Roast Cabbage Wedges with Mustard-Preserved Lemon Dressing

This recipe started from my frustration with another recipe that we recently made for dinner. Paul had wanted to make this cabbage with sausage recipe, using our local merguez sausages, and I took the extremely rare step of actually following a recipe to the letter. I am a terrible recipe follower - I tinker, I tweak, if I'm out of one thing I'm happy to substitute for another. Sometimes I change a recipe because I know a better technique, or because I'm trying to be healthier, but most of the time it's simply because I prefer things done certain ways. I like roasted carrots better than boiled, I'm partial to slicing my onions very thinly when caramelizing them, etc.

The dinner recipe was delicious, but it irked me that the recipe had you blanch wedges of cabbage. Instead of the beautiful picture of perfect cabbage wedges, as I predicted my cabbage wedges all drifted into disparate pieces while blanching, landing in a tumble on the plate. As I was puzzling over how to present cabbage in lovely shaped wedges, I thought of roasting them. Roasting cabbage had never occured to me before, but it's great. The outer edges curl up and crisp like those oh-so-popular kale chips, while the center cooks until just barely soft and tender. Top with a vinaigrette and they're a nice side dish to whatever else you're having with dinner.



Roast Cabbage Wedges with Mustard-Preserved Lemon Dressing
A bit of shaved pecorino cheese and some chopped chives on top would be a nice way to dress this dish up a bit.

Cabbage:
1 small head of green cabbage (any variety), sliced into medium wedges with the core still attached
olive oil, salt, and pepper
Dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 preserved lemon, chopped
1 teaspoon capers

1. Preheat oven to 425F. Rub baking sheet with oil, place cabbage wedges on top, and drizzle with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast the cabbage for 20-30 minutes, until the outer leaves are slightly blackened and the inner core is tender when poked with a knife. Use your judgement, it may take more or less time depending on the size of your cabbage..
2. Meanwhile whisk together all the dressing ingredients. When ready to serve, place the cabbage wedges on a plate and spoon the dressing over top.

In the Midnight Kitchen

with Warm Yogurt Soup with Freekiah and Herbs



Gingerbread Cookies


Chocolate Chip Banana Bread


Paul's Pear Frangipane Tart



Often I don't document the things we make at night, sometimes because I take terrible pictures in the dark, other times because it's the end of a long workday and I'm tired and just throwing something together. Cooking here in Algiers is not just a hobby but a necessity. Other than pizza, schwarma, omelets, and ice cream, take-out or pre-prepared food of any kind is almost non-existant here. Which is why you might find me padding around the kitchen late at night, sliding some bread out of the oven or making cookies, or prepping lettuce for a salad the next day. I'm probably wearing my workout clothes from earlier in the evening and a big pair of hand-knit socks and listening to one of my favorite podcasts.

It's been a while since I've written about yogurt soups and yogurt-based sauces, but they seem to have had a bit of a resurgence on the interwebs. I still believe that to make true yogurt sauce you stabilize the yogurt and let it come to a full boil (see here for more). However, stabilizing and then lightly heating the yogurt works nicely too and is a bit less stressful. A warm yogurt soup is super-simple and comforting on a cold winter evening. You literally whisk together the yogurt ingredients in a pot, and then heat them to steaming - that's it for the yogurt base. Then I like to put in whatever I have lying around the fridge - like leftover rice or wheatberries from a previous dinner, some chickpeas or beans, perhaps some vegetables. Add in plenty of chopped herbs, a drizzle of good olive oil, and dinner is served. You can dress it up by infusing your olive oil with saffron or spices.



Warm Yogurt Soup with Freekiah and Herbs
Plain yogurt varies in thickness, so use your judgement when adding the broth to the soup. If the soup is still very thick you may want to go with 2 cups of broth. If your broth is very salty go easy on any added salt. Freekiah is available in Middle Eastern groceries, wheatberries make a nice substitute. 

3 cups plain yogurt (preferably not fat-free)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 egg white
1 cup cooked freekiah (cracked green wheat)
1 1/2 cups chickpeas
1 cup of chopped mixed herbs (any mix of parsley, cilantro, mint, chives, fennel fronds, etc)
1 1/2 cups of vegetable broth (or water)
salt and pepper
pinch of saffron
olive oil for drizzling

1. Place the broth, cooked freekiah, chickpeas, and 1 teaspoon of salt in a pot, and place over low heat, you just want to warm the mixture.
2. Whisk together the yogurt, cornstarch, and egg white in a pot off of the heat. Whisk until well combined. Place the pot on the heat at medium heat. Stirring occasionally let the mixture heat until it is very warm and steaming, but does not boil.
3. Gently stir in the chickpea and freekiah mixture with the broth. Stir everything together over low heat until very warm again. Add in the herbs and stir well.Season with salt and peper
4. Ladle the soup into bowls. Crumble a pinch of saffron over top and drizzle with olive oil. Serve warm, with good crusty bread.

Algerian Cookies: Griwich

The little bodega near our house, where we often pick up milk and yogurt and drain cleaner (local plumbing lacks some basic construction concepts), carries boxes of cookies made from a local bakery. There are your classic Arab cookies - the dome-shaped shortbread gharabiya, the semolina cookies sandwiched with date paste (makroud), European linzer cookies, and some more local varieties.

This local cookie is called griwich, and is made of a simple semolina dough which is cut in a series of strips, twisted around, deep fried, and then coated in honey. I don't usually like the fried and syruped cookies, things like Syrian awameh and those Indian gulab jamun, they are always too heavy to my taste. However these are surprisingly light and manage to keep a good crispiness even when stored for a few days. You can see them being made here - they also sell little plastic cookie cutters to cut the griwich shape.

