In South America during the winter months of July and August, calabaza is king! Panaderías all over Santiago and Buenos Aires sell pumpkin empanadas, pumpkin torts, and so on. I also had some amazing calabaza creations at Cumana, a delicious restaurant in Buenos Aires' Recoleta neighborhood. Naturally, given my love of winter squashes, I tried my hand at some pumpkin and cheese empanadas in our Buenos Aires kitchen! And they're a fabulous savory pastry to have for dinner on a chilly night.
They're also pretty easy to make. Once you've made the flaky empanada dough (basically a pie crust with some salt and pepper), all you need to do is fill your savory pastries with a pumpkin mash. I bought and roasted a pumpkin, added some delicious raw honey fresh from the Pampas, and topped off the filling with some delicious Argentinian queso de campo and a little bit of salt and pepper.
After going to a New Order show just before leaving for South America, I've been listening to a lot of Joy Division and New Order (in fact, I listened to "Unknown Pleasures" almost exclusively as I rode buses to Isla Negra and Valparaiso in Chile). Given the way these empanadas conjure my visit, here's Joy Division's haunting and beautiful "Atmosphere" (and, might I add, one of my favorite music videos of all time).
Ingredients:
The Empanada Crust:
--2 1/2 c. flour
--1 c. cold butter
--1/2 c. ice water
--1 tsp. salt
--1/2 tsp. pepper
--1 egg yolk
--extra flour for rolling
Pour flour into a large bowl and cut in the butter (you can also pulse the ingredients in a food processor). Add the ice water, salt, pepper, and egg yolk. Mix together until all the dry flour has absorbed into the dough.
Roll on a flat surface and cut into approx. 6" diameter circles. Set aside until ready to use.
The Filling:
--1/2 c. shredded queso de campo (if you can't find this cheese in the states, you can substitute a Spanish manchego)
--3 c. pumpkin puree (about one medium-sized pumpkin, roasted)
--3 heaping tablespoons of raw honey
--1 large yellow onion, chopped
--2 cloves garlic, minced.
--2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
--salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
If you're roasting your own pumpkin, slice in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Coat the squash with olive oil. Place both halves on a baking sheet and roast for approximately 1 hour, or until soft. Remove from oven and allow to cool. (If you're using canned pumpkin, go on to the next set of steps.)
Decrease oven heat to 350 degrees F.
In a large saucepan, saute the garlic and onions until soft and golden. Set aside until ready to use.
In the saucepan with the onions and garlic, mash in the pumpkin puree, raw honey, queso, and the salt and pepper. (If you've roasted your own pumpkin, it should be soft enough to just scoop right out of its skin and into the bowl.) I like mine with some texture, so I do a rustic mash with chunks of the squash still intact.
Fill each empanada shell with about 1 tablespoon of the mash, fold the shell over to create a half-moon shape, and press the edges together with a fork. Poke a couple of fork hole in the top to allow the empanada to breathe in the oven. Continue until you've filled all empanadas. (That's me, in our Argentinean kitchen.)
Place empanadas on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for about 25 minutes, or until the edges become golden and crispy. Remove from oven, allow to cool, and serve.
Eat heartily and happily!
*Wine hint: these go very, very well with a bottle of Torrontes, a delicious Argentinean white wine.
I'm heading to the other side of the equator soon, where I'll be leaving the dog days of summer behind me. It'll be winter in Argentina, so here's a summer swan song: delicious and creamy peanut butter frozen yogurt.
I bought an ice cream maker awhile back, and I don't use it enough. However, I'm in love enough with frozen yogurt that I buy it on a very regular basis. In other words, I should use my ice cream maker more often. When you make your own desserts, the flavor combinations are nearly endless. I love peanut butter, and I knew it would make for a delicious chilled treat. And what's great about this recipe is that it doesn't even contain any sugar--all of the sweetness comes from the earthy agave syrup. Making your own ice cream or frozen yogurt is incredibly easy, and it's always worth it.
Do you know the Doors' beautiful and sad "Indian Summer"? It's stunning. It was an outtake, more stripped down than most other songs from the band, and appeared on Morrison Hotel in 1970.
Ingredients:
--3/4 c. creamy peanut butter
--3 c. plain Greek yogurt (you can substitute for a non-Greek variety if you like your fro-yo less tangy)
--1/2 c. sweetened vanilla almond milk (again, you can substitute whatever milk you'd like)
--1/4 c. agave syrup (if you like your fro-yo super sweet, add more)
--1 tbsp. vanilla extract
--chopped peanuts for topping
Melt the peanut butter down until it's easier to whisk (I just placed mine in the microwave for about 35 seconds). In a large bowl, whisk all of the ingredients together, except the peanuts, until creamy.
