Cooking while camping

I love camping even if I do far too little of it. It's an excuse to get away from all those city-driven stressors and spend a few days completely focused on the arts of fire-building, beer-drinking, storytelling and, maybe, lazy paddling.

Now, I've never been 'middle-of-nowhere, armpit-of-the-country" camping, so for the purposes of making this post easier to understand, I'm dealing with the kind of camping where you park your car on or near the site and don't have to spend 20 hours portaging to get there.

One of the great challenges I've enjoyed over the years is trying to make tasty, nigh-gourmet meals in the camping environment. With enough cheating, anyone can pull it off in the most hostile environments. Heck, I've been to Burning Man a couple of times where the only food available is that which you bring in yourself, and a group of fisherman from San Fran trucked in freah tuna every day. In the middle of the desert, with no civilization for miles around, we were feasting on freakin' sashimi! All that to say is that with the right means of transportation and enough willpower, you can make as gourmet a spread as you want just about anywhere!

But, since this is about how to make it easy, let's start with a few tools that will make it possible to cook more than hotdogs on sticks while camping.

Here's my list of basic camping dishes (for 2 people)


- cutlery for 2 (fork, knife, spoon)
- 2 bowls (I use melamine, which is a super durable kind of plastic, but dishes also come in enamelled metal, although I find they chip and rust too easily)
- 2 plates (also melamine)
- metal or plastic coffee cups (if you're coffee drinker)
- chef's knife (store securely to avoid cutting one's self, I usually fashion a sleeve out of boxboard)
- cutting board
- large cooler (to store all those goodies) and multiple ice packs
- large frying pan - cast iron is ideal since it can go on a fire, but there are ways around that
- medium pot/saucepan with handle
- tongs and spatula (I suggest getting longer tongs that you can use in the fire too)
- grill basket (good for cooking
- heavy duty oven mitts or work gloves (for handling items hot out of the fire)


Now, every good camper needs to have a camping stove. Yes, there's that lovely campfire that makes all food eight zillion times better, but it's a bit of a pain for boiling water, and it takes a bit of time to get a fire cook-worthy. I'm not going to get into the intricacies of lighting a good campfire, mostly since that's not my forté.

So, get yourself a camping stove! I'm a big fan of the butane burners/stoves. Here's an example of one. There are also propane stoves out there. Go to a local hardware or camping supply store (or Wal-Mart, if you have no soul) and pick up some sort of source of flame independent of a campfire. You'll be glad you did.

Also, just in case you don't have access to a picnic table or whatnot, I suggest bringing some sort of portable folding table on which to prep and place the stove, etc. A card table works well.

So, now that you have the equipment, what you eat is up to you! But here are a few suggestions:

1) Whiskey Steak: If you refer to my April 30 post, you'll find the recipe for the marinade. The day before you want to eat the meat, mix ingredients in a large ziploc and keep in a cooler well-stocked with ice or icepack. Let marinate for a day or so and cook on the fire. Remember to discard the marinade, DON'T pour extra marinade on the meat. It might be full of nasty bacteria, especially when kept in a cooler.

2) Shrimp and veggies: Using the grill basket, cook together a bunch of peeled shrimp and cut veggies, pretty much the same as described in my April 30 post (Ok, I admit it, there isn't much difference from cooking on the grill and cooking on a campfire).

3) Fire-kissed lobster: Buy frozen whole lobsters, crack all shells (use a nutcracker-type dealie, or prertty much anything!), extract all meat from bodies, discard carcasses in the fire (as to keep the gourmet bears away!). Using grill basket or skewers, heat meat over fire until hot (but not charred), serve with LOTS of garlic butter (Gay Lea makes a good pre-made garlic butter).

4) Bacon Wrapped Peaches: see June 5 post. In this case, the grill basket is invaluable. Place the peaches in the basket over the fire.

5) Homemade Sausage Patties

I got this recipe from the LCBO's Food & Drink magazine 4 years back and brought them camping with some friends and they were AWESOME! Just grill them over the fire using the grill basket or whatnot, or fry them up as indicated in the recipe. What I did was make the patties the day before we went camping, put them in a tupperware, then cooked them up for breakfast. When they're ready, put them on paper towel to soak up excess grease. If going over the fire, that step probably won't be necessary.

