Strawberry Crostata

Recently I've been reflecting on patience. Or, more accurately, my lack of it. I don't like waiting, waiting, waiting, and yet I feel like that's all I've done lately. Waiting for work stuff to get figured out, waiting for Cassandra to visit, waiting for my vacation to begin.

Then I come home to my kitchen and recognize I have impatience there also. I ignore steps to recipes that seem too complicated. I rarely take the time to let butter come to room temperature before creaming with sugar. I despise working with yeast and having to let it rise for hours.

So if you are impatient like me and you need a quick and easy early summer dessert, this strawberry crostata is for you. It's supposed to be rustic, so make it free-form and no worries if the dough rips. That just adds to the charm.

The homemade dough comes together in 30 seconds if you have a food processor, then a mere 30 minutes of chilling in the fridge while your oven preheats. You have to work quickly and impatiently so that the butter in the dough stays cold while you work - that's the key to a flaky crust.

My strawberries were picked from the backyard of very good friends, the Jones family. They're so tiny and ripe that no slicing was necessary and only the faintest hint of sugar was needed. If you have some cream cheese on hand, a layer of that under the strawberries wouldn't be a bad thing here.

With a big scoop of whipped cream, this is a knockout summer dessert (and breakfast) that's not too sweet but still indulgent. The best part is that it requires no patience whatsoever.

Strawberry Crostata, inspired by Ina Garten

Serves 4

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 Tbsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

3 Tbsp ice water

2 cups strawberries

2 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp cornstarch

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1 egg white, beaten

more sugar for dusting

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.

In a food processor, pulse together the flour, sugar, and salt. Add the cold butter and pulse 15 times. Turn on the processor and dump in the ice water. Process until the dough comes together. Form dough into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

In a medium bowl, toss your berries with sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice.

Roll out your dough on a floured piece of parchment paper. It should get about 6-8 inches in diameter. Transfer dough to a baking sheet.

Drain and discard any liquid from your berries and dump them in the center of the dough. Fold up all the edges and crimp them. Brush the top of the dough with egg white and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 25 minutes, or until golden brown. The strawberry liquid will ooze out, there's no way to prevent it so don't panic. Enjoy a slice of crostata warm or at room temperature with whipped cream or ice cream.

ONE YEAR AGO: Pan Bagnat

TWO YEARS AGO: Sugar Snap Pea and Radish Salad

Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

This week, aren't you just craving crunchy, cool salads? I am. And I don't mean the kind of salad I usually make, which is spinach or other baby greens topped with seeds or nuts, craisins, and parmesan. No, that's too elegant and fancy of a salad for what I've been wanting lately.

I want an everyday workhorse retro salad today. I think they're called Chef's Salads in restaurants. I like that title because it seems to mean that as my own chef, I can put whatever I want on my salad. So, I've decided I want crunchy lettuce like iceberg or romaine, and plain un-fancy vegetables like carrots, tomatoes, and cucumbers. Instead of cheese I'll use avocado, and for my protein I'll have hard boiled eggs. Yum.

Ninety-nine percent of the time, I'm a balsamic vinaigrette dressing type of girl. However, it would feel just wrong to put that kind of dressing on this salad - like wearing stilettos and diamonds with yoga pants and a tank top. This salad needs a complementary retro-style dressing such as bleu cheese or thousand island. Or, what I made tonight: the Midwest's most popular condiment - ranch dressing.

I don't know if this is actually a traditional ranch dressing (what, exactly, makes it "ranch" anyways?) but it tasted similar and was a lot better for me than the junk that's served at restaurants, which is probably filled with chemicals and additives.

Also, this gave me an excuse to use the first of my potted herbs, which are sprouting up beautifully after copious amounts of sunshine and rain in the past couple weeks. And finally, it's a great way to use up any buttermilk you have in your fridge leftover from a big batch of banana waffles.

Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

1 cup buttermilk, well shaken

1/4 cup mayo

1/4 cup plain greek yogurt (if you don't have greek style yogurt, strain regular yogurt through a coffee filter for 30 minutes - or use plain yogurt and just have a runnier dressing)

2 Tbsp white wine vinegar or lemon juice

A big handful of mixed fresh herbs (I used chives, basil, parsley)

1 tsp dried dill

pinch of salt and pepper

Whisk all ingredients in a bowl or shake in a mason jar. Use as a dip for vegetables or as a salad dressing.

ONE YEAR AGO: Mini Frittatas

TWO YEARS AGO: Homemade Yogurt

Creamed Leeks, Two Ways

This time of year is difficult for me to be creative and inventive in the kitchen. On one hand, the changing seasons make me crave new tastes and textures. On the other hand, here in Minnesota there's no fresh local produce yet and there's too much temptation to go out and socialize instead of staying home to cook. So, I guess I'm trying to explain why the posts are lighter lately and hope you understand.

Spring leeks are mild and sweet and I read somewhere that's because they spend the whole winter in the frozen ground. I love the delicate flavor of leeks and wanted to highlight that in this spring dinner so I paired leeks with cream and peas and used that as a base for grilled salmon.

