God, I really thought I was going to get more of these recipes done this month! It certainly felt like I ate a lot of food from this cookbook, although in retrospect I think that may just be because I made two 4-serving chicken dishes that got spread out over multiple nights. No regrets with what I did make, only what I didn’t — I’m a little annoyed at myself for not making the most basic recipes, like Hummus or Tahini Sauce. Those are only two of the recipes I prepared for and didn’t get around to in April. I’m sure I’ll get to them in the future, because this book was fantastic, something I’ll be referring back to for a long time yet. I’m not surprised: I picked Tahini because it was written by Adeena Sussman, known for a great many cookbooks but, to me, primarily for Chrissy Teigen’s Cravings books. But amid the tumult of a job search and a trip to Nashville, things got…not lost, exactly, but set aside. Which is okay. (But I was really looking forward to the Sweet Potato-Tahini Dinner Rolls.)
There’s a metaphor somewhere in tahini, a bitter sesame paste that can sometimes taste like peanut butter and is used in sweet and savory dishes. The metaphor relates to April 2018 and 2019. Both years, April was tumultuous, but they had different flavors. In April 2018, I was, to put it mildly, a wreck; it was the beginning of a rough emotional journey that culminated in something beautiful, but it was bitter. It was bitter to travel South at the end of March, and begin April in Atlanta for Pesach, remembering what it might have been like if my grandpa were there. (April 2018 marked a year and a half since his death.) This year, the month was sweeter: again there was tumult, and the spectacular misery of anxiety-induced acid reflux, but I feel secure and anchored, not like last year when everything felt incredibly uncertain. This year, when I went to Pesach, I brought my girlfriend with me. (I won’t say I didn’t still remember what it was like to have him there, but the grief has ebbed a bit since last year.)
At one point we looked through boxes of my family’s memorabilia, and came across my great-grandfather’s naturalization certificate, issued so that he could join the army. He immigrated from the Russian Empire (specifically, from a city that is in modern Ukraine and was part of Poland before the partition, but ultimately in the Pale of Settlement). He was very young, so I’m not sure that he was the one seeking safety and a better life in America. Every time a new report of a synagogue shooting comes in, I wonder how much that was really achieved.
Tahini: a familiar bitter taste, even though it’s not the same. Like I said, there’s a metaphor there.
Book: Tahini, Adeena Sussman (Short Stack Editions)
Recipes made: 5/21
Middle Eastern Chicken Milanese: I made this on a little bit of a whim; it was on my to-cook list, but I didn’t have anything for it besides the tahini. It was incredibly easy and delicious. I’m sure it’d be even better with the accompanying salad, but I can only stray so far from my comfort zone of potato side dishes; I paid tribute to the Middle Eastern flavoring by tossing the potatoes in sumac. Again: incredible. Easy. Delicious. I want to make it again right now.
Tahini Sandwich Cookies with Tahini-Cream Cheese Frosting: I’m not a fan of cream cheese frosting, and I accidentally added an extra half-cup of sugar to the cookie dough, but these cookies overcame both obstacles. 5 stars from me, my girlfriend, and her family. They’re crumbly and a bit nutty and completely delicious, and I’m excited to explore more tahini-based baking.
Skillet Chicken with Date Syrup, Sumac & Tahini: I’d never had date syrup (or date anything) before but it was so good! This recipe was SO good! This was my girlfriend’s favorite from the month, possibly from the entire year thus far? It was a little time-consuming, but the end product was so worth it.
Chocolate-Tahini Truffles: As you can see, that is not truffles, that is a mug of hot chocolate. I’m not sure where I went wrong with the truffles, but it was somewhere! They didn’t cool quickly or evenly enough, and I couldn’t get them rolled into truffle shape, so eventually I gave up and went with the variation Sussman provides for hot chocolate. (So it still counts! Hah!) I made it with oat milk, my one true love. Very rich, quite bitter, decadently good.
Coffee Halvah: Another dessert where something went wrong! I’m not quite sure, but something went wrong in the process of mixing the tahini with the sugar syrup, and when it set, it was a layer of liquidy halvah on top of a layer of hardened sugar. It’s fine, I went back to it tonight and melted all of it again, and (fingers crossed) it worked this time. I can’t tell you exactly what it’s like to eat a bar of this, but I compulsively dipped my fingers and spoons in the mixture, so I think that might say it all.
Bonus Content: The oft-mentioned girlfriend holding my uncle’s cat, Jimi, a real bundle of very (very) soft joy (so soft).