Superabundant dispatch: Fig rugelach and this week’s news nibbles

OPB’s “Superabundant” explores the stories behind the foods of the Pacific Northwest with videos, articles and this weekly newsletter. To keep you sated between episodes, Heather Arndt Anderson, a Portland-based culinary historian, food writer and ecologist, highlights different aspects of the region’s food ecosystem. This week she offers a recipe for fig rugelach inspired by the history of south Portland.

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As of yesterday, Hanukkah has begun, officially kicking off Cookie Season 2023. The oven will be running a lot over the coming weeks, and it’s a good time to reflect on the important things, like whether yuzu jam really works in a thumbprint (it totally does), or whether to use candied ginger or orange peel in the spice cookies (use both, and black pepper too). We say, go ahead and get a little weird! It’s especially fun to riff on holiday standards — just sub in one or two key flavors and you can create something all your own. It’s like jazz, but with cookies.

This week’s recipe doesn’t deviate too far from the classic rugelach. We did go off-script a little by using Oregon hazelnuts instead of the more traditional walnuts, but the crescent shape is standard. Do you know why rugelach was originally crescent-shaped to begin with? Read on to find out!

The holidays can be hard for people, either from family or financial stress, or suffering from the seasonal depression that seems part and parcel of winter life in the gloomy, damp Northwest. We say, do whatever gets you through it — science has your back.

Stress-eating is real, says science

If you, like many others, find yourself gravitating toward comfort food more than usual, cut yourself some slack — a recent study published in the journal Nature Communications confirms that stress-eating gooey, cheesy carbs is a biology thing, not a you thing. Now please pass the lasagna.

Pickles and sour cream cure depression

Well, sort of! A new study coming to the journal Brain, Behavior, and Immunity in Jan. 2024 has identified the role probiotic Lactobacillus plays in our brain’s ability to manage stress, anxiety and depression. Lactobacilli are the beneficial bacteria that promote gut health; they’re abundant in cultured dairy products like yogurt and sour cream, and lacto-fermented foods like kimchi and sour dills.

Drinkers, take heart

Bless them, those busy scientists also found out that alcohol consumption could have some benefits to cardiovascular health and they published their findings in the journal BMC Medicine. (Ok, out of the 60 metabolites released by the body drinking during, only three of them are linked to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, but holiday tipplers can take the win.)

Good things in markets (and your kitchen)

Farmers markets are largely winding down for the year, but the ones that are still going strong have everything you need for hearty braises and earthy winter salads.

If you love glazed carrots, why not glaze other root vegetables? Try parsnips or even radishes glazed with brown sugar, soy sauce and garlic, or roasted beets and shallots tossed in a reduction of balsamic vinegar and maple syrup. Need inspiration for using up the gigantic cabbage that arrived in your CSA box? Cut it into wedges, toss it in breadcrumbs and grated parm, drizzle on oil and bake until golden brown and delicious.

Sturdy winter greens like kale and radicchio love citrus and fruit vinegar; sharp, crumbly cheeses; smoky nuts and flavorful oils; chewy cooked grains and dried fruit — as long as you have something acidic, something fatty, and something salty, you can use any combination of these to make a delicious salad that actually tastes better the longer it sits in your fridge.

History lesson time! Before Keller Auditorium and other acts of urban renewal razed most of south Portland and displaced its residents, it was the location of a diverse, thriving immigrant neighborhood. Eastern European Jews and Italians run delis, meat markets, bakeries and stands that would make modern gastronomers swoon (75-year-old Italian restaurant Caro Amico might be one of the remaining vestiges of the original neighborhood).

This Oregon-grown rugelach, inspired by Dorie Greenspan’s version of the classic Hanukkah cookie, represents this synergistic coexistence — the flaky, dairy-rich rugelach of Polish Jews filled with the sun-drenched figs and hazelnuts loved by Italians (and Sephardic Jews).

These are filled with a sticky fig jam made and canned in last summer’s superabundance, but you can use store-bought fig jam (or soak dried figs in a 1:1 honey syrup until they are plump and then finely chop or puree them). Whether or not you go for the standard crescent shape is up to you — as with the croissant, eating rugelach was originally a form of subtle Austro-Hungarian protest against the Ottoman Empire (whose war flag features a crescent moon) in the 17th century. Makes three dozen cookies.

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour

¼ tsp fine sea salt

4 oz cream cheese, cut into 8 pieces

1 stick (8 tbsp) cold unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces

1 cup fig jam

2 tbsp honey

½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp cardamom

¼ cup finely chopped hazelnuts, walnuts or almonds

½ cup finely chopped dark chocolate

1 egg

1 tbsp sparkling or turbinado sugar for topping

Instructions

1. Whisk the flour and salt together in the bowl of a food processor and then sprinkle the chunks of cream cheese and butter over the top. Pulse a few times just until shaggy, crumbly blobs of dough begin to form (or if you don’t have a food processor use a pastry cutter or fork to make the dough). You’re not going for a smooth dough, so don’t overdo it.
2. Turn the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap, gathering the wrap on the corners to smush the dough into a ball. Cut the dough in half, shape each half into a fat disk and wrap them tightly in plastic wrap. Leave the dough in the fridge for at least a couple of hours (or overnight).
3. While the dough is chilling, make the filling by combining the fig jam, honey and spices, and then warm it up until it’s runny. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
4. Pull one of the dough pucks out of the fridge. Roll the dough out onto a lightly floured surface as thin and as square-ish as you can, about 12 inches across. Spread a thin veneer of the filling over the top of the jam, then sprinkle on half the nuts and half the chocolate, gently pressing to adhere the chunks to the jam.
5. Cut the prepared dough in half vertically and again horizontally to make four squares, then cut each quarter into four triangles (something like the diagram at the end of this recipe).
6. Starting from the wide end of the triangle, roll toward the pointed end to make a cute little croissant. Repeat with the remaining triangles and then do it again with the other dough puck, then refrigerate the prepared rugelach for 30 minutes.
7. Position the oven racks to the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat the oven to 350º.
8. In a small bowl, beat the egg with 1 tablespoon of water and brush the egg wash across the top of each cookie. Sprinkle on the sparkling sugar and bake for 12 minutes, then rotate the pans (swap racks and rotate them to ensure even baking). Bake until puffy and golden, another 10-12 minutes.
9. Transfer the baked rugelach to a cooling rack and allow them to cool before serving. You can store them in an airtight container for a couple days or freeze them for up to a couple months.

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