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Persian love madeleines

January 30, 2020 by Kathryn Pauline 6 Comments

These cute little madeleine cookies are inspired by Persian love cake! I’ve flavored the batter with cardamom and almond, topped them with a rose glaze, and zhuzhed them up with rose and pistachio. Madeleines are notoriously wonderful right out of the oven (hi fellow lit majors!), so I’ve never gotten into topping them with chocolate. While they’re delightful that way, I just can never bring myself to wait for them to cool.

So be sure to decorate these madeleine cookies right out of the oven, and enjoy them while they’re still warm. You simply dip them in a light, lemony glaze, then immediately roll them in pistachios and rose petals. Persian love cake is brushed with syrup or glazed with icing, and this creates a similar effect. If you don’t serve them warm, leftovers keep really well too (see the note below the recipe for instructions on storing them long-term).

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Persian love madeleines

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  • Prep Time: 25 minutes
  • Total Time: 2 hours
  • Yield: about 20 madeleines

Ingredients

for the madeleines:

  • 115g unsalted butter (1 stick), plus more for greasing
  • 3 large eggs (165g), at room temperature
  • 125g sugar (1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons)
  • 2 teaspoons rosewater (10g)
  • 1/4 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 100g flour (3/4 cup)
  • 40g almond meal (1/3 cup)
  • 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • Special equipment: 1 madeleine tray

for the glaze and decorations:

  • 50g powdered sugar (1/3 cup)
  • 15g lemon juice (1 tablespoon)
  • 5g rosewater (1 teaspoon)
  • Finely ground green pistachios
  • Edible rose petals

Instructions

  1. Melt the butter in the microwave. While you work on the rest of the ingredients, set aside and let it cool so it’s just warm.
  2. Combine the eggs, sugar, rosewater, and lemon zest in a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Whisk at high speed for about 4-5 minutes, until it’s very thick and pale (the trail of the batter should fall off the beaters and disappear into itself after 1 full second).
  3. In a separate mixing bowl, combine the flour, almond meal, cardamom, baking powder, and salt, and place 1/2 in a sifter. Sift 1/2 of the dry ingredients over the egg mixture, and gently fold them in, followed by the other 1/2 (don’t over-mix).
  4. If the butter has cooled completely, slightly warm it in the microwave. Stir about 1/2 cup of the batter into the warm butter, then add the warm butter back into the batter and fold together (again, don’t overmix). Place it in the refrigerator and let it chill for at least 1 hour, up to overnight.
  5. Once you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C) convection* and generously grease a madeleine tray with more butter.
  6. Scoop about 2-3 tablespoons of batter into each shell (it will vary, depending on their size). Smooth out their tops a bit with an offset spatula or knife
  7. Bake for about 12 minutes, until their centers puff up and their edges lightly brown.
  8. While they bake, make the glaze: combine the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and rosewater into a translucent glaze. Cover while you wait on the madeleines to bake.
  9. Once the madeleines come out of the oven, pop them out of the tray. Dip the tops in the glaze, immediately roll in/sprinkle with the pistachios and rose petals while they’re still wet. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Notes

* If you don’t have convection, no worries, they just might take a couple more minutes to bake through and brown.

To make ahead/store: If you want to make these ahead, I highly recommend making the batter ahead and baking them at the last minute. The batter will keep perfectly well in the fridge for 24 hours. The madeleines themselves should absolutely never, ever, ever go in the refrigerator. They should be enjoyed shortly after baking, and if you have any left over, freeze them and thaw as needed.

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Filed Under: every recipe, sweets Tagged With: cardamom, cookies and bars, madeleines, persian love cake, pistachio, rosewater

lula meatball pizza

January 16, 2020 by Kathryn Pauline Leave a Comment

This meatball pizza combines a few of my favorite things:

1) Lula kebab meatballs, full of fresh cilantro and green onion, made in the style of the kind of beloved Italian-American meatballs you might find atop comically large plates of spaghetti.
2) Banadurah harrah sauce, with lots of tomato, lemon, dried mint, and most importantly crushed red pepper.
3) Pizza dough, which can be either homemade or store-bought. You just need about a pound of it, and it doesn’t matter how you get there.
4) Stretchy mozzarella cheese. Save the fresh stuff for caprese, and use shredded here (or else you’ll end up with a soggy mess).
5) Fresh cilantro! Because I can never get enough of it.

The recipe itself is super easy, and pretty streamlined, considering you make the meatballs from scratch. The meatballs simmer in the tomato sauce, so you don’t have to dirty another pan. Then the tomato sauce is reduced down to the perfect consistency, so that the meatball pizza doesn’t end up soggy. The whole thing is baked in a sheet pan, so there’s no pizza stone required. Just make sure you roll out the crust thinly enough, or you’ll have a doughy center. If you have any issues getting the crust to cook through and crisp up enough, place the sheet pan on the floor of your oven for a few minutes until it’s done to your preference.

