Recipes

I made these cookies in honor of Tu Bishvat. They are high in fiber and low in sugar and fat. The texture is somewhat unusual, but I enjoyed them very much.

Four-Fruit Trolls
(adapted from The All-American Cookie Book, by Nancy Baggett)
Yield: 35 cookies

2/3 cup golden raisins
2/3 cup dried sweetened cranberries
1 cup finely diced unpeeled Golden Delicious apple (about 1 medium)
2/3 cup chopped pitted dates
1 cup all-purpose white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/3 cups packed brown sugar (the cookbook says light, I used dark)
1/4 cup corn oil or canola oil
3 tbs unsalted butter or stick margarine, slightly softened
2 large eggs
1/4 cup unsweetened apple butter, thinned with 1 tbs water

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease several baking sheets or coat with nonstick spray.

In a medium bowl, cover the raisins and cranberries with hot water. Let soak for about 10 mins; drain well. Stir in the apple and the dates; set aside.

In a medium bowl, thoroughly stir together the white and whole wheat flours, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat together the brown sugar, oil, and butter or margarine until very well blended. Add the eggs and apple butter and beat until fluffy and evenly incorporated. Reduce the speed to low, add one-third of the flour mixture, and beat until the dough stiffens. Stir in the remaining flour mixture until evenly incorporated.

Drop the dough onto the baking sheets in generous golf-ball sized mounds, spacing about 2 1/2 inches apart.

Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, in the middle of the oven for 9-12 mins, or until browned and barely firm when touched in the centers. Reverse the sheet from front to back halfway through baking to ensure even browning. Transfer the sheet to a wire rack and let stand until the cookies firm up, 1-2 mins. Using a spatula, transfer the cookies to wire racks. Let stand until completely cooled.

Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week or freeze for up to 1 month.

* * *

I haven't yet tried the following recipe, but my mom thought it was good enough to send to all three of her daughters, so it must be pretty wonderful.

Lemon – Basil Chicken

3-pound broiler-fryer chicken
1 lemon
1 clove garlic thinly sliced
1/2 cup snipped fresh or 1 tablespoon dried basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
(soy sauce)

Heat oven to 375°. Remove excess fat from chicken; fasten neck skin of chicken to back with tooth pick. Fold wings across back with tips touching. Grate 2 teaspoons lemon peel; reserve. Cut lemon into halves; rub chicken with juice from 1 lemon half. Place garlic, 1 tablespoon of the fresh basil (1 teaspoon dried basil leaves) and both lemon halves in cavity. Rub chicken with reserved lemon peel; sprinkle garlic powder, remaining basil and soy sauce over chicken.

Place chicken, breast side up, on rack in shallow rectangular roasting pan. Cover and bake 1 hour. Uncover and bake until drumstick meat feels very soft when pressed between fingers, about 30 minutes.

4 servings

Dinner was generally successful. The only dishes we haven't tried before were the pomegranate chicken and the fig pseudo-newtons, both of which were pretty good. I've had a request to post the chicken "recipe." I've only made it once, and it was pretty experimental, so I will suggest a few modifications. I take no responsibility for unforeseen consequences :-)

Pomegranate Chicken
1 large chicken in pieces
2 15-fluid oz bottles pomegranate juice
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup fresh treyf mint leaves, chopped
8 cloves garlic, minced
pinch of salt

1. In a saucepan, combine juice, honey, mint, and garlic and bring to a boil. When the mixture reaches a full boil, add salt and reduce flame until it bubbles gently while uncovered. Continue to cook until the mixture is reduced to a thick syrup. (Note: I cooked the sauce for half an hour, at the end which it was still pretty thin. It tasted fine, and there was enough sauce for the chicken and a half that I was preparing, but the thick glaze called for by the recipes I've seen would probably have been better.)

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wash and skin chicken. Place in roaster pan.

3. Pour sauce over chicken pieces and bake covered 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until juices run clear.

Heretics that we are, DH and I never turn our chicken. You can flip it over halfway through baking if you wish to adhere to the letter of the law.

A land of wheat and barley, grape and fig and pomegranate; a land of oil-yielding olive and [date] honey.
-- Deuteronomy 8:8

Tomorrow night begins Tu B'Shevat, New Year's day for the trees. Though not all of the "seven species" of Deuteronomy 8:8 grow on trees, the verse is often associated with the holiday. I decided that it might be fun to have a "seven species" theme for this week's Shabbat dinner. As usual, I planned the menu far in advance. DH is standing by, ready to take orders.

The meal will, of course, begin with wine and challah, which will take care of of wheat and grapes. But that's too easy, so I thought I'd make whole wheat challah with raisins, just to press the point.

Next, there will be gefilte fish and salad with balsamic vinaigrette made with extra-virgin olive oil. Then we'll have Grandma's vegetable-barley soup. (We picked up the soup-after-fish practice from Chabad.) Our entree will be pomegranate chicken with garlic and mint, and the side will be brown rice with whatever embellishments DH feels like adding. For dessert, I am preparing rolled cookies with fig and date filling. I asked our guests to bring some fruit so we'd have something fresh that actually came from a tree.

I don't know why this sort of thing excites me, but it does. It's nice to have some reprieve from reality.