Tag Archives: olive oil

Recipe: Taralli (Italian Aperitivo Snacks)

10 Feb

Taralli (or tarallini) are a delicious, crispy, unleavened, ring-shaped snack from the Puglia region of Italy, though they have spread well beyond their place of origin. In Rome, you may be served savory taralli along with your aperitivo (Aperol Spritz, anyone?)–but they are also available in local grocery shops in a variety of flavors, including plain (classico), pepper (al pepe), fennel seed (al finocchio), and chili-flavored (al peperoncino). We used to keep a stash at home when we lived in Italy.

Our kids (who, sadly, have not lived with us for while now as they are all grown) loved to have taralli when they would come visit us in Rome, and every time we returned to the U.S. to see them, we would make sure to stash several bags in our suitcases (along with vacuum-packed wedges of Pecorino Romano from Antica Caciara in Trastevere). Mmmm….

It became much more difficult to find taralli when we moved back to the U.S., at least where we currently live. So I decided to see how hard it was to make them. If you have ever made bagels at home, then you will have no problem making taralli. The technique is similar: make the dough, shape it, boil it, let it dry, then bake it. Being much smaller than bagels, taralli get nice and crispy–a perfect snack. I would sometimes also crumble them over a bowl of pureed vegetable soup.

This recipe is for a small batch (about 24-28) of the classic style; feel free to add any of the optional ingredients. When I made them, I added black pepper.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 c. (1/2 lb., 250 gr.) 00 flour
3/4 tsp. sea salt (about 4.5 gr.)
1/4 c. (75 ml. ) olive oil
3.5 oz. (3/8 c., 100 ml.) white wine

Optional (freshy ground black pepper, fennel seeds, chili flakes)

Preparation:

1. In a medium bowl, combine the flour and salt (and any other optional ingredients). Make a well, and add the olive oil and wine. Using a fork, slowly stir to incorporate.

2. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes, until smooth. Shape into a ball, then cover with plastic wrap or place in a plastic bag, and let rest for half an hour.

    3. Start a medium pot of water boiling. Add a pinch of salt to the pot. Place a clean dish towel on a baking sheet (or platter) near your stove.

    4. Divide the taralli dough into four equal pieces and roll into four equally sized logs. Cut each log into 6 or 7 pieces and shape each piece into a little ball.

    5. Roll each little ball into a small, thin log shape. (Though, now that I think of it, I’m wondering why I made the little balls in the first place! I could have rolled each of the cut pieces into a small, thin log and skipped the ball part. I probably wanted to make sure everything was the same size… and, those little dough balls look cute. But, feel free to ignore the ball step.) Form each little log into a ring shape, pulling and pinching the ends together.

    6. Boil the taralli, maybe 5-8 at a time depending on the size of your pot, until they float. Remove with a slotted spoon or skimmer, and place them on the clean dish towel to dry. Repeat until all the taralli are done; let them dry thoroughly. (You could, at this stage, leave them out for a few hours and bake them later; the extra drying time will not hurt at all.)

    7. Preheat the oven to 400F/200C. Place the taralli on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake on the center rack for about 30 minutes, or until the taralli are deeply golden brown; the longer they bake, the crispier they become. Enjoy!

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    Recipe: Baba Ghanoush

    30 Sep

    Years ago, I learned to make some Lebanese dishes from watching (and helping) college friends cook a few classics, but my main teacher was a cookbook called Lebanese Cuisine by Madelain Farah. The version I have is from 1979, meaning it predates the internet. (And no, I wasn’t in college in 1979; I bought the cookbook some years later). Despite there being so many delicious Lebanese recipes now available online, I still find myself going back to this well-loved, well-spattered, paperback cookbook for some of my favorites. It has accompanied me on many moves and is now held together with tape.

    Ms. Farah was a straightforward recipe writer; no coddling of the reader for her. In her recipe for Baba Ghanoush (which she calls Baba Ghannuj, as there are many ways to spell it), the first instruction is written this way: “Eggplant may be baked or grilled over a flame until well done.” There’s a lot of room for interpretation in those instructions…. Ms Farah was also a proponent of mashing the ingredients, either with a potato masher or a wooden mallet. I now use a food processor, which may be anathema in some quarters, but it produces a silky smooth dip.

    So, this recipe takes its inspiration from Madelain Farah’s, with a few twists: I added smoked paprika and cumin, which play on the smokiness of the eggplant and really help bring out its flavor. And I use a faster blending technique.

