Simple Cooking Issue No. 92 Oatcakes ~ Hummus, Hold the PITA Five Dollars Hanging Out at Dill Pickle f this were a culinary romance, I would have sampled the No-Name zupa ogórkowa in a crowded tavern in Warszawa. IReality being what it is, I came across this soup in the Polish imported groceries section of the local Stop A Diner Story (with Recipes) & Shop. This part of Massachusetts has a strong Polish The Story So Far: On a run-down part of Water Street sits a presence (there’s even a Polish National Credit Union), tiny, brightly painted, nameless diner. Alec, our narrator, who which makes for easy access to freshly made pierogi owns a used-book store in the row of Victorian commercial and to locally produced kielbasa and even kiszka — a buildings that loom beside it, has gradually become a regular, sausage made of buckwheat groats, pork liver, pork getting to know the Professor (the burly, bearded proprietor snouts, beef blood, diced pork fat, and so on, that has and grill cook), Greg (the Gen-Y waitron-busboy-dishwasher), become one of my breakfast favorites. and, more recently, the Professor’s young daughter, Jess. In Supermarkets here have also gotten into the act, the past few episodes, the Professor has been in hot pursuit carrying a selection of imported Polish grocery items. of the quintessential recipe. Unfortunately, these are dominated by pickled vegetables swimming in distilled vinegar strong enough to melt inter, in this part of the world, doesn’t give up plastic. Still, I give the shelves a quick glance as I push without a struggle. In fact, it has to be dragged my cart by, and thus it was that an unfamilar glass jar Woff the stage cursing and flailing about. Even so, flagged me down. It was labeled “.” there was a hint of spring in this morning’s weather, warm I once made a curry with cucumbers in it. It was and moist enough for a bank of fog to come rising up off very good, and since then I’ve been (mildly) interested the river and blanket the town. It added a bit more thrill in cooked cucumber dishes. In fact, I’ve even made a to the walk downhill over the snow-crusted sidewalks, cucumber soup, following the recipe that appears in older especially with a dog eagerly tugging on her leash. editions of Fannie Farmer. It turned out to be more for When I pulled open the No-Name’s door and went the bridge club than for me — bland, rich, and, well, in, I found the diner empty of customers. The Professor gelded. However, all I had to do was pick up the jar to was leaning over the counter, dourly regarding the head- see this soup was something else. True, its contents lines of the morning paper. were shot through with threads of cucumber (and, for “Quiet in here,” I said, when he looked up. that matter, carrot). But the medium for these was one The Professor grunted. “The working class has big mass of mashed potato. The label lied. This was a eaten and gone,” he replied, “while the leisure class has potato soup, and I love potato soup. yet to venture out into the gloom. That leaves only you as Certainly, if the jar had simply contained chunks a potential customer… well, you and,” he glanced down, of cucumber floating in an herb-speckled , I might “your faithful dog.” still have bought it and taken it home, but not with bated Sasha quivered all over to express her joy at be- breath. My palate draws me to foods that are fatty and ing noticed, and, even more so, in the anticipation that, salty and becomes more diffident when the offerings are with the diner being empty, she could actually sit on a sour and/or sweet. This is why my culinary explorations counter stool right beside me. almost never take me to Germany, let alone the European Just then, Greg came out of the kitchen, bear- countries to its east. , sauerkraut, sauerbraten, ing a tray heaped with clean cups and dishes. His face pickled herring ... I can eat these things, sometimes even brightened when he saw Sasha‘s head poking up just high enough to clear the counter. “Ah ha!” he said. “At last, a customer for our special tasting menu!” He set down the tray with a clatter and hurried back into the kitchen. The Professor, inured to such behavior, didn’t even bother rolling his eyes, He brought up a cup and saucer from beneath the counter with one hand, even as he snared the coffee pot with the other. As I stirred continued on page 6 with pleasure, but entice me they do not. 4 to 6 brine-cured pickles, stem ends trimmed off This lack of connection is the reason why it didn’t and discarded, the rest coarsely grated even occur to me that the cucumber in this soup might 1/2 cup liquid from the jar of pickles be pickled, or — to put the horse before the cart — that salt and black pepper to taste it would turn out to be cucumber pickle soup. Except it wasn’t that, either. serve with: your favorite rye bread and butter I once wrote in an essay about potato soup that • Put the unpeeled potatoes and the carrot chunks into a pot and pour over the water and milk. Bring to a simmer, there’s no shortage of seasonings to bring a welcome spritz cover, and cook for 30 minutes, or until the potatoes can of flavor to a good potato soup. But a good potato soup needs be easily pierced with a serving fork or skewer. (Cooking only a spritz of flavor. Add more and the potato retreats to the potatoes in their skins keeps them from getting wa- play backup for someone else’s show. terlogged and lets the nutrients in the skin leach into the Now, two decades later, here was a lovely exampling of cooking liquid.) that dictum. The sharp-sour, dill-inflected savor of the • As the potatoes and carrots cook, cut the scallions in pickle invigorated the delicate taste of the potato, without half at the point where they turn green. Cut the bottom pieces in half lengthwise, then slice these into large dice. in any way elbowing it aside. (In fact, it made me think Coarsely chop the green ends. that this might be an answer to that dolor that afflicts all but the most carefully crafted potato salads.) I can count • Set a soup pot over medium heat and add the butter. When it has melted, put in the prepared scallions, the on the fingers of one hand the number of commercially minced garlic, and the ground caraway seeds (if using). made that I enjoy eating.* It was a pleasure to add Mellow everything gently until the scallions are translu- another to that roster, especially a soup with such a short cent. Keep this warm over a low flame. and admirably unsullied list of ingredients. • When the potatoes are done, remove them from the pot I was able to buy one more jar. Then, on a sub- but reserve the cooking liquid and keep it warm. Once the sequent visit to Stop & Shop, the slot was filled with jars potatoes are cool enough to handle, slip off their skins of something called “vegetable salad.” Cucumber soup (easily done with yellow potatoes). Cut the potatoes into was gone for good. It was never restocked, and I couldn’t quarters and return these to their cooking liquid. Cut the find it anywhere else, including online. Its absence was carrots into little chunks and add them to the soup pot. so total that I found myself wondering if my memory of it • Sprinkle the minced dill over the potatoes. Then, using was but a remnant of a dream. But I wasn’t going to let the edge of a stiff plastic spatula, chop/mash the potatoes it escape so easily. I would just have to make it myself. into a coarse slurry. There should be lots of potato chunks, but none of them very large. Recipes for pickle soup aren’t hard to find if you happen to own any Polish cookbooks. We don’t.† This was • Stir these mushed potatoes, the chopped pickles, and the probably for the best. If what you’re trying to recapture is pickling liquid into the soup pot. Bring this up to a bubbling simmer and let it cook for 5 minutes. If the soup is too thick a memory, the worse way to go about it is to reach for it for your taste, thin it with more milk. Taste for seasoning, through other people’s ideas. However “authentic,” they adding salt as necessary and plenty of black pepper. rarely give you what you’re looking for. And the recipe I worked out for myself did do that — perhaps because Later, I did consult some Polish cookbooks, and by the time I had the soup the way I wanted it, memory loved finding a recipe for “Dill Pickles for Soup” in Robert found itself finessed and graciously gave in. and Maria Strybel’s mammoth 887-page Polish Heritage Cookery. It came with the comment, “If you like zupa ogórkowa as much as we do, you may want to put up Dill Pickle Soup pickles especially for this purpose and have them on hand The pickles can be half-sour, kosher dill, or garlic, but if all year.” There was nothing in the least unusual about the possible they should be naturally cured and vinegar free, recipe except that the pickles were processed in 8-ounce which means you’ll find them in the refrigerated case where jars — just the right size for a single batch of soup! cold cuts and other deli-like items are sold. Even better, Then there was their hangover cure: Fill a glass they should come from your local food co-op, where you with equal measures ice-cold pickle brine and seltzer, can find such pickles made entirely with natural ingredi- ents. Best of all, you can make your own. (Recipes for true, then drink it all down in a single gulp. Actually, as a salt brine-cured cucumber pickles can be easily found. See the replenisher after too much time in the sun, this doesn’t supplement for one, or turn to my pamphlet The Dill Crock, sound at all bad. But for a case of morning-after, I’ll take which I’m happy to reprint on demand for any reader who my pickle brine in a nice hot bowl of potato soup. would like one. The price is $5, postage paid.)

