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Coffee? Yes, As Long As It's Menengic

"This coffee is fantastic," I told the shopkeeper who bought it for me. "What is it?" 

"Menengic," he said. I did not know what that meant, because this was my first trip to Turkey, and everything was new and unfamiliar.

But I did know that this coffee was extraordinary--rich, nutty, with no bite or bitterness, just deep, mellow flavor.

A street vendor had poured it from a tall brass pot with hot coals at the bottom. Dressed in a red pillbox hat and striped tunic, he was as fantastic as the coffee.

Only it wasn't coffee, in the sense of Starbucks or Peet's. It was a brew unique to Gaziantep, where I was staying. Gaziantep is the pistachio capital of Turkey, and this was pistachio coffee.

It's not made from the kind of nuts you eat but from small dark wild pistachios. You can see them in the bowl of snacks above.

I didn't find the vendor again, but I did come across Tahmis Kahvesi (above), a vintage coffee house famous for this beverage. Upstairs, you can sit in a carpet-lined booth with carpeted arm rests, like a revered visitor worthy of the finest hospitality.

The coffee (above) is so enchanting that you will probably order a second round, maybe even more. And you will not suffer coffee nerves afterward because it contains no caffeine.

Blended with milk, pistachio coffee is thick, like hot chocolate, and coats the sides of the cup. Unlike Turkish coffee, no thick residue settles in the bottom, so you can drink the entire cup.   

This is how it arrives. 

Downstairs Tahmis Khavesi has a shop stocked with pistachio coffee concentrate and the snack mix of roasted garbanzos, peanuts and wild pistachios that is served at the table--nice souvenirs to take home.

Across the street, a garden extension allows for smoking--nargile means hookah. In addition to menengic, the menu there offers regular Turkish coffee and dibek, which is mortar-ground coffee. Other drinks are lemonade, the yogurt drink ayran, tea (cay) and herbal tea (zahter).  

Gozleme is a sort of Turkish quesadilla, filled with meat or cheese.  And "tost" is grilled stuffed bread, a hearty snack and not the toasted slices you eat for breakfast. Damla sakizi means mastic, but I don't know what you get if you order that. I'll have to go back to find out.

I did have menengic coffee later in Istanbul, but it wasn't as heady and rich as that in Gaziantep, a pleasant city known for great food as well as its unique coffee. 

Blending Your Way to Healthy Food

Just listening to Tess Masters makes me feel healthy.  Eating what she cooks makes me feel even healthier.

Tess's latest book, "The Perfect Blend" (Ten Speed Press), is all about gluten-free and vegan food and is packed with nutritional advice. 

If you don't follow these trends, you'll like her food anyway, because it tastes so good. I found this out when she gave a cooking demo and signed copies of the book at Melissa's Produce.

There was lots to sample, including this broccoli salad. Although it appears creamy and cheesy, there's no cheese, mayo or cream in the dressing, only olive oil. It's a hearty dish, enriched with seeds and nuts. The recipe, called Raw Broccoli Brilliance, is in a chapter on protein foods. 

Then there's Can't Beet This Dip (above), which is so tasty I had three helpings, scooping it up with mini bell pepper dippers. It's so easy that I put it at once on my to-do list. The recipe is in the detox chapter of the book and appears below.

Tess is known as The Blender Girl, and you'll have to have one to make the dishes in the book. She has also written "The Blender Girl" cookbook and "The Blender Girl Smoothies," which is both a book and an app. "I think the blender is the greatest culinary gift ever given since fire and the spoon," she said.

After everyone had eaten, she pulled out two blenders and demonstrated more dishes, including one of my absolute favorites, hummus made with zucchini instead of garbanzo beans. It's rich tasting, and perfect for those who avoid ordinary hummus because they can't digest legumes.

 The recipe is called Raw Red Hummus and appears in a chapter on alkaline forming foods. The red comes from red bell pepper and sun-dried tomatoes.

The photo of the hummus, above at right, is copied from the book. Credit for the original goes to Anson Smart. The beet dip is also in his photo.

I loved the way Tess sliced zucchini into long thin ribbons and used them as the base for an avocado salad (above). You could do this for other salads too. It looks really clever, yet takes only seconds and requires only a vegetable peeler.

She placed avocado halves on the zucchini and filled them with chimichurri sauce made, of course, in the blender (above), adding diced cucumber, tomatoes, watermelon and sprouted watermelon seeds. It's so easy "a 12-year-old could make this," she said. The recipe is in the chapter on anti-inflammatory foods.

There was much more to taste, including two desserts (above). The Classic Cheesecake replaces cheese with a cashew and coconut filling. That's strawberry sauce on top.

