Ochiuri romanesti cu topinambur si mamaliguta.

Nu este chiar Comté Polenta servita la renumitul restaurant Frantuzesc din Strada Duane (New York), dar se potriveste de minune pentru un mic dejun acasa, alaturi de cei dragi.

Denumire originala : Poached Eggs with Sunchokes and Comté Polenta

Reteta originala : http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/poached-eggs-with-sunchokes-and-comte-polenta

Bucatarie: SUA / Franceza
Dificultate: medie
Cantitate: 4 portii
Timp de preparare: 15 min

Timp de gatit: 30 min
Durata totala: 45 min

Ingrediente:
230 g tuberculi de topinambur, spalat foarte bine cu peria sub jet de apa, necuratat de coaja, feliat foarte subtire
3 linguri de unt nesarat

1 cana (240 ml) lapte integral (3.25% grasime)

½ cana malai instant

1 ½ cana (170 g) branza Comté, rasa, plus extra pentru servit

4 oua mari

Crengute de hasmatuchi si sare cu trufe, pentru servut

NOTE:

Topinamburul (Helianthus tuberosus) este o planta erbacee perena din familia Asteraceae, cultivata ca leguma pentru tuberculii sai bogati in inulina. Mai este cunoscut si sub denumirile: napul de pamant, mar de pamant, cartofi porcesti, napi porcesti, picioci, trufe, pere iernatice. Un articol interesant aici http://sanatate.bzi.ro/topinamburul-arma-impotriva-obezitatii-si-a-diabetului-vezi-9-motive-pentru-a-manca-mai-des-tuberculi-de-topinambur-55753

Comte = Comté = Gruyère du Comté = Comte Gruyere  Pronuntie:  kohm-TAY  Notes:  Este o branza din lapte de vaca produsa in Franta inca de pe vremea lui Charlemagne (Carol cel Mare, 742 – 814).  Are un gust dulceag, cu o aroma de nuci. Are o meltenabilitate buna.  Substituenti:   Gruyère OR Fontina OR Beaufort OR Emmentaler.

Branza Comte se gaseste la eMag la pretul de 18.33 RON / 200g (http://www.emag.ro/supermarket/branza-comte-200g-entremont-93781/pd/DKP8QBBBM/)

Hasmatuchi=chervil = French parsley   Pronuntie:  CHUR-vil  Notes:   Este o planta aromata de culoare verde pal, cu un gust subtil de patrunjel si anason.  Se foloseste proaspat. In stare uscata pierde mult din aroma.  Substituenti:  smirna OR patrunjel + tarhon OR Frunze de fenicul  + patrunjel OR fines herbes (Amestec de ierburi aromate francez, care contine de regula hasmatuchi, patrunjel, chives si tarhon.) OR patrunjel + marar OR tarhon (Ca si hasmatuchiul, tarhonul este un bun aromatizant pentru otet.) OR chives (in special cu oua) OR marar (deasemeni bun pentru aromatizat otetul)

Sare cu trufe    Notes:   Este un condiment perfect pentru asezonarea pastelor (se adauga in apa in care fierb acestea) si pentru carnea la gratar. Asezoneaza cu un plus de caracter omlete, risotto, carne de pasare si carne alba. Presarati cateva graunte de sare peste o salata de rata, ciuoerci sau pui Alfredo. Delicios peste cartofi de casa sau piure de telina. Se poate comanda online de pe diferite siteuri la preturi variind in jurul sumei de 60 de lei /100 g  (http://www.delicecorner.ro/trufe/specialitati-din-trufe/sare-trufe)

Echipament:
1 tigaie (sau cratita) de marime medie, adanca, cu capac

1 castron

1 ceaun pentru mamaliga.

4 cescute de cafea in care se sparg ouale inainte de a le rasturna inapa clocotita.

1 spumiera

1 farfurie intinsa pentru scos ouale dup ace s-au facut

Prosoape de hartie

Cum am preparat eu:

1.      Se combina intr-o tigaie de marime medie, mai adanca si prevazuta cu capac feliutele de tapinambur cu 1 lingura de unt si se amesteca la foc moderat pana cand untul s-a topit. Se adauga ½ de cana de apa, se asezoneaza cu sare si piper si se aduce la stadiul de fierber. Se acopera cu capacul, si se gateste la foc moderat cca 8 – 10 minute, pana cand lichidul s-a evaportat si tapinamburul s-a inmuiat si a capatat o culoare maro deschis. Se transfera feliile de tapinambur intr-un castron. Se sterge tigaia cu servete de hartie. Se umple tigaia cu apa si se aduce la fierbere.

