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pizza with goat cheese, corn, poblanos and cilantro

This recipe was inspired by a conversation with our friend Alexa. She saw something like it on Sprouted Kitchen, improvised with what she had in the fridge and voila, dinner. Her description sounded so good and I had almost all of the ingredients already, so I too improvised and mine also turned out delicious.

The flexibility of pizza as a medium really is awe-inspiring. The fact you can make a decent pizza with just about whatever configuration of cheese and veggie you happen to have on hand—magic.  This fact also makes bad pizza even sadder if you stop to think about it.

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We’ve made this pizza a few time since Alexa first told us about it and finally wrote up the recipe. You’ll probably want to make it this weekend—the end of summer (and corn season – even in sunny CA) is nigh.

Pizza with Goat Cheese, Corn, Poblanos and Cilantro
1 ball of pizza dough, divided in two and at room temperature for ease of shaping
1/4 cup sour cream, creme fraiche or mexican crema (whatever you’ve got around will work)
1 poblano pepper, charred and diced
1 ear of corn, cut off the cob
1/4 red onion, sliced thinly (or yellow onion, or shallot)
1/4 cup goat cheese, crumbled
1 – 2 limes, depending on how juicy they are
a small handful of cilantro, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil

Under the broiler, over a gas flame or on the grill, char the poblano. Let it cool and then cut it into small pieces, discarding the seeds. Cut the corn kernels off the ear. Slice a small onion thinly.

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Preheat your oven to 500°. Move an oven rack with pizza stone—if you’ve got one—to very top of your oven. Roll out the pizza dough as thin as you can get it. If you let the dough sit out for an hour or two at room temperature before shaping it, it will be easier to get the crust thinner. Once it is rolled out, dust your pizza peel or baking sheet with corn meal or flour. Place the dough on the pizza peel or on baking sheet. Time to top!

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Coat the dough with a thin layer of sour cream. Sprinkle on the poblanos, corn, onion and goat cheese. Brush some olive oil onto the parts of the crust that aren’t covered in sauce or toppings. Slide it onto your pizza stone or cook on the baking sheet for 15 – 20 minutes, until the crust is browned. Meanwhile, mix together the lime juice, olive oil, and cilantro. We used our magic bullet, but you could also just chop the cilantro and mix in a bowl. When the pizza comes out of the oven, drizzle on the cilantro-lime dressing and serve.

Speaking of perfect pizza, I wish we had a backyard of sorts so we can get this rad, tiny, wood-fired pizza oven and turn out even more delicious (wood fired!) pizzas in less than 5 minutes a pop. I would have homemade pizza at least once a week if I was the proud owner of one of those cuties.

-Emily

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pancakes with white peaches

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I used to think Bisquick pancakes were the end-all-be-all of pancakes. They were what my Nonnie made for us for breakfast when we stayed at her place, and what my dad made for us when we had breakfast for dinner. My dad was especially talented at making shaped pancakes. Anyone can make a Mickey Mouse pancake, but my dad was (and probably still is) a true pancake artist. He could make just about anything you’d ask for—even adding the batter at different times to make faces, fins or fur. T-Rex, killer whale, guinea pig, we’d name it and he’d make it.

Another childhood favorite was my dad’s ‘special pancakes’, his version of crepes. They were just your standard Bisquick pancake recipe with enough extra milk to make the batter runny enough to coat a pan, and we loved them. While he’d cook up a stack of special pancakes, he’d tell us about how he used to make them for his college football team. He’d wax poetically about how much the guys loved them, and how he’d never give up his secret recipe. All those years of practice making pancakes for a bunch of football players paid off—my dad is good at flipping crepes. We’d snatch them hot off the pan and roll them up like little burritos with a filling of syrup, whipped cream, strawberries, peaches, powdered sugar, chocolate sauce, whatever we had around and could get away with.

