Muhammara: Syrian Red Pepper and Walnut Dip

October 17, 2016 by Aurel Pop in Appetizer

Muhammara is my go-to party food. Every time I host a party, I make sure to prepare muhammara. It’s usually the appetizer (meze in Middle Eastern cuisine) that gets the most attention and praise. One of the main reasons I like making it – other than it’s quick and easy to prepare— is that it fits into most people’s diet. It’s very versatile: vegans, vegetarians, and gluten-free people alike can enjoy it.

If all of the above aren’t enough to convince you, then here is another good one: it’s different than the usual suspects (hummus and babaganoush- I’m talking about you). The smoky sweetness of charred the red peppers, delicately balances the nuttiness of the lightly toasted walnuts, the rich fruitiness of the pomegranate molasses, and the subtle kick of the garlic. All in all, it’s a complex dish.

Muhammara is originally from Syria. Aleppo to be more specific. Most of you have heard of Aleppo, but most likely because of other reasons than this red pepper dip. Syrian food plays an important part in the Middle Eastern cuisine, as it’s heavily influenced by the civilizations that settled in that area: Arab, Persian, and Turkish. As a result, the food is very similar to Levantine cuisine.

As a rule of thumb, muhammara is a dip, rather than a spread. It’s best eaten with fresh warm pita bread, but can be savored with fresh vegetables as well. I’ve even heard of muhammara served with meats and fish, but honestly, I haven’t tried it that way before. Regardless of your diet, or preference you won’t be disappointed in it.

Enjoy!

MUHAMMARA: Syrian RED PEPPER AND WALNUT DIP

Serves 6-8
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Total time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

2 large red bell peppers (or 3 large roasted peppers)
1 cup raw walnuts
1 clove garlic
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice (1 medium-sized lemon freshly squeezed)
½ cup pomegranate molasses
2 Tbsp. olive oil
½ Tbsp. smoked paprika
½ tsp. crushed red pepper
¾ tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. salt
¾ tsp. white peppe

Instructions

Pre-heat the oven to 400F (200C) degrees.
Spread walnuts in a single layer on a baking sheet. Roast for 5 minutes. Toss walnuts around for even roasting, and then return to the oven for 3 more minutes. Remove from the oven and let them cool down.
Fire up the grill. When it reaches 450F (230C), place the peppers on the open grill. Roast for 25 minutes, turning them occasionally until they are charred, soft, and collapsing.
Remove peppers from the grill, place them in a bowl, and cover them with a plastic wrap. Let them rest for 5 minutes.
Peel the roasted peppers, and discard the charred skin and the seeds.
Place the red pepper flash, walnuts, garlic, lemon juice, pomegranate molasses, olive oil, smoked paprika, crushed pepper, and cumin in a food processor, and purée until smooth, scraping the sides of the bowl regularly.
Taste and adjust the seasoning by adding salt and pepper.
Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Spread muhammara into a bowl and make a well in the center with the back of the spoon. Top with a drizzle extra virgin olive oil, and garnish with crushed roasted walnuts and smoked paprika. Serve with warm pita bread.

Notes

If you don’t have a grill, char the fresh red peppers on all sides directly on the burner of a gas stove until blistered all over. This should take significantly less time than grilling. Another alternative is roasting them in the oven.

Tomato and Basil Bruschetta

March 24, 2016 by Aurel Pop in Appetizer

Another week calls for another recipe! It’s been a while since I posted an appetizer on gourmetcubicle, so I thought it would be a good idea to have one while I take a break to enjoy my well-deserved vacation. I will be traveling to Chile, and I couldn’t be more excited. I’m thrilled about trying their food and drinks, learning about their habits and traditions, and meeting amazing people on the road.

I didn’t truly think or plan this trip until a few days prior to departure, which left me in panic mode. I like to think of myself as someone who works best under pressure, but that isn’t always the case. I always book my flights ahead of time, but that’s about it—I leave accommodation and research to when I’m there. I like the spontaneity of talking to newfound friends on the road and finding out what’s worth seeing and doing. It works for me, but it can be quite stressful if you’re not used to it. It’s definitely not for everyone.

