Recipes – Page 11 – Nicole Peyrafitte

Molokhia, Corète potagère, Corchorus Oilitorius,ملوخية

It can be spelled Molokhia, Mulukhiya, Malukhiya, Molokia; A.k.a: Juteplante in Germany, Jew’s mallow in the UK, corète potagère or chanvre du bengale in France, Crain-Crain or Krin-Krin in francophone’s Africa, Corchorus Olitorius in Latinand finally, in Arabic, ملوخية. Until my trip to a Syrian grocery store yesterday in Bay Ridge, NY, I had never heard of it. It is a very well known Middle Eastern & African mucilaginous leave-vegetable that grows easily; it belongs to the family of the Tiliacea. It as been cultivated for century both in Africa and Asia, it is found wild on both continents.

Same family as jute (white jute is Corchorus capsularis and Tossa jute Corchorus olitorius). Raw jute was exported to the western world to make cordage, ropes and is better known in the USA as burlarp.

Once cooked the leaves produce a viscous or gooey texture similar to okra. I bought a frozen pack and since I knew nothing about it, I just followed the simple recipe on the package, just adding a few pickled chili pepper . Next time I will add a few drops of fresh lemon juice.

Molokhia Soup Recipe
Drop frozen molokhia in 2 cups of boiling water or broth.
Mix often until totally unfrozen.
In a sauce pan melt 1 tbsp of butter and lightly brown 6 finely chopped garlic cloves adding a pinch of coriander.
Add the molokhia, stir, adjust seasoning and serve.

So voilà! my dinner last night: Molokhia soup and a batch of home made French fries. It was a quick, unusual and satisfying dinner.

Bright Yellow Yummy Pears

While I was cutting my pear, the bright turmeric (see turmeric blog) yellow stain on the cutting board retained my attention and then an association of visual and cooking ideas occurred: “I have to try to poach pears with turmeric they must become bright yellow”. I was obsessed all day with what else to poach the pears with. Looking good what not enough it had to taste delicious and voilà! to my taste this is a very satisfying and beautiful result.

Bright Yellow Yummy Pears
2 firm pears
1/4 cup of honey
1 long lemon mayer zest (other lemon untreated will work)
2 star anis
1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
1/4 tsp of freshly grounded nutmeg
1 small finger of fresh turmeric (curcuma), peeled and cut into pieces
1 or 2 tbsp of St Germain liquor (elderberry liquor)
a few dried Turkish unsweetened yellow prunes
enough water to cover the pears

Peel the pears, keep the stem on, core it from bottom the best you can without damaging it -personally I do skip that step. In a sauce pan deep enough, so the pears can be immersed, place all the ingredients, lay the pears and add enough water to cover them. Bring liquid to a boil, lower the heat to a gentle simmer for about 30 minutes or until pears are tender but not too soft. Let the pear cool in their juices overnight.
Remove pears from the pan. Save the lemon zest and star anis for decoration, though you will eat the lemon zest, but NOT the star anis. Strain the liquid into a smaller sauce pan, bring it to a boil and let it reduce to about one cup of liquid -about 20 minutes-.
Serve chilled or warm. I like it both way depending of the weather or the time of the day. Can also be served with ice cream, a bed of custard, or brown rice for a healthy breakfast and that was my choice today.

Tasty Fluffy Golden Pancakes

When it comes to pancakes I am very picky. Most of the time I find them doughy & dry. Never fluffy or light enough to my taste. This morning I decided to put my mind into it and search though several recipes to come up with a version I would like. Voilà! there is it and tell me what you think:

Pancakes for 2
In bowl #1 mix:
2/3 cup of unbleached flour (germs restored)
1/3 cup of corn meal
2 tsp. Rumford baking powder

In bowl #2 beat together:
1 egg
1 cup of whole milk
2 Tbsp melted butter

Combine bowl #2 into bowl #1 with a fork and without over mixing. Warm up a skillet coated with butter and oil. Cook your pancake as usual and remember to add some butter and oil in between each batch. The bacon served –in the picture– is a smoked Polish bacon sold by the pound at my local Polish store. I like the maple syrup warmed up.
Bon breakfast!

