Spice is the Variety of Life

Our friend Denise writes: Dear Chef Jewels, I am wondering if you can make any suggestions for what I can make using these spices: Baharat spice and Ras el Hanout. I'm dying to use them...thanks! I am very familiar with Ras el Hanout. It is a popular spice blend used across Northern Africa, especially Morocco. The name Ras el Hanout translates to "top of the shop" as it represents the best spices a shopkeeper has to offer. Like curry, there is no set-in-stone recipe for Ras el Hanout, everybody's got their preferred, sometimes top secret formula. Some ingredients still foreign to the Western world such as ash berries, orris root and chubebs are in the recipe but around here you'll find Ras el Hanout containing spices such as cinnamon, cumin, cardamom, cloves and chili peppers, to name a few. It can be used on almost all foods, as meat rubs and even stirred into rice. I'm not sure if this liberal use is attributed to the spice's taste or because it's sometimes considered an aphrodisiac! Baharat is a blend I am unfamiliar with, so I did a bit of research. Baharat is more Turkish, Arabic and/or Iranian. Turkish Baharat contains a fair amount of mint. You might also find cassia (cinnamon), cardamom, allspice, pepper, cloves and cumin. It is used to flavor soup, lamb, chicken, fish and beef. Sometimes it is used as a condiment to add flavor to food after cooking, also. Lebanese Lamb and Bean Stew 1 lb dried navy beans, picked over and rinsed 2 lb boneless lamb shoulder or boneless leg of lamb, trimmed of excess fat and cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baharat* or 1 (3-inch) cinnamon stick 9 cups water 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 medium onions, chopped 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped 2 teaspoons salt 3/4 teaspoon black pepper 3 tablespoons tomato paste Accompaniments: spiced basmati rice, pita bread

Cover beans with cold water by 3 inches in a bowl and soak at room temperature at least 8 hours. Drain well in a colander. Bring lamb, baharat, and water (9 cups) to a boil in a 6- to 8-quart heavy pot, then vigorously simmer mixture, covered, until meat is almost tender, 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours. Add beans and cook, uncovered, until beans are tender, about 1 hour more. Meanwhile, heat oil over moderate heat in a 12-inch heavy skillet until hot but not smoking, then cook onions, garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper, stirring, until onions are pale golden and tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and cook, stirring, 2 minutes. When beans are tender, stir in tomato-onion mixture and simmer until just heated through, about 5 minutes. Stir in remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. Makes 8 servings. Source: epicurious.com Chicken with Figs in Ras el Hanout and Couscous 6 whole chicken leg-thigh pieces (about 4 1/2 pounds total) 1 tablespoon salt plus additional for seasoning 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided 12 baby carrots, peeled 1 cup shallots, peeled, halved (about 4 large) 3 garlic cloves, peeled 1 teaspoon fresh chopped thyme plus additional for garnish 1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel 2 tablespoons ras-el-hanout 3 cups low-salt chicken broth 3/4 cup dry white wine 14 Brown Turkey figs, halved 2 teaspoons Sherry wine vinegar Couscous (prepared according to package directions) Arrange chicken on rimmed baking sheet and sprinkle each side of each piece with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cover with plastic wrap and chill overnight. Preheat oven to 350°F. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Transfer chicken to skillet and sear until golden, 5 to 6 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to heavy roasting pan, skin side up. Add carrots, shallots, garlic, 1 teaspoon thyme, lemon peel, ras-el-hanout, chicken broth, white wine, and remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil to skillet. Bring to boil, whisking up brown bits. Pour mixture over chicken in roasting pan and bring to simmer over medium heat. Cover with foil; place in oven. Braise 1 hour, until tender. Transfer chicken, carrots, and shallots to baking sheet; discard garlic. Pour pan juices into large saucepan. Spoon off fat from surface. Boil juices until reduced to 1 3/4 cups, whisking occasionally, about 18 minutes. Add figs and vinegar; cook until figs are just heated through, 3 to 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Place cooked couscous on large plate. Top with chicken, vegetables, and figs. Spoon sauce over chicken and figs. Garnish with fresh herbs and serve immediately. Makes 6 servings. Source: epicurious.com

Maintaining Your Edge

A question from our friend, Carole:

Dear Chef Quelly,

I made the investment many years ago to get a few good kitchen knives. I got a honing steel with the big knife, (and even a video to teach me how to use it), but I think it's time for a professional sharpening. I can even see little nicks in the blade when I look closely. Is this the right answer and if so, any idea where I can get it done locally? Appreciate your insights.

