LOVE AT 30,000 FEET

Posted in Cookies, Desserts, Sweets by sallybr

It was many years ago that the airlines began to cut expenses by throwing their bored passengers only a small bag of peanuts or pretzels to tame their hunger. But, once on a Delta flight I got a different type of snack. Ripping open the package I found two small cookies inside, and told Phil: “We don’t even deserve pretzels anymore, look at these tiny cookies”! But, with the first bite I fell madly in love! Delta, whenever possible, became my airline of choice, and I stepped inside the plane with one goal in mind: charm the stewardess into giving me two packages. Maybe three… 😉

I kept my passion for these cookies a secret, thinking that professing love for airline cookies would be similar to admitting a weakness for Velveeta (don’t ask, I won’t tell). But one day, I posed a discreet question in a cooking forum trying to find out more about them. All clouds dissipated in the horizon: those are speculaas, very special cookies that originated in Europe centuries ago. Many versions exist, sharing in common a mixture of spices, brown sugar, and butter. Traditionally, they have beautiful, complex designs on the surface, requiring special molds to shape them. I used ceramic molds (highlighted here)that were a bit more affordable than the real McCoy. As to the recipe, my friend Gary shared the method he learned in culinary school. The teacher, chef Gabriel, gave me permission to publish his very own recipe, so you can fall in love with these cookies right in your own kitchen, in the safety of firm ground! Isn’t that awesome?

SPECULAAS
(Recipe courtesy of Chef Jeffrey Gabriel
CMC Schoolcraft College)

8 oz butter at room temperature
11 oz brown sugar
1 + 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 + 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
2 egg yolks
2 Tbs milk
13 oz flour
2 oz almonds, finely chopped in a food processor.

Place the butter and the brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer, and beat on medium speed until creamy and smooth (about 3 minutes). Add the spices, egg yolks, and milk. Continue beating until it is all well blended.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour with the ground almonds, add them to the butter mixture and mix on low speed until a dough forms. Chill the dough for at least one hour, preferably overnight (easier to work with next day).

If rolling the dough, remove from the fridge and work on a floured, cool surface. Roll the dough to 1/8 inch thick, cut in the shape you want, and bake. If using a mold, pull small amounts of dough, press into the slightly floured mold, and delicately remove it, placing the cookie with the design up on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake the cookies in a 350F oven until golden brown.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: I will not lie to you. Working with these molds requires patience. I can see that with a lot of practice, it could be a soothing, relaxing activity. Not much Zen was happening in our kitchen, though. Gary recommended this book to speed the learning process, and I have it on my wish list at amazon.com. All reviews are stellar. But, if you don’t have a mold, don’t let it prevent you from making speculaas. They may become your favorite type of cookie, perfect for this time of the year, when we all need the warmth of cinnamon, the nice heat of cloves and nutmeg, the sweetness of sugar and molasses.

Note added after publishing: for a great take on speculas, jump here to see Celia’s version, that includes thinly sliced almonds. From what I’ve been reading, that type of recipe is common in Belgium. Check it out!

ONE YEAR AGO: The Unbearable Lightness of Baking

TWO YEARS AGO: Pain a l’Ancienne

8Oct2011

CRIMSON AND CREAM CHILI

Posted in Poultry by sallybr

The weather is cooling off and football season is warming up! Because our university team is ranked near the top this year every game matters, and they’re all nail-biters. This weekend brings the season’s most anticipated and exciting game, OU vs Texas. It’s a great rivalry, a grudge match for the schools, and every year both cancel classes the day beforehand so that students can drive to Dallas and watch the pageantry and festivities in the Cotton Bowl, surrounded by the Texas State Fair. I have mixed feelings about it. It’s a wild, wild adrenaline ride. But, sports attract too much attention and praise, relative to the pitiful amount given to academia and research. The coaches make so much money, making me painfully aware of how broke our academic departments are. It makes me wonder if the priorities aren’t a bit twisted. On the other hand, we all know what may happen if the University withdraws financial support from its sports programs. The TV revenues will drop, and the schools will have lower profits, resulting in even greater struggles for scientific research. Having failed to solve this pressing problem of the universe, I go back to food. 😉 … Ohhh, and I almost forgot: GO SOONERS!

Football food. Several classic options come to mind: hamburgers, grilled sausages, hot-dogs, one-pot type meals like… chili! Once chili was mentioned, we reached a delightful agreement. I modified a turkey version from The Gourmet Cookbook, to showcase the colors of our team, crimson and cream. It was like throwing a 98-yard touch down pass!

