Lemon-Ricotta Bars from food52

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For the Crust
1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 tablespoon lemon zest
3/4 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), cut into 1-inch pieces, slightly softened plus extra for greasing pan

For Lemon-Ricotta Filling
8 oz (1 cup) fresh whole milk Ricotta, drained
4 large eggs, beaten
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
3 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons lemon zest
2/3 cup lemon juice from 3 to 4 large lemons, strained
1/4 teaspoon salt

To make the crust: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Using a pastry brush, lightly butter a 13-by-9-inch baking dish and line with one sheet parchment paper. Butter paper, then lay second sheet crosswise over it. Pulse flour, confectioner’s sugar, cornstarch, lemon zest and salt in food processor. Add butter and process to blend; then pulse until mixture is pale yellow and resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle mixture into lined pan and, press firmly with fingers into even layer over entire pan bottom and about 1/2-inch up sides. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, and then bake until light golden brown, about 20 minutes. To make the filling: Whisk ricotta, eggs, sugar, and flour in medium bowl, then stir in lemon zest, juice, and salt to blend well. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Stir filling mixture before pouring into warm crust. Bake until filling feels firm when touched lightly, about 30 minutes. Transfer pan to wire rack; cool to room temperature, at least 2 hours. Transfer to cutting board, fold paper down, and cut into bars, wiping knife or pizza cutter clean between cuts. Dust with confectioner’s sugar.

Makes 18, 2-inches squares

 

How to Make Vegetarian Phở Without a Recipe from food52

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1Phở is a soup you stick your face in before you eat. You can’t help but smell it: mellow onion, all those spices, zesty lime, and hits from just-relaxed herbs all steaming up together. It simultaneo usly nestles you underneath your blankets and ships you to the street markets of Hanoi.

Having so many flavors at work in one soup means you have a lot to tinker with. First, there’s the broth: Classically, it’s beef- or chicken-based, but you can get an equally robust (and vegan) broth by taking some traditional broth ingredients, which you likely already have in your pantry, to the oven or stove beforehand. Plus, by using your nose, you can adjust the spice components of your broth before it gets to simmering, so you know you’ll like the final flavor. And we hope you really like it, because this broth is something to have on hand for the week, to carry whatever miscellaneous vegetables need using up.

In addition to the wide array of vegetables that fit into this soup, there are noodles, proteins, and umpteen garnishes to dabble in. Stir in as many or as few as you want, or let each person choose their own (a phở bar!). A few slurps, with all the textures of the mix-ins and that anchor of abroth, and you’ll feel good, fortified. Here’s how to do it:

1. Scorch. Cut an onion and 2 pieces of ginger in half; the peel can stay on. Using tongs, place the pieces of onion and ginger directly over the flame of your gas stove, one by one. Hold them there for 3 to 4 minutes, turning every so often so all the sides get black. It might look as if you’re making onion s’mores (which sound horrible) — but there’s a good reason you’re going there: Charring the aromatics gives them a smokiness and a nice, mellow sweetness.

If this indoor campfire sounds treacherous, you could also broil the onion and ginger in the oven for 3 to 4 minutes on each side. You could also skip the charring step entirely and proceed to step two using chopped raw onion and ginger, though the broth won’t end up quite as sweet and soothing.

2. Make the broth. Put the onion and ginger in a soup pot with 6 or so cups of water. Next come the spices. Measure a cupped palmful (or a tablespoon) each of fennel seeds, coriander seeds, and peppercorns, and add them to a little bowl. Throw in a few cardamom pods, star anise, cloves, and cinnamon sticks. Smell the mixture: Do you like how it smells? Do you want to eat a soup that tastes like that? Into the soup pot they go. Are you not getting enough fennel, or do you want more of another spice? Add a bit more, smell to make sure it smells like what you want, then add the spices to the pot. Throw in a pinch of salt.

3. Simmer. Bring the mixture to a boil, and let it simmer, covered, for an hour.

4. While you wait, prep your mix-ins. They may be a combination of:

  • Noodles: cooked rice noodles or soba (cook your noodles beforehand — cooking them in the broth will make the broth murky and starchy)
  • Chopped raw vegetables: bok choy, kale, spinach, broccoli, asparagus, mung bean sprouts, mushrooms, snap peas, or whatever you have lying around
  • Protein: tofu, shelled edamame, or — for the non-vegetarian route — cooked chicken or turkey or very thinly sliced raw beef
  • Garnish: lime, cilantro, basil, mint, Sriracha, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, green onions, or crispy fried shallots

As you bide the time while your soup cooks, entertain yourself with some phonomenal puns: Pho is a phobulous, unphogettable Vietnamese soup — pho real, it should be a phonomenon. Pho pho the win. Pho phoever. It’s pho sho what’s pho dinner. (Except really it’s pronounced “fah,” not “fo,” so you can phoget about this phonny business.)