Maple Pork Sausage Patties

NOTE: Covered patties keep well in the refrigerator for up to a day. Patties can be frozen on a wax-paper-lined baking sheet; then peeled off and transferred to a plastic bag. Defrost when needed and sauté as in recipe.

Ingredients

1 shallot (or half a small onion)

1 tbsp (15 mL) butter

1 lb(500 g) lean ground pork

2 tbsp (25 mL) dry white wine

1 tbsp (15 mL) maple syrup

¾ tsp (4 mL) salt

½ tsp (2 mL) dried sage leaf, finely crumbled

½ tsp (2 mL) coarsely ground black pepper

2 tbsp (25 mL) finely chopped fresh parsley

1 to 2 tbsp (15 to 25 mL) canola or peanut oil

Directions

1. Peel and finely chop shallot. Heat butter in a small frying pan over medium heat until bubbly; add shallot. Sauté for 1 to 2 minutes or until softened. Remove from heat; cool.

2. Stir pork with white wine, syrup, salt, sage, pepper, parsley and shallot mixture; mix well with a large wooden spoon. Line a flat baking sheet with parchment or waxed paper. Divide pork mixture into 8 portions; shape into patties about ½-inch (1-cm) thick. Cover and chill for several hours.

3. Heat 1 tbsp (15 mL) oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Without crowding pan, sauté patties in batches, turning occasionally, for 10 to 15 minutes or until browned and crispy. Add more oil as needed.

Serves 6 to 8

So, there are some ideas beyond the traditional hot dogs and marshmallows. I hope you enjoy them! Remember, feel free to ask me any questions or point out if I've missed anything.

Cheers!

BBQ Sauce from scratch!

Hello again!

As you may or may not know, I love to make as much of my food from scratch as possible. I think it has to do with being able to control what goes into it. Now, as you saw a few moths back on my post about ribs, there are a plethora of store-bought BBQ sauces that are pretty darned delicious. But they use a lot of salt and sometimes preservatives. Also, there is something to be said about the freshness of a homemade sauce.

This Canada Day (July 1), I smoked 3 racks of ribs using a rub of equal parts berbere spice and brown sugar. I've done this a few times and the ribs with just the rub work really well and have a nice smoky/spicy flavour. Serving the ribs dry with no sauce is commonly known as the Memphis style and it's damn simple. Just smoke/slow cook for a few hours, and serve! But, the past two times I've made a 'finishing' sauce that I serve on the side of the ribs. And, it's that much better with the sauce.

Now, that being said, I can't see why you wouldn't use this sauce in any situation that calls for BBQ sauce, especially when dealing with pork or chicken on the grill. Like a lot of my favourite recipes, I adapted this one from Marcus Samuelsson's Soul of a New Cuisine and it includes a healthy dose of berbere spice as well.


Ingredients

- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 4-5 fresh ripe tomatoes, minced or pureed
- 1 onion finely minced or pureed
- 4-5 cloves garlic, finely minced (or put more if you like; a friend once told me you can never have too much garlic)
- about 2 tbsp worth of minced fresh ginger (a piece about 5 cms long, 1.5 cms wide)
- 1-2 cups dark beer (I recommend Tankhouse Ale or Upper Canada Dark)
- 1 tsp cocoa powder
- 3-4 drops liquid smoke
- 2-3 tbsp berbere spice
- 1/2 tsp crushed or ground coriander seed
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/8 cup honey
- 1/8 cup maple syrup
- 1/8 cup molasses
- 3-4 tbsp brown sugar

Directions

- Heat oil on medium heat in medium saucepan
- Saute onions until transluscent (about 5 minutes)
- Add tomatoes, ginger & garlic and bring to simmer
- Add beer, spices, cocoa, and liquid smoke and bring to simmer
- Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 35 mins. Stir in brown sugar and simmer for another 5-10 minutes
- Add maple syrup, molasses and honey and simmer for another 10 mins.

If you want your sauce to look like store-bought BBQ sauce, puree the sauce using a hand blender, but this does nothing to change the flavour. Keeps up 3 weeks in the fridge (the reason it doesn't keep for a year like most industrially made sauces might have something to do with salt not being one of the main ingredients).

