More of Palermo

Palazzo Abatelles

After leaving Villa Giulia, we headed over to Palazzo Abatelles, not really expecting to find it open. Happily, it was. Palazzo Abatelles houses the Galleria Regionalle della Sicilia, a beautiful little museum with a really great collection. Our ticket for Palazzo Abatelles also included admission to Palazzo Mirto, an 18th century palace that still has many of its original furnishings. Shortly after entering the Palazzo, I noticed a man in dark glasses and got the sense that he was following us. I wasn't sure what was going on, but Chuck thought that the other people visiting had "escorts" as well. Unfortunately, I was so preoccupied with what this guy was up to, that I didn't pay very close attention to the Palazzo itself.


Lunch on the grill

We had a fantastic lunch at Antica Focacceria San Francesco, a restaurant recommended in all the guide books, the Art of Eating, and Chowhound. It is a part of the "Slow Food" association and known for its panelle (fried chickpea flour patties), pane ca' meusa (spleen sandwiches), and other Palermo street food. We sat outdoors and had their fixed price menu. Chuck and I both had the carne menu and Bob had the pesce menu. The best part was that we got a sampling of many of those Palermo street foods. We had a couple different arrancini (deep fried rice balls stuffed with meat or cheese), panelle (that little chickpea thingy), sfincione (almost like a little slice of pizza), some caponata (an eggplant relish), and the infamous pane ca' meusa (the aforementioned spleen sandwich). Bob and Chuck each dutifully ate the whole pane ca' meusa. One bite was enough for me. We were already filling up and we were just getting started! Next to arrive were huge plates of pasta, which were followed by plates of grilled meats and vegetables (or fish and vegetables for Bob), and finally dessert.


Antipasti rustico

After lunch we walked up Via Maqueda to take a look at Teatro Massimo and Teatro Politeama and window-shopped along the way. We ate dinner at Pizzeria Bellini and though they have a full menu, we all chose to get pizza. I had a Schiacciata, which is sort of a stuffed pizza with salami, ham, tomato and cheese inside. It was delicious!


Schiacciata

The following day brought visits to the Catacombe dei Cappucini, the Cappella Palatina, and the Vucciria Market. The catacombs at Catacombe dei Cappucini are strange and ghoulish, yet at the same time a little sad. Like the ruins we would see later, but on a more personal level, here we were confronted with the remains from hundreds of lives. It was a surreal experience. Our next stop was the amazing Cappella Palatina where nearly every surface is covered in gorgeous mosaics. The first mosaics I saw were so detailed I thought that they were tapestries!


Cappella Palatina


Vucciria market

After two earlier attempts, we finally found our way to the Vucciria Market. What we found was smaller than I expected, occupying one short street. The stalls were more like little shops that spilled into the street. Bob and I each purchased jars of pistachio pesto and walnut pesto (more like nut pastes than what we think of as pesto). There were many other tempting items that wouldn't have made it through US customs, but it was fun to look. If anyone knows what these squash are, do let me know!


Maybe Cucuzzi?

Next time - Monreale and Erice

Sugar High Friday - Baked Ricotta Puddings with Lemon Syrup

I'm still scurrying to catch up with things at work and home since my return from vacation, so though I do remember seeing the SHF announcement some time earlier, it wasn't until today I realized - it's today! But with such a great theme (citrus) and Alice hosting it, I just had to participate.

I knew I would make something lemon - I just made one cookie recipe and will be making another in a couple of days and each uses the zest of two lemons. That means I've got some lemon juice to use up! I had recently noticed Lyn's recipe for ricotta cheese on her blog, Lex Culinaria, and was curious to try it. Lemon and ricotta seemed like a good match, so I googled around until I found this recipe for Baked Ricotta Puddings with Lemon Syrup. Perfect!

Making the ricotta was easy, though it took me over an hour to bring the milk to the proper temperature. I was also ill-equipped to remove the curds from the pot. I didn't have a large slotted spoon and tried to make due with a small strainer (which got clogged by the cheese) and a small slotted spoon (slow going). In the end though all worked out and the cheese was wonderful. It smelled and tasted fresh and rich. I used all but a spoonful of it in these puddings, so I'd love to make it again and try it in lasagna or something similar.

The pudding went together easily. The recipe has a typo that makes it a little confusing - just above the list of ingredients it says "Serves: 4", but in the instructions it says to prepare 6 ramekins. Based on the size of the ramekins (150 ml), it appears that the correct number of servings is 6. I used regular granulated sugar in both the puddings and the lemon syrup and I used 3 large eggs in the puddings since my grocery store had no medium eggs. I boiled the syrup 5 minutes, but maybe I should have boiled it longer. Once I added the lemon juice, the syrup was very thin. It does not resemble the syrup shown in the photo that accompanies the recipe at all. I expect the difference in color is due to the fact that I used regular white sugar, but the syrup in that photo is also very thick.

Even if my syrup is thin, it is sweet and very lemony and a perfect accompaniment to the puddings. I ate one warm and really enjoyed it. The recipe says that they can also be served chilled. I imagine this recipe would also be good with other citrus juices substituted for the lemon.

Palermo

Villa Giulia

Oh where do I start? Can you tell I’ve been having trouble figuring out the answer to that question? I’ve decided my general approach will be chronological and so my first posts will be about our first stop – Palermo – but even narrowing my focus in that way has not helped. It was such a great trip…and I saw and experienced so much…

So I will just start.

Palermo – a big, noisy, bustling city. In many ways it is like other big cities. We stayed at Centrale Palace which was just steps from Quattro Canti (four corners), the center of old Palermo. Quattro Canti is at the intersection of the roads now known as Corso Vittorio Emanuele and Via Maqueda, and divides the old city into four quarters. At one time the people of Palermo were born, lived and died in their home quarter, seldom if ever crossing over into another.


Palermo Cathedral

We arrived on a Saturday afternoon and after settling into our hotel, walked down Corso Vittorio Emanuele towards the city gate, Porta Nuova, stopping to visit the Cathedral along the way. We were not yet adjusted to the time change, nor recovered from the long flight, so by around 6:00 we were in need of dinner and a good night’s rest. Finding dinner at that hour turned out to be problematic since most restaurants do not open until later (8 or 8:30), but we finally found a bar that served sandwiches. It was not the most auspicious start to our culinary adventures in Sicily (what was that white stuff floating in the vinegar?), but it was enough to see us through until morning.


La Martorana

Sunday was not only Sunday, it was a national holiday (Labor Day), so the city was much quieter and many sights were closed. We managed to find plenty to occupy our attention though. We visited several churches, including one of my favorites – La Martorana. We had hoped to visit the botanical garden, but found it closed. The adjacent public garden, Villa Giulia, was open, so we stopped in there. I liked this garden very much – better even than the botanical garden which we visited the next day. The gardens were beautiful and not at all crowded. There are also some rather run-down monuments, but I think that is part of their charm.


Villa Giulia

Yikes, it’s late (it’s amazing how long I can sit here agonizing over a measly four paragraphs). Stay tuned – Sunday turned out to be a fantastic day food-wise, and we also had a rather spooky visit to Palazzo Mirto.

Dining with the Bloggers - May 18th

Back in Sicily, Chuck and I hatched this little plot... Chuck is always inquiring about my little kitchen and we were talking about the upcoming Dining with the Bloggers. The theme would be beverages and I felt that the hardest part would be finding the recipe. The topic came up for discussion several times and both Bob and Chuck would suggest things that I could make for the occasion and I would always remind them that it had to be a recipe posted on another food blog. Then when we were in Taormina, we had this wonderful, lemony concoction at the San Domenico Palace, and I decided to break all the rules.

Originally, I was thinking that I would ignore the most basic "rule" of Dining with the Bloggers and tell you about a beverage that (as far as I knew) had not been posted on any blog, but then my co-conspirator Chuck decided he would post about this beverage on his blog. My honor was saved! Well, almost. Actually, I'm still cheating some - I've never made this myself and I'm going to post photographs.

