A Moveable Feast: My Blog

Foraging Sumac

July 22, 2017 by Carol Leave a Comment

Last year, I made the mistake of not reading the small print. The small print in this case wasn’t on a contract; it was on a website. As anyone who reads my stuff knows, I love wild food foraging, and one of the things I have on my to-do list is sumac, its tangy flavor crucial to so many dishes, especially to Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisine. Since learning that sumac grows wild all over the Berkshires, I was psyched, and immediately went online to learn how to harvest it in New England. To make a long story short, my enthusiasm overwhelmed my common sense. The website’s author instructed readers to harvest in August, so I enlisted husband, daughter, and son-in-law to join me in the hunt. After all, the latter two are wonderful, adventurous cooks. Armed with plastic bags, we plucked dozens of the ruby red blossoms and brought them home to process on the dining room table. But, UGH. The blossoms were infested with lots and lots of tiny, wriggly worms. I had to throw out the whole lot — as fast as I could hustle myself out the door.

The website was indeed very instructive, but I had failed to notice that it was written in northern Maine, whose season has to be a good month later than ours in southern New England. Lesson: pay attention to the small print.

Tomorrow we go out to try again, the blossoms having just turned red in the past week.

Stay tuned. I have a craving for shwarma.

Remembrance of Things Spice

June 7, 2017 by Carol Leave a Comment

Proust had his madeleines. For me, opening a container of za’atar releases an aroma that sparks memories of strolling through the shuk, the golden light caresssing ancient stone walls. The scent also stimulates my appetite for fresh-from-the-oven pita, warm, soft and chewy, with a salty and piquant tang.

The za’atar that we know from its association with labneh and hummus on mezze plates is a condiment made from a mix of spices, herbs, and seeds, and the recipe varies from place to place.

But in fact, the name za’atar also applies to a family of related herbs that grow in the Middle East: oregano, savory, marjoram, thyme. I think it most closely resembles oregano, at least the bush that grows in my garden.

It’s really easy to mix your own za’atar if you can’t get it locally, or if you simply love the idea of making something from scratch. Just mix the following ingredients together:

1/4 cup sumac
2 tablespoons thyme
1 tablespoon roasted sesame seeds
2 tablespoons marjoram
2 tablespoons oregano
1 teaspoon coarse salt

Making a Rhubarb Over Rhubarb

June 6, 2017 by Carol Leave a Comment

Rhubarb season is here, and with it comes all sorts of childhood memories. A big patch in back of our next-door neighbors’ garage was a treasure we looked forward to every year. We kids would snap off stalks to chomp on, the intense sour seemingly not a problem for us as we sat in a circle telling ghost stories into the dark on balmy summer evenings. It may even have enhanced the spooky atmosphere.

And, when he wasn’t practicing optometry, my Uncle Reub was a big-time gardener and grafter of tree fruit. In his garden was a large patch of rhubarb from which my Aunt Bea, a phenomenal cook and baker, incorporated the veggie into fabulous strawberry-rhubarb pies.

Perhaps due to these fond memories, perhaps because it is a super-easy plant to maintain, I still love rhubarb, and have two different varieties growing in my garden. In fact, one of the plants came from my father’s backyard, and I have recently offered a piece of that plant to my eldest son, Seth. Given my total lack of success with bonsai, I figured this would be my way of perpetuating the family love of gardening and a memento of his grandfather. Growing the family tree, as it were.

I also believe that rhubarb has the power to save a romance. The first time my then-boyfriend came to visit, my stepmother had cooked mackerel for dinner. The house reeked of the oily fish, so I rushed out to the garden, picked some stalks, grabbed a pint of strawberries from the fridge, and baked a pie. By the time Joel arrived, flowers in hand, the house smelled divine. He is now my husband.

