Mediterranean Cooking with Clifford A. Wright

Potatoes in Barcelona

2011-12-15T13:59:00.000-08:00

Patatas brava is a classic Catalan potato dish but these days it’s transformed into a very popular tapa in Barcelona bars. Restaurant chefs get into the act too and all sort of interpretive variations occur. The one I had at the Florian restaurant in Barcelona at Bertrand i Serra 20 in the early 1990s was demonstrated by the chef and owner Rosa Grau and her sous-chef Enrique Martin, who encased the potatoes in allioli. This recipe is adapted from the inspiration of Chef Sergi Arola of the Arola restaurant in the Hotel Arts in Barcelona. The brava sauce is the tomato sauce. In more careless versions of patatas brava the brava sauce is made

with ketchup and mayonnaise.

For the potatoes

4 white rose or Yukon gold potatoes (about 20 ounces in all, each about 3 inches in diameter at the widest part)

4 to 6 cups olive oil for frying

For the brava sauce

5 ripe tomatoes (about 1 pound), cut in half, seeds squeezed out, and grated against the largest holes of a standing grater down to the peel

1 large garlic clove, finely chopped

1 small dried red chile

Freshly ground black pepper

2 teaspoons sugar

½ teaspoon salt and more if desired

For the allioli

4 large garlic cloves

½ teaspoon salt and more to taste

1 large egg

1 cup sunflower seed oil

For the garnish

Finely chopped fresh parsley for garnish

1. Preheat the oven to 260 degrees F.

2. Peel the potatoes and cut in half lengthwise. Trim each half into a cylinder about 1 ½ inches in diameter using a paring knife and peeler. Slice the cylinders in halves. You’ll have four 1 ½-inch segments per potato. Hollow out the middle of each segment using a small melon baller, corer, or a paring knife and demitasse spoon. Try not to break through the bottom. Place the potato segments on a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, in a skillet, simmer the tomatoes with the garlic and chile over low heat until all the water has evaporated, about 1 hour. Transfer to a food processor and blend with the sugar and salt. This is the brava sauce. Clean the food processor.

4. Prepare the allioli in a mortar by mashing the garlic with ½ teaspoon salt until mushy. Transfer to the food processor and blend with the egg for 30 seconds, then add the sunflower seed oil in a very slow stream until emulsified with the egg. Correct the salt and refrigerate, covered, until needed. You’ll have more allioli than you will need for this recipe.

5. Preheat the frying oil to 360 degrees F in a deep-fryer or an 8-inch saucepan fitted with a basket insert.

6. Remove the potatoes from the oven then deep-fry the potatoes until golden, about 4 minutes. Remove and cool for at least 30 minutes, but keep the frying oil hot. Re-fry the potatoes for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove and arrange on a serving platter and season with salt. Once they are warm and not hot, spoon the brava sauce into the hollow and then cover with a spoonful of allioli. Garnish with a sprinkle of parsley and serve.

Makes 8 tapas servings (2 per person)

[photo: Clifford A. Wright]

Hot and Cheesy

2011-09-14T17:42:00.000-07:00

My new book HOT & CHEESY is coming out in February to be published by John Wiley & Sons. I'm very excited about this book and who wouldn't be about cheese. We Americans eat a lot of cheese and it's a shame that we know so little about cheese, how to make it, how to care for it, how to eat it, and how to cook it. And what a shame so much of it isn't legally or technically cheese, for example, Velveeta, which isn't cheese. You'll like this book because it tells you all about how to COOK with cheese.

The Sicilian Tuna of Archestratus

2011-07-31T09:19:00.000-07:00

Archestratus was a Greek poet from either Gela or Syracuse in Sicily who wrote in the mid-fourth century B.C. His major work is the didactic poem called Hedypatheia, usually translated as “Life of Luxury,” written in hexameters, that advises on where to find the best food in the Mediterranean world. His work is only known through fragments found in the monumental collection of writing on food by a later Greek, Athenaeus, called Deipnosophistae (Dinner Table Philosophers) who flourished at the end of the

second century A.D. and third century A.D. Archestratus was quite fond of fish and they are often mentioned in his work. Archestratus writes that “in the glorious isle of Sicily, the shores of Cephaloedium and Tyndarium nurture far better tunnies; and if ever thou go to Hipponium, in sacred Italy, that abode of Persephone with the fair diadem, by far, yea, by far the best of all [tuna] are there, and the heights of victory are theirs. Cephaloedium and Tyndarium is that part of the Sicilian coast on the Tyrrhenian Sea between modern Cefalu and Tindai, in the commune of Patti in the province of Messina. Archestratus tells us that “the belley pieces [of tuna] are esteemed, as Eubulus tell us in Ion.” He recommends to “have a tail-cut from the she tunny—the large she-tunny I repeat, whose mother city is Byzantium. Slice it and roast it all rightly, sprinkling just a little salt, and buttering it with oil. Eat the slices hot, dipping them into a sauce piquant; they are nice even if you want to eat them plain, like the deathless gods in form and stature. But if you serve it sprinkled with vinegar, it is done for.” To this day the tuna of Sicily is favored by all gourmets.

