Kara went to DC this week with the entire 8th grade of Greenhill. So you know what that means… I cook forbidden food! Not really forbidden—Kara has a pretty flexible palette—but she is not a fan of lamb, is severely allergic to clams, and she probably would not be interested in seeing a whole quail on her plate. So I pulled out my favorite cookbooks and went to town.
Braised Eggs with Lamb, Tahini, and Sumac
This is the cover recipe for Jerusalem (their picture is prettier, but they cheated!—It’s heavily modified from the actual recipe). The book’s description is what interested me most: "This concoction is Jerusalem fusion food at it’s very best. It incorporates traditional elements that are purely Palestinian with ingredients characteristic of various Jewish cuisines, and puts them all together in a completely nontraditional way.” The flavors were AMAZING and perfectly balanced. Lamb, onions, garlic, pistachios, pine nuts, harissa paste (a red chile-based hot sauce with spices like caraway and cumin), topped with cooked tomatoes, cilantro, and a sauce made with Greek yogurt and tahini paste. It’s sprinkled with sumac, which is a delicious spice that is fairly mild with citrusy notes and is becoming very popular in the US, I suspect in part because of this chef. Truly a masterpiece recipe.
Chili-Lime Glazed Grilled Quail + Fire Roasted Poblano and Sweet Potato Hash
I noticed Texas quail at my favorite market, so I had to pick it up for this week, and I knew Jonathan would be the perfect person to share it with. He picked this chili-lime glazed recipe from a few options I gave him and I came up with the sweet potato hash side. Both were simple to make with few ingredients, and absolutely delicious.
Soba Noodles with Eggplant and Mango
The title pretty much says it all, but it’s dressed in a sauce similar to shari-zu (sushi dressing- rice wine vinegar, sugar, and salt) and perked up with cilantro and red onion. Soba is the Japanese word for buckwheat, by the way, so that’s what the noodles are, and they are delicious. Another Ottolenghi recipe, this time from Plenty. That book’s difficult for me to cook from because the recipes are either very high in fat (which makes me a little uncomfortable), or loaded with veggies that Kara is not a fan of. She loves fruits and I love veggies, and the reverse is not true. No matter what, I have LOVED every recipe I’ve made from it. This one did not disappoint.
Clams with Butter-Lime Sauce + Hainan Chicken
Both of these are from The Slanted Door and, just as almost everything else I’ve made from that book, they are simple, subtle, but deep in flavor all at once. For this meal, I invited Nora over (very dear friend, walking distance from where we live now)- I know she likes Asian flavors.
The clams are an excellent illustration of the impact the French have on Vietnamese cuisine, thanks to French colonialism. It’s essentially a French dish using sake instead of chardonnay, with the addition of Thai chiles and fish sauce. I think the blend of French with Asian cuisine is one of the reasons I like Vietnamese food so much.
Hainan chicken is one that Charles Phan has always had on his menu even though he says it's never been a best seller. It’s boiled, so the skin is rubbery, not crispy, but his mentality is that that’s the best way to really experience chicken at it’s purest. A fair assessment, and tastier than it sounds. It IS really good. The ginger-chicken broth is then used to make a rice pilaf (rice cooked in flavored broth, often seared in fat first, as in this case). The dipping sauce served alongside the chicken is what seals the deal- Thai chiles, ginger, garlic, lime and fish sauce- pungent in a good way.
