hedgehog

For dinner, I agree with the choice of zuni. Just was there about two weeks ago and it was as good as ever. Lunch in the wine country? I would choose angele along the napa river in Napa. I think it is really good. I also suggest lunch at chez panisse's cafe in Berkeley.

I'm wondering what brand of pomegranate molasses you are using. The imported Cortas brand from Lebanon is a perfect blend of sweet and sour while the kind produced in California is just plain sweet. Try adding a little lemonjuice to bring the sweet and sour into balance. if the results don't do it for you, the cortas brand is available at any middle eastern grocer and costs very little..

that sounds fantastic!

after the grating, salting, squeezing and drying , try mixing it with some shredded fennel, apple and red onion to make an ideal salad to serve with sauteed fish.

According to Jamal Bellakhdar writing in La pharmacopee marocaine traditionnelle "smen is clarified butter infused with origanum compactum (vulgar) and preserved for at least a month before using." He suggests that though many herbs and spices have been found to kill or inhibit bacterial species on which they are applied, this type of oregano is one of the most potent. Moroccans make the smen with sheeps milk and keep it for years in clay jars.

QUOTE]was thinking, possibly, serve it over crispy gnocchi, maybe with some caramelised butternut squash....]

I have tried it and it is delicious with slow roasted salmon fillet. I use the following recipe from Paula Wolfert: Raw rhubarb salad with cucumber and mint. Serves 2 2 young rhubarb stalks, 1 medium crisp cucumber, Coarse salt, 2 handfuls arugula, 1 tablespoon lemon juice and 1/2 cup shredded mint leaves Using a vegetable slicer (mandolin) or a thin bladed knife, slice the rhubarb slightly on the diagonal into 1/16-inch thick strips. Repeat with the peeled cucumber. Toss rhubarb and cucumber with 2 tablespoons coarse salt and let stand for 10 minutes then rinse and drain. Toss rhubarb, cucumber, and arugula. Correct seasoning with lemon juice for a slightly mouth-tingling effect. Scatter mint leaves on top and serve.

eat a small bowl of yogurt mixed with 1 tablespoon to help induce sleep.

There are two ways I know to really taste rhubarb. The first is Turkish, the second is American or British 1. sprinkle some salt on a young stalk to soften the sour flavor, just the way one tempers radishes or onions and munch slowly for a satisfying snack. 2. dip the young stalk in a bowl of sugar and munch slowly. ."

I see I'm a little late on this one, but just in case someone is interested in one more point of view on lurpak butter. I think the reason Danish lurpak is so popular in some middle eastern markets is it is the butter of choice. In north africa and the middle east where local cows are highly suspect for producing clean milk, the lurpak butter was always there for a price. The Danes have been selling their butter in that part of the world for over a quarter of a century. I'm not surprised that in the lpst twenty five years a lot of middle easterners who have settled here in the states look for the quality ingredients they knew back home.

Sorry to be so confusing. Around the Mediterranean, the word za'atar (zatar or zaatar) is used two different ways to refer to a class of herbs and to refer to a spice blend of za'atar and sumac. First, the herbs. Numerous herbs in the thyme-oregano-marjoram-saory family bear the name za'atar You can purchase a live plant called za'atar parsi (thymbre spicata) at Well Sweep Farms in New Jersey. You can buy jars of an oregano pickle which isn't oregano at all, but za'atar parsi. This last bit of information is from Wolfert's book on eastern mediterranean cooking. . Then there are the dried blends from Israel, Jordan and Syria you can buy at middle eastern stores . The za'atar part could be anyone of the many herbs mentioned above...or even a combination. There are secret blends as well as very simple ones. In fact, you can buy dried plain za'atar at some middle eastern stores, but I don't know which herb itwould be.

In Morocco, zatar is a generic word for a whole family of herbs: savory, thyme, hyssop, and oregano. reference:Jamal Bellakhdar'sla pharmocpee marocaine traditionnelle Medicine arabe ancienne et savoirs populaires Ibis Press, 1997 I think the same is true in the middle east.

Jaz wrote: There was an article in American Sceintist a few years ago that put forth the argument that spice use developed to protect food from bacteria and other dangerous microorganisms. The authors studied spice use across various climates and found that in hotter climates, where food spoilage would be more of a problem, the food (especially meat dishes) tended to be more heavily spiced than in cooler climates, and that those cuisines tended to use the spices that were most effective at destroying the harmful bacteria. (The authors included herbs, chiles and members of the onion family as well.) I think what JAZ points out is the main reason why certain herbs and spices took hold in some countries and stuck. It was in response to food borne illnesses. And it was the genius of cooks over time that make it all palatable In Morocco an herb like origanum compactum (called za'tar tadlaw) is used to preserve clarified butter (smen).This special butter flavored with this particular herb supposedlymakes the finest tasting tagines and couscous.

thank you so much for taking the time to type out the recipe. It looks fantastic.

absolutely that is the place to have guasteddi. The fresh buns are filled with ribbons of calf's spleen, ricotta cheese, strands of caciocavallo cheese and a drizzle of hot lard. They're the best street food of the city.