Needless to say, my attachment to Bisquick pancakes is a serious thing. Being both a diligent food blogger and generally opposed to processed food products, I’ve tried to find a ‘from scratch’ recipe that measures up to my Bisquick memories. Sadly, every recipe I tried was a disappointment.

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And then I found these pancakes. Insanely fluffy, just the right amount of saltiness, not too sweet, a hint of spice. They are perfection in a pancake.  They have more depth than the old Bisquick standby, but I’ve never finished them disappointed craving a ‘real’ pancake. While I may never find a pancake that replaces Bisquick pancakes in my heart, these are a very close second.

Sour Cream Pancakes with White Peaches, adapted from the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook
1 egg
1 cup sour cream (8 oz)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt (heaping 1/4 teaspoon of Kosher salt, a level 1/4 teaspoon if you’re using table salt)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
A pinch of ground nutmeg
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
butter for the pan
1 – 2 white peaches, depending on their size and how much you like peaches
maple syrup for serving

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Preheat your oven to 250 degrees and place a cookie sheet or heatproof plate on the middle rack (to keep the pancakes warm while you cook the other batches). In a large bowl, whisk together egg, sour cream, vanilla and sugar. In another bowl, combine, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, all-purpose flour, baking powder and baking soda. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet, stirring just to combine. The batter will be a little lumpy.

Heat a skillet over medium-low heat (I usually just use the nonstick to keep things easy) and add a pat of butter. When the butter is bubbling, spoon in the batter. I can usually fit about 3 pancakes in my 10″ skillet – they expand as the cook. When they start to bubble and the edges are dry, about 3 – 4 minutes, flip them. Cook them another few minutes on the other side and then transfer to the oven while you cook the rest.

While the pancakes are cooking (or before if you’re nervous about burning things), cut the peaches into small chunks.  To serve, make a short stack, pile on the peaches and top with maple syrup!

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Ps. Don’t be scared by the cup of sour cream. It is GOOD. Just go with it. Also, who doesn’t have a tub of sour cream languishing in their fridge left over from a taco night. This is the perfect way to use it up.

-Emily

 

 

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vegetable ‘ceviche’ salad

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Jordan and I stumbled upon a recipe for vegetable “ceviche” when we were on a plane to Idaho a few weeks back. At first I thought it just sounded silly, like vegetarians trying too hard. For something to be ceviche, fish is a requirement. But, we let the thought marinate (ha), made the dish, and it was tough to come up with something else to call it. Diced raw vegetables with lime juice doesn’t quite have the same ring to it.

So here we are, eating ceviche sin pescado and liking it. Liking it a lot. Chop up a little of whatever summer produce you’ve got hanging around, mix that with a ton of lime juice, some cilantro and an onion. Let the mixture sit together for an hour or two and call it dinner. Ceviche bonus points if you’re into practicing your knife skills and everything you dice comes out perfectly uniform. Ladies and gentlemen, let it be known, my man can dice like the best of ’em.

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Vegetable ‘Ceviche’ Salad 
2 ears of corn, cut of the cob
2 cucumbers, diced
3 tomatoes, chopped
1 red onion, diced finely
3 sweet peppers, diced
2 avocados, cut into cubes
1 bunch cilantro, choped
3 limes, zest of 1 and juiced
salt

In a large bowl, mix together corn kernels, diced cucumber, chopped tomatoes, diced sweet peppers, diced red onion, chopped avocado and cilantro. Douse liberally with lime juice and season with salt. Let sit at room temperature for an hour or two. Stir again and serve.

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Because of all the lime juice, this salad survives quite well in the fridge for a few days.

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-Emily

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pimm’s cup popsicles

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This is a perfect popsicle for summer. Light, refreshing, just slightly boozy, it is everything you want to eat/drink on a late summer afternoon. Trust us, it is hard to only have one. (Famous last words). Now if only it was a bit warmer than 60° in SF.

