Ladyfingers - A Rose by any Other Name

I have been writing a lot lately about Guatemala. My time there was well-spent, learning all sorts of new recipes, trying all sorts of new delights. When I created a Cookbook and Memoir for my oldest daughter when she turned 40, I took a trip down memory lane and tried to recall everything I could. She was born in Guatemala, as were all my children. I hoped to keep the heritage alive for her. She was the oldest, at age 10, when we moved back to the US. The other children were 8, 7 and just turning 3, respectively. The youngest has very little memory of Guatemala, except through the foods I have made.

Round shapes, filled with Biscoff Spread

When I asked my second daughter if she wanted a copy of this book, she said absolutely! I was thrilled. She was only 7 when we left there, after all. I don't know how much she can recall of the food. Certainly nothing of the cooking of it, except what she learned from me. As I went back over the original book, making changes here and there, I went and dug a bit deeper into my memories, and came up with a lot more recipes, or at least memories of foods eaten. There came a point where I had some questions, so I called my ex-(Guatemalan) husband to consult. He was not too big a help. We all recall things differently, after all. He was not the cook, so his cooking vocabulary in Spanish is perhaps less developed than mine in some cases.

Ladyfinger Shaped, filled with Biscoff Spread

He offered to loan me a very old Guatemalan cookbook he was given. While perusing this book, I came on a word that positively rang bells in my head, yet I had absolutely no clue what this thing was. I knew, from the ingredients that it was something sweet. It had to be a dessert or cookie of some sort. But what? The word was "Chiqueadores." I phoned my ex again. Again, while he knew what these things were, he was at a loss to describe them. We came up with "wafers" and that was the best he could do. But, the word kept sitting there making nanny-faces in my mind.

Drumroll.....

Finally I spent quite a long while one day online. What I finally found out is that this recipe was for  . . . . .

LADYFINGERS! For goodness sake!

Ladyfingers, called Savoiardi in Italian, and Chiqueadores in Guatemala, are light and airy little puffs. They are most often used in recent years in the making of Tiramisu. They are also used in making a Charlotte. I have not made a Charlotte yet. But now that I knew what Chiqueadores were, I felt it was time to make them; always a first time. I had only ever bought Ladyfingers before. They are easy to make really. Piping them with a piping bag is perhaps the most "difficult" part of the recipe, if making them in classic ladyfinger shapes, though there was really nothing difficult in making them. If making them into little round cookies, they can be piped or just dropped with a spoon and flattened slightly. Either way, they are good. They can be made as little tea cookies and eaten plain or sandwiched and filled. Fillings could be as simple as whipped cream, or something like a buttercream or other icing. I used Biscoff Spread, a Speculoos type mixture. They were just divine this way!

Open Star Tip #172 worked perfectly     piping bag opening cut to 3/4-inch wide

The recipe makes quite a lot of smaller ladyfingers. Quite certainly enough to use in an application such as a tiramisu. I piped them into about 3- or 3½-inch long little bars. I also made some into little rounds, about 1½-inches in diameter. They do grow and expand in the oven. Space them accordingly, with at least an inch between, if not a little more.

Ladyfingers, Savoiardi or Chiqueadores

Ladyfingers or Chiqueadores

1 whole egg
3 egg yolks
½ cup confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
⅔ cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
3 egg whites, at room temperature
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line two (or more) baking sheets with parchment. To keep the parchment in place while piping, first lightly grease the baking sheet, then set the ungreased parchment on top.

In a large bowl, beat together the first 3 ingredients until very light and lemon colored, then continue to beat until the mixture falls like ribbons back into the bowl, taking a few seconds to disappear on the surface. This took about 6 minutes with a small hand mixer. Add the vanilla to combine.

Sift together the flour and cornstarch, then return the mixture to the sifter (or sieve) and set aside.

Beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until they are at soft peaks. Add the granulated sugar in gradually while beating, until the mixture holds stiff peaks.

yolk mixture at point; whites beaten stiff; folding in whites; folding in flour; batter ready to pipe

Scoop about a third of the egg white mixture into the egg yolk mixture and fold in. Add in the remaining whites and fold in gently. Sift the flour mixture over this folded mixture in three parts, each time gently folding the flour in until none remains.

before baking, sprinkled with confectioners' sugar  |  straight our of the oven, right, lightly golden

