Pomegranate Sage French 75

This weekend, we decorated our little duplex for Christmas. We went to the Christmas tree farm and picked out a barely-five-feet Frasier fir who has a bit of a side lean and we named him Felipe. Then we brought him home and my sweet, patient, loving husband spent three hours trying to construct a make-shift tree stand to tuck inside of a wicker basket in order to recreate a picture that I saw somewhere in the depths of Pinterest. It mostly worked and Felipe is now sparkling in all of his Christmas tree glory in our living room, although my basket tree stand idea doesn’t look exactly like the one from the manicured Pinterest apartment. My desired aesthetic was “minimalist festive” which is the fancy way of saying that I tried to spend as little money on decorations as physically possible so that I would have more money for all the things about Christmas that I really love— hosting dinner parties, making cheeseboards and elaborately decorated cookies, wine, and of course, new cocktails.

I love of a good holiday cocktail. I started working on this one a couple of months ago, right after Halloween when it became acceptable to start drinking holiday cocktails. It’s the perfect drink to take you all the way through the New Year. The pomegranate juice gives a tart, fruity flavor and provides that season-signature deep red color. The sage syrup and gin provide a gentle sweetness and an earthy, floral, component and the Champagne bubbles make it feel festive and party-worthy. This drink is also easy to scale up and mix ahead of time. If you’re heading out to an ugly sweater party or a Christmas Eve dinner, mix up a big batch of the pomegranate juice, sage syrup, and gin and bring a bottle of bubbly along. You can use any dry sparkling wine in place of Champagne (like Cava or Prosecco), but then you may have to change the name to a Spanish 75 or an Italian 75. :) Mix it any way you like, but I recommend enjoying this cocktail with lots of good friends, preferably under some twinkling lights.

Pomegranate Sage French 75

Yield: 4 cocktails 

Ingredients: 

6 oz gin

3 oz pomegranate juice 

1.5 oz sage syrup

8 oz dry champagne

Strips of orange zest from 1 orange

for the sage syrup: 

4 oz sugar 

4 oz water

3-4 sprigs of fresh sage

Procedure: 

1. To make the sage simply syrup: combine equal parts sugar and water in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add sprigs of sage and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. When sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and allow to cool completely. Remove sage (strain if needed) and refrigerate.

2. For the cocktail: Combine gin, pomegranate juice, and sage syrup and mix well. Divide evenly between glasses. Top each glass with 2 oz champagne and 1 strip of orange zest. Add ice if desired.

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Briolata

I’m named after my grandmothers. My mom’s mother, Judith Anne and my dad’s mother Naomi Gene combined and my parents named me Anna Naomi. When I was younger, I never really liked my middle name. In classrooms filled with Megans and Brittanys, Naomi stuck out and my classmates loved to poke fun at the pronunciation. When I was 17, my dad’s mom passed away suddenly and at the funeral, there were pictures of my grandma from her youth, pictures I had never seen (or didn’t remember anyway) and stranger after stranger commented on how much I resembled my grandmother. As I remembered my grandmother through pictures and stories, I was struck with what an honor it was to carry her name.

My grandmother was so much fun. Growing up, we would drive to Pensacola each year right after Christmas and spend the second half of our Christmas holidays with her and my grandfather. We would make the trek out to the outlet mall and spend at least one entire day blowing through all of the Christmas money we were gifted, eat butter pecan ice cream from cake cones, and watch “West Side Story” over and over again. I remember so many little things about my grandma, but the strongest pull was the smells of bread and sausage that would come from the kitchen when she would make Briolata, a Sicilian-style sausage bread, synonymous with our family. Everyone makes briolata, but everyone makes it a little differently. My grandma would make giant, snail-like rolls that would almost envelop the entire countertop when they rose. My mom, who worked full-time, would use pizza dough for a quicker, more accessible briolata. We made briolata for my husband the first time I brought him home to meet my parents and now, even he has created his own rolling and filling system. When I started making briolata on my own, I sought to put my own stamp on it. I emailed my aunts and my dad, looked through photos of old recipe cards, and tested batch after batch. I decided to lean into the simplicity and use an adapted Italian bread dough. It’s pretty easy to put together in the way of bread doughs and gives a consistency as close to the ones coming out of my grandma’s kitchen that I can remember. The dough is rolled out, filled with Italian sausage, roasted garlic, and lots of freshly-cracked black pepper and each time I make it, I’m taken back to a small kitchen in Pensacola, sitting with a woman I’m proud to be named after.

