Lemon Posset

Pucker up, people! This dish is totally worth it.

My first experience with lemon posset was at Marcus Samuelsson’s Red Rooster in Harlem. I’d never heard of the dessert, but one taste got me hooked. I’ve been dreaming about it ever since.

Lemon posset actually dates back to medieval England. It was initially a creamy, boozy drink that morphed into the tangy pudding it is today—sans booze, sadly. It’s silky smoothness and complex flavor makes it seem like it would be a fussy dessert with lots of ingredients and special equipment. Not so. It is literally three ingredients and takes about 15 minutes of your time with a saucepan and a whisk.

But be careful. The cream can boil over pretty easily. That ends up making a more watery consistency and the sugar in it retains a grainy texture. No good. It needs to come to a soft boil, pushed down to a simmer for five minutes, then take it off the heat. 

And, it definitely needs to chill for a while. Let it rest in ramekins for at least two hours before serving. A few berries, some mint, or even a tiny dollop of fresh whipped cream and you are good to go!

Here’s the recipe:

2 c. cream

2/3 c. granulated sugar

2 lemons, juice and zest

Zest and juice two lemons and set aside.

Place the cream in a saucepan on medium high heat to bring to boil. Stirring constantly, slowly add the sugar to completely dissolve it into the cream. Add the lemon zest and juice, stirring it in as you go. Once the cream comes to a boil, turn the heat down to simmer for five minutes. 

Let the mixture cool off for 5-10 minutes. Then, strain in a chinois to remove the zest. Pour into separate ramekins (makes approximately enough for 6). Cover in plastic wrap and chill for at least two hours.

Serve with your favorite berries or whipped cream and enjoy!

Panzanella

We can thank the Tuscans for making a summer salad of stale bread and overripe tomatoes. They called it panzanella as a combined term of “pane” for bread and “zanella” for the deep dish it is typically served in. Regardless of the name, it’s an ingenious way to use up leftovers.

It’s also a really cheap and easy dish when you don’t feel like making too much for dinner. In the sultry summer evenings, the last thing you want to do is turn on the oven. Fortunately, this is one of those dishes that doesn’t need a lick of heat.

Historians say the original dish was based on bread and onions. Tomatoes only came into the picture in the 20th century. Red onion serves the recipe best as it has not only color but kick. And the tomatoes offer their flavor and juice to give a little boost to the dressing. Sometimes mozzarella is used, but I prefer feta. I also like to add Kalamata olives. It may be a Tuscan dish, but I give it a little Greek flavor because the recipe often calls for cucumbers. That marriage of tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, and feta is a winning Greek flavor profile. Adding capers and fresh basil and oregano round it out.

Here’s the recipe:

1 loaf day-old baguette or ciabatta

8 oz. cherry tomatoes, halved

1 hothouse cucumber, seeded and diced

1/2 red onion, thinly sliced

1/2 c. Kalamata olives

1/2 c. crumbled feta

1 TB. capers

2 TB. olive oil

2 TB. red wine vinegar

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tsp. basil

1 tsp. oregano

Salt and pepper to taste

For the bread, cut into large cubes. Coat with olive oil and salt and pepper. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or rub in more olive oil so that bread doesn’t stick to the pan. Bake at 375 for 15-20 min or until golden and crunchy. Set aside.

Mix together the oil, vinegar, Dijon, basil, and oregano. In a separate bowl, combine the tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, capers, onions, and feta. Add the dressing. Season with salt and pepper if necessary. Add the croutons and serve.

Red Rooster

My family and I have had Marcus Samuelsson’s Red Rooster on our bucket list since it opened in Harlem in December 2010. Obviously, it took us a while to get there. But get there we did and it was worth the trip. If you’re looking for down home cooking with a little Scandinavian twist, you’ve come to the right place.

But first, let’s talk about the vibe. Because the weather was nice, it has a nice section of the sidewalk reserved for outdoor dining—like every other restaurant in New York City with a little patch of concrete. Inside, music bumps and grinds to the jive of its clientele. People mill about the circular copper bar with funky drinks in their hands. I got not one but three hellos as we walked in. The dining area has round tables as it does communal tables with high chairs near the open kitchen. They serve lunch, brunch, and dinner with an afternoon bar menu. Prices (for New York City) are very reasonable with entrees hovering in the $25 range.

