Apricot Chocolate Torte (Passover edition)

04. April 2011 · 14 comments · Categories: Baking, Cake, Dessert, food, recipes · Tags: , , , ,

A lot of people dread the week-long holiday of Passover because of its slightly restrictive dietary rules. In all honesty, it’s really not all that bad. Sure, if you eat a lot of matzo all week long, you may end up being so bloated you resemble a matzo ball. But in reality there are many foods that you’re still able to eat during the holiday, not involving the dreaded matzo.

The key is to find recipes that you make during the year that happen to involve all ingredients allowed on Passover. The fewer Passover substitutions, the better. For example, potatoes are fine, as are eggs, meat, fruits and veggies..or your favorite flourless chocolate cake recipe ;) If you have a recipe that involves a scant amount of flour, replacing it with matzo flour (see below for description) or potato starch is fine. Obviously trying to bake a regular cake wouldn’t work, as flour is a primary ingredient. Catch my drift?

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the holiday, Passover commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt.  When Pharaoh freed the Israelites, it is said that they left in such a hurry that they could not wait for bread to rise. In commemoration, for the duration of Passover no leavened bread is eaten. Matzo (flat unleavened bread) is the primary symbol of the holiday.

Thus, many passover foods revolve around this dry (and not very tasty) cracker. Although you can’t use flour during the holiday, the way of getting around this is to use something called Matzo Flour/Matzo Meal which is simply ground-up matzo in a powdered/coarsely ground form. Again, this is only recommended in recipes in which there is not a HUGE amount of flour, but for the most part, it should work.

Which brings me to one of my favorite recipes ever: Apricot Chocolate Torte. This recipe actually calls for regular flour and is not a passover recipe at all, but when the simple matzo flour substitution is made, it tastes identical to real thing. This is one of my all time favorite desserts and I often find myself making it at Thanksgiving as well. My mom has been making this for years and I had no idea where it came from (and I’m not sure if she did either) but when I googled the title, it turns out she must have found it on the back of the apricot box :)


Apricot Chocolate Torte

Recipe adapted from the back of the apricot box!

Print this recipe!

Ingredients:

Filling

11 oz. dried apricots, chopped
1-1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup water
3 Tablespoons matzo CAKE meal-not matzo meal (or regular flour)*
Juice from ½ fresh lemon

Crust
3 oz. Unsweetened chocolate
2 cups whole walnuts
1.5 cups matzo CAKE meal (or regular flour)
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted margarine, chilled, cut into pieces **
2 tablespoons cold water
2 teaspoon vanilla
1 oz. shaved semi-sweet chocolate for garnish

Directions:

Filling
Combine all ingredients in heavy saucepan. Bring slowly to a boil over low heat. Reduce heat & simmer, stirring frequently and mashing any large pieces of apricot, until mixture resembles thick jam – about 25 minutes.

Crust
Preheat oven 350°F

Place chocolate in bowl of processor and chop roughly. Add nut and chop coarsely. Add flour, sugar & salt then blend. (Bits of chocolate and walnut should be clearly visible). Add butter & process to blend. Add water and vanilla then mix, pulsing the on/off button of your food process until mixture is crumbly.

In an 8 or 9 inch Springform pan, pat 2/3 of dough into the bottom and 1 inch up the sides. Add filling. Crumble additional dough over the top to cover. Bake 40 minutes. Let cool.

Decorate top with shaved chocolate if desired.

*Feel free to use regular flour in place of the matzo flour and use this recipe all year long!
**Use butter in place of margarine when not making for Passover.

Savory Soda Bread a.k.a Giant Cheesy Biscuit!

28. March 2011 · 6 comments · Categories: Baking, Bread, Brunch, cooking, food, recipes, Savory, Side dishes, vegetarian · Tags: , ,
So I know I’m several weeks late for St. Patrick’s Day, but I was already late for Purim, so I was just trying to continue the trend.  Plus, since this recipe is very different from traditional soda bread anyway, it’s really just like a giant cheesy biscuit. The simplest of the simple to accompany any weeknight dinner.
This bread uses one bowl and you don’t even have to dirty your counter or get out your rolling pin!

