My Family's Baccala Salad

Salted cod aka baccala is an Italian delicacy enjoyed at the holidays, particularly on Christmas Eve during the Feast of the Seven Fishes.

The key to success is to cover the salted cod with cold water about three days prior to making the salad. Change the water out daily 2-3 times per day. In addition, boiling the cod for what may seem to be like a really excessive amount of time is key to the fish's tenderness.

Here's what the cod looks like when you purchase it:

As you see, the fish is preserved in salt. This is why soaking it, is key! I use a gigantic Tupperware container with a lid.

While every family has their own style and tradition in making this dish, I'm sharing with you the way my Mommom Sacco and my mom Judy did it. It is enjoyed during our Feast every year. I hope your family loves it, too!

Baccala Salad

Makes about 20 appetizer servings

 1.5-2 pound salted cod

Fresh water to soak the baccala

6 cloves garlic, minced

4 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

4 Tbsp. red wine vinegar, plus more for serving if desired

1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Pinch of salt, to taste, if necessary

Three days prior to cooking, place salted cod in a large bowl with a lid. Cover cod with fresh cold water. Water should be at least an inch or two above the cod. Cover the bowl with lid. Place in fridge. Drain the water and repeat 2-3 times per day until the day of cooking.

On the day of cooking and preparing the baccala: Remove covered bowl with cod from fridge. Drain the soaking water. Fill a large pot with fresh water. Place cod in pot of water. 

Place pot on the stove over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil. Simmer until cod is tender and can fall apart with a fork. Start checking the cod at 20 minutes. Depending on how thick your fish is, it may need to simmer up to 40 minutes. Drain in a colander.

While the cod in the colander cools slightly, heat a small saucepan over medium low heat. Add olive oil, garlic and parsley. Saute for two minutes. 

While the cod is still warm, flake into a bowl. Cod should be bite-sized pieces. Pour garlic oil mixture on top. Gently stir to coat the fish. Add red wine vinegar. Stir again. Taste for seasoning. Add a pinch of salt if necessary. Serve warm or place in refrigerator until ready to serve. This dish can be eaten at room temperature or chilled. I like to make it the day before serving so that the flavors marinate well, but my mom makes it Christmas Eve morning.

Serve with extra red wine vinegar and crusty bread.

Nigella Christmas Chocolate Cookies

I've been wanting to make Nigella Christmas Chocolate Cookies for years. But this time of year is always so hectic, and each December would come and go and I just cranked out my cookie standbys: pizzelles, biscotti, ricotta, chocolate chips.

So this week, I changed all that and made a point to get to it already. Afterall, procrastination and putting tasks off is not how I roll.

These are like a chocolate shortbread drizzled with a chocolate glaze and sprinkled with your favorite Christmas sparkles or confetti.

I'm glad I made them. They are a nice surprise.

My batch made closer to 30 than the 24 listed in the recipe.

The recipe is featured in the Nigella Christmas cookbook. Nigella Lawson is one of my fave celebrity chefs and I collect all of her books. If you are not an avid reader of Nigella Lawson recipes, you may be surprised by her style as it is quite colorful and she adds a bit of her own commentary. I have listed her recipe exactly as it is written in the book.

My tips for the cookies that may have differed from her recipe are as follows:
1. I did not wear rubber gloves to roll out the dough. And it was totally just fine.
2. I did not remove my cookie sheet from the oven to place on a cold a surface. I don't even know what that means. Ha. Maybe her fancy kitchen has ice cold marble surfaces on which hot cookie sheets can be placed? I used a standard cooling rack on my common man formica.
3. My yield was greater than 24, so you may want to have 3 cookie sheets prepared.
4. Just in case it's not clear for you in her recipe, please bake each sheet one at a time.

Christmas Chocolate Cookies
From "Nigella Christmas"
By Nigella Lawson
Makes approximately 24

2 1/4 sticks (18 Tbsp.) soft unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder

For the Festive Topping:
2 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup boiling water, from a kettle
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Christmas sprinkles

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and line  2  cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl and when you have a light, soft, whipped mixture, beat in the 1/3 cup cocoa powder (sifting if it is lumpy) and, when that's mixed in, beat in the flour with the baking soda and baking powder. Or just put everything in the processor and blitz, if you prefer.

This mixture is very soft and sticky and I find it easiest to form the cookies wearing my disposable vinyl gloves, so pinch off pieces about 1 Tbsp. in size, roll them into balls, then slightly flatten into fat discs as you place them well spaced on your cookie sheet. You should get about 12 on at a time.

