Prune

Recent Recipes

• 1

  Pączki With Prune Butter

  I kinda hate doughnuts. An unfortunate mishap involving a cruller at a gas station in rural Wisconsin when I was 10 years old scarred me for life. But then came pączki. Pączki (pronounced ponch-ky) are served in Poland, and the first year we met, incredulous that I hated doughnuts, Agatha bought one for me from a local Greenpoint bakery. Hot, crispy, tender, and sweet, she proved to me that doughnuts could be awesome (though I’m still cruller averse). For our cookbook, Agatha’s dad, Zdzislaw, sent us a recipe from Agatha’s great aunt, with a serious note reminding us that pączki are good to make no matter the time of year. In homage to Eastern Europe, we’ve stuffed our version with prune butter, but any fruit spread will do.
  
  Excerpted from Ovenly by Agatha Kulaga & Erin Patinkin (Harlequin Nonfiction). Copyright © 2014. Photographs by Winona Barton-Ballentine.

• 2

  Black Cake Cookies

  Flush with wine-drenched raisins, prunes, and currants, this Black Cake Cookie is a rich, chewy cookie perfectly in sync with the Christmas season. When looking for something to mark a special occasion, people across the British West Indies turn to black cake as a traditional staple. The key ingredient is burnt sugar browning, a Caribbean necessity used across savory applications like braised oxtail and brown stew chicken, as well as sweet uses in things like Easter buns. Typically baked in butter cookie tins, black cake is shared between family and friends, each swapping a unique family recipe.
  
  The addition of a generous amount of alcohol preserves the cake, which is often reserved from a wedding until the newlyweds' first anniversary. It's also enjoyed with hot tea during the Christmas holiday and well beyond the New Year, and gets brought out to wow special house guests. This recipe turns the dense, pudding-like cake into a crispy-edged cookie with a chewy pool in the center and delightful hints of nutmeg and cinnamon. It’s a great bite to be enjoyed with hot chocolate, eggnog, or tea. Going lighter on the wine and rum makes the cookie more easily accessible and much easier to devour one after the other, as you’ll want to do.
  
  Note: If burnt sugar browning is not used, the cookies will lose their namesake coloring but won’t lose out on flavor. Do not substitute with Gravy Master or Kitchen Bouquet browning or others without first checking the ingredients, as they often contain savory elements like garlic powder. I recommend the Grace or Blue Mountain Country brands.

• 3

  Chicken Marbella Sandwich

  The original recipe for Chicken Marbella is credited to the 1982 cookbook The Silver Palate. It requires marinating whole chickens overnight, which creates a delicious dish but requires a fair amount of planning. Here, the classic recipe is reimagined as a sandwich. The best part? It skips the marinating and roasting in favor of a no-cook relish that still delivers the classic flavors: sweet prunes, salty olives, briny capers, and zesty oregano. Add a quick-cooking chicken cutlet, and you have a bold sandwich that tastes complex but isn’t complicated. It's all placed on Arnold®, Brownberry®, or Oroweat® Sesame Seeded Buns (they’re baked with quality ingredients for maximum flavor) that hold in the saucy relish. We also swapped the fresh garlic in the original recipe for pantry-friendly garlic powder. Add it to the chicken before searing to keep the grounded, savory flavor that pairs so well with the sweet-tart relish. Note: The prune relish can be made up to two days in advance. Store it in an air-tight container in the fridge, and let it reach room temperature before piling it on the warm chicken sandwich.

• 4

  (Mostly) Aunt Aggie’s Flaming Christmas Pudding

  As told to Alice Medrich by Frances Bendixson.

• 5

  One-Skillet Garam Masala Chicken Thighs & Saffron Rice

  For nearly every special occasion, my amu would make a big pot of biryani, heady with warm spices, saffron, and aromatic aged basmati rice. This one-skillet rice gives me all those party vibes, but in a mini version that I can whip up for just myself (and I guess a few friends, if I’m willing to share). When I have the time, I like to dry-brine the chicken overnight, so it’s seasoned to the bone and the skin gets super crisp. A puree of onion, ginger, garlic, and yogurt is cooked down in ghee along with garam masala, until concentrated and caramelized. This paste flavors the entire dish, adding so much richness that there’s no need for stock. The yogurt adds a little tang, which balances out the ghee’s richness and cools off the spices’ warmth. I like to serve this rice with even more yogurt, plus raw radish and cucumber alongside. Some toasted, chopped pistachios add contrast and crunch, but feel free to leave them out if you’re not feeling like a nut. If you don’t have saffron, don’t let that stop you from making this dish. Although it adds a delicate floral aroma, the garam masala can more than hold its own. Want to riff on it? Try this recipe next: One-Skillet Paprika Chicken Thighs & Pepper Rice. And head here to read more about the technique, so you can off-script it however you want.

• 6

  Sweet & Savory Brisket

  Brisket isn't just the perfect cut for summer barbecues—it's also great slow-braised with wine and apricots for a cozy cold-weather dinner.