Nik Sharma's Blog, page 15
December 4, 2018
a winter savory bread pudding
We just got back from a much needed break at my in-laws farm in Virginia, this is where M grew up. We ate a lot of biscuits, had lunch with author Emily Nunn who wrote The Comfort Food Diaries (I strongly recommend, you should read this), pickled beets, fried chicken and casseroles.
In need of an easy winter breakfast idea or even a side dish? Then try this savory bread pudding with mushrooms and Brussels sprouts, it’s easy enough to manipulate and you can tweak it with your own seasonings and add more vegetables. Get the recipe here! For those of you that like chorizo, cook about 1/2 cup up and fold it in.
I went on The Splendid Table and chatted with Russ Parsons, you can listen to it here.
Book Tour Stuff: This weekend, I’ll be in Los Angeles chatting with author John Birdsall about SEASON at Now Serving LA on Saturday, December 8 at 10:30am. Stop by to say hi!
I’m off to New Zealand next week for the final stretch of my book tour 2018. For those of you in Auckland, please stop by Sam Mannering’s PAH Homestead on the 19th of December where there will be a dinner and a book signing. To make a reservation please contact the restaurant directly at hello [@] pahhomestead [dot] company
Here are some of my favorite Christmas cookbooks and there are a couple of new ones that I added to the list this year.
Home Made Christmas by Yvette Van Boven - A gorgeous cookbook with beautiful photos and illustrations
Zoë François and Jeff Hertzberg follow up with the latest cookbook, Holiday and Celebration Bread in Five Minutes a Day. There are lots of instructional color photos that make some of the more involved recipes easier to follow.
Fruit by Bernadette Wörndl - this is not technically a Christmas book but there are recipes in here that work well for a Christmas or holiday dinner celebration.
And last but not least, Nigel Slater’s Christmas Chronicles that came out a year ago and in his usual style of splendid prose and imagery, weaves a relaxed yet excellent composition of splendid recipe ideas to cook from.
Stay tuned for my cookbook shopping list, I will have my first ever cookbook round up for the year, soon!
Season Book Updates:
Season is in the NYT Best Cookbooks of the Year!
The BBC Food Programme listed Season in the Best Cookbooks of the year shortlist!
November 20, 2018
a few thanksgiving ideas
After spending a few weeks across the globe for Season, I’m finally back home. I went to the UAE for the Sharjah International Book Festival, visited London for the first time and wrapped up in Seattle before I headed home. I did miss home a bit but it was also difficult to see how much the smoke from the recent fires has taken over the air in the Bay Area, some of you might remember the terrible fires that ravaged the wine country region, to see this happen once again and so soon is sad but even worse for those who have lost their homes and loved ones.
The London food scene was amazing: some of my favorites were Gunpowder London, Brat and Darjeeling Express. I visited a few lovely bookstores; Daunts, Waterstones, and Books for Cooks (this one is also a restaurant and has an amazing collection).
This year for Thanksgiving, we’re headed out to visit my in-laws in Virginia but before that happens I wanted to suggest a few options for the holidays.
Butternut squash fries seasoned with sumac and served with a pomegranate molasses yogurt dip
Some Season Book Updates:
I’m going to be on Chowhound’s Table Talk series - if you have a question you’d like to ask me, click the link and leave a comment on their page (Questions will be taken in from now until December 3rd)
Amazon just named Season as one of their best cookbooks of the year!
I was interviewed by the lovely Julia Leonard at the Independent in UK
November 4, 2018
jaggery sweetened chocolate cake
October was an exciting month, Season came out and my aunt and uncle came to visit from New Zealand. My aunt is an amazing cook and she taught me a couple of Goan dishes that I’ve been trying to get a better understanding of (more on that recipe soon - it’s going to be a December dish for the holidays).
