Andrea Tutunjian — Dean of Education

Recipe: Upside Down Cranberry-Pistachio Muffins

ohoadmin — Thu, 18 Dec 2014 21:13:35 +0000

Recipe: Upside Down Cranberry-Pistachio Muffins ohoadmin Thu, 12/18/2014 - 16:13 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/thumb-1.dn_1400x680.jpeg.webp?itok=_a0F-Tax December 18, 2014

By Andrea Tutunjian — Dean of Education

The silky green color of these non-traditional muffins is slightly obscured by the bright garnet cranberries, but take one bite and you’ll know the pistachios are there. To ensure that the miniature crowns of nuts and berries atop them stay in place when you flip them over, use paper liners in your muffin tins and coat the papers lightly with nonstick spray before adding the nuts and compote. The compote is also spectacular by itself; we even serve it with pancakes or waffles instead of syrup! Or, for a really indulgent treat, eat it with a bowl of vanilla ice cream.

Upside Down Cranberry-Pistachio Muffins

YIELD: 18 muffins

EQUIPMENT: One 12-cup muffin tin and one 6-cup muffin tin lined with paper liners and lightly coated with nonstick spray

For the Cranberry Compote

12-ounce bag fresh cranberries
1⁄2 cup sugar
1⁄2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 1⁄2 teaspoons freshly grated orange zest

For the Muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
1⁄4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1⁄2 teaspoons freshly grated orange zest
1 1⁄2 cups (7 1⁄2 ounces) coarsely chopped pistachios

Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Make the cranberry compote: combine the cranberries, sugar, orange juice and zest in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat to medium and cook, stirring often, until the cranberries have burst and the compote begins to thicken about 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Make the muffins: stir the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a large mixing bowl. Whisk the milk, melted butter, eggs, vanilla and orange zest together in a separate bowl. Fold the wet mixture into the dry ingredients with a rubber spatula just until the dry ingredients are moistened. Do not overmix.
Sprinkle a tablespoon of pistachios in the bottom of each prepared liner. Spoon 2 tablespoons of the cranberry compote over the pistachios. Spoon the muffin batter over the cranberries so that each liner is slightly less than two-thirds full. Since these muffins are served upside-down, filling the liners a little less than you do with other muffins will avoid a large crown on the top after they have risen, so be careful not to overfill the liners.
Bake until the muffins are well risen and firm when lightly pressed and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 15 to 20 minutes. Do not insert the toothpick too far, or you may reach the cranberry compote and get an inaccurate reading of doneness.
Allow the muffins to cool completely in the tins on racks. Remove them from the tins, peel off the paper liners, and serve them upside down on a plate or platter.

Dream of developing recipes for a living? Get the skills you need with professional programs in Culinary Arts and Pastry & Baking Arts.

Reprinted from In A Nutshell: Cooking and Baking with Nuts and Seeds by Cara Tannenbaum and Andrea Tutunjian. Copyright © 2014 by Cara Tannenbaum and Andrea Tutunjian. Photographs copyright © 2014 by Gentl & Hyers. With permission of the publisher, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.

Recipe Cookbooks Chefs Nuts and Seeds Fruit

Thanksgiving Cheat Sheet: Vegetarian Cauliflower-Cashew Chowder

ohoadmin — Mon, 24 Nov 2014 22:16:40 +0000

Thanksgiving Cheat Sheet: Vegetarian Cauliflower-Cashew Chowder ohoadmin Mon, 11/24/2014 - 17:16 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/photo-1509912760195-4f6cfd8cce2c-1.jpeg.webp?itok=47RTXKFs November 24, 2014

By Andrea Tutunjian — Dean of Education

Chowders are chunky, hearty soups—a classic comfort food for the long, cold winter. As ingredients, cauliflower and cashews are both mellow in flavor, with buttery, earthy richness, but here they combine to make a bold soup.

Cauliflower has become a star in the modern nutritional hit parade, standing in for potatoes in a mash or roasted until its curly white edges turn deep gold. The florets soften entirely in this soup but keep their creamy white color. We like to purée about a quarter of the soup and leave the rest of the florets and cashew pieces whole. This gives the soup a rich texture without the addition of too much heavy cream. (We’ve added a little cream to finish the soup, but if you choose to leave it out, the soup will still taste unctuous.)

