Tag Archives: pistachios

Chocolate Salami

Posted on February 16, 2020 by nina in the kitchen

My new favorite cookie! No baking needed and it’s full of antioxidants! It looks like an Italian salami but it’s made with chocolate, chewy dried cherries, crunchy pistachios and plain cookies.

My Italian friend Giovanna Nebuloni from Milan Italy first introduced Chocolate Salami to me. She called it Salame di Cioccolato. Her recipe was much different than this, but the concept is the same. Pieces of cookie chunks resembling salami fat in a dark chocolate cookie, rolled in a light colored ingredient resembling the white powdery dusting of benign mold.

This recipe is adapted from America’s Test Kitchen cookbook The Perfect Cookie. I soaked the chopped dried cherries in whiskey instead of Grand Mariner. Also I think more lady fingers are needed. It’s a forgiving recipe, so you can easily add more cookie crumbs. I kept it at 3/4 cup cookie crumbs, but 1 cup would work too. I used Stella D’oro Margherite cookies because they are dried ladyfingers and taste yummy, but vanilla wafers or savoiardi would work too, or any biscuit like cookie.

Here’s all your ingredients plus a little powdered sugar

Melt chocolate and heavy cream in microwave

Process some of the cookie pieces into crumbs

Sir in the pistachios, cherries and cookie pieces

Place each half on a piece of plastic wrap. Roll into 6-7 inch logs. Twist ends

After chilling, roll in powdered sugar and slice.

Ingredients

1/2 cup dried cherries, chopped coarse

2 tablespoons whiskey, bourbon or Grand Marnier

6-8 ounces dried lady fingers (Stella D’oro Margherite cookies)

1 cup/6 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips

1/3 cup heavy cream

Pinch or more salt

2/3 cup pistachios, toasted

1/2 cup confectioners sugar

Instructions

1. In a small bowl combine cherries and whiskey. Microwave 30 seconds. Cool

2. Slice lady fingers into 1/4 inch pieces with a bread knife. Reserve 1 cup of the biggest chunks. Process the remaining lady fingers so you have 3/4 cup crumbs or a bit more

3. In a medium bowl microwave chocolate and heavy cream just until melted and smooth, about 30 seconds or so.

4. Add salt and ladyfinger crumbs to chocolate and mix well.

5. Add cherry mixture, pistachios and ladyfinger chunks. Stir until a thick dough forms.

6. Divide dough in half and place each piece on a sheet of plastic wrap.

7. Use the plastic to roll each piece into a 6-7 inch log. Twist the ends tight. Refrigerate about 3 hours until firm, but check them to re-roll and insure their shape during that time.

8. When ready to serve, place confectioners sugar in a shallow dish. Unwrap the logs and roll until well coated. Cut into 1/2 inch slices. Serve chilled.

2 Comments

Posted in cookies and tagged cherries, chocolatesalami, Italian, ladyfingers, no-bake, no-bake cookie, pistachios, Salame di Cioccolato, Stella d’Oro. Bookmark the permalink.

Feta and Pistachio with Black Pepper: A Turkish Meze

Posted on August 6, 2014 by nina in the kitchen

Turkish Style Feta and Pistachio Meze

Cheese at the Fethiye Market

Sliced Cucumbers Separate These Mezes

This creamy spread for bread is another meze I discovered in Istanbul. It’s a quick dinner party appetizer too. I never saw the word feta in Turkey; only cheese. Feta means slice, so feta is probably our interpretation. Their “feta like” cheese is always white, but creamier and less tart. When I developed this recipe I added yogurt to a nice quality Bulgarian feta from our local cheese and wine shop, Eastman Party Store. Eastman’s has made the world of difference in our lives in Midland, Michigan. It has more international flair than any other local shop!
I’ve also made this with the Presidents brand feta which was great too!

You can make this as thin and creamy as you like. A spoonful maintains it’s shape, but it can definitely be spread on a slice of French like baguette. Add more yogurt if you like. Have fun with this new combination of ingredients! Use all 4 teaspoons of the black pepper! It’s the key in this recipe!

As it sits in the frig it may dry out a bit. Add more yogurt to keep it spreadable. It stores well up to a week.

In a small bowl combine with a spoon until well blended.

8 ounces whole milk feta, cut into tiny squares

6 oz or about 1 1/4 cups shelled pistachios, roughly chopped

4 teaspoons black pepper

1 cup whole milk plain Greek yogurt

Add more yogurt for a creamier consistency. Spread on Naan, a Middle Eastern flatbread

All the ingredients you’ll need. Notice the bag of shelled pistachios!

Feta sliced into 1/4 inch cubes

Roughly chopped pistachios

The feta and pistachios

A brand of yogurt very close to the Turkish yogurt in Istanbul

The nutrition label of the whole milk Greek yogurt. 14 grams of fat is about a tablespoon per cup

Strawberry Pistachio Semifreddo

Posted on March 23, 2014 by nina in the kitchen

Strawberry Pistachio Semifreddo

This “semi-frozen” dessert does not require an ice cream maker and is perfect for a dinner party because it serves 8-12. Or you can keep it all for yourself in the freezer! Thank you to Martha Stewart, this was a big hit at our last Dinner Club! Martha Stewart is the entertaining queen of our time. Her magazine, Martha Stewart Living and her website are inspiring sources. You can also find this recipe at MarthaStewart.com

http://www.marthastewart.com/978987/strawberry-pistachio-semifreddo

Our dinner party of 8 divided this dessert into 8 portions. Not a lick was leftover!

