Category: recipe

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Silk Road recipes (Part I)

This past weekend was Silk Road weekend at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival and we cooked up a storm.  My assistants, Nicholas and Rissa, worked very hard over the three day weekend and we cooked and cooked.  We demonstrated several recipes.  I will post the second set of recipes later, once I can compile my notes further. 

This past weekend, our 1:00 pm show demonstrated chicken tikka, curry chickpeas, and samosas.  I hope you like them as much as we did; they made a very tasty lunch.

Chicken Tikka
Ingredients:
3/4 teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted
3/4 teaspoon coriander seeds, toasted
2 cups whole-milk yogurt
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 (1 1/2-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
3 tablespoons vegetable oil plus additional for greasing pan
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon garam masala (Indian spice mixture)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
5 pounds skinless boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes

Blend well the whole milk yogurt and spices together.  Add the chicken and marinate for 8 hours.  Heat up a pan with oil and fry up the chicken or use skewers and grill the chicken until done.

Curry Chickpea Stew
Ingredients:
1 tsp sea salt
1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 medium onion, diced
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp garam masala
2 tsp cumin, ground
2 tsp coriander, ground
2 tsp garlic, minced
2 tsp ginger, dried and cracked (preferred) ground is also acceptable
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tablespoons of olive oil

In a pan with hot oil, add the mustard seeds and cook until they have all popped (like popcorn).  Add the chickpeas and the spices.  Cook until the spices have completely covered the chickpeas.

Vegetable Samosa FIlling  
Ingredients:
1 Potato finely diced
1 carrot finely diced
2 cloves of crushed garlic.
1 Onion finely chopped
1 Cup of frozen peas
1 tblspn vegetable oil
2 tspn curry powder or your own spices according to taste
Salt, Pepper to taste

Dice up the potatoes, carrots, and onions.  Heat up a pan with vegetable oil and the diced vegetables along with the frozen peas.  Add the curry and sauté the vegetables until tender and put aside.

Pastry
Ingredients:
2 cups plain flour
2 tspn. salt
2 tblspb. vegetable oil
1-2 tblspb. warm water

Mix the flour and the salt together.  Great a hole in the mound of dried ingredients and stir in the oil and the water until a soft dough forms.  Create in a ball and let sit for 30 minutes.  After the dough has sat, break the dough off into 12 equal parts.  With a rolling pin, roll out the dough into thin circles and use a knife to cut each piece of dough into half circles.  Add the filling to one half of the dough and fold over the remaining dough.  Seal with water. 

Heat up a pan with 2 inches of oil to 350 degrees and begin to deep fry the samosas until golden brown.  Remove from the oil and serve.

Optional dipping sauce

Blend together 1 cup of whole milk Greek yogurt and 2 tablespoons of garam masala and serve along side with samosas.

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Shepherd’s Pie and Black Pudding

This past weekend was the Royal Ale themed weekend at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival.  Over the years, this has been a traditional English weekend.  We demonstrated how to make Shepherd’s Pie and Black Pudding.  Most people who came to the demonstration were not prepared for the ingredients in black pudding – blood and suet.  For those American’s with steel stomachs, I invite you to try the Black Pudding recipe.  For those searching for traditional fare, I recommend the Shepherd’s Pie, which is made from lamb.  Cottage Pie is made with beef.

Shepherd’s Pie Ingredients

Shepherd's Pie made August 28, 2011
Shepherd's Pie

2 pounds potatoes, such as russet, peeled and cubed
2 tablespoons sour cream or softened cream cheese
1 large egg yolk
1/2 cup cream, for a lighter version substitute vegetable or chicken broth
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 turn of the pan
1 3/4 pounds ground beef or ground lamb
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup beef stock or broth
2 teaspoons Worcestershire
1/2 cup frozen peas, a couple of handfuls
1 teaspoon sweet paprika

Directions

Boil potatoes in salted water until tender, about 12 minutes. Drain potatoes and pour them into a bowl. Combine sour cream, egg yolk and cream. Add the cream mixture into potatoes and mash until potatoes are almost smooth.

