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2 July 11, 2012 Asian and Indian

A Summer Dinner: Cold Sesame Noodles with Veggies

So here I am in Maine. On vacation. My first ever real-person vacation, to be exact. It’s been really nice, with just the right amount of activity, and just the right amount of rest… and there’s still four whole days left. Tomorrow my 3 best girlfriends from Duke begin to arrive, and things will be a little busier, but in a good way. I’m envisioning margaritas, long tanning sessions, catching up on love lives and gossip, and some wholesome Maine activities for good measure. So far though, other than Trevor’s too-short visit, things have been quiet, rejuvenating. Just me and the fam.

I’ve gotten up to a little bit of everything while here. I learned to wakeboard, which is a major accomplishment, given my track record with sports where you’re dragged behind a boat. I also ran 8 miles down the most beautiful stretch of road I’ve seen in ages, another major accomplishment – the last time I ran anything more than 5 was in October. It feels really good to know that I’m capable of running that far. It helped that I took my camera along to take pictures of the butterflies and wild turkeys. I also giggled through 21 Jump Street with Trevor. I ate bowlfuls of the sweetest, creamiest mangoes I’ve ever tasted that our Indian friends brought during their visit. I had piping hot popovers slathered with salty butter and strawberry jam at Jordan Pond House, after a gorgeous 7 mile hike in Acadia. (You know, it just feels great to have moved that far before noon!) I picked blueberries even though they’re not quite ready, because I couldn’t wait until next time. I sat on the sandy beach of a deserted island and read my book and ate a turkey sandwich, then watched a curious seal check out our boat.

I’ve also devoted a fair amount of time to checking out some cookbooks that have been gathering dust on my bookshelf, updating my recipe lists and plans, and of course, cooking. I’ve made Bailey’s ice cream sandwiches that were a total pain in the ass, but worked out in the end, a bubbly stone-fruit crisp, arugula salads with hearty chunks of avocado, Mexican stuffed sweet potato skins, and a handful of other recipes I’ve been wanting to try. Tonight, after a long day on the water, dinner was a simple bowl of cold, sesame noodles with crisp veggies and honey-roasted peanuts. They were super yummy, and just the kind of simple, cooling, flavorful dinner that’s perfect for a hot, summery day. I served them with this warm cucumber and coconut dish, which was also quite good. Enjoy this for now, and I should be back soon with more shots of Maine, and maybe even some ice cream sandwiches.

Cold Sesame Noodles

A hodge-podge of these three recipes (one, two, three). Serves 4-6 as a main.

1 lb. soba noodles
2 TBS vegetable oil
3 TBS minced garlic
3 TBS minced ginger
4 TBS sesame oil
3 TBS soy sauce
3 TBS rice vinegar
3 TBS sugar
3 TBS peanut butter
1 1/2 TBS sriracha sauce or other hot sauce (taste as you go!)
1 large cucumber, peeled and cut into matchsticks
5-8 medium carrots, peeled and cut into matchsticks
5 scallions, trimmed and sliced thinly
1/2 c. chopped cilantro
1/4 c. sesame seeds
honey-roasted peanuts, for garnish (about 2-3 TBS per serving)

Cook soba noodles according to package directions. Drain, rinse in cold water, drain again, and set aside.
In a small frying pan, heat vegetable oil over medium heat. Add garlic and ginger and saute for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently, until fragrant and garlic is just beginning to brown. Remove from heat and add to a medium bowl. Add sesame oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, peanut butter, and sriracha to bowl with garlic and ginger and whisk vigorously to combine. Sauce should be smooth. Taste for flavor and heat and adjust ingredients to your taste as necessary.
Pour sauce over cooked noodles and stir to combine. Stir in cucumber, carrot, scallion, cilantro, and sesame seeds. Serve chilled. Garnish with peanuts.

0 July 7, 2012 Boston

Fresh Apricots & Spiced Couscous

Last Sunday Trevor and I dropped by Wilson Farm, a 128 year old, year-round farm, garden center, and grocery store in Lexington. We sort of went just to check it out, and I had no idea that the store would be packed with the most beautiful produce I’ve seen in a long time, so I was a little under-prepared (i.e. no grocery list). Even though my practical side was telling me that I already had too much produce in the fridge to use up before vacation, I ended up leaving with several pounds of fresh apricots, nectarines and plums that were too luscious to resist. We also bought two grapevines (but successfully talked ourselves out of buying a 2nd fig tree, even though it was on sale), but that’s a story for a different day.

