TableConversation.com

Yummy Cookies That Are Gluten-Free

The gluten-free fad has left me cold, simply because it's a fad. That's not to scoff at people with a legitimate gluten allergy. I know people with that allergy, including a working pastry chef.

But now I am eating my words, or at least eating gluten-free. That's because I tasted cookies I couldn't resist--luscious peanut butter sandwich cookies with a rich, buttery filling. Yum. Give me more.

The cookies were served at a launch event for "Melissa's DYPs: The Perfect Everyday Potato Cookbook." One taste and I fell in love.

DYP means Dutch Yellow Potato. Why devote an entire cookbook to a single type of potato? Because it's so versatile. "You can't do anything wrong with a Dutch Yellow Potato," say the authors, Sharon Hernandez and Chef Ida Rodriguez of Melissa's Produce. (To get the book, contact Melissa's Produce at (800) 588-0151, or go to www.melissas.com.)

If you boil DYPs, they're done in 6 to 10 minutues. But if you cook them in a stew for hours, they won't fall apart like russets. "You almost cannot overcook them," Rodriguez says. "There's really no reason to use another potato."

Sushi? Cheesecake? Pizza? They're all in the book, along with potato salads, baked potatoes, fries, soups and many other everyday dishes. The 150 recipes are divided according to season. The cookie sandwiches are in the winter chapter, but go ahead and make them now.

GLUTEN-FREE PEANUT BUTTER COOKIE SANDWICHES
From "Melissa's DYPs: The Perfect Everyday Potato Cookbook"

2 cups rolled oats, divided
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
6 Dutch Yellow Potatoes, boiled and pressed through a ricer
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup raisins (currants are used in the photo)
1/2 pound butter (2 sticks), softened
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 pinch kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon whole milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Process 3/4 cup of the oats in a spice grinder. In the bowl of a standing mixer, combine the ground oats, the remaining rolled oats, brown sugar, potatoes, peanut butter and raisins. Mix until well combined.

Form the dough into 20 to 24 balls. Place them 2 inches apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Flatten the balls a bit using the back of a fork.

Bake for about 8 minutes, or until the bottoms of the cookies are golden brown. Cool completely on wire racks. (Because there is no flour in this recipe, the cookies are very delicate, especially when they are warm.)

To make the filling, beat the butter, powdered sugar and salt with an electric mixer until well combined. Add the vanilla and milk and beat until creamy.

Place 1 cooled cookie, upside down, on a cutting board. Place a heaping tablespoon of the filling in the center of the cookie and top with another cookie (right side up). Gently press it down. Repeat with the remaining cookies and filling.

Makes 10 to 12 cookie sandwiches. 

Spanish Wine: Great Taste, Low Cost

It was a step into cloistered history, entering my cell-like hotel room in a former convent in Oaxaca. The thick walls gave off the heavy, chalky scent of old plaster, a scent I hadn't experienced again--until the other day.

What did it come from? Not ancient walls, but a wine. For an instant I was back in that hotel room as I tasted a Tempranillo from Ribera del Duero in Spain. Then the fragile scent disappeared, overcome by the wine's vibrant fruitiness.

This happened at a seminar that launched "Spain's Great Match--Wine and Food" at The Bazaar by José Andrés. The wine was Pesquera Reserva 2009 from Bodegas Alejandro Fernandez. There it is, in my glass (above).

The seminar, given by Steven Olson of aka wine geek, covered four Ribera del Duero red wines and four wines from Rueda, where 95 % of the production is white and 85% of that is Verdejo. 

In the photo above, Pesquera is the first red, starting from the left. My choice among the whites is the one at the far right, Naiades Verdejo 2011 from Bodegas Naia in Rueda. It had a lovely green, floral aroma and a touch of oak. The others were more dry and acidic, perfect with fish. In Rueda, the Naiades would be matched with pork, Olson said.

The seminar was followed by a massive tasting arranged by Wines from Spain. As Olson pointed out, Spain is now the country to turn to for good, low-priced wines. The program for the tasting was dominated by bottles under $20, including quite a few at $10 and a couple for even less, $8.99. 

I liked two red blends from Clos Pons, located in Lleida province. They were the Alonia 2011 and Alges 2010, both just $12.99.

Spanish foods set out for tasting included olives (above) and olive oils. 