Although the repertoire of recipes for this beloved veggie isn’t vast, there are enough dishes to make use of my garden’s crop. I refer you to this recipe for a fabulous rhubarb bread, with the suggestion to add a teaspoon of vanilla to the batter to make it perfect, and the warning that there may be too much batter for the recommended loaf pan. It may overflow. Enjoy! http://allrecipes.com/recipe/237548/rhubarb-bread/

A 24 Carat Dessert

January 4, 2017 by Carol 1 Comment

While doing research on the carob, I learned a lot about its history and culture. This legume is touted as a healthy alternative to chocolate, as it has lots of nutrients and no stimulants such as caffeine or theobromine to give you the jitters. However, the bean has long been denigrated as an inferior chocolate wanna-be, nothing more than a poseur. I found a recipe that I have adapted to include orange juice and coconut oil. These two ingredients give it an amazing tropical vibe. This delicious cake is so moist it really doesn’t require frosting, but including it doubles the pleasure. And, it redeems the lowly carob!

Ingredients:
For cake:
2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour
2 c. sugar
2 t. baking soda
2 t. baking powder
½ c. high quality carob powder
½ c. coconut oil
1 c. orange juice
2 extra-large eggs
1 c. hot coffee
For icing:
2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
4 cups confectioner’s sugar
2 t. orange emulsion (or extract)
2 T. milk

Directions:
For cake:
Preheat oven to 350°.
Grease and flour two 8-inch round cake pans.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine first five ingredients.
In a second bowl, mix the oil, milk, and eggs.
Pour liquids into dry ingredients and beat, starting slowly.
While beating, add the coffee and gradually increase to high speed.
Beat for two minutes.
Pour batter into prepared pans.
Bake for 30 minutes or until toothpick placed in center comes out dry.
Cool for 20 minutes, then tip cakes onto cake racks.
When cakes are completely cooled, ice.
For icing:
In bowl of mixer, beat butter until creamy.
Gradually add confectioners’ sugar with mixer set to slow speed so that it won’t fly all over the kitchen.
Add extract and milk.
Increase speed to whip icing to a nice, fluffy texture.

Weighing In

December 31, 2016 by Carol 2 Comments

So, I promised to bring muffins to my beloved father-in-law who is currently in a rehab hospital. Pumpkin spice seemed seasonally appropriate and the recipe online got five-star raves, so what could be bad? I donned my apron. When the muffins came out like soup, I was more than a bit annoyed. After all, I had followed the directions carefully.

Or had I? Returning to the website on which I had found the recipe, I realized that the 1 1/4 cups of flour was actually 1 1/4 pounds. Because we know several professional chefs who weigh their ingredients, I was aware of the practice, but had never actually seen a recipe calling for that.

Attempt #2 worked out much better, even with substituting half the butter with applesauce.

Next time I will try them using my very nice digital scale.

Moral of the story: Read carefully.

The (Northern) Spy Who Came in From the Cold (Storage)

December 23, 2016 by Carol 1 Comment

apples

Apples are probably the most American of fruits. We like apples so much that Bartlett’s Quotations is full sayings about it:
The apple of my eye
An apple a day keeps the doctor away
An apple for the teacher
One bad apple spoils the entire barrel
In fact, apples are as American as, well, apple pie.
And then, of course, is Johnny Appleseed, the man crossed the country spreading seed so that no man would be without hard cider.
But, for all my love of country, I have a confession. For several years, I gave up on eating most of the orbs, and for good reason.
The old standby McIntoshes of my childhood had become flavorless.
Red Delicious can be mealy.
Gala and Fiji are a little too sweet, and Golden Delicious is sickly sweet.
McCouns were great eaten straight from the tree but they have a very short season. Most of the McCouns I’ve bought at the grocery get soft and mushy fast. And, by the way, how do you pronounce the name? is it McCoun as in crown, or McCoun as in coon?)
Bottom line: I’ve been missing the refreshing crunch and sweet-tart flavor of a good eating apple, the kind I used to pick when I worked as a picker in an orchard.
But, wouldn’t you know, just as I was beginning to think that I would never find the perfect apple, along came the SnapDragon. Developed at Cornell University and based on the Honey Crisp, these apples are the absolute best for eating out of hand: sweet, but not too sweet, and crisp, crisp, crisp. Since the variety is fairly new, its availability is not widespread, but I was lucky to discover them at my local Price Chopper.
I now have a reason to come in from the cold storage.
The SnapDragon is now the apple of my eye.