We were having lunch at the restaurant by the pool, when we saw this beverage being prepared for someone else. It is prepared tableside, which I've decided is a fantastic marketing tool. The moment they run the zester over that lemon, the scent captures the attention of each neighboring table. You sit, mesmerized, watching as the drink is prepared. Before you know it, you're ordering it for yourself. I may not remember its name, but I do remember its ingredients: lemon sherbet, prosecco, vodka, and lemon zest. Chuck has a great description of the preparation and here are a few photos...







As Bob said, "simple and elegant". With warm weather coming, I can't wait to try making this myself. Hope you'll enjoy it too!

I'm sure Zarah has found a wonderful beverage to try that really was posted on a food blog. Stop by and check it out!

Sicily Tidbits

I'm still jet-lagged and haven't accomplished a darn thing today. I'm not sure where to start with telling you about my trip, so here are a few random thoughts...

I lost my heart to... No doubt about it - Mount Etna.

Best meal... I think the consensus was Ai Lumi in Trapani. There were lots of good meals, so this is a close call, but the selection of local olive oils brought for our salads (but used to dunk their wonderful bread in) made this meal especially memorable.

Ickiest moment... When our car ran into a swarm of some kind of insect. I was looking out a side window so I only heard the splat and saw the aftermath on the windshield. It looked and sounded as though someone had dropped a bucket of water from above.

Fashion forecast... Chuck noticed an awful lot of people wearing orange. We decided orange must be "the new black". Our hunch was confirmed one day when we noticed that every single mannequin in a trendy Taormina shop was dressed in orange. Our trend-spotting abilities were called into doubt the following day when the mannequins in that same shop were all dressed in blue.

Best hotel... San Domenico Palace in Taormina. This is an unbelievably beautiful hotel (a former monastery) with spectacular views of the sea and Mount Etna. It is the most peaceful, comfortable, and luxurious hotel I've ever been in.

Scariest moment... When we lost the keys to our rental car in Agrigento.

Biggest relief... When we found them. Thankfully, someone had turned them into the ticket office.

Most exciting moment... When our bus got stuck in a snow drift on Mount Etna. This was also the biggest pile of snow I've every seen - it was well over my head. Everyone had to get out of the bus while the guides struggled to free it.

Biggest thrill... Holding my hands in steam from Mount Etna.

Favorite ruins... They're all pretty great, but I think I'd have to say Segesta.

Most thought-provoking ruins... The tumble of column pieces in Selinunte really gets you thinking about time, mortality...

Best souvenirs... Ceramics of course!!

Best reasons to visit Sicily in the spring... The wildflowers are spectacular, as is the weather.

Most beautiful church... Another tough call. The ones that impressed me most were the ones with gorgeous mosaics. The three best were the Capella Palatina in Palermo, the cathedral in Monreale, and Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio (also known as La Martorana). The cathedral in Monreale is probably most impressive because of its size.

Biggest brain teaser... Figuring out how to flush the toilet at the restaurant where we ate in Lingua on Salina (one of the Aeolian Islands). I must have studied that toilet for five or ten minutes, pushing and attempting to turn various protrusions without success. I finally realized there was a pedal on the floor.

Most fun... Our day on the Orione, the small boat with its two young guides (I'm guessing 16 and 10 years old - their father was there for the beginning and end of our ride, but for most of the day we were in the capable hands of these youngsters) that took us on a tour around Lipari and Salina.

Favorite dessert... I had a delicious cannoli and some pretty yummy cookies, but this one is a no-brainer - GELATO!

I Love Sicily

Now I understand the title of Ronald's blog. What a beautiful place - how could you not be utterly charmed by the people, the wild flowers, the historic ruins, the amazing churches, Mount Etna, the gelato, and all the other wonderful food? What a fantastic trip... I have so much to tell you, but it will have to wait until tomorrow. I'm having trouble keeping my eyes open!

Arrivederci!

Well, this is it. It is the day before I leave for Sicily and I must finally buckle down and get ready. I still have last minute errands to run and some very tricky packing to do (any advice on squeezing clothing for two weeks into a small suitcase, along with guidebooks and a large-ish Italian dictionary and still having some room to bring souvenirs home?).

I am so excited about this trip, but quite unprepared. The trip has been in the works for over a year and a half, but I still feel like it snuck up on me. In preparation for my last trip to Italy I read everything I could get my hands on and studied the language a little on my own. This time my preparation has consisted mostly of dreaming!

I plan to take copious notes and oodles of photos, so I'll have lots to tell you upon my return! For now I leave you with a picture of Bob and Chuck's life-like realization of me, the Greek Theatre in Taormina, and Mount Etna executed in sugar cubes, construction paper and photo snippets. Arrivederci! See you back here on May 14th!!

Dining with the Bloggers - April 27th

Nothing like a little serendipity. When Zarah and I decided to schedule our Dining with the Bloggers themes in advance, we picked a bunch of themes and assigned dates without giving it much thought. As it turned out, the theme for this week - my last Dining with the Bloggers post before leaving for my vacation in Sicily - is Pasta!

I have two pasta recipes to tell you about this week. One is an old favorite and the other was new to me this week, but is destined to become another favorite.

My old favorite is probably the first recipe I ever made from a food blog - well before I started my own. It is Spicy Lentil Sauce from the hungry tiger. Come to think of it, this recipe was probably my introduction to red lentils. They are so cheap, cook so quickly, and taste so good! I've made this recipe several times now and really enjoy it. There are no specific amounts given, so you feel like you're winging it - which is kind of fun! A real advantage of this recipe is that if you keep some red lentils around, you can make it on the spur of the moment. You're likely to find all the other necessary ingredients in your pantry.

My new found favorite, from Rowena at **Rubber Slippers in Italy**, is Spaghetti con Agnello e Cipolle (spaghetti with lamb and onions). Rowena is from Hawaii and is now living in the Lombardia province of Italy. I love reading about her experiences in Italy and enjoy delving into her archives to find posts about a visit to an interesting small town, a wonderful bakery, or a new find at the market. I recently found this spaghetti recipe which sounded easy, and as luck would have it turned out to be a recipe that let me use up a number of things. I cheated a bit and used ground lamb - this made the prep work a little simpler and also allowed me to buy just the amount I needed. Everything else was on hand. I used up that big old red onion I bought for a long forgotten recipe, the tail end of a bottle of white wine, and the ends of two boxes of spaghetti (one regular, one spelt). In addition to the above mentioned ingredients, this dish also has a moderate amount of curry powder in it. All in all, it is a beautiful medley of flavors!

Be sure to pay a visit to Zarah to see what she's cooked up this week. My next Dining with the Bloggers post will be on May 18th, but I believe Zarah will be sharing some interesting finds while I'm away.

Mondays with Maida - 24-Karat Cookies

Page 50 in the old book / page 83 in the new book

I swear it was an honest mistake. I forgot to give Phil his cookies this week. It had nothing to do with the fact that these were the worst cookies I've ever made from this book - bland and not at all sweet. Nor did I fear the sweetly scathing remarks that the cookies might have provoked. We were only in the office at the same time one day this week and I neglected to tell him about the two cookies I had placed in the freezer for him.

But if I anticipated that Phil would not like these cookies, I should have known that Suzanne would hate them. I had just been tending to something around the corner from Suzanne's office and was headed back to my own office. As I rounded the corner I came upon Suzanne standing outside her office. She had just taken her first bite from a 24-Karat cookie and had such a look on her face! I would describe it as shock mixed with distaste.

I was actually looking forward to these - thinking that they might be like little carrot cakes. They have grated carrots, raisins and walnuts in them. However, the only sweetener is half a cup of honey, which just isn't enough to make the cookies sweet. I don't think I'll be making these again, but if I did I'd be seriously tempted to top them with some cream cheese icing.

So here's the cookie panel with their thoughts ...

