Say cheese!

When I decided to retire from the Navy, I also decided to do some exploration before launching full throttle into a new career. Among other things, I’ve been very fortunate to do a lot of travel during this “gap year.” An unexpected discovery from these trips has been cheese.

During a short stay at Blackberry Farm in eastern Tennessee this summer, I took a class on cheesemaking. I spent a good couple of hours with Adam the cheesemaker, walking through the process. We started with how they milk their beautiful flock of East Friesian sheep and then how that milk is transformed into curds, whey and eventually into lovely cheeses, which we enjoyed in a special tasting with complementary wines. It was fascinating. A culinary tour in Santa Fe this fall culminated in a visit to South Mountain dairy, with a good lesson about their goats and how the ladies there lovingly create an incredible chevre and wonderful marinated feta.

Continuing my cheese education, I recently paid a visit to Saxelby Cheesemongers in the Essex Market in the Lower East Side here in New York City. The gal behind the counter and I talked about sheeps milk cheeses, and I picked up a new one to try, Brebis Blanche, a fresh (soft) cheese from Three Corner Field Farm of Shushan, NY. (I also added to my French vocabulary, learning that “brebis” means “sheep.”) The February Eating Well magazine has a recipe for a goat cheese and honey-filled fig muffin. I decided to try the recipe, but using the Brebis Blanche instead of the goat cheese. The recipe also calls for buttermilk, but I decided to try a liquid yogurt from Milk Thistle dairy at the Union Square Greenmarket instead.

I tested the recipe with a culinary school classmate. It had been ages since we’d been in the kitchen together, and it was great fun to chop, stir and fold with Andrea again. We were thrilled with the results and also found that they are even better the day after baking.

Here’s the recipe, with hopes that you will enjoy your own discoveries in cheese:

Cheese and Honey-Filled Fig Muffins
Adapted from Eating Well magazine

Yield: one dozen muffins

¾ cup crumbled soft cheese (goats cheese, Brebis Blanche, cream or farmers cheese)
2 tablespoons honey
Freshly grated zest of one lemon
¼ teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 large egg white
1 teaspoon vanilla
¾ cup packed dark brown sugar
1 cup liquid yogurt, or low-fat buttermilk
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 ¼ cups chopped dried figs (preferably black mission figs)
3 tablespoons turbinado or granulated sugar

1. Preheat oven to 425 F and prepare muffin pan with paper liners or by lightly coating with oil.
2. In a small bowl, combine soft cheese, honey, lemon zest and ¼ teaspoon vanilla.
Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a medium bowl, beat eggs and egg white; add brown sugar, remaining vanilla and whisk until the sugar is dissolved, about one minute. Gradually whisk in the yogurt and oil until smooth. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, mixing until just combined. Use care not to overmix. Fold in the figs.
4. Fill each muffin cup about a third of the way. Add 1 very generous teaspoon of the cheese mixture to the center of each muffin, and cover with the remaining batter. The filling shouldn’t be visible. Sprinkle the muffins with the turbinado sugar.
5. Bake the muffins until the edges start to brown and the tops spring back when gently pressed, 13 to 15 minutes. Let cool in the pan before turning out on a wire rack to cool.

Souvenirs from Travels Abroad

During the mid-90s I served on the staff of the Admiral in command of the US South Atlantic Force. There have been several changes to areas of responsibility since, but in those days my boss' area included the west coast of Africa. During my time in that job we made two trips, by plane, to West Africa, travels that stretched from Cape Verde (which is neither truly a cape, nor very verde), along the Gulf of Guinea and down to Namibia and South Africa. We visited twelve countries over the course of the two two-week trips.

It was an incredible learning experience. Although our stays in each country weren't extended, we did get to see a great deal. It was fascinating to go from French-speaking Senegal to the former Portuguese colony of Guinea Bissau and on to anglophone Ghana, and then to see the Dutch and German influences in the southern part of the continent.

The other night here in New York, I got in a taxi driven by a Ghanaian gentleman. As we drove downtown we had a long talk about his country and the cuisine. He recommended Ghana's peanut soup as a nice warming tonic against the bitter cold we're having right now. When I got home, I pulled out a couple of cookbooks that I picked up back in the days of the West African travel. "Ghanaian Favourite Dishes" by Alice Dede was a special find during a visit to the national museum in Accra.