In a major life update, you probably might have seen on Instagram, our new kitten Drogy Ficus. He showed up at about 3 weeks of age on the street, abandoned, hungry and crying. My original plan was to get him safe and feed him but then one thing led to another and we ended up officially adopting him. He’s the sweetest and keeps our other two pets exhausted. He’s the Cross-fit trainer to the other two, I’ve never seen them so tired from playing all day.
You should also try this garlic dal with arugula, it’s a wonderful way to use up bits of salad greens. You don’t need much to go with it, rice or flatbread and a spot of plain yogurt is my favorite way to eat it.
The wonderful Nigella Lawson wrote a few words about Season on her site and you can get my recipe for the date and tamarind loaf there.
I have a small request, it would be wonderful if you liked Season and could take some time to leave a review for it at the online site or store you purchased it at. Reviews are extremely personal and helpful way to help spread the word about books you love. Thank you so much!
BOOK TOUR UPDATES
I’m headed off to London and Seattle over the next couple of days for the second part of the Season cookbook tour:
In London, please join me on November 11th for a lunch (inspired by the book) prepared by the wonderful chefs Itamar and Sarit at Honey and Co for The Food Talks Season 4. - You can get tickets and details here .
In Seattle -
November 16, 2018 - Book Larder 6:30pm A Conversation with Tan Vinh of the Seattle Times . (I’ve just been informed that this event has sold out)
My final event in San Francisco this year will be on December 4, 2018 - 7:00pm California Institute of Integral Studies - The Haresh and Joan Shah Lecture & Performance Series - a book signing will follow. Tickets are available for purchase.
October 8, 2018
spicy chocolate chip cookies and the new york times, what a week!
This has been one phenomenal week, one that I could never have imagined. Your reception to Season has been simply amazing! First the New York Times and prolific award winning author, Mayukh Sen, wrote a profile, featured the book and they also included it in the Top 19 cookbooks of Fall 2018. You can read all about it here;
The New York Times - An Indian Food Writer Breaks Free From Tradition - October 2, 2018
The New York Times - The 19 Best Cookbooks of Fall 2018 - October 2018
There’s also a special giveaway starting today on Instagram with the lovely folk at Guittard chocolate, to enter head over to my account and good luck.
You can now also make the spicy chocolate chip and get the recipe at Guittard.
I’ve wrapped by the first part of San Francisco book tour and New Orleans and now headed to New York this week. There are still a few tickets available at 92Y, please come if you’re around! My second event in NYC has completely sold out.
October 2, 2018
season it's here!
It’s here, it’s finally here! It took me two years to get to this day and I’m so happy and excited that today, SEASON comes out worldwide in bookstores! Coincidentally, today also happens to be the wedding anniversary of my late maternal grandparents and I think they’d be proud to see become an author. I learned all I knew about Goan cooking and cooking in general from my grandmother, so it would have been amazing to have her see this day.
For those of you that preordered the book (THANK YOU!!!) and have your copy arriving today, you can join Bon Appetit Magazine’s inaugural cookbook club where SEASON has been picked as their first cookbook to cook from all October! Start off with the Curry Leaf Popcorn Chicken!
In the U.K., Season has been getting a lot of love and I’m so grateful! The Sunday Times newspaper and Delicious Magazine (October 2018 issue) both recommended the book as one of the hottest books to cook from this summer!
I’ve updated my Book’s EVENT and TOURS, you can get all the information here. If you do make it to one of the events, do say hi, I’d love to meet and thank you.
If you want to know more about the 10 Things I Can’t Cook or Live Without - head over to Epicurious to see what I shared!
To celebrate, I’m sharing the Date and Tamarind Loaf from SEASON today with you (it was also on Food52 last week) today and I hope you enjoy the cake! Do read my note on Tamarind, I’ve included it in the book too. When I researched for the book, I learned that tamarind is labeled and sold in many different forms and this I hope will help make it easier. and eliminate the confusion. All of this is also included in the book.
