Cookbooks: Armenian favorites with a healthy dose of family, affection

01:00 AM EST on Wednesday, March 30, 2005

BY GAIL CIAMPA
Journal Food Editor
The Providence Journal

Ethnic cookbooks are worth their weight in gold because they are usually
treasure troves of family recipes.
Such is the case with Barbara Ghazarian and her Simply Armenian: Naturally
Healthy Ethnic Cooking Made Easy (Mayreni, $17.95).

Though only one-quarter Armenian by birth and raised in Connecticut, she
spent much of her childhood visiting grandparents and cousins who lived in a
tight-knit Armenian immigrant community in Whitinsville, Mass. But it was when she
married her husband, an Armenian man born in Syria, that she began to explore
the cuisine of their shared ancestry.

She learned to cook using the tastes preferred by her husband, those
traditional to his mother’s kitchen.
Ghazarian developed an affection and appreciation for the ingredients (bulgur
and lentils), food combinations (stuffing vegetables with rice) and common
practices (drenching pastry with thick sugar syrup).
She put all her recipes, glossary and memories into the book.

She will doing a tasting and book signing tonight at Delicacies, the
international food shop and catering business at 20 Rolfe Square, Cranston, beginning
at 7 p.m. For more information, call the shop at (401) 461-4774.
Here are some recipes from the book to try.

