Iron Chef WAYCT - What Are You Cooking Today
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- Little fuckers *
small but mighty
- Little fuckers *
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It does–and a better texture if you hull the chickpeas.
This is a terrific recipe: https://www.camelliabrand.com/recipes/alon-shayas-classic-hummus/I replace the canola with olive oil and make a few other tweaks (and I use store-bought tahini), but Shaya's hummus is really creamy and delicious, if a bit labor-intensive.
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It does–and a better texture if you hull the chickpeas.
This is a terrific recipe: https://www.camelliabrand.com/recipes/alon-shayas-classic-hummus/I replace the canola with olive oil and make a few other tweaks (and I use store-bought tahini), but Shaya's hummus is really creamy and delicious, if a bit labor-intensive.
Yeah that sounds pretty labor-intensive but will definitely give it a try. Thanks for sharing @mclaincausey
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@mclaincausey and @Chap I have been to both of Alon Shaya's restaurants in New Orleans (Shaya and Saba) multiple times and plan to go again in October. His takes on elevated hummus are incredible and his pita bread is a big reason he won a James Beard award.
10/10 would recommend trying this recipe.
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Nice @jordanscollected ; we have a couple of cool things in common I think beyond IH–one, I lived in St. Louis Park 8 years and will always love the Twin Cities. Two, we both seem to love New Orleans. My love for it might be better characterized as an obsession
We had a dinner at Shaya before John Besh dirtbagged it away from Alon (refusing to let him buy out and retain his own name after Besh was exposed as a serial sexual harrasser), and it was the best meal we had on that trip to New Orleans (which kind of surprised and didn't surprise me, as I knew the hype about it, but figured local cuisine--I am absolutely passionate about Cajun and Creole fare--would win out). I learned his hummus recipe on the strength of the hummus we had there, topped with lamb ragout. Now I prefer the "default" vegetarian version with with Aleppo pepper topping. But you can even tell in the photos on the linked recipe that the texture of his hummus is something a little different. And he has tips to make hulling the chickpeas, which I never did before, less of a headache (e.g., baking soda soak).
As you mentioned, another memorable thing of his is another staple that seems it would be difficult to impress with: his pita bread is so damn good, pillows of fluffy deliciousness fresh out of the wood-burning oven.
We have had multiple wonderful meals at Safta, his Denver outpost, and were ecstatic when they announced it. We didn't do it intentionally, but we wound up having only one dish that wasn't vegetarian the first time we went. His menu is a good way to reduce your meat intake without really noticing or missing it. They instantly made an impact in our community and treat their employees well in terms of benefits and such. I love supporting this kind of business. I am keen to visit Saba next time I'm in one of my favorite places on the planet, and will never visit his namesake restaurant again.
We bought his terrific cookbook and IMO it is in a class with Ottolenghi's and Solomonov's books on Israeli food. Great stories about Shaya's journey in addition to his wonderful recipes.
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@mclaincausey yes we do have these amazing things in common. I work in Edina and have lived my entire existence in MN. It's a great state with amazing fishing and summers, with harsh winters and unfortunate news events of late.
My wife and I visited New Orleans for the food scene on a whim and fell in love with the city, specifically the uptown area and the parks. We were married under the "Tree Of Life" in Audubon park in 2017.
the story of Shaya restaurant is unfortunate and unfair for Alon, and the food after his exit definitely took a dip in quality.
as you stated, we initially thought we were cheating the system by loving other ethnicities more than cajun/creole food in New Orleans, but there's an amazing diversity across the city that shouldn't be overlooked. Many friends have gone to New Orleans and ask ahead of time for recommendations. Most are astonished when i offer up Asian, Latin, Mediterranean, or other ethnicities before a gumbo joint. Don't get me wrong, Donald Link is an amazing chef and we eat at Butcher or Herbsaint sometimes, but we make sure to diversify.
I hadn't read about Safta, but i'll have to dig in and show the wife Colorado soon.
Stay Up
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Yeah, @jordanscollected it broke my heart to see the whole George Floyd thing…. I used to ride up to Lake Street and hang out around there. I patronized many of the businesses that were senselessly vandalized and passed the spot Floyd was killed many, many times.
That Tree of Life is a magnificent choice for a wedding. One of my best friends did that and then we second-lined to a nice Creole dinner! Love uptown, Lower Garden District, and mid-city. Not a big CBD or French Quarter guy but Frenchman is decent. It's good to see Bywater and other areas becoming less unsafe and having some great businesses there too.
I'm really glad you "get" New Orleans' food scene. It's not all fried shrimp po'boys, etoufee, and gumbo (though I love those things). There are substantial populations of all sorts of places, from Sicily to Vietnam, and they all bring their unique cultures and food there. The openness to new cultures and traditions there is truly analogous to their music scene, where New Orleans welcomes people like the Englishman Jon Cleary or the Swede Anders Osborne into the scene like family. Sure, it's great to grab some fried rabbit livers with pepper jelly at Cochon, or a surf-and-turf po'boy at Parkway, or fine dining at Gautreau's, Coquette, or La Petit Grocery, or jazz brunch at Commander's Palace in the garden room, or a lunch buffet at Dooky Chase (RIP, Chef Leah!), etc... but cross the river and hit up a Vietnamese place on the West Bank too. Or find a place that fuses various of the food traditions in the region in unique ways (Maypop / Mopho come to mind).
One of the big things on my list is to hit up one of Isaac Toups' restaurants. He is Cajun as they come but not excessively locked into any of the traditions and seems to push the envelope quite a bit. Like Shaya, he has worked hard for his community, including providing food for people struggling through the epidemic. Compere Lapin is another one on the list. We had a two-week itinerary to go to Kauai and then New Orleans for Jazz Fest when COVID broke out and scuttled our plans, so I have a serious itch to get back ASAP to a place I'm accustomed to visiting annually.
Let me know if y'all come out to Colorado for sure! Happy to meet up if possible, and at the least I can provide some opinions on what to do food and other -wise. The food scene here surprised me--I left the Twin Cities in 2014 when the food scene there was really getting a lot of deserved hype, but it wasn't the step down to move out here that I had feared it would be.
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@mclaincausey you are highly educated on New Orleans that's for sure. Mad respect for that.
We have been to Bywater American Bistro which was opened by a group including Nina Compton of Compere Lapin fame. We have not been to Compere but it's on our list. Vietnamese and Chinese are huge there. Dian Xin in the French Quarter and Luvi way down on Tchopitoulas we great experiences on our last trip. We have eaten at Maypop and sent others there s it was amazing. We also love the complex flavors of Carmo, and eat there on our anniversary each visit.
We have eaten at Toups' meatery and Toups' South (now closed) and love his take on southern food. His dirty rice was loaded with flavor and the cracklins were crackin. He had a fried chicken sandwich with pickled squash that was out of this world too.
I feel lucky that i have a trip on the books for the not too distant future.
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I love Harissa @Giles, really well done. I suggest spreading on your wonderful bread with sunny up eggs and toast.
Info on those jars? I’ve been making a lot of marinated vegetables lately and those would be perfect for their short stay in the fridge.
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