Scandinavian Sweet Fruit Soup - Søtsuppe

I don't think I've ever written a blog post from my desk in the reading room at school before, but today is an exceptionally gray and dreary day, and I'm feeling particularly ambivalent about the development of the French Academy in the 17th century (that was already too much information, wasn't it?). Anyway, the one thing that does make me happy right now is knowing that I have a couple more bowls of this soup waiting for me at home. Because it's an old truism that we crave what we can't readily have, and for me, that's always good fruit in winter. Since I'm no miracle worker, I often settle for dried fruit. Dried fruit has never been as delicious as it is in this recipe.


I could go on and on about how flippin' delicious this stuff is. How you can serve it warm and cold and how both have their charms. And believe me, all of that is the gosh darn truth. This stuff is addicting, and satisfying and it just brightens moods. But one of the best parts about it is the pie-crust croutons floating on top. I feel like I'm bringing a certain chocolate tart up a lot lately, but if you do make it, you'll probably end up with some extra Super Delicious pie crust that you won't want to throw away. So instead, you might roll it out and using your smallest cookie cutter, make little rounds to be sprinkled with rock sugar and popped in the oven.


If you do that, you'll have no excuse not to make a wonderfully heady and deeply spiced Scandinavian Sweet Fruit Soup to go with your sweet croutons. Actually, one possible obstacle could conceivably be the location of pearl tapioca (how many times did I have to explain that I just wanted the pearls, not the pudding, to the people at the various grocery stores? Many.) So save yourself some hassle and if you have access, head directly to Whole Foods. They have it there. They might even know where it is when you ask. If you can't find it, please don't let that stop you. I'll admit it adds a little something, but it's only a little something, and the soup will be equally delicious without it.


Scandinavian Sweet Soup - Søtsuppe
Recipe and idea for the pie-crust croutons from About Scandinavian Food

5 cups water
1/2 cup dried apples, finely chopped
1/2 cup raisins or currents
1/2 cup dried apricots, finely chopped
1/2 cup pitted prunes, finely chopped
1 heaping tablespoon pearl tapioca
1 cinnamon stick
1 star anise
1 cup fruit juice (apple or cranberry, or even lingonberry if you can get it. I used apple)

In a large pot, boil the water and add the dried fruit, the tapioca, the cinnamon stick, and the star anise. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 25 minutes. Stir in the fruit juice and continue to warm for an additional 5 minutes. Remove the cinnamon and the star anise. Serve with pie crust croutons (see below).

For the Pie Crust Croutons

Roll out your leftover pie crust, or scraps of any rolled cookie, use your smaller cookie cutter to cut out little croutons. Brush them with a little water or egg white and sprinkle with cinnamon and pearl sugar if you have some of that laying around as well. Bake in an oven preheated to 350F for 5-10 minutes (depending on the size of your croutons). They should be a light golden brown. Serve floating atop a bowl of søtsuppe.

Mousse au Chocolate

My first job outside of babysitting was working for my dad. He created a special position just for me, where he set me up in one of the spare rooms at his office and stacked loads of letters on one side and loads of envelopes on the other. Envelope stuffing. Looking back, it was a pretty good incentive to stay in school and do my best. I did not want a life-time of stuffing envelopes in my future. The perk was always lunch, I usually got to choose, and at one particular favorite, something of a Denver institution actually, Le Central, I had my first mousse au chocolate. The Le Central version was studded with toasted hazelnuts, and perhaps they used some kind of hazelnut liquor (like Frangelico?) in place of the whiskey in the recipe below. Come to think of it, that's not such a bad idea (keep in mind for next time).


Mousse au chocolate is no pudding. It's lighter in texture but more decadent. And R has been whining about getting some for a long, long time. In fact, you remember that wonderful chocolate tart from a couple of weeks ago? That was a compromise. Because he could have done without the crust and just dug into a big pot of filling. And it's really not hard to put together. I mean, yes, there's a fair amount of whipping, but not having to make a crust does save time. And mousse au chocolate is best made ahead of time, anyway, because it needs a few hours in the fridge to set up. Making it ideal for having people over. So we did.


