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Macaroon Kashab, Glazed Sesame Seed Macaroons from The Ralph Nader and Family Cookbook

Print Recipe

Macaroon Kashab, Glazed Sesame Seed Macaroons

FROM THE RALPH NADER AND FAMILY COOKBOOK: CLASSIC RECIPES FROM LEBANON AND BEYOND by Ralph Nader, copyright 2020 by Ralph Nader, used with permission of Akashic Books (akashicbooks.com).

Ingredients

INGREDIENTS FOR MACAROONS

  • 1 or 2 .6-ounce cakes of yeast 2 for quicker results
  • 1 cup lukewarm milk
  • 10 cups unbleached white flour
  • 2 cups sesame seeds optional: slightly toast in oven
  • 2 1/2 cups olive oil
  • 5 eggs whisked
  • 4 tablespoons anise seed
  • 1 tablespoon mahlab

INGREDIENTS FOR SYRUP

  • 5 cups white sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups cold water
  • juice of 2 lemons
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons orange blossom
  • water

Instructions

PREPARE THE MACAROONS

  • Dissolve yeast cakes in milk.
  • In a large bowl, mix flour and sesame seeds. Thoroughly combine anise seed
  • and mahlab in a blender together and add to the flour mixture.
  • Add olive oil and whisked eggs to flour mixture.
  • Knead all the ingredients well (but not hard) for about 15 minutes until the bowl is clean on the sides. The dough should be a little loose.
  • Cover and let the dough rise for 1 hour.
  • Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
  • After the dough has risen, form 2 handfuls into a big, long, rounded shape on the worktable, about 2 feet long. Cut the dough into 1-inch pieces.
  • To form a macaroon, gently press each 1-inch piece against the grain on a flat cheese grater to create a pattern. Carefully roll the dough off the grater in one motion with the back of your fingers, forming a macaroon about the shape of a forefinger. Place onto a cookie sheet with the overlap facing down.
  • Bake for about 25 minutes. The macaroons are finished when slightly brown.

PREPARE SYRUP FOR GLAZE

  • While macaroons are baking, dissolve sugar and water. Add lemon juice. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, and boil for 3–4 minutes. Add orange blossom water.
  • With a slotted spoon, dip cooked macaroons in hot syrup to glaze as soon as they are removed from the oven. Remove from glaze and place in a colander sitting in a larger bowl to permit the macaroons to drain slightly before being placed on a platter.
  • If macaroons are being stored for future eating, use wax paper between layers to prevent them from sticking to each other.

food

Hazy Thai Wings by Jeff The 420 Chef

From the cannabis infused cookbook The 420 Gourmet: The Elevated Art of Cannabis Cuisine by Jeff The 420 Chef

Print Recipe

Hazy Thai Wings

This recipe is an ode to Pok, Pok, Chef Andy Ricker's renowned Thai street-food restaurant.
Prep Time30 mins
Cook Time30 mins
Course: Appetizer
Cuisine: Thai
Keyword: Cannabis, Chicken, Infused
Servings: 6
Author: JeffThe420Chef

Ingredients

  • ½ cup raw cane sugar
  • ½ cup Asian fish sauce
  • 3 tablespoons ketchup
  • 1 ½ tablespoons chili garlic sauce Sambal sauce
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
  • 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
  • 1 cup cornstarch
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 2 pounds chicken wings rinsed and patted dry
  • Extra Virgin coconut oil
  • ½ cup canna-coconut oil
  • Toasted peanuts and garlic
  • 4 Tablespoons cilantro chopped

Instructions

STEPS

  • Place sugar in a food processor and grind until very fine.
  • In a medium bowl, add fish sauce, ketchup, sugar, chili garlic sauce, lime juice and rice vinegar. Set aside
  • In a shallow dish, sift cornstarch and garlic powder.
  • Toss the wings in the cornstarch mixture to coat.
  • Heat a large skillet on the stovetop for 1 minute on high.
  • Add enough coconut oil to fry. About 2” from the bottom of the pan.
  • Fry the wings until golden brown. Remove with slotted spoon and drain on brown paper.
  • Preheat oven to 340ºF.
  • Place fried wings on a lightly greased baking sheet and drizzle each wing with 1 teaspoon of cannaoil.
  • Bake for 7-8 minutes.
  • In a clean skillet, add the sauce, Heat on Medium until syrupy, about 5 minutes.
  • Remove wings from the oven and toss with the sauce until evenly coated.
  • Toss in the garlic and peanuts.
  • Garnish with cilantro and serve alongside a cup of carrot sticks and celery curls and Voilá!
  • Add-on: Toasted peanuts and garlic
  • ¼ cup raw peanuts, crushed
  • 4 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 teaspoon coconut oil
  • In a small bowl, mix peanuts and garlic with coconut oil and a dash of salt.
  • Spread evenly on a small pan and roast at 325ºF for 30 minutes until toasted and browned.
  • Remove, let cool and Voilá!
  • Celery Curls: Cut celery into 6-inch pieces, slice in half lengthwise, make lengthwise cuts almost to center and repeat to create slivers. Refrigerate in ice water until slivers curl and serve.

