To prepare for another blowout meal, we had a vegan
lunch with canned stuff made by the parents of the
Syrian kids Bob and Deb tutor.

There was yogurt, which I didn't have, followed by
stuffed baby eggplant in olive oil and salt-cured
turnips. It was all pretty tasty but way salty for
me, and I begged off all but a couple batons of
turnip. The eggplant weren't as bad, so I had a couple.
These were steamed and then stuffed with walnuts and
garlic, then pickled in olive oil. Everything was a
cheap staple back in the old country, and I wondered
aloud whether the family experienced sticker shock when
they went to buy the ingredients here. Pita bread to
accompany and to mop up excess oil; gigantic red seedless
grapes for dessert. Then Deb brought out her famous lemon
squares made with pure butter and cage-free eggs; she
took half of one and left the rest (8 1/2) for Bob and
me, making a delicious shambles of a light meal.

Kabees el lift
categories: pickle, vegan, middle eastern
yield: 8 pt

3 lb fresh, firm turnips
1 lg red beet
8 peeled garlic cloves
h - For the Brine
3 bay leaves
1 Tb fennel seeds
1 Tb coriander seeds
2 c white vinegar
3 c water
2/3 c kosher or sea salt

Pickled turnips

Peel vegetables and cut into 1/3" sticks or slices.

Place the brine ingredients in a small saucepan and
bring to a boil. Reduce to medium, cover and simmer
10 min. Let cool completely.

Stuff the turnips into sterilized jars along with a
few pieces of beet and a clove of garlic and add the
brine, seeds and all, to fully cover the turnips and
leaving 1/4" headspace from the rim of the jar.

Let the pickled turnips sit in a cool place for a
week to enable the fermentation process. Then store t
hem in the refrigerator and ideally eat them within
two months. Using this method will result in a more
interesting and complex flavor than canning them.

If you are canning them for long-term storage, add
the brine to the sterilized jars while it's still
hot, covering the turnips completely, leaving 1/2"
headspace from the top of the jar, and screw on the
lids. Process in a boiling water bath for 10 min
for pint sized jars then remove the jars and let
them sit undisturbed for 24 hr before moving them.
Store them in a cool, dark place for up to a year
(for optimal flavor and texture, use within 6 months).

Kimberly Killebrew, daringgourmet.com

For the real celebration, we went to one of my/our go-to
places in Worcester, a somewhat upscale seafood market
and restaurant called the Sole (get it?) Proprietor,
which has recently gotten a huge renovation - the
old patio has been sacrificed to a kitchen expansion,
and all the booths, where we used to sit, are gone with
the wall that used to define them; it's all tables now.
My friends were recognized by the host, and we were
put at an exceedingly visible table (Bob is one of the
better-known conductors in the region, and Deb is quite
decorative).

The bread basket is the unimaginative and reliable
brown-and-serve rolls, saltier than the brands I mostly
encounter, so I just had half of one, followed by an
appetizer of Sam Adams lager and a half dozen cherrystones;
these were as expected, though one of the clams was sorely
shredded, as though done by an apprentice. I thought that
was made up for by a seventh, but that turned out to be a
clamshell filled with a pretty potent horseradish. Next to
that a pretty wimpy cocktail sauce, no doubt intended to be
augmented by the horseradish, and a strange version of
mignonette with chilpotle and soy sauce. I don't see why
people put such things on their shellfish - they might as
well be eating white chicken or potatoes.

We had the Ferrari-Carano Tre Terre Chardonnay (RRV) 16, an
old-style Sonoma wine with heavy oak almost overpowering
the fruit, which was mostly tropical, the citrus being
completely submerged. Long buttery finish. I ordered this
because of the main courses.

I had the seafood saute; this comes with squid ink trumpet
pasta, but I substituted with white rice, plus the salad of
the day rather than the soup of the day, which was tomato
basil cream. To my surprise, the others ordered the same
meal but with the original starch.

The salad was a wedge served with a thousand islands-type
stuff with Parmesan beaten into it, and so I used the
chilpotle vinaigrette instead. Why on earth is the uceberg
achieving such a renaissance?

So, the shellfish were substantially brined and so quite
salty; they were tender but didn't have the sweet appeal of
fresh unbrined seafood. The serving was quite generous, over
half a pound of protein, to wit 4 oz of shrimp (6 24s), 3 oz
of sea scallops, and a lobster claw and assorted knuckle bits.
The sauce was tasty but quite oversalted, and I had
to drink lots of water and extra wine. It was a good meal,
but one that you or I could make better - or they could have
made better by just moderating the salt a bit.

Afterwards, no room for dessert, but it was Lasix time.
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