Mousse au Chocolate
From Cook's Illustrated via Orangette

8 oz. bittersweet chocolate (60% cacoa is recommended and Ghirardelli is a good bet) finely chopped
2 Tbsp. Dutch-processed cocoa powder (Make sure it's Dutch-processed, not natural.)
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
5 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon whiskey, brandy, or even Frangelico (I'm going to try Frangelico next)
2 large eggs, separated
1 tablspoons sugar, divided
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons cold heavy cream
Lightly sweetened whipped cream for serving

In a heatproof bowl that you can set over a double boiler, combine the chocolate, cocoa powder, espresso powder, water and liquor. Place the bowl over a saucepan of about an inch of gently simmering water. Stir to combine the ingredients, until the mixture is smooth, then remove from the heat.

In a second medium bowl, combine the egg yolks, 1 1/2 teaspoons of the sugar and the salt. Beat until the mixture turns a pale yellow and begins to thicken, about 30 seconds. Pour the melted chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and whisk together until combined. Set aside for 5 minutes, until it's just warmer than room temperature.

In the meantime, using either a standing mixer with the whisk attachment or a hand-held, in a very clean bowl, beat the egg whites on medium-low speed until they froth. Add the remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar, then increase the spead of the mixer to medium-high and beat until the soft-peak stage. Using a rubber spatual, fold about 1/4 of the egg whites into the chocoalte misture. Then fold in the rest until only a few white streaks remain.

You can use the same mixer bowl for the next step. Whip the heavy cream at medium spped until it starts to thicken, then increase the speed to high. Whip until soft peaks form and it looks like, well, whipped cream. Using the same rubber spatula, fold all of the whipped cream into the mousse until completely combined. Spoon into individual serving dishes, top with extra whipped dream, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to an entire day.

Fruited Meat Loaf

So meat loaf. What in the world. And dried fruit in your meat loaf? I think R may have actually squinched up his nose at the thought. I couldn't even tell him that instead of ketchup I was using a mixture of Dijon mustard and apricot preserves. There is no way that was going to fly. Luckily we had last minute dinner guests, so I wasn't really asking for opinions. And of course he loved it. And of course he didn't admit his resounding wrongness. Admit it, R, admit it.

I guess it's not really much to look at, but I don't find big hunks of meat, loafed or otherwise, to be particularly beautiful in general. Anyway, you can leave the aesthetics for dessert, where they're always more appreciated. Tomorrow I'll give you a seriously great suggestion for finishing this meal off right. Promise.

Meat Loaf with Mustard and Dried Fruit
From Bon Appétit, October 1998 (the original recipe serves two, but I doubled it for four. Here is the doubled version)

20 ounces lean ground beef
1 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup chopped mixed dried fruits (I used apricots, prunes, currents and apples)
2 large eggs
6 tablespoons chopped shallots (about half a large shallot)
4 tablespoons Dijon mustard, divided
2 teaspoons crumbled dried sage leaves
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 tablespoons apricot preserves (I used apricot/orange preserves)

Oven preheated to 425F. In a medium bowl, use your hands to work together the beef, breadcrumbs, fruit, eggs, shallots, 2 tablespoons of the mustard, sage, salt and pepper. Shape the mixture into 4 oval loaves, about 1 inch thick. Place on a baking sheet.

Bake the meat loaves for 10 minutes. In the meantime, mix the preserves with the remaining 2 tablespoons of mustartd. Remove the loaves from the oven and brush the preserves mixture on top, usuing it all up. Return to the oven and bake for another 8 minutes or so, until cooked through.

Norwegian Wine and Cardamom Sugar Waffles

I have a project for you this weekend. Instead of making your waffles for breakfast, you're going to make them for dessert, okay? You're going to get a Norwegian waffle iron (which is not the same as the Belgium kind, because with Norwegian waffles, you want them thin and in this case crisp. Oh, and heart-shaped, of course.) and you're going to mix together a waffle batter spiked with white wine and two generous teaspoons of cardamom. You heard right, a waffle batter of wine and cardamom. Oh, and butter. Plenty of butter. You're welcome in advance.


And once you do that, you can eat all of your magnificent sugar waffles yourself, or you can dole them out to friends on the condition of later favors. Or you can share with your family, if they agree to do the dishes, which aren't many anyway. You wouldn't want to drown these in syrup, and they're in no need of extra butter. In fact, they're rather wonderful once you've let them cool completely (on cooling racks so they stay crisp) and eaten more like cookies. I know we've had a bit of a challenge with that last apple cake, and this sugar waffle recipe comes from the same book. My new favorite cookbook, with plenty more recipes already marked. (Tusen takk svigerfar og svigermor!)