2.      Se pune 1 cana de lapte intr-un ceaun, se sareaza si se aduce la fierbere. Se adauga malaiul si se gateste la foc moderat, amestecand continuu, cca 5 minute, pana cand s-a legat. Se adauga 1 ½ cana de branza rasa si cele 2 linguri de unt ramase si se amesteca pana se obtine un amestec cremos; daca mamaliga este prea vartoasa, se pot adauga cateva linguri de apa.

3.      Se sparg oule in cescute de cafea. Se regleaza flacara la tigaia cu apa clocotita cat apa sa bolboroseasca incet (simmer) si se torna cu grija ouale, unul cate unul. Se regleaza flacara pana cand apa se linisteste si se gatesc ouale cca 4 minute, pana cand albusul s-a coagulat complet, iar galbenusul s-a fixat. Se transfera ouale cu o spumiera pe o farfurie tapetata cu prosoape de hartie.

4.      Se distribuie mamaliguta in 4 farfurii adanci. Se aseaza deaupra ochiurile romanesti, scurse de apa. Se presara cu hasmatuchi, branza rasa si sare cu trufe si se servesc calde.

Se imprieteneste bine si repede cu prospetimea unui Beaujolais.

Gogosi din aluat dospit, cu vanilie.

O varianta clasică, prăjită în baie-de-ulei şi servită pudrată cu zahăr, de obicei alături de o cafea cu lapte.

Denumire originala : Vanilla Raised Doughnuts

Reteta originala :  http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/vanilla-raised-doughnuts

Bucatarie: SUA
Dificultate: medie
Cantitate: cca 16 gogosi
Timp de preparare: 30 min

Timp de gatit: 30 min
Durata totala: 4 ore

Ingrediente:
1 cana (237 ml) de lapte degresat (0.1% grasime)
1 ½  baton de vanile, despicat, semintele din interior razuite

½ de cana (100 g) plus 1 lingura de zahar

28 g de drojdie uscata activa

¼ de cana (60g) margarina

3 galbenusul de la 3 oua mari

2 lingurite de sare de bucatarie

½ de linguruta de praf de copt

½ de linngurita de nucsoara macinata

500 grame de faina, cernuta

apa clocotita

ulei vegetal, pentru prajit

Echipament:
1 craticioara pentru fiert laptele cu vanila

termometru de bucatarie

mixer cu bol, cu carligul pentru aluat montat.

planseta pentru aluat

3 tavi de copt

tava cu pereti inalti sau o cratita mare

hartie de copt

forma pentru taiat gogosi (70 mm diametru) sau forme rotunde pentru biscuiti 70mm + 30 mm diametru.

Gratar metalic

Prosoape de hartie

Cratita mare pentru prajit

Mini tocator pentru prepararea zaharului aromatizat

 Cum am preparat eu:

1.      Se incalzeste laptele intr-o craticioara, impleuna cu semintele de vanilie si o lingura de zahar, la foc mediu, pana cand atinge temperatura de 40.5⁰C (masurata cu un termometru de bucatarie). Se transfera laptele in bolul unui mixer electric la care este atasat carligul pentru aluat. Se adauga drojdia si se lasa sa se hidrateze cca 5 minute, pana cand la suprafata lichidului s-a format un strat de spuma. Se adauga margarina, galbenusurile de ou si restul de zahar si se amesteca la viteza medie pana cand margarina este incorporata. Se adauga sarea, praful de copt si nucsoara. Se reduce viteza si se adauga faina treptat, cate o cana, pana cant aluatul devine ferm, dar inca lipicios (consistenta se regleaza din cantitatea de faina).

2.      Se transfere aluatul pe o planseta de lucru presarata cu faina si se framanta manual; se modeleaza sub forma unui disc si se transfera pe o tava de copt, tapetata cu faina. Se aseaza tava de copt in centrul cuptorului (cuptorul nu este aprins!!!). Se aseaza la baza cuptorului o cratita mare, sau o tava cu peretii inalti si se unple cu apa clocotita. Se inchide usa de la cuptor si se lasa aluatul la dospit circa o ora, pana cand isi dubleaza volumul.