Suzanne: "Blah! Blah! Blah! After my initial shock that the cookie was soft and bland, I unsuccessfully tried to pick out the "RAISINS" (boo raisins) to salvage some part of the cookie. It wasn't worth the effort. This isn't Cathy's fault. Cathy is a great baker. It's the recipe. Rating - 0"

Denny: "Well Cathy you finally missed one or more likely the recipe did. It was OK but the nuts were barely detectable and it wasn't sweet enough. I did taste a bit of honey. I'd give it a 3 but will still check back later for any leftovers. Rating - 3"

Laura: "Tastes like carrot cake in a cookie! I especially love the walnuts & raisins/currants. Rating - 4"

Phil: I forgot to give Phil his cookies before he left on vacation - sorry!

Overall rating by the panel - 2.3

Mondays with Maida will be taking a little break, but will be back on May 23rd with Indian Figlets.

Nutrition Facts

Using it up...

If you're looking for my IMBB entry, sorry - I'm leaving on vacation in a few days and taking a break from IMBB, cookie baking, and the like. (Though I will have a couple more posts before I leave.) I'm using the weekend to get ready for my trip. In theory I'm cleaning the house (ha ha), doing the laundry, running last minute errands, etc. In actuality, I'm still spending an awful lot of time keeping tabs on all my favorite food blogs.

Anyway, my cooking this weekend and for the next few days is centered around using it up, which put me in mind of a story...

One summer many years ago my family spent a leisurely couple of weeks staying in a cottage on a lake. As the end of our stay neared, our supplies dwindled and my parents were naturally trying to use up the things we had left. I believe it was the day before our departure when my Dad for some reason took charge in the preparation of our lunch.

My Dad seldom cooks, though there are a few things he is quite adept at. He was known in our family as the one who cooked the fried rice (though my Mom did all the prep work), he often prepared breakfast, and he was a master at peanut butter pairings (peanut butter and dill pickle sandwiches...mmmmmmm...try it!). My Dad is an electrical engineer. He is a logical, practical man. On this particular day, though, I think he checked his culinary common sense at the door.

We were all seated around the table and my Dad set down a platter heaped with sandwiches - salami and relish sandwiches. Grocery store salami (not even Hebrew National) and sweet pickle relish. Yuck. There were lots of them too - I think we were each expected to eat more than one. Even my Mom was whining.

So tell me dear readers, what has "using it up" driven you to do? What's the worst combination of foods you've ever eaten or the most atrocious thing your parents ever made you eat?

Sugar High Friday - Indian Pudding

Ahhh... Indian Pudding. I love the smell of it baking, its homey taste, its warmth. It is comfort food of the highest order. Why, oh why have I waited all these years to make some for myself?

Indian Pudding, like baked beans, made frequent appearances at the dinner table of my childhood. I have always loved it, though I don't think it is quite so fondly remembered by my siblings. When I mentioned to my brother Bob that I would be making it for the upcoming Sugar High Friday (which, by the way, has a theme of Molasses this time around and is hosted by Derrick of An Obsession with Food) and said that I thought I remembered that I was the only kid in our family that liked it, he remarked, "I remember that I liked the vanilla ice cream on top."

I couldn't find any definitive history of Indian Pudding, but it does seem to be generally accepted that it came to the early New England settlers by way of the native Americans. I learned from this article in Native Peoples Magazine that the Algonquian and Iroquoian tribes traditionally ate their main meal in the morning and that it often included a savory or sweet corn meal porridge. It sounds as though molasses may have been a later addition.

If you're not inclined to make your own Indian Pudding, your best bet might be to try some at Durgin Park next time you're in Boston. I've never eaten there, but I remember my parents speaking of it fondly. Believe it or not, you can also buy Indian Pudding in a can!

My recipe for Indian Pudding was given to my Mom by Auntie Bee. It is simpler and plainer than others I've seen. It has no butter, eggs, or raisins. I made it with skim milk which resulted in a rather thin, but still very tasty, porridge. I believe my mom always made it with whole milk. This keeps well in the refrigerator for a few days and can be reheated in the microwave.

Baked Indian Pudding

1 quart milk
1/3 cup corn meal
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 tsp ginger
a pinch of salt

Mix all ingredients together and pour into a greased baking dish. Cook in a slow oven (275 F) for 2 hours. Stir pudding 3 or 4 times while cooking or until it is well blended. (My note: stir fairly often in the beginning to avoid lumps.)

Dining with the Bloggers - April 20th

So what was that I was saying last week? Oh yeah, "I'm going to be good". Ha! This is one of those weeks. It started with a cookout at my parents, followed the next night by dinner out with my family to celebrate three birthdays, and then I had to make a cake. Yes, following close on the heels of cheese week, this week our Dining with the Bloggers theme is "A Cake".

Well, I can't complain too much. Any excuse for a cake is good enough for me and you don't have to search too hard among all those food blogs out there to find some mighty tempting cake recipes. Actually, this week I didn't have to search at all as I found this recipe in the course of my regular wanderings several weeks ago. It is Deb's (of In My Kitchen) recipe for Chocolate Gingerbread Cake. I love chocolate anything, but this combination of chocolate and ginger sounded especially appealing to me. The cake is a spicy gingerbread with additions of cocoa and chocolate chips. The cocoa gives the cake a nice undercurrent of chocolate, while a generous amount of ginger and other spices (cinnamon, cloves, allspice, pepper, and nutmeg) give it some zing. All this is punctuated with a smattering of chocolate chips - yum! Deb added a cardamom cream cheese icing, but since most of my cake was bound for the freezer, I decided to omit the frosting. The cake is delicious as is, but I'll bet it is stunning with the icing. I've always liked gingerbread, and this is a variation that I know I'll be making again.

Now off you go to Zarah's, where another yummy cake awaits!

Mondays with Maida - Nut-Tree Walnut Jumbles

Page 49 in the old book / page 82 in the new book

As you may have already guessed from last week, I'm starting to have trouble thinking of something new to say about all these drop cookies. Don't get me wrong... I do like drop cookies, and they are easy to make, it's just they're not that interesting to write about... or so it seems by the time you get around to the 23rd variety of them.

The one thing that I found interesting this week, was that there is sort of a progression from the Praline Wafers, to the Farmer's Wife's Pecan Cookies to these cookies. When I started this project, one thing I was hoping to gain from it was a better understanding of the chemistry of cookies - how different ingredients in various amounts affect the outcome of a cookie recipe. I think it would be fun to spend a day or two experimenting with slight variations on a single recipe, but I'm not sure when or if I'll ever get around to that. In the meantime, though, I can notice the similarities and differences in Maida Heatter's recipes and try to figure out cause and effect. These cookies have more flour, less sugar (and use dark rather than light brown sugar) and have some sour cream, resulting in a not quite chewy and almost cakey cookie, or what Maida Heatter calls semisoft.

I thought these cookies were nice, but nothing special. They're supposed to be topped with a walnut half, but I didn't have any walnut halves or even any attractive pieces, so I omitted them. It also seemed to me that they had plenty of nuts on the inside and didn't really need a piece on top (OK, and I couldn't help but recall Phil's comment about the Farmer's Wife's Pecan Cookies).

The cookie panel had quite a variety of ratings for these...

Suzanne: "Perfect cookie with a cup of coffee. This is a cakey cookie. You can really taste the brown sugar. This along with the walnut pieces inside make this a perfect cookie. This would also be good with vanilla ice cream. Yeah, no raisins!. Rating - 5"

Denny: "Very good Nut-Tree Walnut Jumbles. Rating - 4"

Laura: "Chewy cookie with yummy nutty crunch. Rating - 3"

Phil: "Cathy, quit your day job – perfectly cooked cookies – moist, puffy, and nicely textured. But put your considerable skills to another recipe – too nutty and not sweet enough for this sweet tooth. Rating - 2.8"

Overall rating by the panel - 3.7

Next week – 24-Karat Cookies

Nutrition Facts

Dining with the Bloggers - April 13th

The theme this week is cheese. I confess that this is my doing - it was a choice made several weeks back and by the time "cheese week" rolled around, I was wishing it was "lettuce week" or some such. I've been indulging a bit too much lately and with my trip to Sicily rapidly approaching, I feel the need to good (so that I can be bad in Sicily, of course).

