Zia Ida’s Lemon Bars

Name: Zia Ida's Lemon Bars
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 30 min
Yield: 20 bars
Ingredients: 2 cups flour; 1/2 cup powdered sugar; 1 lemon (zest only); 1 cup butter; 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

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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Chinese Hot and Sour Soup

Stir-Fried Chicken with Cashews and Snow Peas

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

Piselli in Umido (Peas in Tomato Sauce)

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April 11, 2018

Italians have knack for combining a modest array of vegetables into an almost endless cannon of dishes, each of which is distinctive, even if the interrelationships of the various parts are obvious.

This dish of peas cooked in tomato sauce is from my husband’s paternal grandmother, Amerina Pieri.

I learned to make this from my mother-in-law, Marisa, Amerina’s daughter-in-law.

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Everyone who makes it adds his or her own signature. Mine is not exactly like my mother-in-law’s and I’m sure hers is not just like Zia (Aunt) Ida’s, Amerina’s daughter.

Interestingly, Nonni (as we all called her) used canned peas. In talking with my father-in-law (who grew up eating this) and my mother-in-law, they were pretty sure Nonni would not have used canned peas in Italy unless she possibly canned them herself. Somehow canned peas became the norm in America.

**Amerina Pieri (aka Nonni or Nonni’merina) Christmas 2005**

And, while canned peas produce a pretty good dish, I prefer something a little fresher. Because really good fresh peas are available for only a few weeks a year at the Farmers Market in Santa Fe, I usually use frozen peas.

If the frozen peas haven’t been in your freezer so long that they start to dry out and freeze into a block they are superior to “fresh” peas except during the few weeks a year when they are really locally-grown and truly fresh.

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My mother-in-law usually uses canned tomato sauce when making this, as did Nonni (at least when she made it on this side of the Atlantic Ocean!).

I use tomato paste and water. If you read the ingredient lists on cans of tomato sauce that you can buy in the United States, you will find that most are made from tomato paste and water, so why not just do it yourself? Those few brands of tomato sauce that are not made from diluted tomato paste are a little too sour for my taste. I would opt for a good-quality tomato puree instead.

**My favorite brand of domestically produced tomato paste**

Tomato paste has a richer flavor than tomato sauce or tomato puree. I attribute this to the extra cooking that is needed to concentrate the tomatoes. Those little cans provide the foundation of a taste that could otherwise only be achieved with hours of simmering.

Homemade tomato puree would be another good option if you want a fresher, more summery taste. Here’s where you can find my recipe.

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.

Piselli in Umido (Peas in Tomato Sauce)

Fresh or canned peas can be used in place of frozen. Fresh peas will take longer to cook. The canned peas should be cooked briefly to avoid overcooking. I like to rinse off frozen vegetables to remove any ice crystals on the exterior. I find the ice crystals can carry a “freezer” taste.

Course

Sides, Vegetables

Cuisine

Italian

Prep Time

10 minutes

Cook Time

75 minutes

Servings

people

Ingredients

1 pound frozen petit peas
1/2 onion finely diced
2-3 cloves garlic minced
2 sage leaves minced
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup dry white wine
1 x 6 ounce can tomato paste
3 cups water
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 bay leaf
Pinch rosemary fresh or dry, optional
Pinch Pinch dry oregano optional
salt to taste
black pepper freshly ground to taste

Course

Sides, Vegetables

Cuisine

Italian

Prep Time

10 minutes

Cook Time

75 minutes

Servings

people

Ingredients

1 pound frozen petit peas
1/2 onion finely diced
2-3 cloves garlic minced
2 sage leaves minced
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup dry white wine
1 x 6 ounce can tomato paste
3 cups water
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 bay leaf
Pinch rosemary fresh or dry, optional
Pinch Pinch dry oregano optional
salt to taste
black pepper freshly ground to taste

Instructions

Sauté the onion, garlic, sage, parsley and ½ teaspoon of salt in the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan till the onion is translucent.
Add the wine and cook, stirring frequently, until it evaporates.
Add the tomato paste and sauté until it becomes slightly darker, 3-4 minutes.
Add the water, sugar, bay leaf, rosemary, oregano, and salt and pepper to taste.
Simmer, partially covered, until thickened, approximately 45 minutes.
Adjust seasoning.
Rinse the frozen peas under cool water to remove any ice crystals.
Add the frozen peas to the sauce.
Simmer approximately 15 minutes, adjusting seasoning once again, if needed.