Now, for the food. There’s pork and there’s beef. (His grandmother’s recipe for meatballs was outrageously yummy in an olive-flecked tomato sauce.) There’s even a little bit of goat if you’re up for the challenge. (I find goat tasty but more bony than meaty.) But the clear star of the show is chicken, chicken, chicken. I’m not talking about any old dried bird. I’m talking honey coated fried chicken with just a hint of heat. Jerk chicken with at least five different discernible spices on the palate. Chicken and waffles—a down home must. And don’t forget the hot wings. You can even get a whole chicken fried and served with macaroni and cheese, biscuits, collard greens, and black beans. If you come with a group, I suggest their “It Takes Two” section of the menu. Gigantic portions could be easily shared with more than one person.

The collard greens were my first hint of the Swedish twist. Samuelsson, who was born in Ethiopia and raised in Sweden, always puts something in his dishes that remind him of home. The greens had that touch of something else—nutmeg or allspice. The kind of taste you expect to find in Swedish meatballs. He often includes pickled vegetables, particularly red onions, as a garnish. (Scandinavians love pickled everything.) The cornbread came with lingonberry butter. Who eats lingonberries? Swedes, obviously.

But the dish with the biggest surprise was for dessert. A lemon posset that was simultaneously sweet and tart. With a puckery tang and the silkiness of honey, it delivered a lemony punch complete with shortbread crumble. This dish made me want to run right home and make my own posset just so I could have some more. An English custard originally made as a drink of all things, posset has been making its way onto American menus in the past few years. Yet, it is nothing more than three simple ingredients: sugar, cream, and lemon juice. Simple. Elegant. Delicious.

I won’t say the next time I’m in Harlem I will definitely drop in. I will, however, make the trip to Harlem sometime very soon. This place is too good to pass up. I’ll be dreaming of that posset until then.

Roast Chicken

Image courtesy of Barefoot Contessa

Simultaneously the simplest dish and the most elegant, roast chicken is one of those go-to meals any time of year. It can be an easy weeknight dish, satisfy a craving for a home-cooked meal, or served as the centerpiece for a lovely dinner party. It’s also one of those quick and easy recipes you should have in your back pocket.

And because it’s so versatile, you can serve it with just about any side dish. Roasted potatoes. Cous cous. Basmati rice. Broccoli rabe in garlic and oil. A simple salad. Frankly, that’s how I prefer my roast chicken. Make the chicken the highlight of the meal. I often serve it with just a mesclun mix dressed lightly with a champagne vinaigrette, warmed baguette, and a nice Sancerre. Now, that’s good eatin.’

There isn’t a top chef or major food star out there who doesn’t tout the simple beauty of a roast chicken. Ina Garten. Jacques Pepin. Martha Stewart and so many others. Roast chicken is the winningest meal. 

Julia Child said in her Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1, “You can always judge the quality of a cook or a restaurant by roast chicken. While it does not require years of training to produce a juicy, brown, buttery, crisp-skinned, heavenly bird, it does entail such a greed for perfection that one is under compulsion to hover over the bird, listen to it, above all see that it is continually basted, and that it is done just to the proper turn.” The Joy of Cooking agrees with Child that it doesn’t take a restaurant chef to cook a good chicken. It just takes a good quality bird, a solid roasting pan, and a hot oven.

Here’s my favorite recipe:

1 3-4 lb. chicken

1 lemon, halved

1 bunch of thyme

Olive oil

Kosher salt

Black pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Blot chicken dry inside and out. Coat the chest cavity with salt. Cover the outside with good quality olive oil, salt, and pepper. Inside the cavity, place the lemon halved and the bunch of thyme. In a roasting pan covered in foil, place the prepared chicken and pop it in for one hour or until juices run clear.

Et voila! 

