It’s for all of you, too, but especially for Mike.
Mike dutifully reads all of my posts and recipes but says he’ll never make any of them despite the fact that he’s a good cook.
I challenged myself to post a recipe that Mike COULD make if Mike CHOSE to make it. (Hint: that means it’s fast and easy!)
Crushed fennel seed.
Most of us are not going to cure our own olives. Even in Italy that’s true. But starting with good quality cured olives and seasoning them to make them unique is quite another thing.
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Many years ago, when we were living in Chicago, and had a very productive garden plot, fall “harvest” season saw lots of foods being made and preserved for the coming months. One of the ways we made use of abundant fresh herbs was to put up gallons of olives with herbs and a light vinegar brine. It was a technique I learned from a friend in Santa Fe, Joe Hoffman.
Tiny lemon wedges, about the size of an olive.
The vinegar allowed the olives to be kept for months and months without deterioration. Done right, they weren’t sour. In fact, I thought the vinegar treatment mellowed some of the bitterness that olives can have.
“Joe Hoffman’s Marinated Olives” were a staple nibble during cocktail hour for most of our dinner parties for many years.
Garlic slivers.
Our herb harvest since moving to Santa Fe hasn’t been as abundant as it was in Chicago so I haven’t made these olives in a while. What I do make is an utterly different style of marinated olive that can be prepared just a few hours before serving time. These olives will last in the refrigerator for several weeks, though not as long as Joe Hoffman’s olives.
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The original recipe, which I have since modified, came from Jo Bettoja’sIn a Roman Kitchen.
These olives pack a major flavor punch and never cease to get raves from dinner guests.
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Roman-Style Olives (Olive alla Romana)
These olives only need to marinate a few hours before serving. They will keep in the refrigerator, tightly covered, for several weeks.
Porchetta is roast pork, but it’s no ordinary roast pork. In its most traditional form, it is made from a whole pig, well-seasoned, and slowly roasted.
Porchetta can be found throughout Italy at festivals and street fairs, such as the one in Bagni di Lucca that I attended this past August.
Porchetta, made from a whole pig, at a festival in Bagni di Lucca.
Though there is some debate, Porchetta probably originated in Lazio in Central Italy. Lazio is the region where Rome is located.
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Seasonings vary with the region and often include some combination of garlic, rosemary, fennel, and black pepper. Some regional variations include chopped entrails or liver in the mix.
Perhaps the most unusual version of Porchetta that I’ve encountered is made at the Italian Culinary Institute in Stalettì, Calabria. It is seasoned with salt and a large amount of truffle puree!
Chef Juan and Chef Chris about to carve a truffle-laden porchetta at the Italian Culinary Institute.
Most of us are not going to roast an entire pig which raises the question of what cut or cuts to use. This is especially important as much of the mouth-feel of porchetta derives from the combination of fatty and lean meat inherent in using an entire pig.
One solution, that makes for an elegant presentation, is to roll a slab of pork belly around a lean pork loin and tie it. This strategy allows one to cut neat slices that contain both lean and fatty meat.
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Another solution is to use a cut of meat that inherently contains about 20% fat. A pork shoulder fits the bill nicely. The bone must be removed and the thickest parts of the meat butterflied before being seasoned and tied. This cut of meat doesn’t create consistent slices as does the pork-belly-wrapped-around-a-pork-loin method. It does, however, create supremely succulent meat, more so that the pork loin that’s encased in the pork belly.
A porchetta vendor in Rome. (Photo by Alessandro Pinna – Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34665585)
I lean towards the “pulled pork” version of porchetta, so slices aren’t really important to me. I always opt for the boneless shoulder method and pull the cooked meat apart in large chunks. Given the chance, though, I’d like to try a whole pig.
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Porchetta
The seasonings in this version of Porchetta closely adhere to what is used in central Italy. Be sure to spread the seasoning very evenly on the meat before rolling and tying.
Most historians of cooking claim that curry powders are legacies of the European colonization of South and Southeast Asia. I don’t doubt that this is partially true but I think the reality is much more nuanced.
The word “curry” is believed to come from the Tamil word “kari,” meaning sauce. Now, however, the term is applied to a range of dishes from a wide swath of South and Southeast Asian countries, not just to dishes from India.
What constitutes a “curry powder?” Does it take multiple spices and herbs or just more than one?
