Orange-Almond Shortbread Cookies

Orange zest gives these cookies their subtle orange flavor. Make sure you have lots of milk available when you serve them. This recipe is adapted from a Martha Stewart recipe. It received a second place ribbon at the San Diego County Fair.

Portabella Mushroom Soup

This recipe is based on a Napa Rose recipe that was taught at the Napa Rose Cooking School.

Macadamia Crusted Mahi Mahi

My wife and I are always disappointed when we order Macadamia Crusted Mahi Mahi (the fish so nice they named it twice). It just never seems to taste like macadamia nuts. We even tried it at Sam Choy’s restaurant on Oahu and weren’t satisfied. I decided to see if we could overcome this problem by making it at home using a recipe by Alton Brown. The results were amazing. This is the fish we had been looking for and never found.

Strawberry / English Muffin French Toast

Thanks to this year’s El Niño effect there is currently an abundance of strawberries on the market (I can get them for 88 cents a pound at Ralph’s supermarkets in southern California). So I was ecstatic when I received a Food Network e-mail with a link to the Food Network Magazine Strawberry Shortcake French Toast recipe. If you add a spoon of fresh whipped cream, this is a breakfast I would be happy to order in a restaurant.

Chocolate Raspberry Cookies

These cookies are more like miniature cakes that you can pop into your mouth.

Black and White Cookies

You can usually find these distinctive cookies at Jewish bakeries. When you frost them, make sure that you keep the icing in a straight line down the center of the cookie.

Makes eight cookies.

Black and White Cookies

Ingredients

Cookies

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• ½ cup vegetable shortening
• 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• ¼ cup heavy cream

Icings

• 4 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons light corn syrup
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 2 ½ teaspoons lemon juice

Recipe

Cookies

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. In the bowl of a stand-mixer beat butter, shortening and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy (3 minutes). Add eggs and egg yolk one at a time beating between each addition until egg is fully incorporated. Beat in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture in two batches alternating with the cream. Beat until just combined.
4. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Use a ¼ cup measuring cup to scoop dough onto baking sheet three inches apart. Bake until edges begin to turn golden and the centers are tender (10 – 12 minutes). Transfer parchment and cookies to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes. Remove cookies from parchment and let cool completely.
5. Prepare chocolate and white icings (see below). On the bottom of each cookie using a small offset spatula spread chocolate icing over half the cookie and white icing over the other half. Let icing set for 30 minutes.

Icings

1. Whisk sugar, corn syrup, vanilla and 2 tablespoons water until smooth. Add more water until mixture is slightly thicker than honey. Divide the icing in half.
2. Stir lemon juice into one half to make white icing and cocoa powder into the other to make chocolate icing. Thin with water, if needed and use immediately.

Chocolate Caramel Layer Cake

Although the cake looks dense each layer is very light and so is the filling. I hate frosting cakes and the ganache frosting in this recipe is easy to apply. The recipe is based on the Fine Cooking Cinnamon-Caramel-Ganache Layer Cake.

Makes 1 cake (about 12 servings).

Ingredients

Filling

• 2 cups heavy cream
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons + ¼ cups water
• 4 ½ ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
• ½ cup sugar

Frosting

• 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 2 ounces unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
• Pinch of table salt
• 6 tablespoons cool water

Cake

• 1 ½ ounces unsweetened cocoa powder
• ½ cup lukewarm + ½ cup cool water
• ½ cup buttermilk, room temperature
• 6 ounces cake flour
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 4 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature and cut into 4 pieces
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature and lightly beaten

Recipe

Filling

1. Bring the cream, salt and 2 tablespoons of water to a simmer.
2. Put the chocolate in a medium bowl and set a strainer over it.
3. Pour ¼ cup water in a 3-quart saucepan. Pour the sugar in the center of the pan and pat it down until it is evenly moistened. Cover pan and cook over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves (2 – 4 minutes). Uncover and cook without stirring until the syrup begins to color (about 1 minute). Reduce heat to medium and cook until the caramel turns red-amber (about 1 – 2 minutes). If the syrup colors unevenly swirl the pan gently. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the cream mixture. Return to low heat and simmer stirring constantly until the caramel is completely dissolved (1 – 3 minutes).
4. Pour the caramel cream through the strainer. Whisk until the chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. Scrape into a wide shallow bowl, cover loosely, cool and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled (at least 4 hours and up to three days).

Frosting

1. Put the chocolate, butter, corn syrup and salt in a metal bowl set over barely simmering water. Stir gently until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth.
2. Take the bowl off the water and stir in water. Let cool and thicken without stirring at room temperature for at least three hours (the consistency should be like chocolate pudding).

