Lamb With Rhubarb--Traditional Afghan

Last time I saw my Afghan friend, all of a sudden we started talking about food that we often ate in our childhoods. And although we come from very distant countries and cultures, we discovered that in late spring both of us often and enjoyed fresh rhubarb.

Rhubarb was growing like a weed in my parents' yard. Next to radish it was the first spring vegetable. Broken off fresh from the bush we ate it raw. Just dipped in sugar we crunched this sweet and sour crispy snack. Sometimes, rhubarb was cooked with sugar to make a sweet beverage. Sometimes we made with it cakes or preserves. Either way we always added sugar to the rhubarb and because of that I considered it a fruit rather than a vegetable.

In Afghanistan rhubarb is used more as a vegetable. My friend also ate fresh rhubarb straight from the garden, but instead of sugar they dipped it in salt. Rhubarb was also used to prepare many dishes but savory and spicy. My friend's favorite dish was lamb cooked with rhubarb. I got so curious of such combination that right away I asked for a recipe and next day I made this dish, as in DC we are in full rhubarb season.

Traditionally, this dish is made with lamb,but it is also can be made with veal and actually my friend prefers such version as she does not like the strong smell of lamb meat. However, when I made that dish with lamb I noticed that a generous amount of onion, spices, and also rhubarb completely neutralized that aroma and the taste of meat turned very mild.

Lamb in Rhubarb
(Serves four to six)

Ingredients:
2 lb boneless, lean lamb or veal, preferably from the shoulder.
4-6 rhubarb stalks,
2 large onions,
3 garlic cloves,
1/2 cup fresh coriander leaves, chopped,
1 and 1/2 tbsp ground coriander seeds,
1/2 tbsp turmeric,
1 tsp red chili pepper,
3 tbsp grape seed oil,
salt and pepper to taste.

Preparation:
1. Peel off the onions and chop them very finely. Heat the oil in a shallow medium frying pot and fry the onions slowly for about 10 minutes, until almost caramelized. Add chopped garlic, turmeric, and dried coriander and mix everything well.
2. Salt and pepper the lamb meat and add it to the pot. Let the meat get coated with onion. Cook until the meat is brown, stirring occasionally.

3. Add about a cup of water and simmer until the meat becomes soft. You may add extra water during the simmering if it evaporates but the meat is not yet soft. That may take 40-60 minutes depending on the quality of the meat.
4. Peel off rhubarb and cut into slices.

5. When the meat is soft, all the water evaporates, leaving only the thick onion sauce, put rhubarb on top of the meat and let it cook for about 5 minutes, until the rhubarb is soft but not mushy. Sprinkle chopped coriander leaves and chili pepper on top and let it cook for about 3 minutes.

Serve with basmati rice.

Tenderloin Roulades with Sage

Since my last post was about red cabbage, today I feel like posting something that would go well with it, and red cabbage loves the company of good meat. I also like this recipe very much because of the sage.

Sage is to me a quintessential autumn herb, just as basil is a summer herb, which enhances the taste of ripe tomatoes, and marjoram, especially dried, is a winter herb. Sage belongs to autumn because it is often served with pumpkin dishes and is used to flavor and decorate the Thanksgiving table and meals.

I used to have two big bushes of different types of sage--one green and the other one silver, but my rosemary has been so expansive that it overshadowed my sage plants. As a result, I have been left only with one very weak sage bush. And when I was preparing these roulades, I harvested almost the whole plant. I like the taste of sage and I was very generous with it while making these rolls.

Tenderloin roulades--this time I made them from pork but this applies to both beef and pork roulades--taste great with red cabbage, and can be served with all kinds of noodles or dumplings.

Tenderloin Roulades
(Serves four)

Ingredients:
1 lb (half a kilogram) of pork or beef tenderloin,
4 oz (125g) feta cheese,
1/4 cup chopped fresh sage leaves,
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley,
3 tbsp(72g)butter,
1 medium onion sliced,
3/4 cup (150 ml) vegetable stock,
3/4 cup (150 ml) white wine,
3/4 cup (150 ml) crème fraîche or heavy whipping cream,
salt and freshly ground pepper.

Preparation:
1. Cut tenderloin into thick (2/3 inch) slices. Using a meat tenderizer beat gently each slice on both sides.
2. Using food processor blend feta cheese and herbs until smooth. If you do not have a blender you can mix it together using fork.
3. Put an equal amount of feta mix on each piece of meat and spread it. Roll up each piece of meat and secure with wooden tooth pick.Season with salt and pepper on top.

4. In a frying pan with heavy base melt butter. Add onion and fry until transparent. Add tenderloin roulades and fry on the high heat for about 2-3 minutes, until brown, on both sides.
5. Pour in wine and vegetable stock. Bring it to boil and let it boil for a minute. Add crème fraîche and simmer for another 10-15 minutes.

Serve with all kinds of noodles, for instance egg noodles, and red cabbage sauté or red cabbage salads.

