Being abroad is hard on Thanksgiving, probably harder than on any other holiday. After all, here in Germany it's just another Thursday full of work and errands and all the usual mid-week hassles. Years ago in Edinburgh I tried to make Thanksgiving Thursday something special, to celebrate the holiday no matter how many logistical hurdles I had to battle. But feasting just wasn't the same when there were only two of us eating, there were only a couple of frantic hours to cook, and I knew I couldn't overdo it since I'd have to drag myself out of bed the next morning and go to work. Trying to celebrate that way only made me miss Thanksgiving even more.

Just because we're not feasting today doesn't mean we're not giving thanks, though, and this year, we have even more than usual to be grateful for. In addition to our health, home, family and friends, we have been blessed with a brand-new addition to our household, a beautiful, gentle soul who came into our lives a few short days ago and has already stolen our hearts. Her name is Lily.

Lily is a galgo, otherwise known as a Spanish greyhound. Galgos and greyhounds are close siblings, but not identical; galgos are a little bit smaller, and not quite as fast, though they can still reach blazing-fast speeds of up to 40mph (60kmh)! And character-wise they are said to be every bit as calm, gentle, quiet and loving as their racing brethren, which we can now personally attest to.

Unfortunately, though, the story of galgos is a sad one, and though it doesn't have anything to do with food, I think it's worth telling. While racing greyhounds in the U.S. and U.K. are generally well-treated at the track (as sick and injured dogs don't win many races), this is not the case for galgos. In Spain galgos are used as hunting dogs, particularly in the south where rural dwellers breed them to hunt rabbits and small game. Unfortunately, these breeders are rarely interested in their galgos' welfare, and weak animal rights legislation perpetuates a staggering amount of abuse. Throughout the hunting season galgos are kept in squalid conditions with little more than bread and water for nourishment, the idea being that hunger and hardship will make them more eager predators. They are also routinely beaten to ensure obedience, and worst of all, at the end of each hunting season, to avoid having to spend further money on their upkeep, they are killed. When I stumbled upon this article describing how, I nearly cried. Those that are spared death are simply abandoned, thrown down wells or deliberately crippled so they won't be able to find their way home again. Every day galgos turn up at shelters having suffered these miserable fates.

We had long planned to adopt an ex-racing greyhound, but the more I learned about the plight of galgos, the more I knew I wanted to give a home to one of these poor creatures. There are many organizations throughout Europe committed to their rescue, the biggest being the Spanish-based Scooby Medina with branches in many EU countries (and some partners in the U.S. too!). In the end we went through a German organization that works with a small shelter in Andalusia since they are able to give us a much more personalized assessment of their dogs' characters, an important consideration when, like us, you're new to the breed.

Adopting a rescued dog is always a gamble, and particularly with galgos many of them have been deeply traumatized (though fortunately with galgos this manifests itself as fear rather than aggression). With Lily, thankfully, we seem to have hit the jackpot; not only has she been a model houseguest (no accidents! no barking! no chewing up the furniture!), she shows no signs of fear or shyness around people. That's not to say she doesn't have her quirks. She snores like a freight train (even sometimes with her eyes open), she regards the stuffed toys we bought her like they're aliens from another world, she doesn't like peanut butter (!), and she's very skittish around unfamiliar things (which, we're discovering, is just about everything: busses, bicycles, joggers, stairs, blenders, plastic bags...). Unfortunately she also came to us with a bad infection from her recent spaying, and has had to endure a couple of painful procedures at the vet. She was such a trusting, uncomplaining patient, though, that even the vet was impressed. "You really won the lotto with that dog," she told us on our last visit, looking at Lily a tad too covetously for my taste.

And perfect for us, she seems to be a bit of a gourmet too. She had no interest at all in packaged food, so we tried her out on what in animal circles is known as a BARF diet - short for Biologically Appropriate Raw Food. As soon as she started finding chicken hearts and pork neck bones in her food bowl instead of kibble, she turned from a finicky nibbler into a lip-smacking gourmande. She does prefer everything sprinkled with a pinch of garlic powder, though, but I can hardly say I blame her. In fact I'm kind of proud. The only thing is that I wish her favorite snack wasn't something called pansen, which are some sort of dried cow innards that stink to high heaven and back again. I don't think I'll ever be able to get the stench out of our apartment.

