I just spent the loveliest six weeks at home. It’s the first time this year that I’ve been home for more than a few weeks at a stretch and boy did I need it. I leaned hard in to the rhythms of being home: cooking dinner, evening runs, couch time with Trevor, grocery shopping, sleeping in, long yoga sessions, learning a new sonata on the piano. I have always been a creature of habit and a bit of a homebody – a few weeks of chill is a type of bliss for me. Travel makes the pleasures of being home that much sweeter.

Since getting home, I turned 29. Trevor turned 29. I got my first pair of glasses, and was amazed by the clarity of trees in the distance, and of our TV. The fruit trees bloomed and faded in a whirlwind few days. Our garden turned from a patch of dirt with a handful of lonely daffodils into a plot bursting with green potential. The first rose opened, and the irises are brilliant in full bloom. Every day we get a few perfectly ripe strawberries – whatever the pesky robin doesn’t get overnight. We had a rainy mother’s day brunch by the fire that turned into a brilliantly sunny walk in the woods an hour later. My best friend from high school got married in the Boston Public Library on a chilly grey day filled with love and champagne. It’s a beautiful time of year to be in Boston and I’m so grateful to be home for it!

For each of our birthdays I made a cake. For mine, a vanilla sponge with strawberry jam and strawberry buttercream. For Trevor, an earl grey sponge with honey-fig buttercream. Both cakes disappeared without a problem, but Trevor’s earl grey cake was truly special. Pretty cakes are not my strong suit (a buttercream expert I am not) but this tasted so good that I covered it up with fresh figs and flowers and snapped a few pictures so I could share it with you. I can’t take credit for either recipe component, only the combination. The earl grey cake is from Liv for Cake and the Italian meringue fig buttercream is from Sticky Spatula. I struggled a bit with the buttercream splitting after a night in the fridge, but the flavor was beautiful and paired perfectly with the cake. If you have a special occasion coming up that calls for subtle flavors and a bit of refinement, I highly recommend this cake!

Earl Grey Cake with Honey-Fig Buttercream

A beautifully-flavored and moist Earl Grey Cake topped with an Italian Meringue Buttercream flavored with fig jam. Elegant and refined for a celebration. This makes a 3-tier, 6-inch cake.

Cake recipe adapted from Liv for Cake. Frosting recipe adapted from Sticky Spatula.

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 1 cup whole milk
• 4 bags of early grey tea, divided
• 1 1/2 sticks salted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups AP flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp sea salt

For the buttercream frosting:

• 1/2 lb. ripe figs
• 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
• 4 TBS honey
• 3 egg whites at room temperature
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

For decorating:

• 6 fresh figs
• honey

Instructions

For the cake:

1. Microwave the milk on high until steaming, about 60-90 seconds. Add three of the earl grey teabags to the milk and let steep for 10 minutes. Remove the teabags, pressing any extra milk out of them with a spoon. and discard the teabags. Set earl grey milk aside, allowing it to come to room temperature.
2. Add the butter and the sugar to a mixer and beat with a paddle attachment on medium until it is pale, creamy and very smooth, about 2 minutes. Turn off. Add one egg and beat on low just until the egg is incorporated. Repeat with the remaining eggs, one at a time. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed to ensure that all the ingredients are being evenly mixed.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk togther the flour, baking powder and sea salt. Cut open the remaining earl grey tea bag and pour the tea into the flour mixture. (If the tea is in very large pieces, pulse it in a coffee grinder before adding to the flour). Whisk to combine.
4. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture to the batter and beat on low just to incorporate, about 30 seconds. Add 1/2 of the earl grey milk and beat just to incorporate, another 30 seconds. Repeat twice more, ending with the final 1/3 of the flour mixture. You should have a smooth, spreadable batter without any lumps.
5. Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter the bottom and sides of three, 6-inch cake tins. Cut a round of parchment paper to fit into the bottom of each tin and use this to line the bottom of the each tin. Divide the cake batter between the tree tins, using a spatula to evenly smooth the batter out. Batter should fill a little more than half-way up each tin. Bake the cakes in the preheated oven for 40-50 minutes. They are done when the cake surface springs back when lightly pushed down, and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes, then run a knife around the inside of each cake tin and invert to release the cake. Let cakes cool completely on a cooling rack before frosting.

For the frosting:

1. Wash and quarter the figs, removing and discarding any remaining stems. Place in a saucepan with 1/2 cup of the sugar and the honey. Gently mash the figs with a wooden spoon. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer, stirring often, until the figs are soft and jammy, about 15 minutes. Strain the jam through a mesh strainer, setting the thinner jelly aside to add to the frosting. Save any remaining fig chunks for another purprose (or just eat them!).
2. Place the remaining 3/4 cup of sugar in a saucepan. Add the 1/4 cup water and stir to fully moisten the sugar, taking care not to get sugar water on the sides of the pan (which may cause the syrup to crystallize). Bring the sugar water to a boil over a medium-high heat. Clip a candy thermometer to the side of the pan and bring the sugar to 240F. As soon as it reaches this temperature, turn off the heat.
3. Add the egg whites to the bowl of a mixer. Beat on high until they are white and frothy and form soft peaks. At this stage, continue beating while very slowly and carefully drizzling the hot sugar syrup down the side of the bowl into the egg whites. Pour in a thin stream until you have used all the sugar syrup up – egg whites should be glossy and hold stiff peaks.
4. Continue beating the egg whites on medium speed until it is room temperature with no warmth felt through the bowl. At this stage, begin adding the butter 1 TBS at a time. Butter should incorporate into the frosting smoothly. Once all the butter is incorporated and the frosting is smooth and glossy, add the fig jelly to the buttercream and beat until incorporated. If you’re having trouble with the buttercream, try reading some of the tips in this article.

For assembly:

1. If necessary, use a serrated knife to cut any domed top off of each cake so that both the top and bottom of each cake is flat. Use a dab of frosting to stick the bottom layer cake to a cake stand. Smooth a thick layer of buttercream on top of the bottom layer of cake, then top with the next layer of cake. Repeat until you have three layers of cake with two layers of buttercream between them.
2. Smooth a thin layer of buttercream all around the cake. If the cake is crumbling into the frosting, pause here and refrigerate the cake for 30 minutes to set the crumb coat, then continue frosting so that you have a smooth, thick layer of buttercream on all sides of the cake. Top with fresh figs, sliced in half, and a drizzle of honey.

The post Earl Grey Cake with Honey-Fig Buttercream appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

The first three months of the year have been a total whirlwind. Since the last time I checked in, I’ve spent two weeks in Hong Kong, a week and a half in Singapore, and a few days in Thailand. And in the brief in between times back in the US, I left home again for weekend trips to Austin, Nashville, and Montreal. So despite the snowy remnants of the last few March Nor’easters, I’m relishing a few quiet weeks at home. I’m planning the garden and reading and cooking and just generally doing the small things that make me happiest. And it means I have the chance to blog for the first time since January!

Generally, I quite like the food in Asia. Particularly so in Hong Kong and Singapore, where you can find pretty much any type of food you want. It helps that Hong Kongers and Singaporeans are obsessed with food so everything meets a minimum standard of good. But after two weeks on the road, lots of Chinese and Thai and room-service gets heavy. When I hit that point, I turn to Vietnamese for brightness and fresh vegetables. Compared to the cuisines of neighboring countries, Vietnamese food is light and refreshing. Lots of mint, basil, cilantro, and pickled vegetables bring a greenness that I really crave when traveling.

One of my go-to orders is bún, a rice noodle salad with several options for customization. I like it best with grilled lemongrass beef and a mass of pickled carrots. After my last trip I attempted making it at home, and it was surprisingly easy to make a convincing replica of my favorite restaurant versions. I love the slightly floral sweetness that the lemongrass lends to the beef, and the contrast the hot beef provides to the cool noodles and vegetables. Bún is good pretty much any time of year, but it’s particularly refreshing when the weather is hot and swampy. So, why make it in March? Brightness. I realize we’re pretty far from days that qualify as “hot,” but I’m so, so ready to eat bright-tasting things in March. This fits the bill perfectly!

Bún Bò Xào – Vietnamese Rice Noodle Salad with Lemongrass Beef

A quick and refreshing Vietnamese rice noodle salad named Bún Bò Xào. Stir-fried lemongrass beef, pickled carrots, and sweet-salty nuoc cham sauce bring tons of flavor to this bright dinner.

