Book Club Bites: Dacquoise Drops

Even if you’re not particularly food-obsessed, you probably have one. A bite, a dish, a sip that changes your life somehow. Perhaps an oyster started a lifetime of risk-taking. A restaurant meal introduced you to your soulmate. A family dish opened generations of stories.

For Tia, her dish was a plate of cookies. Dacquoise drops connect her with her family, give her national recognition, and finally put her face-to-face with Michael Saltz.

The cookie is light but sturdy -- a stiff meringue made even more hardy with four types of nuts. I love them with a nutty, milky coffee. Pro tip: save a packet of silica gel from some kale chips or freeze-dried fruit. They’ll help keep your cookies crisp.

RECIPE:

Bring 4 egg whites to room temperature. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In an electric mixer, whisk egg whites on high until foamy, about 1 minute. Add 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar and mix until fluffy, about another minute. Mix ⅔ cup of powdered sugar with ⅔ cup of granulated sugar. Add to egg mixture one tablespoon at a time while on medium-high speed. Continue to whisk until shiny and stiff (a peak stands up straight and doesn’t fall over). Gently mix 2 ¼ cups of chopped nuts (a mixture of pecans, pecans and cashews) and 1 cup of almond flour.

Cover two baking sheets with parchment paper. Spoon meringues onto tray with two tablespoons, leaving about an inch between drops. Turn off oven and leave in there for at least two hours and up to overnight. Makes 40 cookies.

Peanut-Brown Butter Blondies

Call me a contrarian. I grow my hair long in summer, cut it in winter. Order the fish at a steakhouse. Make salads in the winter... and bake in the summer. I don't know why!

Forget for a moment about the heat factor. To me, summer is about easy improvisational meals. Something on the grill. A picnic of finger foods. A cocktail of two ingredients, tops. 

Baking, of course, is not improvisational. It's precise and fickle. You have to plan ahead because you can't easily substitute ingredients. But for some reason, I've had the urge to bake this summer. Just this past month I've made this tahini banana bread, these cornmeal currant thyme cookies, this "life-changing loaf", and now these -- peanut-brown butter blondies, like a cross between peanut butter cookies and toffee cake (ie: good in any season). 

I adapted this from Martha Stewart's Cookies which organizes its chapters in the same way I think about cookies: light and delicate, chunky and nutty, crisp and crunchy, cake and tender, and so on. 

Maybe one of these summer days I'll make these into ice cream sandwiches or sundaes (with some butter pecan ice cream as a comp... or strawberry ice cream for contrast). But for now, they're great au natural. 

RECIPE: (adapted from Martha Stewart Cookies) 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 9" x 13" pan with parchment, then butter and flour. Melt 2 sticks of butter until a golden brown. Remove from heat and cool. 

Whisk 2 1/4 cups flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. In the bowl of an electric mixer, use a wooden spoon to mix the brown butter with 2 cups of brown sugar and 1/4 cup of granulated sugar. Add the paddle attachment and turn mixer on medium-high speed, adding three eggs. Mix until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add 2 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract while beating. Slowly add flour mixture, then add 1 cup of roasted unsalted peanuts until thoroughly integrated. Pour into pan and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. 

Excellent warm, room temp, or cold (we've been keeping them in the fridge... steamy weather mold is no joke!) 

Matcha Almond Date Smoothie

Have you had the green tea crepe cake at Lady M? It's a delicate confection made with 20+ crepes layered with super-light pastry cream just barely kissed with the green, slightly bitter taste of matcha. These aren't pancake-y crepes, they're paper-thin and imperceptible on the tongue. You see them individually in the cross-section, but that's an illusion. The cream soaks into the crepes so your fork (yes I eat desserts with a fork, I find it's easier to piece off the exact bite I want) just glides on through. 

Now it might seem ascetic to go on to describe a smoothie, but in fact they share the same flavor profile. A creamy base. An earthy sweetness. A plushness. And then, the matcha to give it all shape. 

I got this recipe from this Instagram from Kat Odell, Eater's Drinks editor. Is this drink trendy? Yes. Insufferably so? Perhaps. But, who cares. It tastes like cold drinkable cake. 

