Spice (35 page)

1 pound sheep’s or goat’s milk French feta, drained and broken into rough ½-inch pieces or crumbled

2 medium red bell peppers, roasted, peeled, seeded, and roughly chopped (see page 97) and drained of excess juice

2 teaspoons Aleppo chilies plus a pinch for garnish

1 teaspoon Urfa chilies plus a pinch for garnish

¼ teaspoon smoked Spanish paprika plus a pinch for garnish

1 teaspoon lemon juice

¼ cup olive oil

1.
Place all the ingredients in a medium mixing bowl and combine them so that the sweet and hot peppers coat the cheese.

2.
In a food processor fitted with a metal blade, purée the mixture for about 2 minutes, until very smooth and creamy. The mixture will be quite loose, but it will set when it’s chilled in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes before serving.

3.
Place the mixture in a crock and sprinkle it with a pinch of all three of the chilies to garnish and show them off.

Steamed Mussels with Leeks and Smoky Paprika

This dish has such Spanish flair that you’ll think you’ve died and gone to Spain. It’s fabulous with one of the first spring crops: wild leeks or ramps, which are more tender than regular leeks. Ramps taste much like scallions—only sweeter and feistier—and you can use them just like scallions or regular leeks. Look for ramps at local farmers’ markets in the spring or at specialty shops that carry seasonal produce.

Focusing on the sweet flavors of the paprika, ramps, and mussels, this dish is simple but it also has some rich, smoky, buttery depth. To make an impression, use a special butter in this recipe, such as Plugra (available at Whole Foods Market or online at www.kellerscreamery.com) or any sweet, salty cultured butter. Cultured butter is made with natural bacteria which enhances its flavor and helps to bring out the sea in the mussels and the forest in the ramps. You can find cultured butter online at www.vtbutterandcheeseco.com.

If the mussels have beards on them, which wild mussels do, you will need to remove them. Pull the beard from the rounded end of the mussel toward the top, pointed end. Wild mussels also need to be scrubbed free of sand. In Boston, I buy Prince Edward Island mussels, which are farmed on poles. Since they don’t touch the bottom of the ocean, they are sand-free.

After you’ve eaten the mussels, make sure to soak up the sauce with grilled or lightly toasted crusty bread. Drink an Alsatian Sylvaner, which has a smoky spice, an earthiness, and a hint of vanilla from the oak barrels.

S
ERVES
4
AS A FIRST COURSE

2 tablespoons European-style or cultured butter, such as Plugra

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 tablespoon minced garlic (about 3 cloves)

¾ cup white wine, such as European chardonnay or Spanish alberino

16 ramps, root ends trimmed and washed well, or 2 leeks, white part only, root ends trimmed, and cut into ½-inch rounds

1 tablespoon smoked Spanish paprika

½ teaspoon Aleppo chilies

32 mussels (about 2 pounds), washed well

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice (about ½ lemon)

Salt or sea salt to taste (see note below)

1.
In a large sauté pan over medium-high heat, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter with the olive oil. When the butter starts to brown, stir in the garlic and cook for 2 minutes, stirring until the garlic begins to release its aroma and becomes a little sticky.

2.
Add the wine, ramps, paprika, and Aleppo chilies. Stir and continue to cook for 3 minutes until the wine reduces to ½ cup and the ramps start to soften and become limp.

3.
Add the mussels to the pan and cover them with a tight-fitting lid or heavy baking sheet. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 5 to 6 minutes, until the mussels open.

4.
Stir in the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter and the lemon juice and season with very little salt (the mussels should be salty, so you won’t need much).

5.
Divide the mussels (8 per person) into 4 warm bowls (just out of the dishwasher or warmed for a minute in a 350°F oven). Divide the juices and leeks evenly among the bowls. Serve with fresh crusty bread, lightly grilled or freshly baked, to soak up the juices once the mussels are gone.

A Note on Sea Salt

I prefer to use sea salt with all fish because it brings out its natural mineral sea flavors. See the salt discussion on page 25
.

Harissa: North African Chili Paste

Harissa
is a North African condiment or chili paste that gives a little zip to a dish. It’s fun to use instead of cocktail sauce and is delicious whisked into broths or soups with as heavy a hand as you like. It’s often used in
tagine
(a stew or long braise) to give the sauce a dark red, rusty color and a little or a lot of heat. There are many different versions of harissa: they can be smooth, coarse, extra hot, or very garlicky.

An Algerian chef named Michel Anik, whom I worked with at 8 Holyoke in Harvard Square, taught me to use sun-dried tomatoes as a sweet concentrated tomato element, which gives the harissa a consistency similar to a thick ketchup or jam.

M
AKES
2
CUPS

1 cup ground Urfa chilies

2 teaspoons chopped garlic (about 2 large cloves)

½ cup sun-dried tomatoes, soaked in warm water for at least 1 hour

3 teaspoons kosher salt

1 cup water

1 tablespoon Moroccan Ras el Hannout (page 16)

¼ cup olive oil

Combine all the ingredients in a blender and purée them on high speed until smooth, for about 3 minutes. The harissa should be as smooth as a thick ketchup. Store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks.

Muhammara: Red Pepper and Walnut Purée

This recipe is inspired by the many Armenian shops in Watertown, Massachusetts, outside Boston, which is home to the second largest Armenian population in the United States. I frequently visit Arax, a store owned by a Syrian man named Jack Bassmajian. His wife Elizabeth makes a delicious
muhammara
—a thick, spicy sauce that I love to snack on as an alternative to hummus or other bread spreads. It’s also wonderful on grilled tuna.

Muhammara is simultaneously tart, spicy, sweet, salty, sour, and bitter, capturing every sensation on your palate. It is a deep rusty-red color; the word muhammara means “brick-colored” in Arabic. The warm, earthy chilies, sweet bell peppers, and bright pomegranate and citrus tones are truly flavors of the sun.

Pomegranate molasses is a syrupy reduction of pomegranate juice that has a unique, tart-sweet flavor and is a gorgeous, deep reddish-purple color. It’s as thick as maple syrup and has both sweet and sour flavors that combine the best of balsamic vinegar with tart fruit. I often use it to add tartness to long-braised beef. You can find pomegranate molasses at Middle Eastern markets or online at www.zingermans.com.

Muhammara, a classic mezze, is found all over the eastern Mediterranean with many variations, especially on the nut that is used in thickening it. This is another demonstration of the Arabic technique of thickening sauces with nuts and/or bread (see Turkish Tarator Sauce on page 353 and Garlic and Almond Soup on page 338).

My interpretation of muhammara is wrapped in thin slices of roasted eggplant and can be passed as an hors d’oeuvre or served without the eggplant with crusty French bread or Toasted Pita Bread Chips (see page 122). Muhammara tastes even better on the second day, so I encourage you to make it in advance. You should roast the eggplant, however, just before serving it.

M
AKES ABOUT
2
CUPS TO SERVE
8
AS HORS D’OEUVRES