My in-laws, Rabbi Yisrael and Chana Berman, live on a kibbutz.
No, they're not Kibbutznikim, so delelte the image of them walking around in scuffed work clothes and a kova tembel! They live in Nof Tzurim, which is the residential neighbourhood of Kibbutz Rosh Tzurim, in Gush Etzion. They moved there in April of 2002, just a short time before I proposed marriage to my good wife Rebecca, their eldest child (it's all in the timing, some would say!). They were given many house-warming gifts, and some had the sense to pander to my mother-in-law's interest and active pursuit of gardening. One such a gift was a peach tree.
The tree stands tall and proud at the entrance to their lovely warm and inviting home, and annually produces a prodigious amount of fruit. This year, we were blessed with two deliveries of peaches. The first batch was top quality, and was eaten with joy by us all, including our three small girls. The second batch, I must confess, was somewhat inferior in quality, with some of the peaches being suitable for eating as they are, while others just weren't.
This led to my decision to cook with them. It just so happens that I recently received a stack of cooking magazines from students at Pardes, where I work. I asked those returning to their homes overseas to kindly donate these magazines to me, rather than throwing them out. Serendipity dictated that one of them was the July 2007 edition of Bon Appetit, which just happened to contain an artictle on making summer pies. As if this wasn't enough, it contained a recipe for peach pie, that seemed interesting - and turned out to be delicious!
I had sufficient peaches to make two very nice pies; one was presented to my in-laws in gratitude, the other was consumed by my family and guests over Shabbat. Following please find my adaptation of the said recipe. Bon Appetit!
Pie Crust
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups (350g) unbleached all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
200g butter or margarine, cubed
5 tablespoons (or more) ice water
Method
Place the flour in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a blade. Add the sugar and salt, and the cold butter or margarine. Pulse a few times till it resembles coarse bread crumbs. Add some of the water, pulse, and continue thus until the dough comes together and forms a ball. Use additional water if need be, but do not over-work.
Transfer the dough to a floured board, knead a couple of times and form into a large flat disc. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge, for half-an-hour at least.
Pie Filling
Ingredients
2/3 cup Demara sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1.8 kgs firm but ripe unpeeled peaches, halved, pitted, each half cut into 4 slices
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 tablespoons butter or margarine, cut into cubes
1 egg, beaten, for glaze
2 teaspoons Demara sugar (for topping)
Method
Pre-heat oven to 180 C, place rack in bottom third of oven.
Combine sugar and flour. Mix peaches and vanilla essence, add to it the sugar and flour mixture, toss to mix through.
Roll out half the pastry, and line a greased pie dish with it, being sure to leave a dough overhang of a centimetre. Place the peach filling in the pie dish, and roll out the the second half of the dough. Place it on top of the pie filling, and crimp the edges to seal the two layers of pastry. Cut two slits in the pastry, to allow the steam to escape, and brush with the beaten egg. Sprinkle on the 2 teaspoons of sugar.
Bake for approximately one-and-a-quarter hours, till the filling is bubbling and the crust is a golden brown.
Remove for the oven to a rack and allow to cool.
Delicious served with whipped cream, or vanilla ice cream
Thanks, Yisrael and Chana!
Shavuah Tov,
DSB
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Monday, June 1, 2009
Florentines make a fine Italian-inspired dessert!
Tomorrow, Tuesday 2 June 2009, is the opening day of the first summer program at the Pardes Institute, where I run the kitchen. I've been working at Pardes for over five years now, and with time one creates one's own customs that get repeated year after year. I have adopted two customs that apply to the opening and closing meals of any program at Pardes - be it a three week summer program, or the year-long program: I serve Lasanga as the main course for the opening meal, and Canneloni (or Manicotti as some of you call it) for the closing meal. Tomorrow being the first day of the Summer Program, I am indeed serving lasagna. This time it will be spinach lasagna - in the past I have made four-cheese lasagna, mushroom lasagna, sweet potato lasagna, perhaps other permutations too.
When drawing up the menu, I decided to serve an Italian dessert alongside the fresh fruit - after all, it is the first meal of the program, and I want to make an impression. I searched the internet a little, and decided to make Florentines. Who knows if these delicious biscuits (cookies for the American readers) really find their origin in Florence, but they are quite scrumptious and their name makes them eminently suitable for inclusing in an Italian-inspired menu. I remember well eating such biscuits as a child, not sure just who made them (will have to ask my mother) but they were placed on rice paper when they came out of the oven, and part of the fun was eating the rice paper. I don't think (Kosher) rice paper in available in Israel.
