John Tesar's recipe for Brioche French.

Once a month, we’re going to start featuring a recipe from one of your favorite bartenders/chefs/baristas in Dallas. Please thank the dudes over at House of Plates who came up with the scratch paper recipe idea. They’re being very generous by letting us steal their images.

Jump for more.

So I’ve been emailing HOP for the past 24 hours in trying to get their approval, and the whole exchange turned into a weird Q&A. Observe:

Tesar's actual handwriting. Someone should sell this on Ebay.

CS: Hey, tell me a little about yourselves and what ya’ll are doing with House of Plates. Need a short blurb that I can post along with the images.

HOP: House of Plates is comprised of a group of close friends/Dallas natives that wanted to combine passions for local food and music …mostly. We used the blog to delve further into the Dallas’ concert and restaurant scene. It started pretty organically as an after-work gig, and just recently, we re-launched as a professional site, allowing our concepts [such as ‘Tunes ‘N' Spoons’ and ‘Scratch Paper,’] to reach our audience in much cooler ways.

As to the origins of Scratch Paper, we wanted to create something straight-forward and different. Reading recipes from talented local chefs is great but to see how they write, how they think… it totally takes to another level. We think it peels back the curtain a bit. Pretty damn fun.

CS: What are your names and day time jobs? Is this your day time job now?

HOP: Egh, we kinda keep a dl. Don’t want our day jobs to think it’s a distraction. No, not the day job ; )

CS: Iiiinteresting. You guys are mysterious. So there’s two of ya’ll? Three? Are ya’ll dudes or women or something in between?

HOP: 4 dudes and a mixed bag of contributors in and when they have time.

CS: Can’t believe you got to sit down with the Civil Wars at Oddfellows. Jealous jealous jealous jealous. PLEASE invite me next time and I will love you 4eva.

HOP: John Paul and Joy are two of the nicest artists we’ve hosted. We have them periodically. Erykah Badu, M83, and Foster The People are a few tentatives for the next Tunes N Spoons. Unconfirmed, though. If we can open up room for one of them, we’ll let you know.

CS: Thank you, sir.

HOP: hat tipped.

— To see the original recipe, visit House of Plates’ website and show them some love. SideDishers, if you decide to make this recipe, send me a photo. I’d like to see how it turns out.

My current obsession: black sesame flan

It’s been eleven days, twenty-three hours, and forty-seven minutes since I tasted my first black sesame flan at Masami, a charming Japanese restaurant with traditional touches, and I’ve been going a little bit crazy in the head ever since.

Jump if you’ve never had this before.

To be honest, my dinner at Masami – first a Rainbow roll, seafood tempura, followed by pork tonkatsu – was quite unremarkable until the waiter brought over the Dobin Mushi ($6.50), a soup with miniature pieces of chicken, shrimp, and mushrooms floating inside a small tea pot. It comes with a tea cup about the size of your pinkie toe, which you pour the soup into, leaving bits of meat inside the tea pot for your chopsticks to fish out later. Not only was the presentation beautiful, but the broth was light, clear, and soothing.

But the meal peaked as soon as I finished all the salty courses and sat with the dessert menu in front of me. My eyes skipped all the fried ice cream and bananas, landing on the black sesame flan for $3.50. I’d never seen a sesame flan before. Curiosity won, of course.

Dobin Mushi soup with shrimp, chicken, mushrooms served in a tea pot

The Asian sesame craze has been going on forever. A good four or five years back when my cousin told me about sesame-flavored desserts, I was a little weirded out by the prominence of sesame ice cream, sesame cakes, sesame breads, and sesame bubble teas flooding the Asian continent. It wasn’t until I tried my first spoonful of black sesame paste that I swore this love was forever. And it was.

Flan itself isn’t an overwhelmingly sweet dessert – a fact that I enjoy. And black sesame has this natural nuttiness (similar to peanut butter) that makes it ever-so-slightly salty. When black sesame is combined with flan, it lends a toasty, warm flavor to an otherwise cold (temperature) dessert, which is certainly a nice way to finish a meal.

