STIR THE POTS

Inge's Ribiselküchen

 

I like to think seasonally when I cook, but yesterday was an exception. While shopping for food at Trader Joe's, I spied some red currants in the fruit and vegetable section, and quickly stuffed them into my filling cart! These red jewels, slightly sweet and a bit sour were going into a dessert I have had on my trips to Switzerland visiting my sister. It's a recipe from  her mother in-law Inge  who kindly gave me a copy. Since  I rarely see currants in New York, Trader Joe's gave me both ingredients and inspiration to act.

So what is this memorable treat? Ribiselküchen, or more simply currant cake. It's perfect marriage of cake, merengue and fruit that make for a Mama cake. My problem is not being able to have just one slice. It's easy to demolish this cake in one seating. I know it happened to me once or twice.

Inge's Ribiselküchen

Serves 6-8

Cake:

150g Powdered sugar

5g Vanilla Sugar

3 Egg yolks

3 Tbsp. water

50g Melted butter

250g flour (A.P. or cake)

1/2 tsp. Baking Powder

160ml Milk

Beat powdered sugar, vanilla sugar, yolks, water until light. Add sifted flour, baking powder, and milk in thirds slowly folded slowly.

Spread into a cake pan 8x8, non-stick or lined with parchment and buttered. Bake for about 15 minutes until 3/4 cooked in a 350 oven. Spread meringue and currant mix on top and finish for about 10 minutes or until meringue is golden and slightly firm to touch.

Merengue Topping:

3 egg whites

200g sugar

5g Vanilla sugar

300g Currants (fresh)

Whip egg whites and gradually add sugar until fluffy and stiff. Fold currants  and spread on top of 3/4 cooked cake. Finish in the oven until whites are golden colored.

Bolon on my mind (Economics and a plantain recipe)

Today while making my breakfast of "bolon", a plantain cooked and enriched with chicharron (fried pork), mani (peanut butter) and cheese. It's a dish I first learned about from my wife who is from Ecuador. As well my brother in-law was famously named, "Rey" del bolon for his renowned version, with what he secretly confided to me on a visit was the "concentrado;" his approach in which the sucs and juices were added and absorbed into the awaiting plantain.

Anyway, after a visit to Ecuador, I never found anyone producing them here in the USA. So I taught myself and have since every so often when in the mood, make a batch at home or at work. It just happened this morning while browsing the headlines, I read about Ecuador defaulting on it's foreign debt accrued by corrupt former leaders and how the new President who wants to change the way banks hold nations hostage with there own draconian methods. While enjoying my rendition of this Ecuadorian comfort food, I reflected on how the current economic craziness would effect that nation, especially with the latest drop in oil prices since Ecuador is a nation that depends on selling natural resources like oil as much as bananas.

What will that mean to those there who struggle daily, the people? My tribute or my commiseration with my "Querido Ecuador" can be only a simple gesture; make bolon, a dish that incorporates simple components but gives comfort and goes really well with some great coffee, especially from Zaruma my wife's hometown.

Bolon (my gringo version)

2 servings:

2 green plantains
1 speckled maduro (yellow plantain, just getting some spots)
4-6 Tbsp oil
1 piece chicharron (I used some maple wood smoked bacon)
3 Tbsp cheese (queso fresco if you can get it in a Spanish market,buffalo mozzarella, or I like morbier, melts great!)
2 tsp peanut butter (I like chunky, if you just have peanuts crush them in a mortar to a paste or a blender!)
Salt to taste

Peel and cut plantains into 1 inch pieces. Heat oil in a frying pan, add in plantains till golden brown, drain on towel and place into a bowl. Add warm chicharron, crush with a malet for pounding meat or a pestle, add peanut butter. Finally add in cut in pieces of cheese to warm mixture, season with salt.Then form into a soft ball and serve with a piping hot coffee...enjoy y buen provecho.

Pide Suçuk by any other name would be pizza with salsice?

Like most nations, Turkey's cooking is varied so far as flavors, textures, etc. More interesting are the range of culinary influences, other cultures brought in to the mix during the historic Ottoman empire. Since coming back from Istanbul, I've missed the plethora of street food, yearning for the flavors I sampled but also missed (there was so much I wanted to try!).