Yield: makes one large loaf, serves about 12 people

Author: Anna Ramiz

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Briolata (A Sicilian Sausage Bread)

Prep time: 1 HourCook time: 30 MinInactive time: 14 HourTotal time: 15 H & 30 M

Briolata, a Sicilian-style sausage bread, is an Italian family recipe. Italian bread dough is filled with roasted garlic and spiced sausage and baked under fragrant and golden. *dough recipe adapted from Peter Reinhart*

Ingredients

for the biga

• 2 1/2 cups (11.25 oz, 319 g) bread flour
• 1/2 tsp (1.5 g) instant yeast
• 3/4 cups + 2 T (7.5 oz, 213 g) warm water

for the italian bread dough

• 3 1/2 cups (18 oz, 510 g) biga, at room temperature
• 2 1/2 cups (11.25 oz, 319 g) bread flour
• 1 2/3 tsp (11.5 g) kosher salt
• 1 T (14 g) sugar
• 1 tsp (3 g) instant yeast
• 2 T (28 g) olive oil
• 3/4 cup + 2 T (198 g) warm water

for the filling

• 3/4 lb ground Italian sausage
• 1 head garlic, roasted
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 tsp aleppo chili flakes
• 1/2 tsp salt
• fresh ground black pepper
• *1 egg, beaten for egg wash

Instructions

to make the biga

1. The night before baking, combine bread flour, yeast, and water in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix until just combined and then switch to the dough hook attachment. Knead on medium-low speed until dough is cohesive and pliable.
2. Transfer to a greased bowl, cover, and let rest on your countertop overnight.

to make the italian bread dough

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, combine water, oil, and biga. Add in bread flour, salt, sugar, and instant yeast. Mix on low speed for 2 minutes, until a dough begins to form.
2. Increase speed to medium and knead for another 4-6 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic. (You can check gluten development here by using the window pane test).
3. Transfer dough to a lightly-oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel. Place in a warm, draft-free area of your kitchen and let proof for about 2 hours, until doubled in size. About 30 minutes into your bulk fermentation time, fold the dough by reaching underneath and stretching the two sides of the dough out and over the top of the dough. Turn the bowl 90° and repeat with the other two sides of the dough. Cover the bowl again and continue to proof.
4. When the dough has doubled in size, turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface and use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a rectangle, roughly 12x18”.

assembling the briolata

1. In a small bowl, combine mashed roasted garlic with 1 tbsp olive oil and stir to make a paste. Use an offset spatula or spoon to spread paste on the rectangle of dough, all the way to the edges of the rectangle. Drizzle remaining tablespoon of oil over dough.
2. Pinch of pieces of Italian sausage, about the size of quarters, and place evenly over the surface of the dough. Sprinkle the whole thing with aleppo chili flakes, salt, and pepper.
3. Starting with a short end of the dough, begin rolling the dough into a tight log. Transfer the dough log to a parchment-lined baking sheet.
4. Take a pair of scissors and starting on one end of the dough log, beginning cutting on 45° angel, in intervals about 1” apart. You will be cutting almost to the bottom, but not all the way through, and each piece should look sort of like a bird’s beak. (see photos)
5. Use your hands to pull each snipped corner piece away from the center of the log, alternating left and right.
6. Cover the loaf with plastic wrap or a damp towel and let rise another 45 minutes-an hour, until swollen and 3/4 larger in size. (You can test whether a dough is sufficiently proofed by lightly poking it with your finger. If the indentation fills back in about half way, the dough has sufficiently proofed. If it springs back immediately, it needs to proof a little longer and if the dough deflates when poked, it has over-proofed.)
7. While the dough is proofing, preheat the oven to 375° F. When the loaf is ready, brush lightly with the egg wash, and bake for 25-30 minutes, rotating halfway through the baking time. The finished loaf should be golden brown, and very fragrant, and the sausage should be cooked through.
8. Remove from oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.