Well, here are my initial insights. I hate sharpening my knives. I have always been too impatient to do the job, but it's a necessary practice as a good cook.

But, moving on...A sharp knife may help prevent fatigue and accidents, as you put less effort into getting hard foods cut. A sharp knife is nicer to your food as it does not bruise before cutting onions and garlic (and have you ever made sauce when you only want to dice a tomato?).

Those little nicks are called micro-serrations and can be helpful, aggresive cutters--if you're slicing rope, which you are not. Sometimes you can see a dull edge. Under bright light, a dull knife, nicks and burrs will reflect a glint. A sharp knife will not.

I have a basic 2-sided (2 different grits) bench stone purchased at a hardware store. In a different stone I purchased, came a little plastic 20 degree wedge that I could use to guide my knife while stroking on the stone, which helped me get the correct angle (my biggest problem). Maybe you know a woodworker or handy person who can make you a tiny wedge. It's a great tool. Sharpening guides can also be purchased, but they do take up some room on the stone.

Once you start to sharpen, you should see that you are removing just the edge. Steel naturally forms a burr, a thin bendable projection on the edge. You might see or feel the burr. It will be on the side opposite to the one you are grinding. As you become more proficient, you'll be looking for a smaller and smaller burr. Sharpen both sides evenly. When you see the burr, use the finer grit stone to remove the coarse marks left by the coarse stone. A finished edge is sharper and more durable. A steel is used after and in between sharpening removes the burr.

Control your sharpening angle, sharpen until a burr is raised and then hone that burr to a fine finish.

I can definitely support the notion of professional grinding. With good steel knives, it is more difficult to achieve and keep an edge, but the knife will stand up to a lifetime of use and sharpening. I do not support the grinding of knives by anyone but an experienced professional, especially if you might be heartbroken by a damaged knife. Once whittled, you can never go back.

I telephoned my friend and stylist, Penny Deemer, owner of Copper's Salon for professional sharpening recommendations. She's been sending her scissors out to the same man, Mr. Smith for 26 years. He returns your tools the next day and does much of the finishing and honing by hand. Penny said, "Mr. Smith will tell you which knives will be worth it and which will not. Some [knives and scissors] hold [an edge] and some don't. Jewels, I still have the same pair of scissors I was using in beauty school. I can still use them." Mr. Smith can be reached at 908-722-4941.

Carole, after you and I both employee Mr. Smith, I think we should have a quarterly neighborhood knife sharpening party, just to maintain our edge.

Taking the chips out of Salsa...