Anyhow, I'm sure you'll be hearing plenty more about Lily. For now please get back to your turkeys and stuffing - or whatever else you're filling your plate with on this crisp fall Thursday. If you are celebrating Thanksgiving, I really hope it's the best ever, chock-full of the food, family and animals you love most.

A few more links:

Galgo Rescue International
Greyhound Pets of America
Greyhound Rescue UK
Greyhounds in Need (UK organization dealing with both Galgos and Greys)
An Introduction to Raw Feeding

I think it would be somewhat of an understatement to say I have fondness for books about food, travel and culture. So when Laura Kelley asked if I would like to see a copy of her new cookbook The Silk Road Gourmet -  the first of a self-published three volume series exploring the cuisines of thirty countries along the ancient Silk Road - I couldn't hit the reply button fast enough to say yes.

Covering the cuisines of Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka, this volume so chock-full of fascinating stuff I don't even know where to begin describing it. It definitely belongs on the shelves of anyone interested in the culture or history of food, has a taste for the exotic or loves the challenge of the unfamiliar. Covering both well-known and barely-known cuisines, Laura confidently walks us through a mosaic of countries, demystifying their ingredients and techniques and offering up a sampling of the flavors and traditions unique to each one. She also highlights their parallels, pointing out how the Silk Road acted as a conduit for flavors and preparations from the Black Sea to the Pacific. As for the recipes... let's just say my to-make list has grown exponentially: eggplants stuffed with pomegranate, lamb and rhubarb stew, pork chops with sour cherry sauce, cinnamon potatoes with pine nuts, pastries filled with sweet and spicy squash, chicken with apricots in lemon-pepper sauce, shrimp and pineapple curry, spiced coconut cake... Overall the book is well-written, well-edited and easy to navigate, and though it may lack some of the bells and whistles of glossy mass-market cookbooks, that's just less to distract you as you make a beeline for the kitchen - which is the most important thing, right?

And because I am so awed at the depth and breadth of this project, I asked Laura if she'd mind answering some questions about how the Silk Road Gourmet came to be.

Tell me something about your background and how you came to travel to all these countries.

Well let’s see . . . I grew up in an Italian-American household in the suburbs near NYC.  Every Italian family is a food-family, so, to a large extent I grew up in the kitchen, helping my mom and older sister prepare meals, or just sitting there and talking or studying while my Mom cooked.  

I started cooking by myself as a creative outlet when I was about 13 years old, and dove head first into Indian food.  When I was 16, I was an American Field Service student in Thailand and lived with a Thai family on the southern peninsula on a very rural farm (no running water, no electricity, and few modern conveniences).  During that time I also traveled to Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and from stem to stern in Thailand.  Accustomed to spending time in the kitchen at home, I watched a lot about what was happening in the kitchen and tried to get up in the morning to feed the monks who would come begging in the pre-dawn hours.  I took notes about the foods I was eating and tried to figure out a lot of the ingredients myself.  I would ask my “Thai mother” or AFS program staff what was being served and engage them in conversation about it.

There was a long period of staying stateside while I was finishing my degrees.  During that time, I continued to cook South Asian food and started to branch out into cooking Southeast Asian and East Asian foods as well.  Cooking, at this point was still just a hobby and something I did to feed myself.  I also sought out ethnic restaurants to try foods here.  At this time cooking authentic Asian food in the US was difficult even living in and near major cities.  I remember having to scour stores for galangal (a gingery sort of root).  Today these things are a few clicks away on the internet.

After I got married, I worked for years for a large, international public health project funded by USAID called the Child Health Research Project and traveled to the Indian subcontinent many times – also hitting Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh.  During this time, I paid a lot of attention to the food and started to write about where I ate and what was served as well as talk to the cooks at the guesthouses about ingredients for recipes etc. I also started to go to open markets and wander around with my driver or minder and ask him questions.  As you can imagine, these notes have been invaluable in reconstructing recipes and menus for the Silk Road Gourmet.

Why and how did you start collecting recipes on your travels?

All the while I was traveling, I was collecting recipes.  Most people were receptive to telling recipes.  The only time I ever had anyone refuse was at a market – I guess they thought I might help a competitor get a leg up on their business.  My travels started in 1980 and by the 1990s or so with all the cooking (and eating) of Asian foods I’ve done, I came to really know the taste of ingredients and would try to “reconstruct” the recipe of a dish as I was eating it – whether it be at a guest house or in a restaurant stateside.  It’s still a parlor trick of mine.  After this, I’d try to reconstruct it in the kitchen – the hardest ones had to be cooked 2 or 3 times until they sang. . .