Serve beside ribs or brush onto chicken or pork while grilling. Not sure how well it will go with beef, fish or shellfish... Really good on scrambled eggs though!

I hope you enjoy it!

Too hot to cook

Hey dudes and dudettes, It's about 35 degrees (42 with the humidex) in Ottawa today, the kind of day where the only cooking you're doing is in your clothes. Where the person with the pool wins.

On such a day the last thing you want to do is cook, even on the grill. It's a day of salad and cold food.

Now, you've got a lady/gentleman friend coming over to... I don't know... hang out in your freezer? Well, you need to serve something tasty, right?

Well, with that in mind, here are a few ideas for days like today. All these meals should be served with a fresh baguette, loaf of sourdough or ciabatta buns. Or whatever bread looks tastiest at the bakery... If you need to top the bread with anything, I suggest Boursin cheese - Garlic & Fine Herbs.

1) Greek Salad

Dead easy to make and tasty. There are a number of variations, but traditionally it's a combo of cucumbers, red onion, tomatoes, olives, green peppers and feta cheese.

In this version, I'm replacing the green peppers with red, because of you're anything like me, raw green peppers are the LAST thing you want to eat on a date! Also, omit the red onion if you wish.

Raw onion isn't exactly what your breath needs when trying to seduce, and I also find it can overpower the other flavours.

Here's how you put it together for two people:

Salad

- 1/2 cucumber, diced into 1 cm wide pieces
- 1/2 red onion, sliced or diced (optional)
- 1 small red pepper, diced (OR use roasted red pepper from a jar if you prefer)
- 12 kalamata olives, pitted and sliced in half
- 2 tomatoes, cut into 8 pieces each
- 100 grams crumbled feta cheese

- Assemble all veggies in 2 bowls (try to make it pretty!), top with feta

Dressing

- 2 tbsp olive oil (highest quality is best for dressings, see my second post - I suggest buying a large bottle of so-so quality stuff for frying/sautéing, a smaller bottle of higher end for dressings)
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice (about 2 wedges worth)
- pinch dried basil
- pinch dried oregano
- pinch sea salt
- black pepper to taste
- a few drops balsamic vinegar (optional)

- Whisk all ingredients together with a fork

- Top salad with dressing, toss and serve

NOTE: I've also added cut up pieces of Genoa salami to the salad for extra flavour (don't do this if your date is a vegetarian!).

2) Saffron Gazpacho I'm cheating a bit with this one, it's actually a recipe a lady friend made and she got it from the following site: http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=10479.msg73108#msg73108. I'm reprinting it anyway.

Now, gazpacho is cold soup, a concept which often hurts the brain of less adventurous diners. But it's delicious and amazingly refreshing on really hot days. You can find saffron at most gourmet grocers or produce stores. It's not cheap but a little goes a long way and it adds an earthy flavour to most foods that's quite interesting.

Saffron Gazpacho

Ingredients:

- 1/4 teaspoon saffron threads
- 1 teaspoon instant vegetable broth powder (this is a handy ingredient to have in many soup recipes, which we'll touch on in a few months when the weather's right for it)
- 1/3 cup finely minced red onion
- 1 small garlic clove, finely minced, or 1 large roasted garlic clove
- 1 cup boiling water
- 2 lbs. ripe plum tomatoes, trimmed, halved, and seeded
- 1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded, and cut into chunks
- 1 cup coarsely chopped roasted red bell pepper
- 2-3 tablespoon sherry or red wine vinegar
- salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste - chopped chives for garnish

Directions:

- Rub the saffron threads between your palms into a small bowl. Add the broth powder, onion, and raw garlic (if using). Pour the boiling water on top and stir. Cover and let steep for 5 minutes.
- In a food processor or blender, puree the saffron mixture, plum tomatoes, roasted garlic (if using), cucumber, and roasted pepper. Transfer to a glass storage container and stir in vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste. (The gazpacho should have a slightly acidic edge.) Cover and chill before serving. Garnish with chives.

3) Antipasto plate

From Wikipedia: Antipasto (plural antipasti), means "before the meal" and is the traditional first course of a formal Italian meal.