Dilara, who runs Istanbul's excellent restaurant Abracadabra, sent me home  from my recent trip with a gift basket full of delicious things. One such delicacy was suçuk, a dried sausage known around the whole of the former Ottoman empire. It's a dried sausage made of beef or lamb, redolent with flavors and scents that are a reminder of the spice route that ran through Anatolia. Since I have been slaving at work, that suçuck has been hanging out in my fridge waiting to be sampled. My cat has been eyeing it for some time, so yesterday I took it off the hook from which it was hanging on the side of my baker's bench, afraid it  would be gnawed to bits by my cat if I waited.

Meanwhile I set about converting the pide hamuru (dough) recipe from my friend Gökhan the baker, throwing in some old fashioned intuition, not to mention some useful videos in Turkish on You Tube. Together, this assortment of ingredients and user-help led to a fair recreation of the great street food I've been pining for since returning from  Istanbul. The result is a winner, and it sure beats that tired take out pizza from your local where you're lucky if they bake the pie rather than just reheat.

   

 

 

 

Gökhan’s  Pide Hamuru with suçuk

Dough

Serves two (Unless your hungry and don't want to share!)

285 g Flour
8 g Salt
5g yeast(optional)
14g sugar
170 g water or as Gerkan said, squeezing his index and thumb to ear (gauge hydration by feel.)
68g levain

I used a combination no knead like Jim Lahey with a couple fold like Dan Lepard, but left the dough for about 8-10 hours or so to rise, while I went shopping at the market for the rest of the ingredients!

I cut the dough into two equal portions and rolled them out into oblong shapes covered with the fillings and pinched up the side of the dough like the shape of a canoe. Brushed with extra virgin olive oil and baked in a 450 F oven for about 15-20 minutes till nicely colored, finish with another coat of olive oil, can't get enough of the stuff!

Fillings: In this I used

1 sliced onion slightly sauted with 2 green peppers, also sliced. ( green frying Italian style peppers)

1 beautiful red ripe tomato, quatered and slice about a 1/4 inch wide

Suçuck chopped up, you could substitute any good sausage really, chorizo, merguez etc...

I didn't have any mozzarella, instead I used grated ricotta salata.

With this delicious pide I had a wonderful Hog Heaven Barley winestyle- ale from Avery Brewing Co. in Boulder, nice.

Some rye baking, by way of the Danube.

Susan of wild yeast just posted a story about how her longtime dislike for rye changed after a class demo at SFBI,  where she gave in to its flavor palette of earthy chewiness. Along with Nils from Inversecook, whose rye loaves - whether plain, or with hemp, seeded, soy or nuts always look good to eat - I can't get enough of the stuff! Trouble is nobody bakes it here, or at least as well as the loaves in Germany or France and Switzerland! Sure you can say we got Jewish deli rye here. But what Jewish bakers are still baking it? The few who still have the skills are likely retired, and advised their kids to avoid the sweat of the kitchen for the sweat of Wall Street. Actually, after last week's financial melt-town, maybe some of that younger Jewish talent will see cooler possibilities in the non ethereal, grounded (and sweeter smelling) profession of the kitchen.

Regardless, rye is not at all like working with wheat. It feels different, it's like wet clay or cement. Once mastered and appreciated what emerges from the oven baked , is a golden sweet, earthy  tasting loaf that when slaked with butter or layered with leberwurst it can't be beat. My own efforts are definitely hit or miss!  That was the case with my last Stonehenge monolith loaf. I don't know if it was the percentages gone "awry," but I failed at an attempt with Seigle de Augverne, a recipe from Dan Leader's Local Bread. My version worked best as a door stop that made a deep hollow thud as it hit my basement's trash compactor. There have been others that could be rated ok; some even good looking enough for a snap of my camera, but for eating? Not! Reaching into my archives, I recalled a loaf I had spied on Graham Prichard's site. The loaf was by Boris, aka. Danubian. Bakery instructor, fly fisherman and more than often one of the strong voices of artisan baking on the forum.  Upon request, Boris was so kind as to let me post his formula. I made only one loaf, as light rye, medium rye or even whole grain rye seem harder to get these days except for mail order or health stores. Definitely when people taste these loaves you won't consider just eating wheat loaves. Heck you may even go and try spelt next or quinoa?

Thanks Boris, die brot hat geschmeckte sehr gut!

 

I got the munchies for some Patlican salatasi and pide!

