Sweet Beginnings (and Chocolate-Peppermint Thumbprints)

I know what you're thinking. It’s January, so it’s time to be resolute once again about diet and exercise. Ordinarily, I'm right there with you. After all, I have a CSA-centric blog -- I really like my vegetables. But events over the past couple of weeks have reminded me of life’s uncertainties, and I’m not ready yet for seasonal austerity. I’m having dessert first.

So here’s to a new year, one that I hope will feature good health and a dose of sweetness for my friends and family.

Chocolate-Peppermint Thumbprints

(From the December 2011 issue of Everyday Food. Makes about 4 dozen delectable cookies.)

For the cookie dough:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 tsp table salt

1.5 cups sugar, divided use

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 large egg

1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract

For the filling:

5 ounces (3/4 cup) semisweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 teaspoon pure peppermint extract

Instructions 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with racks set in the upper and lower thirds. Have on hand two baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Place 1/2 cup sugar in a small bowl and set aside.

Beat the remaining 1 cup of sugar and the 1 cup of butter in a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium-high, until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat to combine. Gradually beat in the flour mixture, using the mixer on low (if yours can handle a stiff dough) or by hand (which is the way I had to do it).

Scoop out cookie dough (in rounded 1/2 tablespoons, approximately) and roll into 1-inch balls. Roll the balls in the reserved sugar to coat and place the balls about 1 inch apart on the baking sheets.

Bake 5 minutes. Remove the sheets from the oven and use the back of a small melon baller or a round measuring spoon to make an indentation in the center of each cookie. Return the baking sheets to the oven, switching their positions on the racks, and bake the cookies until just set but still moist-looking, about 4 more minutes. Put the baking sheets on wire racks and let the cookies cool in place.

As the cookies cool, prepare the filling. Place the chocolate chips and 1/4 cup butter in a bowl and microwave in 10-second increments until melted, stirring to combine. Stir in the peppermint extract. Let the filling mixture cool until it is thick enough to pipe, about 5 minutes. Transfer the filling to a pastry bag fitted with a small round tip or to a large zip-top plastic bag (to which you snip a 1/4-inch hole in one corner). Pipe the filling into each cookie.

Store the cookies in an airtight container, up to 1 week (if you can keep them around that long).

60-Minute Moroccan-Style Challah

Every time I make bread from scratch I think to myself: I don’t do this nearly often enough. It’s not the taste of home-baked bread that spurs that thought -- truth be told, I sometimes prefer the store-bought stuff -- but rather the physical process of making bread. Kneading dough is therapeutic. (No bread machine or stand mixer with a dough hook here. That would spoil the fun.) So there I was on a recent Friday morning, in need of kitchen therapy, happily working some dough.

The recipe at hand was a Moroccan-style challah from Joan Nathan that has been making the rounds of newspaper food sections for the past year. Two qualities in particular set this bread apart from “conventional” challah in America. One is that it has a very short rise time (10 minutes!); the entire process of mixing, kneading, resting, shaping, and baking the dough takes about an hour. The second is the flavoring: anise seed in the original recipe, fennel seed when I made it. (Both seeds impart a licorice flavor, but fennel seed has a milder taste. And it’s what I had on hand.) The loaves are topped with sesame.

The result was intriguing, if not exactly challah-like. My loaves were fragrant, narrow, and dense. Too dense, perhaps; I was expecting them to rise more in the oven. Whether that is a reflection of the recipe, a cold kitchen, or the cook is not clear. What I need here is a second opinion, so give this recipe a try and let me know how it works for you. Come on, you can do it. It only takes an hour.

60-Minute Moroccan-Style Challah

Adapted from Joan Nathan’s Pain Petri, or Moroccan Anise-Flavored Challah With Sesame Seeds. Makes 2 loaves.

1 Tbsp active dry yeast
1 cup lukewarm water
1 large egg
1/4 cup canola oil
4 cups flour (divided use), plus more for dusting
1/2 Tbsp salt
2.5 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp fennel seed, crushed (or anise seeds, which are smaller and can be used whole)

1 extra egg yolk, beaten with 1/2 Tbsp water, for glaze

1/2 Tbsp plus 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Have on hand a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Put the yeast in a large mixing bowl and pour in the water. Stir to dissolve the yeast. Whisk in the egg, then the oil.

Add 3.5 cups of the flour, the salt, sugar, and fennel seeds to the yeast mixture, and stir with a wooden spoon until the dough begins to come together. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead the dough for about 5 minutes or until it is smooth and elastic. If the dough feels sticky, knead in more flour (from the remaining half cup) in increments as necessary.

Shape the dough into a round loaf and poke a 1-inch hole completely through the center. (You can use the handle of the wooden spoon to do this.) Let the dough rest, uncovered, on the floured surface, for about 10 minutes.

Divide the dough in half. On a lightly floured surface, and with floured hands, roll one piece of dough into a 2-foot-long rope, pinching closed any seams that form in the dough. Bring the two ends of the rope next to each other and twist the dough to form a loose spiral. Pinch the ends together and tuck under the loaf. Place the bread on the baking sheet. Repeat with the second piece of dough.

Brush the egg glaze over the loaves and sprinkle them with the sesame seeds.

Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees, and bake for another 30 minutes, or until the loaves sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Boozy Cranberry-Pineapple Relish

The cranberry sauce of my childhood most definitely came out of cans. While we sometimes had the jellied kind, the preferred family version involved mixing a can of whole-berry sauce with drained, crushed pineapple.