While potatoes boil, preheat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add oil to hot pan with beef or lamb. Season meat with salt and pepper. Brown and crumble meat for 3 or 4 minutes. If you are using lamb and the pan is fatty, spoon away some of the drippings.

Add chopped carrot and onion to the meat. Cook veggies with meat 5 minutes, stirring frequently. In a second small skillet over medium heat cook butter and flour together 2 minutes. Whisk in broth and Worcestershire sauce. Thicken gravy 1 minute. Add gravy to meat and vegetables. Stir in peas.

Preheat broiler to high. Fill a small rectangular casserole with meat and vegetable mixture. Spoon potatoes over meat evenly. Top potatoes with paprika and broil 6 to 8 inches from the heat until potatoes are evenly browned. Top casserole dish with chopped parsley and serve.

 

Black Pudding Ingredients:

1 quart pig’s blood
12 ounces bread crumbs
1/2 lb. suet
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 quart milk
1 cup cooked barley
1 cup dry rolled oats
1 ounce ground mint

Preparation:

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl; pour into a large kettle or Dutch oven and bring to a boil. Pour into a wide shallow bowl and season again if necessary. Chill thoroughly, until firm. When cold it may be cut into slices and fried.

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Garam Masala and Traditional Curry Spice Mixes

Throughout the centuries, families along the Silk Road, would use the spices they had access to in order to create their own spice blends.  Each family could control the amount of heat or sweetness based on the different combinations of the spices.  Those that wanted heat, would have more peppers and those that wanted a sweeter blend, would have more cinnamon, etc.

Below are two recipes of two different spice blends popular among various cultures: Garam Masala and Curry.  The first set is Alice the Cook’s Recipes and the other is that of her assistant, Nicholas Childs, an accomplished cook in his own right. They are very easy to do and provide a different tast of those spice blends found pre-prepared in jars.  I hope you like them.

Alice’s Garam Masalaimg_2428-edit
1 tsp Cinnamon sticks, broken into smaller pieces
1 tsp Caradamom pods (green, black, or brown)
1 tsp Ginger, dried and cracked
1 tsp Coriander seeds
1 tsp Techillacherry black peppercorns
1 tsp Cumin seeds
1 tsp Dried chili peppers

Alice’s Curry
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp garam masala
2 tsp coriander, ground
2 tsp garlic, minced
2 tsp ginger, dried and cracked (preferred) ground is also acceptable
2 tsp cumin seeds

Nicholas’ Curry
1/2 t chili powder
1 t black mustard seed
1 t tumeric
2 t ground cumin
2 t ground corriander
2 t minced garlic
2 t ground or grated ginger( fresh or not)
2 t ajwian/cumin/caraway

Nicholas’ Garam Masala:
cumin
coriander
black pepper
cardamom
chilies
cloves
cinnamon
nutmeg grated

Additional Equipment
Mortar and pestle
Spice grinder

Instructions for both
Heat up a cast iron skillet so that it is quite hot and add the spices in order to dry roast them together.  Once toasted, remove the spice mixture off of the heat and add them to the mortar and pestle to begin breaking the spices down for easier grinding.  Once broken down, you can continue grinding them in the mortar and pestle, or you may use a spice or coffee grinder to combine the spices into a finer blend.

Place the spice blend into an airtight jar, the spices will keep their flavor for six months.

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Italian Lamb with Risotto

This dish was performed in real time to an audience at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival on Sunday, August 21, 2011.  It ended up being the dinner for myself and my two assistants.  It’s taste was light and refreshing on a summer day and very easy to make.  I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

2 lbs of lamb cubed
1 whole lemon
1 tsp of orange zest
2 cups of lamb stock (veal or beef stock can be used instead)
2 cups Arborio rice (uncooked)
1 tsp of lemon basil, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
sea salt
black pepper

Before beginning, remove the zest from the lemon and cut the lemon in half.  Once done, add olive oil to a hot pan and once heated, add the lamb to brown slightly, adding a teaspoon of the lemon zest.  Remove from the heat and put aside.  Put the rice in the hot pan with the fat from lamb and the leftover olive oil.  Lightly brown the rice to prepare the risotto.  Once toasted, begin adding the stock on medium heat while constantly stirring.  Add the juice from the lemon to the risotto.  Continue until both the rice has puffed up and a lot of the stock has evaporated.  Add the lamb and add the lemon and orange zest along with the lemon basil.  Reserve a half a teaspoon for garnish.  Continue to finish cooking the lamb and add salt and pepper to taste. 