Norwegian Sugar Waffles with White Wine and Cardamom
From Arne Brimi and Ardish Kaspersin's Norwegian National Recipes

8 oz flour
8 oz sugar
2 sticks melted butter
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons cardamom
1/2 teaspoon nutmet
1 teaspoon ginger
4 eggs
1/4 cup white wine

In a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients (the flour, sugar and spices). In a separate medium bowl, beat the eggs and melted butter together, then add the wine. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until well combined. Refrigerate for around two hours.

Preheat your waffle iron and spray with cooking spray or rub with melted butter. dollop a spoonful of the waffle batter in the center of the waffle iron and spread it around a little. Fry in the waffle iron until golden brown. Cool on wire racks so they become crispy. Store in an airtight container to retain the crisp. Enjoy!

Norwegian Applecake with a Twist

So I can't say this cake was a complete success, nor was it a failure. And it was partly my fault, partly not. The recipe comes from a book I'll be spending some quality time with. Already have, in fact, with a particularly spectacular recipe that's on deck for publishing in the next couple of days. So the book can be trusted. I received it as a birthday gift from my parents-in-law back in October. But you'll remember that was during the black hole of orals, so I'm only just now getting to know it. Anyway, it assumes a certain amount of kitchen know-how, most of which I have, some of which, it turns out, I don't. For example, this cake would have been better made in a round spring-form pan, not in a loaf pan. It's a delicate butter batter crowned by heaps of apple. Apple which tends to render its juice into the cake, and in the case of a loaf pan, soaking it all the way through in the middle. Next time I would probably toss the grated apple with a bit of corn starch to help absorb the juices.


But the crusty part was Delicious. De. Licous. The essence of apple, so it's important to use wonderful ones. I chose Pink Ladies, because come on, Pink Ladies. There can't be anything wrong with an apple called Pink Lady, and they tend to be good for baking. And speaking of apples, I very much suggest you use a food processor to grate them. Then, in order to further avoid the soggies, don't use the mashed bits that tend to collect around the sides, but only the ribbons. Ribbons of pink lady to crown your Norwegian apple cake and soak up the drizzle of orange juice. That's the twist.

Norwegian Applecake with a twist (Eplekakae med vri)
From Arne Brimi and Ardis Kaspersen's Norwegian National Recipes

2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 stick melted butter
3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
6 apples
3/4 cup powdered sugar
Orange juice for the glaze (I used the juice of one large navel orange)

Separate the eggs, then beat the egg whites until stiff. Add the egg yolks and sugar, as well as the melted butter, flour and bakin gpowder. Stir well and pour into a round spring-form pan. Peel the apples and cut around the core. Grate them coarsely and heap on top of the batter in the pan.

The oven should be preheated to 350F. Bake the cake for one hour. In the meantime, make a thin powdered sugar glaze by melting the powdered sugar and orange juice together in a small saucepan until the sugar is dissolved. Remove the cake from the oven and drizzle the glaze over the top. Remove from the pan and serve.

Note: Next time, I would put the apple shreds in a dishtowel and squeeze out the extra juice so that the cake doesn't get soggy. If you try this recipe, definitely take this step.

Quinoa with Sundried Tomatoes and Feta

Are you watching the Opening Ceremonies? Or I suppose once this post reaches you, it would be more accurate to say Did you watch the Opening Ceremonies? They say Norway is the most winningest country in the Winter Olympics. Of course, if there's one thing Norway has, it's winter. But this is a fact that R is very proud of, and I'm pretty sure he's parked himself permanently on the couch to watch Norway trounce the rest of the world for the next two weeks or so. He can literally watch those Norwegians skiing around in circles during the biathlon for Hours. And Hours, and Hours. It's an impresive feat of stamina on all counts.


All Time Winter Standings: Norway has won 280 medals, with Russia in second with 217 and the US with 216. That's pretty good for a country for 4.7 million people, even I can admit that. Is this at all related to food? Not in the slightest. But I mean, come on. The Olympics.

So with no clever segue, I'll mention that I like to have these grain salads around during the day. Say, when your husband is too busy watching his home country dominate to want to go anywhere or do anything, for example. (How's that for a belated transition?) They can be eaten warm or cold, as an entire meal or as a compliment. I tend to make them entire meals, especially if I'm alone.


