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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I didn’t intend to post two dessert recipes in a row. Normally, I try to keep things balanced and fairly nutritious around here (especially now that I’m in full-blown wedding planning mode and realllly starting to think about how that strapless dress is going to look). But, sometimes my recipe inspiration is for things like homemade spinach wraps… and sometimes it’s for Banoffee Eton Mess.

If “Banoffee Eton Mess” is meaningless to you, let me explain. This dessert mashes up two classic British desserts – banoffee pie and eton mess. We’ve been intermittently watching The Great British Bake-Off and it has substantially increased my desire to bake all sorts of British things. And to call them “bakes,” of course. I have also begun to fantasize about living in that magical baking tent filled with pleasant people and cakes, surround by green fields and flowers.

I digress. Banoffee Pie is a sticky sweet dessert that consists of dulce de leche, bananas, whipped cream, and a shortbread crust. It’s kind of childish and simple and a very fun thing to say out loud. Banoffee. I think the name may be the primary reason that Trevor requested it as his birthday dessert, given that he doesn’t like bananas. Not to worry, I didn’t leave it that simple anyways. First, I turned the “offee” into peanut butter dulce de leche. Yum. Next, I made these as layered parfaits, adding a layer of crumbled meringue to the party. Which meant I could also call it Eton Mess – a mixture of broken-up meringues, whipped cream, and fruit. Tah dah! Peanut Butter Banoffee Eton Mess.

The beauty of this dessert is that you can make it all homemade or store-bought, depending on how ambitious or lazy you are feeling. Unsurprisingly, I made everything except the shortbread myself. I suppose I also did not grow the bananas. But if you’re in a hurry, everything – whipped cream, meringues, dulce de leche – can be bought at the store and simply assembled. But if you are making your components, a note on the meringues: meringues are both incredibly simple and a little bit tricky. I always seem to both under-whip and under-bake them. So a note to you – as well as to future Katie – whip your egg whites until they are really stiff! And really shiny! Then bake them for at least an hour and leave that oven door closed.

If you’re not into bananas or meringue or cream or British things, then I have one favor to ask. If you do nothing else, please make a jar of peanut butter dulce de leche and eat a spoonful every night when you get home from work. This will not be good for your wedding photos but it will be good for your soul. Dulce de Leche for the Soon-to-be-Bride’s Soul, or something like that. And with that, enjoy your weekend, friends!

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Peanut Butter Banoffee Eton Mess

A mash-up of two classic British desserts – Eton Mess and Banoffee Pie – made a little bit American with the addition of peanut butter. Layers of sticky-sweet peanut butter dulche de leche, shortbread cookies, whipped cream, banana, and meringue make a delicious dessert.

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

Ingredients

• 1 cup of dulce de leche, store bought or homemade
• 1/2 cup of creamy peanut butter
• 8 oz. of shortbread cookies, crumbled
• 4 cups of whipped cream
• 3 ripe bananas
• 24 small vanilla meringues, store bought or homemade

Instructions

1. Heat the dulce de leche in a microwave for 30 seconds in a microwave-safe bowl, just to warm it up. Repeat with the peanut butter. Both the peanut butter and dulce de leche should be warm enough that they mix easily – if not, heat for a little longer. Stir together until evenly combined.
2. Take out 6 glasses – stemless wine glasses work well. Place a layer of crumbled shortbread cookie in the bottom of each one. Top with a large spoonful of whipped cream and a layer of sliced bananas. Drizzle a tablespoon of peanut butter dulce de leche on top. Gently crush a few of the meringues and sprinkle the crumbled bits over the top. Top with more cream, more dulce de leche, and another layer of crumbled shortbread. Finish with a final layer of cream, a few pieces of sliced banana, one whole meringue, and more dulce de leche. This is more of an art than a science, so layer the way you want to!

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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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March is a hard month for cooking. It feels like it should be spring – we’re so ready for the sunshine and for green to return to the trees! And, perhaps more pressing, we are ready for winter to be over. Even though I escaped Boston for 5 weeks in January and early February, I’m still ready for it to be over. We’ve had a handful of sunny days this month, but here in Massachusetts, it’s still very much winter. As evidenced by the windchill of -6°F this weekend and the Nor’easter bearing down on us today.