In Sri Lankan cooking, for example, the combination of coriander and cumin in a two-to-one mixture is commonly used in many dishes. This is so much the case, that Nanacy Rajapakse, who taught me Sri Lankan cooking, suggested that I make the mix and have it available for use as needed.
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I think we can generally acknowledge that “curry” as we use the term in the Western world, is really a Western construct. It usually refers to a generously spiced dish cooked in liquid, though the liquid may be (mostly) boiled away in some cases to make a “dry” curry. The word “curry” (or translational equivalent) may not figure into the name of a given dish in the local language but when rendered in English, I suspect, the word “curry” is often used in the name of a dish to signify the general concept.
An array of Sri Lankan dishes. The darker beef and pork dishes make use of roasted curry powder.
Whether commonly prepared spice blends used in these countries actually constitute “curry powders” is a matter of definition and whether or not these spice blends pre-date, or are a result of, European influence is up for debate. Even when curry powders or pastes are used, my experience is that other herbs and spices are almost always added to fine tune the taste of a dish. In South and Southeast Asian cooking, it would be rare to rely on curry powder alone to flavor a dish.
Clearly, however, the way spice blends are used in South and Southeast Asia differs from the way “curry powder” is used the Western cooking, whether the curry powder is used to impart an interesting flavor to an otherwise Western dish (like deviled eggs, for example) or to create a Western version of an Asian dish (like a generic “curry” found in so many cookbooks that predate the last 20 years, or so).
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In addition to the coriander-cumin blend noted above, Sri Lankan cuisine makes use of roasted curry powder for meat dishes and unroasted curry powder for vegetable dishes.
Though the spices for many “curries” are cooked in oil at the start, the roasted curry powder of Sri Lanka is different. It produces a depth of flavor that is completely different from that which can be obtained by simply frying the raw spices and herbs at the beginning of cooking. While it’s easy to pull together different spices individually for each non-meat dish that might otherwise use an unroasted curry powder, one cannot replicate the taste of roasted curry powder without actually roasting it. There really is no substitute for roasted curry powder if one wants to make traditional Sri Lankan food.
A curry leaf plant. The leaves are very fragrant.
There are several dishes planned for the coming months that make use of roasted curry powder. Today’s recipe is the starting point for those recipes. If you have any interest in Sri Lankan, or South Asian, cooking you won’t be disappointed in whipping up a batch of this curry powder.
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Sri Lankan Roasted Curry Powder
Roasted curry powder is used in Sri Lanka for meat dishes. It brings a depth of flavor that cannot be achieved by any other means.
Combine the coriander seeds, cumin seeds, peppercorns, mustard seeds, fennel seeds, cloves, and cinnamon on a rimmed baking sheet.
Roast in the oven 325º F, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, approximately 20-25 minutes.
Lightly crush the cardamom pods but don't remove the husk.
Combine the cardamom pods and curry leaves on a different baking sheet.
Roast the cardamon pods and curry leaves in the same oven as the seeds until the leaves are crispy. Remove the leaves
Continue roasting the cardamom pods until lightly browned.
Roast the cayenne pepper in a dry frying pan over moderate heat till slightly darkened in color.
After removing the roasted spices from the heat, immediately pour them into a cool rimmed baking sheet as the heat of the baking or frying pan can overcook them.
Finely grind the coriander seeds, cumin seeds, peppercorns, mustard seeds, fennel seeds, cloves, and cinnamon in a coffee mill.
Stir in the roasted cardamom pods, curry leaves and cayenne pepper. The curry leaves and crushed should not be ground.
As a freshman in college who made tentative forays into non-Western European cuisines, I was transformed into a person who couldn’t find a cuisine he wouldn’t try, and didn’t like, by the end of sophomore year.
Junior year was really an intensive study in cooking. It’s the year I became a respectable Sri Lankan, Indian, Chinese, and West Indian cook. There were many other cuisines that I dabbled in but those four formed the basis of what I cooked during the year. By then I considered myself a good Italian cook but my repertory and skill level have expanded significantly since then.
Starting junior year, and for many years thereafter, Reggie and Nanacy Rajapakse taught me much of what I know of Sri Lankan food. Several cookbooks by Charmaine Solomon, as well as the [Ceylon] Daily News Cookery Book, provided much additional guidance. Several trips to Sri Lanka with Nanacy, many years later, confirmed to me that I had captured the taste of Sri Lankan food.