With cheese I didn't see many options for being good (as in eating healthfully), so I just went for being good (as in delicious). I thought about pizza, but then came across Santos' Tomato Tart. If you take a look, you'll see...this is what pizza wants to be when it grows up.

Santos has a breezy way of describing how she cooks that makes it sound so easy. For the pastry she "...added all these little bits and bobs of cheese i had in the fridge...". She used a combination of parmesan, gruyere, fontina and pecorino. Yum. I looked in my fridge and found parmesan, leerdammer, and jack. Oh dear... do they even go together? I hemmed and hawed about which to use and which to leave out, but finally decided (in the spirit of "bits and bobs") to use them all.

I used cherry tomatoes, cut the pastry recipe in half, and made individual tarts. I had enough pastry for three but stuck one blob in the freezer for later and made just two tarts. They came out beautifully. It was delicious too - the rich cheesy crust and sweet roasted tomatoes were both wonderful. I have one more tart waiting to be reheated tomorrow...then I'm going to be good.

Zarah tried some pretty elegant mac 'n cheese. Oh my gosh that sounds good!

It's still me...

When I first stuck my toe in the pool that is blogdom, I was very concerned about anonymity. As I have gradually acclimated, I've become comfortable with revealing bits of myself here and there. It seems funny to me now that when I started this blog I didn't even want to reveal my first name, so I used my initials (cai) as my "display name" in Blogger. For quite some time now I've been wishing I had just used my first name, so I finally changed it. So when you see comments and posts signed "Cathy" ... it's just me!

Mondays with Maida - Route 7 Raisin-Nut Cookies

Page 48 in the old book / page 81 in the new book

You know, a year or so from now, I'll be wishing for the good old days when all I had to do was mix up some dough and drop it on a cookie sheet. Making cookies every Sunday evening has become my routine since I started Mondays with Maida, and a rather painless one at that. I still have months of "easy" cookies to go - there are 17 more drop cookies - but then the degree of difficulty will start to inch up. There will be many more simple cookies, but multi-layered bar cookies will make occasional appearances amidst the more ordinary brownies, then icebox cookies, and then *biting my knuckles* rolled cookies. Yes, cookies will be taking a bigger bite out of my weekend when I finish up this chapter, so I will give thanks for the drop cookie...in all its simplicity!

Maida Heatter describes these cookies as traditional cookie jar cookies and I would characterize them that way as well. They are mildly spiced cookies that are crunchy on the outside, somewhat cakey on the inside, and loaded with walnuts and raisins. They are not unusual in any way, but they are very good.

And now a word from the cookie panel...

Suzanne: "BOO -- Raisins! The nuts were great and the cookie was crunchy. I'm not a fan of spice/raisin cookies, so I'd rate this one as a 3. I'm showing my age, but I've decided to rate the cookies as the kids did on 'American Bandstand' in the 1950 - 1960's. Rating - 3 1.5" ***

Denny: "The 'Route 7 Raisin Nut Cookies' were very good. Rating - 4"

Laura: "Yummy and crunchy! I love the cinnamon and nutmeg flavors. Rating - 4"

Phil: "Not sure what to expect from a Route 7 cookie. Figured on some variant of road food - ample, stick to your ribs and average. Was pleasantly surprised by this combination of raisins and nuts in a slightly sweet, perfect puffy size cookie (a little more than a bite size but not too big). Rating - 3.5"

Overall rating by the panel - 3.6 3.3 ***

*** UPDATE *** Late breaking news...I was talking with Suzanne today and asked about the American Bandstand reference in her comments because I didn't really get it. Turns out she had forgotten that I wanted her to provide a rating on a scale from 1 to 5 and was (she thought) providing an unsolicited numerical rating on a scale of 1 to 10, which she explained through her reference to American Bandstand. So, she didn't really mean to give the cookies a 3. On a scale of 1 to 5, she felt they only merited a 1.5, making the revised average for the panel 3.3.

Next week – Nut-Tree Walnut Jumbles

Nutrition Facts

Dining with the Bloggers - April 6th

So what exactly is the relationship between Mr. R. and Miss A.? Will Mr. R. take Caryn on the upcoming shoot and where will it be? But most of all, who is Mr. R. and is Caryn really his personal chef??? If you don't know what I'm talking about, you haven't had the pleasure of reading Delicious! Delicious!, Caryn's lovely and entertaining food blog. Caryn says that only the food is real, but one can't help but wonder...

I have to thank Barrett for pointing me in the direction of this blog. Although I had noticed the name of it somewhere, it wasn't until Barrett included it in a recent Posts of the Week that I actually visited it. I was immediately hooked. Each post is a brief scene written as a screenplay and includes a gorgeous photograph. Most are also accompanied by a recipe. So if you aren't already up on Caryn's adventures, you must start from the beginning and catch up! This week, the recipe that caught my eye was the one that had brought me there - Bierocks.

Bierocks are rolls filled with a meat and cabbage mixture. For a yeast bread, this was surprisingly quick and easy to make. The dough is mixed and kneaded in the mixer, though I kneaded it a little by hand at the end. The dough was easy to handle and stuffing the rolls was a snap. I used ground pork for the filling and decided to add a pinch of red pepper flakes and some fennel seeds. I ate my first bierock warm from the oven - it was heaven! The bread was fluffy and slightly sweet and combined with the pork and cabbage filling it made a perfectly yummy little sandwich. It wasn't until I reread Caryn's post just now that I noticed the mention of serving these with mustard, so I'll have to try that next time. I have frozen most of them and plan to use them for bag lunches in the near future. I really like this idea of making filled rolls - they're delicious and make such convenient little packages.

Oops, almost forgot to mention - the theme this week is "lunchbox", so stop by Zarah's and see what she has packed for you!

Mondays with Maida - The Farmer's Wife's Pecan Cookies

Page 47 in the old book / page 81 in the new book

What a difference a cup or so of flour makes! These cookies have the same ingredients as last week's cookies, but with more flour, less sugar and less butter. While last week's Praline Wafers were thin and candy-like, these are thicker, more traditional cookies that are very crunchy.

These cookies are super easy to make. You melt the butter in a saucepan and mix in the other ingredients right in the pan. Making them was blessedly uneventful - no cookies sticking to foil this week!

I liked the cookies very much; they're quite sweet and VERY crunchy. They are also rather pretty, with a nice sheen and pecan half perched on top.

Here's what the cookie panel thought...

Suzanne: Suzanne was busy taking care of her brand new grandson, so didn't get a chance to try the cookies this week.

Denny: "Farmer's Wife's Pecan Cookies were very good. Rating - 4.22"

Laura: "Deliciously crunchy and incredibly tasty. Rating - 5"

Phil: "Not a soft cookie, crunchy at the edge and more chewy as you approach the middle - crowned with a textured pecan great for cookie aesthetics but not so good for enhancing the tasting experience. A serviceable cookie and if exposure time (time to disappear from the container after staff are advised there are cookies) is any indicator, one of the quickest to disappear. Rating - 3.75"

Overall rating by the panel - 4.3

Next week – Route 7 Raisin-Nut Cookies

Nutrition Facts

Dining with the Bloggers - March 30th

From the moment I laid eyes on Barrett's photo and recipe for his Mexican Black Bean Tart With Cornmeal Crust, I knew I was going to have to try it. I loved everything about it...from its ingredients (especially the black beans) to its being a tart. With this week's Dining with the Bloggers theme being "Pies and Tarts - Sweet and Savory", the time had finally come (yay!).

