Small Plates: 19 posts

Hummus, a creamy paste of chickpeas and tahini scented with lemon and garlic, is rightly one of the most beloved Middle Eastern dishes. Similar chickpea pastes flavored with cinnamon, ginger, parsley and olive oil are mentioned in medieval Arab cookbooks as early as the 13th century. In recent years, hummus and baba ghanoush have become the emblematic dishes for pan-Middle Eastern cuisine. Yet, despite its ubiquity, when properly made, hummus offers one of the most comforting and satisfying dishes with its complex interplay of flavors and rich contrasts between spice, tartness and creaminess. In addition to the commonly encountered creamy hummus, Middle Eastern cuisine offers a number of interesting regional variations, out of which the Syrian-style hummus, musabbaha, is one of my absolute favorites.

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“Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are,” said the great French epicure and gastronome, Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin. If I were to divine this via my great grandmother’s recipe books, the answer would not be simple. Contrary to the popular stereotypes of Eastern European food as dense and heavy fare of cabbage and potatoes, generalization are impossible to make. Certainly, 70 years of Soviet rule have made an impact upon the cuisine in all of the former Soviet republics, but even before the revolution of 1917, the regional differences were quite pronounced and the cross-influences distinctly felt. The picture is even more complex if one considers the class differences in terms of food preferences. The yellowed pages of the notebooks which my great grandmother kept ever since she got married in the 1930s contain a fascinating array: poppy seed rolls, plum stewed meats and sour cherry vareniki (boiled stuffed dumplings) reflecting classical Ukrainian fare; walnut cream tortes alluding to influences from the former Austro-Hungarian provinces of Ukraine; and spicy meat and eggplant dishes betraying the love affair with the vibrant cuisine of Georgia, an affair that started since Georgia became a part of the Russian Empire in the 19th century. What better way to understand the culture than to eat through it!

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The scent of pomegranate is as fascinating as its jewel box stuffed with rubies appearance. Biting into the small glossy seeds, one notices the velvety tartness, the floral sweetness, the woody sharpness of the seeds and the green powderiness of the white pith. It is an incredibly complex and appealing flavor that straddles the line between fruit and wine. In perfumery, the pomegranate is often paired with the citrus notes (Guerlain Samsara Shine, Dior Addict 2), florals (Annick Goutal Quel Amour!, Gucci Envy Me) and woods (Calvin Klein Euphoria and Jo Malone Pomegranate Noir), all of which present a great setting for the tartness of fruit.

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Black pepper as a fragrance note (Armani Privé Bois d’Encens, Hermès Poivre Samarcande, Lorenzo Villoresi Piper Nigrum, by way of example) has a vibrant character — citrusy, resinous and ever so slightly smoky. It is not the rasping sensation of pepper powder, but the warm woody dryness of a dark glossy berry. When cooking, I often crush the peppercorns just to inhale their aroma. Needless to say, from steak coated in pepper to ripe strawberries dusted with sugar and freshly ground spice, black pepper finds its way into numerous dishes. A Spanish inspired potato salad is a dish that allows me to enjoy the perfume of pepper to the fullest.

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