He Cooks, She Cooks

You might not think the taste of an apple crossed with a raw potato sounds very appetizing unless you’ve tried jicama and realized that’s actually a good thing.

And if that description doesn’t have you running out to buy jicama now…

But seriously, when summer hits, and you’ve banished the thought of rutabaga and turnips, jicama jumps in and offers its crisp, refreshing bite. I turned Kat on to jicama a few weeks ago with this slaw, and she later made her mom fall in love with the veggie by pairing it with grapefruit. It’s just so light and fresh, it’s perfect for summer.

You can shred the jicama with a grater or mandoline, but I loved the knife practice of slicing the whole thing by hand. Ditto for the broccoli. You can easily buy precut broccoli slaw at the grocery store, but besides being cheaper, there was something satisfying about making all those green matchstick slivers.

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Before I left my parents’ house over spring break, I made sure to copy down a recipe from a great book they had about dips. The recipe, called Dip Into India, was for a curry-cauliflower dip. I wrote down each ingredient and step of the recipe, and then as usual, I changed it as soon as I got in the kitchen.

The main change was the spice. The book calls for curry powder, but I wanted to use individual spices so I could better control the flavors, and so each taste would be more pronounced. I toasted and ground whole cumin seeds, coriander seeds, fenugreek, cardamom and other spices.

My other addition was lemon juice, which I am surprised the recipe didn’t call for in the first place.

I liked the dip a lot. It’s great with pita chips, which were a process to make all from scratch, but at least I didn’t feel ripped off by the prices they charge for tiny bags of pita chips in the grocery store.

The cauliflower dip actually makes a good hot or cold side dish, too. When I was out of chips, I finished it off with a fork. Continue reading »

Back in February, Michael, my friend Gwen and I competed in the university Iron Chef competition, where we had a few days to plan a two course menu involving various rices. We all love Indian food so that’s the route we went. Then we had one hour and two burners to prepare the dishes for four judges with the help of campus chef Jeremy Elmore. We wished we placed better than third, but we were very proud of the food we made and think you’d like it, too. The menu:

• Vegetable and Brown Basmati Fritter with Three Sauces: Curry-Lime Yogurt, Coconut-Mango Chutney and Chili-Garlic Tomato Paste
• Gulf Shrimp in Coconut-Tamarind Curry Sauce with Red Himalayan Rice Pilaf and Cucumber Raita

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Senior year of high school I went to my best friend Annabelle’s house every Friday night for Shabbat dinner. I’m not Jewish, but I went for the food and the company. Annabelle’s family is from Venezuela so both are always enjoyable.

One of my favorite foods we’d have were arepas, which are fried cornmeal patties. Sometimes they had cheese inside, otherwise I topped them with it myself. Annabelle’s house always had a good selection of cheeses and dips.  Burrata, queso fresco, crema, salsa…

I don’t get to visit Annabelle too often these days, but I have learned to make arepas. They’re very simple: precooked cornmeal (like PAN), water and salt. Mix all that together, form into patties, fill or don’t fill, then fry them in a little oil.

You might not know any Venezuelan Jews, but you’ll appreciate these nonetheless. 

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Michael and I cooked some impressive dinners for his parents and Kat’s parents, but we had to up the ante a bit for my family this winter. I’ve been cooking magazine meals with my parents for as long as I can remember. (I got my first subscription to Gourmet before I lost my first baby tooth. Not kidding.) So we decided to make a North African feast with lots of lamb, chicken and couscous.

I’ll say two words about this chicken: spice butter. Ok, I want to give you more words: Butter, cumin, coriander, paprika, cayenne and cinnamon. Rubbed all over. Now, I’m not normally a glutton for chicken skin, but spice butter. I ate everything but the bones.

And the dates and apricots in chicken jus? I didn’t even think I liked dates. (I tried one from the box the next day, and they’re nothing without being roasted in spice-buttered chicken jus. Just sayin.)

The stew was also great, even though we totally rushed the process. The Darwell family has too high of metabolism for slow food. Luckily the stew didn’t suffer. The broth was full of flavor and just barely spicy, even with a whole habanero. Though, I have to give credit to the Los Angeles grocery store and the country of Australia for the lamb, which managed to be fork-tender even though we lumped off probably an hour of cooking time.

We served the dishes with piles of couscous and a side of refreshing carrot and fennel slaw. For dessert, I kept the spice theme going by making dark chocolate tart with gingerbread crust a la Smitten Kitchen.

Play some Algerian music from Cheb Mami, Rachid Taha or Khaled. Samira Said from Morocco is good too. If you can recommend any Tunisian artists, let me know.

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Here’s where we separate the foodies from the people who only look at our website to be nice to us.

When I say “duck fat,” do you drool or wrinkle your nose? If you’re curious, but not grossed out, come join us on the foodie side right away. Those still making faces need only try a few potato slices fried in the stuff.

Michael and I contemplated a 6-hour drive up to Hot Doug’s after watching the Anthony Bourdain Chicago episode where he went to the place famous for its sausages and duck fat fries. We restrained ourselves on account of that whole school thing we’re enrolled in. But enter Mike Odette, our favorite James Beard Award Semifinalist. He gave us some leftover duck fat a few weeks ago, and I immediately got to cleaning and slicing potatoes. (Oh to have friends in high places!)

Normally I bake my French fries, but when you have duck fat, you forget about your waistline and double fry those suckers. If you happen to get your hands on some duck fat, I suggest you do the same.

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