Maybe you’re curious. What exactly is a Pimm’s Cup? Well, I’m glad you asked. Pimm’s originally made a variety of liquors numbering one though six, each based on a different spirit. Sadly, all fell out of production aside from No. 1. Pimm’s No. 1 is based on gin and apparently was deemed worthy of keeping around. It can be served over ice or mixed with soda and variety of chopped fruits. Pimm’s Cups (Pimm’s No. 1 + soda + fruit) are now a popular drink at snazzy British events like Wimbledon and polo matches. They are also extremely popular with not-British, non-polo-playing me.

I like everything about a Pimm’s Cup. Citrusy, slightly spicy, just a hint bitter, with cucumber notes that aren’t shy—it is a perfect cocktail. I’d dare to say it has universal appeal, especially in the summer. Which is precisely why I thought it should be turned into a popsicle. And here we are.

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Pimm’s Cup Popsicles
4 strawberries, cut into quarters
8 – 10 slices of cucumber
2 sprigs of mint
3/4 cup Pimm’s No 1
1-12 oz bottle ginger beer
1-12 oz bottle lemon soda

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Cut the strawberries and cucumbers into slices. Pour 3/4 cup Pimm’s No. 1 into a glass measuring cup. Add cucumber, strawberries and mint. Cover and let this mixture steep in your fridge for a day or two. This will allow the cucumber, mint and berry flavors to infuse into the Pimm’s.

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Pour the Pimm’s mixture through a strainer into a large glass measuring cup. Add 1/2 bottle ginger soda and 1/2 bottle lemon soda to the Pimm’s. Taste. If it’s a little boozy for your taste, add some more soda. Pour into your popsicle mold and freeze four hours or overnight.

At this point I should admit that this might not have been one of my best laid plans. Carbonation + popsicle mold = small popsicle explosion in my freezer. When I opened my freezer I felt instant dismay, but then I tasted some of the frozen Pimm’s Cup bursting out the top of my popsicle mold. GOOD GOLLY. Delicious. So, throw a cookie sheet or plate under your popsicle mold and be happy with slightly unattractive popsicles. It’s worth it.

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If you’re of the mind that one should avoid popsicle mold overflow, I do think this would make an awesome granita. Pimm’s Cup slushy anyone? Simply pour the whole mixture into a large, shallow tupperware, large enough to leave an inch or two of space from the top rim. After two hours, take a spoon and scrape it along the top and sides to break the ice crystals forming. Put it back in the freezer for another hour or two. Scrap again. Back in the freezer for a bit, scrape again, until you’ve got a slushy-like consistency or until you can’t take waiting for your frozen cocktail any longer.

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And, because it wouldn’t be popsicle week if I didn’t share some of the pops invented by the rest of the rad food blogosphere that Billy rounded up, here are some I most certainly will make when San Francisco gets her Indian Summer in October …

Coffee-Dulce de Leche Frozen Yogurt Pops from Piece of Cake for Jordan who loves dulce de leche almost as much as he loves bacon.

Peach Julepsicles from Southern Souffle because frozen bourbon on a stick! What could be better?

Chocolate-Covered Toasted Coconut Pops from An Edible Mosaic and/or Chocolate-Dipped Coconut + Rum Popsicles from Hungry Girl Por Vida because our obsession with Trader Joe’s Coconut Water Fruit Floes has put us on a permanent coconut kick.

Green Smoothie Detox Pops from Top with Cinnamon for after all these other pops.

If you want to see the entire round up and fill your freezer full of frozen goodness, visit Wit & Vinegar. It is worth the trip.

-Emily

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chipwiches!

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It’s the first ever Popsicle Week here on the old bloggity. We’ll be featuring a few recipes by yours truly and some other gems from rest of the participating food blogiverse. 26 bloggers, 26+ popsicles. It’s a popsicle party and you’re invited.