Masami’s sesame flan struck my taste buds to the core, and they’ve been itching to repeat that same feeling ever since. I’ve been Google-searching the Internet like a sesame-crazed scavenger, trying to find a suitable recipe for a flan that doesn’t seem to exist in the English language. Long-distance friends are even helping me with this hunt via email. Is there anybody out there who can link me to a good recipe? All I’ve found is this one. Once I get my hands on something better, my future plans include: making a sesame flan immediately, eating it immediately after, and then writing a sonnet that begins with, “Oh, how I love thee….”

Patrizios used to have a side called Asparagus al Forno and it has probably been off the menu for 5 plus years, but I’ve been craving it recently. Now that I am better equipped in the kitchen, I wanted to attempt something similar. It was served in a gratin dish (hot) and covered in a creamy sauce with Parmesan, diced tomatoes, and mushrooms.  It was so tasty that I would dip the house bread in the leftover sauce. Would you (or your loyal Side Dishers) know how to obtain the recipe or something similar? I’m hoping someone else remembers it, too.

My perfectly boiled egg.

As you can tell from the headline, I am deep in the process of procrastinating. While my real job calls for thousands of words about dining, I am convinced it is far more important that I drop what I am supposed to be doing and answer a question sent to me by PR boy toy Jef Tingley. Yes, he spells his name with one “f,” but I will save that analysis for a later procrastination post.

“Jef with one f” asked me how to boil an egg. Don’t laugh. How many times have you had tiny shards of shell pierce the delicate skin beneath your fingernail? I shared my secret with “Jef with one f” by private message on Facebook which made several people curious enough to email and ask (BEG!) for my secret.

You are going to have to jump hard.

How is it that I hold the key to the secret method of boiling an egg? My first job in a kitchen called for me to make 300 deviled eggs every morning for 2 years. Do the freaking math. I have peeled a ****load of eggs in my day. Okay, don’t say I never gave you anything. I’m opening a vein and spilling it now:

Place ROOM TEMPERAURE eggs in lukewarm tap water. Add (a lot) of iodized salt. Bring the water to a boil slowly and allow it to “soft rumble™” (MINE!) for 3 minutes. Turn off the heat. If you are cooking on electric heat soft rumble for 2 minutes and leave the pan on the element.  NOW, and this is critical: how fast they are ready will depend on how many eggs are in the water. If you have a couple dozen, leave them in the water until it is cool. Otherwise, usually 20 minutes will do. BEFORE you proceed to the next step, fish one of the eggs from the water, dry it off, and spin it. YES, SPIN IT on the counter. If it wobbles around like Stephen Doyle at 2AM, it isn’t done. If it twirls around fast and steady like Leslie Brenner when she lived in LA, it’s ready to peel. Pour out the water, NOT THE EGGS YOU NINNY, and refill the pan with cool water. Peel the eggs while they are submerged in water. Sometimes I toss a little ice in there if I find a difficult egg. If your eggs crack while cooking, like me on deadline, you’re totally screwed. Repeat the above process.

Your nubby little fingers can now type me a thank you note.

Now, back to my regularly scheduled work load.

Hi! I need some advice on what makes a pecan pie a real Texas pie. I’m from Newark and I married a Dallas boy. This is my first Christmas cooking for his family. They are fifth generation Texans. Feeling the pressure. Also do you say pecaaan with a long a or pecown?

Good lord, woman. You sure ask a lot of questions for a gal from New Jersey. Hit her, I mean it, y’all.

Tacchino Ripieno alla Lombarda (Stuffed Turkey Lombardy-Style)

Mario Batali
Molto Italiano (2005)

“I love serving turkey year-round because it is easy and delicious. (It is also very economical.) This is the way I do my Thanksgiving turkey, which makes it a lot easier than a whole bird when it comes down to carving.”
– Mario Batali, Molto Italiano (2005)

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

8 ounces Luganega or sweet Italian sausage
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto di Parma, cut into 1/4″ cubes
1 cup roasted chestnut pieces
4 ounces turkey giblets, cut into 1/4″ dice (or substitute chicken giblets or livers)
1 medium Spanish onion, diced
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
1/2 boneless turkey breast with skin, from a free-range organic turkey, butterflied so it is evenly 1/2″ thick (have a butcher do this)
4 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto cotto (Italian cooked ham)
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Prick the Luganega or sausage in a few places, put it in a small baking dish, and bake for 15 minutes. Let cool, then thinly slice. Increase the oven temperature to 450°.

