Pasta alla Norma

Pasta alla Norma

(Spaghetti with Eggplant and Basil)

serves 4

(Italy)

Ingredients

1 medium eggplants (about 1 pound each), cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1 tablespoons coarse kosher salt plus additional for cooking pasta

5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

½ cup chopped onion

2 garlic cloves, peeled and micro-planed

1/4 to 1 teaspoon dry red pepper flakes, to taste

1 14 ½ - ounce cans crushed tomatoes and juice, San Marzano prefered

1 pound pasta, your choice

½ cup torn fresh basil leaves

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Kosher or sea salt, to taste

*A salted, dry ricotta cheese; available at some supermarkets, Italian markets, and specialty foods stores.

Preparation

1.  Place eggplant cubes in a colander over a dish or bowl and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons kosher or sea salt to reduce bitterness, let drain for about 20 minutes.  Rinse with cold water to remove excess salt and pat dry, set aside.

2.  Meanwhile,  heat  1 tablespoon of olive oil to a heavy, large skillet and heat oil over high heat. Working in 3 batches, cook eggplant until browned on all sides, adding 1 tablespoon olive oil for each batch as needed, about 8 minutes. Using slotted spoon, remove each batch as they cook to a plat.  When the last batch finishes cooking remove the sauteed eggplant  from the skillet to a holding plate.

3.  Return the skillet to the stove and  heat 2 tablespoons oil  in it over medium heat.  Add the chopped onions and micro-planed garlic and sauté until the onions are soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the crushed red pepper flakes and the tomatoes including their juice.  Cook until the tomatoes are softened, about 15 minutes.  add the removed, cooked eggplant and the tomato sauce to the skillet and stir to combine and reheat.  Lower the heat to keep the sauce warm.

4.  Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti al dente according to package directions, about 10 minute. Drain reserving 1 cup pasta cooking water.  

5.  Bring the sauce to a gentle boil. Add the spaghetti and basil to sauce and toss to coat.   If the sauce seems too tight (dry) add the reserved pasta cooking water, a little at a time, until the pasta is as loose (wet) as you prefer.  Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Transfer pasta to bowl; top with ricotta salata and serve.

Spicy Orange Shrimp

Spicy Orange Shrimp

serves 4

(China)

This is a delicious treatment for shrimp, in adding the chile paste with garlic remember that Sambal Oelek is very spicy and that individuals can always add more if they like more heat but you can’t take the heat away once it’s there.  One trick to use is to use 4 packages of Ramen  noodles as the noodle base.

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds peeled and deveined large shrimp
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
Zest of 1 orange
2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
¼ to 1 tablespoon chile paste with garlic (such as sambal oelek)
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup chopped green onions

Cooked rice or noodles

Preparation

1.  Place the shrimp in a large (1 gallon) re-sealable plastic bag.  Sprinkle the cornstarch over the shrimp and gently massage to insure all the shrimp is coated. Set aside.

2.  In a 1 cup measuring cup combine the orange juice, orange zest, soy sauce, honey, vinegar, and chile paste, whisk to combine; set aside.

3.  In a large, nonstick sauté pan heat canola oil over medium-high heat.  Add minced ginger and garlic to pan and stir-fry for until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Add the shrimp mixture; stir-fry for 3 minutes. Add the orange juice mixture and onions and cook, stirring frequently, until sauce thickens and shrimp are pink, 2 minutes. Serve immediately over Jasmine rice or noodles.

Chicken Tagine

Chicken Tagine

serves 4

(Morocco)

Chicken Tagine (Djaj Mqualli) is an exotic play on roasted chicken.  This version allows you to enjoy this delightful dish without the need to purchase a Tagine.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons extra-virgin  olive oil
2 chicken breasts, 2 chicken thighs and legs skin on with bone or 4 large skinless, boneless chicken breasts
Kosher or sea salt, to taste

 freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 large yellow onions, sliced
2 tablespoons ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground white pepper
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoons ground turmeric
½ teaspoons crushed saffron threads
1½ cups chicken stock
6 ounces. green olives, cracked
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
2 teaspoons finely chopped cilantro
2 jarred preserved lemons, cut into slices*

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.

cook the chicken:

Heat oil in large Dutch oven (large enough to contain the chicken portions comfortably) over medium-high heat. Season the chicken portions with salt and freshly ground black pepper; add the chicken portions to the Dutch oven and cook until well browned on both sides, 12 to 15 minutes.  When the chicken is well browned, transfer to a holding plate.

prepare the cooking sauce:

Add the sliced onions to pot and cook until golden, about 10 to 12 minutes. Add the spices and cook, stirring occasionally,  for 2 minutes.

bake the chicken:

Return the chicken to the Dutch oven with the cooking sauce and bring the liquid to the boil. Once the cooking liquid comes to a boil cover the Dutch oven and place in the preheated oven.  Bake the chicken until tender, 35 to 40 minutes.

bring it all together:

Remove the Dutch oven from the oven, uncover and remove the chicken pieces to a holding plate.  Place the Dutch oven on the stove burner over medium heat and stir the olives, butter, parsley, cilantro, and lemons into the cooking liquid and cook for 6 minutes.

service:

Pour have the cooking liquid, onions, olives and lemon slices onto a serving platter, arrange the chicken on the platter and pour the remaining liquid, onions, olives and lemon slices over the chicken.   Serve accompanied by white rice and flatbread.

