Month: September 2021

Parsnip, Cherry Walnut Cake with Sweet Hawaij Glaze

~ lisaandfrancescook ~ 2 Comments
Parsnip Cherry Walnut Cake

Parsnip, Cherry Walnut Cake with Sweet Hawaij Glaze is a knock-out. I know, I know – parsnip?! But hear me out. We eat carrot cake and zucchini bread without giving it a second thought. So why not the under-rated cousin of carrot? Parsnips are one of those root vegetables that is a harbinger of autumn for me. This sweet, unassuming vegetable is wonderful in soups, stews and root vegetable mash. But cake?

We Jews have just begun the Festival of Booths (Sukkot) which is the middle holiday in the panoply of High Holidays celebrated by Jews all over the world. This ancient harvest festival “commemorates the wanderings of the Israelites in the desert after the revelation at Mount Sinai. The huts represent the temporary shelters that the Israelites lived in during those 40 years.”

And parsnips are the perfect early harvested vegetables to begin the autumn and the Jewish New Year. I came across this recipe through a website called Nosher on my Jewish Learning. It intrigued me enough to try it. While perhaps not the most impressive-looking of cakes, it is packed with flavor. I did change the original glaze to one of my own making, however. It seemed that the amounts and types of spices would overwhelm the cake.

Included below is a recipe for Sweet Hawaij from the cookbook Shuk by Einat Admony and Janna Gur. This Yemeni spice blend is magical. I often use it to replace anywhere you might use pumpkin or baharat spices. It will take coffee and roasted vegetables to the next level. Try it in pumpkin pie. You might just be converted. I make up my own but it is also available online and at spice stores.

Despite the leavening used in the recipe, the cake does not rise very much in. If you would prefer a higher cake, you could use a smaller bundt pan, but it would likely increase the baking time. While dense, the cake is not at all heavy. Every day the flavors melded and became even moister and richer. I would definitely suggest making this at least a day ahead of when you plan on eating it. Mine was stored in a glass-domed cake plate and has held up beautifully.

Parsnip Cherry Walnut Cake

So if you are looking to add more veggies into your diet, there is no sweeter way than this Parsnip, Cherry Walnut Cake with a Sweet Hawaij Glaze. The tart cherries perfectly complement the sweet parsnip and the walnuts add some depth and texture. But don’t wait for a holiday to make this yummy cake.

Recipe

Yield: About 10 servings

Ingredients

Parsnip Cherry Walnut Cake

For the cake

2 cups (260 g) unbleached, all-purpose flour

1.5 teaspoons (7.2 g) baking powder

1 teaspoon (5 g) baking soda

1/2 teaspoon (2.6 g) kosher salt

3 large eggs at room temperature

1 cup (206 g) packed light brown sugar or jaggery

1 cup (240 g) sour cream at room temperature

2 teaspoons (10 g) vanilla bean paste or pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup (8 Tablespoons or 113 g) unsalted butter, browned slightly cooled

About 4 parsnips (340 g after peeling and trimming ends), finely grated and packed into a 2 cup measuring cup

1/2 cup (60 g) dried pitted cherries or barberries

1/2 cup (57 g) walnuts, lightly toasted and chopped

For the glaze

1.25 cups (155 g) confectioners or icing sugar

1 generous teaspoon Sweet Hawaij (see recipe)

pinch of kosher salt

About 1/3 cup milk (79 ml)

Sweet Hawaij

Yield: About 1/2 cup

1 Tablespoon ground cloves

2 Tablespoons freshly grated nutmeg

2 Tablespoons ground cinnamon

2 Tablespoons ground ginger

1 Tablespoon ground cardamom

This will last in a cool, dark place kept in a small glass air-tight jar for up to a year. Mine gets used up waaaaaay before that!

Directions

For the cake

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (176 C). Spray well a 12-cup Bundt pan with a non-stick vegetable spray and set aside. Place a cooling rack over parchment, newspaper or a baking pan and set aside.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add the salt and set aside.

Using a stand or hand-held mixer (or by hand), combine the eggs, sugar, sour cream, vanilla paste and browned butter. Mix well. Add the flour mixture and mix just until barely combined. A few small streaks or lumps of flour are okay. (Over-mixing leads to a gummy cake!)

Add the finely grated parsnips, cherries and walnuts and mix just until combined. pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for about 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Allow to cool on a rack for 10 minutes and then turn it out. Allow it to cool completely. If you are feeling lazy, you can simply dust the cooled cake with confectioners sugar and call it a day. The cake alone is delicious. But if you want AMAZING, make the glaze.

