The Good Rabbi's Blog

For those of you that know me, you all know that this is hands-down one of my favourite chicken recipes. I've literally made this recipe hundreds of times, and while this recipe is meant for the grill (well, a charcoal grill), I've developed this into an oven-roasted version, (as I can't run my charcoal grill inside my apartment) that is just as tasty.

I made this recipe for my Baking & Pastry final, and it was pretty tasty if I may say so myself. The key to doing this well is to control the level of lavender. Lavender gets more and more powerful the longer it's in the mix, so it's a good idea to do random tastings to make sure you're not dropping the L-bomb.

This is a recipe that comes from Sierra Leone. It's a stew that is based on a peanut (or groundnut, as it's called in many places) base. It serves 4 to 6 people, and is quite tasty...

This recipe is a shout out to Dana & Moira. I promised them that I'd start advocating some recipes that centre around beer, given our shared appreciation for the fermented beverage. What better way to start for two great women than a dessert. Enjoy!

We’ve reached that time of year again: when it gets really cold outside and the daylight ends really early. It’s that time when you look out the window at work, and even though it’s only five o’clock, it feels like nine o’clock, and all you can think is “I gotta get the hell out of here!” When it gets this cold outside, I usually think about two things: getting a job in Arizona, and cooking comfort food. So since there are no job postings on this site, I thought I’d post some good recipes in the coming days that are really simple to make at home, have great taste and flavour, and comfort you on these Arctic nights we’ve been having. Call it the musings of the Five Ingredient Bitter Winter Chef (with all apologies to the Five Paragraph Bitter Food Critic).

Generally, I like to make some good soups and braises in the winter, so that’s what I’m going to start with. Today’s recipe is for a curried squash & Apple soup. I was bored in the kitchen one day, and kind of threw it together, and ever since then, the fiancée orders me to make this about once every month and a half. So here we go. First, the ingredients:

One fresh butternut squash or pumpkin
One medium-sized onion
One or two tart apples (Granny Smith, Braeburn, etc.)
Stock of your choice
Thai Curry Paste (I recommend Mae Ploy Brand)

There are three kinds of curry pastes – red, yellow, and green. The green is the spiciest, followed by the red, and then the yellow. You can usually find it in the Asian food aisle of your local grocery store, especially if that store happens to be Whole Foods, Wegmans, or oddly enough, the Giant near the Rhode Island Avenue Metro station. These are your five main ingredients, but you’ll also need some salt, pepper, a little cinnamon, and some cream (or half & half) to finish with. Once you have what you need, here’s how you do it.

First off, cut the butternut squash (or pumpkin) in half lengthwise, and remove the seeds & “strings.” Put the squash (or pumpkin) halves cut side down on a sheet pan, and put in the oven for about forty-five minutes at three hundred seventy-five degrees. While the squash is roasting, peel and dice the onion and the apples in a small dice. To keep the apples from browning, you can put them in a bowl of water with a little bit of lemon juice until they’re needed.

Once the squash (or pumpkin) is finished roasting, remove it from the oven and let it rest for a few minutes. Scoop the squash out of the skin, and put it in a bowl temporarily. Heat some butter or oil in a heavy saucepan and sauté the onion until translucent but not brown. Once the onions are sautéed, add some curry paste, squash, and the apple, and mix thoroughly. Add the stock of your choice, and bring the whole mixture to a boil. Once the mixture has come to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer it until the apples, squash, and onion are tender (about fifteen to twenty minutes).

Using a blender (immersion or regular), blend (or purée) the soup until it is a uniform consistency. Add some salt, pepper, a little cinnamon (little is the operative word here, as you don’t want this to be a sweet soup) and some cream (or half & half). The cream will add some body, and also lighten the soup’s colour. Taste and adjust seasonings, curry paste, etc. to taste. That’s all there is to it – very simple, and very satisfying. My next recipe will be for a dynamite braise that uses Manischewitz wine (yes, I know, I know – most people would rather drink motor oil, but you won’t be drinking it, and trust me, you’ve never had anything quite like this before). Stay tuned!

November is Peanut Butter Lovers' Month, so I thought I'd post a recipe to celebrate. Since very few of you are into a cream of peanut butter soup, I thought that a good dessert recipe is in order. Enjoy!

Ingredients
3 oz (¼ cup plus 2 Tbsp) Unsweetend (Baker's) Chocolate, finely chopped
8 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, cut into chunks
1 Cup Sugar
½ Tsp Baking Soda
¼ Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
⅔ Cup All-Purpose Flour
2 Large Eggs
⅓ Cup Peanut Butter (at room temperature)

Instructions

1. Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 350°F.

2. Coat an 8-inch baking dish with cooking spray or shortening.

3. Melt the chocolate and butter in a small bowl in the microwave or in a metal bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir the mixture occasionally to combine. Once melted, let the mixture cool for several minutes.

