Fumi Chinese Chicken Salad

I remember it so vividly, the first time I had Chinese Chicken Salad. It was about 1977 or 1978. Regularly, I was flying from Orange County to San Jose, to supervise and train people in an office I managed (from a distance). I usually flew one morning, spent one night and returned home the next night. The office staff would take me out to lunch one of the days I was there, and a favorite place, close by, was Ming’s in Palo Alto. It’s still there, likely serving much the same menu as in the 70’s and 80’s. I tried the Chinese Chicken Salad, and was mesmerized. Most likely it was the fresh cilantro and the dressing that hooked me. Whatever it was, I’ve been a convert ever since. I believe that was the first time I’d ever been served a salad with nuts in it. What a revelation.

I must have missed the Sunset issue when Ming’s recipe was published. Nevertheless, I’ve collected Chinese chicken salad recipes by the dozens ever since. One year, attending a women’s luncheon, I particularly enjoyed the salad served, and was able to procure the recipe. I hadn’t made this for years and years and years, until the other night. Friends had been invited to dinner, and they requested I make salad, something light, and easy. First, we had cheese (fontina and manchego with some pear jam on the side) for appetizers, with some wine, then the salad, served with ciabatta. Followed by the pumpkin custard I posted yesterday.

The salad is quite simple in its construct. Cabbage, head lettuce, green onions, cucumber, almonds, cilantro and the noodles (dry) from Top Ramen (without the seasoning packet). The dressing is nothing by oil, seasoned rice wine vinegar, dark sesame oil, a little sugar, salt and pepper. It does take some time to chop and mince, but this salad is not as complicated as some I’ve had or made. The guests, and the family, raved about it. One guest said he thought the salad had the perfect proportion of cabbage and head lettuce, and that they were sliced just right. DH and our son-in-law Todd asked me to make it again, soon. No problem. I’ll be happy to.

A note about steeping the chicken: It was many years ago I read an article in Sunset about the Chinese (Asian) method of poaching chicken, used for any cold chicken dish you wish to make. It’s so very easy, and produces a much more tender and juicy piece of chicken than you can do by baking or even using a rotisserie chicken from the market. If time permits, bring a pot of water to a boil and add some carrot, celery and onion (otherwise just use water), allow it to simmer for 15-20 minutes, then add the boneless chicken breasts. Allow it to simmer very slowly for about 5 minutes or less. Put a lid on the pan, turn off the heat and allow the chicken to just sit (steep) in the liquid for about 30 minutes. Save the broth for another use, if you want, then allow chicken to cool a bit so it’s easier to handle, and chop or slice.

Cook’s Notes: The produce can all be chopped and diced ahead of time. The Top Ramen (or Sapporo brand, which is what I used) needs to be hand-crunched – you don’t want big chunks of it in your finished salad. If you have trouble with it, put it in a plastic bag and whack it multiple times with a lid or pan to break it up. I used all Splenda for the sugar, and poured on all of the dressing. It takes more dressing than you might think. Be sure to use the thick, dark sesame oil.

Fumi (Chinese Chicken) Salad
Recipe By: Adapted from a luncheon I attended some years ago.
Serving Size: 8 (lunch sized portion; 6 for dinner)
SALAD:
1/2 head cabbage -- chopped
1 bunch green onions -- minced
2 packages Top Ramen -- noodles only, not seasoning packets
5 each chicken breast halves without skin
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds
1 bunch cilantro -- minced
1/2 whole English cucumber -- chopped
3 cups lettuce, iceberg -- sliced
DRESSING:
2/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup seasoned rice vinegar
2 teaspoons dark sesame oil
3 tablespoons sugar -- or Splenda
1 tablespoon pepper
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon peanut butter -- optional
1. Chicken: If you have the time, steep (cook) the chicken by bringing a few cups of water to a boil, add a cut-up carrot, an onion, a bay leaf and some celery, simmer for a few minutes, then add the chicken to the pot. Bring to a boil again and gently simmer for 5 minutes (yes, five minutes). Turn off the heat, cover, and set aside for at least 30 minutes, then remove chicken to cool. Save broth for another purpose, if desired. When chicken is cool, chop into small bite-sized pieces. You may also use leftover chicken for this. This steeping method will give you a very tender and moist piece of chicken. If the chicken is very cold (or partially frozen) you will need to simmer it longer. If using any chicken pieces with bones, make sure when you chop the chicken, it is cooked through before adding to the salad.
2. Dressing: In a jar heat the rice wine vinegar and sugar in the microwave just hot enough so the sugar dissolves. Allow to cool, then add other ingredients, shake well, and set aside until ready to serve.
3. Salad: chop up the cabbage, lettuce, onions and cucumber. Toss these things in a large salad bowl until well mixed, then add in cilantro and chicken and mix a little. Top with almonds, sesame seeds and Top Ramen noodles. Pour dressing (you'll use most of it) over and toss well. If desired, you may sprinkle some more toasted sesame seeds on top.
NOTES : If you don't add lettuce to this dish, it will keep for a few days, but the lettuce wilts, obviously, within a few hours. If you choose to do that, add twice as much cabbage. If you want to make this lower in fat, switch the proportion of oil and wine vinegar. This salad requires a surprising amount of dressing. The Top Ramen adds even more fat to the dish, so I usually make it without it when making it at home. The recipe indicates it serves 8. It will, if in moderate, lunch-sized servings. For a dinner entree, this served 6.
Per Serving (not accurate because you don't use the high-sodium seasoning packet in the Top Ramen): 462 Calories; 32g Fat (60.4% calories from fat); 22g Protein; 25g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 43mg Cholesterol; 996mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain (Starch); 2 1/2 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 5 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.
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Almond Crusted Orange Roughy with Lemony Leek Sauce