For the glaze

In a medium bowl, combine the confectioner’s sugar, salt and Sweet Hawaij or pumpkin spice blend. Slowly add in the milk until you get a consistency that is fairly thick but still pourable. If you go too far, just add a bit more sugar. When the cake has cooled completely, pour or drizzle the glaze over the top and allow it to run down the sides.

Moroccan Chickpea Soup (Harira)

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Moroccan Chickpea Soup (Harira)


Moroccan Chickpea Soup (Harira) is hearty and fragrant – a soul-satisfying one-dish meal. There are many versions of this soup – some with meat and others like this one, which is vegan. In some families it is traditional to serve this as the “break-the-fast” meal following Yom Kippur. But it could and should be enjoyed throughout the fall and winter. This is a make-ahead meal that only improves with a bit of age.

To show how vastly different our family traditions can be, my family’s break-the-fast meal was always bagels, lox and smoked fish. We came from New York via Russia Poland. But the truth is that I actually don’t like lox and smoked fish in the Midwest just doesn’t cut it for me. So, as I have with much of our diet during the rest of the year, I have adopted a more Middle Eastern/Mediterranean/South Asian food culture. And a heavily plant-based diet.

I came across a version of this soup on the Jewish Food Society website. It’s a wonderful site that has made it its mission to collect stories and recipes of the myriad Jewish communities across the globe. These are recipes that have been passed down through the generations, but which might have so easily been lost. Because so many of these families were forced from their homes under terrible conditions, it was easy for these unwritten treasures to have fallen by the wayside. While I have found that the recipes on the site are not always easy to follow, especially if you are a novice cook, the family histories alone make the website worth a visit.

While we Jews lived among the local communities, we also remained outside of them, keeping to our own traditions. Local cuisine was adapted to meet the laws of kashrut. Harira, Moroccan Chickpea Soup is a perfect example. Moroccan Muslims would eat harira to break the fast on Ramadan. Whereas many Jews ate it to break the fast on Yom Kippur.

The original recipe for this harira uses fine egg noodles and since I am not a vegan, I did as well. However, there is no reason why an angel hair pasta or spaghettini couldn’t be used instead. That is the only change required to make this wonderful soup vegan.

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Moroccan Chickpea Soup (Harira)

If you choose to cook your own soaked chickpeas as I have done, you need to start the process the night before. If you prefer to use canned chickpeas, you can still make a delicious and hearty soup. I happen to enjoy cooking my own beans and use the liquid from the cooking process to replace most of the water called for in the recipe. It adds an extra level of nourishment and flavor and helps to further thicken the soup. Unless you are using organic canned beans, however, I would not recommend using the liquid. You could use water, as called for, adding a vegetable bouillon cube or you could use a vegetable stock.

After I had decided to make the recipe I found from the Jewish Food Society, I came across another version from My Jewish Learning, The Nosher. So I ended up doing what I usually do and took the elements that I liked best from both and then tweaked it!

My sister-in-law is from Morocco and I asked what her family’s tradition was for breaking the fast. She told me that their tradition was to eat an egg-drop soup before the fast and cake to break the fast, followed by a full meal. So whatever tradition your family follows – or if you are starting a tradition of your own, I definitely encourage you to fit this wonderful and incredibly soul-satisfying soup in there somehow.

For a version of harira with lamb: Harira – Moroccan Chickpea and Lamb Soup

Recipe

Yield: 6 servings

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Moroccan Chickpea Soup (Harira)

Ingredients

1 cup dried chickpeas, soaked overnight and drained OR one 15 oz. can of drained chickpeas

4 Tablespoons olive or a neutral oil like Canola

3 medium carrots (or 2 large), peeled and cut into small dice or rounds

2 stalks of celery, diced

1 large onion, diced

4 large garlic cloves, minced

1 Tablespoon Harissa paste, or to taste (I used 2 Tablespoons of a milder Harissa and added a few crushed red chili flakes)

2 teaspoons ground turmeric

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 Tablespoons tomato paste

1 cup brown lentils OR 1/2 cup red lentils and 1/2 cup brown or green lentils, rinsed

4 large or 6 medium tomatoes, roughly chopped (If making this in the winter, use canned tomatoes, about 28 oz. can)

3 cups fine egg noodles OR angel hair pasta broken into thirds (About 4 to 5 oz. depending on the kind of noodle that you use)

8 cups of vegetable stock, OR water with a couple of bouillon cubes OR the cooking liquid from the chickpeas plus additional water

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

A large handful of cilantro and/or parsley, stems and leaves roughly chopped

Directions

If you are cooking your own soaked chickpeas, place the drained chickpeas in a pot with 1 teaspoon of salt and 4.5 cups of water. Bring to a boil and skim off any white foam. Cover and cook for 50 minutes at a simmer.

