The Houndstooth Gourmet

Broccoli rabe-I love the stuff. I mean, I can eat it any time of day, which is odd because it’s decidedly strong and can be bitter. Blanching broccoli rabe significantly cuts down on this bitterness, and allows the real flavor to come through. But, who wants to bring an entire pot of water to a boil, and fill a large bowl with icewater to shock it after blanching? Not me!

The good news is-you don’t have to. I cut up my rabe and place it in a salad spinner. Next, I bring a kettle full of water to a boil, and pour it over the rabe and let it soak for about a minute. Then, I lift the basket of rabe out of the spinner and pour out the hot water before returning the basket to the bowl and running under cold water. Finally, after the cold rinse, I spin the rabe to remove as much water as possible, and into a pan it goes. This step can be done ahead of time without a problem.

Pictured is plated rabe with golden raisins and evoo for drizzling.

Tags: broccoli rabe, vegetarian by Ramona
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Raita* is a yogurt-based dish from South Asia/India. It is to these regions what tzatziki is to Greece. This dip, or condiment is used to cool the palate, as well as spicy dishes such as byrani. It’s terrific as a dip for crudite, or as an accompanyment to kebobs. There are many variations to raita, which makes raita accessable when making it at home with what you have on hand. For instance, you can make a raita just with spices, or fruit. How about cucumber raita, onion raita, or jalepeno raita? Sure! Make it with what you like.

To make my raita for lamb pitas, I mixed a cup of plain yogurt until creamy. Next, I added shredded cucumber, diced tomatoes, a pinch of cayenne peper and 1 teaspoon each of corriander and cumin. Many recipes call for toasting the cumin and corriander seeds, then crushing them. I’m sure this tastes even better, but what I have on hand is already crushed.

So, basically, if you have yogurt, you can make raita! Today, I whipped up a quickie raita while I warmed up leftover lamb. In a whole wheat pita, I placed the lamb, lettuce, tomatoes, feta and raita. It was a terrific way to use leftover meat. Two thumbs up from Frank, and two paws up from the dogs!

Here are a few recipes so you can get an idea for more exact measurements, and an appreciation for just how diverse this condiment is.

Raita Recipes

Nigella Lawson’s Pomegranite Raita

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/nigella-lawson/pomegranate-raita-recipe/index.html

Padma Lakshmi’s Cucumber and Yogurt Salad

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/padma-lakshmi/raita-cucumber-and-yogurt-salad-recipe/index.html

Cooking Light’s Walnut-Yogurt Dip

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1065566

Answers.com video with recipe

http://www.answers.com/topic/raita

*The best part of writing this post was finding out just how raita is pronounced. It’s rite-a, not ray-ee-ta, as I’ve been saying *face plant*. Ugh.

Tags: condiment, indian, yogurt by Ramona
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