Potato-Leek Soup

Tonight’s dinner:

A double batch of dilled potato-leek soup from Tasteofhome.com

SERVINGS: 3

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sliced leeks (white portion only)
• 1 celery rib, chopped
• 1-1/2 teaspoons butter
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1-1/2 cups cubed peeled Yukon Gold potatoes
• 1 large carrot, finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1-1/2 teaspoons snipped fresh dill or 1/2 teaspoon dill weed
• Herb potato chips and finely shredded leeks, optional

Directions:

In a large saucepan, saute leeks and celery in butter until tender. Stir in the broth, potatoes, carrot, thyme, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Cool slightly.

Transfer to a blender; cover and process until smooth. Return to the pan. Whisk a small amount of soup into buttermilk; return all to the pan, stirring constantly. Add dill; heat through (do not boil). Garnish if desired. Yield: 3-3/4 cups.

Taco salad (lettuce, diced tomatoes, diced cucumber, chopped onion, corn, kidney beans, chopped green olives, chili powder)

Bosniak bread with light butter

Verdict: Good. The potato masher made a decent substitute for a blender in this application. The soup wasn’t totally smooth like in the picture, but it was pretty pulverized. Sort of like that Campbell’s Vegetable Soup-at-Hand, if you’ve ever tried that. I did cut all the veggies very small though to aid in smoothness.

Spicy Pico de Gallo

Note: This article was published originally on June 7, 2005, in one of my previous attempts at a food blog. I am still a major fan of pickled jalapeño slices in myriad applications (especially the classic: on nachos). The liquid in the jar is also great for spicing up dishes without introducing “chunks” (think that spicy cheese goo they give you with chips at Taco Bell). Nowadays, if I were at home, I’d be most likely to make any sort of salsa like this in my food processor. I’ll have to share a good recipe for that sometime when I have access to my Rick Bayless cookbook again.

Making fresh salsa has often been an exercise in frustration for me. While I don’t mind fresh salsas being mild — there’s plenty of flavor from the uncooked, uncanned vegetables that’s often not found in ketchuppy bottled salsas — my mom prefers it to be spicy. (Of course, the problem of pleasing the many varied palettes in this house is always a running theme when I cook at home.)

Last summer, I tried making salsa from recipes, using dry spices, hot sauce and fresh chiles as suggested to achieve a spicier flavor. But naturally, there were problems. The cumin turned off Mom, who dislikes Mexican food. The hot sauce was spicy, but it gave the salsa a strange, viscous feel. The exotic purple jalepenos were pretty but lacking in heat. And don’t get me started on the mushiness that resulted when I tried blanching the tomatoes to remove the skins.

But there’s a happy ending, as I finally hit upon what’s now my secret salsa ingredient — pickled jalepeno slices. I know it might sound odd, but what’s great about those jars of jalepenos in vinegar is that you know right from the label how hot the jalepenos inside will be, which is hard to guess from the ones in the produce department without taking a bite. Plus, they save a nice bit of work by being pre-sliced and are tasty on nachos.

As for the name, I’ll admit that I don’t know precisely what the difference is between pico de gallo and what we Americans call salsa. But when I see pico de gallo, it’s usually a fresh mix of chopped tomatoes, onions and cilantro. I threw in the jalepeno slices to add some heat, and since I had no cilantro, scallions (a.k.a green onions, a.k.a. spring onions) pinch hit.

Spicy Pico de Gallo
Source: Colleen’s Cookbook
Yield: 2 servings

• 1 beefsteak tomato, seeded and chopped
• ¼ Vidalia onion or other large, sweet onion, finely chopped
• 2 scallions, sliced thinly
• 10 slices pickled jalepeno, halved
• 2 pinches kosher salt

Put all of the vegetables in a bowl, sprinkle with salt and stir. Allow the pico de gallo to rest for about 5 minutes to allow the salt to extract some juice from the vegetables. Serve with chips or use it to garnish main dishes.

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Easy Bean Patties

Meat is a difficult proposition here in Slovakia. Well, at least for me.

The Slovaks are a pork-loving people. I am decidedly anti-pork (with the exception of bacon and some sausage). The Slovaks also are fond of many meats that are uncommon in American supermarkets, such as goose, venison, and duck. I just can’t face any new meats.

Not to mention the tradition here of buying a live carp for Christmas dinner, keeping it alive in the bathtub until that fateful supper. Thank goodness those vendors are gone for the year.

Anyway, this long-winded dissection of foreign culinary habits is meant only as a justification for my looking into ways to create protein-packed main dishes without resorting to cultivating a taste for pigeon.

