Categories
Recipes

lemon cream pie with fresh strawberries

This pie is about as spring as you can get in one dessert! The fresh strawberries compliment the lemon cream perfectly and it’s not heavy, which is nice now that the weather is starting to warm up a bit. Additional bonuses: it looks gorgeous and you can assemble it all in advance!

Lemon Cream Pie with Fresh Strawberries

For the crust, from the Tartine Bakery cookbook


This recipe makes two pie crusts. You’ll only need one for this recipe, so stick the other in the freezer and defrost overnight in the refrigerator the nigh before you want to use it. 

1 1/2 t salt
2/3 cup very cold water
3 cups plus 2 T all purpose flour
1 cup plus 5 T unsalted butter very cold, cut into cubes

In a small bowl, add the salt to the water and stir to dissolve.  Put the flour in the bowl of a food processor.  Sprinkle the butter on top. Pulse briefly. Add the water. Pulse again. The dough will just begin to come together. Pour the dough onto a lightly floured counter. Divide into two balls. Press into 1 inch thick disks. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight. 

Roll out the dough until it is 1/8 inch thick. Lay into a pie or tart dish. Line with parchment and fill with pie weights, beans or rice (new discovery on the rice – works just fine). Chill the shell for another 30 minutes to get the flakiest crust. 

Heat an oven to 375 degrees. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove the weight and parchment and bake for another 5 minutes. Cool completely.

For the filling, adapted from the SF Chronicle
4 eggs
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
zest of two lemons
1/2 cup lemon juice (from about 4 lemons)
a pinch of salt
4 T butter, cut into cubes

Over a double boiler, whisk the eggs, sugar, salt, lemon zest and juice together. Continue stirring until a custard has formed. Be very diligent with this step. You can very easily end up with lemon scrambled eggs!  No good! Once the mixture has thickened, take it off the heat and whisk in the butter. Strain though a mesh sieve and chill. Ta-da! Lemon curd!

To assemble
1 pound fresh strawberries, sliced
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 T sugar

Slice the strawberries. Whip the cream with the sugar. Lighten the lemon curd with the whipped cream by first stirring in 1/3 of the whipped cream and then folding in the remaining. Carefully! I always am too hasty here and Jordan has to remind me to slow down. Pour the lemon filling into the prepared crust. Top with sliced strawberries. Refrigerate until ready to serve. 

This pie is delicious and the lemon cream would compliment any berry as each comes into season. The combination of the lemon and the strawberry is particularly satisfying because it hit a nostalgic vein in all of those eating it … Jordan, Matt, Alexa and I were eating our dessert on Sunday evening when Jordan pauses, “Does this remind anyone of some sort of ice cream novelty?” Instantly, and almost in unison, the rest of us cried, “Flintstones Push Up pops!” Yep. The pie tastes like a Push Up. Not sure how it happened, but it is absolutely going to happen again.

-Emily

Categories
Randomness

our csa from eatwell farms

As we described a couple of months ago, Jordan and I joined a CSA (community supported agriculture) group. We’ve been enjoying our boxes of super seasonal and fresh produce and trying new recipes like linguini with leeks and fresh ricotta and strawberry lemonade sorbet. Our farm is Eatwell Farms and I want to share the beautiful produce we just picked up!

This week we received: oregano, navel oranges, lemons, dandelion greens, chard, green garlic, leeks, pink lady apples, carrots, savoy cabbage, and sweet potatoes.

If you are interested in joining a CSA, visit LocalHarvest.org to find one in your area.

-Emily

Categories
San Francisco

our csa from eatwell farms

As we described a few weeks ago, Jordan and I joined a CSA (community supported agriculture) group. We’ve been enjoying our boxes of super seasonal and fresh produce and trying new recipes like mussels with clams and fennelun wok and leek and tomato chowder with dover fillets. Our farm is Eatwell Farms and I want to share the beautiful produce we just picked up!

This week we received: navel oranges, pomelo, dandelion greens, winter green mix, green garlic, savoy cabbage, leeks, celeriac, carrots,  pink lady apples and eggs.

How cute are these eggs!

Stay tuned for a delicious celeriac and leek gratin recipe.

-Emily

Categories
Recipes

leek and tomato chowder with dover fillets

Remember these georgeous leeks from our CSA box?

