1.5 oz Jameson Irish Whiskey
.5 oz Cointreau
1 drop orange bitters
1 drop standard bitters

Wet Ingredients

• 3-4 overripe bananas, mashed
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 stick butter, melted
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp almond extract (though vanilla will work if you don’t have almond)

Dry Ingredients

• 1 2/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup oat flour (I just grind up 1/2 cup rolled oats in my blender and measure from there)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt

Options

• 1 cup chopped nuts (pick one or a mix of walnuts, almonds, macadamia, pecans, etc.)
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Methodology

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.
3. Combine the bananas and sugar and mix with a potato masher until smooth.
4. Combine the rest if the wet ingredients with the banana/sugar mixture.
5. Combine the dry ingredients and mix with a whisk to make sure everything is evenly distributed.
6. Combine the dry ingredients with the wet, being careful not to overmix (but making sure that there are no dry pockets of flour).
7. If using any options, then fold them into the batter now.
8. Pour batter into the pan.
9. Bake for 50 – 60 minutes or until center registers 210F and a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean.
10. Allow to cool on stove top for 15 minutes then remove from pan and transfer to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely before slicing.
11. Tightly wrapped the bread will keep at room temp for about 5 days.

For Cupcakes

• 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (7 1/2 ounces)
• 1 cup granulated sugar (7 ounces)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), room temperature
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 2 large egg yolks, room temperature
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• zest of one lemon (preferably organic)

For Frosting

• 8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
• 8 ounces white chocolate, chopped

1. For Cupcakes: Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin/cupcake tin with paper or foil liners.
2. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in bowl of standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Add butter, sour cream, egg and egg yolks, and vanilla; beat at medium speed until smooth and satiny, about 30 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula and mix by hand until smooth and no flour pockets remain.
3. Divide batter evenly among cups of prepared tin using 2-ounce ice cream scoop or heaping tablespoon. Bake until cupcake tops are pale gold and toothpick or skewer inserted into center comes out clean, 20 to 24 minutes. Use skewer or paring knife to lift cupcakes from tin and transfer to wire rack; cool cupcakes to room temperature, about 45 minutes.
4. For Frosting: Whip cream cheese in stand mixer or with hand held mixer until light and fluffy. Melt white chocolate in microwave set to high in 10-second bursts, checking after each pass to make sure it isn’t scorching. Pour melted white chocolate into whipped cream cheese and beat until well combined.
5. Spread 2 to 3 generous tablespoons frosting on top of each cooled cupcake; serve.

I was bored of plain peanut butter cookies and happened to have some tahini (ground sesame paste) left over from a Greek themed meal. Not wanting to go full out with sesame seeds, I complimented the tahini with ground almonds and almond extract. The result? A chewy cookie  that is reminiscent of the dryer almond cookies that you sometimes find at Chinese restaurants . If you like those at all, you’ll love these!

sesame almond cookie recipe

• 2 1/2 cups (12.5 oz.) unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 cup slivered almonds, pulsed in food processor to resemble bread crumbs
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon table salt
• 1/2 pound butter (2 sticks), salted
• 2 cups (14 oz.) granulated sugar
• zest of 1 lemon
• 1 cup tahini
• 2 large eggs (brought to room temperature)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• more slivered almonds for decoration

1. Place oven rack in center of oven and preheat oven to 350° F.
2. Whisk flour, almond meal, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl and set aside.
3. Using a stand mixer, cream butter, sugar, and lemon zest together until light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl.
4. Add tahini and mix until well incorporated. Scrape bowl again.
5. Add eggs and extracts. Beat on medium until all combined, then turn to high and beat for an additional minute. If the mixture looks curdled, don’t worry. The flour will bring it all together in the next step.
6. Dump in the flour mixture and beat on low speed until just combined.
7. Using an ice cream disher, scoop out 1/4 cup sized mounds of dough onto parchment-lined baking sheet.
8. Flatten mounds with a moistened hand and then place 3-5 slivered almonds in a circular pattern with the pointy ends facing inward. Five slivers makes these look like sand dollars if you’re going for a beach look.
9. Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes until set and just barely brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the pan about 4 minutes. This keeps the cookies chewy but ensures that they are cooked all the way through.
10. Remove the cookies from the cookie sheet and allow to cool completely on a rack.

Variations

So if you wanted to make peanut butter cookies, you could replace the tahini with peanut butter and the ground almonds with ground peanuts (and leave out the zest and almond extract). You could also substitute almond butter for the tahini for a totally almond cookie. I have even subbed whole pine nuts for the ground almonds for good effect as well. Also, try orange or lime zest for a nice change of pace. These sesame almond cookies are pretty adaptable!