* If you can’t find preserved lemons, slice 2 fresh lemons into slices.  Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a sauce pan over medium heat add the sliced lemons and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of sugar and cook for about 4 or 5 minutes until lemons collapse and give up their juices.   Use the slices as you would the preserved lemons.

Taiwanese Style Pork Chops

Taiwanese Style Pork Chops

serves 4

(Taiwan)

Ingredients

4 -  3/4 inch  thick,  bone-in pork chops or ¼-inch boneless pork chops

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 tablespoon white wine

1/2 tablespoon Chinese five-spice powder

vegetable oil

vegetable oil for frying

sweet potato powder (substitute cornstarch)

Preparation

1.  Prepare the pork chops by snipping the edges of the pork chops with a pair of kitchen shears in several place to keep them from curling up when fried.

2.  In a small mixing bowl combine  the soy sauce, wine, garlic, sugar, and five-spice powder.  When the marinade ingredients are thoroughly combined pour the marinade into a large, re-sealable plastic bag an place the pork chops into the bag, and seal the bag, squeezing out as much air as possible.  Gently massage the pork chops to thoroughly coat them with the marinade. Refrigerate the marinating pork chops over night or at least 1 hour, turning the bag over every so often to insure all the pork chops remain in contact with the marinade.

3.  Heat enough vegetable oil in a large, heavy bottomed frying pan over medium high heat to fill it to a depth of about 1/2 inch.

4.  While the oil is heating, build a dredging station by placing enough sweet potato powder (alternatively cornstarch) onto a flat plate to  dredge the four pork chops.  Remove the marinated pork chops from re-sealable bag and dredge each of the pork chops on both sides  and carefully place them into the oil.  Fry the pork chops, turning once, until golden brown on both sides and cooked through.

5.  Serve over white rice or accompanied by noodles.

Old Fashioned Chili Sauce

Old Fashioned Chili Sauce

makes about 3 pints

(America)

Ingredients

4 pounds ripe red tomatoes

2 medium green peppers

2 medium sweet red peppers

1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped celery

1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped onion

1 cup white granulated sugar

1/2 cup light-brown sugar, firmly packed

1 tablespoons salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon all spice

1/2 tablespoon mustard seed

1/2 tablespoon celery seed

1 1/2 cups cider vinegar

Preparation

prepare the vegetables:

1.  In a large pot, bring a large quantity of water to a rapid boil.  Turn off the heat and add the tomatoes, insure the tomatoes are covered with the hot water.  Allow the tomatoes to stand several minutes.  

2.  One at a time, carefully remove each tomato to a work surface, remove the stem and peel.  When all the tomatoes have been stemmed and peeled, empty the water from the pot.  Coarsely chop the tomatoes and place them into the  pot.

3.  On a chopping board, halve, stem, and remove the seeds and ribs from the peppers.  Coarsely chop the pepper and place them into the pot with the tomatoes.

4.  Add the chopped celery, the chopped onion, the white granulated sugar, the brown sugar, and the salt to the pot with the tomatoes.

cook the vegetables:

1.  Place the pot over medium heat and stir the contents until all the sugar is dissolved.

2.  Raise the heat and bring the mixture to a boil;  reduce the heat and simmer the mixture, uncovered for 45 minutes.

3.  Add the cinnamon, the ground cloves, the all spice, the mustard seeds, and the celery seeds.

4.  Continue simmering  the mixture, uncovered for 30 minutes longer, stirring occasionally.

5.  Add the vinegar and continue simmering for 1 hour longer, or until of desired consistency is reached.

prepare for canning:

 Meanwhile, sterilize your canning jars, lids, and seals in separate  pans of simmering water until ready for use. Do not boil. Set rings aside on a clean, sterile surface leave lids and jars in the hot water until ready to use.  Hint: the glass jars can be sterilized in your dishwasher by running them through a cleaning cycle.

can the chili sauce:

1.  Working with one jar at a time, remove it from the sterilizing pan (or your dishwasher), emptying  any  water out of it and placing it, opening end up on a clean, flat surface.  Add  1 tablespoon of lemon juice per pint into each hot jar.  Ladle your still hot sauce into hot jars leaving about 1/2-inch headspace. With a clean, sterile knife, remove air bubbles from the jar,  wipe the rim with a clean cloth to remove any spillage from the jar rim (use a canning funnel to avoid spillage).  Center a hot lid on the jar while avoiding touching the unerside. Apply the jar ring and tighten until it is fingertip tight.  Repeat the process  for each jar until all the jars and hot sauce are used.

