recipe

scallion pull-apart bread

in ,

for the first time since last summer when my mom accidentally spilled coffee all over the cable box attached to the small tv in our kitchen, we have a small working tv in our kitchen. so now, as if the phone and the internet weren't enough of a distraction to make me almost chop all of my fingers off every time i slice a vegetable, i now have olympic rugby and rowing doing that too. which is a good problem to have because the olympics are so great, duh. my favorite parts so far have been the 41-year-old gymnast, the swimming relay with michael phelps, men's volleyball, and the cycling race because it was the same commentators as the tour de france and it made me nostalgic for three weeks ago. my least favorite part was when i got so pumped up for the new zealand women's rugby team to do the haka but then they didn't! does anyone know why? i live 4 the haka. 

when i get sick of the olympics i turn on bojack horseman, my new favorite show. it's so weird and funny. i tried watching stranger things but spent the entire first episode with my hands over my eyes like the scaredy cat that i am and at the end i was still too scared to even walk to the other end of the house by myself without fearing that eleven would appear and suck me up into whatever alien layer she came from. great soundtrack though, no?

anyway. now that my book has gone to print i can really shamelessly cook anything i want from any cookbook i want. before it went to print, there was *always* the option of retesting a recipe from it, but now i don't even have that! so i've been busting through all of ottolenghi's books and all of the great books that just came out or are about to come out and one of my new favorite books is kristin donnelly's modern potluck. there are so many things i want to make in it. i made three recipes from it the weekend it arrived, including some crispy harissa chickpeas, a ribollita that had this addictive preserved lemon pepper relish swirled about, and these here scallion pull-apart rolls, which were a recipe that i contributed because the book is itself a little bit of a potluck, with a few recipes from different contributors. i was soo happy that she asked me to contribute and i felt like these scallion rolls would be a fun, festive, transportable addition to any potluck lineup. they are kind of like big fat scallion pancakes! 

and also big hat tip to julia turshen and gentl + hyers for the inspiration for these photos with the raspberry jam buns in small victories (that is another great book that you should get this fall!).

scallion pull-apart bread

from kristin donnelly's modern potluck

ingredients

for the dough:

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast (1 envelope)

1 tb sugar

3/4 c warm water

3 c all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 c vegetable or canola oil, plus more for the bowl

for the filling:

roasted sesame oil, for brushing (about 1/4 c)

8 scallions, finely chopped (about 1 c)

kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

red pepper flakes

1 large egg, lightly beaten with 1 tb water, for brushing

toasted sesame seeds, for topping

clues

make the dough: in a glass measuring cup, combine the yeast, sugar, and warm water. let stand until it foams at the top, about 5 minutes.

meanwhile, combine the flour and salt in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. stir in the yeast mixture and the oil and mix to combine. knead for 7 to 10 minutes, until smooth and springy. transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours.

make the filling: brush an 8-inch round cake pan with a thin layer of sesame oil. 

on a lightly floured work surface, roll the dough out into a long rectangle that's about 24 inches by 9 inches. brush the dough with a thin layer of sesame oil, and sprinkle with the scallions, a pinch of salt, a few grinds of pepper, and a pinch or two of red pepper flakes. roll the long side of the dough up like a jelly roll and brush the outside with more sesame oil. cut the roll into 1 1/2- to 2-inch pieces and arrange the pieces cut side up in the cake pan. cover and let it rise for 30 more minutes.

preheat the oven to 375ºf.

brush the dough with the egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds and a bit more salt. bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the top begins to brown. let cool briefly and serve.

and! in the spirit of a potluck, you can leave a comment here to enter to win some great lidded transportable dishes from pyrex! to enter to win a Pyrex® Simply Store® 4 Cup Flowers Storage Dish W/ Turquoise Lid and Storage Plus® 4 Cup Turquoise Lane Storage Dish w/ Turquoise Lid, tell me about your favorite potluck dish and be sure to leave your email in the comment form! giveaway open to u.s. residents. a winner will be chosen at random next week.

