Stonewall Kitchen Feta Spreads - Sponsored

My brother is somewhat difficult to buy for, so when the holidays roll around, I resort to edible gifts. (Honestly, they are the best.) For the past few years, I've been ordering miscellaneous items from Stonewall Kitchens. I have been buying their products for decades, and have always been really happy with them. They have a large variety of goods, and the prices are decent. Best of all, everything I've tried tastes really great. So when I received an email from them touting their brand new products, I just had to request samples. And they delivered: all three varieties of their new feta spreads showed up on my front porch about a week later.

Sadly, I was on Whole30 at the time, so had to practice some serious patience before I could crack open a jar. I am a bit of a feta fanatic, putting its briny goodness on everything from pasta to oatmeal (yes, I said oatmeal), and I gotta admit that the idea of jarred spreads that combine the cheese and other Mediterranean ingredients turned me on. 

Within a few days of saying buh-bye to the diet, I concocted a perfect way to use one of Stonewall Kitchens' feta spreads: as a flavoring agent for a big ol' head of roasted cauliflower. I roasted the veg first with a light coating of olive oil and a big pinch of salt. Once that baby was tender, I slathered it in the roasted red pepper feta spread and popped it under the broiler until it browned a bit. OMG - it was as delicious as I anticipated, and it really made a simple dish something special. 

Plus, it added some much-needed color. Isn't it gorgeous?

Of course you could use the spreads on crackers, as an accompaniment to an antipasto or charcuterie plate, or as a sandwich spread. This morning, I dolloped some in my oatmeal with a little additional feta and a sprinkle of hemp seeds. (If you haven't tried savory oatmeal before, you are missing out.) I'm betting they'd be a tasty addition to pasta, or potato salad, or pretty much anything that could use a little cheesy goodness. Definitely try it with roasted vegetables, as in the following recipe.

Mediterranean Cauliflower

There are several steps to this recipe, but they are all quite simple. The resulting dish is the Middle East on a platter, with elements from Morocco, Egypt, Greece, and Lebanon. None of the elements, mind you, are in the least bit authentic. I do a lot of substituting in my cooking. For instance, I was out of tahini, so used almond butter in the babaganoush instead. And I was too lazy to toast seeds and nuts for my dukkah and worried that I would probably burn the sesame seeds, so I used everything bagel seasoning. It already had the seeds, but also onion and garlic. Additionally, I used ground cumin and coriander, since they are already toasted, and pre-roasted nuts. 

For the babaganoush-style eggplant spread:

1 medium eggplant

1 small clove garlic, crushed

Extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons almond butter

Kosher salt

Lemon juice

Smoked paprika

Ground cumin

For the tomatoes:

1 medium tomato

Kosher salt

Pinch ras el hanout or powdered harissa 

For the dukkah-like topping:

1/4 cup toasted nuts of your choice (I used almonds and walnuts)

1 tablespoon everything bagel seasoning

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

For the cauliflower:

1 large cauliflower

Extra virgin olive oil

Kosher salt

Stonewall Kitchen Roasted Red Pepper Feta Spread

Feta cheese

Flat leaf parsley or cilantro

To make the eggplant:

Preheat the oven to 450F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment.

Cut the eggplant in half lengthwise. Rub the cut sides with a little oil and place cut-side-down on the parchment. Roast for 45 minutes, until the skins collapse and the interior is very soft. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. 

Once cool enough to handle, scrape the flesh out of the eggplant into a bowl. Using a fork, mash the eggplant into as close to a puree as possible, breaking up any fibers. Add the almond butter and garlic and stir well. Season to taste with the salt, lemon juice, paprika, and cumin. It should be creamy, bright, and slightly smoky. Scrape into a lidded container and refrigerate.

For the topping:

Crush the nuts and spices together in a mortar and pestle, or, if you don't have one large enough, just pop them in a sandwich-sized zip top bag and bash them into small pieces with something heavy (a meat tenderizer, a can of tomatoes, a brick, etc.). Set aside.

For the tomatoes:

Remove the core from the tomato and cut the flesh into small dice. If you're a neat-freak, remove the seeds. If you're me, leave them in. Scrape into a small bowl and season with salt and a pinch of seasoning. Set aside.

To make the cauliflower:

Turn the oven down to 350F. 

Remove the outer green leaves from the cauliflower and trim an inch or two off the stem. Not so much that the florets start to fall off, but that there's a divot at the bottom of the cauli. Place the cauliflower, stem side down, on a rimmed baking sheet (I like to line my sheet with parchment). Rub the head with olive oil, and pat on a few generous pinches of salt. Roast the cauliflower for 60 - 75 minutes, until nicely browned on the outside and a knife can be inserted easily. 

