Tahini Chocolate Chunk Cookies (with Rye Flour)

For the full article, head over to .alma

...What I love most about these cookies is that they’re endlessly versatile. I like to add rye flour to the batter for extra nuttiness, and flake salt before baking for a pop of flavor and crunch, but you could easily use entirely all purpose flour and leave the flake salt out completely. If you’re not into chocolate, you could substitute the two cups of chocolate chunks with two cups of chopped dried fruit or chopped nuts. If you’re feeling adventurous (or frisky?) you can even use all three. In keeping with romantic cliches, just as in matters of finding true love, these cookies benefit from patience. If you chill the batter overnight the cookies taste even better when you bake them off the next day. But between you and me, you can break the rules and succumb to instant gratification and make the cookies the same day and they’ll still work out just fine.

I always hope that Valentine’s Day can be less a celebration of coupledom and traditional forms of romantic love, and more of a an excuse to celebrate all love-filled relationships, including with one’s self. I can assure you that whether these are made for your partner, secret crush, lonely hearts club band, or for you yourself and only you, making these cookies in all their tahini-chocolate goodness is a rich expression of love and all things good.

Tahini Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Makes 24 cookies

Ingredients:

¾ cup all purpose flour

¼ cup + 2 Tablespoons rye flour (optional, can substitute this with all purpose flour)

¾ teaspoon kosher salt

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ cup tahini

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

¾ cup brown sugar

¼ cup sugar

1 large egg, at room temperature

2 cups (8 oz) chopped chocolate chunks or chips

Flake salt, as needed (optional)

Directions:

1.     In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, rye flour if using, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Reserve.

2.     Using a stand-mixer or handheld electric mixer, cream together the tahini, butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. You can also do this by hand, but it will take slightly longer.

3.     Add in the egg, and mix until well incorporated.

4.     On a low speed, slowly add in the flour mixture to the tahini mixture. Mix until just incorporated, be careful not to overmix.

5.     Stir in the chocolate chunks until just incorporated. Ideally, refrigerate the cookie dough for 24 hours or overnight. If you can’t wait that long, let it chill in the fridge for at least one hour.

6.     Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

7.     Scoop out the dough, one heaping tablespoon at a time, and roll into equal-sized balls. You can also use a small ice cream scoop to do this. Place the dough balls on the baking sheets a few inches apart - they will spread as they bake. Sprinkle the dough with flake salt, if desired.

8.     Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until golden around the edges. Allow the cookies to cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

9.     Cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Spiced Pomegranate Molasses Wings

As written for The Nosher

What do I want in a wing? Something that is crispy with a sauce that packs tons of flavor. Pomegranate molasses is a perfect base for wing sauce. Pomegranate molasses isn’t a molasses at all, it’s actually just pomegranate juice that is reduced until it is thick and syrupy. You can even make it yourself at home, but it is easy to come by at any Middle Eastern or Persian market, as well as online. I’ve even spotted it at Whole Foods. Pomegranate molasses is tangy, a little sweet, and with the dark and shiny sheen of real molasses. It’s a common ingredient in Middleeastern cooking, where it’s added to all kinds of dishes from stews, to dips, to glazes for meats, and more. If you’ve ever read an Yotam Ottolenghi cookbook, than you know it’s also one of his favorite ingredients to add to vegetable dishes.

Years ago, I first got inspired to add pomegranate molasses to wings when I saw Aarti Sequeira make a version of this dish on Aarti Party, her Indian-themed cooking show. Since then I’ve reworked the dish to skew it towards my own preferences, and in a slightly more Middle Eastern direction. These wings get generously marinated in a spice mixture of coriander, cumin, cardamom, allspice, and pepper. The pomegranate molasses sauce gets Sriracha added to it for heat, which is a decidedly un-Middle Eastern ingredient, but a perfect compliment to the dish with its peppery garlicky spiciness. To make cooking for a crowd a little easier, the wings are baked not fried; they still crisp up nicely, but you don’t have to deal with the mess, work, or the extra calories that comes with deep frying. Spiced pomegranate molasses wings have become a staple party food recipe in our house, Superbowl Sunday or otherwise.

