An Ancient Recipe for a Dinner Worth Lingering Over - WSJ

Step 1

Use a vegetable peeler to peel wide strips of zest from 1 of the lemons. In a small saucepan, combine sugar, ½ cup of water, ginger and lemon zest strips, and bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. Simmer until sugar dissolves, 2 minutes. Remove from heat and add mint. Let cool to room temperature, or ideally at least 2 hours to infuse flavors into syrup. Juice lemons. (You should have about ½ cup juice.)Reserve 1 of the cucumbers to garnish the drinks. Trim remaining cucumbers, and peel half of them, discarding peels. Cut all trimmed cucumbers into large pieces and place in a blender or food processor with the remaining 1 cup water. Blend until smooth, 15-20 seconds. Strain mixture through a fine-mesh strainer, pressing solids to release all the juice. Discard solids.(You should have about 2½ cups juice).In a pitcher, combine cucumber mixture, gin, lemon juice and syrup. Divide cocktail among ice-filled glasses. Cut reserved cucumber into spears. Garnish glasses with cucumber spears and some mint sprigs.

Step 2

In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk warm water and 2 tablespoons (24 grams) sugar. Whisk in yeast and let it get foamy and fluffy, 5-6 minutes. (If foaming doesn’t happen, your yeast is dead! Start over!) Whisk in remaining ½ cup (100 grams) sugar, ½ cup (110 grams/ml) oil, turmeric and 3 eggs until incorporated.Add flour and fine sea salt, then fit mixer with dough hook. Mix on medium speed, stopping mixer and using a silicone spatula to coax any loose flour into the dough, until dough is shaggy but unified, 3 minutes. If dough does not hold its shape at all and looks more like a wet blob, add more flour, ¼ cup at a time, to achieve the desired texture. If the dough feels dry and crumbly, add up to ¼ cup more water. If you wish to knead in the mixer, continue to knead on medium speed until dough is smooth and plush without being sticky and pulls away from mixer without leaving any dough on the sides or bottom of the bowl, 5-6 minutes. (The dough may seem ready earlier, but kneading this long helps develop the gluten, which will make for a stronger, better dough with better crumb and structure.)To knead by hand, transfer dough to a very lightly floured work surface. (If you have a marble countertop, start without flour and only add it if the dough feels impossibly sticky in an all-over-your-hands way.) Using the heel of one hand to lean into the dough and the other to rotate it, knead until a very smooth dough forms, another 9-10 minutes. If you get tired, rest for a second, throw some dishes in the sink, then keep kneading for another minute or two. You should be able to hold the ball of dough and not have it stick to your hands, but it also shouldn’t feel too dry or tear across the top. You’re looking for smooth!Add remaining ½ tablespoon oil to a large metal bowl and use a pastry brush or your hands to coat bowl with oil. Add dough, flip it to coat lightly in oil, seal bowl with plastic wrap, then cover with a clean kitchen towel. Let dough sit in a warm place until at least doubled but ideally tripled in size, 1½-2 hours for double and 3 hours for triple. (Tripling makes the dough lighter, so if you have time, do it.) Uncover dough and punch it down with your fist. Transfer dough from bowl to work surface.Make the challah sticks: Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Divide dough into 8 equal-size pieces. Cut each piece into 3 smaller pieces. Roll each piece into a 12-inch log. Cover logs with a towel to prevent drying out as you braid. Take 3 logs, pinch the top ends together and braid into a long, narrow challahs about 1 inch wide by 12 inches long. Pinch the ends once braided and arrange on parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough, leaving ½ to 1 inch between each challah on baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until puffed and nearly doubled in size, 45 minutes-1 hour.During the last 15 minutes of challah rising, set a rack in center of oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Uncover and brush each challah with egg and sprinkle generously with toppings of your choice. Bake until challahs are golden, have risen and touch one another, 25-26 minutes. Cool until easy to handle and serve warm or at room temperature.