Her soup chapter begins with beautiful "rules for making soup": use everything perfectly fresh and as little fat as possible; use sufficient seasoning but not in excess; cook ingredients well."
That said, her recipe for "Nkatenkawan" (groundnut -or peanut - soup) is pretty spare by US standards, simply listing water, tomatoes, pepper, onions, fish or chicken, groundnuts, and salt as ingredients, and the cooking instructions are just slightly more specific. This is a vegetarian version that is inspired by Alice Dede and her recipe. You can try it at home one day when you feel like doing a little armchair traveling:

West African Peanut Soup
Serves 6-8

1 medium onion, chopped fine
1 tablespoon minced fresh gingerroot
1 clove garlic, minced
Canola or extra virgin olive oil
pinch cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 quart vegetable stock
1 cup tomato puree
2 cups sweet potato (peeled and cut in large (1 inch) chunks)
1/2 cup natural peanut butter (chunky or plain)
2 cups spinach leaves
Salt and pepper to taste

1. In the bottom of a 5 quart saucepan, saute onion on medium/medium-high heat, 5-7 minutes, in oil. When translucent, add the gingerroot and garlic, lowering heat to medium, and cook for 2-3 minutes. Be sure not to let the garlic burn. Add the cayenne pepper and chili powder, stir to incorporate in the vegetable mixture and cook for a minute or so more.

2. Add the stock, tomato puree and sweet potatoes to the pan, and raise the heat to bring the liquid to a boil. Once it boils, reduce to a simmer and let it cook for 15 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are soft. Add the peanut butter. Turn the heat off and using an immersion blender, puree the soup. (See notes.)

3. Once the soup is pureed, return it to medium heat and add spinach leaves. Cook for an additional five minutes. Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper as desired. Serve, garnishing with finely chopped chives or scallions.

Notes:
- Immersion blenders make easy work of pureeing hot soups. If you don't have one, you can puree in a regular blender, but use extra care in handling the hot liquid (among other things, place a dishtowel over the lid and hold it down tight while pureeing). Alternatively, you can skip the pureeing and enjoy the flavors with a chunky texture.
- Recommend checking the seasoning throughout the building of the flavors in this soup.
- The sweet potatoes should yield a nice sweetness that complements the ginger and tomato and plays off against the peanut taste, but if you like you can add some sugar to to the soup as desired.

Sea Legs

It was gorgeous here in New York on Wednesday night. After delivering a package to a friend on 26th Street I looked up 7th Avenue and saw the bright neon of Times Square shimmering in the distance. My feet took off and up the avenue I ambled, stopping at Macy's on 34th Street to look at their Christmas windows one last time for the year. As I headed east to check out the ice skating at Bryant Park I remembered my first time alone in the city.

It was December 2005. My mom had passed away in October and, having taken a lot of time off for the final weeks of her illness, I didn't feel comfortable asking for a big chunk of leave for the holidays. I decided to take the train up to New York for the Christmas weekend, and I got a room at the Algonquin Hotel. I spent the first day in the city walking up to Kitchen Arts and Letters, a wonderful store on the Upper East Side. It was Christmas Eve and I made my way back to the hotel walking down Fifth Avenue. I passed a few churches having services and saw many people walking to and fro, making last minute preps for Santa's visit. Down the street from the Algonquin is an Indian restaurant, the Jewel of India, and it was there that I had my dinner on Christmas Eve.

Six months later I moved here, on what was to be my final assignment in the Navy. I was a bit overwhelmed at first but worked hard to get out and learn what I could about the Big Apple. Now I'm truly making it home, and continuing to learn my way around. At sea we call this getting your sea legs. As I stood at Bryant Park I thought about the past four years, and my legs took off again, this time leading me back to the Jewel of India for a supper of Chicken Korma. Then it was on to the Algonquin, for an Old-Fashioned in the hotel lobby, and a toast to getting those sea legs and a wish for continuing joy here in my new hometown.

You can toast to your sea legs with an old-fashioned, too. Here's how to make one:

- Muddle two thick slices of navel orange in the bottom of a glass with about 1 teaspoon of sugar.
- Add ice.
- Add a splash or two of water and a good splash of Makers Mark, or the bourbon of your choice.
- Garnish with a maraschino cherry.
- Toast to the good life!

With best wishes for a happy, happy new year ---