Spinach and Ricotta Challah

I think this is the prettiest bread I've ever baked.  Honestly, though, I stood in my kitchen beaming like I'd sculpted some masterpiece.  This is a challah filled with spinach and ricotta and pine nuts, shaped into a mock braid, and sprinkled with black and white sesame seeds.  When I realized the method for braiding was the same I had used for my Braided Lemon Bread, I dove right in.  Here's a how-to guide.

Before you assemble: Make sure your dough is on a parchment sheet or silicone mat.  Otherwise, it will be almost impossible after to move to the baking pan while keeping it intact.
1. Cut the rectangle of dough so there are tabs on the top and bottom, and evenly spaced strips on either side.  Spread the filling down the middle.  Try to avoid snacking on too many of the toasted pine nuts and depleting them, which is easier said than done.
2. Fold down the top tab, then fold over one side strip, followed by the one on the opposite side, repeating all the way down.  Easy!  So you're either folding left-right-left-right, or right-left-right-left.
3. Before you finish folding all the strips, fold the bottom tab up, then braid the remaining strips over it.  You might have noticed I don't have an even number of strips on each side -- don't repeat my mistake.  If you do, no big deal.  I just tucked the last extra strip under.  Brush on an egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds, and you're ready to bake!

Joe loved the bread and devoured it.  I froze the second loaf, because he vetoed my idea of giving it away.  I have to confess, however, that I didn't love the bread as much as I thought I would.  I felt like the filling could benefit from a stronger flavor like goat cheese or feta.  Also, the dough was just too wet and I had to add nearly an extra cup of flour to make the dough come together, even though I weighed the ingredients so measurements should have been precise.  And as nice as the bread was, I found myself thinking the flaky phyllo layers of spanakopita were superior.  Still, all the while, I never got tired of marveling at how pretty my loaves were.

Boston Globe Review: Turkish Comfort Food

Have you tried Turkish food?  Chicken Kabob in Stoughton offers more than kebabs: stuffed grape leaves, grilled whole fish, and these desserts.  I definitely indulged my sweet tooth with kadayif, sekerpare, and pistachio baklava.

Read my review at: http://bo.st/184UYGx

Italian Stuffed Cabbage

I had heard of Polish stuffed cabbage but not Italian, and when I first saw the recipe at Smitten Kitchen I knew I had to make it.  A meatball of Italian sausage is rolled up in savoy cabbage leaves, and slowly simmered in tomato sauce.  But the recipe wasn't exactly healthy, so I set about with some tweaks.  I swapped out the pork sausage for chicken sausage, low-carb whole wheat bread for white bread, and low-fat milk for whole milk.  But it wasn't right: the meat was too lean, so the texture and taste were a bit lacking.  I tried again and went halfway, using a blend of pork sausage and chicken sausage, and the result was healthier and heavenly.  

Production and cooking do take time, so set aside a lazy Sunday when you'll want to putter in the kitchen.  You'll need to carefully peel and blanch cabbage leaves, make the filling, and then cook the parcels for about an hour.  Another error I made the first time was buying a small head of cabbage; the larger the head, the larger the leaves, and the more likely the leaves will fully envelop the filling.  The whole wheat bread also isn't as soft as white bread, and chicken sausage isn't as soft as pork sausage -- I used the food processor to blend them, buzzing the bread into crumbs and chopping the sausage up finer.  Finally, I did away with the toothpicks on the second try.  They're not necessary, and I don't like the idea of biting into a stray one.

The serving suggestion of mashed potatoes on the side is perfect.  Although it took a bit of work to put this together yesterday, all I've got to do tonight is reheat.  Joe really loved these, and I'm look forward to digging into the leftovers come dinnertime.

