Wow, is it 2008 already? Hopefully, we won’t have as many bummers as last year, like Crisco chocolate and poisoned food from China. I could go for more frozen yogurt, but not necessarily Pinkberry, because homemade is best.
For more headlines, check out Chow’s Year in Food–Vegansexuals, tainted dog food, greenwashing: the people, events, and trends that shaped our diets. Yup, I wrote three blurbs for them.
Merry Christmas! My mom is the only person I know who asks people to give her fruitcake on this day. She even went through the trouble of buying candied maraschino cherries so she could make her own. At the last minute, she backed out because of the two-hour bake time. Now we have all these neon fruit pieces but no cake. To tell you the truth, I’m actually dissapointed.
For everyone else, I’ve presented fruitcake alternatives, like panforte nero, “friendship bars” and now Greek Christmas bread. Several countries have their own version of holiday bread. There’s Italian panettone, German stollen and Alsatian kugelhopf. They’re delicious but are enriched with lots of butter. Greek christopsomo, however, has relatively little olive oil, but it’s still moist and feathery. It’s like a healthy panettone that’s flavored with wine, figs and spices. In Greece, it’s so popular that’s it’s enjoyed year-round.
Photo: About.com
Christopsomo: - hree-STO-psoh-moh -Greek/Cypriot Traditional Christmas Bread
by Rea Varveris, the New School of Culinary Arts
Bread is the most important of the Greek holiday foods. Historically, flour and yeast were scarce and expensive and thus saved for special meals. The careful preparation of the traditional Christopsomo or Xristougenniatiko psomi, or Christ’s Bread is said to ensure the well-being of the home in the year to come. It is a rich, round loaf decorated with a cross, or with pieces of dough formed into symbols representing the family’s life (initials, birth dates, ages, boats, animals, etc).
On Christmas Eve. the head of the household blesses the loaf and then cuts a piece for each person with a wish of “Kald Christoúyena” (”Good Christmas”) or “Chrónia pollá“ (”Many years”).
Ingredients:
8 cups all-purpose flour
l teaspoon salt
3 pkg. dry yeast
1 cup warm water (105 F)
1 cup warm red wine
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
zest of 2 oranges
1/4 cup fresh tangerine juice
zest of 2 tangerines
1/4 cup Greek cognac
1 cup sugar
1 cup sultanas (golden raisins)
1 cup currants
1 cup dried figs, chopped
1 1/2 cups of toasted walnuts, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup toasted pignoli (pine) nuts, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon pulverized masticha (mastic) or 1 teaspoon crushed anise seed
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Topping for Decoration:
milk
16 whole walnuts in their shells
3-4 tablespoons sesame seeds
Directions:
1. In a small bowl, mix the yeast with 1/2 cup of warm water and 1 teaspoon of sugar, stir until dissolved and set aside for 10 minutes, until it bubbles.
2. In a large mixing bowl, sift the salt with 2/3 of the flour. Make a well in the center of the flour and pour in the yeast mixture, the remaining warm water, and the wine. Mix until a soft dough forms, cover with waxed paper and a damp towel, and set aside to rise for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until doubled in bulk.
3. Punch the dough down and knead for several minutes until any air pockets are gone. Add the oil, orange & tangerine juices, zests and cognac. Sift in the remaining flour;
4. In a small bowl, mix the sugar, raisins, currants, dry figs, walnuts, pine nuts, masticha or anise, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg until blended, and add to the dough.
5. Knead well until the dough is firm and doesn’t stick (about 10 minutes), cover, and allow to rise for 1/2 hour.
6. Punch dough down and knead for a minute. Reserve one fistful of dough, and shape the rest into a circular loaf. Or you can divide it into 2 loaves, 10 inches each, and place on a lightly-buttered baking pan . Cover with a dry cloth and a damp cloth over that, and place in a warm place to rise again, until doubled in size.
7. Use the small piece of dough to create designs. Roll into long strands, as demonstrated in class, and shape a cross on the loaf. Press whole walnuts into the top. Brush with milk and sprinkle sesame seeds on top.
8. Preheat oven to 400F degrees
9. Place a pan with at least 1 inch of water in the bottom of the oven. Place christopsomo in the preheated oven on the middle rack and bake for 15 minutes, then remove the pan with the water, reduce heat to 350°F. and bake for another 25-30 minutes or until brown and the bread sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.
