weekend cooking

Erin Jeanne McDowell has gifted us a new pumpkin pie with no stress for 2020. One with a glassy-smooth filling that will never crack, plus the easiest crust.

Pumpkin Sugar Pie With Cookie Crust from Erin Jeanne McDowell

(1/2 cup) granulated sugar

(1/2 cup) all-purpose flour

(1/2 cup) packed dark brown sugar

(1 cup) whole milk

(3/4 cup) heavy cream

(1 1/2 teaspoon) vanilla extract

(1/2 teaspoon) fine sea salt

(1 cup) pumpkin puree

(2 teaspoons) pumpkin pie spice (see note above)

(1/4 cup) granulated sugar

(1) large egg yolk (save the white

(1 teaspoon) vanilla extract (optional)

(1 3/4 cups) all-purpose flour

(1 tablespoon) water

Heat the oven to 375°F (190°C) with a rack in the lower third (preferably with a baking steel or stone on it).

In a medium bowl, whisk the sugar and flour to combine. Add the brown sugar and mix to combine. Whisk in the milk, cream, vanilla extract, and salt, and mix just to combine—too much whisking will lead to lots of air bubbles that can linger on the surface of the custard after you transfer it to the crust. Gently whisk in the pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice until incorporated.

Place the parbaked crust on a parchment-lined baking sheet and pour in the custard (pour any that doesn’t fit into a separate ramekin and bake). Bake until the filling appears set at the edges but is still jiggly in the center, 28 to 32 minutes. (In a deeper pan this can take much longer, even 45 minutes to an hour.) Cool to room temperature, then chill for at least 2 hours, or until ready to slice and serve. 

Pumpkin Sugar Pie

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or if you don’t have an electric mixer, feel free to mix in a bowl with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula), cream the butter and sugar on medium-low speed until smooth, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the egg yolk and vanilla, if using, and mix on medium speed to combine. Scrape the bowl well. Add the flour and salt and mix on low speed until fully incorporated, 45 seconds to 1 minute. Add the water and mix just until the dough is smooth, about 1 minute more. If the filling still looks dry or crumbly, you can add a few more drops of water until it holds together when pressed.

Turn out the dough and use your fingers to press it evenly into the pan or pans—this crust will hold a shape if you crimp it, but it also looks nice just flattened evenly to the edges. Chill for at least 30 minutes, and up to overnight.

This crust is best baked at 350°F (175°C). To parbake the crust: Bake, without pie weights, for 15 to 18 minutes, until the crust is beginning to turn lightly golden. If the bottom crust starts to puff up, you can poke the bottom with a fork in a few places to deflate it, and continue baking (the egg wash will seal the holes). To use with the pumpkin sugar pie filling: Remove the pan from the oven, brush the bottom and sides with egg wash (any egg wash is fine, but here, your leftover egg white works perfectly!), and let cool completely in the pan.

Press-In Cookie Crust

Shish barak are little, ravioli-like dumplings filled with seasoned lamb, onions, and pine nuts that are boiled, baked, or fried and served in a warm yogurt sauce with melted butter, mint, sumac, and more toasted pine nuts. They are made in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, and Palestine, and are very similar to manti, the lamb-filled dumplings eaten in Turkey.While shish barak are often home-cooked, I first encountered them in a restaurant in Beirut, when I was traveling with my mother, revisiting the city of my childhood and her young adulthood. We had lived there in the 70s, when Beirut was the Paris of the Middle East and you skied in the morning at The Cedars, then ate fresh grilled fish outdoors by the ocean in Byblos in the afternoon.We had moved to Beirut too late for master spy Kim Philby, who had fled to Moscow in the pitch of night a few years earlier, but, growing up, there was plenty of mystery and intrigue still at the Saint-George Hotel, where everyone went to drink, to spy, to swim, to play.We left when the civil war began in 1973 and did not go back for twenty years, when it seemed safe to revisit. My mother and I went to eat more than anything: Lebanese food was a shared memory. It was great when we lived there and it was still amazing when we went back—in spite, or perhaps because of, the civil war, which caused the food to remain, out of necessity, firmly local and farm-to-table.Neither one of us had ever heard of shishbarak, but the minute someone described them to us, we were determined to find them and eat them. We found them in a restaurant and I remember thinking they were somewhat odd: I didn’t hate them but it wasn’t love at first sight at all.Over the years, however, this very Levantine combination of gamey lamb and tangy yogurt has grown on me, to the point that I recognize it as a base flavor combination. I’ve eaten cooked lamb tossed with tagliatelle, pine nuts, yogurt, and mint; I&#39;ve had aforementioned manti in Istanbul and in New York&#39;s classic restaurant Prune on the Lower East Side; and I even found shish barak themselves at the amazing Palestinian restaurant Tanoreen in Bay Ridge.Eventually, I started making shish barak myself: After all, it’s not very different from making ravioli, although the dough is not the same.I do make a couple of tweaks that tip my shish barak away from tradition. I fill the dumplings with the lamb sausage mixture that we use at my restaurant Porsena in our anelloni. It&#39;s based on merguez, a spicy North African lamb sausage, but the flavor, though slightly different from the classic, still works. In traditional recipes, the filling is already cooked, but here, I leave it raw. And to simplify the sauce mixture, I don’t cook the yogurt, which requires all kinds of thickeners and binders to keep it from curdling. I simply whisk in a little of the hot pasta cooking water to thin the yogurt to a sauce-like consistency and warm it slightly. With the heat of the cooked ravioli and the warm melted butter, it stays perfectly warm.