An antipasto-style plate makes for a great light dinner or lunch and is quite good for sharing. the best part? You make NOTHING; it's all buy-and-assemble. Well, mostly. Listed are some of the items you'll find on a traditional antipasto plate. All can be found at Italian grocers and usually the supermarket.

- artichoke or palm hearts
- pickled eggplant
- pickled, marinated or fresh mushrooms
- cheese, namely Provolone, Mozzarella, Pecorino and Bocconcini
- sliced Genoa salami (or whatever other salami floats your boat)
- sliced Cappicollo ham
- sliced Prosciutto
- roasted red pepper
- green olives
- cured black olives
- fresh basil

...and what ever else you feel like! As long as it's Mediterranean.

Basically take all ingredients, drain excess liquid from the marinated/pickled items, pit the olives if necessary and arrange it all nicely on a plate. You might want to roll up sliced meats for ease of handling. Serve with chilled wine or some other cool drink! Enjoy!

DOOMSDAY BARS!!!!!!

For many years I've been attending a music festival called Blue Skies. I can't really describe it, it's very hippie-oriented, but most people I know who've gone make it their own, regardless of their place on the hippie spectrum. The festival involves camping for 3-4 days and I started going when I was 18. I still remember thinking "I should bring something special for this".



It happened that a few years earlier my mother had been given a recipe for these peanut butter-Special K squares that boasted little fat (but a crapton of sugar). They were ridiculously tasty in that sugar shock kinda way. In fact, the recipe I posted a couple of months ago for ice cream topping is based on this dessert. Anyhoo, faced with this onslaught of sweet, my brother Mike coined the name Doomsday Bars (which has since spawned Diablo Bars, Doomy Goodness, "where the hell are they, Nick?", and many others). As it turned out they were ridiculously easy to make. Messy as hell, it might help to have a dishwasher person standing by, but super-easy. There's no baking involved, just melting, mixing, shaping, spreading and cutting.



So, with that in mind, I started making Doomsday Bars to bring to Blue Skies. They were a complete hit and are now a tradition. There was one year I didn't make them because I was living in a house with 4 other people and didn't think they'd appreciate me covering the kitchen in sticky mess. But, for 17 years, I've brought these treats. I'm hoping others will follow my example and bring their own. I've posted the recipe on Facebook, sent it to friends, and basically begged people to make their own so that I don't get stuck with not having enough AGAIN!

Oh, I also brought a topping-free version to Burning Man. THAT was awesome!


Alright, here's the recipe for a "Blue-Skies" sized order of Doomsday Bars. Great for camping trips when you need a rush of energy. Keep them out of the sun or the topping will melt. Make sure you have a fairly large container for them, about a foot wide.


Doomsday Bars

- 2 cups sugar
- 2 cups corn syrup
- 3 cups peanut butter (chunky)
- 4 teaspoons vanilla extract (imitation is fine)
- 12 cups Special K/Rice Krispies style cereal


Bars

- Place cereal in a large mixing bowl

- Melt sugar & syrup together in a pot/saucepan at medium-high heat

- Add peanut butter and vanilla and mix till “sauce” is melted, keep stirring to avoid peanut butter burning

- Pour melted mixture over cereal and mix together with large spoon (you could use your hands, but the melted stuff is like napalm)

- Split mixture in to two lasagna-style pans, shape to pan so entire layer is of even thickness

- Refrigerate

Topping

- Melt together 1 package each of chocolate and butterscotch chips in a pot over medium-low heat; don't microwave, it gets messy)

- Pour over bars and spread like icing with rubber or silicon spatula

Finishing touches

- Return bars to fridge until topping solidifies (about 1-2 hours)

- Remove from fridge and allow 2-3 hours to soften *at room temperature*

- Cut into bars, about 4-5 cm (2 inches) wide - This is a difficult process, these things aren't easy to cut through. I suggest using a knife with a big strong blade.

- Store in container away from sources of heat or light.

- Barter for other foods, drugs, sexual favours, etc...


And that's that. Enjoy!

More grilled goodies!

Alright maybe I've kind of diverged from the original raison-d'être for this blog. I might be getting too fancy. I honestly don't know since most cooking comes pretty easy to me and my instinct is that it comes pretty easily to most people if they just take the time to try it out. Let's hope I'm right!