Preheat the broiler. Remove the parchment from the baking sheet, if using, and replace the cauliflower. (The parchment may burn under the broiler.) Pour a few tablespoons-ful of the Stonewall Kitchen Roasted Red Pepper Feta Spread on top of the cauliflower and rub it around to cover. Broil the cauliflower until the spread starts to brown, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.

To assemble the dish:

Spread about half of the eggplant spread onto a platter. Center the cauliflower on top. Sprinkle with the tomatoes, feta cheese, some of the nut topping, and parsley or cilantro. Serve with the remaining eggplant, red pepper feta spread, and topping. 

Serves 2-3 as a main dish, 4-6 as a side.

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Cypriana

When Cypriana was downtown, sprinkled here and there in office buildings and in the University of Maryland hospital, they specialized in things like kebabs and salads. I loved their Greek salad, the typical inauthentic pile of lettuce with cucumbers and tomatoes, topped with a generous amount of feta cheese and a cup of creamy tarragon dressing on the side. The dressing really made it.

A few years back, they closed their fast casual restaurants and opened a full-service place in the Broadview apartments, former home to the venerable French restaurant Jeannier's, among others. I'm not sure why we put off going for so long, but this spring we finally paid Cypriana a visit. It was a pleasant evening, so we asked to sit on the patio, which may or may not have been a good idea. The restaurant's patio is divided into two areas, one more loungy, and the other for dining. After we were seated, we noticed a lot of musical tables and chairs being played by a trio of people who were apparently hosting a graduation party. They never seemed particularly satisfied with the number of tables pushed together or the chairs arranged around them, and the whole thing got uncomfortably close to where we were seated. As in, perhaps one of us would get smacked with a heavy metal table or chair. Fortunately, seating arrangements were resolved before I felt we had to move out of the way.

But then the kids happened.

There must have been a large party inside, one with many small children. Many small children who decided to run around outside on the patio. A patio that is actually a large balcony. Had any of those children been curious enough to climb the short wall to see what was on the other side of the balcony (a drop into a courtyard), there may have been a tragedy. One parent was outside briefly, sitting on a chair and playing with his phone while the children ran in and out of not only the dining room entrance, but also the ramp into the kitchen entrance. Bad enough they caused a ruckus on the lounge section of the patio, but they also decided to run around in the increasingly more crowded dining section, hiding behind tables and running around servers with full trays of food.

And nobody said a word to anyone.

I'm not sure why half a dozen kindergartners were allowed to run around largely unsupervised in a restaurant. I don't understand why parents cannot parent their children.

Anyway...Cypriana is lucky that neither of us got belted by a chair or had food spilled on us by a waiter who had to avoid rugrats. And the food was good.

We mostly stuck with mezzedes, small plates. We tried the spinach and feta flatbread, which was crispy and melty and nicely cheesy.

Also the beef- and lamb-stuffed grape leaves. They were much larger than normal grape leaves, and really very nice, with flavorful filling and tender leaves. They were supposed to come with a yogurt sauce that our waiter forgot, promised to bring, but never did. I suppose they didn't need it.

The sesame roasted feta was drizzled with honey and served with fresh hot pita. I love baked cheese, and could have eaten a few more slabs of this stuff.

We also had the "Mousaka of Cypress," a small and unphotogenic ramekin with layers of eggplant, zucchini, potato, and a beef and lamb mixture, covered in a dreamy bechamel. It was quite possibly the best moussaka I have ever had.

We tried one entree dish of tender grilled octopus served with a cucumber salad (called tabouli on the menu) and some red quinoa, which brought nothing to the plate. The octopus itself was very nice. I tried dipping it in the container of what appeared to be plain, unseasoned, red wine vinegar, and felt that it was fine on its own.

We couldn't pass on dessert, especially when pistachio sea salt baklava was on offer. Made as individual pieces rather than in a large pan, it made for a much neater serving, though it was a bit difficult to cut into bite-sized pieces. The flavor was very good though.

The menu lists the chocolate rose cake as "layers of dark chocolate cake with rich Belgian chocolate and edible roses with a semi-sweet fudge icing." I figured the "edible roses" were made of frosting, but no, there was a definite rose flavor to the cake, and pulverized rose petal dust garnished the plate. I never would pair chocolate with rose, and while it worked here, I still probably won't pair those two strong flavors. The cake was otherwise moist and quite good.

I have mixed feelings about Cypriana. While by and large the food we had was good, the service was meh (still waiting on that yogurt sauce!) and the rugrat disturbance was pretty inexcusable. I can perhaps understand that management might not have wanted to upset their customers by asking them to mind their own brats (Really? I actually do not understand it at all.) but why sacrifice the enjoyment of the other diners?

Cypriana
105 W 39th Street
Baltimore, MD 21210

* Any products in this post that are mentioned by name may have been provided to Minxeats by the manufacturer. However, all opinions belong to Minxeats. Amazon links earn me $! Please buy!

