Farm Fresh at its Best: Union Square Greenmarket

Sungold cherry tomatoes are my favorite!

Berrylicious Tart

Some people don’t like chocolate. I am most definitely not one of them. But if I were, this would be my favorite dessert. This is the first tart recipe I’ve ever tried and it may well be the last. It it just too easy and too perfect. You can make it hours to days in advance, and you can fill it with just about anything. I found it in my new favorite cookbook, Baking; from my home to yours. I actually skipped the full tart recipe, which called for pastry cream (dozens of eggs!) and fruit glaze (not my favorite) and just made the dough. Then I filled it with homemade whipped cream (nothing better) and topped it with fresh fruit, no glaze necessary. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
Dough-
1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick plus 1 tsp (9 tsp) very cold butter but into small pieces
1 large egg yolk
Whipped Cream-
Heavy whipping cream
a few TB sugar
Filling-
fresh fruit, lemon custard, whatever you want!

Tart Preparation:
Put the flour, confectioners’ sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Drop in the butter pieces and pulse until the butter is coarsely cut in. Stir the yolk to break it apart, then add it a bit at a time, pulsing after each addition. When the egg is fully in, process the dough in long pulses until the dough forms “clumps and curds.” (You can hear the difference when the dough has reached this point.) Turn the dough onto a work surface and knead a bit until the dough sticks together.

Butter a fluted tart pan with removable bottom. Press dough into the pan. Seems strange at first but it will spread out nicely as you push into it. Press the dough until it is pretty thin, it will rise.

Freeze the dough for at least 30 minutes and as long as overnight.
Pre-heat oven to 375. The recipe calls for fitting the dough with a buttered piece of foil to keep it from rising. I’ve tried this recipe both with and without the foil and didn’t notice a difference. So that part is up to you. Bake on the center rack for 25-30 minutes. Remove the foil (if you used it) and push down the dough a bit with the back of a spoon. Put tart back in the oven until it turns a golden brown, approximately 5-8 more minutes. Remove from oven and immediately transfer to a rack to cool to room temperature before filling.

Whipped Cream Preparation:
Whip heavy cream with electric beater. Note that the cream will almost triple in size. Usually half a pint is sufficient. Add sugar to taste. Whipped cream can be stored in the fridge for a few hours.

Putting it all together:
Spread whipped cream on crust. Top with fresh berries. Serve right away. That’s it!

Special thanks for Jodi and Erin for their photography!

Winter Meyer Lemon Cake

It was my mom’s birthday so she got to choose the dessert for her birthday dinner. She always prefers fruit over chocolate, so we headed to the supermarket to see what looked good in the produce aisle. Being late December and in Colorado, nothing looked so good. Nothing except a beautiful bag of bright yellow Meyer lemons.

So Meyer Lemon cake it was. I found this recipe here (didn’t know Domino did recipes!). Easy, not too many ingredients, and tastes great for days after. I made a few variations to make the glaze extra crunchy and the cake really solid, the way my mom likes it. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

8 tbsp unsalted butter

4 large eggs, separated

3 1/4 cups sugar

2/3 cup buttermilk

6 Meyer lemons (2 for cake, 2 for glaze, 2 for candied lemon slices)

2 cups cake flour (or sifted all purpose flour, unbleached)

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 2/3 cup confectioner’s sugar

Preparation of the Cake:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Melt butter in saucepan, set aside to cool

In mixing bowl, use electric mixer to beat egg yolks with 1 cup of sugar until thick and light in color. Add in buttermilk, 1/3 cup Meyer lemon juice (2 lemons), and 1 tbsp Meyer lemon zest.

Sift together cake flour, baking powder, and salt. In separate bowl, beat egg whites until they hold soft peaks, add 1/4 cup of sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form.

Fold half the flour mixture into the egg -yolk mixture, followed by half the egg white mixture. Repeat with the rest of the flour and egg white mixture.

Take 1 cup of the batter and mix into the cooled butter. Then gently fold butter/batter into the rest of the cake batter. (Gently so the cake stays fluffy!) Pour batter into a buttered and floured 9 inch cake pan or Bundt pan and bake for 50-60 minutes, until cake is lightly golden and pulls away from the sides of the pan.

Preparation of the glaze:

Combine 1/3 cup Meyer lemon juice (2 lemons) and confectioners sugar in a saucepan. Heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved. Set aside until cake is ready.

Preparation of the candied lemon slices:

Cut 2 Meyer lemons widthwise in 1/4 inch slices- discard end pieces and remove seeds. In a saucepan, combine 2 cups of sugar and 2 cups of water. Bring to boil and gently simmer for 5 minutes. Add lemon slices and simmer for another 5-10 minutes, until rinds seem edible. Remove and dry on parchment paper.