With that in mind, I'm going to share some recipes that, while seeming pretty complex, are actually pretty easy if you follow the steps.

So, without further ado, I give you Bacon-Wrapped Peaches and "Real" Grilled Cheese.

Bacon-Wrapped Peaches

I give my friends Paul and Randy credit for originally putting these two awesome ingredients together. I tweaked the recipe for a party last Summer and got glowing reviews. So, your turn!

Ingredients (for 20 pieces)

- 5 ripe peaches, quartered
- 7 strips bacon, cut into 3 equal pieces
- 20 toothpicks, soaked in water for an hour or two
- 1/2 cup Irish whiskey
- 1/2 cup maple syrup

Preparation

- mix whiskey and syrup in a bowl
- put peaches and whiskey/syrup marinade in a large freezer bag, toss and place in fridge for 3-6 hours
- cook bacon strips about halfway and reserve. It's important that the bacon be cooked enough to have some solidity, but not enough to be easily broken. Essentially, you want it to be a little more malleable than beef jerky.
- loop 1 bacon slice per peach quarter and fasten with toothpick. This could get messy, but it doesn't need to be perfect. You'll have an extra slice of bacon. Feed it to the dog?
- preheat grill to about medium.
- grill each peach piece until bacon is fully cooked and peach starts to get soft.
- remove from heat, let cool for a few, EAT IT!


"Real" Grilled Cheese

I just put this one together last night and, while somewhat involved, it's pretty easy, and DEEEEElicious!

Ingredients

- 1 baguette or other similar bread, sliced (like they do at the deli)
- sliced smoked gruyere or gouda cheese
- precooked bacon (optional)

brushing oil

- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 2-3 drops liquid smoke

Essentially, crush a peeled garlic clove with the flat end of a knife (or hammer, or your fist, or head, or whatever you feel like using), add to oil, add liquid smoke to oil, stir and elt sit for a couple of hours.

2 - caramelized onions

- 1 small sweet onion, sliced
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp butter

- coat the onions in brown sugar, let sit for 30 mins or so
- fry the onions and sugar in butter until sugar caramelizes on onions, about 5-7 mins at medium-high heat. Set aside.

Putting together the sandwich

- on one half of the bread, layer cheese, bacon and onions. If possible, try to get cheese on both the top and bottom half of the bread.
- replace the tops and brush the tops of both sides of the loaf liberally with brushing oil.
- grill on medium-low heat, enough to toast the bread and melt the cheese. Use a spatula to press down on bread if you want a panini-like consistency.
- remove from eat, allow to cool enough to handle, EAT!


And that's that!

A quick taste of Thai

Me again,

Alright, ever since the mid-90s or so, people have been going crazy for Thai food. That mix of sweet, spicy and salty is unique amonst all cuisines and I know VERY few people who aren't fans. What really does it for me are the curries. Red curry: fiery, zingy, delicious! Green curry: earthy, smoky, nearly painfully hot! Yellow curry: mild, tangy, with all that turmeric goodness! MANOUM c'est bon!

Well, back a couple of years ago, I decided I wanted to give it a try myself. Now, I used various store-bought curry pastes, but when I made my own, it was about 10 million times better. Now, while it isn't really that hard to make your own curry paste, it's quite hard to find all the ingredients for it! So, for simplicity's sake I'll assume you're buying the paste at a local supermarket.
This recipe is a very basic red curry dish that I got from a cheapie cookbook. I've adapted many different versions, but the one I'm giving you now is pretty easy. You will have to look in the Oriental section of the supermarket.
Fish sauce is used in Thai cooking the same way soya sauce is used in Chinese cooking. Be careful with it, it's REALLY salty, it stinks, and it's pretty gross tasting on its own. But most curries are bland without it, as I discovered whilst camping last summer.


