Chickpea Salad with Capers and Roasted Red Peppers

Chickpea Salad with Capers and Roasted Red Peppers
Adapted from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone

2 large red peppers, roasted and skinned (great directions over here, if you’re new to this)
3 cups of cooked chickpeas, rinsed if canned (about 2 15-ounce cans)
1/4 cup of parsley, chopped
2 tablespoons of chopped mint
3 tablespoons of capers, rinsed
2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice or red wine or sherry vinegar
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 cloves of garlic, minced
4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil

Cut the peppers into half-inch wide strips and put them in a large bowl together with the chickpeas, herbs and the capers. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, salt, garlic and oil. Pour over the chickpea mixture and combine.Serve immediately, or refrigerate it for a day to get the flavors to mingle fantastically.

This is a great make-ahead dish for weekday lunches. It would also be wonderful on a pile of torn lettuce, served with toasted pita wedges.

Gingerbread Caramels

Gingerbread Caramels

Vegetable-oil cooking spray
4 cups (2 pints) heavy cream
2 cups light corn syrup
4 cups granulated sugar
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup unsulfured molasses
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Coat an 18-by-13-inch rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray. Line with parchment, leaving a 2-inch overhang on short sides. Coat parchment.

Bring cream, corn syrup, sugar, butter, and molasses to a boil in a large pot over high heat, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Clip a candy thermometer to side of pan, and continue to cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until mixture reaches 248 degrees (firm-ball stage), about 20 minutes.

Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla, salt, and spices. Immediately pour onto prepared sheet, without scraping pot. Let stand, uncovered, at room temperature for 24 hours without moving.

Coat a large cutting board generously with cooking spray. Pull up parchment to unmold caramel, and invert onto the cutting board. Remove parchment. Cut into 1-by-1 1/4-inch pieces. Wrap each in cellophane or waxed paper. Caramels can be stored in an airtight container for up to 1 month.

Caramel Cones:
1. Turn a card stock square to form a diamond.

2. Fold but do not crease the right side of the paper across center.

3. Repeat with the left side, forming a cone. Tape to secure.

4. Fill cone with caramels or other candy, and fold tip over the opening, without creasing paper. Form ribbon into a loop, place at the closure, and secure label to ribbon and tip with tape.

Lamb Pulao

Lamb Pulao
800 gr lamb, ie shoulder
2 cups basmati rice
6 cups thinly slices onions
400gr peeled tomatoes
100gr sultanas
4 garlic cloves
1 piece ginger root
6 green cardamom pods or 3 black
20 black peppercorns
1 bay leave
1 stick cinnamon
sea salt
a pinch of mace
a pinch of nutmeg
2 tablespoons whole coriander seeds
2 tablespoons whole cumin seeds
ground turmeric
5 cloves
2-4 dried chilies
2 cups water

The first step is very important - you need to to wash the rice a couple times, then leave it in a bowl filled with water for 1 to 2 hours. If you omit this the rice will not be fully cooked.

Dry the meat with a paper towel and cut all the white fat patches you can. Cut the meat in cubes the size of your thumb's width.

Season them with salt and pepper. Wrap in plastic foil and let the meat rest while you finish the preparation.

Take ginger, onions and garlic out of the fridge

Peel them, then chop the onions as thinly as possible. Crush the garlic and grate the ginger until you have an equal amount of both.

I reduce peppercorns, cumin, coriander, mace, nutmeg and the deseeded and stemmed chilies into a much finer powder than what I could have with my mortar.

Heat some ghee or oil in a dutch oven.

Add the large fragrant spices: cardamom, cinammon, cloves and the bay leave. Fry over high heat until the turn brownish. You don't want to burn them but the bay leave should change color. This process increases the flavor much like it does when you heat raw sesame seeds.

Add ginger-garlic purée and fry some more, about 3 minutes or until purée is colored.

Add onions and cook over medium heat until onions are soft, about 10 minutes.

Add ground spices, mix, and cook for a further 2 minutes.

Add the lamb and cook until colored on every side, mixing all the time.

Add tomatoes, salt and turmeric ...

and then the 2 cups water. Bring to a strong boil.

Drain the soaked rice and pour it in.

Mix well. Heat the oven to 165C°/325°F.

Wrap a ribbon of tin foil folded 4 times over itself all around the dutch oven's top to make as tight a seal as you can. Cover and cook in the oven for 40 minutes. Don't peek! If you really have to, you can cook this on very low heat on your stove.

Serve with a cucumber raita as a main course. Put some melted butter or ghee on top and pan-fried almonds and chopped coriander leaves.

Bushman Bread

Bushman Bread
1 1/2 cup water -- warmed
2 tablespoons butter -- softened
1/2 cup honey
2 cups bread flour
2 cups wheat flour
1 tablespoon cocoa
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons instant coffee
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
1 teaspoon caramel color -- optional
3 tablespoons cornmeal -- for dusting

Directions:

Place all of the ingredients in the bread machine and process on dough setting. The dough will be a little on the wet side and sticky, but if it seems too wet add more flour. When dough is done let it rise for 1 hour.

Remove from pan, punch down and divide into 8 portions. Form portions into tubular shaped loaves about 6-8 inches long and 2 inches wide. Sprinkle the entire surface of the loaves with cornmeal and place them on 2 cookie sheets. Cover and let rise for 1 hour.

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. Serve warm with whipped butter.