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lula meatball pizza

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  • Prep Time: 45 minutes*
  • Cook Time: 2 hours 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 0 hours
  • Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

For the pizza dough:
175g water (3/4 cup)
5g active dry yeast (1 1/2 teaspoons)
4g sugar (1 teaspoon)
290g all purpose flour (2 1/4 cups)
4.5g salt (3/4 teaspoon)
25g extra virgin olive oil (2 tablespoons)

For the meatballs and banadurah harrah sauce:
1/3 cup panko bread crumbs (25g)
1/4 cup milk (60g)
1 pound lean ground beef (455g)
1 cup chopped cilantro (40g)
2/3 cup chopped green onion (40g), divided in half
3 cloves minced garlic (15g), divided in half
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
Salt, to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil (15g)
1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes (410g)
2 teaspoons dried mint (2g)
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper (0.5g)
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano (<0.5g)
1 tablespoon lemon juice (15g)

For the pizza:
Olive oil
225g shredded mozzarella (8 oz / 2 cups)
A handful of extra cilantro and/or mint leaves for garnish

Instructions

  1. Make the pizza dough: Heat the water to 115°F (46°C).
  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the water, yeast, and sugar. Stir together and let it sit for about 10 minutes, until it’s a little foamy.
  3. Set your stand mixer up with the hook attachment. Add the flour, salt, and olive oil to the wet ingredients, and bring together at low speed. Once it comes together into a ball, knead for about 5 minutes at medium-high speed, until it smooths out significantly.
  4. Shape it roughly into a ball, and leave it in the stand mixer bowl. Cover with plastic wrap or a plate, and let it proof for 1 1/2 hours, or until it’s doubled in size.
  5. For the meatballs and tomato sauce: Place the bread crumbs in a large mixing bowl. Pour the milk over them, smash them down a little with a fork, and let them sit for about 5 minutes to absorb it.
  6. Combine the hydrated bread crumbs with the ground beef, cilantro, half of the green onion, half the garlic, and the black pepper. Mix everything together evenly, but careful not to over-mix it or compress it.
  7. Shape the meat mixture into about 20 small meatballs, each weighing about 25g. Do not squeeze the meatballs together too tightly—they should be cohesive but a little craggy.
  8. Sprinkle the meatballs evenly with about 1/2 teaspoon salt, and let them sit while you get the sauce going.
  9. Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a 10-inch skillet for 1 minute. Add the other half of the green onions and the other half of the garlic, and cook for about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  10. Add the diced tomatoes and let it come up to a simmer. Once it’s simmering, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring every minute or so, until the tomatoes break down into a thin sauce. If you’re not using a wide frying pan (e.g., if you’re using a tall saucepan), this may take longer.
  11. Add the dried mint, crushed red pepper, oregano, and lemon juice, season to taste, and give it a stir. Add the meatballs so that they’re all nestled into the sauce. Keep the heat at medium-low, cover, and cook for about 8 minutes, until the meatballs are partly cooked. Remove them with a slotted spoon to a plate.
  12. The sauce will be a little on the thin side once the meatballs cook in it. Skim some of the fat from the surface if there is a lot of it, and then simmer it over medium heat (uncovered and meatball-less) for about 5 more minutes, until it’s nicely thickened (see above photos to see the before and after).
  13. For the pizza: Preheat your oven to 465°F (240°C) convection (if you don’t have convection, it may take a couple more minutes to bake). Oil an 18×13” sheet pan.
  14. On a lightly floured surface, roll the pizza dough out to the width and length of the sheet pan. If it keeps shrinking back, let it rest on the counter for about 5 minutes, and then roll it out some more. Pull the corners out as you roll to help it become a rectangle. Place the dough rectangle on the sheet pan, and work the edges out all the way to the sides of the pan by pressing the dough with the tips of your fingers.
  15. Spread the tomato sauce into 1 thin layer over the surface of the dough, leaving a crust border at the edges.
  16. Top with the mozzarella. Then top with the par-cooked meatballs. Brush the crust with a little bit of olive oil.
  17. Bake for about 15 minutes, until the meatballs are completely cooked through and browned, the crust is baked through (especially toward the center) and turning golden brown around the edges, and the cheese is melted and bubbly.
  18. Slice and serve immediately.

Notes

* buy pizza dough to shorten both active and total time

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Filed Under: dinner, every recipe, lunch, main courses, weeknight Tagged With: beef, cilantro, dried mint, herbs, pizza dough, tomato

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