When a Forager Can’t Forage…

Posted on June 7, 2013 by cara

Do you know how hard it is right this moment? The fact that I am missing the spring foraging season here in New England. Because of my injuries I can’t walk very much and hills and uneven ground are a bit tricky making it difficult to forage. I already missed ramps, well that is not entirely true. Its a tragic story really. I had foraged some ramps the weekend before the accident and actually more specifically I had just cleaned them the morning of the accident. They were clean, trimmed and ready to be pickled. Then the accident. For those of you that didn’t hear, I was badly burned and under went skin graft surgery and have been out of commission for the last month. (read about it here) During my stay in the hospital, which lasted for two weeks, my ramps went bad and my husband had to throw them away. Like I said …Tragic.

Aside from ramps I am missing morels, fiddlehead ferns, edible leaves and greens and the early start of any of the summer mushrooms ( I swear I could smell Black Trumpets in the air last weekend!). What is a girl to do when she can’t forage?

Well…I’m trying to figure that out.

I am still trying to cook a bit when I can or my legs afford me the opportunity. A large piece of pork fatback is curing in my fridge and will eventually become lardo. I’m working on procuring some rhubarb to make jam. Physical Therapy has been a regular part of my schedule and I am trying to give my camera a run for it money.

I spent a couple weekends in Vermont in the last month to see family and appreciate the other things spring has to offer besides foraging. You know stuff like spring chicks, my sister-in-laws garden, wild flowers and best of all spring weather which can very so greatly here in New England.

With that said here are a few photos of spring…

Enjoy!!

Recovery and Chocolate Cream Pie

Posted on May 30, 2013 by cara

It’s been 28 days since the accident and despite the fact that my doctors say my legs are looking good, I still feel like I could be an extra in a zombie movie. All I can imagine when I look down at myself is some generic scene from a horror movie in which a girl wakes up and finds herself in a dingy basement having been attached to another victim with surgical staples and fishing line. Although in my case it was pieces of my own skin that were sewn on me not another person. The feel of the new skin is also hard for me to get use to even though its my own. I know that someday the texture and color will even out but for the time being when I am putting one of my various vitamin E creams on my legs it feels like I am massaging a baby alligator. The skin and scar tissue underneath is also very tight. Which means that any moment of inactivity gives it the chance to tighten resulting in a painful pulling sensation with I do move around. It’s terribly uncomfortable.

So in an effort to keep moving I figured out a few small cooking projects. I say small because although I am suppose to move about a bit, to much movement results in terrible swelling of my feet and ankles that also pulls at the skin grafts and is very painful. So I came up with some recipes that didn’t require to much time and that would allow me to sit down for a minute if needed, which I did need!

Part of my physical therapy has been to practice walking correctly. What that means is that right now the way the skin is healing it gets very tight around my ankles making it hard for me to put my feet flat on the ground. I generally end up walking on my toes with my left foot. There is a park two houses away from my own house and its a perfect distance to walk, not to far but far enough. So in the evening when my husband comes home we take a little walk to the park and sit and watch the sun set. It was during one of our park outings that I came up with the idea for a picnic there and maybe invite some friends to join us. So we did…

Like I mentioned I needed/wanted to make something super easy but I was craving two things steamed mussels and Bloody Mary’s. Thus Bloody Mary Mussels were born. I took all the flavors of a Bloody Mary and made an awesome broth to steam the mussels in. I did cheat a little… I used pre-made Bloddy Mary mix. Like I said I needed to make this super easy. To the mix I added chopped celery, olives and sliced peperoncini and added some chopped parsley right at the end. Delicious and only had me on my feet for about 20 minutes.

I also made a Chocolate Cream pie earlier in the day. Again a super easy recipe that had me on my feet for maybe 30 minutes all together. I used a basic chocolate cream pie recipe but I substituted yogurt in place of half of the milk mostly because I didn’t have enough milk and also because I really needed to use some of the hoard of yogurt I had accumulated. But the tang of the yogurt was a nice addition to the recipe. It gave the traditional chocolate cream pie a little twist that everyone really enjoyed. I also made the crust from the “Milkbar” cookbook by Christina Tosi. Ridiculously easy. For that recipe I used Black Cocoa powder instead of the regular cocoa powder it called for giving it more of an oreo cookie flavor.

