Ottolenghi's Stuffed Eggplant with Lamb and Pine Nuts

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...They are both chefs and partners in Ottolenghi, the renowned London restaurant and deli. While they met in London, both hail from Jerusalem and they have recently collaborated on a cookbook, called Jerusalem, that has been described as a love letter to their childhood home and its culinary traditions. Ottolenghi is from the Jewish part of the old city and Tamimi is from the Arab sector. Together they are trying to bridge the gap between the two cultures with their food. Their food, which features Mediterranean ingredients, is boldly flavored, vegetable based and wildly colorful. I found the recipe I'm featuring tonight in Food and Wine magazine and it meets all the criteria the pair is famous for. I am going to pull you all aside for just a moment, however. The quantities in the recipe didn't compute for me. I was concerned that there would be more eggplant than lamb with which to fill it. The eggplants that I am able to buy here are short and squat and have more surface area to cover than the more slender varieties I suspect were used to test the recipe. So, while I made no other changes to the dish, I used only two halved eggplants for our meal. It work out well, though I suspect we had slightly more meat on each portion than was intended. This is a delicious dish, and if you enjoy well-flavored Mediterranean food, you will really like this. Here's the original recipe.

Stuffed Eggplant with Lamb and Pine Nuts...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Food and Wine Magazine and Chefs Ottolenghi and Tamimi

Ingredients:
Four 1-pound eggplants, halved lengthwise (I used two 1-pound eggplants)
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1-1/2 teaspoons sweet paprika
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 pound ground lamb
3 tablespoons pine nuts
2 teaspoons tomato paste
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon tamarind concentrate *(see cook's note below)*
One 1-1/2-inch cinnamon stick

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Arrange eggplants in a large baking dish, cut sides up. Brush with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake in upper third of the oven for about 20 minutes, until browned.
2) Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix cinnamon, cumin and paprika. In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add onion and half of spice mixture, cover and cook over moderate heat, stirring a few times, until softened, about 7 minutes. Add lamb and cook, breaking up meat with a wooden spoon, until no pink remains, about 4 minutes. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of fat in skillet. Stir in pine nuts, tomato paste, 2 tablespoons parsley and 1 teaspoon of the sugar. Season lamb with salt and pepper.
3) Spoon filling onto eggplants. Add 1/2 cup of water, lemon juice, tamarind concentrate, remaining 2 teaspoons of sugar and a pinch each of salt and pepper to remaining spices. Mix well and pour into baking dish. Add cinnamon stick and cover dish with foil. Bake for about 50 minutes, basting twice with pan juices, until very tender.
4) Transfer  eggplants to plates or a platter and discard cinnamon stick. Pour pan juices over eggplants, sprinkle with remaining parsley and serve.

***Cook's Note: Tamarind concentrate, also called tamarind paste, is a pure concentrate of tamarind. Tamarind is the pod of a tree native to Africa, but now mostly cultivated in India. Although tamarind contains natural sugar, it also contains 12% tartaric acid, which makes it extremely tart. It is a souring agent commonly used in Indian curries and chutneys, and is also popular in Thai, Mexican and Mediterranean cooking. It is the ingredient that gives Worcestershire Sauce its unique flavor. It can be found in ethnic market, large markets and on-line.

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Grilled Chicken with Tamarind and Coconut Glaze

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...We had a glorious day today. Our sky was the color of the aquamarine I wear around my neck and the clouds that could be seen held no hint of rain. It remained chilly but the cold spoke to sweaters rather than ski parkas or slickers and umbrellas. At some point, after a lunch that I had planned to feature here tonight, I had a thought that refused to be dismissed. My brain, keenly attuned to the day's weather, kept urging me to grill. Now that is not as crazy as it may sound. The climate here is such that, save for heavy rain, there is nothing to prevent us from grilling year round, and I have, on occasion, been seen tending the grill with a fork in one hand and a golf umbrella in the other. As it happened, this was a perfect day to fire up the grill. I had clipped, actually copied, some recipes the last time I was at the library and there was one of them that I was especially keen to try. The recipe had been developed by Bonnie Stern, a prolific Canadian food writer, and I thought it would be a perfect match for the ingredients I had sitting in my refrigerator. She uses a marinade made with tamarind concentrate and coconut milk to flavor boneless chicken thighs. I had both on hand because I do so much Asian cooking and that meant I could proceed without a trip to the store. The marinade comes together in about 5 minutes, though the chicken needs to soak in it for a considerable amount of time, that can range from four to eight hours. Even with the long marination, I could have dinner on the table at a sensible time, so I decided to proceeded with the chicken. The only change I made to the original recipe was to cut back on the amount of cayenne pepper it called for. Now I hope you are ready for a recipe alert. I'm not always a fan of grilled food but this chicken made my socks go up and down, and I really think that those of you who try this will love it. Instructions for cooking it indoors are included in the recipe below, so those of you who are still shoveling snow from your driveways won't have to wait for spring to enjoy it. I served the chicken with steamed snow peas and a pineapple rice. I'll post the recipe for the rice sometime next week. This chicken is really, really good. Here's the recipe.

Grilled Chicken with Tamarind and Coconut Glaze...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Bonnie Stern via Friday Night Dinners

Ingredients:
3/4 cup coconut milk or unflavored yogurt
2 tablespoons tamarind paste
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon garam masala or ground cumin
1 teaspoon cayenne (I used 1/4 teaspoon)
12 boneless chicken thighs (with skin or skinless)
1 lemon, cut in wedges
Sprigs of fresh cilantro

Directions:
1) In a large bowl, combine coconut milk, tamarind paste, garlic, salt, garam masala and cayenne. Add chicken and turn to coat well with marinade. Cover and refrigerate for
4 to 8 hours.
2) Grill chicken for 8 to 10 minutes per side. (You could also brown chicken in a skillet on stove, place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and finish cooking in a 375 degree oven for 20 minutes, or until thoroughly cooked.)
3) Garnish with lemon wedges and cilantro. Yield: 6 servings.







