Food, Wine and Travel ... With Recipes: TableConversation.com

She Planted Seeds of Success

A small thing can make an enormous difference, like the proverbial mustard seed, which measures how much faith is needed to  produce a miracle. 

The miracle in another case also centered around seeds, those of the pomegranate. They led to an incident that demonstrated the resourcefulness, the ability to produce the impossible, or at least the unlikely, of food consultant and cookbook author Mable Hoffman, who passed away in February.

Celebrated for her runaway best seller "Crockery Cookery," published by HP Books, Mable styled the photos for my book, "Mexican Cookery," which was also published by HP and took off as another surprise top seller.

The two of us worked with legendary food photographer George deGennaro in his studio on Olympic Boulevard in Los Angeles. Mable had thought of everything, even providing a hand model for closeups.

But I thought it would be impossible to photograph my pomegranate margarita, which is shaken with pomegranate seeds to turn it pink. Pomegranates were out of season. What could we do, add food color to achieve the proper color? This would have violated the ethics of food styling. As it turned out,  it wasn't necessary.

Mable produced the seeds. How did she do this?  Simple. She had stored some in her freezer in case they might be needed for food styling. So the photo shows not only the pink margarita, but a little dish of pomegranate seeds.

That incident stands out, but all of her work showed this type of professionalism and concern for detail. Thanks Mable. It was an honor to collaborate with you. But there is one thing I would still like to know. What else was in that freezer?

The Party was Freezing but Fun

The night was bitter cold--bitter for Los Angeles, at least. And the party was outside, but no one suffered.

It helped that the guests were ringed by food trucks, as if pioneer covered wagons had formed a circle, and that red hot cooking was happening at booths set up by popular L.A. street food vendors.

It helped too that many people came, crowding together in the tented parking lot behind Travelers Bookcase on West 3rd Street.

They were there for the launch of "Eat: Los Angeles 2010" (Prospect Park Books, $19.95), a guide to restaurants, wine shops, markets, caterers, roving trucks and neighborhoods.

Those that bought it got their money's worth. The new edition incorporates about 240 more restaurants than last year's, drops those that closed or weren't worth recommending again and adds more neighborhoods.

It was so chilly that Sue Moore, co-founder of Let's be Frank, said she wished she could invite guests to warm up inside the cozy truck. But they were happy outside, eating dogs plain and spicy. 

Nina's Catering Service, a Breed Street fixture, assembled Mexico City style huitlacoche quesadillas on the spot, starting with pressing out the wrappers on a wooden tortilla press. Deep-fried, they were almost too hot to touch, which was a good thing.

The Grilled Cheese Truck passed out welcome cups of tomato soup, sacks of Tater Tots and trays of melted cheese sandwiches, ranging from plain cheese melts to a harvest melt with Gruyere, toasted butternut squash, fresh thyme and agave and balsamic syrups.

Mac and cheese sandwiches pushed the envelope a little, but so what. The night called for carbing up.  

Next to Nina, "Heidy" from Jakarta served skewers of succulent sate babi manis (sweet pork), fresh from a sizzling hot grill.

D'Amore's, the pizza spot on the block, acted like a good neighbor by bringing in a couple of thin-crusted pizzas that disappeared in a flash. 

For dessert, those who didn't mind getting colder could have an ice cream sandwich from the Coolhaus truck, choosing from assorted flavors to put between cookies or brioche. 

There were artisanal beers and Portuguese wines. And one of the book's co-authors warmed up with coffee she brought from Joan's on Third across the street. Not a bad idea, because the temperature was in the 40s, and as the party ended, it was heading steadily downward.    

A Guide to Great L.A. Food

Los Angeles is crammed with good places to eat--if you know where to look.

The best option is to turn to an expert, someone who knows the food scene inside and out. Wouldn't it be nice if that expert could be with you all the time, ready to offer tips about wherever you may be headed?

This idea is not far-fetched, because there is such an expert--a compact guide just the right size to keep in your car.

It is "EAT: Los Angeles" (Prospect Park Books, $19.95), compiled by a team of local food writers and restaurant critics headed by editor/publisher Colleen Dunn Bates of Pasadena.

The book explores food-worthy neighborhoods throughout Los Angeles County.  In approximately 1,070 entries, it covers "everything from a taqueria to an elegant restaurant," Bates says. And not just restaurants, but markets, bakeries, cheese stores and other shops.