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First, just to buck non-existent tradition, we’re starting off with chipwiches! While not at all a popsicle, chipwiches are a novelty ice cream treat that can be procured in the same section of the grocery store as popsicles. Also, they are very delicious. Based on these facts alone, I’ve deemed it acceptable to submit a non-popsicle as my first entry into these great popsicle olympics.

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Vanilla ice cream sandwiched between two chocolate chip cookies, chipwiches are as delicious as they are decadent. They show none of the healthy restraint of a fruit pop, nor are they a particularly revolutionary dessert. But, they are dang good and every time I visit the corner store, I consider grabbing one, and that really is enough for me.

Chipwiches!
For the cookies
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (Guittard is king)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and salt. In the bowl of a mixer, beat the butter until it is light and fluffy. Add the sugars and beat a few minutes more. Beat in eggs and vanilla until smooth. Gradually add the flour mixture and stir to combine. Add the chocolate chips.

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Spoon well-rounded tablespoons onto a cookie sheet. Take care to make your spoonfuls as even as possible. Sandwiching does require a certain degree of precision. Bake 8 – 10 minutes, until just starting to brown on the edges. Remove from the oven and let cool.

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To assemble
1 quart vanilla ice cream (We’ve done a lot of testing and Trader Joe’s Vanilla Ice Cream is our current favorite. If you’re feeling feisty, you could make your own, but that’s bonus points.)
a large-ish spoon
a cup of warm water
a parchment paper lined cookie sheet
room in your freezer

Once your cookies have cooled, remove the ice cream from the freezer. Put the cookies (two for each sandwich you want to make—we made 8) on the parchment lined sheet and let them sit in the freezer for 15 minutes. Let the ice cream soften for 15 minutes to make it easier to scoop and shape.

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Using a large spoon, spoon a few decent scoops of ice cream onto your base cookie. You can rinse the spoon in warm water between scoops if your ice cream is sticking too much to your spoon and giving you trouble. Top the ice cream mound with another cookie and smooth the edges to make sure you’ve got a firm adherence between ice cream and cookie. Return the chipwich the cookie sheet. Repeat with the rest of the cookies. Return the chipwiches to the freezer and freeze for another hour to two. After a few hours in the freezer, the chipwiches will meld, transitioning from separate ice cream and cookie entities to a chipwich sum greater than its parts (depending on who you ask around here).

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We recommend you eat chipwiches for dessert after a large meal of burgers and fries.  You want the true American summer experience, after all.

-Emily

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Recipes

pesto pasta salad

Last week I was lucky to attend an awesome blogging conference Alt Design Summit. It was fun and inspiring and I’m buried under a mountain of insanely cute business cards from all of my new bloggy friends. I’ll share more soon, but since I know you’re hungry, here is a recipe for a quick, easy and delicious pesto pasta salad.

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Pesto pasta is an old standby here. I make it about every other week in the summer when basil is in season and readily available. We usually have it for lunch over the course of a few days. It is fresh, flavorful and cheap. Plus you can through a little of whatever you’ve got lying around in it and it still turns out pretty good. I guess pesto just works miracles like that.

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Pesto Pasta Salad
For the pesto
1 bunch basil (we used a small bunch of basil and some arrugula which was a day or two past its prime)
1 lemon, zest and juice
1-2 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup nuts (pine nuts are the standard, but we’ve used pecans and walnuts also)
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 olive oil
salt and pepper

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In the bowl of a food processor combine basil, lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic nuts and parmesan. Pulse until you’ve got a coarse paste. Now turn the food processor on and drizzle olive oil in through the top hole until the pesto comes together and everything is chopped uniformly. Season with salt and pepper.

For the pasta salad
1 lb dry pasta
1 can whole pitted olives
8 oz mini mozzarella balls
1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, cut in half
1 batch of pesto

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Bring a pot of water to boil. Salt it until it tastes like sea water. Cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain and rinse for a minute or two with cold water. Combine pasta, olives, mozzarella, tomatoes and pesto in a large bowl. Stir to combine. Serve at room temperature or cold.