Pour the mixture into a prepared ice cream maker and turn it on. Allow the ice cream maker to churn for 20-25 minutes, or until the fro-yo reaches the desired consistency.
*To use an ice cream maker, you have to plan waaaay in advance. For most of them, you've gotta chill the churning bowl for 6-8 hours ahead of time. But if you don't have an ice cream maker, you can still make this dessert. Pour the whisked ingredients into a freezer-safe container and chill for about 1-2 hours, stirring occasionally.
Serve with a dusting of chopped peanuts (or, if you have it, some delicious chocolate syrup).
Newly obsessed with mixing kalamata olives and fresh cucumber into everything imaginable, I thought about making some Mediterranean-inspired lamb chops with an olive, caper, and cucumber rice. This is a quick, easy, and delicious dinner. And since it's summer, you might want to grill the lamb on a warm night.
Don't know how to "french" a rack of lamb? Don't worry. It's actually pretty easy, and Alton Brown does a nice job explaining this technique.
Since the dish makes me think of the still waters of the glorious Mediterranean, it pairs nicely with Ferraby Lionheart's "Call Me the Sea."
Ingredients for the Rack of Lamb:
--1 tsp. ground cumin
--1/2 tsp. ground cloves
--1/2 tsp. salt
--1/2 tsp. fresh rosemary, chopped finely
--1/2 tsp. fresh English thyme, chopped finely
--1-2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
--1 small rack of lamb, frenched (mine had 6 lamb chops)
Ingredients for the Rice:
--2 c. cooked basmati rice (any rice will do, of course--your choice!)
--1/2 c. chopped kalamata olives
--1 medium-sized cucumber, coarsely chopped
--1/4 c. capers
--3 tbsp. red wine vinegar
--s&p to taste
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
In a small bowl, combine the spices and herbs to create a rub for your lamb. Rub the olive oil over your lamb, and then press the rub in until the lamb is covered. Place the lamb in a baking dish, fat-side up, for 15 minutes, or until your lamb has reached an internal temperature of 135 degrees. If you have a larger rack of lamb, it'll need longer in the oven.
Remove from oven, cover with foil, and allow the meat to rest for about 15 minutes. Once it has rested, slice the rack into lamb chops.
For the rice, just mix the ingredients together! Serve a chop or two on top of the rice. Delicious.
A milk tart, or "melktert" in Afrikaans, is a sweet, sweet custard pie. Made with lots of eggs, milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and sugar, what's not to like? This is the last of my South African desserts (at least for awhile), so eat it up!
This treat has all the glory of a delicious pie crust, and all the velvety sweetness of a custard. And it's delicious warm or cold. (I served it warm out of the oven, and then I continued to eat it chilled out of the fridge.) My recipe is adapted from an Epicurious version--a website for which I am ever grateful.
I'm shocked by my own oversight, but I don't think I've featured a Nirvana song on this blog. As a girl who once baked a birthday cake for Kurt Cobain (I confess!), I've done one of my oldest and best-loved bands a disservice. Here's Nirvana's "Milk It."
Ingredients:
--1 pie crust, rolled and trimmed (god, don't buy one! Use my pie crust recipe, found on my pecan pie post)
--2 c. whole milk
--1 cinnamon stick
--4 eggs, separated
--1/3 c. all-purpose flour
--1 tbsp. cornstarch
--1/3 c. granulated sugar
--1/2 tsp. baking powder
--pinch of salt
--2 tbsp. unsalted butter
--1 tbsp. vanilla
--1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
--1 tsp. ground cinnamon (for dusting)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
In a 10" tart pan, lay pie crust and press into edges. Poke a number of fork holes in the bottom and bake at 400 degrees F for 7-9 minutes, or until the crust starts to bubble just a little bit. Remove and allow to cool (but leave the oven on, reducing the heat to 350 degrees F).
In a medium-sized saucepan, heat 1 1/2 c. milk and the cinnamon stick over low heat until it just reaches a boil. Set it aside for 15 minutes and allow the cinnamon to infuse into the milk.
In a large bowl, beat together the 1/2 c. milk that remains, along with the 4 egg yolks (make sure you've separated the eggs!), the cornstarch, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt. Remove the cinnamon stick from the milk, and whisk in the egg yolk mixture. Return to the saucepan to a low-medium heat, and cook, whisking constantly, until the custard thickens (about 5-7 minutes). Remove from heat and whisk in the vanilla and the butter.
