I have to admit that, for years, I had a reluctance to use “spice blends”. It was a carry over from when I realized that most of the spice blends on the market were really just a few sad dried up flavorless herbs blended with a lot of salt. Now I understood that the spices from Épice de Cru were different—that they sourced the best they could find, were committed to preserving the flavor, and presenting them in the best way possible. I even had some of their spice blends in my pantry, but I just wasn’t using them. That changed after I attended Ari’s Top Ten Spices tasting back in May during Spice Week, which is when I became inspired to start doing some experimentation.

I decided to start with Silk Road Blend. The first time I saw and smelled this product I was compelled to buy a tin. It is such a beautiful mix of spices—you can see the red rose petals mixed in with the bright green of the cardamon and the orange brown of the cassia. It also contains ginger and fennel, cassis, star anise, long pepper, szechuan pepper, saffron, and cloves. Quite fragrant and beautiful! If you get to the Deli be sure to ask to smell a sample. I don’t think I can do it justice by describing it, but it’s exotic and enticing and transports me to other lands.

The first thing I had to figure out was how to grind the spices. The folks at Épice de Cru recommend using a granite mortar and pestle, but I haven’t yet invested in one that is large enough. However, I do have an extra electric coffee grinder tucked into one of my cabinets, so I decided to use it. This works great, but I found that I need to put in at least 2 tablespoons of the blend so there’s enough of the spices to grind. (With a mortar and pestle you can do a smaller portion). There is an upside to grinding a bit more spice though—I didn’t want it to go to waste, so it encouraged me to test out a few different recipes.

There’s so many ways to use this spice. Adding it to rice, and seasoning eggs with it are things I’ve tried, and I’m sure you’ll have other experiments in your kitchen with it. I hope you enjoy the three recipes below:

Oven Roasted Cauliflower with Silk Road Blend
1 head cauliflower, cut florets into 2-3” pieces
1 medium onion- diced ¼”
1 tbsp silk road blend spice- ground
Good quality salt such as Trapani Sea Salt from Sicily to taste
3-4 tablespoons Extra virgin Olive oil

Pre-heat oven to 375 F
Put cut cauliflower in a large bowl with the olive oil, silk road blend, salt, and olive oil. Toss to blend and thoroughly coat cauliflower.
Bake for 15 minutes, check to see if one side is more done than another, and if so rotate pan in oven. Continue baking for another 10-15 minutes depending upon desired doneness.

Silk Road Blend Dipping Sauce (for veggies or bread)
2 Tablespoons ground Silk Road Blend
¼-½ tsp. high-quality Salt
3-4 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

This one’s very simple:
Use a small plate with a bit of a rim to it. Mix the spice and salt, pour oil over the spice & serve with raw veggies and slices of bread. Zingerman’s Bakehouse Paesano is always my go-to for dipping, but the True North or the Country Miche would also be a nice pairing.
&amp

Fresh Cherries & Berries with Silk Road Blend Spiced Whipped Cream
(Yes I know this sounds a little unconventional, but I love the depth of flavor this ads to the whipped cream, and the fresh fruit! And with the price of vanilla still skyrocketing, it’s a fun alternative flavor.)

4 oz. heavy whipping cream
2 tsp. Silk Road Blend, finely grounded
3 tbsp. maple syrup
2 cups fresh berries or pitted cherries

Place heavy cream, maple syrup, and grounded Silk Road Blend into mixer. Beat on high until medium-to-stiff peaks form. You can also make this a shortcake style dessert by topping a slice of any Zingerman’s Bakehouse coffee cake with cherries and whipped cream. I had a Bumble Honey Cake in my freezer which I enjoyed. For something more neutral, you can use Sweet Butter Tea Cake, which the Bakehouse makes every so often, and I always love the Blueberry Buckle with this combination.

From the pages of our Zingerman’s Bakehouse cookbook, comes an ideal summer dessert for celebrating Independence Day, or any day. Tender homemade biscuits are the perfect partner for farmers market fresh berries or stone fruits, topped with whipped cream. Here’s the recipe!

Sweet Cream Drop Biscuit Recipe
Makes 12 biscuits

3 cups plus 2 Tbsp (440g)  All-purpose flour
1/4 cup  (55g)  granulated sugar
2 Tbsp  (28 g) baking Powder
1/2 tsp  sea salt
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp (145g) unsalted butter, cold
1 cup  (235g)  whole milk, cold
1 cup  (245g) heavy cream, cold
Demerara sugar for sprinkling tops

1. Preheat the oven 375ºF (190ºC)

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Mix with a wooden spoon to combine evenly.