Walnut Beef Soup--Probably from Georgia

The soup season is in. After a month of unstoppable rain, a real fall chill has come. Last weekend for the first time this season it was so cold that the heating system went on and off the whole night. And every time I looked through the window at this depressing weather, I dreamed more and more about a bowl of warm soup.

On Sunday evening we had a dinner at our neighbours who served a pumpkin bisque soup. There was nothing that could taste better on that cold evening, served with fresh, home made bread. But because last week I already made many pumpkin dishes, I decided to cook a different soup. And, for that purpose, I reached for a recipe that has been intriguing me for a long time.

I have been reading a lot about less known cuisines and among them about the Georgian cuisine. And it struck how much walnuts they use. This makes me believe that this soup, which I do not know exactly the origins of, comes from Georgia as walnuts are its main ingredient. It falls into the Eintopf category. Although it is based on basically two main ingredients (walnuts and beef), the two of them already make it very rich. When served with bread that soup can be as satisfying as a main dish. Fresh herbs add a lot of aroma to that already unusual combination.

Walnut Beef Soup

Ingredients:
1 lb (about 500g) beef (any tender variety will work best),
1 cup of shelled walnuts,
1 tbsp all purpose flour,
1 tsp ground coriander,
2 garlic cloves,
2 tbsp tomato paste,
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves,
1/2 cup chopped parsley leaves,
1 tsp salt,
ground pepper to taste.

Preparation:
1. Cut beef into about one-inch cubes and put it in a medium pot. Cover the meat with 8 cups of cold water and bring it to boil.
2. When the beef starts to cook skim the foam from the surface and let it cook until the beef becomes soft, which will take 30-40 minutes, depending on how tender the beef is.
3. Chop garlic on the cutting board and mix it with salt. Add to the beef stock.
4. Chop or grind the walnuts and add them to the soup.
5. In a small bowl mix one tablespoon of flour, tomato paste, coriander, and a little bit of water to make a smooth paste. When all the flour clots dissolve, add four tablespoons of beef stock to the tomato paste, mix well and pour into the soup. Stir and let it boil.
6. Remove the pot from the heat, add chopped basil and parsley. Serve with bread.

Stuffed Zucchini--French Way

The French love zucchini. We all know this by now, if not from a personal culinary experience, then from the movie "Ratatouille". And zucchini is one ratatouille's main ingredients. More than that though, when I lived in Geneva I ate flans, quiches, pastas, and pizzas made with zucchini of different shapes and colors.

The most amazing zucchini dish I ever ate were stuffed zucchini flowers, which I ate in restaurant in Geneva. I would like to repeat one day, the problem is though that they were stuffed with something extremely delicate that I was not able to identify.

My second favorite zucchini dish are stuffed zucchinis themselves. My mother was making a similar dish years ago, when I was a child. She was stuffing with ground meat a gigantic squash-like vegetable, something in between a zucchini and a pumpkin, weighing about four to five pounds each. Then the whole vegetable was baked in an oven and served with a tomato salad or green lettuce with mustard dressing. This zucchini-pumpkin vegetable (which I have not found outside Poland so far) was available only during two summer months.

The other day when I was flipping through a French magazine I stumbled on a recipe for stuffed zucchini which reminded me this favorite dish from my childhood. I decided to try it, as zucchinis are definitely at their peak, not only in France but in here as well. I got some local specimens, very fresh and green, stuffed them with mixed meats, and served them with a fresh baguette.

Stuffed Zucchini
(Serves four)

Ingredients:
8 medium zucchini (or two per person),
1/2 lb ground meat (1/4 lb beef and 1/4 lb pork or lamb)-beef itself is a little bit too dense,
2 garlic cloves, minced,
1 egg,
2 tbsp shredded Parmesan,
2 tbsp chopped parsley,
1 glass white wine,
1 cup of beef or vegetable stock,
3 tbsp tomato purée,
all purpose flour,
olive oil for frying,
1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper.

Preparation:
1. Cut out and discard both ends of the zucchinis. Depending on their length cut the zucchinis in two or three cylinders.
2. Using a small spoon or a grapefruit knife cut out the insides of the zucchinis leaving about a quarter of an inch of flesh inside. Save half of the flesh that you scooped out and chop it finely.

3. In a medium bowl mix both meats, chopped zucchini flesh, garlic, egg, Parmesan, one tbsp chopped parsley, salt, and pepper. Mix well until all the ingredients make a smooth stuffing.

4. Stuff zucchini cylinders, pushing meat tightly inside (it will shrink during cooking a little bit anyway).

5. Roll each piece in flour and put aside.
6. Heat 4 tbsp olive oil in a large casserole. Fry zucchinis until gold all over.
7. In a small bowl mix wine, tomato purée, and vegetable stock. Add this mix to the pan, cover the pan and let it simmer for about 30-40 minutes, depending on how big your pieces are.
8. Sprinkle with remaining parsley leaves, and serve with white bread and red wine.

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.

