HOLLIDAY COOKIE CONNECTIONS

Holiday Cookie Connections

 

          The winter Holidays seem to bring out our nostalgia for the warmth of home, family and friends. Whether the celebration is in the light of one small candle during a war, the seven lamps of Hanukkah or the glory of candle lit Christmas tree, we all yearn for peace and connections to loved ones past and present. This year has made it more difficult for everyone, but we still strive with those feelings in our ‘socially distanced’ lives.

          As cooks, we look at recipes from past and present to fill the house with holiday fragrance and thus continue traditions that have personal meaning and recollections. One of my personal favorites are Latvian butter cookies made from my mother’s recipe.  She insisted on baking them for us and the children in her church until the ripe age of 93, even when she had to make the stiff dough one day and bake them the next, because it had become too tiring. Most cookie doughs are very stiff and require a strong arm and a sturdy wooden spoon. Here is an update, using a bit of technology to facilitate the process.

                                                Zenta’s Latvian Butter Cookies

 1)    In a Cuisinart pulse together a few times: 3 scant cups of freshly sifted flour,  2/3 tsp baking powder and 1 cup sugar. Cut in tablespoon size pieces 1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, toss to mix in the flour mixture and pulse again 20 times until the butter is well mixed in.

2)     In a small bowl separate 4 egg yolks (reserve the whites for another use) and lightly beat together with 1 tsp. vanilla. Add the egg yolks to the flour mixture and blend until the mixture sticks together.

3)    Remove the dough to a small bowl and, using your hand, knead about 10 times until the dough becomes a smooth ball. Refrigerate for 2 hours.

4)    Pre heat oven to 375 degrees. Roll out pieces of the dough on a floured board in ¼ to 1/3 inch thickness. Cut out desired shapes and arrange on a parchment lined cookie sheet

5)    Separate out 2 more egg yolks, reserving the whites with the rest. Beat the egg yolks together with 1 Tblsp. water and use this glaze to brush the tops of the cookies.

6)    Bake 10 to 12 minutes, watching carefully because the cookies are very thin and they will quickly burn. Cool the golden colored cookies on the pan for a few minutes and finish cooling on a rack. Store in a tightly covered container.

This leaves you with 6 egg whites, which can be used for making angel food cake or Coconut Macaroons and Meringue Kisses, both cookies that require only egg whites.

                    Meringue Kisses

These amazingly light and crisp cookies are easy to make, have no fat and are even gluten free. The flavor is delicately tempting.

1)    Lay smooth brown paper (as from a shopping bag) on a baking sheet- do not grease. Pre heat oven to 250 degrees.

2)    Beat 3 egg whites at room temperature to peaks curved at tips with an electric mixer

3)     Bet in the egg whites 1 cup sugar in 6 portions until peaks stand straight. Beat in 2 teaspoons lemon juice.

4)    Drop heaping teaspoon portions of the egg mix on paper lined pan. Bake 25 to 30 min. or until pale cream color. Remove from paper to cake rack to cool.

Biscotti or cantucci are Italian twice baked oblong almond cookies that originated in Tuscany. They keep well and are best eaten while dipped in wine or some other tasty liquid. My favorite recipe dates back to the now defunct Gourmet food magazine from December 1992 and comes with the colors of Christmas.

                                        Cranberry-Pistachio Biscotti

 1)    Soak 1 and 1/3 cups dried cranberries in boiling hot water for 10 minutes. Drain and pat dry and toss with ½ cup flour.

2)    Pre heat oven to 325 degrees. Butter and flour a large baking sheet.

3)    In a Cuisinart pulse together: 2 cups flour, 1 cup sugar, ½ teaspoon baking soda and baking powder each, ½ teaspoon salt. Add 3 eggs and 1 teaspoon vanilla and pulse until a dough forms.

4)    Turn dough in a bowl and with a spoon or fingers work in the cranberries and 1 cup shelled salted pistachios. The dough will be very firm.

5)    Halve the dough and form each half in a 13x2 inch slightly flattened log on the baking sheet, separated by several inches.

6)    Beat 1 egg with 1 teaspoon cold water and brush the logs with the egg wash.

7)    Bake in middle of oven 30 minutes. Cool logs on baking sheet for 10 minutes, transfer to a board and slice diagonally in ½ inch slices with a serrated knife.

8)    Arrange flat slices on a baking sheet and bake turning once for 20-25 minutes total. Store in an airtight container and enjoy dipping!

May we enjoy the lights of this Holiday Season, savor it’s delightful fragrances in our homes, cherish the memories of the past and look forward to the New Year!                        