Spiced Pomegranate Molasses Wings

Serves 4-6 (recipe can be doubled and tripled to serve a larger crowd)

For the wings-

2 lbs. chicken wings

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon ground coriander

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

½ teaspoon ground cardamom

½ teaspoon ground allspice

For the pomegranate molasses sauce-

⅓ cup pomegranate molasses

3 tablespoons maple syrup or agave, or to taste

2 tablespoons Sriracha, or to taste

1 tablespoon oil (coconut, safflower, or canola)

Salt and pepper, to taste

2 tablespoons vegan butter

Directions:

1.     Pat the chicken wings dry and place them in a large bowl.

2.     In a small bowl, combine the salt and spices. Add the spices to the chicken, and toss the wings until they are all well coated. Cover and refrigerate the wings for 1 hour to allow the chicken to marinade in the spice mixture.

3.     Preheat the oven to 400°F. Place a rack on a baking sheet and spray or brush the rack with oil. If you don’t have a rack to cook the wings on, you can place them directly on a baking sheet, they will just get slightly less crisped. Add the marinated wings to the baking sheet, leaving ½” of room between each wing.

4.     Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until cooked through with an internal temperature of at least 165°F. Flip the wings once after 15 minutes of cooking time.

5.     While the wings are in the oven, prepare the pomegranate molasses sauce. Add the pomegranate molasses, maple syrup, Sriracha, and a tablespoon of oil to a small pot. Heat on medium low, and allow the sauce to simmer for 10 minutes, or until the sauce has slightly thickened. Taste and add salt & pepper as needed, or more Sriracha/maple syrup depending on your preference and the tanginess of the pomegranate molasses.

6.     Once simmered and slightly reduced, remove from the heat and add the vegan butter; this will add a smooth richness to the sauce.

7.     Once the chicken is cooked, transfer it to a large heatproof bowl, pour the warm sauce all over the chicken, and toss until everything is well coated. Serve hot with your favorite sides or dipping sauces.

Salad Olivier

Full article is available via The Nosher

...This salad was first prepared by Lucien Olivier in the 1860’s. Olivier was the French chef of a famous restaurant in Moscow called The Hermitage, hence the very French name for this now popular Russian salad. Also, Russians were obsessed with French culture at that time. Salad Olivier was an immediate hit, and it became the restaurant’s signature dish. Originally, it was made with crayfish, capers, and even grouse. After the revolution, simpler and easier to come by ingredients were more commonly adapted into the recipe. These ingredients are also all conveniently available in the dead of winter.

The popularity of the salad spread beyond Russia to Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and even to Iran and Pakistan. In fact, in our family we call this dish Salad de Boeuf (pronounced as “de beff”), which is what this salad is inexplicably called in Romania and Western Ukraine. Boeuf means “beef” in French, and this salad contains no beef at all. In each geographic locale, the salad might differ slightly. Sometimes the potatoes are mashed instead of cubed, or there’s shredded chicken instead of smoked meat, or sometimes there’s no meat at all, as was the custom in our family. What makes this type of potato salad uniquely a Salad Olivier is the presence of potatoes combined with carrots, peas, pickles, and hard boiled eggs. Everything should be chopped to roughly the same size. The appeal of something seemingly odd and vaguely average is ultimately mysterious, but the combination of hearty firm potatoes, sweet cooked carrots, crisp pickles, earthy peas, and silky eggs in a creamy tangy dressing just works. The ingredients meld all together, each losing its own particular edge to combine to make a complete range of salty, sweet, tangy, satisfying tastes in each bite. I think this salad’s enduring and far-reaching popularity proves that it’s eaten for more than tradition’s sake.

If you’re going to attempt to make this for the first time there are a few things to know. For one, this recipe reflects how my family likes this dish. If you’ve had this before it might be slightly different from what you’re used to. More importantly, the quality of each ingredient matters to the overall success of the dish. I like to use Yukon Gold potatoes because they hold up well and have a pleasant rich sweetness, but you can definitely try it with your favorite potato. Taste the carrots before you cook them; they should be sweet and flavorful, not the dull astringent variety you sometimes end up with. The best pickles for this dish are ones that come from the refrigerator section, that still have a crunch, and are brined in salt with zero vinegar added. They’re also known as “naturally fermented” pickles. The type of mayonnaise you use is also key, and I swear by Hellmann's/Best Foods brand mayo.