By the time we got home it was late afternoon, and I was sort of exhausted. I set the fruit out on the table, most of it already at its peak ripeness, and began to get stressed out. About fruit, yes, don’t make fun of me. I wanted to use it right away, but the ice cream maker wasn’t ready, I didn’t have anyone to eat a giant crisp, and I just couldn’t get inspired. I kind of agonized over this, and finally decided to put the fruit away and plan something for dinner the next day, but not before noticing that one of the plums was dented and beginning to leak. I grabbed it and stood over the sink and bit into it, and instantly realized that my agonizing had been super pointless – you don’t need to think about what to do with perfect summer stone fruit, you just need to eat it. Room temperature or straight out of the fridge, sweet-tart juice dribbling down your elbows, it’s the best, most refreshing treat in the world. It reminded me that this has already been said, more eloquently than I’ll ever be able to put it:

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

~This Is Just To Say, by William Carlos Williams

The next morning I repeated the simple treat, and again Monday night for dessert, but I still wanted to use some of the fruit for something bloggable. I turned to Ripe, Nigel Slater’s gorgeous book that’s organized fruit by fruit. All of the recipes Nigel shares are quite simple, with a handful of choice ingredients and a technique that’s usually fit into one small paragraph. But simple can be revelatory as well, and while the strawberry section, for example, provided little new inspiration (strawberry jam, strawberry ice, strawberries and cream), the apricot section is packed with amazing ideas. A “Frenchified” casserole of lamb, apricots and rosemary; an apricot pilaf with yogurt sauce; broiled apricots with mascarpone; an iced apricot and black currant terrine – all ideas that are both simple but not at all boring. I started with this spiced apricot couscous, which made a lovely, easy weeknight dinner, and if I find more fresh apricots and some black currants at the same time, that terrine will be a must.

In other news, we arrived in Maine on Wednesday afternoon, and I’ve been meaning to post since then, but days have been super packed, in the best way possible – learning to wakeboard, eating fried fish sandwiches at Bagaduce, recovering from sunburns with long naps, hiking and popovers in Acadia, campfires and toasty smores, sparklers and roman candles, evening runs, and long sangria-filled dinners with friends. Trevor is here through tomorrow, then my girlfriends come up next weekend, but in between, I’m sure I’ll have time to share something deliciously Maine-y with you.

Spiced Apricot Couscous

Adapted from Ripe. Serves 4.

1 c. couscous
1 c. vegetable stock
1 TBS good olive oil
1-3 tsp harissa
1 preserved lemon, cut into small pieces
1 small bunch cilantro, stemmed and chopped
2 shallots
1 TBS butter
1 cinnamon stick
6 whole cardamom pods
1/4 tsp dried chile flakes
5-6 ripe apricots, pitted and cut into 1 inch pieces
1/4 c. dried currants or raisins
sea salt
black pepper

In a small pot, bring the vegetable stock just to a boil. Add the couscous, then turn off heat immediately, cover, and let stand for 10 minutes.
Heat the butter over medium heat in a large frying pan. Add shallots and saute until translucent, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Add cinnamon stick, cardamom pods, dried chile flakes, chopped apricots, and currants or raisins. Season with salt and pepper, and add 1 c. warm water to pan. Leave to simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, until apricots are very soft and sauce has reduced and thickened.
Fluff up couscous with a fork, and transfer to a large bowl. Stir in olive oil, preserved lemon, and cilantro. Add 1 tsp of the harissa, stir to incorporate, and taste for heat. My harissa is very hot, so 1 tsp did it for me, but the level of heat can vary greatly, so taste as you go and stop when you’ve hit the heat that you like.
Pour hot apricots into a separate bowl. Serve the couscous, then mound the spiced apricots on top. Serve hot.

3 July 1, 2012 Cookbook

Cookbook of the Month: Super Natural Every Day

Sometimes I plan out the “Cookbook of the Month” early on and cook from the book just so I can write a thorough review. And sometimes I just happen to cook from one book so much that it naturally becomes the book I want to feature. This month has been one of the latter kind. Super Natural Every Day, by Heidi of 101 Cookbooks, is not a book that needs much introduction. As one of the first and most popular food bloggers to grace the internet, I can’t imagine that there are many people in the food community who haven’t heard of her, or her three natural foods cookbooks (Cook 1.0, Super Natural Cooking, and Super Natural Every Day) . Like many others, her blog is the one that originally inspired me to start my own – it was the first that I followed, and I still look forward to her posts, which invariably feature healthy recipes packed with ingredients I love. However, I’ve never really felt the need to buy one of her cookbooks, perhaps because her site is already filled with recipes I want to try. When I found this one in the library though, I figured I’d take it home and flip through it, and I ended up cooking from it all month.

All of Heidi’s recipes are vegetarian, and very health focused. They are also decidedly unfancy – mostly they’re hearty one-bowl salads that are just the kind of thing I love to make and eat at the end of a busy work day, with just enough leftover to throw in a tupperware for lunch the next day. Over the course of the month, I tried several recipes that I really enjoyed – this kale, coconut, and wheatberry salad, orzo salad with broccoli pesto and avocado (although Trevor said I already had too many recipes like that to share it with you), and, my favorite, broccoli gribiche – a warm salad of hard-boiled eggs, potatoes, broccoli, and a tangy sauce of vinegar, mustard, capers, and fresh herbs that is oh-so-French. On my immediate shortlist? Couscous-Stuffed Tomatoes, for whenever tomatoes start to look really good, and this Macaroon Tart with Blackberries, as soon as I get up to Maine and visit my favorite blackberry picking spots. I have plenty of other recipes dog-eared in the book, and am moving through them much quicker than I do with most books, but really I’m not surprised – summer is the perfect time for the kind of produce-heavy, quick-and-easy cooking Heidi showcases in her book.

