CHOCOLATE FOR EASTER (AND PASSOVER TOO)

 

This chocolate-almond torte is a perfect dessert for Easter, Passover, or any special occasion.

My all-time favorite dessert, the Santiago Almond Torte, got a makeover for Easter. I added chocolate. While searching for similar almond torte recipes, I came across a bunch that were special for Passover, the Jewish spring festival that often coincides with Easter. Just swap matzah meal for the flour or cookie crumbs in the basic recipe. So this is a dessert perfect for both holidays.

This version, adapted from The Settlement Cook Book by Mrs. Simon Kander (1942?), calls for raisins as well as chocolate. Do not skip this ingredient! Soaked in sweet wine, the raisins add a wonderful fruitiness to the deep chocolate flavor. (Because I have my own dietary restrictions, I used no-sugar-added chocolate [Valor brand, sweetened with malitol]; no-sugar cookie crumbs [also sweetened with mailitol, Gullón brand], and zero-calorie “baking sugar alternative” [King Arthur brand].) 

The torte has no added fat, so serving it with whipped cream, Greek yogurt, or vanilla ice cream enhances. If you prefer no dairy, try a tart raspberry sauce with the torte.

A pretty dessert for the holiday table.

Whipped cream or thick yogurt enhances the torte.

Chocolate-Almond Torte

Torta de Chocolate con Almendras

Toasting and grinding the almonds gives a pleasing texture to the finished torte. However, you could substitute almond flour. Use any plain cookie for the crumbs—galletas María, vanilla wafers, graham crackers. Use any combination of dark chocolate and unsweetened cocoa to make approximately 4 ounces of chocolate. Use a food processor to grind the almonds and cookie crumbs and to chop the chocolate. The raisins, almonds, cookie crumbs, and chopped chocolate can be prepped a day in advance of baking.

In separating eggs, to prevent breaking a yolk into the whites, separate the white into a small ramekin. Drop the yolk into a mixing bowl, then pour the white from the ramekin into another clean mixing bowl. Should one of the yolks break into the white, add the whole egg to the bowl with the yolks to avoid mixing any yolk into the whites. 

Makes 10-12 servings.

½ cup raisins

¼ cup sweet wine such as PX Sherry

6 ounces blanched almonds (1 ¼ cups)

2 ounces plain cookies or matzah meal (½ cup)

3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped (¾ cup) 

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

5 large eggs, separated

¼ teaspoon vinegar

½ cup sugar

Powdered sugar to serve (optional)

Raspberries to decorate (optional)

Place raisins in a small bowl and add the wine. Let them soak at least 2 hours.

Spread almonds on a rimmed baking sheet. Place them in the oven and turn oven on to 400ºF. When oven reaches temperature, stir the almonds and roast them 5 minutes longer or until pale gold in color. They do not need to toast. Remove and let the almonds cool. Turn the oven temperature to 350ºF. (If not continuing with the recipe, turn off the oven.) 

Line pan with parchment.

Grind the almonds in a food processor as finely as desired. Grind the cookies finely. Combine the chopped chocolate with the cocoa.

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with baking parchment. Oil the sides. 

Place the egg whites in a clean bowl and beat them until they hold stiff peaks. Beat in the vinegar.

Fold whites into batter.

Place the egg yolks in a mixing bowl and beat them until pale and creamy, 3 minutes. Beat in the sugar. Stir in the raisins soaked in wine. Fold in the ground almonds, cookie crumbs or matzah meal, and chocolate with cocoa. Add ¼ of the beaten egg whites and stir them into the batter until thoroughly mixed. Add the remaining whites and fold them in until no trace of whites remains. Pour the batter into the springform pan. Bake until a skewer comes out clean, about 40 minutes. 

Let the torte cool in the pan. Loosen the edges of the torte with a thin knife and remove the rim of the pan. Lift the torte off the pan bottom. Slide it off the parchment onto a serving plate. Before serving sift powdered sugar on top, if desired, and decorate with a few raspberries.

More recipes for almond torte:

Santiago Almond Torte

No-Sugar Almond Torte

Gluten-Free Chocolate-Almond Cake

Annie's Flourless Almond-Chocolate Cake

View from my desk--wisteria and mimosa in bloom. 

