Me and my sous chef, Sean Christopher McCall in front of the kitchen where I'm filming tomorrow. If Sean's name sounds a wee bit Irish that's because he is! With a little bit of Sicilian on his mother's side or was it is father's grandmother? I don't remember. Anyway, he's my right-hand man.
My wife came up with the name Mediterranean Creole™ for my Algerian cuisine foodcasts. I've done a test run with the name and it has a certain ring to it that people like and more importantly it for me it encapsulates the uniqueness of Algerian cuisine.
Regular readers of my blog know that I've been wanting to do foodcasts for quite some time. A busy work schedule has prevented me from doing this sooner. Busy is probably an understatement. The glamorous life of this chef includes 12 hour work days, 5-7 days a week. On some days I even work triple shifts. That's correct, 18 hour triple shifts. The cost of living in Los Angeles and raising a family here is very high.
I finally bought a camcorder yesterday. My wife and I did considerable research or rather lots of hand wringing and finally settled on something reasonable. At first our hearts were set on a Panasonic Pro AG-DVX100B 3-CCD MiniDV Proline Camcorder. However, when my wife went to EVS in Glendale the other day the salesman told us that although it was a great camera, really rugged and easy to use- it was becoming obsolete. Everything is going to HD now. The word "obsolete" was enough to scare us away from making what is to us a very big purchase, $$$$3000 and up.
We decided on the modestly priced Canon ZR 800. It was the only camera under $300 that we could find that supports an external microphone. Another benefit for novices like us is that the firewire connection makes it really easy to download and edit on our computer, at least we hope that's the case. Throw in an extra battery, a tripod, firewire hub and a microphone- the total expense was around $500, including the camera. Quite a step down from what we were planning on spending for the Panasonic prosumer camera. The tripod alone for that camera would have cost us $500, not including tax.
Our first filming session will be tomorrow at The Art Center Kitchen in Pasadena. It's the same kitchen I use to teach recreational cooking classes. These episodes will be shot in French. I have a pretty big francophone readership for this blog who keep demanding that I write my posts in French too. Since I don't have the time to do that now, my gesture is to present some of my foodcasts in French.
What's on the menu? Preserved lemons.
I'm shooting four short segments with recipes that include preserved lemons. Preserved lemons are increasingly popular, becoming a general pantry item for non-North African cooks in the States and Europe.
Meyer lemons are actually closer to the kind of thinner skinned, sweet lemons that are used in Algeria for preserving. The thicker skinned Eureka or Lisbon lemons make a fine substitute, so use those if that's what's available.
My recipe for Algerian preserved lemons . Preserved lemons are also available in stores such as Sur La Table, Whole Foods and specialty "gourmet" food stores. However I really encourage you make your own as they are very easy, versatile and an economical way to add flavor to range of Algerian and general Mediterranean dishes. At the same time there is something romantic about them- so pretty and colorful sitting on a kitchen shelf hinting at "exotic" North African cooking.
Episode 1
Chicken with preserved lemons in all it's variations is probably one of the most commonly cited dishes using preserved lemons. I'm sure I have a few variations up my sleeve that aren't widely known. Rather than offering one of those I'll do a Chicken and rice tagine with preserved lemons. Also known as Arroz con pollo Oranaise or Djej bil roz (Arabic for chicken with rice). Chicken and rice is actually a common restaurant dish in Algeria. It's so popular that the dish comprises 50% of the menu in some restaurants. In a small village near Setif I went to years ago a restaurant served just two dishes- djej bil roz or lham bil roz (meat and rice). On weekends they served roz bil djej and roz bil lham.
The Arabic name for chicken and rice is obvious, but where does the Spanish name arroz con pollo come from? Regular readers of my blog know that Oranaise cooking is Andalusian and Spanish influenced. The version I'm making tomorrow will remind some viewers of South Asian chicken briyanis. My version will be a little more complexly flavored than more typical arroz con pollo recipes, but not as labor intensive as extravagant versions of chicken briyani. The connection to some aspects of Indian cuisines has to do with the spice trade and the geographic reach of former Islamic Empires.
I'll use basmati rice for the chicken and rice tagine because basmati rice is available in Oran now and it's one of my favorite types of rice.
Episode 2
Preserved Lemon and Herb Mahonais
I used to think that Algerian mahonais or mayonnaise was a French influence. Further research indicates that it is a Catalan influence as well from Mahón. In Algeria we also make a pain mahonais which is also called a Pain Espagnol (Spanish bread).
Preserved lemon and herb mahonais is a versatile sauce that can be used as a spread for flat bread or baguette sandwiches, as a dip for samsas (samosas) and cigar shaped boureks or a dressing for potato salad. Tomorrow I'm serving it as sauce for marinated grilled or broiled shrimp.
Episode 3
Salads are common to the Algerian lunch or dinner table. Most of our dressings are not vinaigrettes, they are citrus juice based citronnettes. Preserved lemon citronnette can be used to dress a variety of raw or grilled salads. Tomorrow I'm using it marinade scallops for a salad skabetch (escabeche). Depending on what's available at the markets I might substitute another shellfish for the scallops, we'll see tomorrow.
Episode 4
Preserved lemon and seafood boureks (cigars). I'm using the shrimp and scallops from episodes 3 and 4 to make boureks.
There you have it, the first four episodes. I hope they give you a "taste" (ouch) of what Algerian cuisine is and my approach to teaching cooking- a little bit of food history and lots of variations encouraging creativity grounded in technique.
foodcast: foodcasts food podcasts culinary podcasts food vlog gastrocast
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