Chicken Tikka Masala

It’s a popular dish for good reason. Succulent chunks of poultry marinated in yogurt and then sautéed in a tomato-based cream sauce then spooned over steaming Basmati rice. While most certainly tasty, its origins are debatable. Tikka Masala has an Indian base in terms of its flavor and spices, but it likely has its roots in Britain. Dating back to probably the 1960s, it was first cooked by a Bangladeshi chef in the U.K. (also disputed as to whether it was outside London or Glasgow) and became a sensation immediately.

There are variations to the recipe, but it is typically done with garlic, ginger, cilantro, crushed tomatoes and tomato paste, garam masala, and cream. Cayenne pepper and jalapenos are often substituted for the heat factor and the yogurt is widely used for the original marinade. But those main flavors are the foundation of the dish. It’s approachable and easy to make, yet it has an exotic flavor. A little naan to wipe up the excess is a must.

Here’s the recipe I use:

For the marinade:

2 lbs. chicken thighs cut into chunks

1 lemon, zested and juiced

1 c. Greek yogurt

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 tsp. ginger, minced

1/2 tsp. cumin

1/4 tsp. cayenne

1/4 tsp. coriander

1/4 tsp. cardamom

1/4 tsp. turmeric

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

For the Tikka:

1 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes

1 tsp. tomato paste

1 small onion, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

2 jalapenos, seeded and minced

1 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. garam masala

1 TB canola vegetable oil

Combine all the ingredients for the marinade in a separate bowl. Cut chicken thighs into chunks and incorporate them into the marinade. Place all of it in a Ziploc bag and let sit for at least one hour. Can be left in marinade overnight.

Heat oil in heavy pot over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, spices, and tomato paste and cook until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add crushed tomatoes and simmer down until sauce thickens, 8-10 minutes. Lower heat, add cream and cilantro, and simmer for 30 minutes.

In the meantime, line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place marinated chicken on it. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes. Then incorporate into the simmering sauce and cook for another 10-15 minutes until the chicken chunks are cooked through. 

Serve over steamed Basmati rice with a cilantro garnish.

Whoopie Pies

Courtesy of Epicurious.com

I love the idea of whoopie pies. They’re a cake, a cookie, a sandwich, and kind of a cupcake all in one. Whichever dessert you prefer, this one covers it. Sort of a crowd pleaser, if you will. While the traditional flavor is chocolate with vanilla buttercream, there are plenty of other variations that are just as tasty. Pumpkin. Gingerbread. Golden Vanilla. Red Velvet. Peanut butter. Chocolate Chip Cookie. The fillings are typically buttercream, cream cheese, marshmallow fluff, but they can be a whole host of other flavorings.

The list goes on and for good reason. It’s a simple concept of two mini cakes sandwiching a filling. The cake batter can be just about anything as can the creamy inside. Consider a strawberry shortcake version by adding strawberries to the vanilla buttercream and a little red food coloring to the golden vanilla batter. That’s just pink heaven right there. Or, make the chocolate cakes with a mint cream filling adding crushed peppermint sticks. Perfect for the holidays. These are just two examples of how creative you can get with the recipe.

Doing a little digging, it appears the whoopie pie is a Northeastern phenomenon. Often held as a New England tradition as well as a Pennsylvanian Amish favorite, it also happens to be the state treat of Maine. No joke. I wasn’t even aware that certain states had declared favorite foods, but whatever works. There is debate as to the birth place, but either way it is a Northern dessert harking back to probably the early 1920s.

I searched through a bunch of different recipes for whoopie pies, so this recipe is a representation of the most common ingredients and methods. One thing I will add about the buttercream: make sure you use more confectioner’s sugar than milk. My cream was initially too thin. It sort of oozed off the sides of the chocolate cakes. That’s not what you want. Ideally, the buttercream should be stiff enough to hold up the top cake and remain intact. Just add more confectioner’s sugar if you feel the filling just isn’t the right consistency.

The other misstep I made with this recipe was in the cooking process. I baked the cakes at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes. That worked to actually cook the batter all the way through. But, the rest of the cake was continuing to rise while the upper layer had already baked causing it to crack on the top. You want a smooth cake mound. So, the next time I might try to go low and slow. I’ve changed the recipe here to reflect that. Take the temperature down to 350 degrees and bake for 15-18 minutes on the middle rack in your oven. Using a cake tester, make sure it is baked through. If not, just pop it back in for another minute or two.