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Flashback Friday - Lamb unKebabs

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on May 13, 2013.

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My favorite flavor palettes come from China and Thailand and I find myself using them pretty frequently in my weekend dinner-making. Despite the vibrancy of seasonings like Sriracha, star anise, and Thai basil, eating similar flavors over and over can get, well, boring. So one recent weekend, I mixed things up a bit and prepared a meal with origins in the Mediterranean. And I don't mean Italy or Greece - Turkey's there too, along with Egypt and Syria, Albania, and Bosnia.

Lamb is a popular protein in that part of the world, and it is often flavored with what we might otherwise consider "sweet" spices. You know, the seasonings most familiar to us in pumpkin pie - cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Combined with cumin and paprika, these sweet spices both camouflage and accentuate the characteristic "gamy" flavor of lamb.

These rather sausage-like lamb patties, borrowed heavily from a kebab recipe found in chef Silvena Rowe's Purple Citrus and Sweet Perfume: Cuisine of the Eastern Mediterranean, would be perfect skewered and cooked on the grill, but they were also quite tasty when pan-fried and served with a sprightly salad of tomato, feta, and olives.

Lamb unKebabs (adapted from Purple Citrus and Sweet Perfume)

1.5 lbs ground lamb
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/4 cup coarsely chopped pistachios
1 tablespoon finely minced fresh mint
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
pomegranate molasses (optional)

Mix all ingredients except molasses thoroughly. Form into eight small patties. Refrigerate on a covered plate for at least one hour and up to overnight to allow flavors to meld.

Cook patties in a bit of olive oil in a hot pan until browned on both sides and cooked through, about 10 minutes.

Serve with tomato salad and a drizzle of the pomegranate molasses.

Tomato Salad

2 ripe tomatoes, de-seeded and cut into large dice
1/4 cup chopped black and green olives
1 tablespoon minced chives
splash balsamic vinegar
splash lemon juice
splash agave syrup or honey
pinch salt and freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup cubed feta cheese

Combine first seven ingredients in a bowl. Allow to rest at room temperature for at least half an hour so flavors can meld. Add cheese when ready to serve.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Flashback Friday - Sammiches

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on April 16, 2013.
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Cajun Kate's softshell crab po boy, image from egullet.com user philadining

Last Friday they were discussing sandwiches on WYPR's Midday with Dan Rodricks and it got me thinking about sandwiches I have known. I put in my two cents by recommending the po' boys from my friend Don's restaurant Cajun Kate's in the Booth's Corner Farmers' Market in Boothwyn, PA, because it's one of my current favorites (especially the brisket, fried oyster, and soft shell crab versions), but that's not the only sandwich that has struck my fancy over the years.

When I was quite young, my maternal grandmother had a stroke. During her recovery, we ate lunch together every day, and every day it was the same thing - an imported deli ham sandwich with iceberg lettuce and Kraft thousand island dressing on seeded rye bread from Levin's bakery, with a side of Funyuns. I don't know the origin of the sandwich, but I suspect it was my mother's invention, as I have never seen it elsewhere. Occasionally, when I'm feeling particularly nostalgic, I have a ham on rye with lettuce and thousand island for lunch. It never fails to take me back to age 3, when being cute and entertaining came far more easily.

Another sandwich I enjoyed in my youth, but not nearly as often, is the Baltimore classic, pit beef. It seemed that I only ate them in the first weekend of October, when the Fells Point Festival was in full swing. We lived on the 500 block of Ann Street at the time. Dad and I always walked down together in search of a pit beef sandwich, which Dad would order well-done, with burnt ends,  to which we'd add mayonnaise and enough horseradish to make our noses run. Oddly, we always had to share the sandwich (Dad's rule, not mine), so I tend to feel a little greedy that now, as an adult, I get to have my own.

When I like something a lot, I try to eat it often, but not often enough to tire of it. Back in the heyday of Harborplace, there was a little Greek stand on the second floor of the Light Street pavilion. After a morning of desultorily shuffling from shop to shop with my college buddies Leslie and Wanda, we'd occasionally grab lunch there. My personal favorite was a veggie pita, basically a gyro without the meat. If I remember correctly, a warm and fluffy Greek pita was piled high with a combo of lettuce, tomato, raw onion, and cucumber and glopped with tzatziki and feta before being wrapped in aluminum foil to make the messy sandwich easier to handle. So simple, but so good, and something I could eat once a week without getting bored.

