Flora's Mexican Wedding Cakes

from epicurious

Polvorones

These "cakes" are really festive cookies.

Yield: Makes about 4 dozen

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup pecans, toasted, coarsely ground

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add 1/2 cup powdered sugar and vanilla; beat until well blended. Beat in flour, then pecans. Divide dough in half; form each half into ball. Wrap separately in plastic; chill until cold, about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Whisk remaining 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar and cinnamon in pie dish to blend. Set cinnamon sugar aside.

Working with half of chilled dough, roll dough by 2 teaspoonfuls between palms into balls. Arrange balls on heavy large baking sheet, spacing 1/2 inch apart. Bake cookies until golden brown on bottom and just pale golden on top, about 18 minutes. Cool cookies 5 minutes on baking sheet. Gently toss warm cookies in cinnamon sugar to coat completely. Transfer coated cookies to rack and cool completely. Repeat procedure with remaining half of dough. (Cookies can be prepared 2 days ahead. Store airtight at room temperature; reserve remaining cinnamon sugar.)

Sift remaining cinnamon sugar over cookies and serve.

Comeonshakeyabodybabydothatconga!

We had a wildly successful dinner last night at Dani's. Spanish tapas night was one of the best yet - everyone brought their A-game with goodies like shrimp tacos, artichoke dip, chorizo, serrano/manchego/tomato toasts, spanish tortilla, fried zucchinis with special sauce, and ze mexican wedding cakes.  We were of course all surprised by Dani's secret wild card addition-Pulpo! (octopus!)  Dani's first hosting gig was fabulous - bravo! The Spanish mix soundtrack really made it a party!

Our next suppa club will be a picnic Saturday June 20th in Prospect Park.
This is our first picnic so let's bring it!  Classic picnic fare is great - potato salad, burgers, pasta salads, BBQ chicken, lemonade.  Or how about grilled corn on the con with lime butter and cayenne, jicama slaw, shrimp kabobs, curried lamb kabobs, rhubarb crumble. mmm...

Because Supper Clubs Are Blowing Up

From Not Eating Out in NY - Check it out.

"You see, every supper club, in New York City at least, has their own flavor. Or every dinner they hold — and this is key, that they’re so occasional — has their very own pomp and circumstance. What in the world is a supper club? you might be asking. Well, it can be as formal as the ones I receive bi-weekly dinner announcements from. A team of well-organized chefs and servers who host dinner parties out of someone’s home kitchen. But really, if you don’t want to run a committed club, all it takes is a home chef with wiles to spare."

We may not be "well-organized chefs", but we've got spirit.

Shosh's Chicken Paprikash

pap-ri-kash.  paprikash.

INGREDIENTS 

• 1 (2 to 3 pound) whole chicken, cut into pieces (I used all thighs shredded)
• 1 bell pepper diced
• 3 diced garlic cloves
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 tbls cayenne pepper
• 1/4 cup hot and sweet hungarian paprika
• 1 cup white wine
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1/2-1 cup sour cream (I used soy, came out great!)

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large skillet, heat olive oil and brown chicken on all sides. Season chicken with salt, paprika, cayenne pepper and pepper. Remove chicken and set aside.
2. Add onion, garlic and bell pepper to skillet. Cook just until tender, but not brown. Stir in most of paprika. Return chicken to skillet, turning to coat with paprika/onion mixture. Add wine and broth. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover and simmer for 40 minutes or until chicken is fully cooked and tender. (I cooked it in the oven at 300 for like 2 hours) Remove chicken and keep warm.
3. Boil skillet drippings until reduced to 1/2 cup liquid, about 3 minutes. Stir in 1/2 cup sour cream. Heat through. Serve chicken atop spaetzle (Hungarian egg noodles) or dumplings.

Ivria's Kugel

From epicurious...

Ingredients:
For noodles

• 1 pound dried wide egg noodles
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1 cup whole milk
• 5 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 (1-pound) container sour cream
• 1 (1-pound) container small curd cottage cheese (4% fat)
• 1 (20-ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained

For topping

• 2 cups cornflakes, coarsely crushed
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into bits

Prep:

Prepare kugel:
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat to 350°F. Butter a 13- by 9- by 2-inch glass or ceramic baking dish.

Cook noodles in a 6- to 8-quart pot of boiling salted water until al dente. Drain well in a colander, then return to warm pot and add butter, tossing until noodles are coated.

Whisk together milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt until combined, then whisk in sour cream. Stir in cottage cheese and pineapple and add to noodles, stirring to coat well, then spoon into baking dish.

Make topping and bake kugel:
Stir together cornflakes, sugar, and cinnamon and sprinkle evenly over noodles. Dot with butter and bake until kugel is set and edges are golden brown, about 1 hour. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Becky's Polish Pierogis

These have been a staple of the Murdock family for generations.

4 c flour
4 eggs
1 tsp salt
cup cold water
3-5 potatoes
sauerkraut
stick butter
1-2 chopped onions
salt and pepper

Make a well in the flour, add eggs and salt, slowly beat water in until flour is just taken in. Don't add all the water if you don't need to, it'll get too sticky.

On floured surface, knead dough.