3.      Se tapeteaza doua tavi de copt cu hartie de copt si se presara cu faina. Se scoate aluatul din cuptor si se aseaza pe planseta de lucru. Se intinde intr-o foaie rotunda cu diametrul de circa 30 cm si grosimea de circa 12 mm. Se decupeaza gogosile cu o forma de gogosi de 70 mm (diametru exterior) sau cu doua forme rotunde pentru biscuiti, una de 70 mm pentru conturul exterior, iar cealalta de 30 mm pentru gaura). Se transfera gogosile si “gaurile” pe tavile de copt tapetate cu faina si se reintroduc in cuptor. Se reumple tava cu pereti inalti apa clocotita, se inchide usa cuptorului si se lasa la dospit pentru inca cca. 45 min, pana cand volumul s-a dublat.

4.      Se aseaza un gratar metalic pe planseta de lucru si se acopera cu prosoape de hartie. Se toarna uleiul pentru prajit intr-o cratita larga, intr-un strat de cca 5 cm si se incinge la o temperatura de 185 ⁰C. Se adauga 3 sau 4 gogosi odata, se controleaza flacara astfel incat temperatura sa se mentina in limitele 177⁰C - 182⁰C. Se prajesc gogosile pana cand capata o culoare auriu inchis, cate 1 minut pe fiecare parte. “Gaurile” se prajesc in serii de cate 12. Se scot gogosile cu o strecuratoare si se transfera pe gratarul acoperit cu prosoape de hartie pentru a se scurge de grasime.

5.      Se presara gogosile cu zahar aromatizat.

Zahar cu merisoare: durata de preparare 5 min. Se combina intr-un mini tocator ¼ de cana de merisoare deshidratate cu 1/2 de cana de zahar. Se amestca pana cand zaharul se coloreaza in roz iar merisoarele sun complet tocate. Se adauga inca o jumatate de cana ce zahar si se amesteca pana se omogenuzeaza.

Zahar mentolat: durata de preparare 2 ore. Se combina in mini tocator ½ de cana de frunze de menta proaspete cu ½ cana de zahar pana cand zaherul se coloreaza in vere aprins. Se adauca inca ½ de cana de zahar si se amesteca pana se omogenizeaza. Se intinde zaharul pe un platou intins si se lasa sa se usuce la temperatura camerei cca 2 ore, amestecandu-l din cand in cand. Se transfera zaharul in cuva mini tocatorului si se amesteca de 2-3 ori inainte de folosire.

Zahar vanilat: durata de preparare 5 min. Se combina intr-un mini tocator 1 cana de zahar cu semintele razuite dintr-o jumatate de pastaie de vanilie, pana cand semintele de vanilie sunt distribuite uniform.

Midye Dolmasi and Midye Tava

A STREET FOOD SHELL GAME

While mussels are much appreciated wherever they are found, only the Turks have been passionate enough to turn them into a standard street food. Hawked by vendors mainly around the busy Galata Bridge that spans Istanbul’s Golden Horn, the bivalves offer delectable nourishment for visitors taking in the action.
 

Two mussel specialties are readily available in this quarter bustling with pedestrians, hawkers, and automobiles. One is made by stuffing the nicely salty, tender mussels with a rice pilaf studded with pine nuts and raisins. Called midye dolmasi, these may be served hot or at room temperature as part of the meze course throughout the Middle East, but on these street corners they are sold chilled.

 

The second dish, midye tava, is piping hot: mussels deep-fried until crispy in a light and bubbly golden batter right before your eyes. They are usually dipped into an aromatic tarator sauce, a blend of walnuts, garlic, milk-soaked bread, and olive oil, brightened with lemon juice.

Simit

AN EDIBLE BRACELET

 

Jewelry or bagel-like baked treat? This may be the rst question that comes to mind when you spot this big, sesame-veneered, spiraled bread ring sold mornings on street corners in cities such as Istanbul, Athens, and Tunis. One whiff should provide the answer, for the aroma of these toasty rolls is hard to resist. Traditionally eaten with either yogurt or jam, they’d be excellent vehicles for lox and cream cheese as well.

In addition to their satisfying texture and flavor, simitler (in plural form) provide entertainment as their vendors vie for attention, some with the most alluring cries. Others carry baskets of the breads on their heads, stacking the simitler in ever more creative arrangements that may suggest the tower of Pisa, complete with the lean.

Lahmajoun

PIZZA BY ANOTHER NAME

 

 As snackable as the more familiar Italian pizza, lahmajoun begins with crisp, yeasty rounds or squares of what is essentially pita dough—pide in Turkish—topped with a richly thick sauce of ground meat, preferably lamb, that has been simmered with a rich blend of onions, parsley, crushed hot chiles, mint, garlic, green peppers, tomatoes, and perhaps a breath of cumin and allspice. Freshly baked and served hot, it is traditionally garnished with lemon wedges.

Just like pizza, cuts of lahmajoun range from slightly limp and tepid street-fair food to gourmet treats, the entire round or square baked to order and the sauce carefully prepared. And much in the way peoples take their slices—folded up into a sort of pizza sandwich—lahmajoun can be rolled up for snacking convenience. Cut into small squares or wedges, it works equally well as a refined cocktail canapé. As a quicker, crisper alternative to the freshly made dough, the sauce may be spread over the thin bread known as lavash and then glossed with melted butter and briefly heated in the oven.

Baklava

PASTRIES TO SATISFY A SULTAN

Ethereally light and crispy layerings of flaky phyllo dough brushed with melted butter and decked out with chopped nuts and oozing, honeyed syrup make baklava one of the world’s most seductive pastries.

Baked in shallow rectangular or round metal pans, the still-warm treat is doused—and thus crisped—with ice-cold sugar syrup or honey. Cut into diamond-shaped portions, it is to be nibbled alongside Turkish tea or coffee, in this case preferably unsugared.

Already a popular dessert in the Topkapi Palace in the sixteenth-century days of the Ottoman sultans, baklava was reported to be one of the favorite treats in the harem known as the House of Felicity (a title perhaps due only in part to the presence of pastries). The dessert evolved over the years, baked in varying forms and with fillings of walnuts, almonds, or pistachios, though always fragrant with cinnamon, lemon rind, and orange blossom water.

One of the most popular riffs on the theme is bourma, known as shredded wheat, a dizzyingly sweet and chewy delight in which shredded phyllo is wrapped around nut fillings before it is baked and drowned in syrup.

Finding fresh baklava is no easy matter, but it’s crucial. Kept too long, the pastry becomes limp and tough and the nuts turn rancid. If not in a reliable restaurant, find good baklava in busy Greek, Turkish, or other Middle Eastern bakeries where turnover is high. Avoid any that is precut and wrapped, boxed, or canned.

Biscuits

CRACKERS FOR CHEESE LOVERS AND COOKIE MONSTERS

Soothing to stomach and spirit, English biscuits provide exactly the right foil for the firm and pungent cheeses of their home country. Technically, the word biscuit means twice-cooked, originally referring to rusklike biscotti or zwieback that were baked, then sliced and toasted, and other long-lasting varieties that were boiled prior to being baked. Today, in its English usage, the term describes all sorts of crisp crackers that are not to be confused with the fluffy, buttery biscuit rolls of the American
South.

The most authentic English biscuits are made by Carr’s, Hovis, Jacobs, and McVitie’s, and their offerings range from simple, lean white water biscuits to thicker, creamier varieties and sweet, cookielike, rustic whole wheat or wholemeal types considered digestives in England. (Companies are no longer allowed to make that claim in the U.S.) Most producers also offer the biscuits in pepper, cheese, or herb varieties that do nothing but compromise the flavors of cheese and limit the delightful crackers’ versatility.

Charcoal biscuits are an unusual variant — dusky gray, cosseting, chiplike wafers popular in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as gastrointestinal purifiers, and still used as such today. Composed of willow charcoal powder, wheat flour, eggs, salt, and the merest hint of sugar, they are teasingly gritty on the tongue yet innocently neutral in flavor, working as palate cleansers after intensely sweet desserts.

Where:
In New York, Myers of Keswick, tel 212-691-4194, myersofkeswick.com.

Mail order:
British Corner Shop, britishcornershop.com (search digestives);
amazon.com (search original digestive biscuits).

Further information and recipes: 1200 Traditional English Recipes by Ethel Meyer (2010);
food.com (search english digestive biscuits).

Tip: Look for Carr’s, Jacobs, McVitie’s, Hovis, or Miller’s Damsels brands in upscale supermarkets and gourmet food stores.