3094 views • Categories: Cookies 
You know it must be the Holiday Season when I publish a recipe. Hell hasn't frozen over, it's Christmas!!
I spent the better part of Saturday making the cookie care package that I send out to loved ones across the country. Some of the recipes were old favorites. This one was a new one to add to the rotation.
Coming from the book Baked: New Frontiers in Baking, it is the perfect amalgamation of several holiday components, up to and including the fact that the taste are German influenced, much like Christmas itself. Add to that the chocolate, cherries, and, oh yes, more chocolate, it was a cookie that seemed to be destined into the Holiday cookie box.
By the way, speaking of Baked. If this hasn't been on your list of cookbooks, it certainly should be. The recipes are near perfect, the results are always delicious, and the instructions given make baking seem simple. If you're looking for a Holiday gift for a friend, I highly recommend this book.
Sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder into a medium sized bowl. Set aside.
In a non-reactive metal bowl, combine the chocolate and the butter. Place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir with a rubber spatula until the chocolate and butter have melted and combined, and the mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugars, and vanilla with an electric mixer on high speed for five minutes. The mixture should be pale and thick when done.
Add the chocolate to the sugar. Mix on low until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again for another 10 seconds.
Add the flour to the dough, and mix on low until just combined. Again, scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again for another 10 seconds.
Using a spatula, lighly fold in the chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, and cherries. The dough will look very loose, but this is expected. Place the dough in the refrigerator to allow to chill for a minimum of six hours.
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment papers.
Drop the dough by rounded tablespoons onto the baking sheets, one inch apart from one another. Bake in the over for ten to twelve minutes, rotating the baking sheets halfway through the baking time in order to prevent uneven baking. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
Makes 2 dozen cookies, more or less
2954 views • Categories: Cuisines 
Prior to my recent trip to Germany, my own perception of German food was that it was hearty, rich, filling, and about as subtle as an airhorn. After said trip, my perception really hasn't changed all that much. There are little to no delicate flavors found in their food.
What has changed is my understanding that this approach is a feature, not a bug. Robust food has a long tradition here in the States as well, thanks in large part to those of us with British, Irish, and yes, even German heritage, so there is a familiarity found in German food. If Italian and French cuisine is transcendent, then German food is grounded in reality, the yang to their counterparts yin.
Now, in saying this, keep in mind that both Andrea and I stuck to pretty much the touristy areas of the country, so for all we knew, we were being sold the German equivalent of TGI Fridays. Still, some things stood out.
Take the picture above of Kaiserschmarrn, a pancake that is fried and ripped into pieces before being served covered with caramelized fruits, almonds, and topped with powdered sugar, with a side of either hot applesauce or plum sauce to cover the dish. I had ordered this on our last day in Munich, and it ended up being coveted by Andrea. This dessert came out on a dinner plate, and could have been a meal unto itself.
Staying on desserts and fruits, let me add that I fully support the Germans approach to cherries. While we in America love our cherries sweet, the Germans seem to have the opposite desire. Their cherries were exquisitely tart, which was a very pleasant and a very appreciated turn of events. No neon red Maraschino cherries here, these cherries were dark and could make a mouth pucker by simply looking at them. We need more of these in the States.
As for the meals themselves, what we came across was pretty much what we expected, with the below picture being fairly typical of the meals we had.
This is Hirschgoulasch with Spaetzle, also known as Red Deer Goulash with Spaetzle. Starches were fairly common, and I quickly learned that if you had a choice between a meal with a dumpling, or a meal with spaetzle, the meal with spaetzle would almost always be better.
Dumplings were huge and somewhat bland, about the size of a baseball, but only one was served with dinner. I equated them with our mashed potatoes. They were also often pared with sauerkraut and sausages. Spaetzle, on the other hand, tended to be served either alone topped/mixed with cheese (called Kasespaetzle), or pared with a dish that had a rich gravy associated with it, as pictured above. Dinner with spaetzle was always seemed to be better than one with a dumpling.
