Coconut & Maple Macaroons

Macaroons are the hottest thing in high-end pastry and chocolate shops right now … but when you think “macaroon,” you’re probably thinking of something different. Although classic French macaroons consist of chocolate cream sandwiched between two disks of almond meringue, when the concept was translated to the American dessert lexicon, the recipe changed. Drastically.

Each kind of macaroon has its own charm, and both are irrefutably delightful. The French ganache-and-meringue version is crunchy and creamy at the same time; the American version is based on coconut and is charmingly chewy. Odds are that each will strike your fancy at a different time. When you want to make a quick and easy dessert, for example, you’ll probably have a hankering for the American macaroon. It requires zero heating of any kind and can be made in about two minutes. The French version is considerably more involved. While “project”-style desserts are ideal if you have some time on your hands and curiosity in your nature, sometimes a make-it-in-fewer-than-five-minutes dessert is exactly what you’re looking for.

Coconut & Maple Macaroons
Makes 12 macaroons. Recipe can easily be doubled or tripled.

1/2 cup + 1 T. unsweetened coconut flakes
3 T. unsweetened cocoa powder, plus extra for dusting
2 T. maple syrup
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Sprinkle some cocoa powder on a large plate and have another empty clean plate nearby. Combine all ingredients in a small bowl, mixing well. Use your fingertips to roughly pinch the mixture into 12 equal balls, then roll each ball into a smooth ball on the dry, clean palms of your hands. (Your fingertips will be sticky from having mixed everything together.) Place the macaroons on the clean plate as you go. Wash and dry your hands thoroughly — the idea is to ensure that the macaroons stick to themselves rather than your hands — and then roll each macaroon in the cocoa powder to finish. Alternatively, roll in almond flour or finely ground pistachios or any other finely ground nut.

Macaroons can be refrigerated for up to a week. They’ll dry out slightly and actually improve in texture upon standing. (Although I like them freshly made, too.)

Enjoy!

Chive & Spinach Pesto

It’s not just the grass and tulips that are in full bloom: the chives are growing like gangbusters, too. Seeing all of those tall-but-still-tender chives put me in a pesto kind of mood. (Green + herb = pesto in my mind.) It’s still a bit too chilly for basil, though, so I opted to use chives and spinach instead. Not only is spinach another early-growing tasty edible, its fresh, sweet flavor offsets the garlicky nature of the chives.

If you’d like to make a raw, spicy version of this pesto, use baby spinach and simply toss everything in a food processor. I prefer a more mellow taste, so I opted to steam the spinach and then wring it out before adding it. (You don’t want watery pesto!) I also adore the nutty, warm flavor of sautéed garlic. Either way, you’ll have a plateful of spring flavors.

Chive & Spinach Pesto
Serves 2. Recipe can easily be doubled or tripled.

2 servings whole-grain pasta of your choice (I used Tinkyada’s brown rice fettucini; be sure to get gluten-free pasta if you’re making a gluten-free dish!)
8 oz. baby or curly spinach (use baby if you’re making an all-raw pesto)
Garlic (optional)
Chives (if your chives are fresh and strong-flavored, start by only using about three individual chives; taste your pesto before adding more so as not to over-chive it)
Handful of pine nuts OR sliced almonds

Prepare pasta according to package directions. If you’re making raw pesto, toss remaining ingredients in a food processor — perhaps skipping the garlic altogether since chives are potent all on their own — and blend until smooth, drizzling in a bit of extra-virgin olive oil and a shake of sea salt before doing the final blending.

If you’re making a more mellow pesto, steam the spinach for 3 minutes or until wilted. Drain well, pressing the spinach into the side of the colander with the back of a large spoon to really get the water out. While the spinach is draining, chop the garlic and sautée it in a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil over medium-low heat for 3 minutes or until just starting to turn golden brown.

Scoop the garlic into a food processor, add drained spinach and chives, and blend. Add pine nuts and blend again, scraping down the sides of the processor. Drizzle in a little more oil if you’d like a richer taste and smoother consistency. Salt to taste. (If you’re serving the pesto with cheese or something salty, you might want to skip salting the pesto.) Serve with cooked noodles, veggies, sautéed chicken, or as a dip for crudites or bread, garnishing with additional pine nuts if you like.

