Date and Raisin Cookies ("gug egala kura" interpretation)

This was on Tasting History With Max Miller recently as a "cake" recipe.  I was copying the recipe from the ancient Mesopotamian translation before he got to the modern version.

The problem with ancient recipes is that they are as vague as my grandma Sophie's sometimes were.  They assume you know how to mix and cook the ingredients, and often don't give quantities.  Key ingredients are not listed, in this case flour.

Odds are, this was an early version of maamoul cookies.  I don't have a mold, and did not feel like shaping them by hand.  Maybe another day, and with a proper maamoul recipe.

But cheesy date tea cakes?  Yes, please.  On closer examination, I realized the proportions of butter & cheese to flour are identical to rugelach, which gave me a starting template.  In this case, the butter and cheese quantities are flipped.  I decided to add an egg and baking powder to turn it into a modern cookie recipe.  They didn't have baking powder in Mesopotamia.

I decided to use the modern custom of adding ingredients in the order they're listed, meaning creaming the butter and cheese, then beating in the fruits before adding the egg and flour.  Also, I'm using the stand mixer.  There are advantages to the 21st century.

1/2 C (one stick) butter, softened
*3 Tb soft cheese like feta, ricotta, or mascarpone
*1-1/2 C dates, pitted and finely chopped
3 Tb raisins (golden/sultana if possible)
1 egg
3/4 C whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder (1/2 tsp for less fluffy)

1.  While the butter is out on the counter softening, deal with the dates.  I measured them whole, then chopped.  Had to pit them, too.  Chop them thoroughly, or even pulse in the food processor.  I didn't want to clean it after that mess, and had the knife and cutting board out for pitting already.  If the raisins are large, chop them too.  I had currants to use up, and they're tiny.

2.  Cream together butter and cheese.  I only had a little over a tablespoon of feta left and made the rest cottage cheese.  If using unsalted butter and/or a lower salt cheese, add a pinch of salt at this point.

3.  Scrape down bowl and beat in fruit.  Scrape down again and beat in egg.

4.  Add flour and baking powder and beat well to combine.  Max used whole wheat flour because that was what they had in ancient times.  I'm sure you could use AP without issue.  As long as I was making a no added sugar cookie, I decided to go for the fiber-rich version.  With dates, raisins, and whole wheat flour, do not eat a lot of these at one sitting.  Chill batter for 30 minutes to make it easier to work with.

5.  Preheat oven to 350º and line a cookie sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.  Scoop out 1 or 2 tablespoon cookies, depending on desired size.  They didn't spread out like I expected.  Flatten slightly with dampened fingers for more even baking.

6.  Bake for 15-18 minutes for small cookies, until bottoms are golden.  Remove to a rack to cool.

Makes about 18 heaping tablespoon cookies

Difficulty rating  :)

Turkey and Artichoke Burgers

Turkey burgers, and anything made with ground turkey, have a reputation for being dry and bland.  Instead of putting veggies on the sandwich, I put them inside the burger.

This isn't a kefta recipe, but it does use some of the same flavors.  It also is not a grilling recipe.  The burgers were very soft and watery from the defrosted artichokes.  I baked half of them and pan-fried the other two, to find out which method was best.  The skillet won by a tiny margin, because you get the caramelization as though it was cooked on a grill.

*1 lb ground turkey
*3 green onions, finely chopped
*4 oz frozen artichokes, finely chopped
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/4 tsp paprika
olive or avocado oil for the pan
Burger buns and dressings for serving, optional

1.  In a bowl, combine all ingredients except the oil.  Mix until everything is thoroughly distributed.  Refrigerate for one hour, for flavors to meld.

2.  Preheat a griddle or large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add oil to coat the bottom evenly, since turkey isn't fatty enough for the patties not to stick.  Shape turkey into four balls, then flatten into patties slightly larger than the buns.

3.  Set patties in the hot skillet and cook until bottoms are well browned and the meat is firming, 5-8 minutes.  Carefully flip and continue to cook until the center reaches a minimum of 165ºF.  Serve hot on toasted buns with condiments and toppings of choice.

Difficulty rating  π

Rosh Hashanah Simanim

The Simanim are a set of foods for the Jewish High Holy Days.  Like any traditional new year's food, they are symbolic of the hopes for a new year.  Usually, I just do a round challah and apples with honey and call it a day.  This time, I decided to represent as many of the foods as I could.

A lot of it was already in my garden or pantry.  I grow leeks, carrots, and chard.  I had just restocked my date stash.  I had some pomegranate in the freezer and pomegranate molasses in the fridge, but still bought one because it was cheap.  After being decoration, I opened it up for freezer arils.