Salad Olivier

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

For the salad-

1.5 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, about 4-5 medium

3 large carrots

4 large eggs

3 large dill pickles, or to taste (use naturally fermented/brined pickles)

1 cup frozen peas, thawed (you can substitute with fresh cooked peas or even canned)

For the dressing-

1 cup good quality mayonnaise

2 tablespoons olive oil

Juice of ½ a lemon, or to taste

1 Tablespoon pickle liquid (optional)

¾ Tablespoon kosher salt, or to taste

2 Tablespoons chopped fresh dill (optional)

Directions:

1.     Wash the potatoes and carrots well. Add them to a pot, and fill with water. Bring the water to a boil, and boil the potatoes and carrots until easily pierced through with a knife. The carrots will cook faster, about 15-20 minutes. Once they’re tender remove them from the pot and allow the potatoes to finish cooking, about 15-20 minutes more, or 30-35 minutes in total. Be careful not to overcook your potatoes and carrots, you do not want them to end up as mush in the salad. Once cooked, set aside to cool or refrigerate. This step can be up to 2 days in advance.

2.     While the potatoes and carrots are cooking, hard boil your eggs and allow them to cool.

3.     Once cooled, carefully remove the peels from your potatoes. You can either remove or keep the peel on your carrots depending on your preference.

4.     Cube all of the potatoes, carrots, and eggs to the same size. I like a medium-small dice.

5.     Dice the pickles slightly smaller than the other ingredients as they have a stronger flavor.

6.     Add the cubed potatoes, carrots and eggs to a large bowl. Add the pickles and thawed peas to the bowl.

7.     In a separate small bowl, combine all of the ingredients for the dressing and whisk together. Taste and adjust accordingly.

8.     Add the dressing to the potato mixture, and carefully stir until everything is fully coated in the dressing. Taste and add more salt if desired (every brand of kosher salt differs in salinity). If you want it creamier/tangier, add more mayonnaise or lemon juice. You can also use sour cream or yogurt if desired.

9.     Allow the salad to chill for at least one hour before serving so that the flavors can all come together. This salad can be made up to a day in advance, and stores well for 2 days. You can also make this without the dressing up to 3 days in advance, then add the dressing before serving.

10.   Before serving, transfer the salad to a serving bowl. This salad is known for being creatively decorated and festively garnished with fresh herbs, vegetable roses, etc. You can doll it up in any way you like.

As written for THE NOSHER

The Japanese word Okonomiyaki is derived from two words: okonomi “how you like it” and yaki “grill.” Okonomiyaki is a customizable Japanese savory vegetable pancake. Like a latke, it gets cooked in oil in a fritter formation. Unlike a latke, it’s usually made into a large plate-sized pancake comprised mainly of cabbage. Food historians have linked the rise in popularity of okonomiyaki in Japan to World War II, when rice was more scarce and this recipe offered a filling meal or snack with a wheat-based starch. Throughout Japan there are regional differences and countless variations of okonomiyaki, but the most common form of the dish involves a batter made of flour, a variety of mountain yam, eggs, shredded cabbage, green onion, dashi, and often the addition of pork belly. It gets topped with its own tangy sweet sauce, Japanese mayonnaise, and bonito flakes (katsuobushi).

I first fell in love with okonomiyaki on a trip to Japan. You can find it there in restaurants that specialize in the dish, but it’s also something that is prepared in home kitchens. The cabbage gets slightly crisp, tender and sweet when seared in oil on a flattop or skillet, and then it gets generously slathered with an umami rich sauce, along with a welcome drizzle of creamy mayo. The richness, sweetness, and tanginess of these components all work perfectly together. A few months after I got back from Japan, I ended up eating at Brooklyn’s Japanese Jewish restaurant, Shalom Japan. I didn’t hesitate to order their Jewish-influenced spin on okonomiyaki. They’re known to top it with pastrami, or even corned lamb tongue and sauerkraut. It became clear there that okonomiyaki is a perfect fit on a Jewish table with its base of humble cabbage and onion. The fried pancake part of it all called out “Hanukkah.”

