Sformato di Zucchini (Italian Zucchini Bake)

Name: Sformato di Zucchini (Italian Zucchini Bake)
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 2 h
Yield: 6 people
Ingredients: 7/8 cup milk ((3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons)); 1 tablespoon butter; 2 tablespoons all purpose flour; 2-3 cloves garlic (chopped); 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil; 6 medium-small zucchini (about 7” long, approximately two pounds); 1-2 zucchini flowers (chopped, if available); 1 small sprig niepita (mentuccia romana) (or marjoram or oregano, minced, optional); salt (to taste); Freshly ground black pepper (to taste); 1 ounce Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (or to taste); 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg; 2 large eggs; butter (for the baking dish); fine breadcrumbs (for the baking dish)

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September 15, 2021

A lot has happened in the seven months since my last blog post. I’m sure you’ll understand why I haven’t posted in a while.

We’re no longer in Santa Fe!

That’s right, we’ve moved full time to Palm Springs, California.

**An aerial view of the “new” Villa Sentieri, foreground, with the hiking trail just beyond, that prompted the name of the Villa.**

It was, and remains, exceedingly difficult to have left all our close friends in Santa Fe but Palm Springs called to us.

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We get two growing seasons each year. Since we’re just a few hundred feet above sea level, I don’t need to be concerned about testing recipes at high altitude. The weather is pretty darn great, too!

The variety of what we can grow here is amazing. We have ten citrus trees, three fig trees and an apricot tree. We’re considering adding a pomegranate tree. We have table grapes trellised up a side wall. There are four raised beds for herbs and vegetables.

Frank grew the most awesome tomatoes this year. I have quite a stash of homemade passata (tomato puree) in the freezer.

Naso di Cane (Nose of the Dog) peppers from Calabria. Seeds I brought back in 2019 just got planted in our garden in Palm Springs. I’m hoping to make “Olio Santo” (Holy Oil, aka Hot Chile Oil) in a few months.

The timing of our seasons takes a bit of getting used to. Our first season pretty much ended in June. That’s probably the time that most of you were just getting started with your gardens. Though the herbs have continued to grow through the summer heat, all the vegetables were done by the end of June.

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Right now we have an abundance of fresh limes. The other citrus trees have fruit but it won’t be ripe for a few more months.

The vegetable beds sat fallow for the summer. Just a few days ago, Frank planted them with seeds for what will be our second harvest of the year. That will take place in November and December.

**The “new” Villa Sentieri has an interior atrium with a koi pond filled with 17 koi.**

Though we’re not harvesting vegetables at the moment, this is the perfect time for zucchini in most of the country. When there’s an abundance of zucchini, sformato is the answer.

Sformato di Zucchini (Italian Zucchini Bake)

This was the first item that I cooked with Zia Fidalma at her home in Tuscany in August 2019. Green beans, cut in small pieces, can be prepared the same way except the beans are boiled and not sautéed. A combo of beans and zucchini is also possible. Zia does not usually add herbs to her sformato but since she had some niepita she added it. Though you’re not likely to have niepita (aka mentuccia romana), unless you grow your own, adding a small amount of marjoram or oregano is a welcome addition. If you don’t have fresh herbs, use a light sprinkling of dry herbs. In any case, herbs are totally optional.

Course

Sides, Vegetables, Vegetarian

Cuisine

Italian

Prep Time

20 minutes

Cook Time

2 hours

Servings

people

Ingredients

7/8 cup milk (3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
2-3 cloves garlic chopped
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
6 medium-small zucchini about 7” long, approximately two pounds
1-2 zucchini flowers chopped, if available
1 small sprig niepita (mentuccia romana) or marjoram or oregano, minced, optional
salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 ounce Parmigiano Reggiano cheese or to taste
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
2 large eggs
butter for the baking dish
fine breadcrumbs for the baking dish

Course

Sides, Vegetables, Vegetarian

Cuisine

Italian

Prep Time

20 minutes

Cook Time

2 hours

Servings

people

Ingredients

7/8 cup milk (3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
2-3 cloves garlic chopped
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
6 medium-small zucchini about 7” long, approximately two pounds
1-2 zucchini flowers chopped, if available
1 small sprig niepita (mentuccia romana) or marjoram or oregano, minced, optional
salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 ounce Parmigiano Reggiano cheese or to taste
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
2 large eggs
butter for the baking dish
fine breadcrumbs for the baking dish

Instructions

Besciamella

In a small heavy-bottomed saucepan, melt the butter.
Add the flour and sauté briefly until the raw smell is gone. Do not brown the flour.
Add the milk a little at a time, stirring well after each addition to avoid lumps.
After all the milk has been added, bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom of the pan. Boil for one minute.
Remove from the heat and stir in the nutmeg.
If not using immediately, pour the besciamella into a heat-proof bowl and cover with plastic wrap touching the surface to avoid the formation of a skin.
Refrigerate if the besciamella will not be used within an hour or two.

Sformato

Do not peel the zucchini. Cut off the stem ends and slice the zucchini lengthwise about 3/16 inch thick then crosswise the same thickness to make thick matchsticks.
Sauté the garlic in the olive oil until fragrant.
Add the cut zucchini, chopped flowers and minced niepita if using. Season with salt and pepper and sauté briskly until just barely tender.
Mix the cooked zucchini with the besciamella, nutmeg, and Parmigiano.
Stir in the eggs after the mixture is cool enough to not cook the eggs.
Taste and adjust salt and black pepper.
Butter a baking dish, approximately 7 ½” x 11”.
Sprinkle the buttered dish with fine dry breadcrumbs.
Pour the zucchini mixture into the prepared baking dish. It should be about ¾ inch thick.
Bake at 400°F till very brown on top, approximately 90 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before cutting.
Serve warm or at room temperature.

Recipe Notes

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Recipes

Crostata di Amaretti (Amaretti Tart)

Torta all’Arancia (Orange Polenta Upside-Down Cake)

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March 4, 2020

Italy is lavished with citrus, more so in Southern Italy than Northern Italy. Even in Tuscany, though, families traditionally use a limonaia to winter-over lemon trees grown in pots.

**Potted lemon trees at a house in the village of Benabbio in Tuscany.**

Citrus fruits feature prominently in Italian cuisine, especially in Southern Italy. Calabria is responsible for about 25% of the citrus fruit produced in Italy.

