savory layer cake

The sign of a successful new recipe, or more likely just my kitchen OCD, is when I'm already planning my next shopping list so I can immediately make it all over again-knowing full well that it will take me 2 or 3 days to finish the dish that's sitting right in front of me. I mean, you can never have too much of a good thing...can you? I tell myself "At least wait until day 3 and see how it holds up to the reheat".

I can attest to the fact that this just gets better. I heated a fat slice of it last night after getting home from a crazybusy day and working the closing shift at the market. I was famished by the time I pedaled my bike home and up that last hill that seemed to go on forever...grateful to have this ready to go and thankful to my wine buddy at the market for the remains of a bottle of Pinot Noir. I cracked open a new mystery I picked up from the library earlier in the afternoon and my evening was complete.

This savory layer cake comes from Jerusalem, one of my favorite cookery books.

The chef's behind this collection of recipes are Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi, owners of the wildly successful Ottolenghi restaurants in London. They call this an Open Kibbeh, a non-traditional take on a classic Lebanese Kibbeh. There are versions of Kibbeh throughout the Middle Eastern culture, but basically a kibbeh is a meat filled croquet or deep-fried dumpling that includes bulgur wheat (cracked wheat), spicy ground meat with fresh herbs, pine nuts and tahini sauce for dipping.

In this version, each of the components are layered into a spring-form pan and baked, then left to cool to room temperature-at which point it's released from the pan, holding into wedges better and the flavors are at their peak.

This is really super simple to make. I'm fortunate to work in the place that I do with access to the best food in the city. I also have this great Armenian market out in my hood. It is a constant source of wonder when I peruse its aisles while I attempt to build my Ottolenghi pantry. My shopping list consisted of ground lamb (ground beef works too), bulgur wheat  & pine nuts. I've never used bulgur wheat so I neglected to write down specifically "fine" bulgur wheat. I was slightly overwhelmed by the vast array of bulgur wheat on the shelf- 2 brands each with 4 grades from fine to coarse ground. I guessed and chose medium-fine. It worked fine though, the fully hydrated grain was slightly bigger than couscous and a tad grainier in texture.
At the butcher counter, the ground lamb they offered was called "lamb lulu". The raw lamb was seasoned with herbs and spices (I can't remember what they were but it sounded good) and spread squarely and evenly onto a long, narrow white platter, indented with an angular cross-hatched pattern and covered tightly with plastic wrap. It looked so beautiful.

Open Kibbeh
Yotam Ottolenghi’s & Sami Tamimi’s Jerusalem: A Cookbook.

INGREDIENTS:
scant 1 cup (125g) fine bulgur wheat
scant 1 cup (200ml) water
6 tablespoons (90ml) olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 medium onions, very finely chopped
1 medium jalepeno, very finely chopped
12 ounces (350g) ground lamb
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground coriander
2 tablespoon roughly chopped coriander
1/2 cup (60g) pine nuts
3 tablespoons roughly chopped parsley
2 tablespoons self-rising flour (or 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour + 1/8 teaspoon baking powder + pinch of salt)
Salt and black pepper
3 1/2 tablespoons (50g) tahini paste
3 1/2 tablespoons (50ml) water
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon sumac

METHOD:
Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Brush an 8 inch springform pan with olive oil and line with parchment paper. Put the bulgur wheat into a bowl, add water to cover the bulgur, and set aside for 30 minutes.
Heat four tablespoons of oil in a large skillet. Sauté the garlic, onion and jalepeno on medium-high heat until soft, remove from the pan, return it to high heat and add the lamb. Cook for five minutes, stirring, until brown. Return the onion mix to the pan, along with the spices, coriander leaves, salt, pepper and most of the pine nuts and parsley (saving a bit for the finish). Cook for a couple of minutes, remove from the heat, taste and adjust the seasoning.
Check the bulgur to see if all the water has been absorbed (strain if not). Add the flour, a tablespoon of oil, a quarter-teaspoon of salt and a pinch of black pepper and, with your hands, work into a pliable mixture that just holds together. Press firmly into the base of the springform pan  so that it is compact and level, I use the flat bottom of a pint glass. Spread the lamb mix evenly on top and press down. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the meat browns further and is very hot.
Whisk together the tahini, lemon juice, water and a pinch of salt for a very thick, yet pourable sauce. Remove the kibbeh from the oven, spread the sauce on top, sprinkle with pine nuts and parsley, and return to the oven. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until the tahini is just set and the pine nuts are golden. Remove and leave to cool down to room temperature.
Before serving, sprinkle with the sumac and a drizzle of olive oil. Remove the ring of the pan and carefully cut the kibbeh into slices.
This is great for leftovers too. I just microwave for one minute to take off the chill.

caramelized onion and mushroom tart

caramelized onion and mushroom tart, originally uploaded by riptideredsf.

Two years ago when I started educating myself about cooking, I knew nothing about caramelized onions. I didn't know what "caramelized" even meant. Sure, I'd cooked onions until they were brown, blindly following recipes without any analyzation of the process or result. Sugar in onions? Who knew? A few french onion soups had been produced throughout a lifetime of sporadic cooking, rarely processing the process. It was a  means to an end, satisfying hunger as quickly as possible, or occasional entertainment, and as long as the result wasn't burnt or raw or oversalted and tasted good (which meant edible) , the task was deemed a success, tagged with a bookmark or stuffed into a binder and I moved on.

