The sweetest lemon

What a surprise Friday afternoon to find a box of fresh citrus sitting on our front porch when we got home! My grandma lives in Southern California and has grapefruit, orange, and Meyer lemon trees. She has an abundance of them and knows how much we love her fresh citrus, so she decided to share the wealth. We were thrilled!

Meyer lemons are unlike regular store-bought lemons. They are so much sweeter, less mouth-puckering, and have such a great flavor you could almost eat them by themselves. I decided to make lemon bars with a few of the lemons. I have a lemon bar recipe I love, and I knew they would be even more amaizng with these fresh Meyer lemons.

This recipe is a Martha Stewart recipe, and the only change I have made is to add lemon zest to the lemon filling. I think the lemon zest has as much flavor as the juice and adds a depth that is not present otherwise. I have tried many lemon bar recipes and the reason I like this one so much is that the shortbread crust is so tender from the addition of cornstarch. I don't like lemon bars where you have to really bite through the crust and make a mess of the lemon filling. This crust is tender, buttery, and just sweet enough to complement the lemon curd topping.

I hope these lemon bars brighten up these dark January days for you as they did for me. Enjoy!

Lemon Bars, adapted from "Everyday Food," April 2004

For the crust

Non-stick cooking spray
3/4 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar, plus 1 tablespoon for sifting
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

For the filling

 
4 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice (preferably Meyer lemon juice)
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with rack in center. Coat a 9-inch square baking pan with cooking spray; line pan with two crisscrossed rectangles of parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on all sides.

Make the crust: In a food processor, pulse flour with confectioners' sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Add butter; pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. If you don’t have a food processor, mix the dry ingredients in a bowl and then use your fingers to rub the butter into the flour mixture. Press into bottom and 3/4 inch up sides of prepared pan. The mixture will seem very dry but should hold together when pressed down. Refrigerate 15 minutes.

Bake until crust is lightly browned 20 minutes. Let cool slightly in pan. Reduce oven heat to 325 degrees.

Meanwhile, make the lemon filling: In a bowl, beat eggs with an electric mixer until thick. Beat in granulated sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, flour, baking powder, and salt. Pour over warm crust. Bake until set, about 20 minutes. Cool to room temperature; refrigerate about 1 hour.

Using paper overhang as an aid, lift square from pan. Sift remaining tablespoon confectioners' sugar over the top. Cut into 16 squares.

Eat your greens

I am trying to eat more fruits and veggies since I am eating for two now. One thing I’ve read that is really good for pregnant women (and probably everyone else too) is dark leafy greens. They were on sale at the grocery store this week, so we bought some kale. My original idea was to make a kale, sausage and potato soup like the one at Epicurious.com, but my hubby wanted to make fresh pasta, so we went that route instead. Fresh pasta is so delicious, it doesn’t really matter what you put on it. I even like it with just butter and parmesan cheese.

We had some kielbasa in the freezer, one of our favorite sausages (maybe due to my Polish roots?), and some canned tomatoes, so we thought all those things might make a good and relatively healthy pasta dish.

Our favorite recipe for fresh pasta comes from Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc at Home book. Ad Hoc is a restaurant in the Napa Valley that we have visited on every one of our trips. It was an accidental restaurant that was such a hit that they made it a permanent fixture in Yountville, CA. Read more about it here. Anyway, his fresh pasta uses a lot of egg yolks, making it more expensive than just the regular recipes for fresh pasta, but it is worth it. And it’s so easy to work with. The recipe follows.

This isn’t really an exact recipe, but I’ll attempt to explain what we did.  It’s actually very simple. We made this last night for dinner and the leftovers this morning were even better!

Kale, Sausage, and Tomato Pasta

Olive oil
½ onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 large bunch kale
1 – 14 oz can whole or diced tomatoes
1 Tbl tomato paste
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1 cup chicken stock or water
1 lb polska kielbasa
½ lb fresh pasta rolled into spaghetti noodles, recipe follows
Salt and pepper
Parmesan cheese

Cook onion in olive oil over medium heat in large sauté pan until softened. Remove ribs from kale and chop leaves. Add to onions and stir.

After kale has cooked for a few minutes, add garlic. Once you can smell the garlic, 30-60 seconds, add tomatoes.

