Mmmm Zestyyy

Hello, all.

With finals rapidly approaching, I have been a little down due to stress. No matter how hard I wish I could, I can’t make finals go away.

I can at least make myself feel better by baking until my heart is content and I temporarily forget that I have to re-read ten Shakespeare plays sometime in the time frame of tomorrow.

I can feel the stress returning…

Deep breaths. No worries. I think I found something so bright and cheerful that it actually has the power to lift my spirits in just one glance.

No it is not the sun. Good guess. The recent warm weather has definitely helped though.

Correct answer: Glazed lemon cookies.
Umm…YUM.

Yes yes yes, I know lemon is one of those ingredients that may not appeal to all. But come on…these cookies have icing on top that is pretty much 100% sugary goodness. They’re crispy. They’re gooey. And they are SO irresistibly zesty. They completely transcend my fleeting memories of lemon shortbread Girl Scout cookies. Those silly cookies are amateur in comparison to my new gourmet limone loves.

Thankfully, today's baking has been quite soothing. There is something therapeutic about the art of baking. As I scan the ingredient listings, double-checking and triple-checking measurements as usual, I find my attention completely lost in one thing. I am on a mission…to make something wonderful while learning something new. I may seem like a professional (ha! please excuse my feigned cockiness), but every day I spend in the kitchen I learn something new. For instance, today I learned how to properly zest a lemon.

(Mom, I would like to give your boundless kitchen skills a shout out.)

In case you did not know....

The zest of any citrus fruit is the outermost rind. This part of the lemon retains the strong citrusy aroma due to the aromatic oils in the rind. The zest should only consist of the colored portion of the rind, not the white pith, which tends to taste bitter. A zester is a tool (so adequately named) that will prevent the pith from peeling away with the outer zest. However, a sharp paring knife, vegetable peeler, or hand-held grater will work just as well. I found that it is much easier to first zest the lemon then juice it. Putting the lemon in the microwave for 15-20 seconds will make juicing almost effortless.

The lemon flavor is subtle enough to keep me coming back for more while the glaze atop these cookies offsets the crispy texture perfectly. Warning: it WILL get messy when you spoon the glaze on top, but give the glaze an hour or so to set and the cookies will be consumed before you know it.

Of course I gave the cookies a taste test (or two) and allowed my mom to try one. But for now I am hiding this stash until it is time for my LAST meeting with my food writing class on Monday. We will be enjoying everyone’s chosen culinary creations while glancing over final projects.

Can’t wait to share these cookies with everyone!!



Glazed Lemon Cookies

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 tbsp grated lemon zest
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
½ cup unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and lemon zest. Separately, beat the butter and sugar using an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg, vanilla, and lemon juice and mix until combined. Beat in flour mixture. Drop tablespoons of dough onto baking sheets, 1 inch apart. Bake for approximately 15-20 minutes or until the edges are golden. Let cool for 2 minutes then transfer to a wire rack and let cookies cool completely. Spread lemon glaze on top of cookies and let set for at least one hour.

Lemon glaze:
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tbsp grated lemon zest
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

Directions:
Whisk together confectioners’ sugar, grated lemon zest, and fresh lemon juice until smooth. Spoon onto cookies and let dry.

Yields 24 cookies.

(This recipe is adapted from marthastewart.com…once again. Props to Martha, I think I’m on a kick.)

April Showers Bring...

I am a pasta freak. I used to think that making simple pasta recipes were easy outs and a quick fix for a somewhat substantial meal. To this day my favorite pasta dish is the extremely complicated recipe below:

3 handfuls of Farfalle pasta, al dente please
dash of salt and oil
spoonful of butter
some peas
large helping of grated parmesan cheese on top

Intricate, I know.

After spending a semester in Italy, I thought I tried enough varieties of pasta dishes to last me a lifetime. Yet, now pondering the many Roman meals I enjoyed accompanied by countless glasses of house wine and friends, I realize those pasta dishes were incredibly heavy and filling. So filling that it was difficult to fathom actually standing up and trekking the half-hour walk back to my apartment.

But I can’t complain about the food in Italy.

I just need to try something new. Something fresh.

This morning I was glancing through some seasonal produce recipes and stumbled upon a refreshing recipe. It is extremely simple and uses the freshest seasonal ingredients. The recipe yields many servings which will thankfully come in handy as I encounter my large work load this week. Can't wait to share this one with friends.



Asparagus, Avocado, and Snap Pea Pasta

Ingredients:

1 lb asparagus, trimmed ends and cut into 2” pieces
1 lb sugar snap peas
1 ripe avocado, halved, pitted, peeled and cut into ½” pieces
1 lb farfalle pasta
4 tbsp butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup chopped basil (can substitute with fresh mint or parsley)
½ cup shredded pecorino cheese

Directions:

Cook asparagus in boiling water for 2 minutes. Add snap peas and cook for an additional 30 seconds. Remove vegetables from boiling water, saving the water to cook the pasta with.

Return to a boil, add pasta, and cook until al dente according to the package instructions. Drain the pasta and set aside.