If using a disposable piping bag or a zip top bag, cut off the tip or a corner until the width of the cut is about 3/4 inch wide, as shown in the photo above the recipe. This will ensure a hole about ½-inch in diameter. If using an icing top, it should have a hole at least ½-inch in diameter. I used the only one I had with a half-inch diameter hole, a #172 Open Star Tip. Fill the bag and pipe straight lengths about 1 inch wide by 3 to 3½-inches long. Dust the tops with confectioners' sugar and let them set for a few minutes, until the sugar has nearly dissolved. Sift a little more sugar over top and bake the ladyfingers for about 10 minutes, rotating the pan once during baking, to ensure even browning. The cookies should come out light golden and puffed.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

More Cookies and Ever Closer to the Holiday

I am really late with cookie making this year, but I am valiantly working on them, amidst other holiday food prep. I made my Cranberry Orange Relish, at my sister-in-law's request, to bring to her house Christmas Day. I made some Sugared Pecans and will be making some Cheese Twists also to take. They have a big dinner at noon, and then spend the afternoon with the whole family opening gifts, and then set out snack-type things in the evening. Those last two things are my contribution to that latter portion of the day.
 

Thumbprint Cookies

I know everyone is exceedingly busy at this point in time, but yesterday afternoon I made Thumbprint Cookies. Instead of my thumb to make the hole in the center, I used the pestle from my marble mortar and pestle set. The smaller end was the perfect size to make a nice, neat little well in the dough. The size was perfect for the glaceed cherries I set into them before baking. 

I have the dough made and chilled to make my Rolled Butter Cookies tomorrow as well as a new recipe I am calling Almond Meringue Tarts. I was absolutely positive i had almond flour in my freezer, but cannot find it, so back to the store tomorrow, briefly for that. I am making my husband's favorite Cherry Bon Bons also. Since Christmas Eve is all little snack/appetizer type foods at our house, I also have various standard recipes I will make, plus a couple of new ones. I am making my Green Pea, Feta and Mint Spread, Bean and Cheese Dip, and Bacon-Wrapped Dates, as well as a new recipe i am creating for a hot Artichoke Dip. Those things along with cheese slices, salami, grapes and crackers will be our feast for the evening.
 

Thumbprint Cookies

This blog is being done hurriedly, so I will get right to the recipe:

Thumbprint Cookies

Makes about 40 to 45

1 cup butter, at room temperature
⅔ cup granulated sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ teaspoon Boyajian Lemon Oil or slightly more of lemon extract
2½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
about 45 glaceed cherries

Cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in the egg and the extract and lemon oil. Add the flour and salt and combine gently, to form a dough. Chill the dough for at least 2 hours.  

Make balls of the dough, press in a deep well, insert a cherry and set on cookie sheet

Preheat oven to 350. Form the dough into small balls as shown. Use thumb or other implement to make a deep well in the ball of dough. Insert a glaceed cherry and set on an ungreased cookie sheet. Set the cookies about 1½ inches apart. While the dough has no leavening, they do inflate and spread just a little. Bake the cookies for about 12 to 14 minutes, or until they are set and beginning to color at the edges.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Greek Christmas Bread and Guatemalan Champurradas

Champurradas and Coffee!

I have been absent from this blog because I have been busy with various projects. One was even Christmas related! For starters, one of my daughters was turning 40 a few days back, and when my oldest turned 40, I had created a cookbook-memoir for her, of all the recipes I had amassed when in Guatemala. Mind you, many of the recipes I made while down there were made by watching what someone else did, and copying the method down while I watched, or approximating what I ate and tasted somewhere. 

While living in Guatemala, we had little money, and one little Instamatic camera. More often than not, the flash would not work, so it was safest to take photos outside, but even then, most photo taking was of one of the children, or my husband (at the time) or myself, for a holiday or birthday. Looking back, I so wish I could have had the camera I own today, and the ability to take all those missed photo ops all over again. So when it came to making that cookbook-memoir, I had little, if any, photos of the foods, much less of the beautiful scenery. I searched online for photos that looked similar enough to what I had made and used them in that book. It was only a memoir for my daughter, after all. She knows what the foods and the country look like, as she spent time there as a young adult, but it's nicer to have photos. 

So when Jenny turned 40 a few days ago, I asked if she was interested in a remake of that same book. It was an emphatic YES! At this point in time, I have made many of the recipes and photographed them for my website or this blog, so I can go back and replace some of the photos in that book with my own. Still, there are a lot of recipes I keep meaning to make and get photos of, but just never seem to make the time. Two of these are Champurradas and Guatemalan Empanadas de Manjar. I had been working on the remake of the cookbook-memoir, and when I got to the page for Champurradas, I thought, "Enough! Just DO it!" So I went downstairs and made them.

