Nothing Plain About Vanilla When You Make Your Own

Homemade vanilla extract is better than anything you can buy. It looks beautiful in its jar. You have liquor for essence, and seeds from the pods when you want a little black sparkle, and then the pods themselves to perfume your sugar. You will reach for it more often and your desserts will all be the finer for it- as a single note it is exotic and rich- nothing plain about it. With fruits, it brings out the floral perfume of their birth (it is itself a flower- the seed pod of an orchid).

This cherry tart is brightened with rich 
specks of vanilla.

More romance still- it marries the other flavors, buffing their rougher edges, and giving them a strong (discrete) velvety background to play on, especially chocolate:

How to make it? Just find a source of good fresh vanilla beans- a wholesale spice purveyor, not the ones sold in pairs in a glass tube- too expensive, and you can't smell them. At the store, when they open the container, it should knock you out. Heads should turn. Buy as many as you can afford, at least ten, more if you can- they won't spoil.

Now get a bottle of hard liquor- something respectable you would drink on its own, but not necessarily top shelf. I used whiskey here, but rum is also tasty. You could do vodka but I like to start out with something already golden. Put  the vanilla beans upright into a tall narrow jar, and fill it to the top with liquor. It will need a couple of  weeks to develop. use the liquid as you would any commercial vanilla extract. When you can see it- with fruits, with anything white (ice cream, panna cotta, cake frostings, pavlovas)- snip off the tip of a fat liquor soaked pod and drizzle in some syrupy paste filled with exotic-looking black specks.

Keep the pod in the liquor. Every now and then top up the liquor or add some fresh vanilla beans, or both.

It is an investment at the outset, but ultimately much more economical. 

Don't think of it as an ingredient so much as a lasting upgrade in the way you cook. The subtle perfume will delight everything it touches.

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The Aperitif Biscuit- Making an Occasion of the Evening's Glass of Wine.

The maxims of Frank Lloyd Wright* and Marie Antoinette ever in mind, adding a note of formality to everyday life has really taken the edge off of our so-called deprivation. That theme of stubbornly continuing to live well- whether or not it is within our means- keeps rising to the surface. It seems neither it, not we, nor certainly pleasure itself, are to be kept down. These aperitif biscuits- adding very little expense- are one of the many small things we have adopted to add a sense of occasion to the everyday. The glass of dry Cretan wine (tawny bronzy-rich, like a sherry) now becomes an aperitif- accompanied by these biscuits, it is elevated from drink to genteel ritual.

My friend Janet is expecting guests for a week, a good time to share this recipe. It comes together in very little time and makes about 8 dozen, plenty for even two weeks worth of cocktail hours. The heat of the black pepper pairs surprisingly well with the fruit and cheese tray- with the black grapes that have just come in and a wedge of Roquefort, for instance, in case your aperitif hour is so pleasant you want to turn it into dinner itself, as we very often do.

We will need:

700 g/ a scant 6 C flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. black pepper, freshly ground (plus quite a bit  more for rolling)

240 ml/ 1 C olive oil

120-200 ml wine

flaky sea salt, several branches  of rosemary, and more freshly ground black pepper, for rolling

Combine the dry ingredients an blend in the oil until the mixture is uniformly cakey and green. (This will shorten the gluten strands in the flour and make the biscuits tender and crumbly rater than tough). Then add as much wine as you need to form a a dough that holds together but is not sticky. 

Wash and chop rosemary and add a tsp. of flaky sea salt and another 1-2 tsp. of black pepper and mix on a plate. Line 2 baking sheets with non-stick paper, and turn the oven on to 170 c/ 350 f.

Take a piece of dough and shape it into a baguette abut the length of your hand and the width of three fingers. Dampen it slightly with a wet finger or two, and roll the baguette lightly in the herb and salt mixture. Place on a baking sheet and continue, until you have 10 or 12 divided between the two baking sheets. Slice them as you like, not too thin though- the width of a pinky is ideal, and arrange the slices evenly, not touching if possible, as they will puff up and expand.