As for sausages, they were all quite good, but I loved the Klosterseufzer-Würstl, which were spicier than most.
The biggest surprise? Breakfast, hands down. My perception is shaped by the fact that our breakfasts were at hotel buffets, so I have no idea if what we saw was traditional or not. If you're a fan of eggs or cereal, then you would appear to be in the minority. While eggs were available, both scrambled and hard boiled, what dominated the buffets were breads and pastries, as well as fruits and cold cuts. The picture above of a (fresh!) pretzel, caprese, meatball, and breaded veal medallion was typical of what we saw at breakfast from Cologne to Munich. Croissants, bananas, and yogurt were also popular. Eggs and bacon? These were shunted off to the corner and were for the most part ignored by the customers.
The best meal I had? It was a lunch in the shadow of Neuschwanstein Castle, and it wasn't the meal per se that was memorable, but rather one aspect of it which resulted in a bit of a revelation.
This is Pumpkin soup, and very well made one at that. The revelation?
The next time you're at a restaurant where pumpkin soup is on the menu, ask to see their beer menu. If they have a German Wheat beer available, by all means order one with the soup. German Wheat beers have traditionally a clove-like taste to them. It matches perfectly with pumpkin soup, doubly so for a well made one.
For me, eating in Germany will always be remembered for that particular revelation.
Alas, another recipe, and not surprisingly, beer plays a theme here as well. While the recipe calls for brown ale, darker beers could also work nicely. I'm thinking that a coffee stout would be my next choice.
You could also use a slow cooker, if one were so inclined, in place of placing this over low heat on the stove. The premise is the same: Cook the ribs long enough that they fall apart if you merely look at them the wrong way.
Meanwhile, I found this worked quite well as a summer time meal, as we pared it with grilled bread and corn on the cob. A Sunday in August rarely could have a better meal.
In a large cast iron skillet, heat olive oil to medium high. Salt and Pepper the ribs to taste. Flour on both sides, and then place in the skillet. Cook just enough to get a sear. Place in the stew pot that has been placed over low heat.
Add to the pot the diced onions, six cloves of the garlic, the bay leaves, and the thyme. Set the slow cooker to cook for four hours.
Meanwhile, slice the remaining four cloves of garlic. Place them in a 4 qt pot that had been placed over medium heat with the butter. Allow the butter to melt, and add the brown ale. Bring to a boil and allow to reduce by 1/3rd. Add to the ribs and onions.
Mix in the molasses and the tomato paste to the ribs and onions. Mix in well. Let the cooking last for another 3 1/2 hours.
Serve topped with chives.
Serves 4
Look everyone! A recipe!
Also notice that one of the major ingredients here is beer. Are you sensing a theme yet?
This recipe is a take from one found in the book The Best of American Beer and Food: Pairing & Cooking with Craft Beer, and I started with this one over the others because:
a) It's a breakfast recipe.
and
b) See a.
The use of the beer here does mean that there will be a fair amount of water as you get later in the stages of cooking. This is apparently normal. Feel free to drain off the excess water, or simply use a slotted spoon when it comes time to plate the eggs.
You also can use other types of beer, but I would recommend a strong tasting wheat beer at first. The deep, earthy flavors that come from wheat beers works nicely with the ham and Tabasco.
In a large bowl, whip together the three large eggs and the egg white. Once fully incorporated, add the beer, mixing continually as the brew is poured into the egg mixture.
Place a frying pan over medium heat. Add the butter, allowing it to melt and coat the pan. Pour in the eggs, half of the ham, half of cheese, and half of the chives. Stir continuously.
As the eggs solidify, add the Tabasco sauce, as well as the remaining ham. Allow the scramble to cook for another 3-5 minutes.
Remove the eggs from the frying pan with a slotted spoon. Top with the remaining cheese and chives.