Choc-Mint Mania also contains cashews along with cacao powder, almond milk and peppermint flavoring. This dessert is in the last chapter, feed the soul, in which Tess observes that "healthy food can be fun, decadent, and delicious" and shares recipes for "some of my favorite foods that deliver fabulous flavor with powerful health-promoting benefits."

CAN'T BEET THIS DIP
From "The Perfect Blend" by Tess Masters

4 cups peeled and cubed raw beets
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon natural salt, plus more to taste
3/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
3/4 teaspoon coriander seeds
2 teaspoons minced garlic, plus more to taste
2 teaspoons ribbed, seeded and finely chopped green chile, plus more to taste
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice, plus more to taste
1/3 cup loosely packed finely chopped cilantro leaves

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a silicone liner or parchment paper.

Toss the beets with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and 1/4 teaspoon of the salt. Arrange the beets on the baking sheet in a single layer and roast for about 1 hour, tossing periodically, until the beets are tender. (You don't want any burnt bits.) You should have about 2 cups.

Heat the cumin and coriander seeds in a small heavy skillet over medium-high heat for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until they release their fragrance and change color slightly. Be careful not to burn them or they will develop bitterness. Grind the seeds in a spice grinder or crush with a mortar and pestle.

Throw the beets into a high-speed blender or food processor and add the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the toasted and ground seeds, the garlic, chile, lemon juice, and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Blast until well combined. Tweak the garlic, chile, lemon juice and salt to taste. Transfer the dip to a bowl and stir in the cilantro.

Makes about 1 cup.  

An Italian Lunch with Wines of Soave

It was a glorious golden afternoon in Los Angeles. Sea breezes fluttered through the window. There was good food on the table. And cool wine to drink, fresh, aromatic, and perfect for a warm day.  

The place was Obicà Mozzarella Bar Pizza e Cucina on Sunset Boulevard, where a small group had gathered to taste the wines of Anselmi. This winery is in Soave in the Veneto region of northeastern Italy. Chilling in ice buckets for lunch were three Anselmi white wines. 

Presenting them was Lisa Anselmi (at the top), who was on a quick tour of the United States.  Her father, Roberto, and brother, Tommaso, are the winemakers. 

The primary grape used in Soave's white wines is Garganega. A Soave wine must contain at least 70% Garganega, Anselmi said, and one that we were going to taste was 100% Garganega. This was the Anselmi Capitel Croce 2013 (above), which spent time in French oak, emerging with full, fruity flavors and a deeper color than the other two, which saw no oak.

We tried the wines before lunch, without food, as Anselmi suggested. Perfect that way was the 2015 San Vincenzo (above). “In my opinion, an aperitif is the best way to drink San Vincenzo,” she said.

Crisp and dry, with notes of pineapple, it was lovely with this antipasto board. 

And with burrata topped with smoked salmon, sea urchin and bottarga (above), melted cheese toast and other appetizers. 

San Vincenzo, which accounts for 75% of Anselmi’s production, is composed of 80% Garganega, 10% Chardonnay and 10% Sauvignon Blanc. Although Anselmi calls it “an entry level wine,” the 2015 San Vincenzo wound up in Wine Spectator’s Top 100 wines for 2016.

Next came the 2013 Capitel Foscarino, a single vineyard estate wine fermented and vinified in stainless steel. This wine is 90% Garganega and 10% Chardonnay. The best pairing is with Soave's local white asparagus, Anselmi said.

The 2013 Capitel Croce followed. “The idea is to give three different styles of the territory,” Anselmi said, two of them from single vineyards. The Foscarino vineyard is on volcanic soil, located in the hills and higher than the Croce vineyard, where soils are limestone. The two vineyards are one air mile apart.

Capitel Croce could age as long as 10 years, Anselmi said. She recommends it with, among other dishes, mushroom risotto. And that is what she ordered for lunch, Obicà’s risotto al tartufo nero (above). The strong mushroom flavors paired well with the rich wine. 

I asked Anselmi if the risotto was as good as risotto in Italy. She said yes, adding that Italian food in America is getting better every year.

Then a sweet treat came out for dessert, Anselmi's I Capitelli from 2011. The grapes—all Garganega--have to be perfect for this wine, so it is not made very year, Anselmi said. The next vintage released will be 2015.

This is not a late harvest wine. To produce the concentrated flavor, the grapes are stored for 2 1/2 months in a room where humidity, temperature and air are monitored 24 hours a day. After that come barrel fermentation and a year of aging. The back label says "passito bianco," meaning a white wine made by this method. 

