Sniffle

We had a wonderful housewarming party last weekend, but somewhere between there and Wednesday, I picked up a bad cold. What ever is a girl to do? Of course, I made matzo ball soup.

There are many variations on matzo ball soup. Some people add parsley and other fresh herbs to their matzo balls or stock. And don’t even get me started on the sink or swim debate over those little kneidlach. (Mine are swimmers.) Add garlic, add a teaspoon of tomato paste, make it vegetarian/parve, change up the veggies, and on and on. But when I’m sick and just need something that requires minimal thinking (not to mention the fact that I can’t taste anything anyways), this is the recipe I refer to:

Ahava’s Penicillan (aka basic matzo ball soup):

For the matzo balls:

• 1/2 cup matzo meal
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbs stock
• 2 tbs olive oil
• salt, pepper

1. Mix together all ingredients, cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

For the stock:

• 1 quart stock, either veggie or chicken
• 1 medium white onion, diced
• four carrots, diced
• 1 medium head of celery, diced
• 1lb chicken, cubed, optional
• olive oil
• salt, pepper

1. In a dutch oven or large pot, heat olive oil over med-high.
2. (optional) If you’re using chicken, brown on all sides, then remove from pan and set aside.
3. Add onion and a pinch of salt, cook until soft and translucent.
4. Add the celery and carrot, cook for another minute or so
5. Add 1/4 cup or so of the stock, scraping the pan with a wooden spoon to pick up any bits from the bottom.
6. Pour in the rest of the stock, return the chicken to the pan.
7. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer.
8. Take matzo meal mix from fridge, then use a small ice cream (cookie) scoop to drop balls of the matzo mixture into the soup.
9. Cover and simmer for 40 mins or more. Of course, the longer you let it simmer, the more flavor it will have.
10. Eat and feel better.

 

Gooiedness

Recently, my friend gave me the cookbook Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey: Desserts for the Serious Sweet Tooth. She said that she had known it was the perfect cookbook for me because it had chocolate and it [the layout] is cute (in a kitschy way). And she was right; I love it. Unfortunately, I was in the middle of packing and moving and was not able to try any of the recipes right away. Last weekend, in the midst of all of our housework, the mister and I were craving sweets. So, I thumbed through my new book and came to the recipe The Best One Bowl Chocolate Chunk Pecan Cookies.

At first, I was cynical about this recipe. I mean, come on, one bowl? To further my doubt, the recipe required melting the butter in the microwave in lieu of the traditional creaming with sugar method. Desperate as we were for some sugary goodness, I forged ahead anyways. And you know what? They were the best one bowl cookies that I’ve ever made. They even give my standard cookie recipe a run for its money. The toasted pecans were sweet and caramel-like. The cookies had the perfect balance of crunchiness and gooeyness (although, after sitting out overnight, they were a bit too crunchy for my taste). I initially baked up about a dozen, which was about half the batter. Those were gone within two days. The Mister, who typically has enough self-control for the both of us, couldn’t keep his hands away from them. That is a pretty big compliment, I think.

If you’d like to try them out, check out the lovely recipe over at DailyDelicious.

 

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways…

I can’t believe that I haven’t posted about this yet: For my birthday, which is still two weeks away, Boy gave me a KitchenAid stand mixer (Pro HD in chrome). *squee* This past week, I’ve been baking to my heart’s content. Since I broke my wrist, it has been very difficult for me to knead bread dough or make anything else that involves stirring a firm dough. I had to really cut back on baking, so you can imagine how exciting it is for me to be able to do these things with a flip of the switch.

And now to the cookies! Yesterday, I made cookies using the Jacque Torres’s Secret Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe from, you guessed it, Martha Stewart. (I’m really on a MS kick lately, aren’t I?) Of course, I slightly modified the recipe, because we really didn’t need 8 1/2 DOZEN cookies sitting around the house. Here’s my version:

Jacque Torres’ Secret Chocolate Chip Cookies V2.0 (or should that be V.25?)

• 1 stick unsalted butter (or pareve margerine) at room temp
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cups packed light-brown sugar
• 1 large egg at room temp
• 3/4 cups pastry flour
• 3/4 cups ap flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 8-10 ounces of the best semi-sweet chocolate you have, chopped into small chunks. (I broke out the Scharffenberger 63% for this.)