By extension, March is a hard month for food blogging. There’s no local produce to inspire, no major food holidays. Just a craving for summer mixed with the reality of winter. In past years, I’ve posted everything from Butternut Squash Carbonara to Apple Cider Doughnuts to Strawberry Balsamic Salad – no seasonal cohesion to speak of.

It’s a transitional eating period, but instead of the abundance of September and October, we’re left with the dregs of the root cellar. We’re still at least a month away from the first tender greens and peas. We’re no longer excited about brussels sprouts and squash. All we want is the first cocktail-on-the-porch Saturday afternoon.

So this year, I’m making a concerted effort to come up with and share recipes that are appropriate for March. Recipes that are warm and nourishing without being heavy and rich. Recipes that shift towards spring without leaving you unsatisfied. They all have an element of brightness. I hope they will help inspire you in the kitchen this month while we wait patiently for spring.

This Salmon en Papillote with Potatoes and Dill Butter is an easy weeknight meal that perfectly fits the bill. Salmon is a richer fish, still fatty and satisfying, but not heavy like a roast or stew. The dill butter adds a bright, herbal note and makes it feel a little fancy. As a bonus, it’s one of the simplest recipes on this blog and its pretty healthy. The trifecta for dinner recipes: tasty, healthy, easy.

Tell me, is there anything that’s a staple in your kitchen while you wait for spring?

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Salmon en Papillote with Dill Butter

Recipe adapted from Simple by Diana Henry. Serves 2.

• 4 TBS salted butter
• 3 TBS finely chopped fresh dill
• pinch sea salt
• 6 small red or white potatoes
• Two 6 oz. salmon fillets
• 2 TBS dry white vermouth

1. Mix the softened butter and chopped dill together in a small bowl until thoroughly combined. Sprinkle with sea salt. Cover and chill in the fridge until ready to use.
2. Thinly slice the potatoes and add to a medium pot. Cover with cold water. Season lightly with salt and bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil just until the potatoes are tender, about 8 minutes. Drain the potatoes and set aside.
3. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Cut out four squares of parchment paper that are about 1 foot long/wide. Double up the squares so there are two in a stack. Place a knob of dill butter in the middle of each stack, then layer potato slices over the butter. Place a piece of salmon on top of the potatoes, then top with a few dots of dill butter and a little sea salt. Pour 1 TBS of vermouth over each piece of fish. Bring two edges of the packets together over the fish and fold down a few times, then twist the open ends to seal the packets. Place on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes, until the salmon is just cooked through. Unwrap carefully at the table and serve.

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The Book: Like many people, I love Southern food, and I’m hard pressed to turn down an opportunity to get my hands on another Southern cookbook. So when author Matt Moore reached out to me about reviewing his new book, A Southern Gentleman’s Kitchen: Adventures in Cooking, Eating, and Living in the New South, I couldn’t say no. I think a good word to describe this book is friendly – you’ll find simple and accessible recipes, large format, colorful pictures on every page, and personal and candid stories from Matt introducing each recipe. The recipes here are Southern but not exclusively so; in fact, I found that this book reads like a greatest hits list of classic meat and potatoes American home cooking – meatloaf, bolognese, fajitas, skirt steak, roast chicken, pan-seared pork chops, and so on. There’s even a recipe that’s called “Meat’n’Potatoes.” For the most part, the recipes are simple and hearty, with the occasional more sophisticated exception (I’m looking at you, Roast Quail with Pomegranate Quinoa). With lots of beef, pork, cheese, and potatoes, odds are you are not going to be eating light if you’re cooking from this book – so don’t come looking for something other than satisfying soul food to share with family and friends.

The long and the short of it is, I think a lot of people will find this book very appealing, and the 60 glowing Amazon reviews seem to back me up on that one. The recipes are simple and unabashedly American, but with a twist here or there that will elevate the dishes enough to impress the home cook hoping to put a delicious and hearty dinner on the table. That said, I’m not sure this book will be getting much use from me – it’s just a little heavier, a little more meat-centric, and a little more traditional than the way I typically cook. Still, I can see it coming in handy when I need a quick solution for a weeknight dinner, or Trevor is tired of eating bowls of grains and greens and salmon, or when we just want something homey and comforting.