Meanwhile, in a 10- to 12-inch sauté pan, heat 4 tablespoons of the butter over medium

[Ed. Note: Andrew Chalk reviews The Family Meal, a cookbook recently released by Ferran Adria and the other chefs at elBuli. He is in the process of cooking his way through the book. However, Chalk found a mistake in the recipe for mackerel with potato stew. He notified the publisher who acknowledge the faux pas and the recipe will be corrected in the next printing.]

Until it closed on July 30^th of this year, El Bulli was not just a three-star Michelin restaurant, it was the three-star Michelin restaurant. Located on the barren Catalonian coast north of Barcelona, El Bulli was only open for half of the year. There was just one seating of 50 customers per night. Over the past decade, El Bulli averaged 250,000 reservation requests a year. That translates into fewer than 3% of the requests actually getting a table. (Those odds make scoring a weekend reservation at Lucia a piece of cake). Maybe the other 97% of us should form an “El Bulli Rejects Club” complete with our own t-shirt and secret handshake. I mean El Bulli was the only place to sample the unique cuisine. You couldn’t cook the  food at home. It involves liquid nitrogen, Pacojets, tons of exotic ingredients like pine needles, and a Ph.D. chemist on staff.  I guess those of us in the 97 percent club will never get a chance

Jump for the juicy stuff.

Wait, there is an alternative! The genius chef/owner of El Bulli, Ferran Adria, has written a book of El Bulli recipes that you can make at home! The book is called The Family Meal. The recipes are accessible because they are not the path-breaking exotic creations that he served to the lucky guests who made the trek to Roses. Rather, these are recipes that he, or more literally his head chef Eugeni de Diego, served to the 75 staff at El Bulli every night before service. That is the ‘family’ referred to in the title. Examples are Caesar salad, cheeseburger and potato chips, and chocolate cookies. Same stuff you’re used to. The difference is that these recipes and techniques have the imprimatur of Ferran Adria. He and de Diego developed them together over a three-year period and, when the decision was taken to close El Bulli,  they decided the recipes should not ‘gather dust in a drawer’ but, rather, be published.

When I learned about the book,  I sent off a copy to review. I am glad to say that, far from my fears being realized, the execution of this book has the fingerprints of the late, great Steve Jobs all over it. By that I mean: remember how clever so many of the design features of the iPod/iPhone/iPad seemed the first time you used one? Remember how different an Apple store was from any other consumer electronics store? Well the same kind of inspiration and fanatical attention to detail ooze out of this book. It is like Steve Jobs planned a cook book. I should say that all this comes is with one caveat, one that I will come back to below.

Organization

The book is organized around three-course meals. It contains the recipes for 31 menus of them (i.e. an arbitrary month of meals). Central to the menus are a core set of sauces. You make large quantities of these ahead of time and freeze them. All of the ingredients of the recipes are intended to be easily obtainable globally – such is the scope of Adria’s reach and presumably the intended publication orbit of this book. The cuisine has a Spanish slant, reflecting the author’s origins, but as the text points out, El Bulli had an international staff and many other influences creep in. That said, I found virtually nothing in it from the vast range of cuisines in Asia, but it does encapsulate the major forces of Western cooking: Spanish, French and Italian. I agree with the author’s claim that the ingredients are readily available although, ironically, Asian stores were the best source of some things (e.g. mackerel is a popular fish and, in Dallas, readily available and cheap at Chinese markets but rarely at mainstream supermarkets).