4. Whisk the sugar, baking soda, salt, eggs, and vanilla together in a medium bowl until combined, about 15 seconds. Whisk in the chocolate/butter mixture until smooth. Stir in the flour until no streaks of flour remain (be sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl). Scrape the batter evenly into the prepared pan.

5. Drop the peanut butter in small dollops over the batter. Without touching the bottom of the pan, run a paring knife through the batter to create swirls.

6. Bake until a toothpick inserted halfway between the edge and the center of the pan comes out clean, 22 to 27 minutes.

7. Let the brownies sit in the pan (outside of the oven) for about 10 minutes. Turn out brownie block onto a wire rack to cool completely. When cooled completely, cut into 2 inch squares and enjoy!

For the record, there is nothing remotely Russian about these recipes. I call it "Russian" because these twists on some old stock favourites in my repertoire were inspired by two Russian friends of mine (more on that later). So before all of the culinary readers write in, keep that in mind. :-)

This past week, the weather here in our nation's capital has been unseasonably warm (given that it's January). As such, I determined that a little bit of grilling would be in order. Since the lovely market down the street from me had a sale on salmon, I bought a couple fillets, and I decided to cedar smoke them. Apart from this, I had no idea what I was going to make, or what kind of glaze to use for the salmon. Here's where my Russian friends come in.

My friend Olga has many talents. She's an amazing salsa dancer, she has excellent taste in fashion (especially shoes), and she's a very crafty person. One of her "unsung" talents, however, is that this girl can open her refrigerator, look at a number of items in it that are seemingly unconnected, and concoct a meal (and a good one at that). This kind of improvisation was the inspiration for the side dish I made.

I opened up my fridge, and saw I had some extra firm tofu, some Swiss chard, half of an onion, and some white wine. I also had some leftover cinnamon-chipotle rub that I had made for some steaks not too long ago, and some fresh garlic. After cutting, washing, and spin-drying the swiss chard (stems and leaves), rubbing the tofu, and searing it on the grill, and dicing up the onion and garlic, I was in business. I heated some olive oil and sautéed the onion and garlic. I cubed up the seared tofu, and added it to the pan with the swiss chard. After sautéing for a minute or so, I added some more of the leftover rub (which contained both salt and pepper for seasoning), and some of the white wine, and lowered the heat and covered it. Meanwhile, I went to tend to the salmon.

Olga has a twin sister Anna that I'm also pretty friendly with. Despite our both having started our professional lives as economists, we've both managed to wander into the culinary arena. I was in pretty constant contact with her while I was in culinary school, and now she's in culinary school up at the Culinary Institute of America. In addition to sharing a lot of the crafty talents that Olga has, Anna has been one of the quiet inspirations behind some of the winning items I've put on menus recently. She has a particular gift (even if she may not know it) for balancing flavour profiles in order to create combinations that really engage the palette. Remember that watermelon & feta cheese salad I served at my wedding? Guess who turned me on to that?

In a saucepan, I mixed some maple syrup, with some grapefruit juice, roasted garlic, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, and a wee bit of olive oil. I brought it to a boil, then reduced it to a simmer, and let it reduce for a while, until it reached a glaze consistency. Some of this would be used as a basting liquid, and some of it would be for the finished product.

Anyway, I have always liked cedar smoking salmon. It produces a light kiss of smoke that perfectly complements the salmon, whereas most smoked fish dishes have an element of burning building. I've used this recipe with much success over the years, and I've managed to pass this on to various people, including a certain disgracefully-aging gentleman. Basically, I soak a cedar plank in either water or wine for at least an hour (you really want the liquid to penetrate it so it smoulders and smokes, instead of having a dry fire in your grill which, needless to say, will destroy your fish). Once the grill is good and hot (whether you're using charcoal, or propane with propane accessories), you want to put the plank directly over the coals or the burner. When the wood just starts to smoke, put the fish on the plank skin side down, and let it cook for about 10 minutes per inch of thickness, or about 9-12 minutes per pound.

When salmon is correctly cooked, it should be creamy in the middle - often people think that this is undercooked, but that would be mistaken. Baste with the glaze every now and then, but resist the temptation to keep opening the grill. The smoke has to work its magic. You'll want to take the fish off (plank and all) when it registers a temperature of about 135 degrees (it will continue cooking when you take it off, so let it rest for a few minutes with some foil on top). I serve it right off the plank, as the skin sticks to the plank, so people take what they want, and the skin remains. Pour some of the remaining glaze over the top, and you're ready to go.

To further toast my Russian friends, I paired this meal with an extra-chilled vodka grapefruit martini, as I was in the mood for a cocktail. If you're in the mood for wine, a chilled glass of either Sauvignon Blanc or Gewürztraminer.