RECIPE: Blend 2 grams matcha, 16 oz water, 1 date, handful of almonds. Add crushed ice, if it's really hot. 

Swiss Chard, Raisin, Pine Nut & Bulgur Dolmas

When I tell people I was born in Queens -- I know what they're thinking. Flushing. That's where the Asian community is, right? 

Yes, that's true. But that's not where I was born. I was born in Astoria -- little Athens. 

Nowadays that means one thing: a mandatory visit to Titan, said to be the largest Greek grocery store in North America. 

So that's what came to mind when I had some beautiful Swiss chard. My go-to prep (after just garlic, olive oil, and lemon) is Swiss chard with raisins and pine nuts. But how to make it different? 

Dolma is from the Turkish verb dolmak, "to be stuffed." So...we're good! 

RECIPE: 

Boil 2 cups of water, turn off, then add 1 cup cracked wheat. Let soak for 15 minutes, then drain off water. 

While the water is boiling, toast 2 heaping tablespoons of pine nuts for 3 minutes at 350 degrees. Keep watch! Pine nuts burn even when you're concentrating. and If you don't -- you're done for. 

In a frying pan, add 2 cups of broth. When at a boil, add the stems of 5-6 Swiss chard leaves. After 3 minutes, add the leaves and keep simmering until wilted, about 2 minutes. Make sure they're still bright green -- not olive.

Mix 2 tablespoons raisins, toasted pine nuts, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon olive oil to cracked wheat. Mince Swiss chard stems and add. Mix well, then add one spoonful per Swiss chard leaf, wrapping like a burrito (sides, then along the length. Pour the remaining broth on top and serve. 

Pistachio Mint Radish Guacamole (or avocado toast without the toast)

If you see me during the day you'll know that I hardly wear the same outfit twice. (I'm talking weekdays. Weekends are a whole other story.) The thing is, I'm obsessed with newness. There are good parts to this. I'm always experimenting. I'm almost never in a rut. When it comes to outfits, I've been told that I look like a different person every time you see me, which I take as a compliment. (Some may say that I lack a stable sense of self... but whatever.) 

But there are downsides, too. I don't have a favorite movie because I almost never rewatch them. I will reluctantly tell you my favorite book and restaurant because that's what people tend to ask me. But truth be told, I've still only read my "favorite" book and visited my "favorite" restaurant three or so times. 

I do, however, have a very small collection of "go-to" dishes, things I'll make if we get home late and I don't feel like thinking, much less "innovating". I'll make these if there's little room for error: a dinner party or a potluck. 

So here's part one of a series. I can actually only think of three go-to dishes off the top of my head, so perhaps this'll be a very short series. But here goes. 

---

This was inspired by Alex Stupak's guacamole at Empellon. I love guacamole, but it can feel kind of dull after awhile, especially if you're using lackluster ingredients. Enter the most underrated nut: pistachio. 

There are also classic ingredients: lime, jalapeño. I add some chunkiness with some sliced red onions and sliced radish (not minced... more chunkiness this way). But I think the thing that really sets this apart, and perhaps brings it more into the realm of avocado toast than guacamole, is mint. It's so fresh, so unexpected. I love it. 

RECIPE: Mandolin 1/4 red onion and soak in ice water to take out the harshness. Mash two avocados in a bowl with a fork. Don't overdo it, because you'll be adding other ingredients later and you don't want to overmix it (unless you prefer pasty guac over chunky guac). Add the onions, 1 small chopped jalapeño, 5 mandolined radishes, juice of 1/2 a lime, and about 3 tablespoons of loosely packed mint. Salt to taste. When ready to serve top with 3 tablespoons of toasted pistachios. (Note: I used to add olive oil to my guac, until one time I forgot and realized that you can do without.) 

Singapore Slaw

Susur Lee makes this insane slaw that's often said to have 19 ingredients. It actually has over 30, if you count all the components that make the components. 

In my book, that makes this salad true restaurant food. Even though there's barely any cooking (as defined by applying heat to comestibles), there's a whole lot of prep. An impressive amount, if you eat it while dining out. A masochistic amount of prep, if you're dining in.