 

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Author and Spanish cooking expert Janet Mendel tells the story of the Moorish influence on Spanish cooking through 120 recipes and photographs for modern-day dishes, from salads and vegetables to fish, poultry and meat to sweets and pastries, that trace their heritage to foods served in medieval times.  (Hippocrene Books)    

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LAMB—THE 2ND, 3RD, 4TH AND 5TH TIME AROUND

 

A five-pound leg of lamb for dinner and only two people to eat it--a lot of leftovers to look forward to. (Link to the recipe for Roast Lamb with Spring Herbs is below.)

We were three for Easter dinner and one was vegetarian. Nevertheless, I wanted roast leg of lamb, roasted with lots of herbs. To start, we had asparagus grilled on the plancha, with sour orange mayonnaise. I served the lamb with browned potatoes on the side, a taboulleh salad (made with cous cous, not bulgur), eggplant pisto and a vegetable terrine. Strawberries with almond cookies for dessert.

From a five-pound leg of lamb, now I have a week’s worth of leftover lamb! 

Leftovers for two

1st day—sliced lamb reheated with pan juices, embellished with preserved lemon and chopped dates. I dithered, almost deciding to serve the lamb cold with a mojo verde (green chile sauce, somewhat like chimichurri), but I wanted to reheat the lamb to melt the fat. 

2nd day--cous cous with lamb, vegetables and chickpeas.

Leftovers from Easter dinner become a whole new meal--cous cous, eggplant pisto and roast lamb are recycled, with the addition of Moroccan spices, canned chickpeas, fresh carrots and zucchini.

3rd day: Lamb with spinach, Indian spices.

My favorite recipe from Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cookery (BBC Books; 1994), Lamb with Spinach (Dilli ka saag gosht). Made with spinach from a bag and pieces of roast lamb, it is quick to prepare. 

4th day: Stuffed Eggplant, Turkish style.

Scraps of cooked lamb are folded in with onions and tomatoes and stuffed into eggplants. (Recipe below.) Served with rice pilaf and cucumbers with dill on the side. 

5th day: Bone broth and vegetable soup

Lamb bone broth becomes spring vegetable soup.

Bonus: Lamb Shank. I separated the shank before roasting the lamb, carved the meat off the bone and saved the bone for the soup pot. The meat cut into pieces made a quick sauté for one—me—with garlic and rosemary, served with a little homemade chutney. 

Stuffed Eggplant (Karniyarik)

Berenjena Rellena

I first sampled this stuffed eggplant dish at a cooking workshop in Istanbul given by Selin Rozanes of Turkish Flavors. There we made it with raw ground beef. In this version, I have used the last scraps of roast lamb, cut off the bones. The lamb needs only a few minutes to cook with the onions and tomatoes. 

Long, thin eggplants are best for this recipe. The technique calls for peeling the eggplants in stripes, slow-frying the whole eggplants in oil, then “splitting their bellies” and stuffing. The eggplants finish in the oven. Delicious served with rice pilaf. 

Turkish pepper sauce.

You will need Turkish pepper sauce, a mildly hot condiment. It’s easily made by blending roasted red bell peppers (or drained ones from a jar or can) with a spoonful of hot pimentón, Aleppo pepper or red pepper flakes; lemon juice and salt.  

The following recipe is for two servings, but the recipe is easily doubled or tripled.

Chopped lamb for stuffing eggplants.

2 medium eggplant (each about 10 ounces)

Olive oil

3 ounces cooked lamb (about 1 cup, chopped)

¾ cup grated or finely chopped onion

1 clove garlic

½ cup crushed tomato

1 tablespoon Turkish pepper sauce (directions above)

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

¼ cup chopped parsley

Sliced tomato, for topping

Sliced green pepper, for topping

1/3 cup hot water

Peel off strips of eggplant skin.

Trim the eggplants’ stems but don’t remove them. Use a vegetable peeler to remove three lengthwise strips of the skin, striping the peel. Heat enough oil to cover the bottom of a skillet. Fry the whole eggplants gently until they are golden on all sides and beginning to soften. Remove them and place in an oiled baking dish with the flatter sides up. 

Slit eggplants, spread them open.