Notes

APPROXIMATE DOSE PER SERVING*
10%: 10mg
15%: 15mg
20%: 20mg
*Approximate dose per serving is based on using 5 grams of cured/dried/decarbed herb into 5oz of coconut oil.

food

Best-ever Chocolate Chip Cookies, Delish Insane Sweets

The editors of Delish.com published a collection of their most over-the-top desserts ever DELISH INSANE SWEETS: Bake Yourself a Little Crazy. The cookbook is packed with over 100 recipes for cookies, cupcakes, bars, and bites that are as easy to make as they are delicious.

In my interview with Editorial director, Joanna Saltz she talked about how they came up with the recipes in the book in particular the chocolate chip cookie recipe. After my interview, I baked them with my son. The recipe does not call out what type of butter, salted or unsalted. We decide to bake them both ways to see which way it came out better.

I will not reveal the results here. You will have to listen my podcast interview to find out what we thought. But I can tell you we did eat up every cookie from both batches!

Print Recipe

Best-ever Chocolate Chip Cookies from Delish Insane Sweets

After 28 intense, sugar-filled rounds of testing, Delish believes they finally perfected the chocolate chip cookie. They are chewy, fudgy, filled with two types of chocolate, and rival the size of any bakeries. They are a work of art. Taking inspiration from Grandma's nearly perfect cookie, these have plenty of butter and a bit of love. Delish is certain you'll need no other chocolate chip cookie recipe ever again.
Total Time50 mins
Course: Dessert
Servings: 15 large cookies

Ingredients

  • 1 c. 2 sticks butter
  • 1 c. packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 c. granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
  • 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
  • 2 c. all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. kosher salt
  • 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1 1/2 c. chocolate chips
  • 3 oz. chopped chocolate
  • Flaky sea salt for topping

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 325° and line 2 large baking sheets with parchment.
  • In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Bring it to a boil and let boil one minute.
  • Place sugars in a large bowl (or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment), then pour hot butter over sugars.
  • Beat with a hand mixer until combined, 1 minute. Add egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and beat until light and creamy, 2 minutes.
  • In another large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
  • Add to wet ingredients and beat until dry ingredients are almost incorporated with just a few white streaks. Add chocolates and stir until just combined.
  • Using a large cookie scoop, scoop dough (about 3 tablespoons) onto prepared pans about 3” apart and sprinkle with sea salt.
  • Bake until edges are golden and almost set in the middle, 14 to 15 minutes (Cookies will still look slightly underdone).
  • Let cool on pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to cooling rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.

Notes

Courtesy of Delish.com
Delish Insane Sweets, pg. 21

food

Elementary Chocolate Chip Meringue Cookies

When I was a kid I loved making meringue cookies. Recently, my mother was cleaning out her recipes and came across this recipe in my handwriting from elementary school! It looks like I wrote it on a page from one of those “blue books” that we used to take exams in school. My handwriting looks nothing like that today!

Meringue cookies are so easy and uncomplicated to make. With just four ingredients they are great to make with kids. Probably the most complicated thing to do in the recipe is separate the whites from the egg yokes. I like to use an egg separator especially when cooking with my son.

My son loves to make them and they never last more than a day in my house.

If you want to make them look pretty, you can use a pipping bag and drop in “kisses shape,” however, you need to forgo the chocolate chips. They clog the pipping tip!

Print Recipe

Chocolate Chip Meringue Cookies

These chocolate chip meringue cookies so easy to make. They are crisp on the outside and gooey on the inside. Nobody can resist them — even your gluten free friends!
Course: Dessert
Servings: 30 cookies

Ingredients

  • 2 egg whites
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla extra
  • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 30 degrees.
  • Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone mat.
  • Beat eggs whites with salt until soft peaks form.
  • Gradually add the sugar and beat until stiff.
  • Fold in vanilla and chocolate chips
  • Drop mixture by teaspoon full onto cookie sheet.
  • Bake for 30 mintues.
  • Remove from cookie sheet and cool on rack.

