Tag Archives: lemon

Creamy Tuscan Cauliflower

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FOR THE CASHEW CREAM

  • 1 cup raw cashews
  • 1 cup water

FOR THE PAN-SEARED CAULIFLOWER

  • 1 head cauliflower, cut into 4 quarters (can also do cauliflower steaks or pieces)
  • Salt and Black Pepper, to taste
  • 2 tablespoons high heat oil (like avocado, grapeseed, or canola)

FOR THE CREAMY TUSCAN SAUCE

  • 2 tablespoons plant-based butter (or more oil)
  • 1 bulb garlic, minced (more or less to taste)
  • 2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
  • 2 teaspoons Garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon Smoked paprika
  • ½ teaspoon Chili flakes
  •  ½ teaspoon Black pepper
  • ½ teaspoon Salt
  • ⅔ cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil, chopped
  • 3 cups veggie stock
  • ⅔ cup vegan parmesan, grated
  • ½ cup fresh parsley, chopped
  • 1 lemon, juiced
  • 2-4 tablespoons dry white wine (optional)
  • 1-2 tablespoons white miso (optional)

  • PREHEAT OVEN to 425˚F/225˚C.
  • FOR CASHEW CREAM: Add 1 cup each cashews and water to a high-speed blender and blend until smooth*. Set aside.
  • FOR CAULIFLOWER PIECES: Add salt and pepper as desired to the cauliflower pieces. In a cast iron skillet, add 2 tablespoon oil over medium high heat. Once hot, add cauliflower pieces, flat side down. Do not overcrowd the pan, and do in batches if needed. Cook for 1-3 minutes until a nice brown, caramelized color starts to appear. Then, flip to the next cut side and cook an additional 1-3 minutes.
  • FOR BAKING: Place cast iron skillet in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes**. Cauliflower should be just fork tender.
  • FOR TUSCAN SAUCE: While cauliflower in in the oven, add 2 tablespoon plant-based butter to a skillet and let melt over medium heat. Then add minced garlic and let cook for about 30 seconds. Add 2 tablespoon Italian seasoning, 2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon smoked paprika, ½ teaspoon each chili flakes, black pepper and salt, and stir, then add ⅔ cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes and stir again, cook for abut 1 minute. 
  • Add 3 cups vegetable stock and scrape the bottom of your pot. Add in all of the cashew cream and ⅔ cup grated parmesan and whisk together. Then ½ cup fresh chopped parsley, juice of 1 lemon, and if adding the optional 2-4 tablespoon dry white wine and 1-2 tablespoon white miso. Stir together until all ingredients are well combined. If needed, thin with more stock as desired. When cauliflower is done, add it to the sauce. Serve warmed. 

Notes

*Cashew cream: if you don’t have a high speed blender, you’ll want to soak your cashews for at least 2 hours in hot water, then blend.

**If you aren’t using a cast iron pan (or an oven safe pan, place cauliflower pieces on a baking sheet for the oven time.

***The sauce portion has been doubled from the video amounts shown.  After testing a few times with our family we decided we liked more sauce.  If you don’t like a lot of sauce, feel free to halve that part (keeping lemon juice and miso the same)

Creamy Asparagus Pasta With Peas and Mint from NYT

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  • 1 teaspoon fine sea or table salt, more as needed
  • 1 pound short pasta, such as campanelle
  • 1 pound asparagus (about 1 bunch), trimmed
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • ¾ cup frozen green peas (no need to thaw)
  • 4 scallions, white and green parts thinly sliced
  • ¼ teaspoon red-pepper flakes
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • ¾ cup heavy cream
  • ¾ cup grated Parmesan, more for serving
  • 1 lemon, zested and halved
  • ½ cup chopped fresh mint (or use parsley, basil or dill), for serving
  • Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling

  1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook pasta until al dente according to package directions.
  2. As the pasta boils, slice asparagus stems into ¼-inch-thick pieces; leave asparagus tips whole.
  3. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add asparagus, peas, scallions and red-pepper flakes. Cook until vegetables are bright green and just tender (but not soft or mushy), 2 to 4 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook 1 minute more. Season with the salt and ¼ teaspoon black pepper; pour mixture into a large serving bowl.
  4. To the same skillet, add the heavy cream, ½ cup grated Parmesan and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Simmer until reduced and thick, about 2 to 3 minutes. Return vegetables to the skillet and toss with the sauce to reheat.
  5. When the pasta is done, reserve ½ cup pasta water, then drain well.
  6. Immediately put the hot pasta in the same bowl you used for the vegetables and toss with remaining ¼ cup grated Parmesan, lemon zest and mint. Add vegetable-cream mixture and the juice of half a lemon, and toss well. If the mixture looks thick, add a little pasta water to loosen it; it should be saucy. Taste and season generously with salt, pepper and more lemon juice as needed; it should taste bright and lively. Serve, topping each bowl with more Parmesan, mint and a drizzle of olive oil.

Plum Torte-Smitten Kitchen

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Marian Burros’s plum torte is a cult classic in which a mass of plums are coated with cinnamon sugar and baked into a pancake-like batter, where they melt into pie-like pockets and you definitely don’t want to miss it. It’s the perfect September baked good. This is ideal with blueish/purple Italian prune plums, but if you can’t find them, other plums will do. The internet is full of riffs on the cake, like cutting the sugar back to 3/4 cup (feel free to, although I didn’t find the 1 cup too sweet at all), with or without lemon juice, ranges of cinnamon (1 teaspoon is the original amount; 1 tablespoon was a typo that’s not bad at all, but I usually use the smaller amount). I’m not immune, either: I sometimes start by browning the butter and letting it cool to room temp before whisking the batter together by hand. In 2023, I’ve made a few minor updates: Sharing how I one-bowl the cake,and bumping up the salt (previously: a large pinch).

2024 Plum Torte Updates

  • 1 cup (200 grams) plus 1 to 2 tablespoons granulated sugar (use less for sweeter plums)
  • 1/2 cup (115 grams or 8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup (130 grams) all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon (5 grams) baking powder (ideally aluminum-free)
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 12 smallish purple Italian purple plums, halved and pitted
  • 2 teaspoons (10 grams) fresh lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Heat oven to 350°F. Coat a 9-inch springform [I have this one] with butter or nonstick spray. For even easier removal, line the bottom with a round of parchment paper. 

In a large bowl, beat butter and 1 cup (200 grams) of the sugar together with an electric mixer until fluffy and lighter in color. Add the eggs, one at a time and scraping down the bowl. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt over batter and mix it until just combined. 

Spoon batter into prepared cake pan and smooth the top. Arrange the plum tightly in the pan, skin side up, all over the batter, covering it. Sprinkle the top with lemon juice, then cinnamon, then remaining sugar.

Bake until cake is golden and a toothpick inserted into a center part of the cake comes out free of batter (but of course not plum juice), about 45 to 50 minutes. Cool on rack.

Once cool, if you can stand it, and I highly recommend trying, leave it at room temperature overnight as this cake is even better on the second day, when those plum juices further release into the cake around it, becoming not just “cake with plum,” but cakeplumughyum (official terminology, there). If planning more than 2 to 3 days out, I’ll store the cake in the fridge for longevity.

Baked Cod with Ritz Cracker Topping from simple recipes

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Any white, lean fish will work with this recipe. In New England, cod, haddock, pollock and hake are traditional, but walleye, catfish, bass, snapper, Pacific rock cod, striped bass or Gulf Coast redfish will all work.

  • 2 pounds skinless cod fillets
  • Salt
  • 1 sleeve Ritz crackers (about 34 crackers)
  • 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • Lemon and parsley for garnish, optional
  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F:Grease a small baking pan or casserole pan with butter or a little oil.
  2. Prepare the fish:Rinse off the fish fillets with cold water, pat dry. Use long nose pliers to remove any pin bones from the fillets.
  3. Place the fillets in bottom of dish:If you want, cut the fillets into large serving pieces. Place the fillets at the bottom of the pan, sprinkle with salt.Elise BauerElise Bauer
  4. Top the fish with cracker and butter mixture:Melt the butter. Crush the Ritz crackers and place in a bowl; they should look like coarse breadcrumbs. Mix the melted butter with the breadcrumbs. Pack the crumb mixture over the top and sides of the fish fillets.
  5. Bake:Place in the 350°F oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until the fish flakes easily. (Thin fillets may take less time, very thick fillets may take longer.)

