I Say Kefta, You Say Kofta

Depending on the national boundaries within which you are standing when you order this particular dish, you may ask for kefta (Morocco), kyutfte (Bulgaria), qofte (Albania), kefte (Greece), kufte (Armenia), kofte (Turkey), or kofta (Afghanistan and India). [Thank you, Alan Davidson.] The category of "kefta" is a bit like the category of "meatball" or even "meatloaf" here in the states. It can be composed of innumerable ingredients; it can be spiced in myriad ways; it can be stuffed; it can be the stuffing; it can be braised, broiled, grilled or fried, it can be swathed in sauce, smooshed in a sandwich, or eaten on its own. But the principle is the same:

Ground meat + spices = little bites of heaven.

I'm calling this recipe kefta because of the Moroccan flavoring we slapped on it, thanks to the confidence-inspiring recipe writing of Claudia Roden. Yes, they look like little turds, but boy do they taste good.

One of the keys I'm learning to certain Middle Eastern meat preparations (like gyro meat, for example) is an absurdly fine grind. This means taking the already-ground beef [from the pasture-raised cattle of our friends at Springdell Farm] and spinning it again through the food processor, making a smooth paste of meat and spices. A paste you want to press around a skewer and grill to smoky, charred perfection. A paste you want to incorporate into every ensuing meal, including dessert. A paste you want to tell your grandchildren about.

I have not yet achieved paste-transcendence, but tonight's dinner was number 5 in a series of kefta attempts in our kitchen, and definitely the best one to date. I'm almost positive it was the quality of the meat and none of my culinary skills that elevated this meal, but I'll take the credit while no one's looking.

Serve kefta over a bed of cous cous with braised vegetables, in a spicy tomato sauce, or--like we did-- with flatbread, yogurt sauce, and a simple salad of chopped tomatoes, onions, and peppers in herbs and vinegar.

Kefta Moroccan Style

serves 2; start to finish about 30 minutes

1/2 lb. ground beef or lamb (do me a favor: skip the turkey and go for red meat; it really does make a difference)

1 small onion, grated

1 heaping Tbsp EACH of chopped parsley, cilantro, and mint

1/2 tsp EACH of ground ginger, cinnamon, coriander, and paprika

3/4 tsp EACH of salt, cumin, and black pepper

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix lightly with your hands. The entire mixture should fit in a small food processor, so throw it in and use quick pulses (about 20) to get it nice and smooth. Open the lid and push things around if you need to. IF you do not have a processor, I think it's possible to do this by kneading kneading kneading and squeezing the meat mixture until you achieve paste consistency? Claudia says so anyway. "Knead vigorously" is her exact phrase.
2. Form the meat into 8 equally sized links and prepare to cook. You can do this in a number of ways: on the grill will taste absolutely the best. You can also broil for several minutes on each side or simply bake in a very hot oven for about 20 minutes. Alternately, use a stovetop grill pan or cast iron skillet to cook the turds on both sides--about 12 minutes total.

The Cutest Little Zucchini Cake You've Ever Seen

What's that, you need more things to do with your ever multiplying summer squashes? Well here I come to the rescue, again. This time with dessert.

Actually, Rose Levy Beranbaum comes to our collective rescue with a wonderfully light, moist, and not-too-sweet cake from one of her many miracles of culinary literature, the Cake Bible. It's a a recipe for zucchini cupcakes that translates easily into cake form, and I particularly like the use of brown sugar instead of white.

The cake itself needs nothing more than a dash of powdered sugar, but if you're feeling extravagant, the thinnest layer of cream cheese icing (spiked with cinnamon) will take it over the top.

Zucchini Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Icing

makes 5-in round (or equivalent) cake; ready in a little over an hour

For Cake:

3/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ginger

1/8 tsp salt

1/3 cup chopped, toasted walnuts or pecans

1 egg

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 cup grated zucchini (about 1 medium, with skin)

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Grease and flour a 5-inch (or equivalent) cake pan. Stir together flour, soda, spices, and nuts. Set aside.
2. Beat egg with sugar and oil until sugar is dissolved and mixture is smooth. This can be done with a whisk and some perseverance, but beaters or a mixer are preferable. Mix in zucchini, then dry ingredients. Pour into prepared pan and bake 30-40 minutes (depending on your baking dish), until a tester inserted in center comes out clean.
3. Cool 10 minutes in pan, then loosen edges and invert onto a cooling rack. Let cool completely.

For Icing:

2 Tbsp butter, room temperature

2 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. Beat butter and cream cheese with electric mixer for 2 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and beat well. Add sugar 1/4 cup at a time, adding cinnamon in one batch and beating well after each addition. When it's all in, beat 1 extra minute for a nice, smooth texture. Spread a verrrrrrry thin layer over top and sides.