The hard one for me emotionally was the head.  As in, the head of an animal.  It's supposed to be a lamb or fish.  I looked, and while cabbage is part of the simanim, it isn't generally recognized as a substitute for the head thing.   Super King had just salmon heads for the occasion, but I couldn't do it.  Fine, I got whole tilapia.  Then got home and looked up how to cook it.

This is the list I got off the Orthodox Union website:

• Apples dipped in honey
• Fenugreek or Carrots
• Leek or Cabbage
• Beets
• Dates
• Gourd
• Pomegranate
• Fish
• Head of a fish or Lamb

Not all of these foods need to be represented at one meal, or by themselves.  This isn't a Seder.  If you're having a dinner party, go ahead and fit them all in.  A salad with beets and a pomegranate dressing knocks out two.  Vichyssoise has leeks in it.  Carrots can roast alongside a whole fish.  I'm considering anything pumpkin spice as a gourd, but I did buy half a pumpkin pie because I was in the mood.  Trader Joe's is the only place I can reliably find delicata squash, as I didn't feel like peeling a gourd.  Swiss chard is botanically the same vegetable as beetroot, just bred for the leaves, so that's where I'm using it.  You get the idea.

The menu seemed simple on paper, and wasn't big on calories, but involved a lot more cooking than I had in mind.

• Challah with apples and honey
• Sautéed Swiss chard
• Roasted carrots and delicata squash with pomegranate molasses
• Baked Tilapia
• Date and raisin cookies
• Pumpkin pie

The tilapia and cookie recipes will be upcoming.  Challah is my regular #2 recipe.  The veggies weren't anything special, just salt and pepper.  Little minced garlic in the chard.  The nice part was not having to cook for the rest of the weekend.

"Potato Chip" Cabbage

I didn't blog the third element of the vegan meal with soup and beets, and that was what I ended up enjoying the most.  I just threw some things in with half a cabbage and sautéed.  Whatever, green side dish.  Then I tasted it, and stopped.  The texture was obviously different, but it tasted exactly like a potato chip.  I made up the other half of the cabbage on my next cooking day to figure out what I did and how to write it as a recipe.

Part of the secret is to be generous with the oil.  I mean, we're going for a chip vibe.  I used twice as much as I thought I should.  I also went a little heavy with the salt, then let it sit for a while before turning on the heat.  The third flavoring ingredient is the paprika, which seems to bring all the other flavors together.

1/2 green cabbage
2 Tb avocado or olive oil
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp paprika

1.  Cut the cabbage in wedges and remove the core.  Slice crosswise into squares and toss in a skillet with oil and salt.  Let sit for 15 minutes.

2.  Turn on heat to medium-high.  Soon, the oil will start to sizzle.  Sprinkle in the paprika and stir.  Continue to cook, stirring every few minutes, until cabbage brightens in color and begins to soften.  Turn off heat so it doesn't get limp.

3.  Drain excess oil if necessary and serve hot.

Difficulty rating  π

Beet Experiment

Super King has beets for 49¢ per pound.  A 15 oz can of them in the store is well over a dollar.  I decided to cook up some to figure out if I was up to making a canner load.  I wanted to find out how hard it was and if I liked them enough to make half a dozen jars.

Despite every recipe online telling you to boil them, I decided to roast the whole beets in the oven.  375º for 90 minutes, oiled and wrapped in foil.  The skins still didn't slip off without the help of a peeler, and one slice I tasted was crunchy.  Fine, I boiled them for another 20 minutes and made the huge mess I was trying to avoid by roasting them.  They still were too firm to cut with the side of a fork and had to be cut with a knife.

After all that, I decided I prefer the texture of canned beets.  They're almost like a firm jelly.  Do I prefer it enough to go through the trouble of canning them myself?  Not at the moment.  I have enough grocery rewards to get three cans of vegetables for free, and I'm currently out of commercially canned veggies.  The beets can be one of them.

I'm not ruling out canning them in the future.  The two pounds I bought would have filled about two pint jars, so 5-6 pounds would make a small canner load.  I could see myself doing that when I have more bandwidth and it isn't 90º outside.

Creamy Lima and Tomato Soup

I'm in a pantry clearing mood, and there's tomato paste in the freezer.  I decided to use the mashability of dried lima beans to make a soup similar to one thickened by potatoes.  Limas provide protein and fiber, with a mild taste.

I didn't go heavy on the tomato, despite what 1/4 C of paste does to most dishes.  It turned the soup faintly pink.  There's a subtle taste of tomato, not overpowering.