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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Recipes

Philadelphia-Style Tomato Pie

2 Comments

March 14, 2018

Like many psychiatry residents, I used to moonlight to make extra money.

The money was good and the work was usually not difficult. Many moonlighting jobs required being on-premises overnight. Most of the time, this usually just involved sleeping but, again, not always.

One of my easier moonlighting jobs was at a private psychiatric hospital in the Philadelphia suburbs. I had to do the histories, physicals, and psychiatric evaluations on the newly admitted patients and then be available for any issues that came up during my shift. Usually I got to sleep all night.

This was in stark contrast to one of my other moonlighting jobs at the crisis service that covered a swath of northeast Philadelphia. The patients were more acute and admissions unplanned. Sleep was elusive.

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One morning as I was finishing up some work on one of the units at the private psychiatric hospital I spied a pizza box in the staff lounge, clearly intended for anyone who wanted to have some.

I opened the box and was presented with my first tomato pie, basically a focaccia topped with a prodigious amount of a jam-like tomato sauce. There was no cheese and there were no toppings.

I had never heard of tomato pie like this. Sometimes the term tomato pie was applied to a run-of-the mill pizza, usually by my Uncle Joe, but this was a whole different creation.

Not only was it naked, except for the tomato sauce, the sauce was very dense (almost like tomato paste) and thickly applied to the dough.

**Good quality tomato puree is essential for this sauce. I prefer imported Italian tomato puree, called passato (or passata) (both are correct) di pomodoro**

Growing up, a regular mid-morning Sunday snack (after church and before our major meal of the day around 1:00 or so) was a bowl of my mother’s long-simmered tomato sauce that was almost always bubbling away on the stove on Sunday mornings and a stack of bread to dip into it. Italian bread was preferred but I’d make do with American “slice” bread if need be…often six slices…to hold me over until mealtime.

Tomato pie was heaven-made for someone like me. It was bread and sauce in an easy-to-eat package. No bowl or dipping required.

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It’s pretty astounding to realize that I had lived in Philadelphia for about 11 years before encountering my first tomato pie. I don’t really understand why. Two of the bastions of Philadelphia tomato pie are on Ninth Street, an area that I started going to my freshman year in college.

This article provides some interesting background on Philly-style Tomato Pie.

I’m a big fan of making dough for pizza and focaccia in my bread machine. If you don’t have a bread machine, use a mixer with a dough hook. Failing that, some elbow grease and a smooth kitchen counter will do the trick.

Philadelphia-Style Tomato Pie

Tomato Pie is a thick crust pizza dough topped with copious amounts of very thick tomato sauce. No cheese is put on the pie before baking. Some folks sprinkle grated Pecorino on the finished pie. It is usually served at room temperature. If the garlic taste in the sauce is too strong for you, the garlic can be sautéed in a small amount of olive oil before mixing into the tomato puree mixture. It is best to make the sauce a day in advance and refrigerate it. If you don’t have a bread machine, mix the dough in a mixer with a dough hook for about 10 minutes after the dough comes together. You can also mix it by hand which will give you a bit of an upper-body workout.

Course

Pizza, Flatbreads, and Savory Tarts, Vegetarian

Cuisine

Italian-American

Prep Time

15 minutes

Cook Time

35 minutes

Passive Time

24 hours

Servings

pieces

Ingredients

Sauce

2 cups tomato puree
1 x 6 ounce can tomato paste
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon dry oregano
1 teaspoon salt plus more to taste if needed
1 teaspoon sugar

Dough

680 g bread flour
440 ml water
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
45 ml olive oil
2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast or one package

Assembly

2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil to oil sheet pan

Course

Pizza, Flatbreads, and Savory Tarts, Vegetarian

Cuisine

Italian-American

Prep Time

15 minutes

Cook Time

35 minutes

Passive Time

24 hours

Servings

pieces

Ingredients

Sauce

2 cups tomato puree
1 x 6 ounce can tomato paste
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon dry oregano
1 teaspoon salt plus more to taste if needed
1 teaspoon sugar

Dough

680 g bread flour
440 ml water
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
45 ml olive oil
2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast or one package

Assembly

2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil to oil sheet pan

Instructions

Sauce

Grate the garlic on a Microplane grater or crush to a paste.
Combine all the ingredients for the sauce.
Cover the sauce and refrigerate overnight.
Before using, taste and adjust seasoning.