In 2005, I accompanied Nanacy Rajapakse to her nephew’s wedding. The groom (with flower on his lapel) and his family approach the wedding venue.
I understand that Sri Lankan food may be a stretch for some of my readers but I really want to introduce you to it. As a starting point, I’ve selected a vegetable dish that pairs really well with a wide range of cuisines, Zucchini and Peppers with Fennel Seed and Cinnamon.
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I actually made this a few weeks ago at an otherwise all-Italian meal. It paired really well. The dinner guests, all of whom were Italian, didn’t think for a moment that it wasn’t Italian!
The wedding ceremony
It’s an example of a style of cooking vegetables in Sri Lanka called tempering. The vegetables are cut into relatively small pieces. Aromatics (onion, garlic, ginger, etc.), depending on the dish, are first sautéed. The vegetables and seasonings are added and everything is cooked relatively quickly, 10 minutes or so depending on the vegetable.
Most Sri Lankans are ethnically Sinhalese. The next largest group are Tamils, followed by individuals of Arab descent (called Moors locally). Typically, Sinhalese are Buddhist, Tamils are Hindu, and Moors are Muslim. There is a smattering of others ethnic groups and religions.
A reception for the newlyweds, several days after the wedding. Nanacy is on the right and her sister Thilaka is on the left
Hindus and Buddhists in South Asia, are nominally vegetarian. Muslims typically don’t eat pork. This recipe, which is ethnically Sinhalese, includes bacon which 92% of the Island’s population theoretically would typically refrain from eating. But they don’t!
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In fact, I found no shortage of meat (and meat-eaters) on my trips to Sri Lanka. Even the most ubiquitous of condiments, pol sambola, contains flakes of dried fish which would typically be avoided by both Buddhists and Hindus. Clearly there is some sort of “accommodation” that the Sri Lankans have made around the idea of being vegetarian because the local cuisine contains a lot of (very wonderful) meat and fish dishes.
On the other hand, it’s also an easy place to be vegetarian. One of my trips to Sri Lanka coincided with one of my periods of vegetarianism (which I ultimately gave up for cultural and health reasons). There was an array of vegetarian options available at every meal.
A view of the Indian Ocean not far from Thilaka’s house south of Colombo
The most difficult time came when neighbors of Nanacy’s sister Thilaka, with whom we were staying, invited me over for a lunch of “curry and rice” which, although it sounds innocent enough, means you’re in for a delightful meal and lots and lots of food. On the other hand “short eats” refers to snack food.
The neighbors had gone all out! There was a huge array of dishes, each more wonderful than the last. It truly was the best food I ate in Sri Lanka. I tried to just eat the vegetarian options but it was clear that my hosts were distraught, though they would never have said anything to me.
Thilaka tempering vegetables for dinner
I decided that the appropriate response to their generosity was to eat everything. My hosts quickly became delighted (as did my taste buds)! Only years later did I come to understand that in Sri Lanka (and many Theravada Buddhist countries of South East Asia) Buddhist monks are obliged to accept all food offered to them, even meat, unless they suspect the animal was slaughtered specifically for them.
Since I was most certainly not a monk, I’m sure they couldn’t understand why I was only eating the vegetarian dishes rather than everything that was offered to me. In the end, it was a happy accommodation for everyone involved.
If you have a favorite family recipe and a bit of a story to tell, please email me at santafecook@villasentieri.com and we can discuss including it in the blog. I am expanding the scope of my blog to include traditional recipes from around the country and around the world. If you haven’t seen Bertha’s Flan or Melinda’s Drunken Prunes, take a look. They will give you an idea of what I’m looking for.
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Sri Lankan Zucchini and Peppers
I learned to make this from Nanacy Rajapakse who is from Sri Lanka. Nanacy made it with bacon, and, while very good with bacon, it is also wonderful without. As a variation, cabbage, cut into ½ inch wide strips, can be substituted for the zucchini. Feel free to adjust the quantity of spices to your taste. Curry leaves can be difficult to obtain outside of large metropolitan areas with large South Asian or Southeast Asian populations. There is no substitute. If not available, just omit the curry leaves as I often do.