Adapted from Vietnamese Home Cooking.

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Yield: 4

Ingredients

For the Lemongrass Beef:

• 2 stalks fresh lemongrass
• 5 cloves garlic
• 1 TBS sugar
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 TBS soy sauce
• 1 TBS sesame oil
• 2 TBS canola oil
• 1 lb thinly sliced flank steak

For the pickled carrots:

• 2 large carrots, peeled
• 1/3 cup distilled white vinegar
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 whole star anise

For the nuoc cham:

• 1/4 cup fish sauce
• 3 TBS sugar
• 1/3 cup warm water
• 3 TBS white vinegar
• 1 Thai chile, stemmed and finely minced
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and finely minced

For the bowls and assembly:

• 10 oz. dried rice vermicelli noodles
• 1 TBS canola oil
• One bunch of fresh mint, leaves picked off and washed
• 1/2 cup chopped peanuts, toasted in a dry pan for 3–4 minutes

Instructions

1. To make the beef marinade: Remove and discard the outer layer of each piece of lemongrass. Trim about 3-inches of the dry, stick-like part of the lemongrass from the top so that you are left with the plumper, white interior. Slice this interior into small coins, and then finely chop those coins until evenly minced. Place minced lemongrass in a medium bowl. Peel and mince the garlic and add to the bowl with the lemongrass. Add the sugar, salt, soy sauce, sesame oil and canola oil to the bowl and stir to combine. Add the sliced flank steak and stir to coat with the marinade. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
2. To make the pickled carrots: Use a julienne peeler to shred the carrots into long, noodle-like strips. If you don’t have a julienne peeler, carefully chop the carrots into long, thin match-sticks. Place the carrots in a heatproof bowl. Add the vinegar, sugar, water, and star anise to a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Simmer just for 30 seconds, then pour the hot liquid over the carrots. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use, at least an hour. Discard the star anise before serving.
3. To make the nuoc cham: Place all of the ingredients in a medium bowl. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Taste and adjust seasoning if desired.
4. To finish and assemble the bowls: Cook the rice noodles according to the package directions. Drain and rinse.
5. Just before serving, cook the beef. Heat the canola oil in a large, heavy-bottomed frying pan over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot, add the marinated beef to the pan in batches (each batch of beef should easily fit in the pan in a single layer). Cook the beef for 1-2 minutes on each side, until deeply caramelized on the outside but just tender in the center. Remove to a plate and continue until you have cooked all the beef.
6. To serve, fill each bowl halfway with rice noodles. Top with a quarter of the pickled carrots, several pieces of the cooked beef, a small handful of fresh mint leaves, and 2 tablespoons of chopped peanuts. Serve the bowls with the nuoc cham sauce on the side, so that each person can dress their bowl according to taste.

Notes

If you pickle the carrots at the same time that you marinate the beef, this will only take about 20 minutes to finish up before serving.

The post Bún Bò Xào – Vietnamese Rice Noodle Salad with Lemongrass Beef appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

The world may not need another blog post about strawberry-rhubarb pie, but I need to write this one. Because it’s not just about pie, it’s about a pie for my dad. My dad has the misfortune of his birthday only being a week or so before Father’s Day, so we tend to lump the two together. Also he’s quite difficult to shop for, so we tend to… not shop for him. But this year I’m going to celebrate him properly – starting with this blog post, and a strawberry-rhubarb-raspberry pie.

I become more and more grateful for my parents the older I get. Particularly this year as we prepare for our wedding, I don’t know where we would be without them. We’re getting married at their house in Maine, and my dad built us a barn, by hand, for the reception. It’s absolutely beautiful and so special to be celebrating at a place we both love. (Lest you think I’m even more spoiled than I am in reality, the barn, who’s primary purpose will be boat storage, was always in the long term house plan, just bumped up a few years). The long farm tables we’ll gather at will be my dad’s handiwork as well. Not to mention the hours of yard work and prep required to host a wedding!

The wedding is a big thing, but I’m grateful for all the little (and other not so little) things too. The emergency plumbing assistance when our pipes burst while we were in Portugal. Bringing us a piano rescued from a friary. The tax help phone call I make every year on April 14th. Driving me and a pile of my adult friends to and from our high school reunion last weekend when we did a little too much day-drinking. Teaching me how to play soccer and to sail, even though I never really fell in love with those things. Teaching me to play piano, which I do love.

My dad doesn’t like to sit still. He always has a dozen projects going on, and a “master plan” he’s ready to share with you. When we’re up in Maine, he can usually be found tractoring something or cutting down a tree – we (lovingly) call him The Onceler. He loves to be on the water, the reason we find ourselves with such a collection of boats. Some of my fondest memories of Maine are of early mornings out on the harbor, dad at Clifford’s helm, skimming the ocean’s surface while its still glassy, looking for dolphins.

I could go on, but the point is, my dad is a good guy. Some might say a Great Man. And it’s time to tell you about this the pie. My dad has always loved strawberry-rhubarb pie, but after many attempts deemed “a little too soupy” my mother refuses to make any more. Don’t get me wrong, my mom is an amazing cook, and she’s particularly good at baking pies. But strawberry-rhubarb pie is just not her thing.

So I’ve taken the baton from her and am the strawberry-rhubarb pie baker this year. Actually, I made two pies – one to take to my dad last weekend, and one to share here. I added raspberries to both, making this a strawberry-rhubarb-raspberry pie, and did my best at a lattice crust. Trevor is a bit persnickety about these things but I think even he approves of this lattice. The filling is still a little bit loose – I’m not sure there’s a way around that – but holds together well enough to slice neatly. Just make sure you don’t cut into it right away, as it needs several hours post-baking to set up properly.

Happy birthday and happy father’s day, dad! I love you and I hope my pie was up to snuff.

Strawberry-Rhubarb-Raspberry Pie

A not-too-soupy, not-too-firm Strawberry-Rhubarb-Raspberry Pie with a lattice crust and a hint of vanilla.

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen and Sally’s Baking Addiction.

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Yield: 8-10
• Category: Dessert

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 1/2 sticks (12 TBS) salted butter, cold
• 2 eggs
• 4 TBS ice cold water
• 1 1/4 lbs rhubarb, sliced in half inch slices (about 4 cups)
• 1  lb strawberries, sliced (about 3 cups)
• 1/2 lb raspberries (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup tapioca granules
• 2 TBS whole milk, for brushing the pie crust

Instructions

1. Make the pie crust: In a large bowl, mix the flour and sea salt together. Cut the cold butter into the bowl in small pieces, aiming for about 1/2 TBS per piece. Use a pastry cutter or a fork to cut the butter into the flour until it is crumbly with pea-size pieces of butter. Whisk together the eggs and the ice cold water in a small bowl until evenly combined. Add about half of the egg mixture to the flour and use a fork to quickly mix, moistening as much of the flour as you can. Test to see if the dough will hold together when pressed. If not, continue stirring in a splash of the egg mixture at a time until the dough just barely holds together when gathered into a ball. Once the dough holds together, stop adding the liquid, form into a ball and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough until thoroughly chilled, at least 30 minutes.
2. Prepare the filling: Add the sliced rhubarb, sliced strawberries, raspberries, vanilla, cinnamon, brown sugar, white sugar, and tapioca granules to a large bowl. Stir gently with a wooden spoon until all of the filling ingredients are fully mixed and the fruit is coated with sugar. Set the filling aside.
3. Make the pie: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare a flat work surface for rolling out the dough by putting a dusting of flour on the work surface and on a rolling pin. Divide the dough into two pieces – one that uses 2/3 of the dough and the other that uses 1/3 of the dough. Roll the larger pieces out into a large circle that is about 1/4 of an inch thick and 12 inches in diameter. Carefully transfer this piece of dough into a 9-inch pie plate. Very lightly press the dough into the pie plate so that it the dough is touching all of the sides of the pan. You should have at least a half inch of overhang on all sides.
4. Spoon the filling into the prepared pie crust, taking care to fill the pie evenly and remove as many air gaps as possible by spreading the fruit around. Roll the second piece of pie dough out into a circle and cut into strips that are about 1/2 inch wide. Arrange the strips in a lattice pattern on the top of the pie. You may need to adjust pieces of the filling as you work to get the lattice strips to lay flat. Once you are happy with the lattice, gently press the lattice pieces into the edges of the lower pie crust, then trim the crust, leaving just a little bit of overhang (the crust will shrink as it bakes – press the overhang under the rim of the pie pan if you want it to stay all the way to the edge).
5. Use a pastry brush to brush all of the exposed pie crust lightly with milk. Bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees F, then lower the temperature to 350 degrees F and bake until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly, an additional 60 minutes. Let cool completely, preferably overnight, before serving.