Notes

Note:  If you prefer to use a piping bag to create cookies, leave out the chocolate chips and just sprinkle over after they are on the tray.  The chips clog up the nozzle of the bag.  

food

Lemon Maple Curd

Winter is citrus season. Well, not where I live but my friends out West are getting an abundance of citrus this time of year. Good thing I have nice friends and family that share! Sometimes my Aunt will send me lemons from her yard or recently I was in California and had to snag a bunch of fresh lemons from the tree in my friends backyard.

Lime tree in my friend’s back yard in LA! So jealous!
Lemons from my Aunt’s yard in Arizona

One of my favorite lemon recipes is lemon curd. Traditionally served with scones at afternoon tea in Britain, curd can be also used in tarts, pies or folded into whipped cream for filling in cream puffs. I love it on pancakes, crepes or just right out of the jar.

Curd is easy to prepare and you do not have to use lemons. You can try any other citrus fruit you like such as blood oranges, passion fruit, grapefruits and limes. My curd recipe is sweetened with maple syrup instead of sugar. If you prefer honey, you can swap it for the maple syrup.

The key to making curd is to get everything ready before you start combining ingredients. And remember to zest your lemons before you juice them!

Print Recipe

Lemon Maple Curd

Ingredients

  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into small pieces
  • ⅓ cup maple syrup
  • 4 large egg yolks
  • 2 large eggs
  • ⅔ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice 6-8 lemons
  • 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest

Instructions

  • Fill a medium sauce pan or pot with water.
  • Boil water.
  • Once water is boiling, place a heat resistant bowl (glass is best) on top of pot so that the water just hits the bottom bowl and lower heat to a simmer.
  • Take a fine mesh strainer put on top of another bowl and set aside. You will need this later after curd has set. It is important you have ready because your curd sets fast!
  • Place butter in bowl that is on top of bowling water to melt.
  • Once melted add maple syrup.
  • In separate bowl, beat eggs and yolk.
  • Pour in the fresh lemon juice and grated zest into bowl with butter and syrup.
  • Slowly add in eggs and whisk constantly.
  • Cook until the mixture has thickened and becomes jelly-like. Approximately 5-7 minutes but it can take longer.
  • With a pot holder lift bowl off the top of pot and pour curd into your strainer which is sitting on top of a clean bowl.
  • With a spatula or spoon press curd through the mesh leaving behind the zest and any egg that may have cooked.
  • Pour the curd into a jar or storage container and let cool before you put a top on.
  • Curd last for a couple weeks in the refrigerator.

food

Ricotta Gnocchi, Lateral Cooking: One Dish Leads to Another

The basis for Niki Segnit’s cookbook, Lateral Cooking: One Dish Leads to Another, is she gives you starting points and connected recipes called continuums. There are 12 continuums in the book. In the Cornbread, Polenta, Gnocchi chapter you start with a basic cornbread recipe that will eventually lead you to gnocchi.

Instead of potato these gnocchi are made with ricotta.

Print Recipe

Ricotta Gnocchi

The lightest of all gnocchi, and the easiest to make well. Relatively quick, too, once, the ricotta has been drained. As with potato gnocchi, the flour—again, used In the smallest quantity possible—helps the main ingredient cohere. Ricotta gnocchi are excellent with summer vegetables and leaves, or floated in a light broth.
Course: Appetizer, Main Course
Cuisine: Italian
Author: Niki Segnit

Ingredients

  • 1 cup Whole milk ricotta
  • 1/3 cup All-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup Finely grated Parmesan
  • 1 Egg beaten
  • Grating of nutmeg
  • Fine semolina or rice flour for dusting

Instructions

  • Drain the ricotta for at least 30 minutes or, preferably, overnight in the fridge.
  • Spread out the ricotta on a plate, then evenly sprinkle over the flour, Parmesan, egg, and nutmeg, and quickly form into a soft, wet dough. As for potato gnocchi, you want to handle the dough as little as possible.
  • Flour your hands. Roll about 2 tsp of the mixture into a cork shape or a ball, drop it onto a plate of flour, and dust with a fine veil of the semolina or rice flour. If the mixture seems too wet to roll, try dropping a dollop of mixture onto a lightly floured plate, and using a fork rather than your hands to fashion it into a shape.
  • Bring some salted water to the boil in a large saucepan and submerge your first gnoccho. It should hold together and bob up to the surface after about a minute. Leave it to simmer for a minute more, before lifting it out with a strainer or slotted spoon and testing it for texture. If it passes, form the rest of the mix into your chosen shapes. If it falls apart, add a little more flour and test again. The idea is to get the ricotta mix to cohere with as little flour as possible.
  • Cook your gnocchi in batches. If you’re not serving them immediately, or tossing them straight into a pan of sauce, keep the cooked and drained gnocchi warm in a covered dish in the oven at 200°F. You may find that having two pans of simmering water on the go makes this less laborious.