Whew! That's a mouthful of a title, isn't it? Nah, I didn't dream it up. Phillis Carey did, and in the cooking class she laughed at herself and how she titles recipes she's developed. She wants to make sure you know at the outset exactly what kind of good stuff is going to be included in the recipe.

Here's a shot of the classroom at Great News, in Pacific Beach (San Diego). It's by far the most glamorous and functional demonstration class kitchen I've ever seen. Six large screens are mounted above so you won't miss anything of the prep going on below.














Here's another shot of the other side of the classroom. Phillis is the chef up front in red.

So, what's the deal about this fish dish? The lemon leek sauce is the clincher. Absolutely wonderful. This can be made with any kind of mild white fish. Or even chicken. But the lemony piquant flavor lends itself very well to fish.

Phillis poured a bunch of sliced almonds in a big plastic bag and used her flat pounder to crunch the almonds. Do not use a food processor as it will make the almonds too much like meal. You want chunky, crunchy. You dip the fish in flour, egg, then the almond/parsley/lemon zest mixture, then pan fry it in a tiny bit of oil until done. Meanwhile you will have made the sauce first - leeks, butter, lemon juice and whipping cream. Oh yea. Whipping cream. This is a company-type meal; certainly not something you'd want to serve for everyday family cooking. The leek sauce is pureed in a blender, then you sieve it to remove the leeks. Use a medium gauge sieve; otherwise you'll never get the sauce to strain through.

Cook's Notes: be sure to dry off the fish fillets before you start dredging. If using a thicker kind of fish, like halibut, for instance, do the frying process, but just brown the fish, then put them on a parchment-lined pan in a 375 oven for 15 minutes. Thicker fish is harder to cook correctly in a pan saute. You can make the sauce ahead of time, but the dredging and frying have to be done at the last minute. Oh yes, and don't use a food processor for the almonds. If you are in a hurry to puree the leek sauce, be very careful because a hot sauce will explode right out of the blender. Best advice: puree in two smaller batches instead of just one.

Almond Crusted Orange Roughy with Lemony Leek Sauce
Recipe By: Phillis Carey, author & instructor
Serving Size : 4
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 medium leeks -- halved, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons lemon juice -- fresh
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup sliced almonds -- finely chopped
6 tablespoons Italian parsley -- chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons grated lemon peel -- using a Microplane
4 large orange roughy fillets
2 whole eggs -- lightly beaten
3 tablespoons butter -- for frying the fish
1. LEEK SAUCE: use only white and light green parts of the leeks, halve them, rinse well, then chop. Cook leeks in 2 T. butter over medium heat until very tender, about 15 minutes. Add the fresh lemon juice and stir until liquid evaporates. Mix in cream. Simmer until mixture is slightly thickened, about 2 minutes, maybe longer. Cool for 10 minutes, then pour in batches into blender and puree until smooth. Strain the sauce, using a coarse strainer, back into the saucepan. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
2. DREDGING MIXTURE: if you're using sliced almonds, place them in a plastic bag and using a pounder, hit nuts until they're reduced to a coarse mince. Do not use the food processor for this, as the nuts will be too fine. Mix almonds, parsley, lemon zest, salt and pepper to taste in a pie plate. Place flour on a plate and eggs in another pie plate. Sprinkle fish with salt and pepper. Dredge in flour, shaking off any excess. Dip in egg, then in almond mixture to coat.
3. FISH: Melt half of the butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add 2 pieces of fish to pan and cook 3 minutes per side or until cooked in the center and brown on the outside. Repeat with remaining butter and fish. Reheat sauce and spoon a bit over, and the rest around fillets to serve.
Per Serving: 695 Calories; 59g Fat (74.2% calories from fat); 30g Protein; 17g Carbohydrate; 4g Dietary Fiber; 249mg Cholesterol; 233mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 3 1/2 Lean Meat; 1 1/2 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 11 Fat.
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Almond Bar Cookies

Another recipe I decided to try, from my recent filing spree. And I learned something with this particular one from Gourmet. If a recipe comes from that source, there are some advantages:

• Firstly, you can go to Epicurious to read or find the recipe. (For recipes that are older, most are now on Gourmet's own website. Going back decades.)