I’m extremely grateful for all of you who have read my blog and my San Francisco Chronicle column (in case you missed it, I recently wrote about Garlic Dal with Arugula). None of this would have happened without your love and support, so THANK YOU!!
XOXO,
Nik
Reprinted from Season by Nik Sharma with permission by Chronicle Books, 2018
Tamarind
Tamarind is a tropical fruit that’s typically used in African, Asian, and Mexican cuisines. Some producers label tamarind “sour Asian” or “sweet Mexican,” which refers to the stage at which the fruit was harvested. The longer the fruit ages, the sweeter it gets. I usually stick with the sour variety and then sweeten as needed. Tamarind is available in four different forms: the whole fruit in the pods (top left); a wet, seedless cake of pulp, which some producers call “paste” (top right); a dried block of pulp with seeds (bottom left); and a liquid concentrate with a dark, molasses like color and texture (bottom right). The dried pulp and the wet paste are basically the same thing. You can use either one for the recipes in this book. Avoid the liquid concentrate, though, because it’s been cooked down, it doesn’t taste the same. (I find it a little off.) Working with the fruit or the seedless cakes at home, it’s very easy and requires only a short amount of time. If you buy the whole fruit in their pods, remove as much of the shell as you can and follow the instructions in the recipe for softening it in boiling water and straining the fruit, which will take care of any pieces of shell.
Date and Tamarind Loaf
The inspiration for this cake is a sweet chutney made from dates and tamarind, which is commonly served as a dipping sauce with samosas and other fried snacks. I often dust this cake with confectioners’ sugar or drizzle it with a little Kefir Crème Fraîche.
makes 8 to 9 servings (one 8½ in [21.5 cm] loaf)
3¼ oz [90 g] sour tamarind pulp or paste (see note below)
1 cup [240 ml] boiling water
2 cups [280 g] all-purpose flour
2 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
1½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp fine sea salt
16 pitted Medjool dates, finely chopped
½ cup [60 g] chopped walnuts, plus 6 walnut halves
¾ cup [180 ml] plus 1 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
¾ cup [150 g] packed jaggery or muscovado sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup [120 g] confectioners’ sugar
Put the tamarind in a medium heat-proof bowl and add the boiling water, pressing down on the tamarind with a spoon so it’s covered with water. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for at least 1 hour. Massage and squeeze the pulp to soften it, and press through a fine-mesh strainer suspended over a bowl, discarding the solids in the strainer. Measure out 1 cup [240 g] pulp for this recipe. Reserve 2 Tbsp of the pulp in a small bowl to prepare the glaze.
Preheat the oven to 350°F [180°C]. Grease an 8½ by 4½ in [21.5 by 11 cm] loaf pan with butter and line the bottom with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, ginger, pepper, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Put the dates in a small bowl. Add the walnuts and 2 Tbsp of the whisked dry ingredients and toss to coat evenly.
Combine the ¾ cup [180 ml] olive oil, 1 cup [240g] tamarind pulp, and jaggery in a blender and pulse on high speed for a few seconds until completely emulsified. Add one egg and pulse for 3 to 4 seconds, until combined. Repeat with the remaining egg.
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients in the bowl, and pour the egg mixture into the well. Whisk the dry ingredients into the egg mixture and continue whisking until there are no visible flecks of flour. Then fold in the dates and walnuts.
Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Arrange the walnuts halves in a straight line down the center of the loaf. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking, until firm to the touch in the center and a skewer comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 10 minutes, and run a knife around the inside of the pan to release the cake. Remove from the pan and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Add the remaining 1 tsp of olive oil to the small bowl containing the reserved tamarind. Sift in the confectioners’ sugar and whisk until completely smooth. Pour the glaze over the cooled loaf and let it sit for 1 hour to set before serving.
September 29, 2018
spiced california prune couscous
To the North of San Francisco, beyond wine country lies a town called Winters. Here, sugar plums, the precursor to the prune is grown. The fresh fruit that hangs off the branches of the tree is deep red in color covered with a thin powdery white coating. Taste a fresh fruit and it is juicy and sweet.