[photo: Clifford A. Wright; off the coast of Lipari]

HOT & CHEESY - The Book

2011-06-24T06:10:00.000-07:00

Tomato Tart with Figs, Fontina, and Goat Cheese

This tart is a favorite in the summer. This is from my forthcoming book to be published by Wiley, HOT & CHEESY. You’ll need to blind bake the puff pastry first, which means baking the dough without the filling so that it does not become soggy later.

½ pound puff pastry, defrosted according to package instructions

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 large garlic clove, crushed

2 pounds ripe and juicy tomatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

2 sprigs fresh mint

¼ pound fontina Val d’Aosta cheese, cut in 8 thin wedges

¼ pound fresh goat cheese, broken apart

4 fresh figs, quartered

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Roll the puff pastry out on a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin to cover the bottom and sides of a 10-inch tart pan, pressing the pastry against the bottom and sides and folding over excess dough to make a thick rim. Prick the bottom of the pastry with a fork. Cut out a 10-inch round of parchment paper and place on top of the pastry. Fill with 1 pound ceramic pastry baking balls or 1 pound dried beans and bake until the edges are golden, about 20 minutes. Remove the tart pan and cool on a rack. Remove the ceramic balls or dried beans and once cool store for another use.

3. Increase the oven heat to 425 degrees F.

4. In a skillet, heat the olive oil over high heat with the garlic clove and when it starts smoking add the tomatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, on high until it is thick with large soft chunks, about 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and set aside with the mint in the sauce while the pastry shell cools.

5. Remove and discard the mint sprigs. Spoon the chunky tomato sauce over the bottom of the pastry. Lay the fontina cheese, goat cheese, and figs on top attractively. Bake until the cheese is bubbling, about 20 minutes. Serve hot or warm.

Makes 4 servings

[photo: Clifford A. Wright

Arab Delights with Real Beets

2011-05-24T11:31:00.000-07:00

[photo: Clifford A. Wright]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who discovered at some point in their lives that a real roasted red beet root is a far cry from anything popped from a can. In fact, as far as I'm concerned they are two separate foods.

A favorite food of mine is an Arab dish of red beets popular in Lebanon and Palestine called Shamandar bi’l-Laban in Arabic.

Red Beets with Yogurt

When I first encountered this Lebanese preparation, called shamandar bi’l-laban, I was quite taken with the appetizing color. But upon tasting it I couldn’t believe how good it was--how natural beets, yogurt, and mint seemed even though I’m not sure it would have occurred to me. This dish can also be made with silq, that is, “white beets” more commonly known as chard.

2 pounds beets, with their leaves

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

2 large garlic cloves, pounded in a mortar with 1/2 teaspoon salt until mushy

2 heaping tablespoons strained yogurt (called labna or lubny) (see Note below)

1 1/2 cups whole plain yogurt

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint leaves

1. Steam or boil the beet leaves over high heat until wilted, about 10 minutes. Remove and drain. Steam the roots until easily pierced by a skewer, about 30 minutes. Drain and let cool. Cut the leaves into strips and arrange by spreading them on a serving plate. Peel the beets and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Arrange the beetroot slices on top of the leaves. Season with salt and pepper.

2. Stir the garlic paste and labna into the yogurt and beat for 1 minute with a fork. Spread the yogurt over the beets and garnish the top with the mint.

Makes 6 serving

Note: Strained yogurt (labna or lubny) is sold in Middle Eastern markets and better supermarkets such as Whole Foods. You can make it at home easily enough: place a good quality whole plain yogurt in a cheesecloth-lined strainer and let rest over a deep bowl to drain overnight. The resulting yogurt in the strainer is called labna.

Fava Beans with Mediterranean Jews

2011-05-18T09:26:00.000-07:00

Anyone steeped in Mediterranean culinary cultures, especially that of Sephardic Jews in the Eastern
Mediterranean, will note, for example, around the time of Passover, the complete unfamiliarity of this food with the food of Eastern Europe whence most of the Jews in Western Europe and North America hail. May and June is a time for fresh fava beans and among Sephardic Jews “fava beans are one of the foods the Jews hankered for during their Exodus from Egypt,"Claudia Roden, author of The Book of Jewish Food: an Odyssey from Samarkand to New York, who Roden grew up in Egypt, tells us.

[photo: Clifford A. Wright]

Among Greek Jews a favorite dish this time of year is simply called koukia, fava beans.

Koukia

Fava Beans with Dill

In the Ladino language spoken by the Jews of Greece in the seventeenth century, fava beans were called avas while today in Greece they are called koukia. This is a delightful springtime dish that can also be served as a meze at room temperature.

6 tablespoons unsalted butter or extra-virgin olive oil

1 pound double-peeled fava beans (see Note)

5 small spring onions, white and light green parts, chopped

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

5 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

Juice of 2 lemons

1. In a skillet, melt the butter over medium heat, then cook, stirring, the fava beans, springs onions, salt, and pepper for 5 minutes. Add water to cover the beans, about 3/4 cup, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the dill and lemon juice and stir then simmer until soft, about another 10 minutes. Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.