The recipe comes, once again, from The Eat-Clean Diet Cookbook even though I am very against diets. So in protest, I threw in a generous helping of feta cheese, which, I suppose, is not considered to be "clean eating." But it is good eating, so there. Also, I used red quinoa because I had it, and because it's cool looking. Otherwise, there's no appreciable difference between the red kind and the tan kind. Use what's convenient.

Quinoa with Sundried Tomatoes and Feta
Slightly adopted from Tosca Reno's The Eat-Clean Diet Cookbook

1 teaspoon olive oil
8 sundried tomatoes, chopped
2 minced shallots (I used green onions because I had them)
1 clove garlic, minced
2 cup vegetable broth (or any broth), or water
1 cup dry quinoa
Pinch cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon salt
Fresh ground black pepper
Feta cheese, as much as you'd like

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the tomatoes, shallots and garlic and sauté for 3-5 minutes until the shallots are soft. Add the stock and bring to a boil. Add the quinoa and cayenne pepper. Bring back to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. The liquid should be fully absorbed. Stir in the salt, pepper, cilantro and feta and serve.

Whole Wheat Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips

I've really wanted to get into baking with whole grains more lately. To be honest, I really dig them, you know? There's more texture, more flavor, more personality or something. But I'm not even going to pretend that using whole wheat flour made this bread even remotely healthy, because R dumped half a bag of bittersweet chocolate chips into it. He says he would have preferred it with white flour, but I really enjoyed the whole wheat. No, really. I did. I Did! See above where I go on about texture and flavor and personality.

Whatever, dudes, if you want to use white flour, use white flour (but you'll want to tone down the sweetener if you do). But I'm telling you, give whole wheat a chance. The worse thing that happens is that you eat some whole wheat banana bread with chocolate in it. You'll be okay. (And don't forget, bananas should be almost black. I know you know.)

Whole Wheat Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips
The banana bread recipe comes from here, but the dump of chocolate chips was all R

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup packed light or dark brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extreact
3-4 mashed, very ripe bananas, whatever you have turning in your fruit bowl
1/4 cup honey
2 large eggs
2 cups whole wheat flour
Chocolate chips according to how many you want

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a 9x5" loaf pan.

Beat together the butter, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla. Add the banana, honey and eggs and beat until smooth. Add the flour, then stir in the chocolate. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and let it rest at room temperature for about 10 minutes.

Bake for 1 hour, until it passes the toothpick test. Remove from the oven and let cool for a bit, then turn it out of the pan and cool on a rack.

Baked Cherry Tomatoes, Even in Winter

I know there's a lot of talk about eating locally and in season when possible. And with tomatoes, it seems to be doubly important. I fully blame those watery, even sour, near-white-in-the-center grocery tomatoes for the number of people who claim to hate them. So usually I forgo tomato recipes during the winter unless I can use the canned variety. But if you need a fix, and you find a couple of pints of beautiful little cherry tomatoes, roasting them in the oven with a shower of olive oil, garlic and bread crumbs will, I promise you, bring them to life. Even if it's horrible and snowing and gray outside.


And if it is snowing and horrible and gray outside, and you're stuck inside, say, with not a lot to do, and you feel like fussing around A Lot with your cherry tomatoes, this is the dish for you. The steps are easy, the ingredients common. The method? A little bit of a pain. But not that much. Not with some music on in the background and a chair pulled up to the table. Just embrace slicing through all of those tomatoes and methodically arranging them cut-side up in a single layer on the bottom of your pan.


Pomodorini Cilegie al Forno, or Baked Cherry Tomatoes
From Susan Simon's Contorni

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, passed through a press
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 pints cherry tomatoes
2 tablespoons dried bread crumbs

Whisk together the olive oil, garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper in a bowl.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Get comfortable and cut the tomatoes in half crosswise. Place them together tightly, cut-side up in one layer on the bottom of a 17"x 11" (9"x 13" will also work). Spoon the olive oil mixture over the top of the tomatoes, then sprinkle with the breadcrumbs.


Bake the tomatoes until the olive oil is golden and the breadcrumbs browned. About 1 hour. Dig in.

Chocolate Tart

The thing about some death by molten triple layer gooey chocolate desserts is that they can be a little...much. I mean, I love me some chocolate, but I'd rather be able to eat an entire serving and not feel ill or 10 lbs heavier afterward. In many ways, simplicity can be even more important when it comes to chocolate. A chocolate tart such as this, for example, is pure simplicity without being a heavy brick of pure decadence.