I had never made Champurradas before. I had a recipe I copied from somewhere, but Guatemalan recipes are notorious for lack of proper measurements and sometimes of any measurements at all. I had cobbled together what I intended to try, after noting the differences in a few different recipes. One thing that my recipe called for was Masa Harina, the corn flour used for making tortillas. While I love the flavor of Masa Harina in things, my "taste memory" of Champurradas did not recall that particular flavor. 

So What are Champurradas?

Champurradas, ready to bake

In Guatemala, as well as Mexico and other countries of Latin America, there are large varieties of what are called "Pan Dulce" or Sweet Breads. While these breads are not really what one might term "sweet", they are richer than French bread or sandwich bread. They are made in all sorts of flavors and styles. Little round ones with a sugary topping are "molletes", little anise studded ones called "shecas/xecas/cemitas", long, leaf-shaped, sugar-coated "hojaldras", flat, cookie-like "champurradas" and so many many more (see the two photos above, that I used and had credited from a website that no longer appears to be there, as of November 2019). So, a champurrada is the closest to a cookie that I can describe of the breads in Guatemala. Flat and crisp, but very large at about 5 or more inches across. Not really too sweet, they were marvelous dunked in a nice cup of coffee. As it happens, they turned out really well, and I am enjoying them, one at a time, with coffee. This is what I did to make them:

Champurradas

Makes 12 to 14, depending on thickness and diameter
 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Have two large cookie sheets ready.

Cream together the lard (or shortening) with the sugar and vanilla. Whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder and add them to the creamed mixture until it looks like crumbs, much as for pie dough. Whisk the eggs in a measuring cup and if the amount does not make 5.5 ounces in total, add some water to make that amount. Stir the egg mixture into the bowl and bring the mixture together quickly with a fork or fingers, without over working the dough. Lightly flour a surface and roll out the dough to less than ¼-inch thick and cut rounds that are about 5-inches in diameter. I used a small dessert bowl with smooth rim. Alternately, divide the dough into 12 to 14 equally sized balls and flatten them to less than ¼-inch, either between waxed paper sheets, or in a tortilla press.

Set these rounds onto the cookie sheets. They will not grow appreciably, so they can be set as close as 1-inch apart. If there is a little egg left in the container where they were whisked, stir in a tablespoon of water to the container and use a pastry brush to brush this over tops of the cookies. Sprinkle lightly with the sesame seeds if desired. Bake them for 25 minutes, or until nicely golden.

Christopsomos, Greek Christmas Bread

Large "X" on top of the bread

The other project I was working on was deciding what to give as gifts to the family here for Christmas this year. To date, I have given plates of cookies, and while well received, they are a chore at times, making so very many to give away. I thought of making some kind of bread. Turning once more to The Bread Baker's Apprentice, by Peter Reinhart, I leafed through, checking what he had of interest in Christmas Breads. There are three in this book: German Stollen, Italian Panettone and Greek Christopsomos. I have made my version of Stollen many, many times, bastardizing the recipe in the Joy of Cooking, from circa 1966. Reinhart's version of the Stollen will likely be most exceptional. Every single bread I have made from that book has been exceptional. I wanted to try something different. I got caught up reading about "Greek Celebration Breads" and got hooked on the idea of the Christopsomos. 
  
This Greek bread is made with a Byzantine cross on top, made with curlicues at the ends. The cross is also an "X" shape, which is the first letter of Khrestos (Christ) in the Greek alphabet. The name "Christopsomos" translates to "Christ's Bread".

The only difficulty was that Reinhart does not specify how large a loaf the recipes makes. Reading the ingredients, I was unsure if one recipe would make two normal sized loaves or not. To be safe, I experimented first making 1½ times the recipe. As it turned out, the bread was amazingly good, and the recipe would be perfect as gifts. But.

The more I thought about it, the more I wondered if maybe the Panettone would be better as a gift? We live in South Dakota. There are so many people who find what I feel are mundane ingredients to be totally "out there", strange and exotic. I used Kalamata dried figs and dried cherries, soaked in Gran Marnier overnight. I used Mahlab, a very Mediterranean spice, the tiny kernels of the pit of the St. Lucie Cherry. Maybe I was a little out of some people's comfort zones?

Christopsomos, sliced

So, while I have not yet made the Panettone, I expect it to come out amazingly good as with all the breads from this book. Once I make a batch I will post photos here. For now though, I would remake the Christopsomos bread any time. It made some amazing French Toast this morning, too!

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Quick Simple Peach Galette or Rustic Peach Tart

What is a Galette?