(I. Winicov Harrington lives in Waldoboro and is the author of “How to Eat Healthy and Well for Less than $5.00 a Day: the Smart-Frugal Food Plan”; website: www.winicov-harrington.com)

 

 

 

 

TIME FOR SCALLOPS

 

                                                    Time for Scallops

           Late fall and winter brings us the freshest scallops, these tender versatile morsels from the sea. Seared large sea scallops can be found in many restaurants throughout the year, presented as glistening plump browned morsels on your plate, but now is the season.

Sea scallop appearance is more impressive, but the smaller bay scallops are actually more tender and have more flavor. When buying for home use look for “dry-packed” scallops, which are scallops not treated with a preservative solution of phosphate leading them to appear whiter and retain up to 30% water, which makes them watery upon cooking.

The delicate flavor of scallops lends them to different flavor pairings, the simplest of which is just searing them on a hot pan with unsalted butter and a little oil for 2-3 minutes to a side and served with a wedge of lemon and a sprinkling of parsley. They are beautiful served on pasta, rice or even polenta.

Many old recipes prepare them served in a white wine or cream sauce with mushrooms. My all-time favorite has been Coquilles St. Jacques, which sad to say can rarely be found on restaurant menus. This recipe name dates to the time when pilgrims visited the shrine of St. James of Compostella, ate the scallops for penance and fastened the cockle shells to their hats. My recipe is only some 50 years old and comes from Fernande Garvin’s “The Art of French Cooking” on my shelf still held together by tape after many years of use. I have recently started to add some slivered sundried tomato strips for eye appeal, but the flavor remains delicate.     

                   Updated Coquilles St. Jacques Parisienne

You can use either sea or bay scallops for this recipe, but the sea scallops will need to be cut in smaller pieces after the first step.

1)    In a large pan combine: 1 ½  lb. scallops, 1 ½  cups dry white wine, ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon white pepper, 3-4 soft sundried tomatoes slivered in thin strips. Bring slowly to boil and simmer gently 5 minutes for sea scallops and 3 minutes for bay scallops.

2)    Drain, set cooking liquid aside and cut sea scallops in quarters.

3)    In the saucepan melt 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, stir in 2 tablespoons flour and stirring constantly add cooking liquid and 1 cup milk to make sauce. Continue cooking on low heat 3 minutes with ¼ cup coarsely chopped mushrooms. Add scallops for additional 2 minutes.

4)    Remove from the burner and stir in 2 tablespoons grated Gruyére or Swiss cheese.

5)    Fill 4-6 buttered small ramekins or shells with the scallop mixture. Dot with another tablespoon of butter and sprinkle lightly with 2 tablespoons bread crumbs.

6)    Broil until top is browned and serve hot.

Scallop flavor blends amazingly well with Oriental flavors using a brief salty and tart marinade. The operative word here is brief, as in 5 minutes, or the scallops will start to fall apart on longer exposure to this mixture.

                   Citrus, Soy and Ginger Scallops.

This recipe is excellent served over Soba noodles, so cook Soba noodles for 8 minutes in unsalted water, drain and set aside before starting on the scallops

1)    Spread 1 lb, bay scallops in a large plate on a paper towel and allow to air dry for 10 minutes.

2)    In a shallow bowl combine: 2 tablespoons each soy sauce, Mirin (Japanese rice wine), lemon and lime juice and ½ teaspoon sugar. Grate 1 inch piece of ginger and stir in the marinade.

3)    Spread the scallops in the marinade, toss to coat and after 5 minutes remove to another plate.

4)    Swirl 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil in a hot pan and fry the scallops spread out on the pan for 2 minutes on a side. Remove the scallops to a plate.

5)    Turn the heat to medium, add the rest of the marinade, 1 teaspoon small capers and 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil scraping any on the brown bits from the pan. Cook for 1 minute, drizzle a tablespoon of the sauce over the scallops and toss the rest of the sauce with the Soba noodles.

6)    Serve noodles in shallow bowls with the scallops on top and a light sprinkle of scallion greens.

We are all doing more home cooking these days and it is fun to experiment with these plump delightful mollusks and discover different flavor combinations.

(I. Winicov Harrington lives in Waldoboro and is the author of “How to Eat Healthy and Well for Less than $5.00 a Day: the Smart-Frugal Food Plan”; website: www.winicov-harrington.com)

 

 

TASTES FROM CABBAGE TO MUSHROOMS

 

Tastes: from Cabbage to Mushrooms

           November seems to be dominated with visions of turkey and pumpkin pie. However, there are those other 29 days of the month, when the home cook needs to come up with a delicious meal to tempt everyone’s taste buds.