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A very short list of Italian foods that contain, or are made from citrus includes the famous limoncello liqueur and its orange-based cousin, arancello; panettone that is traditionally made with candied citron; lemon sorbetto (sorbet); an array of marmalades and jams; candied citrus peels of various types eaten as sweetmeats, sometimes coated in chocolate, as well as diced and incorporated into cakes; citrus salads, including an amazing Sicilian salad of oranges, fennel, onions and black olives; and the endless dishes where lemon juice is the basis of a pan sauce or salad dressing or, in lesser quantities, perks up other flavors without making itself known.

**A rustic limonaia at a home in the village of Benabbio in Tuscany. It may be simple but it works beautifully.**

Bergamot, most of which (and certainly the highest quality) comes from Calabria, is the defining flavor of Earl Grey Tea. It is also used in an array of cosmetics and fragrances.

**Maestro Paolo Caridi teaching a class at the Italian Culinary Institute.**

Bergamot is also one of several citrus fruits used by Maestro Paolo Caridi to concoct the scrumptious citrus flavoring he uses in some of his pastries. I’m itching to find a source of bergamot, which I understand grows in Palm Springs, California, to make a batch, having gotten his formula when I studied at the Italian Culinary Institute.

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Being surrounded with citrus at our home in Palm Springs, I try to find ways to use the bounty. It took me a while to come up with an orange cake (torta alle arance) that was everything I though an orange cake should be: a moist, not to sweet cake with a sturdy crumb and a distinct orange flavor.

**A potted lemon tree on Great Aunt Fidalma’s terrace in Tuscany.**

Torta all'Arancia (Orange Polenta Upside-Down Cake)

Instead of cutting the oranges in slices, you can supreme them if you prefer the look of sections rather than slices. If possible, use the metric measures for the best results.

Course

Desserts and Sweets

Cuisine

Italian

Prep Time

45 minutes

Cook Time

1 hour

Passive Time

1 hour

Servings

people

Ingredients

Topping

160 grams dark brown sugar (¾ cup, packed)
115 grams unsalted butter (4 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon white sugar
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice (reserve the zest for the batter, see below)
3 medium oranges
butter for greasing the cake pan

Cake and Assembly

185 grams all purpose flour (1 2/3 cups)
50 grams cornmeal (6 tablespoons)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 pinch salt
185 grams unsalted butter room temperature (13 tablespoons)
250 grams sugar (1 1/4 cups)
4 large eggs room temperature
200 ml sour cream (3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon)
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Grated zest of one orange

Course

Desserts and Sweets

Cuisine

Italian

Prep Time

45 minutes

Cook Time

1 hour

Passive Time

1 hour

Servings

people

Ingredients

Topping

160 grams dark brown sugar (¾ cup, packed)
115 grams unsalted butter (4 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon white sugar
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice (reserve the zest for the batter, see below)
3 medium oranges
butter for greasing the cake pan

Cake and Assembly

185 grams all purpose flour (1 2/3 cups)
50 grams cornmeal (6 tablespoons)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 pinch salt
185 grams unsalted butter room temperature (13 tablespoons)
250 grams sugar (1 1/4 cups)
4 large eggs room temperature
200 ml sour cream (3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon)
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Grated zest of one orange

Instructions

Topping

Grease a 10-inch x 2-inch circular cake pan with butter.
Finely grate the zest of the three oranges without any of the white pith. A microplane grater work well. Reserve the zest and oranges separately.
Combine brown sugar, butter, white sugar, and orange juice in a small pan. Heat, stirring frequently till butter is melted and sugar is dissolved. Raise heat and boil for 2 minutes, without stirring, until slightly thickened.
Remove caramel syrup from the heat. Stir in the zest of three oranges. Pour the caramel on the bottom of the prepared pan. Allow to set for approximately 5 minutes, until cool.
Meanwhile, slice the oranges approximately ¼ inch thick. Cut off all pith and rind. Remove the tough core from any slices that have it. Scissors work well for doing this.
After the caramel has cooled for about 5 minutes, arrange orange slices over the caramel without overlapping. Cut slices as needed to fill in the larger gaps between the full slices.

Cake and Assembly

Stir together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt. Reserve.
Beat the butter in an electric mixer until lightly creamed.
Add the white sugar, then beat at high speed until light and fluffy, approximately 4 minutes.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating on medium after each addition until the egg is combined.
Mix in sour cream then vanilla and orange zest.
With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture a little at a time and mix until almost combined. Finish mixing by hand.
Spoon the batter over the orange slices in the prepared pa. Spread the batter and tap the pan to remove air bubbles.
Bake at 350°F until a cake tester comes out clean, 50-55 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan.
Using a knife, loosen the cake from the sides of the pan. Invert onto a serving dish. Cool completely.

Recipe Notes

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Recipes

Pizza di Patate (Potato Pizza)

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December 19, 2018

I remember it clearly! My love affair with Pizza di Patate began May 1992 in Rome.

All of my most favorite foods are carbohydrates: pasta, bread stuffing, mashed potatoes, pierogi, soft pretzels, and homemade bread, among them. The favorites among my favorites, though, combine two different carbohydrates in the same dish: potato gnocchi, bubba (and its relative, potato pancakes), potato pierogi, homemade bread rolls stuffed with mashed potatoes and rubbed with olive oil and garlic, and, of course, potato pizza.

When I first tasted potato pizza in Rome it immediately entered the highest level of my carbohydrate pantheon. I knew at some point I would need to learn to make it as I had never had anything like it in the States. I still haven’t unless it’s come out of my pizza oven, though there is a new breed of Roman Pizzerias cropping up around the country dangling the possibility that one, serving pizza di patate, might settle in near where I live.

May of 1992 was the month my (now) husband and I were to celebrate our fifth anniversary. I had been discussing with John Bowker, a friend, Anglican priest and the dean of Trinity College, Cambridge, England, coming to the UK for our anniversary. John had offered to perform a wedding ceremony (still not legally binding, of course) following the Anglican rite in the Trinity College Chapel with the Trinity College Choir there to sing.

After much thought, we decided against going to Cambridge for the ceremony. Although a few of our friends might have attended, we felt that most would not and we wanted to be surrounded by friends on that day.

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We opted, instead, to have a ceremony performed at our house by John Fortunato, a friend and Episcopal deacon. We had a calligrapher record our vows on parchment and signed by everyone present (in a nod to Quaker tradition) as an affirmation of our commitment to each other.