• And secondly, people who have tried the recipe, upload comments and reviews of the recipes.

This latter - reading comments - would have been very important to this recipe, had I done that. I would have learned that others who had made these found them way too greasy, but a simple reduction of butter would have helped. I didn't go to Epicurious, so, ended up with a cookie that is good, but just as many said, way, WAY too greasy. If you want to read the comments, click here.

Almonds are good, in my book. Almond paste adds a wonderful richness - and tenderness actually - to baked goods. When whipping up the batter/dough for this, it had a wonderful lightness to it, yet the cookies are solid with almond flavor. It wasn't hard to make. Just wished I had thought through the chemistry of 1 1/4 cups of flour and 2 whole cubes of butter. Too much, for only 25-30 pieces. The cookies are delicious, but a little bit goes a long way. I probably will try these again, heeding the advice of others. You line the 8x8 or 9x9 pan with foil, BUTTER the foil (I question why that last step), then prepare the dough and spread it with an offset spatula in the readied pan, then brush with egg white so the sliced almonds will stick to the top. Bake. Easy.

Almond Bar Cookies

Recipe By: Gourmet Magazine, Dec. 2004

Serving Size : 25
1/2 cup almond paste -- not marzipan
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter -- softened [reduced from 1 cup in original recipe]
1 large egg -- separated
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon almond extract
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Butter a 9 x 9 pan, line with foil, then butter the foil.
3. In food processor, pulse almond paste until broken in small bits, then add 1/4 c sugar and salt, processing 1 minute more. In a large bowl, beat together butter and remaing sugar, 3 minutes. Add almond mixture, egg yolk, and almond extract, beat 2 minutes more. Reduce speed, then add flour. Mix until combined.
4. Spread batter evenly in pan and brush with egg white. Bake 35-40 minutes.
5. Cool in pan 1 hour. Cut into 25 squares.

Per Serving: 119 Calories; 7g Fat (52.5% calories from fat); 1g Protein; 13g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 23mg Cholesterol; 47mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 1 1/2 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.

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Almond Custard

Nobody seems to make custard anymore. What happened to custard? Is it perceived as too bland? Pale? Wrong color altogether? It's a sad state of affairs. Custard is the ubiquitous dessert. Wonderful for a homey dinner. Nice enough for a company dinner, especially if accompanied by some fruit, or a cookie. I must admit that it's been a long while since I've made any custard. And yet, I like it very much.

So, when I was scouring through some recipes a week or so ago I ran across a custard recipe I haven't made in years and years. Pairing custard with almond may seem unusual. But it's a lovely match, especially since you add the apple juice concentrate as a perk at the end. What's unusual about this recipe is that there is no refined sugar in it. The custard is made with just eggs, flavorings (vanilla and almond) and the two milk types. Once baked and cooled, you put on the thickened apple juice topping, which is naturally sweet, and that provides the only sweet thing in the custard. Then you sprinkle almonds on top.This may not be a WOW kind of recipe, but it looks pretty enough, and represents good old American home cookin'. And note, this is gluten-free also, in case you're searching for those kinds of recipes.

A former employee, Kathleen Heckathorn., brought this to one of our potluck lunches at Ad Masters (the ad agency I've talked about before that I co-owned), and everybody just scooped it right up. I've made it a few times over the years, although not for awhile. I hadn't input it into my recipe program, so that's why I'd lost track of it. But it was in my catch-all alphabetized recipe files - the clippings, photocopies, some of them ancient, that live in a file cabinet. I use more of the apple juice concentrate that Kathleen did - to make sure there is enough sauce to go around, and Kathleen began the thickening with cornstarch, which wasn't part of the original recipe. The concentrate is just a bit too thin, as is out of the can, for a topping, so the cornstarch helps it along well. If you find the custard odd tasting (no sugar) you could add a little bit to it. Just not very much.

After making this, I phoned Kathleen to thank her for this recipe. Hadn't talked to her in years. It was great fun catching up about our families, etc. So, thanks Kathleen for this great recipe.

I have another custard recipe that I'll be sharing with you after the first of the year. It's truly low calorie. But you'd never know it. Absolutely wouldn't ever figure it out. It is a pumpkin custard. Since I haven't had my fill of pumpkin yet this year (I only got to eat two slices of pie over Thanksgiving), it will be something nice to make in the New Year. When DH and I have agreed we're going to work on reducing the calories around here. Blog writing isn't exactly the best thing for the waistline, I'll admit. I keep wanting to share more and more of my old tried and true recipes.