I'm also quite fond of a good chicken salad sandwich, and by "good," I mean chicken salad made with a mix of white and dark meat, chopped into fairly small pieces, a generous but not overwhelming amount of mayonnaise, and bits of minced onion. The seasoning can be simple salt and pepper, or something fancier like curry powder and mango chutney. The bread can be rye or a nice artisan loaf. Chicken salad sandwiches I am currently fond of include, believe it or not, the ones found at the University of Maryland Medical Center's Aramark-run cafeteria. The sandwich ladies are not skimpy with the scoops of salad, and they carefully remove the tough part of whole romaine leaves before arranging them carefully on your sandwich. And it's a steal at about $4. Mary Mervis, in the Lexington Market, also makes a fine chicken salad sammie. I like to make it a Chicken Smith by requesting a salty addition of a slice of Smithfield ham. This sometimes confuses the sandwich makers, so tell them to slice and weigh the ham and add the price to the sandwich.

Oh, there are so many more I can mention here: the asparagus and goat cheese wrap from the SouperFreak food truck, any number of tasty grilled cheeses (love the Fresco at Grilled Cheese & Co.), Attman's corned beef! and let's not forget Maryland's potential state sandwich - the soft shell crab. And burgers - but they're a completely different post....

What are your favorite sandwiches?

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Flashback Friday - Sammiches

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on April 16, 2013.

Cajun Kate's softshell crab po boy, image from egullet.com user philadining

Last Friday they were discussing sandwiches on WYPR's Midday with Dan Rodricks and it got me thinking about sandwiches I have known. I put in my two cents by recommending the po' boys from my friend Don's restaurant Cajun Kate's in the Booth's Corner Farmers' Market in Boothwyn, PA, because it's one of my current favorites (especially the brisket, fried oyster, and soft shell crab versions), but that's not the only sandwich that has struck my fancy over the years.

When I was quite young, my maternal grandmother had a stroke. During her recovery, we ate lunch together every day, and every day it was the same thing - an imported deli ham sandwich with iceberg lettuce and Kraft thousand island dressing on seeded rye bread from Levin's bakery, with a side of Funyuns. I don't know the origin of the sandwich, but I suspect it was my mother's invention, as I have never seen it elsewhere. Occasionally, when I'm feeling particularly nostalgic, I have a ham on rye with lettuce and thousand island for lunch. It never fails to take me back to age 3, when being cute and entertaining came far more easily.

Another sandwich I enjoyed in my youth, but not nearly as often, is the Baltimore classic, pit beef. It seemed that I only ate them in the first weekend of October, when the Fells Point Festival was in full swing. We lived on the 500 block of Ann Street at the time. Dad and I always walked down together in search of a pit beef sandwich, which Dad would order well-done, with burnt ends,  to which we'd add mayonnaise and enough horseradish to make our noses run. Oddly, we always had to share the sandwich (Dad's rule, not mine), so I tend to feel a little greedy that now, as an adult, I get to have my own.

When I like something a lot, I try to eat it often, but not often enough to tire of it. Back in the heyday of Harborplace, there was a little Greek stand on the second floor of the Light Street pavilion. After a morning of desultorily shuffling from shop to shop with my college buddies Leslie and Wanda, we'd occasionally grab lunch there. My personal favorite was a veggie pita, basically a gyro without the meat. If I remember correctly, a warm and fluffy Greek pita was piled high with a combo of lettuce, tomato, raw onion, and cucumber and glopped with tzatziki and feta before being wrapped in aluminum foil to make the messy sandwich easier to handle. So simple, but so good, and something I could eat once a week without getting bored.

I'm also quite fond of a good chicken salad sandwich, and by "good," I mean chicken salad made with a mix of white and dark meat, chopped into fairly small pieces, a generous but not overwhelming amount of mayonnaise, and bits of minced onion. The seasoning can be simple salt and pepper, or something fancier like curry powder and mango chutney. The bread can be rye or a nice artisan loaf. Chicken salad sandwiches I am currently fond of include, believe it or not, the ones found at the University of Maryland Medical Center's Aramark-run cafeteria. The sandwich ladies are not skimpy with the scoops of salad, and they carefully remove the tough part of whole romaine leaves before arranging them carefully on your sandwich. And it's a steal at about $4. Mary Mervis, in the Lexington Market, also makes a fine chicken salad sammie. I like to make it a Chicken Smith by requesting a salty addition of a slice of Smithfield ham. This sometimes confuses the sandwich makers, so tell them to slice and weigh the ham and add the price to the sandwich.

Oh, there are so many more I can mention here: the asparagus and goat cheese wrap from the SouperFreak food truck, any number of tasty grilled cheeses (love the Fresco at Grilled Cheese & Co.), Attman's corned beef! and let's not forget Maryland's potential state sandwich - the soft shell crab. And burgers - but they're a completely different post....

What are your favorite sandwiches?

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Spinach Pie

Every weekend I try to make one vegetarian dish. It's not that we eat a ton of meat, but it's always a good thing to eat more vegetables. This particular weekend was going to be Greek Week. I planned to do something with octopus (perhaps not a traditional Greek preparation) but the grocery store we went to that week didn't have large tentacles, only whole baby octopi. They did, however, have proper ingredients for spinach pie--filo, spinach, feta--which was my choice for the second night's dinner.

