Counter Culture

Cappuccino-style at Counter Culture‘s Coffee Camp.

Cappuccino from the Pilgrim's Coffee House on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne

I got to visit the Holy Island of Lindisfarne last week, and came across this little gem of a coffee shop there too.  You can read more about in the feature post Zomppa Lena and myself put together Irish, Scottish and English Sweet Stuff Explored.

This is a cappuccino from Mourne Grange coffee shop in the Irish Mourne mountains.  I will tell you more about this awesome place in a TidBit later this week

We are excited to welcome our newest guest contributor, Lena. Although born in England and raised on the US West Coast, Lena’s roots and heritage hail from the Middle East as she is a “tabbouleh” mix of Jordan and Iran, among other countries.  Lena recently started to document more closely the culinary traditions from her family background that goes back many generations, and we at Zomppa are so excited that she will be sharing some of her findings with us.

In my family nothing bonds us as well as food. In the regions of the Middle East where I’m from, many of my memories have to do with chopping, folding, steaming, cleaning, frying, grilling, and finally, eating luscious decadent FOOD. Last month I sat down with my Auntie Nahi and she bequeathed to me in detail several recipes from our native Jordan. I know few great cooks as she and so as I begin my culinary adventure in documenting some family dishes, I know I can’t do the great ones justice in the kitchen.

This recipe is called Kousa Mahshi Bil Laban, or in English, Stuffed Zucchini in Yoghurt Sauce. It heralds from the Levant region and should ideally be prepared with ground meat or lamb. Since I often shy away from handling meat I enjoy creating vegetarian alternatives, which is very easy when you’re working with such savory ingredients. (Blasphemous I know!)

The Okanagan Valley in British Columbia where my Aunti lives teems with orchards of all varieties and at this time of year squashes are in bloom. The zucchinis we need for this dish are not the yellow or long dark green kind, but the short fat light green kind. This way there is more zucchini to core out.

Stuffed Zucchini In Yoghurt Sauce

Stuffed Zucchini in Yoghurt Sauce

Servings (for six people)

Ingredients
12 short green zucchinis
1 cup short grain rice
1 medium onion, diced and browned
½ pound ground meat, browned, or for vegetarians 1 cup of brown lentils
1 ½ tspn salt
½ tsp pepper
1 tspn all spice (mixture of clove, cinnamon, and nutmeg)
1 tspn tumeric
3 cups beef broth, or onion or vegetable stock for vegetarians
Canola oil
½ cup pine nuts, browned (optional)

Sauce:
1 kg, or 1 tub, of plain stirred yoghurt (make sure it’s the pre-stirred variety or else it will curdle!)
6 garlic cloves
3 tspn dried mint

Directions
Soak the rice for several hours (with the lentils if you are making the vegetarian version), and then bring it to a boil. Once tender, drain the rice and add to a large mixing bowl. Add the fried onion and spices, then add browned ground meat. Mix until spices are distributed evenly.

Add some pine nuts, optionally.

Clean zucchinis and remove ends. Core the zucchini out so only the shell remains, being careful not to break the skin. Delicately stuff the rice mixture into the zucchini. Bring the broth in a big pot to medium heat and add the stuffed zucchinis to it. Cover pot and begin sauce.

In a stainless steal pot add the tub of stirred yoghurt and stir continuously until boiled, then reduce to low heat. Add the yoghurt to the zucchini broth mixture and let boil. In a frying pan heat the canola oil and add 6 cloves of smashed garlic to it. Add the dried mint. Once the garlic and mint has browned mix it into the yoghurt broth. Let the zucchinis cook on low heat for 45 minutes. When ready to serve, handle the zucchinis carefully so they don’t break. The sauce may be served in a separate bowl and as a sauce for the plated zucchinis.

See us on Hearth ‘n’ Hop!

Happy New Year: may you all be blessed with love, warmth, good health, laughter, and of course, good food!

I am an absolute novice when it comes to coffee. Remember, I’m the one with the baby taste buds and so yes, coffee has traditionally been too bitter for me. And it makes me pee like nobody’s business.