I’ve been enjoying salsa a lot lately, but not the kind that I dip tortilla chips in. I’ve been doing a Zumba class, quite regularly, at the gym. In case you’re unfamiliar, Zumba pairs ballroom dance steps with Latin rhythms and driving beats to provide a great workout. The hour flies by. I’m a pretty good dancer to begin with, although I do occasionally do the steps backwards because I watch the instructor in the mirror. Our instructor, Laura is talented and energetic. She is friendly to her students; she has a beautiful smile with a slightly devilish twinkle in her eye. And let’s face it; she’s got a killer figure. I’ve come to notice that many of the basic principles of Laura’s Zumba class can be applied to cooking, especially if you’re a beginner. If the principle is in bold, capital letters, please imagine it to be Laura screaming, because this is what I hear. (Incidentally, the thought of Laura screaming at us is comical, because she’s so kind. Sometimes she hollers directions and then giggles.) Don’t be afraid to refer to or defer to an expert There’s no shame in following a recipe until you're comfortable or asking the help of someone more experienced than you for assistance with your technique. That’s what we’re here for. We want you to enjoy this as much as we do. We also want to be good examples and you keep us sharp. (Seriously, I would not mind being as fit as Laura one day.) Keep it fresh, mix it up As soon as I seem to get one routine and or song down, Laura plays a different routine. After I stumble around the first few beats, I find myself getting in the groove. You might make the fluffiest scrambled eggs in the East, but after you get that technique down, it’s time to move on to omelettes. WATCH YOUR CORE!!! “Ugh. Do I have to suck in my abs again?” May translate to, “Ugh, I hate chopping!” True, but your core skills and core disciplines are what will help you produce wonderful foods and then advance to the next level. You may even notice that you hate chopping because your knives are dull (core discipline) or the onion falls apart (core skill- there is one for round, semi-hard foods). Learn them. KEEP MOVING!!! Practice makes pretty darned good. During each session, if you’re lucky enough to be able to pay attention, you’ll find yourself improving your form and knowledge base. We all “miss the beat” sometimes. Sometimes, we forget ingredients or we screw up the technique. Other times, the recipe can be seriously flawed but we don’t figure that out until we are much more confident in our skills or we’ve tried it several times. So be it. When Laura has a routine that doesn’t go smoothly, she just matter-of-factly says, “I didn’t like that one very much” and moves on. When she misses the beat, she smiles, giggles and shrugs. We all dance to our own beat, after all and it is for fun. THE MUSIC DIDN’T TELL ME TO CHANGE STEPS!!! Find your own beat. Do your best to pay attention. One Sunday, Laura was on fire! We drilled and moved and sweated! More importantly many of her lessons revolved around listening to the music and letting it tell you when and what to do. I pay careful attention because that Laura is tricky!! Just when I think she’s going to do one step (because she did it that way last week) she’ll mix it up (and smile when she tricks me-I stand in the front of the room). In cooking, as you progress, you may encounter a recipe that directs your technique one way but your instincts say something else. You may try to premeditate what will happen. Try your way and see what happens, or not. It’s about finding your way and being able to distinguish the times you know best, the times you should follow the directions and how to combine the two to collaborate. And Laura’s best scream of all: I DIDN’T GET THIS WAY OVERNIGHT!!! Well, that’s good to know, Laura, because that means there’s hope for all of us. But it’s the truth. Nothing good comes for free and if the outcome is a fun experience that results in a delicious dish, then I think it’s worth it. Don’t you?

What happens when I go into the grocery store...

As a personal chef, I spend a lot of time in the grocery store. For instance, this weekend I went to the store twice and the farm market once in only two days' time. Even if I didn't cook professionally, since I cook for my family, I would still probably spend more than my fair share of time in the store. Some days, the thought of running to the store can reduce me to tears. The thought of interrupting my flow to grab a vital ingredient that I didn't think to buy the first time is frustrating. You see, I used to work in retail. I was the bakery manager and then a customer service/cash office rep for the busiest store in a middle-sized chain. Retail is a tough industry. As we'd say in the biz, "Retail is a dog". After work, when I would shop it would never fail; even if I were dressed in chef's clothes, shopping in a whole different store, people would stop me as if I worked in that store and ask me where they could find such and such...If I was in a good mood, I'd help them. If I was tired, I'd point out that I didn't work there. Since owning and operating AngelFood, I've changed my perspective. I've learned that along the way my approachability factor has increased even more (!) and if I want to celebrate my life in the media then I've got to get used to seeing folks I know in the store and making new friends there is inevitable. Take this Saturday. Scene: the produce aisle where I get lots of "new friend action". The sweetest man in his late 40s said, "Ma'am, can you please help me? My wife sent me to the store with a wish list and I'm having trouble with a few items." How could I not help him?! He only wanted to please his wife. She wanted butternut squash, "but she wants the cut up kind." I hope he went home and pretended he found it all on his own. He deserves that much. A lady saw me piling 3 pounds of wax beans into a bag and asked me what I was going to do with the beans. We had a lovely 5 minute lecture on the beans. Turns out she sounds like quite a cook. She was hosting a party and serving roasted chicken with mango chutney. This was a perfect time for me to transition (albeit slowly) from summer vacation mode back to cooking/food media personality and come out of hiding. The new rule is that everybody who approaches me gets a business card because we all could use a little help in the grocery store. What are your grocery adventures like?

Casual Cake

Contributing something to share at potluck celebrations puts a chef between a rock and a hard place. Can't I be like every other guest? Can't I bring a new recipe that looks good, but is still in the experimental stages? What happens when I want to bring a delicious cake without getting out the cadre of pastry bags and piping tips to create the next cover shot of Martha Stewart's Living? Oh, no! The cake might even be a bit uneven and crumby around the edges (as usually happens with the chocolate cake). Well, I just take a deep breath and let it be.

