Honeysuckle

Jeffrey brought me honeysuckle tonight.

Hiyayakko

cold tofu + negi + ginger + katsuobushi + shoyu

After twilight

on the lake

Tartare

Sunday dinner 
Wagyu beef tartare --- with Ruffles, of course

Deconstructed Mantı

 I love it when you can trace centuries of history through food.  Mantı are a perfect example of this.  Most westerners probably encounter them (if they do even encounter them at all) through Turkish cuisine---where they ended up after a long journey from the central Asian steppe, carried by nomadic Mongols and Turks---but they can be found in various forms in cuisines stretching from Korea and China through Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan to Turkey and all of the places to which its food has spread.  The first mantı I had were in a homey strip-mall Turkish restaurant in Delran, NJ, but the best I've had are probably what Jeff put together last night.

I've never been that into mantı, to be honest.  Something about the ratio of dough to meat in the dumplings (too high usually, in my opinion) and the ease with which the filling can get dried out when cooked carelessly in a restaurant.  But Jeff loves them, and it was his idea to attempt to make this deconstructed mantı-pasta thing you see here.  I was skeptical, to say the least, but it was actually really delicious and has totally made me a convert.  And no one's poor grandmother had to spend all day in the kitchen folding impossibly small dumplings, either.

Deconstructed Mantı

1/2 lb tagliatelle  
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 lb ground beef
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
1/2 cup whole milk yogurt
1 clove garlic, minced
dried mint
turkish red pepper
sumac
salt and pepper

Prepare the tagliatelle according to package instructions.  Meanwhile, saute onions in olive oil until softened.  Add ground beef and season well with salt and pepper, and cook until just done.  Also meanwhile, combine yogurt and garlic with a bit of salt and stir well, set aside.  When everything is ready, in a large serving bowl combine the pasta and meat/onion mixture.  When ready to serve, add a nice dollop of garlic yogurt plus mint, red pepper, and sumac, to taste.

Semaine

beautiful pink tree

 the best omelette --- portobello and scallions topped with pecorino

we had it 3 times last week

 homemade mojarra frita

 perfect lunch at Jamaican Jerk in Rogers Park

 conch fritters

 so good, in fact, that I forgot to photograph the main course before we ate it

 dying moth outside our building

 le lac

 deering library at northwestern

 best sullungtang at han bat

beautiful irises on a walk

The week in instagram.

Orange Almond Cake

I made this flourless cake last night on a whim after seeing it a few days ago on Pinterest (originally from Scandi Foodie), intrigued by the fact that it uses the entire orange but contains no flour and no butter or oil.  In many ways it's quite similar to my favorite Almond Cake I posted about back on Valentine's Day, and now I'm curious to try a version of that perhaps adding more ground almond for the flour and subbing out the orange in this for the yogurt in that.  This cake is quite perfect as is --- rich and dense, overwhelmingly fragrant from the orange, slightly bitter (like Campari) from using the whole rind.  No need for anything else, an ideal dessert.

Orange Almond Cake

2 organic oranges
3 eggs
500 g ground almond
200 g natural sugar (azucar morena)
1 tsp baking powder

Place the whole oranges in a large pot and cover with water (the oranges will bob a bit, and that's okay).  Bring to a boil and cook for 30 minutes.  Remove the oranges and roughly chop, removing any seeds, and then blend in a food processor until smooth.

While the oranges are cooking, prepare your dry ingredients and preheat your oven to 350 F.  If using almond meal, merely combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl.  If (like me) you're starting with whole or sliced raw almonds, combine almonds and sugar in a food processor and blend until fine.  Pour the almonds and sugar in a large bowl and add the baking powder.  In a separate bowl, beat the eggs until combined, and when the oranges are done, add the eggs and blended orange to the dry ingredients and stir well to combine.  Pour batter into a greased cake pan (I used a 9" round but you could do 8" or a loaf pan, etc.) and bake for about 40 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Empress

Exploring

A long and wonderful day.  Montrose dog park → bike ride to Rogers Park for Mexican water ice → mushroom risotto and arugula salad.  Then another long bike ride at night, exploring.

Ribollita

Yesterday turned out to be the perfect day for ribollita --- another cold snap after a beautiful spring day.  Ribollita is perfect for lazy days when you just can't make it out to the store, as it allows you to use up the odds and ends you have around the kitchen.  The recipe I used is below, but you must keep in mind that the nature of this soup is improvisation, so feel free to substitute any variety of leafy greens and toss in any other vegetables that you might need to use up.  This recipe will make quite a large pot (I used an 8 quart stock pot for it), but like all good soups it will taste better on subsequent days and also tastes particularly good cold or room temperature.

Ribollita

4 tbsp olive oil
2 carrots, diced
2 stalks of celery, diced
1 large onion, diced
2 Italian sausage links (optional)
1 tsp dried thyme
4 plum tomatoes from a can
1 large potato, peeled and diced
1 cup of dried cannellini beans, soaked overnight
half a head of napa cabbage, chopped (or kale, or chard, etc.)
salt and pepper
several pieces of stale, crusty bread


Heat the oil in a large dutch oven or stock pot and saute the carrots, celery, and onion until translucent, about 10 minutes.  Remove the sausage from its casings (if using), and add to the pan, breaking it up with your fingers and then a wooden spoon as it cooks.  When the sausage has browned, add the thyme and the tomatoes and break up a bit with the spoon.  

Now add some water to the pot, I think I probably started with about 6 cups but use as much as you think is necessary (keeping in mind that the beans will soak up water and the cabbage will release water as they cook).  Then add the potato, beans, and cabbage, cover and bring to a boil, then turn the heat to low and simmer for about two hours, until the beans are cooked through.  Add salt to taste (but make sure to add enough!  Probably about 2 tbsp of sea salt for a pot this big).


At this point, you can either set it aside, if you're making it ahead of time, as it will taste better the next day.  Or, if you're like us and can't wait, go ahead and toast several slices of the old bread, cut a garlic clove in half, and rub the bread with the garlic really well.  Place the toast in the bottom of a bowl and ladle the soup on top.  Garnish with freshly ground pepper and enjoy.