Another Legitimate Thirty-Minute Meal: Nappa Cabbage Slaw with Tofu

Contrary to the impression created by that tag cloud to your right, I do not subsist entirely on cookies.

In an effort to show that I’m not just about sweets, this was our quick, refreshing and easy middle-of-the-week dinner tonight. It was thrown together in all of fifteen minutes, because the baked tofu was store-bought and the carrot dressing was left over from Monday’s arugula salad. Still, even with making the dressing from scratch and simply pan-frying some plain tofu with a splash of soy and a sprinkle of seasoning, you’ll still be well under the half-hour mark on this one.

The carrot dressing, the same kind you frequently get on salads in Japanese restaurants, is sweet and substantial enough to act almost as a second vegetable. You could add any other embellishments you like, but it’s been so insufferably hot that I have barely wanted to eat, let alone cook, and this kind of plainness is exactly what I was looking for. With the tofu, it’s a full meal for a summer day, but without the tofu it would be a great side dish for heartier fare in less oppressive weather.

Nappa Cabbage Slaw with Carrot Dressing and Tofu
Serves 4

1 head nappa cabbage
1/2 pound of carrots (approx 3 medium or 6 small), peeled
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
3 tablespoons grated ginger
3 tablespoons thinly sliced garlic scapes or 1 shallot, minced
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon dry sherry
1/2 cup grapeseed or other mild-flavored oil
4 oz baked seasoned tofu
1/4 cup sesame seeds

Roughly chop the carrots and place in a blender with the water, vinegar, ginger, scapes or shallot, soy, sherry and sesame oil. Blend until smooth. With the motor running, drizzle in the oil slowly to form an emulsion.

In a dry frying pan over medium-high heat, toast the sesame seeds, stirring or tossing frequently, until golden. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature while finishing the salad.

Thinly slice the tofu into strips.

Finely shred the cabbage and toss with enough dressing to generously coat but not drown the greens. Dish into shallow bowls, top with the tofu, and sprinkle heavily with the sesame seeds.

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Linzer Torte for the Lazy

It’s been about a billion degrees Fahrenheit with equivalent levels of humidity here, so it’s not the ideal time to be baking. Still, expectations have been created at the office for Monday morning treats, and a friend was throwing a wine tasting dinner and had asked us to bring dessert, so the oven was going to have to come on. To add a further degree of challenge, one of the guests at the dinner doesn’t eat eggs. Oh, and I also had a work commitment on Sunday.

In considering what dessert items might be relatively quick and easy, not too oven-intensive, and egg-free, I thought of a favorite and versatile base recipe for Mexican wedding cookies from the San Francisco Chronicle, clipped out and pasted into the three-ring binder that is my own personal relic of those quaint old pre-web-archive dinosaurs-roaming-the-earth days. (God, I don’t miss those days. I was not cut out for scrapbooking, as the disastrous state of that binder explosively testifies. Just try picking it up without two dozen unanchored bits of yellowing newsprint flopping out in all directions.)

The great thing about this recipe, despite the fabulous melting texture and not-too-sugary simplicity, is that you can vary the nuts according to your whim and shape it into any number of forms. Since I’ve had a random craving for Linzer Torte lately, I decided to modify the recipe in that general direction by using almonds, adding the traditional spices and lemon zest, and pushing a thumbprint hollow into each cookie that could be filled with raspberry jam after baking and before the final sprinkling of powdered sugar.

I ended up making two separate batches, because there weren’t enough leftovers after the dinner to take in on Monday. For the second batch, I experimented further to see if a combination of almonds and hazelnuts would be an improvement over almonds alone. Having run out of raspberry jam, I also substituted boysenberry.

