In many European countries Epiphany is celebrated as a National Holiday. Last year, I was blessed to be serving at Via Sacra in Italy where I learned about the magical Christian legend of La Befana, an important character in the Christmas festivities. The story of La Befana has been in Italian tradition since the XIII century. The legend tells that la Befana was approached by the Three Wise Men who asked her to lead them to the stable where the baby Jesus lay in a manger. La Befana was too busy sweeping her house, so she declined the offer to go with them. Soon she realized that she had made a mistake, so she gathered up a bag full of gifts and set off alone, flying on her broom in search of the baby Jesus. Though she followed the same star as the Magi, she was unable to find the stable. Undaunted, la Befana continues to travel the world to this day, searching every house for the Christ child, leaving gifts. On January 6, the first day of Epiphany, Italian children search their stockings for gifts from La Befana as a sign that they have been good that year.
Celebrate Epiphany with us by baking Dreikönigskuchen (A Cake for Three Kings) a specialty sweet roll found in bakeries all over Liechtenstein at this time of year!
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Dreikönigskuchen (A Cake for Three Kings)
SERVINGS8people
|
COOK TIME30-40mins |
PREP TIME3hrs |
READY IN4hrs |
Ingredients
Instructions
- In the bowl of a standing mixer, dissolve the yeast in the warm milk and add sugar – wait about 5 min until the yeast starts to work. Add the rest of the ingredients, starting with the liquids and going to solid, adding the flour last. Add the flour 1 cup at a time until the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl and it springs back to the touch. You may not need all the flour.
- Once a soft, smooth ball forms, set it aside to rise until doubled in bulk, about 2 1/2 hours. Be sure to cover it and place in a warm spot.
- Divide the dough into 8 Pieces, one a little larger than the rest.
- Roll each piece into a ball and arrange the 7 smaller balls around the slightly larger one on a sheet pan, forming a flower. Poke an almond into the bottom of one of the rolls. Let rise another 30 minutes, then brush with the egg wash.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375 F. Prepare the glaze by mixing the apricot jelly with a tablespoon of hot water.
- Bake the rolls for 30-40 minutes, or until deep golden brown. Brush with several coats of apricot glaze and sprinkle with the coarse sugar. It’ll sparkle in the sunlight, like a beautiful jewel
- Next, add a real crown. You can make one out of a brown paper bag or, if you happen to have one of these laying around…
- Let a lucky someone find the almond and be royalty for the day! Serve it with a big cup of tea or coffee and … an epiphany or two.
Sitting in the refectory with my early morning coffee, I watched a young Sister stirring up something in the baking area of the kitchen. I speculated that she was making a treat of some sort to take to the office since she works at Paraclete Press, the Community’s publishing house. It was not out of the ordinary for this to be happening especially at this time of year. Homemade goodies are known to increase production as well as good spirits in the workplace so it was no surprise to see her doing this. What was a surprise was finding a little plate of Jan Hagel cookies on my desk after returning from church.
As I savored each bite of the crisp buttery delicacies, I asked myself “Why have you not ever made these yourself”? Almost every year someone I know has made these traditional Dutch shortbread cookies and I have enjoyed them at their hands, but have never made them myself. These are the perfect treat to have with a cup of tea with holiday guests and to send home with them as a simple holiday remembrance. I set about to whip up a batch….simple, quick, easy and satisfying. I suggest you consider doing the same. You’ll be glad you did!
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Jan Hagel's Dutch Cookies
SERVINGS12people
|
COOK TIME25-30mins |
PREP TIME15-20mins |
READY IN45-50mins |
Ingredients
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit
- Cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg yolk and beat until creamy.
- Add the flour and mix well
- Spread thinly on a cookie sheet
- Brush with the egg white and sprinkle with nuts and a little sugar if desired.
- Bake at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 – 30 minutes. Cut into squares or triangles while hot.
I love fall — just the smells hanging in the air fills me with a sense of adventure. Woody smoke, apples, root vegetables, leaves burning…it is all there beckoning us to pay attention. The other day, the Sisters were given a very generous donation of pumpkins from a local nursery. It was a beautiful sight seeing them lining our walk in all different shapes and sizes. Being the thrifty sort and hating to see anything go to waste, I knew we must use these not just to beautify our property, but to eat before they went bad. When I got the call that a lunch was needed to feed our community of 200 people, I knew just the thing – homemade pumpkin soup – Delightful! We set about cutting the pumpkins into large chunks, roasting them in the oven, and then transferring them to our skillet where we turned it all into a yummy creamy pumpkin soup. When we were all done, we still had pumpkins left over! (It felt a bit like the feeding of the 5000!). I remembered that a friend, returning from Italy, had brought me a wonderful recipe of a whole, roasted pumpkin layered with ham, sautéed vegetables and cheese. It’s a perfect recipe to try at this time of year, especially with Thanksgiving just around the corner.
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Pumpkin stuffed with Vegetables and Cheese
SERVINGS6-8people
|
COOK TIME1 hr30 min |
PREP TIME30min |
READY IN2hr |
Ingredients
Instructions
- Wash the pumpkin
- Preheat oven to 375°
- Cut the head of the pumpkin, making an incision horizontally about 2 inches down from the stem
- Place the top back on the pumpkin, wrap it in tin foil and place in a preheated oven for about one hour or until the pumpkin is almost fork tender.
- Remove from oven, let it cool slightly and remove the seeds. With the spoon, gently remove some of the flesh from inside the pumpkin and reserve.
- Generously salt and pepper the interior of the pumpkin.
- In a cast iron skillet, heat the olive oil and add the butternut squash and parsnips. Sprinkle with kosher or onion salt and pepper.
