Spice (19 page)

This salad is timely in the fall or winter, when delicate, local, fresh greens disappear after the frost. Look for tight, juicy heads of endive.

Labne
is simply yogurt cheese. Yogurt contains a lot of water, and when you strain the water off, the yogurt becomes thick like ricotta cheese. You can buy labne at most Middle Eastern grocery stores, or you can make it yourself by mixing Greek yogurt with a little salt to taste and straining it overnight in the refrigerator in a colander or sieve lined with cheesecloth. The key to making your own labne is using yogurt that is high in butterfat, so whole-milk yogurt works best. If you use low-fat yogurt, the cheese will have a chalky mouth feel that you can eliminate with a splash of heavy cream, replacing the fat that is needed.

This labne recipe is inspired by my friend Maria Hatziiliades, the best home cook I know. Maria and her husband Max are from Thessaloniki, and I met her while her husband was building the restaurant space for Oleana. Max and Maria have taught me much about Greek food: one year they invited me to Athens to attend their daughter’s wedding, and they took me on a several-day whirlwind tour of Greek cuisine. Max also now serves as Oleana’s olive oil and ouzo supplier, filling boat containers of organic olive oil and pure organic ouzo and shipping them directly from Greece to the restaurant. Maria made this pecan labne for dinner one night and served it with mastic bread, which is made with the resin from the bark of a mastic tree.

Sprinkle the sumac over the salad at the last minute to make the color stand out. If mixed in with the rest of the ingredients, sumac turns everything purple.

Pair this dish with an off-dry chenin blanc, such as a Vouvray, that marries well with the sweetness of the grapes and apples and the bitterness of the endive.

S
ERVES
6

1 cup pecan pieces

2 small crisp eating apples, such as Fuji or Granny Smith, unpeeled

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint

1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

1 small bunch red seedless grapes (about ½ pound), stemmed and washed

2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic (about 2 cloves)

1 ½ cups labne

3 tablespoons ground zwieback crackers or plain melba toast

3 heads endive

1 teaspoon sumac

1.
Preheat the oven to 350°F.

2.
Toast the pecan pieces on a heavy baking sheet for about 6 minutes and until they are fragrant. Cool for at least 10 minutes.

3.
Core the apples and slice them in very thin rounds, about 1/8 inch thick. Julienne them by slicing across the rings into very skinny sticks. If you own a mandoline slicer, you can use the julienne blade.

4.
Place the apples in a small mixing bowl and toss them with the parsley, mint, and dill and 2 teaspoons of the lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Season them lightly with salt and pepper.

5.
Cut the grapes in half, figuring 4 to 5 grapes per person, and add them to the apple mixture.

6.
Place the garlic and the remaining 1 teaspoon of lemon juice in a small mixing bowl and let stand for 5 minutes to soften the raw garlic flavor.

7.
Add the labne, the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the zwieback crumbs, and season with salt and pepper, and stir.

8.
Finely chop the lightly toasted pecans by hand or in a food processor, fitted with a metal blade. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the nuts for garnish and add the rest to the labne mixture.

9.
Trim the bottom ends of the endive and remove the leaves, one by one. You will need to trim the bottom one more time to loosen the leaves. When you reach the heart or center of the endive and the leaves become very small and tight, set them aside.

10.
Slice the endive hearts into thin rings and stir them into the apple mixture.

11.
Assemble the salad by placing a quarter cup of labne on the bottom of each salad plate.

12.
Using the back of a spoon, smooth the labne into a 2-inch circle. Arrange 5 endive spears on each plate, at a slight angle, sticking the bottom of the spears into the labne.

13.
Spoon ½ tablespoon of the apple mixture over each endive spear. Sprinkle sumac and reserved pecan pieces over the salads and serve.

Sarikopites: Greek Pastries with Tuna, Fennel, and Kasseri Cheese

This recipe has a humorous origin, having to do with Sari Abul-Jubein, the owner of the Casablanca restaurant in Cambridge, where I headed up the kitchen for 5 years in the 1990s. Sari’s great passions are food and travel. He taught me a lot about Arabic food (he is Palestinian, raised in Syria) and gave me many opportunities to travel and explore different Mediterranean cuisines.

Sari once returned from a trip to Crete and proudly handed me a recipe that included his first name in the title. Sarikopites are little pies, the shape of which are similar to sarikis, the traditional headdress of Cretan men. Cretans fill these pies with a local cheese and serve them for dessert with honey.

My version of sarikopites is not traditional but wonderful. I favor kasseri cheese, which is used in both Greece and Turkey and is made from sheep’s or goat’s milk. It has a creamy gold color, a mild flavor, and a firm texture—perfect for grating.

This dish is delicious paired with an intensely anise-flavored drink, such as ouzo, poured over ice, or Tsipouro from Crete.

M
AKES
8
PİES TO SERVE
8

1 bulb fennel, stalks and outer tough layer removed

½ cup plus 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 small onion, minced

1 rib celery, peeled and minced

2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic (about 2 large cloves)

2 cups chopped fresh tuna (about 12 ounces)

¼ cup white wine

Salt and pepper to taste

½ cup chopped, pitted green olives

1 tablespoon chopped anchovies (about 4)

1 small bunch flat-leaf parsley, stems removed and chopped

1 cup grated kasseri cheese

¼ cup butter

1 pound phyllo dough (you’ll need only 8 sheets)

1.
Cut the fennel in half lengthwise and then in quarters. Remove the core by cutting at an angle with a knife. Wash and chop the fennel very finely by slicing it first and then dicing or mincing.

2.
Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and sauté the onion, celery, and fennel until they are soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.

3.
Stir in the garlic, tuna, and wine. Cook on low heat until the tuna is cooked through, for about 5 minutes. Season the tuna with a little salt and pepper. Keep in mind that the olives and anchovies will add salt as well.

4.
Pour the tuna mixture into a strainer over a small mixing bowl to catch the juices. Cool for 10 minutes and chop very fine.

5.
Place the tuna mixture in another small mixing bowl and stir in the olives, anchovies, parsley, and cheese.

6.
In a small sauce pan, melt the butter and add the remaining ½ cup olive oil and any tuna juices.

7.
Lay a piece of phyllo down with the longer side facing you, as if you are looking at a flag. Keep the phyllo covered with a damp cloth while you are working with each pie. Brush the phyllo sheet with a little of the butter-oil mixture.

8.
Place about 1/3 cup of the tuna filling an inch from the bottom of the phyllo and spread it into a neat row, the long way. Roll it up as tightly as possible, so you have a long, thin coil. Brush the coil again with the butter-oil mixture, and holding one end, wrap it into a
sariki
or cinnamon roll shape. If the end wants to unravel, pin it with a toothpick or squish it tightly together with your hands.