Step 3

Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil. Add carrots to pot, return to a boil, and cook until carrots can be pierced with a fork but aren’t mushy, 10-11 minutes, depending on the diameter of the carrots. Drain and cool until they’re easy to handle, 10 minutes. While carrots are cooling, finely zest lemon into a bowl and juice it. (You should have 2 teaspoons zest and 3 to 3½ tablespoons lemon juice.). Whisk in olive oil, harissa, honey, cumin, garlic and 1 teaspoon salt. Cut carrots into ¼-inch rounds, add to bowl with dressing, and toss to coat. Stir in mint, cilantro and dates, and refrigerate until ready to use. The salad will keep, covered, up to 5 days in the refrigerator.

Step 4

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with 1 tablespoon vegetable oil. In a large bowl, combine shredded potatoes and zucchini, and toss with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Let sit for 5 minutes. Arrange a clean kitchen towel on a work surface and place a large handful of potato-zucchini mixture on top. Wrap towel around mixture and squeeze out and discard as much excess liquid as you can. Transfer to a large bowl and repeat with remaining potatoes and zucchini. Add carrots, onions, garlic, eggs, olive oil, remaining 1/3 cup vegetable oil, potato starch, remaining 2½ teaspoons salt and pepper, and mix until everything is incorporated. Pour into prepared pan and bake until top is golden, 1 hour. Cool slightly and cut into squares.

Step 5

Set a rack 6 inches from broiler. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a bowl, whisk broth and cornstarch until dissolved. Whisk in mustard, silan, honey, lemon juice, salt, pepper and chile flakes.Season chicken generously with salt. Heat oil in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken, skin-side down, and brown until skin is crisp and fat renders, 5 minutes. Flip and cook 1 minute more. Transfer to a plate and cover with foil.Add onions to skillet and brown until undersides are golden, 2-3 minutes. Flip and cook 1 minute more. Transfer to plate with chicken. Add wine to skillet and cook, stirring and scraping up bits from pan, until wine reduces by half, 2 minutes. Add broth mixture, bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and cook until thickened and reduced slightly, 3-4 minutes. Return chicken and onions to pan. Nestle figs and grapes among chicken pieces and scatter thyme sprigs around skillet. Spoon some sauce over chicken, cover with foil, and cook in oven until sauce begins to thicken and figs and grapes begin to soften, 20 minutes. Remove chicken from oven, uncover, and raise temperature to 425 degrees. Spoon sauce from pan on top of chicken and return to oven. Roast until figs and grapes are slightly caramelized and chicken skin is deep mahogany in color, 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with chopped thyme.

Step 6

Make the crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Arrange pecans on a large rimmed baking sheet and the coconut on another baking sheet. Roast until coconut is golden and toasty, 7-8 minutes, and pecans are fragrant and a deep brown color but not burnt, 10-12 minutes. Remove both from oven and cool completely. Transfer cooled coconut and pecans to the bowl of a food processor along with dates and salt. Pulse until mixture is very finely chopped and holds together when pinched between your fingers, 20-25 pulses. Lightly oil a 9-inch springform pan with neutral cooking spray, then spray your hands and press crust into bottom and up sides of pan.Make the filling: Zest and juice 2 limes. (You should have about 1½ tablespoons zest and 6 tablespoons juice, in separate bowls.) In a medium saucepan off heat, whisk together egg yolks, cornstarch, coconut milk, 3 tablespoons lime juice, granulated sugar and salt. Place over medium heat and cook, whisking constantly, until pudding bubbles and thickens and whisk leaves a slight impression in custard, 7-8 minutes. Remove from heat. Whisk in remaining 3 tablespoons lime juice and all the lime zest, coconut oil and vanilla. Cool slightly, then pour filling into crust. Cover tightly with plastic wrap, placing it directly on the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Chill until firm, at least 6 hours and up to 24 hours.Make the topping: Open can of chilled coconut milk, scoop out solidified “cream” that has risen to the top and place it in a medium bowl. Alternatively, for whipped cream, pour cold heavy cream into a medium bowl. For either alternative, beat cold cream with confectioners’ sugar either by hand or using an electric mixer on high speed, until soft peaks form, 2-3 minutes.To serve, top pie with whipped topping. Zest remaining lime over top of pie, then cut lime into thin segments. Scatter segments over pie. Pie can be refrigerated, covered, for up to 3 days.