Tag Archives: food

Double Chocolate Walnut Cookies

5 Apr

I’ve had these cookies in mind for a while.  The problem was, that was the only place the cookies could be found: in my mind.  There was no recipe I could dig up in a book, no bakery I could run to in order to hunt down the cookie.  The existence of the cookie—perhaps originating in a dream, because I simply refuse to believe that I am the only person on earth who dreams of cookies—was nowhere to be found.

Maybe that was a blessing.  Because I had only an imagined notion of what sort of cookie I wanted to eat—and yet I also somehow knew exactly what it was I wanted in the mythical cookie, that being lots of chocolate, a chewy middle, and big bites of walnuts—there was very little holding me back in the way of experimentation.  It was a golden opportunity, really.  I was going to create a cookie and there was nothing stopping me.

Except, of course, the unforeseen development of actually somehow nailing the cookie recipe on the first try.  No joke.  When I set out to make this cookie, I was envisioning days upon days of rejected cookie batches.  I was imagining myself eating cookie after cookie, faced with the fact that one batch was too crisp, or maybe not chocolaty enough.  What to do?  Well, I guess I’ll just have to get back to the drawing board.  Time to make and sample more cookies.

But no.  Here they are, the first batch I auditioned, and they are perfect in every way.  Practically bursting with chunks of bittersweet chocolate, the cookies are crisp at the edges and wonderfully soft in the middle.  Chunks of toasted walnuts invade every bite, and, dare I say it, the sweetness level is spot on.  I don’t know how it happened.  I only had to make one batch of cookies, which meant I only had to taste one batch of cookies.  Setting aside the fact that I somehow just satisfied a hazy cookie dream, I somehow feel as though I have made a mistake.  I promise to do worse next time.  You know.  So there will be more samples.

Last year: Roasted Poblano Johnnycakes

Double Chocolate Walnut Cookies Recipe

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

½ cup Dutch process cocoa powder

1 teaspoon espresso powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted

½ cup gently packed light brown sugar

¼ cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into medium chunks (about ¼-inch chunks at the largest)

1 cup (about 4 ounces) walnut pieces, toasted until browned and aromatic

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking soda, and salt.  Whisk together, then set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the melted butter, light brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs, and vanilla.  Whisk for 1 or 2 minutes to combine thoroughly.

Gently fold the flour mixture into the sugar mixture until the two are completely combined.  Stir in the chocolate chunks and toasted walnuts.  The batter will be extremely stiff and it should seem like there is a disturbingly high chunk-to-batter ratio.  This is a good thing.

Scoop the batter in heaping tablespoons (if your tablespoons are very heaping, you should end up with about a 2 tablespoon-sized scoop, which is perfect) onto a prepared baking sheet.  Space the scoops at least two inches apart.  I was able to fit 8 cookies on 1 large baking sheet.

Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, in the center of the oven for 10-13 minutes, until the edges of the cookies are just starting to look dry but the centers still appear soft.  Remove from oven and allow the cookies to rest on the baking sheet for about 2 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool.

Depending on the size of your scoops, you should end up with around 24 cookies, maybe more.

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Salmon Cakes with Lemon and Dill

3 Apr

The weather around here has been, in a word, taxing.  Forgive me for being so dull as to insist on talking about the weather, but hear me out on this.  Last week we woke up to a couple of inches of snow on the ground (on the day before spring break started, no less), but then, as the day wore on and the snow quickly melted, the sun came out and rewarded us with a lovely, mild spring day.  The weekend was once again warm and sunny, but then the official start of spring break week brought us torrential rain and strong winds.  Right now I have three different coats sitting by the front door because, depending on the time of day, I never know which one the weather will call for (pea coat, rain coat, or light cotton jacket?).

The other unexpected product of this confusing weather pattern is the fact that I can’t figure out what I want to eat.  Is it cold and rainy, meaning I am craving pasta and soup?  Or is it sunny and breezy, which makes me want to eat light meals of crostini and salad?  Sometimes, on a day like last week’s snow-sun barrage, I feel like eating all of those foods, but, unless someone adds a few more work hours into the day, I see little chance of me being able to churn out several different meals at once, just to satisfy my inconsistent cravings.

The good news about the bad weather is that, when confused about what to eat, I tend to come up with something like these salmon cakes.  Forging a bond between the light and hearty, I think I have officially created my favorite light, yet substantial, meal.  Freshened up with the zing of lemon zest, crisp bits of red bell pepper, and familiar flavors of onion and garlic, these salmon cakes make easy friends with meals both fresh and comforting.  You can pair them up with a salad, a big bowl of soft polenta, or that mother of all comfort foods, creamy mashed potatoes.  Truth be told, I’d even love to see these tucked inside a crisp ciabatta roll, a fresh squeeze of lemon on top, and a huge slice of tomato underneath.  Weather permitting, I might give that very combination a try this summer when picnic weather hits.  As of now, with the snow and wind and rain, that seems a long way off, but with these salmon cakes in my repertoire, I think I might just be able to stomach the wait.