Makes 4 servings

Note: Double-peeled means the fava beans are taken out of their pods (first peel) and then skinned of their tough light green skin (second peel) that surrounds the bean.

Making Pasta

2011-04-15T14:57:00.000-07:00

My electric Imperia pasta roller and cutter just broke after 25 years of superlative service. It had the decency not to break until I finished cutting my very last sheet of tajarill, a short 3-inch long fettuccine used in the province of Teramo in Abruzzo made of semolina and whole wheat flour. I'm going to replace it with the pasta attachments KitchenAid sells for their stand mixers.

I've been making pasta a lot lately, partly because I'm writing a big book that requires everything to be homemade and partly because it just isn't that hard and it's head and shoulders above store bought, noticeably so. My favorite pasta I cut by hand, the pappardelle which I love to make with a rich duck sauce.

It's easy as I said. Pour 3 cups of semolina flour on a work surface and make a well in the middle, like a volcanic crater. Pour in 1 cup water, a teaspoon of salt and 1 or 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Using your index finger stir and incorporate the flour on the walls of the crater and once it is absorbed form the dough into a ball and knead for 8 minutes, then let rest 1 hour. Roll it out and use a pasta cutter roller or cut by hand. It's up to you. Lay the pasta on a table covered with a sheet, or in a 11 x 13 inch baking sheet sprinkled with flour so the pasta doesn't stick hopelessly together and let dry 4 hours to 2 days.

If you need more hand holding than that you'll find my detailed instructions here.

[photo: Clifford A. Wright

Octopus Pie from Sète

2011-03-15T06:36:00.000-07:00

The fishing of octopus has always been a secondary activity on the Golfe du Lion where Sète is a small but important port. We know that octopus was caught on this coast and shipped to Toulouse in the fourteenth century. There are a few extant octopus recipes from the Middle Ages, and one I’m familiar with is an octopus stuffed with mint, parsley, and other herbs found in the anonymous fourteenth-century Catalan cookbook Libre de sent soví.

This recipe from Sète called Tielle de Poulpe Sètoise I first tasted in Cap d’Agde, a small, rather pleasant seaside resort in the Hérault department of the Languedoc. Today it is notable as the site of the Quartier Naturisme, a nudist city of about 10,000 people. This delicious tielle, made in an earthenware pan about five inches in diameter of the same name, is a spicy octopus ragoût clothed in a sweet wine-flavored pastry dough. The wine-colored crust glistens with a golden aura because of an egg yolk-and-tomato paste glaze. Down the road from Sète, in Bouzigues, a similar preparation is made with mussels and is called chausson de moule.

2 to 2 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour

3 ½ ounces pork lard

¼ cup sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

¾ cup sweet red wine

1 ½ pounds octopus, cleaned

2 tablespoons red or white wine vinegar

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra as needed

1 medium onion, finely chopped

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 pounds ripe plum tomatoes, cut in half, seeds squeezed out, and grated against the largest holes of a standing grater down to the peel

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

¾ teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 bay leaf

Pork lard or butter for greasing the tart pan

1 egg yolk

1 teaspoon tomato paste

1. In a cold, large metal bowl, work 2 cups of the flour, the lard, sugar, and salt together with your fingers or a pastry cutter until it is pebbly and well-blended. Alternatively, pulse in a food processor and then transfer to a cold metal bowl. Add the wine and knead until you have supple dough, adding more flour if the dough is sticking. Form the dough into a ball and wrap in waxed paper and leave in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

2. Put the octopus in a large pot of boiling salted water with the vinegar and boil until tender, about 45 minutes. Drain, rinse with cold water and peel as much of the skin off the octopus as you can while it is still hot. Chop the octopus into smaller than bite-size pieces.

3. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat, then cook the onion , garlic, and octopus until the onion is soft, about 8 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the tomatoes and season the sauce with salt, black pepper, cayenne, thyme, and bay leaf. Reduce the heat to medium-low and let the sauce simmer until the water is evaporated, about 1 ¼ to 1 ½ hours, stirring occasionally.

4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

5. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll out thin. Cut out sixteen 5-inch disks. Lightly grease eight 4-inch tart pans with lard or butter and cover each with a disk of dough. Prick the dough all over with a toothpick. Spread several tablespoons of the tomato-and-octopus stuffing over it. Cover with the remaining disks and pinch down the edges so they meet the bottom disk. Pinch off any excess dough. Prick the top with a toothpick. Whisk together 2 or 3 drops of olive oil with the egg yolk and tomato paste and brush on the top crust.

6. Bake until a glistening golden, about 30 minutes. Remove the tarts from their pan, arrange on a serving platter, and serve.

Makes 8 servings

Pirates of the Mediterranean

2011-01-24T16:27:00.000-08:00

In the Pelion region of Greece, fishermen would give up their gardens and hunting and move their families to the streets of the local harbor for the fishing season. In Crete, men routinely joined Turkish ships even a century before Crete fell into Turkish hands. Turkish recruiters would also find Greek sailors in the taverns of Pera on Cyprus. There were many small-time Greek pirates in the islands of the Aegean and along the coasts of the Adriatic, in search of small-time victims and whatever food could be stolen. Although these fishermen-pirates could take from the sea, pirate rations were usually a sack of flour, some biscuits, a skin of oil, honey, a few bunches of garlic and onions, and a little salt. These rations would last a month, or until the next raid or port.