1. Preheat oven 350 F
2. Cream together butter with sugars, add egg and vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together. Reserve 2 T of mixture. Add the remaining dry ingredients in with the wet ingredients about a quarter cup at a time, mixing until well incorporated.
4. Toss chocolate chunks with reserved dry mixture (this helps keep the chocolate from sinking, not too important with cookies). Fold into dough.
5. Using a tablespoon, scoop dough onto parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake for approximately 15 mins, until golden, but still a little soft. Let cool on a rack (I never knew how important this step was until now!).

• Makes about two dozen, or less if you are like me and swipe a bit of cookie dough every time you pass the bowl.

In reducing the recipe, the ratios changed slightly. If you actually want 100 cookies, then I’d follow the recipe as given (but really, unless you’re doing a bake sale or some other event, why would you want that many cookies?). Also, because I didn’t have any bread flour on hand, I used all-purpose flour. The cookies turned out deliciously and beautiful. I apologize for the lack of a picture. We’re having issues with our rechargeable batteries at the moment. I’ll try to post a pic before the cookies are gone. Now with picture-y goodness above.

* As a side note, I’d like to say how much I like Alton Brown’s approach to recipes. This is a cookie recipe. The ingredients may change, but the method for combining the ingredients is the same as most other cookie recipes. You cream the wet stuff, you add the dry stuff, bake it up, and voila, you have <insert your favorite> cookies! I just might start writing that from now on when I’m (re)writing a recipe.

 

The Eye of Mortar

One of the tastiest parts of the seder plate, most would say*, is the charoset. As with every item on the plate, it has a special symbolic meaning. Charoset represents the mortar that was used to lay bricks when the Jews were slaves in Egypt. It is usually served a dip that is about the consistency of oatmeal, though sometimes it is formed into a little ball the size of a grape. The recipe can vary from the very simple Ashkenazic version of apples and nuts to the Persian version which contains 40 ingredients to commemorate the forty years in the desert.**

We usually don’t have charoset at home, but because of the impending seder, I decided to try my hand at making it. Since I’m not the kind of gal to follow a recipe word for word or at all, I just made things up as I went along and it turned out pretty well. It’s fun to cook this way (if you can call it cooking).

Ahava’s Charoset:
2 apples, peeled, cored, and roughly diced

1/4 c sweet red wine (Manischewitz Blackberry is what I used)

1/4 c blanched almonds

1/4 c hazelnuts

5 figs, pits removed

1/4 c golden raisins

1 t cinnamon

1 t nutmeg

1 T honey (or to taste)

Juice of 1 small lemon

1 pinch salt

Throw everything into the food processor, reserving one apple. Pulse until a lumpy paste forms, but do not over-process the mixture. Just in case you did over-process, add the last apple and pulse twice more.

* Boy would disagree. He loves horseradish. There’s a funny story behind that, but I’ll save it for another time.

** The things you learn from Wikipedia!

 

Pesach Baking

For the past few weeks, I’ve really been in the mood to bake, but I’ve had to restrain myself or else we would have had to toss a few dozen cupcakes before Passover started. Luckily, there are a ton of recipes for unleavened baked goods around the internet. We will definitely have our fill of sweets this week and I will have my fill of baking. Alas, a brisket currently occupies my oven, so I’ll have to wait a few hours more.

Martha Stewart is a surprisingly great source for Passover recipes. For the Matza House that she made last week with Joan Rivers, I think she should be deigned an honorary member of the tribe. Here are a few recipes that I’m eyeing for the week:

• Passover Apple Cake from Arthur Schwartz.
• Glazed Hazelnut Squares
• Coconut Macaroons which use sweetened condensed milk, unlike the French Almond Macaroon recipe from the NYTimes. I think I’ll experiment with a few different macaroon recipes and figure out what I like.
• Chocolate Torte with Passover Fudge Glaze with more hazelnuts, mmm….

Here are some of the non-Martha recipes that I’m considering:

• Damp Apple and Almond Cake by Nigella Lawson
• Passover Chocolate Cupcakes (!) from Cupcake Project with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting, although if I want to serve these at my seder (I do), I’m going to have to find a non-dairy topping.

Who says you can’t make cupcakes while escaping slavery?