The prune’s journey is interesting, as I learned when I got to visit the orchards in California with the California Dried Plum Board. The fruits are collected by shaking the branches till the ripe plums fall off and are collected in large wooden boxes. They are then spread out in a single layer and left to dry to create a somewhat large wrinkled fruit that’s now richer and more concentrated in its flavor than it was once before. It is now a prune that will make its way to your doorstep. Not all plums become prunes but all prunes are plums. These prunes are steam washed and packaged before they make their way out to our grocery shelves.
I’ve noticed that prunes also retain a bit of moisture and this makes them excellent when trying to build up richness in a dish, you can cut back on the fat and utilize the moisture content of the fruit.
How to use a prune? Well there are so many different ways to use them. You could use them in desserts as a pastry filling or put them into a cake or even into a clafoutis or let them sit in a bit of vodka to make a flavored spirit. But they have savory potential too. You can chop and sauté them in hot oil and fold them into pasta, add them into a salad, add them to a tapenade or you could make this couscous where it adds a richness with a bit of sweetness amidst the fresh herbs and spritz of lemon and then serve it as a side with a bit of fresh seafood or a roast vegetable dish.
spiced california prune couscous
makes 2 servings
ingredients
2 Tbsp olive oil
½ cup red onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp ground chipotle pepper
½ cup prunes, chopped
2 Tbsp sliced almonds
2 cups cooked pearl couscous *
½ tsp fine sea salt
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
¼ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
Heat the oil in a medium saucepan on medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, add the onion and sauté for about 4 to 5 minutes until translucent. Add the garlic and chipotle and cook for another 45 seconds. Stir in the prunes and almonds and cook for 1 minute, until the prunes start to swell a little. Fold in the couscous and season with the salt. Add more salt if necessary. Add the lemon juice and fold in the parsley. Transfer to serving bowl and serve warm as a side.
Note: * 1 cup of couscous should yield 2 cups cooked but I’ve refrained from giving cooking instructions because I’ve noticed different manufacturer’s give different cooking times and directions. Follow with the manufacturer writes on the box. I will however, recommend using a good flavorful stock to cook the couscous instead of water.
Disclaimer: This post was sponsored by the California Dried Plum Board, however, all opinions expressed are solely my own.
September 23, 2018
season book tour october details
Hi Folks, I’m back from Paris (which was wonderful - I did eat a lot of pastries, jams. cheese, wine and bread) with about a week left to launch day (I can’t believe how close we are) but I wanted to give you a quick note on the upcoming events for the first part of my book tour which kicks off in San Francisco. Details for all these events and the ones for the rest of the year are up on my book page. What I’m most excited about is meeting you! Some of you have been reading my blog for years, so I’m looking forward to seeing you in person.
In other book news, Season was listed as one of the top 3 cookbooks by The New Yorker and is also on Grub Street’s top 18 cookbooks of Fall. If you want to get a taste of what’s in the book, you can bake the spicy chocolate chip hazelnut cookies (which are now on Buzzfeed! ) and you can also sample a special selection of dishes over at Sunset Magazine which features Season and me in their latest October issue and is now available at newsstands and bookstores!
Thank you,
Nik
OCTOBER TOUR DETAILSSan Francisco, CA & Oakland, CAOctober 2, 2018 - 6:30pm - Omnivore Books on Food - In Conversation with award winning author James Birdsall - a book signing will follow.
October 4, 2018 - 6:00pm - Camino Restaurant - Dinner Party. Details on event and ticket purchase are in link. Books will be available for purchase and signing.
October 6 - 2:00pm - Southern Food and Beverage Museum - Conversation with Scott Hocker
October 7 - 7:00pm - Saffron Restaurant - Dinner Party - Details and Ticket information are here.