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This pasta salad recipe is super flexible. You can add more veggies—blanched green beans are great, kidney beans or chick peas are a good way to make it heartier, marinated artichokes would be lovely too! Just remember that more sauce is better when you’re making a pasta that you’ll refrigerate and eat over a few days. Without enough sauce, the pasta will seem dry, bland and rather sad.

-Emily

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Recipes

how to make perfect french macarons

I’m the type who likes projects. While I enjoy cooking dinner each night for my little family and our friends, what really gets me excited is a new project. I like the research phase at the start of a project and the challenge of stepping up my game and out of my comfort zone. And I love the satisfaction of making something I’ve never made before, especially if it turns out right. I also love losing myself in a project, letting my worries slip away for a few hours and focusing in on the task at hand. It’s why I started cooking in the first place and probably why I’ll never stop. These projects are freeing for an overactive worrier like myself. My mind gets a break, and in the end, I usually have something delicious to show for it.

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I decided to try my hand at french macarons last weekend. I had a free day, no plans at all. After a pep talk from Jordan the day before, it was settled and the research commenced. I read lots of recipes, read horror stories of macarons gone awry, read encouraging posts assuring me that it wasn’t nearly as hard as everyone claimed.

I’m happy to say, this will be one of those encouraging posts. It really is not as hard as you’d expect. Yes, precision is necessary and some understanding of a few key techniques is helpful, but if you’re mindful, you can make perfect a french marcaron the first go round.

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The recipe I used is from a wonderful pastry blog Brave Tart. I’m positive her recipe and tips are the reason my macarons were a success the first time around. Thank you Stella!

French Macaron with Vanilla, Passionfruit or Blackberry Buttercream, adapted from Brave Tart
For the cookies
4 oz | 115 grams almond meal or almond flour (you can also grind blanched almonds in a food processor until powdery)
8 oz | 230 grams powdered sugar
5 oz | 144 grams egg whites
2.5 oz | 72 grams sugar
1/2 teaspoon | 2 grams kosher salt
the scrapings of 1 vanilla bean or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

First, before we get into how to make the recipe, let’s talk about measuring the ingredients. Measurements by volume (cups, teaspoons, etc) are a bad idea for delicate pastry. Really, we all should always bake by weight and never volume because there can be such huge discrepancies between how each person measures one cup. There are also other intervening factors like humidity that can throw volume measurements off. So save yourself some macaron grief, and get a kitchen scale. Measuring ingredients by weight is not only more accurate, but I’m sure you’ll find that it is actually faster and easier.

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. If you have an oven thermometer, put it in the oven to double check the temperature. If your oven is too hot, your cookies will cook unevenly or their shells will crack and crumble as they rise. Move both racks towards the center of your oven to ensure the cookies get the most even heat. See what I mean about precision? Not overwhelmingly difficult, but necessary.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper. I traced 1.5″ circles on my parchment paper so that I would have something to trace when I piped the cookies onto the sheet. It’s important that the cookie shells are all about the same size because you sandwich two together.

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Insert a plain round tip into a pastry bag. This is for piping the macarons onto the baking sheet.  Here are some great tips on how to easily fill a pastry bag if the task seems daunting.

Sift together the almond flour and powdered sugar into a medium bowl. You’ll have a spoonful or two of little almond granules that are larger than the rest and don’t sift through, just discard those. Separate your egg whites from the yolks. Put your yolks in the fridge and save them to make pastry cream for a raspberry napoleon.

In the bowl of your mixer, combine egg whites, sugar, vanilla bean (not the extract if you’re using that) and salt. Mix on medium power (4 on a Kitchen Aid) for three minutes.

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Increase the speed to medium-high (7 on Kitchen Aid) and whip for another three minutes.