The deep gold, sweet wine was lovely with desserts at Obicà.

Here it is with torta di Capri, a flourless chocolate and almond cake topped with fior di latte ice cream.

The Anselmi winery was founded in 1948 by Lisa Anselmi's grandfather, Almerino Anselmi. In those days, Soave producers turned out huge quantites of inexpensive wine. The Anselmi winery was no exception, producing 15 million bottles a year.

Then Anselmi, a hard-working visionary, decided to switch to quality production, buying vineyards and focusing on serious wines from estate grapes. Slowly, the Anselmi reputation began to grow. 

Today, the winery produces 750,000 to 800,000 bottles a year. The grapes come from 40 hectares of its own land and 30 more that are rented (a hectare is about 2.47 acres). The one red wine is a small production of Cabernet Sauvignon that is not exported to the United States.

Serious Soave wines still face a challenge. Eighty per cent of Soave production today is controlled by cooperatives, Anselmi said at the lunch. These produce large amounts of cheap wine. Of the acres under cultivation, only 10% are in the hands of quality producers. 

Anselmi Soaves are not stratospherically priced. The suggested retail for San Vincenzo is $20, but less online. The most expensive would be I Capitelli, but dessert wines of this caliber are always pricey. 

So if you see a really cheap Soave, hesitate before you buy. It’s not the bargain you may think it is.

Italian Wines and Pizzas at Mozza

Six wines and four pizzas--it was a fun lunch at Pizzeria Mozza, but informative too.

Three visiting Italian winemakers provided the wines, and Mozza produced the pizzas along with appetizers, a salad and an outrageously rich dessert.

In this case, the food was vital. "In Italy, there is no wine without food," emphasized Giovanni Nencini (above), who shepherded the winemakers on their U.S. tour.

As soon as the first wines were poured, the appetizers began to appear, starting with marinated baby peppers stuffed with tuna (above).

Then potatoes that had been deep-fried along with garbanzo beans and herbs (above).

And Brussels sprouts with prosciutto breadcrumbs (above).

First to be poured were two white wines from Pieropan in Soave, the 2015 Soave Classico and the 2014 La Rocca, made from the grapes Garganera and Trebbiano di Soave.

Pieropan was the first vineyard in Soave to release a single-vineyard Soave classico. That was in 1971. The winemaker now is Dario Pieropan (above), who said, "Soave is coming back for the new generation. People are falling in love with it."

And what's not to love about the dry, elegant 2015 Classico? Steely and crisp, it paired well with the fried potatoes, while creamier La Rocca balanced the acidity in the sprouts.

Although highly acidic, this salad of arugula, mushrooms and Piave cheese couldn't squelch the Classico. And the wine might also go well with Indian food, said Nencini, in response to a guest's question. 

Now red wines were poured, and it was time for the pizzas.

The first two reds were the Renato Ratti 2014 Langhe Nebbiolo Ochetti and the Renato Ratti 2012 Marcenasco Barolo from Piedmont. They're in front in the photo above. Both were made from the Nebbiolo grape, which, said Pietro Ratti, is "the best grape we have in the world."

Ratti is the son of the late Renato Ratti, the winery founder. The Langhe Nebbiolo came from vines that grow in sandy soil, the Barolo, clay soil. Fruity and easy, the Langhe Nebbiolo could age at most five years, he said, but the beautiful big Barolo would last much longer. 

Both were perfect to drink now with the pizzas. Above is a white pizza made with three cheeses--fontina, mozzarella and sottocenere.

In the photo at the top is a pizza with squash blossoms, tomato and burrata, and another with prosciutto, arugula, tomato and mozzarella.

The richly meaty pizza in the lower left corner of the photo above came with bacon, salame, fennel sausage and guanciale as well as tomato and mozzarella.

The pizzas were also perfect foils for two super Tuscans from the winery Brancaia (at the back in the photo of the four red wines). They were the 2010 Il Blu and the 2012 Ilatraia, which were the  priciest wines of the tasting--Il Blu at $85 and Ilatraia at $70.

Each was blended differently, Il Blu from Sangiovese and Merlot with 5% Cabernet Sauvignon, and Ilatraia from equal parts Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot and 20% Cabernet Franc.

Brancaia's winemaker is Barbara Widmer (pouring wine, above), whose parents, Brigitte and Bruno Widmer, bought the estate and vineyards after they fell in love with Tuscany and moved there from Switzerland.

Lunch took place in the dark, cave-like wine room at Pizzeria Mozza. By the end, dessert was hardly necessary, but out came plates of super rich bittersweet chocolate cake with Perugian chocolates, including chocolate-coated honeycomb (above).

