SICILIAN SESAME & ANISE COOKIES ("SCIMINO")

SINCE everyone is apparently baking their heads off during the quarantine, I thought I'd put my two cents in with an easy and very delicious solution to cookies and milk (or coffee) to last you at least a day or two, depending on how populated your house is. 

I usually make these cookies for Christmas. However, baking them for special occasions is always a welcome treat. In this case it was a Leap Year birthday party for a true Leap Year baby right before all the pandemix [sic!] began.

These cookies aren't fancy like some of the other Sicilian confections I bake. They are simple and unassuming batons of cookie dough, actually, covered in toasted sesame seeds and flavored with anise. They are sturdy and dense, but make no mistake, they are totally delicious. Eaten alone or  dipped into a cup of espresso or cappuccino, they hit the spot.

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

4 cups sifted flour
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup butter
2 eggs slightly beaten
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1 Tbsp. anise extract

1/2 cup milk
1 Tbsp. anise Seed, ground semi-fine

3 cups toasted sesame seeds for coating (more if necessary)

Bring milk to the simmer (170º), take off heat, add anise seed and anise extract, cover and allow to steep for 30 minutes, cool and refrigerate overnight. 

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together. Cut in butter with a pastry blender until little dots of butter appear (like a pie crust), add beaten egg, vanilla, gently stir in milk. Mix well until a mass of dough forms; I find doing it with your hands is easiest. You could use a mixer with a dough hook or a food processor but the butter reacts differently and isn't as good.

Shape cookies into round balls and stretch into elliptical forms (batons). Dip the cookies, one at a time, in a bowl of cold water and roll in the sesame seeds. You may have to wash your hands periodically to scrape off any wet dough that sticks to your palm. Place on greased cookie sheets about 3/4 inches apart. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown. All ovens being different, it may take longer to bake and it also depends on how crisp or crunchy you want your cookie to be. I look for a serious browning on the edges of the cookies and, of course, the intense aroma of licorice perfuming the air. 

Let cool completely on a cooling rack before serving. These cookies freeze very well but mine never last long enough for that. 

Makes several dozen. 

EGGPLANT FANS

I FIRST came upon this recipe in Richard Olney's Simple French Food". I have made it many times over the years and it is always a huge hit either at a sit down dinner or a buffet. It is one of life's more plentiful concoctions. 

 

Preheat the oven to 450º

Lightly oil a very large roasting pan or grating dish (12x17)

4-6 small eggplants

3 large plum tomatoes, core removed, sliced lengthwise and very thin

2 small onions cut in half and sliced very thin

5 cloves garlic smashed

4-6 marinated artichokes

1/3 cup small black olives

2 whole bay leaves

4 sprigs of fresh thyme scattered on top before baking

Salt and pepper

Cut the eggplants lengthwise. With a small knife, cut slices flat side down from the top to the bottom without separating the slices from the stem. It is important to keep the fans connected to the stem, otherwise they won't fan out properly. Set aside.

Slice the tomatoes very thin. 

Strew the garlic and the onions all over the bottom of the pan. Make a fan with a tomato slice inserted into each slice of eggplant and place each one on top of the onions. You should have 8-12 fans. 

Cut the artichoke hearts in half and fill in any gaps between the fans and around the pan. Do the same with the olives. Insert the bay leaves and the herbs over the fans and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Press down to make one even surface. Drizzle some olive oil over the entire surface. I also use the marinating oil from the artichokes. Cover loosely with aluminum foil and bake for 1-1/2 hours, however, turn the temperature down to 375º after 20 minutes. After an hour and 15 minutes or so, if the eggplants are still firm and the tomatoes haven't shriveled (every oven is different), uncover and bake for another hour or so checking periodically for shrinkage and/or burning.

Allow to rest covered for about 15 minutes and serve. It can also be served tepid or room temperature. It is divine as a leftover the next day!

Bon appetit!

 

 

MOVING ON . . . CHOCOLATE PAVLOVA

I PROMISED some recipes so let us begin.

Let's start with the Chocolate Pavlova.