I'm pretty sure I've made spinach pie at least once in the past. I've definitely worked with filo before, and have definitely made baklava. But it had been a long, long time ago. I'm thinking 25 years. (I find it hard to believe I'm old enough to have been cooking for over 25 years, but alas, I am.) I'm not Greek, so I don't have a go-to recipe, which led me to poking around the Internet for one. Not that I had to poke very long. A Google search for "spinach pie" brought up one by Ina Garten that sounded easy enough, and I knew an Ina recipe would be reliably tasty. It called for 30 ounces of frozen spinach and only 6 sheets of pastry, 6 extra-large eggs, and 4 ounces of melted butter. Kinda crazy, I thought. Not enough pastry, too much spinach and butter, and the eggs are a weird size that I don't buy. So, I did what I always do and modified the recipe to work for me.

She also called for it to be baked in an 8-inch oven-proof saute pan. I can't imagine that amount of spinach fitting well in a small pan, so I used a square 8" baking pan instead. The sides are much higher than on a skillet, to contain all the goodies. (Yes, I dare to question the Barefoot Contessa!)

I used a bit less spinach, smaller eggs, and more filo. I also changed the proportion of cheese a bit, as I had more Parm than Feta in the house. (This is what happens when I find a recipe after I've been to the store and not vice versa.) I also used far less butter, only about 3 tablespoons. There's no way her six sheets of filo needed a whole damn stick! I also omitted the pine nuts and the bread crumbs.

The result was simply gorgeous, and it tasted fab. You really have to like spinach to enjoy this pie, and I do. It was really really good, and something I might try to make more often. Though filo is a little fussy, as it dries out really fast, the overall recipe is pretty simple. Definitely worth the effort.

Spinach Pie (adapted from Ina Garten)

2 medium onions, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
2 1-lb bags frozen chopped spinach, defrosted
6 large eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon grated nutmeg
Pinch red pepper flakes
Dash garlic powder
8 ounces freshly grated Parmesan cheese
6 ounces feta, crumbled
3 tablespoons salted butter, melted
1 roll filo dough, defrosted

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Cook the onions in the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat until lightly browned, about 15 minutes. Add the salt and pepper and set aside to cool.

Place the spinach in a tea towel and squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Put the spinach in a bowl and add the eggs, nutmeg, red pepper flakes, garlic powder, parm, and feta. Stir well to combine.

Butter a 8" square pan. Layer 6 sheets of filo dough on the bottom, folding or overlapping them so they fit, brushing each layer with melted butter. Put on another two layers of filo, allowing some of the dough to hang over the top of the pan. (This will create sides to keep the filling from bursting out.) Fill the pan with the spinach mixture, then fold over the filo ends. Top with another 4 layers of filo brushed with butter. Brush the top with melted butter.

Bake for about an hour. Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting and serving.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Freekeh with Grape Leaves and Feta

Browsing the very excellent food site Food 52 the other day, I found an intriguing recipe for something the recipe writer called a grape leaf pilaf. It wasn't actually a pilaf, as she directs the rice should be cooked "as instructed on package," which means boiled or steamed. I thought I might like to make it as an actual pilaf, browning the rice with onions then simmering it in a seasoned broth. We already had a jar of grape leaves in the cupboard, which I had purchased for an abandoned project. All we needed was the feta and herbs, and some sort of protein to go with it. Lamb seemed to make sense, and we had that, too.

Once I had everything together, I realized that rice would make a better accompaniment for the chicken dish I planned to make the following day. I found a bag of freekeh, a roasted green wheat product, in the cupboard (lord, there's so many weird things in there) and thought I could give that a spin. I had never worked with the stuff before, hadn't even tasted it, so rather than make pilaf, I cooked it in the rice cooker. The package indicated that it should be cooked like rice, with twice as much water as grain. I still wasn't going to have a pilaf, so I'm not calling it that.

The freekeh smelled wonderful as it was cooking, and tasted rich and nutty. The texture is a little crunchy, like brown rice or bulgur. It really was the perfect grain to use with tangy grape leaves and feta cheese and made the dish into something far more interesting than boring old steamed rice could have done.

For the meaty aspect of the dish, I made meatballs out of a mixture similar to this one, only without the nuts or spices other than salt, pepper, and garlic. I also roasted some grape tomatoes to add a bit of sweetness to the otherwise tangy meal. It was riiiillly good. Hearty, yet light, full of flavors and textures. Definitely a keeper. The freekeh would go well with chicken or shrimp, too.

Freekeh with Grape Leaves and Feta

1 cup freekeh
1 onion, chopped
Olive oil
1 cup chopped grape leaves from a jar
1/4 cup chopped dill leaves
1/4 cup chopped mint leaves
1 lemon, juiced
Salt and pepper
Crumbled feta cheese

Cook freekeh as you would rice (or according to package directions).