La Blanquette d’Agneau

La Blanquette is a dish inscribed in the tradition of French “cuisine bourgeoise”. My mother, Renée Peyrafitte-Gallot makes a very good one and serves it for lunch over rice. The term blanquette comes from the word “blanc” or white. It is a stew in a white sauce that can be made either from veal or lamb. The same sauce can be used for poultry but then it would be a Fricassée. French historian Jean-Louis Flandrin dedicated a lecture to that dish and a book was published posthumously —I came across this reference through the excellent French food blog: ” Boire et Manger, quelle histoire ! “.
Enjoy the Blanquette!

Blanquette d’ Agneau
for 4 (this is a variation inspired by James Beard and my mother’s recipe)

2 ½ pounds of lamb shoulder cut into 2-inch cubes
1 onion “nailed” with 2 cloves (see pix below)
1 carrot
salt & pepper
1 sprig of thyme or better a bouquet garni
1 pound mushrooms
about 8 tablespoons of butter
lemon Juice
about 20 small white onions
4 tablespoons of flour
2 egg yolks
½ cup of heavy cream

Rub the meat with lemon. Place the meat cubes in a stewing pan with the onion stuck with the two cloves, add 1 teaspoon of salt, the bouquet garni and freshly ground pepper. Cover with cold water. When it comes to boil, reduce heat, put a lid on the pan and simmer gently until the meat is tender -about 1 hour to 1 1/2 hour. Skim the broth a few times.

Meanwhile, cut up the mushrooms, sauté gently in butter, add a dash of lemon juice, cook until just tender and reserve. Peel the onions and cook them until barely done; they have to remain firm.
When the meat is tender, remove it to a hot platter and keep it warm. Let the broth from the meat reduce down to two cups over a brisk flame for 5 minutes and then strain it. Add the liquid from the onions and the juices from the mushrooms. If you do not have enough liquid, add some chicken or vegetable stock.
In a sauce pan melt 4 tablespoons of butter and blend in the flour (you are making a roux). Gradually stir in the stock, and continue stirring until the sauce is consistent. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Beat the egg yolks and mix them with the heavy cream. Add to the sauce and stir until heated through, but do not let boil or the egg will curdle. Add a dash of lemon juice, put in onions and mushrooms and pour the sauce over the meat.
Serve with steamed rice or rice pilaf.

Chili or not Chili?

Well, it might be disappointing to you but I will not enter the polemic of what is a “real” chili and what is not. Beans? no beans? If you are a purist just reading now!
This *chili* has beans, Korean black/purple beans. My Korean daughter-in-law’s mother send a shipment of this year’s crop. Called Suh Ree Pae (서리패), these purple/black beans –with purple flesh- were harvested at a family farm. I was presented with a couple of pounds and I am very thankful to my Korean family. Their chestnut flavor and their buttery texture is exquisite. My daughter-in-law mixes them often with rice. I had no more rice in the house (don’t let the in-laws know that) but a pound of ground beef that needed to be cooked, so I decided to make a bean stew, sometimes called a *chili*. It turned out to be one of the best chilis I had –besides Pierre Joris‘ venison chili.

Suh Ree Pae 서리패

This recipe is very simple & quick. Leftovers can be brought to work for lunch or can be frozen.One thing though, I like to reheat my beans in a double boiler. The microwave dry them up, I don’t like microwaves oven anyway and at this point I don’t even have one.

Recipe
(for 2 with leftovers)
1 lb Korean black beans(available at Korean Markets, but you can substitute for any kind of black beans)
1 large onion, diced
2 diced carrots
1 lb grass fed ground beef
3 cloves of crushed garlic
1 or 2 tablespoons of Korean chili flakes (any chili powder can be used, I just wanted to stay in the Korean mode)
Salt to taste
Scallions for garnish

Soak your beans overnight. Cook them al dente and reserve.Coat a skillet with olive oil or duck fat under medium heat ( I still have some duck fat leftover from the Lovy Ducky ) .
Sauté the onions and the carrots. Add the ground beef and sauté thoroughly until the meat has rendered its moisture. Add the chili flakes, salt, beans and mix well.
Add a little water, but remember: your beans are almost cooked so they will not absorb much water. I put just enough to loosen up the ingredients, until the consistency is that of a very thick soup.
Simmer over low flame for 1 hours.
Serve with rice or homemade tortilla chips. That’s what I did; I fried the dough of the tortilla in peanut oil.

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Category: Recipes