Greek fishermen were truly sailors who found a home all over the Mediterranean. Greek sailors could easily be found manning a Spanish, Turkish, or pirate galley. The infamous brothers, the Barbarossas, were Greek or Turkish sailors from Lesbos who converted to Islam and settled in Djerba, becoming pirates who terrorized the western Mediterranean. By 1518, they ruled Algiers until the last brother’s death in 1546.

When you throw that just-caught fish onto the grill, wrapped in grape leaves, you can think of how rich that Mediterranean is with its magnificent cuisines and equally fantastic history. Try the recipe for grilled fish wrapped in grape leaves.

Christmas Day 1189

2010-12-19T06:31:00.000-08:00

Of the famous Christmas dinners, I must comment on that of Christmas day 1189 when Richard the Lion-hearted gave a sumptuous banquet at Castello Mategrifon in Messina in Sicily. The name of the castle means “curb on the Greeks.” He invited the King of France and the Sicilian notables. A few days later he had an interesting interview with the aged Abbot of Corazzo, Joachim, founder of the Order of Fiore. The venerable saint expounded to him the meaning of the Apocalypse. The seven heads of the Dragon were Herod, Nero, Constantius, Muhammad, Melsenuth (by whom he probably meant Abdul Mueim, founder of the Almohad sect), Saladin, and finally the Antichrist himself, who, he declared, had already been born 15 years ago in Rome and would sit on the papal throne. Richard’s flippant reply, that in that case the Antichrist was probably the actual Pope, Clement III, whom he personally disliked. This splendiferous feast was described by Ambroise (flourished c. 1190) a Norman poet and chronicler of the Third Crusade, author of a work called L’Estoire de la guerre sainte, which describes in rhyming French verse the adventures of Richard Coeur de Lion as a Crusader. As proof of its splendor Ambroise, says that every dish was of gold or silver, and that there was not a dirty tablecloth in the hall, providing us some insight into hygiene in that period of time when it was notable that the tablecloths are clean.

A Side Dish for Thanksgiving

2010-11-23T05:52:00.000-08:00

[Photo: Clifford A. Wright]
Thanksgiving is a big joyous occasion in our house and even more so now that the kids are grown and actually do the cooking or a lot of it anyway. We have a set menu and recipes printed out in a looseleaf folder that we use every year. The menu is heavily weighted towards New England mostly because we lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts for 14 years and the kids were raised there. We like everything traditional and the food is fantastic. The turkey is moist and tender and slices like butter. We have gravy made with homemade turkey stock and a little cognac. Our stuffing is typical New England bread stuffing, with homemade bread, sausage, chestnuts
and herbs. We add dishes to the repertoire but never take away. For example, for some years we made pumpkin puree but then switched over for about a decade making pumpkin flapjacks. Brussels sprouts are traditional on the New England Thanksgiving table and finally I came up with a winning Brussels sprouts dish that people love. Hash of Brussels Sprouts with Maple-cured Bacon and Hazelnuts is a winner. You start by pan-searing the split Brussels sprouts in a large cast-iron pan until golden brown. Remove them and cook the bacon until crispy, then everything is chopped up like a hash together with the hazelnuts and there you have a wonderful side dish. I'm sure you've never seen people take seconds of Brussels sprouts but they do with this one.

Clifford Teaching at Central Market in Texas

2010-10-08T07:23:00.000-07:00

I will be teaching at CENTRAL MARKET in Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, Houston, Ft. Worth, and Southlake from October 18 to 23. Join me for classes on cooking with cheese, CHEESE: THE ESSENTIAL INGREDIENT. The dishes I will demonstrate are some old time favorites and some new delights. Learn how to make French Onion Soup au Gratin, Mexican Three Cheese Soup with Roasted Poblanos, Cheesy Ham Poof, Bacon Noodle Casserole, Palak Paneer, and Tomato Tart with Figs, Fontina, and Goat Cheese.

These will be fun and delicious evenings. Come join me and sign up now at Central Market Cooking School in the city nearest you.

Tomato Tart with Figs, Fontina, and Goat Cheese

Sardines

2010-09-07T11:12:00.000-07:00

One of the typical seafoods of the coastal Mediterranean are sardines. Usually they are either deep-fried or they're grilled. I love them both ways. In the U.S. sardines are mostly considered bait and one rarely finds them in fish stores. Sardines are abundant off the coast I live near in southern California, but they sure aren't abundant in the stores. I think I know the reason they're not popular: most southern Californians trace their heritage to the Midwest and fish cookery was never big--in fact non-existent--in their families that came from Oklahoma, Missouri, or Michigan. They passed on to their children and their grandchildren their disinterest in fish. However, you can't ignore fish when you're on a big ocean, so when they did eat fish they ate fish that didn't look like fish, namely, fish fillets or unrecognizable "white" fish. So what about those sardines? Goodness, you could see their eyes and they had bones!

