Easy Recipes

Early in July, my dear friend broke her leg. Im not talking about a small, clean break, with a few days of pain and a few weeks in a cast. Im talking about surgery, pins and plates, about weeks of painkillers and not being able to put your foot on the ground for almost three months. Thats nearly a whole season of being bedridden. In the beginning, we ate a lot of ice cream.

As far as bedridden summertime consolation prizes go, ice cream is a pretty great one. Over the Summer Of The Tibial Plateau Fracture, I ate ice cream several nights a week. Taste-testing the difference between chocolate gelato (Talenti was the front-runner). Deciding if hot fudge sauce was better over lavender or vanilla ice cream (opinions here were split). Whether cardamom was delicious or "too perfumey" (again, a split decision). It was a delicious way to spend an indoor summer. And I didnt want to give it up just because the season changed.

And so the ice cream continues! But it needed a bit of an autumnal makeover. I grabbed a bag of Italian prune plums, the only fruit that seems to be in season these post-berry/pre-apple days. Eaten out of hand, theyre not really my favorite — sweet but unexciting, lacking the punchy tartness of most other plums. But roasted with a bit of sugar and lemon, they slump into rich fuscia sweetness, more complex, more inviting. And theyre perfect with vanilla ice cream. Add a sprinkling of walnuts, and its a perfect autumnal sundae. Even if youve moved out of summer and onto new pursuits (such as re-learning how to walk without crutches), its still a sweet way to cap off an evening.


Roasted Plum and Walnut Sundaes

serves 4

3/4 pound Italian prune plums
scant 1/4 cup sugar
juice of 1/2 lemon
4 scoops vanilla ice cream
1 large handful toasted walnuts

Preheat your oven to 400° Farenheit.

Cut the plums in half, remove the stones, and slice them into quarters. Sprinkle with the sugar and lemon juice, and roast until the plums are soft and somewhat collapsed, and the juices have come out and thickened just slightly, ~20 minutes (the juices will thicken further upon standing, so dont worry too much about that). Remove from the oven, and let cool slightly (lest you melt the ice cream like I did).

Scoop out the ice cream, and top with some of the plums and their juices, and a handful of walnuts. Enjoy.

As much as Id like to pretend otherwise, the truth is that I do not always handle disappointment with the utmost grace. Id love to be the sort who accepts bad news with a sunny shrug, and then rolls up her sleeves and moves on to the next task. But the truth is that I often spend several hours mourning the loss of Plan A before I can even think about moving on to Plan B. Which brings me to flourless chocolate walnut cookies.

This past weekend I attended a delicious Sephardic-style Passover Seder, full of saffron pilaf, Tunisian fish patties with aioli, spinach-feta minas, and good friends. My host asked if I would bring chocolate-covered matzoh caramel buttercrunch, known to all who enjoy it as matzoh crack. Its ridiculously addictive, the sort of dessert you almost dont want to make, because it is all anyone will ever you to make ever again. Well, for Passover at least.

I headed out to the grocery store with this singular vision, but couldnt find any matzoh. I figured my matzoh-finding skills must have been on the fritz, and sought out some assistance:

me: Im sorry, I cant seem to find the matzoh.
manager: Were sold out.
me: Are you joking?
manager: Why would I joke about that?

Yes, they were sold out of matzoh. On Passover. So did I cruise the shelves looking for alternate dessert inspiration? Did I phone a friend to get a shopping list for a new recipe? Of course not. I fumed out the door and biked home, composing angry letters to the grocery store management in my head all the while. Because thats helpful. And then I proceeded to reenact the above conversation to several people, both in my home and on the telephone, and share my indignation. And then I remembered Oh yeah! I still have to make dessert! Like now!

After all this attempted-matzoh-getting and protracted-hissy-fit-throwing, I didnt have time to go shopping again. Luckily I remembered a recipe Id seen a few years back for a flourless chocolate cookie studded with toasted walnuts. I had all the ingredients in my house, and the mixing and baking times were nice and short. And the cookies? Divine.

If youre seeking a chewy chocolate gluten-free (or Passover-friendly) cookie, look no further. Theyre ridiculously simple--just some toasted walnuts, powdered sugar, cocoa powder and egg whites, spiked with a bit of salt and vanilla. Because the egg whites are just stirred in rather than beaten, you end up with a cookie thats fudgey-chewy rather than meringue-crisp. Theyre glossy and chocolatey, and taste much more sinfully rich than they are. Not getting what you planned on should always be so delicious.


