Michael Nassar

The Bengal Lancers date their beginnings back to 1787 when the Nawab Wazir of Oudh created Bengal’s first regiment of cavalry and then further developed his horsemen into a whole army of cavalry regiments.  In 1865, by then under control of the British Indian Army, the force was expanded and reorganized with five regiments of cavalry becoming classified as proper Lancers.

While the majority of cavalry regiments carried guns, the Lancers were unique in that they were armed with bamboo lances between ten and eleven feet long and weighing just four pounds.  Lancers were able to jump hedges, cross ditches, scale walls and other obstacles and thus simply armed they were able to fight with an elegance that became legendary throughout the Empire.  From Abyssinia to Peking and Egypt to Persia the Bengal Lancers drew distinction as a fighting force but by the beginning of the 20th Century the needs of the Empire were changing and Lancer regiments were being decommissioned.  The last regiment of the Bengal Lancers left the service of the Crown in 1903.

The Lancers themselves may be a thing of the past but a trace of that legend lives on in the Stockbridge area of Edinburgh.  Of the many thousands of Indian restaurants in the UK, Lancers Brasserie has been called one of the best Indian restaurants in Great Britain as well as voted Best Indian Restaurant in Scotland.  Unassuming and incredibly friendly, the gorgeous dining room alongside the Water of Leith is a spot to seek out when you get a craving for a real curry or the intricate flavors of North Indian cuisine. (trust me:  the iPhone failed me here; these dimly lit photos do not do it a shred justice.)

Sabzi tikka:  shallow-fried vegetable fritters.

Chana on puri:  chick peas cooked with green herbs, medium-hot spices, and served with puffed fried bread.

Sabzi pakura:  deep-fried balls of flour, vegetables and spices.

Misti sag:  fresh butternut squash, cooked with green herbs, garnished with a touch of fresh ginger and green chilies.

Chingree massalam:  freshwater king prawns cooked with sliced garlic, fresh green chilies, coriander, chopped green peppers, spices, herbs and butternut squash.

Start with a freshly-baked white or brown roll at Oink, just off the Royal Mile on Victoria Street.  Spread a layer of sage stuffing or haggis on one side before stuffing it full of tender, juicy roast pig.  Top it with sweet onion marmalade or spicy chili jam and voila! – the best pig in town.  Plus at 3£50 it’s also one of the best lunch deals in town, too.

David Thompson has literally written the book on Thai  food in the UK, so I was excited to finally try nahm, his Michelin-starred restaurant – the only Michelin-starred Thai in Europe, by the way – at London’s posh Halkin Hotel in Belgravia.  As expected, it did not disappoint – especially as on the advice of the waiter I opted for the nahm arharn, a traditional Thai meal in which a selection dishes designed to whet the palate are served family-style.  It’s a luxury lunch to be sure but well worth it:  Thompson reveals the subtle complexity of Thai food.  I’d seriously rank it up there with French and Chinese as one of the great cuisines of the world.

An amuse bouche of vegetables, tamarind and palm sugar atop pineapple triangles and stuffed into mandarin segments.

Another amuse:  a chiffonade of vegetables, jalapeno peppers and coriander wrapped in spicy leaves and eaten like a wrap.

Geng Gwia Warn Plaa Grapong Tort:  a green curry of crispy sea bass with white turmeric and Thai basil.

Geng Gari Gai:  an aromatic curry of chicken and potatoes with cucumber relish.

Cucumber relish:  the perfect sweet and sour antidote to the fiery curry.

Yam Pak:  a salad of assorted vegetables dressed with tamarind, palm sugar and sesame seeds.

Pat Het Ton Grataim:  stir-fried girolles and king oyster mushroom with morning glory.

Korng Warn:  fresh fruit for dessert, including rambutan, papaya, and jackfruit.

Korng Warn:  young coconut pudding with sweet corn is served alongside ash pudding, an old fashioned Thai desert made from – you guessed it – ashes.

Braised Ayrshire pig’s nose with parsley sauce and lemon.  Yes, you read that right – for breakfast.