Squash "Pizza"

What to do with all that summer squash lying around? What to do, what to do...

This is the point in the summer when gardens and refrigerators nationwide are overflowing with zucchini and squash. No matter how many times this happens, each ensuing year we magically forget and plant just as many seeds--if not more--as last year. And then for a month, it's all we can do to come up with ways to down it: squash pancakes, zucchini ice cream, gratins, frittatas--the resulting creativity is directly proportional to the amount of produce rotting in your vegetable drawer.

This summer squash "pizza crust" strategy was quite good in theory, but was not (for me) so good in execution. I can think of a number of reasons for this, but I prefer to blame it on the recipe. Except I kind of didn't follow the recipe.

The concept is all over the 'net (see here for the most oft repeated example) and seems to be some sort of diet strategy for replacing bread in one's meal. Phooey is all I have to say to that. It involves shredded squash, some flour and egg for binding, and a flipping strategy that I left out but might just be necessary, I can say in hindsight.

I just pressed the "dough" into a cake pan, baked it, topped it, and baked it some more. It seems if you get sassy an flip the baked "crust" out, then top and double bake, you might achieve something more akin to a congealed mass. Ours was congealed, but still pretty mushy, though the flavors were great. Maybe you can mess with it and give me some suggestions?

Summer Squash "Pizza"

serves 2; start-to-finish, about 1 hour

2 cups shredded squash or zucchini

1/3 cup flour (I used whole wheat)

1/3 cup grated cheese (I used gruyere, yum, but you could use a combination of parmesan and mozzarella if you want, like the original recipe calls for)

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 medium clove garlic, grated

1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil

salt and pepper

1. Sprinkle some salt over the shredded squash and let sit in a colander in your sink for about half an hour. This will get rid of a lot of moisture. Preheat your oven to 350º.
2. Squeeze water from squash and combine with remaining ingredients (reserving 2 Tbsp basil). Press into well-greased baking receptacle: I used 9-inch cake pan which made a great thickness. Maybe you just want to mound it on a cookie sheet, I don't know. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until edges begin to brown and mixture is firm.
3. The step I didn't do: flip crust out onto another cookie sheet or the like, brush with oil and bake 5 minutes more.
4. Up the temperature in your oven to 450º. Top your "pizza crust" with thin slices of (preferably heirloom) tomatoes and parmesan cheese. Bake until cheese starts to brown, 5ish minutes. Sprinkle basil over top.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Since I am physically unable to skip dessert after almost every meal (with breakfast being the occasional exception), sometimes I find myself trying to sneak some nutrition into my sweets. Does it make a difference? Probably not. No amount of fiber is going to cancel out butter and chocolate. BUT, while we eat these whole wheat cookies, we can glare from beneath our whole grain highbrows, scoffing at the philistines and their refined white flour. Ha! Eat your inferior sweets with their deliciousness and their moisture and their irreplicably delicate textures. We will all live longer and laugh at you after you are dead.

Meanwhile, here's what you should know about baked goods with whole grain flours, as gleaned from a masterpiece of nutritional experimentation, King Arthur Flour's Whole Grain Baking: in many, many cases, whole grain flours can be used in place of white flour in (specially designed) recipes. But the secret to achieving a palatable texture is often to let your dough, or your baked creation, sit at least overnight. This gives the denser flours time to absorb some liquid from the batter and soften up a bit, resulting in a more delicate chewing experience.

All this having been said, this cookie is good, but you can definitely taste the whole wheat. More precisely, I should say, you can feel the whole wheat lingering on your tongue. The ungodly proportion of chocolate chips to dough in this recipe goes a long way toward disguising the texture, but if you're a purist, you may be disappointed.

Let me also say, I was not disappointed. I really liked these cookies and will be making them again. If you make them, be sure to allow a FULL 24-hours' chill time for the dough.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

makes 9 small cookies; adapted from KA's Whole Grain Baking (see above); start to finish 1 day + 20 minutes

3 Tbsp butter

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp baking soda

1/16 tsp (yes, just use half of your 1/8th) baking powder

1 Tbsp + 1 tsp agave nectar or corn syrup

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/2 beaten egg (eat the rest for breakfast tomorrow)

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup chocolate chips

1. In a small saucepan or microwave-safe bowl, melt butter and then stir in brown sugar. Cook until beginning to bubble (only took about 30 seconds in my microwave--work in small increments). Stash in the freezer 10 minutes to cool to lukewarm.
2. Stir in vanilla, salt, soda, powder, agave/syrup, and vinegar; mix well. Add egg and stir until combined. Next, add flour and chips and mix until nice and blended. Cover and stash in the fridge until tomorrow. Batter will be very runny.
3. On day 2, your batter will have magically become more of a dough. At this point, heat your oven to 375º and drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake 8 minutes. Because they are whole wheat, the cookies will already be a little dark, so don't rely solely on color for determining doneness; give them a little poke with your finger. They shouldn't be raw but they shouldn't be too firm either. They'll continue to cook a bit out of the oven.