This is dead simple and so yummy. You can make this with your eyes closed and your guests will be amazed at how elegant you are!

I had a ton of creamed leeks leftover so I made a bonus round 2 recipe: Creamed Leek Pasta. Add the creamed leeks to cooked whole wheat spaghetti, add a cup of starchy pasta cooking liquid and a cup of grated parmesan cheese. Awesome.

Creamed Leeks

5 leeks, white and light green parts only

1 cup frozen green peas, optional

2 Tbsp olive oil, 1 Tbsp butter (or any combination of the two)

1/2 cup heavy cream

salt and pepper to taste

squirt of fresh lemon juice, optional

Recipe Note: Leeks are the only vegetable I know of that you cut first and clean second, because of the dirt that grows into the layers. To clean, remove the tough dark green ends and the hairy root end. Slice the long way in half, then cut into half moons. Add the cut leeks to a big bowl of cold water and swish to release the dirt, which should sink to the bottom. Scoop out the leeks and shake or pat them dry before adding them to your skillet.

In a large skillet over medium heat, add your butter and/or olive oil. When it's hot, add your cleaned leeks and some salt and pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes or until leeks are softened. Add cream and peas and cook another 5 minutes or so until cream slightly thickens. Taste and add more salt or pepper if needed.

Serve under fish or chicken, or with pasta and parmesan cheese. Or just eat a bowl of it like this. Really, you can't go wrong.

ONE YEAR AGO: Tofu McNuggets

TWO YEARS AGO: Green Bean and Tuna Salad

Peanut Butter Hummus

Every now and then I get sick of myself and this blog and think it's time to pack it in. Then motivation comes from the strangest places. My awesome friend Ashley told me today over a lovely lunch that her dad made Chocomole and made everyone in the family taste it! I'm not sure it was a total home run with everyone, but I was so happy to hear about it. And it totally renewed my blogging energy.

So in the same vein as Chocomole, I present to you Peanut Butter Hummus. I wanted to merge the name like Chocomole, and like they do with trendy celebrity couples, but someone and his wife thought Peanummus sounded way too dirty for my blog (say it out loud a few times and you'll understand).

Peanut Butter Hummus is delicious. It's a lighter, fluffier, healthier version of peanut butter. You can and should bring a big bowl to work and eat with apple slices for breakfast or a snack (or both). You could fold in a handful of raisins and dip celery sticks into it. You could even eat it with a spoon like I did when the apples ran out.

Peanut Butter Hummus, adapted from Nourishing Flourishing

Recipe note: I didn't have a sweet potato on hand the first time I made this. I added it for the second batch as you can see in the photos and I didn't notice a huge improvement or change in taste or texture, so I'm listing it as optional. Be your own chef and try different variations until it's to your taste.

1 can or pint cooked or canned garbanzo beans, drained

1/3 cup peanut butter, any kind

1/4 cup cooked sweet potato or canned pumpkin, optional

up to 5-6 pitted dates (or approx 1/4 cup maple syrup or honey)

2 tsp vanilla

water, up to 1/4 cup or so

In a food processor, dump your beans, peanut butter, a bit of sweetener (3 dates or 3 Tbsp honey or maple syrup), and the vanilla. Blend. It will probably look really thick and dry.

Add water, 1 Tbsp at a time, until it's a smooth dipable consistency. Taste and add more dates or honey or maple syrup until it's sweet enough for you.

Serve with raisins, apples, celery, or anything else that sounds good.

ONE YEAR AGO: Guiltless Caesar Salad Dressing

TWO YEARS AGO: Roasted Tomato and Mushroom Sandwich with Goat Cheese

Gallo Pinto

Billions of people all over the world have survived on beans and rice - in their many different forms - for thousands of years. Obviously, it's an incredibly cheap and healthy meal. And so delicious...I love rice and beans.

Typically, when I make beans and rice, I simmer brown rice in vegetable stock for 45-50 minutes, then simply add black beans and a jar of homemade roasted tomato salsa. It's a great, satisfying, simple supper. But it can get kind of boring and one-note. Gallo pinto takes beans and rice and kicks it up a notch with the addition of an extra layer of flavor with Worcestershire sauce.

I first heard the words "gallo pinto" in 2004 when Cassandra returned from the Peace Corps in Nicaragua and raved about it as the best breakfast ever. It's actually the national dish of Nicaragua and Costa Rica. If that's not a testament to the greatness of this dish, I don't know what is!

Gallo Pinto, adapted from Serious Eats

Serves 4

1 yellow onion, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

2 cups brown rice, cooked in vegetable stock

1 pint black beans, with liquid (preferably home cooked)

4 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

salt and pepper

cilantro, chopped

4 eggs

In a large skillet over medium high heat, saute your onion and red pepper in some olive oil until soft. Add rice, beans, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper. Turn off heat and stir in cilantro.

Top with fried eggs.