Cauliflower-Cashew Chowder

Yield: 12 cups

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
1 all-purpose potato, peeled and chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 ½ cups (7 ½ ounces) coarsely chopped cashews
4 cups (14 ounces) cauliflower florets (from 1 small head)
3 sprigs thyme
8 cups vegetable stock
½ cup heavy cream
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, carrots, potato, and garlic. Season with ½ teaspoon salt and cook, stirring occasionally until the vegetables begin to soften, about 5 minutes.
Add the cashews, cauliflower, thyme, and stock. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally. Lower the heat until the soup is simmering and cook for about 30 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft. Remove the sprigs of thyme, but don’t be concerned if the leaves have fallen off the stems.
Ladle 2 cups soup into a medium bowl. Using a handheld or standard blender, purée until completely smooth. Return the purée to the pot. Add the heavy cream and season with the remaining 1 ½ teaspoons salt and the pepper or to taste. Serve immediately. Store any cooled leftovers in a covered airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Reheat any quantity of soup over low heat.

Dream of developing your own holiday recipes? Click here to learn more about careers in food media.

Recipe reprinted from In A Nutshell: Cooking and Baking with Nuts and Seeds by Cara Tannenbaum and Andrea Tutunjian. Copyright © 2014 by Cara Tannenbaum and Andrea Tutunjian. With permission of the publisher, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.

Cookbooks Chefs Holidays Thanksgiving

Recipe: Dukkah Chips

ohoadmin — Fri, 16 Aug 2013 20:16:45 +0000

Recipe: Dukkah Chips ohoadmin Fri, 08/16/2013 - 16:16 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/dukkah-chips-7%20%281%29.jpg.webp?itok=cZbk3Ai6 August 16, 2013

By Andrea Tutunjian — Dean of Education

Purchasing tortillas makes home-made chips a snap to prepare—we just provide the flavoring for the blank canvas. Dukkah is a traditional Egyptian condiment found on kitchen tables throughout the Middle East. It’s sprinkled on just about everything and used as a dip when mixed with yogurt. Like other cultural dishes, there are as many variations of dukkah as there are cooks who make it. This version is more global than the Egyptian original, showcasing an array of nuts and seeds from around the world.

Dukkah Chips

Makes approximately 64 pieces

Ingredients:

1/4 cup (1 ounce) chopped Brazil nuts
1/4 cup (1 ounce) chopped hazelnuts
2 tablespoons sunflower seeds
2 tablespoons unsweetened coconut flakes
1/2 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup coriander seed, toasted and lightly crushed
2 tablespoons cumin seeds
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
8 small size corn or whole wheat tortillas, approximately 8-inch in diameter
4 tablespoons mild olive oil

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350° F.
Combine the Brazil nuts, hazelnuts, sunflower seeds, coconut, sesame seeds, coriander seeds and cumin seeds in a small mixing bowl and toss. Transfer onto a parchment lined pan and toast in the oven for about 10 minutes. You will know that the mixture is ready when it is toasted in appearance and the warm smell of spices fills the kitchen. Remove the mixture from the oven and allow it to cool completely.
Working in small batches, pulse the cooled nut spice mixture in a spice grinder or food processer until finely ground. If the mixture is still warm when it is processed the nuts will become oily and pasty, so make sure to cool it thoroughly first. Pour the ground mixture into a bowl and repeat with the remaining toasted nuts and spices. Add salt, cinnamon and cayenne and stir together. Divide the Dukka in half, using one half now and saving the other half refrigerated in an airtight container for up to one month.
Place 2 tortillas on each of the prepared sheet pans. Working with one tortilla at a time, brush lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of Dukka. Cut each tortilla into eight wedges using a pizza wheel. Bake for about 12 to 15 minutes, until the familiar smell of spice fills the air and the edges of each wedge have a hint of color and slight curl like an ancient parchment. Cool on a rack and serve at room temperature. Repeat with the remaining four tortillas. If there are any leftovers, store them flat in an airtight container.

*Note – If the chips need to travel, pack them tightly, keep them flat, and wrap them well. The topping will loosen if the chips get bumped or tossed, so treat them with care.

Recipe from Andrea Tutunjian and Cara Tannenbaum's upcoming cookbook "In a Nutshell: Cooking and Baking with Nuts and Seeds." (W.W. Norton; Spring 2014)

Snacks Recipe Culinary Arts

Recipe: Cannoli Extravaganza

ohoadmin — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 15:22:41 +0000

Recipe: Cannoli Extravaganza ohoadmin Mon, 12/20/2010 - 10:22 December 20, 2010

By Andrea Tutunjian — Dean of Education

In the past few weeks, DICED has brought you two cookie recipes and asked to hear your favorite holiday memories. With only a few more sleeps until Santa comes, we asked the ICE Director of Pastry & Baking Arts Program, Andrea Tuntunjian to share her holiday traditions

In my family, holiday baking tradition began with my great-grandmother, her sisters, and their extended families after they came to this country. Small groups of women would spend an entire day or so together preparing one or two kinds of pastries. Afterwards, they would meet up and share their desserts, so each family would have several different pastries for their holiday.