I am a fan of all pancakes and fritters, and I set out to modify the classic Japanese version for a recipe that didn’t require access to a specialty food store, and that could be made with kosher ingredients. Full disclosure: my version lacks authenticity. If you’re going for the real deal you’ll need a batter made with an okonomiyaki flour mix, or nagaimo yam; this special kind of yam is added in powdered form to the flour mix, or gets grated fresh into the batter. The toppings should include bonito flakes, and the batter should be made with dashi. These ingredients can be found at most Japanese markets. Instead of nagaimo yam, my version uses a batter of flour and potato starch, and instead of dashi I use water. I’ve also included a recipe for homemade traditional okonomiyaki sauce that can be made simply with easy to find ingredients, but you can also buy premade bottled sauce. You can make these pancakes large-sized and cut into wedges like the Japanese do, or slightly smaller à la a large latke. I wouldn’t go too small with this, as the vegetables tend to hold together better en masse. This recipe doesn’t need to be too exact and it works as a blank canvas for additional vegetables like kale, mushrooms, and/or daikon. In the spirit of Hanukkah, these okonomiyaki get cooked in oil, but they’re not heavily fried. The oil used to fry the Okonomiyaki gives a loving nod to the miracle of the oil glowing for eight days instead of one in the Temple, but the heap of vegetables and addictive sauce make this a nutritious and satisfying addition to any Hanukkah meal.

Okonomiyaki for Hanukkah

Serves 4
Ingredients:
For the pancakes-

• ¾ cup all purpose flour or gluten free all purpose mix
• ¼ cup potato starch or cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 large eggs
• ½-¾ cup water
• ½ green cabbage, about 4½ packed cups
• 3 green onions, sliced thin plus more for garnish if desired
• 1 carrot, peeled and shredded
• 4-5 inches daikon, peeled and shredded (optional)
• Oil as needed (i.e. sunflower, canola, or peanut)
• Sesame seeds, for topping (optional)
• Mayonnaise, for topping (optional)

For the okonomiyaki sauce-

• ½ cup ketchup
• ¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
• 2 Tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 Tablespoons honey or agave syrup, or to taste

Directions:

1. Start by making the batter. Whisk together the flour, starch, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
2. In a separate bowl beat the eggs. Add the eggs and ½ a cup of water to the flour mixture. Whisk until smooth. You want a fairly thin, crepe batter-like consistency. If you find it too thick, add another ¼ cup of water. Try not to overmix, you do not want to overdevelop the gluten. Allow the batter to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour.
3. While the batter is resting, prepare the vegetables. Take out the thick core from the cabbage half, then cut the halved cabbage in two. Thinly slice or shred the cabbage. Thinly slice the green onions. Grate the carrot and daikon if using.
4. Make the okonomiyaki sauce: combine the ketchup, Worcestershire, soy sauce, and honey/agave in a bowl. Taste and adjust to your liking. The sauce should be tangy, savory, and a little sweet.
5. Combine the batter with the vegetable mixture.
6. Heat a cast iron skillet or a nonstick-skillet with about 3 tablespoons of oil over high heat. Once the oil is glistening and hot lower the heat to medium low, and, add some of the cabbage mixture to the pan, gently nudge it into a circle shape. I like to make each pancake with about 2 cups of the mixture. For me, that makes an ideal sized pancake that isn’t too hard to flip, and one that will hold together. Cover the skillet with a lid for 3-4 minutes. Carefully flip over the pancake, and cover it with a lid for an additional 3-4 minutes, or until browned on both sides and cooked through. Make sure not to cook on too high of a heat or the pancake might burn while remaining raw in the center.
7. Serve hot topped with a generous spread of the okonomiyaki sauce, mayo if desired, sliced green onions and sesame seeds.
8. Slice and serve!