Shish Barak (Lebanese Lamb Dumplings in Yogurt Sauce)

lamb

garlic, finely minced

cumin

harissa

cilantro

all-purpose flour

salt

olive oil

water

butter

mint

pepper,

yogurt

pine nuts

Make the filling by mixing and kneading the ground lamb meat with the rest of the filling ingredients. Mix well to amalgamate and leave refrigerated for at least a couple hours and up to overnight. 

For the filling:

To make the dough, place the flour in a bowl and make a well in the middle. Add the salt, olive oil, and water into the well. Using a fork, beat the flour into the dough, switching to kneading with your hands once the dough thickens. Knead the dough on a smooth surface until the dough is very smooth and elastic. Wrap in plastic wrap and let rest about 20 minutes.

To make the dumplings, roll 1/4 of the dough out on a flat surface. Roll out to about 1/16-inch thin, then cut into circles using a ravioli stamp or biscuit cutter. Place a small ball of lamb filling in the center of the dough and fold into a crescent moon shape pinching hard all around the edge to seal. Pinch together the two tips and place on a lightly-floured sheet tray or flat plate. 

To cook: Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. In a nearby skillet, melt the butter with the dried mint and Aleppo pepper, if using. When the water boils, fill a large serving bowl with a ladleful of the cooking water to warm the bowl. Swish the water around and dump all but about 1/4 cup. Whisk the yogurt in the water, thinning it out and warming it. Boil the dumplings in the water; once they float to the top, let them bob for 3 to 4 minutes (check one for doneness), then place them in the warm bowl with the yogurt. Swirl to coat and then drizzle the butter all over and sprinkle the pine nuts on top. Serve and eat immediately

For the dough and the dressing:

A classic chopped salad full of salami, provolone, pepperoncinis and all your favorite Italian sub ingredients from chef Nancy Silverton at Pizzeria Mozza.

Nancy&#39;s Chopped Salad

red wine vinegar

oregano

lemon

garlic,

kosher salt,

black pepper,

red onion,

head (22 ounces) iceberg lettuce

head (11 ounces) radicchio

small, sweet cherry tomatoes,

Kosher salt

chickpeas,

provolone,

Genoa salami,

pepperoncini (stems discarded),

oregano Sicilian

Whisk together the vinegar, oregano, lemon juice, the smashed garlic and grated garlic and the salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Let the mixture rest for 5 minutes (to marinate the oregano). Add the oil in a slow, steady stream, whisking constantly to form an emulsified vinaigrette. Taste for seasoning, and add salt or lemon juice as needed. The yield is a generous 1 1/2 cups; you'll use up to 1/2 cup for this salad, and the remainder can be refrigerated for another use (up to 3 days).

FOR THE VINAIGRETTE

Separate the layers of the onion and stack two or three layers on top of one another, then cut them lengthwise into 1/16-inch-wide strips. Repeat with the remaining onion layers. Place the onion in a small bowl of ice water to sit while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. Drain the onion and pat dry with paper towels before adding to the salad.