Since this pesto is made with chives and spinach rather than basil, it will keep longer in the fridge (basil oxidizes and turns black very quickly; chives and spinach do not). Leftover pesto can be kept for 4 days and is great for everything from flavoring soups — just stir in a spoonful! — to garnishing roasted veggies.

Enjoy!

Moroccan Salsa

From ras-el-hanout to harissa to preserved lemons, Moroccan cuisine features some of the most stunning flavors on the planet. Sadly, there’s no Moroccan restaurant in my neck of the woods, but it’s easy to include some signature North African inspiration when you’re in your own kitchen. To make this batch of salsa, I blended sautéed peppers and onions with harissa, sweet paprika, and cilantro to make a chunky tomato-based salsa that’s a fusion of Mexican and Moroccan ingredients.

Since I am an unabashed wimp when it comes to hot sauces, I only added a tiny spoonful of harissa to my salsa. If you embrace all things hot and spicy, by all means add however much harissa suits your taste buds. (Harissa is a fiery-hot paste made of hot chiles complemented by a hint of garlic, coriander, and various spices.) You can find harissa in the “ethnic foods section” at well-stocked mainstream grocery stores or in stores specializing in North African goods. Or you can use your favorite hot-chili sauce in its place.

Once you’ve whipped up your as-hot-as-you-want-it salsa, you can serve it with chips or veggies for dipping, you can use it to season soup and chili, or you can use it as a marinade for chicken, beef, or seafood. I like to ladle some of the salsa over sheep’s-milk feta cheese and eat it straight out of the bowl. It also makes a darned refreshing (and somewhat zingy) chilled gazpacho. Or toss it with cooked pasta for an easy last-minute meal.

Moroccan Salsa

1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
28 oz. canned diced tomatoes (or the equivalent of fresh chopped tomatoes)
1 heaping tsp. sweet paprika
Dab (or more) of harissa OR your favorite chili sauce
Bunch of fresh cilantro, rinsed well, damaged leaves removed, stems chopped off at the base

Sautée onions and pepper in a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil over medium heat for 5 minutes or until onion is soft and nearly translucent. Stir in garlic, reduce heat to medium-low, and continue to cook for another 3 minutes or until garlic is just starting to turn golden brown. Add the tomatoes, paprika, and harissa and stir well. Simmer over low heat for about 10 minutes to allow the flavors to marry.

Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes. Pour into food processor and add cilantro. Blend until you have a chunky-but-still-well-blended salsa. If you like, add a few dashes of sea salt to taste. You can also add more harissa if you want more tingle on the tongue. Leftover salsa can be refrigerated for up to 5 days.

Enjoy!

Cilantro-Marinara Pasta

Conceptually speaking, one of my favorite things to do for dinner is to embellish something I already have. Creative embellishing is an ideal way to translate leftovers into new dishes. (Although there’s a lot to be said for the whole idea of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” — i.e., if you loved a dish the first time around, by all means skip the embellishing and enjoy it just as it is.) Creative embellishing is also a great way to use what you’ve got in your fridge rather than ignoring it and then wind up throwing it away a week later.

Incidentally, here’s a hot tip: if grocery economics seem complicated and not worth figuring out, you could always attach what you spend in cold hard cash to each item in your fridge for a week and then see how much $$ you’re literally throwing away on a weekly basis. I guarantee that’ll make you an even bigger fan of re-enjoying and embellishing your meals!

In this case, I had a bunch of cilantro I had initially purchased to make Indian recipes. Half of the bunch had been happily eaten; half of it was still sitting pretty in my fridge. Seeing as I also had some leftover marinara on hand, too, I figured I would put the two of them together and toss them with pasta for a quick meal. Marinara is such an easy-going sauce that it pairs well with almost any fresh herb, so you could use this idea to enjoy whatever kind of herb you might have on hand.