Had I waited – instead of consuming all of yesterdays beautiful peaches in two particularly juicy and gluttonous sittings – I could have taken advantage of this simple yet ever so clever ice box recipe that arrived in my email today, courtesy of the kitchn:  last minute ice cream.  It sounds like an ideal way to use the last of the season’s fruit to whip up – quite literally – a cool treat to beat the summer heat.  I’ve got peaches on the brain right now but consider strawberries, blueberries or raspberries – all of which are now at their peak.

Last Minute Ice Cream – makes 3 cups, about 6 servings

Combine 1 1/2 cups plain yogurt, 1 cup ripe peaches, 1 tablespoon heavy cream, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla in a food processor, or by hand.  Spoon into serving cups and place in the freezer for up to 30 minutes. Serve with garnish of your choice.

Earlier in the year I posted about the amazing sight of fruit trees in my friend’s backyard in Red Hook, Brooklyn.  Well, the peaches are finally ripe and ready for picking.  My kitchen is now full of their fragrant scent – but not for long; one of the great joys of picking ripe fruit is savoring that all-too-fleeting moment of sensory perfection.

Ten years ago this week I had one of the best assignments of my early writing life. By luck I had a connection to Alain Ducasse at the time he was opening his first restaurant in  New York.  The foodie world was agog; not only because in the year Y2K Chef Ducasse held the record for Michelin stars accorded to a single chef but also because the menu would be a chefs tasting at the then-astronomical price of $160 per person.  My ability to score a table enabled me to land an assignment to write about it for Time Out New York, itself just a start-up in the city at the time and not yet enough of a coveted outlet to warrant the chef’s attention.

Needless to say, it was divine.  And while the city and I have gone on to bigger, bolder and more expensive meals in the ensuing decade, you always remember your first, right?  In fact, it was with a semi-famous actress that I first went to Ducasse, attempting to woo her into appearing in a play I was producing – as though  our posh surroundings were any indication of what was on offer to her theatrically.  She politely turned me down, nevertheless we had one of those amazing only-in-NYC evenings that ended with the dining room captain handing her a shopping bag as we left.  Outside the restaurant she ripped open the bag and removed a large item elegantly wrapped in tissue paper.  It was a cake, we discovered.  And soon  thereafter it slipped from her hands and fell rolling into the gutter of Central Park South.  She chased it down, hastily wrapping it back in tissue and returning it to the bag as though nothing had happened.  Then in her haughtiest imitation of Lauren Bacall, she gave her hair a toss before heading off down the block:  “Don’t you even think I’m not still going to eat it.”

Read the full story HERE. (then click on the image to enlarge)

The Finger Lakes region in Upstate New York is well-known in certain circles for its spirited – and often wonderfully bizarre – summer festivals, which celebrate everything from peppermint, garlic and balloons, to pirates, dog artists, and road racing.  And let’s not even mention the rutabaga curling.

Here are a just a few of the choice festivals that can keep you occupied through the summer and beyond.

Eric Canal Pirate Weekend: A full weekend of pirating adventures, including the Pillage ‘N the Village Bed Race Regatta, the Pirate & Kazoo Band Parade, a Pirate Window Painting Contest, canal boat rides, Goonies in the park,  walking tours, pirate tales, live music, food, children’s games and more.  Palmyra, NY, August 6 – 8.

Garlic Festival: Where else can one feast on food laced with fresh garlic,  enjoy farm vendors and garlic farmers ready to sell their wares, watch garlic cooking demonstrations, and mingle with a fun bunch of garlic-loving people? At the Fox Run Vineyards 18th Annual Garlic Festival – the second largest garlic festival in the world.  Penn Yan, NY, August 7 – 8.

90th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment: A commemoration and celebration of the passage of the 19th amendment that gave women the right to vote in the part of the country that got it all started – the Finger Lakes. Susan B. Anthony House, Rochester, August 21.

