Archive for November, 2009
I grew up with a strong resentment of fig Newtons -and in fact figs in general- they represented all that we were so cruelly denied as kids of a doctor who seemingly valued fiber above all else. You see, the packaged cookies we got were either fig Newtons or Arrowroot cookies – yes, the flavourless oval ones with the baby on the front that dissolved on contact with saliva. I reluctantly ate them anyway, since it was either those or nothing, dreaming of Oreos. Sometimes we got Dad’s Oatmeal cookies – more often than not the ones without the chocolate chips.
I have since made my peace with figs, although whenever I try to take another stab at fig Newtons they sit in my cupboard and harden. Of course, if you consider what homemade chocolate chip cookies are to store-bought, you can imagine how much better these are than the fig Newtons of my youth. I think they were originally from 101 Cookbooks, and if memory serves, she made the filling using red wine. They made a perfectly suitable snack to tote along to Jasper – displacing chips (almost) and other car snacks. Despite the plethora of edibles here this weekend, it’s always a good thing to have something snacky stashed in the hotel room, especially when you’re sharing it with a 4 year old.
Fig Slab Cookies
Fig Filling:
1/2 lb. (one 250g package) dried figs or apricots
1 cup orange juice
Finely chop the figs (removing the tough stems) and put them into a small saucepan with the orange juice. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes or until it turns into a soft sort of jam. The texture will depend on the dryness of the figs – add more juice or water if need be. If the mixture seems too chunky, puree it in the food processor once it has softened. (It’s tough to chop dried figs in the food processor alone – they tend to be too thick and sticky.)
Dough:
1/3 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 Tbsp. molasses
2 tsp. grated fresh ginger (optional)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cup all-purpose or whole wheat flour, or quinoa or oat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugars until well blended and the mixture has the texture of wet sand. Beat in the egg, molasses, ginger (if using) and vanilla. In a small bowl, stir together the flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to the wet ingredients and stir with a spatula just until the dough comes together. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour, or overnight.
When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350F. Cut the dough in half and roll one piece out into a rectangle about the size of your cookie sheet – this is easy to do on a piece of parchment or a Silpat baking mat, which can then be slid right onto the baking sheet. Spread the dough with the fig filling. Roll the second piece of dough out to the same size on a piece of waxed paper; lay it over the fig filling, and press it gently to seal the two together a bit. I usually roll the whole thing gently with a rolling pin, being careful that the filling doesn’t spill out the sides.
Bake for about 25 minutes, until pale golden and set. Cool for about 10 minutes, then trim the edges and cut the slab into squares or rectangles with a knife, pizza wheel or pastry cutter.
Makes about 2 1/2 dozen cookies, with plenty of edge scraps that are very tasty too.
One Year Ago: Pasta e Fagioli (Fazool)
November 05 2009 | cookies & squares | 16 Comments »
Standing in line at the Co-op deli this morning I zeroed in on a new little sign stuck into a leopard-print wheel of cheese in the display window. It read: Sticky Toffee Cheese. Well, OK.
SINCE YOU PUT IT THAT WAY.
I bought a chunk and took it home for my very own. Rich, salty-sweet and dense, almost like a soft cows’ milk cheddar, studded with a soft brown sugary toffee of sorts, it was not long for this world.
I was there in the queue to buy cheese for research purposes, on assignment for next Friday’s issue of Swerve (the Calgary Herald magazine). (I love it when cheese becomes a business expense.) I chose to make a mac & cheese. My capacity for the stuff is near limitless; especially when it’s made with bacon, onions, roasted garlic, kale, and old Gouda and manchego cheese, then baked with a crusty halo of olive-oily bread crumbs. I picked at the crispy edges and finished the last dozen or so spoonfuls cold, standing up at the stove.
(Since this is technically for Swerve I’m going to hold out on you – I’ll post the recipe when it comes out next Friday. You’ll just have to come on back. Sorry.)
One Year Ago: Roast Pork Loin stuffed with Onions, Apples and Apricots, Roasted Squash, Brussels Sprouts and Sweet Potato Pie
November 04 2009 | pasta | 22 Comments »
I feel like a better person already.
So yes, we’re cleaning out the fridge to take off to Jasper for a week for Christmas in November, a week if eating, drinking and being merry like no other. I CAN’T WAIT.
One thing that had to go was a big bunch of kale. I had seen something, somewhere, made with kale that made me want to eat it. Where was that? Wading through torn-out magazine pages (which are scattered through my house like – I fear I’ll decades from now become a spinster with a house full of torn-out recipes instead of cats) I spent a couple days scrolling through my memory to try and retrieve the file. Fortunately, the world-wide inter-web makes a fine filing system, and if I can at least trigger the memory of which publication it was in (I knew it was Molly, and she has a new column in Bon Appétit – the first I flip to), I can look it up. Bingo.