For everyone else, bean burgers are still a great idea for everyday dinners as they are high in fiber as well as protein and, oh yeah, cheap. Even if you do find chicken or ground beef for $3 a pound on sale, it doesn’t beat a can of beans at about $0.50 to $1.

I found this recipe on the site promoting Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything series of cookbooks. Specifically, it comes from the new book, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, which was on my wish list for this Christmas.

I had an extra can of chickpeas in the cupboard from a side dish I forgot to make, so that became the base for our patties. Because this was the first time I was trying this recipe, I didn’t go with any of the suggested variations such as adding cheese (I’ve made veggie patties from scratch only once in my life, and the result was nearly disastrous).

On the other hand, I didn’t have any cheese to add. In fact, after I’d already started adding things to the mixing bowl, I realized that I did not have an egg, either. I’d used the last ones the night before to make French toast, forgetting I was supposed to reserve one. Oops.

I ended up adding a tablespoon of mayonnaise to the mix, figuring that at least that spread contains egg. Bittman does suggest some vegan alternatives for binding, but it seemed odd to add another half-cup of oatmeal and too much trouble to make mashed potatoes or rice from scratch just for this recipe. The mayo turned out to work just fine as a binder, fortunately.

I also had to vary the recipe slightly as far as the method went. I don’t have a blender or food processor here, so instead I chopped the onion as finely as I could and then had at the mixture with our potato masher. It took a good bit longer than the food processor would have, but with enough effort it became a uniform mush.

The patties we ended up with perhaps could have used some more seasoning, but we enjoyed them with sauces that provided the extra kick. Scott spread his with ketchup and whole-grain mustard, whereas I dipped mine in some tartar sauce as if I were having some fried cheese. We ate them without buns or bread this time, but they are solid enough to be used as hamburger substitutes.

I’m going to try making some with kidney beans soon. And this time, I’m so going to remember the egg.

The Simplest Bean Burger
Source: Mark Bittman, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian
Yield: 4 to 6 patties

• 2 cups well-cooked white, black, or red beans or chickpeas or lentils, or one 14-ounce can, drained (I used chickpeas/garbanzo beans.)
• 1 medium onion, quartered (I used half a large onion, chopped fine.)
• ½ cup rolled oats (preferably not instant)
• 1 tablespoon chili powder or spice mix of your choice (I used taco seasoning.)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 egg (I used one tablespoon of light mayonnaise.)
• Bean-cooking liquid, stock, or other liquid (wine, cream, milk, water, ketchup, etc.) if necessary (I added a little water.)
• Extra virgin olive oil or neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn, as needed (I used nonstick olive-oil spray.)

1. Combine the beans, onion, oats, chili powder, salt, pepper, and egg in a food processor and pulse until chunky but not puréed, adding a little liquid if necessary (this is unlikely but not impossible) to produce a moist but not wet mixture. Let the mixture rest for a few minutes if time allows.

2. With wet hands, shape into whatever size patties you want and again let rest for a few minutes if time allows. (You can make the burger mixture or even shape the burgers up to a day or so in advance. Just cover tightly and refrigerate, then bring everything back to room temperature before cooking.) Film the bottom of a large nonstick or well-seasoned cast-iron skillet with oil and turn the heat to medium. A minute later, add the patties. Cook until nicely browned on one side, about 5 minutes; turn carefully and cook on the other side until firm and browned.

3. Serve on buns with the usual burger fixings. Or cool and refrigerate or freeze for later use.

Notes:
Simplest Vegan Bean Burger. Many options: Omit the egg, obviously. Add 1/2 cup Mashed Potatoes; or 1/2 cup cooked oatmeal or short-grain rice (white or brown); or 1/4 cup miso or 1/2 cup tofu.

Bean-and-Cheese Burger. As a flavor-adder, cheese can’t be beat, plus there are two bonuses: You don’t have to mess with melting cheese on top of the burger, and-for the most part-it acts as a binder. Add 1/2 to 1 cup grated Parmesan, cheddar, Swiss, Jack, mozzarella, or other cheese to the mix (you can omit the egg if you like).

Bean-and-Spinach Burger. Of all the veggies you can add to a burger, I like spinach. You can leave it uncooked and just shred it if you prefer (figure about 2 cups), but this gives better results; it’s great with a little garlic added: Squeeze dry and chop about 1 cup cooked spinach (you’ll need about 8 ounces of raw spinach to start, or you can use frozen spinach); add it to the mix and proceed with the recipe.