We got around to using them this past Sunday in a delicious soup. I wanted something with leeks and tomatoes, Jordan wanted fish. This soup was our delicious compromise. It is also a really quick dish to throw together and only uses one pot, a bonus for a Sunday night.

Leek and Tomato Chower with Dover Fillets

According to Jordan, something becomes a chower when you add potatoes to it. I decided to not verify the accuracy of this statement because I like it’s simplicity. Isn’t he cute?

2-3 large leeks, sliced and rinsed of their grit
4 cloves of garlic, minced
4 medium potatoes, diced 1 carrot, diced
1 quart vegetable broth
1 16 oz can of diced tomatoes
A bay leaf, chili flake, salt, peper
2 – 3 dover fillets, or other mild, flakey white fish
Lemon, for serving

Sautee the leeks in a little butter and olive oil until they are soft. Add garlic and carrots and sautee for a few more moments.

Add tomatoes, chili flake and a little salt and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes. Add broth, bay leaf and potatoes. Cook for another 15 – 20 minutes until the potatoes are tender. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Salt and pepper the fish fillets. Lay them on top of the simmering soup. Let them sit their quietly poaching for about 6 minutes, or until the fish is opaque. Serve with a squeeze of lemon and some fresh bread.

This soup was delicious, fresh and seasonal. I also have to say that I am pretty impressed with Jordan’s ingenuity on the fish-cooking method. It was perfectly moist, the delicate texture was preserved, it looks awesome and was super easy. Can you ask for more?

-Emily

Categories
Randomness San Francisco

our csa box from eatwell farms

As we described a few weeks ago, Jordan and I joined a CSA (community supported agriculture) group. We’ve been enjoying our boxes of super seasonal and fresh produce and trying new recipes like pasta with kale and portobello, leek bread pudding and blood orange olive oil cake. Our farm is Eatwell Farms and I want to share the beautiful produce we just picked up!

This week we received: lemons, navel oranges, lettuce, parsley, broccoli, spring onions, collards, green garlic, carrots, pink lady apples and butternut squash.

Another awesome thing about receiving a CSA box that I didn’t expect is that it really motivates Jordan and I to plan ahead. We plan our week of meals and shop for additional ingredients on Sunday night, trying tofit each of these delicious edible pieces into our meal puzzle. This culinary problem solving has been really fun – it removes a lot of the I just got home from a long day at work and I have no idea what I’m eating tonight stress and we eat healthier because we’re planning dishes around vegetables. Win-win-win!

-Emily

Categories
Randomness

our csa box from eatwell farms

As we described a few weeks ago, Jordan and I joined a CSA (community supported agriculture) group. We’ve been enjoying our box of super seasonal and fresh produce and trying new recipes. Our farm is Eatwell Farms and I want to share the beautiful produce we just picked up!

This week we received: navel oranges, lettuce, stir-fry mix (kale, chard, other winter greens), romanesco, box choy, turnips, leeks, carrots, red beets, apples and butternut squash.

So pretty! So tasty! And, honestly, how adorable is that little group of leeks! I squealed when Jordan showed them to me and Willow came rushing over to see what the excitement was all about.

If you are interested in joining a CSA in your area please visit LocalHarvest.org.

-Emily

Categories
Randomness San Francisco

our csa box from eatwell farms

Jordan and I joined a CSA (community supported agriculture) group!  What does that mean exactly … It means we make a commitment to purchase a weekly box  of produce from a local farm, we get awesome, seasonal, picked-that-morning-produce, the majority of every dollar we spend goes directly to the people working hard to produce our food, and our money stays in our local economy. AWESOME!  Our farm is Eatwell Farms and I want to share the beautiful produce we just picked up!

This week we got: Mandarins, spinach, arugula, winter greens, savoy cabbage, celeriac, watermelon diakon, leeks, carrots, pink lady apples, and a half dozen fresh eggs.

WHAT BEAUTIFUL FOOD! (I may have gone a little crazy with the photos, but I couldn’t resist!)

Another awesome part about our CSA box … we don’t pick what we receive so we end up with ingredients that are new and unfamiliar (celeriac for example). Now, that’s fun in the kitchen!

If you are interested in joining a CSA in your area please visit LocalHarvest.org

-Emily