Passover Postscript: Pecan Crisps and a Mexican Chocolate-Pecan Cake

I ended up making two desserts this year for Passover. Although I've had a pretty good track record in the previous years, I like the challenge of trying something new, particularly on this flour-challenged holiday, and went with Gourmet's crunchy pecan cookies and Patricia Jinich's flourless chocolate-pecan cake.

The pecan cookies were very easy to make (and you really wouldn't suffer eating them any time of year). They contain no flour or matzo meal, just sugar, pecans, cinnamon, potato starch and egg whites. The nutty cookies, enlivened by the cinnamon, are thin, light, and crisp.

The recipe indicates that you can make them in advance and store them for up to a week. I made them the same day as the seder, but I would actually recommend baking them earlier. After a couple of days, the cookies lost any chewiness and became completely crunchy (which I preferred).

Jinich's cake is a surprising variation of the ubiquitous flourless chocolate cake: a Mexican take on the dessert topped with fresh berries, lime, and sugar.

Test Kitchen: Suzanne Goin's Creamsicle Floats

If there was one thing that stood out for me from the New York Times' recent battle of the budget dinner parties, it was the creamsicle floats which Julia Moskin made for her dessert.

The recipe, which comes from L.A. chef Suzanne Goin, is barely that -- just a combination of three ingredients: vanilla ice cream, fresh tangerine juice, and seltzer.

I loved the way the tart flavor of the tangerine juice was offset by the creamy vanilla ice cream (store-bought in my re-creation, though the recipe calls for homemade).

The complete recipe (which serves 6) is available online at the Times website.

To make a single serving, add one scoop of vanilla ice cream to a glass with approximately 1/2 cup fresh tangerine juice (about the juice of two tangerines) and top with seltzer (be careful, it foams up). Serve with a straw and a spoon.

The recipe got me thinking about other juice/ice cream combinations that might make for delicious floats. If you have any suggestions, leave a comment below.

Hamantaschen: It's All in the Stirring

I won't bore you with the story of Purim (though it is a good one). What's more relevant to this site are the holiday's traditional cookies, Hamantaschen. Sometimes they're huge and sometimes their small, but they are always shaped in triangles and typically filled with either jam or a poppy seed concoction not to my taste.

I never made them before, but decided to give them a try this year. It was also an experiment in baking with my daughter (which is all the rage these days). She seemed to have fun helping me, except her attention span only lasted for about two cooking steps (the high point being anything involving filling measuring cups and emptying them). After that, she pretty much wanted to strip off her apron and get in a Cinderella dress.

I hunted for recipes and settled on one from cookie authority Maida Heatter (see below for recipe) and made two batches: One with the filling in Heatter's recipe (a combination of apricots, prunes, walnuts, and honey) and another batch filled with Amy Scattergood's recipe for homemade Nutella.

Turkey Technique: The Dry Brine

In the Los Angeles Times, Russ Parsons shares a turkey cooking technique inspired by Judy Rodgers, the chef/owner of San Francisco's Zuni Cafe.

He calls it "dry-brining": "You just salt the turkey a few days in advance, give it a brisk massage every so often to redistribute the salt, and then roast it." The salt releases moisture from the turkey, which gets reabsorbed by the meat, essentially brining the bird in its own juices.

While wet-brining -- soaking the turkey in a saltwater solution -- has become a very popular way of preparing turkey, Parsons notes the technique often leads to a spongy texture. On the other hand, dry-brining leaves the turkey "firm and meaty."

While the technique is straightforward, make sure you leave enough time for the turkey to brine (three days), though Parsons writes that you can cut it back to two days.

Great Moments in Grilling: Mexican Roadside Chicken

I've never been to Mexico, so I haven't had the chance to pull over and taste a roadside "Sinaloa"-style chicken, but thanks to Rick Bayless, I've mastered grilling a beautifully blackened, spicy, smokey, and succulent bird in my backyard, well north of the border. This easy, delicious dish has become a summer standby.

Great Moments in Grilling: Broccoli Rabe

It's hard to think of cooking broccoli rabe by any method other than sautéeing in olive oil (or blanching in boiling water, if you are so inclined). But, who wants to be doing that in 98 degree weather? Well, here's a summer solution you may not have thought of: grill it.

I recently came across a recipe for grilling broccoli rabe in Judy Rodgers' Zuni Cafe Cookbook. Rodgers, who also happens to be the genius mind behind grilled fava beans, suggests dressing the stalks as you would a salad, tossing the broccoli rabe with a tablespoon of water, a few tablespoons of olive oil, and salt. Next -- and this is crucial -- let it sit in the bowl for 5 to 10 minutes or so. This gives the salt a chance to do its work, slightly softening the otherwise tough greens. Then, it's onto the grill to cook on each side for roughly 1-1/2 minutes, charring and steaming until tender. It's delicious, and, better yet, there's no sauté pan to clean afterwards. N.B. This dress, salt, and wait method also works great for grilling radicchio and belgian endive, two favorites of mine.

Passover Postscript (2008 Edition)

Last week's Passover conundrum, about what to make for a Passover dessert among so many interesting recipes, was narrowed to two final selections. I wanted to make something out of the ordinary, and the results were successful.

Above is a Spanish orange-almond flan, adapted by Joan Nathan from a recipe by Ana Bensadón. Somehow, I averted what I thought would be a complete disaster during the cooking process and somehow produced a pretty incredible dessert, worthy of making not just for the Passover holiday, but any time...you have a dozen eggs to spare! The disaster part came while cooking the flan in the oven, which was a surprise, since I successfully navigated the toughest step in the recipe: making caramel for my very first time (seen bubbling away below).

Passover Dessert Recipes

Desiring something different than the ubiquitous (but always delicious) flourless chocolate cake, I have been searching for something entirely new to make for Passover dessert this year.

I've had some success in Passovers past making Le Pain Quotidien's Belgian Brownies (above left), rich chocolate mini-cakes that, surprisingly, don't suffer at all from the absence of flour, as well as Joan Nathan's almendrados (above right), Spanish almond macaroons with a hint of lemon.

A Winter Caprese

Do you find yourself craving summer dishes in the waning days of winter? I know even the thought is heresy for the hardcore adherents of seasonal cooking and eating, but what I wouldn't give right now to be eating a caprese salad of fresh mozzarella, ultra-ripe heirloom tomatoes, basil, and olive oil.

Unfortunately, the ingredients won't cooperate. You can't find a decent tomato until summer -- and late summer at that -- so, what does one do? I've made a fair alternative caprese by roasting plum tomatoes, sliced in half, seasoned with salt, pepper, and olive oil, and cooked in the oven (or toaster) until their interior is soft. Once the tomatoes have cooled, serve them either chilled or at room temperature with sliced mozzarella, and you have an almost caprese.

But, I recently discovered another way of creating caprese glory as fresh in winter as the summer original: substitute winter citrus, now at its best, for the tomatoes.

Cooking with Cavolo Nero

Remember when Mario Batali's Otto opened to oh so much fanfare, but the pizza was just so-so? The saving grace was the antipasti -- salumi, Italian cheeses, and small dishes of braised and lightly dressed vegetables -- and the much-praised (and imitated) olive oil gelato. I never had pizza again at Otto, but when I returned for the second time, things had improved. Pastas were now on the menu: For under $10, there was a selection of classics, like spaghetti carbonara, along with seasonally-inspired improvisations.

One pasta I really liked was a simple combination of linguine, cabbage, garlic, and speck (the smoked cousin of prosciutto).