Almond Custard
Recipe looks like it may have come from a Family Circle magazine or something similar.
Servings: 7
4 whole eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 cups half and half
1 1/2 cups milk
6 ounces apple juice, frozen concentrate -- undiluted
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons toasted almonds
1. Preheat oven to 300. Measure milk and half and half into a saucepan and gently bring up to a simmer. Do not boil.
2. Meanwhile, combine the eggs in a medium bowl, then add extracts. Mix until well combined.
3. Pour scalded milk into the egg mixture and stir to mix up completely. Pour the mixture into a well-buttered ovenproof dish. Shallower is better than higher.
4. Place dish into a larger but flat container and pour hot water in the sides (do not get any in the custard) and place in the center of the oven. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center, comes out clean.
5. Remove to a rack to cool, then refrigerate.
6. When ready to serve, combine the apple juice concentrate and the cornstarch in a small saucepan. Stir to dissolve the cornstarch, then heat until the apple juice mixture has thickened some. Add the 1 tsp. of vanilla and cool briefly.
7. Just before serving pour the juice over the custard and sprinkle the toasted almonds on top.
NOTES : Use a shallow baking dish if possible. There is no sugar in the custard, so the apple concentrate topping is a necessary part of the dish.
Per Serving: 205 Calories; 12g Fat (53.0% calories from fat); 7g Protein; 16g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 147mg Cholesterol; 93mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 1/2 Fruit; 1/2 Non-Fat Milk; 2 Fat.

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Chocolate Steamed Pudding

Now then. This is about chocolate. A chocolate dessert suitable for Christmas Dinner. A dessert not too difficult. A do-ahead one, at that. And it's gluten-free, actually, low in sugar (yes, really), and serves a whopping 12 people if you're judicious in slicing it.

To explain the background on this recipe, I should back up and reiterate about how I detest fruitcake. Never have liked it. One Fall, back about 1964 or so, my former father-in-law took a trip to England and brought back a suet fruitcake from Fortnum & Mason (a bastion of fine food, coffees and teas) - a suet pudding I believe it was - and was so proud of bringing it to our house for Christmas. I'm sure I smiled brightly and thought, oh dear, what do I do now? Serve it with a smile and give myself just one bite, smother it in sauce and pretend it's wonderful. I didn't like the suet pudding. It even came with a can of hard sauce too. But, when my teeth hit those bits of tiny fig seeds, I cringed. Even raisins can get those little bits of dry seedy things.

The following year I determined to give myself at least a steamed pudding that I liked. This recipe just popped up, very timely, and I've made it umpteen times since. It came out of Gourmet Magazine, back in the years when they wrote every single recipe in sentence form, so you had to hunt through for the ingredients. They weren't even highlighted in different type. Many a time I missed some items because I skimmed the sentences. This one was in the letters page, because I have the original clipping - a woman from England, Mrs. M.E. Pout, of Worplesdon, submitted it, thanking the magazine for its interesting and inspiring articles. Having never heard of chocolate steamed pudding, I thought I was onto a winner. Way back in the 1960's it was difficult even finding a steamed pudding mold. Where I bought this thing, I don't recall, but I DO remember that it was expensive. But I splurged. It's seen a lot of wear. Because it sits in water once a year, it has developed a kind of mineral dusty exterior because of our hard water, and I see a few signs of rust. But it's served me well, all these 40+ years. Now, if you decide you want to make this, and you don't have a pudding mold, don't despair. Just use a medium-sized ceramic bowl (higher sides preferred) and a lip that you can somehow secure foil to. Cover it with a piece of cloth (a thin towel, or a dishtowel, cut just to cover it and over the edges). What you don't want is for the steam to get INSIDE the bowl (the steam turns into water and drips onto the top of the pudding), so that's why you want to tie the foil down as securely as you can. If the bowl sides are too slanted, you'll never get it to stay, so straighter sides are better.

The ingredients in this pudding are simple: butter, sugar, eggs, chocolate and almonds. That's it. The butter and sugar get whipped up, you add egg yolks and grated chocolate, then the ground almonds. It's a thick batter, as you can see above. Lastly you fold in the whipped egg whites. I happened to have added an additional 3 egg whites to this (because I had some languishing in the refrigerator), to I actually used 7 egg whites. But 4 are sufficient. If you want a lighter pud, add a couple more. Pour it into a mold, cover, simmer it in water and that's it.

Here's the finished pudding, just out of the oven, resting, cooling.

