Slammin' Good Dinner

My mother went on a trip to Turkey not so long ago. She returned with a plane-load of spices: saffron, urfa peppers, marrish chiles, aleppo chiles, pomegranate molasses, sumac, and ground cherry pits.

We have been making a lot of stuff with a middle eastern flair of late. Tonight she made dinner.

Smokey Eggplant Puree with Pine Nuts and Urfa Peppers

Whipped Feta with Aleppo and Urfa Chiles and Smoked Paprika

Baked Copper River King Salmon with Tarator Sauce (NOT tartar)

Spinach with Fluer de Sel

Salad of Mixed Herbs and Greens with Yogurt, Walnuts, and Chiles

The tarator sauce was just celestial. It can go with almost anything; even right out of the spoon. Here is the recipe:

1/4 cup EVOO
2 tsp. finely chopped garlic
1/2 cup blanched white almonds
1 tsp. lemon juice
S&P

Puree above ingredients for 3 minutes until completely smooth and very creamy (no almond chunks).

Mix in:
Stale bread soaked in water (or mussel juice if you serve this with mussels) and squeezed dry.
1/4 cup water (or mussel juice) if needed.
Aleppo or marrish chiles.
Flat leaf parsely and basil, chopped.

The mixture should be creamy, like fresh ground peanut butter. The moisture content can be varied for a thicker or thinner sauce.

rwj

OK, I gotta ask: what do you do with ground cherry pits? That's a new one for me.

Nice haul of spices!

OK, I gotta ask: what do you do with ground cherry pits? That's a new one for me.

I was just going to ask the same thing. Is it what it literally sounds like?

What are the uses?

How does it differ from other fruit pits?

OK, I gotta ask: what do you do with ground cherry pits? That's a new one for me.

Cherry pits + sulfuric acid + little room with chair = gas chamber.

Cherry pits are used in pastry dough. I had never heard of it, either. I don't know what kind of cherry they use but the powder is the same color of garlic powder; off-yellow.

I put some in a crisp topping and, while very faint, you could tell that there was something different in there. It is hard to explain the taste and I think that I need to experiment with larger quantities. As I know more, so will you.

rwj

Cherry pits = Mahlab. I get them at Penzey's and use them in an onion/parsley salad found in Paula Wolfert's Cooking of the Eastern Medetirranean. Wonderful

Re the taratar. Something you must try. Had it when we went to St. Petersburg on a trip to Finland - heavenly--definitely versatile - agree could be used with anything.

Cherry, peach, and other such pits do contain cyanide, but in fairly tiny quantities. It probably all dissipates during cooking.

-Paul W.

Cherry, peach, and other such pits do contain cyanide, but in fairly tiny quantities. It probably all dissipates during cooking.

-Paul W.

This sounds like it is right up Stuarts alley. I wonder how many unsuspecting diners will fall to his future pastries?

rwj

Well, to be perfectly honest, I dissipate during cooking, too.

Or alternatively:

Cherry pits? I didn't even know they had arms.

-Paul W.

Cherry pits = Mahlab. I get them at Penzey's and use them in an onion/parsley salad.

That is interesting indeed.