I usually start feeling the thrill of traveling only a few days before it happens. That’s when I become the annoying person who tells everyone about my upcoming trip: friends, coworkers, neighbors, cashiers at Central Market, and now you, too, my dear reader. By the time you read this, I’ll be backpacking through Torres Del Paine in the breathtaking southern Chilean Patagonia. I’ll be hiking for about a week, and while I’m out there, I’ll be cooking instant ramen noodles, soups and pasta on my camping stove, enjoying cups of hot tea and mountain sunrises from my cozy tent.

I’ll also be spending a week up north on the coast. My dear friend Camilla, who I met during a backpacking trip in Peru a few years ago, put me in touch with some local artists who are going to host me and introduce me to the local art and food scene. One of them, Juan Pablo, was kind enough to invite me to have lunch with his family. His mother will cook a few Chilean specialties. He even offered to teach me a few recipes, so keep an eye on my Instagram and blog because the Cooking with Friends series may have a new post soon.

As I was preparing for this trip, I decided to eat everything that is perishable. I wasn’t really in the mood for anything that required too much work, so when I saw tomatoes bruschetta, came to my mind instantly. There are many variations of bruschetta and differing opinions on which is the original/authentic/traditional recipe. Many people automatically associate bruschetta with tomatoes and basil, but it can also be topped with roasted garlic, beans, cured meats, mozzarella, vegetables, or even olives. All bruschetta, regardless of toppings, consists of four basic ingredients: roasted crusty bread, fresh garlic, fine olive oil, and sea salt. This bread is roasted (or bruscare, in Italian) over coals, thus the name bruschetta.

Bruschetta con Pomodoro, or tomato bruschetta, is the most common way of preparing this simple and delicious appetizer, and it happens to be my favorite variety. Enjoy!

BASIL AND TOMATO BRUSCHETTA

Serves 6-8
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 5 minutes
Inactive time: 15 minute

Ingredients

5 Roma tomatoes, deseeded and roughly diced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped (about 1 Tbsp.)
15-20 fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped (about 1/3 cup)
½ tsp kosher salt
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 ½ Tbsp. balsamic vinegar (preferably from Modena)
¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
4-5 slices of stale bread cut into ¾ inch thick slices (preferably Tuscan, Ciabatta, Pagnotta or other crusty bread)
1 clove whole garlic
extra virgin olive oil, to taste
coarse sea salt, to taste

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400F(200C) degrees.
In a medium-sized bowl, mix tomatoes, garlic, basil, salt, pepper, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. Toss until all ingredients are well combined. Sprinkle with parmesan and stir again. Taste and adjust seasoning. (Tomatoes love salt, so you may need to add more!)
Allow the tomato mixture to rest for about 15-20 minutes in the refrigerator.
In the meantime, place bread slices on a baking sheet. Toast them in the oven for 2-3 minutes, or until golden brown. Flip on the other side, and toast them for another minute or so. Remove them from the oven.
Rub freshly toasted bread with garlic and sprinkle with olive oil. Spread a tablespoon or so of tomato mixture. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt to taste. Enjoy!

Deviled Eggs

January 06, 2016 by Aurel Pop in Appetizer

Happy New Year gourmetcubicle readers! 2016 is finally here. Put everything related to 2015 behind and start over. It’s a new year, meaning that you’re free to set new goals and resolutions for yourself. It’s the perfect time to do it. It’s a known fact that the success rate of resolutions made while intoxicated during a NYE party don’t have a high success rate, so if you did that, my advice is for you to go and revise them. Be honest with yourself, because at the end of the day, you’re not fooling anyone other than yourself.