Bean-and-Veggie Burger. Many options, but don’t overdo it or the burger will fall apart: Add up to 1/2 cup carrots, bell peppers, shallots, leeks, celery, potato, sweet potato, winter squash, zucchini, or a combination. Cut into chunks as you do the onion and grind with the beans or shred or mince and add afterward.

High-Protein Bean Burger. The soy gives it just a little boost: Instead of rolled oats, use rolled soy (soy flakes).

13 Ways to Build Delicious Veggie Burgers

There are more ways to vary the burgers in this section than I can imagine, but here are a few ideas. The basic rules are to make sure the mixture is neither too dry nor too wet (if you find yourself in the first situation, add a liquid ingredient; in the second, add some oats, ground rice powder or flour, cornmeal, flour, bread crumbs, or the like). But as for flavors, the sky’s the limit.

1. Fresh herbs. You can almost not go wrong with fresh herbs, as long as you don’t use overwhelming amounts. Add up to 1/2 cup parsley, basil, or dill leaves; somewhat less of mint, cilantro, or chervil; a tablespoon of oregano or marjoram; or only a teaspoon or so of fresh thyme, tarragon, or rosemary.

2. Dried herbs. Use by the pinch; to really get the seasoning right, taste and adjust it (you can cook a little bit first if you don’t want to taste it raw).

3. Spices. The spice mix-chili or curry powder, for example-is an easy way to go, but you can combine fairly small amounts (usually 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon) of various spices as you like. Try, for example, smoked paprika, cumin, and ground chiles; coriander, cumin, ginger, and cardamom; or anything else that appeals to you.

4. Garlic. Can’t go wrong, really. Add 1 teaspoon or more minced garlic to the mix, or a tablespoon or more Roasted Garlic, with a little of its oil.

5. Chiles. For heat, you can simply add cayenne, hot red pepper flakes, or the like. But if you want some texture, you might include 1/4 cup or more roasted (or canned) green or red chiles.

6. Soy sauce or miso. Just a tablespoon or so of soy sauce, but up to 1/4 cup of any miso; you can omit the egg if you like.

7. Ketchup, salsa, or mustard. Up to 1/3 cup of ketchup or salsa (both of which are pretty good); 1 tablespoon or so of Dijon or other mustard.

8. Nuts or seeds. The nice thing about nuts is the crunch. Add 1/4 cup or so of sesame or sunflower seeds and up to 1/2 cup nuts or pumpkin seeds toward the end of the processing so they don’t become too powdery.

9. Lemon, lime, or orange zest. The slight acidity brightens the taste.

10. Tomato paste. A tablespoon or two will give the burgers nice color and a more complex flavor.

11. Mushrooms. Add a tablespoon or so of dried mushrooms, soaked and cooked, as you would any other vegetable (see number 12). Or use up to about 1/2 cup raw, trimmed and added along with the oats and beans.

12. Cooked veggies. Milder flavor, softer texture than raw veggies: Add up to a cup of cooked vegetables- onions, greens, broccoli, potatoes, sweet potatoes, winter squash, zucchini-whatever you like. If you use potatoes and add them to the food processor along with the beans, you can omit the egg and oats.

13. Cooked grains. All-grain burgers tend to be mushy and uninteresting, but adding a bit of grains to other burgers results in a terrific light texture. Feel free to add up to a cup of cooked grains, along with the beans. Omit the oats and, if you like, the egg.

Soup Showdown! Chicken with Curly Pasta

Though I was raised on canned soup, I’ve come to detest the stuff over the years. Can after can of mushy veggies, disintegrating noodles, and questionable meat, all soaked in a broth that tastes like nothing but liquefied salt, left me disappointed and disillusioned.

Today, soup is a weekly meal in our home, but with a key difference: It is always homemade. Once a week, I cook up a big pot of the stuff, which provides a low-cal but filling dinner and then stretches to fill several lunches throughout the week.

Of course, the soup companies are always coming out with new varieties that sound enticing. So why not take a bit of inspiration from their product lines and create some soups truly worth supping on?

And so here it is — our very first Soup Showdown!

In one corner, we have a contender from Campbell’s, the granddaddy of canned soup companies: Campbell’s Select Roasted Chicken with Rotini & Penne Pasta Soup.

From Campbells.com:

Roasted Chicken with Rotini & Penne Pasta Soup
A delightful twist on traditional chicken soup. Our chef created a memorable soup that is chock full of generous pieces of oven-roasted white-meat chicken, chunky-cut vegetables and a combination of whimsical pasta shapes, all simmered in a rich chicken broth aromatic with savory herbs that will soothe your soul and delight your taste buds!

Campbell’s entrant offers a mere 100 calories per one cup serving, but watch out — there’s 860 mg of sodium in that same one cup! No wonder the stuff tastes so salty. And to think I used to eat almost the whole can at once.