I was recently reading an article on Serious Eats about double-frying chicken wings. The author calls for them to be fried at a relatively low temperature (225F or so) for a long while to par-cook them, after which they can be chilled/frozen/held at room temperature for a time before they are fried again at a very hot temperature (400F). The result? Juicy on the inside and very crispy on the outside. The author himself likened this method to making duck confit – a process which entails slowly poaching duck legs and thighs in their own fat and then (usually) crisping them up in a hot pan.

Some commenters on the article wondered about cooking the wings sous vide instead of the initial fry.  It has been successful in the past for duck confit, so why not in this application? The problem I found was that there wasn’t a lot of information about this twice-cooked technique for wings. There were definitely recipes for sous vide chicken wings, mind you. But they were deboned, deconstructed, and stuffed with bleu cheese mousse and plated with a celery emulsion. Don’t get me wrong, I’d eat these in a heartbeat if I was at a restaurant that served them.  I just wasn’t looking for a fancy end product – I still wanted buffalo wings, but with the ease of preparation that the sous vide technique can often provide.

That led me to this youtube video of Grant Achatz cooking turkey:

Specifically, I was interested in his recommendation to cook dark meat at 170F for a few hours for tenderness. Chicken wings are essentially dark meat (though they are closer to the breast). They have a ton of collagen that needs to be converted to gelatin for that tender juiciness I was aiming for. So I set my Sous Vide Supreme to 170, separated 5 lbs. of chicken wings into flats and drumettes and tossed them with a tablespoon of kosher salt for seasoning.  The salt would also have the added effect of brining the wings as they cooked, leading to more juiciness and well-seasoned meat from the inside out.

Next, I sealed them up using a Food Saver and popped them into the water bath to cook. They hit the water at about noon.  I was expecting guests at 6:30, but they were a little later – with the sous vide chicken wings method, it’s no big deal because the wings can’t technically overcook (though if they sat at 170F long enough they might get mushy or mealy). Additionally, the original article I got the idea from mentioned possible resting  or freezing the wings after the initial fry, so I was good either way. Anyway, once my guests arrived, I pulled the wings out of the bag and laid them on paper towels and patted with some extras to dry them off. No one likes being splattered with 400F peanut oil, so I suggest you do the same.

After that, a quick bath in said hot oil for a few minutes until they were golden and crispy and a toss in very traditional Franks Red Hot and butter and we were eating some of the best chicken wings we had ever had!

sous vide chicken wings recipe

makes 40-50 sous vide chicken wings

• 5 lbs chicken wings, split into flats and drumettes
• 1 TB kosher salt
• 1 stick unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 cup Franks Red Hot (though I am hearing good stuff about the Tabasco brand wing sauce as well)

1. Fill with water and set sous vide device to 170 F.
2. Toss chicken wings with salt and seal in food-grade vacuum bags.  You can fit them in one bag if you can custom cut your bags, or use multiple quart size bags if you have those instead.  The key is to keep the wings in one layer.
3. Submerge the sealed bags in your sous vide setup for anywhere from 4 to 8 hours.
4. When ready to eat, heat peanut oil in a dutch oven or deep fryer to 400 F. Peanut oil is the cheapest oil that can handle prolonged cooking at 400 F. Canola starts to smell fishy to me at these temperatures.
5. Mix butter and hot sauce together in a small bowl and set aside.
6. Remove wings from the sealed bags and thoroughly dry off on paper towels. At this point, if you like coated wings, you could toss them with flour and seasonings, though I am a traditionalist and like them naked.
7. Carefully place the dried wings in the hot oil and keep them moving to prevent them clumping up.
8. Your main gauge here is wing color, not time. You’re looking for golden brown all over. When you get there, pull the wings out and put them in a bowl for tossing.
9. For every ten wings you cooked, use about 3 TB of the butter/hot sauce mixture.
10. Toss and serve with celery, carrots, and bleu cheese dressing.

Sous vide chicken wings can really make your life easy if you need to prepare them ahead of time, so if you have the equipment, I encourage you to give it a try!

Fast forward to this morning where I catch a glimpse of a rosemary and pine nut cookie recipe while stumbling around the web. I start thinking about adding rosemary to my biscotti recipe, but I don’t have any rosemary.  My neighbor has some growing and always tells me to pluck some whenever I want, so I walk out back to grab a few sprigs, passing my Christmas tree on the way out.