I was planning on making this salad last night, when, ahem, it was still June. But then I really, really wanted a hamburger, and only Boston Burger would do. So I decided you wouldn’t mind too much if June’s cookbook was posted on July 1st, gave in, and had a delicious burger with guac and pico de gallo (although, for maybe the first time in my life, I actually couldn’t finish the whole thing), sweet potato fries, and a frosty Blue Moon. It was so worth it. But tonight, I got back to my healthy, bloggerly ways, and made this black bean, roasted cherry tomato, and feta salad, with a perfectly ripe plum for dessert.

This salad is something special – cherry tomatoes roasted with maple syrup until they taste like candy, hearty black beans, crunchy toasted almonds, and fresh feta cheese. If you use really good ingredients to start, it’s the kind of salad that tastes like way more than the sum of its parts. Because the flavors seemed very Mediterranean to me, I threw in some fresh oregano and thyme for another layer of flavor. Definitely give it a try (or at least try the oven-roasted cherry tomatoes – you’ll never look at cherry tomatoes the same way again), and if you’re vegetarian, or just the kind of person who likes to eat easy but filling vegetarian meals, I wholeheartedly recommend Heidi’s latest book.

Black Bean and Oven-Roasted Cherry Tomato Salad

Adapted slightly from Super Natural Every Day. Serves 4.

4 c. cooked black beans (or canned beans, rinsed and drained)
1 recipe (about 1 cup) oven-roasted cherry tomatoes, see below
3/4 c. slivered almonds, toasted
1 TBS lemon juice
4 oz. high quality feta cheese, crumbled
Sea salt (optional)
Extra virgin olive oil (optional)
Fresh oregano (optional)
Fresh thyme (optional)

In a large bowl, toss tomatoes (and their roasting oil), beans, lemon juice, and toasted almonds. Crumble feta on top and gently stir in. Taste for seasoning. If necessary, add additional lemon juice, olive oil, or sea salt. If you’d like, add a small handful of chopped fresh oregano and fresh thyme and stir in. Serve at room temperature.

Oven-Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

Recipe from Super Natural Every Day. Makes about 1 cup.

1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes
1/4 c. olive oil
1 TBS maple syrup
1/2 tsp sea salt

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Wash tomatoes and remove/discard stems. Slice each cherry tomato in half and place cut side up in single layer on baking sheet with rim. In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, maple syrup, and salt, then pour over the cherry tomatoes, doing your best to get some oil on each tomato. Roast for 45-60 minutes, until tomatoes begin to caramelize. Let cool, then store in a glass jar topped off with extra olive oil (will last up to one week in fridge). Enjoy in your favorite salads, or just eat straight out of the jar.

1 June 27, 2012 Drink

Greatist Dinner Party: Chickpea Burgers, Tabbouleh, and Strawberry Lassis

Recently, a good friend of mine sent me an email asking for a few recipes she could use for a dinner party she was hosting with friends. She wanted two to three recipes, preferably with a theme, and easy enough to prepare with friends on the spot. She and her friends wanted to use the party partially as a way to learn to cook better, as well as just a chance to catch up and eat good food. A simple enough plan.

Two catches – one, she’s one of the least kitchen-savvy people I know – cooking is just not really in her interest set. (Illustration: she once asked me if sauteeing onions in olive oil was one of those fussy things that only I did while we were making soup.) Two, she’s a health nut. Like, super fit, eats primarily superfoods, drinks only green tea and water, will only eat one bite of dessert ever kind of healthy. Actually, I’m a little bit jealous of her self-control and love for vegetables – if I loved leafy greens like she does, I’d probably be 3 times as energetic as I am now. Anyway, knowing that nothing could be too fancy and that I couldn’t sneak any cheese or butter or cream or bacon (all my favorite ingredients, noooooo!) into the meal made it a bit more challenging to come up with recipes for her.

As I thought about it, I realized that this was the perfect situation for a Greatist post. Greatist is all about trying to make making healthy choices easier and more fun, and dinner parties are pretty fun, right? I imagine there are plenty of people out there looking for simple, healthy recipes to use when entertaining that will still impress their friends. So, as I was sending recipes back to my friend, Greatist Dinner Party was born.

For this first dinner party, I chose Middle Eastern recipes as the theme, partly because many Middle Eastern recipes manage to pack tons of flavor into a dish with very little fat – that’s the beauty of herbs and spices! Also, the recipes I chose – baked chickpea burgers with tzatziki, traditional tabbouleh, and strawberry-rosewater-buttermilk lassis – are all dishes that are easy to make ahead and stash in the fridge until go-time. In terms of health, it’s a super balanced meal – tons of herbs and veggies, protein from the chickpeas and the Greek yogurt, a manageable amount of carbs from the tabbouleh and pita/burger bun, and fruit and cultured dairy from the lassis. Even though I wasn’t having friends over, I prepared everything as if I was and sat down to a very delicious lunch Sunday afternoon, so I can attest to the fact that this menu is easy and relatively quick to prepare and super, super delicious. My favorites were the chickpea burgers (so flavorful, and baked to boot!) and the tzatziki (the garlic really kicks it up a notch). Got leftovers? Crumble a chickpea burger into a tupperware with leftover tabbouleh and drizzle with tzatziki and you’ll have a filling to-go lunch that will give you something to look forward to all morning.