Both batches had all the charm of the Austrian classic and were eagerly received by their intended consumers, but I think the first batch was just that bit better. I preferred the more traditional tartness of the raspberry jam, as well as the additional rustic texture from the seeds. The hazelnuts neither helped nor hurt the taste, but I did get a more refined cookie by using sliced almonds in the first than from the whole nuts in the second. The smaller, more uniform slices offered more surface area for toasting, and also gave me a head start on a very fine and even grind. The nut meal made from whole nuts was a rougher mixture of powder and slightly gritty sand. The difference is not great enough to merit a special trip to the store if you have whole almonds in the house, but do try it with sliced almonds if you’re starting from scratch or want the best possible result.

A couple of notes on methodology:

Despite the name, I find that the bowl of a 1/4 teaspoon measure is a much better tool for shaping the crater than your thumb. The hollow will be perfectly round and even, and you won’t be left digging dough from under your nails.

Also, if you don’t bake immediately after mixing, try not to use the dough when it’s too cold, since that will promote cracking along the edges. This not only makes for a less attractive cookie, but also causes fissures in the hollow that can allow jam to flow out the caldera like lava streams oozing down Kilauea’s slopes. The dough should be at room temperature, not straight from the fridge but not soft and oily either.

Linzer Thumbprints
Makes 50 cookies

4 ounces sliced almonds (1 1/4 cups), or two ounces each whole almonds and hazelnuts (just under 1 cup)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar, plus extra for dusting
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon each ground cloves and mace
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
Grated zest of one lemon, approximately 1 teaspoon

1 cup jam of choice, preferably raspberry
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Toast the nuts on a cookie sheet until fragrant, approximately 10-15 minutes. If using sliced almonds, stir periodically to ensure even browning, and remove from oven as soon as they are pale golden brown. If using a mixture of almonds and hazelnuts, remove from oven when the skins on the hazelnuts have darkened and cracked, and the meat peeking through is starting to turn gold. Set aside to cool briefly and, if desired, rub off some of the bitter hazelnut skins.

Sift the flour, salt and spices together in a small bowl.

In a food processor, blend the toasted nuts with 1/4 cup of confectioner’s sugar and 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar until finely ground. Do not overprocess or the nuts will become oily and start to produce a nut butter.

In a mixer, cream the butter and remaining confectioner’s and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla, then the lemon zest. Reduce speed to low and mix in the nut mixture, then the flour mixture, until combined.

Using a small scoop or a tablespoon measure, form balls 1 to 1 1/2 inch around and place 1/2 inch apart on parchment-lined sheets. Using the back of a 1/4 teaspoon measure or, if you really prefer, your thumb, gently make an indentation in each cookie, pushing halfway down to the surface of the sheet.

Bake 13-15 minutes, until just starting to brown. Remove to racks to cool completely.

To serve, mix lemon juice into the jam to brighten the flavor slightly, and fill each crater with the jam. Dust the filled cookies with a light coating of additional powdered sugar before serving.

Unfilled but dusted with powdered sugar, these will keep very well in an airtight container for days, and their flavor will even improve a little. If you’re planning on traveling with them, I suggest you take the cookies and the jam in separate containers and fill them on site before serving. Keeping the filled cookies from sliding around, flipping over or sticking to each other and smearing jam everywhere is more of an engineering challenge than you probably want to tackle.

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Nibby Nanaimo Squares: Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here

Unless you’re from or have visited the Great North, you might not have fallen into the diabolical snare that is the Nanaimo Bar. I still simultaneously bless and curse the Canadian friend who brought over a tray of them as a thank-you gift for dogsitting, because my first bite of this odd little confection of crack-like addictiveness set off a cycle of periodic cravings that nothing else seems to satisfy. I usually avoid temptation by making sure one of the key elements is missing from my cupboard, but every now and then the ingredient matrix aligns and the inevitable conclusion will be preparing a batch and scrambling to give away as much as possible in order to avoid inhaling half of it by myself.

That’s what happened last week when, as a result of helping a friend move out of state and inheriting the contents of her pantry, I suddenly had a box of chocolate graham crackers on my hands. One thought led to another, and before I knew it, I had come up with a half-dozen tweaks to the definitive Nanaimo Bar recipe, as democratically determined by the good citizens of Nanaimo, BC, and found myself in front of an entire 8×8 panful of sweet, rich, creamy temptation reinforced with the perfume of Kahlua and the cocoa crunchiness of cacao nibs. The only thing that saved me from complete annihilation this time was that I finished making them so late on Sunday night that my bed’s siren song was just that bit louder than my rumbly tummy.