Eggplant Rollatini

The inspiration for tonight's dinner came once again from Deborah Madison's endless encyclopedia of produce, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. I have said it before and I will say it again, this books is valuable for anyone who eats lots of veggies or wants to eat lots of veggies. You will never be at a loss for how to prepare and eat something from the ground.

The books has several recipes for eggplant rollatini, a traditional Italian-style dish that stuffs long strips of eggplant full of cheeses and other goodies, then breads and fries them before smothering them with more cheeses and goodies. Madison's recipes are not so gooey as that, but I strayed in order to be able to use up the contents of my fridge.

What resulted was a very simple "stuffing" of browned ground turkey (with plenty of onions and garlic), wilted arugula, and a bit of grated cheese, all rolled into some briefly grilled eggplant strips and coated in tomato sauce. I imagine it was just as filling as its heavier, greasier counterparts, but without all the Tums afterward.

As usual, take this recipe as little more than a guideline and fill your rollatini with whatever you have lying around. But take note, the "baking" time is just to warm everything through. You want all your components to be mostly cooked by the time they hit the oven for the final melding.

Eggplant Rollatini

serves 2-3; total time about 45 minutes; works great as leftovers

1 medium eggplant, sliced longways into 1/2-inch strips (my eggplant made exactly 6)

3 cups arugula (or spinach or other leafy green)

1/4 cup diced onion

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 lb ground turkey

1 tsp dry basil

1/4 cup good melting cheese (mozzarella, gruyere, monty jack, etc.), grated

1/4 cup parmesan, grated

1 - 1 1/2 cups prepared tomato sauce

salt and pepper

1. Season with salt and pepper, then grill, saute, fry, or broil your eggplant strips until they are malleable, but not cooked all the way through (I used the George Foreman). Stack and keep warm.
2. Cover the bottom of a large skillet with water and heat over medium-high heat. Add greens and stir, then cover and let wilt 1-2 minutes. Set greens in a colander to drain and return skillet to stove. When slightly cool, squeeze excess moisture out of greens and give them a rough chop. (You can skip this step entirely and just use frozen, chopped spinach, defrosted.)
3. Film the bottom of skillet with olive oil and return to medium-high heat. Add onions and pinch of salt and cook until translucent, 3-5 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more. Stir in turkey and cook until brown, seasoning with basil, salt and pepper. If you need to, add more oil as you go. When nice and brown, transfer meat to a bowl and add greens and cheeses. Stir to distribute.
   
   
4. Now, grab a small baking pan and pour in about 1/3 cup of your tomato sauce; spread to cover the bottom. On a clean surface, lay out your eggplant slices and place a heaping spoonful of filling on fatter end. Roll up entirely and place seam-down into baking sheet. Repeat until eggplant or filling is gone. If you run out of eggplant first and have extra filling, just sprinkle it around the edges of the eggplant and bake it right alongside. A little extra never hurt. Top generously with more tomato sauce, cover, and bake in a 375º oven for about 30 minutes. If you want, grate a little more parmesan cheese over top.

(proof that the best-tasting food is often the ugliest)

Buckwheat Pancakes with Blueberry Syrup

What do you know about buckwheat? Well, for starters, are you aware that it's not even wheat?

Buckwheat is a plant grown mostly for its kernels (like cereal grains, plants of the grass family whose seeds are used as food grains, named for the Roman corn goddess, Ceres; think wheat, rice, barley, oats, ryel, maize, millet, etc.) and is an entirely separate entity from wheat. In fact, buckwheat is not a grass at all; the kernel that we eat is really a fruit seed. Because of the similar ways in which it is cooked, though, we tend to mentally lump it along with other cereal grains. Its name comes from the Dutch, bockweit, meaning "beechwheat," apparently earned from its seeds' resemblance to beech nuts. But I digress.

As a member of the Clique of Whole Grains, buckwheat shares all the fiber-soaring, heart-healthy, potentially cancer-fighting characteristics of that bunch. It also has some lipid lowering effects that have been shown to help prevent high blood pressure and cholesterol levels. So swap these pancakes out for your regular recipe every now and then. I admit, whole grains can be an acquired taste sometimes, but just think about all those years you're tacking on to the end of your life! And then pour on the blueberry syrup.