While freekeh is cooking, saute onion in a bit of olive oil and a pinch of salt until translucent and just beginning to brown. Add chopped grape leaves, herbs (reserving some for garnish), and lemon juice. When freekeh is done cooking, add it to the pan of onions and grape leaves. Stir well to combine. Taste for seasoning and add freshly ground pepper and a bit of salt, if needed. (The grape leaves are quite salty, so you might not need to add any additional.)

Before serving, drizzle freekeh with a bit of olive oil and sprinkle on the feta and reserved herbs. Serve hot, cold, or at room temperature.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Beet Salad

For some, beets are an acquired taste. I, however, grew up eating them. My Grandma's beet barszcz was one of my favorite foods, and I never turned up my nose to jarred pickled beets. But red beets have that distinctive earthy flavor that can be hard for some to take. Other colors of beets can be milder - I've had orange beets that were as naturally sweet as candy, without the dirt flavor. The same goes for chioggia beets.

When raw, chioggias have alternating red and white concentric rings (which earned them the nickname "candy stripe" beets). Cooking turns them a fairly uniform medium fuchsia-pink. Their flavor is sweet and fruity, with little of the dirt earthiness of standard red beets. (Your palate may vary.)

The sweetness of beets makes them a perfect pairing for salty and tangy flavors, like vinegar, mustard, feta cheese, and olives, and an ideal salad ingredient. I like to add toasted walnuts, too, for a bit of buttery crunch.

Chioggia Beet Salad

2 beets, 2" - 3" in diameter, tops removed
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
generous pinch of salt
pinch garlic powder
pinch ground cumin
pinch ground paprika
4 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
freshly ground black pepper
greens of your choice (arugula is nice, but so is plain old romaine)
feta cheese
green or black olives
toasted walnuts
fresh dill and mint (optional, but nice)

Scrub any dirt off the beets and place them in a saucepan with water to cover. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the beets are easily pierced with a knife. Turn off heat, remove beets from water, and allow to cool to a temperature comfortable enough to handle. Peel off and discard the skins. Slice the beets.

Place the orange juice, vinegar, mustard, and salt into a small bowl and beat well with a fork. Add the spices and beat again. Drizzle in the olive oil, beating constantly, until the ingredients are emulsified. Taste for seasoning and add more of whatever you think it needs. If you prefer a sweeter vinaigrette, whisk in a few drops of honey or agave syrup.

For each serving, place a handful of greens on a serving plate. Top with half the beets. Drizzle with a few spoonfuls of the dressing (whisk again if it has un-emulsified). Top with crumbles of feta, some sliced olives, pieces of walnut, and dill and mint.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Lamb unKebabs

My favorite flavor palettes come from China and Thailand and I find myself using them pretty frequently in my weekend dinner-making. Despite the vibrancy of seasonings like Sriracha, star anise, and Thai basil, eating similar flavors over and over can get, well, boring. So one recent weekend, I mixed things up a bit and prepared a meal with origins in the Mediterranean. And I don't mean Italy or Greece - Turkey's there too, along with Egypt and Syria, Albania, and Bosnia.

Lamb is a popular protein in that part of the world, and it is often flavored with what we might otherwise consider "sweet" spices. You know, the seasonings most familiar to us in pumpkin pie - cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Combined with cumin and paprika, these sweet spices both camouflage and accentuate the characteristic "gamy" flavor of lamb.

These rather sausage-like lamb patties, borrowed heavily from a kebab recipe found in chef Silvena Rowe's Purple Citrus and Sweet Perfume: Cuisine of the Eastern Mediterranean, would be perfect skewered and cooked on the grill, but they were also quite tasty when pan-fried and served with a sprightly salad of tomato, feta, and olives.

Lamb unKebabs (adapted from Purple Citrus and Sweet Perfume)

1.5 lbs ground lamb
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/4 cup coarsely chopped pistachios
1 tablespoon finely minced fresh mint
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
pomegranate molasses (optional)

Mix all ingredients except molasses thoroughly. Form into eight small patties. Refrigerate on a covered plate for at least one hour and up to overnight to allow flavors to meld.

Cook patties in a bit of olive oil in a hot pan until browned on both sides and cooked through, about 10 minutes.

Serve with tomato salad and a drizzle of the pomegranate molasses.

Tomato Salad

2 ripe tomatoes, de-seeded and cut into large dice
1/4 cup chopped black and green olives
1 tablespoon minced chives
splash balsamic vinegar
splash lemon juice
splash agave syrup or honey
pinch salt and freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup cubed feta cheese

Combine first seven ingredients in a bowl. Allow to rest at room temperature for at least half an hour so flavors can meld. Add cheese when ready to serve.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Sammiches

Cajun Kate's softshell crab po boy, image from egullet.com user philadining

Last Friday they were discussing sandwiches on WYPR's Midday with Dan Rodricks and it got me thinking about sandwiches I have known. I put in my two cents by recommending the po' boys from my friend Don's restaurant Cajun Kate's in the Booth's Corner Farmers' Market in Boothwyn, PA, because it's one of my current favorites (especially the brisket, fried oyster, and soft shell crab versions), but that's not the only sandwich that has struck my fancy over the years.

