We were so pleased and excited to have Misty Callies, a chef for the last thirty years, and co-founder and head chef of Zanzibar restaurant, as our guest chef this past week. Misty is down to earth, hard working, creative, and really fun to have in the kitchen. And, with close to 180 guests to serve, she didn’t stop moving once all morning. (Which is why the above photo is of Misty in some other kitchen that I swiped off Google-we were just too busy to have her pose for a photo!)
Misty and her husband have done some travelling, and her experiences with the rich and aromatic spices and flavors of middle eastern food inspired her to bring a local spin to the classic Mediterranean Fatteh. Traditional Fatteh uses dried and crispy pita bread, covered in roasted eggplant, hummus, and lamb meat balls sauced with a savory warm yogurt, and sprinkled with roasted pistachio nuts. To bring it local, Misty used Michigan northern white beans instead of garbanzo beans, and since eggplant wasn’t in season, and we were all out of the eggplant I had frozen in the fall, Misty substituted squash and home canned tomatoes, along with some roasted tomatoes from the fall that I was still hoarding in our freezer for something special. And, this was something special. Along with the white bean hummus and squash tomato stew, we used local yogurt, pita from Dearborn, and ground lamb from Ferris farms for the meat balls. We sourced all the spices we needed from the Ann Arbor People’s Food Co-op, which has a vast supply at reasonable prices. This dish was so good, I had a number of guests tell me it was one of the best Selma breakfasts they had enjoyed.
Misty’s second special was closer to home. Above, left, she topped a baked Kapnick Orchard’s apple with Zingerman’s farm cheese, toasted walnuts, and a sauce made from reduced Kapnick apple cider and Michigan dried cranberries, served with maple syrup donuts and a side of Green Things Farm’s hoop house greens. Although every part of this special was spot on delicious, I have to admit that the donuts Misty made were the absolutely best home made donuts I’ve eaten. Just to make sure, I ate at least five of them. good they were just the holes, and not the whole donut. On the right in the photo, is one of Selma’s house specials, Tacos Sancho, with bacon instead of Bier Kamp chorizo on this particular order.
Thanks to all the volunteers and guests for coming out and supporting the good food and good works of Selma Cafe. This week we have Susan Todoroff of Juicy Kitchen cooking us up some delicious specials.
Hope you are all enjoying this early spring, and looking forward to seeing you in our kitchen soon,
~Lisa