The Food: The recipe I made from this book – Callie’s White Bean Chicken Chili – is the kind of thing I should make more often (which perhaps contradicts my statement above about how much I will use this book…). It’s super fast to make, using ingredients that require almost zero prep – canned beans, rotisserie chicken, canned green chiles, and shredded Monterey Jack cheese. It’s a convenient way to cook – I almost felt like I was cheating somehow – and the result was decadent, satisfying, and quite flavorful. I only made a few tweaks to the recipe: first, I blended the soup after adding half the beans and before adding the chicken, to give it a nice creamy thickness, and second, I only used about two thirds of the one pound of cheese the recipe called for, and I still found it almost too cheesy. And I love cheese. The way I’ve written the recipe below reflects these changes. Definitely don’t skip the corn chips! They add some much needed texture to the chili.

Recipe Shortlist: Creole Popcorn – Fried Crawfish Tails; Fried Dill Pickles with Cayenne Sauce; Pulled Pork BBQ Nachos; Peach Caprese Salad; Baked Trout with Prosciutto and White Cheddar Grits; Blackened Catfish with Salsa Fresca; Bone-In Pork Chops and Sweet Heat Peaches; Pimiento Mac’n’Cheese; Chorizo Roasted Potatoes with Vidalia Onions; Cast Iron Skillet Jalapeno Cornbread; Grilled Georgia Peach Crumble

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Disclosure: I received a review copy of A Southern Gentleman’s Kitchen from author Matt Moore, but I was not otherwise compensated and all thought and opinions are my own.

Callie’s White Bean Chicken Chili

Adapted slightly from A Southern Gentleman’s Kitchen. Serves 6.

• 4 (15-oz) cans of Great Northern Beans
• 1 TBS olive oil
• 1 large sweet onion, finely diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• sea salt, to taste
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 (4-oz) cans of chopped green chiles
• 3 c. chicken broth
• Meat from 1 rotisserie chicken, removed from bird and cut into bite-sized pieces
• 2 c. (8 oz) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• Blue corn chips, for topping

1. Drain and rinse three of the four cans of beans. Do not drain the fourth can.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add the onion and saute until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 2 minutes longer. Season the vegetables with sea salt, then add the black pepper, cumin, and red pepper flakes and continue to saute for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
3. Add the green chiles, chicken broth, and 2 cans of the drained beans to the pan. Bring to a simmer, then remove from the heat. Transfer the soup to a blender and blend on high until smooth, then return to the pot and place back on the stove. Add the second two cans of beans and the chicken, bring to a simmer, and simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Remove the soup from the heat. Add the cheese and stir into the soup until it is melted. Serve the soup immediately, garnished with the corn chips.

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I went a little strawberry crazy last week.  It’s just that I saw so many people writing about strawberries, taking pictures of strawberries, making strawberry jam, etc., that I couldn’t resist.  So I bought a quart of tiny, bright red local strawberries at WholeFoods on Thursday night.  Then, on Friday, one of my coworkers just dragged me to the farmer’s market at Copley for lunch, and when a cute farmer yelled out “we just picked these this morning, you know you want some!” well, how could I say no?  Another quart in the bag. And these strawberries are not the big hearty California ones that will last for weeks in your fridge; these strawberries beg to be eaten, with little embellishment, right away.

Sometimes when I’m surrounded by beautiful produce I forget that I’m only one person, and that it’s hard for one person to eat 2 quarts of strawberries in 4 days.  So I had to find uses for these berries other than eating them out of hand.  I made a few things, including a batch of my favorite strawberry and sage muffins, and by tonight, after popping this strawberry-rhubarb pie in the oven to share with my dad (it’s his favorite pie, and it was just father’s day…), I only have a handful of berries leftover – just enough for a lovely breakfast tomorrow morning of strawberries, fresh cherries, Greek yogurt, and granola.  Of all these treats, however, the star were these strawberry and whipped mascarpone parfaits with chocolate shortbread.  These things are delicious.