The level of discussion is deliberately designed to avoid leaving the beginner cook in the weeds. However, it cleverly does not talk down to the accomplished home cook. There is a photo gallery of key pieces of kitchen equipment used in the recipes (it is on the level of, e.g., a hand-held blender, flat griddle, mandoline, etc.). There is list of all the spices used in the book (separate lists for fresh and dried). Tricks to make the most of ingredients “After making tomato water…the leftover pulp can be used for sofrito or tomato sauce. This operation can also be reversed: if the pulp is needed, the leftover water can be made into a refreshing drink.” And “when making chicken stock, the chicken meat can be shredded for use in a salad.” I found myself treating every ingredient I handled in this way. There are buying tips such as recognizing freshness. There are cooking tips that amount essentially to a Sherman’s March through professional cooking technique. It is brief, even terse, and does not cover every technique, but it applies to what is in the book. For example, egg cooking is reduced to frying, boiling, and poaching, with meticulous instructions for each. There is also a list of the essential pantry ingredients.

All of this is accompanied by ample first-rate photography. The description of the family meal at El Bulli has close ups of the actual meal process as it occurred. These are a timeless portrait of the restaurant. Each recipe’s instructions consist of up to nine rectangular, identically-sized pictures per page. There are almost as many pictures as there are words in the instructions for each recipe. This was clearly a deliberate pedagogic technique. In fact, it is puzzling why this publication is on paper at all. Cookery is one of the things that would benefit most from multimedia. Instead of reading how to make a given recipe you would watch a video, and be able to replay, freeze frame, etc. Search for recipes would use Google instead of a hastily slung together index. As a result ‘mushroom recipes’, for example, would not entail cumbersome cross-referencing French, Italian, Vegetable and Mushroom cookery books. All would be in the Google search result. Nonetheless, given that Adria used paper, he found a very effective way to convey the message.

Does It Work?

The proof of the pudding is in the eating, so I got to work testing some of the recipes with the help of some guinea pigs. I started with Meal 2.

Pasta Bolognese

Mackerel & Potato Stew

Chocolate Cookies

Except I omitted the cookies, leaving me with a two-course meal. The book gives ingredient quantities for 2, 6, 20, and 75 people. I first made this for two. The other person, let’s call her Female Taster 1 (FT1), could have a significant effect on my life, so Ferran’s shit better work or he would need more than three stars from a tire company to defend his reputation.

My first job was to prepare the Bolognese sauce. This is an example of one of the sauces you prepare ahead and freeze (for up to six months). The book offered ingredient quantities for 10 cups or 2 gallons. Since I did not expect the sixth fleet, or similar, to come to dinner within six months I chose the first option.

Bolognese sauce is very simple and all the ingredients were available from the supermarket. I fried ground beef, added pork sausage and fried that and then seasoned it. I finely chopped more carrots and celery than I thought possible and then fried that combination. I added the meat to the vegetables and added chopped tomatoes and tomato paste. Seasoned again and let the whole thing simmer for 90 minutes. The result was a glorious rich sauce, most of which would be cooled and frozen. The rest would be the sauce component of my Pasta Bolognese. Now, the Pasta Bolognese recipe specified ‘pasta’ but not what type. The picture nailed it, but it really didn’t matter. Penne rigate or the old standby of spaghetti would work. When I got to the store they had a special on angel hair pasta so I went with that. One visual high point was that this comes in little bundles, likes bird nests, and each guest can have their own little coil next with the sauce on top. I topped the pasta with finely grated Parmesan cheese and served it to FT1 (along with a fruity Tempranillo wine). In case it didn’t work, and in order to get an honest opinion, I deftly acted all casual and steered the conversation to subjects other than food. A couple of mouthfuls and, you know what, she like it! Phew. Aced that one. Can a man who can cook pasta Bolognese be far from his first Michelin star?

Turns out, I was almost on top of my first Michelin flat tire. Full of hubris, I set to work on the Mackerel and Potato Stew. The ‘sauce’ in this recipe is aioli (described earlier in the book). I made it exactly as described, before I realized that I was getting enough to supply most of the restaurants on the Costa Brava for a week. Luckily, Ferran has three recipes that use it (and I wonder if it goes with roast turkey)? The good news is that his aioli method seems foolproof against the emulsion breaking.