Man, what they're missing. Of course, I miss the easy access to them. My local Whole Foods supermarket sells local sardines for $3.99 a pound. That's great. Down the street is the fancy-shmancy Santa Monica Seafood selling their sardines (and they are the ONLY 2 places that sell them in all of the West side of Los Angeles, population 1 million I would imagine) for $15 a pound. Yikes. I told them I could get then down the street for $3.99. They said "yeah, but these are from France." Only in a stark raving mad country like ours would someone want to pay for a first class seat on a plane for a little fish.

So you've got your sardines. Gut them, ripping out all the viscera including that in the head too. Deep-fry them in plenty of olive oil for 2 to 3 minutes. And then lay them atop of some linguine cooked with olive oil, garlic, parsley, and a dusting of cayenne. Mighty nice.

[photo: linguine with fried sardines, Clifford A. Wright]

A Week of Great Food

2010-08-23T06:14:00.000-07:00

When my friend Boyd visited this week from Baltimore it become a week of great food. No recipe-testing this week from this cookbook author. The kids came over ever day and we feasted. On Tuesday we started with as authentic an ossobuco all Milanese and risotto alla Milanese as you can get. I made the veal stock for the risotto the day before and I used my ultra-low simmer setting on my stove so it simmered, barely, for about 8 hours. Wednesday we had a mixed grill of veal sweetbreads, lamb kidney (oh man, those were good), skirt steak, and homemade Italian sausage that I had frozen about a month ago. Along with it we had frittedda, that Sicilian dish of artichokes, peas, fava, and scallions that I made in June and my favorite Sicilian eggplant dish, mulinciana alla schebbeci, a kind of eggplant seviche, but much more. Thursday turned into Mexican night and my girlfriend Michelle and son Seri made a 5-course dinner straight from Rick Bayless's Authentic Mexican cookbook. We had queso fundido, chipotle chile sauce for our tacos with chorizo and potatoes and tacos al carbon, plus some guacamole and frijoles charros. On Friday was a break, but Saturday we had our annual lobsterfest, that wonderfully messy affair on the roof deck, juice squirting everywhere and shells a-flying. We got 10 two-pound lobsters for $5.95 a pound, can you believe it? Sunday was oysterfest, 100 Blue Point oysters from Long Island that I had my man fly in for our enjoyment. We bake 24 wrapped in prosciutto and sauced with a balsamic reduction and the rest we ate raw. Man what a week. Lotta beer too.

[photo credits: ossobuco, Clifford A. Wright; lobster: Dailymail.com.uk]

The Turk and the Dragon

2010-08-02T09:57:00.000-07:00

Facade, Basilica di Santa Croce, Lecce. Photo: Clifford A. Wright

Wherever you look in the Mediterranean lies an untold or unknown story for Americans not well versed in history. The Mediterranean is so rich in history it’s dizzying and sometimes one will feel overwhelmed especially if you go unprepared. The more you know the more you get out of a trip to the Mediterranean. Here’s one little example found in the unique Baroque style of the Basilica di Santa Croce in Lecce in Italy’s Salento Peninsula. The principals responsible for the structure were Gabriele Riccardi who began work in 1549 and Francesco Antonio Zimbalo, Cesare Penna, and Giuseppe Zimbalo who continued adding layer upon layer for the next 100 years. What you see today is the decorative symbolism creating an allegorical feast that can be digested only if you know the story.

This detailed photo of the exterior shows one of the Turkish prisoners from Battle of Lepanto (1571), one of the most important and significant battles in history. The dragon was the symbol of the Boncompagni, family of Pope Gregory XVI. Behind these stone workings lies a culture that appreciated the Baroque, yet the food of the town is not Baroque. It’s simple food based to a large extent on homemade dried pasta, even to this day, and simple vegetables such as chicory, fava beans, and other legumes. However, an appreciation of the food of Lecce, or Apulia for that matter, will be enriched by understanding the economic and cultural background of the people of the Salento Peninsula. This can be analogous to how much you would want to know about the Turk and the dragon on the façade off Santa Croce and what led men to build it.

Surprising Soups

2010-07-29T06:49:00.000-07:00

When I wrote THE BEST SOUPS IN THE WORLD the hardest part was cutting down the nearly 2,000 soups I wanted to include to the 250 that actually made it into the book. So, when I'm asked what's my favorite soup it's all 250. But I keep thinking of more soups I wish I had included. On the other hand some surprising soups have found their way into the book such as Alexander Dumas' Shrimp and Tomato Soup. You'll find it in THE BEST SOUPS IN THE WORLD.