Head on over to Greatist for the chickpea burger recipe, and see below for all the yummy accompaniments, as well as a little schedule I put together if you need help planning out your prep time!

P.S. My friend reported back that the dinner party was a success – they made and enjoyed all of the recipes. So maybe she’s not as kitchen-impaired as I thought :-) Next time, you’re getting a challenge, girl. xo.

Greatist Dinner Party – Middle Eastern

Dinner party plan of attack (I think I’ve been fairly generous with the time you will need as a single person preparing the meal – with friends, you could easily divide and conquer and take less than an hour overall. As far as cooking implements, you will need – 1 cutting board, 1 knife, blender, food processor, 1 saute pan, 2 large bowls, fine-mesh colander, 2 medium bowls, utensils/measuring implements):

5:00 – peel, chop and salt cucumbers, leave to drain in colander.
5:05 – prepare tabbouleh ingredients: slice/chop/mince tomatoes, scallions, parsley, mint, mix together with spices, lemon juice, and olive oil. Set aside in a large bowl.
5:20 – make smoothies: wash, hull, and quarter strawberries, blend with other ingredients, and refrigerate until ready to serve.
5:30 – remove cucumbers from colander, pat dry, and add to food processor with dill, garlic, and lemon juice. Process until smooth, mix with yogurt, season to taste, cover, and refrigerate until ready to serve.
5:40 – rinse bulghur in colander, let drain 5 minutes, fluff with fork, then add to other tabbouleh ingredients. Mix together, cover, and refrigerate until ready to serve.
5:45 – preheat oven.
5:50 – clean up break: wash blender, colander, and various utensils/measuring items. Rinse out food processor. Rinse off cutting board and knife.
6:00 – peel and chop onion. Saute in pan with olive oil for 5 minutes, then place in large bowl.
6:10 – prepare chickpea burgers: peel and chop carrot, peel garlic, pulse remaining ingredients in food processor. Mix with breadcrumbs and spices. Prepare baking sheet, form into patties, brush with olive oil.
6:30 – cook chickpea burgers. While waiting, clean up remaining dishes, wipe down counters.
6:45 – remove other items from fridge. Toast hamburger buns.
6:50 – dinner is ready!

Traditional Tabbouleh

I’ve shared a tabbouleh recipe before (actually, it was another Greatist post…), but it was a souped-up all-in-one version with lentils and feta cheese to make it a complete meal on it’s own. This version is a more traditional version, heavy on the herbs with just a bit of bulghur wheat – although I chose to use a bit more than David recommends to make it a more substantial salad.

Adapted from David Leibowitz. Serves 4 as a side.

1/4 c. bulghur wheat
20 grape tomatoes, finely diced
4 scallions, roots and dark green tips removed, thinly sliced
large bunch parsley – about 3 c. packed leaves
20 large stalks of mint – about 3/4 c. packed leaves
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground allspice
2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 c. olive oil
kosher salt, to taste

Wash herbs, shake or spin dry, and remove leaves from stalks, leaving as little stalk as possible attached to leave. Discard stalks. Gather herbs in a bunch and finely slice into thin slivers, working with a handful at a time. Add to a large bowl, along with diced tomatoes and sliced scallions.
Place bulghur wheat in a fine-mesh colander and rinse under cold water for about 1 minutes. Let drain over a bowl for 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork. Sprinkle bulghur wheat over salad. Stir in cinnamon, allspice, lemon juice, and olive oil and check for seasoning. Salt to taste. Refrigerate until serving.

Tzatziki

This is hands-down the best tzatziki I’ve ever tried. Usually, I go the lazy route and just toss some cucumbers and a bit of dill into a bowl of yogurt, but the slight extra effort required for this recipe is 100% worth it – the finely blended garlic, lemon juice, dill, cucumber, and salt makes this a totally addictive and healthy dip.

Recipe adapted from Kalyn’s Kitchen. Makes about 1 cup.

1/2 small cucumber, peeled, and seeds scooped out of center with a spoon
kosher salt, to taste
1/4 c. dill fronds, thick part of stems removed
1 garlic clove
1 c. plain Greek yogurt
2 tsp. lemon juice
black pepper, to taste

Finely chop cucumber, and place in colander over bowl. Sprinkle with a small amount of salt, and let sit for half an hour. After half an hour, pat cucumber dry with a paper towel, and add to food processor with dill, garlic, lemon juice, and a bit of black pepper. Process until smooth, then stir into yogurt. Season to taste with salt, and additional pepper if needed. Refrigerate until serving. Will keep in fridge for a few days.

Strawberry and Rosewater Lassis

Adapted from Pairs Well With Food. Serves 4.

1 1/2 lbs fresh strawberries, hulled and quartered
1 1/2 c. cold buttermilk
3-4 TBS honey, depending on sweetness of berries
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 1/2 tsp rosewater
1/2 c. ice
chopped pistachios for garnish (optional)

Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth and frothy. Taste for sweetness and add more honey if necessary. Serve cold, with chopped pistachios if desired.