          Although cabbage is available year around, we tend to think of it as a winter vegetable. It had been traditionally one of the vegetables with known keeping properties after the autumn harvest either in cool storage or preserved as sauerkraut. While we have some of the best sauerkraut in the world close by at Morse’s here in the Midcoast, cabbage sometimes gets an undeserved short shrift, except as a coleslaw side dish in a restaurant.  Some of cabbage’s bad press comes from visions, descriptions and experiences of plain watery boiled cabbage with its pungent smell and mushy texture, both of which have little to recommend.

          Cabbage and the whole cruciform vegetable family have a lot to recommend in terms of vitamins (A, C, K and folic acid) to a variety of minerals (including iron), high levels of Omega-3 fatty acids and of course – fiber.  Additional  phytonutrients are released by enzymes that are present in fresh cruciform vegetables, when they are chopped and even briefly steamed. All this comes in low calorie packages as varied as: arugula, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, collards and even watercress.   A stalk of broccoli has only about 47 calories and a cup of sautéed cabbage only 29 calories not counting any oil.

          An excellent cold weather dish that combines cabbage and ground beef in a tomato sauce has its origins probably in Eastern Europe, but I learned it from Linda Brenner many years ago in Philadelphia. This is a somewhat modified version of that recipe. 

                                            Cabbage Rolls 

Trim the outer leaves of a medium head of cabbage and hallow out part of the core from the stem end.  Place the whole cabbage head core end down in a large pot of boiling salted water, so that it is completely covered and boil for 5 minutes. Carefully remove the cabbage head from the boiling water and start peeling off the outer leaves one at a time. Repeat the brief boiling process until you have most of the cabbage leaves separated. Have ready a 4 quart heavy pot or Dutch oven with lid. 

1)    Combine 1 lb. lean ground beef with 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, ½ chopped medium onion, ½ teaspoon thyme, 2 tablespoons chopped parsley,      salt and pepper. Take a tablespoon of this mixture, place it near the widest part of a cabbage leaf and fold the leaf around the meat as enclosing in an envelope.

2)    Place the meat-cabbage roll in the pot, folded side down. Continue until all the meat has been used. Cut up any leftover cabbage coarsely and lay on top of the cabbage rolls or use in a soup or for creamed cabbage.

3)    Prepare the sauce by combining: 14 oz can of crushed tomatoes, 16 oz of plain tomato sauce, 2 large chopped onions, 2-3 tablespoons white vinegar, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper to taste.

4)    Ladle the sauce over the cabbage rolls and add a little of the cabbage boiling water to cover the cabbage rolls with liquid. Bring to boil, then lower the temperature and simmer for 2 hours. Serve with boiled potatoes or rice. This dish tastes even better when reheated and can be counted to provide several meals unless you are feeding a large family or friends.

                            

Mushrooms come in a variety of shapes and flavors. They are low in calories, good source of fiber, B vitamins and contain all the components of meat protein. Edible mushrooms have significantly more delicate flavor than the robust flavor provided by cabbage. We are most familiar with cultivated white button mushrooms.  Fresh shitake mushrooms, a staple in Oriental cooking and usually obtained in a dried form, have recently become available in many stores. This led to a warm grain salad enhanced by the earthy flavor of crisp shitake.

                        Warm Barley Salad with Shitake

Rinse 1 cup pearled barley three times, cover with cold water, add 1 teaspoon of salt and gently boil for 30 minutes. Drain barley and set aside.

1)    Wipe and trim 6 oz fresh shitake. Slice mushrooms in ¼ inch slices and chop the stems. Peel and thinly slice 3 medium shallots.

2)    In a large pan heat 2 tablespoons olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter and cook the mushrooms undisturbed for 4-5 minutes until brown. Turn the mushrooms, add the shallots and cook undisturbed for additional 4 minutes.

3)    Stir in ½ teaspoon thyme, 1 minced clove garlic, season with salt and cook on low heat for additional 2 minutes. Stir in juice of 1 lemon and cook until liquid is absorbed.

4)    Stir in the barley and ¼ cup chopped parsley and cook until heated through. Adjust seasonings and serve warm shaved Gouda cheese (optional).

Visually pleasing healthy nutrition can be presented in a variety of tempting packages. It is the cook’s prerogative to choose the ingredients.

(I. Winicov Harrington lives in Waldoboro and is the author of “How to Eat Healthy and Well for Less than $5.00 a Day: the Smart-Frugal Food Plan”; website: www.winicov-harrington.com)