Melomacarona- Holiday Cookie of Greece

Christmas is not Christmas without Melomacarona in Greece- these are crumbly syrup drenched cookies with orange and cinnamon and honey (the "Melo" in the name comes from "Μέλι" = honey). I made these once in 1990 and they were perfect. the recipe was written on a scrap of paper I lost, and I never ate one I liked as well, so I never bothered making them again until now. This is a hybrid of several recipes- taking what I liked of each, to make a cake like moist cookie sweet with cinnamon, filled with minced walnuts, and scented with orange and a little liquor. 

This is a project, but not a difficult one, and it makes a mountain of cookies, and the house smells fantastic for days afterwards. A nice plus- in a season of butter and eggs, this is a cookie vegans will love.

Syrup-

Boil together for 4-5 minutes, untilsugar is disolved:

3 C sugar

3 C water

half of an orange with its peel

4 whole cloves

3 cinnamon sticks

pinch salt

then add:

2/3 C honey

Let cool completely.

In a your largest bowl, blend-

1/3 C sugar

zest of 2 oranges

- until the oils are released and the sugar is like bright orange wet sand

then add:

1 C fine semolina

8 C all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 T cinnamon (if you just opened it and it's sweet and fresh. Otherwise 3)

nice pinch ground cloves

a few grinds of fresh nutmeg

In another bowl, blend:

1 2/3 C fresh orange juice

1 C vegetable oil

1 C good olive oil

3-4 tablespoons brandy or whiskey or whatever you like

Pour into the dry mixture and blend quickly and very lightly with your hands. If you over-mix or kneed it, the oil will seep out if the dough. Be quick, decisive, casual.

Chop well:

2 C walnuts

and add:

a little cinnamon, a spoon full of sugar, a little booze to moisten

Now take a piece the size of a walnut, flatten it into a disc, and put a little nut mixture int he middle. Seal the dough around it into an oval, and mark with a cake cutter or fork or anything to make decorative indentations to catch the syrup.

Bake at 180 C/375 F for 22-25 minutes, until deep golden. They will lighten first, then darken again. Hot from the oven, put them into the syrup- bottom side down, then after a minute turn them over and leave them ten minutes. (Most recipes say ten seconds). Then let them drain on a rack.

They will be wet and sticky but still crispy at first, but the syrup will gradually seep into every crumb.

More on holidays:

Kourabiedes are butter rich and light as a snowflake

Christmas in Greece

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Briam- Roasted Ratatouille a la Greque

Briam is the Greek Ratatouille. Ratatouille is worth standing around and adding things to the pot in their turn. But the first good eggplants and tender zucchini and affordable tomatoes coincide with the first warm spring days- there's urban gardening to see to, balcony furniture to repaint, and long afternoons in the shade on the veranda with stacks of old New Yorker magazines. This is a lunch you set the table for, open a bottle of wine for, as it fills the house with the scent of herbs and tomatoes. 

If it only took you four minutes to get it into the oven, that is nobody's business. 

We will need:

2or 3 eggplants

2 or 3 zucchini

2 or3 potatoes

a dozen or so cherry tomatoes, or 2 or 3 large tomatoes

2 onions

4 or 5 long peppers, any color

2 or 3 cloves of garlic

salt

pepper

fresh herbs- thyme, majoram, or oregano

olive oil- about a wineglass full
A lemon

This makes an enormous pan of food, but it is very good the next day, cold, at room temperature, or warmed. If you still think you need less, make less.

Wash all the vegetables. Cut the eggplant into quarter or half round slices. Salt them heavily and set them in a colander to drain. Cut the zucchini into lengths of about 2 cm (1 "), and cut these into halves only if the zucchini is very wide. Cut the onions into 6 wedges each- we will eat them as a vegetable, not an aromatic. Cut the peppers as you wish, not too small. Cut the potatoes in pieces the size of the eggplants. Leave the cherry tomatoes whole. If you are using large tomatoes, cut them into quarters- like the onions, we will eat them as a vegetable on their own. Leave the garlic cloves with their peel. 

Rinse the eggplant slices and shake them dry. Toss everything in a sheet pan with the oil, herbs, salt and pepper, and roast at 170 C/ 350 F for nearly an hour- All the vegetables should be tender, the tomatoes concentrated, the onions charred on the edges, the garlic mushy in its skin. 

Taste it. If it needs brightening- and it sometimes does in the early season when the vegetables have not hit their peak yet- scrub a lemon, zest it and juice it, and toss this with the vegetables. Even an orange if you like. This is not an element in classic briam, but it makes the dish.

Serve this with feta on the side. If you like it cooled down, try it with yogurt- not the thick kind but simple plain yogurt, as it is, or mixed with chopped fresh mint.