Bake each batch for 15 minutes; even though the cookies won't feel as if they've had enough time, they will continue to cook as they cool. They will look slightly cracked on top, and it's this cozy, homespun look that I love.

Remove the cookie sheet to a cold surface and let it sit for 15 minutes before transferring the cookies to a wire rack, with a sheet of newspaper under it to catch drips while topping them.

To make the topping, put the cocoa powder, confectioners' sugar, water and vanilla extract into a small saucepan and whisk over a low heat until everything's smoothly combined. Take off the heat for 10 minutes.

When the cookies are cool, drizzle each with a tablespoonful of chocolate glaze - to glue the sprinkles on in a minute - using the back of the spoon to help spread the mixture, though an uneven dribbly look is part of their charm. After you've iced 6 cookies, scatter with some of the Christmas sprinkles, and continue thus until all the cookies are topped. If you ice them all before sprinkling, you will find the cocoa "glue" has dried and the sprinkles won't stick on.

Time to Make the Doughnuts

Amid my Christmas prep frenzy, I found the time, focus and where-with-all to rock out some festive baked buttermilk mini doughnuts topped with chocolate glaze and holiday sprinkles. I did this for 4-year-olds.

Yeah. There's an element of crazy in my actions, but hopefully the kiddos dug the treat while hopped up on juice, candy canes and a visit from the Big Man from the North Pole himself during my son's pre-school holiday festivities.

I purchased the Wilton mini doughnut pans within the past year. A complete frivolous purchase, yes. But they are getting more use than my fondue pot, blowtorch or crepe pan. (Note to self: Must collect less kitchen gadgetry.)

This was my second go-around at making baked doughnuts, and I thought this time was a better turnout than when I did it in the spring. I used the doughnut recipe from a really fab Web site called www.justataste.com. But the glaze on that site used Nutella, which would kill me and violate all sorts of nut-free-zone policies at my son's school, so I went with the basic chocolate glaze on  www.wilton.com.

My first attempt at the doughnuts last spring involved nutmeg. Now, I got nothing against nutmeg, but I think that was the ingredient that didn't do it for me. This doughnut recipe is sans nutmeg. The buttermilk adds a really nice tang to the doughnuts. But, the ginormous bottle is taking up prime real estate in my refrigerator mocking me every time I open the door because it knows that I do not have any immediate plans to use the 3 1/2 cups that remain in the bottle. The Jersey Girl was SO going to rock out buttermilk cheddar biscuits tonight to go with our din dins, but alas, I did not. My rationale is that the Feast of the Seven Fishes AND Christmas brunch are mere days away, and really do we need to feel like total fat-asses this soon in the game?

As is usually the case with doughnuts - particularly the fried ones - these baked doughnuts taste best on the day they are made. I served mine a good 24 hours after making them because girlfriend was not waking up at 5 a.m. to make doughnuts for a bunch of 4-year-olds. I'm not a complete lunatic. They still totally rocked, but on the first night they had that je ne sais quoi that certain food has when served at just the perfect time: Biscuits straight out the oven, bacon right out of the pan, a frittata at an easy breezy warm room temp, gazpacho chilled to perfection coming at you directly from the coolness of a refrigerator. You catch me?

That said you could make these a day ahead and still leave a room full of judgmental judgies with your reputation intact. But I would advise you baking fiends to perhaps bring these to a holiday brunch or party just an hour or so after cooling. They are fab!

Baked Mini Buttermilk Doughnuts
From www.justataste.com

Makes 24

For the doughnuts:
Vegetable cooking spray
1 1/4 cups cake flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

To make the doughnuts:
Preheat the oven to 425°F and spray the mini-doughnut pan with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Whisk in the buttermilk, vanilla, eggs and melted butter just until combined.

Fill each pan cavity approximately 1/3 full (about 1/2 Tablespoon per cavity). Tap the pan on the counter to release any air bubbles and level out the batter.

Bake the doughnuts for 4 to 6 minutes, or until the tops of the doughnuts spring back when touched. Let the doughnuts cool in the pan for 5 minutes then transfer them to a cooling wrack to cool completely while you make the chocolate glaze.

Chocolate Glaze

• From www.wilton.com
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 2 tablespoons corn syrup
• 1-2 teaspoons hot water

In medium bowl, melt chocolate chips, butter, and corn syrup on 50% power for 1 minute, stirring frequently until completely melted. Stir in 1 teaspoon of hot water, stirring until the glaze is thick and smooth. Add another teaspoon if glaze is too thick. Use immediately to glaze doughnuts.