**Invitation to our fifth anniversary and commitment ceremony**

On our 25th anniversary, in 2012, we were actually married with 52 of our friends in attendance. The wedding and reception were held in a private dining room at Del Posto in New York City. But I digress…

In the early 1990’s Frank, my husband, and I were working full time but also attending Loyola University of Chicago studying for MBA degrees. Loyola decided to offer MBA classes for the first time at its Rome campus in May 1992. We jumped at the chance, leaving for Rome the day after our commitment ceremony. We treated the trip like the honeymoon we had never had though by then we were very experienced world travelers.

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A pleasant walk from the Loyola Campus (located in an old convent in Monte Mario) was a small shop that sold prepared Roman food and a dizzying array of pizza by the slice (pizza al taglio). Most nights we went there for dinner then went back to our dorm room to study. The shop had a few stools lined up along a narrow counter on one side but every patron, except us, picked up food to go.

**A funny moment during our wedding ceremony in 2012**

After a few days, our routine became clear to the shop owners. As soon as we walked through the doorway, without asking a question, one of them reached for a bottle of local red wine and handed it to us. We then ordered from the food on display and sat at the counter enjoying a wonderful meal.

Theirs was the first pizza di patate that I’d ever had. I ate it all over Rome on that trip.

It took me at least five years to try to make it, and at least another five years to perfect it. Now that we have a wood-burning oven in Santa Fe I almost always make at least one potato pizza on pizza nights (which don’t happen nearly often enough!).

Pizza di Patate (Potato Pizza)

I first tasted this in Rome in 1992 and fell in love with it. There are numerous variations, such as using potatoes that have been shredded on the teardrop shaped holes of a grater or topping the pizza with cheese. This simple version is my favorite. Making the pizza in a rectangular pan most resembles Roman pizza al taglio. The dough can be divided to make two round pizzas approximately 12 inches in diameter. See the Notes section for instructions on making the dough in a bread machine as well as directions for making the dough in advance. You can use bread flour if you wish but the dough will be really springy from the gluten making it a bit more difficult to stretch out. If using bread flour it is really a good idea to refrigerate the dough as described below.

Course

Pizza, Flatbreads, and Savory Tarts

Cuisine

Italian

Prep Time

65 minutes

Cook Time

20 minutes

Passive Time

4 hours

Servings

people

Ingredients

Dough

3 teaspoons active dry yeast or 2 packets
1 7/8 cup warm water
1/4 cup olive oil plus additional for oiling the dough and pan
2 1/4 teaspoons salt
5 3/4 cups all purpose flour

Topping

1/4 cup olive oil
2-3 cloves garlic crushed with the side of a chef’s knife
2-3 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary
3-4 medium russet potatoes
Coarse sea salt

Course

Pizza, Flatbreads, and Savory Tarts

Cuisine

Italian

Prep Time

65 minutes

Cook Time

20 minutes

Passive Time

4 hours

Servings

people

Ingredients

Dough

3 teaspoons active dry yeast or 2 packets
1 7/8 cup warm water
1/4 cup olive oil plus additional for oiling the dough and pan
2 1/4 teaspoons salt
5 3/4 cups all purpose flour

Topping

1/4 cup olive oil
2-3 cloves garlic crushed with the side of a chef’s knife
2-3 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary
3-4 medium russet potatoes
Coarse sea salt

Instructions

Warm the bowl and dough hook of an electric mixer with hot water. Drain and dry.
Add the warm water and yeast to warmed bowl. Blend briefly.
Allow the yeast and water to sit until creamy, approximately 10 minutes.
Add about half the flour and mix to combine.
With the motor running, add salt and drizzle in olive oil. Mix to combine.
Add the remaining flour.
Mix approximately 8-10 minutes after all the flour is added. The dough should be soft and slightly sticky.
Place the dough in an oiled bowl or container. Oil the top of the dough. Cover the bowl and allow the dough to rise until doubled.
Meanwhile, make the flavored oil. Sauté the bruised garlic in the oil over medium-low heat until light golden. Do not allow the garlic to turn brown.
Allow the oil to cool for a few minutes. Add the rosemary. The oil should be warm to release the flavor of the rosemary but not so hot that the rosemary begins to sizzle.
Allow the oil and rosemary to sit at room temperature to cool. When cool, remove and discard the garlic.
When dough has doubled, punch it down to remove all air pockets.
Using olive oil, oil an 11x17 inch rimmed baking sheet.
Press the dough into the pan. Allowing the dough to rest for five or ten minutes midway through pressing it into the pan will allow the gluten to relax making it easier to shape the dough.
Brush the dough lightly with some of the flavored olive oil.
Cover the dough with an inverted rimmed baking sheet and allow it to rise until doubled.
Meanwhile, scrub the potatoes and slice into very thin slices. A mandoline is best. If so, set it for 1/16 inch.
Cover the potato slices with cool water to remove excess starch and to keep them from turning brown.
When the dough has doubled, dry the potato slices thoroughly and put them on the top of the dough in a single layer that is slightly overlapping. You may have potato slices left over.
Brush the top of the pizza with the remaining flavored olive oil and sprinkle liberally with coarse sea salt.
Bake at 425°F for approximately 25 minutes, until the potatoes are tender and have golden edges and the dough is golden brown on the edges.

Recipe Notes

The dough can be made, with good results, in a bread machine on the dough cycle. Though I don’t add sugar when making the dough by hand or with a mixer, the shorter rise cycles used by a bread machine work better with sugar. Put the ingredients, above, into your bread machine following the manufacturers directions adding 1 tablespoon of sugar as well. When the dough cycle is finished, press the dough into a pan, as described above, or refrigerate as described below.

If I have time, I prefer to make the dough a day or two in advance. After it has risen as described above, put the dough in an oiled container with a tight-fitting lid. Oil the top of the dough and refrigerate. Remove the dough from the refrigerator at least 5 hours before you plan on making the pizza. Punch down the dough just before making the pizza and proceed as above.

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Recipes

Rabbi Goldie’s Jewish Apple Cake

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September 5, 2018

In September 1972, at the age of 17, I went from the small town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania to Philadelphia to attend the University of Pennsylvania.

Little did I know how much my life was going to change, nor how sheltered I had been growing up in Johnstown. There were a few trips to Florida and California by car, and a portion of every summer spent in Atlantic City, but other than that my life mostly revolved around the family and happenings within a few hours’ drive of Johnstown.