Red Curry with Shrimp and Tomato (4 servings)

Ingredients

- 1 lb. shrimp
- 1 package grape or cherry tomatoes, rinsed and dried, sliced in half (try to keep juice)
- 1 small onion, diced
- 3 tbsps red curry paste
- 1 and a half cans coconut milk (same size as a small can of Campbell's soup, use the lower quality stuff, and NOT coconut cream or water)
- 1-2 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp chopped lime leaf (if you can find it)
- chopped Thai basil, regular basil or cilantro for garnish)
Directions

1. In a medium pot on medium-high, heat 2 tbsp curry paste until it starts to get fragrant and loosen (maybe 2-3 minutes)

2. Add 1 can of coconut milk. Stir and get the coconut milk bubbling. Keep stirring and let it thicken from the heat

3. Add onions, shrimp and tomato. Continue to simmer on medium heat for about 15 mins.

4. Add half can of coconut milk (use remaining coconut milk in a smoothie or mix it with some chilled mango juice for a very tasty beverage), sugar, fish sauce and lime leaf.

5. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for another 15 minutes, letting sauce thicken.

6. Serve over cooked jasmine rice or rice noodles.

Variations: You can use any veggies you wish in this. I'm a big fan of bamboo shoots and zucchini.


If enough of you ask, I'll tell you how to make your own Red Curry paste.

Cheers!

Some neat food I like.

As a fledgling cook, it can be very easy to get caught up in using very similar ingredients all the time. Lord knows there's a lot of versatility in a pound of shrimp, some onions, garlic, tomato and limes. As previous entries will attest to!

But, that being said, I think it's important to get out there and try more unusual foods. Either local delicacies or items that aren't on the normal 'map'. Here are some that I've enjoyed over the years...

1) Wild garlic

Wild garlic, or ramps, is a member of the leek family with a similar flavour, but a little more onion-y. Local farmers in Ottawa sell them at markets with instructions on pickling them. The pickled garlic is delicious when thrown in a veggie stir-fry, salad, etc...

Pickling is dead easy: trim the stalks if this hasn't done yet to keep only the white bulb (ignore the red bits in the pic above), mix equal parts vinegar and water, throw the garlic in the solution. Keeps for about a month.

Peak Season: late April-May (Ottawa area)

2) Fiddleheads

Fiddleheads are a Central-Eastern Canadian/Northeastern U.S. delicacy. They're a kind of fern (ostrich fern) that grows in the early Spring. Other varieties can be found throughout the world, but I've never heard of them used outside the northeastern N. American seaboard.

Pan-fried in butter as a side for a nice piece of fish? Welcome to Heaven! The flavour is quite unique, and you need to wash them thoroughly before cooking in order to remove the brown leaves as they are/might be toxic. Cooked fiddleheads are still pretty crunchy. The flavour is reminiscent of broccoli, but milder.

Peak Season: late-April, May (Ottawa area - this year the availability started and ended weeks earlier due to a mild winter).

3) Chinese Sausage

OK, I'll be the first to admit that stir-fry, while being the easy choice for quick meals, can get pretty effing boring after the umpteenth shrimp or chicken dish. So, when I was in Chinatown (which in Ottawa is more like Chinastreet) recently, I came across this interesting looking package labelled 'Chinese sausage'. Now sausage is one of the best foods in the world no matter where it comes from, but Chinese sausage (aka "Lap Cheong") is something totally different than what we're used to. Honestly, they kind of look like pepperettes.

But the flavour is this interesting mix of sweetness, smoke, licorice and salt. And the texture is much harder and chewier than normal sausage, but it is dried and keeps much longer than regular sausages.

I tried a pretty tasty stir-fry using this stuff and Bok choy:


Chinese Sausage Stir-fry
Sauce

2 inch piece ginger, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp Chinese 5-spice powder
3 tbsp dry sherry

Stir fry

4 Chinese sausage, sliced
1 red pepper, julienne
1-2 sweet onion, julienne
2 heads baby bok choy (or other Chinese green), chopped
3 stalks celery, sliced thin
½ head broccoli, cut into small florets

- Begin sauce boiling
- Add sausage and sauté until fat begins to be rendered into sauce (7 mins. or so)
- Blend sausage fat into sauce well (whisk if nec.)
- Add veggies and sauté until tender
Serve over hot rice or noodles with Sriracha hot sauce, if desired.
Chinese sausages and Sriracha are available at most Oriental grocers and supermarkets.



4) Pickled Herring

Alright, maybe it's not super-exotic, but I LOVE pickled herring. Try it some day with some really nice toasted bread.

You can find jars of pickled herring at any supermarket in the seafood section.



