farro with dukkah, things from the garden, and grilled lemon

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sup, homies! how is your school supplies shopping season going? get any good gelly roll pen colors? smell any pumpkin spice? hear any sufjan? i’ve had a week of major ups and giant downs, downs to the point where this emoji 😩  crept into my frequently used pile. lame! there was our broken oven, a hair coloring emergency, and two stubbed toes. which don't seem like a lot but my heavens i had no idea how boring it'd be to go for 2 1/2 days without an oven. but then! there was a fixed oven and new brunette hairs and lots of progress made on my yogurt book! holler. and eggboy’s beet fields are looking really extra good because he’s been working overtime since we’re going out of town to jaclyn’s wedding in a few days (!!). so when you pair all of those things with the fact that in my broken oven boredom i discovered some great riverdale superfan instagram accounts, we defo ended up with a net positive week. oh and i’m forgetting one of the best things that happened which was that the new wet hot american summer came out. i’ve watched the whole thing three times already. not word for word, i just have had it on continuously in the background while testing yogurt soup and yogurt cookies and it is the best soundtrack for cooking while the end of summer sun pours in. 

speaking of camp, every so often when i’m watching w.h.a.s. or perusing my old summer camp’s instagram stories or getting really into my collection of podcasts about camp (1/2/3), i get the pharaoh song in my head, the one that goes,

“pharaoh pharaoh!

ooooh babay, 

let my people go—*weird thrusting motion that has no lyric but a grunt assigned to it*

yeah yeah yeah yeah”

you know the one, right? we sang it every friday night at camp!

and so because our internet exists in a sea of grain bowls, my mind these days has been going straight to farro when i think about that song and then i get a craving for it. it's so chewy and hearty (and underrated?). (is it underrated? i have a hard time gauging these things living in a small town since i don’t think it’s on any menus here but i have this hunch that it’s maybe on every single menu in california? or maybe it was back in 2015? idk.) the thing is, it's good. i like that it's on the bigger bulkier end of the grain spectrum and that it chameleons itself onto whatever flavors you slap it with. it’s also great cold so you can make a bunch of it in advance and either send it out to the fields for a harvest lunch or keep a bunch in the fridge for when you spend the whole morning testing cake recipes and forget to eat anything of substance until it's too late to spend time making anything.

oh and i was talking about pharaoh! 

the pharaoh song inspired me to want to add egyptian flavors to farro. so i toasted up some dukkah, sautéed a bunch of garlic and onions, and then headed outside to rip some mint and vegetables from the garden. our garden is in the calm before a very tomato-y storm right now since it is filled with zillions of green tomatoes that i just know are going to ripen all at the same time. luckily there have been a few early ripe ones. i also grabbed some basil and radishes, which are giant and probably overgrown, and then tossed everything together with tons of grilled lemon juice for a smokey caramelized acidic situation. the result: a bright flavor-filled summery salad that packs some textural excitement, thanks to the dukkah, which functions as a savory crunchy sprinkle of sorts. this salad doesn't have a formal dressing but between the olive oil that cooks the onions and garlic, the grilled lemon, the herbs, and the dukkah, you have all of the great makings of one, and you also have the protein from the farro and nuts which makes this thing a nice filling meal. can i call it pharaoh farro?

every time i’ve made this now i think i’m going to have enough to keep in the fridge for at least a few days but then eggboy hides it all in his belly before i even have my seventh cup of coffee 🙄  so i guess that’s a good sign but as soon as more tomatoes ripen i should really make a double batch.

ok bye. 

how is your garden growing?

i used bob's red mill farro for this! other than it tasting super good, i like it because the package has directions for boiling it. as simple as it is, i never remember cooking times for grains, so this package makes me one step closer to eliminating the need for getting that grain cooking time tattoo.

farro with dukkah, things from the garden, and grilled lemon

makes 4 servings

ingredients

1 c (208 g) bob’s red mill farro, rinsed

Kosher salt

1/4 c olive oil

1/2 onion, coarsely chopped

1 bunch scallions, chopped, whites and greens separated

4 cloves garlic

1 lemon, halved

2 tsp cumin seeds

1 1/2 tsp coriander seeds

1/2 c (75g) toasted almonds, coarsely chopped

1 tb toasted sesame seeds

10 oz (283g) cherry tomatoes, quartered

2 persian cucumbers, thinly sliced

a few handfuls of fresh herbs (basil, mint, cilantro, parsley, or a mix), coarsely chopped

crushed red pepper

black pepper

a handful of feta, optional

clues

in a large pot, combine the farro and 3 cups water. bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. drain excess water, season with salt, and set aside.

