to cheese or not to cheese … Strawberry Mascarpone Galette

I had strawberries. A lot of strawberries. Due to a wet, miserable and achingly long spring, local strawberries haven’t yet made an appearance in my farmers markets so I turned to a not ideal option for a dinner party dessert I had my heart set on: Costco. Not surprisingly, they weren’t that great; rather large and bland without much of that sweetness that makes a strawberry a strawberry. Isn’t that always the case? But I hate wasting food so I made something with the extras, nearly half of the big ass container. Roasting often helps intensify flavors so in this spirit, I made a tart. An easy, freeform galette.

Advertisements

choose your own adventure … Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffeecake

Every year, I invite friends over to celebrate something I call “Polish Easter”. It’s a made up holiday of mine, planned loosely around the Easter holiday when schedules allow and is primarily a reason to eat the Polish foods of my childhood. It also happens to be my favorite Sunday Lunch of the year. I put on some polka tunes, pile the table high with old and new favorites – sausage and sauerkraut, stuffed cabbage, special breads, various vegetable dishes, the traditional butter lamb and of course the reason we’re all here: pierogies. This year it was too late to purchase a butter lamb so I made one for the first time, calling upon years of watching my father carve one out of stick of butter and with the help of several YouTube videos. It was spectacular. My Polish Easter was also later this year than usual due to busy schedules and happened to fall on May 5^th so I called the event “Pierogi de Mayo”. Because of course I did.

sweet fire … Candied Jalapeños

Two pounds of jalapeños. Two pounds. They were leftover from a project and I had no plan on what to do with them. Various breads and other recipes used one or two, not nearly enough to make a dent in the pile. I had a pantry full of salsa so that was out. Someone had just given me a jar of pickled jalapeños and lord knows I didn’t need anymore. I was fully stocked with hot sauce. Jalapeño poppers were a thought but I had a better idea. What if I candied them? Sweet-hot is a wonderful thing.

bright, juicy, crunchy …. Vietnamese-Style Chicken Salad

I’ve been on a salad kick lately and was looking for something bright and tangy the other day after eating several plates of filling, hearty spätzle. Vietnamese food came immediately to mind and thought a salad incorporating those flavors would be nice. Something with a bracing nuoc cham type of dressing, bright with lime juice, chilies and fish sauce. I pulled a chicken breast from the freezer. Took stock of my vegetable bins. Grabbed a package of rice noodles from the pantry. I hashed out an idea from a recipe I’ve used before, stopped by the Asian market for fresh lemongrass and picked up some mint while I was there too.

a happy discovery … Sourdough Spätzle

I’ve been on a dumpling kick lately. A few weeks ago, I made out a bunch of Asian dumplings – pot stickers, won tons and the like – with various combinations of pork and shrimp fillings and homemade wrappers. Last week I made gnocchi, a frequent craving. In a few weeks I’ll make dozens and dozens of pierogis for my annual Polish Easter dinner. I’ve also made something simpler a few times to fill that dumpling gap – spätzle. Simple little noodle-type dumplings found in the cuisines of southern Germany and Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, Alsace, Moselle and South Tyrol. They come together with basic ingredients – flour, eggs, milk, salt, pepper – and are quickly cooked in hot water. I usually have these ingredients on hand and they’ve become a frequent meal around here.

my kind of salad … Old School Antipasto Salad

I’ve had a series of failures lately. A few St. Patrick’s recipes that didn’t go as planned. A cake that was 5 kinds of awful. A bad batch of chocolate chip cookies. They were stacking up but that’s ok; it happens. Distractions, busy work projects and overconfidence were derailing my best intentions. I’ve also been eating a lot of overly rich, creamy foods lately that haven’t been sitting well so today I wanted a salad. One of those old school Italian, red sauce joint kind of salads with all the stuff in it. So I made one.

a welcome variation … Guinness Cheddar Biscuits

It’s March which means its time to gather up those St. Patrick’s Day ideas. For some reason, some people inexplicably thinks this means green things flavored with mint. Yeah, I don’t really understand what mint has to do with the holiday but I don’t understand green beer either. Rather, I tend to think beer, real beer, specifically Guinness Stout. Good stuff, that beer but it’s a bit tricky to cook with. Reduce it and the bitter notes become more pronounced and unpleasant. It’s much better added to batters right from the can or used to deglaze a pan for a wonderful sauce. I’ve added it to cakes, breads and candies with great success and have made a rather fine chicken boxty dish with it. Today, I add it to biscuits and it’s a great decision.