5) Berbere spice mix


This is my secret weapon for cooking spicy food. I use it in dry rubs, I use it in BBQ sauce, I put it on my toast, I use it in chili instead of chili powder. I'm like the old lady in those Frank's Red Hot ads.
Berbere spice is a staple in Ethiopian cooking. It's used in stews like Doro Watt and most other common dishes.
The version I use was taken and slightly adapted from Chef Marcus Samuelsson's The Soul of a New Cuisine: A Discovery of the Foods and Flavors of Africa. This is a GORGEOUS cookbook with lots of shots of the locals in various African countries doing their thing with food. And it has some neat-o recipes. I adapted his BBQ sauce recipe for ribs the other week and, yeah, wow. But it's Samuelsson's simplified Berbere recipe that has made buying this book totally worth it.
Here is the recipe, not sure what the copyright law is, but I'll repeat: this is Chef Marcus Samuelsson's recipe, from Soul of a New Cuisine. Please don't sue me.
Berbere spice
1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
1/2 cup ground dried serrano chili peppers or other ground dried chili peppers
1/2 cup sweet paprika
2 tablespoons salt
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon ground cardamom (preferably freshly ground)
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

Finely grind the fenugreek seeds with a mortar and pestle or in an electric spice or coffee grinder. Combine the remaining ingredients and add the ground fenugreek seeds, mixing well. Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 3 months (although I've had batches last 6 to 9 months in the fridge and be fine).

If you have trouble finding the ingredients, check out an Indian grocery and a Chinese grocery. Between the two, you should find what you need.

Use it liberally the way you would chili or curry powder. Mix about 2 parts brown sugar with 1 part Berbere spice for a delicious rub for meat.

6) Zataar

One of the great things about living in Ottawa is the very large Lebanese population, which led me to be exposed to Middle Eastern food long before shawarma became ubiquitous. Now, I didn't try zataar until later on in life, but man did I eat a lot of baklawa as a kid...


So, zataar, what is it? Well zataar itself is an herb blend. Often the herbs are mixed with oil to create a spread. I've only ever had it prefabricated from Boushey's Grocery - essentially what they make is a pita bread with this spread over it. They sell it for about 1.50$. It's a tasty, tasty snack!

Here is a recipe for the zataar spice blend from about.com. I have no idea about the authenticity, but I bet you it's tasty!



Ingredients:


1/4 cup sumac (check at Middle Eastern grocers or upscale food shops)
2 tablespoons thyme
1 tablespoon roasted sesame seeds
2 tablespoons marjoram
2 tablespoons oregano
1 teaspoon coarse salt

Preparation:

Grind the sesame seeds in food processor or with mortar and pestle. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Store za'atar in a cool, dark place in a plastic zip bag or in an airtight container. When stored properly, za'atar can be used from 3-6 months.

To make into a spread, add olive oil a bit at a time, stirring constantly, until desired consistency is reached. Spread it on pita bread and enjoy the bitter deliciousness!



7) Fatayer





Fatayer is a kind of savoury pie/turnover dealie, usually stuffed with spinach, onion and any number of spices/herbs. It's commonly sold in Middle Eastern groceries. Makes great picnic/hiking fare!

I've never tried making it myself (mostly because baking frightens me), but here's a recipe anyway (from about.com):

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

For the Dough:

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup water

For the Spinach Filling:

1/2 pound fresh spinach, finely chopped
1 small onion, chopped
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
1/8 teaspoon ground sumac

Preparation:

In a medium bowl, combine flour and salt. Add oil and begin to knead dough. Once oil is absorbed, add warm water. Knead into an elastic dough.

Shape dough into 2 inch diameter balls. Cover and set aside.

Preheat over to 425 degrees.

Wash spinach and soak in salted water while you chop vegetables. Rinse spinach and dry thoroughly with paper towel.

Combine and toss filling ingredients.

Place 2 teaspoons of filling in the center of each ball of dough. Cover filling with dough and form into triangular shape.

Bake for 10-15 minutes on greased baking sheet, until golden brown. Allow to cool 5 minutes and serve immediately.



That's it for this edition of 'off-the-beaten path' foodstuffs. I'll get back to this topic when I've gathered enough to make it worthwhile. As always, your comments are welcome too!