10. Remove from oven, and cool on a rack. Serve cut into thick wedges and drizzle with honey. This bread will keep for at least 3 days at room temperature
Notes:
Masticha or Mastic - a dried pine resin: is a flavoring made from the sap of the mastichodendro bush, which grows only on the island of Chios. The resin exuded by the Mediterranean plant “lentesk” is used as flavoring in some Greek and Turkish baked goods. Even though people tried to take mastic to different countries in the past, amazingly enough mastic is impossible to grow in any other part of the world except Chios. Always pulverize masticha with a pinch of sugar, flour or semolina.
Mahlepi: or Mahleb: cherry kernels, is an aromatic spice from the pulverized pit of the black cherry. Used in the Middle East as a flavoring in baked goods.
At this time of year, the dirtiest word you can utter is fruitcake (foodwise, at least). You could be describing the most delicious thing in the world, but as soon as you mention dried fruit, nuts and spices, people associate it with fruitcake and run the other direction.
Fruitcake is lovingly referred to as “the gift that keeps giving,” since every loaf you receive looks suspiciously like the one you gave away last year. If you’re tired of cakes with neon-colored fruit pieces, here’s an alternative.
Panforte is an Italian confection with plump, dried figs; honey and whole nuts. Wait, don’t leave! It’s not fruitcake. It’s sticky and chewy, like the topping on pecan bars. Think of it as healthy fruit fudge, since there’s no butter, cream or oil. When I made these as gifts this year, I was careful not to refer to it as fruitcake. It worked. One of the recipients didn’t even get to bring it home. He took it to a party, and his friend’s mom ate it all.
Panforte with coffee is a morning treat, and it becomes an afternoon pick-me-up when paired with tea. It also goes well with wine and cheese (or so I’ve heard), but I’m not a savory person. The version below is Alice Medrich’s panforte nero (black strong bread), which gets an extra kick from cocoa and spices. If you don’t have all the spices and nuts, use whatever you have. Walnuts work well, and I substituted a scant teaspoon of whole, slightly crushed cumin for the fennel.
To find out more about dessert pioneer Alice Medrich (they don’t call her the First Lady of Chocolate for nothing), check out the “Minimalist’s Dessert” interview, which I did for Chow.com. As another fruitcake alternative, try the date and walnut bars from Alice Medrich’s Cookies and Brownies
Panforte Nero
from Alice Medrich’s Pure Dessert
Serves 12-16
1 cup (4.75 ounces) hazelnuts, toasted and loose skins rubbed off
3/4 cup (3.75 ounces) whole unblanched almonds, toasted
2/3 cup (3 ounces) all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons natural (nonalkalized) cocoa powder
2 1/4 teaspoons slightly crushed fennel seeds
Slightly rounded 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Slightly rounded 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
Slightly rounded 1/4 teaspoon finely ground white pepper
Slightly rounded 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
Slightly rounded 1/4 teaspoon finely crushed coriander seeds
Slightly rounded 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
grated zest of 1 orange, preferably from an organic or unsprayed fruit
8 ounces dried Mission or other figs, tough stems cut off and sliced about 1/4-inch thick
2/3 cup honey
2/3 cup sugar
Powdered sugar or cocoa powder for dusting (optional)
Equipment: An 8-inch round cake pan
Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 300F. Grease the pan or spray it with vegetable oil spray. Line the bottom with a circle of parchment and the sides with a 2-inch wide band of parchment. Grease the parchment, bottom and sides, liberally.
In a large bowl, mix the nuts, four, cocoa, spices, orange zest and figs.
In a 3- to 4-quart saucepan, bring the honey and sugar to a full roiling boil. Boil for 15 seconds. Off the heat pour in the dry ingredients and mix well, working quickly, before the syrup cools.
Scrape the mixture into the prepared pan and spread it evenly. Bake until the batter bubbles in the center as well as at the edges, 40 to 45 minutes. Cool the panforte in the pan on a rack.
Invert the panforte onto a plate and remove the pan. Peel off the parchment and turn the panforte right side up. If desired, dust the top with powdered sugar. Serve in thin slices.
Panforte keeps forever, well wrapped, at room temperature. But I don’t think it will last that long.