[serves 4] See the supplement for de Pomiane’s pickle soup recipe and an 4 medium/large yellow potatoes, washed easy (and quick) way to make your own half-sours. 2 cups water • 2 cups milk 1 large carrot, peeled and quartered x q x q x 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 bunch scallions, trimmed of roots and ragged tops Oatcakes 1 clove garlic, minced he first time I tasted buttermilk, I turned and spat it 1/4 teaspoon caraway seeds, ground (optional) out on the street — to the amused astonishment of the 1 teaspoon minced fresh dill leaves or 1/2 teaspoon dried TSouthern friend who’d convinced me to try it. Yankees! *These would be Progresso’s Chickarina, Campbell’s Pepperpot, What can you do with them? Answer: Give them another Goya’s Classic Black Bean Soup, and… Seabrook Farms’ Creamed forty years, because I’ve finally come around. Now I love Spinach diluted with an equal amount of milk. the stuff enough to drink it right out of the carton. † Oddly, we do possess Edouard de Pomiane’s The Jews of Poland: Furthermore, I know exactly when I realized Recollections and Recipes (1929). I checked and it does have an appealing recipe for pickle soup, but it was nothing like the one I was trying to reproduce. page two page three this. I was leafing through Saveur when I came across “Pinhead” oatmeal, a favorite in both Scotland and Ireland, a photograph of a glass of buttermilk, flecked with bits takes its name not — as I once thought — from the size of minced chive and black pepper. I couldn’t believe how of the groats but from the tiny specks that remain once totally delicious it looked, how foolish it was that this the steel blades are done pulverizing them. wasn’t already part of my life. Before the day was over, The oatmeal introduced by Zingerman’s is all again there was a carton of buttermilk in the fridge; before the different, and thus has its own entry in Cathal Cowan and week was over, there was a big pot of chives set in our Regina Sexton’s Ireland’s Traditional Foods (1997).* It sunniest window. I snipped away all that summer and gets its name from the town in County Cork where it has fall, and when winter put an end to it, I switched over to been milled since 1832, and two important things distin- freeze-dried dill. (Freeze-dried chives have no flavor.) guish it from any other Irish oatmeal. First, the whole oats Furthermore, once it became clear that this but- are roasted in a kiln before they are processed; secondly, termilk beveraging was no passing fancy, I decided to they are ground in Ireland’s last operating traditional mill, switch from the commercial product to a close cousin I where the use of slow-turning millstones conserves the could make myself, a Swedish cultured milk called film- full flavor of the toasty grain. jölk.* Although it isn’t exactly like buttermilk, I think it The aroma of this oatmeal hits your nostrils the tastes even better — a smooth, tangy mass of delicate moment you open the can. You might as well be at the mill curds that just melts in your mouth. scooping it out of the bin: it’s as fresh-seeming and potent I wrote about filmjölk many years ago, when Matt as that. In fact, from that moment, I knew that Macroom and I kept a culture going to use in baking cornbread (see was going to blow McCann’s away. Where McCann’s is page 360 in Serious Pig for the details). Unlike buttermilk nutty tasting, Macroom, judging from taste alone, might cultures, those in filmjölk can be kept going by mixing a be mistaken for actual crushed nuts ... at least until the dollop in some fresh milk and letting it sit overnight at vegetative aftertaste of the grain comes through. No other room temperature. The bacteria will also culture anything oatmeal I’ve ever tasted has this depth. And, despite its from skim milk to heavy cream, which means that it is fine texture, because it hasn’t been steam-processed, it useful for all sorts of projects. Happily, Gem Cultures, cooks up velvety smooth but not at all mushy the way the company that sold us our original starter, was still in instant oatmeal does. business. I ordered some and, over a year later, it’s still I had eaten my way through half the canister going strong. before the nickel dropped. “Oatmeal” has evolved into a And that would have been that, a tip of the hat generic term for ground-up oats of any sort that are eaten to Saveur and on to other things, had not Mo, my pal at as a breakfast cereal. But the Macroom product was bona Zingerman’s — Ann Arbor’s food phenomenon (deli, bakery, fine oat meal. In fact, it looked almost identical to the roadhouse, mail-order source for choice foodstuffs) — sent stone-ground white corn meal with which we make our me a canister of the organic, stoneground Macroom Irish cornbread. And this connection prompted the obvious oatmeal that they were introducing to the USA. question: What would happen if I made that bread using For reasons that I don’t really understand, Irish Macroom instead? oatmeal has a uniquely delicious flavor that even small Our basic cornbread recipe is simple enough. gristmills here in America can’t match.† Because of Quickly mix the batter, pour it into a preheated, greased this, for all my adult life, my oatmeal of choice has been skillet and bake it in a hot oven. Then, after about twenty McCann’s traditional steel-cut oatmeal. minutes, invert the skillet over a cutting board, so that If you, too, are a lover of slow-cooked traditional the deliciously crusty bottom becomes the top. If you oatmeal, you’ll know that mills process it in different like your cornbread moist, almost pudding-like, give it a ways. Once the whole grain is hulled, the resulting groats slightly shorter cooking time; if you like it drier, let it stay are softened with steam (or some other process), then in a few minutes more. flattened with steel rollers or cut into small chunks with This method worked perfectly utilizing Macroom, steel blades — producing, in the first instance, rolled oats, producing an oat bread that was tender, moist, full of oat- and, in the second, steel-cut oats.‡ rich flavor, with a crusty bottom-turned-top. However, I Both methods lend themselves to refinement. Rolled found myself not quite happy with the result — and it oats can be rolled thin (and are thus quicker to make) or didn’t take me long to figure out why. Most of the things I not so thin (so that they cook up chewier and tastier). put in or on my cornbread — cheese, garlic, chiles, country Steel-cut oats can be toasted before being run through the sausage — didn’t work that well with this bread. blades; they can also be cut into larger or smaller pieces. What I wanted on it was pretty much what goes *Buttermilk is made with Streptococcus lactis, while filmjölk uses with it best when I eat my oatmeal in a bowl, which is Lactococcus lactis and Leuconostoc mesenteroides. In either case, the butter, honey, and (if not so applicable here) a splash of tang comes from fermenting the lactose in the milk into lactic acid. cream. And the thickish version I was turning out wasn’t This in turn changes the ph of the milk, which causes the casein in the best way to make the most of these. it to precipitate — hence the clabber. To do that, I needed something much more sug- †Cook’s Illustrated begs to differ. In an oatmeal tasting in the July/Au- gestive of a traditional oakcake, which is produced out gust 2009 issue, McCann’s didn’t even make it into the “recommended” category, and was described as tasting “like cardboard or paper pulp.” of nothing more than oatmeal, salt, a little cooking fat, I rarely agree with CI’s tasters, and this time I think they’ve taken a and enough water to make a dough.† For such a mixture few too many hits from the imitation vanilla extract bottle. To put their to be edible it has to made very thin, and it takes a lot of expertise into perspective, I’ll just quote some commendations for their skill (and brute force) to accomplish this. first two choices: “like tapioca pearls popping in my mouth” and “like a warm granola bar.” These people are oatmeal lovers? My personal oatcake (as I now began to think of ‡Groats can also be eaten, if you cook them long enough. On my *One oddity in their entry is this: “The older generation speak of having lifetime list of dishes to try just once is something called Groaty Dick, it in tea” — shades of my grandfather, who used to wet his breakfast a traditional specialty from England’s Black Country (named for its cereal with his morning coffee. Nothing put me off my breakfast more outcroppings of coal), made by cooking soaked groats, beef, leeks, until I met someone who shook dollops of catsup on her fried eggs. and onions in beef stock for up to 16 hours at 300°F. † This, let it be said, is the most basic of oatcakes. If you want to boggle your brain, turn to F. Marian McNeill’s The Scots Kitchen, which has page two page three two pages (printed in microscopic type) of variations on that theme. it) would require neither skill nor muscle, but it would be made in a wide enough skillet so that when I turned it x q x q x out, slathered it with butter, and drizzled it all over with honey, it would be near soaked with those things, while still crisp and hot. After trying out various skillets for Hummus, Hold the Pita