fennel confit with orange and bay

Hello beautiful people,

I’m back in Seattle after seven weeks of teaching and traveling in Europe. I had an amazing time leading workshops with Yossy and Eva and seeing friends in Portugal and Paris. But holy shiz does it feel good to be home after being on the road for so long.

Seeing my home with fresh eyes has been a real gift. Working for myself means a lot of hours logged from home; sometimes all I notice is the laundry that needs folding, the dishes that need washing and the weeds that need pulling. 

When I walked in the door after this last trip I was overcome with love for our little house. After weeks of sleeping in hotel beds and navigating other people’s rented homes, being in my own house was pure joy. I could see all the time and effort Beau and I have put into making this space a haven and a home. 

Since I got back, I’ve been trying to keep things simple. Waking up without an alarm clock. Afternoon walks in the park. Reading instead of binging on TV. And simple meals like this Fennel Confit with Orange and Bay.

I made this for the guests of the Paris workshop I hosted with Yossy. It takes almost zero work--just a slow braise in a low oven, during which you can do any number of things (I propose a glass of rosé and a book in the backyard). When it comes out of the oven, the fennel is meltingly tender and infused with the flavors of the the south of France. You can use it as a base for fish or chicken, stir it into a white bean salad, or--my favorite--spoon it straight out of the pan onto slices of baguette then drizzle some of the garlicky olive oil over the top.

I’ll be back soon with images from my travels. In the meantime, I hope this recipe serves as a little reminder to savor all the simple pleasures in your life.

xo,

Olaiya

P.S. For anyone who wants to come cook, shoot and explore in Paris with me this fall, there are still a few spots left in my food & photography workshop with Yossy Arefi!

---

Fennel Confit with Orange and Bay

• 3 large fennel bulbs, trimmed and halved
• Extra-virgin live oil
• 4-5 strips orange zest
• 3 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 2 bay leaves
• Juice of one orange
• Kosher or sea salt

*Note: This is delicious served hot or room temperature. It can be made a day in advance and reheated in a low oven or brought to room temperature by removing it from the fridge a few hours before serving.

Preheat your oven to 350°F (150°C). Place the fennel cut-side-down in an ovenproof baking dish. Drizzle with enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the baking dish by about 1/4 inch (6mm). Add the orange zest, garlic and bay, making sure to submerge them at least partially in the oil. Squeeze the orange juice over the fennel and salt generously.

Cook, basting occasionally with the oil and orange juice, until the fennel is very tender when pierced with a paring knife, about 1 hour. (The time will vary based on how large your fennel bulbs are. For small bulbs, start checking at 30 minutes.) Set aside to cool slightly before slicing as desired and serving with the infused oil and garlic from the pan. 

Makes 6-8 appetizer or first-course servings.

---

Upcoming workshops and retreats

Paris Food & Photography Workshop // Sept 2018
ONLY A FEW SPOTS LEFT

Portugal Culinary & Creativity Retreat // Oct 2018
SOLD OUT

Paris food & Photography Workshop // May 2018
SOLD OUT

kuri squash and olive oil cake with dark chocolate

A few years ago, Christmas at our house was turning into a real shit show. Somewhere in the middle of gift shopping, choosing and decorating the perfect tree, baking and shipping holiday cookies and planning our Christmas Eve feast, it struck me (probably while I was stuck in holiday traffic) that I was super pissed about Christmas. I wanted to abandon the whole thing, book a flight to a sunny beach somewhere and drink margaritas for about a week. Not exactly what you’d call holiday cheer. 

That was the year I decided to reign in the crazy and start making Christmas about people and not things. 

These days, Beau and I buy gifts only for the children in our lives. (Because, come on, what’s better than watching kids open gifts?) We both have December birthdays, so we treat ourselves to a b-day/Christmas trip somewhere we can spend time with each other and un-plug. For everyone else, we prioritize getting together for a drink or a meal and just letting people know how much we love them.

If it sounds like fun, I bake holiday treats. And now that the pressure’s off, it usually sounds like fun. Even though we avoid sugar and processed carbs at home most of the time, I’m still nostalgic for baking up tins of Christmas sweets to give at the holidays. 

This December is a busy one. I’m wrapping up the final details on food and photography retreats for the spring. I’m teaching classes at Book Larder. And I’m hosting another pop-up dinner with my friend Kyle this weekend. But I couldn’t resist the urge to fit in a little holiday baking. 