I made an extensive list of resolutions that I broke down into 5 different categories: health, personal, travel, passion (aka gourmetcubicle) and career. I don’t think that it’s a good idea to share my personal ones, nor the ones related to my career, but I’m more than happy to share the rest. I’ll start with gourmetcubicle and I'll come back to the rest in my future posts. I tried to make my goals simple and achievable, but challenging enough to keep me going. I value a strong foundation over anything else and even though it takes longer to take baby steps, organic growth combined with good planning are always the fastest way to success. So without further ado, I present you with gourmetcubicle’s resolutions for 2016:

Keep posting once a week
Keep the “Cooking with Friends” series rolling
Improve photography with emphasis on props
Increase exposure on social media (double the number of Instagram followers)
Attend events and seminars for established bloggers

Only 5 goals you may ask yourself? Well I could think of a lot more, but the point is that I want to be able to stay focused on all 5 categories (health, personal, travel, passion and career) with 5 goals related to each. That’s 25 goals to focus on and it takes a lot of discipline not to get sidetracked. Gourmetcubicle is my hobby so it wouldn’t be fair to turn it into something more than that as for right now.

Anyway before I bore you too much with resolutions, I will go ahead and move on to today’s recipe: Deviled Eggs. They are the perfect party food: flavorful, easy to make and no-fuss to pick up and chow down on. What’s really great about them from a cook’s perspective is that they require low effort to prepare a bunch (for example 10 eggs will yield 20 deviled eggs).

I’m not sure where the English name originates from, but I will assume it’s due to the use of Tabasco sauce in the American version. In Hungarian they are called Casino Eggs (Kaszinótojás) and in Romanian simply Stuffed Eggs (Oua umplute). They are slightly different from the variations I’ve tasted here in the U.S. in that both in Hungary and Romania they are covered with a thick and heavy mayo based sauce. For the sake of the most commonly mentioned of all resolutions (eat healthier) I decided to skip the sauce.

In Romania, the filling often contains egg yolks, mustard, mayo, and a fair amount of chicken liver pate. It’s an acquired taste, which I personally love, but I know it’s not that well received here in the U.S. I will eventually post that recipe as well, but for now you’ll have to settle for this vegetarian variation with mushrooms and cornichons. In the recipe I recommended kewpie mayo which is a traditional Japanese mayo that I find a lot less heavy and greasy. Kewpie mayo reminds me more of homemade mayo both in color and consistency. If you can’t find any in stores, just make your own mayo. It will make a huge difference. I also sprinkled crunchy bacon bits on them, a trick I learned from a fellow blogger friend of mine, Mike. Enjoy!

DEVILED EGGS

Yields 24-28 pieces
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

12-14 large eggs, pasture raised
1 TBS olive oil
1/4 cup finely chopped shallots (about 1 medium-sized shallot)
1/3 lb cremini mushrooms, washed and finely diced
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup dry vermouth (or dry red wine)
1/3 cup cornichons, finely diced
1/3 cup kewpie mayo (or homemade mayo)
1 TBS plain yogurt
1 tsp dijon mustard
2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp chili flakes
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp kosher salt
thinly sliced jalapeño or serano, for garnish (optional)
chives, for garnish
crispy bacon, for garnish (or croutons) (optional)

Instructions

Place eggs in a single layer in medium saucepan. Fill the pot with cold water to cover the eggs well over an inch. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, reduce the heat to medium and cook for 15 minutes.
In a stainless steel skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat until it starts shimmering. Add shallots and sauté for 2 minutes stirring frequently to avoid burning them.
Carefully add vermouth and cook until it thickens, about 2 minutes. Add mushrooms and continue cooking for 5 more minutes stirring occasionally. If it becomes too dry add a tablespoon of water.
Season with black pepper and give it a last stir. Set aside to cool down.
When the eggs are done, drain the water from the pot and run under cold tap water until they are cool enough to be handled. Crack the eggshells, gently roll them on the counter and peel the eggs.
Slice the eggs in half lengthwise and scoop the yolks into a medium bowl. Set egg whites aside.
Using a fork, finely crumble the egg yolks. Add mayo, yogurt, mustard, mushroom sauté and lemon juice. Mix well. Season with salt, pepper and chili flakes. Taste, adjust seasoning and stir.
Using a piping bag or a teaspoon disperse the egg filling into each egg white half. Sprinkle with crispy bacon bits (or croutons for vegetarian version) and chives. Optionally add a drop of Sriracha sauce and a thin slice of hot pepper.

