A Good Appetite: Closing the Seder With Something New

Here’s the secret to the best Passover desserts: stick to recipes that never relied on flour to begin with. Why make a chocolate cake with matzo flour when a flourless chocolate torte is going to be so much better anyway? This is why flourless tortes, candies and nut- or coconut-based cookies are the usual end to many a Seder.

It is a sound strategy, though it does get old unless you mix things up. So every year, I tweak a little here and there.

The greatest break from tradition that I have tried may be macarons. When I was a kid, chocolate Passover macaroons were coconut-based lumps fished out of a can.

These macarons, fashioned after the classic French almond confection, are so intensely chocolaty you won’t miss the other “o.”

The batter is pretty easy to make as long as you’ve got an electric mixer to do the beating. After baking, I sandwich the macarons with caramel, then drizzle with bittersweet chocolate. When you bite into one, the chewy, fudgy exterior quickly meets the brittle crunchy caramel layer, making these seem like a cross between a cookie and a candy. But the rich little macarons can stand alone, unfilled and undrizzled, or you could pair them with coconut sorbet for a deconstructed Mounds-bar effect.

Or you could do a torte that leaves out the chocolate in favor of plenty of citrus. Although you could use any nut here, I chose hazelnuts for their sweet earthiness. I also added a little quinoa flour, which, thanks to the bounty of gluten-free ingredients at my local supermarket, was easily available (as were the almond and hazelnut flours). And quinoa’s forthright, lightly smoky taste was a good match with the hazelnuts.

Last but certainly not least is a different take on matzo toffee. This classic Passover candy is based on one made with saltines, with matzo standing in for the chametz crackers. (Chametz is the Hebrew word for any leavened food that observant Jews can’t eat on Passover, including wheat, barley, rye, oats and spelt, and their flours.) I added ginger juice and candied ginger to zip things up. Or leave them out and sprinkle the top with cacao nibs and sea salt, as David Lebovitz suggests on his blog.

But whatever you do, you should also serve those neon-colored, kosher-for-Passover gummy fruit slices. Some things are just better left as they are.

Recipes: Chocolate Caramel Macarons | Matzo Toffee With Candied Ginger | Hazelnut Citrus Torte

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.

View the original article here

Read More

A Good Appetite: Any Excuse to Eat Waffles

A well-made waffle is a glorious thing. Crisp and golden on the outside, steaming and tender within, its pockets hold a mix of melting butter and maple syrup that’s decadently released when you bite down.

Yet, for all their charms, I never used to make waffles very often, maybe once a year on a special occasion.

Part of the reason was my waffle iron. Mine was a castoff from my parents that they had received as a wedding gift, then discarded when they cleaned out their kitchen. Made of chrome and cast iron, it was hefty and solid, but a pain to exhume from the cabinet and cumbersome to clean.

When it died, I replaced it with a spiffy stainless steel model. The new one was lighter and convenient to pull out of the cabinet. It cooked the waffles more evenly and quickly. And because it was nonstick, I could just wipe it clean.

As sad as I was to see my parents’ retro chrome number go, I made waffles a lot more often without it. And because I was making waffles every few months instead of once a year, I could play around with several recipes.

My go-to recipe is a buttery, yeasted number with a delightful sour tang that goes well with any sweet topping (syrup, jam, fruit compote). You can make the batter the night before and let it rise in the refrigerator for breakfast, or get up early and let it rise at room temperature in time for brunch.

When I don’t plan ahead, I make waffles that rely on beaten egg whites rather than yeast for their fluffiness. In this version, I use cornmeal for added crunch. These are perfectly fine served with maple syrup or honey dripped on top. But for something more opulent, maple syrup simmered with caramelized bananas, pecans and bourbon — like Bananas Foster on a waffle — puts them over the top.

I wouldn’t have thought to make savory waffles if I hadn’t tasted the Solomon Gundy waffle from M. Wells Steakhouse in Long Island City, Queens. At the restaurant, they make potato blini batter, cook it in a waffle iron, and slather it with smelt fillets, crème fraîche and trout roe. My version uses a simpler potato batter and substitutes smoked trout fillets for the smelt. It makes a savory brunch or unexpected supper. Or cut the waffles and serve them as an appetizer at a fancy dinner party.

Once you get in the habit of making waffles, you’ll look for every opportunity.

Recipes: Cornmeal Waffles With Banana Bourbon Syrup | Yeasted Waffles | Potato Waffles With Smoked Trout

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.

View the original article here

Read More

A Good Appetite: Lamb at Play in a Field of Cumin

Continue reading the main story Video

Play Video

Video|3:07

Credit Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times

Cumin Lamb Stir-Fry

Melissa Clark makes a restaurant-worthy stir-fry using toasted cumin and Sichuan peppercorns for bigger, spicier flavors.

Advertisement

When it comes to cooking lamb, I lean European. I dream of a Provencal-style roasted leg scented with herbs, or the seared little Italian lamb chops that scorch your fingers when you pick them up.

Here’s what doesn’t immediately pop into my head: Asian-style lamb dishes, mostly because not that many have joined the standard Chinese-Thai-Vietnamese repertory here in the States.

There is, however, one major exception, and it’s a good one: cumin lamb.

Stir-fried cumin lamb is a dish popular in China’s autonomous Xinjiang region, in the country’s northwest. And I’ve been seeing it more often on Chinese, particularly Sichuan, menus in New York, where I order it whenever I get the chance.

Continue reading the main story

Related Coverage

At its best, there is an equal ratio of fiery dried red chile pods to thin slices of lamb. The scent of toasted cumin and Sichuan peppercorns wafts over your plate and thrums through every bite. Some kind of vegetable (bell peppers, onions, celery) is usually added to break up the meaty heat. I like onions for their contrasting sweetness.

Even at home, you can make a version that is spicy enough to make you sweat, in the best possible way.

Lamb loin, boneless leg of lamb and lamb shoulder chops are all good cuts to stir-fry and are among the easiest to find at the supermarket. The loin is the most tender and most expensive. Leg meat is usually very lean and simple to cut into strips for stir-frying. The shoulder chops, which can have more fat and sinew and are usually sold on the bone, require the most knife work. But all are good here; just take care not to overcook them (the loin is the most forgiving).

Whichever one you choose, cutting it when it’s very cold makes the work go faster. Try putting the meat in the freezer for 15 minutes before pulling out your knife.

You’ll also need cumin in both the whole-seed and ground-powder forms, which offer different aspects of cumin flavor and texture. Sichuan peppercorns and whole red chile pods are the most authentic here, but regular peppercorns and crushed red chile flakes would still give you a lamb dinner at its spiciest and fastest.

Recipe: Cumin Lamb Stir-Fry

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.

View the original article here

Read More