0 June 24, 2012 Dessert

Summer Bucket List & Cherry-Chocolate Ice Cream

Now that it’s officially summer and my nutso-busy project is (fingers-crossed) winding down (although I could be headed back to Spain in July), it’s time to get serious about summer. It’s only for a few months a year, people! This will be my first summer as a real person, meaning no vacation and no play-with-little-kids-in-the-sun-all-day summer job, and I’m already missing the dog-day boredom of waking up late, lying about in the sun and drinking lemonade, but I’m determined to make every weekend count. So, I’m making a list (because, let’s face it, if you’re a list person you’ll always be a list person) of the 10 things I have to do this summer:

Go to the Cape. I grew up spending summers in Falmouth and man do I miss the breeze, the foggy sea glass walks with my mom, the marshes, the seashells on the roads, and so many other tiny details.
Pick ~~strawberries~~ berries of some kind. I think I may have missed strawberry picking season, but I certainly ate my fill. I’ve got plenty of time for raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries though.
Learn to start the grill. Or at least grill one thing. I’m fairly certain I put this on my summer list last year but it appears I never actually published that list, so you can’t hold me accountable for not doing it. I’m super jumpy around hot things, but Trevor can probably bully me into learning.
Make Cassis! I searched everywhere for some fresh black currants last year with no luck. This year I’m 100% determined to find them.
Visit the Harbor Islands. I meant to do this all summer last year and never got around to it.
Ride my bike! I just need to bite the bullet and buy a helmet… Man, I hate helmets.
Train for a half marathon. I put this on here dubiously, given that I’m currently at about 5 miles max… and have been for the past 5 years. But I told my mom I’d do one in October, and my knees aren’t bothering me anymore (knock on wood), and my metabolism seems to have abandoned me, so… I’ll do it.
Do a producer interview. This is an idea I’ve been toying with for a long time – meeting and interviewing some of the super-committed food professionals in the area, but haven’t gotten around to. I’d love to do it, and summer is the perfect time.
Plan a trip for this fall. Now is the time to travel, and I keep putting it off for this reason or that reason. This year has gone by so incredibly quickly, and I never managed to plan more than a weekend away. I’m young, employed, and relatively free – I’ve got to start doing the things I dream about!
Make at least 3 kinds of ice cream…

… starting with this one. Because it’s been really hot, and I just finished eating my first batch of ice cream (from March! Who knew I had such self-control?) Plus, I’m trying to work my way through at least a few of my bookmarked recipes for each super-seasonal fruit or veggie this summer, and cherries are in now. Of course, cherries are pretty perfect straight from the fridge, but as the new owner of a cherry pitter (yes it’s a super-specific gadget, but it’s super easy to use and I’m totally happy with the $8 I spent on it), I’ve been using them other ways as well.

This ice cream, adapted from Technicolor Kitchen, is my favorite that I’ve made so far. Of course, I’ve only made 3 others – meyer lemon buttermilk, roasted cinnamon, and lemon-basil sorbet – but this one was the most like one that I’d order at an ice cream shop. I never seem to be able to get my homemade ice cream as solid as I want to (any tips on that?), but this froze fairly well. The cherry flavor is sweet and intense, and the white and dark chocolate chunks add a little texture. The addition of cassis just before freezing gives it a lovely floral, slightly boozy layer that really makes it shine. It reminds me very much of the black raspberry ice cream my mom always ordered at Benson’s when we were on the way home from the beach (p.s. if you’re ever in Eastern Mass, you must try Benson’s – pair it with a trip to Crane’s Beach and a stop at the Clam Box for a true New England experience). I never really liked that flavor as a kid, but I think it’s more of an adult thing – a little bit more intense and musky.

I’ll keep you posted on my summer activities, especially the food-related ones. Hope you all are getting started on whatever summer activities you’re dreaming of!

Cherry and Two-Chocolate Ice Cream

Adapted from Technicolor Kitchen. Makes 1 quart.

1 1/2 c. pitted ripe sweet cherries (from about 3/4 lb. cherries)
3/4 c. whole milk
1 3/4 c. heavy cream, divided
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp lemon juice
2 TBS creme de cassis
3/4 c. chocolate chunks – mix of dark chocolate and white chocolate

Add pitted cherries, milk, sugar, salt and 1 c. of the heavy cream to a large saucepan. Heat over medium-low heat just until it begins to steam, stirring occasionally, then lower the heat to the lowest sitting and let sit for 15 minutes, crushing the cherries gently against the side of the pot with the back of a wooden spoon about halfway through. After the 15 minutes is up, remove from heat.
Pour the hot mixture into a blender and blend (always be careful blending hot liquids) until smooth. Pour into a large glass bowl, and stir in remaining 3/4 c. heavy cream. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for several hours or overnight until completely chilled.
Before assembling the ice cream maker (if your ice cream maker is like mine, the bowl should have been sitting in the freezer for at least 12 hours), remove the cherry cream from the fridge and stir in the lemon juice and cassis. Set up ice cream maker, and process cherry cream according to directions. About 1-2 minutes before the ice cream is done, pour in the chocolate chunks and let mix in. Remove the ice cream from the ice cream maker and freeze for another 1-2 hours before serving, to let it harden up a bit. This is delicious served with an extra drizzle of cassis.