Cut the iceberg lettuce in half through the core. Remove and discard the outer leaves, and discard the core. Separate the lettuce leaves, stack two or three leaves on top of one another, then cut them lengthwise into 1/4-inch-wide strips. Repeat with the remaining leaves; thinly slice the radicchio in the same way. Cut the tomatoes in half, season them with salt to taste, and toss gently.

Combine the lettuce, radicchio, tomatoes, chickpeas, provolone, salami, peperoncini and onion in a large, wide bowl. Season with salt to taste, and toss to thoroughly combine. Drizzle 6 tablespoons of the vinaigrette over the salad, then sprinkle with the lemon juice; toss gently to coat the salad evenly. Taste, and add the remaining 2 tablespoons of the vinaigrette, plus salt and/or lemon juice as needed.

Transfer the salad to a large platter or divide it among individual plates, piling it like a mountain. Sprinkle the dried oregano leaves on top and serve.


FOR THE SALAD

Coated with a ginger, lemongrass and chilli glaze, this flavourful pork is a must-try. Top it with sliced red chilli for an extra kick. 

Ginger, lemongrass and chilli glazed pork

lemongrass

tbs ginger

tbs brown sugar

tbs rice wine vinegar

tsp coles crushed chilli

tsp sesame oil

2kg coles australian pork leg roast boneless

brown onions,

shiitake mushrooms

brown mushrooms

mushrooms,

pak choy, halved

coriander

spring onion, to serve

long red chilli, to serve (optional)

The glorious combo of whiskey and boiled cider was first introduced to me years and years ago by Helen Rosner at Saveur, and I&#39;ve been making versions of the drink (every fall, like clockwork) ever since. It&#39;s never failed me.It&#39;s a two-part recipe, but both parts are dead-simple: First you make boiled cider, a classic New England “thing” some of you may be familiar with, which is just apple cider that you...boil. (As the name might suggest!) For the cocktail, it’s just two ingredients, and four if you’re counting the garnish: boiled cider, rye whiskey, a strip of orange zest, and a cinnamon stick. Ta-da! Fall in a glass. Use the extra boiled cider anywhere you would maple syrup or anywhere you want a jolt of sweet-tart apple essence, such as: in apple (or other!) pies, on top of oatmeal, over yogurt or ice cream, in baked goods like apple muffins or cakes, on pancakes, stirred into a glaze or frosting, or of course, in other cocktails (it’s pretty nice with vodka, or with tequila and a little spice). Also psssst if you don’t have time to make boiled cider, you can buy it. Read more about this recipe in the story, The 2-Ingredient Apple Cocktail You’ve Probably Never Heard Of. 

Whiskey &amp;amp; Apple Cider Syrup (aka the Only Fall Cocktail You Need in Your Life)

apple cider

rye whiskey (or whatever whiskey you like)

boiled cider syrup (chilled

orange zest,

cinnamon stick,

Pour the apple cider into a big pot, and bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium/ medium-low. Simmer, occasionally skimming the solids off the top if you feel like it, until the cider is reduced by three fourths (about 3-4 hours, depending on how high you have the heat and your patience level; should yield about 4 cups).

Remove from heat and allow to come to room temp. Pour through a cheese cloth- or paper towel-lined mesh strainer into a container for storage (you can skip the straining if you don’t care much about the possibility of apple sediment at the bottom of your cider syrup). Keep in the refrigerator or process for canning.

For the boiled cider syrup:

Combine cider syrup and whiskey over ice in a cocktail mixing glass. Stir until well-chilled. Strain into a rocks glass over fresh ice. Garnish with a strip of orange zest (squeeze the zest over drink first to release essential oils, then run zest strip around rim of glass before plopping in the drink) and a cinnamon stick, if you wish. 

For the cocktail: 

The ultimate weekend breakfast is here. These fluffy ricotta and blueberry pancakes are drizzled with maple syrup for an indulgent way to start the day.