Confessions of a Pizzelle Guru

Forget gift shopping, house decorating, feeble attempts at wrapping boxes while stalking the front door on an hourly basis hoping that the UPS man or FedEx man or some man has arrived with all of the freaking items I ordered three weeks ago. And don't even get me started on that crazy-ass Elf on the Shelf/Big Brother who I forget to move EVERY NIGHT. And Christmas cards. I mean really, America. Are we just effing insane?!?

Truth: Baking and cooking are the only holiday chores that do not make my blood pressure rise. So it is with great joy that I have entered the week of creating cookie deliciousness.

Elvis on the stereo, leopard ho-ho-ho hat slightly askew, wine on the side and the kid tucked snug in his bed, visions of trains and Legos dancing in his head. Now, this. This the Jersey Girl can deal with.

So here goes with my pizzelles. If you don't know what a pizzelle is, you've obviously never rocked out Christmas in Jersey. It's a traditional Italian waffle cookie, or as my big boy Evan calls them, snowflake cookies.

According to legend, I mean my very opinionated family, the best pizzelles are thin as paper and are so delicate and crispy that you must handle them with the utmost level of care.

The original recipe can be found on a vanilla-stained, time-worn faded light blue index card that was always stowed away in my Mom's index-card recipe box on the top shelf of her corner kitchen cabinet. The one with the lazy-Susan, above the coffee pot.

As is the case in many of the gems you will find in the box, now located in Florida, the "recipe" is merely a list of ingredients in no particularly important order. But as we know, nothing can be left to chance when baking. It's all about instinct. Precision. A feeling.

Of course, I will share with you my process. But, I must warn you dear readers, your pizzelles won't ever match mine. Not because of my fine baking prowess or stellar kitchen skills. No, sir. You see, when my parents left our childhood home for sunnier skies down south, my Mom would sneak into my house many of her "treasures." Pink Santa Claus circa 1985, harvest gold Tupperware circa 1972 and a pizzelle iron circa older than dirt. It is magical. Truly. I am completely convinced that the only reason my pizzelles are anything to write home about is because they are made on the gadget that I have treasured for my entire life.

Pizzelles
6 extra large eggs at room temperature
3 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 lb. margarine melted and cooled (2 sticks)
4 tsp. baking powder
2 Tbsp. vanilla extract or anise

Preheat pizzelle iron.

In a large bowl, sift together flour and baking powder.

In a large mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat sugar and melted margarine until smooth. One at a time, add eggs and continue beating on medium-low speed. Add vanilla or anise (I use vanilla). Add flour mixture a cup at a time while mixer is beating slowly. Stop occasionally to scrape sides. Continue until flour is all completely added.

When ready to bake, place one teaspoon on each side of pizzelle iron. Press down iron for about 60 seconds. Remove from iron with the help of a fork. Lie flat on paper towels to cool. Once cool, the pizzelles can be piled up to make space for more.

Cookie Time is Here

Take a whole lotta this:

Stir in a pinch of this:

Add a dash of that:

And what you have, dear readers, is the perfect day for baking Christmas cookies.

So yeah. The Jersey Girl has been snowed in for days now. That’s because I live in the backstreets of a rural town and drive a Mustang, so girlfriend isn’t going very far. And, it snowed like 300 inches this weekend in my neck of the woods. I guess it’s kind of cool. I always thought snowfall at Christmas only happened in the movies or in places way up there like Chicago, Boston, Canada, the North Pole.

But alas, it really actually truly snowed in South Jersey just days before Christmas.

And now I’m stuck here. Forevas. Please, dear town, plow my road. Please!

Fortunately, I stocked up on milk, eggs and butter so my time has been well spent getting the Christmas baking done.

Although, I must admit this is getting ridonkulous. The stir-crazy feelings are settling in. I’m going to start doing something drastic like buying random shoes and sweaters on the Internets or calling psychic hotlines.

Last night, I watched “The Nanny” until 1 a.m.

Who am I?

(OK. I admit, I dig “The Nanny.”)

Anyhoo, Day 1 of my Cookie Baking Extravaganza included Pizzelles, Scotch Shortbread and Chocolate Chip Biscotti.

To properly bake Christmas cookies, the following things need to be in place:

1. The tunes. You must have good Christmas music going on. My faves are Elvis (natch), Harry Conick Jr. (Love him!) and the Rat Pack (Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and Dean Martin.)