With a knife, slit open the eggplant from top to bottom, without cutting them all the way through.  Use the fingers to gently spread open the slit, making a place for the filling.

Preheat oven to 375ºF.

Chop or shred the cooked lamb and set aside.

Add more oil to the skillet, if needed. Sauté the onion and garlic on medium heat until softened, 5 minutes. Add the crushed tomato and pepper sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until sauce is thick, 5 to 10 minutes. Add the cooked lamb and heat. Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the parsley.

Eggplants ready to bake.

Divide the lamb mixture between the two eggplants, pressing it into the slits and mounding it slightly. (If there is too much stuffing mixture, spread it around the eggplants in the baking dish.) Top with sliced tomato and green pepper. Pour the hot water into the baking dish. 

Bake until the eggplants are bubbling hot and the pepper slices are cooked, about 30 minutes. Serve hot.

Cous Cous with Leftover Lamb

Cuscus con Cordero Asado

Instant cous cous (pictured top right) was presented the first time round as taboulleh, a salad with herbs, olive oil and lemon juice. After reheating in the microwave, I added raisins and almonds.

Eggplant pisto (top, left), a vegetable stew with peppers, onions and tomato, makes the basis of the cooking sauce for the carrots and zucchini.

Ras el hanout spice blend (center) gives authentic Moroccan flavor to this quickie meal with leftovers. If you don't have ras el hanout, combine a spoonful each of ground cumin and coriander with a half-teaspoon of turmeric, powdered ginger, cinnamon, black pepper and a pinch of cloves. 

Add canned chickpeas, well drained, and some water or lamb bone broth to the pan. Cook until carrots and zucchini are tender. Add chunks of leftover roast lamb. Serve the lamb and vegetables around a heap of cous cous. Garnish with fresh cilantro.

Lamb Bone Broth

Caldo de Cordero

Bones, skin and trimmings from the roast lamb and the uncooked shank are cooked with aromatics to make a flavorful broth. Once strained, the broth is chilled overnight. Then the congealed fat can be skimmed off.  

For the vegetable soup, sauté chopped onions, garlic, celery, carrots and peppers in olive oil. Add cut-up vegetables--I've used chard, zucchini, potatoes and, for a touch of spring, fresh fava beans.  

Peel the fava beans? 

I don't usually peel the favas but I liked their bright green color when the outer skins are removed. They only need a few minutes to cook when the other vegetables are ready. The rest of the jar of chickpeas finish the soup. It's seasoned with cumin and thyme. 

Indian Spiced Lamb with Spinach 

Cordero con Espinacas Estilo India

Toast the spices and aromatics--peppercorns, cloves, cardamom, onions, garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, chile--add spinach (from a bag) and yogurt. Stir in chunks of already-cooked lamb at the end. Serve with rice.

Eggplant pisto

Eggplant pisto--served as a side with the roast lamb; recycled as the cooking sauce for the cous cous. The recipe for basic pisto is here.

Taboulleh with cous cous.

Cous cous taboulleh salad with fresh herbs, served as a side dish for the Easter dinner. The recipe for this version of taboulleh is here.

Recipe for Roast Lamb with Spring Herbs.

Recipe for the Vegetable Terrine.

A CROSS-CULTURAL COOKIE

 This week three religious holidays converge—the Christian Semana Santa and Pascua de Resurrección (Holy Week and Easter), the Jewish Passover or Pesach (Pascua Judía) and the Muslim Ramadan. 

Once upon a time, before the Reconquest and the Expulsion (1492), Spain was a land of convivencia, where Christians, Muslims (known as the “Moors”) and Sephardic Jews inhabited the same towns and villages. 

Here’s a cookie of convivencia, one that might have been prepared by all three of those communities. Almendrados are a sweet treat for Easter dinner, for the Passover table when no wheat flour or leavening is permitted, or for iftar, the meal that ends the Ramadan fasting at sundown. 

Almond cookies are a sweet treat for spring holiday meals.

Pair almendrados with seasonal fruit such as strawberries and nísperos, loquats.

Almendrados with fruit cup of sliced berries and loquats. Whipped cream is optional.

The cookies are nutty and chewy.