Serve family style on a single plate or bowl and sprinkle the remaining zest on top as a garnish.  For the photo, I garnished the dish with small orange slices for additional color and served it hot.   Make enough for 4 people.

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Renaissance Magazine Article – Fish Stew

Bouillabaisse

Bouillabaisse, a traditional fish stew that originated from the port city of Marseille, is a soup containing various kinds of cooked fish, shellfish, and vegetables, and flavored with a variety of herbs and spices. Many French families created their own variation of this standard recipe by adding different vegetables (celery, zucchini, squash, etc.), as well as herbs and spices including garlic, orange peel, basil, bay leaf, fennel, and saffron. 

In earlier recipes, traditional bouillabaisse contained three kinds of fish, typically scorpion fish, sea robin, and the European conger and could include bream, turbot, monkfish, mullet, or silver hake. The dish would also traditionally include various shellfish and other seafood options including sea urchin, mussels, velvet crab, spider crab, or octopus.  More expensive versions would include langoustine or European lobster. Many of the fish and seafood options listed above can be difficult to find at a standard fish market or grocery store.

This particular dish can be made by substituting any local or regional fish or shellfish. The recipe below fairly represents the traditional dish with some modern twists.

INGREDIENTS
1 large leek, sliced
1 lb. of tomatoes skinned, seeds removed, and diced
4 medium cloves of garlic, minced
2 ribs of celery, diced with leaves intact
2 tb of chopped fresh parsley
1 medium bay leaf
1 tb green onion, finely chopped
1/8 tsp. of black pepper
2 tb olive oil
4 cups of chicken broth
2 medium potatoes or turnips, sliced
1 and ½ lbs. of white fish, cut into 2-inch pieces
¾ fillets of red snapper, cut into 2-inch pieces
12 small fresh clams
½ lbs. of medium shrimp (31-35/pound), shelled and deveined
1/8 tsp. of ground saffron or turmeric
½ lbs. of calamari, cut into 1-inch pieces (optional)
¼ lb. of medium scallops, washed and quartered (optional)

TECHNIQUE
In a large saucepan, sauté the leek and tomatoes in the olive oil with the garlic, parsley, bay leaf, and pepper for about 4 minutes on medium heat.   Add the clams to the mixture along with the optional calamari and scallops and continue to cook for three more minutes. 

Add the broth, potatoes or turnips, and the saffron or turmeric and cook for 5 more minutes.  Bring to a boil and then reduce to low heat, adding the rest of the fish (not the shrimp) and simmer for an additional 5-7 minutes.  Add the shrimp and simmer for an additional 5-7 minutes.  Stir gently now and then, avoid breaking up the fish. Remove from the heat once the shrimp is done (bright pink and tender).  Remove the bay leaf and garnish with the green onion before serving.  Makes 16 cups.  

In Marseille, the broth is served as a starter course in a bowl containing the toasted bread and rouille, a mayonnaise made from olive oil, bread crumbs, garlic, saffron, and cayenne pepper.  The recipe for rouille is provided below for your benefit.

3 tb water
3/4 cup coarse fresh bread crumbs (preferably from a baguette, crust removed)
3 garlic cloves
1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
3 tb extra-virgin olive oil

Rouille is made by gently adding water over the bread crumbs in a bowl. Mash the garlic into a paste with sea salt and cayenne using a mortar and pestle or the flat edge of a knife. Add the moistened bread crumbs and mash into garlic paste. Add the olive oil in a gradually mashing and stirring vigorously with pestle until combined very well.