Notes

CAUTION! Adding vermouth to the skillet may cause an open flame. Do not panic as it will die out as soon as the alcohol evaporates (matter or seconds) but stand back a bit when adding it.
To clean mushroom, fill a quarter of a bowl with cold tap water. Drop mushrooms into the bowl. Submerge each one and then lift them out of the water with your hands. Place them on a paper towel and let them dry.

Beet Carpaccio with Citrus Vinaigrette

December 18, 2015 by Aurel Pop in Salad, Appetizer

As I was going through my recent blog posts, I realized that over the last couple of months, my focus has been on hearty traditional dishes. I posted my good friend Guy’s Piquant Pulled Pork, a recipe that made it to a few local online publications, followed by ethnic staples like Chicken Khao Soi, Romanian meatballs, and last, but not least, my dear friends Ame and Hanna’s Ethiopian Lentils from the Cooking with Friends series. After so many filling and calorie rich meals I thought it would be a good time to post a lighter dish. I thought of salads, but to be honest, salads aren’t my strong suit. I like them, it’s just that I eat them as a side dish rather than as a meal. Also, since fall has finally arrived in Austin, I was in the mood for something more suitable for colder weather. I opened my recipe notebook and stumbled upon a recipe I developed about a year ago - Roasted Beet Carpaccio.

I LOVE beets. Although as a kid I only ate them pickled, I found later in life that roasted beets are equally delicious. In my mind, beets are totally worth having my kitchen looking like a crime scene and having my hands stained with beet juice. In Romania, pickled beets are very common. In fact, we consider pickled vegetables to be salad. If you happen to be eating in Romania and find something like salata de varza, salata de rosii, salata de castraveti or salata de sfecla on the menu, don’t expect it to be a proper salad in the traditional sense of the word. More likely than not, you’ll end up getting various combinations of cabbage, tomatoes, cucumbers and beets, all pickled in vinegar. We eat them with our main dishes (they make a hell of a side dish for schnitzel and mashed potatoes).

What I recently learned about beets is that the greens are edible, too. Up until not long ago, I would discard the greens without thinking twice. I was a fool! I didn’t know how good they were. All those disposed beet greens would’ve made a great side dish. They can be sautéed or just blanched and then dressed. Soooo good! And I’m not one to throw the expression “soooo good” around when it comes to greens. I eat a variety of greens, but I can’t really say that they are all THAT good.

In the spirit of the Romanian definition of salad, I’ll consider this dish a salad as well. It’s perfect for when you want to impress your guests during the colder months. I sometimes serve the beets warm, but even at room temperature or refrigerated they will be tasty. It’s up to you to decide what you like better. If you find the dressing to be too tart for your liking when you taste it on its own, worry not. The sweetness of the beets, the smokiness and pepperiness of the arugula, and the nuttiness of the walnuts all balance out the tartness of the vinaigrette. Try it and tell me what you think. Enjoy!

BEET CARPACCIO WITH CITRUS VINAIGRETTE

Serves 4-6
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

4-5 beets with greens (about 1 bunch)
3 TBS olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 cups arugula
1/4 cup goat feta (or goat cheese)
1/4 cup roasted walnuts
1 orange, peeled and sectioned
olive oil, for topping
fresh ground pepper, to taste
sea salt, to taste

Citrus vinaigrette

1 TBS apple cider vinegar
2 TBS fresh lemon juice (1 small lemon)
3 TBS fresh orange juice (1 small orange)
1/2 tsp orange zest
3/4 cup olive oil
1 TBS honey
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp ground white pepper