Here’s the recipe:

For the pies:

1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour

1 c. granulated sugar

3/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 c. (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 lg. egg

1 c. buttermilk, room temperature

1 tsp. vanilla extract

For the buttercream:

1/2 c. (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

4 c. confectioner’s sugar

1/4 c. milk

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift flour, salt, cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg, buttermilk, and vanilla. Combine well. Gradually, add the dry ingredients until fully incorporated.

Using two large spoons (like a serving spoon or soup spoon), make a rounded mound of batter and place on the parchment, about 12 per pan. (Note: an ice cream scoop is often suggested to use here. But unless you have one with a scraper on the inside, it doesn’t quite work. You need something to push the batter onto the parchment.) Bake for 15-18 minutes or until done. Cool on a rack. 

For the buttercream, cream butter until smooth. Gradually, add the confectioner’s sugar. Mix until light and fluffy. Add milk and vanilla and thoroughly combine. Add more sugar if consistency is too thin.

You can spread the buttercream on the cake or use a disposable pastry bag and pipe the contents onto each cake. Top with the other half.

Serve and enjoy!

Flourless Chocolate Cake

This is quite possibly my favorite dessert. That’s not to say that there aren’t other desserts out there equally as yummy. But this one is sumptuous, yet simple with only a few ingredients to its name. Fine quality chocolate and egg whites are the stars of this recipe. While it’s gluten-free because of its lack of wheat-based flour, that aspect is almost irrelevant because its texture is so dense and chocolatey. 

There are a number of theories as to the cake’s origin. Most of them revolve around a mistake in leaving out the flour. Some say it originated in Italy, others France. Still others refer to its “Chocolate Decadence” days from a California restaurant in the 1980s. A New York Times article in 2011 focused more on the flavor than the history and broke it down this way: “It is a wonderful showcase for good chocolate…[and it compares] to cheesecake, where the chocolate takes place of the cheese.” 

One of the best recipes I have found for this cake appeared in Bon Appetit in 1999. I have made it a number of times since then. Now, this recipe not only calls for a ganache glaze—which for supreme chocolate lovers is just about enough chocolate in each mouthful—as well as gold leafing (can anyone say overkill?). While the ganache makes this cake truly decadent, I find it’s an easy addition to skip. Very often, this cake is topped with just a dusting of powdered sugar, which frankly I prefer. The simpler, the better. Feel free to add a little fruit—a few raspberries, a decorative strawberry, or even roasted, caramelized blood orange slices and call it a day. 

Here’s the recipe for both cake and ganache:

For cake:

12 oz. bittersweet chocolate chips

1 1/2 sticks of butter (3/4 c.) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

6 large eggs, separated

12 TB sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

For glaze:

1/2 c. whipping cream

1/2 c. dark corn syrup

9 oz. bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate chips

Chocolate shavings or gold leaf (seriously optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter 9-inch springform pan. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper and butter paper. Wrap outside of pan with foil.

Stir butter and chocolate chips in saucepan over low heat until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and cool.

Using electric mixer, beat egg yolks and 6 TB of sugar in a large bowl until mixture is very thick and a pale yellow, about 3 minutes. Fold lukewarm chocolate into yolks and then fold in vanilla. Clean beaters and whip egg whites in a separate bowl forming soft peaks. Gradually add the remaining 6 TB of sugar to the whites, further beating until stiff peaks form. Fold whites into chocolate and yolk mixture, then pouring batter into the prepared pan.

Bake cake until top is puffed and cracked and a cake tester comes out clean, approximately 50 min. Cool cake on rack. Gently press down crusty top once it falls to make an evenly thick cake. Loosen from pan and remove sides. Invert and peel off parchment.

In a saucepan, bring cream and corn syrup to a simmer. Add chocolate and whisk until smooth. Place cake on a rack over a baking sheet. Spread the glaze smoothly over the top and side and then freeze for 3 min to set. Pour remaining glaze over cake smoothing it out and chill for 1 hour in refrigerator until firm, 1 hour. Garnish optional. Serve at room temperature.