It would take a lot of work and more than one book to cover the remarkable choices that Angelenos have, and Bates indicates that "EAT; Los Angeles" is a guide in progress, scheduled to be updated annually.

For more information, go to  http://www.eat-la.com.  The website offers a daily Eat of the Day selected from the book and tells where to buy it.

A Heavenly Asian Cookbook

“If food doesn’t smell good, it doesn’t  taste good,” said Carol Selva Rajah. That’s what she learned from the Chinese amah who cared for her as a child. And that’s why her 10th and latest book is called “Heavenly Fragrance” (Periplus Editions; $39.95).

Rajah grew up in Malaysia and Singapore, where richly flavored food is commonplace. Her parents were Sri Lankan and Malaysian, introducing her early to these fascinating cuisines.

“People cooked with aromas. They stir-fried very slowly so they teased the aromas out,” she said during an appetizer party and book-signing at Tanzore in Los Angeles. Rajah, who now lives in Sydney, Australia, brought some seasonings with her, then borrowed others from the Indian spices on hand at Tanzore.

Her large, handsomely illustrated book is a wonderful guide to fresh and dried Asian ingredients. Although I use such things regularly, I found much to learn, and I would recommend the book to anyone interested in Asian cooking. especially that of Southeast Asia.

Gathering the ingredients may require trips to ethnic shops, but the effort will be worth it. There is plenty of inspiration in such recipes as tuna salad with green mango and papaya, Cambodian pineapple fish soup, plum sauce chicken wings baked in a flash and lemongrass and coconut creme caramel.

Cooking in Tanzore’s kitchen, Rajah produced a fragrant sampling of the book. The dish that especially intrigued me was an intricately-spiced eggplant sambal. Although the recipe seemed to require a lot of work—dry roasting and grinding two sets of spices—I tried it anyway. The procedure was straightforward and easy, rewarding me with clouds of exotic perfume.

In the book, Rajah suggests serving the sambal with baked ham, moussaka and crisp lettuce or with steamed or fried fish. But at Tanzore, she presented it as an appetizer, spooned on top of plain yogurt in a small glass. And that is the way I like it.

It's best to make the sambal the day before serving. This allows the seasonings to blend, and the flavor will be heavenly, to borrow a word from Rajah’s book.

EGGPLANT SAMBAL WITH BLACK MUSTARD AND CASHEWS
From “Heavenly Fragrance” by Carol Selva Rajah (Periplus)

Fish curry powder (see recipe below)
1 ½ pounds slender Asian eggplants
2 teaspoons salt
1½ teaspoons grated fresh turmeric root or ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
1 cup light olive oil, for frying
¼ cup raw cashews, dry-roasted

Spice Paste:

2 teaspoons cumin seeds, dry-roasted
1 teaspoon fennel seeds, dry-roasted
2 stalks lemongrass, thick bottom part only
2 inches gingerroot, peeled and sliced
5 cloves garlic, peeled
2 onions, peeled and quartered
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fish curry powder
1 tablespoon black mustard seeds, roughly crushed in a mortar
2 teaspoons ground red pepper
½ cup white vinegar
2 tablespoons shaved palm sugar or dark brown sugar

First prepare the fish curry powder and set aside.

Cut the eggplants into 1-inch-thick slices. Combine the salt and turmeric in a small bowl and mix well. Brush the eggplant slices with the mixture and set aside for 10 minutes, then press between paper towels to dry them.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet, and in small batches, fry the eggplant slices over medium heat until light brown and tender. Remove from the heat and drain on paper towels. Roast the cashews and set aside.

To prepare the spice paste, grind the cumin and fennel seeds in a spice grinder until fine. Discard the outer layers of the lemongrass and slice the inner part. Combine the roasted spices, lemongrass, ginger, garlic and onions and grind to a smooth paste in a mortar or food processor.

Heat the extra virgin olive oil in a skillet, add the ground paste and sauté over medium heat until fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the fish curry powder and sauté 1 minute longer.

Move the spice mixture to the sides of the pan, increase the heat to high and add the mustard seeds. Cook until they begin to pop, then combine them with the spice mixture and mix well. Stir in the ground red pepper, vinegar and sugar.

Add the cashews and fried eggplant slices and toss until the eggplant is coated well with the sauce, taking care not to tear the pieces. Adjust the seasonings and remove from heat. Serve hot or cold.

Makes 6 servings.