But when I heard there was two-day coffee camp at Counter Culture, the awesomest, coolest, happiest place, I jumped at the chance. Counter Culture is headquartered in Durham, NC and have training centers from New York to Atlanta. It was started in 1995 to challenge the existing paradigm of cheap, tasteless, lonely coffee. The founders imagined up a company with a passion for “coffee perfection…real sustainability…cutting-edge education.”

A company that hand-selects the best handcrafted coffees from around the world DIRECTLY from coffee farmers and not through anonymous coffee “buyers” and wholesalers? A company that cares about working conditions of its farmers AND the coffee experience of its consumers? A company that develops real relationships? Is that possible?

Folks as far as Wisconsin came for Counter Culture’s inaugural Counter Intelligence Camp, an incredible learning experience that included workshops on everything from the history and origins of coffee, to the coffee buying industry, to how to brew coffee in a gazillion ways. There were café owners, baristas, home enthusiasts. And me.

There is far more that I learned than I can fit here, so stay tuned for a next piece on my hands-on coffee fun. For now, I’m just blown away by the complete harmony between their ethics, philosophy, and action. They KNOW their coffee. They KNOW their farmers. They KNOW their stories. Many companies talk about being green, going organic, but how many actually live and breathe their talking points?

Counter Culture (I swear they are not paying me or even know I’m writing this, I don’t even buy coffee!) is the first coffee roaster to be certified organically in the state of North Carolina. What does certified organic even mean? Well, we’ve all heard the argument that you can be organic without being certified, and while technically true, it’s not so simple. Being certified is more than not using pesticides or using organic soil, it’s an entire philosophy. It’s about complete ecosystems in harmony.

Organic also impacts taste and flavor. I have heard from many coffee enthusiasts that Counter Culture’s coffee is truly one of the best, and this is no doubt in part due to the fact that they proactively reach out to farmers and hand-selects their crops. Their roasts can be seasonal because, well, it depends on what’s good, where it’s growing, and when. There’s no all-purpose blend of non-descript coffee remains. This is the real deal.

At the heart of everything they do are people, fairness, and sustainability. They set the bar, paying the highest prices to ensure the highest quality, partnering with each artisan farmer to ensure environmental, social, and fiscal responsibility. They investigate and evaluate every working condition, including seemingly small details like changing the chairs to be more ergonomic. One story that I was particularly touched was of an intrepid 30-something year old woman named Aida Battle who goes to El Salvador to run her family’s coffee farm without any previous experience and ends up with award-winning and record-setting coffee. Read about Aida here.

How many coffee roasters can equal that? Or the more important question is: why don’t other coffee roasters equal that? That is exactly what Counter Culture is trying to do: change the existing culture and current thinking that coffee should be cheap, tasteless and empty. Coffee is not just caffeine. It is about people; it is about life.

Note: local restaurant favorites with their own personalized coffees. Relationships are global AND local. It can be done.

Join the Rebellion.

Our main hangout joint ended up being Campo dei Fiori which is a square near Piazza Navona that is not quite as crowded and filled with tourists, and there’s a great little coffee shop there leading on to Piazza Farnese (where you will find the stunning French Embassy).  Our other lounging spot was in the Trastevere neighborhood where the people from Rome mostly hang out at night.

So, a day in the eternal city Kat and Sarah style commences with breakfast al bar: cappuccino and bombolone or cornetto (not the ice-cream but the croissant type thing).  You then proceed to walk around the Eternal City walking the cobble-stoned streets and taking in the sites for a couple of hours.  Side note and quick tip: 2nd week of August is the best time to be shopping in Rome as the sales are at their peak!!! Additional side note: 2nd week in August is also easily the hottest week in the year and you will just want to collapse after a couple of hours walking around so make sure you make lots of pit stops for coffees and granitas.

Wanting to keep food costs on the cheap side, lunch consisted of a “pizza al taglio” which is essentially a slice from a big rectangular pizza (check out the pic).  Topping selections vary, but caprese, prosciutto, quattro formaggi, melanzane (eggplant) are usually present on the list.  All of this washed down with a Coke, a European Coke with actual sugar in it and not corn syrup – tastes so much better.

