Hi,
The other day I was just sharking the kitchen. That's what I call it. Envision yourself going from cabinet to cabinet, in and out of the refrigerator, with the theme from the movie "Jaws" playing in your head. Yes, that is what I was doing. I had no idea what to cook and unfortunately for me I was legitimately hungry which creates another problem. I'm probably willing to eat stupid things rather than having a plan and executing some really creative dish.
I fought the urge to just eat cold cereal and milk as yes, I do have a family to feed as well. I asked them for input but, NO ONE WOULD HELP ME!!
Go and shark the freezer.
After a few minutes there, and I do have some really interesting things in my freezer, I found some boneless pork ribs. I defrosted them (I use the microwave partially, then place them on one of those defrosting trays made of black metal - they really do work). And then went looking in the larder for suggestions of what to do. My eyes wandered around a bit and then fell on the jars that I just got at Whole Foods. One of the was: Berbere.
According to Wikipedia: Berbere is a spice mixture whose ingredients usually include chile peppers, ginger, cloves, coriander, allspice, rue berries, and ajwain. It is a key ingredient in the cuisines of Ethiopia and Eritrea (this is a newer country that borders Ethiopia). Basically, African cuisine with a good degree of spice.
The blend that I was using, when I gave it a good sniff, you could easily smell the cloves and allspice. Rue, or rue berries come from the rue plant. I have a very large herb garden, and I used to grow rue in it, not to eat but it would keep many pesky insects off the other herbs, especially basil. So I was familiar with this one. The berries when dried, looked like reddish peppercorns, and have a bitter, slightly musky scent. It is quite popular in African cooking as well as some parts of Italy. Ajwain is a seed spice that has a rather parsley quality to it.
My blend also didn't have the chile peppers ground, but looked like the red pepper you would shake on your pizza which I use in cooking all the time.
I decided to take the pork ribs and use this spice as a dry rub, marinating it for about 30 minutes at room temperature while I got the other ingredients for dinner together.
Slightly spicy entree with the cinnamon and cloves did scream for something starchy to take the edge off. Again in the larder and I found polenta.
Dinner :
Berbere crusted grilled boneless pork ribs with Parmesan and cream- soft polenta and green beans.
Grilling the pork ribs was definitely the way to go. They were very juicy, somewhat spicy and grilling them let the berbere crust them in a way that I definitely would repeat.
Try the Berbere spice. If you should cause to purchase some it will probably be worth the spice amount you will spend. My family definitely liked the entree and felt it did go well with the polenta (and usually I'm the only one who likes the polenta - me and the dog). This spice would definitely work well with chicken, turkey and probably duck as well. I think it would fight with beef.
If anyone else has recipes using this I would love to hear them, post or email as you feel led.
Till next week.... DP
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Why Can't I have a Whole Foods Market?
Hi
I'm feeling green today in honor of my friend's birthday and its her favorite color.... Hello Elaine.
I was in New Jersey the other day, not unusual for me even though I live almost a hundred miles NORTH of Manhattan. And while I was there, I used the navagation application on my phone. (no, I don't have an iPhone, big mistake, anything else is really secondary and I will get an iPhone as soon as my current contract expires...sorry, I digress).
I looked up how far away was the closest Whole Foods Market. Now some of you have Whole Foods near you... lucky people. I see them all the time on Top Chef. That's where they shop. So I found out that where I was it was 9.7 miles away. Navigate I go.
It was worth the trip.
Now I will not say I bought a lot of things, I was not in a position at that time to purchase much groceries, but I found some lovely additions to my larder.
Meyer lemon olive oil....they actually use the lemons, probably the skins or rinds, and squeeze them at the same time they do the olives. I am so looking forward to my next purchase of Arctic char to use this.