Lately, I've been really enjoying recipes in which seasonal ingredients (mainly fruits) can be interchanged. I've also been experimenting with Splenda. I have realized that there is a chemical edge to Splenda that I'm not completely sold on. I have also been substituting Splenda for sugar at about 2/3 of the called for measurement. Splenda did pretty well in this recipe from epicurious.com. I made the recipe into muffins and left off the sugar topping (I would generally use turbinado or raw sugar for extra crunch). The fruit is definitely interchangeable and I would recommend this recipe for all seasons. If keeping buttermilk on hand is an issue, you can purchase powdered buttermilk or make your own by placing a few drops of vinegar or lemon juice in whole milk.

Raspberry Buttermilk Cake

1 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened 2/3 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar, divided OR

1/2 cup Splenda for batter only 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 1 large egg 1/2 cup well-shaken buttermilk 1 cup fresh raspberries (about 5 ounces)

Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle. Butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan (or prepare a 6-piece cupcake pan with paper liners). Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Beat butter and 2/3 cup sugar with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes, then beat in vanilla. Add egg and beat well. At low speed, mix in flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour, and mixing until just combined. Spoon batter into cake pan, smoothing top. Scatter raspberries evenly over top and sprinkle with remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar. Bake until cake is golden and a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and cool to warm, 10 to 15 minutes more. Invert onto a plate.

Makes 6 servings (or 6 cupcakes).

Being a Primitive Gourmet

I heard, through a friend, about the wine berries and black raspberries growing wild in a local park, just waiting to be picked. Even though temps had reached the 80's by 8 am, I considered this to be a low cost, high yield adventure to take my daughter on. The bushes did not disappoint.

Upon arriving at the park, we found the grass was dewy and undisturbed. We kicked up a lot of bugs, sweated profusely, collected hundreds of tiny burrs that bejeweled our play clothes and got scratched numerous times traversing the brambles for the best berries. We had a great time. We're tough women. Our Pennsylvania Dutch foremothers have been delivering babies while picking potatoes for centuries. Between the lively conversation and delicious snacking, we didn't even notice the conditions.

We took with us our gallon-sized Easter bucket that has a plastic handle. We filled it half way, giving us a yield of 2 quarts, or 8 cups.

I learned this about being a Primitive Gourmet: I believe that a certain satisfaction was removed from food preparation when full-on grocery stores became prevalent. My whole day was filled of thoughts regarding these berries; getting them, treating them (I gently placed them in a metal colander in a sink full of water, twice and gently swished to remove as much debris and bugs as I could), using them and then eating them. We take our food for granted nowadays.

Profoundly Satisfying Turnovers

4 cups of berries, 1/2 cup honey, 1/2 cup sugar, juice of 1/2 lemon, 1 Tablespoon cornstarch. Mix together.

1 package puff pastry dough, cutting each sheet in 4 or 8 pieces (squares). Using a slotted spoon, put a spoonful of the berries on the lower half of each square. Fold top over bottom and seal with the tines of a fork. Brush with beaten egg and bake at 450 degrees until golden and puffed. We topped ours with leftover icing while still warm.

Juicy, rustic, fantastic. Slow down and love your food.

Put Your Eggs in One Basket

I would eat them in a box. I would eat them with a fox. I would eat them here and there. I would eat them anywhere. Yes, those eggs are green. They come from my sister, Carol's hens in Indiana and they were delicious.

Eggs are the perfect food and they are even more perfect in the summer. Simmering them does not heat up the whole kitchen and they come in their own container. Egg salad makes a terrific summer dinner, cool and creamy, packed with protein. Deviled eggs make you the popular guest at any picnic.

Here's the basic recipe, which can be increased easily:

Deviled Eggs

6 peeled, hard-cooked eggs, cut in half ,lengthwise, with the yolks removed. Mash yolks with fork. Stir in 1/4 cup mayonnaise, 1/2 tsp. ground mustard. Salt and Pepper to taste.

We gas up our eggs at home with vinegar, horseradish and sometimes Wasabi. We top them with freshly chopped parsley or crisp, homemade bacon bits, as seen on the photo on the left.

What's the secret to those pretty piped eggs? Mashing the yolks when the eggs are freshly cooked, still at room temperature. Also, using a large pastry tip will prevent any yolk lumps from getting lodged in the tip's decorating edges. We've never seen pre-cooked, cold eggs produce lump-free filling.

One more tip: Keep the whites clean by placing the garnish in the palm of one of your hands and sprinkling the garnish with your other fingertips, like fairy dust.