the task, I discovered that our Vollrath 12-inch round, nonstick, aluminum griddle produced the very giant- The most typical dish of Sifnos is … baked chickpeas, revithia pancake-like oatcake I wanted. Life is bliss. fournou, a fixture of Sunday dinners that bakes in a slow oven all night Saturday. — Miles Lambert-Gócs, Greek Salad Irish Oatcake ecently, I received a review copy of Janna Gur’s This oatcake can be simple to make even if you don’t care handsome, coffee-table-size The Book of New Is- to culture your own filmjölk or get in a supply of Macroom Rraeli Food. It is in many ways the most illuminating Irish Oatmeal. (See below for ordering information, as well Israeli cookbook I’ve come across, which only intensified as a special offer for SC subscribers.) For the former, you the shock when I happened upon her recipe for “Basic can substitute buttermilk; for the latter you can pulverize Hummus Dip.” In it she instructs the cook to soak the McCann’s Quick Cooking Irish Oatmeal (which is steamed and rolled) into a coarse oat flour in a food processor set chickpeas in a tablespoon of baking soda, then to cook with its steel blade. The Cuisinart spice grinder reviewed them in an additional half teaspoon of the stuff. There on page 7 can do the same thing to McCann’s steel-cut are only two reasonable explanations for this (not count- Irish oatmeal. Our Vollrath griddle is quite light — if you ing “The devil made me do it”): (1) Israeli chickpeas are use a skillet, make sure you can easily turn it over so that actually pebbles in disguise or (2) her American editor the oatcake will land upside down on the cutting board. warned her that in this country all chickpeas are stored One oatcake serves one most generously or two quite suf- ficiently. in some stiflingly hot Florida warehouse for five or six years before being released for sale. Of course, I can’t exactly prove this, but I do know from a lifetime of dealing with them that chickpeas take an exasperatingly unpredictable amount of time to cook. In our experience, this can range from three to six hours, not [makes one 12-inch oatcake] counting the instances when we were too hungry to wait any 1/2 tablespoon peanut or other cooking oil longer and gnawed them down as they were. Using baking soda to rectify this is what might tactfully be referred to as 4 ounces stone-ground oatmeal waterboarding for chickpeas. Use that amount of baking scant 1/2 teaspoon each baking soda, soda and they’ll truly be putty in your hands … and taste cream of tartar, and fine sea salt that way, too. The result will not be pretty.* 1 egg • 3/4 cup (6 ounces) filmjölk or buttermilk The secret to chickpea cooking is simple if incon- to complete: butter and honey to taste venient: Give them all the time in the pot that they need. • Preheat the oven to 425°F. When it is ready, pour the Put them in filtered water, if necessary, and cook them the cooking oil onto a 12-inch griddle (or into a skillet, see day before (or overnight!) so that the hours can slip by … above) and set this in the oven for 5 minutes. one, two, three, four, five, six … until that magic moment • Meanwhile, put the stone- (or processor-) ground oatmeal when the test bean simply melts in your mouth. into a mixing bowl and sift in the baking soda, cream of “To hell with all that,” you mutter. “I’ll just buy tartar, and salt. Break the egg into a second bowl, then them in a can.” Sure. Usually, this isn’t a bad option — I whisk in the filmjölk or buttermilk, blending them well. often do it myself. Chickpeas are one of the few beans with • After the 5 minutes, remove the griddle from the oven, enough presence to elbow aside the whispery off-flavors tipping it gently so that the oil covers its entire surface. that come of mass processing. The problem is what isn’t Quickly turn the liquid ingredients into the dry ones, there: the subtle flavor notes that get entirely cooked away. whisking them just enough to blend. Don’t overmix. Then In a dish like hummus bi tahini, where the chickpea taste immediately turn this onto the griddle, using a flexible and texture is pretty much everything, using the canned spatula to clean out the bowl. The batter will sizzle. product dooms it to mediocrity.† • Put the griddle back in the oven and bake for 18 minutes. The reason that I even noticed Janna Gur’s bak- The surface of the oatcake should spring back when lightly ing soda fixation is that the dish in question has recently pressed with a finger. Flip it onto a cutting board, so that the bottom, crusty side faces up. Spread it liberally with come back into our life after a long hiatus. When Matt and butter and drizzle it with honey. Serve at once. I lived in Maine, we baked almost all the bread we ate, and I had gotten pretty good at making pita. Few things * Cook’s Note: Sources. An active starter of filmjölk can be ordered from Gem Cultures for $12 plus shipping. are nicer on a cold winter night Downeast than taking While you’re visiting their website, www.gemcultures.com, these straight from oven to table, each loaf still gloriously browse around — these people hold the keys to a fascinat- puffed (if luck is smiling on you), gingerly ripping them ing world. You can also contact them by mail or phone: apart to release a cloud of steam and that intensely ap- GEM Cultures, Inc., PO Box 39426, Lakewood WA 98496 petizing yeasty, fresh-baked-bread aroma, then stuffing • (253) 588-2922. them with (among other things) roasted peppers and The only place I know in the USA that sells Macroom Oat- hummus bi tahini. meal is Zingerman’s, $16 for a 2-pound tin. However, Mo * Hard water keeps chickpeas from softening, and in this case a pinch of has set up a special discount for SC subscribers (mail/in- baking soda in the soaking water can help. I’ve also read that chickpeas ternet orders only): Enter the code SIMPLE and you’ll get taken from their pods and dried while still green (rather than letting them five dollars off the price of a tin, limit 2. The offer expires dry in their pods) turn out mealy unless given a lengthy cooking. November 30, 2009. www.zingermans.com • 422 Detroit St., † Even the taste of the unadulterated cooking liquid from home- Ann Arbor MI 48104 • (888) 636-8162. cooked chickpeas can be genuinely sublime. Refrigerated overnight, it becomes delicately gelatinous, and provides the final touch to a See the supplement for a note on my experiments making richly flavoredhummus . this bread with other breakfast cereals page four page five When we moved to Northampton and to a small are ready, let them cool in their cooking liquid, refrigerating apartment kitchen, my bread-baking days came to an end. them in it until making the hummus. We tried for a while to keep at it, but there was no good • To make the hummus: Drain the chickpeas, reserving place to store the fifty-pound bags of our favorite bread the liquid. Pour the lemon juice into a mortar or food pro- flour and no good counters on which to knead and roll out cessor fitted with its steel blade. Work the chickpeas into the dough. No matter. We could get hold of very good bread a slightly coarse, moist purée, adding the cooking liquid, bit by bit, until the desired consistency has been reached. (and pretty decent pizza) — but nothing like good pita. And, Pulse in the tahini or sesame paste, then the minced cilan- unlike most bread, pita has to be very fresh, very good or tro leaf and chile pepper. Add more salt if needed. it is nothing at all. No pita meant no more hummus, no more baba ganoush. And we missed those things. The Pan-Roasted Vegetables What I had to do was entirely rethink the relation- We make this dish with an ever-changing cast of charac- ship, knock pita out of the equation, at least for the time ters, selecting at least five or six from what looks best at the being, and focus on the hummus. Matt and I had already market and what is at hand at home. Besides those listed in shoved it along from appetizer to full-fledged sandwich, but the recipe below, we regularly use eggplant (treated like the I still thought of it as a dip. However, on reflection, I real- zucchini), fennel, carrots, and green beans (parboiled). ized I had a better template — bagna caôda, that delicious [serves 4] meld of cream, garlic, and anchovy served with a platter of vegetables, which makes winter bearable in Italy’s Piedmont 2 large portabello mushroom caps region. Employed in the same fashion, hummus bi tahini 1 green and 1 red bell pepper, cored, and seeded could become a perfect hot weather repast. 4 yellow potatoes, peeled Of course, there would have to be some changes. Unlike bagna caôda, hummus isn’t molten or all that rich. 2 medium Vidalia (or other) onions, peeled This means that the vegetables would have to be a bit 2 Belgian endives, ends trimmed more moist and provide a certain richness of their own 4 medium or 2 large zucchini, trimmed ratatouille — in my imagination, not unlike a . This notion 1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus more to taste evolved into what follows: a handsome, filling meal that can be made in advance and that is totally vegetarian 4 tablespoons olive oil, plus more as needed without wearing that fact on its sleeve — in short, the 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced basis for a lovely summer supper. 