Serves 2
Sad to say, but this is the end of my gig with Accidental Hedonist. I want to thank Kate for giving me this opportunity. It's been a fun six months, and I've really enjoyed writing for this audience. Feel free to join me over at Food & Fire, where I'll continue posting about both live fire cooking and my growing number of gluten-free recipes.
Tri-tip is a little-known cut of beef that all too often ends up being turned into stew meat or hamburger. Too bad, because it’s an inexpensive, tasty roast that's easy to prepare on the grill.
The muscle is triangular in shape (hence, tri-tip). It's cut from the bottom of the sirloin, so it has that rich flavor while still being pretty lean.
You can cut it into steaks and grill it hot and fast, but I like it the way the vaqueros in California prepared it - seasoned simply and cooked slowly over a smoky fire, then sliced thinly against the grain.
1 tri-tip roast, between 1-1/2 and 2-1/2 pounds
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons ground black pepper
Coat the roast with the olive oil. Combine the salt, garlic, and black pepper and rub into the meat. Put roast back in the refrigerator for at least an hour.
Set your grill up for an indirect cook at medium-high heat (about 350°F). Toss in a couple of small chunks of smoking wood (red oak is traditional) to the coals or smoker box. Put the roast on away from the heat and close the lid.
Cook the tri-tip for about an hour, turning every 15 minutes, until the internal temperature reaches 135°F. This is the lovely land of medium rare. Because the roast is so lean, cooking it beyond this point will just make it tough.
Here it is sliced for serving - tender and tasty. Save the juices to spoon over the meat when serving.
I really enjoy grilled pork loin - it's quick, cheap, tasty, and very versatile. It's the first thing I reach for when we've got guests to feed on short notice. The only issue I have with it is that pigs have been bred to be so lean that this cut can dry out pretty easily.
The solution - stuff it.
Here's a 3 pound chunk of loin that I butterflied. Just cut the loin almost in half lengthwise, leaving about an inch and a quarter of meat joining the 2 halves. Spread the halves apart, like opening a book, and then slice each remaining half almost in half, again leaving about an inch and a quarter uncut. Spread open these halves. Place the butterflied pork between two sheets of plastic wrap. Use a rolling pin to flatten the pork to about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thickness. Sprinkle the top side of pork with with kosher sea salt and fresh-ground pepper.
Now stuff it as you see fit. There are no real rules on this other than you need about a 3/4 cup of stuffing the fill a 3 pound loin. I like to use a cheese, a leaf, and an accent. This one was stuffed with oil-marinated mozzarella, spinach leaves, and hearts of palm. Other tasty combinations are ricotta, spinach, and artichoke hearts; or grated Parmesan, fresh basil, and black olives; or gorgonzola, fresh sage, and dried fruit. Use your imagination.
Whatever filling you use, spread it on evenly, leaving 1/2-inch border around edges. Starting at narrow end, roll pork around the filling. Tie the loin off at 1 1/2-inch intervals to keep it together. Rub pork with olive oil and sprinkle the top side of pork with with more kosher sea salt and fresh-ground pepper.
Place pork, seam side up, on the grate and grill indirectly at 350°F to 400°F for about an hour, or until meat thermometer inserted in thickest part of roast reaches 145°F. When roast is done, move to a plate and let it rest 10 minutes before slicing.
Paella is Spain's classic dish of saffron-infused rice combined with various meats and seafood. I love making this simple version on our Big Green Egg. It's one of my favorite dishes to make for guests as an early dinner on Sunday afternoons.
It looks a little complicated, but it's really only about a half hour or so of prep work, and another 45 minutes or so on the grill.
