I was set to do a piece on the mother sauces when I stumbled upon an old friend on FaceBook and the conversation quickly turned to some of our lengthy lunches we took in East Hollywood, home to Little Armenia, as overpaid hacks. One of the places we used to frequent was called the Carousel, an odd name for an Armenian restaurant, a sort of old world eatery meets El Dorado, a quaint decor, slow service but we didn't care, the food was what we came for. Not dissimilar to Turkish, Lebanese and Greek cuisine for its wonderful array of starters (meze), we usually ordered a couple of dozens of them, ate slowly, and talked endlessly.
Armenia in general is a harsh, cold and mountainous land. Russia, the Ukraine and Georgia are to the North, Azerbajian on the East, Iran, Syria and Iraq on the South and Turkey on the West. I'm not going to give you a lesson on geography but it's worth noting that Armenia has been occupied and divided by Russia, Greece, Turkey and Persia and thus has a cuisine which is complicated by name and ingredients.
The fact that Armenia was the first Christian nation on earth and completely surrounded by Moslems and nomadic tribes affected the diet of it's people not only as related to farming methods but also as to religious belief. An agrarian civilization spanning 2600 years, Armenia was the crossroads of the world between East and West, "The silk road". It's food reflects that fact by similarities in recipes from Europe to India.
The meat staple of the country is lamb and to a lesser extent chicken and beef. No pork is used in the Armenian diet due to biblical belief that only animals that chewed their cud were to be eaten. Seafood was almost non-existent (except lake or river fish) since no salt water ports border Armenia.
Having eaten Armenian food (and just about everything else) on three continents (Europe, US and Australia) I have keenly observed the kind of foodstuffs that is mostly used in their cuisine: onions, tomatoes, garlic, squash, cabbage, plenty of okra, green beans, peppers, cucumbers and eggplant all reign supreme as vegetables. Lamb (and mutton) cooked so the meat falls off the bone - a bit like we do rillettes in France - salted beef, and then dried fruits, preserved olives, nuts, beans, rice and wheat. And of course fruits with the grape being used in a variety of recipes from candy, wine, brandy and syrup, to dried items such as fruit leathers, and raisins.
The Armenians were skilled as vintners and viticulturists and that is evident by the phenomenal success of immigrant Armenian farm families who settled the fertile San Joaquin Valley of Central California. Other exotic fruits were also used such as quince, pomegranate, figs, persimmons, citrus and of course the ancient olive. The olives were cured with the salt curing process and after curing were preserved in olive oil and lemon juice. The salt cured olives were very black and wrinkled and had a bitter taste that grew on you. Other olives compared to them seemed to have no taste at all.
Let me impart with the one dish that I can't live without: ~Baba Ganoush, Armenian style (a close cousin to hummus, surely!)
To make enough for say six persons you will need the following:
2 heads garlic, 4 large eggplants, whole with skin on, 2 medium-sized vidalia onions, a handful of chopped flat parsley, a few leaves of sweet basil (they often use the red kind of basil but green is good too), 3 tablespoons of virgin olive oil, salt & pepper to taste.
First you must roast the whole eggplant evenly on all sides until the skin is charred or the eggplant is soft (use your grill). Peel off charred ski and scoop out the soft insides of the eggplant and place in a large bowl. Add the garlic (see below), olive oil, onion (finely chopped), parsley, basil, salt and pepper to taste and pound the lot with a pestle.
A note on garlic: purists like me like to roast the cloves skin on, easily done in the oven, then squeeze out the cooked flesh and it's actually much better and gives the Baba Ganoush a rustic flavor.
Next: I'm not sure what this one is called even though I must have eaten dozens of them. From memory it's a sort of an Armenian version of lasagna, made with several kinds of cheeses: feta, ricotta, cottage cheese and laced throughout with parsley and a few mint leaves. Believe me it's divine and dead simple to produce. And it can be eaten hot or cold.
For six persons you would need about a pound of lasagna sheets, half a pound of small curd cottage cheese, half a pound of feta, quarter of a pound of ricotta, and I would add a handful of grated Jack cheese as well, and 3 well beaten eggs, a handful of chopped flat parsley, and a few mint leaves. Have a knob of butter on hand for the top layer of lasagna sheet. Salt & pepper to taste.
In a large bowl, mix the following well with a wooden spatula: all the above mentioned cheeses, the beaten eggs, the parley and the crushed mint leaves, salt & pepper to taste...although in this one I like to crush a few black peppercorns and sprinkle the mix well.
Cook the lasagna sheets in salted water until soft and pliable. Lightly butter a square baking dish and line with a layer of pasta. Then a layer of cheese and so on, making sure the last layer is pasta. Brush the top with butter and bake in oven, 280C for 20 minutes or golden brown. If you want to eat his cold, let it rest till cooled off and upturn it, cut into squares (or diamonds if you can) and serve it with a light red.