Traditional soda bread contains sugar and usually raisins, but since I wanted it to go along with a savory dinner I wanted something a little different. I compared a bunch of recipes and kind of combined them all, plus added cheddar because everything’s better with a little cheese.

 


Cheesy Soda Bread
Recipe by Me

Print this recipe!

serves 4 people (or 1 Nate)

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup milk, or as needed
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 egg

Preheat oven to 375. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a bowl, mix the flour, salt and baking soda until well combined. Add in milk, several tablespoons at a time, until the mixture forms a soft dough (add additional milk if too dry).

The dough will be sticky. Add cheddar cheese and mix until you can handle dough without it sticking too much to your hands. Knead dough in bowl until cheese is fully incorporated.

Roll dough into a ball, flatten slightly. Put on baking sheet and brush with beaten egg. Slice dough in half,  pressing knife at least halfway through the loaf, but not completely severing. Repeat in other direction, forming loaf into 4 equal quarters, still connected on the bottom.

Bake in preheated oven until golden brown, 50 min. or longer if needed.

 

Hamantashen! (filled shortbread cookies)

24. March 2011 · 12 comments · Categories: Baking, Brunch, cooking, Dessert, food · Tags: , , , ,

For those of you who don’t know, Hamantashen are Jewish cookies/pastries  recognizable by their three-cornered shape. The shape is achieved by folding in the sides of a circular piece of dough, with a filling placed in the center. They are traditionally eaten during the Jewish holiday of Purim (sorry this recipe is a little late, as Purim was on March 20th). Hamantaschen are made with many different fillings, including prunes, nut, poppy seed, date, apricot, apple, fruit preserves, cherry, chocolate, dulce de leche, halva, or even caramel or cheese.

Poppy seed, prune and jam are the most traditional of the fillings. In fact, I never even knew of those other combos, but Wikipedia informed me of them.

Wikipedia also taught me something else new…the singluar of hamantashen is actually hamantash. I think that’s a fact that few jews know, as you usually hear people say “I just ate a hamantashen.” Well, thanks Wikipedia!

These cookies are named as a reference to Haman, the villain of Purim, as described in the Book of Esther. In Hebrew school I always learned that they were shaped in a triangle because that is the shape of the hat that Haman wore. But in my research for this blog post, I found out that the pastries are actually supposed to resemble the “ears of Haman.” Personally, I think that hat story is better. Who wants to eat an ear?! Well, unless it’s an Elephant Ear ;)

I thought it would be fun to have my great (and oldest!) friend, Erica, bake these up with me. I’ve known her since I was just a wee 4 year old :) So the two of us baked up a storm this weekend and produced lots of Hamantashen, while chatting it up and having some girl time…in my opinion, the best way to bake!

*Please note that all cookies shown are Erica’s. She made hers nice and pretty  and didn’t get greedy with the fillings and overfill them like I did. Hers came out cute and attractive while mine were ugly and messy.

In making this recipe there are some tips I learned:

1. DO NOT OVERFILL the cookies. If you do, they will explode and all the filling will ooze out. I teaspoon should be plenty for attractive cookies. If you don’t care how pretty they are, then fill as much as you want, because they still taste good :)

2. Do not roll the dough too thin or the cookies will not keep shape as well. 1/4″ is the perfect thickness.

3. Make sure the rolled-out and cut dough is cold before you try to form the cookies or they will stick to your hands and not to themselves.

4. Make sure the cookies are cold and firm before putting in the oven. Put them in the freezer for at LEAST 20 min. If you don’t, the cookies will spread way too much in the oven and the filling will ooze out.