2. The Christmas tree must be all aglow.

3. Your butter and eggs need to be room temp.

4. Warm, fuzzy slippers are the choice footwear of the day.

5. Don't rush things. Baking takes much patience.

My pizzelle recipe comes by way of my Mommom. But, her recipe is literally just a list of ingredients. So, I’m sharing it with you with my personal instructions.

I make the pizzelles with my Mom’s older-than-dirt pizzelle iron.

It seriously is at least 40 years old. You can purchase a shiny new pizzelle iron at Sur la Table.
I should probably do so as well, but I love this pizzelle iron. It reminds me of childhood and my dog Murry, who always sat patiently waiting for the reject pizzelles, that surely will form during your first couple rounds. I know when I make pizzelles for Christmas and Easter, Murry is looking down on me from Doggie Heaven begging for some crumbs.

Pizzelles
6 extra large eggs at room temperature
3 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 lb. (2 sticks) margarine, melted and cooled slightly
4 tsp. baking powder
2 Tbsp. vanilla or anise

In a mixer, beat together melted margarine and sugar. Add eggs one at a time. Beat on medium speed. Add vanilla. Beat for 30 more seconds.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder. Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet mixture, beating on medium-low speed after each addition. The batter should be runny.

To make pizzelles, preheat your pizzelle iron according to the package instructions.

Add a teaspoon of batter to each side of the iron and press down the top part of the iron, according to the package instructions. Timing of this varies. I hold mine down for about 30 seconds.

Carefully remove the cookies from the iron with a fork. Place flat on paper towels to cool. Cookies should be delicate and crispy.

The Scotch Shortbread straight out of the oven.

Scotch Shortbread
From the Williams-Sonoma book, “Cookies”

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
¼ cup confectioners’ (icing) sugar aka powdered sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar, plus 1 Tbsp. for sprinkling the top
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 ½ cup all-purpose plain flour
¼ tsp. salt

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Farenheit. Have ready an ungreased 9-inch baking pan.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on high speed, cream the butter until fluffy and pale yellow. Add the confectioners’ sugar and the ¼ cup granulated sugar and continue beating until the mixture is no longer gritty when rubbed between your finger and thumb. Beat in the vanilla.

Sift the flour and salt together onto a sheet of waxed paper. Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix on low speed or stir with a wooden spoon just until blended.

Using floured fingertips, press the dough evenly into the pan. Sprinkle evenly with the 1 Tbsp. granulated sugar.

Bake the shortbread until the edges are golden, about 1 hour. Remove the pan from the oven and immediately use a thin sharp knife to cut the shortbread into strips 3 inches by 1 inch. Use a toothpick or the tines of a fork to decorate the shortbread with a pattern of dots. Let the strips cool in the pan on a wire rack for 30 minutes before transferring them to the rack to cool completely.

Makes 27 bars.

Chocolate Anise Biscotti are toasty and ready to be served.

Chocolate Anise Biscotti
“Giada’s Family Dinners”
Giada De Laurentiis

Makes about 2 dozen.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
¾ cup sugar
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tsp. ground anise seed
2 large eggs
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Farenheit. Line a large, heavy baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat the sugar, butter and anise seed in a large bowl to blend. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Add the flour mixture and beat until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Form the dough into a 16-inch-long, 3-inch-wide log. Transfer the log to the prepared baking sheet. Bake until light golden, about 30 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet for 30 minutes.

After the log cools, slice into cookies.

Place the log on a cutting board. Using a serrated knife, cut the log on the diagonal into ½- to ¾-inch-thick slices.

Arrange biscotti cut side down on the lined baking sheet. Bake until pale golden, about 15 minutes. Transfer the biscotti to a rack and cool completely.

Please note: The Jersey Girl always uses extra large eggs.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Chiara, Suzie and Sophia take a break

from their very busy day.

Mark and I are uncle and aunt to eight nieces and nephews, ranging in age from 10 years old to 4 weeks old.

Holy cannoli, that’s a lot of kids.

We love the children of our siblings so very much. They rock our world, quite honestly. We are so lucky to have them in our lives, and we really enjoy those moments when we get to hang with the youngins'.

This weekend was made of awesome, since we had a very special Chiara, Sophia, Aunt Suzie and Uncle Mark day.