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, crushed in a mortar 1 medium (14.5 ounce) can “petite diced” tomatoes Hummus bi Tahini with 1 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled Pan-Roasted Vegetables hot pepper flakes and black pepper to taste • Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut all the vegetables into largish Some Preliminary Notes. Tahini, of course, is a paste bite-size pieces, except for the Belgian endive, which should made of raw sesame seeds, pretty universally available in be separated into leaves. Put the cut zucchini into a bowl, cans. However, I did some experimenting and came up with toss with 1/2 tablespoon of the salt, and let sit. a close cousin made by pulverizing the seeds myself, re- sulting in something much fresher tasting — an adventure • Put 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large skillet (we use detailed in this issue’s supplement. • Because the vegetable a 12-inch flat-bottomed wok) and heat this over a medium mélange has plenty of garlic, we omit it from the hummus, flame. When you can smell the oil, add the mushroom adding some minced hot red chile instead. If you’d like the pieces and sauté these, turning them often, until they are traditional version, omit the chile, adding one or two peeled soft and wilted, about 3 to 5 minutes. and very finely minced garlic cloves in its place. • Push the wilted mushrooms to the side of the pan and pour in the remaining olive oil, then add the minced garlic The Hummus bi Tahini and crushed cumin seeds. Once the garlic turns trans- If you’re planning to eat this dish for lunch, you’ll need to lucent, stir in the potato and bell pepper pieces and mix have cooked the chickpeas the day before. Otherwise, soak these with the mushrooms. Season lightly with salt and them overnight, start them cooking first thing in the morn- put the skillet in the oven. ing, and expect to eat the resulting hummus for supper. • After 10 minutes, remove the skillet and add the onion [serves 4] pieces, stirring everything together. Return the skillet to the oven for another 10 minutes. 8 ounces dried chickpeas, picked over and rinsed well, then soaked for 8 hours (or overnight) • Meanwhile, pour off and discard any liquid released by the zucchini. Wrap the pieces in a clean dish towel and wring 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste this vigorously to squeeze out as much further liquid as juice of 1 plump lemon (about 3 tablespoons) possible. Then, at the 10-minute mark, remove the skillet and stir in the zucchini and Belgian endive leaves. Season 1/4 cup tahini or freshly made sesame seed paste (see with a pinch more salt and, if needed, add a splash more supplement for recipe) olive oil as well. Return the skillet to the oven. 1/4 cup (loosely packed) minced fresh cilantro leaf • After another 10 minutes, remove the skillet and taste 1 red serrano or other small hot chile, stemmed, seeded, one of the potato pieces. If it needs more cooking time, stir and finely minced everything well and return the skillet to the oven, check- ing for tenderness every 5 minutes. Once the potatoes are • To cook the chickpeas: Put them in a pot and cover ready, remove the skillet from the oven, stir in the can them with at least 1 inch of water. Bring this to a boil, of tomatoes, including the liquid, and sprinkle over the watching carefully to prevent the pot from boiling over. oregano. Stir everything well and let it cool on top of the Keeping everything at a steady boil, cook the chickpeas stove for at least 5 minutes before serving. Divide the hum- for 10 minutes, skimming away any persistent foam. Then mus into small bowls, and put these in the center of each stir in the salt, lower heat until the boiling is reduced to a plate, with the vegetables surrounding them. gentle quivering, and cook until the chickpeas are tender but not mushy, from 3 to as many as 6 hours. When they See the supplement for recipes for homemade sesame seed page four page five paste and a hummus-based soup continued from page 1 Dave glanced at me. “Do you know what that in cream and sugar, he gestured at the grill and added, phrase ‘pea souper’ means, Booksie?” “What‘s your pleasure?” I answered his question, adopting a deep, porten- “Two fried eggs on buttered toast,” I replied, “bacon tous voice and speaking as if plucking words from the on the side.” mist around us. “I’m seeing… night, wet streets, thick fog. The Professor got these under way. There was a A dim light appears… a lantern! Held up by the driver of long moment of silence. Then Greg reappeared, carrying a hansom cab. Behind him, from the passenger’s seat, a a tray with several saucers on it. He came up to Sasha voice calls out, ‘Come, Watson. The game’s afoot!’” and began setting each of these in front of her, reciting Dave sighed. “Yeah, yeah. A simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ as he did: “Scrambled egg. Heel of toast, buttered. Bacon would have sufficed, pal. The point is — do you know scraps à la mode. Blueberry pancake, forked but not why London fogs were called that?” eaten. Bran muffin crumble.” We had reached the door to my shop. I fished the Sasha was now standing with her rear legs on key ring out of my pocket and turned the lock, flipping the stool and her fore legs on the counter, tail wagging the CLOSED sign to OPEN as we went in. “Probably not wildly. She managed to finish off each treat as it hit the because of their taste,” I ventured. counter, licking the saucer clean before Greg could set Dave snorted. “Good guess. No, it wasn’t. And there out the next one. weren’t peas floating around in it, either. It’s because the “Jesus, Greg!” the Professor groaned, when he cheap coal that Londoners used to heat their homes was turned from the griddle to see what was going on. “If the loaded with sulphur, and when the weather was right, it health inspector walked in right now, I’d be finished. Con- left London enveloped in a thick yellow cloud. A pea-soup demned. Forced to take sanitary lessons at McDonald’s.” fog was pollution.” “Boss!” Greg replied in a hurt voice. “It was you “Boy,” I said, “the past sure does have a habit of who gave me the idea.” He pointed to the T-shirt the letting one down.” I paused. “Don’t tell the Professor that, Professor had on, which was from his seemingly endless Dave. You know he’s researching pea soup recipes ... this collection from food joints all across the country. news might take the wind out of his sails.” Dave looked at me as though I had lost what few marbles he reluctantly credited to my account. “Are you kidding, Booksie? I already told him. And, unlike you, he got it right away, I mean, he’s the son of Sherlock Holmes, ain’t he? Those cockney nag-nudgers ate pea soup made with yellow split peas.” The Fog Cutter (London Cabbie Split Pea Soup) The Professor glanced down at his front, then looked The Professor says: “In Victorian days, London hackney over at Sasha, who was shoving aside the well-licked saucers stands often had small canteens, primitively heated in the in search of any errant crumbs on the counter. He sighed winter, where cabbies could get warm and grab something and shook his head. “Somehow, I don’t think Nick had this quick and filling to eat, while their horses got water, rest, in mind, but I take the point. Now clear it all away.” and a nosebag of oats. I looked at some antique British The reason for his urgency was obvious; a regular cookbooks for feeding the poor, then worked out what I would‘ve dished out had I been the canteen cook.” customer at my bookstore, Dave Spenser, beefy, mus- tached, and leaning on a cane, had just come through [serves 6] the door. Greg whisked away the saucers and I shooed 1 pound yellow split peas Sasha onto the floor. Dave came over and heaved himself 1 pound meaty beef bones onto the stool on the other side of me. He caught the Professor’s eye and said, “Give me what the dog had.” 4 teaspoons kosher salt 2 slices bacon • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil a a a 1/2 pound stew beef, diced little while later, he and I walked together to the book- 2 carrots, 2 yellow potatoes, and 2 onions, peeled and chopped shop. Dave had suffered permanent damage from 3 stalks celery (including leaves), chopped his work as a builder and lived mostly off disability. A leaves from a half dozen sprigs flat-leaf parsley, minced As he put it, he was one of life’s walking wounded. But he had an assortment of irons in the fire to keep himself busy black pepper to taste — ranging from volunteer work to an ongoing war with the to garnish: toasted croûtons (optional) squirrels who invaded his bird feeder. His two passions in life • About an hour before the soup is to be served, rinse the split were baseball and crime fiction, the first of which inspired peas and put them into a large pot filled with 21/2 quarts of many a heated discussion with the professor. The second water. Add the beef bones. Bring the pot to a boil, skimming led to his regular appearances in my store. off any persistent scum. Then stir in 2 teaspoons of the salt, The dim appearance of the sun above our heads lower the heat so the pot barely bubbles, and cover. meant that the fog was burning off everywhere but here, • Fry the bacon in a large skillet. When it is crisp and right beside the river, where it was still so thick that you brown, remove it to a paper towel and pour off and discard could barely see across the street. all but a tablespoon of the fat. Add the vegetable oil and “Brrrck,” Dave muttered, a combination of “brrr” return the skillet to the stove, over a medium flame. When it is hot, brown the diced beef, then add all the vegetables and a four-letter word. in the order given. Sauté everything, stirring occasionally, “This is a regular pea souper, that’s for sure,” I until the root vegetables are tender. agreed, tugging on Sasha’s leash. She knew where we concluded on next page aaa were going and how quickly we would be getting there — far too quickly for her. page six page seven

