Hilary's Christmas Rice

Courtesy of Hilary Meltzer

I had this lovely rice dish a month ago at my friend Hilary's dinner party. Hilary calls this "Christmas Dish" because of the beautiful red and green colors. I thought it was so inventive and pleasurable to eat - the sweet and tangy pomegranate seeds burst in your mouth, the green onions are fresh and savory, the wild rice is nutty and chewy, and the pistachios are buttery and crunchy - as well as beautiful and festive to look at. I also love that the flavors are interesting and complementary but the overall effect is quite mild and will go with whatever meat roasts or fowl you choose to serve on Christmas. I also love that this dish is equally good warm as it is room temperature as a rice salad. The perfect no-fuss buffet side.

For 6 cups of rice, enough to feed a holiday army, or about 8-10 people as a side, you will need:

2 cups wild rice, rinsed and drained. I tried mixing in brown rice, as wild rice can be expensive, and the result was mushy and not nearly as good. 

About 5 1/2 cups of water or chicken broth.

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Seeds from 1-2 pomegranates. Depending on size, you'll get about 1 1/2 cups of seeds per fruit. Remove the seeds by using a sharp paring knife to score the skin - don't cut into the fruit - then gently peel the skin off to reveal the pockets of ruby seeds inside. If you try to cut the pomegranate in half, you'll ruin the seeds along the cut.

2/3 to 1 cup unsalted, shelled pistachio nuts, toasted. In a dry pan over low heat, gently toast the nuts until they turn light brown where they touch the pan. Toss the pan frequently to prevent burning. Watch very closely - this will only take a few minutes, and they go from perfect to burnt in a few seconds. Toasting brings out their warm nutty flavor and is worth the effort.

Green parts of 1 bunch of scallions, about 5 onions, chopped. I only use the milder, green parts because the white parts are more onion-y and can overpower the delicate flavors of the rice and nuts.

2 tablespoons really good olive oil. Try to find one that has a rich, green, fruity flavor. If you serve the dish warm, you can use butter instead. Butter congeals at room temperature, so I'd recommend the olive oil if you plan to serve this as a salad.

Directions:

In a large, heavy-bottomed sauce pan with a lid, bring the water or broth, salt, and rice to a boil. Immediately reduce to very low heat, put the lid on, and cook for about 45-60 minutes. Taste after 45 - if you like a chewy, firm texture, it's done. If you prefer rice that's a little softer, allow to cook for a few more minutes. 50 minutes was perfect for me. Remove from heat - if there's extra water in the pan, drain the rice in a fine colander or sieve. Put the rice in a large bowl and stir in the olive oil, pomegranate seeds, onions, and nuts. Taste and adjust the salt if necessary.

Holiday Sugar Cookies

I like making cut-out sugar cookies for the holidays: Their simple, vanilla flavor and crispy, firm dough is a perfect template for festive shapes, icings, and candy toppings. Because their flavor is so simple, it's very important to start off with a good, buttery dough that will hold up to decorating and still taste really good. (After all, if you're going to put a lot of work into cookie decorating, you want to do it with a dough that's good enough to eat.) I highly recommend this classic Martha Stewart sugar cookie recipe . It's easy to work with, and the cookies are still crisp and delicious up to a week after baking. The recipe explains most everything you need to know, but here are a couple of additional tips:

- Use parchment paper or silicone baking liners in your cookie sheets.

- I often use salted butter because it's all I have in the house. If you do so, eliminate the added salt in the recipe

- Your dough will seem very dry and crumbly right after it's mixed; don't worry. Just press portions of dough into plastic sandwich bags, squeeze tightly until the dough comes together in the form of a disk, and chill well in the freezer before rolling. If you try to add liquid to make the dough more pliable, the finished cookies will be tough

- There's no need to roll your dough between sheets of parchment, as long as your work space and rolling pin are well-floured.

- Don't roll your dough out too thin. Any thinner than 1/8 inch, and your cookies will be very difficult to transfer from your work surface to the baking sheet. They'll also bake unevenly, burn, and break.

- Make your royal icing with milk. The flavor will be delicate and sweet.

- Use gel food colorings (available at baking supply stores) to tint your icing or cookie dough rather than liquid. You'll have more color options, and the colors will be brighter and more saturated.

- When decorating cookies, I like to pour different shades of icing into shallow bowls and dip the tops of my cookies in. You can also use a spoon or your finger to spread the icing across your cookies. Details like eyes and decorative swirls and dots can be made in contrasting icing colors with a toothpick, chopstick, or pastry bag fitted with a small tip. Just make sure the background icing is still very wet and hasn't started to set (so the decorations stick, the details integrate into the background, and the icing stays smooth) when you add decorations.