Ingredients
3 cups chicken broth
1/2 pound small raw shrimp, shelled
1/2 pound cleaned calamari, cut in rings
1/2 pound bay scallops
2 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 2 inch chunks and lightly salted
1/4 lb of Spanish cooking chorizo, cut in 1/4 inch slices
1 (14.5 ounce) can petite diced tomatoes, undrained
1 red or yellow bell pepper, cut into 2 inch strips
1 1/2 cups Bomba or Calasparra rice
1 cup fresh or frozen peas
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 teaspoons of sweet smoked Spanish paprika
1/2 teaspoon of saffron
Olive oil
Lemon wedges, to garnish
Heat the broth with the saffron and the paprika. Keep warm and nearby.
Get your grill up to medium-high (about 400°F). You want to provide a wide, even heat that can be maintained with the lid open. You don’t want any hot spots. You can do this on most grills by cooking indirectly, or by using a diffuser like a pizza stone under the pan.
Use a shallow metal pan with about a 13-14 inch bottom. I really like this enameled paellera, but you could also use a chef's pan. Add enough olive oil to cover to the bottom well. Heat the oil for a few minutes and then add the chicken pieces and fry until brown. Remove the chicken to a plate.
Add the chopped onion and garlic. Saute until the onion is soft. Add the tomatoes and cook until they break down and the mixture thickens and darkens. Add more oil if needed. This is the sofrito - it adds a lot of depth to the dish and provides a base for the rest of the dish.
Add the rice and chorizo and saute 1-2 minutes.
Stir in the chicken broth and try to spread the rice out as evenly as possible. Once you have a relatively uniform layer, leave it alone. The rice needs to sit undisturbed on the bottom of the pan to developed the tasty brown crust called the soccarat.
Arrange the browned chicken, scallops, shrimp, calamari, pepper, and peas on top of the rice. Try to make it even and pretty. Close the lid and lower your grill temperature to 350°F degrees. Cook undisturbed until all the liquid is absorbed - about 30 minutes.
Once the liquid is gone, bump the heat up to 400°F and start listening closely. The paella will start to crackle, and you might smell a toasted odor that tells you the rice is browning and forming the soccarat. Test by running a spatula under the rice to feel for a slightly bumpy bottom. Once you feel this, remove the paella from the heat.
Let the paella rest 5 minutes before serving.
One of the sure signs of spring is when Copper River salmon starts showing up in our local markets. Only available mid-May through mid-June, this is some of the richest, tastiest salmon out there.
I almost always take a pretty simple approach and just grill the salmon on a cedar or alder plank. Smoke from the plank deepens the rich, nutty flavor of the fish while protecting it from the flames so you can use higher temperatures to seal in the juices.
Use a food-grade plank that's been soaked in water for at least an hour. Set your grill up for direct cooking at medium-high heat (about 450°F).
Oil the skin side of the salmon and season both sides with a little sea salt and maybe a grind or two of black pepper.
Put the plank on the grill by itself for about 5 minutes, or until you see the first wisps of smoke coming from the board. Flip the plank over and put the salmon on skin side down on the hot side of the plank.
Close the lid on the grill and cook for 10-15 minutes. I like salmon when it's a juicy medium rare, so take the fillet off when it starts to flake, but is still a little translucent red inside - about 130°F internal. Remember that the fish will continue to cook a little once it’s off the heat, so you want it to be slightly underdone when you take it off.
I served it hot off the grill with a squeeze of lemon and a side of fresh peas and new potatoes.
Buttermilk makes an excellent brine for chicken. It does a great job of penetrating the meat, so the chicken stays moist and the flavor of the spices go all of the way through.
Ingredients
3 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup Louisiana-style hot sauce (I used Frank's RedHot Original)
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon rubbed sage
1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
2 (3 to 4 pound) chickens, each cut into 8 pieces
Combine the buttermilk, salt, hot sauce, Worcestershire, and spices. Mix well. Add the chicken and turn to coat. Marinate in the refrigerator overnight, turning the pieces occasionally.
Set up your grill for a direct cook over medium (350°F) heat.