Yuzu rice vinegar. I have heard of Yuzu all over the Food Network. I don't know about you, but there aren't any Yuzu trees growing in upstate New York, nor are there Yuzu's in the local grocery stores, nor are Yuzu juices offered anywhere. Not even in our fancy pants local place (you know the kind, they have all the "fancy" ingredients and charge double for them then you'd pay even with the additional mailing cost if you purchased directly from Dean and Deluca). But, in my quest to support local business, I do go there rather than mail order, anything that I can. If I didn't, they wouldn't be there, and wouldn't that be worse? But, no Yuzu anything. I'm not really sure how I want to use the vinegar, but giving it a try will be interesting.
Ras el Hanout....yes, a real package of the stuff. Quite a bit actually and for not more than most other things cost in the spice aisle. The ingredients are on the label and I am going to make the blend that I am considering, and will compare it to this commercial one. I love tests like this.
Berbere...from the same company as the Ras el Hanout. The label on the ras el hanout called it a Moroccan spice, this one was called an African spice. HELLO??? Isn't MOROCCO IN AFRICA??? I already covered that before. I am going to spend some time with this spice as well.
I have send an email and several messages to Whole Foods about why the closest one to my home is over 40 miles away.
I live within 10 miles of the Culinary Institute of America. The bastion of foodiedom. Where foodies go to become foodies. The mecca of chefs!! Wouldn't you think some place like Whole Foods would want to be near the CIA????
I'll get off my band wagon.
I have a busy next couple of days, a death of a friends father, wake and funeral to attend to. Once that has finished and the schedule settles down, my stab at ras el hanout and the comparison to do.
Berbere next....
DP
I'm feeling green today in honor of my friend's birthday and its her favorite color.... Hello Elaine.
I was in New Jersey the other day, not unusual for me even though I live almost a hundred miles NORTH of Manhattan. And while I was there, I used the navagation application on my phone. (no, I don't have an iPhone, big mistake, anything else is really secondary and I will get an iPhone as soon as my current contract expires...sorry, I digress).
I looked up how far away was the closest Whole Foods Market. Now some of you have Whole Foods near you... lucky people. I see them all the time on Top Chef. That's where they shop. So I found out that where I was it was 9.7 miles away. Navigate I go.
It was worth the trip.
Now I will not say I bought a lot of things, I was not in a position at that time to purchase much groceries, but I found some lovely additions to my larder.
Meyer lemon olive oil....they actually use the lemons, probably the skins or rinds, and squeeze them at the same time they do the olives. I am so looking forward to my next purchase of Arctic char to use this.
Yuzu rice vinegar. I have heard of Yuzu all over the Food Network. I don't know about you, but there aren't any Yuzu trees growing in upstate New York, nor are there Yuzu's in the local grocery stores, nor are Yuzu juices offered anywhere. Not even in our fancy pants local place (you know the kind, they have all the "fancy" ingredients and charge double for them then you'd pay even with the additional mailing cost if you purchased directly from Dean and Deluca). But, in my quest to support local business, I do go there rather than mail order, anything that I can. If I didn't, they wouldn't be there, and wouldn't that be worse? But, no Yuzu anything. I'm not really sure how I want to use the vinegar, but giving it a try will be interesting.
Ras el Hanout....yes, a real package of the stuff. Quite a bit actually and for not more than most other things cost in the spice aisle. The ingredients are on the label and I am going to make the blend that I am considering, and will compare it to this commercial one. I love tests like this.
Berbere...from the same company as the Ras el Hanout. The label on the ras el hanout called it a Moroccan spice, this one was called an African spice. HELLO??? Isn't MOROCCO IN AFRICA??? I already covered that before. I am going to spend some time with this spice as well.
I have send an email and several messages to Whole Foods about why the closest one to my home is over 40 miles away.
I live within 10 miles of the Culinary Institute of America. The bastion of foodiedom. Where foodies go to become foodies. The mecca of chefs!! Wouldn't you think some place like Whole Foods would want to be near the CIA????
I'll get off my band wagon.
I have a busy next couple of days, a death of a friends father, wake and funeral to attend to. Once that has finished and the schedule settles down, my stab at ras el hanout and the comparison to do.
Berbere next....
DP
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