Oilerie. Many of us have a notion of an occupation we Table Talk . Elinor Rivers (Sylvan Creek Farm, Oak wish we had the nerve or the financing to make real, but Word of Mouth Harbor WA) writes, “Some years ago you sent me a single it’s a rare thing to come across somebody else’s dream sheet recipe for lamb kidneys in their jackets. Two days that practically makes you weep that you hadn’t thought later I slaughtered a young ram and roasted fresh kid- of it yourself. That’s what happened to me when Curt ney that night. What an extraordinary experience! The Campbell described Oilerie, his oil and vinegar store in fat had crisped, which added an extra richness. A full- Fish Creek, Wisconsin. Curt and his wife, Amy Jo, were bodied red wine made up for the absence of sweet butter in Krakow in April of 2003, when he noticed that olive oil and artisanal bread. By the way, fresh frozen kidneys was being sold there in small boutiques, where custom- are almost as good.” Phil Miano (Weston, CT) responsed ers could come in, taste the different oils, and choose the to my dismissing fennel fronds as “garbage” in a recipe ones that pleased them the most. at our website: “I chop them finely and use them with The appeal of this to the customer is obvious garlic and some oil, forming a delightful green paste. I enough, but what affected me was the pleasure it offers do this when I have a pork shoulder to roast. I separate the merchant. If you sell wine, for example, you might the musculature in the shoulder and spread my paste break open a bottle now and then for a tasting, but you throughout. When the roast is carved you get slices of can’t do it with any regularity or with any customer. But pork with green ‘marbling.’ It’s delicious.” at the Oilerie, Curt can give you a sample of any of his oils and/or vinegars that interest you, and engage you Cuisinart® Spice and Nut Grinder. If you’ve ever used a in a meaningful conversation about the special qualities coffee grinder to pulverize spices, you know (a) that it works that persuaded him to add them to his stock. On top of and (b) that you almost wish it didn’t. The ground spices that, he gets to go to Italy to meet the producers and to get clogged under the blade and leave an oily residue on hand select the oils and vinegars they sell. the plastic dome, and despite all your cleaning efforts, your The oils and vinegars are dispensed from large next batch of coffee tastes like an infusion of clove. This Italian stainless-steel containers (which look not unlike grinder, about half again as large as a coffee grinder, which giant milk cans with spigots. Called fustis or fustinox, these it otherwise resembles, was designed from the ground up drums are sold at Italian hardware stores to hold the oil to pulverize two things — spices and nuts — and it does that customers have pressed from their own olives.) Because this to perfection. The grinding is done in a stainless-steel each bottle is filled to order, Curt can offer good prices by cup which, in turn, is covered with a plastic dome. You buying in bulk and using identical (12.7 oz.) bottles sport- activate the grinder by pressing down on this; I grasp it ing the same distinctive design, with brass medallions that by the sides while gently pulse the contents, watching as I label the contents. He calls this the “Southwest Airlines” do. What is ground in the cup stays in the cup (almost no approach to olive oil marketing. Consequently, he can of- powdery coating on the plastic dome). Even better, the steel fer a twenty-five-year-old balsamic (which possesses an container can be easily removed (blade and all) to make incredible intensity of flavor and a pronounced mouth- emptying it easier and cleaning it a snap — you can even coating viscosity) for $18.50 and a truffle-infused olive oil pop it in the dishwasher (but wash the dome by hand). (the bosky flavor of which haunts the taste buds for a long The grinder has a half-cup capacity (almonds, time after the oil has been swallowed) for $15.50. a quarter cup), which is plenty for the purpose, even if The Oilerie’s selection embraces different extra- you’re making your own garam masala. virgin Italian oils with widely varying flavor notes (from In our house, it has tackled whole mild to buttery to noticeably peppery), as well as some nutmeg, cloves, dried chile peppers, flavored ones (the two I tried — garlic and dried tomato fresh and roasted peanuts, and — were as good as anything I could concoct myself). Also flax, sesame, pumpkin, and toasted on offer are an California avocado oil and a deliciously cumin seeds. In my experience it subtle Japanese-made toasted sesame oil. Apart from the doesn’t work with herbs (too light), spectacular balsamic described above, the Oilerie also and a call to Cuisinart confirmed sells twelve-year-old “white” (uncooked) balsamic vinegar, my suspicion that it’s not for coffee and (among others) a subtle-tasting pear balsamic and a beans. Getting the cord to fit into lively fig one, all from Modena. Most of the extra-virgin the built-in storage slot does take olive oils are under fifteen dollars; the twenty-five-year-old a little fiddling, but it can be balsamic is the priciest of the vinegars. You can order all done. It comes with a help- these at the Oilerie’s website (which includes many things ful instruction pamphlet. not mentioned here). And franchises are on offer if you The retail price is $75, find your pulse quickening at the thought of your own but online retailers offer neighborhood bottega dell’olio. Oilerie • PO Box 31 • Fish it for about half that: at Creek WI 54212 • (800) 310-2878. www.oilerie.com. Amazon.com, for ex- ample, it’s $35. ```ccontinued from previous page • By this time, the split peas should be meltingly soft. Fish out and discard the beef bones and mix in the contents of the skillet. Add as much of the remaining 2 teaspoons salt as Simple Cooking 92 © 2009 John Thorne and Matt Lewis Thorne. All you like, along with the minced parsley and plenty of black rights reserved. ❍ The subscription price is $25 for five issues or $45 for pepper. Cook for another 5 minutes to let flavors mingle, ten. ❍ Unless you state otherwise, we assume letters to us are meant for then serve in warmed bowls with a pinch of crumbled bacon publication and can be edited accordingly. ❍ P.O. Box 778, Northampton and — if you wish — toasted croûtons scattered over u . MA 01061 ❍ [email protected]. Visit our award-winning Internet site at: http://www.outlawcook.com. page six page seven ISSN 0749-176X mangeetout next page. This isn’t because they’re Diverse Cooking complicated; most are decidedly not. It’s from a Carolina Kitchen Tomato Pie a matter of respect. You don’t need two 8 8 pages on cooking collard greens, but with From Diverse Cooking from a Carolina Kitchen Williams at your side, you might well learn Holiday Cooking Chris Williams writes, “The ingredients why Southerners treasure them so much. from a Carolina Kitchen and method for this recipe are possibly I was drawn to the pamphlets for this by Chris Williams (two pamphlets • 28 the simplest and easiest in this col- painstaking care, as well as for the affec- lection. It remains, however, the most pages • $4.95 each) tionate introductions he gives to so many frequently requested recipe I have en- of the recipes, cluing us in to why he (and piral-bound fund-raising cookbooks countered anywhere. Some folks come his customers) are so fond of them. sheepishly, some with offers of cold are often what people look to when Williams embraces local ingredients hard cash! We divulge the recipe readily. Sthey want to get a taste of America‘s and Southern-made comestibles like Duke’s It is important to use the freshest and regional home cooking. But they might mayonnaise and Adluh stone-ground corn do better to search out the harder-to-find most flavorful tomatoes you can find.” [Serves about 15 as a side dish] grits. He also unhesitatingly calls for ketchup pamphlets published by chefs who were and other bottled sauces, condensed milk, born in just the right locale or moved there 10 medium-size vine-ripe tomatoes, washed, cored, and sliced and grocery bread (see recipe) when he because they were attracted by its distinc- 11/4 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese decides that these are part of the essential tive culinary ways and wanted to make their character of the dish, and not an easy but mark with them. 1 cup mayonnaise (I prefer Duke’s brand “Southern style” mayonnaise) cheapening shortcut. In fact, these actually Some of these chefs, of course, do 1 onion, grated or minced fine testify to both his respect for tradition and their best to find a commercial publisher, his independent nature as a chef. but others really have no intention of writing 15 slices day-old white bread (I prefer Sunbeam brand) Regional tastes reach gale force when a cookbook at all. They end up printing the salt and black pepper to taste the holiday season arrives, and the second best of their recipes because their customers pamphlet offers Williams’s take on roast keep begging them to do so, and seek no • Prepare cheese spread