The recipe comes from Simon Hopkinson's Roast Chicken and Other Stories, which is one of those memoir-type books where the recipes aren't so much meant to represent the end-all of, say, a roast chicken. Instead, it's a pretty personal little collection, one cook's favorites. I was worried, at first, that we'd have a death by chocolate situation on our hands with this tart, but I was wrong. It's lighter than it looks, you might even be able to put away two slices if you're a super-glutton (like me). Anyway, you don't have to worry about being murdered by your food here. I wouldn't do that to you.


Chocolate Tart
From Simon Hopkinson's Roast Chicken and Other Stories

For the crust:
3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 egg yolks
2 scant cups all-purpose flour

For the chocolate filling:
3 egg yolks
2 whole eggs
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter
7 oz dark, buttersweed chocolate, broken into pieces

For the pastry:
Put the butter, sugar and egg yolks into the bowl of a food processor and pulse together quickly. Add the flour and blend until it forms a homogenous paste. Chill for at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Roll out the pastry as thinly as possible, and large enough to easily fill an 8" tart pan (use the kind with the removable bottom. Those things rock.) Transfer the dough to the tart pan and line with parchment paper. Use dried beans to weigh the paper down, and blind bake the pastry for about 25 minutes. It should be a pale buscuit color, but thorouly cooked through. Remove the tart pan and remove the beans and paper. Increase the heat to 375F.

For the filling:
Beat together vigorously the egg yolks, whole eggs and sugar in a bowl. This is best done with an electric mixer. The mixture should be very thick and fluffy. Melt the butter and sugar together in the top of a double boiler, stirring until the mixture is mooth. Pour the just-warm chocolate mixture into the egg mixture. Beat together the egg and chocolate mixture until well combined, then pour into the pastry shell. Bake in the oven for 5 minutes, remove and let cool.

Caramelized endive with Proscuitto

For some reason, endive in New York is strangely...available. I mean, in a city where three places in a row might run out of kale in the middle of winter, I can always find endive. I don't get it either. But the result is that I've had my eye out for some way to use them, other than just throwing them in a salad, for about a year now. Sometimes you can't rush these things, and you have to wait for the right recipe to come to you. Well here it is.

Endive is a bit bitter, coming from the chicory family and all. But if you caramelize it on the stove top in butter and sugar before baking it with a filling of Parmesan cheese, cream and breadcrumbs (oh, and Proscuitto) that bitterness is only one element in a veritable symphony of tastes. (Could I get any cheesier? Probably.) And did I mention that this is a great recipe for a dinner party, since it can be made almost completely in advance and then just thrown in the oven? Well, it's a great recipe for a dinner party. It's also another recipe from Ottolenghi, and proves once again why a trip out there would be well worth it. One day, one day.


Caramelized Endive with Prosciutto
Only very slightly adopted from Ottolenghi

6 Belgian endives, cut in half lengthwise
1/3 stick (40g) unsalted butter
4 teaspoons sugar
50g breadcrumbs (you have a scale, right? If not, it's time to get one. Trust me. Worth it.)
70g Parmesan cheese, grated
2 tablespoons thyme leaves
1/2 cup heavy cream (whipping cream) (120ml)
12 thin slices of Prosciutto or Serrano ham
Olive oil for drizzling
2 teaspoons chopped flat-leaf parsley (optional for garnish)
Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400F (200C). Line a baking tray large enough to hold all of the endive halves in one layer with parchment paper.

First we're going to caramelize the endives. Depending on the size of your pan, you'll probably need to do this in two batches. In which case, simply use half the butter and half the sugar per batch. Heat the butter and sugar in a pan over high heat until the butter starts to bubble. Immediately place half of the endive halves cut side down in the pan. Cook them for 2-3 minutes until they're golden and well caramelized. You may want to push down on them a little with a spatula. Remove the halves to your parchment-lined baking tray and place them cut-side up. Repeat with remaining endive halves.

Sprinkle the caramelized endives with a little salt and pepper once they're all on the baking tray.

In a medium bowl, mix together the breadcrumbs, Parmesan, thyme, cream, 1/4 teaspoons salt and a good pinch of pepper. Spoon the mixture over the endives, and when I say spoon, I mean use your fingers to kind of mound it on. That's the easiest way to go, I think. Top with one slice each of Prosciutto. The dish can be prepared to this point in advance, which (did I already say this?) makes it a great choice for a dinner party.