The Mackerel and Potato Stew is a traditional Catalan fish stew and basically involves sauteing garlic and chopped tomato, stirring in lots of paprika, bathing chopped potatoes in the resulting red mass and then adding fish stock to braise the potatoes. While that is going on, you toss in some lengths of mackerel torso, the idea being that each one stay in one piece during the cooking process. When the potatoes are soft you thicken the soup with corn starch and a few dollops of aioli. Then sprinkle chopped parsley on top and adjust the seasonings before serving. The result is a hearty, chunky soup ideal for imminent cold weather. The problem was, it had the texture of unset road tar. I could see it was heading this way during the cooking and, absent mackerel having the unusual property of spontaneously releasing liquid late in its cooking process, this recipe was wrong. It asked for ¾ cup of fish stock for 2 people. For six people it asked for 5 cups of fish stock (six times as much for three times as many people). An email to the publisher confirmed the error but I worried: is it just this recipe or is this a big caveat to the care put into other aspects of the book?

For breakfast, I made Adria’s Potato Chip Omelet. Circulon had sent their 8½” French skillet to review, so this was a test of the ‘metal utensil safe’ non-stick finish. It turned out to make the tricky part of turning the omelet over a breeze. Adria’s technique for making an omelet is very standard. The potato chips (I used Kettles’ Sea Salt) are added to the mixture before cooking and retain their crispness at service. It is interesting to have a crunchy omelet but this is hardly my favorite filling.

Pork Loin with Roasted Peppers

Pork Loin with Roasted Peppers was a winner and straightforward to make. Roast red bell peppers to render them easier to peel. Parboil some garlic cloves to soften them. Make a sauce by blending the garlic with oil and parsley (kind of an abbreviated chimichurri). Saute thin-cut pork loin chops in a pan. Plate the chops, cut the peeled peppers into slices and place them on the plate, lap the parsley sauce over the chop. It worked great but was kind of odd as a main course. There seemed to be a vegetable missing. The staff at El Bulli must all be very skinny.

This book has made me better at cooking things with sauces and devising ways to use general purpose sauces stored in the freezer. I am not sure about the aioli though. When I made the stew for six people, the other couples each got a complimentary jar of aioli to take home.

I am continuing to work through the menus but can say, based on this early experience, and subject to that messed up recipe, that this is a fun and instructive cook book. It has become one of my go-to books for everyday meals. Plus, FT1 still has a pulse and sounds approval, so nothing has gone too wrong so far.

Al's rocket lettuce salad. (Photo by Gustav Schmeige)

I just spoke with Al Biernat and asked him how his restaurant “performed” during restaurant week. He was happy to report he is writing a check today for $30,579 and sending it off to the charities supported by KRLD Restaurant Week. [North Texas Food Bank and Lena Pope Home] “This was a record year for us,” Biernat said. “Our total sales for the month of August were up 18 percent. August used to be our dog days but we’ve really been happy with how Restaurant Week works for us and the charities. It’s win-win.”

I asked Al to break down his restaurant week participants by the week.

8% Preview weekend

44% First Week

30%  Second Week

18%  Third Week

Selfishly, I took advantage of the moment and asked Biernat for the recipe for Al’s Rocket Lettuce salad. It’s a great late summer salad and I want to make it tonight. Anybody else want to share your numbers with us, we’re here 24/7.

The now not-so-super-secret ingredients are below.

The now not-so-super-secret ingredients are below.

Fresh Arugula
Chopped Green Beans
Diced Tomato
Sliced Green Apple
Almonds
Pine Nuts
Sliced Avocado
Chopped Mango
Raspberries
Parmesan Cheese
small amount of Danish Blue Cheese Crumbles
& light amount of Garlic Vinaigrette

Also, apropos the holiday, back in the early 1990s I went to hear Studs Terkel speak on the topic of labor and will never forget what an eye-opener it was to finally understand what the holiday was all about. It’s a fine thing to have gotten dressed-down by the cigar-smoking big pappa of the working class. I have to admit, I was a little bit in love with him after that. So every year I offer a toast Studs (and promise to name a child or dog after him someday). Often there’s a signature drink involved. One year we created a drink called “The Working Poor,” but that bummed everybody out. Another year it was a gin concoction called “Not In My Bathtub,” but the gin made everybody mean. So a new drink is in order.