    Baba Ghanoush

    Ingredients:
    2 medium eggplants (2 lb/900 gr total). Note: Ms Farah called for one large eggplant, but the larger the eggplant, the more seeds there are, so I prefer using two smaller ones. (Since I grow eggplant in my garden each summer, I can pick them at just the right size!).
    olive oil

    2 cloves of garlic, minced (we like garlic in our house; you can use 1 clove as the recipe originally called for)
    1/4 c. (60 gr.) tahini
    1/4 c. (60 ml.) lemon juice, or more to taste
    1/4 tsp. smoked paprika
    1/4 tsp. cumin
    1/2 tsp. salt, to taste
    1 tbsp. (15 ml.) water (optional)

    To garnish:
    –chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
    –smoked paprika and cumin (or, substitute the paprika and cumin with sumac, which is a more traditional topping and one Ms. Farah suggested; both options taste great)
    –olive oil

    Preparation:

    Cooking method #1: Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Cut the eggplant(s) in half lengthwise, and brush a generous amount of olive oil on the cut sides. Place the cut sides down on a large baking sheet (use a rimmed one as the eggplant will get juicy). Bake for about 30-45 minutes until the eggplant is dark golden brown and very, very soft.

    Cooking method #2: Grill the eggplant(s) cut side down on a barbecue, until golden and soft, taking care not to completely incinerate them (some burnt bits are ok and add to the flavor, but a carbonized eggplant is a step too far; I say this from experience).

    Flip the eggplants over and let cool.

    Scoop out the eggplant pulp and place in the bowl of a food processor, carefully removing any skin that may have made its way in, too. Also, check for big clumps of seeds; individual seeds are fine and will get blended right up, but I like to take out any big clusters if I see them, to ensure a smoother dip.

    Add the remaining dip ingredients and process until nice and smooth, adjusting the ingredients to suit your taste. If the dip is too thick, you can add more lemon juice or a spoonful of water.

    Pour the dip into a serving bowl. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and more smoked paprika and cumin (or use sumac instead); drizzle with olive oil.

    Serve with pita bread, pita chips, and/or veggies — or use in a Middle Eastern wrap as a substitute for hummus. I also love putting Baba Ghanoush, lamb kafta, and some tabouli in a pita and calling it a meal.

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    Recipe: Sautéed Baby Red Swiss Chard (Bietina)

    10 Mar

    You’ve vowed to eat more leafy greens, and you’re doing a great job adding more collard, kale, mustard greens, spinach, and other leafy greens to your diet. In Italy, where I live, those other greens would also include borage, broccoli rabe, chicory, escarole, watercress, and wild greens. But as you munch your way through one high-fiber, high-mineral, high-vitamin leafy green after another, there comes a day when you realize that, much as you love them all, one sautéed leafy green looks much like another. You have fallen into a green rut. That’s when Swiss Chard comes to the rescue. With Swiss Chard, you can have your leafy greens and ruby-red stems, too (if you get the right kind; chard stems can be white, yellow, or red).

    Swiss Chard, or bietina/bietola in Italian, is widely eaten in Italy and around the Mediterranean. Why, you may ask, is it called Swiss Chard? No one knows. It’s not Swiss. But the plant may have first been described by a Swiss botanist, so that could be the answer–though it’s possible a German botanist actually did the describing first. It is one of those common plant-name oddities, like Jerusalem Artichoke.

    This recipe uses tender, baby red Swiss Chard. If the chard you have is bigger/older, you may need to cut the leaves off the stalks, and add the chopped stalks to the skillet first, to give them more cooking time.

    Recipe: Sautéed Baby Red Swiss Chard
    2-3 servings

    1 1/2 lb. (3/4 kg.) baby red Swiss Chard
    olive oil
    2 cloves garlic, chopped
    chili flakes/crushed red pepper
    salt and pepper

    Preparation

    1. Trim the stalks by cutting them off the root end of the bunch of chard. Most stalks should be thin and tender. With larger stalks, take a knife and carefully remove the stringy part by peeling down the center of the stalk.

    2. Wash the greens in plenty of cold water, swishing and swirling to remove any dirt or grit. Drain in a colander.

    3. Drizzle some olive oil around the bottom of a heavy skillet; add the garlic, chili, and salt; grind some pepper over; and cook the garlic and chili over medium-high heat for about a minute. Add the chard, stirring occasionally to make that sure none of the leaves get stuck to the bottom of the skillet, and that all leaves get cooked. As with all greens, what looks like a huge amount will soon cook down to a fraction of its former volume. If the pan seems too dry, add a bit more olive oil.