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Roasted Squash Pie with Brown Sugar Cinnamon Bavarian Cream and Candied Pecans

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite meals of the year. Some people really love Christmas. Their stockings were hung by the chimney with care before they finished eating all of their Halloween candy. This is not me. I have never been able to jump into Christmas until after Thanksgiving. I love the creative opportunities that Thanksgiving provides and the dinner party fan-girl that I am really loves hosting Thanksgiving dinner. I am not a Thanksgiving traditionalist. I have made Cornish hens and roasted chickens, added squash to almost any dish on the table, and I would be 100% okay with skipping stuffing completely. My father, however, makes the term “traditionalist” feel like an understatement. He would love nothing more than for every single Thanksgiving dinner to look exactly like the ones he remembers from his childhood, and if I’m being honest, it does not mesh well with my unconventional Thanksgiving mentality. The last few years I’ve hosted Thanksgiving at my house and I’ve had to get a little creative and I’ve learned a few lessons in compromise so I figured this year, I would put together a little guide to help navigate the treacherous world of the turkey day table.

Today, I’m sharing a pumpkin pie inspired recipe that allows for endless modifications, to give the creative culinarians among us some opportunities to try something new while still appeasing the more traditionally-minded guests at the table. Without further ado, let’s break it down piece by piece.

the crust- For this pie crust, I used blend of all purpose flour and spelt flour. The addition of spelt flour gives a slightly nuttier, more complex flavor to your regular pie crust. You can play around with any alternative flours you’re interested in (I would love to try buckwheat or einkorn), just remember to keep alternative flours to 20% or less of the total weight so that you’re still able to achieve appropriate gluten structure.

the filling- In place of the traditional canned pumpkin, I used a large roasted butternut squash. Pumpkin is a little bit sweeter than butternut squash, but I really like the more vegetal flavor butternut gives. Pumpkin and butternut squash have very similar consistencies, so they are interchangeable when it comes to pies.

the topping- In my opinion, the very best part of a pumpkin pie is whipped cream. There needs to be enough whipped cream on the pie that you get some in each bite, but not so much that you end up eating cool whip by the spoonful at the end. I decided to make a brown sugar Bavarian cream and top this pie with a big thick layer, like a chocolate cream pie or a lemon meringue. The fun thing about a Bavarian cream is that it is simply a creme anglaise sauce, cooled and folded into whipped cream. If you wanted to serve this pie warm, you could make the brown sugar cinnamon anglaise and stop there, spooning the warm sauce over the warm pie to serve. That would be very delicious. Or you could follow the recipe exactly as written below and pile that Bavarian cream on top of the pie until you get lost in it’s fluffy layers. Or you could leave half the sauce as a creme anglaise, and make Bavarian cream with the other half, and let everyone at the table choose their own adventure. See what I mean, this is a very versatile pie.

the candied pecans- If you remember my post about all the things I learned from working in a restaurant pastry kitchen, one of my biggest takeaways was that one of the easiest ways to elevate your dessert is to add some texture. Pumpkin pie is traditionally very creamy. I wanted to give it a little crunch without changing the pie base itself so I simply added some candied pecans. I included some step by step photos in the recipe because working with caramel can be a little daunting. You can use walnuts or almonds, add a splash of bourbon at the end…it’s your dessert so really anything goes.

Roasted Squash Pie with Brown Sugar Cinnamon Bavarian Cream and Candied Pecans

Yield: 1 9” pie

Ingredients: 

for the pie crust (adapted from Yossy Arefi): 

10 oz all purpose flour 

2 oz spelt flour

9 oz butter, cold and cubed 

2 tsp apple cider vinegar 

4 oz ice water *see note in recipe*

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp sugar

for the roasted squash filling (adapted from Bon Appetit): 

1 large butternut squash, roasted (about 15 oz)

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

3 whole eggs

1 egg yolk 

1 cup heavy cream

2 tbsp melted butter

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cardamom

pinch of cloves

1/4 tsp salt 

for the creme anglaise/bavarian cream: 

3/4 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup half and half

3 cinnamon sticks 

1 tsp vanilla

3 egg yolks

1/4 cup brown sugar

Pinch of salt 

1 cup heavy cream #2

for the candied pecans:

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup chopped pecans

1 tsp vanilla extract 

2 tbsp butter, softened

Pinch of salt 

Procedure: 

for the pie crust: 

1. Toss together flour, salt, and sugar in a large bowl. Add in cubed butter and use your hands to cut the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles a very coarse sand, with a few chunks of butter the size of large peas left. I like to pinch each cube of butter between my fingers, flattening it out into the flour mixture.