Bloody Mary Mussels

5 lb. mussels, cleaned, I use about 1 lb per person

5 stalks celery, diced

2 bottles bloody mary mix, use your favorite brand or you can totally make your own, you would need to make about 4 quarts of mix

1 cup mixed olives, pitted and roughly chopped

1 cup peperoncini, roughly chopped

1 bunch parsley, chopped

2 tbsp Aleppo or red chili flakes, optional

2 sticks butter

In a large pot add the bloody mary mix, 2 cups water, celery, olives, peperoncini and chili flakes. Bring to a simmer. Add the mussels and place a lid on the pot. Steam for about 10 minutes or until all the mussels have opened. Add the butter and parsley. Continue cooking for an additional 5 minutes. Stir the mussels gently during that time to incorporate the butter and parsley. Salt the broth to taste, it may not need any salt depending on how seasoned the bloody mary mix is.

Serve immediately with crusty bread.

Chocolate Cream Pie

Pie crust adapted from Momofuku Milkbar Cookbook

Pie Crust:

2/3 cup flour

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1/2 cup sugar

2/3 cups cocoa powder ( I used black Cocoa for an Oreo cookie flavor)

1 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons butter, melted

Heat the oven to 300 degrees.

Combine the flour. cornstarch, sugar, cocoa powder, and sali in a bowl. mix until thoroughly combine. The author suggests mixing this in a stand mixer. But mixing it by hand in a large bowl will also work.

Add the butter and mix until the mixture comes together in small clusters. If using the mixer, mix on a low setting.

Spread the clusters on parchment paper or a silpat lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes moving the crumb around carefully to break up any clumps. The crumb should still be slightly moist to the touch at that point. They will dry and harden as they cool.

Let the crumb cool completely before making into the crust.

Pulse the crumb in a food processor until they are sandy and no sizable clusters remain.

Transfer the crumb to a bowl and with your hands toss with the sugar and salt. Add 1 tbsp melted butter and knead it into the crumb until it is moist enough to knead into a bowl. You may need to add more butter, if so add 1 tbsp at a time.

Transfer the mixture to a 10-in pie pan. Press the crust firmly into the tim, making sure the bottom and sides of the pie are evenly covered.

Now you are ready to add the filling.

Pie Filling:

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/2 cup sugar

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups whole milk

1 1/2 cups plain yogurt

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Whisk together cornstarch, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt in a 2-quart heavy saucepan, then gradually whisk in milk and then the yogurt. Bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking constantly. Let the mixture simmer for 2-3 minutes. the mixture will thicken quite a bit. Remove from heat and whisk in the chocolate pieces and vanilla until smooth.

Pour filling into the cooled crust and chill. Cover the filling with wax paper or plastic wrap if you want to prevent a skin from forming. Let the pie chill for at least 2 hours before serving.

Just before serving top with a generous amount of sweetened whipped cream. I also drizzled a little chocolate sauce over the pie just as an extra garnish but its totally optional.

Enjoy!!

The last couple weeks…

Posted on May 19, 2013 by cara

*Warning*- This may get graphic.

My post today will not include any recipes or food pictures. Nor will there be any travel stories or tales of spring foraging.

There was a terrible accident at work that resulted in me spending two weeks in the hospital.

During dinner service, someone dropped a deep pan of braised meat that had just come from the oven, and all the liquid and meat spilled onto my legs. The result was deep 2nd and 3rd degree burns covering most of my left leg and half of my right. I was rushed to Mass General Hospital were I spent two weeks undergoing severe burn treatment and full skin grafts over all of the burn sites. The pain I have been through in the last couple weeks has been incredible. I’m not even sure where to begin in describing it.

A friend of mine was saying the other day how she just keep thinking “You went to work one day and didn’t make it home.” It is still mind-blowing to me that even as I arrived in the emergency room I thought I would be in and out. I thought the doctors would put some cream on me, wrap my legs and send me home. Instead my burns were monitored for 4 days because apparently burns need to mature before you can tell how bad they are. Then I was informed I would need full skin grafts over all of the burn and that they would take the skin from somewhere else on my body to cover the burn sites. They also gave me the option of using pig skin, which as a chef was compelling for a moment. Oh how that would have changed the meaning of “You are what you eat”.