2 June 18, 2012 Dessert

Strawberry, Chocolate, and Whipped Mascarpone Parfaits

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)

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.
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.
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)

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.
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.
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).

1 June 17, 2012 Food

Garden: Pea, Fava Bean, and Asparagus Risotto

I’m here to tell you about our garden.

Finally.

I’ve been looking forward to writing this post since the beginning of February, when I planted the first tiny parsley seeds and proceeded to check them hourly for signs of growth. I’ve taken hundreds of pictures, from those first tiny sprouts to the squash flowers that have just opened up to the fat little pea pods on the vines (peas! actual peas!) and I’ve been dying to share them. Well, I’ve shared a couple. But really, I didn’t want to say too much about the garden in case it was a total failure. Having written about it prematurely would only have compounded my disappointment. I love this garden. Like, I really love it.

From the get-go, I decided that if I ate even one thing from the garden, I would consider it a success. And now that I’ve harvested not one, but two things from the garden (arugula! peas!), I’m taking a deep breath and declaring success. And telling you all about it.

Dork alert: I’ve been keeping a garden diary. Growing things is not something I have that much experience with, and when I’m unsure about something, I write about it until I understand it. That’s why I have 8 journals full of notes about boys – they’re not as simple as they seem at first, what can I say? But looking back at the notes I’ve taken in the past 4 months reveals how much uncertainty there is for a first time gardener – there was the week when the trees leafed out and the raised bed stopped getting morning sun, and I wondered if the sun would ever be high enough in the sky to give it afternoon sun (it is). The days when the lemon tree suddenly dropped all it’s leaves caused a bit of panic too (it’s covered in blossoms now, although still a little low on greenery). Just the other morning I found that some creature had hopped into the raised bed and eaten an entire kale plant, leaving no signs that the plant had ever existed. Little heartaches are left and right in this process, but working in the garden with Trevor has become one of my favorite activities, and eating the first fresh peas this week has seemed more like icing on the cake than the natural outcome of all the hard work we’ve put into it.

I started planning the garden out in January. I’ll admit, we were a little over-zealous, and the garden quickly spread from being contained in a 16 sq. ft raised bed, to a 16 sq. ft raised bed and about 20 pots and containers along the driveway. With the exception of 1 eggplant, the thyme, the oregano, and the trees, we started everything from seed. In February, we started the basil, sage, parsley, oregano, thyme, broccoli, eggplant, and tomatoes. I invested in a heating mat and found that, even though they seem like a waste of money, the Jiffy pop-up seed pods were much more effective than planting in little pots with seed starter. The oregano and thyme sprouted but never really grew, so we replaced them with big plants from Pemberton. That first batch of basil got dried out when I went away for the weekend and had to be restarted. The parsley was a slow-starter, but is now doing OK in the raised bed. One of the eggplants really took off, and has it’s first flowers now. The tomatoes have been the biggest success – San Marzanos and Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes. The 5 cherry tomatoes are all huge and just getting their first tiny green tomatoes. In March, the shelling peas and fava beans got planted directly in the bed, the lettuces went into a large stone bird bath, and brussels sprouts and kale got planted inside. Then in April, the squash, cucumbers, and beets went in.

And now? In the raised bed are 2 varieties of English shelling peas, fava beans, parsley, broccoli, cucumbers, roma beans, edamame, kale, and brussels sprouts. On the porch? A fig tree and a strawberry plant. In the backyard, a planter that’s overgrown with arugula, parsley, radicchio, and lettuce, and containers with raspberries, more broccoli, mint, and sage. In pots along the driveway, where it’s the sunniest, are the meyer lemon tree, tomatoes, summer squash, watermelons, basil – both green and purple, and cucumbers. It’s a giant hodge podge of green, and I have no idea what will work and what won’t, but it’s the best experiment I’ve done in a long time.

To celebrate the arrival of the peas, the success of the garden, and the beginning of summer, I had a little dinner for Trevor and I on Saturday night. An actual dinner – with a glass of prosecco, a main course, and a dessert, where we sat down at the same time at the table with bowls and forks rather than eating out of tupperware from the fridge. Mostly I just eat the peas straight while I’m sitting in the garden – they are so incredibly sweet and cool and juicy – but I wanted to use at least a few in a real meal. So I made a spring risotto, with peas, fava beans, asparagus, mascarpone, and pecorino – all the flavors of spring. The fava beans and asparagus aren’t from our garden, but they are local and very tender and flavorful, so we’ll take ’em. It was delicious. And for dessert, there were parfaits with chocolate shortbread, whipped mascarpone, and lovely red-ripe strawberries from the farmer’s market… but you’ll have to wait for Tuesday for that recipe!

Spring Risotto with Peas, Favas, Asparagus, and Mascarpone

A Katie at the Kitchen Door original. Serves 4.