There were stacks of cheeses such as Idiazabal from the Basque country and Manchego (above). Also dried apricots, tiny dried figs that looked like large nuts, Marcona almonds, cubes of quince paste and paper thin slices of dry-cured serrano ham. 

Hot dishes (above) included, at left, an adaptation of Canary Island patatas arrugadas (wrinkled potatoes). The correct potato, one that wrinkles when cooked, isn't available here. The distinctive flavor comes from cooking the potatoes in heavily salted water. The green sauce is mojo verde--a blend of cilantro, parsley, garlic, olive oil and salt.

In the center is flank steak with natural jus. At right is a croqueta de pollo, a chicken and bechamel croquette.

Who would think that a humble slice of bread could steal the show?  But pa amb tomàquet--tomato bread--was a tough contender. The dough, from Spain, produces bread that is amazingly light and airy (above). You can make it with baquettes or even sourdough, although the texture won't be the same. Here is the procedure:

PA AMB TOMÀQUET

Cut a baguette in half lengthwise, then into short lengths. Toast or grill these lightly.  Rub each piece of bread with a cut garlic clove. Then rub with a tomato, cut in half, allowing the juices to sink in. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle lightly with sea salt. Serve as is, or top with cheese or meat. 

 

Spain's Pisto--Learn How to Make It

Had enough pesto? Then switch to pisto. Changing a single letter, from e to i, makes an enormous difference. 

No need to explain what pesto is. The garlicky basil mixture is now as common as peanut butter. Pisto is entirely different. It's a Spanish tomato and vegetable combination that you can use for anything from a spread for bread to a pasta sauce.

Here's an easy version, roasted instead of simmered in a pot. It's from the cookbook that will go with KitchenAid's new Torrent blender, due out early next year. In the photo at the top, it's the red mixture in the center. You can see a couple of the new blenders at upper left.

The food was set out at Melissa's, the produce distributor, which hosted the blender demo. Above is a closer look at pisto, as prepared in Melissa's kitchen. The dish in the foreground is pumpkin hummus.  

ROASTED VEGETABLE PISTO
From "Torrent Blender Recipes" by KitchenAid

1 medium zucchini, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 plum (roma) tomatoes, halved and seeded
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 onion, quartered
4 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
Toasted French bread slices
Cut-up vegetables

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine zucchini, tomatoes, bell pepper, onion, garlic, olive oil, salt and black pepper in large bowl; toss to coat. Spread on baking sheet in single layer.

Roast 45 to 55 minutes or until vegetables are softened and beginning to brown.

Place roasted vegetables, vinegar and red pepper in blender container. Cover and pulse until desired texture is reached. Transfer to serving bowl; let stand 30 minutes to allow flavors to blend. Serve cold or at room temperature with toasted bread and vegetable dippers.

Makes 2 1/2 cups spread.

Getting Older Is Nice at République

Talk about snazzy places for a birthday dinner--République was absolutely the best, from start to the Happy Birthday dessert plate at the end. 

At the top is the view from my table--early on, before customers jammed every corner of the restaurant. You may not be able to spot it, but a portrait of Charlie Chaplin, who once owned the building, is high up on one of the shelves.

What to order: Even a Brussels sprouts hater at the table changed his mind after tasting wood oven Brussels sprouts with Applewood smoked bacon and frisée (above). The salty, smoky flavor of the bacon did wonders for the sprouts. I'm not so sure about the soft egg in the mix, but then I'm not a soft egg fan. The frisée was there to signal that this was a salad. 

Even better was charcoal-grilled Mediterranean octopus--another salad (above). The delicate char taste and sweetness of the octopus stood out in what was essentially a fruit salad, a toss-up of fuyu persimmons, pomegranate seeds, shredded cabbage and pistachios with lime and chile.

What you see above gives no idea how lavish the charcuterie board was. So many things covered the board that I couldn't keep them straight--pâtés, silky duck liver mousse, duck prosciutto, rillettes, tiny tastes of extraordinary cheeses, a sweet fig, chutney, honey, two kinds of bread and incredibly intense pickled vegetables. Those aren't limes in the photo. They're olives.

And then came this black pot of succulent chicken, not a bit of it overcooked and dry. On the menu, it's Mary's Organic Rotisserie Chicken. The mixture underneath is beans and black kale--the kale to make you feel healthy while dipping your bread in a side pot of hot, meaty, devilishly rich pan drippings.