3. Dice the cold butter into 1/2-in (1.5-cm) pieces and add to the dry ingredients. Using your fingers or a pastry blender, work the butter into the flour mixture until it’s reduced to pea sized pieces. It also helps to pick up the mixture and rub it together between your palms. This step is important for creating tender biscuits. The butter coats the grains of flour, making it less possible to form long gluten strands that would give the biscuits a chewy rather than tender texture.

4. Make a  well in the center of the ingredients, and pour in the milk and heavy cream. Use a fork to gently mix the wet and dry ingredients together until homogenous. Let the mixture sit in the bowl for 15 minutes. This will allow the dry ingredient to fully absorb the wet ingredients without overmixing.

5. Using a 2-oz (59-ml) portioner or a 1/4-cup measure, drop level scoops of biscuit batter onto a sheet tray lined with parchment paper. Leave at least 3 in (7.5 cm) between the biscuits to allow for spreading during baking. Sprinkle Demerara sugar on the tops of the biscuits.

6. Bake the biscuits for 13 to 15 minutes or until golden brown on the bottom and edges. Let cool to room temperature before serving.

Ingredients:
1 lb Kolozsvari Bacon (available at Zingerman’s Deli)
1 lb Yukon Gold Potatoes, peeled and large diced
1 sweet onion, peeled and small diced
1 Tbsp White Wine Vinegar
2 tsp Sugar
1 1/2 tsp All Purpose Flour
1 tsp Salt
A dash of Tellicherry Black Pepper

Instructions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 400°F.
2. Add 1 tsp salt to water.
3. Bring salted water to a boil.
4. Add Yukon Gold Potatoes to boiling water and cook for 12 minutes (or until your desired tenderness).
5. Meanwhile, bake 1 lb of Kolozsvari in pre-heated oven for 20 minutes.
6. Remove potatoes from stovetop, strain, and add to a serving bowl.
7. Remove bacon from oven and place on a plate.
8. Add bacon fat from tray pan to a cast iron or sauté pan. Turn on burner to medium heat.
9. Add sweet onion to bacon fat. Stir continuously until tender and translucent.
10. Sprinkle flour over onions and stir in, continue to sauté for a few minutes till browned.
11. Sprinkle sugar over onions and stir.
12. Add white wine vinegar to pan to deglaze.
13. Scrape onions and sauce from pan into the serving bowl.
14. Crumble or chop of the bacon pieces. Add 3/4 of the bacon to the bowl.
15. Grind some fresh Tellicherry black pepper to taste add to the bowl.
16. Stir to combine.
17. Sprinkle remaining bacon on top. Serve warm.

Welcome to Cooking with Grace! This is where Grace Singleton, a managing partner at the Deli, shares her favorite products and delectable home cooking tips with us. This week, she’s using one of the five new Parmigiano Reggiano varieties that the Deli is now carrying in this delicious pasta dish.

Now that we have all five of our Parmigiano Reggiano sources available at Zingerman’s Delicatessen—Valserena, Roncadella, Borgotaro, La Villa, and Ravarano—I’ve been having fun experimenting with different flavor combinations. Each of the five cheese producers has distinctly different flavor profiles, and this weekend I was experimenting with the Roncadella Parmigiano Reggiano

One of the challenges with all this great cheese is that I can’t choose which one I like best, so I currently have three different Parmigiano Reggiano varieties in my fridge. Not a bad thing, but my cheese drawer is petty full (although I seem to be eating it as fast as I bring it home)!

There are plenty of different ways to enjoy Parmigiano Reggiano, but the first thing most people think of using Parmigiano Reggiano on pasta. One of the things I love about pasta is that it’s fairly simple to make a great tasting dinner with just a few really tasty ingredients. Also, with the cooler weather this time of year, walking into a nice steamy kitchen where I’ve been boiling pasta feels warm and homey.

Now I generally don’t plan my meals out too far ahead. I like to look in my fridge and garden to see what I have on hand, or after a day of work, I’ll walk around the Deli retail area to see what inspires me or makes my mouth water. Recently, I was hungry and not in the mood to do anything too time consuming but also wanted to use some of the Parmigiano Reggiano I had in my fridge, so I decided on a two meat pasta recipe that features the Roncadella Parmigiano Reggiano. You can substitute different ingredients and flavor combinations, as that’s the fun part about cooking, but I was really fond of the depth of flavor that occurred when I combined the pancetta, the soppressata salami, dry-cured beldi olives, and the cheese.