The essential thing to know about Nanaimo Bars, besides that they have an abuse potential akin to opiates, is that they are the ultimate butter delivery vehicle. A cookie/candy chimera, they begin with a fudgy base of graham cracker crumbs, coconut and nuts bound together with butter and cocoa. The top layer is a simple cap of snappy semisweet chocolate smoothed out with more butter. Sandwiched between them is a thick layer of fluffy vanilla custard buttercream, which is firm just out of the fridge but silky and decadent at room temperature. There’s probably more saturated fat in just one Nanaimo Bar (which, don’t fool yourself, you are never going to limit yourself to) than in three Big Macs, but trust me, this is the worthier way to clog your arteries.

If you value your cardiac health, don’t even think about making these, indescribably delicious though they may be. If you do make them, make sure you have a heavily-populated somewhere to take them immediately after they’ve chilled enough to be portioned, because willpower will avail you for naught here. You’ll need all the help you can get.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Nibby Nanaimo Squares
Makes approximately 36 clean 1-inch squares, plus a dozen or so rounded edge bits for the baker

Bottom Layer
1/2 cup roasted cacao nibs
1 1/4 cups chocolate graham cracker crumbs
1 cup sweetened coconut
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup natural (not Dutch-processed) cocoa powder
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon Kahlua

Middle Layer
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3 tablespoons cream or milk
3 tablespoons Bird’s Custard Powder
2 cups confectioner’s sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Top Layer
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Line an 8×8 glass baking pan with a sheet of parchment paper or foil just wide enough to cover the bottom and long enough to hang over two opposing sides. This will serve as a sling to remove the finished block easily and cleanly for slicing.

For the bottom layer:

In a food processor, pulse the nibs until finely chopped but not yet sandy or powdery. Mix with graham cracker crumbs and coconut and set aside.

In a double boiler, melt together butter, sugar and cocoa, stirring frequently, until smooth. Remove from heat. Temper the egg by slowly adding a small amount of the hot mixture, then add the warmed egg back into the double boiler. Put over the water and cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes, until the mixture has thickened and become glossy.

Off the heat, stir in the Kahlua, then mix in the crumbs, nibs and coconut. Press firmly into the pan, cover with plastic wrap, and chill.

For the middle layer:

In a mixer, cream the butter, cream, custard powder and sugar together until light, adding additional cream or milk as required to achieve a fluffy spreadable consistency.

Beat in vanilla, then spread over bottom layer and chill until firm.

For the top layer:

Melt the chocolate and butter together in a double boiler or microwave until smooth.

Cool until room temperature but still liquid, then spread over second layer. Refrigerate until set.

To serve:

Using the overhanging parchment or foil, lift the chilled block out of the pan and onto a cutting board, running a sharp knife around the sides of the block to release from the pan if needed. To get a clean slice without cracking the chocolate layer, dip the knife into hot water and wipe off between cuts. Trim off the rounded sides, then cut remainder into neat 1-inch squares.

Squares are best still cool but close enough to room temperature for the middle layer to soften slightly. Store leftovers in the refrigerator or freezer, well-wrapped to prevent the buttercream from absorbing any off flavors.

Notes:

I used chocolate grahams because that’s what I was given. Regular will work just fine.

Bird’s Custard Powder can be found in specialty shops and, frequently, at Indian or Pakistani groceries. I’ve heard vanilla pudding mix can be used in a pinch, but the real thing is shelf-stable forever and handy to have around when you’ve run out of eggs.

Very small squares are advisable since they’re closer to a bonbon than a cookie. It will also contribute marginally to the probably futile effort to deflect or at least slow down the consumption of one after another until you’re left wallowing in your own crapulence.

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