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Thai-Style Steamed Salmon with Tamarind-Ginger Sauce - Pink Saturday

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...This is one of those recipes I stumbled on and pondered for a ridiculous amount of time before actually making it. I hope you occasionally do the same thing and understand how that can happen. I kept this recipe on the back burner for several years before taking down my steamer and having a go at it. I regret not making it sooner. I found the original recipe on the Dean and DeLuca Web site, which you can find here. I have no affiliation with them, but I greatly admire their site and the recipes I've found there. The dish requires some chopping and access to a source for tamarind pulp or concentrate, but it is really simple to do. The finished dish is a delightful blend of flavors resembling those used in the best of Thai cooking. It is a wonderful alternative to teriyaki glazed salmon. I prefer salmon fillets to salmon steaks so I've altered the recipe to reflect my preference. If you decide to use tamarind concentrate, dilute it as you would orange juice, using three parts water or stock to one part of concentrate. I serve this with jasmine rice which I find has a unique and distinctive flavor that pairs well with the flavors in this dish. Those of you who try this will become instant fans. It's a wonderful way to prepare good salmon. I know you'll like it. Here's the recipe.

Thai-Style Steamed Salmon with Tamarind-Ginger Sauce...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite inspired by from Dean and DeLuca

Ingredients:
1 ounce dried tamarind pulp or 2 tablespoons of tamarind concentrate
1/4 cup vegetable oil
4 shallots, slivered lengthwise
2 tablespoons julienne strips peeled fresh ginger
4 garlic cloves, slivered lengthwise
1/4 cup palm sugar or light brown sugar
3 tablespoons nam pla (Thai fish sauce)
4 salmon fillets (each about 1 1/4 inches thick)
Fresh cilantro for garnish

Directions:
1) If using tamarind pulp: Place pulp in a small bowl and cover with 1/2 cup boiling water. Let sit for 30 minutes. Break up tamarind with fingers. Add tamarind and soaking water to a small saucepan. Simmer for 30 minutes. Strain through a sieve into a bowl, pressing on tamarind solids wit a wooden spoon. Strain liquid through a sieve into a bowl, pressing on the tamarind solids with a wooden spoon. Reserve liquid.
2) If using tamarind concentrate: Dilute with 6 tablespoons water. Set aside.n
3) Heat oil in a medium skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Stir in shallots, ginger, and garlic and stir-fry for 1 minute, or until very aromatic. Stir in palm sugar, 3 tablespoons nam pla, and 1/2 cup of tamarind liquid, and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. Reserve.
4) Lay salmon fillets on a lightly oiled plate that will fit into a steamer basket. Spread about 1 tablespoon of reserved ginger-tamarind sauce on each side of each filet, and let marinate for 20 minutes.
5) Bring enough water to sit just below (but not touch) steamer basket in a wok or deep skillet. Bring to a simmer. Place plate in basket, cover with a lid, and steam salmon just until opaque, about 10 minutes for medium-rare. Remove basket from the wok and plate from basket. With a spatula carefully remove salmon to serving plates. Pour enough liquid from steaming plate into reserved sauce to reach the desired consistency.
6) Quickly reheat sauce and spoon over salmon. Garnish with cilantro and serve hot. Yield: 4 servings.

You might also enjoy these recipes:
Almond Crusted Salmon Fillets with Lemon Leek Cream Sauce - Good Things Catered
Wasabi Glazed Salmon - One Perfect Bite
Slow Roasted Salmon - One Perfect Bite
Poached Salmon - Simply Recipes
Red Grape Salmon Fillets - A Food Year
Salmon Fillet on Leek and Fennel Sauce - The Passionate Cook

This post is being linked to:
Pink Saturday, sponsored by Beverly at How Sweet the Sound.

Thai Tamarind Shrimp

When our children were small and sitters scarce, we began having date nights in the kitchen. The theme was bistro or cucina, complete with stubby candles, spindly carnations and a checkered tablecloth. I would cook, and, Bob, who does a spot on improv of a continental waiter, would serve and pour. We had such a good time that you'll still find us in the kitchen on date night, sampling dishes from kitchens around the world. We move, on whim, from Europe to Asia or Africa and today's recipe is very much like one that would come from a restaurant - raan aharn - in Thailand. It requires a few Asian ingredients that will put me on your bad list, but I've provided links to where they can be ordered if they're not locally available. This is fast and easy to make, though I must warn you - it's addicting.

Tamarind Shrimp

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons (about 2 oz.) tamarind paste
2/3 cup boiling water
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons chopped scallions + slivers for garnish
2 tablespoons golden or light brown sugar
2 tablespoons chicken stock
1 tablespoon nahm plah fish sauce
6 dried Thai chillies + chillies for garnish
1 pound shrimp, shelled and deveined
1 tablespoon Asian fried garlic from a can (mail order)
2 tablespoons Asian fried shallots (mail order)

Directions:
1) Place tamarind paste in a small bowl. Cover with boiling water. Stir well; let sit for 30 minutes. Stain; reserve 6 tablespoons of juice for sauce and refrigerate remainder for another use.
2) Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet. Add onion and cook until softened and beginning to brown.
3) Stir in sugar, stock, fish sauce, reserved 6 tablespoons tamarind juice and dried chillies. Stir. Bring to a boil.
5) Add shrimp, dried garlic and dried onion; stir until shrimp are cooked through, about 4 minutes. Transfer to serving plate. Garnish with onion slivers and additional chillies. Yield: 4 servings.