an open cupboard

The other day, I was unceremoniously awakened—from a restful, sound sleep, I might add—by an irritating siren.
Weeee-oooo, weee-oooo!
*Bam, bam, bam*
“Wha? Who is it?”
“Ma’am, are you the author of anopencupboard dot com?”
“Ye-es…why?”
“You’re under arrest for flagrant foodblog neglect. Step outside please.”
“What? Wait a minute… I was away, you know, jet lag and stuff…I–”
“Uh-huh. Ma’am, when’s the last time you updated your blog?”
“Well, um… not that long ago really, you know I’ve been busy and–”
“Come again?”
“OK over two weeks ago.”
“Two weeks. Do you know how far beyond the legal limit that is?”
“Well, no, I–”
“Do you always let your readers wander aimlessly about the web, leaving them to search for Rachael Ray recipes in a haze of despair?”
“What, all three of them?”
“*Cough*… do I need to read you your Marinara Rights?”
“I want a food lawyer.”
“Lawyer, shmawyer. Here’s a keyboard and a DSL connection. Sit your hiney down and write.”
“You’re pretty snarky for a foodcop.”
“Of course I am, I’m your alter-ego. Now shut it and type.”

I swear, dear readers, that’s how it went down. They let me off easy this time. I only escaped jail time because I promised to update my blog immediately, and pay a penalty of two Cabernets and a rigot pie. I was almost Martha Stewart’s cellmate (*shudder*). You see what I go through for you?

Honestly, though, I do apologize. Did I mention that my wireless card stopped working after my first day in Stockholm? OK, OK, no more excuses. Over the next week I hope to report on the wonderful foods I sampled in Stockholm, my trips to the local markets, the foods I brought home, and more. Stay tuned!

Where does the sun set at around 10 pm or thereabouts? Why Stockholm in the summer, of course! I’ve just arrived and am already jacked in—blame it on jet lag.

I’ve only seen a tiny, remote region of the city so far, namely the neighborhood surrounding my hotel near the harbor. It’s green and quiet, and incredibly easy to navigate on foot despite all signs being in Swedish only. The train and subway systems are fast, timely, comfortable, and clean. The ride to my hotel was swift and simple.
I didn’t feel much like eating when I arrived. A fifteen hour journey from San Francisco through Munich to Stockholm will do that to you. Airlines must think they need to keep passengers occupied with food at all times so they don’t turn on each other out of boredom and claustrophobia. (Only 8 more hours strapped in a seat made for leprechauns! Will that be chicken or rigatone?).

I really shouldn’t complain though. Lufthansa makes the experience as bearable as they can, even in economy class. There’s something very civilized, for example, about putting the restrooms beneath the passenger seating area. This allows for six (!) bathroom stalls in a plane, plus room for those who are waiting in line. People, you don’t need to bump into flight attendants and wait in a long queue wedged between aisles just to use the WC on a flight! You can just go down the stairs and use any one of the available six (six!) water closets. It’s revolutionary!

As for food, I don’t have much to report yet. I bought a bottle of chocolate milk called Pucko, which seems to be pretty popular. It was, well, chocolate milk—sweet, simple, bringing you back to age ten. Pucko is packaged in a glass bottle with a somewhat retro-looking orange label, indicating that it may actually be marketed to adults. Apparently, pucko is a slang term meaning stupid, but in a nice way.
Off to slough of my jet lag and get some sleep. More food reports tomorrow, if Odin wills it. God natt!

Shavuot is Judaism’s gift to dairy farmers everywhere. During Shavuot, or the Festival of Weeks, traditional holiday meals feature cheese-filled blintzes, creamy casseroles, and the ubiquitous, beloved cheesecake. The origins of this dairy-centered feasting are a little obscure. Shavuot marks the day on which the Jewish nation was given the Torah (Old Testament), according to tradition. One version of the story says that the Jews ate only dairy because they didn’t yet know how to keep kosher.

Another version compares the Jewish Torah to the sweetness of milk and honey. Shavuot also coincides with the grain harvest in Israel, and a time when the ancient Israelites would bring offerings of the seven species—wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives, and dates—to the temple in Jerusalem.

Like most Jewish holidays, Shavuot is a holiday with deep culinary roots. Jews the world over have evolved varied regional Shavuot menus over centuries. The holiday menu of American Jews tends to be something of a mishmash—French style quiche, Italian style lasagna, New York cheesecake (which in itself is probably a derivative of Italian ricotta pie with a Philly cream cheese twist). I drew on the tradition of borrowed foods for my own Shavuot dinner:

Salad with raspberry vinaigrette
Swiss chard and beet green lasagna
Beet, rhubarb, and goat cheese quiche
Ricotta cheesecake with strawberry-balsamic black pepper sauce

The cheesecake was a fun little dessert, though not as dense, creamy, or calorific as the usual New York style. Its charm lies in its simplicity–a lot of ricotta cheese with a little sugar, flour, and eggs. It’s light and mildly sweet, and the freshness of the ricotta really makes the dish. The strawberry sauce is a good complement, a little freshly ground black pepper adds a pleasantly spicey edge to the berry sweetness.

My favorite savory dish was the beet, rhubarb, and goat cheese quiche—an unusual, but very tasty combination. Rather than use the traditional sugar-rhubarb-strawberry trio, I thought I’d combine red beets with rhubarb, onions, and goat cheese. The tartness of the rhubarb brings out the sweetness of the beets, which are grounded by carmelized onions, that in turn, play off the earthy beets. The soft goat cheese adds a little extra tang. The whole thing is baked in a shortcrust with a savory custard to hold it together. I only used one stalk of rhubarb, but it might be interesting to experiment with more.