In my maternal family, these pastries included cannoli, crispedella, pizzelle, and casateddi de ciciri. Baking community-style not only created memories and traditions, but it was also a way to teach and pass on the recipes to the next generation. With each continuous generation, families spread out and got smaller, so many of these traditions were lost. I still hold on to preparing cannoli, as it happens to be my favorite. I have created a small family custom of my own.

Each Christmas season my daughter and I pick a day to take over our home kitchen and prepare about two hundred cannoli. We give dozens away to friends and family and every year we watch the list grow. As you can imagine, people have come to expect them and look forward to their arrival. I certainly hope this tradition withstands the test of time and gets passed down to future generations. We happen to use the same recipe as ICE students. In my experience, nothing can compare to a true Sicilian cannoli. But, I have to say the recipe by Nick Malgieri used in our professional Pastry & Baking Arts curriculum comes extremely close.

Ingredients

Shells

13 ounces all-purpose flour
1 1/2 ounces sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 ounces butter or lard
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
4 ounces dry white wine or dry vermouth
1 egg white, lightly beaten Oil for frying

Ricotta Filling

2 pounds ricotta
1/2 pound confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 ounce chopped semisweet chocolate
1 ounce chopped candied orange peel
Chopped blanched pistachios for garnish
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting

Instructions

To prepare the shells, combine the dry ingredients and then mix in all the liquid ingredients. Knead them together on a lightly floured counter until it is stiff and ropey.
Divide your dough into 3 or 4 pieces. Make sure to wrap the remaining pieces in plastic to prevent them from drying out. The dough is extremely firm so rolling it properly by hand is near impossible. Use a pasta machine or pasta dough rolling attachment to a stand mixer. Lightly flour the dough and pass it through the widest setting of the pasta machine. In the beginning it may rip in pieces. Press it together, fold it in half, and pass it through the pasta machine again.
Continue to repeat this process several times until the dough is visibly smooth and seemingly elastic. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate it for at least 1 hour to overnight to allow it to rest. Repeat this process with the remaining pieces of dough. Unwrap one piece of dough and sprinkle it lightly with flour. Press or roll the dough by hand until it is roughly the width of the pasta machine.
Beginning with the widest setting of the pasta machine, pass the dough through the machine. Reduce the opening setting by two notches, and pass the dough through the machine again. Repeat this process, reducing the setting by two notches each time, until you get to the next to last setting. Flour the dough as necessary to prevent it from sticking. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and cover it with plastic. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough. Cut the dough into 4-inch disks using a round cutter. Roll the disks into a slight oval, and place the cannoli tube lengthwise on the oval. Wrap the dough around the tube, (not too tight) and moisten the overlap with egg white to seal. Make sure to not to get any egg white on the cannoli tube, otherwise the dough will stick to the tube and break when you try and remove it.
When all the dough is rolled begin pre-heating the oil. Place the oil in a large pot. It should be about 4-inches deep. Heat the oil to 375°F. Fry the cannoli until they are a deep golden color and small blisters appear on the surface. When the cannolis are done, remove them from the pan and allow them to drain on paper towel lined pans. While the tubes are still hot, use oven mitts or towels to carefully remove the metal tubes from the shells. Do not wait until the cannolis are cool, or the pastry shell stick to the tube.
Once the tubes are free and cooled, repeat the process with the remaining dough until all of the pieces have been fried. To prepare the filling, place the ricotta in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat with the paddle attachment briefly to soften. Add the confectioners’ sugar, vanilla and cinnamon, mixing only to combine.
Remove from the machine and fold in the chocolate and candied fruit. Chill until ready to use. Only fill the cannoli when you are ready to serve them, so they stay crispy and fresh. After the shells are filled, sprinkle the ends with pistachios and lightly dust with confectioners’ sugar.

Recipe Holidays

Andrea Tutunjian — Dean of Education

Recipe: Upside Down Cranberry-Pistachio Muffins

Thanksgiving Cheat Sheet: Vegetarian Cauliflower-Cashew Chowder

Recipe reprinted from In A Nutshell: Cooking and Baking with Nuts and Seeds by Cara Tannenbaum and Andrea Tutunjian. Copyright © 2014 by Cara Tannenbaum and Andrea Tutunjian. With permission of the publisher, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.

Recipe: Dukkah Chips

Recipe: Cannoli Extravaganza

Ingredients

Instructions

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