And here's the birthday plate, a caramel apple and persimmon crisp with vanilla ice cream, brought quietly to the table without an embarrassing chorus of singers.  Getting older is definitely not a bad thing--if you get to celebrate with a dinner like this. 

République, 624 S. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90036. Tel: (310) 362-6115.

What to Serve with the Big Bird

Don't worry for one second about what to serve with the Thanksgiving turkey. Every side dish you could conceive of is in "The Big Book of Sides" by Rick Rodgers (Ballantine Books; $30). The more than 450 recipes guarantee that this will be a seasonal best seller. 

Among them is a Thanksgiving classic, the green bean casserole with mushroom soup and fried onion rings. Rodgers makes it the old-fashioned way, with canned cream of mushroom soup and canned fried onion rings. The beans are frozen. "There are recipes for this casserole that call for canned beans, but to say that I do not recommend using them is an understatement," he writes. 

What you'll really want is Rodgers' updated version of the classic, as gloppy as ever, but far more sumptuous because it's all made from scratch with fresh green beans, cremini mushrooms in a homemade cream sauce and batter-coated fried shallots on top. As you can see in the photo above, it's every bit as tempting as the old recipe. 

Rogers has written more than 40 cookbooks, produced cookbooks for celebrities, contributed recipes to top publications and guest cheffed on TV. He came to Los Angeles for an appearance at Melissa's/World Variety Produce. You see him at the top in a corner of Melissa's kitchen. What you can't see is the sumptuous spread of sides, all from the book, that Melissa's set out for lunch.

In addition to the beans, there were roasted Brussels sprouts with bacon and maple syrup, a butternut squash and potato gratin, roasted beet and orange salad with orange glaze, Mexican Christmas Eve salad and roasted turkey breast with herb butter and gravy. (Turkey isn't in the book, but gravy is, because it's a legitimate side.)

To get you in the Thanksgiving mood and to show what goes with the sides, here's the dish of the day, with Rodger's gravy. 

You can find his book in stores, and there's plenty of time before the holiday to order it online through Amazon. 

HOMEMADE GREEN BEAN AND MUSHROOM CASSEROLE WITH CRISPY SHALLOTS
From "The Book of Sides" by Rick Rodgers

CASSEROLE:

1 pound green beans, cut into 1-inch lengths
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
10 ounces cremini mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup finely chopped shallots
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup whole milk
1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 teaspoon Maggi Seasoning or soy sauce
Freshly ground black pepper

SHALLOTS:

Vegetable oil for deep-frying
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 large shallots, cut into 1/4-inch rings, rings separated
3/4 cup buttermilk

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter a 13x9-inch baking dish.

To prepare the casserole: Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the green beans and cook just until they turn a brighter shade of green, about 2 minutes. Drain, rinse under cold running water, and drain well. Pat them dry with a clean kitchen towel. (To prepare the green beans ahead, wrap them in paper towels after drying, tranfer to a 1-gallon plastic zip-tight bag and refrigerate for up to 1 day.)

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until they begin to brown, about 10 minutes. Stir in the shallots and cook, stirring often, until they soften, about 2 minutes. Sprinkle with the flour and stir well. Stir in the milk, broth and Maggi and bring them to a boil, stirring often. (The mushroom sauce can be cooled, covered and refrigerated for 1 day. Reheat in a large skillet over low heat.)

Stir the green beans into the mushroom sauce. Transfer them to the baking dish. Season with pepper. Bake until the sauce is bubbling, about 20 minutes. Remove the casserole from the oven and tent with aluminum foil to keep warm. Reduce the oven temperature to 200 degrees.

To deep-fry the shallots: Meanwhile, pour enough of the oil into a large, deep skillet to come half way up the sides and heat until the oil is shimmering and reads 365 degrees on an instant-read thermometer. Place a wire cake rack in a rimmed baking sheet.

Mix the flour, salt and pepper together in a brown paper bag. Mix the shallot rings and buttermilk in a medium bowl. In batches, remove the shallots from the buttermilk, letting the excess buttermilk drain back into the bowl. Add the shallots to the flour mixture and shake to coat. Transfer them to the oil and deep-fry until golden brown, about 1 1/2 minutes.  Using a wire spider or a slotted spoon, transfer the onion rings to the cake rack to drain and place them in the oven to keep warm. Top the casserole with the fried shallots and serve.

Makes 8 servings.