Putting it all together:

When cake is done, let it cool completely, in the pan for 5 minutes and then on a cooling rack. With a long toothpick, poke deep holes for the glaze to seep in. Slowly spoon glaze over the cake, allowing to sink in. Add lemon slices. If you like

the cake warm, serve immediately. If you prefer a more set solid cake (as my mom does), put in the fridge until you are ready to serve.

Holiday Maple Cookies

I love maple syrup. I basically eat pancakes just for the syrup. I am always looking for recipes with maple syrup or extract in them, so when I came across this Martha Stewart recipe for Maple Leaf Cookies (can’t find the recipe online anymore, but here’s a pic) I had to give them a try.

The last few Martha recipes I’ve tried have been a disaster. Lots of steps (which I followed!) and then bland boring nothingness as a result. These looked so cute though, I had to give her one more shot. But I learned my lesson from last time: no need to totally follow her intricate and sometimes unnecessary steps, learn her tips once and use them again (ex. use of the freezer in this one!), and don’t feel pressured to make the cookies AND the cookie tin, like she does.

They actually came out great–delicious and adorable. I made a few alterations, skipped a step or two, and used Chinese take out boxes and pretty napkins to wrap them up and deliver them as holiday gifts in the office!

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 sticks butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg yolk
1/2 cup grade A maple syrup (not the fake kind!)
vegetable oil cooking spray
Parchment paper
Cookie cutters

For the glaze:
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
2 tsp light corn syrup
1/2 tsp maple extract
2-3 tsp milk
Sprinkles, etc (optional)

Preparation:
Sift flour and salt into a medium bowl
Beat butter and sugars on medium high speed until creamy (3 min or so)
Reduce speed and add yolk and maple syrup
Slowly add flour, beating until just incorporated
Shape into two disks, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 2 hrs to 2 days.

**Note here: I refrigerated my dough for 1 day and when I took it out, it was impossible to work with. In retrospect I think it would have helped if I had kneaded the dough a bit before freezing it. As it was, it kept breaking into crumbly bits when I tried to roll it out. I have a feeling Martha would say not to let the dough thaw before trying to work with it, but I got so frustrated trying to roll out the cold dough I almost tossed it out! I let it thaw about 15 minutes, had a much easier time rolling it out, and my cookies turn out just fine. So there Martha!

When ready:
Roll out disks of dough to 1/4 to 1/2 inch thickness (I like them thick, more chewy. If you prefer crispy, roll thinner) on a lightly floured sheet of parchment paper
Place sheets with dough on baking sheets and freeze for 15 minutes
Remove from freezer, and take dough off parchment paper
Coat the baking sheets with cooking spray, re-line with the parchment, and coat parchment with cooking spray
Cut out cookies from frozen dough (freezing helps them keep their shape!) and space 1 inch apart on sheets (they don’t expand much)
Roll out and cut remaining scraps
Put back in freezer for 15 min
Preheat oven to 325 degrees
Bake cookies until edges turn slightly golden, about 15 minutes
Cool on wire racks

For glaze:
In small bowl, beat/mix confectioner’s sugar and milk until smooth. Add corn syrup and extract and mix until icing is smooth and glossy. Add more milk or corn syrup to thin if needed. You can add food coloring here if you wish, but I like the nice light brown of the maple extract. Smells amazing!

Using butter knife, spread glaze thinly on cookies. Top with sprinkles, etc while wet.
Allow to dry for at least 20 minutes.
Deliver to friends and co-workers.

One Bowl Honey Challah

This Challah manages to taste as good as it looks–a noteworthy achievement considering its glistening crust and audacious braids. Its creator will offer you a recipe and some instructions, but its execution requires a degree of techne (craft/art). The fact that Sabrina’s food is infused with love can’t hurt either. –Guest Blogger and challah eater Danny Steinberg

I’m filing this post under recipes AND rainy day activity, because come on, what’s better on a cozy day than the smell of fresh bread in the oven?

Note: This recipe calls for 3 risings (1hr min, 30 min, 1 hr). If time is short, you can do two. The suggestion is to leave the dough to rise in a warm place. Since I don’t have a boiler in my apt, I let the dough rise in a warmed oven that had been turned off. If you choose to do this, the first step in this recipe is to preheat the oven to its lowest setting and turn it off. You can also choose either of the first two risings in the refrigerator for as long as you’d like. The recipe says for a few hours, but I did mine overnight and the third rising in the oven and it tasted great. Just be sure to let the dough come to room temp before kneading/braiding.