Cilantro-Marinara Pasta

Leftover marinara sauce (home-made or store-bought)
Fresh cilantro, basil, or any other leafy herb
Whole-grain pasta (make sure to get gluten-free pasta if that’s what you’re aiming for)

Cook the pasta according to package directions. While it’s simmering, rinse and then chop/mince the herb (or leave it whole). Although my favorite fresh herbs are cilantro and basil, this would also be nice with dill, oregano, or even mint.

While pasta is draining, heat the marinara in the pot the pasta was in for a minute or two, stirring often, until the sauce has warmed through. Stir in pasta and herb(s), starting with just a handful of herb and adding more to taste if you’d like.

Enjoy!

Curried Corn & Chickpeas

I used to think the term “curry” meant a specific blend of spices used in a particular way. That turned out to be semi-true. “Curry,” an Indian chef told me a few years back, “simply means ‘sauce.’ A curry can be what you make it.”

The way we think of “curry,” then, is kind of like the way we think of “salsa.” To us, salsas are chopped tomatoes, onions, garlic, cilantro, and peppers mixed with lime or lemon juice; to someone from Mexico or elsewhere in Latin America, a salsa is a sauce. It might be red (the one we think of), green (salsa verde), even brown (mole). So while your family might have a specific way they make their favorite curried dish — which is what your aunt might mean when she says “curry” — everyone has their own version and vision of curry. You can blend your own curry powder, or you can opt for a pre-blended mix.

* A note for the culinarily curious: while curry powder is a blend of dried spices, there is also an herb called a curry leaf. Indian chefs often include curry leaves in simmered curried dishes the way American chefs use bay leaves in our traditional favorites: place one or two dried leaves in the dish while it’s cooking to impart flavor, then pull out the leaves before serving the dish. I’ve never been fortunate enough to find curry leaves Stateside, but perhaps I haven’t looked hard enough. If you do come across curry leaves, feel free to simmer one into this recipe to add extra flavor.

Curried Corn & Chickpeas
Serves two very hearty portions or four medium ones. If you add chicken and rice, this easily makes dinner for four.

4 carrots, peeled and cut into thin rounds
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
15 oz. canned diced tomatoes
15 oz. canned chickpeas (I prefer Eden since they’re in BPA-free cans and are seasoned with sea salt and a bit of seaweed)
1 T. curry powder
2 cups frozen corn OR 2 ears corn simmered for 3 minutes

Melt a pat of ghee or butter in a large skillet over medium heat and add the carrots and onions. Sautée for 5 minutes or until the onions are starting to turn translucent. Add garlic and continue to cook, stirring often, for another 3 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, chickpeas, (I include the water from the chickpeas, too, since I like the way Eden flavors their chickpeas and other canned beans), and curry powder.

Reduce heat to medium-low and let the curry simmer gently for 20 minutes, reducing heat to low if the curry boils. If you’re using fresh corn rather than frozen, now’s the time to simmer those ears for 3 minutes, then let cool enough to handle before slicing off the kernels and discarding the cobs.

Stir in the corn. If you’re using frozen corn, keep simmering for another 5 minutes; if you’re using freshly cooked corn or completely thawed corn, just simmer for another minute or two. (By not overcooking your corn, you’ll wind up with refreshingly crunchy kernels rather than mushy ones.)

Serve immediately. If you’d like, serve over a bed of brown rice and/or with sliced chicken sautéed in butter and curry powder.

Enjoy!

Yuca Tossed with Cilantro-Cashew Pesto

You say pa-tay-to, I say pa-tah-to…or I say yuca. Or maybe ñame or taro or edo or any of the  many other tuber vegetables there are out there. (Although I would assume that Peruvians — who were the world’s original potato growers — would also say patata since they enjoy over 3,000 varieties of them.) But while potatoes are wonderful, other tubers are, too, and it’s always fun to try something new.

However, many of our more exotic tubers are shipped across long distances, so it can be hard to find a fresh taro or ñame. When I did come across a nice yuca at farmer’s market, I was thrilled. And when I got it home, I decided to keep the Latino flair going by tossing the cooked yuca with a Mexican-inspired version on the classic Italian pesto. Although pine nuts are popular in Mexico, too (they’re pignoli in Italy and piñones in Mexico), I went with cashews, which are more widespread south of the border than pine nuts tend to be.