About the chocolate: I'm giving you a picture of the chocolate mound. I was astounded, really, to see how big a mound was created by finely grating 4 ounces! It must be finely grated. In some years past I've chopped it finely, and I suppose that would suffice, but grated is far better. It takes awhile to grate chocolate - this 4 ounces probably took me 10-15 minutes. I tried a coarser microplane, but settled on the thin one, the one I use mostly for grating citrus zest. It made a heavy dust of chocolate. I used Scharffen Berger's unsweetened chocolate that comes in a 9+ ounce bar.

About the almonds: in years past I've always whizzed the almonds up in the food processor. And if you don't have a Trader Joe's in your town, that method will work, although it does leave some little bits of almond, so you actually chew a bit of almonds now and then. It's what I did for years, so am sure it would continue to work. But Trader Joe's carries a package of "Just Almond Meal," which makes it so very easy. It's a finer grind - almost like flour, actually. Maybe you can find almond meal in other stores as well.

Once you finish preparing the batter, you pour it into the mold, cover, and put into a pot large enough to hold the mold, plus some, as you fill the pot about 2/3 of the way up the sides of the mold. I weighted mine with something heavy to keep the mold from floating. It takes 90 minutes to steam the pud, then you carefully remove it, unveil it, let it cool a bit, then remove from the mold. It's best served warm, but I've always made it ahead of time, so just cool, chill, then warm it in the oven (wrapped in foil) for about 15-20 minutes at 200. So, if you're looking for something a bit different this year, this may be your ticket. It makes a nice traditional dessert for Christmas Dinner, but it's not all that traditional in taste.

Steamed Chocolate Pudding (and Gluten-Free)
Recipe: Mrs. M. E. Pout of Worplesdon, England, via Gourmet Magazine, 1960's
Servings: 12
1/2 cup unsalted butter -- at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
4 whole eggs -- separated

[2 additional egg whites, optional, added to the other egg whites]
1 cup ground almonds
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate -- grated
Butter for greasing the mold
1 cup whipping cream -- whipped
1. Beat the egg whites until stiff and able to hold peaks. Don't overbeat.
2. In a large bowl combine the butter and sugar until mixture is creamy. Stir in the 4 egg yolks which have been lightly beaten, the ground almonds and the unsweetened chocolate. Combine until it's smooth.
3. Gently fold in the beaten egg whites and stir and fold until there are no major streaks of egg white showing.
4. Pour the mixture into a well-buttered steam mold (or use a heavy ceramic bowl and tie several thicknesses of foil around the top).
5. Stand the mold in a large kettle and add hot water to reach 2/3 of the way up the outside of the mold. Bring the pot to a low simmer and steam the pudding for 90 minutes. Remove from water, dry it off on the outside, then gently remove the steamed pudding from the mold. Cut into thin slices to serve, with a mound of whipped cream on the side.
NOTES : Be sure to grind up the almonds very finely, but not so much that they turn into glue. If possible, buy already ground almond meal/flour.
Serving Ideas : If you prefer, this can be served with a rum or brandy sauce (1/2 cup softened butter, 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar and about 2 T. of rum or brandy, chill before serving).

Per Serving: 230 Calories; 21g Fat (75.1% calories from fat); 5g Protein; 10g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 89mg Cholesterol; 26mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 4 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.
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Chocolate Almond Biscotti

Normally I wouldn't bake cookies again for awhile, because I made cookies for Todd, our son-in-law, a few days ago. He likes soft cookies. Although the almond-cranberry cookies I made were nice enough, they don't make my heart sing. They're soft. He, however, loves them. AND, he told me last night that his cookies are all gone already.

I, on the other hand, prefer crisp and crunchy. So when I spied the photo of these Chocolate-Almond Biscotti over at Acme Instant Food, they called out to me. They're low in fat (with only 6 tablespoons of butter in the full recipe) and rich in chocolate and almond flavor. These are really cinchy to make. I kid you not. Just have everything at room temp when you begin, and you'll have these in the oven in about 10 minutes. They do bake for 35 minutes, cool for another 15 (then you slice them carefully), then bake again for another 10 minutes. That's less than an hour.

These get their chocolate flavor from both cocoa powder and chocolate chunks or chips, so they're truly chocolate-y. They also keep well, and would travel well too.

I certainly don't know about the cooking experience level of my loyal readers, but if you've never made biscotti, there are just a couple of things you need to know. You make a dough-type cookie batter. Usually, the stickier the better since you don't want the resulting cookies to be too heavy (read: hard) so you can't even eat them unless you dunk them in coffee or tea. But, making them too wet and sticky is next to impossible to manipulate (roll) into logs. A happy medium is what you're looking for. These were quite easy to mold, although I did have some difficulty with the crumble factor once they did their first baking, as Kevin mentions in the recipe.

Biscotti are drier to begin with - you bake them in logs (pictured above) until they're more than "cooked," then you allow them to cool some so you can handle the logs. Then you cut them into longer sticks. They must be thick enough to hold together, but this is always the tricky step for me.

