Steaks Marinated in Sumac--A More Exotic Grilling Idea

Whenever I visit a Middle Eastern food store, I am always intrigued by a variety of different spices one can find there. I would love to use them all, but often have no idea where and how to add them.

Last year, I got a box of spices coming straight from a Turkish food market in Istanbul--the famous Spice Bazaar, also known as the Egyptian Bazaar. It had ten small capsules filled with a variety of spices. Some, like mint, cumin, curry, or saffron, I knew very well and used very often, but others, like sumac, I probably ate, but never cooked with.

Having sumac already at home, I called my Afghan friend for advice and have learned that sumac is mostly used for meats, especially grilled ones, like kabob. I got from her a simple recipe for steaks that are marinated briefly in sumac and grilled. I have also learned that in Turkish cuisine, for example, sumac is sometimes added to hummus and salad because of its slightly salty and sour taste. Furthermore, in many Middle Eastern restaurants sumac is put on the table, as a basic spice, alongside salt and pepper.

Basically, it can be used whenever a recipe, especially coming from the Middle Eastern tradition, calls for a "squeeze of lemon". Since the grilling season is approaching, here is the simple recipe I got from my friend, to introduce sumac to our summer diet.

Steakes Marinated in Sumac
(Serves four)

Ingredients:
4 pieces of New York strip steaks,
2 garlic cloves, minced,
1 tbsp ground coriander,
2 tbsp sumac,
salt and pepper to taste.

Preparation:
1. Rub garlic and all the spices onto the meat and let it marinate for about an hour.

2. Grill or fry on oil and serve with salads, potatoes, rice, or Middle Eastern bread.

Radish and Potato Salad--Into Spring

After reading the recipe below, someone may wonder why, of all the ingredients, just radish is on the front picture. The answer is because radish was the reason why I came up with this salad. I bought a fresh bunch of it, smooth and beautifully purple, just one more time to convince myself that my kids do not like it.

To me, radish brings the sweetest childhood memories of spring when I watched it grow in our garden, to pull it later from the soil, once it got suddenly big enough, often times overnight. Then we washed it, sliced it, and ate. Sometimes it was just radish on bread with butter and salt on top. Sometimes it was sliced over a spread of cream cheese or added to cottage cheese, together with English cucumber and chives. It was incredibly crunchy, peppery and gently spicy, but somewhat spicier than the one I am buying now--when I ate the radish from my garden, I could feel a slight pinch on the tip of the tongue.

I still like radish a lot and use it eagerly in salads, especially in the early spring. I came up with this salad by adding almost every crunchy vegetable that I could find in my refrigerator. It came out very crunchy, but the young baby potatoes I added gave it nice softness in mild contrast to the radish and the rest of it. I make this salad quite often these days and eat for lunch.

Radish and Potato Salad
(Serves four)

Ingredients:
1 bunch of radish, cut into small cubes,
1 cup yellow bell pepper (it is important for it to be yellow as I find it more delicate), cut in small square pieces,
1 cup of cucumber, cut into cubes,
3-4 celery sticks cut into thin slices,
half a bunch onion spring chopped,
1/4 cup fresh dill chopped,
2 cups cooked baby potatoes cut in half, or bigger potatoes cut into cubes.

Dressing:
3 tbsp olive oil,
1 tbsp mustard,
1 tsp sugar,
2 tbsp white wine vinegar,
salt and pepper.

Preparation:
1. Place all the vegetable cut into small, similar size cubes in a large bowl.
2. Make dressing in a small bowl by stirring all ingredients until they form a smooth, thick sauce.
3. Pour the dressing over the vegetables, mix, let it infuse for 30 minutes and serve.

Hazelnut Chocolate Tart--Polish Mazurek

I usually do not post two desserts one after another but I have just made a few typical Polish Easter treats, which I would like to share. Besides, our Easter pastry is so good that it can be made all year round.

First of all, there are all kind of babkas, in particular, made from a yeast dough with candied fruits and raisins. Another typical one is mazurek. I suppose it falls within a tart category. It is very crispy, short and thin, and can be made with a variety of toppings--nuts, poppy seeds, cheese, as well as dried fruits and preserves.

A secret of a good mazurek lies in the quality of the crust, which must be thin and, in any event, not thicker than the topping. The one I make most often comes from my grandma's recipe book. She made her mazureks with farmers' cheese or poppy seed paste. They were so good and tempting that when my big family gathered for holidays, my uncles were attacked them long before they appeared on the Easter table.

I usually make my mazureks with nuts. And my favorite is the one I post today, which is best made with hazelnuts. The crust needs to be baked first and the topping needs to be added later. Because most of the ingredients are baked or dried and no perishable products are used in its preparation, this mazurek can stay fresh for quite a while, if of course my family can allow for it.

Hazelnut Chocolate Tart

Ingredients

Crust:
2 sticks butter (about 250 g) room temperature,
2 egg yolks,
1/3 cup sugar,
2 cups flour, plus about 1/2 extra for cleaning hands.

Topping:
2 cups hazelnuts,
2 cups chocolate chips (I like to use Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips),
1 cup raisins,
4 tbsp table cream or half an half,
1 jar apricots or plum preserves.

Preparation

Crust:
1. In a small bowl, using a small whisker or spoon, mix egg yolks with sugar and cream for about for 1-2 minutes, until they turn smooth and pale yellow.
2. Put butter and 2 cups of flour in a large bowl and using fingers make crumbles.
3. Add egg mixture and working as fast as possible make a dough. The faster all ingredients are combined the shorter will be the dough, as tart crust does not like to be kneaded for too long. If the dough is still too wet add more flour, also to clean hands, however, use no more than extra 1/2 cup.
4. Wrap a dough in a plastic foil and let it chill in a refrigerator for at least an hour. Such a dough can be stored in a refrigerator for up to three weeks, or can be frozen if you want to keep it even longer.
5. Take the dough out of refrigerator and let it stay in room temperature for at least half an hour.
6. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough an a surface dusted with flour. If have space in a refrigerator, you can actually first roll the dough out, transfer it to on a rolling pin to baking tin and put it in a refrigerator like that.
7. Preheat oven to 375 F and bake crust for about 25 minutes. It should be gold on top. Take the crust out and let it chill completely.

Topping:
1. Put hazelnuts on a hot and dry (no oil) frying pan and moving them all the time toast them slightly. Let them cool down and working with hands remove any loose peel.
2. Place raisins in a small bowl, cover them with warm water, and leave aside for 20 minutes. Strain the raisins on a colander, and pat them with paper towel to dry them completely.
3. Place chocolate chip in a medium-sized pan, add cream, and melt them over a low heat, stirring continuously until they turn into a thick and smooth sauce.
4. Spread preserves evenly over the crust. Toss it with roasted hazelnuts and raisins.

5. Pour the warm chocolate sauce on top.

6. Let the tart chill in a refrigerator for about 2 hours, so it sets, but later it does not need to be kept in a refrigerator.

Cut in rectangles and serve.