Fresh Peach Galette

If you are unfamiliar with the term "galette" it is nothing more than a rustic, free form tart, made sweet or savory. Why use the term galette, when it is a rustic, free form pastry? Just a simpler term; one word instead of four. Plus, it sounds cool. How's that for a technical answer. I believer galette is a French term originally, for this type of rustic tart, though it also has other meanings there, as well as in Canada.

These rustic tarts or galettes have become very popular here in the US and are seen more and more as years pass. For one thing, they are so easy to make. Making a pie is intimidating to some, in a way that the galette is not. There is nothing fussy about making a galette. If you have a pie pastry made, and some fresh or frozen fruit, you have nearly all the ingredients necessary to make a galette. Making a savory galette can be equally easy, but can be spruced up amazingly.

My very first experience with a galette was in fact a savory variety. It came from a Food and Wine Magazine many years ago (March '94, if the many websites now displaying this recipe are to be believed). The recipe was for a Leek and Goat Cheese Galette and while not difficult at all, had many steps. It stated that a yeast dough could be used or a pie pastry. I feel that a yeast dough would end up far too doughy, and have only ever used the pie pastry. I have a fantastic recipe for Never Fail Pie Crust. Why use anything else? I made the Leek and Goat Cheese Galette and to my delight, it came out looking exactly like the photo in the magazine. I have made this recipe over the years many times. It is perfect with a side salad for a meal. Even my husband, a very staunch Midwest Meat Eater, found this galette good enough for a meal a couple of times. Here is the recipe for the filling for this galette:

Leek and Goat Cheese Galette

Leek and Goat Cheese Galette (filling)

Makes 4 or 6 servings

6 large leeks, white and light green parts only
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, chopped
½ cup dry white wine
½ cup heavy cream
salt and freshly ground pepper
1 large egg, beaten
3 tablespoons fresh Italian parsley, chopped
½ cup soft goat cheese such as Chevre or Montrachet

Cut off dark green tops of the leeks and discard. Cut off root ends and then slice down the length of each remaining leek section. Hold each section under running water, fanning the ends to rinse well to clear out any mud or grit. Slice the leeks across into about 1/4-inch slices. There should be about 6 cups total.

Melt the butter in a medium large skillet. Add in the leeks with the thyme and about 1/2 cup of water. Cook over medium-low heat until the leeks are tender, about 12 to 15 minutes. Raise heat slightly and add the wine and continue cooking until wine is nearly evaporated, then add in the cream and cook until slightly reduced, about 3 more minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper and set aside to cool for about 10 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the beaten egg aside. Mix the remaining egg and 2 tablespoons of the parsley into the leek mixture. Roll out a pie pastry to about 14 inches in diameter round and set it on a baking sheet. Spread the leek filling onto the center of the dough, leaving at least a 2-inch border all around. Crumble the goat cheese over top of the filling. Fold up the pastry edges, overlapping or pleating as necessary. Brush the outside of the pastry with the reserved egg. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until golden. Sprinkle with remaining parsley.

Back to the Peach Galette

My sister-in-law loves peaches, a fact I have mentioned a few times in these blogs. She generally prefers a peach dessert for her birthday treat rather than a cake, so this year I decided on a fresh Peach Galette for her birthday dessert. If I was making this for myself, I might prefer another fruit such as blackberries or raspberries, maybe blueberries or a combination. Any fruits can be used. Pineapple would be great, apples, plums. Some people place a layer of marzipan or almond paste into the bottom of the pastry before adding the fruit, partly for sweetness and partly to absorb liquids as the fruit bakes. A frangipane mixture such as I used in my Cherry Frangipane Tart.
 

Peach Galette with Peach Ice Cream

How much sugar to add to the fruit will depend a bit on how sweet the fruit is initially. Adding too much sugar will only add to the liquids pooling in the pastry while baking and will contribute to a soggy crust. The Peach Galette recipe I created used a very simple 2:2:2 mixture of 2 tablespoons sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and 2 tablespoons lemon juice. Another tablespoon of sugar could be added. The lemon juice would not be necessary for a berry tart, as berries can be tart enough to stand on their own. The lemon juice also helps the peaches (or apples) to keep a nicer color, not turning brown. The flour could be substituted with cornstarch as the thickening agent if desired. Spices could be added to the peach mixture. I added only a grating of fresh nutmeg. A sprinkling of cinnamon or nutmeg could also be added. 