While in Istanbul, among the terrific dishes I tried was a great eggplant salad. Besides being just damn good, it's also damned healthy. So I wanted to share the recipe, along with its partner pide, a flat bread that accompanies any good Turkish meal.

Patlican salatasi, or... in Istanbul parlance, "aubergine salad." It’s a simple dish that goes especially well with a nice pide,along with yogurt and olives.The pide here are from an Abracadabra's house recipe, something served fresh daily. Abracadabra's variation is includes cooked spinach inside the bread. It's a must for wiping your plate. Douse it in olive oil scented with oregano or with patlican salatasi.

While I never wrote down the exact recipe, Abracadabra's Meze chef, Murat Ceylan, let me hang out frequently watching him make it. All to say, hopefully I captured it via old fashioned culinary osmosis. And I was able to score a specific pide recipe from my wonderful food artisan friend, Dilara. As my trip to Istanbul was too short (painfully so), the flavors, smells and sites have me dreaming of my return. Guess there's only one thing to do with such memories. Time to cook!

1 Aubergine (eggplant)
1 Chopped tomato, peeled and seeded
2 pieces of scallion sliced thin

1 garlic clove, minced
1 red pepper roasted or raw, diced
2tsp Cumin powder 

1 Tbsp lemon juice

2-3 Tbsp olive oil2-3 Tbsp. Chopped Italian parsley
                           salt and pepper to taste

Serves 4-6

Prick the eggplant with a fork on all sides,broil or grill till soft. Set aside till cool. Peel cooled eggplant and mash eggplant with fork along with a peeled and seeded, chopped tomato. chopped scallion. minced garlic, cumin and lemon juice. Mix with a fork while whisking in olive oil, finish with salt and pepper to taste.

Served room temperature with a dollop of labne or strained yogurt and olives.



 

Pide: the puffy one with spinach and sesame ( there is no spinach in this version)

250gr A.P. flour

   5 gr salt

15 gr sugar

  5 gr yeast

enougth water

make a dough with enough water that feels as soft  as your ears, cut and make balls  about 8 small, 4 large.  Let them sleep(rest) half an hour, than "open" (flatten) them, with both hands together make indentations into the dough like foccacia along the whole dough, brush with yogurt and sprinkle with whatever toppings, such as sesame, nigella, zataar...bake till golden in a 500 F. 270 c.

( I bulk fermented the dough first for about 1 hour, Dilara hadn't mentioned it in her notes, so assumed she may have missed that part?)

Pâté, a meat loaf a primer.

Trying to get a recipe for pate, my friend Brad shared a terrific primer on rural French hunting traditions, as seen here in tips on wild boar pâté. But while fun to read and imagine, Brad's instructions were better set in a country forest than the jungles of New York City.

The truth is that I have a wine dinner coming up at work featuring some Bordeaux's from Sotheby's. So I endeavored to make my own pâté or terrine, or whatever you may want to call it!. What better in the current heat then a  game pâté.  The names are somewhat confusing as they're meanings refer to only parts of what makes up the final product. Terrine by name is  the vessel in which the meat is cooked, Pâté is roughly translated as paste. My guide is a  recipe for terrine I found from a charcuterie  site that has a PDF file full of sausage recipes. Julia Child  has a standard and wonderful version in her book,Mastering The Art Of French Cooking. Other good sources include the always useful Larousse Gastronomic, Stephane Reynaud's recipe rich,Terrine or even the reference tool of no other than Auguste, Escoffiers Cook Book which fantastic guides as well as good choices.

Some points to follow when making a pâté:

1. cold ingredients, (freeze the meat for up to an hour)
2. fresh ingredients
3. cold utensils, ( I put my parts in the refrigerator)
4. Add fat last, ( fat back breaks down easily, it has no connective tissue.)
5. sharp knives
6. proper sanitation
7. Add eggs  last, ( because they would be too wet and difficult to incorporate.)
8. Salt before emulsifying (it helps break down proteins in meat)
9. Never salt fat ,( draws out too much moisture, making meat harder to breakdown)

Farce or force meat: too much meat will make the pâté dry, too much fat and it will be greasy. Liver is a flavor component,and can vary from foie gras, poultry, or even pork liver can be added. Variations of coarse cut or fine paste determine the final texture and taste

The ratio for a pâté  is  2 parts Fowl, (duck, pheasant) or whatever meat is the dominant component, 1 part fat and 1 pork, about a 1/2 to 2/3 part liver is added . From this I take a third of the ground meat and process 1/3rd of the mix and puree to a fine paste, finally adding the eggs.
From the basic meat component you add in flavorings and various dice of meat either from the same processed bird, veal, pork meat and even vegetables, it's basically your choice about layering flavor and look of the final product.