by combining mayonnaise, cheese, and grated onion. turkey with thyme gravy and cranberry-apple further distribution of their effort than a place Season to taste with salt and pepper. stuffing, sweet potato casserole, candied beside their restaurant’s cash register. • Grease a 9×13 casserole dish with yams, and a most appealing bread pudding, Chris Williams is just such a chef. A butter or pan spray. Cut 7 slices of made with pears and topped with caramel South Carolina native who graduated from bread into medium-size cubes and layer sauce. the CIA and has cooked in all sorts of res- the bottom of the pan evenly. Those looking for something differ- taurant kitchens, including some high-end • Create a layer of tomatoes, by over- ent from the season’s usual fare will find ones, he has settled in at a rustic, all-you- lapping them in shingle fashion for the a subtly elegant stuffed boneless turkey -can-eat barbecue joint in Santee, South length of the casserole dish, reserving breast and — for if you have a hunter in the Carolina, called Lone Star Barbecue and the nicest slices for the top of the pie! family — venison en croûte. Other recipes Mercantile. Usually a casserole will require 4 rows, include a baked ham with ginger-apricot using 5 of the sliced tomatoes. Season Obviously, this is not a venue for up-to- glaze, Hoppin’ John, and a truly awesome with salt and pepper. the-minute trendiness, but it turns out to be “old-fashioned” macaroni and cheese. perfect for an open-hearted and respectful • Trim the crust from the remaining 8 bread slices and arrange them on top Only one recipe appears in both booklets treatment of South Carolina’s rich vernacular — potato purée (mashed potatoes raised foodways, which are all about feeding as so that they cover the entire surface of the tomatoes. to a higher level) — which is not a problem, many friends and family members as can be • Spread the cheddar cheese mixture because you won’t want to miss it. crowded around the dining-room table. over the bread slices. Cover well, but You can tour the restaurant complex Because of this fact, I should warn you don’t be tempted to use too much or (a set of small, old-time, wood-sided build- at the outset that there’s little here of much your pie may become soggy. Use a little ings — see cut below — that could easily use to hungry singles. Four is the smallest more than half, because you don’t need be mistaken for a period Carolina village number the recipes are designed to feed, quite as much to finish the top. center) at their website: www.lonestarbbq.net. and that’s rare. You’ll find that the catfish • Arrange the remaining tomatoes in However, the pamphlets must be acquired stew is meant to feed twenty-four; the Lone the same manner. Season again with the traditional way, by making out a check Star’s signature meatloaf serves twelve to salt and pepper. to “Lone Star” ($4.95 per pamphlet, plus a fifteen; the shrimp cakes, twelve; and Tipsy • Dollop the rest of the cheese spread dollar shipping for each) and sending it to Squire — a trifle comprised of slices of in rows across the top. Chris Williams, 716 Jericho Rd., Cameron sherry-drizzled pound cake, layered with • Bake your casserole uncovered in an SC 29030. Be sure to state the pamphlet macerated fresh berries, custardy crème oven preheated to 375°F for approxi- you want. For more information or for advice mately 25 minutes, or until the cheese anglaise, and sweetened whipped cream regarding any of the recipes, you can reach spread cooks to a golden brown. It’s — is meant for at least twenty (although, u ready to serve! him directly at (803) 707-6310. given a fair head start, I‘d bet I could polish off the whole thing myself). Each booklet contains about sixteen 888 recipes, several of which run on to the Homemade “Tahini” SC•92 Supplement ll my cooking life, I’ve bought tahini in tins, and almost A always during that time, there has been one of these Make sure you dry-fry the seeds to release their flavor buried in the back of a pantry shelf. The can is always before pulverizing them — the difference is impressive. dusty and slightly sticky, and I’m always apprehensive Here is my version of his recipe. when I open the lid and peek inside. Usually, I take in the [serves 4] dubious smell, the murky contents, admonish myself to 8 ounces (1 heaping cup) chickpeas, soaked overnight and use it more often, and proceed with the recipe. cooked as directed in hummus bi tahini recipe (issue page 5) But this time I had those delicately delicious 2 teaspoons cumin seeds chickpeas, and I wasn’t going to inflict that on them. 4 tablespoons richly flavored olive oil, plus a little extra I also had a fresh container of sesame seeds at hand — how hard, I asked myself, could it be to make tahini juice of 2 lemons • 2 garlic cloves, finely minced from scratch? After all, it was made of ground sesame salt and ground hot red chile to taste seeds; surely grinding up my sesame seeds would result to garnish: minced mint or parsley leaves to taste in tahini. There’s a certain logic to this argument — it just happens to be completely wrong.* to serve: fresh warm pita In any case, by the time I learned how wrong I • Drain the cooked chickpeas, reserving the cooking liquid. was, I had made a very tasty sesame paste in my mortar Put the cumin seeds into an ungreased skillet and heat and pestle. (I couldn’t get the food processer to do this; over a medium-low flame until they are lightly browned and begin to release their scent. Watch that they don’t burn. the seeds are too light and just fly over the blade. But When cool enough to handle, grind them into a powder. our new Cuisinart spice and nut grinder — reviewed on • Put this, the chickpeas, the olive oil, the lemon juice, page 7 of the current issue — proved ideal.) The result and the minced garlic into a large mortar, a blender, or the might not be tahini, but it’s an excellent substitute and bowl of a food processor set with its steel blade. Adding frees our pantry of that half-empty can with its stale and the chickpea cooking liquid splash by splash, turn all this turgid contents. into a soft purée. Season to taste with salt and the ground chile. Then scrape it into a serving bowl, garnish with the minced mint or parsley, and drizzle over a little more olive Sesame Seed Paste oil. Serve with fresh pita as an appetizer. 1 [makes /4 cup] ast of Orphanides is an idiosyncratic but highly in- 1/4 cup raw sesame seeds Eformative Middle Eastern cookbook, all the better for limiting itself to the food and cooking that George Lassalle 1 teaspoon olive oil (or unroasted sesame oil) personally experienced while working in Greece, Egypt, pinch of salt Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, and Cyprus, where he eventually • Pour the sesame seeds into an ungreased skillet, place settled. The recipes are often introduced with a tale: cooking over a low flame, and, constantly stirring, heat them gently for workmen on the island of Aghios Nikolaos; wangling until they begin to release their aroma. Don’t toast them: recipes from his mother-in-law’s cook; living and cooking toasted sesame paste is a flavor signature of Eastern Asian cooking; it is too aggressive for tahini. The point here is to in Cairo and Istanbul; and learning the best of Lebanese liven up the flavor a bit before grinding the seeds. fare from the Three Wise Ones of Nicosia. His recipe for a chickpea soup from Cyprus comes with no such story. • When the seeds are warm and fragrant, stir in the tea- spoon of olive oil. Its purpose is to encourage the seeds Its interest springs from the fact that it is really hummus to stick together so that they don’t go flying about when bi tahini turned into a soup! This is an excellent way to you start to pulverize them. Scrape this mixture into a take advantage of that delicious chickpea liquor. Just mortar or other appropriate grinding device (see text just make sure you cook the beans in plenty of water. above this recipe) and work it into a rough-textured paste. Because of the hulls, it won’t be as creamy as real tahini, but — taste it! — it will have a fresher and livelier flavor than the canned stuff. Revithia Me Tahini [serves 4] 8 ounces (1 heaping cup) chickpeas, soaked overnight and cooked as directed in our hummus bi tahini recipe (current issue, page 5) juice of 2 lemons • 2 garlic cloves, finely minced salt and black pepper to taste Variations on a Theme 1/2 cup tahini 5 cups of chickpea-cooking liquid avid Scott, in his not-that-easy-to-find Middle East- ern Vegetarian Cookery† offers a chickpea dip that to garnish: minced parsley leaves and 2 tablespoons richly D flavored olive oil replaces tahini with an intense cumin-seed presence. to serve: lemon wedges *Sometime later, I learned from The Oxford Companion To Food that to make authentic tahini you have to soak and then remove the • Prepare a simple hummus bi tahini following the recipe tough outer coating of the seed, using a method much like prepar- on page 5 of the current issue, doubling the amount of ing black-eyed peas for akara (see last issue). Except that would lemon juice, adding 2 cloves of minced garlic as directed be — so far as my own cooking efforts are concerned — impossibly in the preface to the recipe, and omitting the cilantro leaf time-consuming, given the tininess of the seeds and the hardness and hot chile pepper. of the bran. No thanks. † Even harder to find is hisT he Penniless Vegetarian (1992), which is worth snapping up if you