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Ottolenghi's Semolina, Coconut and Marmalade Cake

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"When I stepped out into the bright sunlight, from the darkness of the movie house, I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman, and a ride home."  This week I did two very important things: I made Ottolenghi's Semolina, Coconut and Orange Blossom Cake and I rewatched The Outsiders . These two events are not related; however, they were both delightful. Let's start with the cake, shall we? This cake is a light - in - texture - but - heavy - in - flavor take on the ubiquitous Eastern Mediterranean semolina cake. From Greece to Syria, Egypt to Turkey, this cake, well, takes the cake. Call it revani , basbousa , shamali, harisi , mix in yogurt, coconut, rose water instead of orange blossom water--no matter what, you're going to do all right.   Ottolenghi's version adds coconut and marmalade to a large dose of sunflower oil and semolina. He also serves it with a dallop of Greek yogurt freshened with orange blossom water. However, this is the kind of ...
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Ottolenghi's Lemon and Eggplant Risotto

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Risotto is such a delightful dish. Comforting, creamy, simple, stable.   And I am a huge fan . As in, I will make me a risotto any chance I get, with any sort of ingredient you can imagine. It doesn't matter--any season.  Spring--lemon and peas;  Summer--tomato and parmesan;  Fall--mushroom;  Winter--butternut squash and pancetta.  If it's in your fridge, you can put it in this Northern Italian rice dish. However, you will want a very specific kind of rice--a high starch, medium- or short-grain rice--in order separate this delicacy from any other rice dish. The high starch means that as you cook it, it releases its starch, making that requisite creamy smoothness to risotto. The most popular risotto rice in the United States is, hands down, Arborio rice. This short-grained rice isn't as starchy as some of its popular Italian counterparts, but it is the most easily procured. However, a...
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Whole Roasted Celery Root from NOPI

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Okay.  This almost doesn't qualify as a recipe. But I'll admit, I have never made celeriac this way. Yes, it took Yotam Ottolenghi to convince me to do something simple. And perfect. I am not going to mess around here. I love celery root. I have sung its praises here , here , and here . It is not a pretty little root vegetable, but if you can get beyond its humble, knobby exterior, it smacks of the bright, freshness that one expects from celery (which is, really, just the stalk of the plant) and the nutty, earthiness of something that comes from beneath the ground. This straightforward recipe comes from Ottolenghi's latest cookbook, NOPI , a collection of restaurant-approved recipes from London's powerhouse foodie and his partner and NOPI Head Chef Ramael Scully . Yes, it's true, I am a bit of a fan-girl when it comes to Ottolenghi, and next time I am in London (whew, it has been a long time  since I was last there), you better believe I pla...
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Nivik: Chickpeas with Spinach

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Chickpeas and spinach may not sound like much; however it is a budget-friendly and absolutely tasty way to bring more protein and veggies into your diet. And, according to Claudia Roden (the queen bee of Middle Eastern cooking), it's a pretty ubiquitous way to do so in the Middle East. There are as many different recipes on how to combine these two ingredients as there are people willing to share them, and Tess Mallos, our cookbook's author, chose an Armenian preparation for them. And I am so glad she did, for this is a recipe where the sum is much more than its humble parts. Simple chickpeas. Spinach. Some tomato paste. Onions. Really, it didn't sound all that interesting, and I wasn't particularly looking forward to making it. In fact, I waited until the husband had gone up to Fort Bragg (his mother is in town visiting, and they got to enjoy the beautiful, sunny weather on the coast this weekend and early week), so that I could make it on my own. I d...
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Ottolenghi's Salmon Steaks in Chraimeh Sauce

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Oh, what a sauce this is.   What a glorious, glorious sauce. And it comes from our new Jerusalem cookbook, from one of this blog's favorite chefs and current culinary darling, Yotam Ottolenghi.  I need not detail that this blog has featured recipes from Ottolenghi here and here and here and here ,  but I will anyway because, whoo boy, I love these recipes.  This sauce comes from the Sephardic Jews, who resided on the Iberian peninsula until the Spanish Inquisition.  After their expulsion from Spain in 1492, many Sephardic Jews were folded into the Mizrahi communities in Northern Africa and the Middle East.  Such intermingling of people and cultures has produced some culinary superstars; this being no exception.  Indeed, you can taste the Spanish, Moroccan, and Libyan influence on this sauce. Sephardim pride themselves on their chraimeh recipes, and often serve them at Rosh Hashanah and Passover celebrations (whereas Ashkenazim might serv...
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