-yeh!

preserved lemon pappardelle with fried pine nuts, feta, and mint

in ,

molly on the range goes to print today. hallelujah! all of my fears about typos and clarity were at an all time high this week. i started to second guess some things that i thought were funny when i first wrote them and wondered if they weren't funny at all. at first i thought, well, nothing is funny after you've read it 5,000 times. but then i realized that pitch perfect 2 is still funny after watching it 5,000 times. so that's what kept me up at night this week. i started drafting answers to questions that i'm afraid people will ask when the book comes out, in case they don't understand things. i'm probably being silly, or maybe i'm just paranoid because i'm extraordinarily sleep deprived. but in general i am very excited to be one step closer to have all of my favorite recipes in a physical object that i can splatter paint with soy sauce, give as gifts, and just pet like a small animal.

the one other thing that kept me up at night this week was tel aviv nightlife. i cashed in all of my frequent flier miles for a little college reunion with brian and rob, my bridesmen, and we did some of the best most shameless dancing we've ever done. (it was probably more like stylized jumping than dancing, but whatever.) what i like about the dancing in tel aviv is that you don't have to get dressed up or wait on a long dumb line, there's just an abundance of chill bars with chill humans that aren't overcrowded and which happen to have great djs in one section where you can dance like tomorrow is the end of the world if you want. (fave spots: sputnik, radio, and kuli ama.) it was such a great time! but now i'm so happy to be home, right in time for wheat harvest! and also our garden is like whazzup! 

in the summer i love fresh pasta with just fresh herbs, olive oil, and lemon. leave the heavy sauce for sweater weather, these days i'm all about things from the garden tossed about and served next to a sausage or vegetable from the grill. my little macaroni eggs (well, now they are big macaroni, as you can see!) make this pasta so beautiful and yellow, and i'm using the fresh pasta recipe from my friend emiko's stunning new book, florentine (i'm giving away a copy of it over here, btw). the pasta is surprisingly easy to make and totally luxurious, but if you're short on time or just can't be bothered to get out your pasta maker, the combination of flavors here is still worth ripping apart your mint plant for. it's a combination i cannot get enough of these days: feta, mint, olive oil, nuts, spicy stuff, and either a fresh squeeze of lemon or chopped preserved lemon (which lends a funkier pickle-y flavor that i love, just make sure to rinse them otherwise this will be too salty). it's sort of like a deconstructed pesto situation that's just gotten back from summer vacation in morocco. i'm using preserved lemons from trader joe's, but you can also make your own. and california olive ranch's rich and robust olive oil is my go-to for this since its oomph factor can really hang well with the strong personalities of feta and lemon. 

this is a pasta i would gain 300 pounds for, fyi. 

preserved lemon pappardelle with fried pine nuts, feta, and mint

serves 4

ingredients

kosher salt

1 lb pappardelle (store bought or use emiko’s recipe, below)

1/3 c california olive ranch rich and robust olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 c raw pine nuts

4 slices preserved lemon, rinsed and finely chopped

1 c lightly packed fresh mint, chopped

Black pepper

1 c crumbled feta

Crushed red pepper

clues

bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt it ferociously, and cook the pasta according to the manufacturer’s directions. 

While the pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat until a drop of water sizzles when flicked across the surface. Add the garlic and pine nuts and cook, stirring, until they’re lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Add the preserved lemon and half the mint and cook, stirring, for another 1-2 minutes. Add the cooked pasta to the pan, reduce the heat to low, and toss the pasta to coat it evenly in the mixture. Give it like 20 turns of black pepper. Top it with the remaining fresh mint, the feta, and a few pinches of crushed red pepper. Serve immediately and enjoy. 

emiko's pappardelle

from emiko davies' book florentine

serves 4

ingredients

200g plain flour

200g semolina, plus extra for dusting

4 eggs

clues

Sift the flour and semolina onto a flat work surface and create a well in the middle with your hands. Crack the eggs into the well. Gently beat the eggs with a fork in a circular motion until they become creamy. Begin incorporating the flour and semolina little by little until it becomes too difficult to use the fork and then gather the dough with your hands. Knead for about 10 minutes or until it becomes elastic. Let the dough rest, covered so it does not dry out, for at least 30 minutes.

Divide the dough into two or three portions. With a pasta rolling machine or a rolling pin on a floured surface, roll out the dough until about 1 mm thick or until you can see your fingers through the other side. If rolling by hand, roll from the centre outwards.

The noodles should be cut to about 2–2.5 cm wide. Fold the dough lengthways over itself three or four times (dust with semolina between each fold so they do not stick) and then cut across the short side of the folded pasta. Use a sharp knife for a straight edge or a fluted pastry wheel cutter for a ruffled effect (good for catching sauce). Unroll the pasta, shaking it out, dust generously with semolina and shape into little ‘nests’ of equal portions – 100 g is equal to one serving. Cover under a dish towel or plastic wrap until ready to use.

Cook the pasta in boiling, salted water for about 3-5 minutes, or until silky and cooked al dente.