Notes

I have made this pie with both tapioca granules and cornstarch. Both help stabilize the filling, but neither is perfect. Feel free to use whatever you have on hand.

Letting this pie sit for several hours before slicing it will help reduce soupiness.

The post Strawberry-Rhubarb-Raspberry Pie appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

I know it’s the very tail end of ramp season, and most of you have moved on to stone fruits and strawberries, but I didn’t want to let another year slip by without posting this recipe for ramp carbonara. It’s nothing revolutionary, just a simple spaghetti carbonara dressed up for spring. Spaghetti carbonara is one of my favorite meals, rich with eggs and cheese. I probably make it more often than I should, given how indulgent it is, but I love it.

I’ve never seen a ramp growing. They have sort of a woodsy mystique about them, one of the first spring edibles to hit the markets, gathered in wild forests some unknown distance away. I picture them growing in quiet, verdant groves, their dark green leaves waving gently in filtered forest light. Perhaps they’ll be the next on the list of foolhardy things we are trying to grow in our little urban backyard. Although, like asparagus, they need several years to establish themselves. I’m not sure we have the patience.

I loved the idea of the long, thin ramp leaves winding through the pasta like noodles, so the first time I tried this, I left the ramp leaves whole. While it was beautiful to look at, it left me chewing (and chewing and chewing) big mouthfuls of ramp, which wasn’t particularly pleasant. So this time around, I treated the ramps with a bit more finesse. I sliced the leaves into thin strips and just barely cooked them, keeping their texture crisp. It worked out much better.

This came out lovely. While spaghetti covered in cheese is always good, there’s a big difference between a good carbonara and a great carbonara. This one was great. I thickened the sauce with a little bit of mascarpone so it was truly creamy. Instead of parmesan alone, I used a mix of parmesan and pecorino. Of course the ramps, swirled into the noodles, made it garlicky and a little special. And the finishing touch – a shower of meyer lemon zest – brought it all together.

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More Ramp recipes…

Ramp, Cheddar, and Bacon Buttermilk Biscuits

Polenta Pizza with Wild Mushrooms and Ramp Pesto

Quinoa, Cauliflower, and Ramp Cakes

Ramp Carbonara

Spaghetti carbonara with a spring twist – whole ramps, pecorino cheese, and meyer lemon zest.

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Yield: 3-4

Ingredients

• 8 medium-sized ramps
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 4 oz. pancetta, cut into 1/4 inch dice
• 2 eggs
• 2 oz. grated pecorino cheese (about 3/4 cup, packed)
• 2 oz. grated parmesan cheese (about 3/4 cup, packed)
• 1/4 cup mascarpone
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• zest from 1 Meyer lemon
• 1/2 lb. spaghetti

Instructions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
2. Prepare the ramps by washing thoroughly to rinse away any dirt, and gently patting the leaves dry. Separate the round white bulbs from the leaves. Trim any stringy white roots from the bulb and discard the roots, then finely dice the ramp bulb. Slice the ramp leaves into very thin strips, then set aside.
3. Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the diced pancetta and saute until it is crispy and brown all over, which should take about 6-8 minutes. After 3-4 minutes, add the diced ramp bulb to the pan. Keep a close eye on the pancetta and stir frequently – pancetta takes a while to start browning but can go to under-cooked to burned in a very short period of time.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, pecorino cheese, parmesan cheese, and mascarpone until smooth. Stir in the black pepper, Meyer lemon zest, and the cooked pancetta. Set aside.
5. Add the spaghetti to the boiling water and cook according to package directions, until just al dente. Drain, leaving just a few tablespoons of the cooking water in the bottom of the pot with the pasta. Add the hot pasta and reserved cooking water to the egg mixture and quickly toss with tongs to create a creamy sauce from the eggs and cheese. Do this immediately after adding the pasta to prevent the eggs from scrambling. Add the ramp leaves to the pasta and toss a few times just to wilt the leaves. Serve immediately.

The post Ramp Carbonara appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

*This post is sponsored by La Crema Wines. All opinions here are my own. You can find the companion recipes over on the La Crema blog. 

As soon as the first hint of spring arrives, I start thinking about rosé wine. Perhaps I’m just more susceptible to social trends and marketing than I think I am, but somehow, that first chilled glass of rosé, preferably consumed on a terrace on a sunny but cool evening, has come to embody the fact that summer is coming. In March and April I test the waters with a glass here and there, usually consumed indoors while looking longingly at the outdoors, wishing spring would hurry up and get here. And then May hits, and it’s all rosé all the time (#roséallday, people).

In celebration of the start of rosé season, I’ve put together a pairing dinner using La Crema’s two rosé wines – the Monterey Pinot Noir Rosé and the Saralee’s Vineyard Pinot Noir Rosé. In the past my dinner series collaboration with La Crema has taken us to Japan for Izakaya, Latin America for a spicy Thanksgiving menu, and Italy for a summery seafood feast. Now, for spring and for rosé, we’re going to France, where effortless appetizers and simple but elegant entrées are king. And also there’s a lot of pink wine.

There are four courses in this menu. First, a Spring Crudité Platter. If you are thinking to yourself, “how boring,” bear with me a moment. This is not a platter of dry baby carrots and too-thick ranch dressing sitting, ignored, in a corner. This is a vibrant, effortless display of spring’s best vegetables. Blanched asparagus, snap peas, tender spring carrots, bitter endive, spicy radish slices, and sweet pepper… all served with an addictive, pale green herb aioli. Crudité platters can be very classy.

Second, a simple and savory Goat Cheese Tart with Peas and Prosciutto. It’s similar to a quiche, but thinner and denser. It’s also so, so good. Even if you’re not tackling the whole French Rosé Dinner menu, give this goat cheese tart a try. It’s  a great multipurpose recipe to have in your cooking arsenal, and you can vary the vegetables with the season. Equally good warm or cold, a thin slice is a perfect appetizer for dinner, while a big slice makes a filling breakfast.

The main course is a lovely Baked Halibut Provençal – halibut marinated in lemon and olive oil and served over a rich tomato, olive, and caper sauce. It’s inspired by the time I spent in Provence years ago, on my first vacation with Trevor. We rented an apartment at the top of a hill in Cassis and spent a week there. It was a tiny little place with an expansive patio, and every day after beach hopping we would hike up the hundreds of dusty stone steps with bags of vegetables from the market hanging on our shoulders. We were using most of our disposable income on the apartment so we ate simply – ratatouille and grilled chicken. This recipe takes it’s cues from those meals. A simple but perfectly cooked protein accompanied by a sauce full of seasonal vegetables and herbs.

And to finish off this lovely French dinner, a cake! Or, mini Strawberries and Cream Chiffon Cakes, to be precise. I wanted to make a French version of strawberry shortcake, one of my favorite spring desserts. I swapped the buttery shortcakes for a light and airy chiffon cake, and layered the chiffon cake with strawberries and whipped cream. A few more tweaks upped the elegance – there’s rosé in the cake batter and mint and tarragon in the strawberries.

This cake was everything I was hoping it would be. I was worried that it would be worse than your standard strawberry shortcake. Strawberry shortcake is, after all, pretty difficult to improve upon. But the chiffon cake – soft and airy – was the perfect thing for soaking up all the delicious strawberry juices. The rosé wine flavor was just barely present in the cake, and you could taste the mint and tarragon in the strawberries, too. It was the kind of dessert that I thought about multiple times while sitting at work. That’s the surest sign of a win, in my book.

You can find the recipes for the first three courses on the La Crema blog: Spring Crudité Platter, Goat Cheese Tart with Peas and Prosciutto and Baked Halibut Provençal. The Strawberries and Cream Chiffon Cake recipe is below!