An insider trick I learned from the talented women cooks we got to visit while we were in Italy was that in addition to serving Parmigiano Reggiano at the table on top of pasta, they also add the grated cheese into their pasta sauce as it is finishing on the stove. The freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano adds some saltiness, but also can thicken the sauce and adds its own distinct flavor profile to it.

One of the unique characteristics of Parmigiano Reggiano is that it can melt into a sauce differently than other styles of cheese. The italians rate Parmigiano Reggiano on its friability (how it breaks into very small pieces), and it’s solubility (how it melts), and instead of the stringy stretchy elasticity that I think of when melting a gruyere or provolone cheese, Parmigiano Reggiano will dissolve into the sauce which makes it an ideal ingredient in pasta sauces, or other dishes in addition to being a tasty topping.

Pasta with Pancetta & Salami featuring Roncadella Parmigiano Reggiano
Serves 2-4, depending on your appetite

½ bag Gentile brand pasta, vesuvio shape
3 oz. of Framani rolled pancetta-sliced ¼” thick
½ cup chopped onion
½ cup fresh grated carrot
½ cup beldi olives*
2 cups plain tomato sauce.
2 oz. sopressata picante salami from Nduja- sliced and cut in half
1 cup+ freshly grated Roncadella Parmigiano Reggiano**
2 tbsp fresh chopped basil for garnish
Sea salt

Directions

Using a large sautée pan, cook the pancetta over medium heat, until lightly browned on both sides and as crisp as you prefer it. I like to cook it through slowly until it’s medium brown on both sides, so it will be crumbly and crispy as a garnish on the pasta when it’s served.

Remove the pancetta from the pan and drain on paper towel, save for later. When it is cool enough to touch, chop into small (¼-½”) pieces

Add the onions to the pan and cook until translucent. Add the olives and carrots and cook a few minutes until the olives are warm and the carrots are tender, but still in tact, not soft.

Add the tomato sauce and cook until the sauce is warmed through and at the consistency that you like. If you prefer a very thick tomato sauce, you can reduce it down longer to remove more of the water. When the sauce is at the thickness you like, add the salami and ½ cup of grated Parmigiano Reggiano. Taste the sauce and add more salt or pepper to taste.

While your sauce is cooking, bring heavily salted water (it should taste like the sea) to a boil and cook according to package directions. Before you drain the pasta, save and set aside 1 cup of the cooking liquid.

Add the drained pasta to the tomato sauce in the pan, adding ¼-½ cup of the reserved pasta water, and cook for a few minutes to incorporate the flavor of the sauce into the pasta.

Serve freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, the cooked chopped pancetta, and fresh basil on the side that each person can use to garnish their plates as they like.

Buon appetito!

*a note on the olives- I like using whole olives that still have the pit in them. I find the texture of the olives, and the flavor are much better than the same brand and variety of olives that have been pitted. When I was in Italy, all of the olives that were used in recipes (baked in breads, used in salads, etc.) all contained pits. It’s just what they are used to—they expect olives to have pits. Here in the U.S., we’ve often made culinary choices that favor convenience over flavor, and most people would find an olive pit an unexpected and unwelcome visitor in a pasta dish. I actually think it helps me to follow my own commitment to eating more slowly and really savoring the food that I eat. I have to focus a bit more on what I am putting in my mouth, and eat a little more slowly, but the payoff is that I feel more satisfied after the meal. I’d make sure to warn your guests that there are pits in the olives.

**A note about freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano. Fresh grated cheese is better, and it doesn’t have to be a chore. The pasta grater that I show in the photos is one of the graters that I discovered at the retail shop for Roncadella. The Consorzio Parmigiano Reggiano supplies these, and Marissa the cheese maker from Roncadella, gave us one along with some cheese samples when we visited. Because of that, I requested they ship us some to sell at the Deli. I love this grater and find it easier to use than a traditional four-sided box grater, or the newer style micro planes. The handle is large enough and long enough to grasp easily, and it makes grating fresh Parmigiano Reggiano simple and easy, plus it’s easy to clean. You can just bring the grater and a hunk of cheese to the dinner table on a plate and pass it around. No time spent in the kitchen grating cheese, and no left-over pre-grated cheese, because you overestimated or running back to the kitchen because you underestimated! The design of the grater allows it to hold the cheese as you grate it. You can grate almost a ¼ cup of cheese into this grater at one time and then sprinkle it over anything and everything—pasta, soups, salads. You may end up with a hunk of Parmigiano Reggiano on your table at every meal!