The one thing I was hoping for in this didn't work.  I wanted to do a cold soup.  It gelled.  You would have to add a lot of water to prevent that.  So, not quite like using potatoes.

1 C dried lima beans
1 Tb olive oil
*1 leek, finely chopped
*1/4 C tomato paste
1 tsp celery salt, or to taste
1/2 tsp pepper
water as needed

1.  Early in the day, or the night before, soak the beans in water to cover by two inches.  They swell a lot.  Drain and rinse.  If desired, remove skins.  I took off any that were hanging, but didn't push the point.  Add water to cover, bring to a low boil for 5 minutes, then lower heat and simmer for 90 minutes, until tender.

2.  In a soup pot, heat the oil over medium.  Cook the leeks until softened, 5 minutes.  Add the tomato paste, salt, and pepper and cook until fragrant.

3.  Mash the beans, either with a potato masher or immersion blender, including their cooking water.  Add to pot of seasonings and stir to combine.  Simmer 30 minutes, for flavors to meld.

4.  Stir soup and add water as needed for desired consistency.  Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary.  Serve hot, garnished with cream, sour cream, or cheese as desired.

Difficulty rating  :)

Asparagus Fakeout

I mentioned briefly before that I have volunteer asparagus growing on my property.  I have found three patches so far.  Even posted a Short on YouTube with the find.

After half a day of research, I came to the reluctant conclusion that it's an ornamental version called an asparagus fern.  It just didn't look right, and had thorns.  Real asparagus doesn't get thorny.

The disappointment is real.  I was so hoping that birds had blessed me with asparagus of my own.  I was planning where to transplant the crowns so they could have room to do their thing.  At least it's attractive, since I probably won't be able to rid the garden of it entirely.  I was happy about an invasive species of a vegetable I enjoy and have not been able to grow successfully.  Not so much about the inedible, ornamental one.

Retro Buttermilk Biscuits

I found a recipe in a 1982 cookbook from Sunset Magazine for biscuits that seemed worth trying.  I really wanted to try Cordelia Knott's recipe (served at Knott's Berry Farm's Chicken Restaurant), but I need to get my oven's control panel fixed first.  Most of the buttons don't work, including the ones needed to set an oven to 500ºF.  This recipe wants 450º, which I semi got around by doing 399º on convection, making it net 425º.  The repair is on my to-do list when I take off the High Holy Days.  It's a long list.

I suspect these would have been fluffier on a cool day.  The shortening lives in the fridge, and I used cold water (+ buttermilk powder).  I also used the laminating technique for biscuit building, which hadn't been invented in 1982.  It didn't help much.

Because I was futzing with the temperature, these were in the oven a wee bit too long.  I should have pulled them at 15 minutes, not 20.  If you make these properly, I'm suggesting 12-15 minutes.

2 C flour
2-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 Tb sugar (optional)
1/2 tsp salt
*5 Tb vegetable shortening
3/4 C buttermilk

1.  Preheat oven to 450º.  Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar if using.  I made mine without because I was having it with pot pie filling.

2.  With fingers or a pastry cutter, cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.  Make a well in the center and pour in buttermilk.

3.  Stir dough together until it sticks in a shaggy mess and leaves the sides of the bowl.  Turn out onto a lightly floured board, dust the top with a bit of flour, and knead several strokes, until it comes together.  If desired, fold over several times to make laminated layers.

4.  Pat or roll out to 1/2" thickness.  Using a floured 2" round cookie cutter, cut out biscuits.  Place biscuits on a baking sheet, touching for softer sides.  Squish the scraps together and pat out again, working as little as possible so the dough doesn't get tough.  Continue until all the dough is used.

5.  Bake 15-20 minutes (start checking at 12), until lightly browned.  Remove to a cooling rack.

Makes about 12 biscuits 

Difficulty rating  :)

Chickpea and Potato Salad with Herb Dressing

Yes, I really have been eating salads for a solid two weeks.  And I don't think any of them were raw salads, either.  Temperature has been variable.  What they all have in common is a distinct sauce or dressing.  This one is a Greek salad that found friends.

I'm also intentionally adding beans to nearly every dinner.  Two months until my cholesterol test.  I hate the term "fiber-maxxing", and I'm not doing that.  I'm attempting to get close to the recommended amount.  The average American who thinks they're getting plenty of fiber is probably consuming half that without supplements.  It's just how we eat.