Problem is, I’m flat out of ideas. So, I’m going to steal some from you. What dishes are you making for your Labor Day gathering? And while you’re at it, any suggestions for a Labor Day-themed drink are welcome. Hell, if I get enough good ones I might even mix up a few and let the guests decide.

Can't imagine how hot it was for the models to walk around in fur-lined hoods in the 100-degree temps. Hope they were given some popsicles.

Last Thursday, The Park and Stanley Korshak held a fashion show in Korshak’s courtyard. Within seconds of getting out of my car, I was a sweaty mess. Yet, none of the beautiful people around me seemed to be having issues with the heat. Why is this? I wondered. Then a server walked by with a tray full of adult popsicles. Being a teetotalling Type 1 diabetic, I could not partake. But my friends who did said they were delicious. I asked the wonderful folks at Stanley Korshak to share their recipe. They were happy to oblige. Follow the jump so you can make your own popsicles for your next party.

(Oh, and in case you’re wondering about the progress of The Park, here you go: The Park’s crossbeams are approximately 85 percent complete. The  final set of box beams will be finished late October. Waterproofing is 60 percent complete. The Jet fan installation is happening now. And trees will be installed this fall.)

Now, jump.

Solerno Blood Orange Margarita Pop
1 oz Solerno
1 oz Milagro
1/3 cup Agave Nectar (to taste)
1 pint of blood orange juice

Makes approximately 10 popsicles

Adult Arnold Palmer
2 oz Snap
1/2 pint fresh lemonade (sweetened)
1/2 pint fresh unsweetened black tea

Makes approximately 10 popsicles

Assembling a mise en place for my super-secret East Texas peaches dessert. Doggie chew bone (right) not included.

Have you been eating Texas peaches? This guy has and he has a question for you.

Just finished some peaches I picked up at Dallas Farmers Market last week, and they were spectacular. Which brings to mind the question: which restaurants in town serve a great cobbler? I’m a Southern boy and really enjoy these  two months of the year when you can get a good peach cobbler at its freshest. Any info would be appreciated.

I’m not giving him my address and I know Gubbins wouldn’t give out hers. So, restaurants feel free to sell your peach desserts below.

“Shopping at local farmers’ markets supports your local growers and allows you to pick the freshest food right from the farm,” says Accad. “Fresh food tastes amazing and retains all of its vitamin and minerals. And even better, fresh vegetables need the lightest preparation to bring out their natural sweetness.”

Accad has created a delightful spring menu using all things found at Dallas Farmers Market. So grab a glass of wine, set a table outside, and enjoy a Mediterranean holiday right from your kitchen.

jump for her farmers market recipes…

Fish Shawarma Sandwich
(Makes 4 servings)

”With this recipe I took a different take on the ubiquitous Lebanese dish that is usually a sandwich-like wrap traditionally made with shaved lamb, chicken, or beef cooked on a spit. A Mediterranean staple, nearly every neighborhood in Lebanon has at least one shawarma stand that churns out thousands of juicy sandwiches to hungry passers-by.   I decided to use fresh fish that is grilled quickly (or pan-fried) after marinating in olive oil and spices. It is served in a warm pita slathered with a special tarator (or tahini) sauce, tomato and avocado slices and some pickles and fresh herbs.

The flavor in this recipe is reminiscent of a famous spiced fish dish, samkeh harra that originated in Tripoli, the second largest coastal town in Lebanon. Samkeh harra is a glorious buffet-style dish served at banquets and large celebrations. It is composed of a large five-pound sea bass encased in a tahini sauce and an herb stuffing with garlic and chili peppers.