Ingredients (makes 2 loaves):
1.5 packages of active dry yeast (1.5 tablespoons)
1 TB plus 3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup olive or vegetable oil
5 large eggs
1 TB salt
8 cups all purpose or bread flour
Approx 2 TB honey
optional: 1/2 cup raisins per challah, poppy or sesame seeds

Preparation:
In a large bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 TB sugar in 1 3/4 cups of warm water.

Whisk oil into yeast and then 4 eggs, one at a time. Add in remaining (3/4 cup) sugar and salt.

With a wooden spoon, gradually add flour. When dough holds together in a ball, it is ready for kneading.

Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth. Usually takes about 5 minutes.

Clean out bowl and grease it with oil or cooking spray. Return dough to bowl and put it in prewarmed oven or fridge to rise (see note above) for 1hr. Hopefully it it will double in size. Mine doesn’t always but still seems to work!

Punch dough down and let rise another 30 minutes.

Turn dough onto floured surface, split in half, and braid! (if you are using raisins, add them now)

6 braid challahs are beautiful, but even with explicit instructions, I can never make them. So, if you know how, great. If you don’t and want to stick with the 3 braid, the easiest way it to it is to rolls the dough into 3 long rods, each at least 12 inches long. Place them in a row and pinch the middles together so it looks kind of like a bow tie with the knot in the middle and 3 fingers coming out from each side. Proceed to braid each side (outside rod to the middle, alternating) and pinch the ends when you’re done. If you want a round challah, once you’re done braiding, pinch the two ends together (firmly! They tend to fall apart during the next rise).

Do the same with the other loaf. At this point in the recipe I used, it suggests if you want to save the second loaf to braid it and then freeze it (braid and egg wash after defrosting for about 5 hrs). When I did this, the braids completely fell apart. So, I would suggest freezing the dough BEFORE braiding. Although, I guarantee you will eat the first loaf so fast you’ll wish you had baked them both. No more freezing for me.

Place loaves/loaf on greased cookie sheet (leave space for expansion in between). Beat the remaining egg with the honey and brush over the challah. Be generous, this is the part that gives the bread the beautiful sheen and nice crunch.

Let rise another hour.

Preheat oven to 375. Bake on middle rack for about 30-40 minutes or until darkly golden. (I made the mistake of taking them out when just golden and found myself with a raw center…)

Cool loaves on a rack.

Eat with butter and raw honey while warm. Use leftovers for french toast. Bring to dinner parties. Make mini versions for sandwiches. Possibilities are endless.

Quick and Easy Lentil Salad

Mmmm…lentils. They are so pretty–round, delicate, colorful–and so healthy! But I never seem to know what to do with them. I bought some beautiful Turkish red lentils at Sahadi’s last week, my favorite go to place for specialized ingredients.
Some friends came over for an all veggie dinner tonight, so I gave my mom‘s lentil salad recipe a try. My mom’s recipes are the best–minimal ingredients, usually quick and easy, use fresh ingredients, and taste great. Turns out the recipe is no exception. Delicious and literally took me 10 minutes to make with plenty of leftovers for lunch.


Ingredients:
Any type of lentils (I used small red Turkish lentils)
Fresh herbs (I used chives)
Whatever veggies you have laying around (I used tomatoes)
Rice wine vinegar
Salt/Pepper
Olive Oil
Lemon

Preparation:
Pour desired amount of lentils into pot of boiling water. I used approximately 2 cups which made much more than I expected.
Simmer on stove for approximately 10 minutes, Remove from heat at the moment when the lentils go from crunchy to tender. They turn to mush incredibly fast so be vigilant!
Strain lentils and rinse with cool water to stop them from cooking.
Mix lentils with fresh herbs, veggies (best are tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, celery), juice of half a lemon, salt/pepper, and rice wine vinegar (amount depends on amount of lentils you cook, and I love rice wine vinegar so use a generous amount). Use the amount you would to heavily dress a salad.
Finish with a small amount of olive oil.
Delicious to eat right away, but flavors will set if you refrigerate for a bit.

Incredible Blueberry Crumb Bars

Although we are just past blueberry season, we are quickly approaching dessert season: winter. So now is the perfect time to make these amazing blueberry crumb bars. Calling them bars, even though this is basically a cake, means you can eat them for breakfast. I found this recipe here. Half this recipe and you’ll still have plenty.
Ingredients:
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cold butter (2 sticks or 8 ounces)
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
Zest and juice of one lemon
4 cups fresh blueberries
1/2 cup white sugar
4 teaspoons cornstarch

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 9×13 inch pan.

2. In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, and baking powder. Mix in salt and lemon zest. Use a fork or pastry cutter to blend in the butter and egg. Dough will be crumbly. Pat half of dough into the prepared pan.