One great helpful hint from Keven, though, that I'd never tried before, was to use a serrated knife only to cut through the crust, then use a flat bladed knife to finish the "cut." That worked like a charm. Then you bake them a bit longer to completely dry them out. Cool, package and store in plastic bags for a few days (or a tin) or freeze. These cookies have a very nice deep chocolate flavor. Satisfies my chocolate cravings and my desire for crispy/crunch cookies.

Chocolate Almond Biscotti
Recipe: Acme Instant Food (blog), adapted from epicurious.com
Servings: 28
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs -- room temperature
1 cup almonds -- unsalted, sliced
3/4 cups semisweet chocolate -- chopped
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or butter and flour).
2. Whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together in a bowl.
3. Using electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until creamed and very fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating until well combined. Slowly stir in flour mixture to form a stiff dough. Stir in almonds and chopped chocolate. Divide dough in half. Form each half into a log about 2 inches wide and lay on prepared sheet. Remold if necessary on sheet and flatten the logs slightly. Bake for 35 minutes or until outside feels firm.
4. Remove sheet from oven but leave oven on. Let logs cool on sheet for 15 minutes. Transfer biscotti to a cutting board.
5. Using serrated knife, gently slice logs diagonally into roughly 1/2 inch slices. If crumbling is a problematic, use serrated knife to "saw" just through outer crust and then use a very sharp (non-serrated) knife to slice through--using a motion straight from the top down. Arrange cut biscotti on their side on baking sheet and return to oven for an additional 10 minutes, or until crisp. Once cool, you may optionally dip half of each biscotti into melted dark or white chocolate.

Per Serving: 142 Calories; 7g Fat (42.5% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 19g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 22mg Cholesterol; 128mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 1 1/2 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.

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Almond-Cranberry Cookies

Well, the Heavenly Cream Cheese Brownies disappeared in a flash around here, what with DH's Bible Study Group yesterday and our son-in-law having a snack now and then. So, back to the drawing boards to make some more cookies.

I'd earmarked this recipe for Almond-Cranberry Cookies nearly a year ago, from the blog The Wednesday Chef. She'd taken a Regina Schrambling recipe and made it her own (pistachios to almonds). Regina Schrambling is a food writer for the New York Times. And if you haven't ever read The Wednesday Chef, it's a blog about food recipes from both the N.Y. Times and the Los Angeles Times (both papers having had a long-time rivalry, everything from editorial to recipes).

Written by Luisa Weiss, The Wednesday Chef is somewhat of a face-off between the food sections of both papers. Luisa chooses recipes from both papers and prepares them with commentary. I thoroughly enjoy reading Luisa's blog and have done so for about 18 months. She does like Regina Schrambling, and features her recipes with some regularity. She also likes Russ Parsons, from the L.A. Times.

Cranberries in cookies are a favorite for me. The dried kind that go into everything from trail mix to salads to cookies. The recipe is very easy. I did use my Kitchen Aid mixer, but Luisa's recipe just mixes it up in a bowl with a wooden spoon. Very easy. The cookies have a crisp bottom, but they're tender and soft everywhere else. They're made with all brown sugar, which gives them a caramel-y taste too. Delish.

Todd, our son-in-law, who said he'd sure like to have a cookie now and then (hint, hint, he was implying) while he's staying with us, likes SOFT cookies. If you read my posting about 3 weeks ago about chocolate-chocolate chip cookies, you will know that I like crisp cookies. But I'm making these for him. Todd, they're in the plastic bag in the freezer door, bottom shelf.

Almond-Cranberry Cookies
Recipe: From The Wednesday Chef (blog)
Servings: 36
1 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter -- (1 1/2 sticks) softened
1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup blanched almonds -- toasted and coarsely chopped
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1. Stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside.
2. Cream the butter and brown sugar together with a wooden spoon until smooth. Blend in the egg, almond extract and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients until well mixed. Stir in the nuts and cranberries.
3. Drop the dough by tablespoons onto ungreased baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between each. Bake the cookies in a 375-degree oven until light golden brown (centers should be soft), about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand 2 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 111 Calories; 6g Fat (48.7% calories from fat); 2g Protein; 13g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 16mg Cholesterol; 72mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Fruit; 1 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.

To view a PDF recipe, click title at top.

Shrimp & Bread Skewers with Romesco Sauce

Since I can't cook at the moment, and my DH is not much of a cook, I haven't been able to cook the recipes in order to have photos. I'm trying to be very careful that I don't abuse somebody's copyrighted photo. The above is a photo of Romesco Sauce. Just try to picture a skewer of shrimp and croutons with this yummy sauce lightly spread over it. It makes for a great combination.