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Strawberries and Cream Chiffon Cakes

A French take on Strawberry Shortcake, using light and airy chiffon cake as the base. The chiffon cake has rose wine whipped into the batter for a hint of flavor, and the strawberries are macerated with fresh tarragon and mint.

Chiffon cake recipe adapted from the Joy of Cooking.

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Yield: 6
• Category: Dessert

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 TBS baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 5 egg yolks
• 3/4 cup rosé wine
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil or canola oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 7 egg whites
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar

For the filling:

• 2 lb. strawberries, washed, hulled, and thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup plus 1/4 cup sugar, divided
• 2 TBS minced fresh tarragon leaves
• 2 TBS minced fresh mint leaves
• 3 cups heavy cream
• 2 tsp vanilla

Instructions

1. For the cake: Preheat the oven to 325°F. Spray an 11×17 inch sheet pan lightly with cooking spray, then line with a piece of parchment paper. Set the prepared pan aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the cake flour, sugar, baking powder and salt until evenly combined. Now add the wet ingredients – the egg yolks, wine, canola oil, and vanilla and beat thoroughly, until a smooth batter is formed. Set this batter aside.
3. In a large, clean bowl, begin beating the egg whites on high speed (or vigorously by hand). After about 30 seconds, stop and add the cream of tartar, then continue beating. Beat until the egg whites are very stiff and glossy – they should completely hold their shape. Add a third of the beaten egg whites to the bowl with the batter and gently fold with a spatula until the two mixtures are evenly combined. Now add the remaining egg whites and fold in until evenly combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared sheet pan and use a spatula to spread evenly. Bake until the top of the cake springs back lightly when pressed, about 20 minutes. Run a knife along the edges of the pan to release the cake. Let cool to room temperature, then invert the cake on a piece of aluminum foil and peel off the parchment paper. Set the cake aside or refrigerate until ready to use.
4. For the filling: Place the sliced strawberries in a large bowl with 1/3 cup of sugar and the minced mint and tarragon leaves. Stir to coat the berries with sugar. Set aside and let macerate for at least 15 minutes. You can also cover the berries and let them sit in the fridge for up to 24 hours.
5. When you are ready to assemble and serve the cakes, beat the heavy cream on high with the remaining 1/4 cup sugar until it is whipped enough to hold it’s shape. Avoid over-beating as it will take on a butter-like consistency. Stir in the vanilla.
6. Cut the cake into 12 squares that are approximately 4 inches wide. For each cake, place one cake square on a plate. Cover with 2 or 3 large spoonfuls of strawberries and their juice, arranging neatly. Spread some whipped cream on top, then repeat the layers – cake, strawberries, whipped cream – once more. Garnish with a strawberry. Serve immediately.

The post French Spring Dinner with La Crema: Strawberries and Cream Chiffon Cakes appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

It’s time for the (slightly belated) final post for fava bean week. It’s another recipe inspired by Italy – homemade ravioli filled with a fava bean, mascarpone, and ricotta mixture and served in a two-ingredient truffle butter sauce. Because it turns out that when one of your ingredients is truffle butter, you don’t need much else.

While fava beans are abundant in Italy and Portugal, they aren’t particularly common in the US, even at the height of their season. They occasionally make an appearance at Wholefoods, and some people have found them frozen at Trader Joe’s, but I couldn’t find any near me. We are growing a long row of them, but they won’t be ready until late June, about the same time that Bostonians will be able to find them at local farmer’s markets.

So what’s a fava bean lover to do? I’ve basically been rabid for them in anticipation of the series, knowing it would be difficult to get my hands on enough for several recipes. I’ve started harassing the staff at Wholefoods, begging for them to go back into the stock room and bring me a few pounds. I made my friend Veronika walk through all of the Wholefoods in Cambridge with me – surprisingly, the little Wholefoods had some and the big one didn’t. It doesn’t help that you need about 1 pound of pods for every cup of beans, so what may look like a lot of beans disappears surprisingly quickly.

And then, unexpectedly, I found fava bean nirvana – Eataly. While out shopping for  wedding shoes with my mom, we stopped in at the new Eataly in Boston. I needed truffle butter for this recipe, and figured it made more sense to pay a little more at a store that I knew would carry it than to schlep all over looking for it. If you’ve never been, Eataly is like the Ikea of Italian food, except everything is expensive. You have to wind your way through the massive store in a certain order.  You’ll pass the gelato and pastry counters, a case full of beautiful seafood, a deli counter with dozens of prosciuttos, and rows of dry and canned goods. After weaving my way through the tempting rows filled with jars of fancy tomatoes and olive oils and capers,I found the produce section. There, next to a beautiful basket of morel mushrooms, were all the fava beans I could want. So now I know. And if you’re in Boston, New York, or Chicago, you know too.

Back to the ravioli. Every once in a while Trevor and I break out the pasta machine and make a batch of homemade pasta. I find it quite therapeutic to make, although our pasta is never quite as tender as I want. It’s fun to customize, though, and this filling is really lovely. The sweet mascarpone and ricotta really mellow out the fava flavor. We tossed the ravioli with a quick burro fuso – truffle butter melted and whisked with a bit of warm water. Simple, elegant, and springlike, a homemade pasta worth the effort.

More Fava Bean Recipes…

Spanish Fava Bean Salad with Tomatoes and Prosciutto

Avocado Toast with Fava Beans and Pecorino

Fava Bean Soup with Mascarpone, Mint, and Pancetta

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Fava Bean and Mascarpone Ravioli with Truffle Butter Sauce

Homemade Ravioli with a Fava Bean, Mascarpone and Ricotta Filling. Served in a simple Truffle Butter burro fuso sauce.

Adapted from SPQR. 

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Yield: 4

Ingredients

• 1 cup blanched, peeled fava beans (from 1 pound of fresh beans)
• 1 TBS chopped fresh mint (from 10–12 leaves)
• 1/4 cup mascarpone
• 1/2 cup ricotta
• 1/4 – 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 recipe homemade pasta dough
• 2 oz. truffle butter
• 3 TBS warm water (preferably the pasta cooking water).
• grated pecorino cheese, for serving

Instructions

1. Add the fava beans, mint, mascarpone, and ricotta to a food processor. Process until smooth and fluffy. Season to taste with sea salt. Transfer to a bowl, cover, and refrigerate.
2. Use a pasta machine to roll out the pasta dough in thin sheets. Target the third or fourth thinnest setting as your ultimate thickness of the pasta.
3. Lay the pasta sheets flat on a lightly floured surface, covering the sheets you aren’t using with a piece of plastic wrap. Use a knife to score the pasta sheets into 2 inch squares. Place 2 teaspoons of the chilled filling in the center of half the squares. Wet your finger with water and run it along the edge of each square, then cover the squares with filling with another sheet of the pasta. Press the sheets firmly together around the edges of each filled square, forming ravioli. Use a ravioli cutter or knife to cut the ravioli apart, then firmly press the edges together again to ensure there are no air bubbles. Repeat until you have used all of the pasta dough, re-rolling any dough scraps as needed.
4. Bring a large pot of salted water to a gentle boil. Gently place the ravioli in the boiling water and cook just until al dente, about 2-3 minutes. They should be floating at the surface of the water when they are ready. Remove them from the water with a slotted spoon and place them on a large plate. Drizzle the ravioli with just a little olive oil to keep them from sticking.
5. Add the 3 TBS of the pasta cooking water to a small frying pan, and bring to a simmer over low heat. Whisk in the truffle butter one piece at a time, allowing the butter to melt between additions. When you have incorporated all of the truffle butter, add the cooked ravioli to the frying pan and toss gently to coat with the butter sauce. Divide between plates, sprinkle with the grated pecorino, and serve immediately.

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During the time I spent in Lisbon over the past year, there was a noted dearth of fresh vegetables in my diet. The food in Lisbon is wonderful, but it’s not particularly fresh. One night I stumbled upon a tapas restaurant that served a fava bean salad and it quickly became my go-to vegetable dish when I was craving something light. It was a cold, simple salad of favas, tomatoes, olive oil and herbs. I couldn’t tell you exactly what was in it, but it hit the spot.

I tried to recreate this salad for this week… and totally missed the mark. But, what I did make turned out wonderful. Nothing like that particular tapas dish, but delicious nonetheless. It has a lot of Spanish flavors – smoked paprika, jamón, tomatoes – that all meld together in a warm, homey dish. It ended up being my favorite of all the fava dishes I’ve made for this week, a total surprise hit. Try it with a few slices of crusty bread or a bowl of pasta for a comforting spring dinner.