Since I was preparing this just for me and I wasn't sure how well it would do as leftovers, I decided to cut the recipe in half and cook it in 10-cm individual tart pans. I made 3, but I think I could have made 4 without much trouble. I found that the timing provided by Barrett worked perfectly for these smaller tarts as well. I didn't attempt to locate Chihuahua cheese and instead used the suggested substitution of mozarella and jack cheese.

Barrett commented in his post that he was particularly proud of the cornmeal crust, and rightly so. It is delicious in its own right, but it is also a perfect accompaniment to the spicy black bean filling. It is corny, buttery and wonderfully crisp. The finished tarts were beautiful and delicious - absolutely perfect in every way. I even relished the leftovers which I reheated in the microwave. Although the crust was not as crispy, it did not get at all soggy and the flavors and textures were still incredible. I was sorry to see the last one go! I have no doubt that I will be making Barrett's tart again!

I wonder what Zarah found ... maybe something sweet for dessert?

Mondays with Maida - Praline Wafers

Page 46 in the old book / page 77 in the new book

These are very thin, crispy, candy-like cookies that are supposed to be reminescent of New Orleans pralines. They are very sweet and have brown sugar and pecans in them, but to my mind the similarity ends there.

I had a terrible time making these because I made one very big mistake. I've been successfully using parchment paper for years and never thought twice about using something different (although I do have Silpat mats that I use from time to time, I feel that parchment is less fuss). You may recall I mentioned way back when that the old book routinely calls for lining the cookie sheets with foil, while the new book specifies parchment. I knew that these cookies were going to be extremely thin and fragile and for some reason got it in my head that maybe the foil might be a better bet. DO NOT use foil to line the cookie sheets for these cookies! I ended up tossing a good deal of the first batch in the trash, still attached to the foil.

Supposedly, when the cookies have been baked the correct amount of time, they will come off the foil easily. I was able, with great difficulty, to remove the first sheet of cookies (which I think was probably slightly undercooked) from the foil. I put the second sheet back in the oven for a couple of minutes and then they came off easily enough, but the next two sheets never came off the foil. I put them back in the oven over and over again, but they were stuck fast. I switched to parchment for the last sheet of the first batch and all of the hastily prepared second batch and had no trouble with sticking. Live and learn!

Given my history with these cookies, I was probably a harsh critic. They are good, but I didn't find them particularly satisfying as a cookie. With only two tablespoons of flour (for 28 cookies), they really are more like candy than a cookie. They are incredibly easy to make, though. They take about three minutes to mix in a saucepan, shaping is not much of an issue (just be sure to distribute the pecans), and removing them from parchment is not a problem.



However, judging by how quickly they were consumed in my office and the responses of the cookie panel, you might want to disregard my opinion!

Suzanne: "At first taste, I thought the cookie was too sweet. Then I realized it tasted like a crunchy, chewy, pecan pie. The cookie was thin and lacey. Rating - 3.5"

Denny: "Another one that I wouldn't normally like, but did. Rating - 3.8"

Laura: "Yummy! Melts in your mouth with just the right amount of crunch! Rating - 5"

Phil: "More a wafer than a classic cookie - thin, chewy, sweet, with an occasional ripple of pecan. Tends to stick to those back molars for further snacking. For weight watchers may be one of the more lethal cookie varieties since it appears such a slim wafer is not very caloric. Rating - 4.5"

Overall rating by the panel - 4.2

Next week – The Farmer's Wife's Pecan Cookies

Nutrition Facts

IMBB 13 - Peanut Butter (or muffin)'s

IMBB 13 almost snuck past me this month - falling on a Thursday for the first time and coming so close on the heels of SHF 6. But luckily I was checking on a few of my favorite blogs last night and saw an early entry. I didn't want to miss this one - Maki of I was just really very hungry is hosting the 13th edition with the theme, My Little Cupcake (or muffin) - so I made myself some (or muffin)'s.

By all rights these shouldn't have turned out at all, and while I think they still need some adjustments, they came out surprising well. My approach was slap-dash at best. While I was eating my dinner this evening I looked at the muffin recipes in two cookbooks to get some general guidelines for amounts of dry ingredients, wet ingredients, eggs, and leavening. Then I took my idea - a savory peanut butter muffin with cornmeal and whole wheat flour - and wrote down amounts that seemed in line with the other recipes.

They are not very sweet at all, with a nice light texture and a little crunch from the cornmeal. On the down side, they were a little dry and the flavor was a little more subtle than I'd hoped for. I had originally planned to use a quarter teaspoon of cayenne, but chickened out and used only an eighth. I would increase the cayenne next time. I think I might also try increasing the peanut butter slightly - perhaps to half a cup. I had originally planned to use peanut oil, but I didn't have any. Once long ago I had some roasted peanut oil and I think that might be very nice in this recipe.

Peanut Butter (or muffin)'s

3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cayenne
2 eggs
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup natural peanut butter (salted)
2 tbs canola oil
1 cup milk
sesame seeds and fleur del sel for sprinkling on top

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. Whisk the eggs in a large bowl. Mix in the brown sugar, then the peanut butter, then the oil, and finally the milk. Using a spatula, stir in the dry ingredients, just until incorporated. Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups and sprinkle with sesame seeds and fleur de sel. Bake at 375 F for 25 minutes.

Dining with the Bloggers - March 23rd

I hate to rush through this post - the recipe I found this week is really wonderful. And just look at that lovely Dining with the Bloggers logo that Zarah made. It's just that it's late and I really must get to bed...

Our chosen theme this week is Rice. I looked all over and for some reason had a little difficulty finding something that appealed to me. I think part of the problem was that my criteria extended beyond taste...I wanted easy too. I knew I wasn't going to fit the cooking in this weekend, since I had other cooking projects planned, so I needed something quick and easy. When I get home in the evening (usually around 7:30 or so) I'm ravenous and if I can't get dinner together quickly I start stuffing my face with whatever munchies I can lay my hands on.

Fortunately, when I came to Deb's blog, In My Kitchen, a search for "rice" turned up a simple and delicious recipe for Asparagus & Rice Soup with Pancetta and Black Pepper (and I just realized that I completely forgot to put in the black pepper!). Besides sounding yummy and being easy, this soup had asparagus in it. I had just been admiring the asparagus this weekend at Whole Foods - seeing those slender little sprouts only served to further whet my appetite for Spring. So Monday evening after work I made a quick stop at the grocery store to pick up some asparagus and then rushed home to whip up some soup. I'm not exagerating when I say I had dinner on the table 45 minutes after I got home, and before starting the soup I went through my mail, checked my email and fed my cat. The soup couldn't have been easier - but do pay heed to Deb's warning about overcooking the asparagus. It happens fast!

So I had my first dose of Spring and it was good. It was very good!

Don't forget to stop by Zarah's to see what she found. Good night!!

Mondays with Maida - Lemon Walnut Wafers

Page 45 in the old book / page 78 in the new book

These are small lemon flavored cookies with walnuts. They are crispy around the edges and slightly soft in the middle. They were very easy to make and especially good just out of the oven. My mom loves all things lemon and I think I'll be making these next time they come to dinner.

This week the newly convened "Cookie Panel" gives me a hand evaluating the cookies for the first time. When I asked them help me out with this, I never dreamed that any more than the recipe would be critiqued. Turns out, though, that my execution of the recipe is also the subject of their evaluation! I was tempted to go back to them and ask that they only consider the recipe, but I think that the problems that I had with this recipe (and any recipe) are probably worth discussing, since others may have similar difficulties.

My main problem (again) was with timing. These are very small cookies and you really don't want them to have too much color. The cookies in my first batch were a little too large (based on the number of cookies the recipe specified), but these cookies were favored over the smaller ones by those that had one of each. I think making the cookies a little bigger would also make them less likely to overcook.

The greatest strength of these cookies is their surprisingly intense lemon flavor. They have both lemon juice and lemon rind in them and these provide a wonderful citrus taste that you seldom find in a cookie or cake unless it has been doused with a syrup or glaze after baking.



So now the Cookie Panel will tell you what they thought...