I’m immediately reminded of the Pacific Northwest cookbook and scrap the rosemary for some fir tips! To top it all off, I happened to have some pine nuts as well.  Even though they’re from a different species of tree, I might refer to these as Double Pine Biscotti from now on.  If you have a holiday cookie exchange, consider making these as they smell and taste, literally, like Christmas.

Just in case you’re curious, yes, evergreen trees are safe to eat.

• 1/4 teaspoon table salt
• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 cup pine nuts; toasted and cooled
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup douglas fir tips (just the green parts); roughly chopped (you can substitute rosemary if you like)
• 2 large eggs
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter; melted
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1. Preheat your oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, salt, and baking powder together; add pine nuts and set aside.
3. In a food processor, grind the sugar and fir tips together until the tips are finely chopped; transfer to a mixing bowl.
4. Whisk the eggs into the sugar/fir tips mixture until the eggs get pale yellow.
5. Whisk the melted butter and extracts into the eggs and sugar.
6. Pour the eggs/butter/sugar into the flour and fold gently until completely combined.Halve dough and turn each portion onto an oiled cookie sheet covered with parchment. Using floured hands, quickly stretch each portion of dough into a rough 13-by-2-inch log, placing them about 3 inches apart on the cookie sheet. Pat each dough shape to smooth it.
7. Bake until loaves are golden and just beginning to crack on top, about 35 minutes.
8. Cool the loaves for 10 minutes; lower oven temperature to 325 degrees.
9. Cut each loaf diagonally into 3/8-inch slices with a serrated knife. Lay the slices about 1/2-inch apart on the cookie sheet, top down, and return them to the oven.
10. Bake until crisp and golden brown, about 15 minutes. Transfer biscotti to wire rack and cool completely.

Got leftover eggnog from a Christmas party? Use it for these cupcakes!

Eggnog Cupcakes

• 1 1/2 cups (7.5 oz) all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp table salt
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
• 8 TB unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 1 cup (7 oz) granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs (at room temperature)
• 1/2 cup eggnog
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Eggnog glaze

• 1 1/2 cups (6 oz) powdered sugar
• 5 tsp eggnog
• 1 tsp rum or brandy (optional, use an extra tsp of eggnog if omitting)

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350F and line a 12-count cupcake tin with paper or foil liners.
2. Beat ingredients for glaze until smooth; set aside.
3. Measure the dry ingredients into a bowl and whisk to aerate and combine.
4. Cream together the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy.  The color should get significantly paler. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
5. Beat in the eggs and vanilla for one minute, pausing and scraping down the bowl if necessary.
6. Mix in a third of the dry ingredients on low speed until just combined.
7. Mix in half of the eggnog on low speed until just combined.
8. Mix in another third of the dry ingredients…
9. Mix in the final half of the eggnog.
10. Mix in the final third of the dry ingredients, taking care not to overbeat but making sure that there are no patched of flour suspended in the batter.
11. Evenly distribute the batter among the prepared cupcake cups (I find a 1/4 cup disher to be about perfect).
12. Bake until cupcakes are pale golden on top and fully cooked when tested with a toothpick or paring knife, about 20-24 minutes.
13. Transfer to cooling rack and allow to cool for 45 minutes before drizzling with the glaze.

A few tips to get the most out of this attachment:

• Trim gristle and large chunks of solid fat from the meat.
• Cut meat into 1″ cubes and place in freezer for 15 minutes before grinding.
• Chill the attachment in the freezer as well.
• Check the grinder blade for gristle after each pound of meat you grind.
• Test out the different size grinder plates to get different textures in hamburgers, etc.

I’ve written about the savory pie (pizza rustica) before (click here).

This year I’m trying a new sweet pie — the usual one is a “Pizza Grana” or grain pie that includes a filling of ricotta cheese and boiled wheat berries.  Not knowing if our hosts would dig that very traditional recipe, I’m using one that was sent to me by Lynn Rosetto Kasper of The Splendid Table and subbing dried apricots for the candied fruits.