while the farro is cooking, heat the olive oil over medium heat in a skillet and add the onion, scallion whites, and a pinch of salt. cook, stirring, until soft, about 5 minutes, and then add the garlic and cook for 2 more minutes. pour the mixture into a heat safe bowl and set aside. 

wipe out the skillet and heat it over medium high heat. grill the lemon, flesh side down, until browned, and set it aside.

make the dukkah: toast the cumin seeds and coriander seeds until fragrant and then crush in a mortal and pestle. mix with the chopped almonds, sesame seeds, and a pinch of salt.

in a large bowl fold together the farro, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, herbs (reserving some for serving), scallion greens, onion olive oil mixture, the juice from the grilled lemon, a few pinches of crushed red pepper, a bunch of turns of black pepper, the feta, if using, and half of the dukkah. taste and add more salt if needed. 

to serve, top with additional dukkah and herbs as desired. this can be eaten immediately or stored in the fridge and served cold or at room temp. enjoy!

-yeh!

Thanks to bob's red mill for sponsoring this post!

hazelnut + almond flour chocolate chip cookie cake (gluten free & kosher for passover)

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we are in full blown passover mode up in here. this past week i’ve tested three briskets, batch after batch of baked matzo brei, and millions of millennial pink coconut macaroons that i am so gosh darn excited to share with you. and of course one dozen iterations of this cookie cake (we’ll get to that!). alas there is no carp in our bath tub, as i’m pretty sure sven cat would get to him before we would, but that’s a dumb excuse, we should have at least tried, right? next year, with a carp!

i’m having three seders + easter next week! seder one will be in chicago with mum and stoop and marshy’s famous gefilte fish, seder two will be in fargo with a city wide afikoman after (i don’t actually know about the afikoman thing but i feel like if any town were to do this first around here, fargo would be the one, right?), and matzo pizza night seder with eggboy, rugrats passover, and the hogwarts haggadah. the jdate haggadah has been good to us but we’re moving onto the hogwarts one because you can only laugh at pharoah’s dating profile so many times.

after all that i’m going to help eggmom with easter! let’s do harissa carrots. and minty potato salad. and some beet pickled eggs! and what would be fun to hide in an easter egg hunt for the family egg to search for and find? a pet baby goat? a mozart kugel? 

it’s going to be a great spring holiday season. 

i want to sing from the rooftops about this cookie cake!!!! it is the descendant of three things: a really gooey tasty vegan gluten free cookie bar from the town co-op that was essentially almond flour and agave, the baked marzipan center of my sprinkletaschen, and the massive cookie cakes that all of my campers got during parents weekend back when i was a camp counselor in 2011. After two days, the counselors were instructed to take away any uneaten cookie cakes and the story was that they had to be thrown away so they didn’t attract bugs but the truth was we ate them all over the course of the following week when we sat on late night duty reading gossip magazines. Aside from the spray can cheese, those cookie cakes were the most delightful things that summer, so chewy and satisfying. 

My recipe testing journey with this cookie cake began when I baked some of the leftover sprinkletaschen filling on its own and realized that it had a great chewy texture. I wanted this cake to be a chocolate chip cookie though, and not a big hunk of baked marzipan (although that wouldn’t be so bad), so I added some brown sugar, chocolate chips, a huge splash of vanilla, and subbed half of the almond flour for hazelnut flour, which gave the whole thing this awesome darker toastier flavor. I’m using Bob’s Red Mill’s Hazelnut Flour and Almond Flour here which both taste amazing and are fluffy and eliminate the step of grinding your own nut flours, so I got the whole dough mixing process down to about three minutes. There's no need to cream any butter, you just need one big bowl, one smaller bowl, and a spoon. It’s really stupidly easy, and really stupidly good. Not just Kosher for Passover good, but good good. 

Two kosher for passover notes: 

-the baking soda can be omitted if you avoid it on Passover. The texture will be slightly denser and more gooey, but it will still be great! 