ONE YEAR AGO: Fava, Leek, and Morel Pasta

TWO YEARS AGO: Succotash

Roasted Onion Soup

French Onion Soup has always been a fascinating food to me. It smells wonderful every time someone orders it at a restaurant, and the thick crust of melted cheese on top is mouthwatering. I'm half tempted to try it every time. But the thought of all that salty beef stock turns me off and it seems like one of those things where a vegetarian version just can't do the original justice (i.e. Turducken ?!?)

I've tried making a vegetarian version of onion soup before with slow caramelized onions but I just didn't have enough patience to cook the onions long enough and I missed out on that deep flavor that I was looking for. Fail.

Success today though, now that I've discovered the trick to amazing vegetarian onion soup. The answer, of course, lies within my favorite cooking technique....roasting. If you roast those onions, they develop an intensely sweet yet savory umami, that when paired with cooked down balsamic vinegar and red wine....well, let's just say I was not disappointed in the least.

I've been watching less and less Food Network in my free time, and more PBS cooking shows like America's Test Kitchen, Ming Tsai on Simply Ming, and Mary Ann Esposito on Ciao Italia. This last one is where I learned about Roasted Onion Soup, so I gathered up everything in my house that even remotely resembled an onion or garlic - I had yellow and red onion, ramps, scallions, and garlic that I chopped and roasted. My house smelled amazing.

Then you add the roasted onions to some parmesan-flavored stock and let the flavors simmer together for awhile. I served the finished soup topped with a thick slice of high quality multigrain bread (from Rustica Bakery) and a mountain of freshly grated Pleasant Ridge Reserve Cheese. After a quick trip to the broiler, the soup was ready. It was amazing.

Roasted Onion Soup, adapted from Ciao Italia

Serves 4-6 as a main course, more as a starter

Recipe notes: use any combination of onions and garlic you can find, I just listed what I used. Also, I didn't chop my onions small enough so the soup was a bit chunky. I would recommend dicing finely before roasting. But if not, you can do what I did and send the finished soup through a few quick pulses in a food processor or blender before serving. Finally, the parmesan cheese rind is optional in the stock, but adds a crazy awesome flavor. You should store your rinds in the freezer and they'll keep forever until you need to add them to soup!

1.5 large yellow onions, diced fine

1 large red onion, diced fine

1/2 bunch scallions, sliced fine

1 bunch ramps, sliced fine (ramps are wild leeks available only for a brief time in the spring)

4 large cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

olive oil, salt, and pepper

3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 cups red wine

6 cups vegetable stock (I used 6 cups water and 2 cubes Rapunzel veg bouillon)

1 parmesan cheese rind

3 dried bay leaves

handful fresh chopped parsley leaves

thick sliced multigrain bread

grated cheese - gruyere, parmesan, or provolone would all be great

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Toss your chopped onions and garlic with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast on a rimmed baking sheet for 30 minutes, or until nicely charred.

Add balsamic vinegar, stir, and roast another 5 minutes (it will get all glazey and sweet and delicious smelling).

Add wine and roast another 30 minutes.

Heat your stock, parmesan rind, and bay leaves in a large soup pot on the stove top. Add your roasted onion mixture and any remaining wine/balsamic liquid. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes. Add parsley. Blend at this point if too chunky.

Ladle soup into an oven-safe bowl. Put a thick slice of bread on top, then cover with grated cheese. Broil until cheese is melty and bubbly.

ONE YEAR AGO: Sloppy Lentils

TWO YEARS AGO: Grilled Romaine Salad

Asparagus and Goat Cheese Pizza

Pizza is such a magical thing. It's filling and comforting and familiar, but at the same time you can put crazy toppings on it and make something totally different from the traditional pizza you are used to.

I wanted to put my favorite springtime flavors (lemon, asparagus, goat cheese) on a crust and call it a pizza. It was incredibly good, with the exception of my cheapo lazy cop-out of a crust from a pop open can. It would have been so much better with a homemade crust but I don't like making dough. My summertime challenge is to find a local pizza place that will sell me a delicious ball of pizza dough for a reasonable price (and would it be too much to ask for whole wheat?).

But even despite the crust, I loved having this pizza for the first al fresco dinner of the year on my back deck with a fresh radicchio salad and a glass of chilled white wine. Spring really truly has finally sprung!

Asparagus and Goat Cheese Pizza, adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Serves 3-4

1 pizza dough (homemade or store bought)

1/2 bunch asparagus, peeled with a vegetable peeler

juice and zest of 1 lemon

salt and pepper and olive oil

1 log goat cheese

parmesan cheese

flat leaf parsley, chopped

pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.

In a bowl, mix together your peeled asparagus, juice of 1 lemon, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Let it sit to let the flavors meld 5-10 minutes.

Roll out the dough to your desired thickness on a baking sheet. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Crumble goat cheese over crust in an even layer. Top with lemony shaved asparagus. Finely grate a layer of parmesan cheese over the whole pizza.

Bake for 11-13 minutes or until crust is nicely browned at the edges and your asparagus has a bit of char on it. Immediately top with lemon zest, parsley, and a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes. Add more salt and pepper and parmesan cheese if needed.

ONE YEAR AGO: Potato Crusted Halibut with Sauteed Spring Veggies

TWO YEARS AGO: Chicken Paillard