After the skin graft, I was ordered strict bed rest for 7 days. I spent 7 days laying in a hospital bed, after the 5 days I had already spent in the hospital mind you. I’m not sure if any of you have spent any amount of time laying in a hospital bed but its pretty miserable. I think one of the few things that saved me was the food that was brought in for me by my friends. So at least I can say that I didn’t have to live on hospital food for 2 weeks! Also during this time and throughout my entire stay in the hospital my burns were treated with a silver nitrate solution that was arguably the worst part of the whole process. Every day, twice a day, a nurse would come in a soak my burns and bandages with this nitrate solution that when applied felt as though they were burning me all over again.

I was finally released from the hospital last Tuesday. I am still working on being able to walk. It is very difficult as both my ankles were completely grafted. From my feet to my upper thighs is a patchwork of skin, colors and textures and most of both legs are numb. When I put my feet on the ground for any length of time my feet and ankles double in size. There are still surgical staples in the grafts that pull every time I walk. But I am trying to stay grateful that someday I will walk normal again. I know that there are people who go through worse than this.

I took photos of my legs throughout the whole experience. From the first night in the ER until a few days ago, I have been tracking the progress of recovery through pictures. But I have to say that the physical recovery is much different than the mental recovery. While is was in the hospital my mind went to some pretty dark places. I felt a lot of anger, resentment and hopelessness. Even now I am having a hard time getting over it. Even though every day is better than the last as far as my physical recovery goes. I think it may take awhile to recover from the trauma mentally. My biggest lesson in this is forgiveness. When all this was at the hand of another how do you learn to forgive even if it was a complete accident? Even when I know in my heart this was not done on purpose, it was a true accident in every sense of the word. It’s something that I will continue to work on. Along with walking and daily bandage changes.

One day at a time….

I can finally tell you about Italy

Posted on April 15, 2013 by cara

I think I may have a moment to finally tell you about my recent trip to Italy. I don’t like to wait this long in between posts but life has been a bit hectic. But it looks as though I have a moment to finally share with you some of the food and scenery of Puglia, Italy.

Although Italian food is known for its simplicity it in no way means it’s boring. I happened to be in Pulgia at the right time as well, meaning that Spring had sprung and there was an abundance of all that Spring has to offer. Artichokes, wild Chicories, Mushrooms, spring onions, fresh herbs…

Here are a few pictures from the trip…

Fried dough with herbs

“Trulli” houses

Lunch!

Cardoncelli Muchrooms

During one the dinners we had a dish that included Black Chickpeas. Everyone loved them and it quickly became one of the things I was asked the most about. What are they? How are they different than a regular chickpea? Do they cook differently?

A Black Chickpea is just a different variety of the chickpea, basically the same. Wikipedia says that they are ONLY grown in Puglia which in this day and age is no longer the case. I actually have a buddy in California that grows them, that is where the black chickpeas that I will show you today came from. The difference between the black chickpea and a regular chickpea is the cooking time. Black chickpeas require longer soaking, if cooking dried chickpeas, and they take a little longer to cook. The texter of the skin is a little tougher as well. They never seem to become quite as creamy as the traditional variety.

The black chickpeas don’t make a great hummus, in fact I would stay away from using them for hummus. Instead use them in salads or throw them into pasta which is so Puglia.

I made a super quick salad with them this weekend. This recipe couldn’t be any easier.

Black Chickpea and Artichoke salad

1 can artichoke hearts, chopped

1 tomato, diced

1 tbsp chopped garlic

1 cup black chickpeas, soaked overnight

1 bunch basil chopped

Juice of one lemon

1 tsp red chili flake, optional

After soaking the black chickpeas overnight, place in a stock pot with a gallon of water. They will absorb a lot of this water and you have to cook them for awhile and some of the water will evaporate off. Simmer until the chickpeas are tender in the middle. The skins may seem to appear al dente but the inside should be cooked through.

While the chickpeas are cooking, gently cook the garlic in 2 tbsp of olive oil just to cook a bit of the rawness out, 4-5 minutes.

In a large bowl combine all the ingredients. Once the chickpeas are cooked add them into the salad and season with salt and black pepper to taste.

Ricotta with candied celery

Ricotta pie…so freaking good!

The one thing that I couldn’t get enough of, and believe me there was plenty, was the ricotta. I don’t think that I have ever eaten that much ricotta in such a small amount of time in my life. It was in everything. Appetizers, entrees, dessert, you name it! Everywhere!