5. Get ready to slurp. Your broth will be ready when you taste it and you like it. If the flavor isn’t intense enough, let it simmer for a little longer. If the spices are overwhelming, add a bit more water. Then, strain the broth and discard the solids. Ladle into and add as many or as few of your mix-ins as you’d like. Let the raw ones (everything but the noodles) soften a bit from the heat of the broth. Take a whiff. It’s good, right?2

spaghetti pangrattato with crispy eggs from smittenkitchen.com

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16619466105_a308392a45Crumbs
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 lg or 2 sm garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup fresh or stale coarse plain breadcrumbs panko worked great here
Salt and red pepper flakes, to taste
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, minced
Few fine gratings fresh lemon zest

 

Crispy Egg
1 glug of olive oil per egg
3 eggs
Salt and pepper

Pasta and Assembly
8 ounces dried spaghetti
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons small capers, drained (rinsed if salted), chopped
Handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1/3 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese (optional)

Make crispy crumbs (pangrattato): Heat olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Once hot, add garlic and let sizzle for barely a minute, just until it begins to turn a pale golden color. Add breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, rosemary and lemon zest and reduce heat to low, cooking mixture slowly until all of the crumbs are an even golden color, about 5 minutes. Set aside.

Cook pasta: Bring a large pot of well salted water to a generous boil and cook pasta until al dente about 1 to 2 minutes shy of package directions. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta cooking water before draining pasta.

Meanwhile, make crispy eggs: Wipe out breadcrumbs skillet. Return to stove over high heat and add a generous glug of olive oil per egg. Once hot enough that the oil begins to smoke, add egg(s). They’re going to hiss and splatter so step back as soon as you do. Spoon some of the cooking oil over the eggs, carefully. Season with salt and pepper. In 1 to 2 minutes, the egg(s) will be brown and very crisp underneath and around the edges. Shimmy a thin spatula underneath the egg(s) (a flexible fish spatula works great here), being careful not to break the yolk. If you’re cooking for someone who shouldn’t be eating runny yolks (ahem), you can flip the egg over and cook it for another 30 seconds or so before removing it. Transfer cooked egg(s) to paper towels to drain.

Assemble dish: Once pasta is drained, return it to the empty pot or a large skillet with 1 tablespoon olive oil and a splash or two (or all, if needed to loosen pasta) of reserved cooking water. Over high heat, toss with capers and parsley for 1 minute. Divide among bowls or plates. Sprinkle with Pecorino, if using, then 1/3 of breadcrumb (pangrattato) mixture. Place an egg over each dish, and break up with a fork. Eat immediately.  Serves 2, in generous heaps, or 3, petitely

 

DASHI (JAPANESE SEA STOCK)

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  • download6 cups cold water
  • 1 oz (30 grams) kombu (dried kelp), about 20 square inches
  • 2 (5-gram) packages katsuo bushi (dried bonito flakes), about 1 cup

Bring cold water and kombu just to a boil in a large saucepan over high heat. Remove from heat and remove kombu (saving it for pickled Napa cabbage ). Sprinkle katsuo bushi over liquid; let stand 3 minutes and, if necessary, stir to make katsuo bushi sink. Pour through a cheesecloth-lined sieve or a coffee filter into a bowl. Reserve katsuo bushi for rice with soy-glazed bonito flakes and sesame seeds .

cooks’ notes:• If making stock for miso soup it is not necessary to save the kombu or katsuo bushi. • Stock keeps 4 days. Cool, uncovered, before chilling, covered.

Shou Zhua Bing (Chinese Pancakes)

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STEP 1: MAKE THE FLAVORED ROUX:
3 tablespoons oil
4 scallions, white parts only (whole, not chopped)
3 star anise
1 tablespoon Sichuan peppercorns
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon five-spice powder
In a small saucepan over low heat, add the oil. Throw in the scallion pieces, star anise, and Sichuan peppercorns. Keep the pan over low heat for about 10 minutes, until fragrant. Pick out all the spices, so you essentially have a pot full of spiced oil. Stir in the flour and five-spice powder to create a thin roux. Set it aside, and let it cool completely.