When I was quite young, my maternal grandmother had a stroke. During her recovery, we ate lunch together every day, and every day it was the same thing - an imported deli ham sandwich with iceberg lettuce and Kraft thousand island dressing on seeded rye bread from Levin's bakery, with a side of Funyuns. I don't know the origin of the sandwich, but I suspect it was my mother's invention, as I have never seen it elsewhere. Occasionally, when I'm feeling particularly nostalgic, I have a ham on rye with lettuce and thousand island for lunch. It never fails to take me back to age 3, when being cute and entertaining came far more easily.

Another sandwich I enjoyed in my youth, but not nearly as often, is the Baltimore classic, pit beef. It seemed that I only ate them in the first weekend of October, when the Fells Point Festival was in full swing. We lived on the 500 block of Ann Street at the time. Dad and I always walked down together in search of a pit beef sandwich, which Dad would order well-done, with burnt ends,  to which we'd add mayonnaise and enough horseradish to make our noses run. Oddly, we always had to share the sandwich (Dad's rule, not mine), so I tend to feel a little greedy that now, as an adult, I get to have my own.

When I like something a lot, I try to eat it often, but not often enough to tire of it. Back in the heyday of Harborplace, there was a little Greek stand on the second floor of the Light Street pavilion. After a morning of desultorily shuffling from shop to shop with my college buddies Leslie and Wanda, we'd occasionally grab lunch there. My personal favorite was a veggie pita, basically a gyro without the meat. If I remember correctly, a warm and fluffy Greek pita was piled high with a combo of lettuce, tomato, raw onion, and cucumber and glopped with tzatziki and feta before being wrapped in aluminum foil to make the messy sandwich easier to handle. So simple, but so good, and something I could eat once a week without getting bored.

I'm also quite fond of a good chicken salad sandwich, and by "good," I mean chicken salad made with a mix of white and dark meat, chopped into fairly small pieces, a generous but not overwhelming amount of mayonnaise, and bits of minced onion. The seasoning can be simple salt and pepper, or something fancier like curry powder and mango chutney. The bread can be rye or a nice artisan loaf. Chicken salad sandwiches I am currently fond of include, believe it or not, the ones found at the University of Maryland Medical Center's Aramark-run cafeteria. The sandwich ladies are not skimpy with the scoops of salad, and they carefully remove the tough part of whole romaine leaves before arranging them carefully on your sandwich. And it's a steal at about $4. Mary Mervis, in the Lexington Market, also makes a fine chicken salad sammie. I like to make it a Chicken Smith by requesting a salty addition of a slice of Smithfield ham. This sometimes confuses the sandwich makers, so tell them to slice and weigh the ham and add the price to the sandwich.

Oh, there are so many more I can mention here: the asparagus and goat cheese wrap from the SouperFreak food truck, any number of tasty grilled cheeses (love the Fresco at Grilled Cheese & Co.), Attman's corned beef! and let's not forget Maryland's potential state sandwich - the soft shell crab. And burgers - but they're a completely different post....

What are your favorite sandwiches?

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Kohlrabi

Have you ever tried kohlrabi before? I hadn't, but was curious. It's such an odd-looking vegetable, like an alien or an internal organ or an alien's internal organ. After picking up two of them at the UM farmers' market for about a dollar, I set about finding out what could be done with the things.

I didn't really find any recipes that satisfied me. Turns out kohlrabi can be eaten raw or cooked and tastes somewhat like broccoli, or cabbage, maybe a bit like unspicy radishes. The texture is crunchy and juicy, like radishes or maybe jicama. They're really not the most flavorful brassica around.

Because I had two of them, I tried one in a cold preparation and one sautéed in brown butter. While the latter was fine, I think the vegetable was far more interesting as a salad component.

Kohlrabi Apple Salad

1 kohlrabi, about fist-sized
1 Granny Smith apple
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons crumbled Feta cheese
1/2 teaspoon dried dill or 1 teaspoon fresh
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Using a vegetable peeler or sharp knife, remove the skin from the kohlrabi. The vegetable can be pretty fibrous, so if you can't easily take a slice off of one end, you may need to shave the thing a bit more to get to the tender bits. Once that's done, cut the vegetable into slender rounds and then cut the rounds into strips, forming rough matchsticks. Do the same with the apple.

Combine kohlrabi, apple, lemon juice, feta, and dill in a bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and add salt and pepper to taste. Serves 4.