In the years since, my tastes have grown more sophisticated (or snobbier or particular, depending on your point of view) and I've turned to making my own sauce from fresh cranberries. But there's something to that combination of cranberries and pineapple. So this year for Thanksgiving, with the freedom that comes from not being a host, not being a guest, and having two kids who don't like cranberries -- and therefore don't care what I do with them -- I took to experimenting in the kitchen.

The Programmer and I were happy with the result: a grown-up cranberry sauce that riffs on my childhood memory. I recommend making this at least a day before serving, to give the flavors time to mellow. 

Boozy Cranberry-Pineapple Relish
(original recipe)

12-ounce bag fresh cranberries, sorted, rinsed, and drained
20-ounce can crushed pineapple in unsweetened pineapple juice
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup white granulated sugar
1/4 cup dark rum

Drain the pineapple well, reserving the juice. Set aside the crushed pineapple.

Measure out 3/4 cup pineapple juice (save the extra for another use) and combine with the cranberries, brown sugar, white sugar, and rum in a smallish saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then lower the heat and simmer for about 15 minutes; the cranberries will pop and break down, the liquid will get syrupy, and your kitchen will likely smell like a cocktail. Remove the relish from the heat and transfer to a bowl or storage container to cool at room temperature. The relish will thicken as it cools.

When the relish has cooled, mix in 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of the reserved crushed pineapple. Refrigerate the relish several hours to several days before serving.

Grilled Cheese With Apple and Mustard

Last week I was testing out a gratin recipe that I was sure was going to be fantastic. Swiss chard, sweet potatoes, onions, ricotta cheese -- I couldn’t resist the mix of ingredients. But for the labor involved (individually cooking said chard, potatoes, and onions, for example), I needed a bigger payoff. A full hour into recipe prep I was considering chucking the whole thing for a grilled cheese sandwich.

And why not grilled cheese? There’s nothing pretentious or complicated about grilled cheese -- not when I make it, anyway. And it’s a perfect counterpoint for this overloaded food-intensive time of the year.

The next time you are in the mood for a grilled cheese sandwich (hmmm, I could go for one now), I humbly suggest this combination:

• Challah or sturdy bread, such as sourdough
• Sharp cheddar cheese
• A smear of Dijon mustard
• Sliced apple, such as Cortland, Macintosh, or Granny Smith

Butter the top and bottom of the sandwich and cook in a flat-bottomed skillet over medium heat until the bread is golden and the cheese is melted. Serve the remaining apple on the side. If you want to up the comfort food factor, finish the meal with a couple of cookies and a glass of milk.

Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie

Photography is not my strong suit. Which means that I have to invite you all over for dinner, since the food looks much better in person.

I might serve you this. (It would help if you liked eggplant.) This was one of the most satisfying meals that The Programmer and I had last month -- several meals, actually, since Kit prefers eggplant in the form of eggplant Parmesan and Caboodle prefers that eggplant just stay at the farm and be fed to livestock.

What took the dish over the top for us is that I substituted slow-roasted fresh tomatoes for canned ones. That's less likely an option for you now (snow season! gak!) but keep this in mind for when you are inundated with tomatoes next summer or early fall: Cut a bunch of tomatoes in half or in wedges, place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet, drizzle them with a little olive oil, and bake at a low temperature -- 225 to 250 degrees F -- for about two hours. The tomatoes will begin to dry out, which concentrates their flavor. You can also roast the tomatoes at a higher temperature (say 325 degrees) for a shorter time; they will brown and caramelize along the edges.

Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie
(Adapted from Vegetarian Times. I especially liked the original recipe's idea to place some of the vegetables on top of the mashed potatoes. This version removes the eggs, cuts down on the fat, and makes minor ingredient substitutions. Serves 6 to 8.)  

2 lbs red-skinned potatoes, peeled only if desired and cut into cubes (about 6 cups)

1/4 cup non-fat milk

1 Tbsp unsalted butter

Salt and pepper to taste

2 Tbsp olive oil, divided use

1 medium onion, coarsely chopped (1 cup)

2 cans (about 15 oz. each) diced tomatoes with liquid, or 1 can diced tomatoes and 2 cups of roasted fresh tomatoes

2 eggplant (about 1.5 pounds total), peeled only if desired, and cubed

About 2 Tbsp fresh herbs, chopped, to taste (I used about 1 Tbsp basil and a combination of parsley, oregano and thyme)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs

1 green bell pepper, sliced thin

1 small zucchini, sliced thin

Place the cubed potatoes in a large pot, cover with water, and bring to a boil. Cook the potatoes 10 to 15 minutes, or until soft. Drain, and mash with milk and butter. Season with salt and pepper, and set aside.

Meanwhile, heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Saute the onion in the oil for about 5 minutes, or until it begins to soften. Add the tomatoes, eggplant, herbs, and garlic. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer 20 minutes or until the vegetables are soft. Remove from heat, and stir in the Parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs. Taste the mixture and add salt and pepper as desired.

Spread the potato mixture over the vegetables in the Dutch oven, banking it up a little along the sides and leaving an indentation in the middle.

Heat the remaining 1 Tbsp of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the bell pepper and zucchini, and sauté for 7 to 10 minutes, or until just tender. Pile the sautéed zucchini and bell pepper into the center of the mashed potatoes.

Bake the casserole at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until heated through.