Fillings:Depending on your taste filling can include the dominant meat, (usally the breast meat for fowl,  ham or vegetables like artichokes, peppers.When filling the terrine or mold you want to give a design to the way you lay out your pâté so you will get a mosaic effect, or if making a say a  pâté de campagne which is filled with more liver you won't have that defined look, it's a more rustic meat that is more flavor driven,

Flavoring:Then there is the spice and herbs that may vary according to flavor profile or whim. Just as long as you follow the ratio of meat to fat in the terrine recipe, the variations are endless.You may add in fruits and nuts, fresh or dry herbs. Quatre épice or other spice mixes are just one of the many possibilities.

Pâtés and terrines are a mystery meat for sure, but following some basic rules and some kitchen skills you can make a French classic at home without much stress, and besides with a slice of good country bread...délicieux's

Hot tamales

Tamales with pulled brisket and chilies, not your average summer meal...but if you have a bit of braised brisket leftover from Passover in the freezer, why not make use of it? That is what I did today, with some easy masa dough, some dried chilies, onions, garlic and juices from the braised meat it was a cinch. Tamales are a basic dough in which you can fill with pretty much whatever you have, chicken, pork, beef, chilies, beans and cheese.

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Based on Rick Bayless's Authentic Mexican, cookbook.
Tamale dough:

3.5 oz Masa harina
4oz masarepa
1 1/4 cups of boiling waterDried and reconstituted corn husks or banana leaves.

Stir in the hot water into the Masa harina and masarepa and set aside to cool.
4oz. Lard or vegetable shortening if so inclined.
2 cups of prepared Masa,(above)
about 1/2 a cup of chicken stock at room temperature
1 tsp. baking powder
about a 1/2 to 1 tsp of salt depending on broth used, (homemade or store bought.)
Filling:
Shredded or pulled meat with whatever salsa you want or condiments like, chilies, raisins, olives, eggs, etc...
Beat lard until soft and light in mixer. add half of masa mix beating until incorporated, while your beating add in increments stock and the rest of the masa. Sprinkle salt and baking powder over the dough and mix for a couple of minutes.
Soak corn husks in boiling water and allow to cool and soften.
Take about a quarter cup of dough and place it in the middle of the corn husk that is laid out flat, flatten it into a square about 2x2 inches and fill about a tablespoon of meat down the center, fold over both sides to cover filling. Roll the husk to create a package over the other side, fold upward the pointed end and tie off with string or pieces of husks made into ties.

Steam for 1 1/2 hours until the masa separates from the husk and is somewhat firm.

Sweet potato tortillas

Being summer and we are winding down towards our august vacation and it is  sort of slow around work, I decided to make some pork carnitas with refried beans for staff meal. But I had no tortillas. Not to to be dissuaded from my menu plan I decided on some flour tortillas, not really my favorite. So to mix it up I recalled a recipe for sweet potato tortillas from Reed Hearons book Bocaditos. Too bad I was at work and the book was back at home. So without the book I just fiddled around with a general idea of roasted sweet potato, and just omitted water because of the hydration in the sweet potatoes. We chowed our tasty tortillas, with some pico de gallo, sorry no pictures. But I did fold up and wrap one of the tortillas and it made it in the back of my bike jersey in one piece.

Tortilla de camote

1 roasted sweet potato

3.5 cups flour

3tblsp. lard or vegetable shortening

pinch of salt

water if needed.

You will need a large cast Iron pan, flat top stove, (like I used). I mixed all the ingredients with a paddle of my kitchen aid, lazy yes but I wanted the tortillas to eat. Don't over mix, maybe two minutes till you get a dough that holds together, give it a final short knead on a table with a bit of dusting flour. Cover and rest for 15-20 minutes. Divide into 12  pieces and roll out into round circles and cook on one side over a medium high heat until bubbles appear, turn over and you will notice air bubbles, remove and cool. Re-heat as need, you probably won't have any left, they're so good!

