Month: August 2017

Chickpea Stew

Posted on by Daniel de Lara


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INGREDIENTS

For Chickpea stew

  • 2 cans chickpeas
  • 1 box San Marzano crushed tomatoes (about 28 oz)
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons cumin seed
  • 2 teaspoons coriander seed
  • 1 onion diced
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 1 tablespoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1 clove garlic minced
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Fresh mint chiffonaded (for garnish)

For Sweet Potatoes

  • 2 lbs sweet potatoes peeled and cut into even chunks
  • 1 stick butter
  • ½ cup honey
  • About 6 cups water (just enough to cover the potatoes)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • Sachet of a few sprigs of fresh thyme, 3 tablespoons whole peppercorn, 1 tablespoon coriander seed

For Kale

  • ½ pound kale stem removed
  • ¼ onion diced
  • 1 clove garlic minced
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons vinegar
  • A few splashes of tabasco
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • ¼ cup water

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Roasted Orange Juice Chicken

Posted on by Daniel de Lara

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This is one of the simplest chickens I do and one of the best.  It comes from the Cookbook  ” The Scent of Orange Blossoms” authored by Kitty Morse and Danielle Mamane.

I first made this recipe when I was 13 years old for a project comparing Sephardic and Ashkenazy cooking.  I have used it so often since then that the book opens up right to the recipe.

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Lemon Lavender Poppy Seed Scones

Posted on by Daniel de Lara

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The first recipe a cook masters holds a very special spot in their hearts. For me this spot is reserved for these lemon-lavender poppy seed scones. It was the first recipe I designed and remembered by heart and remains one of my specialties. A few years ago, I was flipping through Baking Illustrated when I saw a recipe for british cream scones. I became inspired and for the next month I spent any free time I had experimenting with scones. I love how scones are a great vessel for an infinite number of combinations. I must have made more than 15 batches of scones during that month ranging from classic plain to bizarre (but still yummy) strawberry with balsamic vinegar glaze. The lemon-lavender poppy seed stood out among the others, combining a classic flavor profile with a little twist. The top of these scones is crisp with a tangy and sweet glaze that has a tantalizing hint of lavender that keeps you coming back for more. The flaky crust is contrasted by a moist, buttery, cloud-like interior with a little bite from the poppy seeds and bright lemon zest studded into the crumb.  These scones are without a doubt one of the best confections I make, and now you can make them too.

Daniel

INGREDIENTS

  • For Scones
  • 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • ½ teaspoon table salt
  • 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/4-inch pieces
  • 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • 2 teaspoons lemon juice
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • For Glaze
  • 1 ½ cup powdered sugar
  • 2 tablespoons very soft warm butter
  • Juice of 2 lemons
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • 2 tablespoons dried lavender (optional)

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Dream Bars (Potbelly)

Posted on by Daniel de Lara

I had been raving about the Dream Bars at Potbelly’s and finally my mom asked me to bring her one so she could try it.  As per usual, after a few bites of the sugary oatmeal, caramel and chocolate chip confection she said, ” I think we can do better, or at least as good”.  You can decide.

While Potbelly’s Dream Bars are soft, from being wrapped in plastic, ours have several distinct layers: crumbly oatmeal topping, creamy caramel and crunchy shortbread. Mom likes to add toasted walnuts or pecans to hers to cut the sweetness but for me and my  friends, the sweeter the better so I don’t add nuts.

Originally we used the wonderful but pricey Knudsen caramels but many sheet pans of cookies later my mom put her foot down and told me if I wanted to keep on baking sheet pans of cookies for my swim team I’d have  to make my own caramel and so she taught me. One day we’ll update the recipe to reflect our caramel recipe.

Daniel

Utensils:

  • ½ sheet pan (18” by 13”)
  • Mixing bowls/tools
  • Measuring tools
  • Parchment paper

Ingredients:

    • For Crust/Topping:
    • 1 ⅓ cup granulated sugar (about 9 1/2 ounces)
    • 1 teaspoon table salt
    • 32 tablespoons unsalted butter (4 sticks) plus 2 tablespoons, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and softened to cool room temperature ProTip: To soften butter but keep cool, beat it with a rolling pin while in the package before cutting.
    • ½ cup packed light brown sugar (3 1/2 ounces)
    • 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (6 ounces)
    • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
    • For Filling:
    • 26 ounces good quality caramels
    • ¾ cup heavy whipping cream
    • 8 ounces good quality chocolate chips (Ghirardelli is preferred)

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Pear Galette/Crostata with Star Anise and Vanilla (with variations)

Posted on by Daniel de Lara

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Galettes are delicious flaky free form french tarts. This galette dough, published by Alice Waters but which she attributes to Jacque Pepin is easy, delicious and versatile. You can fill the dough with nearly anything you want, sweet or savory, from apples to zucchini. For this particular recipe I’m sharing, I took a journey back into my childhood for inspiration.