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More Fava Bean Recipes…

Avocado Toast with Fava Beans and Pecorino

Fava Bean Soup with Mascarpone, Mint, and Pancetta

Fava Bean and Mascarpone Ravioli with Truffle Butter Sauce

Spanish Fava Bean Salad with Tomatoes and Jamón

A warm tapas dish of sauteed fava beans, fresh tomatoes, and jamón. 

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Yield: 4
• Cuisine: Spanish

Ingredients

• 2 TBS olive oil
• 1 small red onion, peeled and chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 2 cups of shucked and peeled fresh fava beans
• 2 TBS fresh lemon juice
• 1 medium heirloom tomato, roughly chopped
• 1/2 tsp smoked Spanish paprika
• 2 thin pieces of jamón serrano or prosciutto, torn into bite size pieces

Instructions

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and saute until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for 1-2 minutes more, stirring frequently. Add the peeled fava beans, lemon juice, tomato, and smoked paprika. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes have broken down and the fava beans are tender.
2. Push the beans to one side of the pan to expose the bottom of the pan. Add the pieces of jamón to the bottom of the pan and fry for 1 minute, just to crisp up. Mix the jamón into the beans and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve warm with crusty bread or warm pasta.

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Four years ago, we spent two weeks in Italy in the beginning of May. It was our first “adult” vacation, and we ate and drank our way through Rome, Florence, and the Maremma. Rome is a city that is easy to fall in love with, especially in May. Jasmine tumbles over seemingly every stone wall, its fragrance completely filling the city. The weather is sunny and dry but not too hot, perfect for sundresses and gelato and walking along the river. Nights are cool and you can eat al fresco, sipping on chilled Pinot Grigio and tucking into plates of cacio e pepe. While parts of Rome are perpetually jammed with tourists, if you move just a little outside the tourist track you’ll begin to feel the heartbeat of a thriving, modern city.

While we were there, we visited a farmer’s market and loaded up on pecorino cheese, the first tiny strawberries of the season, truffled sausage, and fava beans. We brought our bounty to the Pincio gardens, where we picnicked amid throngs of people watching the sunset over the Piazza del Popolo. The simplicity and freshness and ambiance of that meal has stuck with me more than any almost any other meal in Italy.

Eating fresh fava beans with chunks of pecorino cheese is a Roman tradition with a long history. In Rome, the custom is to eat them just as we did – a freshly shucked bean, a slice of pecorino, and perhaps a chunk of crusty bread. It’s a nearly perfect pairing, perhaps improved only by a glass of stony Italian white wine.

Recipe #2 in fava bean week takes it’s inspiration from that pairing. It’s a simple variation on everyone’s favorite breakfast – avocado toast. I’ve heard some report that this trend is on its way out, but I refuse to believe this. It’s the perfect breakfast, how could it be a fad? Maybe that’s just my millennial showing. I do have a pair of salmon (ahem, millennial) pink pants, after all. The addition of fava beans and pecorino to avocado toast is not a gratuitous change. The creamy and subtle sweetness of the avocado mellows the sharpness of the fava beans and the cheese, while the slight crunch of the beans adds some texture to your toast. I mash the fava beans with a hint of meyer lemon zest and a little olive oil, pressing them just enough so that they won’t fall off the bread.

More Fava Bean Recipes…

Fava Bean Soup with Mascarpone, Mint, and Pancetta

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Avocado Toast with Fava Beans and Pecorino

Serves 1.

• 1 slice of Italian or French bread, toasted
• 1/2 ripe avocado
• 1/3 cup of fresh fava beans, shucked and peeled
• 1 TBS olive oil
• 1 TBS of pecorino cheese shavings
• zest of 1/2 a  small Meyer lemon
• sea salt and black pepper to taste

1. Slice or slightly mash the avocado and spread on top of the toasted bread. In a small bowl, mix together the fava beans, olive oil, pecorino cheese and Meyer lemon zest. Gently smash the fava beans with the back of a fork, just enough to break up the beans. Spread the fava beans on top of the avocado toast, pressing gently to keep the beans from falling off the toast. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and eat!

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It’s very clear to me what I should be eating and drinking in May. Perhaps more clear than any other month of the year. May is for fava beans, as many as I can get my hands on. It’s for ramps, garlicky and pungent, worth the splurge. It’s for chilled glasses of rosé, on both warm days and cold days. And finally, at the very end of the month, it’s for the first strawberries, tiny and bright red.

This year, on May 2nd, I found myself standing over a pile of fava beans, happily shucking the beans from their fuzzy-pods. (This is only a happy activity the first time. After that it’s a chore and a half but still worth it.) I had just opened the first bottle of rosé, a lovely Chilean blend. And then, I realized that I had lived this exact moment the previous year – the first fava beans, the first rosé, the apple blossoms just reaching their peak outside the window. What a beautiful moment! The world is better for its patterns.

In celebration of this particular moment in the year, I’m bringing back a series that’s been quiet for years: ingredient of the week. It’s been 3 years since I last did one, but it’s always at the back of my mind. What’s in season now that I can only get my hands on for a week or two? How can I make the most of it’s brief appearance before it’s gone for another year? After my Sunday Dinner series, it’s the series that best reflects why I write this blog – finding interesting recipes to celebrate seasonal ingredients. Of course, given my current blogging pace of 4 posts a month, putting together 5 posts in a week seems a bit Herculean. So much cooking and writing and photo editing, not to mention the fava bean shucking! But I’ve planned ahead, and I think we’ve got this.

Fava beans have a very distinct flavor, grassy and slightly bitter. This soup is the essence of that flavor, undistilled, unsweetened. It’s a good recipe to kick off this week, a pure celebration of spring flavors. It’s all about the toppings – don’t skip them. The soup needs the saltiness of the pancetta and the crunch of the croutons and the subtle sweetness of the mascarpone. It even needs the mint, that little bit of herbality humming in the background. Without all of those flavors to highlight and offset the grassy fava beans, the soup is a bit one dimensional and overwhelmingly green tasting. But all together, it’s the very essence of spring.

More Fava Bean Recipes…

Spanish Fava Bean Salad with Tomatoes and Prosciutto

Fava Bean and Mascarpone Ravioli with Truffle Butter Sauce

Avocado Toast with Fava Beans and Pecorino

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Happy May, and Happy Margarita Week! It’s year two for the tequila-fest that Kate over at Hola Jalapeno puts together in celebration of Cinco de Mayo. Last year, I contributed these Sparkling Lemongrass Ginger Margaritas. I was still feeling very inspired by all the amazing Vietnamese, Japanese, and Chinese food we ate while in Asia, so it was only natural to work some of my favorite Asian aromatics into a traditionally Mexican drink.

For this year, I dialed things back a little bit. It can sometimes feel like I’m constantly trying to outdo myself when I come up with recipes. I want the recipes on this blog to be creative and inspiring – I’m not here to write about super simple recipes or cooking basics. However, simple doesn’t always mean tired and overdone. Simple recipes can be a wonderful way to let the flavor of an incredible ingredient shine through. Think burrata cheese, high quality olive oil, and perfectly crunchy sourdough. So while last year’s contribution to Kate’s Margarita Week was exotic and new, this year I’m keeping it simple with Passion Fruit Margaritas. Just a perfect, balanced drink that lets the passion fruit sing accompanied by high quality tequila.

I developed a crush on passion fruit during my first few trips to Colombia two years ago, and since then it’s blossomed into a burning romance. Whilst I burn through some of my food obsessions in a month or two (like when you fall in love with a new song and play it non-stop for two weeks, only to realize that you never want to hear it again after that), others are a slow build. Passion fruit is one that’s here for the long haul. It’s so wonderfully tangy and fragrant, the perfect complement for desserts and drinks. I daydream about the passion fruit gelato at Santini in Portugal, and I can slurp down a fresh passion fruit juice in minutes.