Fish Curry Powder:

3 tablespoons coriander seeds
4 teaspoons fennel seeds
2 teaspoons fenugreek seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
4 dried finger-length red chiles, stems discarded, broken into pieces

In a small skillet, separately dry roast the coriander, fennel, fenugreek, cumin and mustard seeds and the chiles until fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes each. Let them cool and then grind all the spices to a fine powder in a mortar or spice grinder. Store in a sealed jar, refrigerated or frozen.

Makes ½ cup.

A Curry from Buenos Aires

You never know what will turn up in the book shops along Avenida Corrientes in Buenos Aires. Besides the new books, there are old, out of print books, used books and overstocks that failed to find buyers.

On this last trip I turned up a real prize, “Los Platos de Mi Mesa” (“Dishes from my Table”) by a restaurateur of the past, Roberto Fernandez Beyro.

In addition to owning a popular restaurant in Buenos Aires called Monty’s, now long gone, Fernandez Beyro had managed the kitchens of the exclusive Jockey Club and Plaza Hotel and for a time had a restaurant in Rio de Janeiro.

Writing more than 20 years ago, he lamented the lack of gastronomic culture in Argentina, where traditional dishes inherited from Spain and enriched with contributions from other South American countries and the Caribbean were “deformed,” and attempts at creativity produced “absurd mixtures.”

His antidote was this book of simple, well thought out recipes, mostly continental, but also traditional and international.

I tried his curry de pollo (chicken curry) and found it delightful, even elegant. Showing a restrained continental approach, it's more like braised chicken and vegetables seasoned with curry powder than a spicy Indian dish.

Fernandez Beyro served the curry with rice timbales on what must have been lovely occasions. There would have been wine too, because he was an admirer of the wines produced in Argentina.

My accompaniments were basmati rice seasoned with a yellow condiment for rice that I bought in a supermarket in Buenos Aires; a fruity chutney and a red wine, as Fernandez Beyro recommended reds with chicken.

On the basis of just this dish, I can say that my 10 pesos (about $3) were well spent.

CURRY DE POLLO
Adapted from “Los Platos de Mi Mesa” by Roberto Fernandez Beyro (Emece Editores; 1986)

2 pounds chicken pieces, such as legs and thighs
Salt
1 onion, finely chopped
2 small stalks celery, chopped
1 ½ carrots, cut into small dice
1 small apple, peeled and chopped
1 small yellow chile or other chile, seeded and chopped
1 tablespoon curry powder
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon flour
Black pepper
¼ cup whipping cream

Trim the chicken pieces of skin and excess fat. Place in a Dutch oven. Cover with water and add salt to taste. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer until tender, about 45 minutes. Let cool in the broth, then remove the chicken pieces and tear off the meat, discarding the bones. Drain the broth and reserve.

Meanwhile, prepare the onion, celery, carrots, apple and chile and set aside. Blend the curry powder with 3 tablespoons of the reserved broth after it has cooled.

Heat the olive oil in the cleaned Dutch oven. Add the vegetables, apple and chile and cook until reduced and very tender, 20 to 25 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep from burning.

Add the flour, 1 cup of the reserved broth and the curry powder mixture. Blend well. Add the chicken pieces and gently combine. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cover and simmer gently 10 minutes. When ready to serve, stir in the cream and heat through.

If the curry should thicken too much, stir in some of the reserved broth. Use the remainder to cook rice to go with the curry. 

Makes 4 servings.

Microwaving by the Book

I tend to scorn microwave cookbooks. They seem practical and dull, oriented toward machines rather than food. The frequency with which they turn up in thrift shops indicates that others feel the same way.

Nevertheless, I bought a microwave cookbook recently. Of course this one is different, exotic and fun. I picked it up at Higginbothams in Chennai (Madras), a grand, high-ceilinged place that that is India's oldest book shop.

The book is “Cook and See. Part 5,” published by S. Meenakshi Ammal Publications in Chennai. The recipes cover north and south Indian dishes and continental food, a legacy of the British.  All are vegetarian.

Author Priya Ramkumar writes in her introduction: “This book is an attempt to prove that microwave ovens can dish out a variety of yummy recipes at the touch of a button.”

I have to admit that she is right, judging by her book at least, and my long-standing prejudice is wrong.

The recipes work, with minor changes that may reflect the difference between microwave ovens in India and the United States. And they are delicious, like this cream of tomato soup, which I have  adjusted slightly for American cooks. 

CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP
From “Cook and See, Part V” by Priya Ramkumar

1 pound tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 medium onion, peeled and quartered
1 potato (I used a small russet potato), peeled and quartered
1 large carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
1½  to 2 cups water
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons milk
1 to 2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
¼ teaspoon white pepper
Heavy cream
Cilantro

Combine the tomatoes, onion, potato and carrot in a microwave proof deep bowl. Sprinkle with ½ cup water. Cover and microwave on high 8 to 10 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender. (In my oven, this took 15 minutes).

Blend the mixture in a blender (or with a hand blender). Put through a sieve to remove seeds and peel.

Stir the cornstarch into the milk until smooth. Add this to the soup along with the sugar, salt and pepper. Add 1 cup water, or more if needed to thin the soup. Cover and microwave on high 3 to 4 minutes (8 minutes in my oven) until heated through.

Stir well. Ladle into heated bowls and garnish with a swirl of cream and cilantro.

Variations:  Season with ½ to 1 teaspoon garam masala. Add canned sweet corn. Garnish with croutons.

Makes 4 servings.

A Webzine for Food, Wine, Travel Lovers

Read about food, wine and journeys that wander from Tunisia to the California desert in an online magazine that you can see by  clicking on this link: http://www.global-writes.com.

The articles are  written by an international group of professional writers who, if you combine their resumes, have been almost everywhere, eaten almost everything and sipped the best wines.

Save the link so that you can see future issues of Global Writes, which is edited by Kim Rahilly and features the work of members of the International Food, Wine, & Travel Writers Association.

Eating India: A Culinary Tour

I could pack up and head for India tomorrow. That’s how mesmerizing it is to read Chitrita Banerji’s book  “Eating India” (Bloomsbury; $24.95), an account of her culinary meanderings over a period of three years. 

Banerji, a Bengali transplanted to Cambridge, Mass., has written a great deal about Indian food, including “Life and Food in Bengal,” which I bought after spending time in Calcutta, her home city.

That book includes recipes. The new one does not, but it evokes extraordinary food images. Just imagine this legendary sweet of the past: a pomegranate formed of a sugar shell that encloses seeds of jellied pear juice molded around almond kernels.

As she travels, Banerji meets friends for memorable meals, interviews culinary authorities, looks at history and architecture and researches such themes as a possible Portuguese influence on Bengali milk sweets, although she finds only a nebulous link. In this book, though, the journey is more important than the results.

Banerji visits Amritsar, Delhi, Benaras (Varanasi), Bombay, Goa, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Cochin and many other sites, including northeastern India, home to tribal groups whose cooking shows the influence of Burma and Thailand.

Along the way, we learn about the “Jewish cooks” of Calcutta, not cooks of the Jewish faith but Muslims who prepared food for the community of Baghdadi Jews that was once prominent there. Then there are the East Indians of Bombay, converted centuries ago to Catholicism by the Portuguese and possessors of a little known but distinctive cuisine. And the Syrian Christians of Kerala, the only Indians who eat without religious or cultural restrictions.

At the other extreme are the rigidly vegetarian Jains, who eat nothing pulled from the earth for fear that an insect could have been harmed and avoid seeded fruits and vegetables because seeds imply life. Banarji recalls that, as a child in a Calcutta household, she was required to wash her hands if she touched, no matter how lightly, a bowl contaning mashed potatoes seasoned with onions or a pot of cooked rice.

The book ends with a poignant observation that even her best efforts to cook Indian food at home “will produce only an approximation of what I grew up eating; things don’t taste the same in India and America.” That’s all the more reason to go to India with Banerji's book in hand.

"Tasting Chile," a Food Lover's Guide

Chilean cuisine is little known outside the country, and for good reason. Only there is it possible to appreciate the freshness of the produce, the variety of seafood harvested from a long coast, the regional specialties and the excellent wines.

If a trip isn’t in the offing, the best alternative is to read Daniel Joelson’s book, “Tasting Chile” (Hippocrene, 2004). It’s packed with  information about food, restaurants, customs and history, making it a travel guide as well as a cookbook.

Married to a Chilean, Joelson has traveled up and down the long skinny country. To find  traditional recipes, he sought out home cooks and small restaurants in out of the way places, avoiding Santiago’s international cuisine.

The recipes that I’ve tried were delicious, and unusual.  I’ve never seen anything like his salad of tuna and giant white corn, a variety that grows in northern Chile.