One of the ways I realized I love ricotta is stuffed into a vegetable. It kinda makes it seem a bit more healthy that you are eating vegetables instead of pasta with your ricotta….Right? Let me keep my fantasy please.

So here is another simple recipe that involves another traditional Puglia combination, eggplant and mint. I know it sounds middle eastern. It is but it is also southern Italian. The spice route would sometimes involve stops in Puglia while spice traders traveled through the Mediterranean Sea and for some reason although the spices didn’t stick so much, eggplant and mint did.

Eggplant and Ricotta Involtini with Mint

2 small eggplant

2 cup good quality Ricotta

1 bunch mint

Lots of Olive oil

Slice the eggplant length wise into thin strips, slicing through the top of the eggplant to the bottom. Arrange the slices on baking sheets and drizzle with a good amount of olive oil.

Arrange eggplant slices on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil and season with salt.

Bake them in a 350 degree oven until light brown on both sides.

Set eggplant aside to cool until ready to fill.

When you are ready to fill the eggplant, lay the slices out on a cutting board. PLace one leaf of fresh mint and a tbsp of ricotta roll the eggplant loosely from one end to the other.

Arrange on a platter and garnish with fresh mint and black pepper.

Mastic Maple Pudding with Fresh Orange

Posted on March 10, 2013 by cara

Mastic? Yes Mastic. What the heck is Mastic?

I am going to have Wikipedia tell you about it because it really says it best. So here is what Wikipedia has to say about Mastic:

“Mastic (Greek: Μαστίχα) is a resin obtained from the mastic tree (Pistacia lentiscus). In pharmacies and nature shops, it is called “arabic gum” (not to be confused with gum arabic) and “Yemen gum“. In Greece, it is known as the “tears ofChios,” being traditionally produced on that Greek island, and, like other natural resins, is produced in “tears” or droplets. Originally liquid, it is sun dried into drops of hard brittle translucent resin. When chewed, the resin softens and becomes a bright white and opaque gum. The flavor is bitter at first, but after chewing, it releases a refreshing, slightly piney or cedar flavor. In Turkey, mastic is widely used in desserts such as Turkish delight and dondurma; in puddings such as sütlaç, salep, and tavuk göğsü mamelika, and in soft drinks. It is also in Turkish coffee on the Aegean coast. In the Maghreb countries, mastic is used mainly for cakes, sweets, and pastries and as a stabilizer in meringue and nougat. In Greece, mastic is used in mastic liqueurs such as Mastichato; in a spoon sweet known as “vaníllia”; in beverages, chewing gum, sweets, desserts, and breads; and in cheese. It is also used to stabilize Turkish delight or mastic-gum ice cream. In desserts, as an ingredient of jam or cakes, mastic replaces cornstarch and gelatin.”

Ok. So now that we know a little about Mastic where can you get it? If you live in the Boston area you can get it from Sevan Bakery in Watertown. If you do not live in Boston you can get it online or if you have a middle eastern bakery in your town you can try there.

I added Maple syrup to this recipe because it’s sugaring season here in New England. I myself am not sugaring this year, don’t get me started about that I am a bit resentful, but I am still trying to get in to the spirit of the season. Also I think that the flavor of mastic which can be a bit piney goes well with the flavor of maple syrup. The addition of fresh orange makes this pudding into a lovely end of winter treat.

It is also a great end to a day of snow hiking, which is what I spend the day doing yesterday. With my knee high Muck Boots, my husband and our friend Noah, we hiked a long 6 mile loop around the Pisgah State Park in Winchester, NH. With no snow shoes and snow sometimes up to our knees we were exhausted by the time we got back home. Since I was to tired to make this pudding last night upon our return I decided to make it today as a post hiking day snack.

Mastic Maple Pudding

Serves 8

4 cups milk

1 tbsp sugar

1/2 cup maple syrup

1/3 cup cornstarch

¼ teaspoon ground mastic

1 cup yogurt

Grind mastic grains with sugar with a mortar and pestle until it becomes a powder.

You will need to set a medium bowl in an ice bath for cooked pudding. Set aside.

Combine mastic, cornstarch and ½ cup of milk in a bowl whisk until smooth.

Put remaining 3 ½ cups milk and maple syrup in saucepan.

Bring milk to rolling boil, immediately pour in milk and mastic mixture, whisking constantly. Continue to whisk over medium heat until milk thickens.