The only downside to my love for passion fruit is the cost. Passion fruit are hard to find and exorbitantly expensive in Boston, running $2 a piece (if anyone in Boston has tips for where to get them cheaper, please share! I’ll bring you a margarita). This might be the only drink I’ve ever made that cost more to make at home than it would have to order at a restaurant.  At least I had a lightbulb moment when reading this post by A House in the Hills that you can grow passion fruit (obviously). True, it typically grows in subtropical places like Colombia and Australia. But we’ve tried lemon trees and avocado trees and olive trees, so why not give passion fruit vines a try? One day we’ll live in California/Portugal/Mexico where we belong. Until then, I’ll be forking out the cash to get fresh passion fruit for my margaritas and desserts.

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Passion Fruit Margaritas

Makes 3-4 margaritas.

• 6 fresh passion fruit
• 1 lime, plus more for garnish.
• 4 teaspoons sugar
• 4 oz. white tequila
• 2 oz. orange liqueur
• ice
• coarse sea salt, for rimming glasses

1. Cut the passion fruit in half, being careful not to spill the juice out of the center. Scrape the pulp and juice into a small food processor. Pulse 2-3 times just to loosen the seeds from the pulp. Pour through a strainer into a bowl, separating the juice from the seeds.
2. Cut the lime in half and squeeze the juice into the bowl with the passion fruit juice. Add the sugar and stir to thoroughly combine.
3. For each drink, add the following ingredients to a cocktail shaker with plenty of ice: 1 oz tequila, 1/2 oz orange liqueur, 1 oz passion fruit juice mixture. Shake vigorously for 20 seconds, then strain into a salt-rimmed glass. Add a few passion fruit seeds and a slice of lime for garnish. Serve immediately.

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At this time of year I get so anxious for spring to arrive. The first few weeks of April are a special kind of torture for New Englanders. One moment it’s 70° and sunny and I’m sure that it’s time to plant the tomatoes, and the next day I’m wearing three layers while trodding through the rain. Every year I find myself scrolling back through my Instagram feed trying to find the moment when spring arrived. When did the apple trees bloom? When did the crocuses pop? It had to be earlier last year, didn’t it?

Slowly but surely, it’s coming. We had a weekend with a hint of sunburn, a beer on the porch in the afternoon, and a promise of more warm days to come. The peas have sprouted and we check on them three times a day, the only denizens of our garden so far. The trees are in that tentative green stage, and I find myself looking up every 10 minutes, as if they may somehow magically burst into blossom over the course of an afternoon. But that’s how it feels when it finally happens, isn’t it? One morning the gray branches and bare against the spring blue sky, practically bursting with anticipation, and the next somehow everything is green and lush.

But all this is the essence of spring, is it not? The uncertainty, the anticipation, the oscillation between summer and winter. So, thank you, spring, for showing up. For teasing us with sunshine and letting us plunge our hands into the soil. For the first signs of green and even for the cool nip in the wind. I promise to enjoy every moment of you, the most fleeting of seasons. I’ll enjoy the rainy days with fat raindrops pounding against the roof. I’ll enjoy every blossom you toss our way – first, the purple and yellow crocus tips, then the showy magnolia blooms, the showers of pink apple blossoms and the regal irises.

Because every season needs at least one or two go-to pasta recipes, I’ve been developing spring pastas. I’m trying to build a collection for each season, like this Creamy Mushroom Pasta and this Heirloom Tomato Spaghetti. And now, my latest for spring – Goat Cheese Stuffed Shells with Spring Vegetables. They have all the usual spring suspects – peas, asparagus, goat cheese, lemon – tucked inside thick pasta shells. The filling also includes ricotta, mozzarella, and chopped spinach. So much cheese! So many vegetables! The finishing touch is a quick bechamel sauce and just a little bit more cheese before baking.

A word of warning: these contain an almost lethal amount of cheese, as you might have guessed from the above. Pace yourself and remember that this batch should serve 8-10 people! Four or five shells is a good serving size, and it’s easy to wolf them down. Serve alongside a salad or some bright steamed asparagus for balance.

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Goat Cheese Stuffed Shells with Peas and Asparagus

A Katie at the Kitchen Door original recipes. Serves 8-10.

• One 12-oz. box of jumbo pasta shells
• 6 oz. soft goat cheese
• 1 lb. ricotta cheese
• 8 oz. mozzarella cheese, grated and divided
• 1 egg
• 1 cup (6 oz.) frozen spinach
• 2 cups frozen peas
• 1 lb. asparagus, ends trimmed
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• zest of 1 lemon
• 3 TBS butter
• 3 TBS flour
• 2 1/2 cups milk, warmed in the microwave
• sea salt

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta shells and cook for the amount of time specified on the packages. Err on the side of undercooking the pasta just a little bit – if you overcook the shells they are more likely to fall apart when stuffing. Drain the shells and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, beat the goat cheese until smooth and creamy. Add the ricotta cheese and 6 oz of the mozzarella cheese and stir to combine. Reserve the remaining mozzarella cheese for topping the shells. Add the egg to the cheese mixture and beat slightly, stirring to combine evenly with the cheeses.
3. Add the frozen spinach to a microwaveable bowl with a little bit of water. Microwave until fully thawed, about 90 seconds to 2 minutes. Use a spoon to press any excess liquid out of the spinach, draining the liquid out of the bowl. When the spinach is dry, add to the bowl with the cheeses and stir to combine. Now add the peas to the microwaveable bowl with a little water and microwave for 60-90 seconds to defrost the peas. Drain the liquid from the bowl and add the peas to the spinach and cheese mixture, stirring to combine.
4. Bring a large pot of salted water to a simmer. When simmering, add the asparagus and blanch until bright green, about 90 seconds. Drain immediately and rinse the asparagus under cold running water to stop the cooking. Cut the asparagus into small pieces, about 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch long, and add to the cheese filling. Add the lemon zest and black pepper, stir to combine, and set aside.
5. To prepare the bechamel sauce, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Add the flour and stir into the butter. Cook the flour and butter, stirring constantly, until fragrant and just beginning to color, about 2 minutes. Slowly pour in the warm milk, stirring as you do to incorporate the milk into the roux. Cook the bechamel, stirring the whole time, until it has thickened enough to coat the back of the spoon but still runs freely when lifted. This should only take 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat and season to taste with sea salt.
6. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spread a little bit of the bechamel sauce on the bottom of a 9×13 inch casserole dish (to help keep the shells in place as you fill them). Working one at a time, spoon the cheese and vegetable mixture inside the pasta shells, using about 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons of filling per shell. As you stuff them, line the shells up on the casserole dish in a single layer. Pour the bechamel sauce over the top of the shells, then sprinkle the reserved grated mozzarella over the top. Bake for 30 minutes, until cheese is golden brown and bubbly. Serve warm.

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I have recently rediscovered the taco as a homemade dinner option. Jury’s still out on how this discovery will affect my overall health, but on all other fronts – flavor, ease, cost, deliciousness – I’m pretty happy with it. It’s no wonder tacos were a staple of our childhood dinners. They’re so easy! While even your basic taco-kit Tex-Mex taco can be delicious, gourmet tacos are next level. You know, the kind that successful food trucks all over the US are dedicated to – with soft flour tortillas wrapped around spicy barbacoa and pickled onions and freshly made salsa. The kind that makes you feel like you’re standing on a street corner in Mexico, watching life go by and soaking up the sun.

These tacos are more of the grown-up, gourmet variety (although with a couple throwbacks to the childhood Tex-Mex version). Instead of ground beef and “taco spice” I make them with fresh Mexican-style chorizo sausage. The mixture of the mildly-spiced chorizo, sweet onion, and corn makes up the bulk of the filling. They come together in no-time, maybe 20 minutes from “I want tacos!” to biting into your first one. So if you’re going for a 30-minute dinner, you’ll still have 10 minutes left to shake up a margarita.

What takes these chorizo tacos over the top for me is griddling the tortillas in the leftover chorizo fat. They turn golden brown and a little crispy, and if you melt a bit of cheddar cheese in the center at the same time you are ready for taco heaven. Quality toppings also up the ante here. A generous amount of sliced avocado, fancy salsa, and sour cream all come together to give you the perfect amount of savory-spicy-rich-sweetness in each bite. I’ve been making these with the chorizo that comes in our Walden Local Meat Company subscription, and I’m pretty sure they’ll be on our table at least once a month. From now until… forever.

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Corn and Chorizo Tacos

Easy and delicious Corn and Chorizo Tacos, on your table in 30 minutes. Fry the corn tortillas until crispy and golden brown for an extra decadent meal.