Clafoutis

When it's cherry-harvest season it makes me mad I am not eating the lovely red fruit from my sister's Swiss orchard. I hope she has a moment to give this classic of the Limousin region in France a try. One of my first cooking books was Paul Bocuse In your kitchen, a real classic. It has the sort of dishes your mother would make if you were one of those lucky kids in France whose mom cooked. Americans, well... a few still can't figure out why this particular French treat retains the pits; it seems illogical with the custard-cake filling en robing the bursting steaming hot fruit, but the taste gets even more pronounced with notes of almonds.

It would  seem you would choke, no? Not unless you wolf down without chewing, think of eating a fish with bones. But it's the pleasure of dissecting and tasting with your mouth. Maybe a measure of the French way of eating and enjoying food, take human bites and mind the pits. Then just spit em out into your mit and discard with discretion!

After making my first clafoutis for what seems like years,we made one during the July 4th féte at my mother's. Today I made it again at work for the staff. To my surprise, the bartender, who hates fruits, exclaimed how delicious it was! So good that only a few of the crew got any as it was quickly picked clean from the pan. So if you want a taste of the real France, the one I barely remember from my short time living there but with a certainty of a taste for good eats, this is a  winner.

Clafoutis

6oog Cherries stemmed not pitted

3 whole eggs

125g powdered sugar

pinch of salt

80g flour

200ml milk

40g melted butter

20g whole butter softened for mold

Pre-heated 385 degree oven

9-10 inch flan mold or cake pan with sides

Butter the mold and set aside. Stem the cherries and wash well, then put them into pre-buttered pan.

sift sugar and flour into bowl, beat eggs and add in small circular motions into the flour sugar mix, start from the center and gradually incoporate the flour from the outside of the bowl. Pour in the milk until your mixture is homogeneous, finally adding the melted butter.

Bake in pre-heated oven for 25-30 minutes till nicely browned and risen, cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Serve warm or cold.

Another loaf out of the pot..creuset that is.

My obstinate nature made me take another stab at the pot baking method  today. I was inspired by my friend Vincent, who told me about an oven used in England that didn't need steam injected during the bake because the humidity from the loaves themselves created the glossy shine we often find in commercial loaves.

I whipped up my stock levain into a stiff mix, followed Dan Leader's general measurements from his favorite levain formula on Bread Alone, et voila a crisp and light feeling loaf. Sure it doesn't have a perfect grigne. The problem was it got stuck in the banneton while I was carefully trying to avoid singing my legs as well as my fingers in the process! Of course New York that day was hot and humid. Luckily the wife was getting her gym workout, giving me about an hour to bake and try to chill the apartment with some air conditioning before she got back. And then I knew all would be okay when my cat, curious as he always is, approached \ the cooling loaf that was making sounds of "snap, crackle and pop!" He seemed to love the smell of the hot bread, no matter how hot the apartment. 

Anyway, after speaking with my friend Mick in Conzieu, I started to feel as between this blog and all the other baking media online, I was sharing my passion with soul mates all over the world. All to say this is for the friends and bakers...Kathy, Vincent, Mick, Brad, Adam, Ben, David, Susan, Dieter...too many others too mention, but happy baking one and all!

Dan Leaders Favorite Levain
Levain
170g flour
340 starter

Dough

510 water
680 flour
1Tbsp salt

Mix the levain overnite 8-12 hours

Combine water and levain on 1st speed of mixer till broken up.
Add in flour mix until shaggy and autolyse 20-60 minutes, continue mixing on second speed, add salt.
Rise for 2 hours, giving one or two folds, ( I did 2 since the dough felt a bit loose.)
At this point you may want to continue to shape, proof,bake. Since I went to dinner and wouldn't have time to bake, I decided to retard the dough overnight. In the morning I let the dough warm up a bit for about 2 hours, with one fold. I then shaped and baked in a preheated creuset pan for one hour. As the oven I have is fairly small and the pot is a large one, I lowered my initial temperature from 500 F to 400 as soon as I put in the loaf. You want to cover the loaf with the lid for at least a 40 minutes, then finish the loaf with the top off...be careful this stuff is hot and Vincent says he has left many a mark on a table top forgetting the pan was scorching hot!