Buckwheat has no gluten, so it must be combined with higher protein flours to get the lift you want in most baked goods. According to those geniuses at King Arthur, you can sub up to one-third of the flour in a bread recipe with buckwheat if you so choose. (Buckwheat flour in sweeter creations was not recommended--stick to pancakes, biscuits, and other breads.)

Buckwheat Pancakes with Blueberry Syrup

serves 2; total time about 10 minutes; adapted from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking

1/2 cup buckwheat flour

1/3 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp bakin soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 beaten egg (scramble up the rest to go with your b'fast)

1 Tbsp molasses

1 cup buttermilk (OR a mixture of yogurt + milk OR orange juice + milk)

1/2 Tbsp veg oil

1. Stir together flours, powder, soda and salt. Make a well in the middle.
2. Whisk together egg and molasses, then add buttermilk and oil. Dump wet ingredients into dry well, then stir just until dry ingredients are good and moist (do not over mix!).
3. On a preheated skilled (preferably cast iron), scoop out 1/3-cup amounts of batter and cook 2-3 minutes, or until you start to see bubbles. Flip and cook 2-3 minutes more. Serve warm with blueberry syrup, if you like.

Blueberry Syrup

1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

1 Tbsp sugar

• In a small saucepan, stir together blueberries and sugar over medium heat. After a few minutes (a bit longer if they are frozen), berries will start to break down and release their juices. Boil just a minute or two, until thick. Use warm.

Zucchini and Bell Pepper Torte

Full disclosure: I'm not sure this dinner tasted as good as it looked, nor am I entirely sure it was worth the effort, but my goodness it's pretty. Right? I saw it in this month's Gourmet and immediately knew it must grace my kitchen table. Plus, I purchased an elephantine zucchini from

the market thinking it was funny; then I got home and realized I had to figure out how to eat it.

The whole enterprise was a bit fussy. It has several steps and you need a springform pan and a pressure strategy and several hours' patience while it occupies significant fridge space. But when you finally pop it out, it's actually a lot of fun to eat. Plus it's pretty. Maybe this is a dinner party-type recipe, especially since it must be made ahead of time. So go ahead and throw it together. Impress your friends. Eat some vegetables.

The more I think about this "torte" the more I realize it is not just a single recipe; it is a brilliant strategy. The gist of it is this: sauteed or roasted vegetables layered with cheese, pressed for several hours in the fridge to get rid of excess moisture, and sliced for serving. Seems to me you could use a number of different vegetable-and-cheese combinations here, especially since roasted red peppers have a very distinct flavor, and one that tends to take over if you're not careful. (For a non-red-pepper-lover, this is a problem.)

And I hate to say it, but the springform pan is kind of necessary here. You want the torte to shed some liquid during the pressing, so you want something with cracks in the bottom. Hate to be high maintenance, but there you have it. My 6-inch springform was the perfect size. And then, when you're done, you can make tiny cheesecake (more on that later)!

Zucchini and Bell Pepper Torte

(serves 2, total time at least 4 hours, preferably more, adapted from Gourmet)

2 red, yellow, orange, or purple peppers (not green!!), stemmed, halved and seeded

olive oil

3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1 lb (2ish) zucchini, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds and sprinkled with salt

1 red onion, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds

2 Tbsp red wine or cider vinegar

1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated

2 Tbsp fresh basil, chopped (or 1 Tbsp dry)

1. Start by roasting your peppers. Slather them with olive oil and place them cut side down on a baking sheet covered with foil. Roast around 425º for 20ish minutes, turning once halfway through. As soon as they're out, take a pair of tongs and toss them into a paper bag and close the top. In 2 minutes, open the bag and pull out the peppers. Their skins should slip right off. Cut into thick slices
2. Now, heat 1 Tbsp olive oil with garlic in a large skillet. When oil is hot, add as many zucchini rounds as you can and cook about 3 minutes. Turn and cook 2 minutes more. Transfer to a plate and repeat with any additional zucchini slices.
3. In that same pan, add the onions with a pinch of salt. Cook 15 minutes, or until tender. Add vinegar and stir until evaporated, which will happen quickly.
4. Now for assembly. Flip the bottom of the sprinform over so you have the smooth side up. The layers go like this:
Zucchini
Cheese/Basil
Bell Peppers
Onions
Cheese/Basil
Zucchini
Onions
Bell Peppers
Cheese/Basil
Zucchini
5. Cover with plastic and find a plate that is just a little smaller than your springform and will sit down in it. Put some heavy weights on top, place it in a bowl or something to catch the liquid, and let it sit in your fridge, at least 3 hours and up to a day. We ate it cold, which was fine, but the recipe says to let it come to room temp first. Your call.