Smear the roasted garlic on bread and add some of the smashed tomato as you linger at the table. The flavors of the dish are so clean and simple you won't be at all tired of it when you have it again in the evening. You may find yourself making it often.

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Prunes with Walnuts for Tea Time

An upcoming trip to Istanbul (tomorrow!) has put us in a more exotic frame of mind. Also, we are busy packing. But nothing keeps us from a pretty tea-time. These are simple and beautiful and made really with just two things- the prunes and the walnuts, plus tea and sugar which you already have for tea anyway.

We will need:

As many pitted prunes as you like

As many walnut halves as prunes

Brewed tea to cover the prunes- we used Earl Grey

A little sugar

First, a really good trick:

Check the walnuts- are they sweet and fresh, or a little stale? If they could use refreshing, boil some water, put the walnuts in, remove them immediately with a fine-mesh strainer, give them a shake, and dry them in the oven- ten minutes with a fan should do it, and crisp them a little. The water will have turned reddish-brown with tannins, now leached from the nuts, which will be sweet and fresh tasting (though not have the strong rich flavor of a perfect fresh nut). 

All we do now is cover the prunes with tea and simmer until they swell. The tea will become dark and thick with the juice of the prunes. Remove the prunes with a slotted spoon to a platter. Stuff each one with a walnut half, pretty side out.

To the dark prune-infused tea, add a spoonful or two of sugar. It doesn't need any sweetness, but the sugar will add body and gloss as we cook it down. Boil rapidly until it becomes a thin syrup. This should  only take a moment or two.

Pour the syrup over the prunes for serving. If you have it and want a little more exotic fragrance, spritz them with some orange flower water:

And to keep the motif, and also because the colors go so nicely, slice a peeled orange and dust it with cinnamon. Some strained yogurt, clotted cream, or labneh are just the thing if you want something more filling for tea-time.

When we are having these, we usually use our Turkish tea glasses rather than cups and saucers. 

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Two is Company, Twenty-One is a Crowd, and Not Every Grand Meal is a Dinner Party

.

...even if there is a meal, and it feels very much like a party (certainly a happening). There are festive occasions, especially in our home life, that are not about the meal. Last weekend was like that- at the *club, a show, and at home, one of our daughters directing a short film with a cast and crew of a dozen (our other daughter is in and out grabbing whatever is around to eat as she sings and has concerts). That is a lot of people who need a good meal before they get back to making music or movies or whatever.

I almost always cook something for the bands. If I know them I make Touluouse Lautrec cake, and sushi. Otherwise vegetarian snacks- hummus is on every hospitality rider and I feel so sorry for them eating hummus day after day- it just isn't that lively of a dish- that I make a really nice one. They also always want chips and salsa, so I make that too. Knowing the show was coming up and also knowing that we would have 13 film school students in from dawn to midnight, I got a kilo of chick peas, soaked and cooked them up, chilling them in their broth in the refrigerator. I also had sacks of carrots, red peppers, cucumbers, and tomatoes- imperfect ones that they have at the end of market day. To this was added little. (The film crew and cast also had a cake but it is so delicious and reliable it must shine on its own- coming next.)

This is not a time for souffle- patient dishes that are ready in a hurry but don't mind waiting until a take is finished or sound check is over are perfect. 

Here's what you need for one band and one film crew-

1 kilo chick peas

1 bag of carrots

1 bag of cucumbers

2 or 3 red peppers

2 or 3 kilos of tomatoes

1 kilo of pasta

1 bunch parsley

1 bunch dill

1 bunch cilantro

3 lemons

2 limes

a jar of tahini

The Hummus:

1/2 k cooked chick peas, drained

1 bunch parsley

1/2 bunch dill

2 lemons

1/2 jar tahini

1 garlic clove

salt

Chop the garlic fine, then add a teaspoon of salt
and smash back and forth with the plat side of your knife-
it will quickly make a smooth paste.

Pick the leaves off of one large bunch of parsley and half a bunch of dill, and put them in the bowl of the food processor with about half of the chickpeas (take them out with a slotted spoon- we want none  of the liquid in this dish but we need it in another), the zest of 2 lemons, their juice, a clove of garlic mashed carefully with salt into a smooth paste (we need more garlic/salt paste for the salsa- mash 2 at once and set the rest aside), and about half of a jar of tahini. Puree until smooth and a beautiful light green color and taste, adding salt, lemon, tahini, etc. as you like and being conservative with more garlic- raw garlic gains in intensity. Serve dusted with sumac- which is beautiful and tangy.