Checking the ingredients, it’s clear that this is your typical chicken noodle soup, albeit with pasta replacing the usual egg noodles. Chicken, celery, carrots, dehydrated onion, garlic, and herbs, broth, seasoning — pretty simple stuff, and easy to improve upon.

Now, I wouldn’t claim that my recipe for this is the ultimate version of chicken soup. I’m not simmering a whole chicken for hours or spending more to buy a bunch of herbs that will rot away in my crisper after I make the soup. I’m certainly not above using a few shortcuts, true, but I also need to think contextually. I’m limited by my time (which I don’t want to spend all of in our tiny, isolated kitchen), my grocery budget (which is small), and, for now, the availability of ingredients at Slovak grocery stores.

Still, following my guidelines here will definitely result in a soup that’s fresher and tastier than anything you can get out of a can. It will take more time and effort upfront, but not any more than you would normally spend on cooking dinner. Plus, this recipe will make a huge batch that, when cooked as a dinner for two, will provide a quick-as-canned and satisfying lunch later on.

Let’s get cooking!

I often start recipes here with some of this olive oil spray. I don’t know exactly if it’s purely oil, but it’s the closest thing we’ve found here to nonstick spray. I like nonstick spray for many reasons, but right now I’m mostly using it to save a handful of calories in everyday cooking. I coated the bottom of my soup pot with a quick spray before I turned the heat on to low.

I had to share the price of these four carrots. For those of you who do not make regular transactions in Slovak korunas, these cost 21 U.S. cents altogether.

Anyway, you should peel each carrot, trim off the yucky ends, and then cut them in half lengthwise so that you have a flat surface on the vegetable for nice, stable slicing. Next, chop them into half moons that are, oh, somewhere between 1/4 inch and 1/2 inch thick. Or between half a centimeter and a whole centimeter thick, if you prefer metric.

Drop all your carrots into the slowly heating pan as you chop them. They’ll start to soften and get a little color as you chop the rest of the vegetables, but they won’t burn as your heat here is very, very low.

Tip: If things do threaten to get smoky, just add maybe half a cup of water to the pot as needed to keep the veggies from sticking to the bottom.

I used a nice, big onion in my soup because I enjoy the sweet flavor of cooked onions. But like any of the ingredients, you can adjust the amount as needed to suit your taste. My chicken soup is kind of heavy on the vegetables because they are low-cal and nutritious filler.

Just dice the onion as small as you like. Cut off the root and tip of the onion, cut the whole thing in half top to bottom, then peel off the outer skin layer. Lay it flat and slice against the grain (but not through the root end — you want to keep it together for now) to divide the onion into . . . columns. Yeah. And then slice crosswise to produce a dice. Don’t worry, the layers come apart as you cook so you don’t end up with enormous chunks.

Looks better than dehydrated onion, no? Dump all the chopped bits in the pot and stir.

Take four cleaned and trimmed celery stalks and . . .

. . . magically turn them into eight by slicing them in half lengthwise! Then chop ‘em up and throw ‘em in the pot with a good stirring.

Mmm . . . mirepoix.

Now I really like garlic, so I used five cloves. The soup doesn’t get an overwhelming garlic flavor, but it does add good depth to the broth. If a bunch of little pieces of garlic floating around is going to disturb you, then just smash the cloves, pull off the skins, and dump them straight in without mincing. That way, you can easily pull them out at the end, once they’ve given their flavoring all.

But me?

I mince. Or sometimes use a garlic press.

Now that everybody’s in the soon-to-be bath, I season with salt . . .

. . . and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. Use less if you don’t want it too spicy. Use more to really clear out that congestion.

Here we must accommodate to our circumstances. I have not yet found any canned soup in Bratislava, let alone packaged chicken broth. All soups seem to come in powdered form instead. But whatever. I doubt I’d be willing to carry home tons of broth cans in addition to everything else over public transit anyway. Two cubes here makes one liter of chicken broth, which is about four cups. I add them directly to the pot and turn the heat up to medium high.

Next comes one cup (or 250 ml) of water . . . and a steam bath.

I now get aggressive and scrape up the fond from the bottom of the pan. That’s all the browning stuff that’s stuck to the bottom that will help make your bouillon taste like real stock.

See what a nice, rich color the water is now? Go ahead and add three more cups of water. Or 750 ml, if you’re cooking in Slovakia.

Now, when it’s all wet like that, I toss in the dried herbs. Dried herbs are fine for anything you plan on cooking for a while. Can you guess what these are?