I first saw this on one of Nigella Lawson's shows. I adore meringue, as can be seen from the several other entries on this blog about Pavlovas and meringue. A Pavlova is usually white and can be a single disc of mountains of beaten egg whites or multi-layered with a variety of fillings: whipped cream with berries, with passion fruit, with lemon curd or a combination of whatever takes your fancy. The chocolate Pavlova is no different except its darker and because of the nature of chocolate, fairly limits the possibilities of combinations. I wouldn't, for instance, use strawberries or blackberries or any kind of citrus curd with chocolate (candied orange peel dipped in chocolate, yes!). In any event, this recipe demonstrates only one variant of a very versatile dessert. What I can and will say here is this: the chocolate Pavlova as seen below is perhaps the most divine and glorious dessert I have ever made or eaten. One, two, even three servings of this will never be enough as gluttony rules!

I'm including the link to Nigella Lawson's site on the Food Channel because she can express herself so much better than I can.

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/nigella-lawson/chocolate-raspberry-pavlova-recipe-1973184

FOOD PORN II - SAVORY

As I promised, here are some photographs of some of the savory dishes which I hope will inspire some of you in the kitchen. 

Carciofi ripieni (for recipe click on link below)
https://paoloknows.blogspot.com/2016/09/nonnas-stuffed-artichokes_35.html

 

  

Fennel and Beet Salad with Gorgonzola

French Onion Soup

Eggplant Fans

FOOD PORN

In the interest of being versatile and a little entertaining I’m going to try to amuse you today with just photographs of food; desserts actually. The recipes will follow eventually, I promise. We need a little fluff to lighten up the mood! And what better way to do it than with some dolce!

Let’s start with a Chocolate Pavlova with Raspberries and Cream! 

And then move on to a Creme Caramel! Click on link and scroll down for recipe:
(https://paoloknows.blogspot.com/2016/05/entertaining-ii-easter-feast.html

How's this for a mirror glaze!?

Shall we continue with and Apple Charlotte? Click on link for recipe:
https://paoloknows.blogspot.com/2017/03/apple-charlotte.html

 

We just keep getting fancier and fancier! Cheesecake with Raspberries:

And finally: Tarte au Citroen

MIDNIGHT AND LENTILS

It's well after midnight and rather balmy outsde. A cool 56º with a mild wind. 14th street is empty with only the occasional passing bus. Even the homeless guys who sleep on the steps of the Salvation Army are absent from the scene. It's an odd sensation.

I had to go to the hospital this morning for a CAT scan and I rode the bus up Madison and then back down Fifth Avenue. Madison Avenue was strangely populated near Mt. Sinai with multiple gatherings of people scattered piece meal along the sidewalks and there were gaggles of cars and taxis humming their way up to Harlem. Not so Fifth Avenue. It was desolate from the Met straight down to the Village. It's an odd sensation seeing 57th and Fifth without people. Even odder seeing Bergdorf's, St. Patrick's  and Saks completely shuttered. Rockefeller Center was devoid of humanity and barricaded. Ralph Lauren's flagship stores on Madison had very elegant, custom-made, white painted boards covering every glass surface facing the street. These are the strangest times in which we live. It's enough to suppress any appetite but curiously, it hasn't. Everyone I know is baking something almost every day. I decided to live vicariously by binge watching (again!) the Great British Baking Show so I wouldn't bake myself. That hasn't stopped me, however, from putting on a few pounds.

So let's talk about lentils; anything, really, to take our minds off of the realities of our day and age.

I first read about pasta with lentils in a cookbook by Lorenza de Medici. I've made this unsuspecting dish several times and have always been astonished by the depth of flavor - not to mention the texture - such an innocent little legume can impart on the palette. What's more, they are extremely good for you. I often make the recipe below without the pasta and eat it by itself. It can be a very satisfying repast for one on a cold winter's night. What follows, though, is, I think, one of the best ways to eat it with people round the table.

You can make the lentils a day ahead or reserve one cup of the lentils for this dish to be used at a later date. I find it tastes better the next day after it's been refrigerated. 

To prepare the lentils, rinse one cup lentils with cold water and let drain in a sieve. Once cooked you should have twice that amount by volume.

Make a soffrito of one small onion (minced), one small carrot finely diced, and about 1/4 cup minced celery. Mince on clove of garlic.

Saute the soffrito and the garlic in some olive oil over moderately high heat. Add the lentils to coat with the olive oil and then add 1/2 half cup roasted cherry tomatoes and about 1/4 cup white wine or vermouth. Let that reduce before adding 2 cups boiling chicken stock. bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for about 35 minutes or until tender. You can check on the lentils periodically and smash the tomatoes into the mixture so they melt away. Correct seasoning with salt and pepper.