This was an opportunity to test red wines with chocolate, which some say can be a great combination. However, Nencini disagreed. Chocolate's acidity kills wines, he said. The only possible pairing he could see would be with a sweet wine such as Port, or even with rum. Better than both was the last drink of the lunch--coffee. 

A Dinner with Silverado Cabernets

"We're setting up for some red wine," the server said, covering the table with glasses. 

This wasn't just "some red wine." It was super premium red wine, Cabernet Sauvignon from Silverado Vineyards in Napa Valley. There were three, the 2013 Solo, the 2003 library vintage of the same wine, both from the Stags Leap District. And the 2012 Geo, which comes from a different vineyard. 

The place was Spago in Beverly Hills. And the host was Silverado general manager Russ Weis (above). Weis had come to Los Angeles to present the 2013 Solo, which is the latest vintage. 

Although this was a media dinner, there was no need for a hard sell, because wine of this caliber is way beyond that. The 2013 Solo Cabernet Sauvignon is from estate vines granted heritage status by UC Davis, renowned for its Department of Viticulture and Enology. 

Only three Cabernets have been granted this honor, and Solo is the only one from the Stags Leap District. Each year, Silverado presents a limited release to show off the wine. The winery produced 2,476 cases of the 2013 Solo. The price for a bottle is $125.

What makes it so special? That unique Silverado Heritage Clone, for one thing. The Silverado Vineyard, where the grapes for Solo grow, was first planted to wine grapes in 1884. The first Cabernet Sauvignon vines went in in 1968, making Silverado one of the first three Cabernet vineyards in Stags Leap District. The new clone emerged as the vineyard was being developed.  

According to Weis, the vines were replanted between 1988 and 1993, after phylloxera struck the area, and certain blocks are being replanted now.

The wines were certainly treated with reverence at Spago. Can you see the difference in the glasses above? One is infinitesimally larger, allowing the younger Solo more space to breathe. 

Talking about the two wines, Weis said, "These two vintages were fairly difficult for us. In 2003, the vines had to go through more than a week of temperatures above 100 degrees," while 2013 was a year of "massive tannins." Despite these differences, the two Cabernets show a family resemblance, Weis noted. They are silky and seamlessly connected from start to finish as you drink them.  

What did I think of them? I am not a wine technician, but I can say that these wines aren't like the Cabernets I am used to. They are refined and elegant rather than big fruity wines that assault the palate. 

Along with these, we tasted the 2012 Geo, from the Mount George Vineyard in Coombsville. This area was first planted to vinifera vines--those that produce grapes for table wines--in the 1860s. Solo is 100 % Cabernet Sauvignon, while the 2012 Geo is 98 % Cabernet Sauvignon and 2 % Cabernet Franc. 

What do you eat with wines like these? I bowed to Weis's judgment and ordered what he did, Snake River Farm's Wagyu New York steak wlth potato-bacon terrine and red wine reduction (above), which was almost as pricey as the wines--$98.

Dinner started with shots of lobster bisque and a basket of breads, including miniature baguettes baked in the pizza oven and perfect with wine. 

The Cabernets would appear later. With the first courses--mine was handmade agnolotti with celery root, mascarpone and Parmesan (above)--we drank a lively 2015 Carneros Chardonnay.

This Chardonnay blends grapes from vineyards in both Napa and Sonoma. At $35, it's more affordable than Solo. And you can still show off the prestigious Silverado label. 

See how the wine sparkled in the lights at Spago.

Weis laced talk about the wines with tales of Napa history. Stags Leap, he said, was once planted to Chardonnay, Riesling and Chenin Blanc, and Chenin Blanc was the top grape in the area. It was the late Robert Mondavi who visualized Cabernet Sauvignon as the way to go.  

This was the course followed by the founders of Silverado Vineyards, the late Diane Disney Miller and her husband Ron Miller. Expanding their holdings with more vineyards, they created one of the most stellar labels in California. 

If you are intrigued by Solo, you can celebrate the next release at a three-hour party at the winery September 16. The cost for a ticket? A little more than a bottle of Solo--$160. Click here to make a reservation or to learn about other events at Silverado. 

Potatoes with Chocolate? Why Not?

Need a sensational dessert? One that requires only three ingredients and will have your friends begging for more? And for the recipe?

If you have potatoes, chocolate chips and sea salt, you can make it. It's Thick-Cut Potato Crisps with Dark Chocolate (above). They're in Raghavan Iyer's latest cookbook, "Smashed, Mashed, Boiled and Baked--and Fried, too!" (Workman, $16.95). 

Can you guess from the title what the book is about? It's about potatoes--all the way from appetizers and soups to dessert.

