The exotic flavors of the Middle East.
Years ago, when I interviewed Wolfgang Puck about his Seders at Spago, he told me, “If I would become Jewish, I would become Sephardic because of the cooking.” As an Ashkenazi Jew, I can totally relate. What is it about those Mediterranean flavors that are so enticing? The exotic spices. The luscious fresh fruits and vegetables.
Sure, my Russian grandmother used spices – garlic powder, paprika and pepper – lots of pepper! (She was a Litvak!) But when I think of her cuisine, nothing green comes to mind. Beets, carrots, onions, radishes—those familiar vegetables of Eastern Europe graced her table in America as well. When I asked my mother if she could remember eating any vegetables when she was growing up, she said, “Sure. We had potatoes.”
I still salivate over the hearty, rich Eastern European delicacies I grew up on – the brisket, borsht, kneidlach and blintzes – but the amazing variety and intense flavor of Middle Eastern cuisine beckons, and it doesn’t hurt that it’s healthful too.
At the heart of this cooking are the spice blends and condiments that give these dishes their zing. How often did I pass up a recipe because some of the ingredients were unfamiliar? Baharat? Harissa? Hawaij? Never heard of them. S’chug? What is that? Preserved lemons? Sounds complicated. I was a culinary xenophobe.
Then someone gave me some za’atar from Israel. I sprinkled it on an omelet and was hooked. Learn to prepare a few of these mixtures, and the whole world of Sephardic cooking opens up to you. These days you can find more and more prepared versions in specialty shops, even on supermarket shelves.
“Think of harissa as a modern-day gourmet hot sauce – or, if you prefer, as an update to Tabasco,” said Einat Admony, James Beard nominated chef and owner of New York’s Balaboosta, the fine dining Middle Eastern Israeli restaurant, as well as the beloved fast casual falafel chain, Taïm and as author of “Balaboosta: Bold Mediterranean Flavors to Feed the People You Love,” (Artisan, $29.95). Harissa gives her Really-Not-So-Short Ribs a dramatic flavor boost, a jolt of flavor for your Passover seder.
S’chug she refers to as “Dad’s hot, hot, hot sauce.” “My father actually takes this homemade sauce with him to restaurants,” she explains. “Even today he cleans the cilantro, picks his own chile in the spice market, peels the garlic, and grinds it all by himself – a true labor of love.”
Admony’s mixed Israeli heritage reflects her Yemenite and Persian upbringing, but like Israeli cuisine itself (if there is any such thing), her style reflects borrowings from many cultures in the region. Ironically, she chose the Yiddish word “balaboosta” for one of her restaurants as well as her first cookbook.
“I chose the name because it’s warm and reflects who I am,” she said. And she’s not talking about the stereotypical perfect housewife of yesteryear. “Today it’s trickier. Most women work outside their homes, managing careers and kids, so it’s hard to live up to the traditional definition. A modern balaboosta figures out how to build a successful career without neglecting her husband and family.”
During the Seder, we eat matzoh with haroset, the fruit-nut mixture resembling, in color and texture, the mortar the ancient Hebrews used as slaves in Egypt, and combine it with bitter herbs, to remember the bitterness of slavery and the sweetness of freedom. Yet, unlike the roasted lamb, bitter herbs, and matzo, haroset is not mentioned in the Torah as one of the foods we are commanded to eat on Passover and doesn’t show up as part of the Seder until hundreds of years later in the Mishnah. While the Mishnah mentions placing unleavened bread, lettuce and haroset on the Passover table, haroset is referred to as a type of appetizer, leading to much debate about its inclusion in the ritual proper.
“The name ‘haroset’ comes from the Hebrew word for clay (chres),” explains Oded Schwartz in “In Search of Plenty” (Culture Concepts). “Haroset is a direct descendent of the Greco-Roman sweet-sour sauces which were served at the beginning of a feast as a dip for raw bitter salad herbs. They were eaten to refresh the palate and tantalize the appetite…and were probably adopted in Israel under the Greek and Roman occupation.”