Roast in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until the endives are soft. Serve hot or warm, with an additional drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of parsley.

Medaljekager Lemon-Filled Spice Cookies

Get ready for another fabulous guest post from my favorite baker-boy, Todd!


Hello again, fellow sweet-toothed bakers. It’s been several months since I posted plum cupcakes and thought Andrea’s readers might be ready for another stunning treat.

It was February of 2003 when I took a train from temperate southern France to visit Copenhagen, Denmark. The Little Mermaid statue was cloaked in ice crust and the Tivoli Gardens were grey, but I loved everything about the place. I don’t remember a single meal I ate during my stay, however, except for my morning visits to a cute pastry shop, Bodenhoffs Bageri (re-discovered thanks to the wonders of google!) near the hostel. Now, I wasn’t in love with these goodies because I was new to Europe and the novel joys of eating superior pasteries. I was in love with this place because everything tasted like sweet perfection, better than what I’d been eating in France!

Since that trip to Denmark, I’ve not come across many pastries that resemble the treats I gobbled down at Bodenhoffs. I have, however, found a few Danish recipes and can do my best to re-create them, though my clumsy American ways never seem to create them with comparable care and precision.

My suggestion for these spicy/lemony treats is to keep the cookies small and thin. The recipe calls for 1/2-inch balls of dough, and I found that while on the sheet they appear too small, the reality is that this is a sandwich cookie and you do not want to be biting through a fat cookie that overpowers the fantastic lemon center. When you flatten the dough, also be aware that the cookies will hardly expand in the oven. When I make these again, I’ll try to keep the cookies slightly thinner to help them stay the dainty-but-powerful cookie they ought to be.

Medaljekager - Lemon-Filled Spice Cookies
Adopted from here, Makes about 2 dozen sandwich cookies

Ingredients:
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Additional sugar

Preparation:

Place flour, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, nutmeg and salt in medium bowl; stir to combine. Beat butter, sugar, milk, egg yolk and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Gradually add flour mixture. Beat at low speed until dough forms. Cover dough and refrigerate 30 minutes or until firm.


Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease cookie sheets. Shape teaspoonfuls of dough into 1/2-inch balls; place 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheets. Flatten each ball to 1/4-inch thickness with bottom of glass dipped in sugar. Prick the top of each cookie using a fork. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until bottoms become slightly brown. Do not overcook. Remove cookies to wire rack and cool completely.


Prepare lemon filling, adding powdered sugar until it becomes more viscous than honey. Spread filling on the flat side of half of the cookies (I recommend a thick layer over thin!). Top with remaining cookies, gently pressing flat sides together. Let stand at room temperature until set.

Lemon Filling:
Yield: Makes about 1 cup
Ingredients:

2-1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar
3 tablespoons lemon juice (from 1 lemon)
1 tablespoon lemon zest (zest from 1 lemon)
1 teaspoon butter, softened
2 tablespoons cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

Roast Chicken with Sumac, Za'atar and lemon

According to Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamini, from whose book this recipe comes, it's a simpler version of M'sakhan, a traditional Palestinian dish where chicken, heady with spices, is roasted over bread. There's no bread here, just spices that, I'm not going to lie, probably aren't going to be too easy to find. But sumac and za'atar are well worth seaking out. If you're in New York and you need a hint go directly to Kalustyan's and you'll find everything you need. More than everything. Just trust me. Otherwise, seek out Middle Eastern specialty stores, and you should find them easily there. The investment is well worth it, especially for recipes like these. Because essentially, you dump everything into a pan or bowl for marinating, and then stick it all directly into the oven. The ease with which it comes together belies the intricacies of the final flavors. And this, you guys, is one heluva suculent chicken.


So anyway, I've never actually been to Ottolenghi, the popular London restaurant, because it's been a long, long time since I've been to London. But judging from their cookbook, I'd be a regular fixture there if it were possible. If their cuisine is defined by their use of lemon and garlic (which the chefs say it is) this recipe must be the epitome of Ottolenghi-ness. Especially if you serve it with the sauce made by mixing Greek yoghurt, crushed garlic, oilive oil, salt and pepper (in proportions to suit your taste) as they suggest. Had I read the fine print before serving, I probably would have done the same. But even without, I promise, you are going to love this chicken.