A few weeks before I left for college, I got a note from Jon Rikoon who was to be one of my roommates. Jon lived on Long Island. I don’t think I’d ever been to New York at that point.

**Harnwell House, the dorm (now a college house) I lived in during freshman year**

Another of my roommates (we had a three-bedroom, four-bed dorm “apartment”) was Chip Fleischmann, as in Fleischmann’s yeast. The fourth roommate only lasted the first semester and I simply can’t remember his name. (He kept to himself mostly.)

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Early in freshman year, Jon started dating Gail Milgram. Gail spent a lot of time in our apartment and she and I became very good friends.

Gail’s relationship with Jon didn’t last beyond freshman year but our friendship did. We saw a lot of each other throughout our undergraduate years and for a few years thereafter while I was in medical school.

Our friendship remained strong. In fact, at one point early in medical school Gail and I had to temporarily stop spending time together as her boyfriend at the time was jealous of our relationship. Needless to say, he didn’t last!

Gail and I were in infrequent contact after my first couple of years in medical school. In fact, years could go by without contact but, somehow, we always managed to reconnect.

As the years did, in fact, go by, Gail officially changed her name to Goldie. She also became a rabbi.

A few months ago, out of the blue, just after I decided to post a recipe for the Jewish Apple Cake that (the then) Gail taught me how to make in college, I received an email from her.

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She was in Europe for the summer and we set up a time to chat by video conference but her internet connection did not cooperate and we were unsuccessful in our attempts to chat. We’re planning another attempt at video conferencing when both of us are in the States later this fall. I’m looking forward to catching up with her.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy what is now, officially, Rabbi Goldie’s Jewish Apple Cake!

Rabbi Goldie's Jewish Apple Cake

It is best to bake this cake in a plain, shiny aluminum pan. A dark pan will overcook the outside before the center is done. Don't add the sugar to the apples before you are ready to pour the batter into the pan or it will pull a lot of liquid out of the apples.

Course

Desserts and Sweets

Cuisine

Jewish

Prep Time

30 minutes

Cook Time

90 minutes

Passive Time

1 hour

Servings

people

Ingredients

3 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil preferably corn oil
5 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon orange juice
2 large apples
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
5 tablespoons sugar
3/4 cup chopped walnuts optional

Course

Desserts and Sweets

Cuisine

Jewish

Prep Time

30 minutes

Cook Time

90 minutes

Passive Time

1 hour

Servings

people

Ingredients

3 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil preferably corn oil
5 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup orange juice
1 tablespoon orange juice
2 large apples
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
5 tablespoons sugar
3/4 cup chopped walnuts optional

Instructions

Grease and flour a 10" tube pan with a removable bottom.
Sift together the flour and baking powder.
Peel the apples, cut them in quarters and remove the core.
Slice the apples crosswise into 1/8 inch thick slices.
Mix the apples and cinnamon and set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer cream oil and 2 cups plus 3 tablespoons sugar.
Add eggs one at a time beating after each addition.
Add 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon orange juice and vanilla. Mix well.
Add flour and baking powder mixture and mix well.
Add 5 tablespoons of sugar to the apples and mix well.
Pour half the batter into the prepared pan.
Top the batter with half the apples.
Top the apples with half the walnuts, if using.
Add the remaining batter and top with the remaining apples and walnuts, if using.
Bake at 350°F for approximately 1 hour 40 minutes, until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool for 10 minutes on a rack. Remove from pan and cool completely.

Recipe Notes

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Recipes

Zia Ida’s Lemon Bars

14 Comments

July 4, 2018

Happy Fourth of July!!!

I’m posting this recipe today because it is one of the three desserts that I typically serve on the Fourth of July. The other two are Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Bars and Nick Maglieri’s Supernatural Brownies.

**Our front gate ready for the Fourth of July, 2017**

The first year that these three became our traditional dessert course, one of our guests, after tasting them, commandeered the platter and started serving the other guests. He introduced the dessert as “Sex on a platter!”

That was the moment when I knew I could not make changes to the dessert course without proof that the changes would actually be an improvement rather than just different.

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The three desserts make a winning combination.

**Guests arriving by van from the parking area**

This year, we are not throwing our usual Fourth of July party. Instead, we are spending two weeks on Fire Island.

For the last five and a half years, my husband, Frank, has been working in Alamogordo, New Mexico, a four-hour drive from our home in Santa Fe. With rare exceptions, we’ve only seen each other on weekends during this time. The trip to Fire Island is a celebration of his last day of work in Alamogordo which was this past Friday.

Even when not part of the Fourth of July dessert trifecta, these lemon bars get great reviews but I have to apologize a bit to Zia Ida.

Zia Ida is my husband’s Aunt Ida. Zia is the Italian word for aunt.

**Zia Ida, far left, my father-in-law, and their aunt, Zia Fidalma, from Tuscany**

I still consider these to be her lemon bars even though I’ve tweaked her recipe. I added the lemon zest as her original recipe only called for the juice. I think the zest adds layers of lemon flavor as the essential oils are way more lemony than the juice. I also like to add coconut, though it wasn’t part of the original recipe and can certainly be left out. Since I like my lemon bars tart, I increased the lemon juice from the original 5 tablespoons.

These lemon bars are not fussy to make. I’ve seen fussy recipes that include steps like precooking the filling and diddling with the crust. I don’t think either of those steps would improve the flavor and they’d definitely increase the work involved.

If you have a favorite recipe for some sort of dessert bar, I’d love to see it. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy Zia Ida’s Lemon Bars.

Zia Ida's Lemon Bars

The coconut is optional. If you like your lemon bars less tart, use 5 tablespoons of lemon juice. After zesting the lemons for the crust and the lemon topping, squeeze the juice and strain well. You may need juice from an additional lemon.