I couldn't find exactly what I wanted in this sauce.  It isn't pesto, which implies nuts and hard cheese.  It isn't sofrito or chimichurri.  Green goddess is mayo-based, and this is a vinaigrette.  It's a "use up all the herbs in the crisper before they go bad" sauce, plus the green tops off the carrots from my garden that I've eaten recently.

This also fits into my prep cooking chapter.  There was leftover dressing because I had enough herbs to make a double batch.  It is now in the freezer, marinating chicken breasts bought for that purpose.  Also freezer-banked this week was one sweet potato's worth of mini pies.  I have four little crusts left in the freezer.  It was two dozen originally.  The crusts are excellent, and I would buy them again, but I need to have a specific use in mind first.

As a side note, the groceries for this dish were a little over $5, including the cheese, for a 4-serving batch.  I love Super King.  Just a reminder that shopping in-season and looking for loss leader specials can still result in healthy, elegant meals.  This salad would easily be $15 as a vegetarian main dish on a lunch menu.

1 lb red potatoes
*1 15 oz can chickpeas, or 2/3 C dry, soaked and cooked
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 lb Roma (or other) tomatoes, diced
2 Persian or 1 regular cucumber, diced

*2 C assorted fresh herbs such as parsley, cilantro, and dill
*2 cloves garlic
*Juice of 1 lemon (about 3-4 Tb)
1/3 to 1/2 C olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

1.  Scrub the potatoes and dice about 3/4".  I left the skins on.  Place in lightly salted water to cover and simmer until easily pierced with a fork, about 20 minutes.  Drain.

2.  Drain and rinse chickpeas.  Toss all vegetables together.  I wasn't finishing this in one day and kept the cucumber and tomato separate so they wouldn't make the salad watery.  For same-day, it's fine.

3.  To make the dressing, add herbs, garlic, lemon juice, and salt & pepper to a food processor and pulse into a green slurry.  I started with 1/2 tsp of salt.  You can always add more.  My herbs were half a bunch each of parsley and cilantro, the bunch of carrot greens, half a teaspoon of dried dill, and one sprig of fresh mint.  I loved the tiny hint of dill and mint.  Couldn't taste the cilantro, which was surprising.

4.  Scrape down processor and run again while adding oil until you get a mostly smooth dressing.  Taste and adjust seasonings.  Pour over vegetables and chill until ready to serve.  If desired, top with crumbled feta shortly before serving.

Difficulty rating  :)

Salmon with Asparagus and Vegetables

I'm not really sure what this is categorized as.  There's pasta in it, but it isn't a "pasta" dish.  It's kind of like a stew, but not really.  Maybe a cooked salad?  The goal here was for the vegetables to be the sauce.  That is absolutely what it became.

While I used the last of the tomato and garlic confit camped out in my freezer, I'm giving directions as though you're cooking from fresh.  It will take longer than what I did.

Yes, I'm using canned asparagus.  I like it.  Substitute fresh if you prefer.  And while we're on the subject of asparagus, I have discovered it growing wild in my yard, mainly under bushes.  Huh?  I can't grow it on purpose.  I've probably been weeding it for the better part of the summer before realizing what it is.  The only explanation is seeds brought in by birds or squirrels.  Someone nearby must be growing it, or have some sprouting from a compost heap that went to seed.  It may be thick enough to eat next year.  Way too hot now for any of it to taste good.  I'll attempt to cut it back over the winter and see what happens.

1 lb salmon fillet
*1 C pearl couscous
1/4 C olive oil, more as needed
*1 dry pint cherry or grape tomatoes
*1 head garlic, cloves peeled and whole
*1/2 lb carrots, peeled and chopped
*1 bunch chard, chopped
*1 can asparagus cut pieces, drained
*1 can white beans, drained
salt and pepper to taste
Thyme, basil, and rosemary to taste

1.  For the salmon, preheat oven to 350º.  Lightly season with salt and pepper.  Roast until center is 145ºF, about half an hour.  Set aside to rest.  Can also be done ahead.

2.  In a large pan, heat the oil over medium low.  Add the tomatoes and garlic.  Sprinkle with salt and herbs and allow to stew until the tomatoes break down and the garlic browns, about half an hour.

3.  Raise the heat to medium, which is where the photos are starting because I already had the cooked tomato & garlic.  Add the chard and carrots to the saucepan and allow to cook down another 15 minutes or so.  This is a good time to start the pasta according to package directions.

4.  Once all the fresh vegetables are cooked, add the canned asparagus and beans.  Stir together, taste, and adjust seasonings as necessary.  If the sauce is too thick, add more oil.

5.  Drain pasta and plate, then add vegetable mixture and top with pieces of salmon.

Difficulty rating  :)