-the frosting in the photo is a basic butter + powdered sugar buttercream but for a dairy free dessert, you have many options: use this great dairy free frosting, serve it hot with a scoop of dairy free ice cream, drizzle on melted chocolate or a simple powdered sugar glaze, or serve it with just a light dusting of powdered sugar. 

hazelnut + almond flour chocolate chip cookie cake

makes one 8-inch cookie cake

ingredients

1 c bob’s red mill almond flour
1 c bob’s red mill hazelnut flour (or 1 more c almond flour)
1/2 c lightly packed light brown sugar
1/2 c sugar
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp baking soda (can omit if you don’t have it on passover, it’ll be denser but still super tasty!)
1 large egg
1 tb vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 c chocolate chips

to decorate:
buttercream
or for a dairy-free alternative: dairy free ice cream, coconut whip, or glaze made with powdered sugar and dairy-free milk

clues

preheat the oven to 350ºf. grease an 8" cake pan and line it with parchment. set aside.

in a large bowl, combine the flours, sugars, salt, and baking soda. in a small separate bowl, combine the egg, vanilla, and almond extracts.

add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, add the chocolate chips, and stir to combine. it may seem dry at first but keep on stirring. pat the dough out evenly in your prepared cake pan.

bake until golden brown on top, begin checking for doneness at 22 minutes.

remove the cake from the oven and let it cool fully in the pan- or serve it warm! wait for it to cool fully if you're decorating it with frosting though.

the cookie cake can be baked a day in advance. once cooled, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and store at room temperature. 

-yeh!

Thanks to bob's red mill for sponsoring this post!

green lachuch with a fried egg, herbs, and cheese

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what’s up, holiday homies!

it’s molly of yore here (specifically molly of last thursday, who has just finished wrapping all of eggboy's stocking stuffers). current molly is on holiday break, which means she’s not allowed to:

  1. unfold her computer 
  2. turn on her big camera
  3. write anything down on paper that could be considered “recipe testing”
  4. style food

in hopes that she will:

  1. clean the prop room (finally)
  2. spend more time at the gym
  3. read a book
  4. recharge, refuel, find inspiration, the meaning of life, inner and outer peace, the answer to all unanswerable questions, etc.

but she is probably:

  1. internet shopping from her phone in front of the o.a. and a bowl of potato chips with ketchup

this is all totally beside the point though. the point is i’m writing at you from the past to give you this brunch idea for new year’s morning because it’s savory, tasty, squishy enough to lap up a hangover, and kind of actually healthy! it could even make you excited to start your new year’s diets. it’s the lovechild of two things: the spongey yemeni flatbread called lachuch which is basically a large floppy crumpet, and this thing i often like to do on sunday mornings which is to blend all of our about-to-go-bad herbs into crepe batter. 

i first had lachuch in tzfat, a hilltop town in the galilee. there’s a great little stand there that fills lachuch with cheese, onions, tomatoes, za’atar, and really really spicy zhoug that the nice man always warns customers about. the whole thing gets crispy on the outside but remains chewy on the inside. the place is like a crepe stand for people like me who always like doughier things, and the few times that i’ve been there live in the back of my mind as really joyful memories. (look @ how happy i am)

lachuch itself is totally quirky in that it requires a yeasted batter. (i think i’ve only ever used yeast in doughs before this…?) in additional to yeast, most recipes i’ve read have an additional leavening agent, baking powder or baking soda. all of these leavening things create an elastic blobby batter that cooks up into the bubbliest pancake you’ve ever seen, and as i learned from the recipe in zahav, it’s often flavored with fenugreek, which has a very mild mustardy flavor. it does require some rising time, but if you know you’re gonna want these as soon as you wake up, blend the batter the night before and then let it rise in the refrigerator overnight.

and i’m using bob’s red mill all-purpose flour here, which is officially the softest velvetiest flour i’ve ever stuck my hand in! 

green lachuch with a fried egg, herbs, and cheese

makes 6

ingredients

2 c warm water

1 tsp active dry yeast

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 bunch each: coarsely chopped parsley, mint, cilantro

2 cups bob's red mill all-purpose flour

1 tsp fenugreek (optional)

oil, for the pan

for serving: fried eggs, grated sharp cheese, thinly sliced purple onions, fresh herbs, za'atar, and zhoug or other hot sauce

clues

Add the water, yeast, and sugar to a blender or food processor, give it a little swirl and let it sit for 5 minutes or until foamy on top. Add salt, baking powder, herbs, flour, and fenugreek (if using) and blend until smooth. Let it sit at room temperature for 1-2 hours or in the refrigerator over night, until doubled in size and bubbly. 

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and coat it with a thin coating of oil. Ladle in about 1 cup batter, and spread it out over the pan. cook until the bottom is browned and starting to crisp and the top is set. Don’t flip it! 