Salmon Cakes with Lemon and Dill Recipe

1 ¼ to 1 ½ pounds of fresh salmon, pin bones and skin removed

2 large cloves of garlic, finely minced

2 scallions, finely minced

¼ cup finely chopped onion

1 small or ½ of 1 large red, orange, or yellow bell pepper, finely chopped

finely minced or grated zest of 1 whole lemon (at least 1 teaspoon total)

¼ teaspoon dried dill

salt and pepper

1 to 2 cups panko bread crumbs

olive oil

In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the salmon half a dozen times until it is well chopped, but not so minced that it has become a paste.  Remove salmon to a large bowl.  Add garlic, scallions, onion, bell pepper, lemon zest, dill, and salt and pepper to taste.  Stir to combine.

In a large skillet set over medium heat, heat enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan.

Place panko on a plate next to the stove.

Using your hands, form salmon mixture into your desired size salmon cake (I prefer a smallish cake about 2 tablespoons large, but you can certainly make each cake larger).  Dredge each cake in panko on both sides, then cook in the heated olive oil, being careful never to crown the pan, until the cakes are golden brown on both sides, about 2 to 3 minutes per side.

I got about 14 salmon cakes out of this recipe, but your results will vary depending on the size you make your cakes.

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Esquire Pancakes

29 Mar

Many years ago, I was a longtime subscriber to Esquire Magazine.  This was while I was also a longtime subscriber to the New Yorker, as well as a subscriber to both Harper’s and the Atlantic.  For those of you counting, that totals four magazine subscriptions, one of which is a weekly with which, as I have mentioned before, I have an extremely difficult time keeping current.  In an effort to stop the ominous growth of the pile of unread magazines growing higher and higher each month, like bricks in the wall of my own magazine prison, I had to start letting magazine subscriptions lapse.  Esquire was the first to go.

It’s not that I didn’t appreciate Esquire.  It’s just that, overall, the other magazines in my arsenal happened to speak more clearly to my own interests and concerns.  I showed an at least passing interest reading about mail-order meat, or the intricacies of what men think about what women think about underpants, or $12,000 suits made to order by a 75 year-old tailor in Italy, but it’s just that Esquire seemed to contain content that I found interesting, say, 50% of the time, whereas the other magazines I received tended to hover around a more respectable 70%-90%.  This is not a slam against Esquire, of course.  I am clearly not in their target demographic, so our parting was really just a matter of time.

There is, however, one item from Esquire for which I will be forever grateful.  About five years ago, Ryan D’Agostino wrote an article for Esquire about his favorite recipe, written on a slip of German hotel stationery, that he carries around in his wallet.  It was a simple recipe for pancakes, but it was also D’Agostino’s signature recipe, the one he made at a friend’s vacation house, and the one he made for his wife before she was his wife.  The pancake recipe was simple, but surefire.  And I am here to attest that, without fail, they are indeed the best pancakes I have ever eaten.

Taking a cue from D’Agostino, I cut out the picture of his recipe and put the slip of paper in my own wallet.  I have made his pancakes while on vacation, while visiting family, and while camping (I just put the liquid ingredients in one container, the dry in another, then combine them when breakfast calls—which is another point I’d like to make: these pancakes, cooked in a cast iron pan over a campfire?  Unbeatable).  I have at least seven other cookbooks with basic, no-frills pancake recipes in them, and not one of those other recipes even comes close to being as perfect as this one.  For a recipe gleaned from a magazine I stopped receiving two or three years ago, that’s a pretty good track record. I can’t say I’ve gotten that much mileage out of that one article I read in the Atlantic about Mexican drug cartels but, you know, there’s still time.

Last Year: Black Bread Rolls and Food for Traveling

Esquire Pancakes Recipe

Adapted from Ryan D’Agostino in Esquire

Keen observers will note that the one change I have made in D’Agostino’s recipe is in regard to the amount of sugar in the pancakes.  I prefer a less-sweet pancake, so I make these with 2 teaspoons of sugar, rather than D’Agostino’s suggested 2 tablespoons.  You can use whichever you please, to no ill effect.

1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

2 ½ teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons sugar

¾ teaspoon salt

1 large egg

1 ¼ cups milk

3 tablespoons melted butter

Combine dry. Beat egg. Combine wet. Mix wet into dry. Stir until barely mixed. Can be doubled, tripled, etc.

Cook pancakes, ¼ cup of batter at a time, on a well-oiled or seasoned skillet set over medium low heat.  Flip pancakes when bubbles on surface begin to pop, and the edges of the pancakes are just beginning to appear dry.

Top with maple syrup or lemon yogurt.

Makes 8 pancakes of medium-large size.

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