Posted by theminx on Minxeats.com.

A Taste of North Africa

Last Saturday, knowing that Mr Minx and I were going to dinner at a Moroccan restaurant later in the week, I decided to set our tastebuds going in that direction by making a North African-inspired meal of homemade merguez sausage and various cold salads.

I found the sausage recipe at Epicurious and altered it a bit to fit the ingredients I had on hand.

Merguez

1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 pound ground lamb
1 large garlic clove, crushed
1.5 tablespoons harissa
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon fresh coriander, chopped finely
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Thoroughly combine first eight ingredients together in a bowl and refrigerate for an hour or so to allow the flavors to blend. When ready to cook, form meat into patties or links and use veg oil to sauté them over medium-high heat until they are brown and crusty on the outside and still slightly pink on the inside, about 7-9 minutes, depending on size.
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About an hour before dinner I got the brilliant idea to make tabbouleh, a salad of bulgur, onion, and parsley. Only we had neither bulgur nor parsley, but we did have wheat berries and mint. I set the wheat berries to cook and they were ready just in time for a quick rinse in cold water and a toss with the vegetables and herbs I had on hand. Mmmm...chewy.

Tabbouleh-style Wheat Berry Salad

1 cup cooked wheat berries
juice of half a lemon
3 tablespoons fresh mint, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped and seeded
2 scallions, white and some green, chopped
salt and pepper

Mix first 5 ingredients together in a bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste. Allow to sit for 15 minutes or so for flavors to develop.
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In addition to the sausage and tabbouleh, I whipped up some Watermelon Strawberry Feta Salad with some very sweet watermelon I picked up at the Giant that afternoon. It was all good.

Guilford Cheesesteaks

I've eaten a true Philly cheesesteak only once - Geno's, one provolone with. I've had a cheesesteak from a local sub shop maybe 3x in my whole life, but as kids we often ate home-made ones because my brother had a somewhat wicked addicted to Steak-Umms. While I like the concept of the sandwich, the uber-greasy sliced meat really turns me off. Eventually I realized that any kind of steak will do in a steak sandwich, as long as it's tender and thinly sliced.

We had a ton of leftover sirloin after our Memorial Day grillfest, so I thought I'd use some of it to make sammies. I called these "Guilford" Cheesesteaks because they are a bit fancy and "Baltimore" or "Towson" just wouldn't do.

Guilford Cheesesteaks

10 oz or so of cold leftover grilled sirloin, sliced thin, excessive fat removed
2 oz of your favorite cheese (I used Jarlsberg and Muenster) cut into thin slices or shredded
Melted leeks (recipe below)
Spicy mayo(recipe below)
Herbed mayo (recipe below)
Two 6" - 8" segments of baguette, or two hoagie rolls

Warm the meat and melt the cheese. One can do this in a sauté pan, first heating the meat a bit, topping it with cheese, and covering the pan until the cheese melts. Since I already dirtied one pan by making the leeks, I put meat slices in two piles on a microwave-safe plate, topped them with cheese, and heated it all for about 3 minutes on high, until the cheese was melted.

While meat is cooking, slice baguette and schmear with one side with herbed mayo and the other side with the spicy mayo. Add a bed of leeks.

When cheese is melted, top leeks with meat. Close sandwich and eat.

Melted Leeks

3 medium leeks, the whites and about an inch of the lighter green part, sliced crosswise into rounds, rinsed thoroughly to remove all sand
1 tablespoon olive oil
pinch salt

Combine all ingredients in a sauté pan. Cover. Cook on low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 45 minutes to an hour until leeks are completely soft and almost spreadable. Keep warm until ready to use.

Spicy Mayo

1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 teaspoon whole grain mustard
1 teaspoon sambal oelek or Sriracha chile sauce

Combine all ingredients. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Herbed Mayo

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh mint
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
dash agave syrup

Combine all ingredients (it will be fairly thick). Refrigerate until ready to use.

Strawberry Watermelon Feta Salad

Twelve medium strawberries, hulled and quartered
Watermelon, cut into cubes about the size of the strawberries, approximately 2 cups
1/2 cup (or more, to taste) crumbled feta cheese
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
freshly ground pepper
pinch salt

Combine strawberries, watermelon, and feta in a medium bowl.

In a small bowl or ramekin, stir vinegar and oil together vigorously with a fork to emulsify. Add several grinds of pepper and the salt and whisk again.

Toss salad with dressing. Allow to sit for about 15 minutes. Serve.

2 generous servings.

Grilled marinated sirloin made an excellent sandwich as it was very tender and flavorful. The leeks are far more subtly flavored than the customary fried onions, so you may want to be generous (as it is you'll have leftover leeks). Over all, the sandwich was meaty and rich, and the tangy/sweet salad was a great counterpoint. I'll definitely be making the salad often this summer.