INGREDIENTS:
•             4 fish fillets of your choice
•             1/2 cup of tahini (4 ounces, 125 ml)
•             1/2 cup of fresh lemon juice (4 ounces, 125 ml)
•             3 (or more, to taste) cloves of garlic
•             1/2 cup of walnuts, crushed
•             1 bunch of cilantro or dill or flat-parsley
•             4 medium tomatoes
•             1 large avocado
•             Olive oil, as needed
•             Spices: 2 teaspoons of sumac, 1 1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin, 1 teaspoon of ground coriander, pinch of cinnamon and salt, a dash of chili flakes

METHOD:
1.            Mix all the spices and sprinkle on the fish fillets, both front and back. Add a few tablespoons of olive oil and set the fillets aside. Crush the garlic with a dash of salt in a mortar until pasty. Transfer to a bowl, add the tahini and stir to combine. Add the lemon juice and stir, add up to 1/2 cup of water and stir constantly until thetarator is smooth. Keep in mind you want it fairly thick and not too watery, so always add the water gradually, checking the texture and taste and adjust if needed.
2.            Grill the fish or pan-fry in some olive oil until the fish is done. While the fish is cooking, slice the tomatoes, avocados and onions, if using. Open each pita, slather with tarator, sprinkle some crushed walnuts, extra herbs, place the fish in the bread, add the tomato slices and avocado slices and serve.

NOTE: The tarator is a sauce that you can adjust according to your taste; more garlic or lemon juice? Sure! anything goes!

The Monk’s Salad (Al-Raheb)
(Makes 4 generous servings or 6 small servings

“This salad isnamed for a Lebanese monk after the bounty of foods he found available in the mountains in which he lived and in the garden he created for his ascetic lifestyle.Bursting with crispy vegetables and mellowed by the smooth and smoky flavor of the eggplant, this salad is sure to convert anyone into an eggplant lover. Because it keeps well and is served at room temperature, Al-Raheb is often offered at mezzes as part of the array of dozens of dishes that constitute a mezze. It is also served at buffets, wedding parties or any big celebration.”

INGREDIENTS:
•             1 1/2 pounds of eggplant (one or two large or the little ones)
•             1 bunch of parsley or other herb
•             1 bunch of green onions or one small white or red onion
•             4 tomatoes
•             1 green pepper
•             3 cloves of garlic
•             Olive oil, as needed (at least 1/2 cup for the dressing, plus more to grill the eggplants)
•             Juice of 2 lemons
•             1 Tablespoon of pomegranate molasses (optional, but recommended)
•             Salt, to taste

METHOD:
1.            Peel and cut the eggplant into slices and sprinkle with salt. Set aside on a colander until they spit out a lot of brownish liquid.
2.            In the meantime, cut all the vegetables into small dices, mince the parsley and transfer to a salad bowl. Chop the garlic and mash in a mortar with a dash of salt. Transfer the garlic to a bowl and prepare the dressing: pour the lemon juice and olive oil and pomegranate molasses (if desired) and mix with a small whisk or fork.
3.            Wipe the eggplant slices dry and brush with olive oil. Grill on a preheated grill at medium hot setting until soft and charred a bit on both sides. Chop the eggplant into dices and transfer to the salad bowl. (Alternatively, you can bake them in a 350F oven until soft, about 20 minutes).
4.            Add the dressing to the salad bowl and combine all the ingredients. Taste and adjust seasoning, if needed, and serve.

Recipes may be reprinted with the following credit: Copyright Joumana Accad

To create other traditional Lebanese dishes using fresh, locally grown foods visit www.TasteofBeirut.com.

About Joumana Accad

Joumana Accad was born in Beirut, Lebanon. She left the Middle East in 1975 and began an international journey. She moved to Paris in the mid-‘70s where she finished her formal education. She returned briefly to Beirut before moving to the United States in 1979. Widowed at a young age, Joumana moved to Dallas, Texas in 1987, remarried and raised two children. She couldn’t resist the call of cooking as she entered the Pastry Arts program at El Centro College in Dallas.  Upon graduation, Joumana became a pastry chef for a German restaurant, worked as a caterer, and sold her decorated cookies and cakes.  Whole Foods Markets asked her to teach classes on Lebanese cuisine at several of their local markets. Today she runs the popular food blog www.tasteofbeirut.comwhere she explores the cuisine of the Levant as well as the Middle East.