[Photo: Clifford A. Wright]

Cold Soup from the Balkans

2010-07-22T07:08:00.000-07:00

This soup and hundreds more can be found in my book THE BEST SOUPS IN THE WORLD. This cold summertime soup is a favorite in Bulgaria and Macedonia. It's called tarator. In fact, a thicker version is used as a meze dip in Greece and Turkey and called tzatziki and cacık respectively. In Arab countries of the Middle East, though, taratur is a sauce made with tahini and lemon juice. The blend of yogurt, walnuts, cucumber, and garlic seems so natural and the dish is made all the more appealing by stirring in a good quality olive oil. I once made tarator on a hot July 4th followed by some yogurt-and-mint-marinated grilled lamb and it was as perfect a meal as could be. For a slightly lighter taste you can use vegetable or sunflower seed oil.
1 pound (2 cups) plain whole yogurt
3 cucumbers, peeled and finely grated
8 large garlic cloves, pounded in a mortar with 1 teaspoon salt until mushy
2 1/2 ounces (about 3/4 cup) shelled walnuts
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Water if necessary
1 bunch dill, stems removed, chopped
In a bowl, beat the yogurt until smooth. Add the cucumbers, garlic mixture, and walnuts and mix well. Add the oil and beat until well blended. If your yogurt was quite thick, add some water to thin it and make it soupy. Let rest in the refrigerator for 2 hours before serving. Stir the dill in at the last moment and serve.
Makes 4 to 6 servings

[photo credit: Borovets Vacations, 2005]

Chilled Summer Soups from Andalusia

2010-07-14T06:31:00.000-07:00

The famous gazpacho of Andalusia is one of our favorites soups for summer, but there are other wonderful chilled Andalusian soups such as Ajo Blanco. This recipe comes from my book The Best Soups in the World.

Ajo Blanco
This cold summer soup comes from Málaga in the Spanish region of Andalusia and is a kind of white gazpacho with a medieval history. It is thought to have its roots during the era of Islamic Spain between the eighth and fifteenth century. This soup is an almond-flavored soup usually served with Muscat grapes. A proper ajo blanco is a perfect emulsion of ground almond, olive oil, bread, and garlic. Its whiteness comes from the almonds. Peel the grapes by dropping them in boiling water for about a minute and a half; it’s slightly tedious to peel them, but it’s for the better.
5 ounces Italian or French bread, crusts removed
1 1/2 cups blanched whole almonds (about 1/4 pound)
2 large garlic cloves
1 teaspoon salt or more to taste
2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
4 cups cold water
1 pound seedless green grapes, peeled (see headnote)
1. Soak the bread in some water for a minute then squeeze dry.
2. In a food processor, crush the almonds with the bread, garlic, and 1 teaspoon salt until pasty. Pour the olive oil through the feed tube as the machine is running in a slow stream. Blend in the vinegar and 3/4 cup of the water through the feed tube and run continuously for 1 minute. Transfer to a blender and process even finer at high speed for 2 minutes.
3. Transfer the almond mixture to a bowl and whisk in the remaining cold water. Refrigerate for a few hours. Remove from the refrigerator and add more salt or vinegar if needed. Serve very cold with the grapes sprinkled in the bowls.
Makes 4 servings

Grilled Salad from Tunisia

2010-06-07T08:21:00.000-07:00

The ingredients of this salad called Salāṭa Mishwiyya in Arabic, the New World tomatoes and peppers having been introduced by the Spanish, are all grilled then tossed together. It is a very popular salad throughout Tunisia and one is likely to encounter it many times in ones travels in country. I first ate it in Djerba, where it typically accompanies other grilled food. You can double the recipe easily.
½ pound ripe, but firm, tomatoes
2 green bell peppers (about ¾ pound)
4 fresh red chiles (about ½ pound)
1 medium-size onion, peeled and quartered
2 garlic cloves, peeled
4 ½ teaspoons caraway seed
¾ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
24 imported black olives, pitted or whole
One 3 ½-ounce can imported tuna in olive oil, drained and flaked apart
2 hard-boiled eggs, shelled and quartered
1. Prepare a hot charcoal fire or preheat a gas grill on high for 20 minutes.
2. Grill the tomatoes, peppers, and onion until all have blackened and blistered peels or black grid marks, about 15 minutes for the smaller peppers and tomatoes, and about 20 to 25 minutes for the bell peppers and onion.
3. Peel and seed the grilled vegetables, cut them up, and place in a food processor. Process with 4 or 5 short pulses and transfer to a medium-size bowl. (You can also chop them coarsely with a chef’s knife).
4. Pound the garlic, caraway seeds, and salt together in a mortar with a pestle until almost a paste. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the grilled vegetables. Arrange on a platter, drizzle with the olive oil and lemon juice, and garnish with the olives, pieces of tuna, and quartered eggs.
Makes 4 servings

Summer Joy

2010-05-07T15:20:00.000-07:00

When we were growing up in New York, calamari was as common and beloved a food as any. My jaw would drop in saddened amazement when Midwesterners, or for that matter anybody who didn't live on the East coast, would call them rubber bands. We knew that if their texture was like rubber bands they weren't cooked properly. One of my favorite dishes is spaghetti with fried calamari. This is a harbinger of summer even more than shoots poking out of the ground. It means a world of grilled seafood is on the horizon. Pasta is the perfect food to accompany calamari as in this recipe.