When shopping for unusual tubers, make sure you choose ones that are unblemished and firm. Stay away from the cracked tubers! And double-check them for signs of whitish-bluish mold, too. Fresh tubers shouldn’t have any scent; if they do have a faint sweet/vinegar scent, that’s the mold you’re whiffing. Should you pick unwisely, try your best to trim away the dried-out and blemished parts — there might be enough left to still use.

Yuca (or Potatoes) Tossed with Cilantro-Cashew Pesto
This makes enough for a side dish for 4 or a very filling meal for 2.

1 lb. yuca or potatoes
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 large bunch cilantro, chopped off just above the band holding the bunch together (discard the bottom stems)
Handful of cashews (or more if you’d like your pesto to be particularly nutty)
Sea salt (optional)

Prep the yuca by cutting away the rough outer skin. You can be generous with how much you cut away since you don’t want to use the flesh immediately underneath the skin, either, not unless you get an astoundingly fresh yuca. Odds are that you’ll see white threads running through the flesh just below the skin. Trim those away, too. (If you’re using potatoes, you can leave the skins on.) Get a medium pot of water boiling.

Cut yuca (or potato) into 1″ chunks. Drop into the water, reduce heat to medium-high, and let simmer for 10 minutes. Immediately drain.

While the yuca is simmering, sautée the garlic in a splash of extra-virgin olive oil over medium-low heat for 4 minutes or until garlic is soft and fragrant but not brown and burnt. Put the sautéed garlic into a food processor and add the cilantro and cashews. Process until smooth, adding a drizzle more oil or a splash of water if necessary. Salt to taste.

Toss cooked yuca with pesto and serve. Since cilantro is hardier than basil, pesto made with cilantro tends to keep better than the traditional basil-laden pesto. Any leftover pesto will probably still be green the next day. (The basil-based version turns black within a matter of minutes. Still tastes great, though!)

Enjoy!

Cilantro Hummus

One thing I always have in my pantry: chickpeas. One thing I always have in my refrigerator: tahini. Why? Because hummus is my go-to staple, no matter if I need a last-minute appetizer, a dish to take to a party, or a quick dinner. You just can’t go wrong with hummus. (I omitted garlic and lemon from my pantry/fridge list because those are two ingredients I have on hand no matter what — don’t need to remember to stock those indispensable items!)

Aside from gorgeous flavor and surprising heartiness, another key attraction of hummus is its readiness to be customized. You can blend in anything from herbs to cooked veggies and other beans/legumes. (How about blending in some cooked lentils and white kidney beans for a three-bean dip?) You can also spice hummus to suit your taste buds: add a dash of cayenne if you’re a fan of hot & spicy, add chili powder for a south-of-the-border tinge to your Mediterranean vibe, or sprinkle on some sumac for authentic tang and color.

For this batch, I decided to throw in the bunch of cilantro I had in my fridge that I needed to use. Not only did the hummus turn out to be a beautiful color, the cilantro suited the chickpeas (and everything else) perfectly. I think all my hummuses might be green from now on!

Cilantro Hummus

1 sizeable bunch cilantro
15 oz. can of chickpeas (Eden is my favorite), drained but liquid reserved
4 cloves garlic, chopped and sautéed in extra-virgin olive oil for 4 minutes over medium-low heat or until garlic is fragrant and softened
Juice of 1/4 to 1/2 lemon (some lemons yield a lot more juice than others!)
1 T. tahini
1/2 to 1 tsp. cumin (I love cumin, so I use a hearty teaspoon)

Rinse the cilantro very well — dirt loves to nestle into those edged frilly leaves! — and cut off the bunch right above where the stems are tied together, going a bit higher if the bottom leaves are yellowed. You want the nice fresh green stuff. Put the cilantro tops (stems and all) into a food processor and add the remaining ingredients. Process until somewhat smooth, then pour in a bit of the reserved bean liquid and process again. Add more liquid if necessary, tasting the hummus as soon as it gets fairly smooth to see if you want to add a bit more lemon juice.