Spring!! And Pork Belly Buns

By the time spring arrives, I've been feeling cooped up and in need of fresh air and growing things.  Summer has always been my favorite season, a time for vacations, beaches, and barbeque.  But living through New England's dark, cold winters has given me a real appreciation and love of spring.  Everything finally bursts into bloom.  I can't wait to see tulips, peonies, and alliums, and I've already had some daffodil sightings.  Tree blossoms are also my favorite, and I always get a little sad when they fade and get carried off by the wind.

I knew I was probably too early, but the day was warm and bright so I went for a stroll at the Public Garden in Boston this week.  About 3 percent of the place was in bloom, but I was so excited to see these magnolias.

I don't know the names of the ducklings, but this one and its siblings were dolled up for spring.

While the swan boats weren't out for the season yet, these ducks had plenty of watchers.

And since it was such a lovely day, I walked over to the Prudential Center for some lunch.  I got these steamed buns filled with pork belly at the food truck Fugu.  It was a tough call between these and the kimchee bulgogi panini, but the buns were really good.  Great way to cap off a spring walk.

Boston Globe Review: Harrows Chicken Pies

Photos by Shirley Goh/Globe Staff

If you live in Greater Boston, you've probably heard of Harrows.  The local chain has opened its first location south of Boston.  I'd heard about its chicken pies, and that they were "just different" from other pot pies.  And I set out to find out how.

Find out what I thought at: http://bo.st/12waZ45

Chocolate Cinnamon Babka

After years of intending, I've baked my second babka in two weeks!  This is the kind I always meant to make, the kind filled with chocolate.  And like so many things I delay, I wonder why I've waited so long.  It wasn't difficult at all.  The babka is rich and soft, and the chocolate has a nice bittersweet flavor that isn't overly sweet.  The exterior is flaky and breaks off in dozens of shard-like crumbs as you cut it.

The most daunting part might be planning the timing, but you can break it up into stages, even two days, by refrigerating the dough.  I made the babka in one straight shot.  And most of the time is inactive -- I made the dough, went out to an appointment, came back and shaped it, worked out at the gym, and came home and put it in the oven.  Babka is a traditional Easter dessert, so you might want to try it this weekend.  Just don't wait as long as I did!

1. The dough before its first rise.
2. The risen dough.
3. The dough rolls out easily, with no sticking or snapping back. A sheet of parchment underneath dusted with flour is helpful.
4. Scatter the chocolate-cinnamon-butter mixture on top, and get ready to roll!

1. Roll up the dough, then use your hands to elongate it.
2. Give the log a bit of a twist.
3. Coil the log into a snail shape.
4. Stand the coil up on its end, then press down to compact into a loaf shape.
5. Move the dough to a loaf pan, then wrap it up for its second rise.
6. The dough after its second rise. Ready to bake!

Polish Babka

Babka has been on my to-bake list for years.  Even after I grew comfortable with baking yeasted breads, babka seemed like a big project.  I've bookmarked a few recipes, but this one looked so easy I jumped on it almost right away. King Arthur Flour writes that the bundt shape is supposed to be reminiscent of a grandmother's skirt.  The dough comes together easily in a stand mixer, and the two risings are brief.  What you get is a rich bread that is a bit like cake, in the style of brioche, but denser.  I adore the rum syrup, which turns the babka into something like baba au rhum.  I could do without the white icing on top, which I found cloying and unnecessary, and just double down on that rum syrup.

Other babka recipes will call for shaping, and filling with chocolate or cinnamon (or both), and I fully intend to tackle one.  By Easter, I hope.  But I'm mostly about the easy and quick recipes these days.  In fact, some (very few?) of you may have noticed I've been posting way less.  I'm stepping back my blogging because life is just getting too hectic.  Also, I've recently adopted a healthier lifestyle that doesn't fit with baking cake and pie every week.  And I feel great!  But I've gotta say, sometimes I get an itch not necessarily to eat, but to bake something like pie.  I'm working on another dining review for the paper this week, but maybe I'll get around to baking that chocolate babka!  Fingers crossed.