Suzanne: "Intense lemony flavor. Crunchy with soft center. Great with vanilla ice cream. Good with coffee. Rating - 4"

Denny: "Lemon Walnut Wafers are not on my list of favorites but I'd still rate these a 4. Very good. A few were baked a little too long but no noticeable burned taste. Rating - 4"

Laura: "Very nice and lemony! Rating - 3.5"

Phil: "Strengths - distinct lemon flavor nicely tempered by walnut chunks. Weaknesses - more like a cookie than a wafer. Some variability in texture and flavor for two cookies sampled. One a bit dry, the other just right. Happened to chill half of the preferred cookie having to rush off to a meeting. Chilling seemed to diminish the lemon flavor a bit. Rating - 3.5"

Overall rating by the panel - 3.75

Next week – Praline Wafers

Nutrition Facts

Meet the Cookie Panel

If you’ve been reading my regular Mondays with Maida series, you know I’ve been bringing cookies into my office nearly every week. I decided to enlist the help of a few of my coworkers in evaluating the cookies each week. That way you’ll get several points of view. I’ve asked that each week they rate the cookie on a scale from 1 to 5 (5 being the best possible score) and give me some brief comments. After collecting their ratings and remarks for the first cookie (to be posted tomorrow), I think I can say they won’t be afraid to tell it like it is!

I asked each panelist to jot down what they like in a cookie. Here are their responses:

Suzanne: “1. Anything chocolate or with chocolate chips; 2. Anything with nuts; and 3. I prefer a crunchy cookie rather than a cake textured cookie.”

Denny: “I am honored to be on the CCC (Cathy’s Cookie Committee). I generally like Chocolate & Nuts or Nutty.”

Laura: “Depending on my mood and taste at the moment, I like all kinds of cookies (crunchy, chewy, thin, thick, with nuts, without nuts, etc…).”

Phil: “Willing to try just about any type of cookie with the exception of the really unconventional (e.g. cicada cookies or anything with bugs in them). Generally biased in favor of cookies that aren’t dry. Favorite ingredients include: chocolate, most nuts, cranberry, prune, or a noticeable hint of interesting spices.”

Lest you think that Phil has been watching too much “Fear Factor”, I should explain his remark about cicada cookies. During last spring’s Brood X cicada emergence, another coworker actually baked some cicada cookies. I didn’t hear about these until after the fact, but I’m with Phil on this one. I like cookies, but you’ve got to draw the line somewhere!

SHF 6 – A Tale of Two Puddings

It’s Sugar High Friday once again. This time it is hosted by Debbie of words to eat by and the theme is Stuck on You (Caramel). Up until today I had never caramelized sugar. It was one of those things I was sort of afraid to do. If nothing else, at least I have cleared that hurdle.

I somehow got in my head I wanted to make caramel pudding. I was googling about and came across an old Fanny Farmer recipe for Caramel Junket. I’d heard of Junket before but wasn’t really sure what it was. While the term is commonly used to refer to the dessert itself, it is actually the brand name of the rennet tablets used to create the desserts. According to the maker of the tablets, desserts made by adding rennet tablets to milk are more properly called rennet-custards.



I managed to find Junket tablets at Whole Foods, so I gave the Caramel Junket (or should I say Caramel Rennet-Custard?) a try. Melting the sugar to make the caramel was easy enough, though I had some trouble when I added the boiling water. The caramel seized and I ended up with a couple of chunks that never did dissolve back into the syrup. Warmed milk, the crushed junket tablet, a little salt and vanilla are then added to the caramel syrup. The junket must be left in a warm place until it sets and then it is chilled.



It’s possible that I rushed the process – I was in a hurry to have a taste and get my photos. Or maybe using skim milk was not a good idea. In any case, I’m pretty sure something went wrong. My guess is that junket doesn’t have a firm set. It also doesn’t feel thick and creamy in your mouth. But I don’t think it should have been separating as badly as it was after I spooned some out of the dish. The caramel flavor was barely noticeable and I found the thin, jiggly texture totally unappealing.



So, back to the drawing board. I decided to combine the junket recipe with my favorite chocolate pudding recipe (a recipe that Debbie is also a fan of) to create my own caramel pudding. I followed the same procedure for making the caramel and had better luck this time around with getting the caramel completely dissolved after adding the boiling water. While the end result was much better than the junket, the caramel flavor was still a little weak. One thing I forgot to do that might help is to add a pinch of salt. I’ve included that in the recipe below. I was pleased to find out that the Moosewood chocolate pudding recipe from which my recipe is derived is very resilient and can probably tolerate quite a bit of fiddling. I’m thinking butterscotch, then maybe lemon …

Caramel Pudding

1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup boiling water
2 cups skim milk, warmed
3 tbs cornstarch
a pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla

Put the sugar in a heavy pan over medium-high heat and caramelize the sugar. Add boiling water (careful – it will bubble and steam ferociously when you first add it) and continue cooking until reduced to 1/3 cup. The caramel will seize when you add the water, but keep stirring and it should dissolve back into the syrup. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Add a ladleful of the warmed milk and stir, then add the rest of the milk, the cornstarch and the salt. Put the pudding back over medium heat and cook, stirring continuously, until it starts to simmer. Reduce the heat and continue cooking and stirring for another three or four minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Pour into serving dish(es) and chill.

Dining with the Bloggers - March 16th

It seems of late that many Blogger food-bloggers are taking matters into their own hands and creating some much needed "categories" or themed archives of their own. I keep hoping that Blogger will see the light and add support for categories, but deep down I know that I too will soon be setting up some sort of make-shift arrangement here at my little kitchen.

As I prowl about the constantly expanding food blog universe in search of good-tasting recipes, I am increasingly grateful for both the official and unofficial forms of these helpful indexes. Amy Sherman of Cooking with Amy has a particularly nice one. It sits right at the top of her home page and provides quick access to 76 different recipes (wow!) under six headings.

Quite conveniently for me, one of those headings corresponded with our Dining with the Bloggers theme this week - "Breakfast". I had been looking about for a granola recipe and was happy to find that Amy's granola sounded quite good and didn't have an extravagant amount of butter in it.

Until I started thinking about what to make for this week's Dining with the Bloggers, it had not occurred to me to make my own granola. But it turns out that homemade granola is as easy to make as it is delicious. It is also, as Amy points out, something that lends itself to improvisation. You can tailor it to your liking in so many different ways. I didn't venture far from Amy's recipe as written for this go-round, but look forward to being a little creative the next time. For this occasion I used the recommended oats, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds and walnuts and then added the optional raisins and cinnamon.

I'd recommend that you definitely include the optional cinnamon. I tasted the granola before and after adding the cinnamon and I think it makes all the difference. This granola is not as sweet as most store-bought, but I found the more subtle sweetness to be just right - particularly if you're adding some fresh fruit. I've been eating it with cold skim milk and banana and enjoying it tremendously. I'll bet it would also be good stirred into some yogurt.

OK, time to go see what Zarah is serving for breakfast. Her weekend waffles will be a hard act to follow!

Mondays with Maida - Date-Nut Wafers

Page 44 in the old book / page 76 in the new book

These are large, thin and crispy cookies with chewy bumps here and there from the dates and walnuts. They're loaded with butter (aren't they all?) and are flavored with a little cinnamon.

The recipe calls for whole dates cut in four or five pieces. Normally I would cut them in slices, but I decided it would be quicker to cut them in quarters by cutting once lengthwise and then once crosswise. Don't be tempted to use those horrid extruded date pieces...there's no comparison! These cookies really spread, so only five will fit on a cookie sheet. The instructions recommend that you flatten the dough slighty with the back of the spoon so that the dates and walnuts won't be all bunched up in the middle of the cookie. The dough is soft and sticky, which makes this a little tricky, but using one spoon to push the dough off the back of the other helps.



These were wonderful! The texture is fantastic and I loved the hint of cinnamon together with the dates. They held up well the second day in that they stayed crisp, but pack them carefully! They are quite fragile and being so large makes them even more likely to break.