Roast Chicken with Sumac, Za'atar and Lemon
From Ottolenghi

1 large organic or free-range chicken, cut into quarters (breast and wing, leg and thigh. For help with cutting up a chicken, see this post. Simply leave the breast and wing connected, as well as the leg and thigh.)
2 red onions, thinkly sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon sumac
1 lemon, thinly sliced
About 1 cup stock or water
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons za'atar
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
50 g pine nuts
4 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley

I layered the chicken with the onions, garlic, olive oil, spices (except the za'atar), lemon, stock, salt and pepper into the same dish I baked it in, rather than starting off in a bowl for marinading and then transferring it to a dish. But you can do either. Just make sure that the chicken is in a single layer and is lying skin-side up. So combine all of those ingredients and place in the refrigerator to marinate for a few hours or over night.

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Remove the chicken from the fridge and sprinkle with the za'atar. Put the dish into the oven and roast for 30-40 minutes. If you oven is pulling double duty with side dishes, as mine was, you might need to go for more like 50-60 minutes, but it's up to you to check. The chicken should be colored and just cooked through.

In the meantime, melt the butter in a small frying pan and cook the pine nuts as well as a pinch of salt until the pine nuts are browned. You'll need to stir constantly, because you do not want to burn those expensive suckers. Spread the nuts out onto a towel-lined plate to drain.

Remove the chicken from the oven, top with the pine nuts and parsley and another drizzle of olive oil if you'd like. Enjoy!

Bakeless Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

These bars have been a family favorite for a long, long time. Or at least, I can't remember the first time I had them, although I know it was my aunt Joan who introduced them. I'm also pretty sure this was the first recipe I learned to make all by myself. It's that easy. These days I use my little mini-prep food processor to make things like graham cracker crumbs, but back then my mom loaded the crackers into a ziplock bag and let me bash them with a rolling pin. I'm still a pretty big fan of cracker bashing.


These were my grandfather's favorite. I remember the plate being passed around one summer day, coming to me before heading to him, and as I reached for the largest square, he told me "ladies don't take the biggest one." That's not something I was used to hearing from my grandfather. The same person who tried to start teaching me geometry before I could properly add. Who claimed that taking a dip in the pool was even better than an actual shower. Ladies? Really? So I went for the second biggest one, only to watch him grab the largest square right after me. Tricked.

My mom, who wrote this recipe out for me, has kind of a funny way of writing down recipes. She tells you the ingredients only as you need them, rather than in one list at the beginning. I'll put them in bold below, so it will be easy to make your list.

Peanut Butter Squares
Family recipe

Mix together in a bowl (using your hands is an easy way to go):
1 cup melted butter (just do it in the microwave)
5 oz (9 sheets) of graham crackers, crushed
1 cup peanut butter
1 lb. box confectioners sugar (powdered sugar)
Spread the mixture in a 9x13 pan (pyrex, for example) and set aside.

In a small saucepan, combine the following, and allow to come to a boil for about 1 minute:
1/3 cup milk 5 tablespoons butter 1 cup regular sugar
Remove the pan from the heat and stir in 6 oz. of chocolate chips (half the normal 12 oz bag, you can just estimate.) as well as a dash of vanilla (about a cap full).
Stir until it's smooth, then pour the chocolate mixture over the peanut butter layer.
Refrigerate, uncovered, for at least 3 hours before cutting and serving.

UPDATE: One commenter suggested adding some salt to the peanut butter layer. I think this is a very, very good idea and a kind of modern update. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm planning on it next time I make these.

Butternut Squash Quesadillas with Leeks and Feta

So last night? Last night I made something delicious. I mean, for me, you'd have to work pretty hard to make something inedible out of butternut squash. Luckily, you can also work not-very-much to make something Wonderful. Case in point.

This recipe is a conglomeration of several recipes floating around the web, in magazines, in books, and just ingredients in my pantry. I would make it again, I would feed it to guests, I would add it to my personal arsenal. You know the arsenal.

So the impetus behind this one was the discovery at my local Turkish produce place of pre-cut butternut squash cubes for, like, two bucks. I used one package, that was marked .86 lbs. That's hard to translate. I think you'd be fine with about half a butternut squash. The recipe makes enough filling for two very stuffed tortillas, enough for dinner and lunch the next day, in my case. You can always double it for more and use your entire squash.

NOTE: If you start with a whole squash, instead of the pre-cubed things, this is what I would do: I would cut the squash in half, drizzle the olive oil, cumin and chili powder from the recipe onto the cut side, place it cut-side up on a cookie sheet and roast it in the oven until the squash comes out easily from the skin. I am not a believer in skinning and cubing raw squash. Raw squash = too much effort. Bleh.