Peach Galette

Peach Galette

Serves 6 or 8

2¼ to 2½ pounds fresh peaches (4 or 5)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 - 3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
pie pastry for a 10-inch pie
1 egg yolk

Peel peaches and slice thinly. Place them in a bowl with the next 4 ingredients and toss to combine. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Roll out the pie pastry on a floured surface to about 14 or 15 inches in diameter. Do not worry if the edges are uneven; this is a "rustic" tart. Set the pastry onto the parchment. Pour the peach mixture into the center of the pastry, spreading to within 2 or 2 /12 inches of the edge. Flip up the edges of the pastry all around, folding or pleating as necessary. In a small bowl, beat the egg yolk with 1 tablespoon water. Brush this mixture onto all exposed areas of the pastry. Sprinkle the tart with a coarse crystal sugar such as demerara or turbinado, or with a fancy "sanding sugar." Bake the tart for 35 to 45 minutes, until the crust is golden and the fruit is bubbling.


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

A Lovely Noodle Salad for Summer

When looking at options for side dishes for the 4th of July, I recalled an old recipe from a long ago issue of Cuisine at Home. It involved using Ramen noodle packets, without the flavor packet. I would never eat Ramen noodles with the flavor packet, so this suited me just fine. When I made this salad from its original recipe, I found that there was far too much juicy dressing left in the bowl after the salad was gone. I remedied this by using either an extra half-packet of Ramen noodles, or, somewhere along the way I had found  "Japanese Curly Noodles" in 5 ounce packets, which work perfectly. There is enough dressing to keep the salad properly moist, without all the excess.

Japanese Curly Noodle Salad

The reason I have not made this salad, or even a variation is because I am not fond of peanut butter. Actually, I really just don't like peanut butter. I ate it throughout my childhood, but I was never, ever one to scoop up a dollop of peanut butter to eat just plain. All that aside, I do keep peanut butter in the house. When our friend Rich visits, he generally looks for peanut butter at some point. And then sometimes peanut butter cookies are a must. Not for me, but my husband also loves peanut butter. I dug out the recipe to see what all was involved and sat down to think about what I really wanted in the recipe.

I had planned on adding more veggies than I did, but you know how sometimes you have guests talking with you while you are cooking and you just get distracted? Well, due to that situation I entirely forgot to add in carrots and scallions, but I had made other changes to the original recipe as well. The salad was delicious, and the peanut butter was not overly noticeable, a win-win for me. The whole salad can easily be assembled the day before with no adverse consequences.

Grilled Barbecued Chicken

I was serving Grilled Barbecued Chicken for the Fourth, and this salad was one of the side dishes. My sister-in-law brought a pea salad for my husband - it is a standard for him. I will not eat it with canned peas (too much sodium) and Miracle Whip (a flavor I despise). If I made that salad I would use frozen peas and mayo, which would make it all wrong for him. So, his sister keeps him contented with pea salad as their Mom made it. She also brought cole slaw for me. It was an abundant table!

Thermapen - the best!

The chicken was prepared on the evening before. I cut up 2 whole chickens into component parts, cutting each breast into two pieces. I used the BBQ Chicken Rub all over the chicken pieces, setting them in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet, covered with foil in the fridge overnight. My goal was to cook the chicken over the unheated side of the grill, low and slow for about 3 or more hours. This plan somehow got derailed as once again I was busy with our guests and managed to get the chicken on the grill far later than I planned. I left it slowly cooking for about an hour, but there was little evidence of any real cooking taking place yet, and I had planned supper for about 6 PM. Ultimately, I lit all the gas grill burners on low and cooked the chicken carefully, moving it around to hotter or less hot areas of the grill until they all reached 165 degrees on my Thermapen instant thermometer. I brushed on the Barbecue Sauce 2 recipe about 1/2 hour prior to the chicken being done, and once again about 15 minutes prior. I finally got all the chicken done in time for supper, after about a total of 2½ hours. It was delicious, so all was well. 

Japanese Curly Noodle Salad

Serves 6 to 8

DRESSING: (*great to make ahead!)

Japanese Curly Noodle Salad

¼ cup sugar
¼ cup orange juice
¼ cup ketchup
¼ cup lime juice
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 - 3 teaspoons grated or finely minced fresh ginger
1½ teaspoons dry mustard powder
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon Sriracha sauce, or more as desired
------------------
1½ Ramen or Curly Noodle packs, about 4½ to 5 ounces total
-------------------
1 cup bok choy, white parts, sliced
greens from bok choy, julienned
1 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 green bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 carrot, peeled and grated
3 - 4 scallions, chopped
¼ to ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro

* The dressing is easily made up to 3 days in advance, covered tightly and refrigerated. The peanut butter will combine best if it is softened in the microwave briefly before whisking into the rest of the ingredients. To make the dressing, place all the ingredients into a bowl and whisk until combined.