1 1/2 c. arborio rice
4 c. chicken stock
1 c. water
1 small onion, diced
1 TBS olive oil
1/2 c. white wine
1/2 c. shucked fava beans (about 1 lb. with pods)
1/2 bunch asparagus (about 15 thin stalks), trimmed and sliced on a bias into 1 inch pieces
1/2 c. fresh or frozen English shelling peas
1/3 c. mascarpone cheese
1/2 c. grated pecorino romano
leaves from 10 sprigs fresh thyme
extra thyme and shards of pecorino romano for garnish

Prepare the vegetables. Heat the chicken stock plus 1 c. water in a large pot over medium heat until it comes to a low boil. Add the fava beans and asparagus, and boil for 2-3 minutes, until asparagus is bright green. Remove vegetables with a skimmer and plunge into very cold or ice water to stop the cooking. When cool, skin the fava beans – the easiest way to do this is to puncture the skin (which should feel a bit loose after cooking) with your thumbnail and then gently pop the bean out of it’s skin. The bean on the inside should be bright green. Set aside the vegetables, and lower the heat of the chicken stock to maintain a gentle simmer.
In a large frying pan, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the onion and saute for 2-3 minutes, until translucent. Dont’ allow it to brown. Add the rice to the pan and cook, stirring, for 1 minute, until edges are translucent. Add the white wine and cook, stirring until fully absorbed.
For the remainder of the cooking process, add the hot stock to the rice 1 ladleful (about 1/2 c.) at a time, stirring all the while and cooking until each ladleful is absorbed. The entire process will take about 20 minutes. If you find that you are running out of stock, add a bit of water to the simmering stock. The risotto is done when it is mostly tender but retains a bit of bite – you don’t want it to get mushy. When it reaches this stage turn off the heat. Stir in the grated pecorino, the mascarpone, and the thyme leaves until the cheese have melted. Add the prepared vegetables and the fresh or frozen peas. If the peas are very young and tender, the heat from the risotto will cook them just enough. If the peas are tougher and starchier, you may want to prepare them in the same manner as the fava beans and the asparagus.
Serve hot, with extra thyme and shards of pecorino romano.

1 June 13, 2012 Dessert

Almost Molasses Chews

I’ve been battling off a nasty summer cold (which I’m beginning to suspect may even be the flu) since Saturday morning, with little luck. This one’s a fighter. Cough drops, tissues, and Nyquil are my new best friends. Anyway, I’ve been wanting to come say hi and share a little baking, but I’ve pretty much been asleep during all the hours I’m not at work. (Actually. I slept from 7pm to 7am last night. Unheard of.) I’m feeling marginally better tonight, though, and I’ve really been craving a little time in the kitchen, so I made some soft, chewy molasses cookies to have with my 800th cup of tea today.

I thought a lot about gingery molasses-based cookies tonight, while making these. I suppose that tends to happen when you spend an hour thinking about nothing but baking while running on 50% brain power – you can get very deeply invested in a very particular topic. It’s just, there’s several very distinct types of ginger cookies, and they fit on a spectrum. On the one end, you have ginger snaps. Ginger snaps are small, thin, hard, and very spicy, and, in my mind at least, are for eating in the summer, with a cold glass of milk for dunking. Molasses chews are an entirely different beast. They should be large, soft, chewy, mildly spiced, and preferably a little underdone in the very center. They’re a wintery, rainy-day sort of cookie, best with a cup of coffee or a chai. Then you have your typical “gingerbread man,” which is a little cakey with a harder outside, and doesn’t crack on the top. And beyond that, there’s a whole range of in-between cookies. And when you order a ginger-molasses cookie at a cafe, you never quite know which kind you’re going to get, do you?

Now, I tend not to discriminate too much when it comes to eating cookies, but if you made me decide, I would have to say that molasses chews – the extra-big, extra-chewy kind – are my ginger cookie of choice. Like the ones they used to have at Starbucks that were half an inch thick and as big as your hand. That’s what I was hoping I would get out of this recipe, but they weren’t quite what I was looking for. Don’t get me wrong, they’re still really, really delicious cookies, as vetted by my roommate, they just spread a little too thin and crisped a little too much to be “true” molasses chews. If, on the scale of ginger cookies, gingersnaps were a 1, gingerbread men were a 5, and molasses chews were a 10… these would probably be an 8. So I’ll take them. (Just fyi, I briefly tried to make a graphic of a ginger-cookie scale. I don’t have a mouse on my computer, so I gave up. But I wanted to. That’s how much I love you. And also how much I’ve learned to think in terms of powerpoint slides from my job.)

To recap: These are very good cookies, you should try them. But if you have a recipe for really soft, really chewy molasses chews, please share it with me. I will love you for it.

Almost Molasses Chews

Adapted from Sunday Suppers at Lucques. Makes 20 cookies.

