Author Archives: karllueck

by | March 25, 2013 · 3:03 am

Karl’s Moroccan Spice Mix (a “Ras el Hanout”)

The Moroccan spice blend Ras el Hanout is shrouded in mystery, the closely held family and trade secret of the Moroccan spice merchants.  Ras el Hanout means “head of the shop,” and each shop’s owner has their own unique mix, the best spice mix their shop can provide. Some blends have as few as ten ingredients, but others are said to have as many as fifty to one hundred spices. Some include such exotics as: grains of paradise, orris root, monk’s pepper, and nigella. Some purportedly included aphrodisiacs like Spanish fly, but if it is a secret how would we know? The result of all of this secrecy is that the blends, that all go by the name of “Ras el Hanout,” can be radically different from one shop to the next on the same street, let alone from towns in the north or south of Morocco.

Thirty Spices Measured Out

Thirty Spices Measured Out

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by | March 25, 2013 · 2:54 am

Karl’s Moroccan Artichoke Dip

In making my Moroccan Oxtail Tajine I trimmed a bunch of artichokes down to their bases.  This left we with a pile of leaves and stems that I was loathed to just throw away.

My mother, Claudia, raised me to not waste food. I feel like it is an absolute sin when, for example, a recipe for chicken stock has you boil a whole chicken with vegetables and then instructs you to throw away the “solids.”  These are recipes written by people who have never been hungry a day in their lives. I simply cannot do that!

Karl’s Moroccan Artichoke Dip

Karl’s Moroccan Artichoke Dip

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by | March 18, 2013 · 2:24 am

Karl’s Roasted Salmon with Leeks

It is St. Patrick’s Day tomorrow, and no one in this household likes what is sold as “corned beef” in the supermarkets (I understand that if you can find Italian corned beef it is much closer to the original). In fact, except for Chris, my son-in-law whose family is from Boston, we do not favor “boiled dinners” (everything thrown into the same pot and boiled). For us the classic Irish main dish is the Salmon of Knowledge.

St. Patrick's Day Dinner

St. Patrick’s Day Dinner

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by | March 18, 2013 · 2:15 am

Karl’s Colcannon

This is a recipe I have been making for years, because every other recipe I had tried struck me as bland. Please notice the absence of any word like “traditional” in the title. Today, I have just been reading a “rant” about “Traditional Irish Soda Bread,” which I found through a Karen Boatman’s “Home Plates” article. In many ways I have to agree with his sentiments.

Karl's Colcannon

Karl’s Colcannon

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by | March 16, 2013 · 4:19 am

Karl’s Chicken Casablanca Soup

Eilene was sick today so I plan on Chicken soup. Originally I was going to go with my usual French chicken noodle soup and then I noticed the bag of Mandarin oranges on the counter.  I had bought these thinking they were Cuties, but they were not as easy to peel.  As a result, they were just sitting on the counter getting old.

Karl's Chickem Casablanca Soup

Karl’s Chickem Casablanca Soup

I went on the Internet looking for some kind of “orange juice chicken soup.” There were surprisingly few hits and fewer that looked appealing or what I had in mind. One that was close was a Moroccan soup that used orange juice.  I looked up several Moroccan chicken soups and the spices blends and ingredients that made them Moroccan. Picking and choosing and using what I had on hand I came up with this recipe.

Note after dinner: This was a fantastic combination of flavors. Spicy with being hot. It may seem that there is a lot of spice for a dish this size, but it was perfect. The Mandarin orange juice worked as a secret ingredient (the soup did not taste “orange-y,” but you would have missed it if it was not there). Finally the bulgur thickened the soup just the right amount without turning it into a pasty stew.

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by | March 15, 2013 · 5:36 am

Karl’s Uyghur Lamb Samsa (Baked Samosa)

This recipe comes from a memory of a taste and  of a Mongolian? Chef (from the banner behind him I think it is Inner Mongolia).

