I was checking Twitter mentions last week, and saw that a viewer by the name of
nguyen4 had posted a strawberry rhubarb pie photo on Instagram (left), and credited me for the recipe. At first, I thought they were mistaken, as I didn’t recognize the pie as one of my creations, but then I realized that was because they’d made it so much better looking than mine.I hate/love when that happens. Anyway, once I got over this blow to my ego, I decided to repost this in case you missed it the first time, or just needed a little reminder as to what a fantastic spring pie this really is. Enjoy!
We never had air conditioning growing up, and the closest we’d get was a visit to the refrigerator. You’d open the door, and let the cool air wash over you, as you pretended to look for something to eat. Of course, after a few glorious minutes, mom would figure out what was going on, and yell to close the door. I wish I had known about this strawberry granita recipe back then.
You can make and serve this gorgeous granita any time, but it’s really best enjoyed during the summer months. Not only because it’s cold and delicious, but also because it forces you to stick your hot, sweaty face in the freezer four or five times to stir. It’s such a bracing and refreshing experience that I almost feel sorry for people that do have AC. Almost.
Besides a welcomed respite from the heat, this mandatory, periodical forking creates the dessert’s signature texture. By breaking up the ice crystals as the granita freezes, you’ll get what looks exactly like ground granite, which is where this sweet treat’s name actually comes from.
I know it’s still early spring, but strawberries are beautiful right now, so why not practice a few times before the serious heat waves hit? By the way, let me be the first one to say it to you this year…it’s not the heat, it’s the humidity. I hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients for 8 servings: (Note: Yes, this will work with other fruit and berry purees)
2 pounds strawberries
1 cup water
1/3 to 1/2 cup white sugar (depending on sweetness of berries) (Note: I've not tried other types of sweeteners)
1/4 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp lemon juice
very small pinch of salt *Note: freezing times will vary greatly depending on how cold, empty, large, etc., your freezer is. Just keep checking and forking!
I always get a ton of food wishes this time of year for creative brunch ideas, and I was thinking about doing some new type of eggs Benedict, when I happened to see a photo of a Monte Cristo sandwich. At first, it just made me want a Monte Cristo sandwich, but after that wore off, I started thinking about how I’d seen these topped with fried eggs before.
Long story short, I decided to simply make an open-faced version of the famous stuffed sandwich, and top it with poached eggs, and hopefully a new American brunch classic was born. Of course, I'll let you decide, but there was nothing I didn’t love about this plate of food. Okay, the salad was kind of phoned in, but the rest was awesome.
The base is a variation of our famous Restaurant Style French Toast recipe, which marries perfectly with the ham, cheddar and havarti. It was so tasty you really don’t even need the poached eggs. Actually, forget I said that. Do the eggs. If only so you can pop those yolks, and watch them run. Besides the eating, that has to be the best part.
I’ve also re-posted a poached eggs demo below, since poaching your eggs ahead of time is the only way to go, especially if you have a larger group. By the way, you can hold the Monte Cristo bases in a warm oven while you pull the rest of the meal together. I hope you give this new Benedict a try soon. Enjoy!
Mother’s Day is coming up, and since so many of you brave souls will be attempting a celebratory brunch, I thought I’d post this much-requested lemon bars recipe, in case things don’t go as smoothly as anticipated. Preparing brunch can be tricky anytime, let alone under mom’s watchful (aka “extremely concerned”) eyes. Can someone please get her a mimosa and walk her into the garden?
So, even if a few poached eggs break, or the toast gets a little too golden-black, no worries! If you finish the meal with these gorgeous, and absolutely impossible to mess-up lemon bars, she'll be as proud as she will be impressed. Our moms may have taught us the importance of a good first impression, but its America’s restaurateurs who discovered the importance of a delicious last impression. There's nothing like a well made pastry tomake one forgive a tough steak.
Other than a baking dish, there’s no special equipment or techniques required. Both the shortbread base and the lemon custard take only minutes, and are simply hand-mixed in a bowl. Basically, if you can move your arm in a circle, and effectively set a timer (there’s one on your phone), your lemon bars should look just as good as these (maybe better – see meringue note below). Anyway, whether you’re going to make these for Mother’s Day or not, I hope you give them a try soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients for 16 Small Lemon Bars:
For the shortbread crust:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup room temp unsalted butter (1 stick)
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
Bake crust at 350 degrees F. for 22 minutes
For the lemon layer:
2 large whole eggs
1 large egg yolk
1 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp grated lemon peel
Bake at 350 degrees F. for 25 minutes
Garnish with powdered sugar; or top with *meringue (the extra egg white whipped with 1 tablespoon of sugar) and brown with torch.