Butternut Squash Quesadillas with Leeks and Feta

About 1/2 a butternut squash, I would guess, or a contained of pre-cubed squash (see note above)

1 leek, cleaned and chopped, white part and pale green part only

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon chili powder

2 teaspoons olive oil

Butter or oil for the pan

2 flour tortillas

1/4 cup cilantro

1 lime, quartered

Feta cheese, as much as you'd like

Preheat the oven to 400F. Toss the butternut squash cubes with 1 teaspoon of the oil, the cumin and the chili powder. Spread the squash on a cookie sheet and roast in the oven for 15 minutes. In the meantime, toss the leeks with the other teaspoon of olive oil. After 15 minutes, remove the squash from the oven, shake it around on the pan so it doesn't stick, and scoot the squash to one side of the pan. Add the leeks to the other side of the pan. Return the cookie sheet to the oven and continue roasting for another 10 minutes or so. The butternut squash doesn't have to be completely mushy when you take it out.

Remove the sheet from the oven and let the squash cool a little before tossing it into a blender or food processor. Process only the squash (set the leeks aside) until smooth and creamy.

Heat a little butter or oil in the pan on medium. While the pan is pre-heating, spread the squash mixture over one side of a tortilla. Top with half of the leeks, half of the cilantro, and as as much feta cheese as you'd like. Fold the tortilla over into a half-moon shape. Cook the tortilla on each side for about 1 minutes, until the tortilla is browned in spots. Repeat with the other tortilla.

Remove to a plate, cut into thirds and serve with a lime wedge or just squeeze the lime juice over the quesadillas.

Tuscan Bean Spread

You know what I love? Kid's songs. Maybe that's because I don't feel (counter-intuitively) ridiculous singing them aloud to my dog since kid's songs are meant to be sung aloud, kind of, at people. You know? (my dog = people. what.) My favorite is probably a toss up between Little Bunny Foo Foo and Skitamerinky Dinky Dink from 'Sharon, Louis & Bram's Elephant Show'. You must know what I'm talking about, right? Right?! Now I'm worried. Here:

I won't pretend I can go all harmonizing like the original three, but Pancha seems to enjoy it. She wags her tail anyway. At least she doesn't usually run away. Aaa, so let's talk about things we love in the morning, and the afternoon and even in the evening. Beans. Oh seriously, I said beans. Beans again.

And especially bean dip. I find bean dip to be an ingenious thing, really. It makes raw vegetables even more appetizing, is healthy unto itself with protein and other healthy bean things, and it tastes good. This one tastes really good (even though it's from a book called the Eat-Clean Diet Cookbook and I normally don't go for books with the word 'diet' in the title because eating, to me, is not about The Diet, even if it's healthy. Can healthy eating please not be about diets for once? Sheesh.) And it's easy, although not as easy as some dump and blend recipes. You have to roast a head of garlic first (Worth It) and the recipe calls for Tuscan spices, a blend you might not have. I'll share what I used instead.

Tuscan Bean Spread

Adapted from The Eat-Clean Diet Cookbook by Tosca Reno

1 head garlic, some of the papery outer skins removed

1 15-oz can chick peas, rinsed and drained

1 15-oz can cannellini or navy beans, rinsed and drained

1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 tablespoons ground Tuscan spices, toasted or a combination of rosemary, thyme, sage, salt and pepper equally about 2 tablespoons (if this is too much or an herby vibe for you, reduce it)

Pinch cumin, toasted with the Tuscan spices

4 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1/4 cup mined cilantro

1/4 cup mined basil

Salt and pepper to taste

To roast your garlic, cut off the very top so that the cloves are exposed and the very tops of the cloves have also been sliced off. Drizzle with about a tablespoon of oil, then wrap in foil, and bake in an oven preheated to 300F fir 15-20 minutes, until the cloves are soft. Unwrap and let cool while you work on the rest.

In a food processor, combine the garlic and the rest of the ingredients except the fresh herbs. Process until you achieve the texture you like. You can process until it's creamy as hummus, or leave it with a few lumps (I like to call that texture). As you process add oil until it reaches your preferred consistency. You can add the herbs now and pulse, or you can just fold them in if you like them a bit more...present. I folded. Transfer to a serving bowl and enjoy.