Did you ever think you could make this? In Wild Sweets Chocolate, you’ll get a breakdown of the components (chocolate nut cream, chocolate sucree and cocoa nibs nougatine), plus these tempting recipes:
You have until this Friday, Dec. 21, to win this book in the Menu for Hope campaign. To refresh your memory, every $10 donation (which will feed school children in Lesotho, Africa) gives you a virtual raffle ticket toward a prize of your choice. As of writing, only two tickets have been sold for this book. You have a very good chance of winning if you donate and specify prize code UE26. Did I mention that it’s valued at $40 and comes all the way from Canada?
Don’t forget, I’m also giving away all-natural, homemade nut butters (prize UE27). If you like Nutella, you’ll love my chocolate-hazelnut, cashew, walnut and peanut butters.
There’s two days left to win “free” prizes and fight world hunger. Last year, Menu for Hope raised more than $60,000 for the U.N. World Food Programme. This year, founder Chez Pim wants to raise $100,000. We’ve got $48,000 so far. We can do better than that!
If you lost out in my chocolate-hazelnut butter giveaway, here’s your second chance. I’m throwing in the aforementioned spread, plus all-natural peanut, cashew and walnut butters. Each variety is full of freshly roasted nuts and has no trans fats. How do you use them? You can make a deluxe PB&J, rich walnut pesto, pumpkin hummus or a fragrant swirl-in for coffee. Of course, you can always dip your finger in the jar, too. Don’t forget, the chocolate-hazelnut butter has a new caramelized sugar base with three times the nuts of commercial Nutella.
Because it’s the holidays, I’m also offering another gift, the Wild Sweets Chocolate cookbook, by Dominique and Cindy Duby. These Vancouver pastry chefs are renowned for using chocolate in both the savory and sweet realm. Fueled by imagination and science, their recipes include slow-roasted salmon with cocoa muscovado consommé and milk chocolate caramel confit. The book’s stunning photography and detailed steps guide you through more than 150 recipes. It’s a must for anyone interested in unusual flavor combinations and molecular gastronomy. The Dubys’ first book, Wild Sweets: Exotic Dessert and Wine Pairings, won Best Book in the World for Food and Wine Matching from the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards.
One or both of these prizes can be yours if you participate in Menu for Hope, an online charity campaign that Pim Techamuanvivit (of Chez Pim) organizes every year. Five years ago, the tsunami in Southeast Asia moved her so much that she had to help. She rounded up bloggers around the world and asked them to contribute food-related prizes for an online fundraiser. Every year, the prizes get bigger and better. Last year’s Menu for Hope raised $60,925 for the U.N. World Food Programme, which seeks to fight hunger worldwide.
This might be wishful thinking, but let’s see if we can raise $100,000 this year. For every $10 you donate online, you get one virtual raffle ticket toward the prize of your choice. Please remember to specify prize code UE27 for the nut butters and UE26 for the Wild Sweets Chocolate cookbook. Here’s more detailed instructions.
How to Enter the Menu for Hope Raffle
Check back on Chez Pim on Wednesday, January 9 for the results of the raffle.
Thanks for your participation, and good luck in the raffle!
Congratulations to Christina, Lesha and Danielle (of the food blog Habeas Brulee) for winning a jar of homemade chocolate-hazelnut spread and agreeing to “pay it forward.” Everyone who responded impressed me with their kindness. You had great charity ideas, from foregoing Christmas presents and instead giving gifts to the poor, to lending money to a mother of 11.
For those who didn’t win, here’s a second chance. Drop a donation in the Menu for Hope raffle from Dec. 10-21, and you can win your own chocolate-hazelnut spread, plus three other gourmet nut butters. Be sure to specify prize code UE27 in the comments section of the form. May the best bidder win!
And don’t worry, there will be more Pay it Forward giveaways in the future.
This December, I’m giving away three batches of homemade chocolate-hazelnut butter. You might enjoy this spread as Nutella, but mine’s more sophisticated. I caramelize the sugar and add three times more hazelnuts. If you’re looking for the recipe, the new version’s not online yet… But the basic version has gotten rave reviews.
To win, be one of the first three people to answer this question below: what’s your favorite way to use chocolate-hazelnut spread? The only thing I ask is that you pay it forward. In my version, you must promise to do a charitable act.
Some ideas: volunteer for the relief efforts in New Orleans, because it’s still bad down there. Or donate money to worthy causes, such as CulinaryCorps, UNICEF (they have programs for the cyclone in Bangladesh and the genocide in Darfur), and a Menu for Hope. Or, go green by recycling more, using compact fluorescent lightbulbs and eating less animal products. I would appreciate it if you let me know your good deed, because I love to know about random acts of kindness.