Cook the noodles in boiling water according to package directions. My package suggested dropping them into boiling water, waiting until they floated to break apart and time for 5 minutes. Drain and rinse well. Place noodles into a large bowl.

Chop and prepare the vegetables and place in bowl with the noodles. Pour the dressing over all and toss very well. Garnish with a few more cilantro leaves.

After dinner and sitting around chatting, we all piled into the car to head towards the park for fireworks. Lots of people had their own displays while we waited, and a good time was had by all, despite the mosquitoes!


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Pecan Mint Chip Cookies Were a Big Hit

Our holiday guests left this morning, and I have been trying to take stock of all the photos I took of the many foods prepared over this 4th of July holiday. Foods I photographed were Pecan Mint Chip Cookies, Grilled Barbecued Chicken, Chicken Rub, Barbecue Sauce II, Japanese Curly Noodle Salad, Chocolate Mousse Pie, Mascarpone Whipped Cream Topping and Blackberry Cobbler. In with all that I also made another bread from The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart, this time a Portuguese Sweet Bread. Over the next days I will be posting all these recipes (except the bread, as it is straight from the book, which I would recommend to everyone who wants to make good breads). 

Pecan Mint Chip Cookies in our Grandma Hromish's casserole

The first recipe I want to post is for the Pecan Mint Chip Cookies I made for our guests Rich and Heidi, when the arrived Friday evening. I used a simple recipe for  chocolate chip cookies, substituting a 10-ounce bag of "Andes Creme de Menthe Baking Chips" for the bag of chocolate chips in the recipe and using pecan chunks instead of the walnuts I generally prefer. I love mint flavors, like mint chocolate chip ice cream or York Peppermint Patties. If you do not care for mint flavor, obviously you could just use a bag of whatever chocolate chips you prefer. I knew our friend Rich was a big mint fan, as he has had lots of "Peppermint Patty" drinks here in past; hot cocoa with the addition of peppermint schnapps.

Cookie Scoops make perfect sized cookies

In general, Andes candies, though chocolate and mint are not my favorite because it feels like too fake an oily feeling in the mouth. I had this same reaction with some "cinnamon chips" from the grocery once, which is why I much prefer the Cinnamon Flav-r-Bites from the King Arthur Flour site. In these cookies however, the oily mouth feel was absent and all that was apparent was a really mild but still noticeable mint flavor along with the pecans whose flavor also stood out enough to notice. All in all, we all truly enjoyed these cookies and I would make them again in a heartbeat!

Pecan Mint Chip Cookies

Pecan Mint Chip Cookies

Makes about 45 to 60 cookies, depending on size

2¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
¾ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup coarse-chopped pecans
1 (10-ounce) bag Andes Creme de Menthe Baking Chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (350 on Convection). In a small bowl sift or whisk together the first three ingredients and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer cream together the butter with the two sugars until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time until combined and then the vanilla. Lower the speed of the mixer and add in the dry ingredients just until combined. Add the nuts and mint chips and combine.

Drop the dough from teaspoons or use a cookie scoop, keeping the cookies at least 2 inches apart onto a dry cookie sheet. Bake the cookies for about 9 to 11 minutes, until golden brown.


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Cold Rise Bread is the Best Ever

I have been making bread for over 40 years, but until recently, I knew little of the theory. After receiving a a donation of "new" books from the local Dacotah Prairie Museum through my sister-in-law, I sort of glommed onto one of them and have been going strong ever since. I have been talking about this book, The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart repeatedly in my blogs of the last almost 2 months. It is highly recommended if you, like me, love making bread and enjoy a new challenge. I have made a starter dough from scratch, allowing the wild yeasts in the air to populate the starter, then the "Mother" starter or "barm," as PR calls it. I proceeded to make an Onion Deli Rye Bread, a Sunflower Rye Bread, a 100% Sourdough Rye, Challah and a white Sourdough Bread. I also found one of the recipes in his book to be exceedingly similar to my Mom's bread recipe, and adapted the theory and practice to Mom's recipe, making the best batch of her bread, ever!

Baguettes from Pan a l'Ancienne

I had all these breads, and have frozen one or two loaves of most of them, so I was less inclined to jump into another one too soon. Man (woman) cannot live by bread alone! But I started getting the itch to try another one, and one that had caught my eye right at the beginning of this adventure was "Pan a l'Ancienne". This bread is not made from the wild starter barm, which is one reason I hadn't made it yet to date. Looking for ways to use the starter was my goal. But this bread kept calling to me, so I finally sat to read the whole recipe over and over, in order to absorb the details. It calls for mixing up a very simple flour, water, yeast and salt dough; the difference being that the water called for is ice water. 