find a cheap copy in a used bookstore side- SC•92 Supplement | page one walk bin — and, given the title, that’s where you should find it. • Bring the reserved chickpea-cooking liquid to a boil, add- 8 ounces (1 heaping cup) chickpeas ing chicken stock, if necessary, if the amount of the liquor is less than 5 cups. When it is boiling, remove it from the • Pick these over, rinse them, put them in a bowl, cover heat and stir a ladleful into the hummus bi tahini. When generously with water, and let soak for at least 8 hours. this is incorporated, scrape it all into the pot, stirring con- Before going to bed: stantly. Gently reheat the soup, taste for seasoning, and sprinkle with the minced parsley. Divide into soup bowls 2 cloves garlic, chopped and drizzle each with a half tablespoon of the olive oil. Serve 1 large onion, chopped with lemon wedges on the side. 1/3 cup olive oil *Cook’s Note. Lassalle says that some cooks stir a tablespoon of tomato purée into the soup as it reheats. I 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour • 1 bay leaf, broken in thirds would think diced fresh cherry tomatoes would work very 1 teaspoon salt and black pepper to taste nicely, as well. to garnish: lemon wedges • Preheat oven to 235°F. Fill a kettle and set it to boil. When Revithia Fournou it does, lower the heat but keep it boiling. • Drain the chickpeas, place them in a large saucepan, and he quotation from Miles Lambert-Gócs’ Greek Salad* cover well with fresh cold water (i.e., not from the kettle). Tthat kicks off this issue’s essay on hummus made Bring this to a boil and cook at a boil for 10 minutes. me curious about the bread-oven-baked chickpea dish • While the chickpeas boil, heat the olive oil in a skillet and he mentions. I was pleased to find it in one of our Greek sautée the garlic and onion until translucent. Don’t let them cookbooks, Rena Salaman’s Greek Island Cookery. On brown. Then sprinkle in the tablespoon of flour, stirring the isle of Sifnos, she tells us, the chickpeas are cooked briskly so that it doesn’t lump. Continue cooking, stirring in rainwater to ensure their tenderness (and obviate the the while, until you have a thin, smooth, garlicky paste. need of baking soda) and the bakers traditionally cover the • Turn the chickpeas with their cooking liquid, the contents pot with leftover bread dough, which holds in the flavor of the skillet, and the broken bay leaf into (by preference) and keeps the dish from cooking dry.† The slow cooking an earthenware pot. Add water from the kettle so that the liquid covers the chickpeas by at least 3 inches. Then results in a delicious, almost molten mass of chickpeas. The stir in the salt and plenty of black pepper. Cover with the islanders cook the dish in a earthenware casserole called a lid (or aluminum foil if there is no lid) and put it into the skepastaria, but our old bean pot does the trick just fine. stove. Cook all night. The following recipe follows the original closely, but after • In the morning, set the oven to its lowest heat and leave making it, I decided to go my own way (see note). the chickpeas in it. Serve them for either lunch or supper (the extra cooking time will only improve them). Stir every- From Rena Salaman and Linda Smith’s Greek Island Cookery (1987) thing up, taste for seasoning, and ladle it into bowls. Serve with lemon wedges (see below for other possibilities). [serves 4 to 6] * Cook’s Notes: The original recipe calls for that chopped * Prepare this dish the day before you plan to eat it. onion, but I found it made the resulting dish too sweet and too much like baked beans (which, of course, is just what In the afternoon: revithia fournou are) for my taste. I decided the next time to * Lambert-Gócs is the author of The Wines of Greece (Faber & sauté the onions at the last moment and sprinkle them over Faber, 1990), which is notable for both its depth of knowledge on the dish. Also, instead of the lemon, I garnished the the subject and its persistence in tracking down Greek winemakers with pieces of roasted red pepper, which added a citric whose products can only be purchased directly from their own bar- note along with their own pleasing mellow flavor. The flour, rels. Greek Salad, described only partly in jest as a tour of Greece naturally, serves as a thickener, producing a result that (both the Aegean Islands and the mainland) viewed through “the is something more than (or at least different from) plain prism of taverna wine glasses,” provides a journal-entry closeup oven-baked chickpeas — and you might translate “revithia of this œnological gumshoe at work, querying taxi drivers, seek- fournou” as “baked chickpeas in their own gravy.” ing out the odd local bottle on the shelves of village tavernas, and knocking on farmhouse doors. This Sam Spade comparison is, of course, a metaphor, but reality makes it almost too easy to apply. On the island of Seriphos, Lambert-Gócs writes of a hotel in the ferry port of Livadi: [Its] somewhat tatty condition added to the feeling I already had, just from walking down Livadi’s shady main drag, of being on the set of a 1940s movie starring Humphrey Bogart .... Even the hotel’s operator was perfectly suited to his part, a seedy old guy with a thin but shapeless mustache, slicked-back hair that was unruly at the fringes and sagging pants that had to be hiked up douard de Pomiane was born in Paris in 1875, the every couple of minutes if he happened to be moving about. And son of Polish émigrés. One of the twentieth century’s the more the meltemi [an Aegean version of the Provençal mistral] E rustled the reeds outside, the more I thought of the old movies. I greatest food writers, he lectured at the Institut Pasteur half expected a sultry young Greek Lauren Bacall to emerge from and wrote a number of classic books, including Cooking a hallway into the lobby. But all that ever actually appeared was with Pomiane, Cooking in Ten Minutes, and the two- a miscast pair of frumpy Polish room maids. volume Radio Cuisine (“Alo! Alo!”), a collection of tran- He also makes an effort to seek out local dishes — no easy thing, scripts from his popular radio show. The Jews of Poland: since tourists demand the “real” Greek stuff wherever they gather, which means moussaka on every plate and retsina in every glass. Recollections and Recipes, written in 1929, deserves a The journal entries of his travels are evocative, often charming, and brief explanatory note. It is quite different from his other sometimes affecting, and I recommend the book highly to anyone books, a cookbook that is also an ethnographic treatise curious about back-lane Greek life. Note, however, that Lambert-Gócs — the only extensive piece of writing on Jewish cooking is not a food writer. His description of the food he eats is often cryptic, in Poland before it was destroyed by the German inva- and such recipe gathering as he does is strictly for himself. sion in 1939 and the subsequent Holocaust. The clarity † Sifnos is famous for both its clay-pot cookery and its cooks (it is and range of the recipes are such that the book would said that Greek sailors would kill for the chance to sail on a ship with a cook from Sifnos). However, the island is also a popular place be much better known were it not for its unfortunate for outsiders to maintain a second home, so much so that one web- site I visited said that the island now has to import chickpeas from SC•92 Supplement | page two elsewhere, since so much of its farmland has been built over. and largely unintended anti-Semitic tone. De Pomiane kimchi jar which, being squat and wide, is ideal for pack- himself was not anti-Jewish — quite the opposite. But he ing in the cucumbers (and fishing them out later). The came from a fervently patriotic Polish family and naively best pickling cukes (often called Kirby cucumbers) for absorbed the strong undercurrent of anti-Semitism in this process are taut, dark green, and stubby. Otherwise, the information that respectable and well-educated Poles the only fixed rule is the proportions of the brine: one and provided him about their Jewish neighbors. So the book one-half tablespoons of fine sea (or pickling) salt for every is torn by the tension between what he himself observed quart of water. and what he was told to be plain fact. The result is less The seasoning possibilities are nearly infinite, and unpleasant (although it can be that) than very sad. Even can be as simple as the short list used by Jessie Eisenberg so, the recipes are priceless. in the quote above. In the recipe that follows, I give the flavorings I usually put in — none are mandatory. You can make it easy for yourself by just using garlic cloves, Pickle Soup dried dill leaf, and pre-mixed pickling spice. From Edouard de Pomiane’s The Jews of Poland (1929) [makes 1 batch half-sours] 1/2 teaspoon each black peppercorns, coriander [serves 8] seeds, hot red chile flakes, brown mustard seeds, 4 kosher dill pickles juniper berries, and allspice 2 quarts beef bouillon or stock 1 tablespoon dried dill weed 3 eggs 1 large glass jar with a lid • Peel the pickles and chop them finely. Put them along with enough pickling cucumbers to fill same, any remaining the beef bouillon or stock in a soup pot and cook for 60 stem carefully snipped off minutes. Strain the soup through a round sieve, pressing 2 or 3 large garlic cloves, peeled with the back of a spoon to work the cucumbers through, while leaving their seeds behind. 