STEP 2: MAKE THE DOUGH:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup boiling water
3/4 cup cold water
In a mixing bowl, combine the flour and salt. Make a well in the flour and add the boiling water. Mix with a fork or a pair of chopsticks. Gradually add the cold water and knead everything together to form a smooth dough ball. Cover with a damp cloth and let it rest for 30 minutes.

STEP 3: ASSEMBLY
1 1/2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1/4 cup finely chopped scallions (optional)
Salt, to taste
Depending on the pancake size you want, divide the dough into 4-8 equal pieces. Lightly brush some oil on a clean work surface. Roll each piece of dough into a long rope, and then use a rolling pin to roll it flat.

Stand the roll upright and press it down with your palm. Lightly roll out the resulting circle until you get a pancake that’s between 1/4-1/2” thick. It’s ok of the outer edges break open a bit. Repeat for each pancake.

At this point, you can cook them, or freeze them by separating each pancake with a layer of plastic wrap or wax paper, and then putting them in a freezer bag. There’s no need for thawing when you want to cook them.

COOKING:
Heat a pan over medium heat and add a tablespoon or two of oil. Place the pancake in the pan. Once the bottom starts to turn a little golden, add two teaspoons of water to the sides of the pan (don’t pour the water on the pancake), and immediately cover with a lid. Cook 3 minutes. Uncover the pan, flip the pancake, and do the same steps with the other side.

To finish, uncover the lid again, turn up the heat slightly, and brown both sides while flipping the pancake occasionally. When it’s golden brown, use a pair of chopsticks to squeeze and pinch the pancake a couple times to loosen the layers (this step is optional), because you ideally want to see the layers when you hand-pull it apart. The cooked pancake should be crispy and slightly chewy.

cinna-buns from king arthur

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1-R305Dough
1 cup (8 ounces) lukewarm milk
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup unsalted butter, cut up
4 3/4 cups (20 ounces) Mellow Pastry Blend OR 4 1/2 cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast

Filling
1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, packed
3 tablespoons  ground cinnamon

Icing
one 3-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups glazing or confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Manual/Mixer Method: Combine all of the dough ingredients in a large mixing bowl, stirring till the mixture becomes cohesive. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled work surface, and knead it for 5 to 8 minutes, till it’s smooth. Or knead it in an electric mixer, using the dough hook, for 4 to 7 minutes at medium speed. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, turn to grease all sides, cover the bowl with a proof cover or plastic wrap, and let it rise for 60 minutes, till it’s nearly doubled in bulk.

Assembly: Transfer the dough to a lightly greased work surface, and roll it into a 16 x 21-inch rectangle. Spread the dough with the 1/3 cup butter. Mix the brown sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle it evenly over the dough.

Starting with a short end, roll the dough into a log, and cut it into 12 slices. Place the buns in a lightly greased 9 x 13-inch pan. Cover the pan with a proof cover or plastic wrap, and let the buns rise until they’re nearly doubled, about 30 minutes.

Bake the buns in a preheated 400°F oven until they’re golden brown, about 15 minutes. While the buns are baking, make the icing.

Icing: In a small bowl, beat together the cream cheese, butter, sugar, and vanilla. Spread the icing on the buns while they’re warm. Yield: 12 big buns.

 

Snowy Morrison’s hot smoked salmon

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  • download200g thick salmon fillets, bones removed but skin left on
  • 1 tbs dark rum
  • 1 tbs soft brown sugar
  • 1 tbs cajun spice
  • 1 tbs salt flakes
  • 1 tbs tomato sauce
  • 1 tbs low-salt soy sauce
1. To make the secret rub, combine the brown sugar, Cajun spice and salt, then mix in the tomato sauce and soy sauce

2. Wash the salmon with the rum and leave to marinate for 30 minutes

3. Massage in the secret rub and leave to marinate in the refrigerator for 2 hours

4. Remove the salmon from the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature

5. Prepare a kettle barbecue for indirect cooking, building a small coal fire on both sides of the grill and allowing it to burn quite low until almost out

6. Add 2 handfuls of pre-soaked woodchips to both sides and allow them to start smoking well, with the lid on (temperature should be around 80-100°C)

7. Place the salmon on the grill, away from the heat source. Replace the lid and smoke for 40 minutes. Do NOT lift the lid because if you’re looking, you’re not cooking

8. Check the fish after 40 minutes, when it should be just cooked, and remove from the barbeque and allow it to rest before serving