You could take this same idea and make your hummus with basil rather than cilantro, or you could even throw in some mint for a change of pace. Herbs + hummus = delicious!

Serve immediately with crackers, chips, flatbread, veggies, pasta, chicken, lamb…you name it. Or you can keep the hummus in the refrigerator for up to a week to enjoy as a quick snack or easy meal.

Enjoy!

DIY Herbed Cheese

‘Tis the season for fresh herbs! Whether you grow them or buy them, herbs are a quick and easy way to add pizzazz to your summer dishes. Just snip the leaves with a pair of kitchen shears or mince them with a sharp knife — you generally want to avoid using the stems since they can be woody and tough — and add your fragrant flavors to sauces, dressings, salads, and dips.  Or you can add them to various dairy products to make intensely herbed butters and cheeses.  You can buy pre-herbed versions, sure, but the pre-herbed stuff can’t compare to one that’s made fresh on the spot.  Besides, you might want minted butter for your simmered carrots or basiled cream for your alfredo dishes, and good luck finding those options on the shelf! But DIY herbing knows no boundaries.

For my herbed treat, I chose to snip off some fresh chives, dill, and summer savory to stir into my creamy goat cheese.  You could choose that combination, too, or you might want to blend minced rosemary, oregano, and basil into softened butter.  Or perhaps simmer some whole milk or cream with lavender for 10 minutes, then strain out the lavender and use the herbed milk or cream in tea, with fruit, or in baked goods.  Which herbs you use in what doesn’t really matter — the only trick is to make sure that the herbs are minced (unless you’re using them as a steeping flavor to be removed) and that whatever you’re putting the herbs in is soft/liquid enough to accept them.

And if the added flavor weren’t enough of an incentive, ultra-fresh herbs are also ultra-high in micronutrients.  We’re talking antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, even compounds that have antibacterial and antiviral properties.  And did you know that basil and mint are especially high in those much-sought-after omega 3 fats?  Talk about even more of a reason to enjoy pesto!*  So if you haven’t planted your garden yet, put some herbs into your pots, or if you’re not much of a gardener, check out the fresh herb section of your local market.

Enjoy!

* Assuming that the pesto is also made with extra-virgin olive oil and fresh pine nuts; refined oil like canola oil, soybean oil, and anything-except-extra-virgin olive oil won’t confer the same benefits that extra-virgin olive oil will.  Fresh pine nuts are also a much better bet than old ones that have gone rancid and are starting to taste bitter and “off” rather than creamy and a little sweet.

Indian-Spiced Popcorn

As far as whole-grain snacks go, you can’t beat freshly popped popcorn.  But I’m not talking about chemical-drenched “buttery” microwave popcorn — I’m talking about organic plain popcorn you pop yourself and flavor any which way you’d like.  You can stick with the classic butter approach, or you can go with whatever’s on your mind and in your pantry.  I’m talking using spices, nuts, cheeses, fresh herbs, maybe even honey … popcorn can be made a million different ways.  My #1 go-to easy favorite is drizzling the popped corn with extra-virgin olive oil and dusting it with sea salt and berbere or chili powder.  A hint of cayenne pepper and a dusting of finely grated Parmesan is another sure-fire winner.  For dessert popcorn, I swap the oil for honey and the savory spices for cinnamon.

Lately, though, I’ve started adding fresh herbs and freshly squeezed citrus juice to my popcorn.  Both of those ingredients give the crunchy kernels an amazing amount of zing; lime juice is a particularly welcome ingredient.  For this batch of popcorn, I opted to add some Indian spices directly to the cooking fat.  That way, the heat expands the flavor of the spices and makes them even more savory.

