Spring Into Spring

A whole year has gone by, and Spring is here again.. at least officially: Monday is Sham El Nessim, and we are ready for Spring. As for the weather, I'm really not sure yet: things are really going crazy in New York, in one day we can have four seasons, some of them simultaneously. Yesterday when I went out the sun was shining, but two blocks away it rained! Luckily the sun came back immediately. But no matter what the weather is doing, we are going to have our Spring party. This year I'm having some friends over. I'll start the preparations a bit earlier, so that everything will be ready by the time they come and I'll be completely free to enjoy my time with my friends. The secret here is to chose menu items that can be prepared in advance, and most importantly to make an exhaustive list of the things you have to do: put down the elements and procedures for each dish, the time when you should do it, and the serving dish you are going to use. If you have limited kitchen space like me, you have to think of everything, especially the serving dishes to be able to locate them and bring them out instead of wandering around the house while your friends are at the door. Stick the to do list on the refrigerator door and let's go to work. First thing to do is go shopping: this time stick to the list of items you need for your party, other items for the house can be bought on another trip to the store, next week.  My menu this year is as follows: Boussara, Herrings, White fish salad, Smoked salmon, Taramasalata, Mixed salad, Baba Ghannough, colored eggs, Feta dip, Leg of lamb, Orzo, and a new dish that I never cooked before: Keshk. Of course there will be toasted pita triangles and some cut veggies for the dips. I'll also have a spread of nuts and lupini to go with the drinks, although many of the dips can also be served from the start with the drinks. For dessert I bought a Tiramisu cake and some ice cream. Most of these items can be bought ready made, mainly the taramasalata, and the only thing to do is to plate them, or maybe tweak them to our taste.

KESHK
      

                                                       

This is an ancient Egyptian dish. Ancient because it's very common in Upper Egypt, and this region has kept many of the ancient traditions alive, especially when it comes to food. Some of the dishes of the region are completely lost in other parts of the country, or have gone through so many transformations and changes that you can hardly recognize them any more. So this dish has an original form, the one made in the villages of Upper Egypt, and the one I tried, the one we know in the cities, which is more simplified. The original recipe uses almost the same ingredients, but requires a longer cooking time, since it calls for drying out the ingredients formed in small balls in the sun for days, then cooking them in stock to rehydrate them. I recently learned that a similar dish is popular in Lebanon, but instead of drying the ingredients formed into balls, they are spread and dried until they become like a powder, then again cooked and rehydrated. Of course we, city dwellers, cannot afford all these cooking techniques, and tend to simplify the procedures. I never cooked this dish myself, it's my sister who used to make it for mom. I've been thinking about it lately mainly because I know that mom loves it and I never cook it for her, so I tried making it last week, just to make sure how it will turn out. Since I had no recipe for it and the one I found used the old techniques and the dried ingredients, I tried my best to remember how I saw them cook it back then. It turned out to be quite easy. You'll need:

2 cups plain yogurt (I used Greek yogurt)

4 tsp flour (I actually use a regular plastic tsp and put 4 heaping tsp)

1 cup skim milk

1 cup stock, more if needed

A pinch of nutmeg

Caramelized onions for garnish

In a heat resistant bowl mix the yogurt and the flour early in the morning and leave it on the kitchen counter or, if you happen to have the oven on, put it near the oven to let the heat speed up the process. (Don't cook it just yet). After 3 to 4 hours, pour the yogurt mixture into a nonstick skillet and start cooking it over medium high heat.  You'll immediately smell a strong yogurt, or sour, smell, don't worry, just keep stirring with a whisk. Slowly add the milk while stirring to prevent any lumps from forming. Then start adding the stock. By then the smell would have completely disappeared, and you should not have any lumps in the skillet. Use a heat resistant spatula and keep stirring making a big 8 in the skillet to be sure that there are no parts of the liquid that are not stirred. In 9 to 10 minutes the mixture will become thick, and the flour fully cooked. Add the nutmeg, stir and taste to check the seasoning. The consistency of the mixture should be like the one of a custard before setting in. Pour the mixture into a shallow serving dish, let stand until it firms. Thinly slice an onion, caramelize it by cooking it in a tsp or more of oil until browned. Sprinkle the onions over the keshk and serve.  

NOTE: I served the smoked salmon on a platter with finely chopped red onions and capers on the side so that everyone would prepare it to his taste, I made a mixed salad with lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes and added chopped cilantro (it gives it a special kick) and a can of chick peas. Someone put the taramasalata on the dining table instead of outside in the living room, it didn't matter, we were hungry and we did enjoy it. You can find the recipes for the boussara and white fish salad in a previous blog, the one for Sham El Nessim last year.

     Taramasalata

White fish Salad