What makes it nicer? The herbs for one- color and bright fresh flavor missing from legumes and seeds. And the lemon zest lifts the flavor higher and leaves a floral perfume, not just tangy zing. 

Just a little vinegar in each jar s enough- fill to the top with water.

For the carrot sticks- do them first so they can sit in water with vinegar (1:8), salt, and a garlic clove- they are transformed from (stodgy)crunchy to (suave)crisp. Leave them for over 6 hours though and they are almost too flavorful to enjoy with the hummus (but very fine as a cocktail pickle- I have them often in the refrigerator).

The Salsa:

4-5 tomatoes

2 peppers

1 onion

1 clove garlic

1 bunch cilantro

1 or 2 limes

2 small cucumbers

I loved using the blowtorch for the gazpacho the other day, and all my favorite restaurant salsas have some char to them. Basically, this is the gazpacho, minus most of the oil and all the bread and water, plus cilantro, lime zest and juice, and some dried red chilies. 

Slice an onion fairly thinly, and blacken with a torch along with 2 sweet peppers of any color, 4 or 5 tomatoes, some garlic mashed with salt. Puree everything in the food processor along with a very large handful of cilantro leaves, the lime juice and zest, ground black pepper and crushed dried chilies- going slowly (start with a half) and adding more as you like. The sweet smoke of the vegetables and the brightness of the cilantro and lime are very nice together. No photo- it was whisked off to the club the moment it came out of the blender. But you can imagine what it looks like. Make yours as smooth or as chunky as you like.

The Pasta:

1/2 k /1 lb chick peas, cooked until done, with all of their cooking liquid

1/2 C olive oil

2 onions

4-5 cloves garlic

1 1/2 k/ 3 pounds tomatoes, grated

fresh herbs-sage, thyme, oregano

1- 1 1/2 k pasta, any shape you like (we used 3 different shapes)

The liquid should be much more than the chick peas,
and should still reach just over halfway up the sides so there is room for the pasta..
The dish expands enormously.

Take our your largest and deepest pot. Chop the onions and saute in the olive oil until soft, add the garlic, and stir over the heat until golden. Drain the chick peas- keeping the liquid (full of almost gelatinous body, like a homemade chicken stock). Add the chick peas, salt to taste, black pepper, and a small handful of herbs. Stir a moment to let the chick peas absorb some aroma, and add broth and the tomatoes. There should be a lot of liquid- another 2 times the depth of the chick peas. And the seasoning should be bold- we are adding a lot of starch to soak up the liquid and all the flavor. It will sit patiently at a low simmer for as long as you need it to. When you are 10 minutes away from serving, add the dry pasta to the pot and stir often. The finished dish should be a lively springy pasta (not too very soft) with the chick peas and some brothy sauce- add some water or tomato when it cooking if it seems to need more liquid, or if more people gather. Serve with more fresh ground pepper and grated cheese, a rough one, like dry myzythra (ricotta salata). This is a generous dish, satisfying many.

Plan:

There's a reason there are no photos of the kitchen while all this was being made- vegetable peels, onion skins, herb stems flying everywhere. The dishes use a lot of the same ingredients so the most efficient way is to just fly into it and do one grand clean up when the pasta is on the stove. Start with the hummus so it has time to chill and then do the salsa so you can get the food processor out of the way. Cut up the carrot sticks and some cucumber spears and chill them. Start the chick peas and tomato broth and grate a lot of cheese. It will be ready in ten minutes after the pasta is added, but as there is so much it will stay hot a very long time. Clear a large table and put out all of the mismatched bowls and forks and spoons that you own and know that they certainly will be enough, and that no one will go hungry. 

*Principal (John Spencer Blues Explosion last Saturday, the 5th)

** Dinner for Morrisey (I made it on a hot plate next to the bar): steamed broccoli, steamed carrots, potatoes mashed with salted butter. Black-eyes peas salad for Nouvelle Vague. Tricky cooks for himself. I don't think Lemmy ate anything special. We ordered in for Isaac Hayes. He was majestic. 

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Tres Gazpachos

Two of my favorite desserts have "3" in them- Pastel con tres leches, and the Three Cities of Spain Cheesecake (named for a cafe in Santa Fe, NM, where it was served), which, even as a New Yorker, I prefer to both the Lindy's and the Junior's versions. 

A favorite warm weather lunch for us is Gazpacho, a seemingly elemental cold soup of simple ingredients that prompts all kinds of experimentation. I had thought that experimentation had at last come to an end when I took my mother's copy of the César's cookbook. This is from a restaurant that thrives despite being down the street from both the venerable Chez Panisse and divine Cha Am, probably based on these excellent recipes. The roasting does much for a so-so tomato. (But we live in Greece- there is no such thing as a so-so tomato.) I love César's rich and full flavored gazpacho, which I leave rough textured-  Gazpacho 1. 