This recipe really brings me back to when I was a child. My mom makes a lot of amazing desserts, but there is one in particular that always fills the house with a tantalizing sweet aroma: poached pears. I’m also a little sentimental about the pears because they were the only dessert with fruit I would eat until I was 10. I know poached pears doesn’t seem that exciting, but my mom made them in a unique way. She would poach the pears in a simple syrup with vanilla, lemon, and a hint of star anise and serve it with a homemade chestnut gelato. The 3 bold flavors perfectly blended with the sweet earthy flavor of the pears.  This flavor is what I recreated for my galette filling.

Daniel

This galette is really versatile and I’ve done it with a variety of fruits. You’ll find pictures and suggestions at the end of this recipe.

Julie

INGREDIENTS:

  • For Galette Dough
  • 130 grams, (4.5 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon sugar
  • Pinch teaspoon salt
  • 85 grams (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, chilled, cut into ½ inch pieces
  • 3.5 tablespoons ice water
  • For Filling and Topping Galette
  • 1 tablespoon roasted ground almonds
  • 1 tablespoon flour
  • 1 tablespoon of sugar
  • 1 tablespoon of pulverized amaretti
  • 5 ounces galette dough, rolled into a 14-inch circle and chilled
  • 1.5 pounds ripe pears
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • Zest from ½ lemon
  • ½ Vanilla bean scraped
  • 1/8 tsp ground star anise
  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
  • 2 tablespoons of sanding sugar (the larger crystals resist melting and add a nice crunch.
  • A little apple jelly (optional)

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Best Red Velvet Cake

Posted on by Daniel de Lara

10372774_10204552244420897_9083352211704006813_nI’ve always been a person with a major sweet tooth. Whenever someone asked me what my favorite food was I would always reply with my favorite dessert of the time (usually ice cream). However, I really wasn’t much of a cake guy. I thought chocolate cake was too dense and rich, and vanilla was too dry and bland. I was the kid at birthday parties who ate more than their share of pizza, and then didn’t eat any cake. Every year for my own birthday, my mom tried a new version of cake that she hoped I would like. One year it was vanilla buttercream, the next marble cake, the next devil’s food cake. Each year, to her dismay, I took a bite, smiled, told her it was pretty good, then took a second bite and said I was done. Then, when I was 10 I fell head over heels in love with a cake. It was just any cake though, it was ruby red velvet cake with luscious fluffy cream cheese frosting.

My mom was at her friend Patty’s house (who now owns a cupcake store in Chicago) and whenever she goes out I always ask my mom to bring me something home. On this particular day she brought me a slice of red velvet cake. Looking back, it comes as no surprise that the first cake I ever liked came from Patty’s house because all good things come from her house like my first video games or tickets to Cirque du Soleil. Even though I didn’t like cake, I liked trying new things and the cake’s red crumb contrasted by snow white frosting was hypnotizing so I had to have some. After that first bit I sighed and my body melted as I entered cake nirvana for the first time. It was moist and delicate and the frosting was fluffy and just a little bit tangy. I found my perfect cake and every year since then, my mom has made me red velvet cake for my birthday.

There is a lot of confusion people have when it comes to red velvet cake. Many people think it is just a chocolate cake that’s dyed red, which is far from the truth. Traditionally a southern cake, it has it’s own unique flavor. There’s some cocoa powder in it, but also vanilla. The unique flavor can’t really be described in any other way than yummy and unique. The tangy cream cheese frosting that is a must for the cake perfectly complements the moist and flavorful cake. While my mom is the one who makes me the cake for my birthday, I make red velvet cake and cupcakes as often as I can. I’ll find any excuse to whip up a batch of red velvet bliss.

Daniel

INGREDIENTS

  • For Cake
  • 2 ¼ cups (11 ¼ ounces) all-purpose flour
  • 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
  • pinch salt
  • 1cup buttermilk
  • 1 tablespoon white vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 tablespoons natural cocoa powder (NOT DUTCH PROCESSED)
  • 2 tablespoons (1 ounce bottle) red food coloring
  • 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 ½ cups (10 ½ ounces) granulated sugar
  • For Frosting
  • 16 (2 sticks) tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • 4 cups (16 ounces) confectioners’ sugar
  • 16 ounces cream cheese, cut into 8 pieces, softened
  • 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
  • pinch salt

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Italian Ricotta/Mascarpone Cheesecakes

Posted on by JDL

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On a trip to Manhatten a few years ago Daniel and I were taken to a neighborhood restaurant around the corner from a childhood friend who we were visiting.  We fell in love with it and went there a few nights for dinner.  The following year when we returned, we went back once again. There are two recipes on this blog from the restaurant: Veal and Ricotta Meatballs and this recipe for Mascarpone Cheesecake. Developing this recipe, as well as the one for the meatballs, took quite a bit of tinkering, since the restaurant refused to share, but in the end, both recipes are straightforward and easy to execute.

