A Meyer lemon

I love the Moroccan dish called tagine. This is a stew that is traditionally cooked in a conical shaped vessel also called a tagine, thus the name of the dishes cooked in this fashion. The ingredient that transforms these stews for me is preserved lemons. They can be purchased in speciality food markets, but if you plan in advance, they are easy to make and more tasty if homemade. Meyer lemons are the best choice because they are sweeter and less acidic, so when I saw some at Weaver’s Way Co-op in Chestnut Hill this week, I grabbed them. The one cookbook my husband brought to our marriage was Paula Wolfert’s Coucous and Other Good Food in Morocco (1973, and out-of-print). Her chicken with preserved lemons is perfect for when you want to make chicken dish but need something a little different — and delicious.

Preserved lemons can be just the flavoring agent for adding to butter and herbs for a quick sauce for seafood, a viniagrette, mixing into vegetables, couscous, or even into hummus to punch up the flavor. Keep in mind that a little does go a long way and many recipes only call for a quarter of a lemon.

Please don’t use not having Meyer lemons as an excuse not to make this recipe. Regular lemons work well; just make sure they are organic and unwaxed. The resulting pickle is such a lovely way to make your food taste better. If you do not have 30 days, all is not lost.  Mark Bittman, writing for the New York Times in 2010, gives a three hour pickle recipe that approximates the flavor you are going for.

A regular lemon preparing for it briny bath

PRESERVED LEMONS

Ingredients
Organic lemons
Course sea salt

1. Prepare a jar with a tight fitting lid large enough to hold the number of lemons you would like to preserve.  If you use a pint jar it will hold  2 lemons, and a quart jar will accomodate 8 to 10 lemons. Boil the jar and it’s lid in submerged water for 15 minutes to sterilize.
2. Scrub each lemon with a vegetable brush, as you will be eating the peel. Slice off the thickened stem and tip ends of each lemon.  Starting at one end, cut the lemon into quarters leaving the pieces attached by about 1-inch at the bottom. You will have an “X” shape.
3. Press as much salt as you can inside each lemon; about 1 tablespoon per fruit. Place 1/2-inch salt at the bottom of your sterilized jar and add the lemons, pressing down to release the juices. You will most likely need to squeeze the juice of a couple more lemons in order to cover the lemons completely.  Leave 3/4-inch from the top of the jar.
4. Add 2 more tablespoons of salt to the top and seal the jar.
5.  Cover and let stand at room temperature.  For the next 3 days, turn the jar upside down and shake to redistribute the juice and salt around the lemons.
6. After 30 days, the lemon peel will have softened and they are ready to use. They will keep in the refrigerator for up to six months.
7. To use, remove a lemon with a clean fork and rinse to remove excess salt. Split open and scrape out the flesh. Thinly slice or the dice the peel and use as you wish.

Optional flavorings

I tend to keep my preserved lemons plain so that I can use them many different ways, but if you want you can add chilies, a cinnamon stick, bay leaves, coriander seeds, peppercorns, cloves and cardamom pods.

This recipe is from the Mennonite Community Cookbook, which is out of print.

CORN PUDDING

Ingredients:

• 2 cups corn
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 cup milk

My recipe is a combination of a David Rosengarten’s Boeuf a la Bourguignon with Heart Shaped Croutons, posted on the Food Network’s website in 1997.  I loved his now defunct show called Taste and, while his recipes from that show are no longer available, I was able save the ones that I thought I was most likely to use. The marinade is Rosengarten’s main contribution to my recipe, along with the addition of allspice berries and whole cloves.

My other two reliable recipe sources are anything from Cook’s Illustrated and the food blog, Simply Recipes. Cook’s Illustrated recipes aren’t available unless you are a subscriber, so I am not able to link to their version. I relied heavily on their recipe for the instructions and the method for cooking the garnishes. I love Simply Recipes photographs, so that you know what to look for as you go along.