One teaspoon of dried dill, 1 tablespoon of dried chives, and 2 bay leaves enter the pot.

Here is the diced chicken I saved from the previous night’s stir fry. It’s disturbingly similar in color to my hand. I only had one spare breast pieces, so I cut it extra small to stretch it. You could always add more chicken if you’re not cheap like me.

The chicken will start to turn white as soon as it hits the hot tub. Let it soak in there for about five minutes before you add the macaroni. It may need more time if you used bigger pieces.

Ever since I arrived here, Tesco’s been getting on a Whole Foods kick. Organic beef and dry goods started showing up, and they promote the heck out of some reusable shopping bag that we’ve never seen outside of the pictures. Now, they’ve started carrying whole-wheat pasta. We like the taste, but if you don’t, well, I’ll never know that you used a less virtuous noodle.

Add about 1/4-1/3 a pound (or 125 grams here) of fusilli or whatever curly pasta you picked up.

I decided here that one liter of broth wasn’t going to cut it for cooking all that pasta. I added two cups (or 500 ml, whatever) more water for the fusilli to drink up. You could use broth instead.

Let the pot boil gently for as long as it takes for the macaroni to turn tender. Then . . .

. . . you’ll have this lovely pot of soup here. Mmm!

M’m, m’m, good, you might say.

Chicken with Curly Pasta Soup
Source: Colleen’s Cookbook
Yield: 7 to 8 one-cup servings

• Nonstick spray
• 4 medium-sized carrots, peeled, halved lengthwise, and sliced
• 1 large onion, diced
• 4 stalks celery, halved lengthwise and sliced
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• A few shakes of salt
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper (use less for less spice)
• 4 cups chicken bouillon, prepared
• 2 cups water
• 1 teaspoon dried dill
• 1 tablespoon dried chives
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 chicken breast, cut into a small dice
• 125 grams fusilli (or other macaroni)

Put a large soup pot or Dutch oven over very low heat. Add the vegetables to the pot as you chop them, stirring with each addition.

Once all the veggies are in the tub, season them with some salt and the 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. Give the mix a good stir to distribute the seasonings, then turn up the heat to medium high. Add one cup of the bouillon and scrape the bottom of the pan firmly to bring up all the browned bits (this provides both depth of flavor and a cleaner pan for your significant other to wash!).

Add the rest of the bouillon and the water. To this, stir in the dill, chives, and bay leaves. Let the soup come up to a simmer, then add the chicken pieces. Allow the chicken to poach for about 5 minutes. Turn down the heat if the soup starts to boil rapidly.

Next, stir in the fusilli. Cook this at a gentle boil for as long as the package instructions say, until the pasta is tender. Fish out the bay leaves and serve.

Notes:
You can shift around the proportions as you see fit. This produces a very chunky soup. If you prefer a thinner soup, add another pint of chicken broth.

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Cookie Calendar: Chocolate Chip Cookies

You could make these famous chocolate chip cookies as a quick dessert on Christmas morning, but I doubt even the familiarity and drop-cookie-ease of this recipe is enough if you have to cook a big meal today.

Still, these would be greatly comforting to enjoy in the post-holiday season soon upon us, as you sit back, relax, and relish a job well done.

As a hint for next year, my mom often would bake these as (highly anticipated) gifts for school staff when we were in grade school. As the recipe states, she alters the standard Toll House cookie recipe by always using butter-flavored Crisco (which is fattier than butter, by the way, making these cookies darker and crisper on the outside) and by dropping them with an enormous cookie scoop. We’re talking about a scoop on the high-end of what’s sold at the kitchen store, which holds something like two or more tablespoons of dough. The cookies will end up bake-sale sized, maybe about four inches across.

Cookie Tip #24: Don’t trust what a recipe gives as its yield. I often end up with far less than what’s stated; I imagine that others always end up with more. A lot depends on the size of your scoops or slices, true, but you’ll also run into variations due to measuring differences. Flour is especially difficult to measure accurately because it compresses under its own weight. Someone who sifts and gently scoops flour with a spoon into a cup will end up putting much less flour in the bowl than someone who uses the measuring cup to shovel straight out of the canister and presses the top flat. It’s best to find recipes that measure ingredients by weight rather than volume for this reason.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Source: Nestlé and Mom

• 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (1 stick) butter-flavored Crisco
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• ¾ cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups (12 oz. pkg.) chocolate chips

PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by ice cream scoop onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 11 to 13 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Notes:
Mom’s way: Use the big cookie scoop to create huge, four-to-five-inch cookies. Will take a few more minutes to bake.