If using whole tomatoes, crush them with your hand before adding to pan. Add tomato paste, red wine vinegar, chicken stock and kielbasa.

Cook for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, cook pasta until al dente. Taste kale tomato mixture, and add salt and pepper to taste.  Add cooked pasta to sauce and toss together. Cook for another 5 minutes.

Add about ½ cup parmesan cheese at the end and toss together. Serve with additional parmesan on each serving.

Thomas Keller’s Pasta Dough, from Ad Hoc at Home, copyright 2009

Makes about 1.5 pounds, so you would need to dry some for later or adjust the quantities for the recipe above.

2 ¾ cups (13 ounces) flour
1 large egg
14 large egg yolks
1 ½ teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 ½ teaspoons whole milk

Mound 2 ½ cups of the flour on a board. Create a well about 8 inches across in the center by pushing the flour out from the center, leaving some flour at the bottom of the well.

Pour the egg, yolks, olive oil, and milk into the well. Using a fork, mix the ingredients together in the well. Then, little by little, begin to bring in some of the flour from the sides of the well. Continue to bring in the flour until all of it is incorporated and the mixture has a paste-like texture. Using a dough scraper, starting at the outermost part of the well, make chops across from left to right and then top to bottom. Then use the dough scraper to lift the dough from the board and fold it over itself until it completely comes together.

Begin to knead the dough and use the scraper to clean the board. Sprinkle the board with some of the remaining ¼ cup flour. Continue to knead the dough on the floured surface for about 15 minutes, adding flour as needed, until very smooth and elastic.

Lightly dust the dough with flour and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Let rest for 30 minutes before rolling it out, or refrigerate for 12-24 hours before using.

A simpler pasta recipe is Jamie Oliver’s, from Jamie at Home, copyright 2008
Makes about 1 pound

4 large eggs
2 cups flour, plus extra for dusting
Sea salt

Crack the eggs into a food processor and add the flour. Whiz it up and listen for the sound changing to a rumble -this means the dough is coming together nicely. Turn the power off and test the consistency by pinching the dough. If it's a bit sticky add a little more flour and pulse again.

Tip the dough mixture onto a floured surface and shape it into a ball using your hands. Give it a little knead until smooth, then divide your dough into 4 equal parts. Start on the thickest setting of your pasta machine and run the first bit of dough through 4 or 5 times, moving the rollers closer together each time until the pasta is silky, smooth and about as thick as a CD. Flour your finished sheet generously, then fold it up and cut across into 1/2-inch strips. Gather all the slices together and toss them through your fingers, with a little flour, to open them up and make your pile of tagliatelle. Place to 1 side and repeat with the rest of the dough.

What to do on a day off? Bake some bread!

On my day off yesterday, I was home all day. We had a few inches of ice underneath a layer of snow, and I didn’t want to go anywhere. Since I’m rarely home all day, I decided to make some bread. I love baking bread and it’s actually not too difficult, it just requires a lot of waiting. Perfect! As I looked through recipes, I wanted to try some of King Arthur Flour’s recipes, because they always get great reviews and turn out very well. However, everything I wanted to make required powdered milk or potato flour, which I didn’t have. I decided to look around online for a cinnamon swirl bread recipe. I have heard of The Pioneer Woman, but have never tried any of her recipes. She had a recipe that sounded good, and as I was reading about the process of making the bread, I loved how simple it seemed. I don’t like recipes that require a lot of unnecessary steps and this one seemed to be very simple.

There are four main steps:

1.        Melt the butter with the milk and add the yeast.

2.       Mix eggs and sugar in stand mixer; add milk mixture and flour. Mix using dough hook for 10 minutes.

3.       Let rest for about 2 hours.

4.       Form the loaf and let rise again for about 2 hours. Bake for 40 minutes.

It’s as easy as that! And so very good! Homemade bread just doesn’t compare to store bought. I love that I know exactly what’s in the bread, and even though this particular bread isn’t the healthiest snack, it doesn’t contain any weird preservatives.

We had a slice last night for dessert, and this morning I decided to make French toast for breakfast. Yum! It tasted like eating a cinnamon roll – so moist and flavorful it didn’t even need syrup.