The recipe comes from Repostería Monacal de las Hermanas Clarisas (Ardatz y S.P.A.M., San Sebastian; 1999), a collection of dessert and pastry recipes from Clarisa convents across Spain. This recipe was contributed by the nuns of the Monasterio de la Ascension de Nuestro Señor in Lerma (Burgos). It differs from other almendrado recipes (including those in Sephardic cookbooks) in that the eggs are separated and the whites beaten stiff, producing a cookie with a lighter texture. 

I decreased the proportion of sugar called for in the original recipe (1 kilo almonds and 1 kilo sugar). You could decrease the quantity even more. In fact, next time I make almendrados, I’m going to try them sugar-free. 

Grind almonds to flour.

Use store-bought unsweetened ground almond flour, if you can get it. Otherwise, use a food processor to grind blanched and skinned almonds to flour. If you’re starting with natural almonds, they need to be blanched in boiling water and skinned before toasting and grinding them. 

I used three large eggs for this recipe and found that, because the almond dough was fairly soft, the cookies flattened out considerably in baking. That’s why I’m suggesting in the recipe that you use medium-sized eggs. 

Line the cookie sheets with baking parchment. The cookies while still hot from the oven are likely to break if you try to remove them from the sheet. Slide the sheet of parchment with the cookies onto cooling racks. Allow the cookies to cool before lifting them off the parchment.  

The cookies are good served with coffee or tea. They pair nicely with spring fruit desserts. Depending on your religious proclivities: add liqueur or fruit juice to the fruit. Finish with a dollop of whipped cream or keep it dairy-free. 

Almond Cookies

Almendrados

Makes about 40 cookies.

16 ounces blanched almonds or unsweetened almond flour 

1 ½ cups sugar

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1 ½ teaspoons grated lemon zest

1/8 teaspoon salt

3 medium eggs, separated

40 almonds to decorate the cookies

Preheat oven to 400ºF.

Spread the almonds (or almond flour) in a rimmed sheet pan. Place in the oven, stirring once, until they are very lightly golden, 8-10 minutes. Watch carefully so that the almonds don’t burn. (Almond flour will toast even faster.) (If toasting the almonds in advance of making the cookies, turn the oven off. If continuing with the cookies, reduce heat to 350ºF.)

Allow the almonds to cool, then grind them in a food processor as coarse or fine as you like. Place the ground almonds in a mixing bowl. Combine the sugar in a small bowl with the cinnamon, zest and salt. Rub the sugar between the fingers to thoroughly mix the zest with the sugar. Add to the bowl with the ground almonds. 

Beat the egg whites until stiff. Stir the yolks to blend, then fold them into the whites. Add the eggs in two parts to the almonds and sugar. Fold the eggs in as lightly as possible. 

Set oven temperature to 350ºF. Line cookie sheets with baking parchment. 

Ready to bake.

Using fingers or two spoons, take up a piece of the almond mixture and shape into a ball about the size of a walnut. If dough seems sticky, dip hands or spoons in cold water. Place the balls on the cookie sheets, spacing them 2 inches apart, as they will spread in baking. Press an almond into the center of each ball.

Slide the sheet of parchment with cookies onto cooling rack.

Bake the cookies until they are lightly golden, 15 to 18 minutes. Remove the sheets from the oven and slide the whole sheet of parchment onto a cooling rack. Do not try to remove the cookies from the parchment until they are completely cool. 

The cookies keep well, stored in an air-tight container. 

More almond cookies: 

Almond Puffs (Suspiros).

Almond Ring Cookies (Melindres).

More about loquats here.

Wishing you a sweet and blessed holiday/springtime. 

CELEBRATE EGGS

 

Prettily tinted or lavishly decorated, Easter eggs nestling in a straw basket are a happy feature of the season. Since antiquity, the egg has symbolized new life, thus its appearance at the springtime festival celebrating the Resurrection.

Hornazos are eggs baked in bread for Easter.

The traditional Easter egg in Spain is not necessarily colored, but is baked in a basket of bread dough—hornazos—or sweet dough—monas de Pascua. These can be found in bakeries at Easter.

Jewish custom also includes the egg in the springtime holiday of Passover, when it is one of the symbolic foods served at the seder dinner, representing the temple sacrifice of old.