In the same pot, melt two tablespoons of butter over medium heat. Add asparagus, snap peas, and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cook and toss vegetables until crisp. Add cooked pasta, avocado, fresh herbs, and cheese. Toss to combine and add additional cheese if desired.

Serves 6.

(This recipe was adapted from marthastewart.com)


One of my favorite pecorino cheeses, locatelli.
A nice addition to this recipe.

Tart Inspiration

I thought it might be appropriate to start off with the ingredient that inspired the creation of this blog.

It looks like celery.
It is a nice shade of pink-red.
It is deliciously tart.
It is underappreciated.

Rhubarb: an ingredient that never fails to excite me with the approaching arrival of every spring and summer.

Growing up, I was able to reap the benefits of having a mother with a green thumb. Warm weekends were spent in the gardens, weeding, planting, and harvesting. Fresh vegetables of all kinds were abundant in the garden and always found their way onto the dinner table throughout the spring and summer.

I was one of those weird kids who hated the taste of soda and immediately suffered a stomachache whenever I ate too much candy. Instead, I craved beverages such as unsweetened iced tea with a sprig of fresh mint from the garden. Or a rhubarb pie…

As my taste expanded, so too did my kitchen skills. And one of the first things I mastered was the rhubarb pie.

Rhubarb pie created a name for itself in my family as it slowly became the staple dessert at the annual Moses’ family reunion. The women in my family just loved it. The men—not so much. To this day, my Dad will refuse to give the crunchy red stalk a little taste. But that is okay, I love that it is a favorite for just us girls.

Baking rhubarb pie became an anticipated event for me. First I would walk outside and around to the side garden, barefoot of course. I would spot the rhubarb plant with its tall, wide, dark red stalks and large triangular green leaves and check if there were enough stalks to use. Next, I’d bring the stalks into the kitchen to clean them and dice them into half-inch long pieces. Flour, eggs, nutmeg, and sugar (LOTS of sugar) created the granular, syrupy batter that was too sweet to go to waste. I ensured this issue of waste was avoided by spooning half of the mixture “accidentally” into my mouth. Despite the resulting stomach pains, eating the batter was so worth it. Before placing the heavy, wet pie into the oven it was imperative to adorn the top of the pie with piecrust in the form of a woven lattice creation. The flaky topping added the perfect charming touch.

Although rhubarb pie has been such a traditional staple in my family, I thought it was time to try a new rhubarb recipe that may perhaps be a new personal favorite. One of these days I will share the family rhubarb pie recipe with you.

Rhubarb-Strawberry Crumble

Topping:
1 1/3 cup flour + 4 tablespoons
1 tsp baking powder
6 tbsp sugar
lemon zest
1 stick butter

Filling:
2 cups rhubarb, cut into ½ inch pieces
3 cups strawberries, sliced in thirds
½ cup sugar
sprinkle of lemon juice
6 tbsp flour

Preheat over to 375 degrees. Mix flour, baking powder, sugar, and lemon zest. Add melted butter. Mix until clumps form. Refrigerate.

Stir rhubarb, strawberries, lemon juice, sugar, and flour in a deep pie plate or dish. Cover mixture with topping until fruit is covered evenly. Bake for approximately 40 minutes or until golden brown.



This pink and red deliciously sweet creation, inspired by Smitten Kitchen, includes two beloved seasonal ingredients. As I whipped this up in the kitchen, I altered certain aspects of the recipe depending on my personal taste. However, I may or may not have accidentally doubled the amount of sugar that the recipe called for, even though any crumble recipe is impossible to mess up. I guess reading the directions is always the hard part.

As the scent of the baking, bubbling crumble wafted through the kitchen, I tried to rouse some excitement out of my sister. All I could get were weird looks, maybe some feigned excitement, and an extremely frustrated sigh when I asked her to keep me company as I baked away. I could practically hear my mom thinking, “what could she possibly be creating now??” Of course I didn’t even mention the R-word to my Dad.

That night was movie night at my house. As opening credits for The Blind Side started rolling, I discreetly cut three pieces of crumble: one for me, one for my mom, and one for my sister. I placed my sister’s plate in front of her. My Dad didn’t seem to notice he was left out of the experiment. As the opening scene of the movie rolled on, repeated forkfuls of rhubarb-strawberry crumble entered his mouth.

I never mentioned the rhubarb.

The Start.

I am embarking on another blogging adventure, this time with a different story.

As I near the conclusion of my food writing class, I seek to share my sprouting food curiosity with anyone interested in listening. This blog was admittedly inspired by my love of spring, a favorite season of mine. Then again, I always claim the present season is my favorite. Needless to say, I am beginning a personal exploration of seasonal produce that will go beyond the mundane maneuvering of my shopping cart around the grocery store produce section.

In the meantime I will also be sharing my food memories with you, bringing my stories to the dinner table along with something fresh.

This blog may just be the most pleasant way for me to express my love of words and food, together. Or it will be one big mess in the kitchen. Time will tell.