Course

Desserts and Sweets

Cuisine

American

Prep Time

25 minutes

Cook Time

30 minutes

Passive Time

12 hours

Servings

bars

Ingredients

Crust

2 cups flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 lemon zest only
1 cup butter

Topping

4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
Pinch salt
1 lemon zest only
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
9 tablespoons fresh lemon juice strained well to remove all pulp (½ cup plus 1 tablespoon)
3/4 cup sweetened flaked coconut optional
Powdered sugar to dust

Course

Desserts and Sweets

Cuisine

American

Prep Time

25 minutes

Cook Time

30 minutes

Passive Time

12 hours

Servings

bars

Ingredients

Crust

2 cups flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 lemon zest only
1 cup butter

Topping

4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
Pinch salt
1 lemon zest only
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
9 tablespoons fresh lemon juice strained well to remove all pulp (½ cup plus 1 tablespoon)
3/4 cup sweetened flaked coconut optional
Powdered sugar to dust

Instructions

Crust

Butter a 9" x 13" pan.
Line the buttered pan with buttered parchment, allowing the parchment to overhang the sides of the pan a few inches in all directions.
Pulse flour, sugar and zest in food processor until combined.
Add cold butter, cut in small cubes. Briefly pulse until mixture forms coarse crumbs.
Press the crust mixture into the prepared pan.
Bake at 350°F for 20 minutes until lightly brown.

Topping

As soon as the crust is out of the oven, make the topping.
Whisk the eggs to combine.
Whisk in sugar, salt and lemon zest until light yellow.
Whisk in flour and baking powder.
Add strained lemon juice and mix well.
Pour over the warm crust.
Sprinkle with coconut, if using.
Bake at 350°F for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.
Cool on a rack to room temperature.
Cover the baking pan and refrigerate overnight or until cold and firm.
Using the edges of the parchment, remove the cooled pastry from the pan.
Cut into squares. Dust with powdered sugar just before serving.

Recipe Notes

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Recipes

Mom’s Biscotti (aka Anise Toasts or Slice Cookies)

8 Comments

April 20, 2018

Growing up biscotti were not ubiquitous the way they are now.

Remember, this was before the coffee shop craze swept the country and when Italian food was viewed as “foreign.”

Sure, one could get biscotti in Italian specialty stores. There was even a marginally passable supermarket version from Stella d’Oro. (It still exists though the company has been sold many times.)

**Stella d’Oro Biscotti (I just can’t bring myself to spell it incorrectly with an uppercase “D” and a lowercase “o”)**

But mostly, biscotti were homemade.

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My mother’s biscotti are a little softer on the inside than the standard biscotti today, which seem to have a crunch the whole way through. She also made them much smaller than is now common, maybe three inches or so in length as opposed to six or eight.

The interesting ingredient in these biscotti is maraschino cherries. The maraschino cherry as we Americans know it was a product of food science from the 1920’s and 30’s. “Real” maraschino cherries, Marasca cherries from the Dalmatian coast of Croatia, pickled in salt water and preserved in Maraschino liqueur, are actually quite rare. There are many versions of cherries preserved in liquor from throughout Europe, some clearly developed as substitutes for authentic maraschino cherries.

I remember eating these biscotti in the 1960’s so the recipe is at least that old, probably older. It is unlikely, however, that these biscotti ever saw real maraschino cherries due to their rarity.

If this recipe dates to pre-prohibition, in which case it would have been from my grandmother or someone in her generation, it’s possible that some sort of cherry preserved in alcohol (on the order of a real maraschino cherry) was originally used. I have no idea if the recipe is that old.

Since liquor-soaked cherries were outlawed during prohibition they would have been eliminated from this recipe even if it is that old. Which brings us to a dichotomy in thinking about recipes that I often consider: the difference between authentic and traditional.

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Is food authentically Italian if it’s prepared in Italy by an Italian but does not follow any traditional recipe?

If cioppino is made following a longstanding traditional Italian regional recipe but the cook substitutes seafood available in the United States for that available in Italy, is it authentic?

There is no doubt that these biscotti are traditional in my family, having been made for more than 50 years. But what would make them authentic? And for that matter, would it be authentically Italian or authentically Italian-American?

I suggest you mull that over while dunking biscotti in your morning caffe latte.

Biscotti

In my family, these biscotti are traditionally made much shorter (after being cut crosswise) that is commonly the case now. For longer biscotti, form 6 logs approximately 9 ½ to 10 inches long before baking. For shorter biscotti, form 10-12 logs of the same length. The recipe is easily cut in half (which is what I did when making this batch).

Course

Desserts and Sweets

Cuisine

Italian, Italian-American

Prep Time

45 minutes

Cook Time

2 hours

Passive Time

30 minutes

Servings

dozen large biscotti

Ingredients

12 cups all purpose flour
4 cups sugar
13 teaspoons baking powder (1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon)
6 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil such as corn oil
1/2 pound unsalted butter melted and cooled slightly
1 cup whole milk
1 x 16 ounce jar maraschino cherries
1/2 pound walnuts chopped, optional
1 ounce anise extract not anise oil
1 egg beaten for glazing

Course

Desserts and Sweets

Cuisine

Italian, Italian-American

Prep Time

45 minutes

Cook Time

2 hours

Passive Time

30 minutes

Servings

dozen large biscotti

Ingredients

12 cups all purpose flour
4 cups sugar
13 teaspoons baking powder (1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon)
6 eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil such as corn oil
1/2 pound unsalted butter melted and cooled slightly
1 cup whole milk
1 x 16 ounce jar maraschino cherries
1/2 pound walnuts chopped, optional
1 ounce anise extract not anise oil
1 egg beaten for glazing

Instructions

Drain the cherries.
Cut the cherries in quarters.
Squeeze out excess liquid by gently pressing a small handful of cut cherries between your flat palms. Do not make a fist and do not smash the cherries. Reserve the cherries.
In a very large bowl, mix flour, sugar, and baking powder using your hands.
Make a well in the center.
Add the eggs.
Begin to incorporate some of the flour into the eggs working in a circular motion using your hands.
Add the oil and butter and continue mixing.
Add the milk and anise extract. Mix thoroughly.
Add the cherries and nuts, if using.
Fully incorporate the cherries and nuts.
Form into six or twelve cylinders approximately 9 ½ inches long. Six cylinders will make biscotti that are quite long once cut crosswise. Twelve cylinders will make shorter biscotti.
Bake the cylinders for 30 minutes at 350°F. You can line the sheet pan with parchment if you prefer.
Brush the tops with beaten egg.
Bake 5 to 10 minutes longer, until golden brown and the cylinders are cooked through. Larger cylinders will take longer to bake.
Cool the baked cylinders on the baking pan on a cooling rack for approximately 10 minutes.
Cut the baked cylinders crosswise on the diagonal into slices approximately 1 inch thick.
Cool the slices completely.
Lay the slices cut side down on a baking pan.
Toast in the top rack of the oven at 450°F.
Turn and toast the other side.
Remove biscotti to a rack to cool.