Remove the chicken pieces from the marinade and put on the grill. Grill for about 40 minutes, flipping every 10 minutes or so, until the juices run clear or when a meat thermometer reads 180°F when inserted in the thickest part of the thigh.
I served this with baked beans and a Summer-y pasta salad.
As someone who writes about food for a living, I have plenty of colleagues who write cookbooks. Many of these cookbooks are excellent, with carefully tested recipes, informative text, and nice photos. But because the authors are not Big Stars or Brand Named Chefs, they're relatively unknown on the national scene, which means they have to work especially hard to get their books noticed and placed prominently in stores. I had dinner with two friends last week who've written 15 cookbooks, and they describe themselves as The Hardest Working Cookbook Authors Nobody Has Ever Heard Of.
So it's especially nice when I can highlight the work of these various authors and raise their profile, however incrementally, by introducing them to my readers. But there's a flip side to that, too. What about a great cookbook by an author who already has an established platform? Do I bother adding to the fuss and the noise by writing about a book by a Martha Stewart or a Mario Batali, authors who will do just fine without a horn-toot from me? Or do I simply ignore them and their PR machine, assuming they'll get plenty of notice on their own?
Just as smaller books by lesser known authors deserve to be reviewed and publicized on the merits, so do those by the Big Names, if the books are good. So it's with this context that I tell you that I recently saw Padma Lakshmi's 2007 cookbook Tangy Tart Hot & Sweet and found myself breathless after only a few pages. Sure she's a Big Name, but a great cookbook's a great cookbook, and this one is worth picking up.
As you undoubtedly know, Lakshmi hosts Bravo's television show Top Chef. Her predecessor, Katie Lee Joel, wrote a cookbook, too, but while Joel's book, The Comfort Table (Simon Spotlight Entertainment, 2008), reminded me of a mouthful of air, Lakshmi's book pulsates with originality.
Tangy Tart Hot & Sweet (Weinstein Books, 2007) is filled with exotic recipes and lush, evocative photographs. Her flavor combinations are both exciting and unexpected, as when she pairs black lentils with apples, jalapenos, and unsweetened coconut in the Pondicherry Lentil Salad. Her spaghettini is sauced with chipotle, clams, and green olive paste. And her sauteed cauliflower has anise seeds, red chilies, ginger, and cashews.
My favorite recipe so far is for the BBQ Korean Short Ribs. I plan to use the marinade again and again, not only on beef but also on chicken, pork, and vegetables.
So the next time you're book shopping, browse offerings by newer authors (pick up Kate's 99 Drams of Whiskey while you're at it), but don't automatically discount those by people who may seem to be overexposed.
p.s. This is my final post as a guest blogger here on Accidental Hedonist. Due to extensive travel during the month of June, I need to say a premature goodbye. Many thanks for reading my Tuesday missives over the past 5 months, and thanks, too, to Kate, Jennifer, Dave, and Naomi for keeping things so interesting. I hope you'll continue to follow my work over at 5 Second Rule.
...
Recipe for BBQ Korean Short Ribs
Excerpted, with permission of the publisher, from Tangy Tart Hot & Sweet by Padma Lakshmi (Weinstein Books, 2007)
2 cups light soy sauce
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon cayenne
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon crushed Sichuan pepper (substitute plain black peppercorns in a pinch)
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons canola oil
1/2 cup fresh chives
1/2 cup toasted sesame seeds
1 teaspoon dried mango powder (amchoor)
4 pounds beef short ribs
1. Mix all ingredients except the ribs in a large bowl. Combine well. Place the ribs in a baking dish and pour the mixture over them. Slather the ribs with your hands to coat them well and evenly with the sauce. marinate for 2 to 3 hours, covered, at room temperature. (*I refrigerated them -- csr.)
2. Heat the grill. Place the ribs on the grill rack or barbecue when the coals are glowing red hot and white and the flames have died down, and baste with any leftover sauce. Turn often to cook both sides, until the meat is brown, tender, and caramelized. Serves 4-6.
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