Indian-Spiced Popcorn

1 T. coconut oil OR ghee
2 tsp. curry powder
1/3 cup raw, plain popcorn (preferably organic)
Lime juice from 1/2 a lime (or more if you’d like more tartness)
Fresh cilantro, minced (I like a lot of cilantro, but you may prefer just a hint)
Roasted peanuts, finely chopped (again, I like peanuts a lot, but you may want to just scatter a small handful over the popcorn)
Sea salt to taste (if the peanuts are salted, you won’t need much additional salt)

Place the oil in a large pot that has a tight-fitting lid. Heat over medium-low heat for 1 minute before adding curry powder and popcorn kernels. Place lid on pot and let kernels swell and pop, shaking pot often while holding the lid down tightly. Kernels will take about 5 minutes or so to fully pop; you’ll hear the furious sound of the kernels hitting the underside of the lid as they turn inside-out. When the barrage of sound fades to a tiny, occasional pop, spill the popped kernels into a large mixing bowl.*

Drizzle lime juice over popcorn. Toss popcorn with cilantro, peanuts, and a dash of salt. Taste to see if you’d like to add more salt (or lime juice or cilantro or peanuts) and toss one more time. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

* Note: if you have a popcorn popper, by all means use that instead.  I just find that I’m inclined towards keeping everything as simple as possible and using basic kitchen tools for a lot of different purposes (rather than having single-purpose items like popcorn poppers, rice steamers, etc.).

Lavender & Mint Herbal Bouquet

Herbal bouquets are a great way to dress up your windowsills and your meals.  (Beverages, too!)  Most herbs are sturdy plants that will last a week or more in a vase, especially if you refresh them with cool water every day.  And the best part about having herbs close at hand is that you’re more likely to use them: a few fresh mint leaves in your tea, a sprig of thyme tucked into your chicken and pasta, some fresh lavender sprinkled over your salad.  You can make bouquets out of herbs you cut from your garden or fresh herbs that you buy at the store or farmer’s market.

As cooler days approach, you can keep the indoor herbs tradition going by transplanting some outside herbs into a pot and placing them in a warm and sunny spot inside.  (But be careful not to put them right next to a heat vent, because too much hot air will dry them out.)  Indoor herbs will add natural fragrance to whatever room they’re in.  Some of them — sage and chives come to mind — are so powerfully pungent that you may actually want to leave them outside.  If your formerly outdoor plants don’t take kindly to being shuttled inside, try growing new plants from seeds.  As long as you give them nutritious, well-drained soil, they ought to sprout within 7 to 10 days.

In the meantime, enjoy your fresh-cut herbal bouquets!

Mint & Lemon Verbena Tea

Now that herb gardens are in full swing and so is the hot weather, take advantage of both!  Most leafy green herbs make a refreshing herbal “tea.”  (I say “tea” because true teas by definition contain leaves from the tea plant, camellia sinensis.  If it doesn’t have tea in it, it can’t really be tea…but by this point, we’ve gotten used to calling anything that’s leafy, green, and steeped “tea,” so I’ll just go ahead and say tea.  For the record, though, non-tea steeped beverages are infusions.)

You can make fresh herbal teas the same way you’d make regular bagged tea: pour boiling or almost-boiling water over the leaves and let them steep.  I like to let mine steep for at least 10 minutes before I add ice cubes and make the hot tea into a refreshing chilled tea.  I also like to crush the leaves with my fingers before I pour water over them — that way, they’ll release more of their flavors.

Aside from the joy of harvesting your own food from your own garden or windowsill, another big bonus of making herbal teas is that they’re caffeine-free.  (The tea plant naturally contains caffeine, but seeing as you’re not using actual tea plant leaves…)  And if you’re a big caffeine fan and a tea purist, you could combine your fresh herbs with bagged green tea leaves and enjoy the best of both worlds!

A Few Herbal Tea Combinations:

• Mint & Lemon Verbena
• Rosemary & Lavender
• Basil & Thyme
• Dill & Parsley

Pink "Peppercorns"

Corned beef has nothing to do with corn — at least, not the kind of corn we usually think of.  Peppercorns don’t have anything to do with corn, either.  And it turns out that pink peppercorns don’t have anything to do with corn OR pepper.  How’s that for a “huh”?