Recipe Notes

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Recipes

Gnocchi di Patate (Potato Gnocchi)

2 Comments

April 4, 2018

My father didn’t like gnocchi.

As far as I know, it is the only food he refused to eat.

It was all about the texture. Mind you, this is from a man who’s comfort food was a BIG bowl of cold mashed potatoes with buttermilk poured over top.

I understand the texture thing but for me the offending texture is slimy…like Jello (or cold mashed potatoes with buttermilk).

The next worst texture is hot cereal. It’s not as bad as Jello but it’s not a favorite. It took a long time for me to enjoy polenta because it has a texture just like hot cereal. I think my dislike for hot cereal has diminished as I’ve gotten older and I can probably now keep Jello down, which as a kid wasn’t always the case.

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But gnocchi? In the pantheon of foods, gnocchi reign supreme. They are my favorite food. Not to be morose, but they would be my death row meal (assuming a prison chef could make them like my mother with her pepperoni sauce!).

The pepperoni sauce is an interesting twist.

Since my father didn’t like gnocchi, we didn’t have them when he was home for dinner. My father worked out of town from time to time, so there were weeknight meals where he wasn’t around.

**The back of a fork is commonly used to imprint ridges on gnocchi but a gnocchi board does a much better job**

My mother would freeze her Sunday sauce, which was made with large pieces of pork. Sometimes a container of sauce wouldn’t have any meat. A common Italian approach to adding a bit of protein to a meal of pasta with red sauce is to simmer some shelled hard-boiled eggs in the sauce for a little while and serve them with the pasta.

My mother did that, but she also would take pieces of pepperoni, pierce them with a fork in a few places, boil them for about 20 minutes to render some of the fat and to soften the meat, and then add them to sauce to simmer for half-an-hour or so.

That sauce, which only appeared on weeknights from leftover Sunday sauce is my favorite sauce for my favorite food!

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Let’s face it, pepperoni is an American creation. To be sure, it’s a riff on any number of Italian regional salame piccante (hot salami). In fact, you can’t get a pepperoni pizza in Italy but you can get a pizza with slices of salame piccante.

It took a while for our Italian relatives to wrap their heads around pepperoni. In Italian, pepperoni are peppers not a cured meat product. The word is also plural, not singular. Americans often adopt the plural form of an Italian word (whether changing the meaning or not) and then treat it like it’s singular.

Consider panini. One sandwich is panino. More than one are panini. The same is true with gnoccho and gnocchi or raviolo and ravioli. Americans tend to say paninis and raviolis (fingers on blackboard screeching sound) if they mean more than one. We don’t really have a rule about this as far as I know. It’s just random. Or so it appears to me.

Italian, on the other hand, has a very clear rule when adopting foreign words. The singular form of the word becomes the Italian word. That word is use for both the singular and the plural, with the adjective changing to indicate more than one.

Take bar, for example. The “Italian” word for bar is bar. (This is a critical bit of information that one learns early when taking Italian lessons.) If you’re going to the bar, in Italian you would say “il bar” (the bar). If you’re going out for a night of pub-crawling to many bars you would say “i bar” (the bars).

Now, you might ask yourself, when you would ever eat just one gnoccho. Gnocchi translates as dumplings. So if you had a large American or Eastern European dumpling, it would be a gnoccho, and you might have just one. Today, however, we are making small gnocchi, and one is never enough.

If you have a favorite family recipe and a bit of a story to tell, please email me at santafecook@villasentieri.com and we can discuss including it in the blog. I am expanding the scope of my blog to include traditional recipes from around the country and around the world. If you haven’t seen Bertha’s Flan or Melinda’s Drunken Prunes, take a look. They will give you an idea of what I’m looking for.

Gnocchi di Patate (Potato Gnocchi)

There are some very strong opinions about making gnocchi. The first is whether they should be very soft or somewhat firm. That preference tends to drive other decisions but sometimes in different directions. My husband’s Great Aunt Juliana liked soft gnocchi so she did not use eggs. She insisted that the gnocchi should be mixed while the potatoes were still hot, though other folks who like soft gnocchi use the potatoes after they’ve cooled and lost some of their moisture so less flour is needed. I like firmer gnocchi, so I use eggs. I also let the potatoes cool (as my mother did) because 1) it’s easier on the fingertips and 2) the trivial amount of moisture lost or not by cooling or not is no competition for the addition of eggs.

Course

Pasta, Noodles, and Sauces

Cuisine

Italian

Prep Time

5 minutes

Cook Time

1 hour

Servings

people

Ingredients

4 pounds russet potatoes
3 cups all purpose flour plus more as needed
2 tablespoons kosher salt
4 eggs

Course

Pasta, Noodles, and Sauces

Cuisine

Italian

Prep Time

5 minutes

Cook Time

1 hour

Servings

people

Ingredients

4 pounds russet potatoes
3 cups all purpose flour plus more as needed
2 tablespoons kosher salt
4 eggs

Instructions

Scrub the potatoes.
Put the potatoes in a large stockpot and cover with a generous amount of cold water. Bring to a rolling boil and cook until a knife can be easily inserted, approximately 20 minutes. This will depend on the potatoes and the altitude so begin testing after about 15-17 minutes.
Remove the potatoes from the water and allow them to cool enough to peel, about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, put three cups of flour on the counter or a pasta board.
Pass the peeled, but still warm, potatoes, through a ricer on top of the flour. Note: it is very difficult to rice cold potatoes so this step should be completed as quickly as possible after the potatoes have been removed from the water.
Allow the potatoes to cool completely.
Sprinkle the salt on the potatoes.
Using your fingers, begin to mix in the flour.
Add two eggs. Work in the eggs, incorporating more flour.
Add the remaining two eggs and work in enough flour to make a dough that is just very slightly tacky. It will firm up a bit as the flour completely hydrates.
Cut off a small piece of dough and roll it into a cylinder approximately 1/2 inch in diameter.
After all the gnocchi have been rolled and cut bring a large pot of abundantly salted water to a rolling boil.
Add some of the gnocchi, maybe 18-24 depending on the amount of water.
As soon as the water returns to a full boil. Remove the gnocchi with a spider or slotted spoon.
Put them in a serving bowl with a small amount of whatever sauce you are using on the bottom.
Add more gnocchi to the boiling water.
Meanwhile drizzle a bit more sauce on the gnocchi in the bowl and sprinkle with a bit of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, if desired.
Add each batch of gnocchi to the serving bowl, keeping it warm in a low oven and sprinkling each later with some sauce (and cheese, if desired).
Once all the gnocchi have been added, gently stir the gnocchi to distribute the sauce and cheese.
Serve immediately.