I spent a good chunk of Saturday cooking and baking, which was really nice, given that I haven’t had much time to spend in the kitchen lately.  Trevor was at tryouts all day, so I decided to make us a nice risotto dinner for when he got back, with something strawberry-based for dessert.  I had been toying around with the idea of finally making a fraisier, but all the individual components – sponge cake, pastry cream, marzipan – started to seem daunting as the day crept on.  Then the idea of doing something resembling a dirt cake, but with strawberries, of course, popped into my mind, and wouldn’t leave.  I had all the ingredients I needed on hand to make a quick batch of chocolate shortbread (which is so buttery and chocolaty and crumbly it’s amazing), and I was already using mascarpone in the risotto, so I whipped it with heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla to give it a little more silkiness, and we were good to go.  I love pretty much anything that is layered with cream, but I have to admit that this recipe was partly inspired by all of my recent lunchtime trips to Via Matta, where they serve every single dessert with whipped mascarpone and it’s totally heavenly.  In particular, I was thinking of their “Mascarporeos” – a tray of do-it-yourself “oreos” with rich chocolate cookies and whipped mascarpone.  Anyway, the combination of the buttery shortbread, sweet cream, and fresh strawberries was incredible – sophisticated and comforting at the same time, fresh, and not too sweet.  I may or may not have eaten one for breakfast the next morning while doing this shoot.  Food blogger problems.

I did so much brainstorming about other things to make with strawberries that I might have to double up on berries again next weekend.  It’s a short season, after all – I might as well make the most of it!  Plus, I really do want to make a fraisier, and also this sour cream and strawberry ice cream, and why not some jam while I’m at it.  So I guess you can probably expect to see some more strawberries around here, and pretty soon, too.

Strawberry, Chocolate, and Whipped Mascarpone Parfaits

A Katie at the Kitchen Door original.  Serves 4.

• 1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled and cut into small (1/2 inch) pieces
• 1/2 c. mascarpone cheese, chilled
• 1/2 c. heavy cream, chilled
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 TBS sugar
• 1/2 recipe dark chocolate shortbread (see below)

1. Crumble shortbread cookies into pieces, with some tiny crumbs and some larger, bite-sized chunks.  You can do this easily by hand or by using a rolling pin to roll over a plastic bag filled with crumbs.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk mascarpone and heavy cream until thick and evenly combined.  Add vanilla and sugar and whip until it holds soft peaks.
3. Divide 1/2 of cookie crumbs between 4 glasses.  Top each chocolate layer with a large dollop of whipped mascarpone, and a handful of strawberry pieces.  Follow with another dollop of mascarpone, then top with more strawberries and remaining chocolate crumbs.  Serve cold.

Dark Chocolate Shortbread

Recipe adapted from Epicurious.  Makes 2 cookies 6 inches in diameter (about 10-12 servings).

• 1 stick salted butter, softened
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 c. + 2 TBS flour
• 2 TBS cornstarch
• 1/4 c. cocoa powder
• 1 TBS heavy cream (optional)

1. Blend butter, sugar and vanilla together in a medium bowl until well combined.  Sift flour, cocoa and cornstarch on top of butter mixture, fluff dry ingredients together gently with a fork (it’s OK if they start to mix with the butter below), then proceed to mix into the butter and sugar, just until evenly combined.
2. Pat dough together into 2 discs about 1 inch thick and 6 inches in diameter.  If dough is too crumbly to do this, add the heavy cream and mix in to moisten the dough.  Place the dough discs on a baking sheet and refrigerate for half an hour, uncovered.
3. Preheat the oven to 375°F while the dough chills.  After half an hour in the fridge, prick the dough all over with a fork (to let steam escape).  Bake for 15 minutes, then let cool on cookie sheet for 10 minutes (if you try to move before it has cooled enough, it will immediately fall apart).

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This post was intended to be about the long weekend I just spent in Southern Vermont, hiking and sunbathing and resting.  But today was just one of those days, and when I arrived home from work at 9pm (far too late), soaking wet (forgot my umbrella), hungry, and disgruntled, I wasn’t really in the peace-and-sunshine sort of mood.  I was more in the judge-everyone-around-me sort of mood.  I’m looking at you, anxious guy on the subway playing molecule identification games on your iPhone and continuously jiggling your legs back and forth into mine.  And you too, large thighs girl eating chicken with your fingers on the subway.  And you, angry bus driver man with no pity for a soaking wet girl carrying a partially split bag of groceries.  Usually, none of you would bother me, but today, I judged you all.  In fact, the only person that I really liked when I got home from work was my roommate Allison, because she happened to be cleaning the bathroom, and it kind of made my day.

