Star Tribune
Minnesota chef celebrating Eid at the Hewing with a special menu
He has a degree from the Culinary Institute of America and has spent time in Michelin-starred kitchens.
But Minneapolis chef Aref Zalatimo is still chasing what he considers the ultimate high bar set by one of his biggest food influencers: his grandma.
Eid lunches at her house in Jordan were something special.
“Growing up, lunch at my grandma’s house was always a big thing every year,” said Zalatimo, who is Palestinian and grew up in Amman. “Especially after Ramadan, and fasting that month — the whole family gathering for a big spread of rice and lamb and salads and hummus and spreads and just everything.”
To celebrate the Muslim holiday in Minneapolis this year, Zalatimo, who is executive sous chef at Tullibee, is taking over the Hewing Hotel restaurant’s menu on April 10 and 11.
Besides his grandma’s cooking, the dishes are inspired by memories of going out at night to experience “really abundant, beautiful spreads of food,” he said. “I wanted to show up in a way that was authentic to me back home, but also to the community here.”
After chef Marque Collins first approached him about taking over the menu for Eid, Zalatimo came up with an array of bold-flavored dishes, including a smoked mushroom hummus with black garlic, tuna kibbeh with compressed cucumbers, beef and pine nut stuffed eggplant and chicken thigh kebabs with pomegranate and tahini.
“I’m just really excited to be able to provide this experience and provide these flavors and just showcase the food,” he said.
Cumin lentils with crispy onions will also be on the menu, as well as his cinnamon grilled lamb kefta — which he reimagined for the home cook in a recipe below, formed on cinnamon sticks and baked in the oven.
“As they warm up, the juices from the meat and the cinnamon kind of marinates,” he said. “It’s also just a fun way to eat them.”
During the Hewing Eid dinners, diners can choose from the menu a la carte or pick a chef-curated tasting menu with five to seven courses, some served family-style and others on individual plates.
“My personal goal is to really deliver on the traditional old-world flavors in a fine dining setting,” Zalatimo said. “So a lot of these dishes are imagined with a farm-to-table kind of mind-set behind it and keeping things seasonal and local, but staying true to the tradition and the flavors of the cooking techniques.”
Eid Dinner at the Hewing
What: A special chef takeover for the holiday by Palestinian chef Aref Zalatimo.
When: April 10-11, 5-10 p.m.
Where: Tullibee, the restaurant inside the Hewing Hotel, 300 Washington Av. N., Mpls., hewinghotel.com/tullibee.
Tickets: Reservations are available through Open Table. Cost varies; order a la carte or the chef’s curated tasting menu.
Cinnamon Kefta Lollipops
Makes about 30.
From Tullibee chef Aref Zalatimo, who writes: “Meatballs in their different variations are a staple in almost every cuisine. The origins of this humble dish come from the need to stretch often expensive meat into something sustaining and flavorful for the whole family. For this rendition, I opted to use cinnamon sticks to flavor the meat while making it fun to eat and pretty to serve. This recipe calls for 7 Spice Blend (9 Spice Blend will work), which you can buy at your local Middle Eastern store. I like to pair the lollipops with fresh tzatziki, a drizzle of pomegranate molasses and some fresh parsley on top.” Note: A slice of bread is about an ounce. If you can’t find 7 Spice Blend, there are plenty of recipes online to make your own.
• 1 1/2 lb. ground lamb, beef or veal, or a combination
• 3 1/2 oz. white bread, any will do (see Note)
• 1 small onion
• 1 small tomato
• 1 small green chile
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 bunch parsley
• 1/2 bunch cilantro
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. oil, plus more for shaping meatballs
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 tsp. 7 Spice Blend (see Note)
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 30 cinnamon sticks, each about 4 to 5 inches
Directions
Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
Place meat in a bowl. In a food processor, pulse bread into crumbs. Add the onions, tomato, chile, garlic, parsley, cilantro, egg, oil, salt, pepper, 7 Spice Blend and cumin and pulse to a paste.
Pour paste onto the meat and mix gently with your hands until well incorporated.