Soda Crackers from Bernard Clayton

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1 1/2 cups bread or all-purpose flour (I used White Lily all purpose flour)
2 1/4 tsp. yeast
1/4 tsp. salt, plus extra for sprinkling
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
2/3 cup hot water (120 – 130 degrees)
1/2 tsp. malt syrup (I used 1/4 tsp. molasses)
2 tbsp. vegetable shortening
2 tbsp. melted butter

In a large bowl mix flour, yeast, salt, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Set aside. In a small bowl mix water, malt syrup and shortening. Stir to blend then add to flour mixture. Mix until well blended then knead for about 4 minutes until the dough is soft and elastic. Add more flour if needed. Put the dough into a butted bowl, flip over to coat all sides of the dough, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 to 18 hours. The longer the better. Roll the dough into a 18″ x 6″ rectangle which is 1/16″ thick. Fold the dough from the short ends, brushing off excess flour, to make 3 layers. Roll again to 1/16″ thickness. Cut into crackers, place on a greased cookie sheet and poke holes in the crackers to prevent them from puffing up. Sprinkle with salt if desired. Bake at 425 for 10-20 minutes. Remove from the oven and brush the crackers with melted butter, sprinkle with salt if desired, then place crackers on a rack to cool.

Variations: For sesame-onion crackers, add to the dough 4 tsp. each sesame seeds and grated onion. For an herb cracker, 4 tsp. each chopped fresh parsley and chives and 1/2 tsp. dried dillweed; also try 4 tsp. caraway seeds or 2 tsp. poppy seeds.

Spinach Salad with Bosc Pears, cranberries, red onion and hazelnuts from epicurious.com

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355430Dressing

  • 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons whole-grain mustard
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
  • Freshly ground pepper
  • 1 cup thinly sliced red onion
  • 1/3 cup sweetened dried cranberries
  • 8 cups lightly packed fresh baby spinach leaves, stemmed if needed
  • 2 firm but ripe Bosc pears (do not peel), quartered lengthwise, cored, and cut into long, thin slices
  • 2/3 cup hazelnuts, toasted and chopped

To make the dressing, in a small jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine the olive oil, vinegar, mustard, sugar, salt, and pepper to taste. Cover tightly and shake vigorously to blend. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Set aside.

Place the onions in a medium bowl and cover with cold water. Let stand for 30 minutes. This crisps the onion and takes away the raw onion taste. Drain well and pat dry on paper towels.

In a small bowl, toss the cranberries with 2 tablespoons of the dressing to soften them. Set aside for at least 20 minutes or until ready to serve the salad.

To assemble the salad, place the spinach, onions, and pears in a large bowl. Give the remaining dressing a last-minute shake and pour over the salad. Toss to coat evenly. Arrange the salad in a large serving bowl or divide it evenly among 8 salad plates. Scatter the cranberries and hazelnuts over the top(s). Serve immediately.

Cook’s Notes
You can substitute unsalted cashews for the hazelnuts. Toast cashews, as directed above for hazelnuts, for 8 to 10 minutes until lightly browned.

The dressing can be made up to 1 day in advance, covered tightly, and refrigerated. Remove from the refrigerator 2 hours before serving. The nuts can be toasted up to 1 day in advance; store at room temperature in an airtight container. The onions and cranberries can be prepared up to up to 4 hours in advance. Set aside at room temperature.

 

one-pan farro with tomatoes from smittenkitchen.com

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2 cups water
1 cup farro
1/2 large onion (I usually use a white one, for mildness)
2 cloves garlic
9 ounces tomatoes
1 teaspoons kosher or coarse sea salt
Up to 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (to taste)
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
Few basil leaves, cut into thin ribbons
Grated parmesan cheese, for serving (optional)

Place water and farro in a medium saucepan to presoak (I find just 5 to 10 minutes sufficient) while you prepare the other ingredients. Adding each ingredient to the pot as you finish preparing it, cut onion in half again, and very thinly slice it into quarter-moons. Thinly slice garlic cloves as well. Halve or quarter tomatoes. Add salt, pepper flakes (to taste) and 1 tablespoon olive oil to pan, and set a timer for 30 minutes. Bring uncovered pan (no lid necessary) up to a boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally. When the timer rings, the farro should be perfectly cooked (tender but with a meaty chew), seasoned and the cooking water should be almost completely absorbed. If needed, though I’ve never found it necessary, cook it for 5 additional minutes, until farro is more tender.

Transfer to a wide serving bowl. If there’s enough leftover cooking liquid to be bothersome, simply use a slotted spoon to leave the amount you wish to behind. Drizzle farro lightly with additional olive oil, scatter with basil and parmesan. Eat immediately. Serves: 4 as a side, 2 as a hearty main