5. Cool thoroughly after removing from oven.

Now, without further ado, the recipe :)


Hamantashen

Adapted from the New York Times
Yields about 20 cookies

1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 large egg yolks
8 ounces unsalted butter at room temperature, in small pieces
Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 1/4 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
Dash of salt
1 large egg, beaten, for the glaze
Various fillings: jam, chocolate chips, nutella, or anything your heart desires

1. Put the confectioners’ sugar and the egg yolks in a food processor and blend. Add butter and lemon zest and process to blend. Gradually add the flour and the salt, pulsing until it forms a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour or overnight. 2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 pastry sheets with parchment paper. 

3. Roll out the dough to 1/4-inch thickness. If dough is too soft at this stage, refrigerate rolled-out dough for 20 min or until firm.

4. Use a round cookie cutter or glass to cut 2.5-inch circles. Put a heaping teaspoon of the filling in the center of each, and press up the sides to form triangles. Brush the tops with beaten egg. Put trays of cookies in freezer for about 20 min or until very firm.

5. Remove cookies from freezer and bake until golden and dough is delicately firm all the way through, about 20 minutes. If trays are on different racks, switch them after about 10 minutes.

Blogging partners: Mini Curried Turkey Loaves with Tzatziki

20. March 2011 · 5 comments · Categories: Baking, cooking, Dinner, food, recipes, Savory · Tags: , , ,


Sometime a couple weeks ago, I stumbled upon this website called Taste&Create. It’s a really cool site that pairs you with another food blogger and then you have to make any recipe you choose off of their site. I thought this would be a great way to start meeting some other bloggers :)

I got assigned a partner last week and her name is Michelle, from the blog On and Off My Plate. After reading through lots of her recipes, I came across one for a lovely looking turkey muffin and thought it would make a perfect simple dinner for my non-beef/pork/shrimp eating boyfriend. Let me tell you, trying to have variety in dinners that are composed exclusively of turkey/chicken/fish is pretty hard. I realize I have the option of cooking vegetarian too, and often do, but it’s nice to have some animal protein in the meal. This recipe on Michelle’s blog seemed perfect.

The recipe was simple enough. Michelle had adapted the recipe from the one she based it off of, and I liked a lot of her substitutions. So I made my own recipe combining hers with the original. It was delicious :)

On a side note, I didn’t win that contest on Food52 for my tart :( I really thought my recipe was creative and different…but the two finalists were both sweet tarts, and mine was savory, so maybe that had something to do with it. Also, the judges commented on how easy the finalists’ tarts were to make…though it didn’t say anywhere in the rules that they preferred tarts with few ingredients. If I’d known that the judges were looking for that, I wouldn’t have made something so complex! I could have easily come up with something else. Anyway, sorry to vent but I was totally disappointed :( This was my first contest really, though, so I’m gonna keep trying!


Mini Curried Turkey Loaves

Adapted from On and Off My Plate
makes 9 mini loaves (serves 4-5)

1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup milk/milk substitute
1/2 cup quick oats
1 garlic clove, minced
1-2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 cup raw spinach, roughly chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1.3 lbs lean ground turkey (or whatever size it comes in)

Preheat oven to 350. Grease 2 muffin pans or a loaf pan.

In a large bowl, combine egg, milk, oats, garlic, curry powder, cumin, salt, pepper, spinach and onion. Mix well. Add Turkey and mix til thoroughly combined.

Divide meat mixture among 9 muffin cups. Fill remaining cups with water so they don’t burn while cooking.

Bake for 30 min if making muffins (40-50 for a loaf). Serve with Tsatziki sauce (recipe below).


Tzatziki Sauce
Recipe by Me

7 oz. 2% Fage (or other) Greek yogurt
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1-2 Tbsp fresh mint, chopped
1/2 cup cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped
1/2 tsp salt

Mix all ingredients in bowl til combined. Serve with Mini Curry Loaves, above.