Karl’s Uyghur Lamb Samsa (Baked Samosa)

Karl’s Uyghur Lamb Samsa

Yesterday I made Uzbek samsa, a baked dough filled with spinach, and it reminded Jan of the Uyghur lamb samsa we had in Kashgar in 1988. I know the name Uyghur looks frightening to American sensibilities, but it is pronounced “Way-ger.” We were taking our vacation, from teaching English to the Chinese, to the far west of China. There were almost no foreigners in China during those months so, except for a few stray Canadians and Australians, we had Xinjiang pretty much to ourselves (not counting several million locals). The locals assumed that we were Canadians, except for the one who thought I was a Russian and the woman who came up to Jan and started chatting her up in Uyghur. She could have easily passed in the Mexican embroidered dress and the Russian babushka she was wearing.

Jan and Miriam at the Kashgar Market

Jan and Miriam
(in blue – age 4)
at the Kashgar Market

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by | March 14, 2013 · 7:18 am

Karl’s Samsa with Spinach and Paneer (Baked Samosa)

Adapted from a World Cook recipe

Today I was surfing the web looking for a new idea, some recipe, some country’s food I had not yet tried to make.  I stumbled upon World Cook, a site out of the Netherlands with recipes from 133 countries (currently there are officially 196 countries total). It does not purport to be comprehensive, some countries have many recipes, others only a single one. You can search by country, ingredient, and day of the year. Many of the recipes have a bit of cultural background added to them if they are associated with a particular holiday. The site is also a bit of a travel log of their family’s visits to places away from home.

I spent hours exploring the site and it had an odd quirk. Whenever you select a recipe to look at, a second unrelated recipe appeared on the same page. For example the page for the Uzbekistan Samsa recipe also had one for Tomato Soup.  One recipe would lead you to another, and another, and another. It became addictive to see where it all would lead. I finally chose the samsa recipe, but the original Uzbek recipe was a bit boring.  The dough was OK, but the filling was just spinach and onions.  I was going to have to spice this recipe up.

Karl's Samsa with Spinach and Paneer (baked samosa)

Karl’s Samsa with Spinach and Paneer
(baked samosa)

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by | March 14, 2013 · 7:09 am

Karl’s Baked Potato Soup

I wanted a soup to go with my Uzbek samsa. I had originally thought about a white bean soup, but I have been cooking a lot with beans lately and I thought Jan would object. I noticed that the chive in our garden has come back from the winter and we had some sour cream in the refrigerator (this is not a staple in our house—too high fat). These ingredients started me thinking about baked potatoes.  Could I make a soup version of a baked potato? Yes, I could.

Karl’s Baked Potato Soup

Karl’s Baked Potato Soup

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by | March 11, 2013 · 4:55 am

Karl’s Pork Tamales with Mole Poblano

Some assembly required. Many cultures have a festival dish that is something wrapped in dough that can be stored and then cooked quickly (so the moms can enjoy the festivals). The Hispanic countries have tamales, the Asians have jiaozi (pork dumplings) and the Eastern Europeans have perogi. However the price for this festival freedom is sometimes days of preparation. Making the dough, the filling(s) and assembling the final product are painstaking tasks.  Usually this is made easier by making it a group activity. In China we would be treated to jiaozi parties.  Our host would bring over the prepared meat and dough and then everyone would pitch in to make (and eat) the jiaozi. For a fun idea of how the Mexican culture does this, I recommend the children’s book Too Many Tamales! (for the hearing impared.)

Jan and I were watching Triple D and one of the featured restaurants was a Mexican place that always has 15 different moles. Jan loves mole and the show expanded my mind on what was possible in the way of mole and how to use it. One of their signature dishes was tamales with mole.

Karl’s Pork Tamales with Mole Poblano Karl’s Green Mole Rice Karl’s Refried Beans II

Karl’s Pork Tamales with Mole Poblano
Karl’s Green Mole Rice
Karl’s Refried Beans II

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by | March 11, 2013 · 4:35 am

Karl’s Mole Poblano

A few months ago I had tried making molé for the first time, based on a recipe by Ty and Juels. This was one of our Sunday challenges before I started writing this blog. I found Ty’s recipe, but I could not help myself, I had to make some changes. That is just the kind of cook I am, I even have trouble following my own recipes. I rarely make the same dish the same way twice, I am constantly tinkering.

Mole Poblano

Mole Poblano

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