Divide meat into 30 equal portions; each should be about the size of a golf ball. (Use oil on your hands to prevent sticking.)
Form the meat around the ends of the cinnamon sticks to form the shape of a football. One end of the cinnamon stick should be showing, making an easy handle when cooked.
Transfer to an oiled sheet tray and bake until the meat is cooked through and the outsides have browned nicely, about 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest for a couple of minutes before serving.
The University of Minnesota has postponed a scheduled Tuesday night lecture from infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci after pro-Palestinian protests that included some protesters barricading Morrill Hall the day before.
On Monday night, several hundred pro-Palestinian protesters gathered at the building, which houses the Minneapolis campus’ administrative offices, as Students for a Democratic Society used tied-up patio furniture to form giant barricades blocking the building’s large front windows and its entrances. The protesters demanded the U divest from companies with ties to Israel. At least 11 of the protesters were arrested.
The university decided to postpone Fauci’s lecture set for Tuesday night because of “unexpected and complicated incidents” over the past day, university spokesman Jake Rickersaid in an email.
“Given the importance of this lecture and the unexpected and complicated incidents that occurred on campus in the past 24 hours, University officials determined it best to reschedule to ensure a great experience for attendees and our University community,” Ricker said.
All tickets for the lecture will be voided and information about the rescheduled date will be posted later, the university said in an online post about the postponement. Pre-paid parking will be automatically refunded, the university added.
Additional pro-Palestinian protests took place Tuesday afternoon at the university in front of Coffman Memorial Union. The protests prompted university officials to temporarily close down at least a dozen buildings in a Tuesday alert. Those included: Coffman Union, Weisman Museum, Hasselmo Hall, Ford Hall, Vincent Murphy Hall, Tate Lab, Morrill Hall, Northrop Auditorium, Johnston Hall, Walter Library, Smith Hall, and Kolthoff Hall. All other East Bank campus buildings were switched to keycard access only, according to the alert.
An anti-Fauci rally had also been planned by conservative group Action 4 Liberty to coincide with the lecture at the university, but that was moved after the lecture was canceled.
Star Tribune
Aunt IDs 3-year-old who was fatally shot in Minneapolis home, speaks about what happened
A close relative on Tuesday identified the 3-year-old boy who was fatally shot this week in his family’s northeast Minneapolis apartment a day earlier.
Woods said police have told the family that Jajuan got ahold of the gun and it went off.
“Someone left a loaded gun [in the home,” said Woods, who has started an online fundraiser for her sister, Charlotte Williams. “He got ahold of it thinking it was a toy.”
Woods said her nephew, who went by Junior, “loved trucks and dinosaurs. He was just so silly and goofy. He was a momma’s boy.”
Jajuan suffered a gunshot wound to the top of the head, a source with knowledge of the incident told the Star Tribune. Paramedics rushed the toddler to HCMC, where he died a short time later.
Woods said she did not know who owned the gun.
Police spokesman Trevor Folke said Tuesday evening there have been no arrests and had no update to share in the “active and ongoing investigation.”
Bergman is championing efforts to boost literacy and invest in early childhood programming, and getting there, she said, requires financial sustainability, and that may mean closings and mergers. She attended last week’s finance committee meeting — as she’s done on a regular basis — and described the mention of “opportunity” as another rosy way of avoiding hard truths.
The district is spread too thin, she said. Some schools could take more students. Yet in others, class sizes are huge and caseloads so large that educators can’t build relationships with students and families, she said.
“I just fundamentally believe, and it’s been one of the objectives of my campaign, to be someone out in the community talking about this moment, listening to reactions, and listening for the places where families could get on board with the possibility of their beloved school having to close,” she said.
A way to get there, Bergman said, is by consolidating buildings, and in turn, expanding programming — perhaps not far from the school left behind.
Callahan argues that the mere mention of closings is causing families to leave the district: “This is not something that should be talked about so flippantly,” she said.
She said she would entertain the idea only if there also are plans to stabilize and recruit students, plus answers to three questions: How much money is being saved by closing a building? How many students will be retained if the school closes? And how many new students have to enroll to keep it open?