Do you still travel frequently?

I’ve been on another lull recently, working, raising kids, writing policy papers and books – but am itching to get on the road again.  The farthest I’ve been for the last few years have been big trips to the American West with my hubby and kids on summer vacation.  We are thinking about going to mainland China this summer – but not sure if we can make it.  Turkey or Morocco may have to do.  In 2006 I was in Southern Africa, and loved the “fusion” cuisine I found there (a combo of European, Indian and African flavors and ingredients).

How did the idea to write a series of books take shape?

The idea to write a cookbook started forming a few years ago in 2005 and 2006. Part of the idea for the book was fueled by comparing the recipes I’d collected and reconstructed with those available in lots of Asian cookbooks available here in the West.  I felt there was a gap – Grand Canyon size – between the foods I was eating and cooking with the authentic recipes and lots of the recipes available in existing cookbooks.  By and large flavors were toned way down in cookbooks when compared with their authentic cousins.  I wanted to remedy this with my own book.  Another idea that had been forming in my head for some time, was how similar dishes were between countries that were sometimes geographically separated by thousands of miles or major natural obstacles.  I started to think of these similarities in a historical sense and kept on seeing how the Persian, Arab and Indian empires had influenced the food of the countries they ruled.  During this time, I was also involved in a few projects examining the affects of globalization in the modern world for my day job – and that’s how the Silk Road concept came into view.  The one book concept expanded into a three book concept and the project was born.  I started working earnestly in 2006 on the project in my spare time (not working hours) and find myself here, now.



Tell me about the process of researching, testing and writing these books. How long has the whole process taken?

Volume 1 pretty much took two years from finger to keystroke to get a manuscript to the publisher.  The research – as I’ve indicated in previous questions – has been over years and decades – but the actual writing and cooking and tasting and re-cooking has taken two years in my spare time, not as a day job.  It all started at home – my husband is the Queen’s taster.  I would cook dishes (sometimes 3 or 4 in smaller portions) for dinner and we would taste and talk.  After I was happy with the recipes, I sent them out to family and friends who all cooked the recipes as well.  I would often make revisions to the recipes if something wasn’t clear to a test-cook friend to improve it for The Silk Road Gourmet.

Did you have to make any concessions in the recipes for the U.S. market?

Certainly, no concessions were made for American or Western tastes.  I went for the full flavor and by and large, the professional chefs and serious home cooks who have used the book have been happy with that.  I’ve received a few incredulous comments from folks used to eating and cooking bland Europeanized versions of Asian food, but, hey – you can’t please everyone.  Since one of the reasons I wrote the book was to get more authentic versions of the recipes out, I expected that some people would be displeased or challenged by the amount of flavor and the flavor combinations in the book.  

As to availability of ingredients, if I couldn’t get the ingredients or find a reasonably easy to find substitute, its not in the book.  Sometimes, for instance, bottled sour cherries were used instead of fresh ones – which are hard to find – bit I could usually find everything either in a local store or online.  I am a digital gal and do a lot of shopping over the internet.  My site also has its own Amazon.com store that features lots of the spices and ingredients so people can use the portal right on my webpage to find things.

One thing I did do, was make concessions for was the use of modern kitchen equipment, or methods of preparation.  For example, instead of pounding ingredients for a sambal for 20 minutes, I used a food processor to get the grind going and then transferred to a mortar if larger pieces of ingredients needed to be included.  Also forming ground meat kebabs on skewers is very difficult to do unless you have very hot skewers, cool to cold meat and a fair amount of experience.  I gave cooks an alternative to prepare them as loaves or meatballs – which is culturally acceptable as well.  We also don’t generally have have the type of ovens needed to cook samsas and bread – so I had to find alternatives to slapping the bread onto the inside of an incredibly hot oven.

Can you give me a little sneak preview of the next two volumes?

Happy to!  Volume 2 which I hope will be out in mid 2010 covers the “fusion” cuisines of Central Asia, The Himalayas and the Indo Pacific.  These are all cuisines that have unique fusions of western Asian and Eastern Asian food traditions and food cultures.  I’m particularly excited about the Central Asia chapters – these were hard to research but now have some delicious, authentic food in them.

