Old-Fashioned Date Bars

I was suddenly nostalgic for those childhood date bars my mother used to make when the kitchen would smell like baked oatmeal with an undeniable sweet overtone. You know those bars - the ones that are oat-y, buttery, and sweet, but not too sweet because they are made with a high proportion of dates rather than granulated sugar?  Well, not too sweet until you eat too many!  Yes, those.  Yum.  I tried two variations from the traditional recipe. First, I used steel-cut quick oats.  They added a nutty, chewy texture.  I am not totally convinced it works perfectly, but it is an interesting change.  The second was to add a 1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves to the date mixture. I had some left over from the Caldo Verde I made last week.  Freshly ground spices are the best, so I couldn't help adding a touch since they were right there. The cloves blended well with the dates - I think I'll keep this addition.  Here's the recipe I followed with my tweaks:

Date Bars

Ingredients

• 16 ounces pitted and chopped dates
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar (if you like it less sweet, decrease this amount)
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground cloves
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cup shortening or lard
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 3/4 cup all purpose or whole wheat flour (or mixture)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups quick-cook oats (steel-cut for chewier, regular quick-cook for tender bars)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a saucepan mix the dates, sugar and water together. Bring to a boil and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes or until thick. Add cloves and cool slightly.

Blend the brown sugar and fat together until creamy.  Add rest of ingredients.  The mixture will be crumbly.  Pat half the mixture into a base crust in a 13x9 pan.  Spread date mixture over and then crumble the rest of the oat mixture on the top.  Bake 25-30 minutes.  Cut into desired bar sizes and let cool.

Simple Appetizer

I recently had the wonderful opportunity to host my old book club while on a return visit to the city I moved from eight years ago.  It was wonderful to see everyone and have them all read my current favorite book, Stealing Mona Lisa.  Among the few nibbles I offered the favorite was cream cheese with Jezabel Sauce.  It's a very simple appetizer  that is sweet and salty with just the slightest hot kick.  They begged me to put it up on my blog.  Next time I'm going to put this sauce over goat cheese.

Jezabel  Sauce and Cheese Appetizer

Ingredients

• 8 ounces regular cream cheese, tofutti, chèvre or goat cream cheese
• 2/3 cup citrus marmalade (e.g., orange, mixed citrus, kumquat)
• 2 Tablespoons horseradish sauce, or more to taste (use prepared sauce, not freshly grated)

Preparation

Bring all ingredients to room temperature.  Mix marmalade and horseradish together.  Spoon over cheese and serve with crackers.  If using a cream cheese, you can save a little back and put into a piping bag and decorate the rest of the block with rosettes before spooning over the sauce.  The decorating works best if serving a large crowd and using the big blocks of cream cheese (3 lbs.) you can purchase at Costco or a restaurant food supply store.  You then have more cream cheese to decorate with. It's a little skimpy to do this with the 8 ounce block, but doable if you double all the ingredients.

My mother makes a delicious kumquat marmalade that really sets this dish off, so if you have a kumquat tree, it's totally worth making marmalade out of the fruit and using it for this recipe!

Serve with crackers.

You can also serve the Jezabel sauce with meats such as ham, beef, or lamb.

Quick Waffles

Here is a quick and easy waffle recipe that can take on all kinds of flavors.  This morning I zested a tangelo into it.  Divine orange flavor permeated the batter reminding me of winter in Tucson when the tangelos come ripe right off the tree.

Quick Waffles

Ingredients

• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 3/4 cup milk (can substitute club soda, orange juice, or some combination of these)
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar (optional)
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 3 Tablespoons cornmeal
• Optional flavorings:
 
• zest of an orange, tangelo/minneola, or lemon
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons freshly chopped rosemary or thyme
• Club soda, as necessary

Preparation

Place all ingredients into a blender in the order given above.  Liquids must go first into a blender or things will not blend properly.  If you are going to add a seasoning, such as grated orange zest, add it now. If you are going to use fresh herbs, I'd recommend leaving out the sugar or scale it back to a pinch. Blend until all flour is absorbed, scraping sides as necessary.  The batter should be the thickness of unwhipped heavy whipping cream.  If it is too thick add more milk - or better yet club soda (I've also substituted tonic water in a pinch or orange juice on a whim).  The soda will lighten the waffles.  I've even substituted all the milk for club soda and it makes a light crispy waffle.  You're now ready to pour the batter into your preheated waffle maker.  As the batter sits, it may thicken up.  If so, add a little more milk or club soda to keep it at the right consistency.