Happy decorating!

Potato Latkes

Tonight is the second night of Hanukkah, my favorite excuse to eat all things fried in honor of the Maccabees and their single pot of sacred lamp oil that miraculously burned for eight days. Latkes, the Yiddish word for potato pancakes, are the most traditional Hanukkah food in the Ashkenazi tradition - the Ashkenazi Jews are descended from those who lived in Germany in Medieval times and later expanded across Central and Eastern Europe - and despite being made of the simplest ingredients, are one of the hardest dishes to make well.

Latkes are generally made of grated potatoes, onions, eggs, matzo meal or flour, and salt and pepper. The biggest challenge is that both potatoes and onions have a high water content that must be extracted before frying, or your pancakes won't brown properly. The shredded potatoes and onions are often squeezed to remove as much water as possible, and then matzo meal or flour is added to absorb the rest. Adding this flour often leads to leaden hockey pucks, so baking powder is sometimes added to lighten everything up, but most latkes are still pretty heavy.

Then there's the issue of potatoes' high starch content - some recipes call for soaking the shredded potatoes for up to a day to remove their starch, which allows for maximum crispiness. But this requires a lot of preparation and time. Finally, there's the problem of frying - you might have a perfectly brown pancake on the outside, and raw, crunchy potato on the inside.

My version is a lot quicker and easier, and draws on inspiration from three very separate places: Really good steak fries (crispy outsides, fluffy insides), the modern miracle of steaming potatoes in the microwave, and Chinese scallion pancakes.

I use the microwave to par-cook the potatoes - you can also steam them in the traditional way - which means they take less time in the frying pan. Steaming or microwaving also helps to release a lot of the moisture, so you don't have to worry about squeezing them later. Then I cool them off in the fridge before shredding them, which dries them out further and makes the starch stickier, allowing the pancakes to hold themselves together without a lot of added binding ingredients.

I used scallions, rather than regular onions, because they impart a pleasant onion flavor and a pretty green color without excess moisture. I opted to omit the matzo meal here, for the sake of lighter texture and the gluten-free factor, but they will be more delicate than a typical latke. If you prefer a more traditional, heartier latke, by all means, add two tablespoons of matzo meal to the recipe as a binder.

For about sixteen latkes that are 2 1/2" across, you will need:

4 large or 5-6 medium-sized russet potatoes (Russets are better than waxy potatoes because of their lightness. Feel free to use sweet potatoes as well, and you can also mix in shredded beets, carrots, turnips, and other root vegetables. You should par-cook other vegetables in the microwave or steamer in the same manner as the potatoes.)
2-3 scallions, white and green parts, well-rinsed and finely chopped
3 large eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for sprinkling on hot, cooked latkes
Pepper, to taste
Neutral vegetable oil for frying (I prefer canola or peanut, as I think olive oil is too heavy and starts smoking at a much lower temperature than other oils.)
Optional: 2 rounded tablespoons matzo meal (really preferable to flour for its lightness)

Directions:

Scrub your potatoes very well with a vegetable brush under cool running water. (This removes the tougher, dirtier top layer of skin and will save you from having to peel them later.) Poke each of your potatoes a few times with a knife and place them in your microwave. It's ok to cook them all in at once. Microwave on high for about 8 minutes. (If you are microwaving less potatoes at a time, you will need to lower your cooking time.)You should hear sizzling and hissing in the last few minutes of cooking as steam escapes, but they should still feel very firm when you remove them from the microwave. Place in the fridge for about an hour to cool.

When the potatoes are cool, use the large side of a box grater to grate the potatoes onto a cutting board or plate. In a large bowl, beat the eggs with the salt, pepper, and scallions. Add the grated potatoes and stir to combine. If you are using matzo meal, stir it in last.

Pour 1/4 inch of oil into a large skillet, fry pan, or saute pan - non stick is great, and cast iron is even better. Heat on high until the oil starts to shimmer. Using your hands, form 1 1/2 inch balls of potato mixture. Flatten them between your palms, then gently lay them, one by one, into the hot oil. Make sure to leave plenty of space around each latke for proper browning. (My 12" cast iron skillet fit about 4 pancakes per batch.) Reduce heat to medium. You will have to keep adjusting the temperature as you add and remove the latkes from the pan. Refill the oil in between batches, and let it heat up before you add new pancakes.

Fry the latkes until they are dark brown on both sides. Drain on paper towels, sprinkle with kosher salt, and serve piping hot with good apple sauce and sour cream.