1 large bay leaf, broken into thirds • Proceed to bind the liquid with the eggs. Break the eggs 1/2 tablespoon dried onion flakes (optional) into a bowl and whisk them with a wire whisk. Gradu- fine sea (or pickling) salt • filtered (if possible) water ally pour the soup, while still hot, into the eggs, whisking constantly. • Put the mixed spices and seeds in a mortar or the bowl of a food processor/spice grinder and pulverize them into • If the soup is not sufficiently acidic, add a tablespoon or coarse bits. two of the pickling liquid from the jar of pickles. • Wash the jar and rinse well — no need to dry it. Sprinkle in the ground spices and the dried dill weed, then pack in as many cucumbers as will fit. There must be room at the top of the jar for the brine to cover them. • Crush the garlic cloves with the flat blade of a knife or some other appropriate instrument. Cut these in half and insert them in the crevices around the cucumbers, followed by the bits of bay leaf and optional dried onion flakes. • Mix up enough brine to generously cover the cucumbers, at a ratio of 11/2 tablespoons of fine sea (or pickling) salt to 1 quart of water. Better to throw some away at the Homemade Half-Sours end than not have enough. Pour this into the pickle jar Since I was ten years old I have been in the pickle business. until it is nearly full. Gently shake the jar to free any air My brother-in-law painted old whiskey barrels to age the bubbles, then fill it almost to the rim. If any of the cukes pickles in. These days they are used as flower pots. We made float up to the surface, fill a small plastic bag (such as a three kinds of pickles — dill, sweet, and half-sour. Half-sours ziplock sandwich type) with brine, seal it, and fit this over are unfermented pickles made daily with garlic, mustard cucumbers to keep them submerged. seeds, peppercorns all put at the bottom of a jar in a salt • Cover the jar loosely and set it in a cool place (a basement brine to absorb the flavors of the spices for about a week. A is ideal; we use the floor of a closet) for two days. Then garlic pickle has been fermented and then fresh spices added screw the lid tight and refrigerate another two days before before refrigeration. It makes you pucker up. As it ages the sampling them. They will continue to mature, so if you find skin turns brown through fermentation. the first taste insipid, give them more time. (On the other — Jessie Eisenberg, pickle maker, the Bronx, New York hand, if they smell spoiled or have turned squishy, discard (quoted in Joan Nathan’s Jewish Cooking in America) them and try again.) They are best when eaten within three weeks from the time they go in the jar. lthough our recipe for “Dill Pickle Soup” allows for the A use of any salt-cured pickle, our own preference is to make it with homemade ‘half-sours’ — which offer the presence of both cucumber and pickle. What do I mean? Read the quotation above. Half-sours are not, as many assume, pickles fished from the barrel before they’ve reached the mystical state of “full-sour” but a quickly cured salt-brine pickle meant to combine the crisp sweetness of a fresh cucumber with the salt-sour, spice-edged tang of a kosher dill. If you leave them in their brine too long, Breakfast Cereal Breads they’ll just become dull and soggy and inert. So it’s best y success in creating a delicious oatcake from Mac- to make them in small batches and eat them up. Mroom Oatmeal naturally led to the notion that this We make ours in a quart-and-a-half-size former might revolutionize my breakfast eating — the banner headline for which might be: No More Porridge! Cake for SC•92 Supplement | page three Breakfast Every Day! I immediately went out and bought a bunch of hot cereals and started testing. The fact that this part of the story has been rel- . . . a note on Bob’s Red Mill Oatmeal egated to the supplement should suggest that the results ecause of space constraints, I had room enough only were not nearly as spectacular as the oatcake, but they Bto diss the Cook’s Illustrated tasting panel’s oatmeal weren’t entirely shoddy, either … just not quite ready for ratings for its low ranking of McCann’s Steel-Cut Irish prime time. Two cereals produced the most promising re- Oatmeal — see the footnote on page 3 of the current issue. sults: Erewhon Organic Brown Rice Cream Hot Cereal and This isn’t to say, however, that I refused to even try their my old childhood buddy, Wheatena Toasted Wheat. The highest rated brand, Bob’s Red Mill Organic Steel-Cut Erewhon cereal, essentially Cream of Brown Rice, made Oats. What if — for once — the panel was right? Didn’t into a batter and baked in the large griddle, produced a honor demand that I pulp the new issue of SC and retire lovely griddle bread with a crisp crust and a delicate flavor. to a monastery? Fortunately, they were true to form and (Made with regular Cream of Rice cereal, it had almost opted, as usual, for Ms. Congeniality. no flavor.) I liked it best when I stirred a handful of fresh I prepared the oatmeal in my usual way, substi- raspberries into the batter. If you like Cream of Wheat or tuting milk for two-thirds of the water and adding a bit Cream of Rice for breakfast, I’m sure you’d like this bread. more salt than called for in the package cooking direc- To give it a try yourself, just follow the oatcake directions, tions. The resulting oatmeal was pleasingly chewy, and the substituting this cereal for the Macroom. flavor, though faint, was toasty and clean. But it wasn’t The Wheatena bread was something else. Since even remotely interesting — either in depth of taste or in the cereal is made of toasted whole-grain wheat and wheat the complex play of flavor notes. In sum: the Abhayagiri bran, turning it into a bread was like reinventing the bran Buddhist Monastery will have to wait a bit longer for my muffin — or at least something very coarse-grained and company. chewy. In truth, it was more like a bran muffin than most versions of the real thing, which tend to be “bran-flavored” rather than densely grainy. If you favor a breakfast loaded with complex carbohydrates, and like the idea of a chewy breakfast bread with an intriguing sweet-sour savor, this might become a favorite. Issue Bibliography Cowan, Cathal, and Regina Sexton. Ireland’s Traditional Foods. Dublin: Wheatena Skillet Bread Teagase, 1997. Because of its particulate nature, this bread works better Davidson, Alan. The Oxford Companion to Food. Oxford UK: Oxford when made in a 9-inch skillet; baked in the griddle, pieces tended to break in half when lifted. The raw sugar was University, 1999. added not to make the bread more like a muffin but to de Pomiane, Edouard. The Jews of Poland: Recollections and heighten the natural sweetness of the cereal. Whole-wheat cereals can all too easily give the impression that you’re Recipes. Garden Grove CA: Pholiota, 1985. A translation by Jose- eating sawdust; this addition keeps that well at bay. So, of phine Baker of Cuisine Juive: Ghettos Modernes. Paris: à Albin course, does the dried fruit. I had some dried golden plums Michel,1929. in the cupboard, so used them, but diced dried apricots would be very tasty, as well as the traditional raisins. Gur, Janna. The Book of New Israeli Food. New York: Schocken, 2007. [makes a skillet bread breakfast for 2] Kremezi, Aglaia. The Food of the Greek Islands. Boston: Houghton Mif- 1/2 tablespoon peanut or other cooking oil flin, 2000. 4 ounces (2/3 cup) Wheatena cereal Lambert-Gócs, Miles. Greek Salad: A Dionysian Travelogue. Williams- 1/4 cup diced dried fruit (apricots, prunes, raisins) burg VA: Ambeli, 2004. scant 1 teaspoon each baking soda and cream of tartar Lassalle, George. East of Orphanides. London: Kyle Cathie, 1991. scant 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt Nathan, Joan. Jewish Cooking In America. New York: Knopf, 1994. 3 1 egg • /4 cup (6 ounces) filmjölk or buttermilk Roden, Claudia. Arabesque: A Taste of Morocco, Turkey, & Lebanon. 1 tablespoon organic raw sugar (Turbinado by preference) New York: Knopf, 2006. • Preheat the oven to 425°F. When it is ready, pour the cooking oil into a 9-inch skillet and set this in the hot oven — . The New Book of Middle Eastern Food. New York: Knopf, 2000. for 5 minutes. Salaman, Rena, and Linda Smith. Greek Island Cookery. London: • Meanwhile, put the Wheatena and chopped dried fruit into Ebury, 1987. a mixing bowl and sift in the baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Break the egg into a second, smaller bowl. Whisk Scott, David. Middle Eastern Vegetarian Cooking. London: Rider, 1981. in the filmjölk or buttermilk, then the raw sugar, blending Strybel, Robert and Maria. Polish Heritage Cookery. New York: Hip- everything well. pocrene, 1997 (revised edition). • After the 5 minutes, remove the skillet from the oven, tip- ping it gently so that the oil covers its entire surface. Quickly Thorne, John, and Matt Lewis Thorne. Serious Pig: An American Cook turn the liquid ingredients into the dry ones, whisking them In Search of His Roots. New York: North Point, 1996. just enough to blend. Because of the cereal’s particulate nature, this takes no time at all. Then immediately turn the batter into the skillet, using a flexible spatula to clean out the bowl. • Put the skillet back in the oven and bake for 18 minutes. The surface of the skillet bread should spring back when lightly pressed with a finger. Flip it onto a cutting board, so that the bottom, crusty side faces up. Cut it into wedges and serve with loads of butter. SC•92 Supplement | page four