New York State Festival of Balloons: Witness the thrill of dozens upon dozens of hot air balloons unleashed upon the Finger Lakes. The Labor Day Weekend-festival is coupled with crafts, live entertainment and great food in Dansville, the community where Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross.  Dansville, NY, September 2 – 5.

Vintage Grand Prix Festival: Motor enthusiasts from all over the world come to celebrate the Finger Lakes racing heritage at the home of the rebirth of American Road Racing. Along with the Grand Prix Festival are major Stone Bridge Driver Events, which are rally races, tours and runs that take place around the original road course that started on the streets of Watkins Glen.  Watkins Glen, NY, September 10.

Slice, Dice and Spice NY: Slice, Dice and Spice NY is a cooking competition designed to show the culinary talents and assets of the Finger Lakes region. Nine teams consisting of four foodies and one professional chef from around the Finger Lakes on each team will compete in an iron-chef like competition at the New York Wine and Culinary Center.  Canandaigua, NY, September 13 & 19.

Dundee Scottish Festival: Due to its strong Scottish heritage and a landscape reminiscent of the Scottish Highlands, it was only a matter of time before Dundee hosted a Scottish festival. Their first ever Scottish festival will offer bagpipes, Scottish cuisine, music, dancing and merriment, with bands like North Sea Gas from Scotland (pictured) and The City of Washington Pipe Band from DC.  Dundee, NY, September 18.

Naples Grape Festival: Can people spend a whole two days celebrating a grape? Apparently they can in Naples, NY – the area credited for creating the grape pie. This one-of-a-kind festival includes everything from grape pie contests and grape foods, to wine tastings and music. You can also get up close and personal during the grape stomping.  Naples, NY, September 25 – 26.

Newark Valley Annual Apple Fest: Step back in time to the 1800′s in Owego, NY – voted as the country’s coolest small town – as exhibitors dress in period costumes to provide a glimpse of how people lived 150 years ago. Demonstrations include blacksmithing, open hearth cooking, spinning and weaving, black powder shooting, soap making and more. Lots of music on multiple stages featuring bluegrass, folk,  and celtic bands. Owego, NY, October 2 – 3.

Regular readers might recall my virgin attempts at pickling earlier in the spring.  Having just consumed the last of the pickled ramps some three months after the experiment – with a really nice piece of aged goat cheese – I can honestly say that it turned out to be a great way to extend the life of those ethereal spring onions.

The newly empty canning jar, however, turned my thoughts to wondering what’s in season right now.  Blueberries, which a week ago were as expensive as semi-precious stones, are suddenly everywhere and cheap as chips.  They’re bursting with sweet berry flavor, too – which means this long hot summer has kicked the growing season up a few weeks.  I’m thinking crumble, pie, cobbler; but more urgently I’m thinking I don’t want to turn on the oven.  Eventually I figured out that using the cook top I could make a syrup, which would not only be more in line with my attempts at seasonal preserves but also a significantly less intense dose of heat infusing my already overheated apartment.  And yet again, like with the pickling, I was pleasantly surprised at how easy the whole affair turned out to be:  5 cups of berries mashed up with 1 cup of water and simmered for 20 minutes.  Drain through a sieve and reserve the liquid, discarding the solids. Rinse the pot, adding two cups of water, two cups of sugar, the zest of a lemon and bring to a medium boil.  Add reserved berry liquid, a few tablespoons of lemon juice and cook for one minute.  Remove from heat, let cool, then discard zest and pour into bottles.  Voila!

In addition to these two bottles, which should last for six months in the fridge, I got the accidental benefit of some fresh jelly, too.  “Leave to cool,” you should know means just that:  let it cool down and then pour into storage containers.  I on the other hand left it to cool for most of the day.  As a result when I finally checked up on my syrup a gelatinous skin of jelly about an inch thick had formed  across the top.  It tasted intense and looked eminently spreadable, so I put it in a jar for later.  The syrup, I am happy to report, is rich, thick, and bursting with a concentrated ripe-fruit flavor. Now I’m craving pancakes, as well as musing on all the  items that will get the blueberry treatment in the coming months.