New York City, NYWashington D.C.October 12, 2018 - 6pm Union Market Toli Moli x Duende District Cooking Class and Book Signing (Details coming soon)
September 20, 2018
Season Cookbook Special - Spiced Beef Kebabs
Hi Friends, I can’t believe we’re almost 12 days away from the release of my first cookbook, Season. How do I feel? Honestly, it is a mixture of eager anticipation and happiness and I cannot wait for you to hold a copy in your hands. And with that note, I have wonderful news to share with you! We’re giving away a copy of SEASON and a piece of Staub cookware over at Instagram.
When I wrote Season, I wanted to make sure there was something in there for everyone and also take a moment to celebrate the home cook. We all want tasty meals with minimal effort and so I kept that in mind while constructing the recipes in this book. This book is a cookbook with recipes that celebrate my culinary influences from my two homes India and America and I’ve also shared my personal story and how my experiences shaped who I am and how and why I think about food the way I do, I also wanted it to be a useful guide in the kitchen. I’ve included a visual FLAVOR GLOSSARY which makes it easy to identify spices or ingredients you might not be familiar with using a series of macro images that I photographed and cataloged. The book also contains two special technical chapters on seasoning food at home. Every recipe also includes besides a headnote, a special “The Approach” which gives you a quick explanation behind the flavor concept of the dish.
Let’s talk about the special news! I wanted to thank you for all your support over the years.
As an early preview, I’m sharing the recipe for the spiced beef kebabs from the book with you.
And we’re also doing a very special INSTAGRAM GIVEAWAY: To celebrate the release of my book, we’ve teamed up with the lovely folks from Staub USA , Serious Eats and Chronicle Books. The winner will each receive a piece of Staub Cast Iron 8” x 5.5” Oval Gratin Baking Dish and a copy of my book Season.
TO ENTER: Head over to Instagram and follow the rules in the image to enter at abrowntable , Staub USA , Serious Eats or Chronicle Books .
Contest closes on 9/23/18 at midnight PST. Four Winners will be randomly selected and receive Season and one Staub Cast Iron 8” x 5.5” Oval Gratin Baking Dish. USA entries only due to shipping restrictions. #seasoncookbook
Thank you,
XOXO
Nik
Spiced Beef Kebabs
One of my most vivid memories of going to college in Bombay was heading out with my friends late at night to eat kebabs. Once or twice a week, we’d drive to the south side of the city and enjoy a feast of hot, succulent pieces of seasoned beef, chicken, or lamb, served with thin flatbreads and fresh chutney. Shami kebabs are usually made with ground lamb or beef, dried herbs, and chickpea flour for the binding agent; they don’t require skewers and are cooked in large flat-bottomed woks. This recipe is inspired by the shami kebabs. Serve them with pickled red onions, chutey, or raita.
makes 7 servings
1 lb [455 g] ground beef (15 percent fat)
1 cup [140 g] finely diced onion
1 large egg, lightly beaten
½ cup [60 g] chickpea flour
2 Thai chiles, seeded, if desired, and minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
One 1 in [2.5 cm] piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp coriander seeds, coarsely ground
1 tsp dried mint
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp dried sage
½ tsp dried dill
½ tsp fine sea salt
½ cup [120 ml] neutral-tasting vegetable oil
2 Tbsp fresh cilantro leaves
In a large bowl, mix the beef, onion, egg, chickpea flour, chiles, garlic, ginger, lime juice, cayenne, coriander, mint, cinnamon, sage, dill, and salt. Divide into fourteen equal parts and shape into 1 in [2.5 cm] disks.
Heat about 2 Tbsp of the oil in a large cast-iron or nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Fry the kebabs in batches, adding more oil as needed, until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Drain on paper towels. Transfer the kebabs to a serving plate, garnish with the cilantro, and serve with the pickled red onions.
the approach When making kebabs (or even burgers, for that matter), I often prefer dried herbs because they contain very little to no water and are more potent in flavor than their fresh counterparts. Here the coriander enhances the heat of the chile peppers.