• 3 cups of red of dry red wine, preferably a Pinot Noir
• 1 cup beef broth
• 1/4 good brandy
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 medium carrots, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, sliced
• 6 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 10 peppercorns
• .5 ounces of dried porini mushrooms, rinsed
• 12 parsley stems
• 4 whole cloves
• 4 allspice berries
• 1 bay leaf

1. In a large bowl combine all the marinade ingredients and the beef.  Cover, and chill overnight.  Remove the beef, reserving the marinade and vegetables. Pat the beef dry thoroughly and salt and pepper.
2. Boil 3 cups of water in a medium saucepan.  Add the salt pork and boil for 2 minutes.  Drain well.
3. Adjust oven rack to the lower-middle postion in the oven and heat to 300 degrees.
4. Place the marinade ingredients except for the beef and the tomato paste in an eight quart Dutch oven.
5. In a 12-inch skillet over medium heat, saute the salt pork until lightly browned and crisp.  This should take about 12 minutes.  Remove with a slotted spoon and add to the dutch oven.  Pour off all but two teaspoons of fat and reserve the rest.  Increase heat to high and add beef in a single layer without crowding too much. Brown to a deep rich color, about 7 minutes and transfer to the Dutch oven.  It may take you two or three batches.  Pour 1/2 cup of water into the skillet and scrape up all the brown bits; pour into liquid into Dutch oven.
6. Return skillet to high heat and add two more teaspoons of reserved pork fat. Add another layer of beef and brown as before. Use another 1/2 cup of water to transfer any delicious brown bits into the Dutch oven.
7. In the emptied skillet over medium heat, add 4 tablespoons butter.  When foaming subsides, whisk in flour until evenly moistened and pasty.  Cook, whisking constantly, until mixture has a toasty aroma and looks like light-colored peanut butter. This should take about 5 minutes.  Gradually whisk in chicken stock and 1 cup of water.  Turn heat up to medium-high and bring to simmer, stirring frequently, until thickened. Pour mixture into Dutch oven and salt and pepper to taste.  Add water if beef is not covered except for small corners peaking above the liquid. Stir to combine and increase heat to high. Bring contents to a boil; cover and place in oven.  Cook until the meat is tender for 2 1/2 to 3 hours.
8. With a slotted spoon, remove beef from the pot. Remove vegetables and place into a sieve.  Press out liquid into Dutch oven and discard the vegetable herb mixture.
9. Bring the liquid in the Dutch oven to a boil over medium-high heat.  Simmer, stirring occasionally to prevent burning, until sauce is reduced to 3 cups and is thickened to the consistency of heavy cream, 15 to 25 minutes.  Taste frequently near during the last half of this window of time to ensure that your sauce isn’t getting too salty.  If it is, stop the reduction and go to the next step.
10.  While the sauce is reducing, bring pearl onions, butter, sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 cup water to boil in medium skillet over high heat; cover and reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, shaking pan occasionally, until onions are tender, about 5 minutes. Uncover, increase heat to high, and simmer until all liquid evaporates, about 3 minutes. Add mushrooms and 1/4 teaspoon salt; cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid released by mushrooms evaporates and vegetables are browned and glazed, about 5 minutes. Transfer vegetables to large plate and set aside. Add 1/4 cup water to skillet and stir with wooden spoon to loosen browned bits. When pan bottom and sides are clean, add liquid to reducing sauce.
11. When the sauce has reduced to three cups, reduce heat to medium-low and add the beef, mushrooms and onions and any juices accumulated.  Cover and cook until just heated through, about 5 to 8 minutes.  Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper and serve, with a dusting of chopped parsley.

• Assorted light appetizers
• Roasted pear and arugula salad with balsamic vinaigrette
• Beef bourguignon
• Corn pudding
• Roasted vegetables with fennel pollen
• Three cheeses
• Chocolates for dessert

The discussion over appetizers

My friend Linda’s delicious salad awaits

One of my favorite dead of the winter meals

An aged cheddar, my favorite goat cheese and a Mahon from Spain

Guess which cheese was the favorite:  Humboldt Fog from Cypress Grove

Port and chocolates:  I am one happy girl!

I wish you and yours a blessed and happy 20112!