SHISH KEBAB
3 1/2-4 pounds leg of lamb, de-boned, trimmed of fat and gristle, and cut
into 1 1/2-inch cubes
THE MARINADE
2 onions, quartered
3 cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic or red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
VEGETABLES
4 red onions, quartered
4 Italian peppers
24 cherry tomatoes
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT
Wooden skewers, soaked 1 hour in cold water, or metal skewers
Place the lamb cubes in a large mixing bowl or plastic container.
Combine the marinade ingredients, mixing well, and pour over the lamb; toss
to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours (overnight).
Light the grill. When the fire is medium-hot, place the onions and peppers
directly on the lightly oiled grill rack. Cook, turning frequently, until the
onions darken and the pepper skins blister. Remove from the heat to cool; peel,
remove seeds, and pull into strips. Serve the onions and peppers together on a
dish.
Skewer the tomatoes. Set aside.
Skewer the marinated lamb cubes and grill them directly on the lightly oiled
rack over a moderately hot fire, turning once, until crispy outside and medium
pink inside, about 8 minutes.
When the meat is almost done, place the tomato skewers on the grill and cook,
turning, until the tomato skins begin to split and the flesh wilts, about 4
minutes.
Transfer the grilled meat and tomatoes to a large mixing bowl. Toss to mix.
Serve on a large serving platter with pilaf, the roasted onions and peppers, a
tossed green salad, and pita bread alongside.
Serves 8.
This recipe was one of my grandmother’s specialties. By boiling a chicken
stuffed with rice in a pot and then putting it in the oven to bake, she preapred
a one-dish Sunday meal (minus the salad). If the “boil first, bake second”
cooking process sounds unusual, it is, but so are the resulting flavors. Try this
recipe on a day when you are entertaining guests, not only because it’s a
time- and labor-saving recipe, but also because serving pilaf from the cavity of
the bird is as fun as it is tasty.
BOILED-BAKED RICE-STUFFED CHICKEN
1 (4-pound) whole roasting chicken
THE STUFFING
1 cup long-grain rice
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 large bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh mint, or 1 teaspoon dried mint
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT
Needle and thread
1 jumbo-sized pot
Wash the inside and outside of the chicken under cold running water. Drain,
pat dry with paper towels, and set aside.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the stuffing ingredients.
Pack the cavity of the bird with stuffing. Once stuffed, thread a needle with
string and sew the vent of the bird closed. You don’t have to be careful or
neat. Even if your chicken ends up resembling Frankenstein, don’t despair, it
will taste great.
Bring 3 quarts of water to a boil over high heat in a jumbo-sized pot. Once
boiling, gently lower the stuffed chicken into the water. Reduce heat and
simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes. The chicken will puff up like a blowfish as the
pilaf stuffing cooks.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Remove the boiled chicken from the pot and place it, breast side up, in a
roasting pan. Cool the cooking liquid to room temperature. (Retain the broth in
the refrigerator or the freezer for a chicken-broth-based soup another time.)
Bake the chicken, uncovered, in a baking pan set on the middle rack of the
oven for about 1 hour.
Remove to a serving platter. Allow the bird to cool for at least 5 minutes
before carving. Cut the vent string open with scissors and serve the stuffing
directly from the cavity of the bird with a large serving spoon.
Complement the poultry and pilaf with dark-leafed tossed greens dressed with
a zesty balsamic vinaigrette and enjoy a mini holiday feast.
Serves 6 to 8.
Armenian cracker bread is the most basic bread in the Armenian kitchen.
Growing up, we called it “Bubble Bread,” because these thin, round, brittle
loaves sprinkled with sesame seeds are polka-dotted with golden-brown bubbles
that are fun to crack with your thumb.
For years we bought loaves at the Middle Eastern store, and if the store was
out we went without. But since I figured out how easy it is to make, my family
has never been without Bubble Bread. My daughter and I often bake this bread
as a rainy-day-afternoon project because it’s as much fun to make as it is to
eat.
ARMENIAN CRACKER BREAD
THE DOUGH
1 1/3 cups warm water (about 105 degrees)
1/4 cup olive oil, plus additional oil to grease bowl
3 tablespoons sugar
1 package ( 1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
2 teaspoons salt
4 cups white bread flour, plus additional for rolling
THE TOPPING
1/2 cup whole milk
Sesame seeds
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT
Tabletop mixer with batter blade and dough hook (optional but recommended)
Heavy rolling pin
Put the water, olive oil, sugar and yeast in the bowl of a tabletop electric
mixer. Using the batter blade, let the mixer blend these well, about 5 minutes
on low speed. Stir in the salt. (If making by hand, blend with a wooden
spoon.)
Gradually add 2 cups of flour and beat on low speed until a thick, smooth
dough forms. Change the blade to a dough hook and knead in the next 2 cups of
flour. Continue kneading with the dough hook for 10 minutes. (By hand, mix the
dough in a large mixing bowl and then knead it on a floured work surface for 20
minutes until smooth and elastic.)
Place the dough in a large bowl generously coated with olive oil, turning
once to cover with oil. Cover loosely with a clean kitchen cloth and set in a
warm place until the dough doubles in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours.
Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and punch down. Divide into 8
equal pieces. Cover and let stand for 15 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
On a well-floured work surface, roll out each piece of dough into a 12-inch-d
iameter circle. Arrange the rounds on ungreased baking sheets. Brush with
milk, sprinkle sesame seeds over the top, and brush again to secure the seeds.
With a fork, prick each round many times, all over. Pricking makes the
bubbles appear. (If you forget this step, the loaf will puff up like a balloon.)
Bake in the middle of the oven for 8 to 10 minutes, or until lightly browned
on top.
This Armenian dietary cornerstone can be eaten as a cracker topped with
honey, peanut butter, jelly, tomatoes or cucumbers. Or, when moistened with water,
it becomes soft and pliable enough to roll up sandwich goodies inside like a
wrap.
Makes 8 rounds.
In 1915, my husband’s grandmother survived the death march from her home
village of Palu in central Ottoman Turkey, across the desert to Aleppo, Syria,
where she began her life again. She refused to talk about the past. Instead, she
found an almond tree in the park that bloomed pink every spring like one she
had been forced to leave behind. Every year after her survival until the time
of her death, she broke her Lenten fast with these buttery cookies made with
almonds from that tree. This recipe is her legacy of hope and redemption.
ALMOND COOKIES
1/2 cup coarsely chopped almonds
2 tablespoons butter, plus 1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 large egg, beaten, set aside 1/4 for top glaze
3 cups white all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a small skillet over medium heat, saute the almonds in the 2 tablespoons
butter until golden; stir frequently to prevent burning. Drain the nuts on a
paper towel and set aside to cool.
Pour the 1/2 pound melted butter in a large mixing bowl. Add the sugar,
water, almond extract and 3/4 beaten egg, mixing between each addition.
Sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda into the batter. Mix well, then
add the toasted almonds.
Roll the batter into walnut-sized balls. Place the balls on an ungreased
cookie sheet and press each down gently with a fork. Brush the tops with reserved
egg.
Bake in the middle of the oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the cookies are
golden and cracking slightly on top.
Remove cookies from the oven and cool on the sheet for 1 to 2 minutes before
removing to a wire rack.
Serve anytime. These light, nutty treats store well in an airtight container.
Makes 4 dozen.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress