The volcano Vesuvius still looms of the ruined Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, along the coast of Southern Italy. Dr. Fiona Radford from the Partial Historians stops by to discuss these accidental wonders: towns whose destruction have preserved a remarkable view of Roman daily life. We follow Pliny the Elder as he ventures to his death, pillow strapped to his head. There's chaos, destruction, drama, and weird fish sauce! 

Plus I cannot be so close to Naples without talking about pizza, that most glorious gift to the world.

Traditional Hanukkah foods are fried in oil, and among Israeli Jews, that means sufganiyot: jelly doughnuts.

The word sufganiyot comes from the sword sfog, meaning sponge, and North African Jews brought a long tradition of frying doughnuts with them to Israel.  There, they mixed with Eastern European jews who brought their own doughnuts, with jelly.  These ponchkes in Yiddish are the Jewish version of the Polish pączki (pronounced "paunch-key".  Pączki are Mardi Gras treats, best known in America as the reason there’s a line out of every Polish bakery in Chicago in February.

So, to make sufganiyot, you need to be able to manage yeast and dough.  I can’t.  I’ve tried several times.  Once the water was too cold, and the yeast didn’t bloom.  Another time, the water was too hot, and the yeast died a tragic scalding death.  A third time, the yeast seemed OK, but I kneaded the dough too much. 

But if you have skill with baking, try this recipe, and let me know how light and fluffy they are.  This recipe has an orange zest, which adds some zing to the dough, and raspberry or strawberry filling.  That’s great, but if you’d rather lemon zest and blueberry, I won’t be mad at you.

Serves 4 at least

INGREDIENTS

• ¼ cup lukewarm milk or water
• 1 teaspoon (5 ml) dry yeast
• 3 tablespoons (45 ml) sugar
• 1 whole egg plus 1 egg yolk
• 3 tablespoons (45 ml) sour cream or vegetable oil
• ¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml) salt
• ¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml) vanilla extract
• Freshly grated zest of 1/2 orange
• 1 ⅔ cups flour (400 ml), more as needed
• ½ cup (120 ml) thick raspberry or strawberry jam
• Vegetable oil for deep-frying
• Confectioners' sugar for dusting

STEPS

1. Place milk or water in small bowl. Sprinkle yeast and 1 teaspoon (5 ml) sugar over milk. Set aside until frothy, about 10 minutes.
2. In a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat remaining sugar with egg and egg yolk. Add sour cream, salt, vanilla extract, orange zest and yeast mixture, and mix well.
3. With mixer running, gradually add flour. Mix until dough is soft, smooth and elastic, adding flour if dough seems very sticky, 3 to 5 minutes. Do not add more than an additional 3 tablespoons (45 ml) flour; dough will be somewhat sticky, but will firm up in refrigerator. Place in an oiled bowl, cover, and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.
4. On a floured surface, roll out dough to 1/2-inch thickness (1.25 cm). Use a biscuit or a cookie cutter to cut out 2-inch rounds (5 cm), placing them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Reroll scraps and cut again. Let rise in a warm place 30 minutes.
5. In a heavy pot, heat 3 inches of oil (7.5 cm) to 365 degrees F (185 C); when hot enough, a small piece of dough will brown on bottom in 30 seconds. If too hot, doughnuts will brown outside before cooking through.
6. Working in batches, fry doughnuts until golden brown, turning once. Drain on paper towels and dust with sugar while still warm. Let oil come back to 365 degrees F (185 C) between batches.
7. If you have a pastry bag, fit with a small round tip and spoon jam into bag. When doughnuts are cool enough to handle, use tip of bag (or pointed tip of a serrated knife) to make a hole in bottom of doughnut. Squeeze or use a small spoon to nudge 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) of jam into hole. Repeat with remaining doughnuts and serve immediately. Dust again with powdered sugar.

Recipe adapted from https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1016210-orange-scented-jelly-doughnuts-sufganiyot

A drama in three acts, all centered on the Fortress of Masada, a remarkable bastion perched above the Dead Sea in Israel. King Herod builds a pleasure palace, the Zealots make their last stand against Rome, and Israel returns at last. There are no heroes here, no villains, just complex people doing great and terrible deeds. Josephus, historian/traitor,  takes us through the story of the Great Jewish Revolt and the destruction of the Temple.

Masada visitor Lisa Goldberg tells us about the experience of climbing up (and down again) and exploring the ruins. And we eat traditional holiday goodies: sufganiyot and just in time for Purim, hamantaschen. Plus Israeli breakfasts.

Everyone loves grilled chicken, right?  Especially cooked on an open flat grill and served in a warm sandwich?  Yes, please.

Jerusalemites have their own version, the Jerusalem mixed grill, or me’orav Yerushalmi.   Chicken bits, sautéed with spices.  Supposedly concocted in the Mahane Yehuda market, just a bit west of the Old City, the mixed grill was based on English mixed grill, brought by the British.  It has a twist though.

While you can make it with breasts and thighs, traditionally the mixed grill is hearts and livers.  That’s often enough to deter the squeamish, but don’t let it!

This is the easiest recipe I’ll post.  Dice up the chicken into small pieces, and marinate with thin-sliced onion and spices.  Then sauté on a hot skillet.  Easy peasy.

When I tried it, I used breast, because of squeamish family members, and I loved it.  The spice mix I used had slightly different flavors than the usual shawarma blend: in addition to cumin and paprika, the mix has allspice, cinnamon, black pepper, and cardamom, which give a sweetish warmth and kick on the forefront of the tongue.  It’s just pleasant.  And in a warm pita with hummus and tahini sauce, marvelous.

Serves 4 at least

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound chicken livers, chopped  (If you’re not into livers, try thighs)
• 1 pound chicken breast, chopped
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

STEPS

1. Mix the chicken livers and breast with the onions, spices and olive oil. Marinate for several hours (up to one full day).
2. Heat a skillet and add the seasoned meat mixture.
3. Cook, stirring, until meat has cooked through.

Recipe adapted from http://www.girlcooksworld.com/2011/02/jerusalem-mixed-grill.html

Photo from wikipedia because I forgot to take a picture of what I cooked, which was great.  The onions, man, the onions made it all so magnificent.

A short bonus episode.  Drew's daughter makes her first podcasting appearance as she tells you the story of the Two Bethlehems.

Bethlehem, Indiana is a popular place to mail Christmas cards, but there's more to its story than that!

Jesus Christ arrives on the scene, to the consternation of the Roman authorities and the Jewish establishment. We visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, site of his death and resurrection, and the holiest site in Christianity. What made Jesus so revolutionary? Garry Stevens from the History in the Bible podcast comes back to the show to talk about the historical aspects of the gospels, as we tell the story of that fateful weekend in April, nearly 2000 years ago.

Even better, Gary Arndt from everything-everywhere.com returns to describe his visit to the church during Holy Week and to Bethlehem.

And of course, there's food too, including Jerusalem mixed grill.

You’ve heard of a cronut, right?  Some New York baker took a croissant and fried and glazed it like a donut and made bajillions?  Well, feteer is a cro-izza.  It’s flaky and buttery like a croissant; in fact, some think it was the ancestor to that noble pastry.  But it’s thrown, stuffed, topped, and eaten like a pizza.

It’s fiendishly simple, which is why I haven’t tried to make it yet.  I tend to do really badly with fiendishly simple things involving dough, because fiendishly simple dishes often require an expert technique or skill to make them terrific, since they don’t have the complex flavors that come from many ingredients or a more complicated process.

In this case, it sounds too easy to be true.  Flour, water and salt in a mixer to create a very sticky dough.  Roll into four balls and let sit in a bath of melted butter.  This sounds crazy and fattening, but it will make the flour much easier to roll out, and you’re going to use the butter anyway, so why not?

Take a ball, put it on a wide flat and floured surface, and roll it as thin as you possibly can.  If you can see through it, that’s ideal.  Put your stuffing, whether sweet or savory, in the middle, fold over the sides, and then do the same with the other layers. 

Try this, then let me know how it turns out!

Serves 4 at least

INGREDIENTS

• 4 cups of white all purpose flour.
• 2 cups of water ( +/- depending on the type of flour you are using)
• A dash of salt.
• 1 cup melted butter
• Something savory to stuff inside (cheese, vegetables, meat) OR
• • Something sweet to stuff inside (chocolate, jam, custard)
• Something savory to top (cheese, olives, peppers) OR
• • Something sweet to top (powdered sugar)

STEPS

1. First, mix the flour and salt and add the first cup of water and knead very well then add the remaining bit by bit until you get a dough that is very elastic and sticky.
2. Divide the dough into 4 balls, grease a deep dish and put the balls in it.
3. Let it rest for 15 min. and turn your oven on to the highest degree possible, mine was 550 F.
4. Roll the first ball to be very thin that you can see your counter top through, brush the surface generously with melted butter.
5. Arrange your stuffing in the middle and carefully fold all 4 sides over the center.
6. Roll the next ball until very thin and brush as you’ve done with the first ball.
7. Place the already done one, folded side down, then fold the outer one and brush with more butter as you fold.
8. Repeat the process for additional layers. Brush generously with butter and add the suggested toppings if you would like to.
9. Place in a greased pizza pan - or any oven-safe pan - for 10-15 minutes until done.

Recipe adapted from https://amiraspantry.com/alexandrian-feteer-e-pizza-feteer

Back to Alexandria we go to visit the Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa, a little-known but fascinating burial chamber encapsulating the marriage of Egyptian, Greek and Roman cultures and traditions.  

Talking about the marriage of Egyptian, Greek, and Roman, we meet Cleopatra, last pharaoh of Egypt and noted seductress of Julius Caesar and Mark Antony.  Or was she? She might be one of the most consequential people in antiquity, and we try to get to the bottom of her story with Margot Collins from the Undressed Historia podcast.

What's more, Gary Arndt from everything-everywhere.com drops by to talk about visiting Alexandria, including scuba diving to see the remnants of the Lighthouse!  Alexandria may not have much left from antiquity, but "age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety."  Sorry, obligatory Shakespeare line.

In the process, we'll talk about feteer, a sort of buttery, flaky, Alexandrian pizza.  To Egypt!

Soupe au pistou is a classic Provençal dish: ripe vegetables, fresh herbs, inexpensive ingredients.  Soul-warming, bone-sticking nutrition in a bowl.  It’s sort of like minestrone: a bean soup, flavored with fresh herbs, then with any vegetable you can think of thrown in, but especially tomatoes, then some pasta to provide a little thickening.  Traditionalists say it requires haricots vests, zucchini (or courgettes, if you go that way), potatoes and tomatoes, but others say it’s whatever you have handy.

The secret to soupe au pistou, though, is the pistou itself: a dollop of basil/garlic/olive oil sauce on top.  Don’t call it pesto - that would contain pine nuts, which pistou does not.  Again, traditionalists say no cheese either, but I find a little Gruyere helps to make it smooth and delicious.

There are countless recipes for soupe au pistou out there.  This is one I used, and it came out great.  Well, I didn’t exactly.  I didn’t have the cabbage and forgot the zucchini.  I think both would help boost the flavor. 

Two other notes:  I didn’t have a bay leaf and used rosemary, which was nice but obviously quite different.  The most important thing here is to ensure that you have the herbs ties up or contained; otherwise, they fall apart and you’re left with random rosemary needles.

Second, If you’re using green beans, make sure they are cut into small lengths so they’ll fit on a spoon.   

The thrill is stirring that bright green dollop of pistou into the soup.  It’s delicious.  My son loved this one, especially with a fresh, warm baguette to soak up the soup.  We also had some French butter on hand, which was very pleasant with the bread. 

Be forewarned: this makes a LOT, so don’t make a vat of it the day before you go away on a four-day business trip.  Bon appétit!

Serves 8 at least

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE SOUP

• 1 ½ cups (360 ml) white beans, soaked for six hours in 6 cups water and drained
• 2 quarts (1.9 liters) water
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4 large garlic cloves, minced or pressed
• A bouquet garni made with a few sprigs each thyme and parsley, a Parmesan rind and a bay leaf
• Salt to taste
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) extra virgin olive oil
• 2 leeks, white and light green part only, cleaned and sliced
• 1 pound tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped, or 1 can, with liquid
• 2 cups shredded savoy or green cabbage
• 2 large carrots, diced
• 2 celery stalks, diced
• 1 medium-size zucchini, scrubbed and diced
• 2 medium-size turnips, peeled and diced
• ½ pound (250 g) green beans, trimmed and broken into 1-inch pieces (about 2 cups), blanched for five minutes and set aside
• ½ cup (120 ml) soup pasta, such as macaroni or small shells (or ditalini if you have some left over from when you tried the koshari recipe!)
• Freshly ground pepper

FOR THE PISTOU

• 2 large garlic cloves, halved, green shoots removed
• Salt to taste
• 2 cups, tightly packed, fresh basil leaves
• ⅓ cup (80 ml) extra virgin olive oil
• ½ cup (120 ml) freshly grated Gruyere
• Freshly ground pepper
• ½ cup (120 ml) freshly grated Gruyere for sprinkling

STEPS

1. Drain the white beans and combine with 2 quarts water in a large, heavy soup pot or Dutch oven. Bring to a boil. Skim off any foam, then add half the onion, half the garlic and the bouquet garni. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer 45 minutes. Add salt to taste.
2. Heat the olive oil in a heavy skillet, and add the remaining chopped onion and a generous pinch of salt. Cook, stirring, until tender, about five minutes. Add the leeks and remaining garlic. Stir together for a few minutes, and add the tomatoes. Cook, stirring, until the tomatoes have cooked down slightly and the mixture is fragrant, five to 10 minutes. Stir this mixture into the soup pot, add all of the remaining vegetables except the green beans, and bring back to a simmer. Cover and simmer over low heat for 45 minutes to an hour. Taste and adjust the seasonings.  By sautéing the aromatics before adding them to the soup, you help their flavor develop  an additional richness.
3. While the soup is simmering, blanch the green beans for five minutes in salted boiling water. Transfer to a bowl of ice-cold water. Drain and set aside.
4. To make the pistou, mash the garlic with a generous pinch of salt in a mortar and pestle. Remove it and set aside. Grind the basil to a paste in the mortar, a handful at a time, then add the garlic back in and mix together well. Work in the olive oil a tablespoon at a time, then stir in the cheese.  You can use a food processor too.  It’s really OK.
5. Add the pasta to the simmering soup about 10 minutes before serving, and cook until cooked al dente. Add pepper, taste and adjust salt. Stir the blanched green beans into the soup and heat through. Serve, adding a spoonful of pesto to each bowl for guests to stir in. Pass additional Parmesan for sprinkling.

Recipe adapted from https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1013986-soupe-au-pistou.  Image from wikipedia.fr

Julius Caesar takes on Vercingetorix and the Gauls as we travel to Provence in Southern France.  The Pont du Gard is a Roman aqueduct, the largest left standing, and it's just one of the many legacies the Romans left in the land of lavender and sunshine.

While here, we visit Avignon and spend a detour talking about the papacy and the Slap of Agnani - one of those surprising little histories we've all forgotten that had a tremendous impact on the world.

To eat, how about some ratatouille?  Except that it's January and so good tomatoes are hard to find.  So let's try soupe au pistou instead!

Bienvenue!

Bonus Episode! We have a running joke on this podcast about Demetrius Poliorcetes, Besieger of Cities. Despite having failed spectacularly at besieging Rhodes, he left a remarkable legacy across the Hellenistic world.  Well, as a Christmas treat, I give you his full story.

It's AMAZING.

There is no full-length modern history of Demetrius, and there ought to be.  He went from young upstart general to savior-god of Athens to death in a prison cell.  Very few people had the ups and downs of this man, and in the process, he experienced many of our wonders in a way that few people have.  And in a very real way, his story is our story, for good or for bad.

Many thanks to Plutarch for the primary material.  And Happy Holidays!

Moutabel* is a smoky eggplant (or aubergine) dip from the Levant which is particularly popular in Jordan.  You would enjoy this with warm pita bread as part of a mezze, a large spread of appetizers like hummus, tabouleh, and other delicious taste sensations.

What makes moutabel different from baba ghanoush is the addition of tahini, that almost peanut buttery sesame paste.  This makes moutabel significantly smoother in texture, which I like, without overwhelming the eggplant and garlic.

The key to successful eggplant spreads is the cooking.  Flame-grilled is the best way to go, but roasting in an oven is fine too.  It’s important not only to make sure the skin is blackened all over but that the eggplant has basically been cooked into a soft goo.  If you think it’s done, it’s probably not done.  The more you cook out the liquid and break down the fibers, the better your dip will be.

I’ll be honest - I’m giving this recipe now, but I won’t try it myself until the summer.  Getting a perfect ripe eggplant makes a huge difference, and this is really a summery dip, with the bright lemon and garlic.  So save this for later, OR if you’re one of my Australian or New Zealander listeners, enjoy RIGHT NOW!  And then, let me know how it is!

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

Filling:

• 2 large eggplant (about 850 grams)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup tahini paste (120 ml)
• 1/2 cup lemon juice (120 ml)
• 2 teaspoon salt (or to taste) (10 ml)
• 1/4 cup olive oil (60 ml)
• Dried mint or parsley for garnish
• za'atar (spice blend) for garnish

STEPS

1. Place the unpeeled eggplants (aubergines) directly on the stove-top over a medium heat. Leave it roasting and keep turning from side to side until the skin is blackened and pulp is soft and tender. This process takes about 15 minutes in total.  Be aware that the eggplant can pop, so it might get messy.
2. Trim the stem off from the eggplant and remove the seeds (if any). Put the eggplant in a sieve or colander and let it drain for 30 minutes.  You can squeeze out the excess liquid if you’re in a rush.
3. In a serving bowl, mix the tahini and lemon juice until the tahini is well blended.  Add the garlic and salt and blend it in.
4. In the strainer, mash the eggplant gently with a fork, then add it to the lemon/tahini mixture.  Mix all ingredients together until well combined. Taste to adjust salt and lemon.
5. Spread the dip in serving plate, drizzle with olive oil and garnish with a pinch of crushed dried mint and a sprinkling of za'atar. Serve warm or cold with pita or taboun bread.

Recipe adapted from http://www.kitchenofpalestine.com/mutabbal and https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/sep/25/how-to-make-perfect-baba-ganoush.

Photograph from: http://bennydoro.com/chef/recipes/moutabal-roasted-eggplant-dip/ since I haven't made it myself yet.

* Moutabel, or moutabal, or muttabal, or mutabbal - I’ve seen all of these, and if anyone can tell me a really good transliteration, I sure would appreciate it.

Lost city of the Nabataeans, the rock-cut city of Petra has been rightfully celebrated as a Wonder of the World, at least since that Indiana Jones movie. But the story is well worth telling. We'll talk about the Nabataeans, their caravans, and their run-ins with the Greeks, Romans and Judeans.  We'll meet Pompey the Pompous.  And we'll eat Bedouin classics from underground pit ovens.

Stephanie Craig from the History Fangirl podcast shares her experiences traveling in Jordan.  For such a small country, there's so much there.  You will have chosen wisely to download this episode.  Enjoy!

This is the easiest pasta to make, and the easiest pasta to mess up.  There are four ingredients:

1. pasta, preferably spaghetti - long, thin (but not too thin) and able to be completely coated in sauce
2. water, specifically the water used to cook the pasta
3. fresh cracked black pepper
4. Pecorino Romano, a hard, salty sheep’s milk cheese that Romans have been eating since the legionaries were marching on Carthage. 

You’d think this would be so easy.  I mean, it’s basically Roman mac n’ cheese.  But you’d be surprised how easy it is to get really greasy or clumpy or both.  You’re trying to make a creamy sauce from a hard cheese.  But it can be done!

Here’s secret one: grate the Pecorino as fine as you can.  The finer it is, the easier it will emulsify into your sauce. 

Secret two: save a little pasta water - that’s the water you cook your pasta in.  Makes a huge difference in making your sauce silky since the water contains starch, which will again help to emulsify. 

Secret three: don’t try to make this a one-pot dish.  You’ll end up overcooking the cheese, which leads to lumps.  Instead try this.  Cook your spaghetti in well-salted water.  And yes, spaghetti really is the winner here.  Not so thin that it falls apart, but not so thick that portions get uncovered in sauce.  Short pastas would be less appealing here too.  Before you drain your pasta, be sure to save a cup or so of your pasta water.

OK. Now add the warm pasta water to a separate pot with your finely grated cheese, about 2 cups or 110 grams.  Stir until it’s all completely melty and beautiful.  If it looks as though it’s breaking, add a little more pasta water.  Then tong in the pasta and mix it all up so it’s all coated.  Buon appetito! 

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

• 1 lb / 450 g spaghetti
• Water
• Salt
• 5 tsp Fresh Ground Black Pepper
• 180 g Pecorino Romano cheese, grated fine (approximately 1.75 cups)

STEPS

1. Toast the pepper in a hot, dry dutch oven until it smells fragrant.  Then set aside.
2. Cook the spaghetti in well-salted water in a pot according to directions.  DO NOT use too much water - there should only be enough water to cover the pasta.  Too much water means not enough starch in the pasta water.
3. Save a cup (240 ml) of pasta water before draining the pasta.  Then drain and set aside.
4. In the dutch oven, which should still be a little warm, mix the cheese and pepper and slowly add some of the water, while mixing to create a paste.  Then add a little more pasta water to transform the paste into a sauce.
5. Lastly, add the pasta and toss like crazy.  Add more water if you need to.  Then savor the amazing wonder that is cacio e pepe.

Recipe adapted from https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2016/nov/03/how-to-make-the-perfect-cacio-e-pepe

Back for Part II! Nitin Sil from the Flash Point History podcast joins me to discuss the Second Punic War, Hannibal, and Scipio. Was Hannibal crossing the Alps really a big deal? How did Rome win in the end?

I also talk about mathematician and defense contractor extraordinaire Archimedes and his antique death ray!

Plus, finally, a play-by-play of the Roman Forum, how to stroll the streets of modern Rome, and enjoying pecorino romano cheese. If you don't crave spaghetti cacio e pepe now, you will!

An episode so big I had to break it in half! Here comes Rome, both the vibrant, chaotic, eye-catching capital of Italy, and the civilization that made that capital possible.  This episode looks at the rise of Rome and the first Punic War with Carthage, that other great Mediterranean Empire.

We'll take side trips to Sicily as well as Tunisia to talk about cannoli and harissa.  Worth it.  In fact, I get so caught up talking about Rome vs Carthage that I don't even get to the Roman Forum itself.  That's OK - there's always next week, when Part II will take us to the Eternal City for a sunset look at the ruins.

It's our FIRST ANNIVERSARY. To celebrate, let's explore EPCOT: a place you can visit many wonders of the world, all at once. Sort of. What you might not expect is its fascinating history and the weird vision Walt Disney had for his Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. 

There's also a "state of the podcast" bit at the end and a giant thank you to you for listening to me ramble all these months.

Xi’an, being on the silk road, sits at a fascinating middle ground between east and west, only in this case, west means not Europe but the steppes of Central Asia.

This soup reflects that heritage: it blends Chinese spices and flavors (ginger, star anise, sichuan peppercorns) with lamb, a very Central Asian meat, and bread.  The bread is almost a homestyle flour tortilla or naan, meant to be ripped apart and doused in the soup, to thicken and dissolve in the broth.

Noodles make an appearance as well, and the entire experience is one of warmth, both temperature, spiciness, and soul-warming home-ish-ness.  That’s not a word.

I think I’m going to try this with chicken, since my wife will go for that.  Its won’t be the same!  But at least it’s close.  Try this out and let me know what you think!

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

Soup:

• 1 1/2 pounds (3 kg) boneless lamb (mutton, goat or stew-grade beef also work)
• 10 cups ( litres) beef stock
• 1 tsp (5 ml) fennel seeds
• 1 tsp (5 ml) Sichuan peppercorns
• 2 star anise pods
• 1 small stick cinnamon
• 2 or 3 dried Thai chiles
• 2 inches (5 cm) fresh ginger, smashed
• 5 green onions, trimmed, lightly smashed
• 1 tsp (5 ml) sea salt, or to taste

Bread:

• 2 cups (250 g) flour
• 2/3 cup water
• 1/2 tsp baking powder

Finishing touches:

• 2 bundles cellophane noodles, soaked in cool water until soft
• 1/4 cup ( ml) dried wood ear mushrooms, soaked in to water for at least an hour
• handful of cilantro, chopped
• chili paste or oil, to taste
• black vinegar, to taste

STEPS

1. Cut the meat up into inch (2 cm) size cubes or so.  Place them in a large dutch oven or soup pot, cover with water, and boil for about 10 minutes, just to remove the initial fat.  Pour out the water and the scum which forms on top, and rise the meat in a colander.  Rinse out the pot / dutch oven and replace the parboiled meat and add the stock.
2. If you have a mesh ball to hold spices, great - if not, use a piece of cheesecloth tied with twine.  You’ll use this to hold the fennel seeds and Sichuan peppercorns.  Add this package to the soup, along with the rest of the spices and flavorings (star anise, cinnamon, chiles, ginger, and green onions. Bring to a simmer and cook for 2 hours, covered.  If all of that is too difficult, just throw the spices in.
3. While the soup is simmering away, make the bread.  Mix the flour and baking powder together, add water and knead it together.  Cover and let rise for 30 minutes or so. 
4. Heat up a wok or frying pan without oil to medium-high.  Take small pieces  from the dough and roll them out into circles around 1/3 inch (less than a cm) thick.
5. Slap each one onto the wok, let them get brown on each side and then set aside.  Like making a tortilla, except without the press and not as thin.
6. Throw the noodles and mushrooms into the soup.  Serve with cilantro, vinegar and chili sauce as condiments.  Break the bread up into the stew as a thickener, like fritos in chili.  Yum.

Recipe adapted from All Under Heaven: Recipes from the 35 Cuisines of China but Carolyn Phillips and from https://liviblogs.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/yang-rou-pao-mo-recipe.html

They stand row on row in silent guard of a long-dead autocrat. The Terracotta Army, built to defend the tomb of China's First Emperor, Qin Shi Huangdi, are the greatest archaeological discovery of the 20th century.

Joined by Abel Kay, we look into the story of the Emperor who unified China, and the ruthless path he took to do it.  

We'll talk about scheming merchants, pretend eunuchs, beheaded generals, assassins, scholars buried alive, rivers of mercury, and the secret to immortality.  Sound like enough for you?

We'll also explore Xian, imperial city, and sample some biang biang noodles and lamb bread soup.

On the way, there might be a detour to Indianapolis, because why not?

One of the special pleasures in life is a cold spread coating a piece of warm, fresh-from-the-oven bread, and this one from Greece is my favorite.

It’s fiendishly easy and magnificently garlicky.  If you don’t like garlic, then give this a pass. Not for vampires.

Basically, you boil potatoes, and mash them until they’re smooth.  I find it a lot easier to boil potatoes you’ve already cut into chunks.

In the meantime, you make a puree of garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and an additional thickener.  Almonds are standard, but if you’re nut-free, bread crumbs will do in a pinch.  Puree the garlic in the lemon juice - the acid will remove some of the garlic bite while keeping the flavor.

Then spoon it all together.  If it’s too thick, a little water will do, but not too much.  You want this to be thick enough to spread onto something, but not thin like mayonnaise or anything like that.  Slather it onto bread or fish or basically whatever you want.  It will be worth it.

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

Filling:

• 1 pound (450 g) of russet potatoes (2 or so), peeled and cut into 3/4-inch cubes
• Kosher salt
• 1/2 cup whole almonds (or substitute bread crumbs)
• 4 to 6 medium cloves garlic (the more garlic, the more intense - start small at first)
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (90ml) white wine vinegar and/or fresh lemon juice (from about 2 lemons)
• 3/4 cup (180ml) extra-virgin olive oil
• Minced flat-leaf parsley, for garnish
• Warmed pita and/or bread, for serving

STEPS

1. Set cubed potatoes in a colander and rinse under cold water until water runs clear. Transfer to a large saucepan and cover with cold water by at least 2 inches. Season water with salt until it is salty like tears. Bring water to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until a knife easily pierces potatoes with no resistance, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain potatoes in colander, then rinse with hot running water for 30 seconds.
2. Meanwhile, in a food processor, combine almonds or bread crumbs, garlic, 2 tablespoons (30ml) cold water, and wine vinegar and/or lemon juice. Process until garlic and almonds are reduced to a paste. Season with salt.
3. Spread potatoes in an even layer on a baking sheet and let the steam evaporate.  You want to get as much of the water out as possible.
4. Thoroughly mash potatoes with a potato masher in a large mixing bowl.  (If you have a fancy ricer, feel free to use that.)
5. Stir in olive oil and almond-garlic mixture until thoroughly incorporated. If the oil does not fully blend with the potatoes, stir in more cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating well, until mixture is emulsified. Season with salt, then garnish with parsley and serve immediately with warm pita or bread, or chill until ready to serve.  It really is best chilled.

Recipe adapted from http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2016/09/skordalia-greek-garlic-potato-spread-dip-recipe.html

All the world is a stage, and the first stage was in Athens, the birthplace of tragedy.  With Darby Vickers from the History of Greece podcast, we visit with the great playwrights, as Athens hits a great turning point: the Peloponnesian War.

That doesn't go well, and who's to blame?  Surely not a homely old teacher in the Agora?  Indeed.  But his student will have the last laugh.

All this plus skordalia!

Spanakotiropita  (σπανακοτυρόπιτα)

So I have searched every website out there to find an acceptable spanakopita, sorry, I mean spanakotripita, recipe, and I think this one will work.

Here’s the thing: phyllo dough is an absolute pain in the backside to work with.  It freaks me out every time.  So kudos to those who choose to make their own.  Even the frozen kind is challenging for me.

I found this recipe at https://www.themediterraneandish.com/spanakopita-recipe-greek-spinach-pie.  The best thing about this site is that they have many photographs and even videos really documenting each step.

Check their website out.  Honestly - it’s so well done.  They make it look actually easy to do.

Another note: I got into a significant argument with a Greek-American colleague about whether a spinach pie with feta was spanakotiropita or just spanakopita.  He was insistent that all spanakopita included cheese - it didn’t need to be mentioned specifically.  Note that this is counter to the point that Darby made in the episode.  We ended up at a Greek restaurant in Chicago (Greek Islands!) and they listed their spinach and cheese pie as… spanakotiropita!  Victory.  Nike.

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

Filling:

• 16 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well-drained
• 2 bunches flat-leaf parsley, stems trimmed, finely chopped
• 1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 4 eggs
• 10.5 oz quality feta cheese, crumbled
• 2 tsp dill weed
• Freshly-ground black pepper

Crust:

• 16 oz package of frozen phyllo dough (thawed)
• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil or melted butter - you know you want to use the butter

STEPS

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Before you begin mixing the filling, be sure the spinach is very well drained, and squeeze out any excess liquid by hand.
3. To make the filling: In a mixing bowl, add the spinach and the remaining filling ingredients. Stir until all is well-combined.
4. Unroll the phyllo sheets and place them between two very lightly damp kitchen cloths.
5. Prepare a 9 1/2″ X 13″ baking dish. Brush the bottom and sides of the dish with olive oil or butter.
6. To assemble the spanakotiropita: Line the baking dish with two sheets of phyllo letting them cover the sides of the dish. Brush with olive oil. Add two more sheets in the same manner, and brush them with olive oil. Repeat until two-thirds of the phyllo is used up.
7. Now, evenly spread the spinach and feta filling over the phyllo crust. Top with two more sheets, and brush with olive oil.
8. Continue to layer the phyllo sheets, two-at-a-time, brushing with olive oil, until you have used up all the sheets. Brush the very top layer with olive oil, and sprinkle with just a few drops of water.
9. Fold the flaps or excess from the sides, you can crumble them a little. Brush the folded sides well with olive oil.
10. Bake in the 325 degrees F heated-oven for 1 hour, or until the phyllo crust is crisp and golden brown. Remove from the oven. Cut into squares and serve! Enjoy!

Just go to https://www.themediterraneandish.com/spanakopita-recipe-greek-spinach-pie and follow the step-by-step there.  It’s brilliant.

Athens has won the war against Persia, but now what? The Golden Age of Pericles, that's what! He's building temples, making money, enlarging an empire, all in the name of democracy. Darby Vickers from the History of Greece podcast stops by to talk about the Great Democrat as well as what it's like to visit the Parthenon today. The one in Athens, not the one in Nashville.  She also talks about Greek bakeries and the joy that is spanakotiropita.  

The intro today (my first one ever!) is from Lynn Perkins of the History of the Ottoman Empire podcast.  He does fine work, and I can't wait to bug him when I get to Topkapi Palace.

There are few dishes as stereotypically Greek as roast lamb.  With the weather starting to get cold as we move towards Autumn, what better way to celebrate stick-to-your-ribs comfort food?

If we were REALLY doing this right, we would roast a whole lamb on a spit in your front yard.  But that might upset the neighbors, the police, and the homeowners’ association, so we’ll do something in the oven

Arni sto Fourno (αρνι στο φουρνο), which means “oven-roasted lamb,” is a recipe I’m using from the restaurant where I met my wife 15 years ago.  In fact, this is the very dish I had that night, which is a good way to know that it’s the real deal - I mean, it was fifteen years ago.

The restaurant, the Greek Islands, calls it Arni Fournou, but whatever you call it, it’s super simple.  Chunk up some potatoes, throw in chopped tomatoes, garlic, oregano, lemon juice, olive oil, and salt and pepper.  Then nestle in four lamb shanks, of about a pound each (500 g). 

This recipe (http://checkplease.wttw.com/recipe/arni-fournou) comes from the Greek Islands, via the files of Check Please!, a public television staple in Chicago, in which each of three average viewers invites the other two to their favorite local restaurant.  I wish every town had that show - it does a terrific job in introducing viewers to cuisines, neighborhoods, and establishments they would never have considered otherwise.  (http://checkplease.wttw.com).

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

• 4 lbs/2 kg lamb shanks (four, about 1 lb/500 g each)
• 2 lbs/1 kg peeled russet potatoes, cut into wedges
• 1 cup/240 ml chopped tomato
• 9 cloves chopped garlic
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper
• 1 cup/240 ml fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup/240 ml olive oil
• 1 teaspoon/5 ml oregano (Greek or Turkish - not Mexican)

STEPS

1. Simply mix the above ingredients in a deep baking pan, fully coating the lamb in the marinade.
2. Preheat oven to 275-325° F / 135-160° C (depending on the actual heat that your oven produces - if it runs hot, set the temp lower).
3. Bake the lamb for 2 hours, turning the pieces over after the first hour.
4. Serve the lamb with the potatoes and use a bit of the remaining juices to pour over the dish.

The priestess of Apollo will answer your questions, if not how you expect. Will Athens survive the war with the Persians? Should Sparta march to help? Will you enjoy this episode on the Oracle of Delphi in Greece, featuring the brilliance of Alison Innes and Darrin Sunstrum from the MythTake podcast and Lantern Jack from Ancient Greece Declassified? Yes. Yes you will.

We'll talk about the Oracle, how it came to be and how it worked. We'll follow the Greeks in their war with the Persians. We'll visit Delphi and eat roast lamb and greens. You won't need gas rising from the temple floor to enjoy this one!