- When they are partially cooked, remove from the skillet
- Add onions and peppers to the same skillet, again sprinkling with salt and pepper.
- Once they have cooked a few minutes, add the mushrooms, followed by the zucchini, a few minutes later. Sautéing slightly.
- While the vegetables are cooking, grate your cheese and set aside and slice your ham into thin strips.
- Once the vegetables are prepared, in the cavity of your pumpkin, start layering in this order: ham, baby spinach, assorted vegetables, the reserved pumpkin, swiss cheese, parmesan cheese and repeat – two or three times, ending with cheese.
- Place the top on the pumpkin, place the pumpkin in a casserole dish or cast iron skillet, and return to the oven for about 45 min. or until heated through and cheese is bubbly. Let rest a few minutes and slice when ready to serve.
Andiamo Mangiare!
For a meal, serve this with homemade bread or rolls and a salad.
This weekend, we will be harvesting the last of our peppers from our garden. We have been so blessed to have such an abundance of beautiful vegetables this year, so much so, that we are still reaping the benefits of the eggplant, leeks, butternut squash, and pumpkins. My brain goes into overdrive, as recipe after recipe comes to mind.. what magical combination can we concoct next?
We had a special request for stuffed peppers from one of our Sisters. She adores them, and has happy childhood memories from her Pennsylvania roots. I was delighted to fulfill her request. While in Italy, I came across this wonderfully spicy stuffed pepper recipe. I modified it with the ingredients I had on hand. I’ve never been a big fan of green peppers, but I love the sweet, colored varieties, as recommended here. The flavors of Italy abound: balsamic, red pepper flakes, fennel and spicy sausage. This is sure to be a family favorite.
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Villa Sacra Stuffed Peppers
SERVINGS8
|
COOK TIME1hr30 mins |
PREP TIME30mins |
READY IN1 hr50 mins |
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees
- Bring rice and water to a boil in a saucepan over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until the rice is tender, and the liquid has absorbed, 20-25 min. Remove from heat and set aside
- Cook the chopped leek in olive oil over medium low heat until the leek begins to soften (watch that it doesn’t burn), about 5 min. Transfer half of this mixture to a large bowl and set aside.
- Stir tomato sauce, beef broth, balsamic vinegar, and red pepper flakes into the skillet with half the leek mixture; cook and stir for 1 minute.
- Pour tomato sauce mixture into a 9x13-inch baking dish and set aside.
- Combine the ground beef, Italian sausage, fennel seeds, diced tomatoes, parsley, garlic, salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper into bowl with reserved leek; mix well. Stir in cooked rice and 1 cup of Parmigiano Reggiano. Stuff bell peppers with beef and sausage mixture, heaping slightly.
- Place stuffed bell pepper halves in the baking dish over tomato sauce; cover baking dish with aluminum foil, and bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes.
- Remove aluminum foil, sprinkle with remaining Parmigiano-Reggiano, and bake until the meat is no longer pink, the peppers are tender and the cheese is browned on top, an additional 20 to 25 minutes. Andiamo Mangiare!
I seem never to tire of anything that made from apples. This fruit is delicious in all its forms…cold and crunchy, or hot and spicy baked in desserts, sautéed, or simmered into a sauce. Apples are one of the most versatile fruits that lend themselves to most any form of preparation.
I am always eager to try any new apple recipe, such as the one that follows. I have named these Fantastic Apple Pecan Fantans, and that is absolutely what they are!
With practice one can become adept at producing perfectly shaped fans. However first attempts often result in irregular shapes, which I personally prefer. No matter what shape they turn into, they taste so fantastic that shape becomes incidental. The fact that they include whole wheat flour is comforting and always makes me feel like I’m enjoying a “healthy treat!”
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Fantastic Apple Pecan Fantans
SERVINGS1dozen
|
COOK TIME18-20mins |
PREP TIME2 hrs25 mins |
READY IN2 hrs45 mins |
Ingredients
Instructions
- Prepare Dough: Combine first three ingredients in bowl of a heavy-duty mixer; let stand 5 minutes. Stir in egg, next three ingredients, and 1 1/2 cups bread flour. Beat at medium speed, using paddle attachment for one minute or until smooth. Gradually beat in whole wheat flour and enough remaining bread flour to make a soft dough.
- Turn dough out onto a well-floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic (6 to 8 minutes), sprinkling surface with bread flour as needed. Place dough in a lightly greased large bowl, turning to grease top. Cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place (85º Fahrenheit), free from drafts, 45 to 55 minutes or until doubled in bulk.
- Meanwhile, prepare Filling: Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add apples and brown sugar, and sauté 4 to 5 minutes or until apples are crisp-tender. Cool completely (about 30 minutes).
- Punch dough down; turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll into a 20- x 12-inch rectangle. Spread remaining 8 tablespoons softened butter over dough. Stir together 3/4 cup granulated sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over butter, and top with pecans and apple mixture.
- Cut dough into 5 (12- x 4-inch) strips; stack dough strips. Replace any apples and pecans that fall out. Cut stack into 6 (4- x 2-inch) rectangles; cut each rectangle in half crosswise to form 12 (2-inch) squares. Place stacked squares, cut sides up, into cups of a lightly greased 12-cup muffin pan. Cover loosely with plastic wrap; let rise in a warm place (85º Fahrenheit), free from drafts, 45 minutes to 1 hour or until rolls rise about 3/4 inch above rim of pan.
- Preheat oven to 375º Fahrenheit. Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until deep golden brown. Cool in pan on a wire rack 5 minutes. Remove from pan to a wire rack.
- Optional: Prepare Glaze: Bring 1/3 cup butter and 1/3 cup brown sugar to a boil in a 1-qt. heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly; boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; drizzle over top of warm rolls.
