Maybe world peace can happen if an Israeli and Palestinian
can bring a wonderful cookbook to us! Our dinner, hosted by Sharon and Suki, was an
adventure in new spices, combinations, ingredients and tastes.
No one volunteered to make an appetizer so Sharon, being a gracious host, decided to fill in some gaps in the menu and made
homemade Hummus that I really
loved. TBH, I’ve never eaten
freshly made hummus and thought it was supposed to taste like the kind I’ve purchased at
gourmet grocery stores, that I’ve never liked! Sharon said it is so simple to make that she never eats
store-bought hummus. She
just soaks the chickpeas overnight and then boils and purees them, add some
tahini, lemon juice, garlic, a little cumin and water. Drizzle some olive oil over it and
serve. Voila! Creamy, super smooth hummus!
She also made some Labneh
that uses 3 different types of yogurt:
goat, cow and sheep yogurt that was wonderful as well. She served these two creamy
appetizers with spicy pita chips and sliced flatbread. She served two condiments on the
side. Pickled Lemons that only take a week to make vs the months it takes
to make salted lemons and it had a very different taste…not salty and, actually
not vinegary either. It’s hard to
describe what it tastes like other than lemony, tart goodness! The other side was a collection
of nuts and seeds and spices….crunchy, spicy, addictive collection that we
could sprinkle on anything to add a punch to the dish. Bill selected a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin nv Champagne
Brut from
France for us to drink while waiting for everyone to arrive and to go with the
appetizers. Jeffrey offered
a magnum from his cellar as a general contribution and we had some of his
10-year old Mount Eden Vineyards Estate Chardonnay, aged to a wonderful golden
color, to go with Sharon’s hummus and Labneh.
I must add here that Sharon also made two dishes that we did
not have on the menu but could take home to try later. Roasted
Butternut Squash and Red Onion with Tahini and Za’atar and an Herb Pie. This woman was cooking up a storm for several
days!! The squash dish was
very simple and complex at the same time, I think because of the Za’atar
spice. We experimented with
Za’atar and Sumac a lot with this cookbook. Two spices that I don’t normally use. Her Herb Pie used filo pastry for the crust and was filled with mint, dill, parsley, arugula, celery,
onion, swiss chard, green onions, cheddar, and feta and other than S&P, no
additional spices! A tasty
and very pretty presentation.
Thank you, Sharon!
Our first course for the evening was an Arab dish called Na’Ama’s Fattoush that Sandi made that,
as you can see from the photograph, is a plateful of radishes, cucumbers, mint,
parsley, tomatoes, garlic, yogurt and lemon juice, mixed with torn flatbread or naan. It was a very tart and creamy salad
that was a wonderful mixture of textures and very memorable. The recipe said to wait 10 min. before
serving but Sandi thought that the naan would dissolve after 10 minute so she
served it within minutes of being added to the salad. It was very soft but still kept it’s shape so I think
she made a good call. Another good
call was the Sauvignon Blanc from the
2005 Murrieta's
Well Vineyard of the Tesoros Winery in Livermore. This was a very dry Sauvignon Blanc that complemented
the tartness of the salad.
We then moved to a seafood dish that Jeffrey prepared. Prawns,
Scallops and Clams with Tomato and Feta.
The tomato was very subtle in this dish. From just looking at the title of the dish, I thought it was
going to be a very tomato-y sauce but it just has a few pieces of diced
tomatoes floating in watery broth that allowed the delicate seafood flavors to
shine through. What we all noticed
about this cookbook’s recipes is that they are all pretty easy to prepare, once
the spices were purchased. It is a
collection of home-cooking recipes that they remember from their childhoods or
have embellished with new ingredients or flavors. Our Eveready Cook, Sharon, prepared a simple couscous
to go with the dish so we could soak up the leftover juices on our plates. . .
slurp! Bill selected a Domaine de la Madone 2009 Beaujolais Jean
Bererd from France to go with this dish.
I think it was a wonderful Beaujolais that was both fruity and dry. Some people continued to drink
the Mount Eden Vineyards Chardonnay that also went well with the shellfish.