Pour into bowl over ice bath; whisk until mixture cools. Add yogurt and whisk until smooth.

Pour into serving dishes to set. Cover each and refrigerate.

To serve: Top with orange segments.

Next week I will be in Italy, I am spending 10 days in Puglia and I am sure I will have lots to share with you!!

Until then here are a few pics from the hike yesterday. It really was a beauty of a day, 50 degrees out and blue skies! Awesome!!

A few Moroccan Inspired Recipes

Posted on February 28, 2013 by cara

Sunday night we invited a few friends over for dinner. Since I had been planning on sharing some recipes with you all, I thought this would be a perfect time to create a Moroccan themed meal. Also I was dying to try the preserved lemons that I started before my trip to Morocco, remember? Well they came out great!! Definitely a success. I wanted to tell you that while I was having some plain old canned soup for lunch one day, I added a little preserved lemon to it while I was heating it up and it was completely transformed!! Who knew you could jazz up canned soup with a little preserved lemon.

Anyway, the menu on Sunday was this:

Braised Brisket with Tagine spice, Sweet Potato Brown Butter and Preserved Lemon

Roasted Carrots with Harissa and Cinnamon Almonds

Cabbage Salad with Hot Peppers, Olives and Egg

Heirloom Beans in Tomato Ginger Sauce

It might sound like a daunting menu but most of the components were easy to prepare and just the addition of one of these dishes to your dinner plan will get you feeling a little Moroccan for the evening! Also most of these ingredients were from the Farmers Market this weekend. So all the veggies, eggs and the brisket were local.

For the Brisket:

I braised 7 pounds of Brisket for 8 people and only had a little left over. For the braise I placed the Brisket in a baking dish with about a cup of red wine, a diced up large onion, garlic and some Tagine spice that I got while I was in Morocco. Remember how I told you about the spice man who would custom mix spice blends for you? Well I used the blend that I got for this brisket.

This is the spice blend still wrapped in the newspaper I got it in.

To create the blend at home use this recipe.

Tagine spice

2 tablespoon ground ginger

2 tablespoon ground turmeric

2 tablespoon finely ground pepper

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 pinch Saffron

1 tablespoon ground cumin

Back to braising the Brisket…Cover the baking dish with foil and place in a 4oo degree oven for 3 and a half hours.

Like I mentioned I served the Brisket with a sweet potato brown butter, It is very easy to make but you do need a blender.

Sweet Potato Brown Butter

3 medium sweet potatoes

1/2 pound butter

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Salt to taste

Peel and dice the sweet potatoes. Boil in a medium pot until soft. Drain most of the water off but leave about a cup with the sweet potatoes. This will make it easier to blend when the time comes. Pour the potatoes and water into the blender.

Next in a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Cook until it starts to turn light brown. As soon as the butter is light brown pour into the blender a little at a time. Pouring it all in at once could cause it to overflow when the hot butter mixes with the water in the blender.

Add Cinnamon and salt to taste and blend until smooth and creamy.

Roasted Carrots with Harrisa

4 pounds carrots, peeled and cut into 2 inch pieces

1 tbsp Honey

1 tbsp cumin

2 tbsp chili flakes or Aleppo chili

1 tbsp ground coriander

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tbsp sherry vinegar or white wine vinegar

In a large bowl combine the honey, vinegar, oil and spices. Mix well. Add in the carrots and toss together until the carrots are well coated. Spread the carrots on a baking dish and roasted in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes are until tender. Top with Cinnamon Almonds ( recipe to follow) and Cilantro. Serve hot.

Cinnamon Almonds

2 cups slices almonds

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tbsp olive oil

Lightly coat the almonds with the olive oil and spread into a thin layer on a baking sheet. Toast in the oven for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. As soon as you take the almonds out of the oven, place them in a large bowl and mix with all the remaining ingredients. Mix thoroughly Let cool before serving.

Heirloom Beans with Tomato Ginger Sauce

6 cups cooked beans, I used some dried heirloom beans that I bought and the farmers market but white beans or pinto beans would work. If using dried beans soak them over night before cooking. Then cooking them in enough water to cover until tender.