Here’s my shavuot dish for 2006 (Jewish year 5766). It’s fashionably late.

Beet rhubarb tart with goat cheese

1 shortcrust, pre-baked in a 10 inch quiche pan (Clotilde’s recipe, by way of Pascale)
3 medium onions, very thinly sliced and slowly carmelized in butter
2 bunches (about 8) small, fresh red beets, steamed, peeled, and roughly diced
1 stalk rhubarb, roughly diced and sauteed until a little liquid is released but rhubarb is still crunchy
2 eggs
1/2 c creme fraiche
salt and pepper to taste
soft goat cheese

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Distribute the cooled onions on the crust. Top with cooled beets.
• Arrange the cooled rhubarb evenly among the beets.
• Beat together the eggs and creme fraiche and season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Pour the egg mixture over the vegetables.
• Rip small pieces of the goat cheese and distribute evenly.
• Bake for 30 minutes, or until quiche sets.

Serves 8

Thanks to Clotilde for the quiche methodology.

As I was coming home from work yesterday, I noticed a man wearing a kippah talking to some other well dressed men in suits. Naturally, my razor sharp Jewdar immediately sprang into action. “Hmm…. ” I thought, “a religious businessman from New York?” As I got closer to the group, I heard them speaking Hebrew, and one of the men looked oddly familiar. Who was this guy? I did a none-too-subtle double-take and realized he was Israeli Knesset Member Dan Meridor with a religious guy, a shabak agent (for security), and an Israeli businessman (fancy suit, no kippah, what would you think?). They were standing around talking, right outside the Rockridge BART station.

What do you suppose they were doing here? Maybe Meridor and posse were visiting the local Jewish community in honor of the recent Israel Independence Day celebration in the city. A thinks Meridor was here for the food–Olivetto, perhaps.

I was considering saying hello and possibly “Mr. Meridor, let me tell you why I left Israel” (telling off politicians is an Israeli national pastime), but they got into an SUV and drove off. This only goes to show you have to move half way across the world and take public transportation to meet your elected representative.

I often bring home bags of beautiful, fresh herbs which I fully intend to use in dishes I imagine I’ll cook throughout the week. Who can say no to a crisp, bright green bunch of Italian parsley, or fragrant fresh oregano, or thyme? Sadly, the herbs often look better in my imaginary meals than they do in real life. A week later I wind up with a refrigerator plagued by bags of soggy, gray specimens for the compost pile. Surely, fresh herbs are destined for a tastier fate.

Rather than waste away in the refrigerator, I recently started drying unused herbs at home. It’s very simple to do, and I wonder why I hadn’t thought of it before. All you need is a sunny spot outside, or on the window sill, and some kitchen twine. Suspend the bouquet of herbs using the twine–make sure it’s high enough to be out of pet’s reach–and wait for the sun to do its work. In a day or two you should have a bunch of fragrant, dry herbs. Store them in a tightly covered, labeled jar for future use.

Dry herbs add a lot of flavor to slow-cooked foods, when added at the beginning of cooking. Drying your own herbs means less waste, and less money spent on commercially dried herbs. And eliminating the bags of weird gray stuff in the fridge is a nice perk too.

Home dried herbs

1 bunch fresh herbs
kitchen twine
scissors
sunny spot

• Pick over the herbs and remove any blackened leaves and stems.
• Cut some kitchen twine, say 6-10 inches for wrapping and more for hanging, depending on where you want to hang it.
• Tie the twine around the stems, wrap it around the bouquet several times and tie again.
• Suspend in a sunny spot for a day or two, or until dry.
• Check for any bugs, then cut off the twine and pick off the leaves, storing them in a jar. If you’re drying thyme, just store the tiny little leaves along with the stalks.

I once read an article about a butcher who was famous for his burgers. His trick was to include minced berries in the ground meat. He used the fruit to enhance flavor and keep the meat moist, but it turns out that cherries provide a health benefit as well. Probably because of their high antioxidant levels, cherries slow spoilage in meat and also help prevent carcinogens from forming when cooking the burgers on high heat. Naturally, I had an “aha!” moment when I brought home cherries and ground meat from the farmer’s market this week.

You don’t really taste the cherries in the burgers, but the meat is noticeably moist and ever so slighly tart (in a good way). The burgers are nice on their own, or on a pain de mie bun with a little mustard. They would go well with sliced red onions, or pickled red onions and a bit of Romaine lettuce. It might be fun to experiment with different types of berries, such as blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, even strawberries (I wonder how much berry you can use in the burgers without affecting flavor and texture?). Here’s a burger that needs no ketchup.

Cherry Burgers

10 cherries, pitted
4 cloves garlic
1 lb lean ground meat
2-4 TBS melted butter
a couple pinches of baharat spice mix
salt and pepper to taste

• Process the cherries and garlic in a food processor, or chop finely with a knife. You want the cherries and garlic to be finely minced, but not dripping with juice.
• In a large bowl, combine the meat, cherry garlic mixture, spices, and melted butter.
• Place a large cast-iron pan over medium-high heat and place some butter in the pan.
• Make a bite sized burger and cook it in the pan. Taste the burger and correct seasoning accordingly.
• Shape the meat into burgers and fry them in the pan.
• Flip when browned, then lower flame to medium. Cook to desired level of doneness.

Serves 2-3

Local links:

• Pain de mie burger buns from Acme
• Meat from Prather Ranch
• Cherries and garlic from a number of growers at the farmer’s market