Cinnamon Swirl Bread, adapted from The Pioneer Woman

1 cup milk
6 Tbl butter
2-1/2 tsp active dry yeast
2 whole eggs
1/3 cup sugar
3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tbl cinnamon
Egg and milk, mixed together, for brushing
Softened butter, for smearing and greasing

Melt butter with milk. Heat until very warm, but don't boil. Allow to cool until still warm to the touch, but not hot. Sprinkle yeast over the top, stir gently, and allow to sit for 10 minutes.

Combine flour and salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, mix sugar and eggs with the paddle attachment until combined. Pour in milk/butter/yeast mixture and stir to combine. Add half the flour and beat on medium speed until combined. Add the other half and beat until combined.

Switch to the dough hook attachment and beat/knead dough on medium speed for ten minutes. If dough is overly sticky, add 1/4 cup flour and beat again for 5 minutes.

Heat a metal or glass mixing bowl so it's warm. Drizzle in a little canola oil, then toss the dough in the oil to coat. Cover bowl in plastic wrap and set it in a warm, hospitable place for at least 2 hours (my house was warm, so mine took only 1-1/2 hours).

Turn dough out onto the work surface. Roll into a neat rectangle no wider than the loaf pan you're going to use, and about 18 to 24 inches long. Smear with 2 tablespoons melted butter. Mix sugar and cinnamon together, then sprinkle evenly over the butter-smeared dough. Starting at the far end, roll dough toward you, keeping it tight and contained. Pinch seam to seal.

Smear loaf pan with softened butter. Place dough, seam down, in the pan. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 2 hours (again, mine took only 1-1/2 hours).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix a little egg with milk, and smear over the top. Bake for 40 minutes on a middle/lower rack in the oven.

Remove from the pan and allow bread to cool. Slice and serve, or make cinnamon toast or French toast with it. Bon appétit!

 

When life gives you lemons, don’t make lemonade… try lemon cake instead!

I love lemon desserts – lemon bars, lemon meringue pie, and shortbread with lemon curd – almost as much as I love chocolate. I had some lemons left over from the baking class I taught last week and kept thinking I would make lemon bars with them. Although lemon bars sounded delicious, I have made them many times before and already have a recipe I like very much. I wanted to try something new. While looking through my Barefoot Contessa at Home book, I came across a recipe for Lemon Yogurt Cake. Perfect! I decided to use some sour cream I had that needed to be used up (I bought light sour cream on accident, which I knew needed to go). I figured that sour cream is similar enough to yogurt that it would substitute well. And it definitely did. The cake is not as low in calories as it would have been with the yogurt, but I got to use up my sour cream and I think the cake turned out fantastically.

The surprising thing about this cake is that the only lemon in the cake batter is lemon zest. While the cake bakes, the juice of a few lemons and sugar is cooked together, and then poured over the warm cake. It makes the cake moist and very lemony. Finally, a lemon-powdered sugar glaze is drizzled over the cooled cake. The result is a moist, bright, not-too-sweet cake that is very satisfying, despite the absence of butter in the recipe. I can’t wait to have a piece of it with my coffee tomorrow morning.

I want to try this cake next with orange zest and juice. I think it would be a bit sweeter, but equally delicious.

Lemon Sour Cream Cake, adapted from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, copyright 2006

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup sour cream (or plain whole-milk yogurt)
1 1/3 cups sugar, divided
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

For the glaze:
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour an 8 1/2 by 4 1/4 by 2 1/2-inch loaf pan.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into 1 bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the sour cream, 1 cup sugar, the eggs, lemon zest, and vanilla. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. With a rubber spatula, fold the vegetable oil into the batter, making sure it's all incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 50-60 minutes, or until a cake tester placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Meanwhile, cook the 1/3 cup lemon juice and remaining 1/3 cup sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside.

When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan. While the cake is still warm, pour the lemon-sugar mixture over the cake and allow it to soak in. It’s ok if some of the mixture falls off the side of the cake – it will be plenty lemony. Cool.

 

For the glaze, whisk together the confectioners' sugar and lemon juice and pour over the cake. 
 

I didn’t want my leftover lemon juice to go to waste, so I froze it in an ice cube tray. I will either use the lemon juice cubes in other recipes requiring fresh lemon juice, add them to my water, or to iced tea in the summer!