CRIMSON AND CREAM TURKEY CHILI
(adapted from Gourmet)

2 chipotle chilis in Adobe sauce (canned)
1/2 cup water
2 cans ( 15 oz each) diced fire roasted tomatoes
2 Tbs olive oil
1 shallot, minced
1 Tbs ground cumin
2 pounds ground turkey (dark meat or a 50/50 mix of dark & white)
1 cup chicken stock
1 bay leaf
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp salt
1 red bell pepper, roasted, chopped
1 – 2 minced serrano peppers
1 Tbs cornmeal
1/2 can of white beans, rinsed (about 8 ounces)
fresh cilantro leaves, minced

Puree the canned chipotle beans with the water in a blender or small food processor, Reserve.

Heat the olive oil in a heavy pan, ad the shallot, saute for a couple of minutes, add the cumin, mix well and cook for another minute. Add the ground turkey, increase the heat, and cook stirring often, until browned, about 8 minutes.

Add the chipotle puree, the canned tomatoes, chicken stock, bay leaf, oregano, and salt, and simmer without a lid for 1 hour. If the level of liquid drops below the surface of the meat, add more water. Add the red bell pepper, serrano chiles, and cornmeal, and continue simmering gently for another 30 minutes.

Stir the white beans into the mixture, discard the bay leaf, taste, adjust seasoning, and right before serving add as much cilantro as you like. Serve with sour cream, sliced green onions, and shredded cheese on the side.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Compared to our default recipe for chili, this one is much easier to prepare, and – I cannot believe I’ll be saying this – I like it even better! It has beans in it, which would normally turn me off, I rather have my chili with meat and peppers only, in a tomato-base stew. But, in this case, the beans added creaminess and flavor, perfect alongside the delicate turkey meat. Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce are simply too tasty. If you haven’t cooked with them yet, grab some on your next stop at the grocery store and you will be going back for more…

Hope you are all having a great weekend, football or not on your menu… 😉

ONE YEAR AGO: Taking a break from the nano-kitchen

TWO YEARS AGO: Chocolate Chip Cookies

6Oct2011

THIRD TIME IS A CHARM

Posted in Seafood by sallybr

I’ve made this recipe three times in the past 9 months, with the firm intention of blogging about it. The photos never did it justice, and even though I’m still not satisfied with the way the pictures turned out, I must go ahead with the post: this recipe is too good to keep secret! 😉

Cooking scallops can be intimidating, they are expensive and easy to mess up. A few seconds longer in the pan, and their delicate texture is ruined. Dorie Greenspan, in her book “Around my French Table,” offers a great take on scallops, with a sauce that was born to embrace them.

SCALLOPS IN ORANGE-CARAMEL SAUCE
(from Dorie Greenspan)

2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup orange juice
1 lb sea scallops
2 teaspoons olive oil
salt and freshly ground white pepper
1 tablespoon cold butter, cut into 3 pieces

First, make the sauce. Mix the orange juice and white wine in a small bowl and reserve. Sprinkle the sugar into a small saucepan (see my comments on the type of pan I like to use for this). Place the pan over medium-high heat and warm the sugar until it starts to melt and color. As soon as you see the caramel in the pan turning brown, begin to gently swirl the pan. About 3 minutes into the cooking time, when the sugar is deep caramel in color, stand back and add the orange/wine mixture. It will bubble and spatter, just keep stirring with a wooden spoon, and boil until the sauce is reduced by half — you should have about 1/3 cup. Pull the pan from the heat and set it aside. If not using the sauce immediately, you can keep it for a couple of days in the fridge.

Pat the scallops dry between two paper towels. Put the saucepan with the caramel sauce over very low heat so that it can warm while you cook the scallops.

Put a heavy-bottomed skillet over high heat. When the pan is hot, pour in 1 tsp olive oil and swirl to coat the bottom. Add the scallops, season them with salt and pepper, add a little more oil if needed, and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes, or until the scallops are firm on the outside and just barely opaque in the center. Transfer the scallops to a serving platter.