    4. Check the seasonings, and serve either warm or at room temperature.

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    Recipe: Marinated Feta

    14 Feb

    A jar of marinated feta in the fridge will more than earn its place there, especially since it takes 10 minutes–at most–to prepare it. That doesn’t count marinating time, but once you’ve introduced all the ingredients to each other, you can step back and let the magic happen on its own. Marinated feta is good with bread and crackers, in sandwiches and salads (including pasta salads), and as that little something extra in many other dishes. And the leftover olive oil is fantastic in a Greek salad dressing or tossed with vegetables prior to roasting. Amazing to think that a mere 10 minutes of matchmaking leads to so many happy returns.

    MF2
    Marinated Feta

    12 oz. feta
    4 oz. sun-dried tomato halves, in oil
    1 tbsp. dried oregano
    1 tsp. coriander seeds
    1/2 tsp. chili flakes (can add more if you like extra heat)
    freshly ground black pepper
    3-4 sprigs fresh rosemary
    extra-virgin olive oil

    Preparation
    1. If the feta is wet, pat it dry. Cut it into 3/4-inch cubes. Cut each sun-dried tomato half into four pieces.
    2. Transfer half of the feta and half the sun-dried tomato pieces to a canning jar or glass bowl with a tight-fitting lid. Sprinkle the feta and tomatoes with half of the oregano, coriander seeds, chili flakes, and ample black pepper. If using a canning jar, place the rosemary sprigs upright around the edges of the jar; otherwise, scatter them about. Add the remaining feta and tomatoes and sprinkle with the remaining spices. Pour the oil from the sun-dried tomatoes over top, then add enough extra olive oil to cover the feta.
    3. Tightly cover/seal the jar or bowl, and refrigerate the feta for at least a couple days (and ideally, for one week) to let the flavors marry–if you can wait that long. The olive oil will solidify, which is normal — it will return to liquid form at room temperature (allow the feta to reach room temperature before serving).

    MF1

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    Recipe: Walnut-Pomegranate Dip (Muhammara)

    31 Jan

    In the world of dips, hummus reigns supreme–but there is another Middle Eastern dip that also has lots of protein and lots of tang, and is equally easy to make. Although, now that I think of it, I realize it’s been a while since I made my own hummus; my local grocery store now devotes entire refrigerator sections to it and I have gotten lazy. This is a sad state of affairs–because hummus is really incredibly easy to make…. But back to the Muhammara. It gets its protein from the walnuts and its tang from pomegranate molasses, which you can find in Middle Eastern and Indian grocery stories and at a certain national, upscale grocery-store chain that shall not be named. Roasted red peppers also add to the slightly sweet undertones of this dip, which deserves a spot on any appetizer palette. This recipe comes from Bon Appetit magazine.

    Muhammara
    Walnut-Pomegranate Dip (Muhammara)

    1 c. walnuts
    ½ c. roasted red bell peppers from a jar, drained (reserve the liquid)
    1/3 c. panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
    2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
    1 tbsp. pomegranate molasses
    1 tsp. cumin
    1/2 tsp. dried crushed red pepper

    Preparation
    1. Blend/process all ingredients until coarsely ground. (Add a bit more panko or walnuts if too thin, or roasted red pepper liquid or molasses if too thick.)

    Food processor
    2. Place the dip in a serving bowl. Drizzle some olive oil over the top–or for extra tang, mix together a bit of olive oil and pomegranate molasses and drizzle that instead.

    Note: This is what pomegranate molasses looks like, if helpful.

    PM

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    Asparagus Forest

    29 Jul

    Come spring, and for as long as it’s available, asparagus holds a place of honor in our house. We are especially fond of very thin stalks, tossed in olive oil, sprinkled with salt and pepper, and roasted at about 425 degrees until golden and slightly crispy at the tips. Cooked this way, asparagus never lasts more than a few minutes on our dining table and no matter how much I make, there is always at least one child looking mournfully at the empty platter. But… until this weekend, we had never seen asparagus growing, and it is as lovely to look at as it is to eat.

    We made a whirlwind trip to Vermont and were lucky enough to see an old family friend, Beth, who has an asparagus forest. All it took was one look, and I decided that I absolutely have to try planting some asparagus next year, even if we will not be able to sample any of it for a while as it gets established.

    Normally, the tender shoots that people eat are snapped or cut off just above ground level. But left to their own devices, the shoots grow tall and get woodier, the buds on the tips of the asparagus open and produce a wispy mass of branches and berries that turn bright red when ripe (though note that the berries should not be eaten). The little berries set against feathery foliage look ethereally festive, and when I saw the asparagus plants after a rainy afternoon, they were glistening.

     

     

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