ICE WATER?

Usually, bread making calls for warm water anywhere from 90 to 110 degrees. Then of course, with instant yeast, which can be mixed into the flour and doesn't even need to be proofed, the warm water is not truly necessary. It can be helpful when it is really frigid outside and the house temperature causes very sluggish reactions from the yeast. But it's

Baguettes

not necessary. So reading this recipe, which calls for iced water - ice cubes in the water to keep it very cold till needed - I was intrigued. So far, almost everything I have made following PR's descriptions has come out perfectly, so I certainly didn't want to go changing things at this point. Ice water it would be.

Once the dough is mixed with the icy water, then kneaded, it goes directly into the refrigerator overnight. Since I mixed the dough in the morning, it was in the fridge for nearly 24 hours before getting it back out into room temperatures. Another intriguing aspect to this recipe was that the dough was cut into thin strips for baguetttes, but not "formed" as is usual; very rustic. The oven is heated and prepped for "hearth baking" and the bread is baked as soon as the oven is at temp. The directions concluded with the admonition that this could also be made into ciabatta simply by allowing the baguettes to proof for a couple of hours, in which time they would spread more and develop the larger holes. A third possibility was to make focaccia. I decided to try using half the dough for baguettes (3) and half made into a focaccia. 

HEARTH BAKING

PR does things a bit differently from any I've seen in regard to making a home oven act similarly to a bakery's hearth. Rather than trying to maintain moisture over the bulk of the baking time, he says that anything past the first couple of minutes is counterproductive. A dry pan is placed into the oven to heat. Once the high temperature is reached, the bread is placed in the oven and one cup of boiling water is added to the empty hot pan. Even with boiling water, once it hits that super-heated pan in the oven, it splutters all over the place. One cup of water in an oven that hot does not last for long. The next step in this process is to use a spray bottle and spray the oven walls after 30 seconds, then again after another 30 seconds, and then once more after 30 seconds. At this point, the oven temp is lowered and the bread is left to bake. No more moisture is added during the remainder of baking time.

Focaccia

Peter Reinhart stated that it is possible that the dough in the refrigerator may have risen a little overnight, depending on the temperature of the fridge and how often the door is opened. By morning when I pulled the container of dough out of the fridge it had actually doubled in size. I was ahead of the game. So all that was left was to allow the dough the 2 hours on the counter to lose the chill. This dough is very, very wet. It is not actually "water" wet, but just a dough with a high moisture content and exceedingly soft. It is difficult to "work" with this type of dough, so it is good that PR calls for very little handling. Turning it out onto a heavily floured surface to avoid any sticking helps. PR calls for cutting apart the dough into the pieces necessary, using a bench scraper or knife. No sawing motions either; just straight cuts.  

Three baguettes left                                                            Focaccia with herbed oil right

I cut the dough in half. One half I cut further into three pieces, which are gently stretched to the length of the pan while transferring them to the pan. The other half, which I made into focaccia, was gently lifted onto another pan lined with parchment and a liberal amount of herbed oil. Then the dough is dimpled and spread without completely deflating, topped with a lot of herbed oil and left to rise for 2 hours.  The baguettes I baked right away. Once cooled, I tasted an end of the bread. 

Focaccia from Pan a l'Ancienne Dough

THE BEST BREAD FLAVOR EVER

Obviously, since the one major difference between this bread and most others is the ice water and the chilled rise, these factors have to be the reasons for the amazing flavor in this bread. The focaccia was equally fantastic, with the added flavors of the herbed oil soaked in. I used about 1/2 cup olive oil, adding one huge clove of garlic, minced, 1/4 cup of chopped fresh basil and 2 teaspoons each of fresh thyme leaves and rosemary. All of this oil was either on the parchment underneath the bread or puddled into the dimples on top and most was absorbed into the baking focaccia. Amazing. 



My passion is to teach people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and help pass along my love and joy of food, both simple and exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, trying new things weekly. Join me at A Harmony of Flavors Website and Marketplace, Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. I am also on a spiritual journey and hope you will join me at my new blog, An Eagle Flies. 

A New Potato Salad

I had stopped getting any food magazines for a while, mainly because I wanted to spend more time inventing recipes of my own. Still, getting inspiration is helpful. I watch TV shows and get ideas. I keep a pad of paper nearby to scribble notes on ideas to try when I see something I think would be good to experiment with. It can be any aspect of a food that calls me. A mix of spices I hadn't thought of. A food addition that sounds good. And then I got an invitation to re-subscribe to Food & Wine Magazine that was just an offer too good to refuse. And shortly after, I got an even better offer from Bon Appetit. So now I am getting 2 magazines, where I had been getting only one. And I am getting more new ideas. 