So over the next few weeks, I’ll be popping in to say hello and share some new recipes for holiday goodies with you.

In the meantime, I urge you all to grab some winter squash and get busy making this amazing cake! The recipe is from Gjelina--a fantastic and stunningly beautiful cookbook. If you don’t have a copy, you need one. 

This cake is insanely good. As in, Beau-and-I-ate-a-whole-loaf-in-two-days good. There are so many pumpkin spice recipes floating around the internet between Halloween and Thanksgiving, I’m sure some of you are thinking you’re done with pumpkin-flavored anything until next year.

This cake will change your mind.

This cake is moist, tender, chocolatey and darkly spicy (without tasting like pumpkin pie). And the olive oil glaze ties all the sophisticated, wintry flavors together. You need to bake one up for yourself. And then you need to bake up a ton of mini loaves and give them to everyone you think is awesome and amazing and deserving of the best winter squash cake ever. 

You work on that, and I’ll work on bringing you some more stellar holiday recipes over the next few weeks.

xo!

Olaiya

---

Kuri Squash and Olive Oil Cake with Dark Chocolate

• 1 1-lb. (455g) piece of kuri squash, seeded
• Extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling, plus 1/2 cup (120 ml)
• 1 1/2 cups (180 g) all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons freshly-grated nutmeg
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 1/3 cups (265 g) granulated sugar
• 3 eggs
• 8 oz (230 g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons pepitas

*Notes: This recipe is from Gjelina by Travis Lett. It is originally entitled Kabocha, Olive Oil & Bittersweet Chocolate Cake. I made a couple small changes:

1) I substituted red kuri squash for the kabocha. Kuri is my all-time favorite squash and since its flesh is firm and relatively dry, you don’t need to drain it as the recipe calls for. You can just scoop and puree it. But I’m confident you could make this cake with just about any winter squash. If the flesh seems wet after roasting, drain in cheesecloth as directed in the recipe.

2) I accidentally halved the amount of olive oil since I was baking two cakes and forgot to double the oil. The finished result was delicious. So know there’s a bit of flexibility in terms of how much oil you need to use. (The amount of oil listed above is half what the original recipe calls for.)

- You’ll want to use a high quality extra-virgin olive oil as the flavor definitely comes through. 

- I used Guittard 72% onyx chocolate wafers, which are my new obsession and go-to for chocolate desserts.

Full instructions for this cake can be found here.

moroccan vegetable tagine + ras el hanout yogurt

People often ask me what we eat at home. They imagine, I think, each of our meals must be an imaginative affair involving hours spent in the kitchen and crowned with an elaborate dessert. 

This is not even close to the truth.

I used to feel guilty about this. I have food-industry friends who have the magic ability to turn a pile of disparate ingredients into a restaurant-worthy meal. These particular friends (a ridiculously stylish and affable couple to boot) seem impervious to the siren song of a bowl of breakfast cereal for dinner.

I used to think settling for anything less than a beautiful home-cooked repast was a small failure. My inner perfectionist looked on scornfully as I scarfed cold pizza for breakfast or cobbled a pile of wacky leftovers into a “meal”.

Then one day last year, I stepped back and looked at this pile of crazy thinking. “Seriously?”, I asked myself. “We both know that may be possible for some people, but it certainly isn’t for you, my dear.” There simply aren’t enough hours in the day to craft an elaborate meal each evening. So I let it go.

It helped that I’d recently returned from a trip to Brussels and Paris where I’d seen friends throw together delicious, seasonal meals on the fly. Steamed artichokes dipped in garlic yogurt with a bottle of white wine. Scrambled eggs and mushrooms on toast. A few slices of ham and a wedge of cheese with a handful of radishes from the garden. I decided these sur le pouce meals were just what I wanted my weeknight suppers to be. Simple. Straightforward. Delicious. 

After a little experimenting, I've found my groove. Scrambled eggs are my new best friend. A plate of charcuterie and cheese comes together in 5 minutes. A jar of mustardy vinaigrette shaken together on a Sunday night makes salads a cinch all week long. And--another trick I learned from the French--a glass of good wine elevates even the humblest fare.

For those of you who feel pressure to produce a culinary masterpiece seven nights a week, I suggest you give the on-the-fly method of weeknight dining a go. If you need a little nudge, I have two in-a-flash recipes for you from my friend Mehdi.