Michael Weldon's fluffy ricotta and blueberry pancakes

(120 grams) coles smooth ricotta

(185 milliliters) milk

coles australian free range eggs, separated

tbs butter

(150 grams) plain flour

tsp baking powder

(55 grams) caster sugar

tsp sea salt flakes

eureka blueberries

butter, extra, to brush

coles finest pure canadian maple syrup, to serve

Spice up your week with this coconut fish curry. Served with steamed rice, it’s on the table in 30 minutes. 

Coconut fish curry

vegetable oil

brown onion, thinly sliced

perino tomatoes, halved

(150 grams) korma curry paste

light coconut milk coconut milk

chicken stock

gold sweet potato,

ling portions,

green beans, trimmed, halved

basmati rice, to serve

Making crispy pork belly is easier than it looks. This recipe is served with a spiced plum sauce for a mouth-watering flavour combo. 

Crispy pork belly with spiced plum sauce 

garlic cloves, crushed

tbs finely chopped thyme

orange, rind finely grated, juiced

1.5kg coles australian pork belly roast boneless, skin scored

brown onions, thinly sliced

tbs sea salt flakes

(250 milliliters) salt-reduced chicken stock

(160 milliliters) red wine

(80 milliliters) sherry vinegar

cinnamon

star anise

plums, stoned, quartered

Perfect for those cooler evenings, this simple skillet chicken dish is a hearty winter warmer. It’s loaded with veggies and rich flavour. 

Easy skillet French-style chicken

chicken

tbs plain flour

small brown mushrooms, halved

bacon rashers,

shallots, peeled

leek, pale section only, thinly sliced

garlic cloves, thinly sliced

carrots, peeled, thickly sliced

(125 milliliters) coles real chicken stock

(250 milliliters) dry white wine stock

Loaded with eggplant, lentils and haloumi, this filling salad is the perfect side or light meal. Try our tahini dressing and top with mint sprigs for a deliciously fresh-tasting dish.

Eggplant, lentil and haloumi salad

(about 375 grams) eggplant, thickly sliced

tsp extra virgin olive oil

kale leaves, stems trimmed, coarsely torn

can lentils, rinsed, drained

haloumi, thickly sliced

(40 grams) smoked almonds, coarsely chopped

pomegranate seeds

(60 milliliters) extra virgin olive oil

lemon juice

tsp tahini

tsp honey

This lamb shank korma is the ultimate warming dish. Try using our Korma Curry Paste recipe and make this delectable dish from scratch. 

Lamb shank korma

coles australian lamb shanks

quantity korma curry paste

light coconut milk

can diced tomatoes

cauliflower,

green beans

mint sprigs, to serve

This seafood dish is guaranteed to impress your guests this holiday season. Paired with a homemade horseradish butter, the lobster and salmon are sure to excite tastebuds.

Lobster tails and salmon with horseradish butter

butter, softened

horseradish cream

tsp lemon rind

tbs drained baby capers, chopped

tsp green peppercorns, chopped

chives

tbs finely chopped dill

lobster tails,

salmon fillets

lime halves,

baby rocket leaves, to serve

Loaded with crispy texture and fresh flavour, this Asian-style noodle salad is a sure-fire hit. 

Mango and prawn noodle salad with miso dressing

mango, stoned, peeled, finely chopped

tbs miso paste

mirin seasoning

raw prawns, peeled leaving tails intact, deveined

pkt soba noodles

lebanese cucumbers,

firm mangoes, stoned, peeled, cut into wedges

spring onions, thinly sliced lengthways

red chilli, seeded, thinly sliced

(80 milliliters) rice wine vinegar

https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/D5M72IRiGv8

Start by placing the chopped mango, miso paste, mirin seasoning and one teaspoon of the sesame oil in a blender and blend into smooth.
Place half a cup of the miso mixture in a bowl with the prawns, toss to combine. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to allow the flavours to develop. Meanwhile, cook the noodles following package direction, drain and then refresh under cold water.&nbsp;
Heat a little oil in a nonstick frying pan over medium high heat at half the prawn mixture and cook turning for four minutes or until the pawns are lightly charred and cooked through. Repeat with the remaining oil and prawn mixture. Combine the reserved mixture with vinegar in a separate bowl. To assemble the salad, arrange the noodles, cucumber, mango wedges and chilli on a large serving platter. Pour over half the dressing and gently toss to combine. Top with the prawns and drizzle with extra dressing to serve. This is a great fresh salad for when you have friends over.


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