Marzipan

Marzipan
8 ounces blanched almonds
1 3/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 tablespoon almond extract
4 tablespoons corn syrup

Grind the almonds in a food processor for about two minutes: it will first become crumbly, and the crumbs will get successively smaller until it is more of a fine powder. Keep it going through this stage, and when it nearly forms clumps, that’s when you’ve got it right.

Add the confectioners’ sugar and almond extract, then the corn syrup, processing until well-combined.

Turn the mixture out onto a work surface and knead until it makes a smooth dough. If the dough seems too sticky, knead in a little more confectioners’ sugar. If it seems too dry, add more corn syrup. At this point, the dough can be tightly wrapped in foil and refrigerated until needed.

Key Lime Meltaways

Key Lime Meltaways
Adapted from Martha Stewart

You can make these with regular limes as well, but if you run into some key limes, they’re worth it. Trust me and my resident lime addict.

You could also keep the logs frozen for up to two months, and use them as the meltaway craving hits.

Yield: 5 dozen

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
Grated zest of 4 tiny or 2 large key limes
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour (a.k.a. 2 cups minus 2 tablespoons)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, cream butter and 1/3 cup sugar until fluffy. Add lime zest, juice, and vanilla; beat until fluffy.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, and salt. Add to butter mixture, and beat on low speed until combined.

3. Between two 8-by-12-inch pieces of parchment paper, roll dough into two 1 1/4-inch-diameter logs. Chill at least 1 hour.

4. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Place remaining 2/3 cup sugar in a resealable plastic bag. Remove parchment from logs; slice dough into 1/4-inch-thick rounds. Place rounds on baking sheets, spaced 1 inch apart.

5. Bake cookies until barely golden, about 15 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool slightly, just three or four minutes. While still warm, place cookies in the sugar-filled bag; toss to coat. Bake or freeze remaining dough. Store baked cookies in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Chocolate Babka

Chocolate Babka

When shaping the babka, twist dough evenly throughout the length of the roll a full 5 to 6 turns. The babka can be prepared up to step 8 and frozen for up to a month before baking. When ready to bake, remove from freezer; let stand at room temperature for about 5 hours, and bake.

Makes 3 loaves (but I made two full-sized and three miniature ones)

1 1/2 cups warm milk, 110 degrees
2 (1/4 ounce each) packages active dry yeast
1 3/4 cups plus a pinch of sugar
3 whole large eggs, room temperature
2 large egg yolks, room temperature
6 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
1 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups (3 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces, room temperature, plus more for bowl and loaf pans
2 1/4 pounds semisweet chocolate, very finely chopped*
2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon heavy cream
Streusel topping (below)

1. Pour warm milk into a small bowl. Sprinkle yeast and pinch of sugar over milk; let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.

2. In a bowl, whisk together 3/4 cup sugar, 2 eggs, and egg yolks. Add egg mixture to yeast mixture, and whisk to combine.

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine flour and salt. Add egg mixture, and beat on low speed until almost all the flour is incorporated, about 30 seconds. Change to the dough hook. Add 2 sticks butter, and beat until flour mixture and butter are completely incorporated, and a smooth, soft dough that’s slightly sticky when squeezed is formed, about 10 minutes.

4. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead a few turns until smooth. Butter a large bowl. Place dough in bowl, and turn to coat. Cover tightly with plastic wrap. Set aside in a warm place to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

5. Place chocolate, remaining cup sugar, and cinnamon in a large bowl, and stir to combine. Using two knives or a pastry cutter, cut in remaining 1 1/2 sticks butter until well combined; set filling aside.

6. Generously butter three 9-by-5-by-2 3/4-inch loaf pans; line them with parchment paper. Beat remaining egg with 1 tablespoon cream; set egg wash aside. Punch back the dough, and transfer to a clean surface. Let rest 5 minutes. Cut into 3 equal pieces. Keep 2 pieces covered with plastic wrap while working with the remaining piece. On a generously floured surface, roll dough out into a 16-inch square; it should be 1/8 inch thick.

7. Brush edges with reserved egg wash. Crumble 1/3 of the reserved chocolate filling evenly over dough, leaving a 1/4-inch border. Refresh egg wash if needed. Roll dough up tightly like a jelly roll. Pinch ends together to seal. Twist 5 or 6 turns. Brush top of roll with egg wash. Carefully crumble 2 tablespoons filling over the left half of the roll, being careful not to let mixture slide off. Fold right half of the roll over onto the coated left half. Fold ends under, and pinch to seal. Twist roll 2 turns, and fit into prepared pan. Repeat with the remaining 2 pieces of dough and remaining filling.

8. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Brush the top of each loaf with egg wash. Crumble 1/3 of streusel topping over each loaf. Loosely cover each pan with plastic wrap, and let stand in a warm place 20 to 30 minutes.

9. Bake loaves, rotating halfway through, until golden, about 55 minutes. Lower oven temperature to 325 degrees and bake until babkas are deep golden, 15 to 20 minutes more. Remove from oven, and transfer to wire racks until cool. Remove from pans; serve. Babkas freeze well for up to 1 month.

* After chopping the chocolate into moderately sized chunks, I used the food processor to pulse the rest of the chocolate in two batches to small bits. It saved a lot of time!

Streusel Topping

Makes 3 3/4 cups.

1 2/3 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

In a large bowl, combine sugar, flour, and butter. Using a fork, stir until fully combined with clumps ranging in size from crumbs to 1 inch.