Happily, I was organized enough this Christmas, that with the bartending help of my dear brother-in-law Curt, we wrangled up a lovely pre-Christmas dinner cocktail.  It was billed as a spiced pear margarita, but I substituted peach schnapps for Poire William.  Call me cheap, but it worked.

If you are entertaining for the New Years weekend, here are some cocktail ideas:

1. From Saveur Magazine, The Best Cocktails of 2011
2. One of my favorite food blogs, Leite’s Culinaria, has a great collection of Classy Cocktail Recipes
3. The New York Times has For Every Holiday Party, the Right Drink
4. Epicurious offers fun ideas for the champagne flute
5. And for those of us watching our pennies, Serious Eats has a roundup of The Top of the Bottom Shelf:  Best Cheap Booze 2011
6. Needing some home bar set up advice?  SE also has a good guide for that

Cocktail fans will want to check out a new Philadelphia blog about craft cocktails, both ones that the authors create, and their favorites at our local restaurants and bars.  It is called Home Speakeasy.

Cheers!

I love reading food Q and A’s and thought it would be fun to list my top 20 Philadelphia favorite foods:

1. If I had to pick one Philadelphia area restaurant dish, what would it be? Vietnam’s B.B.Q. platter
2. Favorite pasta dish?  Fiorino’s tagliatelle bolognese
3. Favorite pizza?  Osteria’s Lombarda
4. Favorite burger?  The Dandelion
5. Favorite French fries?  The Dandelion
6. Favorite place for breakfast or brunch? Parc Bistro
7. Favorite Italian BYO?  Modo Mio
8. Favorite place to shop for food?  Weaver’s Way Co-op
9. Favorite source for grass fed meats?  Breakaway Farms
10. Favorite doughnut? Lydia Mae’s Bakery in the Lancaster County Farmer’s Market
11. Favorite sandwich?  DiNic’s roast pork
12. Favorite Chinese dish?  Han Dynasty’s Dan Dan noodles
13. Favorite Burmese dish AND favorite salad?  Rangoon Burmese’s spring ginger salad
14. Favorite cake?  Night Kitchen’s chocolate mocha cake
15. Favorite shepherds pie?  The Whip Tavern
16. Favorite vegetable dish?  The brussel sprouts at Johnny Brenda’s
17. Favorite food destination to take out of town guests?  Reading Terminal Market
18. Favorite place to buy locally made cheese?  Fair Food Farmstand in the Reading Terminal Market
19. Favorite  locally made chocolates?   Eclat Chocolate
20. Favorite place to celebrate?  Talula’s Table

About the size of a golf ball, this red-brown orb is the Kumato.

I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of tomato flavor, juiciness, and quite decent texture. Originally from a ‘lost’ wild tomato and developed in Spain, the Kumato has been available in Europe for number of years. It has an unusually high fructose level so it is sweet, but has a good acidity to round out the flavor. So, we now have a reasonably tasty tomato that travels well.

I am still not going to regularly stock my kitchen with this well traveled produce, but between now and June, when I crave a tomato, I know I have a good option.

My Southern born husband loves this corn bread.  The key is the whole cup of sour cream that gives it a moist, tender crumb. This is not Yankee corn bread, with a sweet and cakelike texture, and it is not Southern corn bread that has virtually no floor or sugar and winds up being being grainy and crumbly. I got this recipe from the out of print Mennonite Community Cookbook. If you want to gild the lily, get your hands on toasted corn meal. The Fair Food Farmstand at Reading Terminal Market usually carries this flavorful Lancaster County version of cornmeal.

Sour Cream Corn Bread

3/4 cup corn meal
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar (optional)
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 egg, well beaten
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup milk

Combine flour and corn meal.  If you have toasted corn meal, use half regular corn meal and half toasted corn meal. Add baking soda, cream of tartar (if using), salt, and sugar.

Add beaten egg, sour cream, milk and melted butter. Whisk together and pour into a greased 9-inch square pan, or a 9-inch pie pan. Bake at 425˚ for 20 minutes or until nicely browned.

Corn bread makes a perfect sidekick or foundation to chili.