Linguine with Calamari

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
5 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
1/4 teaspoon red chile flakes
6 to 8 cups olive oil for frying
1 pound cleaned squid bodies, cut into rings
1 cup all-purpose flour for dredging
Salt to taste
1/2 cup milk
3/4 pound linguine
1. In a small skillet, heat the olive oil, garlic, half the parsley, and red chile, over low heat. Turn off the heat before it starts sizzling.
2. In a deep fryer or an eight-inch diameter saucepan fitted with a wire fry basket preheat the oil to 360 degrees F. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees F or “warm.”
3. Meanwhile, dredge the squid in the flour and salt and shake off the excess flour in a strainer. Cook the squid in batches, by the handful, dipping them first in the milk rather quickly. Make sure you don’t crowd the fryer. Cook the squid until light golden, 3 to 4 minutes. Drain and place on a paper towel-lined platter and keep warm in the oven while you cook the pasta.
4. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a vigorous boil over high heat, salt abundantly, and add the pasta. Cook, stirring occasionally, until al dente and drain well without rinsing. Transfer the pasta to a serving bowl or platter. Sprinkle the fried squid on top, then sprinkle the remaining parsley on top, and serve.
Makes 4 servings

Spring Vegetables - Artichokes and Fava

2010-04-23T06:38:00.000-07:00

photo: fava bean puree, Clifford A. Wright

In Syria, there couldn’t be two more favored vegetables than artichokes and fava beans, kharshūf wa’l-fūl, except for maybe the eggplant. This simple preparation is served at room temperature and is a favorite in Damascus in the spring when artichokes and fava beans come to market. Some of the fava beans available are so young that they do not need to be peeled. If your fava beans are older you will want to peel them after boiling for 5 minutes. Although this is more work, the bright green color makes it so appetizing and, frankly, the peel is really too indigestible.
9 medium-size artichokes (about 3 pounds), trimmed
Water with lemon juice in a bowl
4 large garlic cloves, peeled
1 teaspoon salt
3 pounds fava bean pods (3 cups shelled beans)
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley leaves
1. Prepare the artichokes according to the instructions here and place the hearts in bowl of acidulated water.
2. In a mortar, pound the garlic with 1 teaspoon salt until mushy. Dice the artichokes and place in a large skillet with the fava beans, olive oil, garlic, sugar, and ¾ cup of the acidulated water in which the artichokes soaked. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, about 6 minutes. Reduce to low and simmer, covered, for 45 minutes.
3. Uncover, taste, and correct the seasoning, then simmer another 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a serving dish, sprinkle with parsley and serve at room temperature.
Makes 4 to 6 servings

One of the Best Soups in the World - Fava Bean Soup

2010-03-17T17:00:00.000-07:00

This soupe de fèves is one that Odette Cocula, a neighbor of my father’s when he lived in his adopted village of Frayssinet near Cahors in the Lot department of France, would prepare for him occasionally in the springtime. It’s a hearty soup typical of the region. You’ll need about four pounds of fava bean pods to yield three cups of double-peeled beans. The recipe is in my book THE BEST SOUPS IN THE WORLD.
3 tablespoons rendered duck fat (preferably), chicken fat, or unsalted butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 large garlic cloves (2 whole, 1 cut in half)
2 leeks, white part only, split lengthwise, washed and sliced
1 tablespoon tomato paste or 1 ripe plum tomato, peeled and finely chopped
2 medium russet potatoes (about 3/4 pound), peeled and diced
10 cups chicken broth
3 cups double-peeled fresh fava beans (see Note)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
8 slices French or Italian country bread
1. In a large pot or flame-proof casserole, melt the duck fat over medium-high heat, then cook, stirring frequently, the onion, 2 whole garlic cloves, and the leeks until soft, about 15 minutes.
2. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the potatoes and chicken broth and simmer 1 hour. Use a potato masher to slightly crush the vegetables. Add the fava beans and cook for 5 minutes, then season with salt and pepper.
3. Toast the slices of bread in a preheated broiler or a counter top oven. Rub the bread on both sides with the cut side of the remaining garlic clove. Place a slice of bread in a soup bowl and ladle the soup on top. Serve hot.
Makes 8 servings
Note: Double-peeled beans means that the bean is taken out of its pod and its skin is pinched off after being dropped in boiling water for a couple of minutes to loosen it.

Cassoulet

2010-02-23T13:42:00.000-08:00

Many dishes in the Mediterranean have apocrypha associated with their origin that I find charming. It makes the eating of these dishes all the better. One typical phenotype is the “besieged castle” origination. Cassoulet fits that bill. Cassoulet is a bean stew cooked in an earthenware casserole, hence the name, both words deriving from the same root. It is one of the classic dishes of the Languedoc, and of France. This famous bean stew—and “bean stew” hardly conveys the complexity of its flavors—is subject to much debate about what constitutes a “true” cassoulet. Cassoulet is a paradigm for a culinary understanding of the Languedoc, for there is a different recipe in every kitchen.

The history of cassoulet is a history of Languedoc. One legend places the birth of cassoulet during the siege of Castelnaudary by the Black Prince, Edward the Prince of Wales, in 1355. The besieged townspeople gathered their remaining food to create a big stew cooked in a cauldron. Apocrypha aside, a more appropriate historical question can be asked: Is the prototype of cassoulet the fava and mutton stews of the Arabs, as suggested by Julia Child and Paula Wolfert (but denied by Waverly Root)? Was the Languedoc the northern limit of the cooks, if not the commandos, of 'Abd ar-Raḥmān I and the yakhna bi’l-fūl (fava bean stew? Etymology alone provides some circumstantial evidence pointing to the celebrated cuisine of the Arabs as the provenance of cassoulet, already having made its mark on the beans stews to the south in Muslim Spain.