Next week – Lemon Walnut Wafers

Nutrition Facts

Did you know?

Maybe I'm the last to know, but did you know you can freeze eggs? I can't count how many times I've thrown out whites or yolks because all I needed was one or the other. I was making cookies today that used two egg yolks and started wondering if I could freeze the whites. I googled "freezing egg whites" and came upon this page at the American Egg Board web site.

Not only can you freeze egg whites as is, you can freeze whole eggs by beating them slightly to blend before freezing, and you can even freeze egg yolks with a little preparation. You must add either salt, sugar or corn syrup to the yolks to prevent them from becoming too gelatinous (apparently freezing causes them to thicken to such an extent that they become unusable). If you will be using the yolks in something savory, add 1/8 teaspoon salt for each 4 yolks and blend. If you plan to use the yolks in something sweet, add either 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar or corn syrup to 4 yolks and blend.

Eggs will keep in the freezer for several weeks. They can be thawed overnight in the refrigerator. If you're in a hurry, they can be thawed under cold running water.

Dining with the Bloggers – March 9th

I cheated a little on our theme this week. Zarah had proposed a theme of cupcakes and muffins – coincidentally the same as the upcoming IMBB hosted by Maki this month. I had not made either muffins or cupcakes from any blogger recipes in the past, so I paid visits to some of my favorite blogs on the lookout for tempting recipes. I found a muffin recipe that I wanted to try but was still hunting for a cupcake recipe (my original plan was to try one muffin recipe and one cupcake recipe), when I came across a gorgeous Chocolate Zucchini Cake at Simply Recipes. Not cupcakes, not muffins… cake.

I really wanted this cake, so I decided to turn it into cupcakes. I cut the quantities down to one third the original size (since there were three eggs in the cake, that seemed easiest) and made 6 large cupcakes. I overloaded the cups which caused the tops to run together – I should have made 7 or 8 rather than 6. I used the glaze recipe that accompanies the cake recipe, but made it a little thicker by adding additional sugar.

The cupcakes were wonderful – moist and chocolaty with nuts inside and sweet vanilla icing on top. It was all I could do to wait until after dinner to try one. Moments after the first I was biting into a second … so much for portion control! I highly recommend this recipe – I’m sure it’s really great as a full-sized cake too.

Zarah will have found another wonderful muffin or cupcake recipe for you to try also…I’m betting on cupcakes! :-)

Mondays with Maida - Sunflower Coconut Cookies

Page 42 in the old book / page 75 in the new book

On reading the recipe, my first impression of these cookies was that they had everything but the kitchen sink in them - and it didn't seem to make much sense. It makes sense when you eat them, though. The coconut and oatmeal make them nicely chewy; the orange juice, orange rind and lemon rind give them a wonderful fruity flavor; and the sunflower seeds (yes - sunflower seeds) add a little crunch. There are raisins in there too, doing what raisins do...

There is nothing unusual about how these cookies are put together. The recipe mentions that they have a tendancy to burn on the bottom and suggests that you "be prepared to slide extra cookie sheets under the sheets holding the cookies - at least under the one on the lower rack." Of course I read this after the first batch was in the oven. I only have two cookie sheets, so I inverted a jelly roll pan on the lower rack and put the cookie sheet on top of it.



The texture of these cookies held up very well the second day - the outside didn't soften up at all. While these cookies were a little sweeter than I would have preferred, they were very good. The fruity flavor from the citrus was delicious and a nice change of pace from the recent spate of spice cookies.

Next week – Date-Nut Wafers

Nutrition Facts

Dining with the Bloggers – March 2nd

I realize there are places where it’s warm this time of year… but it sure isn’t here! I love soup anytime of year, but particularly when it’s cold out. I also tend to favor one-pot meals and things that freeze well and can be reheated – soup fits the bill perfectly. I think too that soup lends itself to improvisation, which may be why there are so many enticing recipes out there. I’ve only tried a few, but I look forward to trying many more.

A few weeks ago I tried the Tomatillo and Sweet Potato Soup from the hungry tiger. Tomatillos, tomatoes, and garlic are roasted and then pureed and combined with sautéed onions, vegetable broth and seasonings. The recipe calls for sumac which I didn’t have, but I consulted the Cook’s Thesaurus and substituted a little lemon juice. The resulting soup is sweet, tangy, and hearty. It is quite different from anything I’ve ever had – probably because of the tanginess of the tomatillos. I enjoyed it from the start, but found it grew on me even more as I consumed the leftovers.

Just last week I made a gigantic batch of the Culinary Muse’s Skinny Soup. She’s not kidding when she tells you to “get out your largest pot”. Don’t let the name fool you, though. With a whole pound of lentils in it, this soup is a meal that is tasty and fills you up. There’s quite a bit of chopping to do, but it’s an easy soup to throw together. And with the huge quantity it makes, you can eat it all week and still have more for the freezer. How great is that?

With all those great soups out there, Zarah is bound to have found another yummy one. If you haven’t already, stop by Food and Thoughts to see for yourself.

Mondays with Maida - Giant Ginger Cookies

Page 40 in the old book / page 71 in the new book

These truly are giant cookies. I was afraid I was making them too big, but I ended up with a couple more than the 28 that the recipe says it makes. I'd guess that each cookie has over 1/4 cup of dough. Once again, these cookies were amazing the day they were baked. They had a crunchy exterior and were soft on the inside. They are the most strongly spiced of the last several spice cookies, with cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and mustard. They are beautiful mahogany-colored cookies studded with currants and, in addition to the spices, flavored with molasses and coffee.

You might be tempted to make these cookies smaller, but I think that would be a mistake. I expect the inside of the cookies would be harder or at least drier. Better to share one with someone and enjoy the cookie as it was intended.



Although these were well received at work, I was less fond of them the day after baking. The outside had softened up a bit and I think that the flavor may have intensified (is that possible?). I prefer a more mildly spiced cookie, but others in my office seemed to really enjoy these. If you like strongly spiced cookies, I guarantee you'll like these. If you serve them the day they're baked, I think most anyone would find them hard to resist.

Next week – Sunflower Coconut Cookies

Nutrition Facts

Dining with the Bloggers – February 23rd

This week Zarah and I decided to try some Asian recipes. With the exception of an occasional stir fry, I have seldom cooked Asian food at home, so this was a welcome opportunity to try something new.

I was immediately intrigued with the idea of making soy milk from scratch when I first read pinkcocoa’s IMBB 11 post. I don’t drink soy milk very often (and when I do it is of the chocolate persuasion), but I have cooked with it from time to time. Mostly, though, I was just curious to try homemade soy milk. I also wanted try pinkcocoa’s okara pancakes which are made with the ground soy (okara) that is a by-product of making soy milk. I found that pinkcocoa’s instructions for making soy milk were quite easy and I was very pleased with the results. This soy milk has a pleasant beany flavor which is unfamiliar to me, but is something I think I will grow to like. I used it in the okara pancakes and also made some chocolate pudding – both were quite good. The pancakes were moist and delicate with a sort of nutty texture that I really liked. Using okara in cookies or quick breads would add an interesting texture as well as nutrients and fiber. If you drink or cook with soy milk, do give pinkcocoa’s recipes for soy milk and okara a try!

With this week’s Asian theme in mind, I started wandering around the numerous Asian food blogs out there that are written in English (Santos’ list of Asian women’s food blogs is an excellent starting point if you are similarly inclined) and came upon Ruth’s my little cyberspot. I was exploring her recipe archive and thought her recipe for Zha Jiang Mian (Beijing noodles with thick minced beef sauce) sounded easy and yummy – a perfect weeknight dinner. I made it last night, substituting Udon noodles for the Taiwanese noodles. I had originally intended to add some chili flakes since Ruth mentioned the dish would normally include something spicy, but I forgot. Even so, I thought it was delicious. It is a hearty meat sauce flavored with hoisin sauce, sherry, ginger, onion, and garlic. I don’t know how Udon noodles compare to Taiwanese noodles, but I thought they worked well with the sauce. This is a recipe that I will definitely make again.