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400F (200C) degrees.
Remove the greens from the beets cutting off and discarding the woody stems. Using a brush clean the beets thoroughly, leaving the skin on. Rinse greens and set aside.
In a bowl, mix beet roots, olive oil, salt and pepper. Toss until the beets are evenly coated.
Wrap each beet in aluminum foil. Place beets on the upper rack of the oven and cook for 40-45 minutes or until they can easily be pierced with the tip of a knife.
While the beets are roasting in the oven, prepare an ice bath for the beet greans by filling a medium sized bowl with 1 cup ice and 4 cups cold water.
Fill a medium sized pot halfway with water. Add a tablespoon of salt and bring to a boil over high heat.
When the water is boiling add the beet greens and submerge them under the boiling water. Cook for no more than 2 minutes.
Using a sieve or a slotted spoon, remove the greens from the pot and transfer them into the ice bath. This will stop the cooking process and keep the beet greens crisp and colorful.
Place all the ingredients for the citrus vinaigrette in a jar. Put the lid on and shake well for about 30 seconds. Set aside and shake again before using it.
When the beets are cooked, remove them from the oven, carefully open the aluminum foil and let them cool down.
In the meantime, remove the greens from the ice bath and chop them into bite sizes.
Peel the orange, section it and remove the skins from the slices. Set aside.
Place arugula on a large serving plate. Sprinkle with olive oil and freshly ground black pepper.
When the beets are cold enough to handle, peel them. The skins should slip off easily, but feel free to use a knife for the more stubborn spots.
Using a mandolin, slice the beets into thin slices (about 2-3mm thin).
Place beets on the arugula bed. Sprinkle beet greens, feta, walnuts and orange all over the beets. Drizzle with vinaigrette and serve cold or at room temperature. Enjoy!

NoteS

The time it takes to cook the beets depends on their size. The beets I used were the size of a tennis ball and it took 40 minutes.
When opening the aluminum foil, be careful not to get burned with the hot stem that built up inside the packets.
You can serve the beets warm, but be careful not to burn yourself when peeling them.

Romanian Meatballs (Chiftele)

December 01, 2015 by Aurel Pop in Appetizer

Thanksgiving weekend flew by so fast. It’s hard to believe that the long awaited break is over and I have to get back to work. As much as I love the idea of Thanksgiving, it is still a novelty for me. My first Thanksgiving experience took place in 2011 when my buddy Nathan invited me over to his parents’ house knowing that I was alone. I had just moved to the US at the time and barely knew anyone, so it felt really good to have someone think about me. Later I found out that Nathan’s father had the same experience when he was a freshman in college and didn’t know anyone so he made a promise to continue the tradition of inviting someone who’s far from family. It was a great experience: obviously we overate, drank good wines and watched football, which I didn’t understand because I (still) don’t know the rules. It felt like a genuine way of saying thanks to your family and friends for being there for you all the time.

It’s really nice to have a day when you acknowledge all the things and people that you’re thankful for, but in reality you should do that every day. It’s so easy to get caught up in your daily life and forget about what makes life so great. Too often this fast-paced lifestyle that we are part of doesn’t allow us the luxury to think about all the great things that happen to us. We spend too little time celebrating and enjoying our achievements. We just tend to move on to the next thing on our extensive list of things we want to check off. It’s as if we are continuously chasing something and way too often we forget to enjoy the journey. It may be a cultural thing. I feel like here in the U.S. people live in the future, always looking forward, always thinking about what’s going to happen next and forgetting about enjoying the present. I’m not saying it is something bad. It’s just different from what I’ve been used to.

For example, in Eastern Europe the mentality is the complete opposite- people live in their past. They love nostalgia and talking about how great things were years ago and they more often than not complain about the present. Give it a shot next time you meet an Eastern European and you’ll see that about 2 minutes into the conversation the person is going to be talking about our history and how great things were in the past. There is something comforting in recalling memories and talking about the past and no one does it better than Eastern Europeans. Now that I’m away, every time I go home and talk to my parents, family or friends I realize how conversations revolve around our past.