Romesco Sauce is not your normal run-of-the-mill sauce. It contains some different ingredients. It keeps for weeks and weeks. I always seem to have leftovers of the sauce, so use it on grilled vegetables, even some plain grilled chicken too.

This is from one of Nicole Aloni's cookbooks, and was demonstrated at a cooking class she taught several years ago. I loved the combination of textures in this dish. I'd never had bread croutons threaded onto a grilled skewer of anything until this dish was served to me. But I liked it. You don't want to use bread that will become hard and inedible, so think about that as you're choosing the bread. In other words, an already firm chunk of sourdough with a very firm crust isn't going to get any less chewy if you grill it. So, you need to use a softer crumb - like an Italian loaf or a soft type of baguette. I rarely buy grocery store French bread for just this reason - they're more like white nothingness than a "real" baguette, but for the grilled crouton, it may just be perfect. And, you wouldn't want to serve bread or another carb with this, either.

The Romesco sauce has a Catalan (Spain) origin. I thought it was Italian, but no. I finally found a bit of info about it:

This Catalan tomato sauce is traditionally served with fish and shellfish but it is also ideal to serve as a dipping sauce. Authentic recipes are made with dried romesco chiles, which have a sweet and hot flavour. Unfortunately they are difficult to obtain outside the region.

What's unique about Romesco is its use of almonds as a thickener, and flavor enhancer. It adds a lot, although you'll have a hard time picking out the almond flavor once it's incorporated into the intense tomato-base. It's not difficult to make and it keeps for awhile. I love it on hearty vegetables as leftovers too.

Grilled Shrimp and Bread Skewers with Romesco Sauce
Recipe By :Nicole Aloni, author and caterer
Servings: 8
2 1/2 pounds shrimp -- peeled, deveined, raw
1 whole French bread -- baguette (see instructions)
1/2 cup slivered almonds
4 large garlic cloves
4 whole red bell peppers
1/4 cup sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil lemon juice to garnish
1. PEPPERS: You can use bottled bell peppers (four 7-oz.jars), or roast your own: Core and seed the peppers, drizzle with olive oil and bake in a 325° oven for about an hour. Remove the skins and save all the juice and oil as part of the peppers.
2. BREAD: Cut 3 thin slices of bread and set aside. Cut remaining bread into 1 1/2 inch cubes and set aside.
3. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add almonds and move briskly around pan to toast. Remove and add 2 T. olive oil, then add the sliced bread and toast until golden brown, then remove and set aside.
4. Add the almonds to a food processor and pulse to grind. Add the 3 bread slices, garlic, bell peppers, vinegar and cayenne pepper; puree until smooth. With the machine running add the larger quantity of oil and process until incorporated and slightly thickened. Add salt to taste. Sauce can be prepared ahead (2-3 days ahead is best) and refrigerated.
5. SHRIMP: Preheat grill or grill pan to medium high. Onto water-soaked bamboo skewers alternate shrimp and bread cubes. Lay these on a large sheet pan and drizzle each layer with olive oil and salt and pepper. Grill for 2-3 minutes per side, until shrimp are bright pink and firm.
6. SERVING: Pool the Romesco sauce on each plate and set 2 or 3 skewers across the sauce. Add a squeeze of lemon juice to each skewer.
Serving Ideas : You can make a main dish of this by grilling some zucchini, asparagus and red onion before you grill the shrimp. Leftover sauce can be used on top of a white grilled fish or green beans. The sauce will keep for several weeks.
NOTES : You want to eat some of the sauce with every bite, so you can drizzle more sauce on top of each skewer. Using a regular bamboo skewer, you'll want to serve each person two skewers. And, except for grilling the skewers, everything can be done up to 2 days ahead.
Per Serving: 528 Calories; 26g Fat (44.3% calories from fat); 36g Protein; 37g Carbohydrate; 4g Dietary Fiber; 216mg Cholesterol; 558mg Sodium. Exchanges: 2 Grain(Starch); 4 Lean Meat; 1/2 Vegetable; 4 1/2 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.

To view a printable recipe, click on the title at top.

Roasted Apricot Almond Cake

This is the height of apricot season, folks. I bought a small flat of them at Costco last week, and I mean to tell you, they are perfect. I let them sit out on the kitchen counter for 3 days and they reached the peak of ripeness. Half I used in the above cake, and the other half are in the refrigerator and I may try apricot ice cream. In any case, I'll cook those remaining apricots today or tomorrow before they're over the hill. As you probably know, apricots have a short time of perfection. Too green and they have no taste. Too ripe and they're mushy and they go downhill in rapid order from there. So, remember this recipe, either right NOW, or wait until next year.