Cook the pasta (farfalle, rigatoni, penne,gemelli, etc.) according to the instructions in lots of salted water. A half pound of pasta should be enough for 4 people as a first course. Reduce the cooking time by 2 minutes since it will be baked in the oven.

Drain pasta. Put a little olive oil in the casserole, add the pasta and toss and add the lentils, 1/2 cup heavy cream and 5 tbs. parmiggiano. Mix well and sprinkle some bread crumbs on top and put in a 400º oven and bake uncovered for 20 minutes. 

Serve immediately.

Buon appetito!

 

20-MINUTE PASTA

We all need some diversion right now. With the escalating numbers and dire instructions to stay at home, pandemic or not, we are trying to find things to occupy our minds and our time. I wrote about memories yesterday, so I'll continue to reminisce with a more recent story. 

I was chatting with an old friend about pasta the other day and wrote down a few thoughts on getting something on the table in no time at all. Of course, you have to have an arsenal of ingredients at the ready for however you want to create this dish - the possibilities are endless - but it's also about the time involved. One needn't fuss to make something extraordinarily delicious, yet simple. 

The conversation began over a pasta recipe in the food section of a California  newspaper callled "caprese", which wasn't a salad in the conventional sense; it was a bastardization of yet another magnificent Italian creation (think pesto and how it's inappropriately and incorrectly put on anything). I told her she'd be hard pressed to find ANY Italian, no matter how adventurous, eating mozzarella, basilico and sliced raw tomatoes with pasta. As a rule, and even though I love it, Italians don't eat pasta cold. Anyway, here is my go to recipe for pasta with roasted cherry tomato sauce that has endless variations and iterations. 

I roast cherry tomatoes whole in a cast iron skillet at 375º. I toss them (in the pan) with about 2 tbs. EVOO, a good helping of Kosher salt, 8-10 grinds of the black pepper mill, and a generous shake of powdered rosemary and thyme (which I grind myself from dried herbs). Roast for 1 hour or until they start to wrinkle, caramelize and take on a deep red hue.

I make enough to last me at least 4 or 5 days. (At least 2 pounds)

To make the spaghetti:

I allow 80-100 grams per person (4 oz. = 118 grams on the scale) so a pound per 4-5 people as a main course or a side dish. I have found that one helping of this is never enough FOR ANYONE.

The sauce can be made while the pasta water is heating up and the pasta is cooking. You'll need some of the pasta cooking water. Always use plenty of water in the pot and add a handful of Kosher salt to the pot when it starts to boil before adding the pasta.

1 shallot (or a small onion)
2-3 cloves garlic
3-6 anchovies (optional and to your taste)
red pepper flakes (more or less depending on how picante you want it)
1 cup toasted cherry tomatoes
Vermouth or White wine
Basil leaves cut into chiffonade

Saute the shallots, garlic, anchovies and pepper flakes together. Add the tomatoes, smash them into the sauce and add a good splash of the Vermouth or white wine. Let that cook and meld together. Add the basil. Continue to cook over low heat until it forms a dense mass. At this point, you'll need to start adding a little of the pasta water. Set your timer according to the directions on the pasta box. Two minutes before the pasta should be done, add 1/4 cup of pasta water to the sauce. Raise the heat and bring to the boil. Just before you are ready to drain the pasta, add a little more pasta  water, correct seasoning, if necessary. Make sure the sauce is thick and bubbly and add the pasta directly into the pan with the tomatoes. Toss with a pat of unsalted butter and serve. Cheese, of course!

I know there are many steps, but trust me, you can make this dish in 20 minutes. TOPS! Someone with only a very little bit of expertise should find this a piece of cake! I like to have a mise en place ready to go when I put the pasta water on the fire.

Variations: black squid ink pasta with this sauce spiced up with more hot pepper flakes, more garlic of course and seafood (squid, shrimp, scampi, lobster, etc.)

Linguini or cappelini or even rigatoni or gemelli (with tuna OMG!) I have made this sauce and added chopped slices of leftover breaded eggplant and added a dollop of sour cream to the sauce just at the end to make an improvised Pasta alla Norma! Another Sicilian twist: add a handful of roasted pine nuts and golden raisins to the sauce while cooking and dress the finished product with bread crumbs instead of cheese. This is particularly appropriate with pasta al sardo (sardines). 

One can use pancetta or guanciale as well. I have given up meat for Lent so it's sort of vanished from my lexicon at the moment, but rest assured, meat will be back on the menu next week!

Buon appetito!