The word cassoulet derives from the earthenware pot it is cooked in, the cassolle or cassolo, a special vessel made by the local potteries from the terre d’Issel, Issel being a village near Castelnaudary. The word cassolo comes directly from the Spanish. But where does the Spanish word cassa, meaning “a receptacle for carrying liquid,” from which it derives come from? Possibly it is the Mozarab word cacherulo, derived from the Arabic qas'at, a large shallow bowl or pan, or it may be derived from a proto-Hispanic word.

This is the perfect time of year for cassoulet, as rib-sticking a meal as you’ll ever have. It’s heavy so best had around 4 in the afternoon on a cold Sunday. You’ll want to make only the most authentic cassoulet so follow my recipe.

Mediterranean Soups with History

2010-02-01T06:05:00.000-08:00

Many dishes in the Mediterranean have colorful stories concerning their origins. Most of these are apocryphal but nevertheless amusing. One such soup is zuppa Pavese. An important moment in food history was the great battle at Pavia in northern Italy in 1525 between Charles V of Spain (1500--1558) and the defeated King Francis I of France (1494--1547). The French historian Fernand Braudel suggested that the Battle of Pavia, besides being a triumph of the harquebusiers, was also the triumph of empty stomachs because Francis’s army was too well fed, while the Spaniards and Lombards he fought could make do with a simple broth. Legend has it that Francis, before his capture, took refuge in a nearby farmhouse after the battle. The embarrassed, yet deeply honored, housewife was preparing some soup. She had to turn her humble soup into a soup fit for a king, so she fried some stale bread, put it into the soup, and cracked in two newly laid eggs and ladled some boiling broth over the eggs. The whites curdled gently and the yolks remained soft. She served it with grana padano cheese and the king approved, asking that the recipe be given to one of his servants. And so was born zuppa pavese, the famous egg-drop soup from Pavia. The crucial element to this soup is the broth and the eggs. The broth should be clear, flavorful, and homemade. The eggs must be at room temperature.

ZUPPA PAVESE
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 slices French or Italian bread with crust
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (preferably, imported Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese)
1 1/2 quarts Rich Veal Broth (see variation here)
4 small or medium eggs, at room temperature
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley
Freshly ground white pepper to taste
1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F and warm four ovenproof soup bowls for at least 30 minutes.
2. In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat, then cook the bread on both sides until golden, making sure you do not blacken the edges. Place a slice of bread in each bowl. Sprinkle a tablespoon of Parmesan on each slice of bread.
3. In a pot, bring the broth to a rolling boil over high heat. Without breaking the yolk, crack 1 egg onto each slice of bread and carefully ladle or pour the boiling broth over the egg until the bowl is filled. Sprinkle with parsley and a pinch of white pepper and serve immediately. Add more Parmesan at the table if desired.
Note: The broth must be boiling furiously before you pour it into the bowls, so the eggs, which are small or medium and not large, can cook a bit.
Makes 4 servings

Zuppa Pavese and many more soups are found in THE BEST SOUPS IN THE WORLD

Mediterranean Soups in America

2010-01-20T15:59:00.001-08:00

We are a lucky nation to have so many different cultures and ethnic groups creating an American food. The Portuguese who settled in southestern Massachusetts have given us a wonderful soup from the Old World. It's from my new book THE BEST SOUPS IN THE WORLD

Portuguese Kale Soup
It may be called Portuguese kale soup or caldo verde, but this dish is a classic of Portuguese-American cookery as found from Fall River and New Bedford, Massachusetts, east to Cape Cod, where many Portuguese immigrants settled in the late nineteenth century. This version is my attempt to approximate the one I ate regularly at P.J.’s Dari-Burger in Wellfleet on the Cape during our summer vacations. The key ingredient here, besides freshness, is the fresh linguiça sausage. Supermarkets usually carry it on the East Coast, but elsewhere you may need to substitute the fully cooked version, and if you can’t find that, then sweet Italian sausage or kielbasa.
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 pound (about 1 link) fresh Portuguese linguiça or chourico, casing removed
1 large onion, chopped
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
1 1/2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1 pound kale leaves, heavy stems removed, laid on top of one another, rolled up, and sliced 1/4 inch thick
2 1/2 teaspoons salt or more to taste
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper or more to taste
1. In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat, then add the sausage and onion and cook, stirring occasionally and breaking up the sausage but leaving largish chunks, until the onion is softened, about 10 minutes.
2. Add the chicken broth, water, potatoes, and kale. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to low and simmer, partially covered, until the potatoes are softened and almost falling apart, about 1 ½ hours. The potatoes are meant to fall apart and thicken the broth. Season with salt and pepper and serve. Break up the potatoes further in your bowl to make it thicker.
Makes 4 to 6 servings