Notes

For about 32 cork-shaped gnocchi, enough to serve 2 as a small main course or 4 as a starter.
Courtesy of Niki Segnit, Lateral Cooking

food

Maple Hazelnut Granola

I love granola.  I eat it almost everyday for breakfast — or for me it’s actually brunch. This recipe is my favorite. It is so simple to make and the maple syrup and hazelnuts is the best combination. You can add dried fruits or any nuts of your choice. It is great with yogurt, milk or nut milk.  It also makes an amazing topping for ice cream. And of course you can just eat it out of the jar.

Did you know that granola or granula was invented by a doctor at The Jackson Sanitarium a.k.a. Our Home on the Hillside in Dansville, New York in 1863? Dr. James Caleb Jackson had been sick most of his life and had an amazing recovery after taking hydrotherapy at a spa. Subsequently, he became an advocate for the use of water for healing, became a doctor and opened hydrotherapy spa. Our Home on the Hillside grew to be one of the largest in the world, catering for around 20,000 patients! Jackson believed the diet was the key to improving health. (Yes!) He was a vegetarian and promoted it with the emphasis on fruits, vegetables, and unprocessed grains. This was back in the late 1800s!!!  

At the spa, Jackson created a cereal known as Our Home Granula composed of graham flour and was similar to an oversized form of Grape-Nuts. Dr. John Harvey Kellogg another vegetarian and healthy diet advocate (who would have known!) created similar product but changed the name to Granola to avoid conflict with Dr. Jackson.

Granola took a long hiatus but was revived by the hippies the 1960s! Fruit and nuts were added and it was coined a “health food.” In 1969 at Woodstock, Wavy Gravy made granola popular by serving it to festival attendees! 

Now I now why I love granola so much.

Peace, Love, and Granola! ✌🏻 ❤️ 🥣

Print Recipe

Maple Hazelnut Granola

Crunchy granola is a favorite for breakfast sprinkled over yogurt. But this Maple Hazelnut Granola is so delicious you can just eat it by the handful. Made with real Vermont maple syrup!
Prep Time15 mins
Cook Time30 mins
Course: Breakfast, Snack
Keyword: Granola, Maple Syrup

Ingredients

  • 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats I like Bob’s Red Mill Thick Cut Gluten Free Oats
  • 1 cup hazelnuts toasted and peeled
  • 1 teaspoons salt
  • 2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 1/2 cup maple syrup
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350°F.
  • Place a piece of parchment or silicone baking sheet on a large cookie sheet.
  • Toast hazelnuts for 10-15 minutes until slightly brown.
  • Rub skins off hazelnuts with a towel or by hand. I like to just rub them together.
  • Combine oats, hazelnuts, salt and cinnamon together in a large bowl.
  • Stir in the oil, maple syrup, and vanilla. Mix until thoroughly coated.
  • Pour mixture out onto two cookie sheets and bake for about 25-30 minutes until light brown and toasty.
  • Stir every 5 minutes or so for an even color and to make sure the granola is cooking evenly.
  • Once cool enough, use the back of a spoon or the flat end of a meat tenderizer to break up hazelnuts into smaller pieces.
  • Let cool.

Notes

If you like chopped dried fruit in your granola, stir in once it comes out of the oven or just add prior to eating. (Dried cranberries are a good choice.)
Links to Products Mentioned
Meat Tenderizer
Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Oats

food

Chicken, Cider, and Cheddar Crumble, Apple: Recipes from the Orchard

James Rich calls this the three Cs crumble. To see how it’s made check out the video of James in action. If you make it let me know how it comes out! And to find out more about James Rich and his book Apple: Recipes from the Orchard take a listen to my interview with him! And the end of the interview, I talk about my experience cooking from the book!

Print Recipe

Chicken, Cider and Cheddar Crumble

This savoury crumble recipe is a powerhouse of comfort food! It hits that spot when you need something to help ward off those cold winter nights. The recipe came to James when he was exploring how to combine some of his favourite ingredients together; chicken, cheese and cider! Cider and chicken go really well together, and James has a few recipes in his book that celebrate this partnership, plus he went to school in Cheddar (in the UK), so James really had no choice on the cheese selection for this dish.