Excerpted from Season: Big Flavors, Beautiful Food (Chronicle Books, 2018)
© 2018 by Nik Sharma
September 13, 2018
grilled lamb chops with garam masala and cumin
Even though summer has officially ended, we are still in that transitory phase where it’s warm and yes, still pleasant. I actually prefer this phase because grilling is much more fun. So, a few weekends ago, we invited a few of our close friends over for dinner. There was champagne, there was wine, there were lots of fresh tomatoes from my garden and there were grilled lamb chops from American Lamb Board.
One of the biggest dilemmas while trying to simultaneously entertain and cook, is how do you do both at once and also have fun without feeling exhausted. My advice is to plan food that requires very little prep work or stuff that you can prep the day before. Avoid the urge to go too fancy or create a meal that requires extensive work, or you end up (and I know this from experience) feeling miserable and your guests will also not get to have fun with you.
We did a family style meal which is easier to serve. The tomatoes from the garden went into an easy wild rice salad with goat cheese and a little fresh dill. I drizzled some garlic infused grapeseed oil over the salad. I had my friends try out this cauliflower aachar (a type of Indian pickle) that I’ve been experimenting with to get a bit of feedback (I also love to have my guests try out something I’ve been toying with, it creates a fun atmosphere and they get to be my lab rats and taste my food for me). A bit of garlic yogurt and spice infused olive oil. We did another tomato salad with heirloom tomatoes that I grew, a few thinly sliced red onions, sweet peppers arugula and lemon juice. And of course, the gorgeous one-inch thick lamb chops from American Lamb Board that were seasoned with garam masala and cumin and then tossed onto the hot grates and seared till they were just ready to be eaten. The addition of chili gives them just a little bit of heat which is perfect to add a little spark. And for dessert, we had the broiled peaches from my upcoming book Season.
I did not serve appetizers which wasn’t necessary. Often, I prefer having many sides served at the main course and skip the appetizers which is what I did for this meal. This way the dinner draws out for a longer period of time, people can have seconds and thirds and spend their time chatting and having fun. For a more formal meal, I will typically serve appetizers.
grilled lamb chops with garam masala and cumin
Serves 6
ingredients
1 Tbsp garam masala
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground red chili powder or ½ tsp cayenne powder
1 ½ tsp fine sea salt
12 American Lamb chops (about 1- inch thick)
¼ cup olive oil
2 limes quartered and cut into wedges
Mix the spices from the garam masala to the salt in a small bowl.
Pat the lamb chops dry with clean paper towels. Rub the seasoning over both sides of the lamb chops and place them in a tray, cover and let sit for at least 30 minutes (maximum 1 hour) at room temperature.
When ready to grill, heat the grill and clean the grates. Drizzle the olive oil over the chops. When the grates are hot, place the chops on the hot grates and cook on each side for about 3 to 3 ½ minutes until the internal temperature reaches 145F/63C (rare) or 160F/70F (well-done). Remove from grill allow to rest covered for 5 minutes, then transfer to a serving platter. Serve with the lime wedges on the side.
Disclaimer: This post was sponsored by the American Lamb Board. All opinions expressed are solely my own.
September 12, 2018
upside-down fig cake scented with ghee and cardamom
It’s hard to imagine how much can happen in a week or for that matter in an instantaneous second when you read a short sentence. Last week, India’s Supreme Court, dropped an archaic law called #Section377 which essentially now makes it legal for queer folk to exist in India. I’ve written about it at my column for the San Francisco Chronicle where you will also find this take I did on a fig-upside down cake (which if you remember is a new fall version of the banana cake I had done earlier this year) . This was a difficult one to write because I revisited a lot of the past and it brought back memories of confusion and shame. It’s strange how you can put things behind you but they still linger far, far away.