A “corn” in old-time (or olde thyme) English parlance meant something small, bitty, and hard.  Nowadays, we’d probably use the word “grain” to describe that kind of thing — for example, a grain of sand or a grain of salt.  But back then, salt-brined beef wasn’t “grained,” it was “corned,” hence corned beef.  Had we named peppercorns within the last hundred years, they probably would have been peppergrains.  And now doesn’t the idea of having corns on your feet make more sense, too?

That explains the “corn” part.  The fact that pink peppercorns also don’t have anything to do with pepper stems from the fact that while white, green, and black peppercorns are all stages of the same fruit from the same plant — in the same way that white, green, and black tea are all leaves from the camellia sinensis plant in various stages of oxidation — pink “peppercorns” are from an entirely different plant (commonly known as Brazilian Pepper, Rose Pepper, and/or Peruvian Pepper; the others are just called Black Pepper).  If you look closely at each color peppercorn in a pepper mix, you’ll see that the white, green, and black ones look much more alike than do the pink ones.  And if you taste them singly, you’ll discover that the pink peppercorn doesn’t taste very peppery at all — rather, it’s reminiscent of cinnamon and allspice.  (One of my friends whom I had try various peppercorns said the pink ones tasted like candy.)

Despite the fact that pink peppercorns aren’t what their name implies, they’re my new favorite spice.  And to think I’ve been overlooking them all this time!  I now use pink peppercorns both by themselves and to create a custom proportion of mixed peppercorns.  It’s easy enough to make your own blend — just pour in more of whichever color you like best.  Many markets nowadays stock jars of all white peppercorns, all pink, all green, etc.  Once in a while, I even crush the pink peppercorns with a mortar and pestle to maximize their fresh spiciness and beautiful color.

Try a pink peppercorn or two and judge for yourself!

Nasturtium Atop a Salad

You can add visual appeal, flavor, and exotic flair to any dish just by topping it with an edible flower or two.    (Which you probably already have growing in your backyard.)  Sprinkle rose petals onto a bowl of vanilla ice cream, and suddenly you have a romantic dessert guaranteed to knock the socks off of a Valentine date.  Slip little violets into your ice-cube trays before freezing and then watch your dinner guests’ reactions when you serve them drinks adorned with frozen, floating flowers.

The blossoms from basil, chamomile, dill, lavender, mint, rosemary, sage, and thyme can all be scattered into salads, soups, and main dishes…or make fresh tea with them.  You can even use the flowers from everyday clovers and dandelions.  (Makes you redefine “weeds,” doesn’t it?)  Just be sure that you choose flowers from organic sources — if you’ve sprayed your lawn with pesticides or fertilizers, don’t eat anything from it.  Florists are also not the best source of edible flowers since they typically aren’t focused on organic growing methods.  You’re better off either buying edible flowers from a produce market where they’re intended to be eaten or cultivating your own organic garden.  For a comprehensive list of edible flowers and their characteristics, check out The Organic Cook’s Bible.

To create this salad, I tossed cucumbers, apricots, pinenuts, leftover cooked green beans, and a medium-sharp cow’s milk cheese with some balsamic vinegar and extra-virgin olive oil.  It was a nice mixture in and of itself, but then I decided to make it really special by snipping a few nasturtium flowers off of the plant in my backyard and using them as edible garnish.  They added just the right amount of pepperiness and zip!

So the next time you’re thinking about trimming back a lilac bush or ripping out some impatiens, consider putting a few blossoms on your plate (yes, lilac flowers and impatiens are both edible).  Even if you don’t eat them, they’ll add a new level of interest to whatever you’re serving.

Enjoy!

Spices with Mortar & Pestle

Spices have always made the world go ’round: during the Greco-Roman era, the Incense Route (which stretched from Egypt to India) played host to traders buying and selling spices such as cinnamon, turmeric, and cardamom; during the Middle Ages, the key players in the spice commerce were Arab traders and the Republic of Venice.  (Venice functioned as the gateway between the Arab world–where the spices were shipped in from the Far East–and the European world.)  As the flow of exotic spices continued, they went from being luxuries to becoming necessities, and the European powers became determined to establish their own trade routes.