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Cookie Calendar: Swedish Christmas Cookies

If you’d like to have fresh-baked cookies on Christmas with a minimum of fuss, then slice-and-bake is definitely the way to go. If you’re like most (non-insane) people putting on a big party on Christmas Day, you’ll probably be spending much of today in the kitchen prepping anyway, so why not whip up some cookie logs?

Food Network accompanies this recipe now with a picture of pastel-sugar-bedecked cookie rounds, but back when the recipe was first unleashed on the 12 Days of Cookies hordes, the picture dazzled us with a red-and-green holiday theme.

What colors of sugar your roll them in is up to you, but I did the mix of red and green when I baked these. I simply sprinkled both shades on my work surface, used my fingers to mix ‘em up, and then rolled away.

Cookie Tip #23: Slice-and-bake logs in the freezer or fridge mean fast cookies with minimal effort at any time in the holiday season!

Swedish Christmas Cookies
Source: Food Network
Yield: About 3-1/2 dozen cookies

• 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground cardamom
• ¼ teaspoon fine salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, (2 sticks), at room temperature
• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
• Colored sanding sugars or chopped toasted pecans

Whisk the flour, cardamom, and salt in a bowl.

Put the butter and confectioners’ sugar in a food processor, and process until smooth. Pulse in the egg, vanilla, and lemon zest until combined. Add the flour mixture and process to make a soft buttery dough. Divide dough in half onto 2 (12-inch long) sheets of plastic wrap, using the plastic, shape into rough logs. Refrigerate the dough logs for 30 minutes until just firm enough to shape into uniform logs, 8-inches long by 2-inches in diameter. Refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Scatter either the sanding sugars or toasted nuts on a work surface and roll the logs until completely coated. Cut into 1/4-inch thick cookies and space about 1 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until golden around the edges, about 20 to 25 minutes. Cool cookies on the pan on wire racks. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.

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Cookie Calendar: Famous Oatmeal Cookies

Oatmeal cookies may be your typical, everyday cookie fare, but it wouldn’t be Christmas without them making an appearance on our holiday cookie platters. It’s a special favorite of my grandpa, but I think a lot of people would be disappointed not to be able to have a few (and take some home!).

Oatmeal cookies do have a holiday flavor, too, with their molasses-like brown sugar. You can up the Christmas factor by adding in some cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice — whatever gets you in that celebratory mood.

We always add raisins to our oatmeal cookies, but at this time of year, dried cranberries or even cherries would be perfect!

Cookie Tip #22: If you’re not already planning to pre-wrap a bunch of your cookie stash as gifts, consider having pretty bags or storage containers nearby so that guests can pack up a few cookies for the road as the party breaks up. Your waistline will thank you come New Year’s.

Famous Oatmeal Cookies
Source: Quaker Oats
Yield: About 5 dozen

• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• ¾ cup vegetable shortening
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• ¼ cup water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 cups Quaker® Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt (optional)
• ½ teaspoon baking soda

1. Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, beat brown sugar, shortening and granulated sugar until creamy. Add egg, water and vanilla; beat well. Add combined oats, flour, salt and baking soda; mix well.
2. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 11 to 13 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.

Notes:
Cook Tips and Variations

* Add 1 cup of any one or a combination of any of the following ingredients to basic cookie dough: raisins, chopped nuts, chocolate chips or shredded coconut.

LARGE COOKIES: Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 15 to 17 minutes. ABOUT 2-1/2 DOZEN

BAR COOKIES: Press dough onto bottom of ungreased 13 x 9-inch baking pan. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. Store tightly covered. Makes 24 BARS

* HIGH ALTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: Increase flour to 1-1/4 cups and bake as directed.

Nutritional notes:
Serving Size:
1 cookie
Nutrition Information:
Calories: 70, Calories from Fat: 25, Total Fat: 3g, Saturated Fat: .5g, Cholesterol: <5mg, Sodium: 10mg, Dietary Fiber: 0g, Protein: 1g

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Cookie Calendar: Shortbread Bites

Half an inch sure makes for one teeny-weeny cookie! If you have little kids around at the holidays, I bet these would make great “tea party” fare.

The square shape is also somewhat unusual for a cookie, and the sprinkles worked into the dough make it so festive. You could use red and green nonpareils for Christmas, true, but I liked the look of the rainbow ones too much to go any other way.

They look kind of reminiscent of that confetti icing they sell at the grocery store. I always longed for that stuff on cakes, but my mom was never a canned frosting kind of person.

Nowadays, I don’t like icing much, and I’m often too impatient to wash everything up and make a batch after I’ve gone to all the trouble of baking. I do sometimes buy frosting in a can for cakes that must be frosted and aren’t for me to consume. Hmm, sometime I need to relate my adventures in seven-minute frosting from this summer!