 

Pear, Proscuitto and Fig Tart with a Rosemary Cornmeal Crust

14. March 2011 · 14 comments · Categories: Baking, Brunch, cooking, food, recipes, Savory, Side dishes · Tags: , , , ,

Whew, that title was a long one! I never really know what to put for my blog post titles. Sometimes I want to be creative, but I feel like I need to be descriptive and tell you exactly what recipe the post contains. I guess I’ll just see how it goes. But for this one, I knew the name of the recipe itself was enough to draw you in ;) Sounds tasty, right?

Lately I’ve been trying to enter as many recipes contests as I can in an effort to get my blog out there. The other day I saw this contest on Food52, a website that hosts weekly themed contests, and this one’s winner would get to be on the Martha Stewart Show! I know she gets a bad rap sometimes, but ever since I was little, I’ve been kind of obsessed with her. I want to be her (well, not including the jail time, and maybe with a little bit more of a sense of humor). Martha, if you’re reading this, I’m just kidding- I love you!

I believe this recipe came to me by divine inspiration. No, I wasn’t sitting in bed reading cookbooks when it happened. I had just stumbled across the contest mentioned above and it got me brainstorming. I was on another long walk home and so I started to think. I knew I wanted to use the flavors of the bruschetta I made a month ago but somehow incorporate it into a tart. I was trying to figure out what type of crust to use when it came to me: Rosemary Cornmeal. I was also thinking I wanted some sort of jam to make it more tart-like so I decided to turn the figs I had used in the bruschetta into a jam.

I had all the flavor components in mind but wanted to alternate salty and sweet layers. I thought I’d make the crust have some sweetness to it, and I had the fig jam, prosciutto and pears, but I needed something else salty. I decided to spread a thin layer of blue cheese between the crust and jam. I also added a touch of balsamic vinegar to the fig jam to make it sweet, but tangy too.

Now, I don’t like to toot my own horn, but I’m going to make a bold statement and say, this could be the best food I’ve EVER eaten. Like so good I’d eat it instead of dessert!

Yep, you heard me right. This tart is better than dessert. You may be asking yourselves, “Has Amy gone off the deep end?” Well, I thought you would have noticed that happened long ago, but I promise this recipe is that good.

The rosemary in the crust is aromatic and shines through, the crust itself and sweet and crumbly, the tanginess of the jam pairs perfectly with the saltiness of the cheese and ham and the juicy sweetness of the pears, and the honey on top makes it truly decadent. Try it and see for yourself.

P.S. See my entry in the Food52 contest HERE.

Fresh Pear, Fig, and Prosciutto Tart with Rosemary Cornmeal Crust

Recipe by Me
8-10 appetizer portions

Crust:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal (not stone-ground)
2 Tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 1/2 Tbsp fresh rosemary
4 to 5 Tbsp ice water

Filling:

1 3/4 oz blue cheese crumbles (about 1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp)
1 recipe Fig Spread (see previous post)
4 oz. Prosciutto, roughly chopped
1 juicy fresh pear, cut in half, cored and then very thinly sliced
1-2 Tbsp honey

Put rosemary in food processor and process til chopped. Add flour, cornmeal, sugar, and salt to food processor and pulse. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles course meal with some small (roughly pea-size) butter lumps. Drizzle evently with 4 Tbsp ice water and pulse until just incorporated. Gently squeeze a small handful. If it doesn’t hold together, add more water, 1/2 Tbsp at a time, pulsing after each addition and continuing to test.

Press dough evenly onto bottom and up sides of 9 1/2 inch tart pan. Chill crust until firm, about 30 min.

Preheat oven to 400. Bake crust in middle of oven until center and edges are golden, 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with blue cheese. Leave cheese to soften on warm crust for 1-2 min. After softened, spread cheese around crust (small offset spatula works best). Cool crust in pan on rack or in fridge until reaches room temperature.

When crust is cooled, spread Fig Spread evenly over crust. Sprinkle chopped Proscuitto evenly over tart. Arrange pear slices in 2 concentric circles over tart. Drizzle with honey and garnish with rosemary sprig if desired. Serve immediately.

Note: Tart will not be good served after refrigeration as pears will turn brown and crust will be too hard.


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