Spaghetti with Braised Kale
adapted from Molly’s column in the October 2009 issue of Bon Appétit
1/2 lb. spaghetti
canola or olive oil, for cooking with
1 large onion, chopped
1 head of garlic, cloves peeled and chopped
1 large bunch of kale
a squeeze of lemon juice
grated Parmesan cheese
salt & pepper
Put a big pot of water on to boil, and cook the spaghetti. Meanwhile, heat a drizzle of oil in a heavy skillet and saute the onion for about 5 minutes, until golden. Add the garlic and cook for a few more minutes.
Rinse the kale, pull out the tough ribs and coarsely chop or tear apart; add another drizzle of oil and then the kale to the onions and garlic. Add about 1/4 cup of the pasta water, straight from the pot, to the pan as well. Cover, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for about 10 minutes, until tender.
Drain the spaghetti, reserving a bit of the cooking liquid. Add the spaghetti to the kale mixture. Add lemon juice and a few spoonfuls of the reserved cooking liquid; toss to combine, adding a handful of Parmesan cheese and more liquid by tablespoonfuls if it’s too dry. Serve immediately.
W maturely dined on plain pasta drizzled with good olive oil and a sprinkle of coarse sea salt. Snif.
Next time I’m starting out with bacon.
One Year Ago: Beef Tenderloin Panini
November 03 2009 | pasta and vegetarian | 23 Comments »
I couldn’t look a mini chocolate bar in the eye this morning. By this afternoon I didn’t even want one each time I walked past the bowl. What do you do when Halloween candy has lost its appeal? (Or when prices have been slashed by an irresistible 75%?) Chop them up (a post-Halloween massacre) and make cookies. Dress them up, if you will.
While we’re on the subject – has anyone noticed the peanut butter cups aren’t even full-sized anymore? Silver lining: they make great deep dish cookies. This peanut butter dough will turn out both. Or you could use any basic soft cookie dough – oatmeal, brown sugar (as for chocolate chip cookies), chocolate or even ginger.
Deep-Dish Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup peanut butter (I used the just-peanuts stuff)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
about 2 cups chopped mini chocolate bars or 1 1/2 dozen Halloween sized peanut butter cups, unwrapped
Preheat oven to 325F.
In a large bowl, beat the butter, peanut butter and sugars until fluffy; add the egg and vanilla. Add the flour, baking soda and salt and stir until you have a soft dough.
Roll the dough into walnut-sized balls, drop into a muffin tin and press them down a little, then press a peanut butter cup into the middle. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until pale golden around the edges.
Makes 1 1/2-2 dozen cookies.
(Dinner, by the way, was poached eggs on toast and roasted cauliflower. We’re in clean-out-the-fridge-before-leaving-town mode.)
One Year Ago: Black Currant Popsicle (and my Grandma’s Peanut Brittle with Bacon)
November 02 2009 | cookies & squares | 22 Comments »
So I got an email last week from a 15 year old girl named Logan who wanted to start a food blog. She sounded sufficiently crazy, keen and well-versed in the ways of the blogosphere; a perfect candidate for her own online forum. (And hey, is that a photo of her with Paula Deen?) She called it Teen Culinarian- cute, don’t you think? And she’s already doling out some good advice. Her second post tackles cranberry, orange scones with pecans, which I rook as as good an excuse as any to bake scones on a Sunday morning. You know, not for my sake, but as a personal favour to a friend. You know how it is. Splitting them open and dragging them across the block of butter because all the knives were in the dishwasher – I only do that for people I really like.
Of course I had no oranges and was out of pecans, so lemon-walnut it was. When I add any sort of citrus zest to scones I like to add it along with the butter, which I typically blitz into the flour in a food processor (not necessary, but keeps the butter cold by virtue of not being touched by warm hands). When dough is sticky like this, I pat it out into a circle on a baking sheet, cut it into wedges and then gently pull them apart before baking – that way you don’t gum up your cookie cutter.
Lemon-Cranberry-Walnut Scones
adapted from Logan’s Cranberry-Orange Scones with Pecans
2 cups all-purpose flour (or half all-purpose, half whole wheat)
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 cup butter, chilled
grated zest of a lemon
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup cold milk
a handful each of dried cranberries and chopped walnuts
Preheat the oven to 375F. In a large bowl (or in the bowl of a food processor), sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the butter and zest and pulse in the food processor or mix with a pastry blender, fork or your fingers until well blended with pieces no bigger than the size of a pea.
In a measuring cup, whisk together the milk, egg, and vanilla. Add to the flour/butter mixture and stir with a spatula until almost combined; add the cranberries and walnuts and stir just until you have a soft dough.
Pat out into a circle that is about 1″ thick on your baking sheet; if you like, brush the top with milk and/or sprinkle with coarse sugar. Cut with a biscuit cutter or cut into wedges with a knife and pull each one apart slightly to allow them room to bake. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until pale golden.
One Year Ago: Zucchini Walnut Bread
November 01 2009 | bread and breakfast | 5 Comments »
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