1 stick butter, melted, then cooled to almost room temperature (or 1/2 c. shortening, melted)
1 egg
1/4 c. molasses
1 c. sugar
2 c. flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt
turbinado sugar (sugar in the raw)

Preheat oven to 325°F
In a large bowl, cream together the melted-then-cooled butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and the molasses and beat until combined, then beat together vigorously for 1-2 minutes. Mixture should be evenly colored and creamy.
In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt, and whisk to combine. Add 1/2 of the flour mixture to the wet mixture and stir until combined, then add the remaining half of the flour mixture to the wet mixture and stir until fully incorporated. Refrigerate dough for 15 minutes.
Roll dough into balls slightly smaller than a golf ball, and flatten between the palms of your hand. Place on a cookie sheet, and sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Bake for 11-12 minutes, until slightly cracked on top.

2 June 8, 2012 Food

Greatist Collaboration: Shakshuka with Sausage and Potatoes

Time for another easy, healthy dinner over on Greatist! I really enjoy doing these posts, since it forces me to work within parameters that I would ideally apply to myself for most dinnertimes – light and nutritious meals that take 30 minutes or less to put together, but that don’t skimp on flavor. I don’t always accomplish all of those things – like on the nights I resort to eating ice cream with granola and just call it a day (don’t worry, Mom, that’s not that frequently) – but when I do, it makes me feel pretty good. Especially when there’s leftovers, like is always the case with this meal, and I can feel good about what I’m eating again the next day at lunch. Planning ahead – it pays off.

I found this recipe via my friend Ranjani’s blog Four Seasons of Food. Shakshuka – a traditional Middle Eastern breakfast dish of eggs poached in a spicy tomato sauce – is a dish I’ve seen quite a bit around the blogosphere in the past year, and one that I’ve always found intriguing. But when I saw that the version Ranjani shared included sausage and potatoes, I was more than intrigued – I made it within 3 days of seeing the recipe. Since then I’ve made it a handful of times (which is saying a lot, given that the only recipes I repeat are my absolute favorites), but I only just realized that it would be a perfect fit for Greatist. It’s definitely comfort food – warm, spicy, sausage-y tomato sauce, tender potatoes, and barely poached eggs – but without the guilt that usually accompanies comfort food. I mean, it’s comfort food without cheese – it has to be good for you! In fact, the sausage is the only questionable ingredient in terms of health, and there’s only a little in the dish – just enough to give it a slightly smoky, meaty flavor. It might be a little challenging to find the ras el hanout spice mix (or alternatively to round up all the spices and make it yourself, which is what I do), but this dish is 100% worth it. Plus, once you have all the spices you can enjoy this whenever you’re needing a little comfort food but don’t want to go all out on a plate of spaghetti or a pizza.

You can find the recipe over at Greatist – enjoy!

14 June 5, 2012 Food

White Bean, Kale, and Pesto Soup

I had sort of thought that soup season was over, but apparently the weather disagrees with me. All the cold, rainy weather we’ve had in New England (did someone switch April and June?) has had me drinking a lot of tea, baking, and craving cold-weather dishes. I guess it could be worse, since soup is one of my favorite things to make – and eat. It’s easy, quick, and pretty much the best way to pack a massive dose of vegetables into a single meal. And this recipe is no exception.

I’ve tried a lot of recipes for soups and stews over the past two years, but there are a handful that I come back to time and again. Portuguese kale soup, corn and cheddar chowder, minestrone, pork and black eyed pea chili, and this one. I love how the pesto melts into the soup and gives it a smooth, creamy texture and an herbal, slightly sharp flavor. Plus, the pesto makes this a good summer soup – perfect for a cold-rainy-wintery day in June. I always use pecorino for this recipe, as I love how the sharp nutty tang plays off the creaminess of the white beans, but if you’re not a pecorino fan, substitute parmesan, or another hard, salty cheese.

In other news, I am immensely tired. My trip to Spain was productive, if not super-fun, and I did manage to find blogging inspiration in some of the incredible meals we ate, which I’ll share with you later. But the nutty schedule is starting to catch up with me a little bit, and I’m feeling kind of worn out. Hopefully things will calm down soon and the sun will come back out, and you’ll be seeing a lot more of me (and with recipes for ice cream and grilling instead of soup)!

More like this…

Roasted Tomato and Lentil Soup

Black Bean Soup with Roasted Poblano

White Bean and Parsnip Soup with Guanciale and Fried Sage

White Bean, Kale, and Pesto Soup

A Katie at the Kitchen Door Original. Serves 4.

2 TBS olive oil
1 onion, coarsely chopped
4 carrots, peeled and sliced about 1/4 in. thick
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried parsley
4 c. chicken or vegetable broth (use vegetable broth to make the recipe vegetarian)
1/2 large head fresh kale, roughly torn into bite-sized pieces (or 1 1/2 c. frozen chopped kale)
1 can cannelini beans, rinsed
1/2 c. prepared pesto (homemade is best, but store-bought is fine too)
1/2 c. grated pecorino cheese
1/4 tsp nutmeg (optional, but I love the interplay of pecorino and nutmeg)

Heat oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add onion and carrot, and saute, stirring occasionally, for 5-8 minutes, or until vegetables have begun to soften. Add garlic, oregano, and parsley, and cook 2 minutes more, stirring.
Add chicken broth, kale, and beans, bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for 15 minutes, until kale and carrots are tender. Remove from heat and stir in pesto, cheese, and nutmeg. Serve hot with additional grated cheese and crusty bread.