3. In another bowl, stir together the sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. Gently mix in the blueberries. Sprinkle the blueberry mixture evenly over the crust. Crumble remaining dough over the berry layer.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. (This took an extra 20 minutes in my oven, last 5 minutes on broil to get the top crunchy.) Cool completely before cutting into squares. Store in fridge or freeze to eat later.

Relaxing Day Trip #1: Brighton Beach!!

People love to leave the City for the weekend and escape to the beach. Beaches in NJ and Long Island are beautiful, but getting there can be a pain! Rushing to the train station and paying big bucks to fight for seats and sit on the train for hours sometimes just doesn’t seem worth it.

Enter Brighton Beach.

A short subway or bike ride from central Brooklyn (and totally doable from Manhattan), Brighton Beach is where it’s at! Russian delicacies along Brighton Beach Boulevard, plenty of space to set up shop on the beach, amazing people watching, shimmering water, and waves just high enough to jump over–what more could you ask for? There are also relatively clean bathrooms and changing areas and Coney Island amusements are just a short walk along the boardwalk away.

For those of you who have yet to experience Brighton Beach, I highly recommend taking advantage of the designated bike path (built in 1894 and the nation’s first!) along Ocean Parkway, which will get you to the beach in less than 30 minutes without worrying about getting hit by a car of crazy hipsters or being stuck on a stalled F train.

Rainy Day Activity: Homemade Bath Salts

Lavender is my favorite bath addition and in addition to smelling amazing, has many medicinal and aromatherapeutic properties you might not know about. Lavender is natural antiseptic and is great for healing healing minor cuts, burns, and insect bites. Lavender is known for its soothing and relaxing properties and has been shown to relax muscles, ease headaches, and relieve stress. Even better, lavender is naturally soporific–perfect for a bath right before bed.

So the question is, how to get the lavender in the bathtub? If you have fresh or dried lavender, you can put it right into a mesh tea bag and drop it in the tub as it’s filling up. Since for most of the year I don’t have easy access to fresh lavender, I prefer the bath salt method. Easy, smells great, and they last forever. Also, combining lavender with epson or sea salts is especially good for muscle aches and pains, as salts are known for their healing properties.

Recipe for Lavender Bath Salts:

1 bag of Epson Salts (usually sold in a cardboard box at your local drug store)

*if you want to step it up a notch, try one of these high end fancy salts

1 small bottle of lavender essential oil
*you can actually use any essential oil for this. Grapefruit, jasmine, and rose are some other nice ones

Preparation:

Pour salts into large mixing bowl.

Mix salts with essential oil. The more salts you use, the more oil you need. At least 20 drops for a solid scent. Add more if you like a stronger scent.

Pour into plastic bags and tie with ribbon, or use these cute tins and affix your own labels!

These also make great party favors, bridal or baby shower gifts!

Heavenly Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Why you need an ice cream maker, Reason #1:

Today on my way home from work , I stopped at the supermarket, headed straight for the ice cream aisle, and walked away with nothing. Not only was I disappointed with the boring selection (namely the lack of peanut butter chocolate chip), but I just can’t believe how expensive ice cream is! Not worth my $5. So, I made a beeline for the dairy aisle, picked up some half and half and whole milk, and headed home to make my own.

It’s hard to find a good solid (i.e. easy) recipe for peanut butter chocolate chip ice cream. Especially one that doesn’t use eggs. Not that I’m against eggs, but making ice cream with eggs usually involves cooking a custard on the stove and I generally don’t have the energy (or the patience) for cooking when I’m making ice cream.

Yes, you will need an ice cream maker to make this. However, my $50 Cuisinart Ice Cream Machine has been well worth the investment. There is nothing like homemade ice cream and the independence you have to make any combination of flavors and use your favorite all natural ingredients.

I found this recipe for Peanut Butter Ice Cream here. Made a few adjustments to make it a bit healthier and added chocolate chips to get me right back to where I started. I eat a lot of ice cream so I try to cut back the fat a bit by using milk instead of cream. You’ll be surprised how you can’t tell the difference! The result is a creamy, crunchy, peanut butter infused dream. And it comes out perfect from the freezer, not icy like some non-custard recipes. Yum!

Ingredients:
1 cup all natural (peanuts only) crunchy peanut butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups whole milk
1/3 cup half & half (for creamier ice cream, use more half & half, less milk)
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
half a bag of chocolate chips

Preparation:
Combine the peanut butter and sugar in a blender until smooth. Add the milk. Blend on low speed until smooth and the sugar is dissolved. Add the half & half and vanilla and pulse until blended. Pour into ice cream maker. When thick, mix in chocolate chips, scrape into freezer safe container or in small individually sized tupperware containers.