In a separate bowl, beat the 4 egg whites with the cream of tartar until they form stiff peaks, just like this:
The cream of tartar adds volume to the egg whites, just fyi. Fold the egg whites into the custard, and pour the mixture into the pie crust. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees F, then reduce heat to 325 degrees F and bake for another 25-30 minutes, or until the custard has set. Remove from heat and immediately dust with ground cinnamon. Serve!
Driving to Pittsburgh earlier this year, a GPS mishap led to the discovery of Delallo, one of the most glorious indoor markets I've ever encountered in America. In addition to a seemingly mile-long olive bar and to-die-for desserts, they also make fresh pasta. With all of the farmer's market veggies I've been buying, I decided to use Delallo fusilli to make a summer squash pasta with applewood-smoked bacon and sweet heirloom tomatoes. And what could make those ingredients better? Some fresh chèvre, of course!
This pasta is so delightfully summer. To accompany it, here's Durutti Column's "Sketch for Summer," live in Madrid (1983).
Ingredients:
--1 lb. fresh fusilli (or any other pasta you like!)
--8 strips extra crispy applewood-smoked bacon (Evan smoked ours on the grill, but any crispy bacon will do)
--2 yellow squashes, chopped
--2 ripe heirloom tomatoes, chopped
--2 tsp. fresh lemon thyme (I grow this in my garden, but you should be able to find it almost anywhere)
--1/2 cup crumbled chèvre (a.k.a. goat cheese)
--3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
--1/2 tsp. salt, + extra for cooking pasta
First thing's first: smoke the bacon. There's an art to smoking, and we're coming close to mastering it! Soak your wood chips (we used applewood), and light your charcoal. When the grill it hot, pour the wood chips over the charcoal. Lay your bacon across the cast iron grates and close your smoker. The bacon should smoke for approximately 15 minutes, but monitor it--when it's crispy, it's done. Crumble the bacon and set aside.
In a large saucepan, saute the yellow squash in extra virgin olive oil. Add the lemon thyme and salt. The lemon thyme adds a really nice, crisp citrus flavor. Saute for approximately 10 minutes, or until soft. Remove from heat and add heirloom tomatoes.
Boil water for pasta and add salt. Cook fusilli for 2-3 minutes (if fresh). Otherwise, follow pasta instructions (you know the drill-usually 7-9 minutes, depending on the pasta if you like it al dente). Strain the pasta once cooked and add to the veggies. Mix in the bacon, then add the chèvre and mix well. The chèvre will coat the pasta like a delicious, creamy sauce. Serve warm or chilled.
Koeksisters: one of the sweetest, gooiest, and chilliest treats from South Africa (the Western Cape, in particular). Essentially a small braided doughnut, this dessert is fried, soaked in a lemon-spiced simple syrup, and then stored in the fridge. The outside is crispy and sugary sticky, and the inside is cold, soft, and oh-so-good. I adapted my recipe from Cape Town Magazine.
And what did you hear? Koeksisters two ways? Yes, sir! This dessert is typically fried and then drenched in sugar syrup, but the recipe made enough dough that I decided to bake half and then soak them in leftover rooibos syrup from my Rooibos & Honey Poached Pears. In option #2, they're softer in texture, but equally sweet and scrumptious.
I should have saved Dave Rawlings' "Sweet Tooth" for this song since these koeksisters are sure to quell your sugar cravings. But remember I mentioned that these treats are chilled? Here's My Morning Jacket's "Chills" from the At Dawn & Tennessee Fire Demos.
Ingredients:
*Note: You'll need to make the syrup at least 6-8 hours ahead of time so that it chills properly.
Traditional Syrup:
--3 1/2 c. granulated sugar
--2 1/3 c. water
--1/2 tsp. salt
--2 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
--juice and zest from 1 lemon
--1 cinnamon stick
Rooibos Syrup (optional):
--2 c. granulated sugar
--1 c. water
--6 rooibos tea bags
--1/2 c. honey
--1 cinnamon stick
Dough:
--3 1/2 c. self-rising flour
--3/4 c. cornstarch
--1 tsp. salt
--3 1/2 tbsp. unsalted butter
--1 1/2 tbsp. baking powder
--1/4 c. granulated sugar
--3/4 c. whole milk
--1/4 c. heavy whipping cream
--2 large eggs
--canola oil for frying (you'll likely need about 3 c.)
[I know some of these numbers look a little funky--the small price we pay for a recipe originally in metric!]
