On paper, yams (a.k.a. sweet potatoes) should make a great-tasting salad with a gorgeous golden color. However, my first attempts turned out mushy and cloyingly sweet. The answer to the problem turned out to be to use a combination of roasted yams with boiled potatoes (peeled after boiling, for the same reason), and a brightly acidic lemon vinaigrette to balance the sugary yams. Mint supplies a fresh note, but cilantro or parsley can be substituted. Use medium potatoes so they cook evenly and with relative speed.
This rasam brings back memories of being a young boy in Nagpur, a small city in the western state of Maharashtra where my family lived for about three years. My dad's boss there was South Indian, and I was introduced to the exotic smells and tastes of southern Indian cooking in his home. Every time we went there for dinner, his wife would meet us with glasses of this rasam. It took only a very short time for me and my family to become enchanted by these wonderful tastes.
Turkish Braised Eggplant (Engin's Imam Bayildi)
A fruity Spanish olive oil, preferably from Andalusia, is important, as is a good sherry vinegar, preferably aged. Both can be found at specialty groceries or mail-ordered. If you can spare the time, garnish the gazpacho with tiny bread croutons fried in olive oil.
Ingredients
I first made this coarse olive paste as a way of using some olives that had been languishing in my refrigerator and were a little past their prime. Warmed and spooned onto peasant bread as an hors d'oeuvre, it was a revelation: The flavor of olives changes when they are heated, somehow becoming milder.
This is a summer classic. Make large batches for lunch, supper or any time a refreshing, low-fat pick-me-up or a one-dish meal is needed. You can snack on this soup all day, especially when it’s hot, humid, and the idea of actually cooking is enough to drive you to the drive-thru.
This method is used all around the Mediterranean to cook winter and spring vegetables such as leeks in this recipe, artichokes, cardoons, celery, celery root, fat green beans, favas, and white turnips. The vegetables turn creamy within while remaining firm enough to hold their shape. The method also sweetens slightly bitter vegetables, such as cardoons, by caramelizing them ever so slightly.
I gotta confess: I find this sprightly, tingly mixture ever so much more interesting than cranberry goop out of the can.
The juicy crushed berries make a nice spread with bread, and a delicious filling for cake. But this kind of sweet preserve also has a place on the dinner table.