Check that the caramel sauce is hot, remove the pan from the heat and toss in the butter, bit by bit, swirling the pan until the butter is melted and the sauce is glistening. Season the sauce with salt and pepper, then drizzle some over the scallops, serving additional sauce at the table.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

To make the sauce, my favorite pan is this cute little red skillet from Bialetti. I bought it when we were in Los Angeles because our electric cooking stovetop was so tiny, I had no pan that would fit nicely on it. Since the pan is white, it’s very easy to see the caramel color, no need to guess or transfer a small amount to a white plate.

I strongly advise you to make a double batch of the sauce, I never seem to have enough, it’s so delicious! It would go well on shrimp, and even chicken breasts or pork tenderloin. Slightly sweet, slightly sour, feels complex even though it is made with only a few ingredients.

These scallops are elegant enough to serve for company, although depending on the number of guests I would offer it as a small first course. Everything happens pretty quickly with this recipe, I don’t quite picture myself handling too many for a main dish for more than 2 couples. I know my limitations! 😉

ONE YEAR AGO: Fire-Roasted Tomato Risotto

TWO YEARS AGO: A Special Dinner for Two

3Oct2011

SPELT AND CORNMEAL ROLLS

Posted in Breads by sallybr

Rustic, toothsome, flavorful, and if all that wasn’t enough, these rolls are a cinch to make. In a classic Dan Lepard’s approach, the recipe calls for minimal kneading, and because they are baked as small rolls, shaping is a breeze. The rolls also freeze quite well, individually wrapped, then placed in a low oven to come back to that freshly baked feel.

Per Mr. Lepard’s request, I won’t post the full recipe. But you can find it in the database of “The Guardian” through a quick jump here.

I will, however, give you a quick outline of how this recipe comes together….

The cornmeal needs to be soaked in boiling water for a few minutes, once you do that, all ingredients – soaked cornmeal, spelt flour, water, honey, and yeast – are added to a large bowl, mixed quickly, and left standing for 10 minutes.

A kneading cycle of 30 seconds, a 20-minute rise (yes, that fast…), and you are ready to divide and conquer… rather, divide and shape in 8 rolls.

After shaping, they rest on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and dusted with flour. Only 45 minutes to go before baking time!

Once they bake, they will more or less join together, let them cool this way, breaking them apart at serving time.

Adorable little rolls, dense, but in a good way… 😉 We enjoyed them in sandwiches – smoked turkey & provolone, ham, cheese, tomato & pesto sauce – but also as plain small bites with our dinner of roast chicken. They will certainly be a favorite in your home too!

I am submitting this post to Susan’s Yeastspotting event…

ONE YEAR AGO: Roasted Potato and Olive Focaccia (another Dan Lepard recipe, another winner!)

TWO YEARS AGO: Salmon Curry

1Oct2011

NUTELLA DROP COOKIES

Posted in Cookies, Desserts, Sweets by sallybr

Growing up as a picky eater, small and skinny, my Mom used to keep a jar of Nutella around because if nothing else, she knew I would not be able to resist its calling. I would hit that jar several times a day, with a small spoon and a big smile. It didn’t make me tall and voluptuous, but I was hooked …

Of course, I now respect Nutella’s caloric content: nuts, chocolate, and sugar, a deliciously dangerous combo. The big jar sits in the pantry, waiting for a reason to come out and play, like in these cookies that Giada made a few months ago. They remind me of snickerdoodles with a suntan. 😉
NUTELLA DROP COOKIES
(from Giada de Laurentiis)

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1/2 cup Nutella, at room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar (for rolling the cookies: optional)

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat type liners.

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar (1/4 cup) on high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the vanilla. With the machine running on low speed, gradually add the flour until incorporated. Beat in the Nutella. Using a small cookie scoop or a tablespoon, drop small balls of dough onto each baking sheet. Bake until the bottoms of the cookies flatten out slightly, 10 to 12 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

If you want to sugar-coat the cookies, place 1 cup of powdered sugar in a medium bowl, and roll the cookies in the sugar until coated. Alternatively, you can add the sugar to a sieve and sprinkle some on the surface of the cookies once they are cool. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

If you read the many reviews of this recipe in the FoodTV website, you’ll notice not everyone fell in love with it. I suspect it’s all related to how long you bake these cookies: under-baking is the key, or they’ll be too hard and dry.

I liked the simplicity of the recipe, very few ingredients, quick to put together and bake. But the best is that it gave me the chance to use for the first time my brand new cookie dough dispenser – loved it!

ONE YEAR AGO: Dreaming of butternut squash

TWO YEARS AGO: Simply Elegant: Salmon Curry (one of my very favorite dishes!)