Janis, our supreme salad and vegetable queen, made Spinach Salad. Now, to see the title of this dish, you could imagine a
very simple salad that we’ve all seen at potluck lunches. NOT so! This Spinach Salad had chopped dates, our intrepid
spice--Sumac, red onions, torn pita bread, unsalted almonds and chili
flakes. Oh yes, and
spinach! It used a very
simple dressing of red wine vinegar, lemon juice, butter and olive oil, but the
combination of ingredients created a very sublime salad that had tart, sweet, earthy, crunchy,
and leafy tastes and textures. I
don’t know how she does it but she always chooses the right salad or vegetable
dish that just knocks my socks off!
What also made this dish “over the top” was the Sori' Del
Re 2007 Moscato D'Asti Degiorgis Sergio from Italy that Bill served from his cellar. Who would have guessed that a Moscato would be the perfect
wine for spinach salad but it was absolutely the best pairing for the course.
I made the Mejadra
dish that Sandy P was going to bring.
I thought it was going to be very similar to a rice and lentil with caramelized onions dish
that we made from the Zov cookbook, one of our very early
cookbooks from 8 years ago.
This Mejadra was very, very spicy and I think, had too many lentils in
ratio to the rice. It also came
out very dry. It could be
that I made it on Friday and reheated it for our dinner because I spent the day
at Stanford tailgating and watched us lose to USC (boo-o-o!) and just barely
made it to our dinner. I
added water to the dish before nuking it to warm it up but it didn’t help with
the dryness so it maybe that if I make this again, I’ll add more water to the dish
initially. It was too spicy
for me and I actually prefer the Zov version that is simpler and allows the
tastes of the rice, lentil and caramelized onions show through. This dish fries the onions before
adding it to the rice. I may have
also over-fried the onions too so how it turned out could have been “operator
error.”
I also prepared the Clementine
Chicken with Arak. I loved
this dish when I first made it and knew that it was the one I wanted to share
with my fellow cooks. I did learn
from my first attempt to double the marinade because I didn’t think there was
enough sauce and I think that made the dish even more delicious. Another simple dish that just requires chicken, Clementine oranges, fennel, thyme and fennel seeds. It also used grainy mustard, orange
& lemon juice for the marinade/sauce.
All are ingredients in most pantries. I used Pernod instead of Arak since it only
called for a few tablespoons of it and I didn’t want to buy a whole bottle just
for a few tablespoons. I could
have also used Ouzo but Pernod was in our liquor cabinet. I hope everyone enjoyed this dish as
much as I did. I made a
simple Basmati Rice dish to complement the chicken. The orange/fennel combination was a surprise and my
tastebuds just exploded when I tasted it. We enjoyed a Merry Edwards 2004 Pinot Noir Klopp
Ranch in
the Russian River Valley of Sonoma
County. All in all, this was
probably one of our most difficult dinners to pair wine with and Bill did tons
of online research to determine what wines might go best with the various
spices and tastes. We all agreed
that he did a yeoman’s job!! Thank
you, Bill, for your generosity and knowledgeable selections.
We were all pretty full at this point so the two dishes that
Sharon was thinking of serving (the squash and herb pie) went into take-home
containers.
Our two desserts were also made by Sharon and were actually
her original choices for the dinner. She made a Clementine
Almond Cake and Spice Cookies. Her cake was made using ground
almonds, and sweetened with simple syrup flavored with Clementine zest and
juice is poured over the cake while still warm so it soaks up the syrup that
not only moistens the cake but adds another layer of citrusy flavor to it. Bill ingeniously selected a very
old Sutter Home NV Triple Crème Aperitif
wine from the 1970’s to go with both this cake and the Spice Cookies.
What a spectacular pairing for the desserts. The Triple Crème enhanced the citrus tones of the cake and
stood up to the spicy cookies.
The cookies were to be topped with candied fruits and a sugar glaze but
Sharon couldn’t find any candied fruits that are typically only available
during the holidays so she topped the cookies with candied ginger. Very clever substitution, Sharon!
I think we all staggered home from this meal, fully sated
and filled with wonderful memories of yet another feast prepared by a group of
gourmet cooks!
Our next event, our 9th Annual Holiday Buffet,
will be held at Annie & George’s home on Saturday, December 13. Please mark your calendars! Time TBA so stay tuned!
Cook on!