Bake them for 25 - 30 minutes, until they take a bit of color on the bottom and are dry to the touch. They will still yield to the press of a finger but will crisp up as they cool- baked until firm when hot from the oven and they may be dry.

It sound likes a lot of pepper, and it is- many turns of the pepper mill (grind it over a small piece of baking paper- you can then funnel it right into the measuring spoon). We like the lingering heat. They would be fine with less pepper, and with another herb of your choosing- a dry one, like thyme or sage. The recipe makes a tremendous amount in a very short time- forming and slicing them is not five or ten minutes' of playing with child's clay. They keep beautifully, and in fact are not at all tasty fresh from the oven- give them at least an hour or two before serving. They are as nice with sweet milky tea as with wine, but warn your guests- it is a biscuit that bites back.

Formality adds indulgence
much more than it adds expense.

* "Give me the luxuries of life and I will willingly do without the necessities."

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Savory Biscuit Rings with Scallions and Dill- for Prolonging the Pleasures of Wine, and Everything Else.

Greek baking is rich with glories. Some are lauded and beloved all over (the spanakopita); some shared with countries to the East (the popular baklava being just one of many, many syrup pastries). What has not seen popularity abroad, strangely, is the savory cookie. These fairly oil rich biscuits are more substantial than a cracker, less of a commitment than a savory pie, more satisfying and nourishing than a potato chip, less sweet than a cookie. They fill a lot of wants- how so many of us have done without them is anybody's guess. There really is no occasion, no time of the day, when these are not ideal.

The savory biscuit ring comes in many varieties, and there are yeast risen (much more like our familiar breadstick), and chemically leavened (baking powder) short (that means lots of butter or oil) dough- these are the more substantial. The formula for the short dough biscuits is roughly the same, and these are made from a hybrid of recipes, chiefly to find the right proportion of leavening to flour- enough to make them airy and light, but to leave no trace of the flavor of baking powder. I then improvised, using for flavor and moisture what was at hand- the tops of three bunches of scallions, and a large handful of dill.

The deck of cards is here for scale- be lavish with green things.
It's also a serving suggestion- these are perfect to enjoy at the card table.

We will need:

about 1 liter/ 4 cups loosely packed herbs and scallions 

500 g/4 C flour

15 ml/ 3 1/2 tsp, baking powder

6 ml/ 1 generous tsp. salt

some pepper

240 ml/ 1 C olive oil

120 ml/ 1/2 C retsina, white wine, or water

Wash the dill and scallions and pulse in a blender with the oil:

Note how that large stack of scallions and dill only added 60 ml to the total volume when pureed.

Blend the dry ingredients and add the green onion-herb oil, blending with your fingers:

This stocky little man with the key in his belly is a beloved classic image here. 

The mixture will be crumbly, oily, and vibrantly green. To this, add the retsina:

The oily dough will take it readily as you mix with your hands. 

Add a few more drops of wine to make it workable if you need to. 

The bright emerald color will sadly not survive the heat of the oven, but it does make them more fun to work with, which is a good thing. With the large amount of baking powder activated by the moisture, the dough is already beginning to puff, and with the generous amount of oil it comes apart easily. Take a piece the size of a huge walnut/very small egg and, with determination, make a rope by rolling it on the counter with your fingers. As you do, the dough will begin to split lengthwise; this promises a wonderful crumbling texture when baked. Form a ring:

They do not spread but they do puff- leave just a little space between them on the parchment lined baking sheet. Since the dough splits parallel to the direction it is shaped in, once formed it holds together nicely. The finished cookies are delicate and crumbly in the mouth, but not too fragile on the serving platter.

Bake them at 170 C/ 350 F until they start to turn golden on the bottom, and just a little on the top too. It is a rich dough and may still have a little give hot from the oven- as with many cookies, it will continue to harden as it cools. If baked until crisp to the touch in the oven, they may become dry and lose their flavor.

These are pleasantly filling- good with a glass of wine so as to enjoy it more sensibly. Also a fine choice with coffee and tea. And as a snack for the beach when the sun has depleted you and need a little salt, there really is nothing finer- if they fall in the sand you can just blow it right off (it's the end of April- we'll have to start thinking of these things soon).

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