In a large pot, add 4 Tablespoons olive or Canola oil. Add the chopped onion, carrot and celery and cook for about 6 minutes on medium high heat or until softened. I like to add 1 teaspoon of salt here. I will probably add more later since it is a big pot of soup. However, if you are using broth or bouillon and depending on your Harissa, you might not need much more salt. You can always add it but you cannot easily remove it!

Once the veggies are softened, add the garlic and cook for 1 to 2 more minutes.

Now add the Harissa, turmeric, ginger, cinnamon and black pepper and stir through to coat everything well. Cook for 1 minute and then add the tomato paste to the bottom of the pot. Stir and cook for another 2 minutes.

If you are using your own chickpeas you can add them to the pot. I find that when I cook chickpeas myself, they retain their shape and bite even when cooked longer. If you are using canned chickpeas, you will add them in later. Your lentils are also added now. Give everything a good stir to coat with the spices and tomato paste.

Next add the tomatoes, broth, water or liquid from the chickpeas, the chopped stems of the parsley and/or cilantro. Don’t worry if there are some leaves in there as well. Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil. Partially cover the pot and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally for 1 hour. This can be done ahead.

When you are ready to eat, return the heat to a boil and add the noodles and canned chickpeas, if using. Simmer for 15 minutes. Taste and check your seasonings. The soup should be very thick, almost stew like. If you want it thinner then add more liquid. Add the juice of 1/2 of a lemon. Garnish with the chopped parsley/cilantro leaves.

Enjoy!



Flaky Flatbread

~ lisaandfrancescook ~ 2 Comments
Flaky Flatbread with Fenugreek

These Flaky Flatbreads are fun to make and so versatile. Make them ahead and they reheat beautifully. While I make mine with a Bulgarian or goat yogurt, any yogurt will work, including non-dairy. And even though I brush mine with fresh garlic butter, you can use either a good EVOO or vegan butter instead. Recently, my husband was out of town and I made up a batch of these. I wrapped the leftovers in foil and reheated them in my toaster as needed. The outside got slightly crispy. And the layers flaked into these lovely fragrant pieces of dough that were perfect for dipping into soups and spreads.

Since I began doing more Indian cooking, I have become familiar with spices and herbs that I had not traditionally used before. Two of my favorites now are carom seed (ajwain) and fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi). Either one, or dried mint, cumin seed (or nothing at all) works wonderfully in this flaky flatbread. And because you control the seasoning, your flatbreads will be unique to you!

Unlike most breads, these flaky flatbreads don’t require any rising time. The dough comes together in just minutes. Then we let it have a nice rest until it becomes supple and easy to roll out. This resting time can be a 20 minute catnap or as much as a couple of hours. Your schedule can dictate the time. The longer resting time makes them a bit easier to work with, but I have made them both ways successfully. We enjoy these flatbreads at least once a week. They are the perfect compliment to Middle Eastern/Mediterranean foods as well as South Asian.

I came across many iterations of this basic recipe online so it is difficult to say exactly which one I ended up using. And the addition of the fenugreek and garlic butter is my own twist. How you use this flaky flatbread is only limited by your imagination. Leave out the garlic and this becomes a great bread for breakfast or snacking. Just add your favorite nut butter, smushed avocado or preserves. Smear on tomato sauce or pesto with the toppings of your choice and you have mini pizzas. Did I mention that this was versatile?

I am not going to claim that these are as healthy as the two ingredient lentil pancake/flatbreads that you can find all over YouTube. But eaten in moderation with an otherwise healthy meal, they are fine. And as much as I love a good lentil dish, these really do taste better than those pancake/flatbreads.

Flaky Flatbread with Fenugreek

Recipe

Yield: 8 flatbreads

Ingredients

2 cups of all-purpose flour, plus about 1/4 cup more for dusting the dough

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1.5 teaspoons fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi) Optional, but recommended

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup plain natural yogurt (I like full-fat)

8 ounces melted butter

2 large garlic cloves, crushed Optional, but recommended

Directions

Measure out the flour, salt, baking powder and dried herbs, if used, into a medium bowl. Using a fork or whisk, mix everything together so that the salt, baking powder and herbs are well distributed. If the bowl is wider and shallower, it is a bit easier to work with, but any bowl will do. You can do this ahead and cover it until you are ready to make the dough.

Flaky Flatbread

Add the yogurt and mix through the flour until you get a shaggy dough. I found that it was easiest to use my hands for this. It should take only about 1 to 2 minutes.

Flaky Flatbread

Then using your hands, gently knead the dough until the moisture from the yogurt is distributed throughout and you end up with a smooth, moist dough. Depending on the shape of your bowl, it might be easiest to transfer the dough to your counter to work with. If you use a thicker yogurt, like a Greek or Icelandic yogurt, you might need to add a Tablespoon of water to the dough. Natural yogurts are more liquidy and preferable for this recipe.