The egg is a highly-valued food in Spain, where many will pay premium prices for fresh, free-range eggs. Many years ago when I lived in the village, I would exchange vegetable scraps with a neighbor (for feeding her pig) for a few fresh eggs. Such a delight.

Huevos solos, mil manjares y para todos.
With only eggs, a thousand dishes and enough for everybody.

Mas vale un buen dia con huevo que un mal mes con un cerdo.
Better a good day with only an egg than a bad month with a whole pig.

For years, I could never find white eggs and the brown ones just weren’t suitable for coloring. But this year, there they were, just in time for my grandson Leo to help with the tinting.

What to do with a surfeit of hard-cooked eggs after the Easter egg hunt? In Spain, sliced eggs in a fresh tomato sauce with patatas fritas, Spanish fries, on the side make an easy and satisfying supper dish. Stuffed eggs are a terrific lunch dish. The Spanish version uses tuna or shrimp in the stuffing (see that recipe here). Or, if you want something a little fancier, try these “double” eggs—they are stuffed, coated with bechamel, then dipped in crumbs and fried. These are fun to prepare (though time-consuming) and fun to eat.

"Double" eggs are stuffed, then breaded and fried.

“Double” Eggs (Croquettes with Deviled Eggs)
Huevos Dobles

The coating is thicker and crisper if the eggs are dipped twice in flour, egg, and crumbs.

The recipe makes more stuffing mixture than needed for the 6 egg whites. The leftover makes a fine sandwich spread.

 The eggs can be stuffed and fried up to 24 hours in advance and refrigerated. Bring them to room temperature. Place in an oven pan and heat in a preheated 400ºF oven 8 to10 minutes.

Serve the eggs, one per person, as a starter. Tomato sauce makes a good accompaniment.

Serves 6.

6 hard-cooked eggs
1 tablespoon olive oil plus 2 cups additional for frying
¼ cup finely chopped onion
¼ cup minced serrano or cooked ham
¼  plus ½ teaspoon salt
Pinch of caraway seed
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
Pinch of hot pimentón or cayenne
1 tablespoon plus 1 ½ cups milk
2 tablespoons butter
5 tablespoons flour plus additional ½ cup for dredging
1 to 2 eggs
1 cup fine dry bread crumbs
Tomato sauce to serve (optional)

Peel the cooked eggs. Pat them dry. Cut in half lengthwise. Remove yolks to a small bowl.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a small skillet. Sauté the onion and ham until softened, 5 minutes. Add the contents of the skillet to the yolks. Add ¼ teaspoon salt, caraway seed, mustard, pimentón, and 1 tablespoon of milk. Mash the yolks smooth. Press the yolk mixture into the hollows of the egg whites.

Cover a tray with a layer of plastic wrap. Place the egg halves, stuffed side down, 2-inches apart in a single layer. Refrigerate.

In a saucepan melt the butter. Stir in 5 tablespoons of flour and stir until smooth over a low heat. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in 1 ½ cups milk very gradually, until the mixture is smooth. Return to a medium heat. Cook, stirring, until the sauce is thick and smooth, 5 minutes.

Spoon the hot sauce over the egg halves, napping them smoothly with the sauce. Refrigerate the eggs until coating is chilled and solidified, at least 3 hours and up to 24 hours.

Roll one egg half over, stuffing side up. Pick up another egg and place it on top, so the stuffing is enclosed. Repeat with the remaining eggs. Return the tray to the refrigerator.

Place flour for dredging in a shallow pan. Beat 1 or 2 eggs and place in a shallow dish. Place half the breadcrumbs in another shallow pan.

Dredge each egg in flour. Pat off excess and gently press the two halves together. Roll the eggs in beaten egg. Place them in the tray of breadcrumbs. Sprinkle remaining half of crumbs over the eggs. Roll or pat the eggs so they are completely covered with crumbs. Allow to dry on a tray for 15 minutes.

If desired, repeat the breading, dredging the eggs first in flour, then eggs, then crumbs.

Heat oil in a deep skillet to a depth of ¾ inch. Fry the eggs, turning to brown all sides, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Serve hot or warm accompanied by tomato sauce, if desired.

Leo helped to color Easter eggs.