Category — Recipes

Nobody loves turkey sandwiches more than me. Big thick swipe of mayo across really good crusty bread…slightly warm….crunchy salt….yum. But chances are you’ve got more turkey than bread left over today. Here’s a recipe from my Sittau (grandmother) for turkey stew. I never asked her about this, but looking at it, I’m pretty sure she lifted it from a lamb recipe that involves braising a leg of lamb and smothering it in peas and tomato. Serve this stew very hot with lots of saffron-infused rice, cooked with lots and lots of rendered butter….The recipes for both of these dishes are in my uncle’s cookbook, A Taste of Syria.

Alice Kayal’s Turkey Stew

Total Time: 30 minutes

Active time: 5 minutes

Serves: 4

1 (14.5 oz) can crushed tomatoes

1 cup chicken stock

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 cups cubed, cooked turkey

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1 package (16 oz) frozen green peas

1 tablespoon butter

Combine tomatoes, stock and lemon juice in a heavy-bottomed pot. Mix well. Cover and simmer gently for 20 minutes. Add the turkey, salt and allspice. Heat through, then add the peas and butter and return to a simmer.

Serve over rice.

photo from Holiday Eats

Most of us think of andouille sausage as a uniquely French-Cajun item. But Chef Donald Link, the owner of New Orleans’ Herbsaint restaurant who traces his roots to Cajun country’s German settlers, tells it differently. “The Germans brought it over, the French just named it,” he says. In the spirit of a truly American Thanksgiving – that is, one in which we celebrate our country’s unique status as a nation of merged, mingled and married cultures – here’s a soup I created that combines sweet potatoes with Asian ginger, Spanish smoked paprika, Greek or Syrian yogurt, and, of course, those spicy Franco-German sausages….Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Soup with Andouille Sausage

Total Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes

Active time: 30 minutes

Serves: 4 as a main course, 8 as a starter

½ pound andouille sausage

2 large onions, chopped

3 tablespoons fresh grated ginger

4 sweet potatoes, chopped into chunks but not peeled

6 cups chicken or vegetable stock

3 sprigs fresh thyme

3 stalks fresh sage

2 tablespoons kosher salt

a few grinds of good black pepper

1 hard, tart apple (i.e. Granny Smith, Rome), diced

3 tablespoons sherry vinegar

½ cup Greek yogurt or Lebne

Smoked paprika

In a deep, heavy-bottomed pot, fry the sausage on medium heat until cooked almost through, about 10 minutes. Remove from the pot and place on paper towel to drain. Add the onions to the pot and cook until just translucent, about 8 minutes. Add the ginger and cook for a minute to combine flavors. Add the sweet potatoes and cover with stock. Add the thyme, sage, salt and pepper. Cover the pot and simmer gently, 45 minutes.

Remove the pot from the heat. Fish the thyme and sage out of the pot and discard. When the mixture is slightly cooled, puree with an immersion blender until completely smooth (this can also be done in batches in a food processor, but really, what a pain.) Chop the sausage into chunks and add to the pot. Add the apple.

Just before serving, add the vinegar. Ladle into bowls, top with a spoon of the yogurt or lebne. Sprinkle the yogurt with paprika.

Note: The soup can be eaten right away, but if you let it sit overnight, it will develop a nice punch.

photo from Back to the Cutting Board

This salad is tangy and sweet at the same time and perfectly offsets grilled or roasted meats as well as yougurt-based dishes.

Time: 15 minutes
Active Time: 15 minutes
Makes: 8 cups

8 cups assorted greens, such as romaine, arugula, frisee
½ cup chopped kalamata olives
½ cup chopped dates
1 clementine, peeled, sectioned and pitted
½ cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts
Dressing:
1 tablespoon chopped shallot
4 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons pomegranate red wine vinegar (or plain red wine vineagar)
4 tablespoons date molasses
1 teaspoon pomegranate molasses
½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
pinch salt
Wash and tear greens, and dry thoroughly. Toss greens with olives, dates, Clementine and nuts, reserving some for garnish.

Dressing: combine all ingredients in a mini food processor and process until emulsified.

Toss dressing into the salad. Garnish with reserved olives, dates, Clementine and nuts. 

Serve with: Zatar Chicken, Kibbe Lebaneyeh