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Yield: 4

Ingredients

• 1 TBS olive oil
• 1 medium onion, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 lb. fresh, Mexican-style chorizo sausage
• 1 1/2 cup frozen corn
• 8 small corn tortillas
• 6 oz. cheddar cheese, thinly sliced
• 1 or 2 ripe avocados, peeled and thinly sliced, for topping
• salsa, for topping
• sour cream, for topping

Instructions

1. In a large frying pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and saute until translucent, about 3-4 minutes. Remove the sausage from its casing and crumble into the pan. Use the back of a wooden spoon to chop it into small pieces. Saute, stirring frequently, until fully cooked and crispy on the outside, about 8-10 minutes. Add the frozen corn and cook for another 2-3 minutes, then transfer the stuffing mixture to a bowl, leaving most of the oil/drippings in the pan.
2. Working with one or two tortillas at a time, add the tortillas to the hot grease and cook until golden brown on the first side, about 60-90 seconds, then flip the tortilla over to cook the second side. While the second side is cooking, place a few pieces of cheddar cheese on top of the tortilla so that it melts into the tortilla. Remove from the heat when cheese is melted and both sides of tortilla are golden brown. Repeat with the remaining tortillas.
3. Fill the cheesy tortillas with the chorizo and corn mixture, then top each taco with sliced avocado, salsa, and sour cream. Serve immediately.

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I recently discovered two things. First, Cara Cara oranges. Have you ever had one? They’re amazing. Whoever invented orange-flavored candies was definitely inspired by these guys. They are so much sweeter, juicier, and just more wonderful than regular oranges, and they’re a beautiful pink color inside, too. Although I usually associate citrus with January and February, Cara Caras seem to just be hitting their peak season now. At least, Wholefoods is full of them: no ramps or fava beans, just a lot of oranges. Although to be honest, I think my expectations for the seasonal produce that should be available in April have always been a little out of touch with reality. It was snowing two weeks ago, after all.

Writing the above paragraph has sent me down an internet rabbit hole looking for orange trees online. Because wouldn’t a Cara Cara orange tree be the perfect addition to our collection of trees that you probably shouldn’t try and grow in Boston? Our impulse-tree-purchase rate is way up this month anyways – last weekend alone we bought an olive tree and a coral bark Japanese Maple. What would harm could one more citrus tree do?

The second thing I discovered is that I’ve been cooking asparagus wrong. My standard cooking method for most vegetables is this: douse liberally with olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt, roast at 400°F until nicely charred. I like my roasted vegetables to be borderline carcinogenic. Especially brussels sprouts – I love the way the leaves get translucent and crunchy. Unfortunately, this method has left me unsatisfied when it comes to asparagus. If you roast asparagus even a little bit too long, it becomes stringy and mushy. So I recently tried a recipe in Diana Henry’s Simple which calls for you to lightly steam the asparagus by putting the thick ends in an inch or two of simmering water and pushing the tips just below the edge of the pot, without putting the whole stalk underwater. You only cook the asparagus for a few minutes, until they’re bright green, then drain immediately. This method resulted in asparagus that was fresh, tender, and perfectly cooked without being limp or mushy or stringy. Success!

In this recipe I’ve brought these two April delicacies together in – surprise! – a bowl. I just like things better when they’re in bowl form, OK? It’s a trend that makes me eat my vegetables. I’ve built on the Diana Henry recipe I mentioned above, which served the steamed asparagus with goat cheese and lemon butter, to build a warm bowl that screams spring. The base of the bowl is Israeli Couscous tossed with butter, lemon juice, and lemon zest while the couscous is still warm. Adding spinach, steamed asparagus, goat cheese, the lovely Cara Cara oranges, and shelled pistachios makes a healthy spring dinner that is complete and satisfying.

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Lemony Israeli Couscous with Asparagus, Oranges, and Goat Cheese

Inspired by Simple. Serves 2.

• 1 cup of uncooked Israeli couscous
• 2 TBS butter
• zest and juice of half a lemon
• black pepper
• 1/2 pound of asparagus
• 3 oz. of baby spinach
• 1 Cara Cara orange, peeled and supremed (cut into segments)
• 3 oz. soft goat cheese, cut into slices
• 1/4 cup of shelled pistachios

1. Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil over medium heat (the pot should be slightly less wide than the length of your asparagus stalks). Add the couscous to the boiling water and stir. Cook until tender and chewy, about 5-7 minutes, then drain. Transfer to a bowl and add the butter, lemon juice, lemon zest, and black pepper while couscous is warm. Stir until the couscous is evenly coated with the lemon butter and set aside.
2. Add about 2 inches of water to the pot and return to the stove. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Prepare the asparagus by snapping or trimming off the thick woody end of each stalk, usually about the bottom 1 inch. (You can gently bend the asparagus to find the natural breaking point as a guide). Place the thick end of the stalks in the simmering water in the bottom of the pot. Gently bend the asparagus so the tips are resting just inside the pot but aren’t submerged in the water, so they will steam but not boil. Cook the asparagus in this way until bright green, which should take about 3-5 minutes depending on the thickness of your asparagus. Remove from the heat, drain, and run under cold water for 60 seconds to stop the cooking process.
3. To assemble the salads, divide the couscous and spinach between two bowls. Top with asparagus, orange segments, goat cheese, and pistachios. Serve warm.

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I first learned to make crepes in high school. During one French class our professor took us to his house for a simple French cooking lesson. It was a boarding school and most of the professors lived on campus, so this wasn’t particularly unusual. He taught us the ratio – 1:2:1 milk, eggs, flour – and pan-fried dozens of crepes. Like most of my classes in high school, I spent a good portion of it flirting, an activity that was only enhanced by speaking French and eating crepes. French – the language of ballet, patisserie, and love.

I’ve all but forgotten French, but I do remember how to make crepes. They are such a wonderful dessert. At their simplest, they require only 4 ingredients – milk, eggs, flour, and a pat of butter for the frying pan. From there, you can dress them up in seemingly infinite ways. You can stuff them with fruit and cream, stack them in layers with salted caramel to make a crepe cake, or flambée them with a bit of rum. You can make the batter chocolate-flavored or go the savory route and fill your crepes with ham and cheese. They are simple, economical, and delicious.

These Strawberry and Meyer Lemon Crepes are on the fancier end of the crepe spectrum.  The crepe batter itself has a splash of brandy, vanilla, sugar, and melted butter added to the base. After cooking, you spread each crepe with two different strawberry-based fillings. The first is a strawberry-mascarpone cream (it’s the loveliest shade of pink!) and the second is a jammy sauce made from strawberries, meyer lemon, and a splash of vodka. Folded and garnished with fresh strawberries and powdered sugar they make a spring dessert that’s both elegant and simple.

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 Strawberry and Meyer Lemon Filled Crepes

Adapted from Pickles, Pigs & Whiskey. Serves 6.

• 1 lb. fresh strawberries, stems removed and cut into 1/4 inch pieces
• 1/3 cup plus 2 TBS granulated sugar
• 8 oz. mascarpone cheese
• 2 TBS butter, room temperature
• zest and juice of 1 meyer lemon
• 1 TBS vodka
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 3 TBS butter, melted (plus a bit more for coating the pan)
• 2 TBS brandy
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup all purpose flour

1. Toss the diced strawberries with the 1/3 cup of sugar in a large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let macerate for at lest one hour, or overnight in the fridge.
2. After macerating, spoon half of the strawberries out of the bowl and into a food processor. Puree until smooth. Add the mascarpone cheese and process again until smooth. Cover strawberry-mascarpone cream and chill until ready to use.
3. Place 2 TBS of the butter in a small saucepan and melt over medium heat. Add the remaining strawberries, the strawberry syrup that has collected in the bowl, the meyer lemon zest and meyer lemon juice to the pan and stir to combine. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the strawberries are very soft and the sauce has become thick and syrupy. This should take about 10 minutes. At this stage, remove from the heat and stir in the vodka. Set aside.
4. To make the crepe batter, whisk the eggs, whole milk, melted butter, brandy, vanilla extract, and water together in a large bowl. Whisk thoroughly until frothy. Add the flour and whisk until you have a thin and smooth batter. The batter should run freely when lifted from the bowl – the consistency should be that of heavy cream. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for one hour.
5. To assemble the crepes, melt a bit of butter in a large non-stick pan over medium heat. Swirl to coat the pan with butter. Using a measuring cup, add 1/3 cup of batter to the center of the pan. Immediately lift the pan from the heat and swirl so that the batter spreads out thinly and evenly to the edges of the pan. Set down over the hat. Cook for about 60-90 seconds per side, or until the edges of the crepe are lacy and there are spots of golden brown on the otherwise pale crepe. Once each crepe is cooked, lay it out flat on a cutting board. To fill the crepes, spread a large spoonful of the strawberry-mascarpone cream over one side of each crepe, then spread a little of the strawberry-lemon sauce on top. Fold into quarters and place on a plate. Drizzle with more strawberry sauce and serve.