And yet. I had this dish more than five years ago at the now-shuttered Shang*, and I'm still thinking about it. It's a chaotic mix of flavors and textures, more cacophonous Asian night market than Brooklyn farmer's market. It's Asian without relying on easy shorthands of soy and sesame. 

I make a salad almost everyday, and was cursing the fact that I spent so much time on this. But the truth is: you can taste the difference.

Here's the full recipe, if you're jonesin' for a challenge. My version is way abbreviated, definitely inferior, but a delicious addition to your dinner table. 

RECIPE: 

Quick Pickled Onions: Using a mandoline, slice two red onions. Add to bowl and add one heaping tablespoon of salt and one teaspoon of sugar. Cover with vinegar and let rest for at least one hour in the refrigerator. 

Salad: Get slicing. The upside is that you'll get to practice all your knife skills. The key here is to choose veggies of varying bite and juiciness. Cut for visual and mouthfeel contrast. I used: bean sprouts, snow peas, jicima, tomatoes, carrots, cucumber, scallions, mint and basil. Other ideas: raw beets, napa cabbage, radish, chayote. 

Crispies: Slice and deep-fry shallots, garlic, and lemongrass. Drain on paper towels. Toast peanuts and sesame seeds. 

Dressing: Mix pickled ginger, fish sauce, rice vinegar, a little bit of the oil from the crispies, and a little bit of the pickling juice from the onions. 

Now, mix everything together, making sure to add that crispies at the last moment so they stay...crunchy. 

* Shang is actually featured in BAD TASTE. The fictitious restaurant Panh Ho is a cross between Shang and SHO Shaun Hergatt (both shuttered, I'm afraid).

Asian Chicken Slaw

I always want things like this, but they're frustratingly hard to find. What is "this"?

"This" is a great post-workout meal -- Fresh and crunchy and satisfying. "Hearty" salads tend to have cream or cheese, which slam the gut. The key is enough protein (here, chicken breast), the body of an aromatic oil (sesame oil in this case), and some support from some nuts (almonds and black sesame seeds, above). See, no sluggishness!

"This" is not a flimsy salad --I'll take slaw over salad any day. A great salad is a revelation -- gossamer lettuce as silken as rose petals, dressing of elegance and subtlety, toppings that play nice while still adding textural, visual, and flavor contrast.  But salads are hard to balance because the leaves are so delicate. Slaws are easy. Make it with cabbage, kohlrabi, broccoli, carrots -- anything with bite. They'll withstand anything you throw its way.

"This" is nostalgic -- Remember the "Oriental Chicken Salad"? Oh, it was a confusing piece of work -- canned mandarin oranges, fried chow mein noodles, and a honey mustard mayo-based dressing made "Asian" with rice vinegar and sesame oil. I loved this salad, but it could bear to be less gross.

RECIPE: Slice Napa cabbage and salt generously. Saute chicken in olive oil and let rest once done. Dice carrots, red bell pepper, and scallions and add to cabbage. Add chicken, then soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil. Before serving, toss with sliced almonds and sesame seeds.

Strawberry Snack Mix

Necessity is the mother of invention. Or annoyance. Or disappointment.

FreshDirect, as you may know, makes a trail mix they call Rainbow Delight. It's raisins, peanuts, sunflower seeds, cashews, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, and of course -- the source of the rainbow -- M&M-like candy.

Due to a shortage of some sort, there was a period of time when some bags, packed in some factory, replaced the rainbow candies with plain chocolate chips.

Oh. No.

So while we wrote to customer service and waited out the great rainbow drought of 2013 (the M&Ms have since been re-instituted), I made my own snack mix.

It doesn't have a name yet, but it's red. It's sweet and salty and -- something relatively new to the snack mix game -- a little squishy.

So what's in it? It's a mix of unsalted cashews, chocolate-covered raisins (I also tried blueberries, but raisins are more than sufficient), dried cranberries, salted peanuts, and freeze-dried strawberries.

It's a summery snack mix and sort of sexy, too.

I know this is true because recently in Paris I found that Pierre Hermé had his own version, based on his famous Ispahan rose-raspberry-litchi macaron.

His version is a little more refined, but that's not always what you want in your pre-meeting food grab.