I digress! My big tip for these cookies is to underbake them a bit. I followed the directions here, and 18 to 20 minutes is waaaaay too long for butter cookies the size of nickels. When the bottoms are so very golden brown, the cookies turn all dry and crumbly rather than luscious and buttery. Start checking these puppies, I don’t know, nine minutes in, and pull them once they look set.

Cookie Tip #21: Don’t trust a recipe. Trust your senses! If they look set, they are done, even if it hasn’t been 30 minutes. If they look dull, add sprinkles or candy bits. If they taste boring, add more vanilla or other flavoring next time. Just watch out when you start changing things such as the kind or amount of cocoa or acid used, as ingredients such as those might be balancing out another acid/alkaline ingredient that makes the cookie rise or come together.

Shortbread Bites
Source: Good Housekeeping

• 1 ¼ cup(s) all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoon(s) sugar
• ½ cup(s) (1 stick) butter (no substitutions), cold, cut into pieces
• 1 tablespoon(s) red and green nonpareils or sprinkles or 1/2 cup mini baking bits

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. In food processor with knife blade attached, pulse flour and sugar until combined. Add butter and pulse until dough begins to come together. Place dough in medium bowl. With hand, gently knead in nonpareils or baking bits until evenly blended and dough forms a ball.
3. On lightly floured waxed paper, pat dough into 8″ by 5″ rectangle; freeze 15 minutes. Cut dough into 1/2-inch squares. Place squares, 1/2 inch apart, on ungreased large cookie sheet.
4. Bake cookies 18 to 20 minutes or until lightly browned on bottom. Transfer cookies to wire rack to cool. Repeat with remaining dough. Store cookies in tightly covered container at room temperature up to 1 week, or in freezer up to 3 months.

Nutritional notes:
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION (per serving)
Calories 40
Total Fat 3g
Saturated Fat 2g
Cholesterol –
Sodium –
Total Carbohydrate 4g
Dietary Fiber –
Sugars –
Protein –
Calcium –

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An Alternative to Lasagna

I’ve often seen lasagna (or is it lasagne? I don’t know my Italian) recommended as a Christmas party main dish, as it can easily be prepared in advance and then needs little supervision after it’s pulled out of the fridge and placed in the oven. Also, who doesn’t like at least some recipe for lasagna? It’s filling, comforting, festive (because it does take forever to prepare so isn’t exactly an everyday thing), and inexpensive to make for a crowd.

Still, since it is Christmas, why not mix things up a little and try a different variation on baked pasta as your entrée? In walks a Greek favorite — pastitsio!

For Christmas of 2005, Scott and I made both an enormous pan of lasagna and an enormous pan of pastitsio for the family Christmas celebration. I’d tried pastitsio for the first time at Erie’s summertime Greek festival, and I loved it so much that I wanted an excuse to make it myself. Since I knew lasagna was considered a festive pasta dish, I decided I could get away with trying pastitsio alongside, knowing that if everyone turned out to be too picky to try it there would at least be a fallback.

As it turned it, the pastitsio, not the (admittedly rather soggy) homemade lasagna, turned out to be the hit of the party. Guests raved about the spicy beef and cheesy crema, and though we had at least a quarter of the lasagna leftover, there was practically not a crumb left of the pastitsio.

Which kind of sucked, actually, because it was really good and I definitely wouldn’t have minded having more later. The meat mixture is like a delicious Cincinnati-style chili (or Greek sauce, if you will), and the pasta is insanely delicious with all that pecorino cheese mixed in.

Unfortunately, I cannot find the exact recipe we used back then on the Food Network’s site. It was a recipe that came from a restaurant or festival rather than one of their chefs, and so I guess it was a limited time deal. Still, although this recipe doesn’t look exactly as I remember it, it does look awfully close as far as the ingredients go. Maybe it is the same but my memory is faulty.

When we made the pastitsio, we boiled the pasta and cooked the meat mixture on Christmas Eve. We assembled the recipe up to that point in the pan and refrigerated it. The next day, we mixed up the crema layer right before we put the pastitsio in the oven to bake.

Pastitsio
Source: Stamie Koutouzis
Yield: 20 servings

• ½ lb. butter, plus 4 ounces melted
• 1 ½ lbs. ground chuck
• 1 onion, chopped fine
• Salt and pepper
• 1 can (12-ounces) tomatoes
• 1 can (12-ounces) tomato sauce
• 1 bay leaf
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 lb. ziti rigate or penne
• 3 cups grated pecorino Romano
• ¾ cup flour
• 3 ½ cups whole milk
• 5 eggs

In a hot pan melt 4 ounces of butter, add ground chuck, chopped onion, salt, and pepper. Add tomatoes and tomato sauce, bay leaf, and cinnamon and cook over medium flame for about 35 minutes.