Form the dough into a ball and place it back into the bowl. Cover it lightly with plastic wrap or a plate. This entire process from the time you add the yogurt to the time you form your dough ball should take no more than 5 minutes and possibly as little as 3 minutes.

Flaky Flatbread

Allow the dough to rest for a minimum of 20 minutes and up to 2 hours. It will not double in size. We are not using yeast. But the dough will become more relaxed and supple and will be easier to roll out.

When the dough has rested, remove it from the bowl and divide it into 8 pieces. Unless you are doing this for a living, just eyeball the pieces. It is not necessary to weigh them out to be sure that they are exactly equal in size.

Flaky Flatbread

Cup your hand over the dough piece and roll your hand in a circle against the counter to form a ball. Lay the pieces out on the counter or a baking tray or platter to make it easier to work with.

You want to work with one section or ball at a time. I found it easiest to put 1/4 to 1/3 cup of all-purpose flour in a shallow bowl or container rather than sprinkling my counter. I then slightly flatten the dough ball with my hand and dip each side into the all-purpose flour. If I need to double dip, I can. Any excess flour can be sealed in a container and used for the same purpose since no raw dough gets mixed in. I know, but trust me on this.

Flaky Flatbread

Years ago, a dear friend, now dead, gave me a wonderful marble rolling pin to use in making mu shu pancakes. I never actually used it for that purpose, but it is perfect for these flatbreads and I think of Marge with great fondness whenever I handle it. But any rolling pin or empty wine or beer bottle will work too.

Place the flattened dough ball on the counter or board and roll it out as thinly as possible. Don’t worry too much about the shape. If it is round or oblong, or even slightly misshapen, this will still work. I am no expert! Brush the dough lightly with some of the melted garlic butter. Then working from the longest end, tightly roll up the dough into a log. Perfection is not necessary! If butter got on the board or counter, just wipe it away with a paper towel. Otherwise the next ball will be difficult to roll out. It doesn’t have to be perfectly clean – just wipe up any excess butter or oil.

Then take one end of the log and curl it in on itself and keep doing this to form a flat snail. [See the speeded up video below] Lay the snail onto the baking sheet lined with a silicone sheet. If you don’t have that, you can use a sheet of parchment barely dusted with flour. Those with more experience may try to pleat the dough instead of folding it. This is something that I saw Chetna Makan do. The more folds that you have, the more layers of flakiness. But honestly, life is complicated enough!

Keep repeating this until you have 8 flat snails. Cover them with plastic wrap or a tea towel and allow them to rest for as little as 20 minutes or up to an hour.

Quick tutorial on rolling out flaky flatbreads
Flaky Flatbread

When you are ready to cook the flatbreads, set an untreated non-stick or well-seasoned cast iron skillet on medium high heat. If you have a bigger pan, use it so you can cook several flatbreads at once. If all you have is a small skillet, don’t fret. It will take more time to cook everything, but it will work just as well.

Take one snail at a time, keeping the remaining snails covered while you work. Again, dip both sides of the snail into your reserved flour. Using your rolling pin, roll the dough out into an approximately 5-inch diameter circle. If it isn’t a perfect round, it’s okay. I have yet to achieve a perfect circle! Try to keep the roll from opening up. It seemed to work best for me to just flatten the snail a bit with my hand first before applying the rolling pin.

Once you have the circle rolled out, generously brush the surface with the garlic butter. Immediately pick up the dough and place it in the hot pan, butter side down. Then brush the top side with butter. If your pan will hold more than one flatbread, immediately roll out your next snail, repeating the above process. Each side takes about 5 minutes to cook. The dough may puff up a bit while cooking. That’s okay. Take a flat spatula, and gently press down on the top of the dough. You don’t need to pop the bubbles, but you don’t want them to get away from you or when you turn the flatbread over, it won’t cook evenly. All of the surfaces need to hit the pan.

You know the side is done when you have nice brown spots all over. If your heat is too high, the outside will burn before the inside is cooked. If the pan isn’t hot enough, the dough won’t really get that nice browned look that you are going for. As with pancakes, the first one out of the pan is never quite as good as the subsequent ones. I always go for the darkest bread at the bakery. So check your bread after 4 minutes to achieve the desired doneness.

When each flatbread is finished, you can place it on a baking sheet in a warm oven until you are finished and ready to serve. If you are not eating all of the breads in one go, allow the leftovers to cool and then wrap the rounds in foil. They will keep in the fridge for several days or even on your counter if your house is cool. When you are ready to eat them, warm them in the oven or a toaster. Do not microwave them!