1 can diced tomato

1/4 cup tomato paste

1 inch fresh ginger, minced

1 tbsp chopped garlic

1 tbsp dried ginger

1 tbsp cumin

1 tbsp paprika

1 large onion, diced

In a large pot, sweat the onions and garlic until the onions are translucent. Add the tomato paste and spices. Continue cooking for 2-3 minutes. Add the canned tomato plus a can worth of water. Let the mixture simmer for about 20 minutes. If the mixture becomes to dry add a bit more water. Add beans and mix thoroughly. Salt to taste. Serve hot and sprinkle with a bit of dried chili to garnish.

The only recipe that I didn’t include here is the Cabbage Salad. It was a very simple salad of shredded lightly sauteed cabbage, cilantro, chopped hot pickled peppers ( or you could use thinly sliced jalapenos) and red onion. I topped it with a few slices of hard boiled egg. The dressing was just a squeeze of lemon and salt to taste.

Also here are a few more pictures from Morocco to inspire your Moroccan feast! Enjoy!!

Beautiful Moroccan Pottery

Spices Legumes and Grains

Smoke from the meat grills settling in the Market. We had amazing Kefta here.

Back From Morocco…

Posted on February 13, 2013 by cara

I’m not sure where to begin…so I’ll just start writing.

Fishing boats in Essaouira

Morocco. What a mysterious place you are. A country that has mastered the art of hiding.

Someone said once as they were describing a Moroccan dish to me in which the bulk of the dish is covered with a thin layer of pasta, that everything in Morocco is hidden or covered. The food is covered, woman are covered (although not all of them now), the building are covered, all of which does add to the mystery of Morocco. But I can say that 10 days was not enough to uncover this mystery. We followed through with our plan to drive a big loop around the country but we didn’t realize how ambitious of a task that would be. Although we saw some really amazing landscapes and ate some very delicious food we never got a chance to rest and enjoy the scenery. This was a vacation I might remind you.

Atlas Mountains

Now a week later and after shaking off the stress of the trip and coming to terms with the culture shock that we experienced, all the good memories and images are surfacing. The smell of spices in the markets. The colors of the fabrics and textiles. The beautiful mosaics and architecture. The Djeema el Fina, a large outdoor market with food stalls that serve grilled meats, snails and fresh orange juice. Eating fresh caught fish is Essaouira from the grills that are set up next to the docks. Driving through the Altlas Mountains and have tea at the top of the pass while looking down the mountain at the valley we had just come from. Watching the sunset on the Straight of Gibraltar. Driving through small villages in the mountains that are hidden between blossoming almond trees.

We saw some truly amazing landscapes but I know everyone wants to hear about the food. I hate to admit it but although a love taking pictures I am horrible at remembering to take them. Our meal would be half way through and I would realize that I didn’t take any pictures. But I will tell you all about it anyway. We had all the usual suspects…Tagine, Shwarma, Couscous, Pastilla, snails, lots of different bread, grilled fish, Charmoula. I tried to do as much investigative work as I could concerning the Tagine. What was in them, how to cooked them, what spices to use. The basic spice blend for a Tagine consists of cinnamon, ginger, saffron, cumin and black pepper. Sometimes the addition of paprika and turmeric The ratio of these spices also varies depending on what you are cooking. For example whether it is meat, poultry, fish or vegetable tagine. I went to a few markets where there would be a man or woman sitting behind a large table covered with piles of spices and someone would walk up and ask for a spice blend. The spice person would custom make a blend depending on what the customer was cooking and their preference. What an amazing service!

The fish selection at the grills in Essaouira.

Chicken and Prune Tagine

One of my favorite meals while in Morocco was at a restaurant in Marrakech called Al Fassia. The kitchen is run by women and the food is beautifully presented and very fresh. My husband and I shared a variety of salads which were all plated in small dishes, you get about 15 of them. Some of the different salads were carrot and tangerine, cucumber and mint, marinated olives, stewed fava beans and roasted moroccan spiced beets. The star of the meal was a lamb leg that was slow cooked for 10 hours. We had to order it in advance and it was well worth it! The meat fell off the bone and the spices were so well balanced and subtle that we had a hard time figuring out what they were. Delicious!!

I am putting together some recipes for you and I have a budding plan for a moroccan goat roast in the near future. I promise that the next post will have recipes inspired by my trip and a few more pictures. Also I am putting together a route map to show where we went and how we got there for anyone that is interested.

This was such a grand trip and there is so much to share. Thank you for following along as a recount my adventure and thank you to everyone that wished me well on my journey.