You can use different flours than regular all-purpose flour, but you may have to adjust the quantities.  Straight whole wheat flour will weigh down the waffles so I wouldn't recommend using 100% whole wheat - try mixing it with some regular flour.  You can also substitute a hot cereal grain mix for the cornmeal. If you do that, I recommend letting the batter sit for at least 10 minutes and adjust the liquid to ensure it is still the thickness of unwhipped heavy whipping cream. Cereal grain tends to absorb more liquid than the cornmeal.

This makes a little more than 4 waffles in our waffle maker. We sometimes double it so we have extras for the freezer. Put a sheet of waxed paper between each waffle before freezing so that they are easy to get apart to heat just a few at a time.

New Year Nosh

I never seem to be able to stay awake until midnight on New Year's Eve, but I do enjoy New Year's Eve and New Year's Day nosh and drinks.  Here are a few easy things I'm going to make this year, followed by a few different drinks to try out.

Nosh

1. Dried apricots with goat blue cheese - This is so easy, just slather each apricot with a little goat blue cheese, maybe add a marcona almond on top, and then drizzle with honey if so desired. I use the Blenheim variety of apricots (also known as "slab" apricots) available from Trader Joe's, but most any will do.
2. Sundrops - Purchase a can of artichoke bottoms, rinse and drain.  Fill each bottom with crab meat and coat with hollandaise sauce.  Broil until lightly browned on top. Keep warm in the oven until ready to serve.  This also makes a great first course when you serve it on top of a little marinara sauce. The only key is to get high quality ingredients. These days it is hard to find good canned artichoke bottoms. The only one we can find here in the grocery stores is the "Reese" brand, and it is not very good.  If anyone knows of a good brand, please let me know!  Freshly cooked would be best, of course, but this time of year good, fresh artichokes are hard to get as well.
3. Spinach balls with mustard sauce - these are so good, it's hard not to keep popping one after another into your mouth.

Ingredients

• 10 ounces frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed of all its moisture
• 1 1/2 cup prepared bread stuffing, cooled
• 1 small onion, minced
• 3 eggs
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1/4 cup grated parmessan cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• Mustard for serving (it's nice to have a variety - dijon, sweet, hot)

Preparation

Mix all ingredients together.  Roll into 1" balls and place on a baking sheet.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  Serve with mustard for dipping.

Drinkies

New Year's Eve drinks naturally revolve around champagne or prosecco. Bubbles are just the thing.  If champagne by itself doesn't do it for you, you might try these:

Korbel: http://www.korbel.com/New_Years_Cocktails.aspx

BakedBree Blog: http://bakedbree.com/cherry-thyme-champagne-cocktail

The other way to go with New Year's Eve cocktails in our house is the brown angle. Sazeracs, Manhattans, Rob Roys, and Old Fashioneds are just a few you can make in a batch and serve.

I'm inspired to try and make it to midnight this year! Wish me luck!

Pear Versatility

Pears come in many sizes and varieties and fall is peak season for them. Bartletts are probably the most common ones encountered in the grocery store and they are wonderful.  However, if you can find ripe Comice pears you will experience something completely different and even more wonderful.  I first came across these in Europe and after many years have now found them at peak season in our grocery stores.  They are fleeting, though, so if you find them, buy them.  The Comice pears I found yesterday at the store were labeled "French Butter" pears (the sticker still said "comice") - they are somewhat squatter, sometimes smaller, and have less of a neck than other types.  At peak ripeness they will have a greener skin than a Bartlett, but they will also have a yellow hue, give ever so slightly when touched, and smell like a pear.  They have a beautiful perfume that accompanies a very juicy, soft fruit - all of which are more pronounced than with any other variety I have eaten.  The best things to do with these pears are to eat them alone or with a piquant goat cheese that complements their perfume and juiciness.

If you have Bartletts on hand, here is a delicious dessert or breakfast dish to make, taken from an old Food & Wine article (circa 1996).

Maple Pear Pancake

Ingredients

• 1 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 3 Tablespoons butter
• 1 cup all-purpose flour (or 1/4 whole wheat, 3/4 all-purpose)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 Bartlett pears, peeled and sliced
• 1/2 cup maple syrup (use real maple syrup)
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice

Preparation

Heat oven to 350 ° F.

Mix the milk and egg together, and then whisk in 2 Tablespoons melted butter.  Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together and whisk into the milk mixture.  Let stand for 10 minutes. Letting it stand is important to the final texture of the pancake as it allows the flour to fully incorporate with the liquid.

In a non-reactive oven-proof skillet, cook the pears, 1 Tablespoon of the butter, and 1/4 cup of syrup over high heat until caramelized.  Remove from heat and add 2 teaspoons lemon juice and the remaining 1/4 cup syrup.

Whisk the batter once or twice and pour it over pears.  Bake for 15 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.  Invert pancake onto a platter and serve with additional maple syrup.

Serves 4.