Recipe Notes

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Recipes

Anise Twists (Italian Anise Sweet Bread)

12 Comments

March 27, 2018

I really don’t know what to call these little breads any longer.

Growing up we always called them Biscotti. The Italian word biscotti, which is plural for biscotto, can be translated as cookies or biscuits. However, in the United States, the word biscotti is now completely identified with a particular type of pastry; those slices of sweet bread that are toasted until crisp (or crisp on the outside and soft on the inside depending on style).

We called those Anise Toasts when I was growing up since they were always flavored with anise in our house. That was how we differentiated these softer anise-flavored sweet breads from the chewier, and toasted, anise-flavored pastries.

**I found this lard at the supermarket. It is not hydrogenated and has just a few reasonable preservatives unlike the hydrogenated lard sold in those blue boxes**

I believe that the word biscotto is derived from the words that mean twice (bis) cooked (cotto) making it an apt label for those toasted things. Despite that, however, it really is used to refer generically to a cookie.

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The Italian word torta is translated as cake or pie or tart depending on the context. Sometimes that context can be provided only by more description. For example, the Italian word limon is used for both a lemon and a lime. To refer to a lime, you could say limon verde (green lemon) if it was not otherwise clear from the context that you meant a lime vs. a lemon. (This would be critical, for example, when providing directions for making a Margarita!) I think limon verde could also be used to refer to an unripe lemon but that’s getting a bit esoteric and, honestly, above my meager grasp of Italian.

But it points out the difficulties with translating seemingly simple concepts, like biscotti!

**Palm Oil is a solid vegetable shortening that is not hydrogenated**

I’m posting this recipe now because my mother always made these at Easter, but their appearance was not limited to that one holiday. Sometimes, for Easter, the dough would be baked in a big braided circular loaf with colored eggs tucked into the braids. Honestly, though, that was usually done by a friend of my mother’s, Mille Verbano, rather than by my mother who almost always made small ones as I now do.

Sometimes this is called Easter Bread but, truly, there are different types of Easter bread all over Italy so that term only works within a very specific socio-cultural context. Although we never called this Easter bread in our house, if a relative did so, I would know immediately what he/she meant.

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I’m not a “dunker” but my mother and her sisters, Aunt Mamie (Mary, really, but as a toddler I said Mamie and that name stuck and became what everyone called her) and Aunt Margie loved to dunk bready things in coffee in the morning. If you’re a dunker, these biscotti are perfect.

**Coconut oil is a vegetable fat that is solid at cool room temperature**

Some of you may remember my soapbox post about hydrogenated fats as a replacement for the lard often called for in traditional Italian pastries. In deference to those of you who do not want to render your own lard (which I suspect is most of you), I was prepared to test this recipe with several non-hydrogenated vegetable fats, palm oil and refined coconut oil. While shopping for other ingredients in Palm Springs I stumbled upon lard…pure, simple lard…not the hydrogenated lard that now dominates supermarket shelves. I just had to try it. I’ve not seen Farmer John lard in supermarkets in Santa Fe but I am hopeful that this signals a resurgence of the availability of unadulterated and chemically unaltered lard for baking.

I promise to test out future recipes with the non-hydrogenated vegetable fats, though!

Anise Twists (Italian Anise Sweet Bread)

Shiny aluminum sheet pans work best. Dark pans will cause the bottoms of the breads to get too dark before they are cooked through. For reference, the pictures below show me making half a batch of Anise Twists, not the full recipe given below.

Course

Sweet Breads

Cuisine

Italian

Prep Time

2 hours

Cook Time

1 1/2 hours

Passive Time

4 hours

Servings

dozen little breads, approximately

Ingredients

3 pounds all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons anise seeds plus more for decoration
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 pound lard
3 packages active dry yeast 21 grams total
1 cup warm water
6 large eggs
1 egg to brush tops, beaten lightly

Course

Sweet Breads

Cuisine

Italian

Prep Time

2 hours

Cook Time

1 1/2 hours

Passive Time

4 hours

Servings

dozen little breads, approximately

Ingredients

3 pounds all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons anise seeds plus more for decoration
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 pound lard
3 packages active dry yeast 21 grams total
1 cup warm water
6 large eggs
1 egg to brush tops, beaten lightly

Instructions

Melt the lard over gentle heat and allow to cool until lukewarm but still liquid.
Dissolve one teaspoon of the sugar in the warm water, not more than 110°F.
Add the yeast and allow it to proof.
Meanwhile, combine flour, remaining sugar, anise seeds and salt.
Form a well in the center and add 6 eggs and the melted and cooled lard.
Using a circular motion, begin to mix the flour into the liquids in the well.
Add the proofed yeast.
Continue incorporating flour until it is all mixed in.
Add a touch more flour or water, if needed, to create a supple, non-sticky dough.
Knead for approximately 10 minutes.
Place the dough in a bowl. Cover the bowl and allow the dough to double in bulk.
Punch the dough down. Cover and allow to double again.
Cut off small pieces of dough and roll into thin ropes, not much thicker than a pencil.
The dough will have a tendency to shrink back. Roll it out. Let it shrink back a bit. Wait a few minutes for the gluten to relax. Roll it out again. Let it shrink back a bit. Repeat until the dough is the proper thickness. I find it helpful to roll 3 or 4 pieces of dough at a time. It makes the process more efficient.
Cut the dough into lengths. For the straight pieces, the lengths should be approximately 7 inches. For the circular pieces the lengths should be approximately 12 inches.
Fold the lengths of dough in half and twist few times.
Put on ungreased sheet pans, either straight or in circles.
Brush each with beaten egg. Sprinkle with additional anise seeds.
Invert another sheet pan on top. Allow the bread to rise an hour.
Bake at 350°F for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown.
Remove to wire racks to cool.

Recipe Notes

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Recipes

Jamaican Easter Bread (Bun)

4 Comments

March 23, 2018

Google and Wikipedia and Bing have all let me down!

Often when I’m writing a blog, I’ll do a search or two to shore up some facts.

In this instance, I was trying to find a picture of a product and to confirm my understanding of exactly what it is. That product is New Sugar.