I discovered a recipe for Onion Jam  in Kim Boyce's Good to the Grain last year. It was only then that  I fully understood the process. Suddenly, all of that browning and caramelizaton talk from Americas Test Kitchen finally made sense. If I had to choose my biggest kitchen AHA! moment, that would be it.
It takes about 90 minutes to cook the onions down their jammy consistency. Onion jam on a BLT is the most amazing thing ever. I mixed some into a tuna salad today that was off-the-hook. Even on a fork, all by itself, it's the ultimate marraige of sweet and savory in one bite. Caramelization is a beautiful thing and shouldn't be rushed. Onions for this tart don't have to be cooked this long though, you want more structure.

I came across this article at Slate.com this morning that was dead-on, humourous and an eye-opener about writing recipes. The writer accuses recipe writers of lying about how long it takes to caramelize onions, because the long cooking time is a deterrent to a recipes appeal. 

The article concludes: "The best time to caramelize onions is yesterday".

Earlier in the week I caramelized about 3 pounds of onions in a dutch oven. I was left with about 2 cups of gooey good onions. It keeps in an airtight jar for a week, though rarely lasts that long. I use caramelized onions in all kinds of ways, the breakfast tacodilla is it's most frequent destiny.

 I've been in  pastry mode for a couple of weeks now, so when I scored  giant bag of button mushrooms from the Chinese market I knew a tart was in my immediate future. This is a hybrid of recipes adapted from Smitten Kitchen and Dorie Greenspan's Around my French Table.

caramelized onions-again, way more than you need for this recipe and do this ahead of time. A dutch oven is great when cooking a large batch because the cast iron has great heat distribution, there's a lot of surface area to promote browning.

2 tablespoons oil
3 large yellow onions (sliced 1/4 thick)
1 teaspoon salt
black pepper
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar

Heat the oil in dutch oven on medium-high heat and then add the onions. Toss until the onions are coated and cook until they start to brown, stirring infrequently, just to redistribute the onions so they come in contact with the surface of the pot. Once the browning starts (it take's about 20 minutes to get there), add salt, lower the heat and cover the pot and cook for another 20 minutes so the onions release their moisture and get really soft.

Remove the cover and continue to cook for another 30 minutes until the water evaporates and the onions become brown. De-glaze with red wine vinegar at the end.

Pastry
from smitten kitchen

1 1/4 cups flour
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter, diced
1 egg

In the food processor pulse the dry ingredients to combine. Pulse butter until it's in bits the size of small peas. Pulse in the egg until the dough forms.

On a floured work surface roll the dough into a 12 inch circle, carefully roll it over the rolling pin to lift it off the counter and into the tart pan. Press the dough into the corner of the pan and trim off the excess. If you're using a fluted tart pan with a removable base lift the tart pan by the edge and put it onto a plate. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.

filling:

2 tablespoons butter
1 pound white button mushrooms-stems removed, sliced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dried tarragon
1 cup of beef stock ( or vegetable stock)
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
1/2 cup caramelized onions
2 eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup fontina cheese (or gruyere)
salt
pepper
nutmeg
1 teaspoon dijon mustard

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Remove the chilled tart shell from the fridge. Line with foil or parchment and weight the pastry down with pie weights, dried beans or rice. I keep a jar of white beans labeled For Pastry and re-use.

Bake for 10 minutes, remove the weights, foil or parchment and bake for another 5 minutes, until the pastry appears dry, but not browning.

Remove from the oven and brush with dijon mustard. Set aside

While the pastry is par-baking (also called blind baking) heat up a  large skillet over medium high heat, melt the butter until it stops foaming. Add the sliced mushrooms and toss to coat, then let them cook undisturbed, about 5-7 minutes until they start to brown. Toss again to redistribute and continue to brown. Add the salt, pepper and tarragon. The mushrooms will release their water. Cook uncovered until the water evaporates and a fond  (the browned bits) forms on the skillet. Add the beef broth and de-glaze the skillet. Continue to cook until the broth reduces. Remove from the heat and stir in fresh thyme.

In a small bowl or a large pyrex measuring cup, wisk the eggs, cream, salt, pepper and nutmeg together then stir in the grated cheese.

Place your par-baked tart shell on a sheet pan, spoon in the caramelized onions and spread it evenly over the bottom. Then add your mushroom layer spreading it evenly over the onions. Pour the egg mixture over the surface.

Place the sheet pan on th middle rack of the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes until the center is puffed and brown. Let it rest for about 10 minutes, remove the fluted ring from the base. Slice and enjoy with a big green salad.

This tart re-heats nicely and I pack it for lunch.

Cauliflower Parmesean Cake

Cauliflower Parmesean Cake, originally uploaded by riptideredsf.

This little cake load of savory goodness came my way via Smitten Kitchen a few weeks back. The first thing that went through my mind upon seeing the title was "?!?!??????????". Cauliflower and cake in the same recipe? That's just mental! But. Then a couple of things happened.
First: I considered the source. That effen blog has been right on the money every single time and is the reason why I'm doing what I'm doing right now since I discovered that gold five months ago.Were the little genius behind that blog to walk in the door of my little coffee house right now I don't know whether I would screech in delight, run over and plant a big wet sloppy one on her or snatch her bald cursing "@#$%$!!!! What the &$#* have you %#$@ done to me you %&#?" See, I'm a little OCD
Second: "Remember your new credo" I remind myself, "Try Something New!" See, I'm also a creature of habit and venture out of my comfort zone all too infrequently.
Anyhoo...I've got this in my oven right now. After a couple of fits and starts on this recipe I'm taking it for a road test. I'm actually gonna foist this little puppy on friends, family and complete strangers. Today is my nieces 16th birthday party and there will be slumbering and brunch tomorrow and this is particularly awesome the next day.