In a medium-sized saucepan, combine all syrup ingredients. Whisk together. Bring to a boil, or just until the sugar has all dissolved in the water. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes, or until syrup has thickened. Strain the cinnamon stick and refrigerate for 6-8 hours (you'll need this to be very cold for the koeksisters).
In a large bowl, beat together the sugar, milk, cream, and eggs until light colored. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients and sift. Slowly add to the wet ingredients. Add the butter and knead it in. Refrigerate in cling wrap or wax paper for 30 minutes to 1 hour (basically, until firm enough to roll out).
On a large surface, roll out dough to about 1/2" thick. Cut into 1/2" strips (yes--1/2" thick and 1/2" wide), and braid the dough, pinching together at the top and bottom. Cut the braided strips into approximately 3" braids and set aside. (Note: if you're doing the koeksisters two ways, you're only going to deep fry half of these.)
In a large saucepan, heat canola oil to approximately 360 to 375 degrees F. If you don't have a candy thermometer, you'll keep the heat over medium-low, and you'll know the oil is ready when you drop in a small piece of "test dough" and it sizzles, floats to the surface, and begins to turn a golden color. If the oil is too hot, the dough will begin to burn, and if it's not hot enough, the dough will stay at the bottom and become oil-logged (yuck--you don't want this).
Now here's the sort of tricky part. Remove the cold syrup from the fridge. You need to keep this super cold while you're frying the koeksisters. I used a second bowl of ice water (mostly ice) and set the syrup bowl on top. Fry the koeksisters for about 2 minutes per side (or until golden colored). You'll need to flip them only once. Don't overcrowd the oil--only cook 3 to 4 pieces of the braided dough at once. Then with a slotted spoon, remove the koeksisters and drop them into the chilled syrup. Allow them to sit in the syrup for 5 minutes apiece, then transfer them to another container for refrigeration. Repeat until you've used up all the dough you set aside for frying.
For koeksisters two ways, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. On a parchment-lined baking sheet, bake the remaining braided dough for about 7-8 minutes per side (you'll need to flip them so both sides are a little bit crispy). Remove from oven and allow to cool.
Now, I already had a lot of extra rooibos syrup from my Rooibos & Honey Poached Pears, but you can easily make your own rooibos syrup, sans pears, for this recipe. Combine the syrup ingredients over medium heat until the mixture begins to boil, or the sugar and honey have dissolved entirely into the water. Reduce heat to low, and allow to simmer for about 30 minutes--you want to infuse the red tea. Then, remove the tea bags and cinnamon stick. Allow the syrup to cool, and transfer to a separate container. Drop the baked koeksisters into the syrup and refrigerate overnight. Delicious! (And equally delicious when served with a dollop of whipped cream, hint hint.)
And served with homemade cinnamon whipped cream? Mmmmm. Rooibos is a red tea that's grown in South Africa. You can certainly buy it in America, but you'll find a lot more rooibos-based treats and beverages in Cape Town and Johannesburg. In fact, I had a creamy rooibos tea at the indie favorite Labia Theatre while catching a screening of the recent Jozi Film Festival documentary, Orania.
My love for tea, combined with the delicious wine-poached pears I continued to encounter on South African dessert menus, led to this creation. And they're really, really good.
To accompany these rooibos pears, here's Cat Stevens's "Tea for the Tillerman."
Ingredients:
Pears:
--4 pears, cored and halved
--2 c. granulated sugar, + 1 c. to thicken the syrup later
--2 c. water
--1/2 c. honey
--1 cinnamon stick
--6 rooibos tea bags
Whipped cream:
--1 pint heavy whipping cream
--1/4 c. dark brown sugar
--2 tsp. ground cinnamon
In a medium saucepan, combine all ingredients for the pears (except the reserved 1 c. of sugar) and heat over medium until the sugar and honey have dissolved. Reduce heat to low and simmer for approximately 30 minutes to infuse the rooibos flavor. You'll want to keep the pears submerged during the simmering--I place a small plate on top of them (make sure you use one that can withstand the heat).
Remove the pears and add an additional 1 c. granulated sugar. Continue to simmer until the sugar has dissolved. This will thicken the syrup so you can use it as a sauce. Once the sugar has dissolved, allow the syrup to cool. Refrigerate it with the pears, and drizzle over each pear half when serving.
The cinnamon whipped cream is optional, of course, but it's also delicious. In a medium-sized bowl, combine the heavy whipping cream, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Beat until you've reached your desired consistency. Serve a scoop with each pear half.