That’s all from here – now hop on over to Zarah’s to see what's cooking at her place.

Mondays with Maida - Sour-Cream Ginger Cookies

Page 39 in the old book / page 74 in the new book

OK, first off I have to say – these were really good cookies. They smelled really wonderful while they were baking, they had great flavor and perfect texture, and they even had ICING! But...they did cause me a little anxiety. I had the last batch in the oven and was mixing up the icing when it suddenly dawned on me…the egg white in this icing isn’t going to be cooked. It was quite late and running to the grocery store for pasteurized egg whites wasn’t an option. I was willing to eat the cookies, but I wasn’t sure if I should bring them to work. I had visions of making the evening news…”...health officials announced earlier today that the salmonella outbreak that affected 26 in suburban Maryland was traced back to a single uncooked egg white…”

After agonizing over it for a little while, I finally decided to bring the cookies in to work but to assuage my guilt I would fully disclose the potential risk associated with eating them. I sent the following email:

From: Cathy
Sent: Tue 2/15/2005 10:53 AM
To: everyone
Cc:
Subject: cookies up front - please read below...

These have uncooked egg whites in the icing – it shouldn’t be a problem for most people but there is a small risk of salmonella. Anyone who is immunocompromised (big word from Phil) shouldn’t eat these – this includes people with certain medical conditions, the elderly and anyone who’s pregnant.

Anyway… they are sour cream ginger cookies

(My friend Phil put it much more succinctly…anyone who qualified for the flu shot should not eat these cookies.)

Happily no one got sick and all the cookies were eaten. These really were very tasty cookies - they have brown sugar and molasses and are spiced with ginger and cinnamon. The icing has vanilla and a touch of butter in it and was quite good. The recipe was recently reprinted in the Seattle Times (which oddly enough, didn't mention the egg white concern), so you can try them too!

Next week – Giant Ginger Cookies

Nutrition Facts

Dining with the Bloggers - February 16th

This week Zarah and I decided to try out some ingredients we’ve never cooked with before. My first new-to-me ingredient is pomegranate molasses. Amy at Cooking with Amy has been raving about this stuff for quite some time now and had really piqued my interest. It is a reduction of pomegranate juice that is sweet and tangy and is commonly used in Middle Eastern cooking. I couldn’t find any in the stores near me, so I mail ordered some (definitely NOT the cheapest way to get it!). It arrived last week and I turned immediately to Amy’s blog for some ideas on how to use it. I found her very easy recipe for Tangy Pomegranate Barbecue Sauce, which is so good I could eat it with a spoon. I broiled some boneless chicken breasts and brushed on some of the barbecue sauce near the end. That was good, but I think I enjoyed the leftovers even more…I cut up the chicken and reheated it in a little more of the sauce and served it over rice.

Looking around on the web, I found this comparison of several different brands of pomegranate molasses. Turns out the brand I bought, Sadaf, is one of the sweetest (it is made from sweet American pomegranates) and most suited to desserts. Guess I’ll have to hunt around some more for one of the other recommended brands – Cortas is highly recommended in this comparison and by Amy. I look forward to trying pomegranate molasses in some other recipes and playing with it on my own. Thanks to Amy for introducing me to this wonderful ingredient!

I’ve tasted fleur de sel before, but had never cooked with it. Over a year ago I printed a recipe from Clotilde’s Chocolate & Zucchini for Lemon and Fleur de Sel Butter Cookies. I can’t remember now if it caught my eye because I had recently purchased some fleur de sel, or if I purchased some fleur de sel because I wanted to try these cookies. Whichever it was, both the recipe and the fleur de sel languished in my kitchen for quite some time, but Valentine’s Day and our try-new-things theme brought this recipe to mind. These are delicate butter and almond cookies that have a thin sugar and lemon glaze. I was disappointed that I couldn’t detect the fleur de sel, but the cookies were very good. The recipe calls for 5 to 7 pinches of fleur de sel. I used 6 pinches and I would guess my pinches were a little stingy – next time I would definitely use more. These are rolled cookies, but the instructions are quite different. Rather than chilling the dough and then rolling it, you roll it between two sheets of parchment (I used waxed paper) and then chill it. This is a neat trick, which makes rolling them out nearly fool-proof. I used two sizes of heart cookie cutters (small and really small) and they were very cute. I presented a plate of the cookies to my parents for Valentine’s Day and brought the rest to my office. If you follow my blog, you know my coworkers have been eating a lot of my cookies lately, but that didn’t dampen their enthusiasm for these cookies – I even received one request for the recipe.

Don’t forget to stop by Zarah’s for another sweet new ingredient.

Mondays with Maida - Mountain Honey Gingersnaps

Page 38 in the old book / page 73 in the new book

I was a little disappointed in these cookies. For some reason, between the description given in the book and the list of ingredients, I had high expectations. I was hoping for a crunchier cookie, but the two I had weren't especially so (someone else said the one they had was, so the batches may have come out differently). Everyone at work seemed to like them OK, but nobody was gushing. I thought they were altogether ordinary.



In addition to ginger, these cookies are spiced with cinnamon and cloves. There's not a tremendous amount of ginger, so they don't have the punch you might expect from something called a gingersnap. The instructions said to bake them from 13 to 15 minutes, but I had them in the oven about 10 or 11 minutes. That may well have been my problem. Based on their color I assumed they were done, but I expect the additional time was necessary to achieve the crunchiness they are supposed to have.

If there weren't so many other cookies I like better (not to mention all the others yet to try) I'd say these were worth another try. If I did make them again, I would try leaving them in a little longer. If you're fond of spice cookies but prefer them on the milder side, you might be very happy with these.

Next week – Sour Cream Ginger Cookies

Nutrition Facts

Dining with the Bloggers - February 9th

When Zarah suggested that we focus on breads this week I knew immediately which recipe I wanted to try. Just before Christmas, Alberto from Il Forno posted about his recipe for flavored dinner rolls. The picture was beautiful, the rolls sounded delicious, and Alberto had what struck me as a really great idea for flavoring them – green pepper! I made them last weekend and I swear – they are the most beautiful rolls I have ever made. If you have a stand mixer with a dough hook, this is such an easy recipe – the mixer does all the work. The first rise is done overnight in the refrigerator. I’ve never done this before and had a few moments of doubt when I pulled the dough out of the fridge the next day (it had dried a little on top and was a little soggy on the bottom), but I shaped the rolls, left them to rise again, brushed them with an egg wash and baked them. When I pulled them out of the oven I was completely awed. They were a gorgeous shade of brown, all shiny from the egg wash, and perfectly risen. They were delicious too – poofy, eggy and (since I used green pepper) just slightly peppery. I stuck most of them in the freezer and plan to impress my parents with them when they come for dinner this weekend! Thank you Alberto!

Every so often I wish I had a recipe for a whole grain quick bread. I’ve gone looking for one a few times and come up empty each time. I went through this again last week and luckily thought to include my folder of printouts and magazine clippings in my hunt. There I found a recipe for Toaster Oat Bread that I had printed from Kelli’s blog, Culinary Epiphanies, way back in August. I checked to see what I needed from the store, but didn’t really pay close attention to the recipe until I actually started making the bread, and then I did a double-take. There is no added fat – no butter, no oil, no eggs – nada. This wasn’t exactly what I had in mind, but I went ahead with it and, guess what… it was good! The bread is surprisingly moist and the texture is much lighter than I expected. The only adjustment I think I would make next time around is to add a little more salt. Out of curiosity, I entered the recipe in my cookbook software to see how this bread weighed in for nutritional value. Figuring 16 slices to the loaf, each slice has 106 calories, less than a gram of fat, almost 2 grams of fiber, and about 4 ½ grams of protein.

If you haven’t already, stop by Zarah’s and see what goodies she’s found this week!