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Increase the speed to high (8 on Kitchen Aid) and whip for another three minutes.  Turn the mixer off and add any extracts or colors here. Whip on high for another minute to incorporate. The mixture should look like a very stiff, dry meringue and should clump inside the whisk. If it isn’t very stiff, beat for another minute or two until it is. Aren’t the vanilla bean flecks just the cutest!

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Add the almond flour and powdered sugar to the meringue.  Using a large spatula, fold the dry ingredients into the meringue. It will take quite a while to fully incorporate. The purpose of this step is to deflate the meringue so don’t worry about knocking it around a little bit.

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Stella’s recipe was astoundingly accurate for me. She said it would take about 40 folds to incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet and get a good batter consistency and she was right. You want a batter that is thin enough to pipe, but not so thin it runs all over the baking sheet. She describes the texture as “molten” if that helps you. Mixing the ingredients thoroughly is important so be sure to scrape the sides the bowl several times while mixing. Streaks of unmixed meringue could also cause your cookies to crack in the oven.

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Once your batter is mixed, spoon it into a pastry bag. I’d recommend you only fill the bag about two-thirds full and then tie the top with a rubber band. Make the piping easier on yourself, don’t overstuff the bag! With a 10″ pastry bag, I only had to refill twice. Not bad.

Pipe small circles onto your parchment lined baking sheet. Let the cookies sit for a few minutes on the counter to settle. Rap the trays hard on the counter several times. Don’t be shy about it.  This removes the air bubbles that could also cause your shells to crack in the oven. I didn’t rap my first batch with quite enough vigor and most of my cookies came out with cracked shells. While cracked shells do nothing to harm the flavor, take this easy step to avoid them. For my second batch, I hit the tray hard against the counter about 10 times taking care to rotate it 90 degrees for a few of the raps and the shells came out perfectly.

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Bake the cookies at 300 degrees for 18 minutes. You should be able to peel the parchment away from the macaron without tearing out the center of the cookie. I’d test on a corner cookie before removing the sheet from the oven. Remove the cookies the oven and let them cool on the trays. Use a metal spatula to detach the cookies from the parchment after they are completely cooled.

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Below you can see the difference between a perfect shell and a cracked shell. The top of the cracked shell will sort of crumble and collapse when you fill it with cream, while the good shell will remain intact. Both are delicious though so don’t dispair if your shells crack!

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Once cooled, fill the macarons with the buttercream of your choice. I did vanilla, passionfruit and blackberry. All were divine!

For the filling
1/2 cup sugar
2 large egg whites
12 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
a pinch of salt
3 tablespoons passionfruit syrup (mine was made from 4 oz of frozen passionfruit pulp and 1/2 cup sugar simmered together for 30 minutes and strained)
3 tablespoons blackberry syrup (mine was made from 4 oz of frozen blackberries and 1/2 cup sugar simmered together for 30 minutes   and strained of the seeds)

In a bowl over a pot of simmering water, combine the sugar and egg whites. Heat the egg and sugar mixture until you cannot feel the sugar granules when you rub the mixture between your fingers.  Transfer mixture into the mixer and whip until it turns white and about doubles in size. Add the vanilla. Finally, add the butter a few tablespoons at a time and whip, whip, whip. It will look like your buttercream is ruined for a few minutes. Don’t dispair! It will come together if you just keep whipping.

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Once the buttercream is has been whipped into submission, put two thirds of it another bowl. To the remaining third, add the 3 tablespoons of blackberry syrup. Whip, whip, whip again until the syrup is incorporated. Remove that from the mixer, wash the bowl and whisk and then add another 1/3 of the frosting. Add 3 tablespoons of passionfruit syrup and whip whip whip!

Put the filling in a disposable pastry bag with a round tip. Pipe about a teaspoon of filling onto the flat side of the macaron cookie. Sandwich the cream between another cookie. Continue with the rest of the cookies, alternating fillings if you’d like.