In the latest Food and Wine Magazine there was a recipe for a Grilled Potato Salad. The recipe is extremely simple, and it is hard to really think of a way to make it completely my own. I did not read the recipe beyond the ingredients. It called for small potatoes like fingerlings, a vinaigrette and some scallions. This caught my attention. I love potatoes with skins. My husband does not. If I made this recipe, would I have to eat the whole thing myself? No matter how good, after 3 or 4 days, I just want something different.

Mustard Potato Salad

My regular Mustard Potato Salad recipe, which I have been making for a very long, long time, uses a vinaigrette to start the layers of flavor. I know this is not everyone's way of making potato salad, but my husband and I love the flavors, and that is all that matters. For Memorial Day, yesterday, I planned to make steaks on the grill, my Mustard Potato Salad and Mom Rawstern's Famous Baked Beans. I invited my sister-in-law and a friend she has staying with her. As I was going to be grilling anyway, I decided this would be my chance to try the new potato salad idea. This would be in addition to the regular potato salad. I figured if the new potato salad was a no-go, at least the other potato salad was there, and I know everyone likes that.

I brought up the vinaigrette because I thought since I would be making my vinaigrette anyway, I would make 1/2 recipe more and use this for the grilled potatoes. I had no scallions, though they would be a great addition whether raw or grilled. I do however have a pot of chives, currently in flower out in my sun room. I thought I would grill a half yellow onion and add that to the salad, just to see how it tasted. In retrospect, probably 1 or 2 onions would have been better. They shrink so dramatically when they are cooked. 

Grilled Potato Salad with Three Onions

The potatoes I used were small "Klondike Gourmet"; not fingerlings. I boiled them whole with a tablespoon of salt until tender, then drained and left them on the counter to cool. I sliced them in half once cooled and brushed the cut sides with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper. While I grilled the steaks I also grilled the potatoes, cut side only. The onion slices were added to the grill pan and tossed until nicely charred. The whole recipe came together easily and I presented it at table. These potatoes were such a hit that my Mustard Potato Salad was hardly touched! I believe if using the tinier fingerlings, these would be an excellent addition to an appetizer party - they are that tasty! Serve with toothpicks or little bamboo cocktail "forks"

Bamboo Cocktail forks

. There is a great website called Pick on Us, that sells all sorts of bamboo toothpicks and other picks - I love it for all my appetizer needs!

I called this dish Grilled Potato Salad with Three Onions because I used grilled yellow onions, snipped fresh chives and the chive flowers. If the chives or chive flowers are not available, I would toss in some chopped scallions and some of my new Pickled Red Onion, chopped. Shallot would also be nice. Basically, the differing onion flavors and textures to compliment the grilled potatoes was the goal.

Grilled Potato Salad with Three Onions

Grilled Potato Salad with Three Onions

Serves 4 - 6

1½ pounds small potatoes
1 tablespoon coarse salt for cooking water

VINAIGRETTE:
¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper
1 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced

salt and pepper and olive oil for brushing
1 - 2 white or yellow onions
chives, to taste
scallions, optional

Place the cleaned potatoes in a pot with er to cover. Bring to boil, add the tablespoon salt and lower to a simmer for 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked through. Drain the potatoes and set them aside to cool. 

Great Grill Pan

Make the vinaigrette: Place the salt and pepper with the tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of the oil in a bowl and whisk them together. Add the rest of the olive oil in gradually, whisking constantly until totally incorporated. Set the vinaigrette aside. 

Once cooled, slice the potatoes in half - lengthwise and down the narrow side so you have thinner pieces to grill. Set all the potatoes cut side up on a baking sheet. Brush the cut sides with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Preheat a grill. Having a grill pan works wonderfully to keep all the potatoes from slipping through the grates. When the grill and the grill pan are very hot (at least 400 degrees) place the potatoes cut side down on the grill or pan. It will take at least 15 or more minutes for the cut sides to get very crispy and a little charred. Remove them to a bowl once done. 

Slice the onions across into rings about ¼ or more inches wide. Separate the rings and set them on the grill. Turn them frequently to prevent burning before they get cooked through. Once they are cooked and lightly charred in places, remove them to the bowl with the potatoes. Pour the vinaigrette over the potatoes and onions and toss to coat. Add the chives and chive flowers if available. If these are not available, slice scallions to add the gentle onion bite.



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.