Thomas Josephs Baklava Recipes

THOMAS JOSEPH'S CELERY ROOT PUREE

Steps:

• Place celery root in a medium saucepan and cover with water. Season with salt and bring to a boil, then reduce to a rapid simmer. Cook, partially covered, until very tender and easily pierced, 15 to 25 minutes; drain.
• Heat milk and butter in a small saucepan until butter is melted and mixture is hot.
• Puree celery root and milk mixture in a blender until smooth, about 2 minutes. Strain through a sieve, pressing on solids with a rubber spatula to extract as much puree as possible. Season with salt and pepper. (If puree is too loose, cook, stirring, over medium heat until thickened to desired consistency.)

THOMAS'S FUDGY BROWNIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, leaving a slight overhang on all sides. Melt butter and chocolate in a double boiler or a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat, and whisk in sugar. Whisk in eggs, one at a time, until combined. Whisk in cocoa and salt. Fold in flour until combined.
• Pour batter into pan. Bake until set and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs, 35 to 40 minutes. Let cool slightly in pan, about 15 minutes. Lift brownies from pan using parchment. Remove parchment and transfer to a wire rack. Let cool completely. Cut into 9 squares.

THOMAS JOSEPH'S BAKLAVA

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• In a medium bowl, mix together nuts, 1 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon rose water, and 1 tablespoon cinnamon; set aside.
• Place remaining 2 1/2 cups sugar, 1 1/4 cups water, and lemon juice in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil; immediately reduce to a simmer and cook until slightly thickened, 3 to 5 minutes. Add remaining tablespoon rose water and return to a boil; cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat and let syrup cool completely.
• Brush a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with clarified butter. Carefully layer half of the phyllo dough in the baking dish, brushing between each layer with clarified butter. Sprinkle nut mixture over top and continue layering remaining phyllo dough over nut mixture, brushing between each layer with clarified butter.
• Brush top layer generously with butter. Using a sharp knife with a very thin blade (such as a boning knife), score baklava into 1 1/2-inch-wide diamond-shaped pieces, cutting through all of the phyllo layers.
• Transfer to oven and bake for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 300 degrees and continue baking until golden brown, about 50 minutes more. Remove from oven and pour syrup over baklava; let cool completely before serving.

THOMAS JOSEPH'S CLARIFIED BUTTER

Steps:

• Place butter in a small saucepan and melt over low heat. Remove from heat and allow milk solids to sink to bottom. Skim any foam from surface, then carefully pour off clarified butter, leaving solids behind.