Volume 3 covers Eastern Asia from Mongolia to the Philippines and I hope will be available in mid 2011.  I’ve tried to fill it with recipes a bit off the beaten path from most eastern Asian books – like a delicious recipe for black (silkie) chicken from Northern China and a fish-flavored eggplant in clay pots from southern China.

In both books, I’ve selected recipes that will follow through with some of the patterns and trends noted in the first volume.  So there are recipes for kebabs, and stuffed peppers from Eastern Asia as well as dishes that show the Persian love of layering a far away as Kirghizstan or how the Kazakhs interpret an Indian Korma.

And finally... if forced to pick a favorite from this book, which cuisine would you choose and why?

That’s a really hard question to answer. . . In Volume 1, I’m thinking that Afghan food is probably my favorite (but sometimes I say Armenia or Azerbaijan).  The reason for this is you can “taste the history” in Afghan food more than many other Asian cuisines.  For centuries the Afghans have been “almost ruled” by a wide variety of peoples, from Persians, Alexander, Greeks, Buddhists, Arabs, Uzbeks, British, Russians, Afghans, (US) etc. and all of these influences can be felt in their culture and in their food.  What you get on the Afghan table is a unique merger of Western Asian (still heavily influenced by European cuisine), the cuisines of the Levant states and the cuisines of the Southern Asia and the Indian Subcontinent.  So, from the West we see familiar ingredients like fennel, bay leaf, mint and saffron.  But these are often used in conjunction with ingredients from Southern and Eastern Asian like cardamom, ginger, and cinnamon rather than by themselves.  I also love quinces and the Afghans use lots of them. . .

Thanks for the fascinating interview, Laura! For heaps more interesting information on Laura, the book and the Silk Road cuisines, be sure to check out her website at www.silkroadgourmet.com.

Armenian Meatballs in Lemon Sauce

As soon as I received my copy of Laura's book, I invited my in-laws over for a dinner featuring several of its recipes. Everything was wonderful, but these subtly-spiced meatballs in a tangy lemon sauce were the hands-down winner. I shouldn't have been surprised; in the book's introduction Laura herself identifies them as a personal favorite.
Serves: 4
Source: adapted slightly from The Silk Road Gourmet by Laura Kelley

for meatballs:
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
zest from 2 medium lemons
2 dried hot red chilies
1 egg
2 tablespoons tomato sauce/puree
1 small bunch fresh cilantro (15-20 sprigs)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 lb. (450g) ground lamb or beef (I used beef)

for sauce:
1 1/2 cups (325ml) vegetable broth (I used chicken broth)
1 cup (250ml) water
2 tablespoons (30g) unsalted butter
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon lemon juice

In a food processor, combine all the meatball ingredients except the meat and process until well blended. Add meat and blend again until well mixed. Refrigerate one hour. Shape into 2-inch (5cm) meatballs. Refrigerate another hour before cooking.

In a large sauté pan bring the broth and water to a boil over medium-high heat. Melt butter in the broth. Add the meatballs and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook, covered, until the meatballs are tender, about 30 minutes. Spoon broth over meatballs several times during cooking and turn meatballs over after about 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to low if necessary to keep them cooking only gently.

In a small bowl, beat the egg yolks. Stir in the lemon juice. Add 1/2 cup hot broth and mix well. When the meatballs are done, remove from the broth. Reduce the broth if necessary (and strain if you wish - I had a lot of particles in mine).Add the egg-lemon mixture, stirring or whisking steadily as you dribble the mixture in. Heat until it starts to thicken and add meatballs back into the sauce. Let them reheat for a few more minutes and serve with plenty of basmati rice. (If, however, at the eleventh hour you find yourself inexplicably out, couscous works in a pinch.)

Roasted Beet Salad with Feta and Walnuts

I've never understood beet-haters. I can fully sympathize with brussels-sprout-haters, for instance, since I even used to be one myself before realizing that a splash of olive oil and a turn in a hot oven make all the difference in the world. Also things like kale (so vegetal! so chewy!) and eggplant (slimy and bitter in the wrong hands) occasionally turn even my stomach, so I can fully comprehend why some people swear them off completely.