To serve, top with a fried egg, grated cheese, thinly sliced purple onions, herbs, za’atar, and zhoug or other hot sauce.  Enjoy!

-yeh!

Thanks to bob's red mill for sponsoring this post!

rhubarb linzer cookies

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eggboy and i are heading to the white house today!!! i am so giddy. i brought a lot of outfit options. i’m not sure what to expect, all i know is that we will spend time this afternoon with the white house chef and pastry chef, making gingerbread houses, mac and cheese (!!!), other festive goodies. joy and ashley will be there too!! and we’re all crossing our fingers and toes that an obama will swing by (and i am *praying* that i don’t toss my cookies in their presence). do you think the obamas make gingerbread houses?? do you think they’ve had gingerbread catastrophes too, where they had to resort to hot glue and cardboard walls to avoid any frustration induced tantrums? maybe i can show them how to make a gingerbread oval?

i am just so excited to see the white house, especially around the holidays. the strongest reference i have to it comes from house of cards and veep because i never went on my school trip to d.c. and when i spent a summer outside of d.c. in college, i spent all of my free time at georgetown cupcake. i know. it was at the heigh of my gossip girl phase, ok?

so this is all to say that eggboy and i have a jam packed morning of zipping around the smithsonian, the washington monument, that huge statue of lincoln, and as many other historical things we can find, before heading over to the big house. follow along on instagram stories!!

over the weekend, i had such a fun #mollyontherange event in grand forks! i would have had a local event earlier in the tour, but since launch date was right around the beginning of beet harvest, we held off. it was so gosh darn lovely, everyone was so so sweet, it made me love grand forks even more. i obvi couldn’t show up empty handed, so i brought this flower cake (which in typical grand forks fashion was gobbled up *except* for the flower part because people were too polite to cut into it), and these dala horse rhubarb linzer cookies because i felt like they really reflected our area. 

until i moved here, i only kind of knew the dala horse as the cake pan from ikea! but when i got here and started seeing him around town in non-ikea situations, i learned how traditional of a symbol it is in scandinavian culture. (i wish i remember where i got my little horse cookie cutter, his name is bojack, but i’m assuming it was at our town scandinavian shop.) i also learned that you’re an extra good upper midwesterner if you have a freezer full of rhubarb at all times of the year, or that even if you don’t you can get rhubarb jam at almost all of our local grocery stores. or you probably know someone who has a stash. so rhubarb is plentiful, its tartness is beautiful when smooshed between two sugary cookies, and when paired with a dala horsey, you’ve got a good grand forks cookie! 

and this is part of bob’s red mill united states of cookies campaign!! check out their cool microsite to take a look at cookies from all of the other states. this is such a tasty diverse project. my cookies use their unbleached all-purpose flour, which is extra appropriate in this case since the sugar cookie dough here is a nice all-purpose dough. you don’t have to use it for linzers, you can use it for cutouts, uh-oh oreos, cookie trees, or even mini cookie houses. it will hold its shape when you bake it and it won’t spread that much at all because there aren’t any leavening agents. this yields a slightly crispier cookie, but when sandwiched with jam or buttercream, i think it’s jussst right. 

rhubarb linzer cookies

makes 15-18

ingredients

1 c unsalted butter, softened

1 c sugar

3/4 tsp kosher salt

1 large egg

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp almond extract

3 c all-purpose flour

about 10 tb rhubarb jam (homemade or store bought)

powdered sugar, for dusting

clues

preheat the oven to 350ºf and line two cookie sheets with parchment.

in the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter, sugar, and salt until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. beat in the egg and extracts. gradually mix in the flour until combined.

turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. (alternatively you can wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for up to 2 days before proceeding to the next step.) roll out the dough until it's 1/4-inch thick. cut out 3-inch circles using a cookie or biscuit cutter. place half of the cookies on the baking sheet 1 inch apart. use a smaller cookie cutter to cut out a shape from the center of the remaining cookies. place those on the cookie sheet 1 inch apart (you may have to bake in batches).

bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges of the cookies turn slightly golden. remove the cookies from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

once cooled, place about 2 tsp of jam in the center of a cookie and then squish into a sandwich with one of the cutout cookies. repeat with remaining cookies and then let set overnight.

dust with powdered sugar before serving and enjoy!

-yeh!

Thanks to bob's red mill for sponsoring this post!

their unbleached all-purpose flour is a great versatile kitchen staple. get more recipes by visiting the united states of cookies! also get a coupon for some bob's red mill flours here.