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One of Trevor’s Christmas presents this year was a subscription to Walden Local Meat, a Boston-based company that delivers locally raised, high quality beef, pork, lamb, and chicken on a monthly basis. Our first delivery was in February and I was thrilled to find a boneless leg of lamb included in our share, along with fresh chorizo, pork for braising, and a nice flat iron steak. We don’t eat a ton of meat so it was exciting (especially for Trevor!) to have a freezer stocked with fancy cuts just waiting for inspiration to strike.

Sometimes constraints are the best driver of creativity, and this proved true with the lamb. I knew I wanted to make something special with it, something that highlighted the quality of the meat and was full of spring flavors. I found a recipe for leg of lamb with preserved lemon and cumin butter that was intriguing, but perhaps more Middle-Eastern then I wanted to go. But I loved the idea of using intense preserved Meyer lemon with the lamb, so I worked on the idea over a few days, and landed on a preserved lemon, harissa, and rosemary butter filling that I could slather all over the lamb.

As leg of lamb is a favorite choice for Easter, I decided to make the lamb the centerpiece of an Easter-themed Sunday Dinner post. It’s been a while since I’ve done a Sunday Dinner post, but they are still one of my favorite things to pull together. Of course, we didn’t actually eat it on Easter (or we wouldn’t have been able to share it with you in time!), but it made for a lovely Sunday evening meal in March. Alongside the lamb, we served Olive-Oil Braised Leeks and Peas with Feta and Roast Potatoes with Garlic Creme Fraiche. For dessert, we each had a thick slice of this Blood Orange and Olive Oil Cake I posted a few weeks ago.

The Olive-Oil Braised Leeks were a surprise hit, and I ended up making them twice in one week. I often find leeks a bit rubbery when served in larger pieces, but these were tender and flavorful. Braised in olive oil and chicken stock, then mixed with barely-cooked English peas, dill, lemon zest, and mild feta, they make a really lovely spring side dish. The layers of delicate flavors harmonize wonderfully and evoke all the best bits of spring. It’s definitely a permanent addition to my repertoire.

I’m excited to be really moving into spring cooking, now that the last of yesterday’s snow has melted and the sun is shining with real warmth. Before we know it the trees will be bursting into blossoms, and we’ll be spending Sunday afternoons putzing in the garden and sipping chilled glasses of rosé (I genuinely cannot wait until the first rosé-worthy afternoon, and I’m only a little embarrassed about it). The arrival of spring will only make coming together at the end of the day for a meal to linger over that much sweeter, whether it’s Easter Sunday or a quiet day at home.

The Menu
Olive-Oil Braised Leeks and Peas with Feta and Dill (recipe below, adapted from Simple)
Boneless Leg of Lamb with Preserved Lemon and Harissa (reicpe below)
Best-Ever Roast Potatoes (Serious Eats) served with Garlic Creme Fraiche (Food & Wine)
Blood Orange and Olive Oil Pound Cake

Past Sunday Dinners:

December 14, 2015: Roasted Root Vegetable Salad; Herb-Crusted Roast Beef; Cauliflower and Horseradish Gratin

February 15, 2015: Blood Orange Mimosa; Endive and Blood Orange Salad; Chanterelle and Chestnut Bisque; Coffee-Crusted Duck Breast with Brandy-Balsamic Sauce; Chocolate Espresso Layer Cake

August 31, 2014: Roasted Garlic, Ricotta, and Maple-Roasted Cherry Tomato Crostini; Eggplant and Pesto Napoleons; Maple Mixed-Berry Pie

March 31, 2014: Fried Halloumi with Spring Veggies and Strawberry-Basil Gastrique; French Gnocchi with Watercress Sauce; Strawberry-Rhubarb Meringue Pots

October 28, 2013: Braised Lamb Shanks with Gremolata; Creamy Polenta with Fresh Corn and Blue Cheese; Roasted Brussels Sprouts; Classic Apple Pie

July 1, 2013: Strawberry-Lime Agua Fresca; Smashed Pea, Dill, and Feta Crostini; Chilled Asparagus Soup with Meyer Lemon Yogurt; Mustard Spaetzle with Mushrooms; Ricotta Bavarese with Red-Wine Poached Rhubarb

May 26, 2013: Coffee-and-Chile Rubbed Strip Steaks with Chimichurri Sauce; Charred and Smoky Belgian Endives; Oven-Roasted Potatoes; Strawberry-Sour Cream Ice Cream

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Preserved Lemon and Harissa Boneless Leg of Lamb

Serves 4-5 as a main.

• 1/2 stick of salted butter, softened
• 1 TBS harissa paste
• 1/4 cup chopped preserved meyer lemon (about 1 lemon)
• 1 TBS finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 3-4 lb. boneless leg of lamb

1. To prepare the rub, mix the softened butter, harissa paste, meyer lemon and rosemary leaves together in a bowl until thoroughly combined. Set aside.
2. Remove the netting from the lamb and unroll onto a cutting board. Carefully remove as much of the interior fat as you can, leaving the exterior fat intact, or partially trimming if desired (see this Serious Eats article for a good tutorial on preparing a boneless leg of lamb). Using about half of the seasoned butter, rub all over the interior of the lamb, pushing the butter into pockets between muscles and fat. Tightly roll the lamb up so that the butter is inside and tie in several places with butchers twine. Use a sharp knife to cut deep diagonal slits in the fat on the top of the lamb. Use the remaining half of the butter to rub all over the outside of the lamb, including into the slits in the fat. Sprinkle with salt (go easy on the salt – the preserved lemon will already be quite salty). Place the lamb on a rack in a roasting pan. Let sit for 30 minutes at room temperature, or, preferably, for 8 hours in the fridge (bring it to room temperature for 30 minutes before cooking).
3. When you’re ready to cook the lamb, preheat the oven to 450°F. Cook the lamb at 450 just for 10-15 minutes, to brown the outside and crisp up the fat, then reduce the temperature to 300°F. Cook until the interior temperature of your lamb is 130°F for medium-rare lamb, which should take another 45-60 minutes for a small roast. Check the doneness of the lamb frequently using an instant-read thermometer to avoid overcooking it. Once it is cooked, remove from the oven, cover pan loosely with tin foil, and let sit for 10-15 minutes. Slice and serve.

Olive-Oil Braised Leeks and Peas with Feta and Dill

Recipe adapted slightly from Simple. Serves 4 as a side dish.

• 4-5 large leeks
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/3 cup chicken or vegetable stock
• sea salt and pepper
• 1 cup English peas, fresh or frozn
• finely zest from one lemon
• 2 TBS coarsely chopped dill fronds
• 2/3 cup crumbled feta cheese

1. Remove the dark green tops from the leeks and discard. Remove about 1/4 inch from the root ends as well, if the roots are still attached. Cut a long slit along one edge of each leek and rinse the leeks very well in cold running water. If the leeks are especially dirty, you may need to cut another slit on the opposite edge to rinse them very well. Once clean, cut the leeks into 1 inch pieces.
2. Heat the olive oil over low heat in a large frying pan. Add the leeks and saute until they are beginning to get tender, about 5-6 minutes. Stir leeks frequently and try not to let them brown. Add the stock, season with salt and pepper, and bring the leeks to a gentle simmer. Cover with a lid and cook until leeks are tender when poked with a knife, about 10 minutes. (Stir the leeks occasionally while they are cooking to make sure they don’t burn).
3. Remove the lid and add the English peas, lemon zest, and chopped dill to the pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes longer, until the peas are just tender. Transfer to a bowl and sprinkle with the feta cheese. Serve warm.

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