Local Flavours

I'm most often found writing about two of my favorite intertwining topics... food and local sources. Typically, though, it's about the ingredients, the producers of said ingredients, the season they are harvested and, naturally some recipes to go with them.  This time, I take a slightly different tack.  Still local, still flavorful, but this time it's about an evening out  - late dinner following a book launch... Seasoned Recipes and Essays from The Spiceman, Costas Halavrezos

A Great Broken Telephone Chickpea Salad

Remember that childhood game of Broken Telephone that ended in hilarious messages so distorted and removed from the original? Well, this dish turns Broken Telephone to a much lovelier (not to mention more delicious) game.

I saw this mouth-watering Curried Chickpea Salad on Kalyn's Kitchen. She got it from her brother who saw it in the LA Times from some restaurant in LA that sounds like a great place to visit. Naturally Kalyn had to put her spin on the recipe ... and naturally, not able to leave well enough alone, I decided to do my own little twist, using Aleppo 7 Spice Blend from Epices de Cru, adding garlic, using avocado oil... you know how it goes once you start adding things to a recipe, it becomes something quite different from the original.

Aleppo Spiced Chickpea Salad

This one doesn't stray too far afield from the original, but it did get me thinking.... what are your favorite ways to make a dish your own?

Spices, Spices & More Lovely Spices

It's true that I hadn't finished off my stash of Epices de Cru Curries & Masalas that I wrote about here, before I started craving more spicy goodness from them... and I finally picked some up at the market last week...

My Aleppo Seven Spice Blend from Epices de Cru

I did use up the last of the Sri Lankan Black Curry & the Singapore Curry blends to make my own curry blend and a variation of a Mark Bittman recipe from my brand new app for my brand new iPad.

Mellow Lamb Curry

As for the Aleppo Spices... we all know that spice blends are great to flavor soups and stews, but I ground them up and dusted two excellent strip loin steaks from Getaway Farm and grilled them ... indoors on a grill pan rather than brave the snow to do it outside. Served with a tasty Caesar Salad - a perfect dinner.

And now I'm off to the market again to see what else I can find...

The Spice Man & Epices de Cru

A week or so before my first speedy trip to Toronto, I met Costas Halavrezos and his neighor & friend Ruth at the Old Brewery Market. He now distributes a wonderful collection of spices from around the world hunted down by the Spice Hunters at Epices de Cru, headquartered in Montreal. You have to check out the website, where you'll find, not only the fantastic spices and aromatic blends, but brilliant recipes and stories on their blogs - a National Geographic trek around the world searching out the finest spice treasures anywhere.
Costa had so many wonderful choices of gift boxes and individual spices, my head was spinning. In the end, I couldn't resist the gift box (well... it was a gift to me from me and I don't feel guilty in the least)... my kit - Caris et Masalas - curries & masalas, included Sri Lankan Black Curry, some Jamaican curry, some Martinique Colombo Spice Blend, some Mauritius Masala, some Trinidadian Curry, and some Singapore Curry.
After much sniffing of tins, I decided on the sri Lankan Black curry and whipped up Kalu Mas Curry with just a few changes to their delicious recipe... no lemongrass and I used fenugreek leaves as I had no curry leaves on hand either. It still was spectacular.
Their aromatic Basmati Rice Pilaf was equally delightful, just as presented and so simple to do. Don't you just love the toasted poppy seed garnish? The sweetness of the rice - cardamom, cloves, cinnamon & coriander does it well - was the perfect partner for the tangy curried beef - the tamarind paste really added zing to the dish.
And a very cool trick to keep your blend fresh... The note in the box advised me to blend the entire little tin so that all the individual whole spices would be part of the mix you added to your dish. As you can see, just dipping a spoon into each jar would mean missing out on one or more fragrant spice. If you do have any left, pour the ground spice back into the little tin and freeze until the next time.

Now I have to decide which blend to try next... and hope that Costa is still at the market so I can purchase some of the individual spice tins as well.