Harissa Spiced Fig, Merguez, and Almond Salad

We love a good salad, and are always looking for a good salad cookbook to give us inspiration. Salmagundi: A Celebration of Salads from around the World by Sally Butchec has wonderful salad recipes from a variety of cuisines! This recipe for a spiced fig salad, which comes from the book, artfully combining sweet and spicy flavors in a spice-infused honey for predictably delicious results.From the Author: "This is a rather special salad. Actually, figs have the capacity to render pretty much anything special: their appearance is lush for starters - they have but to lie down on a plate or pose in a fruit bowl and they steal the show. They are also feted for their aphrodisiac properties: yup - they are the all-around floozy of the fruit world."

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Bajan Chicken Salad

We are always looking for new and fun salad ideas, and Salmagundi: A Celebration of Salads from around the World has a wide variety to try. This Bajan chicken salad, a recipe from the book, combines allspice, cumin, paprika and oregano with a mix of fresh, bright-tasting ingredients for a unique and refreshing flavor.From the Author: "Bajan food is a beguiling mix of Africa and India and the Caribbean. This recipe is a similar jumble—of all the lovely flavors that we sampled on our trip."

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Chicken Vindaloo

Many of us grew up having grandmothers who were wonderful cooks, so we were happy to find this cookbook full of grandmotherly love. In Her Kitchen: Stories and Recipes from Grandmas Around the World, is a memorable compendium of portraits featuring grandmothers around the world alongside their signature family recipes. This chicken vindaloo recipe comes to the book, and to us, courtesy of Grace Estibero, 82, who grew up in the South Indian state of Goa. If you love a good spicy dish, this one is absolutely delicious!From the Author: "Typical of Indian cooking, chicken vindaloo is a hot dish, which was originally introduced to Goa by the Portuguese. Often served on special occasions, this dish is traditionally prepared with pork, but I am sure you will be fully satisfied with this chicken version."

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South Asian Coconut Butter

If you love sauces, and want to try something new, check out Mastering Sauces by Susan Volland. This book is full of inspired and delicious sauces like this coconut "butter," using classic South Asian flavors like Turmeric and Brown Mustard Seed to add a little zing to coconut oil. From the Author: "In South India, coconut oil is the cooking oil of choice. Many dishes are garnished with a drizzle of coconut oil, popped black mustard seeds, crispy fried curry leaves, and frizzled small red onions. I like to stir these wonderful ingredients together like a compound butter and spread or melt it on various foods as the whim strikes: on savory pancakes, pilafs, or grilled whole fish."

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Fried Potatoes with Harissa Tehina

Zahav is a popular Middle Eastern restaurant in Philadelphia, and its owner Michael Solomonov wrote a fantastic cookbook using recipes that he serves at the restaurant, as well as at his home. Cowritten by James Cook, Zahav: A World of Israeli Cooking reinterprets the type of Israeli Cuisine served at the restaurant, but makes it more manageable for American kitchens. We're especially excited about this inventive recipe for fried potatoes using Harissa, a perennial favorite here at the shop!From the Authors: "This dish happened by serendipity. At Zahav, our Israeli pickles come packed in huge cans with a ton of excess pickle juice. One day, in a passion for brining, I decided to throw some peeled potatoes into that leftover pickle juice. A day later, I drained and fried the potatoes, ending up with the most amazing French fries ever. The potatoes were seasoned from within with a garlicky tang from the pickle juice. Deep-frying can be an undertaking, so when I make this dish at home, I just slice the potatoes into rounds and pan-fry them on both sides in a cast iron skillet until they’re nice and crispy. I serve the potatoes with tehina augmented with harissa, the North African condiment based on dried chiles that’s a staple on the Israeli table. In my harissa, I use ground Aleppo pepper from Syria, which has a fruity flavor and is not screamingly hot, so you can appreciate the pepper’s earthy undertones. I thin the sauce with a little more pickle juice to cut through the richness and echo the flavor of the potatoes. I’ll bet there’s a jar in your fridge, with a lonely pickle or two bobbing in a sea of brine. This recipe is the perfect way to put those pickles out of their misery."

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Sri Lankan Banh Mi

Who doesn't love a great sandwich! We are all fans of banh mi sandwiches, and loved this recipe from Andrea Nguyen's The Banh Mi Handbook: Recipes for Crazy-Delicious Vietnamese Sandwiches. We have tried many different types of banh mi, and loved this one made with a Sri Lankan Curry.From the author: "When Viet people eat curry with baguette, they typically dip the bread into the spiced coconut-scented sauce. San Francisco chef Alex Ong sent me his recipe for this bewitching curry (the name comes from the dark-colored spice blend), insisting that it would be perfect stuffed inside a baguette for banh mi. He was right, but to avoid a soggy sandwich, I hand shredded the cooked chicken and recooked it in the sauce, allowing it to fry in the residual oil and become encrusted with the seasonings. It became like an Indonesian rendang or, as my husband put it, a curried chicken carnitas. It’s fantastic."

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Chile & Cumin Hanger Steak

We love all kinds of barbecue, and especially love exploring delicious barbecue from around the world. Brazil has a history of great barbecue, so we were glad when we found cookbook, Brazilian Barbecue & Beyond. This recipe is easy to make, which we always appreciate. You can make the marinade ahead of time, and then marinate the steak overnight, grilling the next day. From Brazilian Barbecue & Beyond: "At traditional Brazilian churrascarias, rock salt is usually sprinkled on the side of meat that faces the grill, then knocked off just before serving. It’s tasty just like that, but we’ve adapted our steak to include a bit more spice. Our Chili & Cumin Marinade is a blend of vinegar, cumin seeds, oregano, and red pepper flakes; we use it to marinate all our steaks, but it’s equally good on lamb or fish."

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Chermoula

Afro-Vegan by Bryant Terry is a mainstay vegan cookbook on our shelves at home. He researched traditional Southern cooking, going back to its roots in Africa and the Caribbean, but made the recipes vegan. The results are delicious! (Bonus: Every recipe has a song choice, too!) We especially love this recipe. Chermoula is a versatile marinade combining fresh herbs with dried spices, oils and citrus to create layers of flavor. It is used liberally in Algerian, Libyan, Moroccan and Tunisian cooking to flavor fish, seafood, meats and vegetables.

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Pumpkin Kale Enchiladas

Last October, the shop was bedecked with lovely heirloom pumpkins. Once they had seen the end of their lives as decorations, we roasted them and added them to everything -- and I mean everything! This recipe was conceived to please the vegetarian we had on staff at the time, as well as all of the ardent carnivores we always have around. It's the best of our pumpkin experimentation and was the first dish to disappear at our most recent tasting.Cooking with whole chile pods can be intimidating, if you've never done it, but it isn't difficult and the flavors are unparalleled. It should be mentioned that "chile" is not synonymous with heat. In this sauce, darkly sweet Anchos complement the roasted pumpkin, while Pasilla Negro and Mulato provide an earthy base to support the sharpness of the kale. Just a touch of smoke is added with the Pasilla Oaxaca, producing a rich and complex concoction that is remarkably mild. If you like your Latin fare a little spicier, you can customize the heat level with a pinch or two of Chipotle Flakes.

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