My searches turned up nothing.

Back in college, I would buy new sugar on trips to the West Indies. The stuff I bought was sold in cans. It was dark brown, partially crystalized and partially a thick liquid. It was not as dark or as thick as molasses. My recollection is that new sugar is basically sugar cane juice boiled down until it thickens and some of the sugar crystallizes.

It’s what my recipe for Jamaican Easter Bread (aka “Bun”) calls for.

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Long ago, when my meager supplies of new sugar were exhausted and I was no longer going to the West Indies on a regular basis, I created a substitute for new sugar that fooled even my Jamaican friends. (Hint, it’s in the recipe below.)

If my recipes contain a substitute for a difficult-to-find ingredient, I like to make the substitution clear and to provide directions on how to use the original ingredient if available.

In my blog entries, I try to provide some sort of personal or cultural or social context for each recipe. In this instance, I wanted to highlight new sugar.

I was about to give up when I tried different search terms. I had only known it as New Sugar, but, finally, searching on “Wet Sugar” got me one website that had what I was looking for.

The website confirmed my understanding of what new sugar, aka wet sugar, is: boiled sugar cane juice. It also confirmed that it is much more difficult to find than it was 30-50 years ago. I hate to admit it, but I was buying new sugar more than 40 years ago!

My recipe for Bun (that’s really what it’s called in Jamaica…just Bun) came from Valrie Tracey a Jamaican friend from college. Valrie and I and my roommate, Ray Hugh from Guyana, were close friends in college. Though I’ve lost touch with Valrie, Ray and I are still in touch via Facebook. And, yes, her name is spelled Valrie, apparently due to an error on her birth certificate as her parents intended for her name to be Valerie!

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In addition to new sugar, Valrie’s recipe called for “Mixed Spice,” a commonly used mixture in the cooking of Britain and many former British colonies. I don’t like using spice combinations that I haven’t made myself, like pumpkin pie spice or curry powder. If the brand goes out of existence or changes its formula one can’t recreate the dish exactly the same way again. For that reason, starting in college, I worked out my own formulas for spice mixtures that I used on a regular basis.

Rather than have you make a batch of Mixed Spice before making a batch of Bun, I added the individual spices, in the correct amounts, to the recipe.

After resurrecting this recipe from one of my two 5 x 7 metal index card boxes of recipes that I started back in college and sharing the Bun with a number of friends, I began to seriously wonder why I hadn’t made it in over 40 years!

I can assure you, I won’t wait long to make it again.

I like to toast the Bun and add some butter and jam but in Jamaica it would often be served with a wedge of cheese. However you serve it, I’m certain you’ll enjoy it.

Jamaican Easter Bread (Bun)

If you can find new sugar (also known as wet sugar) you can use 2 ½ cups of new sugar in place of the brown sugar and molasses. The dough for this version of Bun is quite wet, more like cake batter than bread dough. When I was making this back in college days and had to mix it by hand, I added enough flour to make a dough that could be kneaded. With a stand mixer, I allow the mixture to be wet. You might want to try both variations and see which you prefer.

Course

Sweet Breads

Cuisine

West Indian

Prep Time

30 minutes

Cook Time

90 minutes

Passive Time

2 hours

Servings

loaves

Ingredients

Bread

1 quart whole milk
3 pounds all purpose flour
3 packages active dry yeast (21 grams)
2 pounds dark brown sugar less ½ cup
1/4 pound butter at room temperature, cut in pieces
1/2 cup molasses not blackstrap
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons almond essence
2 teaspoons rosewater
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon caraway seed crushed
1 teaspoon anise seed crushed
2 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cloves
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground mace
1/2 pound raisins
1/2 pound dry currants
1/2 pound candied cherries

Glaze

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water

Course

Sweet Breads

Cuisine

West Indian

Prep Time

30 minutes

Cook Time

90 minutes

Passive Time

2 hours

Servings

loaves

Ingredients

Bread

1 quart whole milk
3 pounds all purpose flour
3 packages active dry yeast (21 grams)
2 pounds dark brown sugar less ½ cup
1/4 pound butter at room temperature, cut in pieces
1/2 cup molasses not blackstrap
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons almond essence
2 teaspoons rosewater
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon caraway seed crushed
1 teaspoon anise seed crushed
2 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cloves
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground mace
1/2 pound raisins
1/2 pound dry currants
1/2 pound candied cherries

Glaze

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water

Instructions

Bread

Scald the milk by heating over medium high heat, stirring frequently to prevent a skin from forming, until bubbles begin to foam up around the side.
Allow the milk to become lukewarm (approximately 110°F).
Combine lukewarm milk, yeast, 1 teaspoon of sugar from the amount above, and 1 pound of flour in the bowl of a mixer.
Using the paddle, mix well then allow the sponge to sit, covered, until it doubles in bulk.
After the sponge has doubled, mix in 1/3 of the remaining flour and 1/3 of the remaining sugar.
When combined, add the butter, molasses and all the spices and flavorings. Mix well.
Add ½ of the remaining flour and ½ of the remaining sugar. Mix well.
Add the eggs and mix well.
Add the remaining flour and sugar. Mix for about 10 minutes on medium speed.
Mix in the fruit.
Divide the batter into 4 well-buttered 8” x 4” bread pans. Cover and sit at room temperature for about an hour. The batter will not really rise but the yeast is the only leavening so it needs to have time to make air bubbles that can expand and leaven the bread.
Bake at 300°F for approximately 90 minutes, until a tester comes out clean.

Glaze

When the bread is nearing completion, make the glaze by bringing the sugar and water to a boil and simmering a few minutes until syrupy.
As soon as the bun comes out of the oven, brush some of the glaze on top. Allow to cool 10 minutes in the pans.
Remove the bun from the pans and brush with more glaze. Allow to cool another 10 minutes.
Brush with remaining glaze and cool completely.

Recipe Notes

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Archives

Crostata di Amaretti (Amaretti Tart)

Torta all’Arancia (Orange Polenta Upside-Down Cake)

Pizza di Patate (Potato Pizza)

Rabbi Goldie’s Jewish Apple Cake

Zia Ida’s Lemon Bars

Mom’s Biscotti (aka Anise Toasts or Slice Cookies)

Gnocchi di Patate (Potato Gnocchi)

Anise Twists (Italian Anise Sweet Bread)

Jamaican Easter Bread (Bun)

A Passion for Traditional Recipes