The suave, subtle suede of the excellent Mama Roux gazpacho.

So then, a friend of mine said "You have to try the Gazpacho at John's. It's even better than yours." I was all ears, not envious but definitely startled (I never heard that sentence before), and curious, and very hungry for it by the time I reached the restaurant. Well, it was good! And the difference, chiefly? One of texture- the Mama Roux* Gazpacho had been through a tamis and was suede on the tongue. Delicious balanced flavor. The rich texture (but not in the least heavy) put one more in mind of a meal than a blended salad. I made a basic gazpacho, and after blending, forced it though a fine mesh strainer. Excellent results. Gazpacho 2.

But I missed my version, the earthy roughness of it. What I did not miss was the slightly cooked flavor. The completely raw version was livelier, more vivid. And the Greek tomato needs no help from roasting, amply sweet and flavorful as it is. I do love a rough texture, but small bits of raw tomato skin make have the texture of cling film. In the roasted version, those skins just slipped right off. Blanching in scalding water sounded like no fun, and broiling would cook them too much, and also be no fun. You know what is fun though?- Blow torches**! Although I did not want a cooked flavor, a burnt flavor is a different thing altogether- rich bits of char fit in with the rustic roughness. I trained the blue flame on the skins and they blackened and crackled and hissed. The pulse of the Ur-pyromaniac in me quickened with glee. The smell was marvelous. The flesh between the cracks of blackened charred skin was as raw and vibrant as ever.

"When you're holding a hammer, everything looks like a nail," so goes the saying. When you're holding a blowtorch, everything looks like it might taste better charred. I started looking around for more things to burn. I avoid onion in gazpacho as the flavor of raw onion can sharpen over time. But not the flavor of charred onion- that mellows over time. To the pan I added some thick slices of onion, a garlic clove, and such peppers as I had lying around. The onion takes a surprisingly long time to take color. The garlic softened and took on some sweetness and richness from the flame. The cucumber I left cool and raw.

Was the flavor the equal of vegetables roasted over glowing coals? Perhaps not. But there were no coals to light and wait for, no smoke for the neighbors to complain about (and we already have a dog), no ashes to clean up, and no radiant sweltering heat to sweat over. There was also a level of control and immediate satisfaction that experienced cooking at its most fun provides, but without the need for any experience. And the cool hiss of the torch and the blue flame lend the lively zest of danger (which is real- no loose clothing, hair out of the way).

For Gazpachos 1, 2 or 3, we need the same things:

1 kilo of tomatoes
a garlic clove

a pepper or two

a long cucumber, peeled roughly

a thick slice of stale bread- ciabatta or old-leavened bread

1 tsp. of vinegar

2 T strong wine- sherry would be ideal but I had Cretan Romaico from a friend and it was excellent

120 ml/ 1/2 C olive oil

salt to taste

Maybe an onion

A glass of very cold water to loosen it up enough to be a soup

Gazpacho 1.

For the Cesar's- roast the tomatoes (great if you have a craving in winter!), slip the skins off and remove the cores, mash the garlic into a puree with some salt, and puree everything in the blender until it is the texture you like.

Gazpacho 2.

For my version of Mama Roux's version- Mash the garlic with the salt, core the tomatoes, and puree everything raw. Press through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl, and puree the remaining solids with some cold water and press through again. Only seeds and skin will remain in the strainer this time. Taste for seasoning.

Gazpacho 3. (3 times is a charm)

For the new one, char everything but the cucumbers and the bread. Prepare the vegetables- tomatoes and peppers washed and not wet, onion peeled and in thick slices, garlic whole and unpeeled. Put them in a large and deep metal pan and take it somewhere open and safe with nothing flammable around. The skins of the tomatoes should be entirely blackened (you will need to turn them once- let them cool first), and the peppers nearly so, the garlic golden and the onions browned. It will take 10 or 15  minutes. Mash the garlic into a puree with some salt, remove the cores of the tomatoes, and puree everything- including paper-thin, crisp, fragile and blackened skins in the blender until it is the texture you like. 

Beautiful black flecks are a smoky confetti in our rich red soup.

*Mama Roux is fabulous and is opening a barbeque restaurant soon and also has a talented and creative and passionate chef- here he is, talking about his research and experiments-

Chef Vasilis Sporos in front of Mama Roux

**there are excellent kitchen blow torches available at any culinary supply. But mine is a blowtorch from the hardware store- cheap, basic, given to uneven burst of flame that keep me on my toes, and best of all easy to refill- it takes a gas canister from the supermarket, just like the camping gas we use for Greek coffee. 

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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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