Benne Seed Cookies

I didn’t know that bene means sesame in Gambia and Senegal. It’s spelled benne in the southeastern area of the US, and it’s pronounced ‘bennie.’ I learned those facts and several others from The Food, Folklore, and Art of Lowcountry Cooking by Joseph Dabney. I received a review copy of this book which describes the culinary, agricultural, hunting and gathering, and social traditions of the southeastern coastal plain region from South Carolina’s northern coast to Darien, Georgia also known as the Lowcountry. In addition to historical information, the book includes recipes for classic dishes like boiled peanuts and peanut soup, country captain with chicken and shrimp, Vidalia onion and tomato pie, and a few different versions of grits. In the benne seed chapter, it's explained that the seeds were brought to the US by African slaves during the colonial period and are now a legacy Lowcountry plant. Over time, the seeds came to be used in candies, cakes, cookies, breads, salads, and seafood dishes. The cookie recipe shown here is from Clementa “Ment” Florio from Charleston, and it was also featured in Southern Living magazine in 2005. The cookies are made from little, teaspoon-sized balls of dough packed with toasted sesame seeds. Because they’re so small, the recipe makes a lot of cookies, but their small size also makes them very snack-worthy.

To start, a half cup of sesame seeds were toasted in a dry skillet. Then, softened butter was mixed until creamy, and sugar was slowly added. The toasted sesame seeds, an egg, and vanilla were incorporated. In a separate bowl, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt were sifted together and then stirred into the butter mixture. The dough was chilled for an hour before being rolled into half-inch wide balls and placed on a baking sheet. The dough balls were flattened with a floured, flat-bottomed glass before baking for about ten minutes.

These simple butter cookies are light in texture with some crunch from the sesame seeds, and their innocent, little size makes you want to grab one after another. It’s nice to learn a bit about the history of a place while enjoying a time-honored recipe. In fact, I look forward to more of this style of learning with Carolina gold rice and a seafood stew.

Crostata with Pears, Apples, and Taleggio

I was flipping tv channels a couple of weeks ago, and I caught the very end of a segment in which Giada was making a rustic crostata with dried apricots, walnuts, and cubes of taleggio. It sounded like such an interesting mix, and it sounded so autumnal, I was sure I could make it seem like fall around here by baking it. By the time I was ready to get baking, we had received some apples and pears from our CSA, so I changed the plan just slightly by using those fresh fruits instead of dried apricots. Now, about that cheese, yes, it is usually a savory cheese. Taleggio is a soft, washed rind cheese that’s relatively mild-flavored, and I was curious about how it would work in a sweet dessert. As it melted into the fruit and nuts, it added richness and interest, and if you weren’t told it was there, you might not realize there was cheese in the filling at all. The crostata was perfect served warm from the oven, and I preferred the leftovers re-heated rather than served cold from the refrigerator.

There wasn’t just cheese in the filling, there was also mascarpone in the crust. The dough was made in a food processor by combining flour, salt, sugar, and butter. It was pulsed until the butter was coarsely mixed into the flour, and mascarpone and lemon juice were added. The machine was pulsed a few more times, and then it was left running briefly while ice water was added. The dough was wrapped and refrigerated for 30 minutes before being rolled out on parchment paper cut to the size of a baking sheet. That was a great tip by the way. By rolling the dough on parchment paper, it was very easy to lift the paper and move it with the dough to a baking sheet in one fell swoop. Then, the dough was topped with a mixed of chopped pears, apples, walnuts, half of the cubed taleggio, a little flour since I was using fresh fruit, lemon zest, cinnamon, sea salt, and honey. The edges of the dough were rolled up and over, and the remaining cubed cheese was scattered on top. The dough edges received an egg wash, and the crostata baked for about 40 minutes.

I will say this is not a dessert for ice cream or whipped cream on the side. It requires no embellishment, but it was delicious with a glass of wine. Nuts, honey, fruit, and cheese were enveloped in a golden, flaky crust, and the warm, sweet flavors were accented by the mildly tangy cheese. It’s still about 95 degrees, so I didn’t make fall happen, but the flavors made it seem like fall should be coming soon.

Pot Roasted Eggplant with Tomatoes and Cumin and Double Tomato Flatbread

If you have any questions about what to do with late summer eggplant, I have the answer. Make this fragrant, delicious spread and enjoy it with some flatbread. This was in the Paula Wolfert article in the May issue of Food and Wine. Then, I saw these double tomato flatbreads on Yeastspotting a few weeks ago, and the two seemed to belong together. The eggplant is cooked whole on top of the stove, and then the meltingly tender flesh is combined with garlic, olive oil, canned, diced tomato, fresh herbs, and spices. This is a mixture that I knew would be a good one, and it smelled fantastic as it cooked, but the flavor was even better than I anticipated once I tasted it. I imagined there would be leftovers for lunch the next day, but the entire bowl was emptied quickly. I’m hoping to get a couple of eggplants at the farmers’ market this week so I can make it again but as a double batch this time.

I used a dutch oven which was heated on top of the stove, and the big, one and a quarter pound eggplant was pierced and placed in it. It was covered and left to cook in the dry pan over low heat for 40 minutes. The eggplant was turned after 20 minutes. Then, it was placed in a colander in the sink and cut down one side so it could drain. Once cool, the flesh was scraped into a large skillet, and minced garlic, tomatoes, olive oil, parsley, cilantro, paprika, cumin, and cayenne were added. This was cooked until the liquid evaporated, and then lemon juice was squeezed into the mixture.

Making the flatbreads couldn’t have been easier. I wasn’t able to find the suggested tomato powder for the dough, so I used tomato paste. That was combined with flour, yeast, sugar, salt, and paprika in a food processor. Water and vinegar were added while the processor was running. Sun-dried tomatoes were added and pulsed to combine, and then the dough sat in the food processor for about 30 minutes. The dough was divided, rolled into rounds, and quickly cooked in a hot cast iron skillet until it bubbled and was browned. We did have a few pieces of bread left over because this made eight pieces, and they freeze and re-heat nicely.

Any flatbread would work fine here, and if I don’t have time to make homemade flatbread next time I’ll probably buy pita to go with it, but this tomato bread with bits of chewy sun-dried tomato was a very good match. The cumin, cayenne, and paprika in the eggplant added depth of flavor, and the herbs and lemon perked it up well. I could have made a meal of just the eggplant and flatbread, and with a few olives on the side and a glass of wine, it’s a great way to enjoy summer coming to an end.