Dayrecipe Food Community

Spice Cookies

Rice paper is traditionally used in this recipe, but is not essential. You can bake these cookies on buttered baking sheets instead.

Active time: 45 min Start to finish: 2 3/4 hr

Makes about 32 cookies.

INGREDIENTS

• for nut flour
• 3/4cup hazelnuts (3 1/2 oz)
• 3/4cup sliced almonds (2 1/2 oz)
• 2 3/4cups all-purpose flour
• 3tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2teaspoon ground cloves
• 3/4teaspoon salt
• 1/2teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4teaspoon baking sodafor cookies
• 1cup packed dark brown sugar
• 3/4cup mild honey
• 1/2stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 2large eggs
• 1/2cup finely chopped fine-quality mixed candied fruit such as citron, orange, and lemon*
• 4(11 1/2- by 8 1/4-inch) sheets edible rice paper, cut with scissors into 32 (2 1/2-inch) roundsfor icing
• 2cups confectioners sugar
• 3tablespoons water

DIRECTIONS Make nut flour:
Finely grind nuts with remaining nut flour ingredients in a food processor.

Make dough:
Beat together brown sugar, honey, and butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until creamy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in nut flour at low speed until just blended, then stir in candied fruit.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Arrange rice-paper rounds, shiny sides down, on 2 large baking sheets. Roll level 2-tablespoon amounts of dough into balls with dampened hands, then put 1 on each paper round and flatten slightly (dough will spread to cover paper during baking).

Bake cookies in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until surface no longer appears wet, about 15 minutes total. Transfer to racks to cool.

Ice cookies:
Sift confectioners sugar into a bowl, then stir in water until smooth. Evenly brush tops of cooled cookies with icing. Let icing set, about 1 hour.

Cooks’ note:
• These cookies improve with age but icing will darken. If making ahead, do not ice until day of serving. Cookies keep, layered between sheets of wax paper, in an airtight container 1 month.

* Available at Fauchon (212-308-5919) or The Baker’s Catalogue (800-827-6836).

Truite à la Tomate

This trout recipe could be page 1 of [fishmonger Neige] Perez’s Workbook for
Cooking Fish 101. There are no fish bones to fillet, no tomatoes to peel, and
no saucepans to clean. Cooked together in a single roasting pan, the capers,
olives, onions, tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, white wine, and trout fillets
conspire to create a wonderful, unmistakably Mediterranean ensemble sure to
entice even Marseillais who were scaling and gutting fish — or so they
say — before they could walk.

Makes 4 servings.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 trout fillets, about 6 ounces each
• salt
• 1 tablespoon capers
• 2 tablespoons green olives, pitted
• 8 to 10 pearl onions, chopped
• 1 pound ripe plum tomatoes, chopped
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• freshly ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS 1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

2. Place the trout fillets on an oiled baking dish and season with salt.

3. Combine the capers, green olives, pearl onions, tomatoes, chopped parsley,
and chopped garlic and spoon the mixture over the trout fillets.

4. Pour the white wine over the fillets and vegetables, drizzle with olive
oil, season with salt and pepper, and bake until the fillets are just cooked
through, about 20 minutes.

Active time: 15 min Start to finish: 15 min

Makes 4 servings.

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2to 1 tablespoon finely chopped canned chipotle chiles in adobo plus 2 teaspoonsadobo sauce (from can)
• 1/2teaspoon salt
• 4red snapper fillets with skin (1 1/2 lb total)
• 1/3cup all-purpose flour
• 3tablespoons vegetable oilaccompaniment:lime wedges

DIRECTIONS Mash together butter, chipotles to taste, adobo sauce, and salt with afork until blended.

Pat fish dry and cut each fillet inhalf crosswise, then season with salt and pepper. Spread flour on a plate and dredge fish, knocking off excess.

Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then panfry fish, skin sides up first, in batches, turning over once, until browned and just cooked through,4 to 6 minutes. Transfer as cooked with a slotted spatula to plates and add more oil to skillet as needed. Top fish with dollops of chipotle butter.

Active time: 20 min Start to finish: 35 min

Makes 4 servings.

INGREDIENTS

• 2teaspoons white-wine vinegar
• 1/2teaspoon sugar
• 1/4teaspoon salt
• 2tablespoons olive oil
• 1seedless cucumber (1 1/4 lb; usually plastic-wrapped), cored and cut into 1/8-inch-thick matchsticks
• 1/2lb jicama, peeled and cut into 1/8-inch-thick matchsticks (2 cups)
• 2tablespoons drained bottled pickled ginger, finely chopped

DIRECTIONS Whisk together vinegar, sugar, and salt in a small bowl until sugar is dissolved, then add oil in a slow stream, whisking until emulsified. Toss together cucumber, jicama, ginger, and dressing in a bowl until combined well, then let stand, covered and chilled, 15 minutes.

These Asian-inspired lamb shanks are wrapped and baked in individual foil packets, then placed atop bowls of steamed rice. Serve with stir-fried bok choy or other Chinese greens. What to drink: Asian lager beer or a fruity red Zinfandel.

Makes 6 servings.

INGREDIENTS

• 12dried shiitake mushrooms
• 2 1/2cups boiling water13-inch-long piece fresh ginger, peeled, thickly sliced
• 3garlic cloves, peeled
• 3/4cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro
• 4 1/2tablespoons black bean garlic sauce*
• 6teaspoons peanut oil
• 1 1/2teaspoons chinese five-spice powder**
• 6large lamb shanks (about 1 pound each), excess fat trimmed3/4cup thinly sliced green onions3/4cup dry sherrysteamed white rice

DIRECTIONS Place mushrooms in bowl. Pour boiling water over; let soak until mushrooms soften, at least 45 minutes and up to 4 hours. Strain mixture, reserving 1 1/2 cups soaking liquid. Cut stems from mushrooms and discard; thinly slice caps.

With food processor running, add ginger and garlic and finely chop. Add cilantro, black bean sauce, 2 teaspoons peanut oil, and five-spice powder. Process until paste forms, occasionally scraping down sides of work bowl. Using sharp knife, cut 5 small shallow slits into each lamb shank, spacing apart; rub generous 1 tablespoon black bean-cilantro paste into slits and all over surface of each shank. (Mushrooms and lamb shanks can be prepared 6 hours ahead. Cover mushrooms, soaking liquid and shanks separately and chill.)

Preheat oven to 325°F. Cut six 18-inch squares of aluminum foil; place on work surface. Place green onions and sliced mushroom caps in center of each foil square, dividing equally. Heat remaining 4 teaspoons peanut oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Working in batches, add lamb shanks and cook until brown on all sides, about 5 minutes per batch. Place 1 lamb shank atop green onions and mushrooms on each foil square.

Pour reserved mushroom soaking liquid and Sherry into same skillet. Boil until liquid is reduced to 3/4 cup, scraping up any browned bits from bottom of skillet, about 10 minutes. Spoon 2 tablespoons reduced liquid over each lamb shank, pulling up foil around shanks to prevent liquid from spilling out. Enclose shanks completely in foil, twisting foil to seal; place on large rimmed baking sheet.

Bake lamb shanks until very tender and meat almost falls off bones, about 2 hours. Open up foil packets; place each atop bowl of steamed rice, allowing diners to remove foil.

* Available at Asian markets and in the Asian foods section of supermarkets.
** A blend of ground anise, cinnamon, star anise, cloves, and ginger; available in the spice section of most supermarkets.