The Blue Doors

As you can imagine, recent events in Algeria mean we're a little bit consumed with other things at the moment. These are some photos I snapped on New Year's Eve in Sidi Fredj, just outside Algiers. This morning we had snow on the ground, and are ending the day with fireworks for the Prophet's (PBUH) birthday. Things are never predictable around here.

Cabbage, Apricot, Walnut Salad

Admittedly, this is something I made in the last few days as we were going out of town, an attempt to use up the odds and ends in the fridge. I had no intention to post this here, but it turned out to be pretty darn good, and an easy healthy thing to take for lunch. I tend to make a lot of grain salads like this one as they keep well and are satisfying and easy.

I have noticed that whenever I buy a head of red cabbage it seems to multiply exponentially. First, I use half of it to make my favorite braised red cabbage, the slivers filling up my large cast iron skillet as they cook down. Then, I use some of it to make a salad, or to saute quickly and serve alongside some chicken or fish. But every time I look into the vegetable bin, it's still there, taunting me. How have I not used this all up yet?!?!



If you have the same red cabbage problem I do, then this salad may be an answer. Also, blitzing it in the food processor is a nice way to chop it quickly, for whatever dish you're trying to dispatch it with. Two things you should be warned about this salad, one it has that sulfurous cabbage smell. so if that bothers you, then this might not be the salad for you. Second, be generous with the dressing, as it needs quite a bit to keep it moist.



Cabbage, Apricot, Walnut Salad

2 cups cooked couscous (or bulgur or quinoa)
1/4 of a small head of red cabbage (use 1/8 of a large head)
1 cup of whole dried apricots
1/2 cup walnut pieces or toasted hazelnuts
1 small bunch cilantro, chopped
1 small bunch parsley, chopped
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 pinch allspice
salt, pepper
juice of 1 lemon
olive oil

1. Chop the apricots into small pieces. Toast the walnuts in a dry skillet and set aside.
2. Roughly chop the cabbage, then place in a food processor and pulse until chopped into very small bits.
3. Combine couscous/bulgur, red cabbage, apricots, toasted walnuts, cilantro, parsley in a bowl. Add the cinnamon and allspice and season well with salt and pepper. Pour over the lemon juice and olive oil, tossing to coat. I usually eyeball the olive oil, but if you need a measurement I'd go with about 1/4 cup (this salad tends to need more oil then you think otherwise it verges on dry). Taste for seasoning, serve.

Questions

How come I can buy the world's largest butternut squash, but I can only buy these teeny tiny containers of yogurt? What if I want to make a recipe that calls for 2 cups of yogurt, why then yes, it's totally normal to buy 20 tiny containers from the store. Of course.

Algeria, so many questions.

Why do you only ever sell purple onions? How come we only ever, ever see white onions during Ramadan, and then they miraculously disappear. Are white onions so much harder to grow than purple onions?

How come for months I could buy labne in the stores here and now, ever since the December, no one in the entire country has labne.

And why, why, is it impossible to buy bread after 5 pm? I know you all like your bread and all, but apparently unlike everyone else in this country, I don't leave work to go to the bakery in the middle of the day. 

I suppose I should stop asking questions and go back to eating my delicious local oranges now.

Oatmeal Sandwich Bread

Happy 2013 everyone! I'm not one for New Year's resolutions - who is, I always wonder. Smokers who make the same resolutions year after year? But after the excesses of the holidays (let's just say a  lot of mince pies and sticky toffee pudding were had in London), a reminder to eat simpler and lighter is always nice. Upon our return home I've already made three kinds of soup, and I have several more on my list.

As much as we enjoy Algerian flatbreads, it's nice to have a proper sandwich bread around the house too. Something to make toast with - in my opinion "things on toast" is a whole category of perfect meals for one. Also for the eponymous sandwiches and grilled cheese of course. What are you making this new year?



Oatmeal Sandwich Bread
The dough will appear almost too much for your loaf pan - just pile it on in there. This is inspired by a recipe from Good to The Grain, if you don't have graham flour just use 2 1/2 cups of whole wheat.

1 package yeast, or 1 teaspoon instant yeast
3 tablespoons molasses
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup graham flour
2 cups bread flour
1 cup rolled oats
2 cups warm water
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 tablespoon kosher salt

1. Place the yeast, molasses, and warm water in a large bowl. If using regular yeast, let the mixture stand until the yeast blooms, about 5 minutes. If using instant yeast you can proceed immediately.
2. Slowly add the whole wheat, graham, and bread flour, stirring with a wood spoon. Add the butter, salt, and oats and stir vigorously with the spoon. Let the dough rest for 20 minutes covered with a damp towel.
3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead the dough until smooth and cohesive. Grease a bowl with butter or oil, then place the dough in the bowl, cover with a damp towel and let rise for one hour.
4. Grease a loaf pan with butter and pre-heat the oven to 400 F. Punch down the dough, pushing the bubble out, then scrape up the dough and transfer it, as neatly as possible, into the brepared loaf pan. Cover again with a damp towel and let rise until dough is puffed above the edge of the pan, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
5. Bake the dough for about 40 minutes, until the top of the loaf is very dark brown, like the color of molasses. The dough should sound hollow when tapped on top. Gently remove the bread from the pan and let cool on a rack at least 2 hours before slicing (this allows the crumb to firm up and the flavor to develop).