Thank you to Rose Thill for discovering this recipe and to Nadine Kanuch for preparing it so exquisitely!

1/2 cup unsalted roasted shelled pistachios

8 ounces strawberries, hulled (about 2 cups)

1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar, divided

3 large egg yolks, room temperature

1 1/2 cup cold heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Line a 5-by-9 inch loaf pan with plastic wrap, leaving a 2 inch overhang on all sides.
Pulse pistachios in a food processor until coarsely chopped. Transfer to a small bowl.
Place strawberries and 3 tablespoons sugar in the processor
Puree until smooth and transfer to a fine sieve set over a bowl. Stir puree, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard solids.
In a medium bowl set over a pot of simmering water combine egg yolks and 1/2 cup sugar.
Beat on high until pale yellow and tripled in volume, about 3 minutes.
Transfer bowl to a larger bowl of ice water. Stir until mixture is very thick and cool, about 3 minutes.
In another large bowl beat together cream and vanilla until soft peaks form.
Whisk 1/3 of whipped cream into egg mixture, whisking until smooth.
Then fold egg mixture into remaining whipped cream with a rubber spatula just until thoroughly blended.
Pour 1/2 of the cream mixture into strawberry puree. Gently fold together until thoroughly incorporated.
Pour strawberry cream mixture into the prepared loaf pan; smooth top.
Fold pistachios into remaining cream mixture. Pour evenly over strawberry cream; smooth top.
Fold plastic wrap over surface and freeze at least 12 hours.
Keep frozen until ready to serve. Invert pan onto a cutting board. Unmold semifreddo, remove plastic, and cut crosswise into 3/4 inch thick slices. Voila!

5 Comments

Posted in Cakes and desserts and tagged dessert for entertaining, frozen dessert, ice cream, living, martha stewart, pistachios, semifreddo, strawberries. Bookmark the permalink.

Baklava

Posted on November 9, 2012 by nina in the kitchen

Baklava baked and cut in diamond shapes

This is an authentic Greek recipe from Mercin Karris of Midland Michigan. She made this for her family and the annual Greek Festival in Saginaw Michigan. When I made the recipe her husband George would critique it for me. I have enjoyed making this for 30 years with heartfelt appreciation for George and Mercin.

1 lb package frozen phyllo leaves, measuring 14 inches x 18 inches (follow package directions for thawing. If phyllo starts to crack, let thaw longer at room temperature)

1 lb salted butter or more, melted

2-3 lbs walnuts, chopped coarsely, or as desired

3 tablespoons cinnamon

Syrup:

4 cups sugar

3 cups water

1/2 lemon

2-3 inch cinnamon sticks

1/2 cup honey

In a large saucepan combine the sugar, water, lemon and cinnamon sticks. Whisk together and heat to a simmer. Continue simmering uncovered. Keep an eye on this as you proceed with the baklava. The goal is to have room temperature syrup that is the consistancy of Karo syrup. As you complete the baklava, cool a tiny amount in the freezer. Then place a drop on your thumb nail. This drop should not roll off.

Add the ground cinnamon to the chopped walnuts and mix.

Use a shallow baking sheet measuring about 14 inches x 18 inches x 1 1/2 inches. Brush the bottom and sides with butter.

Compiling the baklava involves layering the leaves of phyllo and brushing each layer with melted butter.
You should use at least 1 pound of butter, but not over 1 1/4 pounds.
For the bottom layers, place 6 leaves of phyllo brushing each layer with butter.
If the leaves are too large for the pan, fold the excess towards the center. Switch sides of the folds to make an even pastry. The center layers continue with phyllo and butter with the addition of 2 or 3 handfuls of walnuts sprinkled on top.
As you make several layers with nuts, count out the last 6 layers of phyllo. These are the top layers and should be phyllo and butter only as the bottom layers without the nuts.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Before baking, cut the baklava. Your skills for cutting and visualizing even measurements determines how you go about this. You can use a ruler if you want.
I use dental floss to mark out 6 lengthwise strips. Then I use a sharp paring knife to cut these strips.
Then I use the dental floss to mark out the diagonal corners across the baklava. Cut through this center diagonal line with the knife.
At this point I use my eye to cut the remaining strips in parallel to the center diagonal.
The end products are diamond shape baklava measuring about 4 inches by 1 1/5 inches. If you want smaller pieces, start out with 7 or 8 lengthwise strips.

Before baking, check your syrup. If it is ready, pour into a ceramic bowl and add honey. Cool quickly to room temperature over ice. The goal is to pour cold syrup over hot baklava. Set the syrup aside to cool.
Place the baklava in the hot oven. Sprinkle a wet hand of water over the baklava to promote a crisp crust. Bake about 30 minutes or until just starting to turn a light toasted color. Do not overbake.
Remove from the oven and recut with a sharp knife.
Pour the cold syrup over the hot baklava. Cool overnight before serving. Syrup absorbs into pastry as it cools. Wait to serve until there is no more syrup pooling in the baking pan.

You can make this large quantity and freeze part for another time. When ready to serve I like to use a paper cupcake liner for each piece
You can use pistachios instead of walnuts. Another flavor to sprinkle on is rose water just before and/or after baking.

5 Comments

Posted in Breads and Baking, Cakes and desserts and tagged fillo, Greek, phyllo, pistachios, rose water, walnuts. Bookmark the permalink.