-yeh!

thank you, california olive ranch, for sponsoring this post! 

challah donuts + australia

in ,

it was like i had traveled in time to get there! from sweaty picnics at ravinia with fresh tomatoes and basil to cozy mountain evenings by the fire with hot mugs of soup. so bonkers! but very welcome because you know how much i love the cozy indoors. 

each morning, pip and haddy and sophie were bustling about the kitchen by sunrise, roasting pumpkin and lighting the fire place. the smells, the energy, and the way the air felt were all identical to thanksgiving morning, i was in heaven. ooh and on one morning, maggie the farm dog and i took a little stroll to go find kangaroos! i saw three at a distance, hop hop hopping away. i squealed and giggled.

we spent our days in sweaters and scarves with cameras glued to our hands, outside was crisp like an apple, and when sufjan came echoing through the dining room i fully submitted to autumn and no amount of tweets out of new york with kvetchings about the heat could hold me back. 

should i get a summer home in australia so that i can have sweater weather all year round? i’ll add it to the chrismukkah list.

what surprised me most about my time in australia, however, were the similarities between here and there. the architecture i saw was so similar, and the surroundings in the city felt like san diego and boston and in the mountains, like wisconsin. the workshop attendees came from all over the country and it struck me how much we aligned with our values, backgrounds, ambitions, the things we liked and our humor… you know how sometimes you meet someone in another country and even though you might understand the words that they’re saying, you feel that they’re just speaking another language and culture entirely? it’s not a bad thing at all, but this was the opposite of that and completely unexpected. i wonder if it’s because our countries are about the same age and melting pot-y. i guess there’s the whole british history too.  it was just such a pleasant surprise to feel so at home so far away. 

ugh i’m getting so mushy, i know. but i really felt like australia was part of the u.s. and the u.s. was part of australia. with vastly different pronunciations of "tahini." 

of course, however, this whole cozy at-home feeling is also because of sophie and luisa, the masterminds behind the local is lovely workshop, who are two of my new favorite people in the whole wide world. they are so kind and smart and generous and the dynamic they created with the whole group of participants was so darn lovely. if you ever happen to be in the market for a food photography workshop, i would recommend theirs 110%. (skye mcalpine will be there in october!!! go go go!)

you know that maya angelou quote about how it’s not what people say that you remember, it’s how they made you feel? i’m going to have the best memories of this weekend because of all those warm fuzzy happy feelings fluttering about. so so great. 

one thing i loved about this workshop was the small group hands on time where all of the participants rotated through luisa’s tapas scene, sophie and pip’s bread and butter scene, and my donut scene. it was citrus season there, so i went wild with blood oranges and made a curd and glaze. the heart of this recipe is the challah dough, though, which can be fried and filled with any curd/custard/cream you’d like and topped with powdered sugar or any glaze. it’s a choose-your-own-adventure donut that can be adapted to the seasons, no matter where in the world you are.

challah donuts

makes 12

ingredients

2 1/4 teaspoons (1 packet) active dry yeast
3/4 cup warm water
1/4 cup + 1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
2 large eggs
1/3 cup flavorless oil, like canola or vegetable, plus more for frying

filling:
i used this citrus curd, but you can also use buttercream or pastry cream or just leave them plain!

glaze:
2 c powdered sugar
2 tb cream
blood orange juice (or other juice)

clues

in a medium bowl, combine the yeast, warm water, and 1 teaspoon sugar and give it a little stir. let it sit for about 5 minutes, until it becomes foamy on top. 

meanwhile, in a large bowl or the bowl of stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix together the salt, flour, and remaining sugar. in a separate medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and oil.

when the yeast is foamy, add it to the dry mixture immediately followed by the egg mixture and stir to combine. knead, either by hand on a floured surface or with a dough hook for 7-10 minutes, adding more flour as necessary (but try not too add too much), until you have a smooth and slightly sticky dough.

transfer the dough to an oiled bowl, cover it with plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature until it has doubled in size, about 2 hours. 

fill a large heavy pot fitted with a thermometer with 2” of oil and heat over medium high heat to 360º f.

on a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/2” thickness. use a biscuit cutter to cut out 3” circles, re-rolling scraps until the dough is used up. cover the circles with plastic wrap and let rise for 30 more minutes. fry in batches for 1-1 1/2 minutes on both sides and use a slotted spoon to transfer them to a wire rack. let cool.

use a piping bag to pipe the filling into the donuts.

combine the powdered sugar, cream, and a splash of juice and mix until the glaze is a spreadable consistency, adding additional splashes of juice as needed.

dip donuts into glaze, add sprinkles or other decorations, and let the glaze set for a few minutes. serve and enjoy!

-yeh!