On the agenda: Christmas tree decorating, Peppermint Bark creating, Bach piano playing, grilled cheese panini building, “real deal” hot chocolate drinking, chocolate chip cake eating and mucho chit chatting. Sophia, Chiara and Uncle Mark also partook in a heated game of Go Fish while Aunt Suzie tidied up the kitchen.

Chiara and Sophia are the two eldest of our nieces and nephews. They hang quite a bit with Aunt Suzie aka Me. Firstly, I’m their piano teacher so I see them weekly, and we make awesome music together. So much fun! Sophia’s Brahm’s “Lullaby” is fabulous. Her baby sisters, Mia and Lucia, love it! And, Chiara’s “Musette in D Major” by J.S. Bach rocks. She’s hoping to have that perfected in time for Concert Day at school.

The three of us have been known to have tons of fun together playing Beauty Salon or organizing an amazing Barbie Fashion Show complete with tunes, a runway and celebrity front row. We also play many a game – Monopoly, Sorry, Old Maid, Bananagrams (which is kind of like a tripped out version of Scrabble with no board and no rules. OK . You got me. There are rules, but they’re completely nonsensical.)

We also get all wild and crazy in the kitchen, natch. We’ve made delish homemade ice cream and homemade caramel sauce (yummy), amazing cookies and a fondue that is “the best dessert I’ve ever had in my whole, entire life,” according to Sophia, then at age 4.

Chiara and Sophia helped me with my latest culinary experiment, Peppermint Bark. I’m hoping to give this as a gift this Ho Ho Season.

Peppermint bark is layers of chocolate – sometimes dark, sometimes white, sometimes both - flavored with peppermint and topped with crushed candy canes. You can purchase it for a bazillion dollars at fine cooking stores such as Williams Sonoma or Crate and Barrel or Harry and David and be told in all-caps mean writing, that “this product may contain traces of nuts” or “this product was processed in a facility that processes nuts.”

Translation: I look really pretty and fabulous but eat at your own risk and don’t sue us if anything shady happens.

(Raises fist to God and leaves store empty-handed.)

So, homemade peppermint bark it is.

Since this was an experiment, I will let you know my observations. That’s always part of science lab, right?

For one thing, we decided to whack the bejesus out of two dozen candy canes. You put them in a zipperbag and have at it with a French rolling pin (no knobs) or a baseball bat. I went this route because it was suggested on the Internets, and I thought Chiara and Sophia would love to get out their aggression on candy canes. You know how angsty 10- and 7-year-olds get.

However, I’ve concluded that when I make the next batch, my Cuisinart food processor will be crushing my candy canes, thank you very much.

This is because it will be easier, less messy, easier and quicker and easier. Oh, and the candy canes will be crushed into tiny millions of evenly sized bits – essential for peppermint bark success. And the millions of candy cane bits will be in the bowl of the food processor and nowhere else such as shoes, countertops, floors, bathrooms, rugs, doorknobs, clothing, chairs, my dreams.

Have fun with your peppermint bark. And, I hope when you make it you have two amazing helpers, like I did!

Layered Peppermint Bark
From allrecipes.com

20 ounces white chocolate, coarsely chopped, divided
30 peppermint candies (I used 12 candy canes), crushed, divided
10 ounces dark chocolate (I used bittersweet), coarsely chopped
6 Tbsp. heavy cream
1 tsp. peppermint extract

In a food processor, crush your candy canes with a few pulses.

Line a 9x12 inch baking pan with aluminum, parchment or wax paper. (I used wax paper.)

Melt half the white chocolate in a double-boiler, or the microwave. (I used the microwave.) Spread the white chocolate in the prepared pan. Sprinkle half of the peppermint pieces all over the chocolate. Chill in the refrigerator until firm. (I did so for about 20 minutes.)

In a double boiler, bring water to a simmer. Place a heat-resistant bowl over the double boiler. Gently melt the dark chocolate with the cream and peppermint extract in the bowl. Stir until smooth and shiny. Be sure the bottom of your bowl DOES NOT touch the simmering water.

Remove tray from refrigerator.

Once dark chocolate is melted, remove from heat. Quickly spread chocolate onto the prepared baking sheet.

Place in the refrigerator. Chill for 30 minutes.

Melt the remaining white chocolate in microwave or using a double boiler.

Remove tray from refrigerator.

Pour melted white chocolate over cooled dark chocolate. Spread with a spatula. Sprinkle with remaining peppermint pieces.

Place tray back in refrigerator for at least 20 more minutes. (I let it set for at least an hour)

Break into pieces and serve.