Cake

1. Line the bottom of three 9×2-inch round cake pans with parchment. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. In a bowl whisk cocoa powder and lukewarm water. In another bowl mix buttermilk and cool water. In a third bowl whisk flour, baking soda and salt and sift them three times.
3. In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment beat the butter on medium speed until creamy (15 seconds). Add the white and brown sugars gradually while beating until the mixture lightens in color and appears sandy but fluffy (5 minutes). Add the eggs slowly over the course of one minute. Continue to beat for a few more seconds until the mixture is smooth and fluffy. Stop the mixer and add the cocoa mixture. Beat on medium speed until just combined. Stop the mixer and add one-quarter of the flour mixture. Mix on low speed until just incorporated. Stop the mixer and add one-third of the buttermilk. Repeat, scraping the bowl as needed, until all the flour and buttermilk have been added.
4. Divide the batter evenly among the three pans. Bake 17 – 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cakes for five minutes and then turn on to racks, remove the parchment and cool completely.

Assemble Cake

1. Beat the chilled filling in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment at medium speed until very thick and stiff enough to hold it’s shape but still spreadable (1 – 2 minutes). Put a cake layer upside down on a cake circle and spread half the filling evenly all the way to the edge of the layer. Top with a second upside down layer and gently press in place. Spread the remaining filling on the second layer. Top with the third layer, also upside down. Smooth any filling that protrudes from the sides.
2. With an offset spatula spread a thin crumb-coat layer of frosting evenly over the top and sides of the cake. Put cake in refrigerator for 10 minutes to set the crumb-coat. Spread the remaining frosting over the top and sides of the cake.
3. Garnish as desired.

Moroccan Bastilla

My wife and I occasionally go to a Moroccan restaurant called Marrakesh. They have a traditional Moroccan appetizer called Bastilla (pronounced buh-STEE-ya) that is wonderful. It has sugar, cinnamon, almonds, chicken, spices and it’s all wrapped up in phyllo. A few weeks ago I thought about it and wondered if I could make it at home. I searched Google for a recipe and found one by Chef Daniel Avurto of Mamounia. I’ve made this recipe twice now and each time it tasted exactly the same way it did at the Marrakesh.

This recipe is for one bastilla that serves about eight as an appetizer (so long as you can keep everyone from taking seconds). To make two, just boil the whole chicken instead of half  and use twice as many eggs (no need to double the vegetables and spices in the pot with it). You can split up the labor and cook the chicken the day before if you like.

Ingredients

Chicken filling:

• ½ chicken
• 1 onion, chopped
• ½ teaspoon ginger
• ½ teaspoon turmeric
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• 1 whole cinnamon stick
• 1 cup chopped cilantro
• 6 large eggs

Almond filling:

• 8 ounces (230 grams) slivered almonds (if using sliced almonds, crush them)
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon

Pastry crust:

• 1 box frozen phyllo pastry dough (in your supermarket freezer section)
• ¼ cup melted butter
• Confectioners sugar

Recipe

Chicken filling:

1. Put enough water in a large pot to cover the chicken.
2. Add the onion, ginger, turmeric, black pepper, cinnamon stick and cilantro.
3. Bring water to boiling over high heat, add chicken and cook for 30 minutes.
4. Take the chicken out of the stock and set aside to cool. Reserve 1/3 cup of the stock.
5. When cool remove skin, bone and cut the chicken into bite sized pieces.
6. Whisk the eggs with the reserved stock.
7. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. When hot, add the egg mixture and soft-scramble the eggs.
8. Combine the chicken pieces and egg mixture in a large bowl.

Almond filling:

1. Process sugar and cinnamon in a food processor until combined.
2. Put almonds in a bowl, add sugar mixture and mix together.

Pastry crust and final assembly:

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Thaw phyllo dough according to package directions (but do not remove from storage bag). Note: Each piece of phyllo dough is paper thin and must be handled quickly and carefully so it doesn’t dry out until it is in place. If you need to leave the dough for more than a few moments, cover with a damp towel to ensure it doesn’t dry out.
3. Remove and unroll the thawed phyllo dough from the storage bag. If you need to leave the unrolled dough for more than a few moments, cover with a damp towel to ensure it doesn’t dry out.
4. Brush melted butter on the bottom and sides of a 9 inch (23 centimeter) oven-proof skillet.
5. Cover bottom and sides of skillet with phyllo dough making sure the dough covers and overlaps in the bottom of the pan and goes over and outside the side.
6. Carefully spread 1/3 cup of the almond filling over the dough in the skillet.
7. Spread the entire chicken mixture on top of the almond filling.
8. Top with the rest of the almond filling.
9. Fold the excess dough over the filing and add more phyllo dough as needed to ensure the top is completely covered. Tuck any excess dough into the inside side of the skillet so the filling is completely encased.
10. Bake Bastilla for 15 – 30 minutes or until lightly browned.
11. Place serving plate upside down on top of skillet and invert skillet.
12. Put confectioners sugar in a sieve and sift a layer of sugar to completely cover the bastilla.
13. Cut into pieces and serve immediately or for an authentic service break the bastilla open with your fingers, let it cool a bit and let everyone pull off pieces onto a plate and eat with your hands.