Dough

Prepare the dough using the dough cycle of the bread machine.
At the end of the cycle put the dough into an oiled bowl or covered container and allow to rise until doubled.

Assembly

Oil a half-sheet pan (13" x 18") with a few tablespoons of olive oil.
Stretch dough into the pan.
The dough will spring back. Stretch it out then allow it to rest a few minutes. Stretch more, then allow it to rest a few minutes. With resting in between stretches, the gluten will relax and the dough won't spring back.
Cover the pan. I invert another half-sheet pan on top.
Allow to rise until doubled, approximately 30 minutes.
Spread all of the sauce on top.
Bake at 350°F until crust is browned and sauce is thick, approximately 35-45 minutes.
Cool in the pan.
Cut into squares and serve at room temperature.
Sprinkle with grated Pecorino cheese, if desired, once cool.

Recipe Notes

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Recipes

Baklava with Walnuts and Almonds

2 Comments

February 23, 2018

Syrup desserts are popular from the Eastern Mediterranean through the Arabian Peninsula. Among syrup desserts, baklava is one of my favorites.

I rarely make baklava but the first time I did was junior year in college. That same recipe is the one that I still make.

Styles of baklava vary. More nuts. Less nuts. More syrup. Less syrup. Different aromatics. While I like them all, I tend towards the more Arabic preparations which, in my experience, include more nuts and syrup than their more restrained Greek counterparts.

Perhaps that’s why a friend, of Greek heritage, said that my baklava didn’t look like anything a Greek ever made! Admittedly, however, the recipe came from a Greek and I think I have been true to the recipe but, hey, I’m not Greek so who am I to say what could have come out of a Greek kitchen.

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I spent much of 2010 living in Dubai. The consulting company that I started in the mid 1990’s landed a contract with the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Health in late 2009. In January 2010 I moved to Dubai.

**A view of one part of the kitchen in my Dubai apartment**

Shopping for food in Dubai is just amazing. The sheer number of expats (at the time it was estimated that 95% of the people living in Dubai were expats!) means that the supermarkets are truly multinational affairs, even the relatively small ones.

It was rare that I could not find brands with which I was familiar. I’m sure expats from almost every country had the same experience. The supermarkets were stocked with brands from around the world. It truly was the most amazing grocery shopping I have ever experienced outside of the food halls at Harrods and KaDeWe. But remember, Harrods and KaDeWe are most decidedly upscale affairs. In Dubai I was just going to the (plain, ordinary) supermarket!

**A small section of the food hall at KaDeWe in Berlin** (By Blorg (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons)

I spend a week in Germany during the summer of 2010, right in the middle of my Dubai experience. I found shopping in German supermarkets to be a much more “foreign” affair than shopping in the supermarkets in Dubai. Rarely was there a brand I recognized in Germany. Shopping involved intense reading of labels because I was not familiar with the products and their contents…or their quality.

**A view of the Arabian Gulf and the man-made Palm Jumeriah Island in the distance from my apartment**

Produce in Dubai could be hit or miss due to the distance most of it traveled. Although there was a nascent horticultural industry in Dubai, I could never find truly local produce. On several occasions I tried to find a store that purported to sell local produce but my driver could never locate it, even with the address!

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The closest we had to “local” produce was from Iran, the source of Romaine lettuce and cauliflower, as I recall, among other produce. Considering that Iran and the United Arab Emirates are only 90 miles away at their closest point, and considering how far produce can travel in North America from fields in California to the Northeast, 90 miles really counts as local, even if there is an international border among two not-so-friendly countries involved!