Ask Iyer (above) why he chose potatoes as a topic and he answers, "Why not? There's a reason this is the fourth largest crop in the world." But it's more personal than that. The potato, he says, has "been a passion for 55 years." (That will be 56 years in April, when he has a birthday.)

A vegetarian, Iyer eats potatoes once or twice a day, sometimes more, which was handy when working out the 75 recipes in the book. They come from all over the world. Only a couple are from India, where he was born. Others represent Spain, Ireland, Peru, Persia, Africa, Indonesia--almost any country you can think of.

From Italy, there's Potato Lasagna (above), one of six dishes Iyer presented when he did a demo and signed books for food bloggers at Melissa's Produce.

For the demo, he fried Crispy Potato Skins (above). These were spicy-hot, thanks to cayenne, and really delicious. "In early college days, you would get drunk and eat potato skins," Iyer reminded his audience. The drinkers were eating healthfully without knowing it because, Iyer explained, the nutritional benefits of potatoes are just under the skin.

The college kids who drank beer have probably moved on to mojitos. For them, and for the rest of us who love this cocktail, Iyer offers a Mojito Potato Pomegranate Salad (above). Yes, there's rum in it as well as key limes and fresh mint. Aren't the colors gorgeous? 

Saluting America's much loved potato specialty, he came up with Cheesy Tarragon Tots, a variation on Ore-Ida's famous Tater Tots (above). 

And for dessert, along with the chocolate-coated chips, he offered Sweet Potato Rolls with a Creamy Cointreau Glaze (above).

Born in Mumbai, Iyer lives in Minneapolis.  He''s a James Beard Award winner, an Emmy winner, an IACP Teacher of the Year, a consultant to major food concerns and has written for a raft of cooking magazines. This is his sixth book. Four of the others are about Indian food. 

As a teacher, Iyer packs his recipes with tips on technique. Tater Tips with his comments are scattered throughout the potato book. A special index groups recipes according to whether they are gluten-free, vegan, lacto-vegetarian or lacto-ovo vegetarian. There's a conventional index too.

Oddly, the chocolate-coated potato crisps is one of the longer recipes in the book. That's because Iyer goes into such detail about how to make and fry chips at home--valuable information, to be sure. Here, he's talking about this and other techniques. 

The Crispy Potato Skins from his demo is shorter but still detailed, because Iyer wants his readers to get things right. The skins are delicious with their sauce of crème fraiche, chives and black pepper. 

CRISPY POTATO SKINS WITH CRÈME FRAICHE
From "Smashed, Mashed, Boiled and Baked" by Raghavan Iyer

3 pounds russet potatoes
1/4 cup chickpea flour
1 teaspoon coarse sea or kosher salt
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Zest of 1 medium lime
1/2 cup creme fraiche or sour cream
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh chives
1/2 teaspoon coarsely cracked black peppercorns

Fill a medium-size bowl halfway with cold water. Scrub the potatoes well under running water. Peel the potatoes with a paring knife, cutting about 1/4 inch deep into the flesh. Try to get long strips of skin, as they are easier to fry and look prettier. Submerge them in the bowl of water to prevent them from discoloring. Save the peeled potatoes for another recipe.

As the potato skins soak, pour oil to a depth of 2 to 3 inches into a wok, Dutch oven or medium-size saucepan. Heat the oil over medium heat until a candy or deep-frying thermometer inserted into the oil (without touching the pan bottom) registers 350 degrees.

Set a wire rack over a cookie sheet, for draining the fried skins of excess oil.

Drain the potato skins in a colander and rinse them a bit under cold running water. Give the colander a good shake or two to rid the skins of excess water. Transfer the skins back to the same bowl and sprinkle with the chickpea flour and 1/2 teaspoon of the salt. Toss the skins to coat them with the flour. There should be enough moisture in the skins to get the flour to cling to them. If they feel dry, wet your hand and use it to toss the skins.

Remove about a quarter of the skins and gently disperse them in the hot oil. Use a slotted spoon to separate them as they sizzle and turn reddish brown, 4 to 6 minutes. You will need to adjust the heat under the pan to make sure the oil stays at 350 degrees. Scoop the cooked skins out of the oil with the spoon and transfer them to the rack to drain. Repeat with the remaining skins.

As the potatoes fry, combine the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt, the cayenne, and the lime zest in a medium-size bowl. Whisk the crème fraiche, chives and peppercorns in a small bowl.

Once all the potato skins are fried and drained, add them to the seasonings and toss to coat them. Serve the zesty skins with the creamy sauce right away. 

Makes 4 servings.