Traditional Polish Beef Roulades--Foreign Guests' Favorites

This simple dish is a mainstay of Polish cuisine. Almost every reputable restaurant has it on its menu and every Polish hostess can make it, and often serves it for weekend dinners. Beef roulades are called "zrazy" in Polish and are made of onion, cucumber pickles, and strips of bacon wrapped in slices of beef. They are fried until brown all around and cooked in a sauce that is thickened with flour and cream and often spiced with dried porcini.

Whenever foreigners visiting Poland ask about the "must" of Polish cuisine, beef roulades are probably one of the first items to be named. If they are made properly and served with some of the special noodles, they are almost always very well-remembered by our foreign guests.

I heard that a similar dish is also known in German cuisine, but there is a difference in the preparation of the sauce and in the stuffing. We stuff our roulades with cucumbers pickled in brine rather than cornichons. I would not like to argue who makes better beef roulades but my German cousin-in-law claims that the Polish ones are the best.

Beef roulades can be served with potatoes or rice, but they taste absolutely best when they are accompanied by noodles or dumplings--yogurt dumplings, egg noodles, plain spaetzle, or traditional Polish smooth potato dumplings, which are featured in my previous post. Delicate dumplings and noodles bring out the savory flavor of the fried, almost dark brown, beef roulades.

As many red meats in Poland, they are traditionally served with red cabbage salad or beet salad. The advantage of this dish over many others is that beef roulades can be made at least a day ahead. When they are fully cooked, and stay overnight in their own sauce, they taste even better when you serve them reheated on the next day.

Beef Roulades
(Serves four)

Ingredients:
8 slices round steak, about 1/2 inch thick,
8 strips smoked bacon,
one medium onion cut in 8 half-quarters,
2 cucumbers in brine, or baby dills,
8 pieces of European whole wheat bread (optional),
salt and pepper,
4 tbsp vegetable oil,
1 tsp flour,
1/2 cup sour cream.

Preparation:
1. Pound beef steaks until they are 1/8 inch thick, salt and pepper on both sides.
2. Place bacon, cucumber, and onion (and bread) on each piece of beef.

3. Roll up the beef slices and secure them with wooden toothpicks, or wrap them with threads.
4. Heat the oil in a deep frying pan and fry the beef roulades until brown on each side.
5. Cover with water and cook for 30-40 minutes, until the meat becomes soft.
6. Mix flour with sour cream, add a little bit of sauce from the pot and pour the whole mixture over the roulades. Let it all cook for another 20 minutes.

Serve with yogurt dumplings, smooth potato dumplings, or any kind of noodles.

Pork Tenderloin Stuffed with Herbs--if You Need to Eat Meat

My carnivore friends have been asking me to post some recipes for meat dishes. I must admit that there are at least two problems with this request.

First, there are not that many meat recipes on my menu. I do eat meat, but I tend to be more impressed with a good vegetable dish. I have probably eaten my share of meat dishes already in my youth and I am now more into experimenting with vegetables, especially those that were not part of my native cuisine.

Even more importantly, and this is something that even best food photographers are saying, it is very difficult to make cooked meat look good. For that reason, as someone who is very new to blogging and food photography, I was hesitant to confront this challenge. There are some good meat dishes in my recipe book, but I am afraid that, even though they taste great, they may look disappointing, as cooked meat almost always looks brown, brownish, or outright grey, which is not the most flattering way for a tasty dish to come out on a picture.

Below I share a recipe for pork with herb stuffing, and I hope that if you try to cook it, the taste will be more satisfying than these pictures may suggest. But I also promise to update this post if in the future I succeed in making a better picture of that dish.

Pork Tenderloin Stuffed with Herbs

Ingredients:
2 lb pork tenderloin; there are usually two pieces in one pack.

Stuffing:
1 bunch of parsley,
4 branches of fresh rosemary,
1 cup of breadcrumbs,
4 cloves garlic,
1 small beaten egg,
salt and pepper.

Marinade:
1 tbsp of coarsely ground mustard,
4 tbsp olive oil,
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce,
salt and pepper.

Preparation:
1. Wash meat, dry with a paper towel, and cut half way alongside making sure that you do not cut through the end; this is just to be able to spread the meat sideways to accommodate the stuffing.
2. Chop garlic, parsley, and the leaves plucked off the rosemary branches.
3. Add breadcrumbs, beaten egg, season with salt and pepper, and mix all the ingredients to make a smooth stuffing.
4. Divide the stuffing between two pieces of meat, spread slightly and close tenderloins with wooden picks.

5. In a small bowl mix mustard, 2 tbsp of olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, salt.
6. Rub this dressing all over the pieces of meat and let it marinate for about half an hour.
7. Heat the remaining oil in a frying pan on high temperature and fry on it the tenderloins on both sides until dark gold or almost brownish.
8. Lower the temperature and add a little bit of water (about 1/4 cup) to prevent the meat from burning, and cook for about 20-30 minutes under cover, depending on how well you like your meat done.

Pork made this way is very nice just with salad, for example a bean one--my next post, or served traditionally with potatoes or rice.