But beets? To me they're nothing but perfect, one of those few miraculous vegetables that manages to cloak a powerhouse of nutrition in a delicious package. So how come millions of reasonable, vegetable-loving folks hate them? Honestly, I can't even count the number of people I've met who are otherwise passionate, equal-opportunity eaters, but don't even bat an eyelash when proclaiming beets to be the one food they refuse to touch.

So I ask you beet-haters, what is it you detest? Is it the flavor? I know they're kind of earthy, but so are carrots, parsnips and sweet potatoes, and no one seems to have any issues with them. Is it the color? Granted, it's intense, and it does admittedly, ahem, haunt you for a couple of days afterward (but that's all I'm going to say on that topic), and it is a pain to remove beet stains from clothing, dishtowels and countertops, and people who've been handling cut beets look like they've just finished shooting a scene for a horror movie. Still, several kinds of ripe, red berries do all those things too (well, maybe not the haunting part...) and nobody hates them for it.

I think what's most likely is that people who think they hate beets just haven't tried them in the right form. Heck, if I'd only tried them out of a can or jar, I might just hate them too. For one thing, they're usually too sweet this way, since most manufacturers insist on augmenting their natural sugars to cloying levels. And texturally they're not the most appealing either, water-logged and flabby, looking like freakish purple potato chips with all those crinkle-cut ridges. What can I say? Beet-haters, if this is the only way you've ever experienced them, you most certainly have my sympathies.

But you don't have my permission to continue hating them. At least, not until you've tried my favorite beet recipe. It's a riff on a French cooked salad, where first the beets are roasted to caramelly softness, then sliced into garnet rounds and tossed with a mustardy, garlicky vinaigrette while still warm. At some point while they're sitting there those sweet, sour and pungent flavors all sidle up to one another and get comfy, like good friends reunited after a long time apart, but just when you're starting to fear that all this harmony might get boring, along comes a nugget of salty feta or the crunch of a toasted nut to liven things up. It's addictive, I tell you; the first time I made this for Manuel, he went from saying, "you made beets... for dinner???" to helping himself to the last few slices when I wasn't looking. Not bad for a self-described "beet-ambivalent".

Now, I know beet-ambivalence a far cry from the full-fledged beet hatred many of you subscribe to, but please consider giving them another chance. You may be hesitant to take this advice from me, an avowed beet lover, but think of it this way: maybe, just maybe, there's a good reason I am. And maybe, just maybe, this recipe marks the start of your life as a beet-lover too.

Roasted Beet Salad with Feta and Walnuts

A word of advice: wear something dark-colored while making this salad (and maybe while eating it too). As careful as you might be, some scarlet-red beet juice will end up on you somewhere. I'm pretty sure it has something to do with different laws of attraction between beets and white fabric, but if you have another theory, by all means share it.
Serves: 6 as a side dish (or fewer, if beet lovers are involved)

about 2 lbs. (ca. 1kg) raw beets

For vinaigrette:
1/4 cup (60ml) tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup (60ml) red wine vinegar, or to taste
1 heaping tablespoon dijon mustard
1 fat clove garlic, minced
3/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
freshly-ground black pepper to taste

For garnish:
3 oz (85g) sheep's milk feta, crumbled
1/2 cup (50g) toasted walnuts, coarsely chopped (toasted almonds or hazelnuts are also great)
leaves from a couple sprigs fresh thyme

Preheat the oven to 400F/200C. Wash the beets, then wrap them in a double layer of aluminum foil. Place on a baking sheet and roast until a knife easily slides through the center of your largest beet, anywhere from about 45-75 minutes, depending on the size of your beets. Unwrap and allow to cool until you can comfortably handle them (they should still be warm, though).

In a small bowl whisk together the vinaigrette ingredients until emulsified.

When the beets are cool enough to handle, slip the skins off using either your fingers or a knife, and cut each beet into 1/4-inch (1/2-cm) slices. In a large bowl combine the warm beet slices and the vinaigrette, using your hands to gently massage everything together (it's messy, but using a spoon usually results in too many broken beets). Let stand at least 30 minutes for the flavors to mingle - preferably more like an hour or two.

Just before serving, taste the beets for seasoning - they might need another splash of vinegar and/or pinch of salt (though don't overdo the salt since the feta is quite salty). Arrange the slices attractively on an platter, topped with the feta cheese, walnuts and thyme. Enjoy at room temperature.