Especially when elderly people meet, the first topic they’ll talk about is their health. Conversations start with the standard "How have you been?" which quickly spirals into a shitstorm of problems and struggles. People love talking about their problems, so be careful when asking an older Eastern European this question unless you’re ready to hear that person’s medical history. You’ll learn about everything they’ve dealt with in the past few years with a very detailed description of the back pain they have when the seasons change. You’d think that you just joined a never ending pity party when all of a sudden you hear them end with “But I can’t complain”. That’s when it’s your turn to start whining how bad your health has been.

My granny, Buna, and her friends are the most entertaining. As a matter of fact, she sometimes just waits around the window or front porch of her house for a friend to pass by so she can start talking about her most recent health issue. The conversation almost instantly turns into a game of one-upping each other. If my granny had a flu, most likely her friend had something twice as bad, which in turn will bring up another health issue my granny had years ago that trumps her friend’s one. It is an interesting experience for an outsider. The funny part is that after about half an hour of complaining they both agree that life is actually great: there is still food on the table, a roof over their head, a cozy warm bed during the cold winters and of course the Mexican novelas.

Now, back to the present, where we should all strive to live. This meatballs recipe (chiftele in Romanian) is my family’s go-to emergency food. Whenever my mom runs short on time or is out of ideas, she makes meatballs. They are easy to prepare, filling, and of course delicious. Romanian meatballs are slightly different than Italian or Spanish meatballs as they are made out of pork with milk-soaked bread, a generous amount of garlic and parsley, and deep fried to a crispy exterior and juicy interior.

My mom prepares them not only as appetizers, but also as a main dish. The only difference between the appetizer and main dish meatballs is the size - smaller for appetizers, larger for main dish. Back home in Transylvania they are served with a side of mashed potatoes and tomato sauce, or with creamy squash and dill stew. The latter is my dad’s favorite, a Hungarian staple dish, called tökfőzelék. If none of these sound appealing to you, feel free to eat them with bread, homemade marinara sauce and shaved parmesan just like we did. Poftă bună!

Romanian Meatballs (Chiftele)

Yields 20-25 meatballs
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

1/2 lb potatoes (about 1 large potato)
2 oz sliced white bread (crust removed)
1/2 cup whole milk
1.5 lbs ground pork
1 egg, pasture raised
2-3 TBS garlic, crushed and finely chopped (about 4 cloves garlic)
1/2 cup parsley, finely chopped
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 black pepper, freshly cracked
1 tsp Hungarian paprika (or Spanish)
1/4 cup breadcrumbs, optional
1 1/2 cups oil (sunflower seed, vegetable or canola)

Instructions

Place potatoes in a medium sauce pan and cover with water. Add half tablespoon of salt and bring it to a boil over high heat.
Reduce the heat to medium and cook the potatoes for 15-20 minutes or until they are easily pierced with the tip of a knife. Remove from the heat, discard the water and let them cool down.
While the potatoes are boiling, soak the bread in milk in a bowl until all the milk is absorbed.
Using a knife or your hands peel the potatoes (the peel should slip off easily) and pass them through the small hole of a cheese grater.
Place the ground pork in a large bowl and add the potatoes, bread, egg, crushed garlic, parsley, salt, pepper and paprika. Using your hands mix them all together.
Shape the mixture into golf-sized balls and roll them in the breadcrumbs.
Heat oil in a large cast iron pan over medium-high heat. Carefully place meatballs in the hot oil and fry them for 3-4 minutes on each side or until they are crispy brown.
When done transfer the meatballs to a paper towel lined plate or a wire rack.
Serve meatballs fresh and warm with a side of marinara sauce.

Notes

The amount of oil you'll have to use will depend on the size of the frying pan you're using. Make sure that the pan has about half inch of oil.
Do not overload the frying pan with meatballs as the temperature of the oil will drop too much and the meatballs will become greasy. Work in batches instead.