You can make this ahead of time – it’s great for leaving for a day or so – just make it to the point before adding the crème fraîche and chill until needed. When you’re ready, take out of the fridge, add the crème fraîche and top with the crumble topping before baking.
Prep Time20 mins
Cook Time40 mins
Course: Main Course
Servings: 6
Author: James Rich

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 large onion chopped
  • 2 celery stalks chopped
  • 2 carrots chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves crushed 100 g (3 1⁄2 oz) mushrooms, sliced
  • 350 g 12 oz skinless boneless chicken thighs, cut into chunks
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 cooking apple such as a Bramley, peeled and cored
  • 1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard
  • 200 ml 7 fl oz/scant 1 cup dry cider
  • 100 g 3 1⁄2 oz/scant 1⁄2 cup crème fraîche
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • For the crumble
  • 250 g 9 oz/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon mustard powder
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 150 g 5 oz butter, at room temperature, diced
  • 150 g 5 oz mature Cheddar, grated (shredded)
  • 30 g 1 oz/1⁄4 cup hazelnuts, chopped

Instructions

  • Preheat a fan oven to 180°C (350°F/gas 6).
  • Heat the oil in a large frying pan (skillet) over a medium heat and fry the onion, celery and carrots for 5 minutes until they begin to soften. Add the garlic and mushrooms and fry for a further 3 minutes.
  • Add the chicken and oregano to the pan and continue frying for another 10 minutes until the chicken has cooked through and is beginning to brown. Cut the apple into 8 wedges, add to the pan and fry for a further 2 minutes.
  • Next, add the mustard and stir in well. Then pour in the cider and increase the heat. Cook on a high heat for 3–5 minutes until the alcohol has burnt off and liquid has reduced by about a quarter. Turn off the heat, stir in the crème fraîche and season to taste with salt and pepper. Then transfer to a large baking dish.
  • To make the crumble topping, put the flour, mustard powder and some salt and pepper in a bowl and mix together. Add the butter, then rub between your fingers and thumbs until you have a breadcrumb-like mixture. Stir in the cheese and hazelnuts and mix well.
  • Top the apple, chicken and cider with the crumble and bake in the oven for 25 minutes until the crumble is golden brown and crunchy. Serve with your favourite vegetables.

Notes

From page 80 of Apple: Recipes from the Orchard

food

Cranberry Scones

These cranberry scones are the most requested recipe in my house. I figured that would make the perfect starting point for the food section of the site. I have made these scones so many times that I could most likely do it without the recipe. They always come out flaky and delicious.

The scone is best know as an British baked good. The first scone dates back to the early 1500s but it became popular in the 1800’s when Anna, the Duchess of Bedford’s servant brought her tea with scones. She loved them so much that she ordered them everyday starting the tradition of Afternoon Tea.

They can be sweet or savory. I prefer savory but James Rich in Apples: Recipes from the Orchard has a great savory scone that I talk about in the “Book to Plate” segment of my podcast interview with James.

You don’t need any special equipment to make these although to make blending the butter easy I love using a pastry blender. Sometimes you may need to add a little more liquid than the recipe calls for the dough to form. Just do it a little at time. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Print Recipe

Cranberry Scones

Servings: 8 scones

Ingredients

  • 2 cups All-purpose flour plus more for work surface
  • 5 tablespoons Sugar
  • 1 tablespoon Baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon Salt
  • 6 tablespoons Chilled unsalted butter cut into small pieces
  • 2/3 cup Heavy cream (Can use half-and-half or milk) You may need more to get batter moist
  • 1 teaspoon Vanilla
  • 1/2 cup Halved cranberries (Frozen are easier to use)

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a bowl, whisk together flour, 5 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or two knives until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in 2/3 cup half-and-half (may need more) and vanilla until just moistened. May need more liquid to make batter come together. Gently fold in cranberries.
  • On a lightly floured surface, knead dough gently, 5 to 10 times. Pat into a 1-inch-thick round. Cut into 8 wedges; place on a baking sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.

food

Welcome to Eat Well, Travel Often

Welcome to Eat Well, Travel Often, a podcast about food, travel, the environment, mind, body and spirit. I’m Melissa Goldberg, and over the course of my adult life I have been focused on how to build an integrated community around food, health, wellness, and the environment. These are all related. Understanding these interrelationships helps us look at life as a holistic system and teaches us how to connect with each other to create a loving and thriving community.

On Eat Well, Travel Often, I talk with farmers, foragers, cookbook authors, doctors, scientists and entrepreneurs. All have one thing in common — the people I speak with are trying to better everyone’s lives through their work and passion. These are the people who inspire me to be a better person. 

I hope to share with you my curiosity for everything from book to plate. And the goal of these conversations are to inspire you to Eat Well and Travel Often.