We tend to think of haroset as a strictly Passover tradition, but it wasn’t always so. “Haroset was probably eaten throughout the year, as the Mishnah specifies that flour is not allowed just in a Pesach haroset,” notes Schwartz, “There is no set rule about which fruit should be used, but the tradition is to use fruit which is associated with the land of Israel: dates, figs, raisins and pomegranates.” Obviously, these fruits were unavailable in the shtetls of Eastern Europe, and the Ashkenazim apple-walnut version was born.
Even the spices used in the mixture are symbolic, suggests Ungar. “Cinnamon and ginger, which are hard spices until ground, are added to the mixture to recall the straw pieces the Egyptian taskmasters forced Hebrew slaves to use for making bricks after they stopped supplying them with clay.”
Two recipes in Faye Levy’s “1,000 Jewish Recipes” (IDG Books Worldwide) – her Yemenite Haroset and Haroset Truffles – inspired me to create these pretty little haroset balls. They are so sweet, spicy, and festive, they really belong on the dessert table, but I like to serve them, along with traditional haroset, on the appetizer plate, where they won’t get lost amidst that ostentatious display of sponge cakes, tortes, cookies, and pastries. (Ah, yes, poor us. No bread for a week. Thus we remember the sufferings of our ancestors!)
Really-Not-So-Short Ribs
Serves 4 to 6
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 large carrot, coarsely chopped
1 large yellow onion, coarsely chopped
3 celery ribs, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1 large leek, white and light green parts only, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
5 garlic cloves
4 fresh thyme sprigs
1 fresh rosemary sprig
1 bay leaf
4 cups red wine
4 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup honey
3 tablespoons kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons Baharat (recipe below)
1 teaspoon sweet Hungarian paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
5 pounds beef short ribs, rinsed
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Heat oil in large Dutch oven or other large, heavy pot until it starts smoking. Add carrot, onion, celery, leek, and garlic. Sauté until vegetables start to caramelize, about 15 minutes. Add thyme, rosemary, and bay leaf and sauté another 5 minutes.
3. Add wine and bring to a boil, then reduce mixture by half. Add chicken stock, honey, salt, baharat, paprika, cumin, and pepper. Bring to a boil; then lower heat to simmer.
4. Using tongs, sandwich short ribs between a layer of vegetables on bottom and another layer of vegetables on top. Ladle some sauce over the short ribs, then cover with a lid. Bake until meat is fork-tender, 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Serve with sauce.
Baharat
Makes about 1 1/3 cups
2 tablespoons ground black pepper
3 tablespoons allspice
3 tablespoons ground coriander
5 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground cloves
3 tablespoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
4 teaspoons ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons sweet Hungarian paprika
1 tablespoon dried lemon zest (optional)
4 teaspoons dried ginger (optional)
Combine all the ingredients together until well mixed. Store in airtight jar away from direct sunlight.
Yemenite Haroset Truffles
Grind toasted almonds for coating before preparing truffles to avoid cleaning the processor twice.
Yield: 20 to 24 truffles
1/3 cup (2 ounces) pitted dates
1/3 cup (2 ounces) dried figs
1/3 cup (2 ounces) raisins
1/3 cup (2 ounces) dried apricots
2 1/2 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 tablespoons orange liqueur
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
3/4 cup toasted coarsely chopped pecans
3/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted
For the Coating:
1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted and finely ground
1. Combine dried fruit, honey, orange liqueur and spices in food processor and pulse until smooth. Add pecans and slivered almonds, and process until well combined. Refrigerate, covered, until firm, at least 3 hours.
2. Form mixture into balls 1 to 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Roll them in the ground almonds, and place them in individual fluted foil or paper candy cups. May be refrigerated up to 5 days.
Jlife Food Editor Judy Bart Kancigor is the author of “Cooking Jewish” (Workman) and “The Perfect Passover Cookbook” (an e-book short from Workman), a columnist and feature writer for the Orange County Register and other publications and can be found on the web at www.cookingjewish.com.
