through to ensure even baking. Cool on rack or sheet. Store airtight up to 2 days.