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The surprisingly truth about macarons? They only get more tasty as they age. While they are delicious the first day, they are insanely good on the second and third days once the cream and cookie have really melded together and become one. Store your cookies in a tupperware in the refrigerator, but let set them out for about an hour before serving to let the buttercream warm up a bit before you eat them. The texture is even more pleasant when you let them warm a bit.

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I am absolutely stoked with how these came out. They were delicious—sweet but not overwhelmingly so. Their texture was incredible—a crunchy exterior that shatters when you bite into it revealing a creamy, chewy interior. The passionfruit filling was positively addicting. Plus they are adorable.  I’ll be making them again very soon.

-Emily

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trout with creamed corn

Shall we talk some more about fish?

Butterflied trout really are a perfect fish. Tender, mild meat, no pesky bones or guts to get in your way because the fishmonger took care of that for you, affordable and sustainably harvested. Plus, for something that cooks in about 10 minutes, they still manage to look quite impressive. I’m of the mind that whole fish are always impressive. You?

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And, now that July is here and summer is in full swing, it is time for everyone to get on this creamed corn. Originally from Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc at Home, we’ve made a few tweaks so it pairs a bit better with the fish and eliminates some of TK’s meticulous technique. This creamed corn is good, really good. If you’ve only ever had creamed corn from a can, this is an entirely different world. One you want to live in. Forever.

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Now go get yourself some summer corn, a few fish and make this gorgeous dinner in 30 minutes. I’ve already done it twice. The recipe below serves four, so cut it in half if you’re cooking for two. While the corn makes good leftovers, the same can’t really be said about the trout.

Creamed Corn
4 ears fresh corn, cut off the cob
2 tablespoons butter
1 lemon, zested and juiced
3/4 cup cream
1 tiny pinch of cayenne
2 tablespoons chives, minced
salt, pepper

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Cut the corn off the cob. Scrape the cob with the back of a knife to get the rest of the corn flesh. In a heavy saute pan over medium-low heat, combine the fresh corn, butter and lemon juice. Cook the corn for 5 – 7 minutes. Season with salt.

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Add the lemon zest and cayenne. Add the cream and cook for another 10 – 12 minutes, until the cream sauce has thickened. While the corn is cooking with the cream, cook the fish. Check for seasoning,  add a little pepper and the chives. Serve fish with a bed of creamed corn underneath it.

Butterflied Trout with Lemon Butter Sauce
2 – ~1lb butterflied trout (I think half a trout per person is good, but it depends on their size)
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 – 4 cloves garlic confit (if you don’t have any on hand, just skip it)
1 lemon, juiced
salt and pepper

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Season the inside and outside of the trout with salt. In a large saute pan, melt the butter and olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic confit and smoosh the cloves a bit.

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When the butter and oil mixture is hot, add the trout. Put it in the pan skin side down, spread flat. Cook for 7 – 10 minutes, basting the top occasionally with the butter. Because the fish is thin, you don’t need to flip it.  This way the skin gets super crispy, but the fish doesn’t dry out. Just before serving, squeeze a lemon over the fish and add some freshly ground pepper. Serve on top of a bed of creamed corn with a salad or alternatively with roasted summer squash and potatoes anna.

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Recipes

herb-crusted rack of lamb and potatoes anna

I made this dish for Jordan’s birthday, which was over two months ago (!!!) making this post terribly delayed and me a horrendous blogger. But, lamb is always good, so why not share. This lamb turns out beautifully. The crust is delicious and compliments the perfectly medium rare and oh so tender lamb. For us, this is a special occasion dish—rack of lamb is pricey. But when you love food like Jordan loves food, birthday splurges are in order.

Don’t be scared off by the anchovies in the recipe. They compliment the slight gaminess of lamb and don’t add a fishy taste.