Peel and chop potatoes, boil with salt. When done, pour off water. In a saucepan, heat butter and add onion. Add to potatoes and mash, leaving some chunks. Salt and pepper to taste.

Cut dough into even halves, roll out dough thinly. Cut into squares, about 3x3 inches. Put small scoop of potato mixture into middle of square. Fold diagonally and pinch corners to make triangles. Once finished with first dough portion, add sauerkraut to remaining potato mixture and stir. Roll out dough, and repeat with sauerkraut/potato mixture. Set pierogis out on a towel, not touching, to dry for at least 2 hours. Boil in batches for a few minutes, until floating for a minute or so. Scoop back out onto towel to drain. You can package them up at this point in a container with a little butter and onion. Otherwise, fry in a pan with some butter and onion. Serve with sour cream.

Etan's Moroccan Matbucha

Ingredients:
4 cans of diced tomatoes (28 oz each)
1 bag frozen diced green peppers (10oz), or similar amount fresh chopped
1 bag frozen chopped/diced onions, or similar amount fresh chopped
cayenne pepper (amount depends on how spicy you want it - i usually put about 2 teaspoons)
============
Prep:
Dump the tomatoes with the liquid into a pot and turn flame on high.
When the liquid start boil, lower the flame to medium.
While it's cooking, pour a bit of olive oil in a frying pan and saute the onions and peppers until light brown. Pour the onions and peppers into the tomatoes.
Keep stirring otherwise it'll stick to the bottom of the pan (if you feel that it's sticking, lower the flame a little).

It takes about 2 hours to cook.

After you turn off the stove pour the cayenne pepper (it's very strong, so pour a little at a time and taste) and stir WELL otherwise some might end up with a hunk of cayenne in their mouth.

Papa Barman's Hummus and Pita

(note: not edited so you get the full impact of Barman's foul mouth)

Here's my dad's hummus recipe and the pita recipe I used. The measurements for the hummus are a little archaic and if you use fresh chickpeas as opposed to canned like I did then you have to do most of it by taste. The ratio of chickpeas to tahini is around 2:1.

1/2 a can of tahini
2 cans of chickpeas
2-4 cloves fresh garlic
1-2 lemons (juice)
salt to taste

Pour the full can of tahini into a blender and mix well, pour half back. Add chickpeas and blend well until smooth, adding some of the chickpea water as needed for a paste-like consistnecy. Mince garlic and blend, keep in mind that the garlic will be stronger as it has time to sit in the humus, so if it's going to sit overnight use a little less than you think you want. Add and mix the juice of 1-2 lemmons to taste. Salt to taste. Rub it all over your naked chest and enjoy ;-)


Pita (12 pitas)

1pk yeast (scant tblsp)
3-4 cups all purpose or whole-wheat flour
1 tbl olive oil
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup warm water

Mix yeast with warm water in a large mixing bowl until yeast is dissolved. Add the oil and salt and mix well. Add and stir in flour aboout 1/2 a cup at a time until it becomes difficult to stir and the mixture becomes doughy like a drunken fat girl's ass after a frat party.

Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead well for 10 min adding flour as necessary to make a firm, elastic dough (you can also use a food processor or mixer w/ a dough hook). Place the dough in a grease bowl and cover for about 1 1/2 or until the dough doubles in size.

Turn dough onto floured surface and cut into 12 equal peices. Using hands roll peices into a ball about the size of a ping-pong ball on steriods, cover them with a towel and let sit for 5 min.

Using a rolling pin or some other long, hard, cylindrical object, roll each ball firmly into a 6" flat circle (do this on a floured surface). Cover the discs with a towel and let sit for 15 min. During this time, preheat your oven and backing stone, tiles, or cookie sheets to 500 degrees.

Frisbee-golf your pita discs into the oven and bake for 3 min. Now you've got some motha fuckin' pita beatch!

Back to Your Roots!

Flora and Jon were up again in April with a tasty theme of roots and heritage foods! No contest, no rules, just bring us some good home-cookin.

We're talkin' hummus and pita, matbucha, ham-wrapped dates and almonds, toasted ravioli, pierogis, chicken paprikash, sweet lemony lettuce, chilean stuffed zucchini, clapshot, rugelach and kugel! Oh and papaya piscos!

Flora's Flourless Chocolate Cake

This won top prize, good stuff, from epicurious.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup coffee liqueur
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 7 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar

• Powdered sugar

Prep:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 9-inch-diameter springform pan with 2 3/4-inch-high sides. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper. Stir chocolate, butter, coffee liqueur, and vanilla in heavy large saucepan over low heat until melted and smooth. Cool to lukewarm. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and 1 cup sugar in large bowl until thick and pale, and slowly dissolving ribbon forms when beaters are lifted, about 6 minutes. Fold 1/3 of egg mixture into lukewarm chocolate mixture. Fold remaining egg mixture into chocolate mixture.

Place prepared pan on baking sheet. Transfer batter to prepared pan. Bake until tester inserted into center comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 55 minutes. Cool 5 minutes. Gently press down edges of cake. Cool completely in pan. (Cake can be prepared up to 1 day ahead. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour before continuing.)

Run knife around pan sides to loosen cake. Remove sides of pan; transfer cake to platter. Remove parchment paper. Sprinkle cake with powdered sugar and serve.