Subsequently, I have had good ones from the Marzipan bakery in the Machaneh Yehuda Shuk here in Jerusalem, and had great ones at the Parkway bakery in London. I had not tried my hand at them, until this afternoon, that is. I adapted one of the recipes that I read, and the results are very pleasing indeed. Those biscuits that I flattened before baking came out this and crisy, while those left as heaps did spread somewhat but remained quite substantial biscuits. The recipe follows, and am sure you will find great enjoyment making - and eating - these scrumptuous morsels.
Florentines
Ingredients
1 cup chopped almonds (you can chop whole almonds in a food processor, use sliced almonds)
½ cup mixed candied fruits & peels, finely chopped
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup milk
¼ cup sugar
2 tablespoons honey
¼ cup to ½ cup flour
¾ cup chocolate chips
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
Method
Preheat oven to 170 C. In a bowl combine almonds, fruits and peels; set aside. In a medium saucepan combine butter, milk, sugar and honey. Bring to a full rolling boil, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Stir in almond mixture; stir in ¼ cup flour (adding more if mixture is too liquid). Drop by level tablespoonfuls, at least 7 cms apart, onto a greased and floured baking sheet. Using back of spoon, spread dough to 7 cm circles. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand 1 minute on baking sheet. Carefully remove with spatula to waxed paper. Cool completely. In a small saucepan melt chocolate pieces and shortening over low heat. When cookies are cooled, evenly spread bottom of each cookie with about 1 teaspoon of the chocolate mixture. When chocolate is almost set, draw wavy lines through it with tines of a fork. Store cookies, covered, in refrigerator. For the uninitiated, a Florentine is a biscuit / cookie made by cooking butter, sugar, cream, honey, candied fruit (and sometimes nuts) in a saucepan before being baked on a cookie sheet. They are chewy and often coated with chocolate on one side.
When drawing up the menu, I decided to serve an Italian dessert alongside the fresh fruit - after all, it is the first meal of the program, and I want to make an impression. I searched the internet a little, and decided to make Florentines. Who knows if these delicious biscuits (cookies for the American readers) really find their origin in Florence, but they are quite scrumptious and their name makes them eminently suitable for inclusing in an Italian-inspired menu. I remember well eating such biscuits as a child, not sure just who made them (will have to ask my mother) but they were placed on rice paper when they came out of the oven, and part of the fun was eating the rice paper. I don't think (Kosher) rice paper in available in Israel.
Subsequently, I have had good ones from the Marzipan bakery in the Machaneh Yehuda Shuk here in Jerusalem, and had great ones at the Parkway bakery in London. I had not tried my hand at them, until this afternoon, that is. I adapted one of the recipes that I read, and the results are very pleasing indeed. Those biscuits that I flattened before baking came out this and crisy, while those left as heaps did spread somewhat but remained quite substantial biscuits. The recipe follows, and am sure you will find great enjoyment making - and eating - these scrumptuous morsels.
Florentines
Ingredients
1 cup chopped almonds (you can chop whole almonds in a food processor, use sliced almonds)
½ cup mixed candied fruits & peels, finely chopped
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup milk
¼ cup sugar
2 tablespoons honey
¼ cup to ½ cup flour
¾ cup chocolate chips
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
Method
Preheat oven to 170 C. In a bowl combine almonds, fruits and peels; set aside. In a medium saucepan combine butter, milk, sugar and honey. Bring to a full rolling boil, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Stir in almond mixture; stir in ¼ cup flour (adding more if mixture is too liquid). Drop by level tablespoonfuls, at least 7 cms apart, onto a greased and floured baking sheet. Using back of spoon, spread dough to 7 cm circles. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand 1 minute on baking sheet. Carefully remove with spatula to waxed paper. Cool completely. In a small saucepan melt chocolate pieces and shortening over low heat. When cookies are cooled, evenly spread bottom of each cookie with about 1 teaspoon of the chocolate mixture. When chocolate is almost set, draw wavy lines through it with tines of a fork. Store cookies, covered, in refrigerator. For the uninitiated, a Florentine is a biscuit / cookie made by cooking butter, sugar, cream, honey, candied fruit (and sometimes nuts) in a saucepan before being baked on a cookie sheet. They are chewy and often coated with chocolate on one side.
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