2. In a glass measuring cup filled with ice, add 4 oz of cold water and the 2 tsp of apple cider vinegar and stir to combine. *You will probably not use all of this water!*

3. Drizzle ice water into the flour mixture a little at a time, tossing to combine. You want to add just enough water that the dough is able to hold together when you squeeze it in your first. Remember, you can always add more water to your dough, but you can’t take it away. Be conservative with your water!

4. Turn the pie dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Use your hands to press the dough into a rectangle. Fold the left third of the dough into the center, and then fold the right third of the dough on top of it, like you are folding a letter. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out to about an 1” thick, divide it in half, and wrap each smaller square in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least an hour, and preferably overnight.

5. When you’re ready to bake, remove one disc from the refrigerator. On a lightly floured work surface, roll dough out into a large rectangle/circle. Make sure that it is large enough to cover your pie plate, with quite a bit leftover. Carefully drape the dough into your pie plate, pressing it gently into the corners. Trim the edges and crimp as you like.

6. Use a fork to poke holes in bottom of the pie dough and then set the whole thing in the refrigerator to chill while you make the filling.

for the roasted squash filling: 

To roast a butternut squash: Preheat the oven to 400° F and line a baking pan with aluminum foil. Trim the top and bottom from squash so that it sets flat against the cutting board. Carefully, slice downwards from the top, dividing the squash in half vertically. Scoop the seeds out of the squash, drizzle each side with a little olive oil, and then place cut side down on your prepared pan. Roast for 25-30 minutes, until you can easily pierce the squash with a fork. Let cool completely and then scoop the flesh out from the squash and set aside. (Alternatively, you can buy butternut squash puree in a can at Trader Joe’s or substitute in canned pumpkin if you want to make a classic pumpkin pie.)

1. Preheat oven to 400° F.

2. Place butternut squash and all other filling ingredients in a blender and blend until combined and homogenous. Set aside.

3. Remove your pie crust from the refrigerator and line with parchment paper or foil. Fill with dried beans or pie weights, place on a baking sheet, and bake for 15-20 minutes, until the edges begin to brown. Remove beans/weights and parchment from the crust and return to oven. Decrease oven temperature to 350° F and return crust to bake another 15-20 minutes until golden.

4. Pour filling into crust and bake at 350° F for 40-45 minutes until filling is set and there is just a slight wobble. Remove from oven and cool completely then cover and transfer to the refrigerator to chill overnight.

for the creme anglaise/Bavarian cream: 

1. Combine 3/4 cup heavy cream, half and half, and cinnamon sticks in a medium saucepan. Set over medium heat, stirring occasionally until simmering around the edges (between 180-190° F). Remove from heat, cover and let steep for 10-15 minutes. Remove cinnamon sticks.

2. Return the milk mixture to heat and bring back to a simmer.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together egg yolks, brown sugar, vanilla extract, and salt.

4. When the milk is hot, pour some of it (about half) into the egg mixture, whisking continually. Pour the egg mixture back into the milk and return to heat. Heat, stirring continually, until thickened and sauce coats the back of a spoon. You don’t want this to boil, but you want it get up to about 180° F.

5. Strain through a mesh strainer and set aside to cool completely.

6. To make the Bavarian cream, whip 1 cup cold heavy cream to medium peaks. Gently fold in chilled anglaise sauce and then spread cream topping on chilled pie. Chill for at least 30 minutes.

for the candied pecans: 

1. In a large skillet set over medium heat, make a dry caramel by sprinkling sugar in a single layer on the bottom of the skillet. Cook, without stirring until little liquid puddles appear on the surface. Use a wooden spoon to gently push the sugar around the outsides of the pan into the center and then sprinkle in another layer of sugar, repeating the process until all of your sugar is in the skillet. Cook, stirring only when at the liquid stage, until the caramel turns a medium amber color.

2. Quickly add the chopped pecans, tossing quickly to coat and continue cooking until caramel turns a deep amber color.

3. Remove from heat and stir in butter, vanilla, and salt. Pour caramelized pecans onto a silat-lined sheet pan and spread out. Let cool completely and then break apart and store in a cool, dry place.

4. Sprinkle as generously or as conservatively as you like on your finished pie.