Spice (74 page)
Authors: Ana Sortun
Nuts are versatile, their uses are endless, and because they grow so abundantly in the Mediterranean rim, they are a staple of the cuisine. Natural nut oils blended with water can be made into milk, which forms the basis for Sicilian-style ice creams. Combined with olive oil, finely ground nuts can be used much like egg yolks to thicken a Turkish sauce called tarator that looks like thin mayonnaise. Crushed nuts can also be blended with bread crumbs to form picada, a Spanish thickener for soups and sauces, which is an Arabic version of the French butter-and-flour thickener called roux.
Nuts Tips
1. Store your nuts in the freezer in an airtight container to keep them super fresh.
2. Buy nuts in bulk; they tend to be fresher than prepackaged nuts.
3. Look for blond walnuts from Turkey, which you can find in Middle Eastern markets. They aren’t as bitter as California walnuts.
Y
OGURT
In the United States, we consider yogurt to be a low-fat or even nonfat diet food, available in multicolored convenience packs at the supermarket. For most of the rest of the world, though, yogurt is wonderfully thick and creamy, is combined with pastas and meat dishes, and is often homemade. Some Greek yogurts are as thick as cheese, and you can cut them with a knife. Labne, eaten on vegetable dishes throughout the eastern Mediterranean region, is a delicious strained yogurt that has the consistency of mascarpone cheese.
Yogurt tastes delicious, and it also has many health benefits. The “good” bacteria in yogurt aids in digestion and kills bad bacteria that can cause illness; this is why yogurt is often taken as a beverage in Middle Eastern countries and in India.
I’ve tasted just about every yogurt available in Boston, and my favorites are the Greek brands like Krinos (www.krinos.com) and one made with sheep’s milk in upstate New York by Old Chatham Sheep Herding Company (www.blacksheepcheese.com). Sheep’s milk is higher in fat than cow’s milk, so the consistency is extremely creamy—more akin to European yogurts. The Greek brands are made with cow’s milk and are the thickest, but with a texture so creamy that they appear to be whipped. If neither alternative is available, seek out a locally made yogurt. For Greek yogurt available online, try www.parthenonfoods.com. Another delicious, really thick and creamy brand is Total by Fage Company, available in both cow’s and sheep’s milk varieties at Whole Foods stores and Trader Joe’s.
If a good whole-milk yogurt isn’t available, you can use low-fat, as opposed to nonfat yogurt. Just be sure to add 1 tablespoon of heavy cream to every cup of yogurt to impart a whole-milk flavor.
You can make your own thick yogurt at home by straining whole-milk yogurt overnight in a colander or sieve lined with cheesecloth in your refrigerator.
It’s also easy to make your own fresh, delicious yogurt from scratch (see Leslie’s Homemade Yogurt, page 333).
RECIPES WITH NUTS, YOGURT, AND CHEESE
M
ARİA’S
F
ETA
S
AUCE WİTH
S
HRİMP
, M
ELON, AND
T
OMATO
R
İCOTTA AND
B
READ
D
UMPLİNGS WİTH
R
ED
W
İNE AND
P
ORCİNİ
M
USHROOMS
P
ALACE
P
İLAV
: B
ULGUR WİTH
P
İNE
N
UTS
, A
LMONDS
, P
İSTACHİOS, AND
M
ULBERRİES
F
RİED
M
USSELS WİTH
T
URKİSH
T
ARATOR
S
AUCE
S
İCİLİAN
C
REMOLATA WİTH
S
UGARED
A
LMONDS
Leslie Chaison, an organic farmer who lives in Massachusetts’s Pioneer Valley, gave me her tried and true recipe. While the yogurt is forming, it’s important to keep it at a consistent temperature (around 100°F), to ensure the growth of cultures.
M
AKES
1 Q
UART
1 quart fresh, good-quality whole milk
2 heaping tablespoons plain whole-milk yogurt
1.
Preheat the oven to 100°F.
2.
In a medium saucepan, heat the milk, shutting off the heat just before it scalds. Let the milk cool to about 100°F.
3.
Run hot water over a medium nonmetal bowl, such as a ceramic crock or glass mixing bowl, to warm it up. Dry off the bowl.
4.
Pour the heated milk into the bowl.Using a whisk, add the yogurt to the milk, blending thoroughly.
5.
Wrap a small bath towel around the outside of the bowl. Place this inside a large mixing bowl. Fill the large mixing bowl with very hot water, so that the water reaches almost to the top. Cover the smaller bowl with a lid or large plate.
6.
Place the wrapped and covered milk and yogurt mixture into the oven and leave it there for at least 6 hours or overnight. The oven temperature needs to remain at a constant 100°F to 110°F (warming temperature). Do not leave the yogurt in the oven for more than 8 to 10 hours. The longer you leave it in the oven, the more sour it will taste. The refrigerated yogurt should keep for at least a week.
This recipe was inspired by my friend Armen Mehrabyan, who lives in Armenia, where he grows and harvests wild herbs that he makes into teas and essential oils. Armen supplies many of Oleana’s teas as well as some of our wild cooking herbs. He also researches ancient Armenian recipes, and he prepared this one—whipped beans and nuts in a bowl sprinkled with pomegranate seeds—during one of his visits to America.
I altered the recipe a little, because I like to serve it in a log that can be sliced and presented as a vegetarian pâté. At Oleana, we serve this dish with Shoushan’s Homemade String Cheese (page 178) as a bread condiment or hors d’oeuvres.
Pomegranate season comes in the late fall and runs through the winter. When fresh pomegranates are not available, you can dot each piece of pâté with a drop of pomegranate molasses to impart a lemony tartness.
M
AKES ONE
16
-İNCH LOG TO SERVE
8
1 cup dark red kidney beans, soaked overnight and rinsed well
5 cups water
¼ white onion, roughly chopped
1 bay leaf
1½ cups walnuts, lightly toasted (see page 91), plus a few for garnish
½ teaspoon chopped garlic (about 1 small clove)
4 tablespoons butter
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint or basil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
¼ cup pomegranate seeds (about ½ pomegranate)plus a few for garnish