Another cooking instructor who has provided me with any number of favorite recipes is Tarla Fallgatter. Here's a blurb I found about her on the internet:

Tarla Fallgatter is a well-known Orange County caterer, chef, teacher, restaurant consultant and kitchen tool manufacturer. She trained at Paris' Cordon Bleu, La Varenne, and Ecole Lenotre cooking schools, and was the first foreign woman to cook in the kitchens of Maxim's. She has traveled to over 60 countries throughout the world, "sampling" the local cuisine. She markets her "Tarla" all-copper rolling pin in fine cookware shops.

Tarla currently teaches at the Irvine Fine Arts Center (fairly elementary classes), at A Store for Cooks, and she also teaches a private group of wives who live in Coto de Caza (a very upscale, gated neighborhood in south Orange County). My friend Cherrie was invited to attend one of those classes about 5 years ago through a friend of hers, and as a substitute, I'm invited too. I can choose to attend or not. This recipe came from one of the Tarla classes I attended.

So, I have a funny story to tell about almond paste. When I went to make this the other day, I knew I had some almond paste. I found 3 boxes. How about that. All imported from Denmark. All hard as rocks. (Now you also need to know that at the class about this cake, Tarla told all of us that we couldn't substitute marzipan for almond paste - okay - got that - and she told us that almond paste doesn't store well. It's not that it spoils. It gets hard, and there's no recovering it once it gets that way.)

Okay, so I have these 3 boxes in my pantry. No dates on any of them. Guess what? All hard. Uhm. What do I do. I really didn't want to make another trip to the store, so I thought - maybe I can recover the almond paste. I'll put it in the microwave with a bowl of hot water and let it steam a bit. Surely that would help, right? Wrong. Five minutes later all I got was hot, hard almond paste. My dear hubby saved the day - he said he'd go to the market for me. Here's what almond paste looks like.

Ideally you bake the cake and the apricots at the same time (saves energy, obviously). So I got the apricots all ready to roast, then I went to work on the cake. Cautions about the cake:

1. make sure you use an 8-inch cake pan, not 9-inch (cake will be too shallow).

2. make certain you finely chop or tear off almond paste pieces - you don't want little nuggets of almond paste in the cake.

3. don't forget the parchment paper step in the cake pan - it needs it - even in a nonstick pan.

The apricots are easy to make and the sauce is delish. The cake is extremely moist and the almond flavor is not subtle - it's right there - but that is what makes the cake so good. Try it.

Almond Cake with Roasted Apricots
Recipe By: Tarla Fallgatter
Servings: 8

ALMOND CAKE:
4 ounces unsalted butter -- room temperature

Additional butter to grease pan
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup almond paste -- broken in small pieces
1 tablespoon orange zest
3 large eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup creme fraiche -- plus sugar to taste
3 teaspoons powdered sugar
8 sprigs mint leaves
1 cup almonds -- use sliced almonds, toast half of them

ROASTED APRICOTS:
10 whole apricots -- firm, ripe, halved, pitted
1 whole vanilla bean -- split lengthwise, seeds scraped
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup Amaretto -- or apricot brandy

APRICOTS: Place apricot halves in a large baking dish and gently toss with vanilla bean and the seeds, with the honey. Pour 1/4 cup water over and the Amaretto and toss again. Bake along with the cake, until the apricots are tender when pierced with the tip of a knife, 15-20 minutes. The timing will depend on the ripeness of the fruit.
ALMOND CAKE: Preheat oven to 325°. Butter an 8-inch round cake pan (do not use a 9-inch pan as it will be too flat). Line with parchment paper and additional butter on the parchment paper.
Cream butter and sugar in food processor until fluffly. Add almond paste and beat until smooth and fluffy. Add the orange zest and eggs, one at a time. Beat until well blended. Mix flour, baking powder and salt together and pulse in. Scrape mixture into the prepared pan, smooth top and sprinkle 1/2 cup untoasted sliced almonds on top. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 30 minutes, until the edges are golden brown and pulling away from the pan. Remove and set on a rack to cool.
In a small bowl combine the creme fraiche and a little bit of sugar. Invert the cake onto a cake plate and peel off parchment paper. Turn the cake back over again so the almonds are on the top. Lightly dust with sifted powdered sugar. Cut the cake into 8 pieces and put on plates. Top each slice with the roasted apricots, a dollop of creme fraiche, then sprinkle the top with the additional sliced almonds, and decorate with mint sprigs.
Serving Ideas : Instead of creme fraiche, you could also use lightly sweetened whipped cream.
NOTES : You need to use fresh apricots for this. Choose firm ones, but still ripe. And don't overbake them.
Per Serving: 561 Calories; 35g Fat (55.8% calories from fat); 10g Protein; 53g Carbohydrate; 4g Dietary Fiber; 137mg Cholesterol; 128mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 1/2 Fruit; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 6 1/2 Fat; 2 Other Carbohydrates.

To view a printable recipe, click the title at the top.