The recipe for the Mascarpone Cheesecake is particularly poignant for me.  It was the last trip Daniel and would take together for the foreseeable future as he was in college and the remaining summers he would devote to lab work and internships. We spent our days looking for the the best bagel in NYC, looking for a cannoli to rival my grandmothers (didn’t exist in NYC or Brooklyn), and sampling a dozen pastry shops.

COMPONANTS

  • Cheesecake
  • Caramelized almonds
  • orange marmalata

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Couscous Salad with Cucumbers, Tomatoes, and Mint

Posted on by JDL

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Ma Belle Mere and her sister Danielle made this salad for my family on a hot summer day in the Loire Valley where we were vacationing. The crunch of cucumber, soft and fruity tomatoes, the sharp tang of capers and lemon juice and fragrant olive oil and mint were refreshing and evocative of Algeria and Italy, where Marie-Paule and Danielle originate.

Julie

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 cup cous cous, (preferably fine grain if you can find it but medium grain will do)
  • 2 pickling cucumbers, peeled and diced small
  • 2 handfuls of cherry tomatoes, quartered
  • 1 tablespoon of small capers, rinsed and drained
  • 1/2 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil
  • fine sea salt to taste
  • freshly ground pepper to taste
  • 1/4 cup diced green Bell pepper
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon minced fresh mint leaves.

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Veal and Ricotta Meatballs

Posted on by Julie de Lara

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The first time I had this dish was with my son Daniel.  We were on a week long eating and walking tour of NYC.  Daniel and I had both researched restaurants and pastry shops but one of the best meals we had, which was not on our list,  was at Vinateria in Harlem.  I ordered an amazing whole grilled Branzino and the young daughter of our friends had meatballs on a bed of Polenta.  She gave me a bite and I dreamt about them for the next two days: tender little meatballs the size of a walnut on a creamy, cheesey bed of polenta with a bright tomatoe sauce.  We went back the night before we left and when I returned home I vowed to recreate them as best I could.

So, here is my version and I think it’s pretty close, but it will never replace the meal I had at this neighborhood bistro with my son, my childhood friend, her lovely husband and charming daughter.

Many of these components can be made ahead of time.  The sauce can be made in advance and frozen.  I make a lot of this sauce in August when the tomatoes are at their peak and I can use locally grown Roma tomatoes.  You will not get the same result with supermarket tomatoes.  The meatballs can be mixed and shaped a day ahead of time and then rolled in flour and fried the day you want to serve.  The meatballs can also be mixed, shaped fried and placed in the tomato sauce a day or two ahead.  I think they actually improve with a 24 hour rest in the sauce.  I have also frozen the meatnalls cooked and in sauce.  They defrost quite well.

Julie

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Caramel and Whiskey Semifreddo

Posted on by JDL

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Makes up to 10 servings

A few years ago my family and I were visiting Ville Franche, a lovely city built into a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean and very close to the Italian border.  After sunbathing, swimming in the sea and marveling at the snap shot Daniel was able to take of an octopus, with his GoPro, we set off to find food.  We settled on an Italian bistro on the boardwalk where we had a wonderful meal of fresh seafood linguini and pizza. The highlight was a caramel semifreddo with nougatine.  Happily, the chef  gave me his recipe although I added the whiskey and my own recipe for caramellized nuts.  I hope when you taste this semifreddo it will transport you to Ville Franche were you can smell the salt water and feel the sun on your face.

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To make the Semifreddo I use a 5″ x 9″ loaf pan, lined with plastic wrap and cut slices from the frozen loaf. You can also forgo lining the pan with plastic wrap (which can produce wrinkles on the final product but they are not very visible because they are on the sides, so really, who cares) but then you’ll have to either dip the mold in hot water for 10 seconds or heat the sides with a blow torch to release the semifreddo from the mold. You can of course use any other mold you like. Silicone molds are nice because they release the semifreddo easily.

Semifreddo is best served slightly softened. By the time you cut the slices and finish plating them they will be at the right consistency.

A note about the use of glucose in this recipe.  If you can’t find glucose you can substitute light corn syrup but keep in mind that corn syrup is sweeter and has more water. The additional water might affect the texture.   Honey or Golden Syrup might be an interesting substitution for the glucose with the same caveat.  Glucose syrup has a neutral flavor and the lowest water content. It can be purchased on line.

This is one of those recipes you can play with. I think a pecan nougatine would be nice Instead of the hazelnuts. It might be fun to substitute some maple syrup for the glucose syrup and black walnuts for the hazelnuts. You can also substitute another spirit for the whiskey. Cognac or calvados or Couintreau.

Julie

Whiskey Caramel Semifreddo Components

Caramel Semifreddo
Caramelized Hazelnuts
Caramel sauce

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