**Another view from the apartment looking at Dubai Marina**

In the supermarkets, prepared food counters overflowed with Middle Eastern items and my fridge was always stocked with hummus, pita with zatar, olives, and other meze.

I also had access to world-class syrup desserts, including baklava!!!

Another fascinating aspect of most of larger supermarkets in Dubai was the existence of a room at the back that was usually labeled with something like “Pork for Non-Muslims.” In this space once could find the most amazing cured pork products from Italy, Spain, and Europe in general!

Alas, items containing alcohol were difficult to obtain. This included vanilla extract. The available non-alcohol-based “extract” was just not the same. Luckily vinegar was just as good, even if it was labeled “Grape Vinegar” rather than “Wine Vinegar!”

I hope you enjoy this baklava. Just don’t make it for a Greek friend!

Baklava with Walnuts and Almonds

Try to find phyllo that is either 9” x 13” or 18” x 13”. If it’s the latter, cut the stack of sheets in half to make them all 9” x 13”. I have found that covering the stack of phyllo with a damp towel, as some authors recommend, after you remove every sheet isn’t necessary if you move quickly. However, before you start, moisten a dish towel and keep it handy in case there are any breaks in the action, in which case you should definitely cover the stack of unused phyllo. While it is not essential to clarify the butter, removing the milk solids will prevent uneven browning of the top of the baklava.

Course

Desserts and Sweets

Cuisine

Middle Eastern

Prep Time

1 hour

Cook Time

1 1/2 hours

Passive Time

24 hours

Servings

pieces

Ingredients

Bakalva

1 pound unsalted butter more if you are generous with buttering
1 pound phyllo thawed if frozen
1 pound blanched almonds
1 pound shelled walnuts
2/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground allspice
whole cloves

Syrup

2 small lemons zest only, cut off in strips
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
4 inches stick cinnamon broken up
4 cloves
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 cups honey
2 tablespoons Rum or Brandy

Course

Desserts and Sweets

Cuisine

Middle Eastern

Prep Time

1 hour

Cook Time

1 1/2 hours

Passive Time

24 hours

Servings

pieces

Ingredients

Bakalva

1 pound unsalted butter more if you are generous with buttering
1 pound phyllo thawed if frozen
1 pound blanched almonds
1 pound shelled walnuts
2/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground allspice
whole cloves

Syrup

2 small lemons zest only, cut off in strips
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
4 inches stick cinnamon broken up
4 cloves
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 cups honey
2 tablespoons Rum or Brandy

Instructions

Baklava

Clarify the butter.
Finely grind the almonds and walnuts.
Mix nuts, cinnamon, allspice and sugar.
Brush a 9-inch b 13-inch baking pan with butter.
Lay a sheet of phyllo and brush it with butter.
Repeat until 12 sheets have been used.
Spread a layer of nuts, approximately 1 cup, on top of the phyllo.
Cover with a sheet of phyllo, brushing it with butter.
Repeat 1 cup of nuts covered with one sheet of phyllo until all the nuts have been used up.
Top with all the remaining sheets of phyllo individually adding them and brushing each sheet with butter.
Score the top few sheets of phyllo in a diamond pattern. Cut from one corner to the opposite corner.
Make three more rows of cuts, evenly spaced, in each direction parallel to the first cut for a total of 7 cuts.
Repeat in the opposite direction.
Put a clove in the center of each diamond.
Sprinkle the top lightly with water to reduce curling while baking.
Bake 350°F for 1½ hours, until golden.
Pour hot honey syrup over the hot baklava as it comes from the oven.
The baklava is best if allowed to sit at room temperature, uncovered for about a day before serving.

Syrup

As the baklava is nearing completion, make the syrup.
Combine lemon zest, sugar, water, cinnamon, and cloves in a heavy-bottomed sauce pan.
Bring to a boil, lower heat and continue cooking without stirring until syrupy, approximately 15 minutes. (218°F to 220°F if you want to measure using a candy thermometer.)
Stir honey into hot syrup.
Remove from the heat.
Using a small strainer, remove the solids.
Reheat the syrup immediately before removing the baklava from the oven.
Stir in lemon juice and rum or brandy.