A clean slate, a fresh start. There’s no time like the New Year for a healthy dose of optimism. When it comes to Rosh Hashanah, that hopefulness is symbolized by one of our favorite things: sweets! Classic sweet dishes and treats, from raisin-laced kugel to every kind of rugelach, are favorites at New Year celebrations, the idea being that with every heavenly bite, prospects for the future become sweeter and, well, sweeter.

One of the best known examples of this High Holiday tradition is the custom of dipping apples in honey. But most of the best cooks and hosts we know don’t stop there—they make sure that honey is infused throughout their Rosh Hashanah meals. Of course, at Zingerman’s, we’re also big proponents of letting the honey (Tupelo, Idaho Snowberry, Scottish Heather—we love ‘em all) flow.

It’s really amazing how many dishes honey can find its way into. Vegetables, like carrots and turnips, can be glazed for a crowd-pleasing side. Even meat dishes can get the honey treatment. Honey-baked chicken is fantastic and easy to pull off, plus you can dress it up with herbs and root veggies. One of Ari’s favorites is Lamb and Honey Stew, a staple of the deli’s special Rosh Hashanah catering menu. The Sephardic dish (see the recipe on pg. 378 of Zingerman’s Guide to Good Eating if you’d like to make it yourself), isn’t too sweet, with the honey and saffron complementing each other in a deep, delicious way.

For Rosh Hashanah, challah takes on a round shape to represent the cycle of life, and it gets a little sweeter than usual, too, since, as with the apples, dipping challah in honey is also a tradition. The ones we make at the Bakehouse (Can you believe we sell 2,000 of them every New Year?!) are brushed with clover honey, and we even make one with rum-soaked raisins. If you’re a home baker, come into the deli and sample a few different jars to turn up the flavor on your own challah this year.

And if your sweet tooth is still crying out for more, we’ve got two words for you: honey cake. It’s the most enduring of traditional Rosh Hashanah desserts—there’s evidence that it’s been around since the 12^th century! Spiced, rich, and nostalgic, it’s no wonder that it’s lasted so long, or that so many bakers hold fast to their beloved recipes. We take ours pretty seriously, too. We use buckwheat honey to give it big, bold flavor. Kind of like an exclamation mark at the end of the meal.

And, hey, if you want to add a little oomph to your apples and honey display, Ari has a tip for you: make it a spread. Lay out a few different varieties of apples and a couple of types of honey. “It makes for great conversation. Plus, they’re delicious!” he says.

Our honey sale starts today and lasts two whole weeks (September 26 – October 9)! Get 20% off all honey at the Deli—we have a big selection, so come and have a taste! Perfect timing for Rosh Hashana or a fall pantry stock up! Also check out our special Rosh Hashanah Catering menu here.

Zingerman’s 4th Annual Camp Bacon is just around the corner and to help get everyone prepared, we’re sharing tasty excerpts and recipes from Ari’s book, Zingerman’s Guide to Better Bacon. 

Wittenberg Splits

This is the way Tanya Nueske and her family grew up eating hot dogs. They’re not hard to make and they really are darned good. To restate the by-now familiar: the better the buns and hot dogs, the better these are going to taste. I use buns from Zingerman’s Bakehouse, on which I put either Vienna all-beef dogs from Chicago (the ones I grew up with) or the Niman Ranch version. Take note that in Wisconsin “cheddar” always means orange cheese, never white. It won’t taste any different, but if you want to accurately replicate Tanya Nueske’s early life experience, white cheese just really won’t do.

Ingredients:

• 12 thick slices Nueske’s applewood-smoked bacon
• 6 jumbo hot dogs, split lengthwise
• 6 ounces sharp cheddar (the older the better), sliced
• 1 large dill pickle, sliced thinly lengthwise
• 6 hot dog buns, toasted

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to broil at 375°F.
2. With a sharp paring knife, cut a line lengthwise along each hot dog, leaving a thin strip at the bottom so that the dog stays in one piece. Lay the sliced cheddar inside the split, then place a long slice of pickle atop the cheese. Wrap each hot dog in 2 slices of bacon and secure the ends of each strip with a toothpick.
3. Place on a foil-topped baking sheet and broil for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the bacon is nicely browned.
4. You can put your buns under the broiler for the last 2 minutes to toast them, too. Take out the toothpicks, put the dogs in the buns and eat ’em while they’re hot.

Serves 6 as a main course.

See you at camp!