2.  Place the sealed jars in  a large pot of boiling, insure that the pot is deep enough to completely submerge the jar in and covers it by at least  1-inch.  Process the submerged  jars in the boiling water for about 35 minutes but not less than 20 minutes.

3.  Remove jars from the pot (using a canning jar lifter) and place,  lid side up, on a clean  dish towel  to cool. Check for positive seal after 24 hours. Lids should not flex up and down when center is pressed.  For any jars  that have not completely sealed, remove the lids and rings; dispose of the lids you've removed (you can only use rings once . . . if the seal fails the lids CAN NOT be reused).   Check  the jar(s) that haven't sealed for defects (chips on  the jar rim, warped rings, etc.) and correct (for chips on  the jar rim, sterilize a new jar and transfer the sauce to the new jar . . . dispose of the defective jar).   Sterilize the rings and new  lids  and center the hot lids on the jars, apply the jar rings and tighten them until they are fingertip tight.  Reprocess the jars as in  step 10 above.

Jamaican Beef Patties

Jamaican Beef Patties

Makes about 24 to 30 pastries

(Jamaica)

                                                                               Preparation time:  20 minutes

                                                                               Cook time:           30 minutes

                                                                               Total time:            50 minutes

Ingredients

dough (or use 2 packages of commercial 9-inch pie crust):

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder

1 dash salt

1/4 cup margarine

1/4 cup shortening

1/3 cup water

flling:

2 tablespoons butter

1 small onion, finely diced

1 ½ cups ¼-inch diced potatoes

1 pound ground beef

1 teaspoon curry powder, or to taste

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon Kosher or sea salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste

1/2 cup beef broth

1/2 cup dry bread crumbs

1 egg, beaten with ¼ teaspoon curry powder

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

cook the filling:

Par boil the diced potatoes in sufficient salted water to cover the potatoes completely.

Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat, add the onions and diced potatoes and sauté them until the onions are soft and translucent.  Stir in the ground beef, the  curry powder, the thyme,   salt,  black pepper, and the cayenne. Cook until beef is evenly brown, stirring constantly. Stir in beef broth and bread crumbs. Simmer until liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

mix the dough and form:

In a large bowl, combine flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder, and pinch of salt.  Into those ingredients, cut in the 1/4 cup of margarine and shortening until the mixture resembles a coarse crumb.   Stir in the water until mixture comes together and forms a ball.  Shape the dough ball into a 10-inch log, and cut into 10 equal sections. Roll each section into a six inch circle (approximately 1/8 inch thick). Set aside.

                                                                       Or

One at a time, roll out each of the pie crust to about 1/8-inch thickness.  Cut the rolled out dough into as many 4 1/4-inch circles as you can, reserve the dough scraps.  Continue until all 4 9-inch crusts have been rolled out an cut into 4 ¼ -inch circles.  Gather up the dough scraps, combine them  and roll them out into a 1/8-inch sheet and cut out as many 4 ¼-inch circles as you can.  Set aside the circles of dough.

form the pastries:

Working with one of the circles of dough at a time, spoon about one tablespoon of filling into the center of the pastry circle. Fold over and press edges together, making a half circle. Using  a fork  press the edges together to seal.  Place the pastry half circle on a parchment lined cookie sheet.  Continue until all the filling and pastry circles are use up.  Brush the top of each patty with the beaten egg/curry mixture.

bake the pastries:

Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until golden brown.

service:

Serve as an accompaniment to your favourite meal or as an hors d'ouvres accompanied by mango chutney or your favourite dipping sauce.

Sweet Tomato Jam

Sweet Tomato Jam

makes 3 cups

(America)

                                                                Preparation time:  20 minutes

                                                           Cooking time:  45 minutes

                                                                     Total cook time: 1 hour 5 minutes

Ingredients

2  pound  plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped

1 ½ cups light brown sugar

1 tablespoons honey

1 lemon, zested and juiced 

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Preparation

prepare the tomatoes:

Cut a cross in the end of each of the tomatoes.  Place the tomatoes in boiling water to blanch, about 1 minutes, you'll know the tomatoes are ready to be removed when the edges of the inscribed crosses curl up.  Remove with a slotted spoon and immediately immerse the blanched tomatoes in a pre-prepared ice bath.  One by one, peel the tomatoes and place the peeled tomatoes in a bowl.

mill the tomatoes:

Several at a time place the peeled tomatoes in a food mill positioned over a large bowl and process the tomatoes through it.  Continue to process until all the tomatoes have been processed.  Processing through a food mill will remove all the seeds.

cook the jam:

Combine the milled tomatoes, the sugar, the honey, the lemon juice and zest and the crushed red pepper flakes in large heavy bottomed saucepan over medium high heat  and bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring often.   Continue simmering, uncovered,  until the mixture reaches about 220° F. on an candy thermometer or becomes thick and syrupy, about 45 minutes.

jar the jam:

Remove from the heat and place jam into sterilized jam jars and cover or use immediately.

service:

Jam can be used as a spread for crackers, as a sandwich spread, or as an accompaniment for ham, turkey, or pork.