Ajiaco, a beef soup with chiles, is credited to Isabel Mansilla, a onetime fishmonger who opened a restaurant in Puerto Varas. Like much Chilean food, ajiaco is simple and hearty. For Joelson, it was “the perfect tonic to a frigid winter day in the Chilean south.”

There are recipes for pebre, the spicy tomato salsa that is on every Chilean table; for empanadas, which are as well-liked in Chile as in Argentina; for cazuela, which is a meat and vegetable stew that originated in Spain; for pastel de choclo, the corn-topped meat pie that is also popular in Peru, and many other dishes.

Wine suggestions accompany the recipes, and the book ends with a chapter that provides contact information for Chilean wineries. 

I learned about “Tasting Chile” after a trip to Santiago, and it has become one of my favorites. I like the warm way Joelson writes and the intriguing bits of local color that accompany the recipes.

Joelson has also written “Chilenismos” (Hippocrene 2004), a dictionary and phrasebook that focuses on Chile’s unique Spanish.  The cuisine has its own terminology, and this is explained in “Tasting Chile.”   Malaya is a cut of beef, for example, not the Malay peninsula. And pino isn’t a pine tree. It’s the most common filling for empanadas—ground beef, onions and olives.

HOT PEPPER AND BEEF SOUP
(Ajiaco)
From “Tasting Chile” by Daniel Joelson

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, cut in julienne strips
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 small red bell pepper, cut in julienne strips
1 pound boneless stewing beef, cut in 2x1-inch rectangular pieces
Salt
8 cups water
1 ½ pounds boiling potatoes, cut like fat French fries (about 5x1 inches)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 medium dried hot chile, cut in thin strips, or ¼ teaspoon hot red pepper flakes, plus additional hot pepper to taste
1 beef bouillon cube
2 eggs
Chopped parsley

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a deep pot over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the onion, garlic and bell pepper and cook for 5 to 7 minutes or until the onion is translucent

Remove the vegetables from the pot. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and heat over medium high heat. Add the beef and salt to taste. Brown the meat on all sides and cook until any liquid evaporates.

Return the vegetables to the pot and add the water, potatoes, oregano, hot chile and bouillon cube. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for about 25 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. Adjust the flavor by adding additional salt and hot pepper.

Just before removing the soup from the heat, add the eggs and mix thoroughly. Sprinkle the parsley over the soup and serve at once.

Makes 4 servings.   

TUNA AND GIANT WHITE CORN SALAD
(Ensalada de Atun y Maiz Pelado)
From “Tasting Chile” by Daniel Joelson

2 cups giant white corn (or precooked Mexican nixtamal)
Water
1 raw beef bone
¾ cup finely chopped green onions
2 cans, totaling 12 to 14 ounces, tuna in vegetable oil
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
1½ tablespoons lemon juice
Salt

If using dried giant white corn, it must be soaked overnight. If using precooked nixtamal, it does not need to be soaked.

Boil the soaked corn in 6 cups water with the beef bone, adding water when necessary to fully submerge the corn. When the kernels are tender and begin to break open, after about 1 hour and 15 minutes, strain and discard the bone. Nixtamal will be tender in about 1 hour.

Combine the drained hot corn with the green onions and tuna, including its oil. Mix in the parsley, lemon juice and salt to taste. Chill, then serve.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Beef Soup from Chile

HOT PEPPER AND BEEF SOUP
(Ajiaco)
From “Tasting Chile” by Daniel Joelson

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, cut in julienne strips
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 small red bell pepper, cut in julienne strips
1 pound boneless stewing beef, cut in 2x1-inch rectangular pieces
Salt
8 cups water
1 ½ pounds boiling potatoes, cut like fat French fries (about 5x1 inches)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 medium dried hot chile, cut in thin strips, or ¼ teaspoon hot red pepper flakes, plus additional hot pepper to taste
1 beef bouillon cube
2 eggs
Chopped parsley

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a deep pot over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the onion, garlic and bell pepper and cook for 5 to 7 minutes or until the onion is translucent

Remove the vegetables from the pot. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and heat over medium high heat. Add the beef and salt to taste. Brown the meat on all sides and cook until any liquid evaporates.

Return the vegetables to the pot and add the water, potatoes, oregano, hot chile and bouillon cube. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for about 25 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. Adjust the flavor by adding additional salt and hot pepper.

Just before removing the soup from the heat, add the eggs and mix thoroughly. Sprinkle the parsley over the soup and serve at once.

Makes 4 servings.