Despite the determination of the would-be spice purveyors, the east-to-west chain wasn’t broken until Magellan’s voyage in the first half of the sixteenth century.  (Columbus had tried to sail west to find India, but instead of landing in the Far East, the winds led him to America’s shores.)  When Europeans finally did find a way to circumvent their competitors’ channels, fierce competition for the precious spices broke out amongst the colonial powers.

Though the spice-trade fervor has cooled since the eighteenth century, spices continue to excite our tastebuds and introduce us to new flavors and cultures.  Here is a sampling of my favorites.

Berbere is a spice mix used in Ethopian cooking.  It’s primarily added to stews–it makes for a very exotic chili!–but I also like to add it to lamb dishes and hearty vegetarian casseroles.  Just one teaspoon per pound of meat/9×13 pan of vegetables/pot of stew can transform a ho-hum meal into a memorable one.  Be sure to spoon the individual spices into a clean glass jar (I save my empty spice jars and re-use them) and store it in a cool, dark place.

This makes enough for a small sampling of berbere–it’s very easily doubled.

2 T. paprika
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/8 tsp. cardamom
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/16 tsp. cloves (also considered to be a “dash”)
1/16 tsp. cinnamon
1/16 tsp. allspice
1/16 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp. fenugreek (if you don’t have this and aren’t much of a spice hunter, you can substitute celery salt)

Before using, shake jar to thoroughly mix spices.

Jerk seasoning is another exotic favorite and goes well with everything from chicken and pork to shrimp and firm-fleshed white fish. This Caribbean specialty gets its unique flavor from the preponderance of allspice. (Which is normally only found in desserts within American cuisine.) Due to the inclusion of lime and garlic, this is more of a sauce than a seasoning–use it within 10 days of storing it in the refrigerator.

In a small bowl, mix:
1 T. allspice
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cayenne (or less/more, depending on your taste)
2 T. brown sugar

In a small pan, sauteé over medium heat:
2 T. olive oil
6 cloves garlic, minced

When garlic is fragrant (2-3 minutes), add spice mixture and continue to cook, stirring, until the sugar has melted and the mixture is clumping together. (About 2 more minutes.) Be careful not to let the mixture burn!

Let the mixture cool, then put in a blender and blend with:
1 tsp. white pepper
1 T. thyme
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ginger
1 small onion, minced
1/3 c. lime (or lemon) juice
1/2 c. red wine vinegar

Refrigerate mixture in a tightly-sealed jar for up to 10 days.

Although there are as many kinds of curry powders as there are cooks, I prefer the basic version given in The Joy of Cooking–it’s simple to make and you probably already have the ingredients. (Also, I’m a big fan of turmeric.) Curry powder makes a great instant seasoning for rice pilafs, stir-frys (vegetarian or with lamb or chicken), and marinades like the curried yogurt used to flavor chicken tandoori.

1 T. ginger
1 T. coriander
1/4 tsp. cardamom
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
3 T. turmeric

Place in clean jar and store in a cool, dark place. Shake well before using.

By using these and other spices, you can give your tastebuds a world tour!

Fresh cilantro

Many people know cilantro by its other names–Chinese parsley or Mexican parsley–but not many people realize that cilantro is the leafy part of the coriander plant.  (Coriander is the seed.)  It’s an interesting juxtaposition; coriander’s smooth sweet/sharp character is worlds apart from the assertive, almost soapy tang of cilantro.  No question about it–cilantro/coriander is the ultimate two-in-one herb.

Try chopping up fresh cilantro and adding it to Mexican or Southwestern-style salads for some added flair…or use a sprinkling of it to perk up a bowl of chili.  Vietnamese shrimp and noodle dishes sometimes pair cilantro with mint for a powerful-yet-refreshing flavor.  North African cuisines make good use of the coriander and the cilantro–the former to marinate meats and give depth to stews (coriander is the yin to cumin’s yang) and the latter as a last-minute garnish.  However you choose to cook with cilantro, just remember two things:  a little bit goes a long way, and always add it at the last minute since heat will cause it to wilt and lose its bright character.  Remember, too, that you can keep it for a week or more in the refrigerator if you place the stems in a glass of water and refresh the water every other day.