Sunset on Larache, Morocco

Citrus Inspiration…Planning a trip to Morocco

Posted on January 23, 2013 by cara

Nothing really gets the creative juices flowing like planning a trip to Morocco. Did you catch the pun in there? Oh wait…did I mention this post is about citrus. Now you get it, “Juices”…”citrus”… ok ok I’ll keep my day job.

Anyway, tomorrow I am off to Morocco for 10 days. To satisfy both myself and my husband the trip is turning into a culinary/bird watching tour of the entire country. In our classic vacation style we are renting a car and driving through as much of the country as possible. Starting in Marrakech we will be traveling west to the Atlantic coast with stops in Essouira and Agadir, then back through the south-east and up along the high Atlas Mountains. then we head north for towns like Fes, Chefchaouen and Tangier. It will be an epic trip indeed.

So in preparation for this trip I have been reading every Moroccan cook book I can get my hands on. In every one of the books about Morocco there is a common theme…Citrus. In one book, The Flavors of Arabia, it says “Without mint and oranges, Moroccan cuisine would be unthinkable.” But it’s not just oranges, it’s lemons as well. In most Moroccan recipes you see the use of lemons preserved with salt.

Preserving lemons is one of the easiest preserving projects you can do. Recipes for preserved lemons are quite easy to come by. I use Meyer lemons because they are a bit sweeter and smaller than a regular lemon. You start by washing the lemons, use a scrub brush to really get them clean. Then stand the lemon stem end down on a cutting board and cut down into the lemon as though you were going to cut it in half, but stop about a quarter inch from the bottom. Then make a perpendicular cut again stopping before you get to the bottom.

Next pack the lemon with as much salt as you can and layer them into a mason jar. Squeeze them in nice and tight, pushing them down as you go so they release their juices. Its helpful to have a couple extra lemons handy just for juicing because once all the lemons are packed into the jar you want to pour enough lemon juice over the lemons to completely cover them. Screw the lid of the jar on tight and leave in a cool place for at least 3 weeks. That’s it!!!

Aside from preserved lemons, my other citrus obsession are CaraCara oranges. It’s not just our shared name that I find so appealing but the flavor of the oranges. A Caracara is a cross between a Washington Navel and a Brazilian Bahia Navel. They were first discovered in Venezuela at Hacienda Cara Cara. Most people claim that they are a cross between an orange and a grapefruit but that is actually incorrect except as a description of the flavor and their color which is similar to a red grapefruit.

Lately I have been eating the Caracaras as I would a regular orange, tossing the segmented fruit into salads or tossing pieces of the orange with cilantro and chili and spooning it over fish or chicken.

So tomorrow I am off and I am sure that when I get back I will have many stories and recipes to share with you and we can check in on the preserved lemons to see how they are coming along!

One more thing… I will leave you with a picture of some Wood ear mushrooms that I saw while I was bird watching in the park last weekend! What a fun winter find!

Smoked Meat Fest 2012

Posted on December 30, 2012 by cara

Some of you may have noticed, some of you even commented, some of you might have enjoyed the break. But, I’ll be honest, I fell off the blogging train for a bit. I am blaming winter for this. The lack of daylight and local produce and the constant desire to hibernate make it hard to find anything inspiring to write about.

And then it happened…THE GREATEST CHRISTMAS PRESENT EVER!!!!

Behold…

The Weber Smokey Mountain Smoker, a gift from my beloved husband.

A truly inspirational piece of equipment. My husband and I had the luxury of a few days off together before christmas and what ensued was “Smoked Meat Fest 2012″. In the course of a few days we smoked 2 chickens, a brisket, country style pork ribs and a rabbit. Our technique is still a work in progress as we are both fairly new to smoking meats. But our favorite out of all the meats we smoked was the very first chicken. We used the Bourbon Glaze recipe from “Charcuterie” by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn. We smoked the chicken at 225 degrees for two and a half hours. Which I think we should have maybe cut a few minutes off of that but the chicken came out moist and delicious due to the life changing glaze that we applied during the smoking process.

Here is the recipe for the glaze, though the amounts are a bit different from the recipe in the book. This recipe is what i did and it came out amazing.