Flourless Chocolate Walnut Cookies

adapted from Payard, via New York Magazine

yields ~4 dozen cookies

2 3/4 cups walnut halves or pieces
3 cups confectioners (aka powdered) sugar
1/2 cup + 3 Tbsp cocoa powder (Dutched is recommended)
1/2 tsp salt
4 egg whites, at room temperature
1 Tbsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Spread the walnuts on a rimmed baking sheet, and bake, stirring occasionally, until lightly golden, ~7-10 minutes (check frequently!). Let cool slightly, and coarsley chop. Set aside.

Reduce the oven temperature to 320 degrees, and line two baking pans with parchment or Silpat liners if you have, or grease well and hope for the best. Set aside.

In a large bowl, sift together the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. Add the chopped nuts, stir, and then add the egg whites and vanilla. Stir until just combined (do not overmix). Let the batter sit ~5 minutes.

Spoon the batter onto the prepared cookie sheets in heaping tablespoons (allow space--cookies will spread). Bake 14-16 minutes (rotating racks halfway through), until the tops are glossy and lightly cracked. Remove from oven, and let set a few minutes until the cookies are cool enough to remove. Remove to a rack to cool completely, and repeat with remaining batter.

When I look back on my college days, there are many things that I cant help but miss. The lack of responsibility, for one, when your only real job is to learn (well, also to scrub trays in the dining halls, and babysit local children who laugh at your hair, but Ive tried to forget most of that). Theres the sense of potential and common purpose, and the sweet delaying of adult decisions. But more than anything else, theres this: dozens and dozens of friends, many of them living right down the hall. You dont even need to put on shoes. If I had known how rare that was in the grown-up world, I might never have left.

In the grown-up world, friendships can be a bit more difficult. Your nearest and dearest are often busy with their own work woes and family obligations, and at best might live on the other side of the neighborhood (at worst, the other side of the world). So I know how lucky I am to say this: the only thing separating me from some of my favorite people in town is a shared driveway.

It took us a while to broach the usual neighborly anonymity. But our kitchen windows face each other, and lord knows I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. If youre doing dishes, its impossible not to be staring into the facing window. So after several weeks of watching each other prepare separate meals, we proposed sharing dinners. Which has further developed into sharing living-room happy hours, next-door grocery runs, and a rudimentary through-the-window sign language (mostly used to gauge whether or not to shake up an additional cocktail). On the sad sad day when were no longer living in slipper-wearing distance of each other, Ill have many fond memories to look back on. And Ill have the recipe for red lentil walnut burgers.

My neighbor happened upon this recipe several months ago, and it entered her regular rotation after a bit of tweaking (swapping oatmeal for breadcrumbs, and red lentils for brown). These healthy patties freeze wonderfully, and we both regularly make double batches to have on-hand. The spicing yields a flavor reminiscent of falafel, but with less grease and a smoother texture. Weve crumbled them in pita bread with tahini, and topped them with kraut and russian dressing like a reuben (as well as enjoying them with traditional burger condiments). The combination of lentils, oats and walnuts makes them especially heart-healthy. Of course, Id take a stellar neighbor over a delicious vegetarian burger any day of the week. But for now, I get to enjoy both.


Red Lentil Walnut Burgers

adapted from PBSs Everyday Food

yields 4 burgers

These patties reheat wonderfully, but not in the microwave for some reason (which tends to dry them out in a strange and unappetizing way). Allot a bit of extra time to warm and crisp up leftovers in a skillet or toaster oven.

3/4 cup red lentils
3/4 cup toasted walnuts, cooled
1/2-1 cup rolled oats
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
1/4 - 1/2 tsp chili flakes
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 large egg
2-3 Tbsp oil for frying

Rinse the lentils, and place them in a pot with 1 1/4 cups water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat until its just high enough to maintain a simmer. Cover and cook until tender, ~20-30 minutes. Check every now and then, adding more water if needed. Let cool.

In a food processor, combine the cooked and cooled lentils, walnuts, oats (start with the smaller amount), garlic, cumin, coriander, chili flakes, salt, olive oil, and egg. Pulse until combined but not totally mushed (having little chunks of walnuts and oats will make the texture more interesting). Turn out into a bowl, and knead for a moment to evenly distribute the ingredients. Let sit ~5 minutes for the oats to absorbthe moisture. Divide into 4 pieces, and shape into patties that are about 3/4" thick. If the mixture is too moist to shape (it should be fairly moist, but not ridiculously so), add additional oats, waiting 5 minutes after each addition.

Heat a few tablespoons oil over medium-low heat in a large skillet. Add the burgers. Cook until crisp and browned, 8-10 minutes per side. The burgers will be very delicate while warm, so turn gently (theyll firm up a bit as they cool). Serve with the condiments of your choice.