Our appetizer was a delicious salad with sorrel made by Kim.
Fried Lima Beans with feta, sorrel and sumac
from
Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi
Serves 4
1 pound (450g) large dried white beans (I used Rancho Gordo Mayocoba beans)
optional: pinch of baking soda (not used)
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons olive oil
8 spring onions or scallions sliced lengthwise into 3-inch (7 cm) batons
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
7 ounces (200g) sorrel, cut into 1-inch (2 cm) ribbons, plus a little extra for garnish, cut in very thin strips
1/2 teaspoon sea salt, plus more for seasoning
1 1/2 tablespoons freshly-squeezed lemon juice
5 ounces (150g) feta cheese
2 teaspoons sumac
handful of fresh herbs such as chervil, dill, mint, or flat-leaf parsley
1. Rinse the beans and sort to remove any foreign objects.
2. Put in a large pot, cover with plenty of water, and let stand overnight.
3. The next day, add a pinch of baking soda to the water (if you live in a hard water area), and simmer the beans until just tender. The cooking time may be as little as 30 minutes, or over an hour, depending on the beans. Add additional water if necessary. (I cooked beans in a pressure cooker)
Once cooked, drain well and toss them in a bit of olive oil, which will prevent the skin of the beans from flaking, and bit of salt.
4. Next up is frying the beans: You’ll need to cook the beans in a single layer, so doing a rough calculation on depending on the size of your skillet, heat a portion of the butter and oil in the pan. Once hot, add enough beans so they’re spread out evenly in a single layer in the pan. Saute the beans and avoid stirring too much so they brown and blister on the bottom side. After a few minutes, stir them a bit to flip them around, and continue to cook a few more minutes until they’re all nicely seared.
5. Once finished, transfer the beans to a bowl and fry the remaining beans in a similar fashion.
When you get to the last batch, during the final minute of cooking, add the spring onions, garlic, and sorrel. Cook until the greens are just wilted, which will take another minute or so. Remove from heat, add the other beans to the pan, stir, then add the 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Let cool to room temperature, or until slightly warm.
(If your pan isn’t large enough, you can mix everything together in a large bowl.)
6. Once cooled, stir the lemon juice and sumac, and then roughly chop the fresh herbs and mix them into the beans. Crumble the feta over the top and serve.
For our main course we combined Tarragon Chicken prepared by Christiane with Parsley Potatoes prepared by Katharina.
Soy-Tarragon Chicken with Green Onion and Shallots
Ingredients
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup shallots, minced
1/2 cup chopped green onion tops
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1/2 cup chopped tarragon
plenty of coarsely ground black pepper
11/2 lb boneless chicken thighs, most fat removed
sea salt
Preheat the oven to 400F. Heat 1 tbsp of the olive oil in a small nonstick skillet and saute the shallots and green onion tops for a few minutes. Transfer them to a blender, add another tbsp of the oil, the soy sauce, tarragon, and black pepper, and blend. If you need a little extra liquid to allow the blender to do its work, add a little more soy sauce of leftover stock.
Rinse and dry the chicken with paper towels. Cut away most of the excess fat/skin. Cut the thighs into medium-large pieces.
In a large pan or wok, heat the remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil on maximum heat, add the chicken pieces, and season liberally with salt and pepper. Shake the pan frequently to keep them from sticking, and cook about 5 minutes per side, until the chicken begins to brown. While it's cooking, line an oven pan with aluminum foil (to make cleanup easy), and coat the foil lightly with olive oil. When the chicken has browned, transfer it to the oven pan and add the contents of the blender. Mix thoroughly, making sure all the pieces are well coated. Pepper them a little more, and bake about 35 minutes, until very well done.
Source: Eric Gower, The Breakway Japanese Kitchen (New York, Kodansha America, Inc., 2003)
Lauren made rosemary shortbread cookies, which we paired with mint ice cream brought by Sara and strawberries Christiane happened to have.
The recipe is from a cookbook I have for recipes from a French Heb Garden>
BISCUITS AU ROMARIN
ROSEMARY SHORTBREAD COOKIES
My French friends are always intrigued and delighted by homemade English cookies and Dundee Cake. One year Madame Marquer asked me to show her haw to make them, whenever possible, I travel south carrying a supply of both these items plus a few bottles of‘le whisky'. These rosemary cookies can be eaten on their own and they also make excellent accompaniment to summer ices and fools.
MAKES ABOUT 30 BISCUITS
8 tablespoons butler
.25 cup superfine sugar
1.5 cup all-purpose flour
1-2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, finely chopped
a little extra sugar
1. Cream the butter with the sugar until smooth.
2. Work in the flour and the rosemary to make a soft dough then shape into a ball.
3. Roll out the dough on a floured board until .25 inch-thick and cut out rounds using a 2 inch fluted cutter.
4. Bake on a greased baking sheet in a warm oven 325 degree oven for 15-20 minutes or until the shortbread is changing color.
5. Cool the cookies on a wire rack and then sprinkle with the extra sugar.