*My Meringue If you decide to turn these into lemon meringue bars, do yourself a favor and actually measure the sugar. I couldn’t be bothered to check a recipe, so I only tossed in a teaspoon of sugar, and it should be closer to a tablespoon. The technique is the same; beat the extra white to the ribbon stage (where drips of white stay on the surface for a few seconds), and then add the sugar and continue whipping until you have nice, glossy peaks. My “by eye” batch worked fine, but it was a little too dry, and not quite sticky enough. Be advised.
I’ve never been a big cold soup fan. Where I’m from, cold soup gets sent back, but over the years I’ve grown to appreciate things like gazpacho, vichyssoise, and…that’s about it. Well, thanks to this gorgeous chilled sugar snap pea soup, my repertoire just expanded in a very delicious way.
Traditionally (from what I hear), chilled pea soups are made with English peas, but thanks to the very user-friendly sugar snap, not only is there no shelling involved here, but I think they impart an even sweeter flavor.Speaking of sweet flavor, you’re going to want to contrast that by garnishing with some sour cream or crème fraiche. If you can’t get or have that, then use a few drops of lemon juice or rice vinegar to balance the flavors. As far as the mint goes though, I’d make every effort to obtain some, as I can’t imagine another herb pairing as well.Lastly, the Snoop Dogg reference in the title foreshadows a Snoop Dogg reference made during the garnishing portion of the video. For more information, ask your kids. I hope you give this lovely, spring soup a try soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients for about 6 cups of soup:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup sliced leeks
4 cups chicken broth
salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste
1 pound sugar snap peas
2 mint leaves
crème fraiche or sour cream, and more fresh mint to garnish.
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This garlic and basil mayonnaise recipe was inspired by my friend Jennifer Perillo's fabulous new cookbook, Homemade with Love. As a longtime admirer of In Jennie's Kitchen, I expected her cookbook to be filled amazing recipes and gorgeous pictures, and it certainly was, but what I didn’t expect was to see my name and this blog mentioned on page 229! That’s right, on Jennifer’s homemade mayonnaise recipe, we were credited with the always-impressive immersion blender method seen herein. She even called me a genius, which is obviously a very, very slight exaggeration. I feel kind of guilty since I didn’t invent this technique, but since I don’t remember who showed me, it’s just going to be easier to take credit.
Jennifer and I have very similar tastes, and if you like my videos I’m fairly sure you’ll love this book. I really enjoy when a cookbook author shares little stories and anecdotes to introduce the recipes, and she’s done that throughout. To understand where a recipe comes from, and why it’s being shared, always makes it more fun to cook and savor. That’s why I talk so much during my videos. Anyway, for more info, follow this link to Amazon where Homemade with Love is enjoying rave reviews. Enjoy!
Ingredients for 1 1/2 cups Garlic and Basil Mayonnaise:
(will last about 3-5 days) 1 cup basil leaves 3 cloves finely minced garlic 2 egg yolks 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice 3/4 tsp salt, or to taste cayenne and freshly ground black pepper to taste 1 tsp Dijon mustard 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil or a lighter tasting olive oil (or a combination of the two) *For regular plain mayo, I generally recommend a neutral tasting vegetable oil like canola.
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I’ve wanted to turn our famous veggie burger recipe into a meatless meatballs recipe for a long time now, and figured there would be no more appropriate occasion than Earth Day to reveal the results. After all, as I joke about in the clip, eating mushrooms is about as close to literally consuming the earth as you can get.
Despite being completely free of meat, at least the animal kind, these “meatballs” were fantastic. Thanks to a thorough browning, the mushrooms provided more than enough savoriness, and the garlic, cheese, and parsley did the rest. As impressive as I thought the taste was, what really blew me away was how close the texture was to actual meatballs.
For me, the true test of any alternative meatless recipe is whether I would eat it again, based on taste and texture alone, and not just because it’s meatless. In this case, I would…many times over. No, I’m not giving up real meatballs, but for a delicious and vegetarian-friendly change of pace, these really were tremendous.
So, whether you're going to make these because you’re a vegetarian who has been searching for a meatless version, or you’re a hard-core meat eater who just can’t believe your ears and eyes, I hope you give these a try soon. Have a happy Earth Day, and as always, enjoy!
Ingredients for 16 small meatballs:
(recipe can easily be doubled!)
1 pound white mushrooms, chopped into very small pieces
2 tbsp olive oil
pinch of salt to sauté mushrooms
1 tbsp butter 1/2 cup minced onions
4 minced garlic cloves
1/2 cup instant oatmeal
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
packed 1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley
1 ounce by weight, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, very finely grated on a microplane
(Note: it looks like a ton of cheese in the video, but it was only 1-oz. Because I used a microplane to grate it, it created a huge looking pile of cheese. It would be about 1/2 cup if you measure, but use weight for this ingredient!)
1 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper and cayenne to taste pinch of dried oregano
2 eggs
3 cups of your favorite pasta sauce.
*Let mixture sit overnight in fridge. Bake meatballs for 12-15 at 450 degrees F., then simmer in sauce for 30-60 minutes before serving.