Pastry:

• 1-1/4 cups (6.25 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour (preferably organic)

• 1/4 cup (1.25 ounces) cake flour (preferable organic)

• 1/8 teaspoon salt

• 3 tablespoons sugar

• Shredded zest of 1 medium lemon

• 6 tablespoons (3 ounces) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

• 2 large egg yolks

• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

• 3 to 5 tablespoons cold water

Filling:

• 3-1/4 cups (about 30 ounces) high-quality whole-milk ricotta

• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

• 1 large egg, separated

• 2 large egg yolks

• 1/2 cup (3.5 ounces) plus 3 tablespoons sugar

• 1 tablespoon Galliano liqueur (or another liqueur of your choice)

• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

• Pinch of salt

• 1/3 cup (1.5 ounces) mixed candied fruit, cut into 1/4-inch dice

• 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

• 1 tablespoon pine nuts or coarsely chopped blanched almonds

1. To make the crust, butter a 10-inch metal pie pan. Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl or food processor. With your fingertips or pulsing by machine, work in the butter until it is the size of small peas. In a small bowl, beat together the yolks, lemon juice, and 3 tablespoons of the water. Add to the dry ingredients, tossing with a fork or pulsing only until the pastry forms small clumps; another 1 to 2 tablespoons of water may be needed. Shape the dough into a ball.

2. On a floured surface, roll out the pastry to a 15-inch circle about 1/8 inch thick. Fit it into the pie pan and trim the edges to a 1-inch overhang. Roll the rim under itself and flute it into a high border standing on the pie pan’s rim. Chill 1 hour or up to overnight.

3. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line the pastry shell with foil or parchment paper, weight with dried beans, and bake 15 minutes. Gently remove the liner and weights and bake another 2 minutes, or until the crust if firm. Cool on a rack.

4. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Puree the ricotta in a food processor and transfer to a bowl, or pass it through a fine sieve into a bowl. Blend in the cream, yolks, the 1/2 cup of sugar, the Galliano, vanilla, and salt. Stir in the fruit. Turn the ricotta into the pastry shell. Tuck the chocolate pieces in here and there.

5. In a medium bowl, beat the egg white until foamy. Gradually beat in the remaining 3 tablespoons sugar and continue to beat the meringue until it is the consistency of very thick cream – not quite to soft peaks. With a spoon, make a zigzag stripe of meringue thickly over the filling, not covering it completely. Sprinkle the nuts over the meringue.

6. Make a foil ring and cover the pastry rim with it. Place the tart in the oven and turn the heat down to 325°F. Bake 40 minutes. Remove the foil rim and bake another 15 to 20 minutes, or until a knife inserted an inch from the rim comes out with a few streaks. The filling will jiggle a little when shaken, but will set up in cooling. Remove the tart to a rack and cool.

7. If there’s time, cover and chill the tart an hour or so – its flavors seem to open up with this step. But bring it to room temperature before serving, cut into narrow wedges. The tart keeps well, covered, in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days, but it is absolutely prime the day it’s made.

• 1 package Barilla no-boil lasagna sheets
• 2 – 28 oz cans crushed tomatoes (I like Pomi brand)
• 1 lb ground meat (beef, pork, lamb, sausage, etc. — any one of these or a mix)
• 4 TB olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 – 16 oz container ricotta cheese
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup grated pecorino romano cheese
• 1 lb mozzarella cheese, grated (about 4 cups if using pre-shredded)
• handful of chopped Italian parsley
• 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• kosher salt and black pepper to taste

For the sauce (can be done ahead of time — up to two days):

1. Heat the olive oil in a large dutch oven over medium until the oil begins to shimmer.
2. Brown the meat until all the moisture has been driven away and is considerably brown.
3. Add the garlic and stir until distributed.
4. Add the tomatoes and 2 teaspoons of kosher salt.  Bring to a boil.
5. Reduce to lowest heat and allow to cook for about 30 minutes. Adjust salt to taste.
6. Put aside. (If preparing ahead of time, cool to room temperature then store in the refrigerator.)

For the ricotta cheese filling:

1. Mix ricotta, 3/4 lb mozzarella (about 3 cups), romano cheese, nutmeg, black pepper, and parsley in a large bowl.
2. Put aside.

To assemble:

Click to enlarge.

Overlap sheets slightly when layering lasagna. The noodles will expand to the edges during cooking. Spread filling to edges to seal in and cook the lasagna during baking. Layer in the following order:

1. Spread 1 cup sauce on bottom of baking pan.
2. Layer 4 uncooked lasagna sheets, 1/3 of ricotta mixture, and  1 1/2 cups of meat sauce.
3. Layer 4 uncooked lasagna sheets, 1/3 of ricotta mixture, and 1 1/2 cups sauce.
4. Layer 4 uncooked lasagna sheets, the remaining ricotta mixture, and 1 cup of sauce.
5. Layer 4 uncooked lasagna sheets, the remaining sauce,  and 1/4 lb (1 cup) of mozzarella.
6. Cover with aluminum foil.

Bake it:

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Bake for 50 minutes.
3. Remove foil.
4. Bake 10 more minutes to brown cheese.
5. Let lasagna rest/cool for about 10 minutes before serving.