Cook macaroni in boiling water, strain and put back in pot to keep warm.

Place a 1/4 of the grated cheese in a 11 by 14-inch pan, and then a layer with 1/3 of the pasta. Continue until both ingredients are used up. Spread on the meat sauce.

Mix the final layer, the Pastitsio Crema by mixing 4 ounces of melted, cooled butter and 3/4 cup of flour. Heat 3 1/2 cups of milk and pour a little over flour and butter mixture then pour the rest of the mixture into the milk. Add 5 beaten eggs and stir thoroughly over medium flame until mixture thickens. Pour the crema on top of the meat sauce and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 1 hour or until brown. Cool for 1 hour before cutting.

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Cookie Calendar: Booze Balls

We created these truffle-like cookies a few evenings ago while enjoying another viewing of A Christmas Carol on DVD (see? Make it festive!). Scott did have to make a chocolate run to the convenience store when we decided to make a double batch and discovered we were 40 grams short on chocolate, but otherwise this recipe went a good deal more smoothly than the Rum Balls.

It helped that I found a meat pounder to use for crushing the cookies this time around. Last time we attempted a lightweight skillet and our fingers before finally settling on the edge of a wooden cutting board. Of course, you should use your food processor and save yourself a good deal of time.

We did have to make a few substitutions. Since they don’t sell chocolate chips here as far as we can tell (though you can buy packaged chocolate-chip cookies), we used chopped-up dark chocolate bars. Thus, ours might taste a little sweeter than yours. We also used rum rather than bourbon or brandy since we didn’t want to buy yet another bottle of liquor that we will not finish in the next four and a half months.

Also, since our box of prunes was three dried plums short of the amount required, we subbed in a couple tablespoons of golden raisins. Chopped up into mush, they didn’t stand out much at all.

We used the plain granulated sugar we had on hand for decoration, which as you can see in the picture produced a sparkly coat for each ball that didn’t end up absorbed by the moisture of the balls after a couple of days of “maturation.”

As for the taste: These balls do remind me of truffles infused with liqueur, with their soft, somewhat grainy texture and chocolaty yet slightly fruity and boozy flavor. They also remind me a little of chocolate Lara Bars without the nuts.

Cookie Tip #20: Some cookies, such as gingerbread men and stained-glass cut-outs, make excellent tree decorations. When you make the string holes in your cookies before baking, make them much bigger than you expect to need to allow for puffing in the oven. Why not buy a small artificial tree for a table (one out of reach of pets!) and decorate it entirely in edible ornamentations? Think popcorn or cereal garlands, candy canes, and, of course, cookies. Just don’t expect it to last until Christmas day!

Booze Balls
Source: Food Network
Yield: 4-1/2 dozen one-inch balls

• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (12 ounces!)
• 20 chocolate wafer cookies (about 1/2 a 9-ounce box)
• ½ cup finely chopped pitted dried plums (about 15)
• ½ cup confectioners’ sugar
• ¼ cup bourbon or 1/3 to 1/2 cup brandy
• ¼ cup sweetened condensed milk
• ¼ cup granulated sugar, or colored decorating sugars, for garnish

Put chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and microwave on medium power for a minute. Stir and repeat until the chocolate melts, about 3 minutes in all depending on the power of your microwave. Alternatively, put the chocolates in a heatproof bowl. Bring a saucepan filled with 1-inch or so of water to a very slow simmer; set the bowl on the pan (without touching the water). Stir occasionally until melted and smooth.

Process the cookies in a food processor until finely ground (you should have about 1 1/2 cups ground cookies). Alternatively, put cookies inside a heavy re-sealable plastic bag and crush by moving a rolling pin over the cookies.

Stir the cookie crumbs, dried plums, confectioners’ sugar, bourbon or brandy, and condensed milk into the chocolate until evenly combined.

Cover and refrigerate the mixture until firm enough to roll into balls, about 45 minutes. Scoop a tablespoon or so of the mixture into small balls with a cookie or small ice cream scoop and set onto a baking sheet or a large plate. Roll each portion by hand into a smooth ball.

Store booze balls in an air tight container at room temperature for a day to allow the flavors to come together. Store balls in the refrigerator for a week or freeze for up to 1 month.

To serve, put the sugar on a plate and roll the balls in it to coat. Serve at room temperature.

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