Spice (14 page)
Authors: Ana Sortun
6.
Serve the chicken immediately with lemon wedges to squeeze over the chicken and sprinkle with the walnuts. The chicken is wonderful on a bed of Mazy’s Jeweled Rice (page 58) or with Rice Cakes (page 65).
This is a special-occasion rice, not for everyday meals. It takes some time to prepare.
Mazy Mozayeni worked with me for a little more than a year, and this recipe was inspired by a traditional Persian dish that his family made. Mazy’s family used barberries instead of mulberries, which are harder to find without access to special shops. Dried mulberries look like little brown raspberries but taste like figs. They are used a lot in Turkish and eastern Mediterranean cooking, and they’re fantastic in desserts or combined with nuts for pilaf, as in this recipe. You can find them at www.tohum.com.
Serve Mazy’s Jeweled Rice with Persian Fried Chicken (page 56).
S
ERVES
8
2 cups basmati rice
½ cup dried mulberries, or chopped dried figs
¼ cup golden raisins
1 large carrot, peeled
1 cup sugar
Zest of 1 orange
2 teaspoons butter
1 onion, finely diced
½ teaspoon saffron
1½ teaspoons Persian Spice Mix (page 60)
½ cup toasted pistachios
½ cup ground, toasted skinless almonds
Salt and pepper to taste
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
1.
Soak the rice in cold water for about 1 hour. Drain in a colander or sieve.
2.
Bring 8 cups of water to a boil in a large pot over high heat. (The rice needs plenty of water and room to cook.) Stir in the rice and cook uncovered, reducing the heat to medium-high, until just tender, for 10 to 12 minutes. Drain and rinse the rice under cold water until cool. Set aside in the rice-cooking pot.
3.
While the rice is cooling, in a small mixing bowl soak the mulberries and golden raisins in hot water for 10 minutes or more, until plump.
4.
Using a vegetable peeler, shave strips of carrot all the way down on all sides, stopping at the core. Set aside your pile of carrot ribbons.
5.
Bring a small saucepan filled with 2 cups of water to a boil over high heat. Stir in the sugar and return the pan to a boil. Add the orange zest and carrot ribbons and return to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer 8 to 10 minutes, until the carrots are soft and candied. Drain and roughly chop the strips.
6.
Drain the mulberries and raisins and add to the chopped carrots.
7.
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
8.
In a medium sauté pan over medium heat, melt the butter and cook until it starts to brown. Stir in the onion, saffron, and spice mix. Cook on medium heat until the onions are soft, for about 6 minutes. Stir in the pistachios, almonds, and carrot mixture.
9.
Fold this mixture into the rice and season with salt and pepper. Stir in the olive oil.
10.
Place the rice in a roasting pan and bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until the rice is a little crispy around the edges and is hot. Serve immediately.
This spice mix reminds me of others from around the world: French four-spice (
quatre épice
), Chinese five-spice, and pumpkin pie spice from the United States. It is used to add aromatics to pilafs, stuffed rice, and bulgur dishes. I think it’s also great sprinkled on cooked carrots, sweet potatoes, and squash. At Oleana, we use a similar spice blend, without the rose petals or nutmeg, on our Turkish-style steak tartare.
You can find dried rose petals at kalustyans.com.
M
AKES
1/3
CUP
¼ cup dried rose petals, ground or pressed through a medium-size sieve
¼ cup ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons black pepper
½ teaspoon ground cardamom (black seeds only)
1/3 teaspoon grated fresh nutmeg
1/3 teaspoon ground coriander
Mix ingredients and store in an airtight container for up to 2 months.
UNDERSTANDING RIESLING AND GEWÜRZTRAMINER
Theresa Paopao, Wine Director at Oleana
There is plenty of confusion about Riesling and Gewürztraminer. Some think these wines are always sweet, so they won’t go near them. Others who taste a dry Alsatian-style will insist that it’s gone bad. Then, there are many adjectives which confuse matters even more. So to clarify:
Dry =
not sweet at all
Off-dry =
just the slightest hint of sweetness
Medium-dry =
the sweetest wine to be enjoyed with a meal without overwhelming it
Spritz =
a slight hint of effervescence
Seared Sea Scallops with Orange-Saffron Butter and Rice Cakes
I enjoy scallops when they are cooked only on one side, from the bottom up, until the pan side is golden brown. Scallops contain high levels of sugar and will brown beautifully, like no other fish or shellfish. In browning, the sugars are drawn out, and the scallop’s flavor intensifies.
Orange saffron butter is fantastic on just about anything and really livens up simple dishes. It’s a flavored butter or compound butter and will freeze very well. You can take a little out at a time and try using it with other dishes: in finishing a fish soup, for example, or to flavor a tomato sauce for pasta.
Drink a dry Gewürztraminer (see page 61) from Alsace with this dish.
S
ERVES
8
1 teaspoon saffron
¼ cup dry vermouth
Zest of 1 orange and juice of half
Zest of 1 lemon and juice of half
2 sticks butter plus 4 teaspoons, softened to room temperature
2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic (about 2 cloves)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
½ teaspoon sweet paprika
2 teaspoons fennel seeds, ground finely in a coffee grinder (page 72)
1 teaspoon black pepper
Salt to taste
32 large, dry sea scallops (see note)
4 tablespoons canola oil
1.
To make the orange-saffron butter, place the saffron in a small mixing bowl and add the vermouth. Let it steep for about 5 minutes. Add the orange and lemon zests and juices, the 2 sticks of butter, garlic, parsley, paprika, fennel, and black pepper. Mix to combine the ingredients and season with salt.
2.
Lay a piece of plastic wrap out and spoon half of the flavored butter in an even layer. Fold the edges of the plastic wrap around the butter mound and twist the ends to form a small log. Repeat this process with the remaining butter and chill both logs.
3.
Remove the foot or muscle from the side of the scallop (sometimes it has a little shell stuck to it). It is a little tough but is edible. I prefer to remove them.