Masala Dosa Filling

My friend K helped me out with a simple recipe for the filling inside a dosa.  This looks better than the mix I used! 

Pressure cook potatoes with salt and turmeric.
Mash it but not too much.
Sauté onions with some mustard seeds (a table spoon) and a cut green chilly or two.
Mix the potatoes well with the onions and adjust salt.

I can't wait to try it now that we have a reliable source of dosa batter in the neighbourhood.

Panforte Di Siena

Recipe by Gina de Palma, pastry chef at Babbo, NYC

This one comes from a dear friend of ours, JG, who modified the recipe to the quantities reflected here.  We often make a double batch.

Takes 90 to 240 minutes of active prep time (depending on how you chop the ingredients), 30 - 60 minutes of baking, and 3 weeks of rest.

Ingredients:

Equipment:

• Parchment paper
• 2 Sandwich tins (circular, shallow cake pans)
• Candy thermometer (any thermometer showing 217F/103C that you can wash)
• Cooling racks

Part A: 

• 2 c Whole almonds, toasted then chopped roughly
• 3 c Whole hazelnuts, toasted then chopped roughly
• 1½ c Diced, candied orange peel, diced
• 6 oz Dried apricots, diced
• 5 oz Dried figs, diced

Part B:

• 1 c All-purpose flour (+ extra to line sandwich tins)
• 2 Tbsp Ground cinnamon
• 1 Tbsp Cocoa powder
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Ground nutmeg
• ½ tsp Ground cloves
• ¼ tsp Freshly ground pepper

Part C:

• 1¾ c Granulated sugar
• 1¾ c honey
• 6 Tbsp (3 oz) Butter (+ extra butter to grease sandwich tins)

Instructions:

1. Generously grease sandwich tins.  Line bottom of each with a circle of parchment paper, and grease again generously.  Tap some flour into each greased pan to lightly coat inside of each, turning the pan so each part of the greased surface is coated.  Invert each tin and tap to remove excess flour
2. Preheat oven to 325F / 165 C November 2021 note: try 275F next time
   
3. Prepare part A: toast each kid of nut separately on medium-low heat until not quite burned, then chop roughly with a serrated knife.  Alternative method: in small batches, put about ½ c nuts in blender and run for 2 seconds.  Hold the lid on and shake a few times: untouched nuts mostly migrate to the surface (see the Brazil nut problem for more information) and can be run in a subsequent batch.  Mix nuts with remaining ingredients
4. Mix ingredients in part B, then stir them into part A until blended.
5. Strap a candy thermometer to a pot, and then add part C to it, stirring over medium heat.  Once the liquid hits 217F/103C, pour it over the A & B blend, and right away spoon it into the prepared sandwich tins. Work fast.  Use a non-stick spatula to flatten the tops of all.
6. Put the filled tins into the preheated oven, and bake for 15 - 60 minutes November 2021 note: try 1.5 to 2 hours at 275F, until bubbly in the center.  If you accidentally overheated part C above 217F/103C, the mixture will need less time in the oven and may never bubble.  If you under-bake the panforte will not set.
7. Place on cooling racks and allow to cool for 15 minutes.  With a blunt knife, encourage the edges of each panforte away from the edges of the pans.  Allow to cool to room temperature.  Wrap in parchment paper, store in a cool dry place for 3 weeks, and enjoy with eggnog

Optimized Crepes

Not sweet, nor whole wheat; these crepes can go either way.  Who wants to juggle two kinds of flour or mix in sugar or buckwheat?

The recipe below is the current favourite.  It's the product of my own optimization process, and seems to work pretty well, so I'm recording it here for posterity.

For the crepes (for 4 people)

Ingredients:

• 1.5 c flour
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/6 c milk
• 4 Tbsp =1/2 stick = 1/8 lb melted butter
• 1/2 Tsp Salt

Equipment:

• Crepe iron
• Crepe spreader
• Crepe flipper
• Electric hand mixer
• Fine strainer
• 2 bowls, at least one of them big

Instructions:

1. Melt butter in microwave for 30s; let sit
2. Heat your crepe iron (2 on the 8-point scale)
3. Measure the flour into a big bowl and crack the eggs in on top of the flour
4. Starting with the eggs, beat them with an electric hand mixer, then mix in progressively more of the flour; the hand mixer should be gently complaining about its load by the time all of it is mixed in.  Don't worry about every lump
5. Add a tiny bit of milk and mix, then add a bit more and mix, then start adding more generous pours between mixes
6. Pour the 1/2 tsp salt into the melted butter, stir, then add the butter-salt into the batter and mix with the hand mixer
7. With a fine-mesh strainer, strain the batter into a new bowl and set the strainer to soak while it's still wet
8. Make the crepes