Now we come to the Yalanchis, vine leaves stuffed with rice and things! Great appetizers, great finger food at parties, and can be eaten as a main meal too. And there are so many versions and ways you can do this. You can now purchase vine leaves in brine in most supermarkets. Make sure you plunge them in cold water, add a little lemon juice and let them sit there for a couple of hours before using. Note that it's best to cook the rice in advance as it must be cool before wrapping the vine leaf over.
For say 100 of them (if you need less, halve or quarter the ingredients) you will need the following:
1 glass (or 1/4 pint) extra virgin olive oil, 6 to red onions, finely chopped, a large handful of chopped flat parsley, 2 or 3 tablespoons of freshly chopped mint leaves, same amount of fresh basil, a handful of shelled pistachios or pine nuts, 6 peeled garlic cloves, finely minced,v the strained juice of 6 lemons, 4 red bell peppers cut into julienne, 1 pound of rice (leftover rice can be used in soups or thickening sauces), 2 pints of tomato sauce or passata, half a pint of chicken or vegetable stock, salt & pepper to taste.
To make the cooking sauce, simply mix the tomato passata, the lemon juice and the stock together, add salt & pepper to your liking and set aside. Some people like to reduce the sauce but I prefer to keep it liquid as it cooks the yalanchis in the oven, and naturally thickens.
In a large skillet pour a little olive oil, and cook your onions till golden. Add the bell peppers, salt & pepper. Cook for another 5 minutes and add the garlic, and set aside to cool off. In a large mixing bowl, add your cooked rice, the pistachios or pine nuts, the parsley and the mint & basil, then add the onions & bell peppers.
Have your vine leaves ready, pat them dry with a cloth and lay one at the time flat, fill the middle with the rice mixture, then roll. If you need to use 2 leaves, no problem. Continue until you have all of them rolled up. You're bound to have bits of the leaves, don't discard them, instead line up a deep dish with them, and sit your yalanchis on top, cover with the tomato sauce and bake into a medium hot oven (240C) for 30 minutes. let it cool for a while and place the yalanchis on a serving dish and douse it liberally with olive oil. I do this with lamb mince as well on occasion and it's sensational when a little fresh chili is added.
Now for the pièce de resistance, the Missov Dziran (I hope it's spelled right) which is an outstanding stew made with lamb shoulder cuts and apricots (meat should be shoulder lamb or even better, mutton, and cut into 1" cubes) The whole thing is cooked in a mix of white wine and lemon juice and should be served with rice pilaf.
Here's the list of ingredients, for 6 to 8 persons: 3 pounds of shoulder lamb, half a pound of dried apricots, a few mint leaves, 2 large yellow onions, a large knob of fresh ginger cut into a fine julienne, 6 to 8 garlic clovers, peeled and chopped, the juice of 6 lemons, a pint of dry white wine, a pint of chicken stock, a knob of butter, 4 tablespoons of dark sugar, a handful of shelled almonds, salt & pepper to taste and a large handful of flat parsley.
In a heavy saucepan or casserole, melt the butter over moderate heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook till golden. Add the lamb chunks and brown all sides, stirring frequently. Add the wine, lemon juice, stock, ginger, apricots, salt & pepper. Cover and simmer until the meat is nearly tender (roughly 1 hour and a half for lamb, 3 for mutton). Then add the parsley, mint, alonds and sugar, stirring well to dissolve the latter. Cover and simmer for another 15 minutes.
No Armenian meal is complete without cracking bread (pun intended) and here's a simple enough recipe for the amazing Lavosh (Pareg Hatz)):
This is enough for a large batch (think party time!)
5 cups bleached and enriched all purpose white flour, half a cup of softened butter, 2 cups of warm water, 2 tablespoons of salt, 1 packet of active dry yeast, 3 tablespoons of sugar, and 1 cup of sesame seeds.
In a large bowl, with a small amount of the warm water, dissolve yeast and then add sugar. Then add flour and when moistened, add the butter and salt. Knead the dough until it is very smooth. Cover and let stand in a warm place for 3 to 4 hours. Divide the dough into balls the size of one clenched fist. On a floured board, roll out the balls until they are the size of a long, flat baguette. Place the dough in the pan and slit the dough in several places (use a fork). Sprinkle the tops with sesame seeds and bake on the bottom shelf of a 280C oven for 5 to 6 minutes and then move up to the middle shelf of the oven until lightly browned. It shouldn't take long, another 7 to 8 minutes, tops.
Next week, if I have the time (I have a lot of work on my hands) I'd like to do a piece on Iranian (Persian) cooking which is again something else.
This is cross-posted from La Vida Locavore, where we're having a grand time writing about food politics.