So, even though I’m over most of my grouchiness, no Vermont stories today.  But I did make a cake that I wanted to share with you, so I’ll do that for now.  And the story of me making this cake is actually kind of similar to the story of me being a grouch, in that it involves a rainy afternoon and needing a little comfort.  Because as soon as I stepped off the train on my way home yesterday afternoon, it started pouring.  Pouring in that torrential, summer way that you know can’t last for more than an hour and is kind of inspiring in its intensity and makes me want to kiss someone (preferably Trevor, unless Ryan Gosling is available) Notebook-style.  I didn’t actually mind the rain that much, but by the time I got to my front door, I was dripping, so I stripped down and threw everything into the laundry and hopped into bed with a bowl of fresh linguine, cream, and parmesan, and watched the Desperate Housewives finale.  (By the way, I can’t believe it’s over, like, forever.  I might have to start at season 1 again.)  And after that, my errands and ambitions for the rest of the afternoon started to seem very unappealing, whereas baking one of the gorgeous, simple, rustic cakes from Nigel Slater’s Ripe, which my parents had just given me as a birthday present, and staying in bed eating it seemed quite appealing.  So, that’s what I did.

Since my dad had given me several pounds of just-picked rhubarb on my way out the door earlier that afternoon, I used some of it to make this Cinnamon-Polenta-Rhubarb cake.  With a dollop of whipped cream and a drizzle of rhubarb syrup, it definitely hit the spot.  It seems that I have a thing for all things tangy and polenta-based, especially in the springtime, as is evident from this cornmeal-cranberry cake and this strawberry-cornmeal breakfast cake.  I just like the hearty unfussiness of these cakes – easy to make, easy to eat, not too sweet, with a burst of fresh tartness from the fruit.  This particular cake was a bit different from the others, somewhere halfway between a cake and a crumble, with a gritty crumb and smooth filling.  Given that I wasn’t digging leaving the house, I made some substitutions – brown sugar for golden baking sugar (don’t even know where I’d find that, anyway), orange oil extract for orange zest, grits for coarse ground polenta, etc. – but it still came out great.  Next time, I’ll try it exactly as written, but I don’t think the changes I made took too much away from the cake’s character.

Rhubarb-Polenta Cake with Cinnamon

Adapted from Ripe.  Serves 8-10.

• 1 lb. rhubarb, rinsed and cut into 1/2 inch slices
• 1/4 c. turbinado sugar (sugar-in-the-raw)
• 4 TBS water
• 3/4 c. coarse polenta or grits
• 1 1/2 c. flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 3/4 c. light brown sugar (or sugar-in-the-raw, blended in the food processor for 5 seconds)
• 1/2 tsp orange oil or zest of 1 orange
• 10 TBS cold butter, cut into cubes
• 1 large egg
• 3 TBS milk

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.  Place sliced rhubarb, turbinado sugar, and water in a baking dish and stir to mix.  Roast for 30 minutes, then remove from oven.  Use a slotted spoon to remove rhubarb pieces to a bowl.  Reserve syrup for drizzling on cake.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together polenta, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and brown sugar.  Use a pastry cutter to cut in the cold butter until the mixture has the texture of wet sand, with the largest lumps the size of peas.  In a small bowl, beat together egg, milk, and orange oil (or zest if using) until combined.  Add to flour mixture and stir gently with a fork, mixing just until the dough is thoroughly moist and slightly sticky.  Take care not to overmix.  Add 1 more TBS milk if dough is not slightly sticky to the touch.
3. Grease 8-inch cake pan.  Spoon 2/3 of the batter into the pan, pressing into the bottom and up around the edges.  Spread the rhubarb on top of this layer, leaving 1/2 inch between the rhubarb and the edge of the pan.  Spoon the remaining batter over the top of the rhubarb – it most likely won’t cover all the rhubarb, but don’t worry about it.  Bake for 45 minutes, then let cool on a cooling rack for at least half an hour before removing from pan.  Serve with fresh whipped cream and a drizzle of the reserved rhubarb syrup.

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