In addition to being a charming human being, Mehdi is also an amazing cook. Oh, and he knows a ton about Moroccan food, too. His company, Villa Jerada, started off as a venture to import his neighbor’s olive oil from Morocco to the U.S. It has grown to include high quality Moroccan oils, spices and artisan-made goods. When Mehdi stopped by a couple weeks ago to drop off some olive oil and a tin of his wildly fragrant saffron, he offered to show me some new ways to work Moroccan ingredients and techniques into quick weeknight meals. (Score!)

His vegetable tagine takes about 15 minutes to prep and turns out fragrant and silky with olive oil. His three-ingredient Moroccan-spiced yogurt is the essence of simplicity. (And super addictive. You’ve been warned). Accompanied by a plate of crunchy vegetables and a soft-boiled egg or two, these recipes make a perfect on-the-fly summer meal. 

Don’t forget the wine.

---

Moroccan Vegetable Tagine

• 1 small onion, thinly sliced
• 4 medium yukon gold potatoes, peeled and sliced ¼ inch thick
• 1 large tomato, cored and sliced ¼ inch thick
• 1-2 Anaheim peppers, seeded and sliced lengthwise ¼ inch thick
• 1 clove garlic, very thinly sliced
• About 1 ½ cups water
• 3-4 tablespoons best quality olive oil
• 1-2 tablespoons harissa
• 1 teaspoon kefta rub
• 15 saffron threads
• Sea salt + freshly ground black pepper
• About 8 small sprigs cilantro, plus additional to garnish

*Notes: I can’t recommend the whole line of Villa Jerada spices, rubs and olive oils highly enough! I’ve been cooking Moroccan food for over a decade and these are the best ingredients I’ve ever worked with. In this dish, I used Mehdi’s Dessert Miracle olive oil along with Villa Jerada harissa, kefta rub and saffron. See below for Seattle stockists and online resources.

- If you can’t find Anaheim peppers or if you want a milder or spicier option, feel free to substitute another pepper. I think this would be nice with either very thin slices of jalapeño or serrano (to mitigate the heat) or ¼-inch slices of red bell pepper.

Scatter the onions over the bottom of a large sauté pan or tagine and salt lightly. Tile the sliced potatoes over the onions. Arrange the sliced tomatoes, peppers and garlic over the potatoes. Pour the water into the bottom of the pan. The precise amount will vary slightly based on the size of your pan, but you want enough to form a thin layer over the bottom of the pan, just covering the onions. Pour the olive oil over the vegetables. (Don’t skimp on the olive oil, it’s part of what makes the potatoes silky and soft when they’re done cooking.) Dot the harissa over the vegetables. Season generously with salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Sprinkle with the kefta rub and saffron then arrange the cilantro sprigs over the top.

Bring the water to a gentle simmer over medium heat then cover and cook until most of the water has evaporated, the potatoes are cooked through and the tomatoes are starting to fall apart, about 20 minutes. You may need to reduce the heat a little. If there’s still a little water in the bottom of the pan when the vegetables are done, remove the lid and cook off the excess.

Sprinkle with additional cilantro to garnish, if desired, and serve in the pan.

Makes 3-4 servings.

Recipe by Mehdi Boujrada

---

Ras El Hanout Yogurt

• 1 ½ cups full-fat greek yogurt or labneh
• 2 teaspoons Villa Jerada ras el hanout spice blend
• 2 teaspoons honey
• Best quality extra virgin olive oil, to serve
• Raw sliced vegetables, to serve

*Note: I love all the Villa Jerada products but the ras el hanout spice blend is especially fantastic. It's much more delicate and floral than any other version of the spice blend I've tried. It works perfectly with the honey in this dip. 

Whisk the yogurt, ras el hanout and honey together in a medium bowl. Set aside for 10 minutes to allow the flavors to come together. Serve with vegetables and topped with best quality olive oil. (I used Les Terroirs de Marrakech extra-virgin olive oil.)

Recipe by Mehdi Boujrada

---

Where to by Villa Jerada products in Seattle:

• Marine Area 7

• London Plane

• Chefshop

• Delautenti

• Sugarpill

• PFI

• Wholefoods (Roosevelt store)

• Marx Foods

Where to buy Villa Jerada products elsewhere and online:

• Chefshop

• Marx Foods

• Try the World

• Marlow and Daughters in Brooklyn, NY

• Zingerman's Deli in Ann Arbor, MI

• Liberty Heights Fresh in Salt Lake City, UT

• The Spanish Table in San Francisco, CA

• Rockridge Market Hall in Oakland, CA