Bourbon Glaze

A 5th of Bourbon or Whiskey ( we just used Jim Beam and it was great)

1/2 cup maple syrup

1/2 cup brown sugar

Combine all the ingredients in a heavy bottomed pot and bring to a simmer. reduce the heat and continue to simmer until the glaze has reduced to about 1 cup and a half.

Set aside to cool. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Aside from the smoker the other killer present that I received was a new camera from my grandfather-in-law, a wonderfully generous man!

So with the new camera in hand and my husband and our smoker by my side I hope to bring you more posts in the coming months. And at the end of January we are going to Morocco! I am sure to have some inspirational moments to share with you when we return!

Happy New Year!!!

Salted Caramel Black Cocoa Brownies

Posted on November 4, 2012 by cara

I am not a baker. Sometimes I get in the mood to bake but it is not very often and it is for two reasons. One: I generally don’t have time to bake, and two: I don’t like to keep sweets in the house because I will eat all of them. But I have a bag of black cocoa that I have been really excited to use and my first thought was of course brownies. I also wanted to make something that my husband would be excited about so that maybe he would eat the majority and I wouldn’t be tempted to eat and entire tray of brownies myself ( this may or may not have happened a couple times in the past). Not that straight up brownies aren’t exciting but I wanted a special twist. My husband LOVES salted caramel so why not Salted Caramel Brownies. Perfect!

The other exciting thing about these brownies is that I am using Black Salt from the Rio Negro in Guatemala. It was quite a journey to get this salt back into the states, I lost most of is at customs but managed to talk the customs guy into letting me keep a small piece of the salt. Who knew salt was such a controversial souvenir? Not this girl. My husband and I spend our vacation last year driving around Guatemala in a rented car. We heard about the black salt from a woman we met in the town of Panajachel on Lake Atitlan in Guatemala. We were asking this woman about the best routes to take along the way and she told us of a small town along the Rio Negro that was well known in Guatemala for it’s Black Salt. After many days of driving we came to this so called black salt town. I expected to see signs and street vendors with piles of black salt ready for purchase. No such luck. We spotted a small outdoor farmers market and decided to look there. We walked the small row of vendors and finally spotted one guy selling bags and rocks of the infamous salt. I bought two 1# bags and a large rock. But like I said only the rock made it back to the states.

Not being a baker the scary part of this brownie recipe was making the caramel. All the seasoned bakers out there will laugh when I say how excited I was that I actually made caramel. All the times I have tried to make it in the past never worked and I would end up with pots full of a chunky crystallized sugar mess.
The first batch I made did over caramelize a bit but luckily my husband loves burnt caramel. There is a local ice shop that makes a burnt caramel ice cream that he loves. So I tried again and the second batch came out perfect. Hooray!

We spent the day yesterday hiking a 5 mile loop around Crane Beach outside of Ipswich, Ma. We came home made Pasta Putanesca for dinner and for dessert we had salted carmel brownies with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. What a perfect day!

Salted Caramel Black Cocoa Brownies

2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
2/3 cup black cocoa powder
1/3 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
2 tspn baking powder
1 tspn salt
4 eggs
2/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 tspn vanilla extract
Homemade Caramel
Sea salt

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl combine the sugar, flour, cocoa powders, baking powder and salt. stir to combine.

In another bowl combine the eggs, butter and vanilla. Slowly add the dry mix to the egg mixture. The batter will become very thick and hard to stir but keep at it.

Put the batter in a greased 8×8 baking dish and press down with a spoon or your hands in to an even layer. Bake for 30-40 minutes. A cake tester should come out with a few crumbs on it but not completely clean.

Set on a rack and let cool for one hour.

When the brownies are cool, cut desired sized piece and top with caramel and a sprinkle of Sea salt.

Caramel Sauce

1 cup sugar

6 Tbsp butter

2/3 cup Heavy cream

In a medium saucepan, heat the sugar over medium-high heat, whisking as the sugar begins to melt.If the sugar get a little clumpy its ok just keep whisking and the sugar will eventually melt.

Continue to cook the sugar until it reaches a medium amber color. Add the butter and whisk until it is completely incorporated into the sugar.

Remove the pan from the heat and pour in the heavy cream slowly. Continue to whisk until it forms a smooth sauce. Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes before pouring on the brownies.

The longer the caramel sits the more it will develop a creamy texture. I found that letting the caramel sit overnight allowed it to become a bit thicker and creamier.

The leftover sauce can be stored, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Food, Foraging and Farms