After some more walking around and shopping, we decided to keep dinner on the light side seeing as it was still pretty hot by 10pm.  I opted for some rotoli of mozzarella di bufala with bresaola on a bed of rucola (arugola).  Very good choice and actually quite filling.  Sadly, I could not get a decent shot of the dish as it was too dark and I only had my iPhone with me.  On this particular day, I was so tired and full that I wasn’t able to make room for gelato.  Made up for it the next day though!

8:00 am: Wake up time. Nice shot of espresso and a couple of brioche hit the spot nicely. Sometimes, I alternate and hit the bar on the way to the beach for a cappuccino and bombolone.

8:45- 12:00: Hit the beach! The best thing is to show up before 9am when the beach is still relatively empty and you can get yourself placed in an area near the sea. The thing is, you have to choose carefully because those are also the spots that families want so that they can keep a close eye on the kids in the water. Once 10am strikes and you can no longer take the heat, it is time to have a quick dip in the sea to cool off. It’s then when you face the beach that you realize the beach is quickly filling up and your little territory on the beach is getting smaller and smaller. It is absolutely essential to place your bag and shoes by the top of the towel behind your head as otherwise you will get sand in your face as people walk past you to get to the sea. Once 10:45am strikes you start to notice that as the sun moves so does the shade from the beach umbrellas and then you have to maneuver your way around the shade if your goal is to sunbathe. By the time 11am strikes, you have to go in the water again as the heat just gets unbearable. In between all this you then have to also plan out when to put your sun and tanning lotion on… and so it goes.

12:30: Get home, shower off and put on after-sun lotion before sitting down to a nice plate of pasta alle vongole (baby clams) followed by a simple salad and fresh fruit for dessert. Close off lunch with a quick espresso, and then it’s off to bed for a little nap because the sea really tires you out after all…

3:30pm: You then hit the beach again and so the routine goes on with some variations of beach locations of course. This particular afternoon I decided to stay on rocks to the side of Balai beach where it’s a bit quieter.

7 pm: Get home, shower of again, etc… you get the idea.

9pm: Hit the pizzeria for some ice cold coke and a yummy pizza! Round it off with yet another espresso, and then we are off for a walk along the sea road and pick up a gelato on the way. My gelato choice last night was fresh strawberry and mandarin. The night before I had panna cotta and stracciatella.

So yes, I have been relaxing a lot on this vacation, and my tummy has been very happy indeed with the food I have been feeding it. The food and sea in Sardinia is hard to beat…

Ciao a tutti, e buona giornata!

Bewley’s itself have been importing and roasting the finest teas and coffees since 1840, and they pride themselves on having the highest quality teas and coffees on the Emerald Isle! As the cafe culture has exploded over the past decade or so, they have added espressos, cappuccinos, etc, to their selection of coffees.  My cappuccino was beautifully presented and delicious, even if a little wet for my palette, but the sheer atmosphere of the saloon room we were in made up for that as did the fresh apple and berries crumble – YUM!

I should add that Bewleys is also quite the pioneer in the area of social corporate responsibility in Ireland.  In 2008 the company became Ireland’s first fully certified Carbon Neutral coffee company. The programme removes up to 3,500 tonnes of carbon dioxide from the world we live in every year.

Ok, so have I convinced you about the importance of visiting Bewleys cafe, should you happen to be in Dublin?  You will not be dissapointed, I assure you.  Actually, the only dissapointment might be a long wait as it is such a popular place.

I took this picture of my cafe macchiato as I departed from Milan airport on my most recent trip to Italy.  Every trip I take back to the land of my birth just reminds me over and over again how much I miss the daily good cappuccino experiences in the U.S, particularly here in DC, where I live. With the exception of perhaps 3 places: Cafe Bonaparte, Leopold’s Kafe, and the now gone Murky Coffee (soon to be  replaced by Wrecking Bull Coffee in Chinatown), we are pretty much stuck with a Starbucks on each block.

As a result, I have been left no other choice than to start making my own! My colleague and I decided to invest in a Breville Cafe Roma Espresso Machine a couple of months ago, and have never looked back since! 10am at the office is always ‘cappuccino time’ now. I have resolved to make it my personal mission to introduce good cappuccinos to my fellow colleagues and basically anyone that comes to our office for meetings now.

So, I guess you could add Suite 701 to the list of good places to get cappuccinos in DC!

Any other places? pray tell…