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Herb-Crusted Lamb Chops, adapted from Ad Hoc at Home
1 frenched 8-bone rack of lamb
kosher salt and pepper
canola oil
4 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 1/2 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons unsalted butter (at room temperature)
2 cloves garlic confit
3 anchovy fillets (rinsed and patted dry)
3/4 cup breadcrumbs
1 1/2 tablespoons flat-leaf parsely, finely chopped
1/2 tablespoon rosemary, finely chopped

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Score the fat covering the lamb in a 1/2 inch crosshatch pattern with the tip of a sharp knife. Take care to not cut into the meat. Season the rack of lamb on all sides with salt and pepper.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees and position one oven rack in the bottom third of the oven. Line a roasting pan or baking sheet with foil and set a cooling rack in the center.  Heat some canola oil in a large pan over medium heat. Put the lamb fat side down and sear until golden brown. Transfer the lamb to the cooling rack fat side up.

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Combine mustard and honey in a small bowl; set aside. Combine butter, garlic and anchovies in a food processor. Blend until smooth. Transfer the puree into a medium bowl and add the bread crumbs and herbs. Stir until just combined.

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Brush the fat side of the lamb with the mustard mixture. Spread the bread crumbs evenly over the lamb, pressing gently to adhere the crumbs.  Put the lamb in the oven with the meat side toward the back and cook for 25-35 minutes. The internal temperature should reach 128 degrees. Let the racks rest in a warm place for 15 – 20 minutes for medium rare lamb. Carve into two bone chops and serve.

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Potatoes Anna
1 pound yukon gold potatoes, peeled
4 tablespoons butter, cut into thin slivers
salt

I’m not really sure why these are called potatoes anna, but that is what Jordan calls them and so that is what we’ll call them here. They are his favorite way to eat potatoes and for good reason. Crispy and soft at the same time and oh so buttery—perfection in a side dish.

Butter a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Peel and slice the potatoes unto 1/4-inch thick slices. I use a mandolin to make this faster and easier.  Arrange the potatoes in rows, slightly overlapping. Scatter thinly sliced pats of butter over the potatoes and season liberally with salt. Bake 35 – 45 minutes in a 425 degree oven, until parts of the potatoes are crispy and golden brown. Serve with roasted meats, sautéed fish, a fried egg, whatever protein you can get your hands on.

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-Emily

Categories
Recipes

garlic confit, the key to sautéed greens

This right here is how to make any leafy green more palatable. Before garlic confit, I was a very reluctant eater of cooked leafy greens. I’d pretty much avoided them since childhood—terrifying brick of spinach microwaved directly from the freezer, anyone?—and only occasionally ate them as an adult because I know they’re good for me. But since our discovery of garlic confit, I’ll happily eat them alongside any main course.

Garlic confit has all the delicious flavor of garlic without the harsh bite. It’s ridiculously easy to make and delicious in pretty much anything – vegetables, pasta, mashed potatoes, spread on bread.  Do yourself a favor, make a big batch, keep it in your fridge and bust it out anytime you’ve got a bunch of kale, spinach, chard, or mustard greens languishing. Because of our CSA, we usually have several bunches of greens on hand and make this once or twice a week.

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Garlic Confit, from Ad Hoc at Home
2 heads of garlic, peeled
1 cup flavorless oil, like grapeseed or safflower

Peel the cloves of garlic and put them in a small saucepan. Cover completely with oil, about 1 cup. Turn the heat on to very low and let the garlic simmer for 30 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the size of the cloves. When the cloves are soft, it’s done. Pour garlic and garlic oil into a glass jar and store in the fridge.

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Sauteed Greens with Garlic Confit
4 cups leafy greens and stems (this will cook down significantly)
several cloves of garlic confit and its oil
salt and pepper
1/2 lemon, juiced

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Put several cloves of garlic and some of the oil in a large saute pan. Turn the heat to medium. Add your greens and let the begin to wilt, about 2 minutes. Once they’ve released some of their water and shrunken some, use tongs to stir them around. Cook another 2 minutes and turn the heat off. Season well with salt and pepper, finish with a squeeze of lemon.

-Emily