Fraughan fool from BBC

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150g (a little over 5oz) fraughans or blueberries, plus more for garnish
1 tsp white sugar
juice of half a lemon, plus zest for garnishing
2 large thyme sprigs, plus leaves for garnishing
250ml (8½oz) double cream

This recipe is based on the simple treat of fraughans, cream and sugar for an easy-to-make dessert. It’s perfect with blueberries as well.

150g (a little over 5oz) fraughans or blueberries, plus more for garnish
1 tsp white sugar
juice of half a lemon, plus zest for garnishing
2 large thyme sprigs, plus leaves for garnishing
250ml (8½oz) double cream

Step 1
Put the fraughans or blueberries in a medium saucepan. Add the sugar, lemon juice and thyme sprigs. Cook over low heat for 5-10 minutes until the berries start to break down and thicken but retain some of their shape. Remove the thyme sprigs and set the compote aside to cool.

Step 2
In a medium bowl, whip the cream until it is thick enough to hold its shape when the compote is stirred in; if it’s too soft it will collapse. Gently fold half of the cooled compote into the whipped cream to ripple through.

Step 3
Spoon the whipped berry cream into individual servings and drizzle over more compote. Garnish with lemon zest, thyme leaves and extra berries.

spring asparagus galette from smitten kitchen

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  • 1 pound asparagus
  • Kosher salt
  • 1/2 cup (125 grams) ricotta cheese
  • 1/2 cup (45 grams) grated gruyere, comte, or gouda cheese
  • 1/4 cup (30 grams) grated parmesan or pecorino cheese
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • Red pepper flakes or freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil
  • Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
  • 1 large egg or egg yolk (optional, for shine)

Make the crust: Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl. Sprinkle butter over dough and using a pastry blender or your fingertips, work it into the flour until the mixture resembles small peas. Sprinkle sour cream and 3 tablespoons of water over the mixture and stir/mash it together to combine; it should form large clumps; add last tablespoon water if it does not. Use your hands to bring it together into a single mass. Transfer dough to a large square of parchment paper, patting it into a flatter packet, and wrap it tightly. Chilling it in the fridge until firm, 1 to 2 hours or up to 4 days. You can hasten the firming process along in the freezer, for about 20 minutes.

Make the filling: Hold the asparagus by the tough end (no need to snap it off) and cut the tips into 1-inch segments and the rest of the spears into very thin slices on a sharp angle. In a large bowl, toss with 1 teaspoon kosher salt and set aside for 30 minutes. 

In a small bowl, combine ricotta, gruyere, parmesan, garlic, a pinch of salt, and pepper to taste and set aside.

Drain asparagus in a colander and pat it dry on paper towels. Return it to the empty bowl and toss with olive oil, lemon zest, and pepper to taste. (No need to salt because it will be well-seasoned from the salting step.)

Assemble galette: Heat oven to 400°F. Unwrap firm crust dough and line a large baking sheet with the parchment paper that it was wrapped in. On a floured counter, roll the dough out into a large round-ish shape, about 14 inches across. Gently transfer it to the parchment paper in the pan. Spread ricotta mixture over center, leaving a 3-inch border bare. Spoon asparagus over ricotta layer. Fold the border over the filling, pleating the edge to make it fit. The center will be open.

For a darker, glossier crust, beat an egg or just a yolk with 1 teaspoon of water and brush it over the crust. 

Bake galette: For 30 to 35 minutes, until the crust is deeply golden. Serve warm, in wedges.

Do ahead: This galette keeps in the fridge for up to one week. It’s good at room temperature but even better warm, so the cheese is all stretchy again.

morning glory breakfast cake, smitten kitchen

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  • 1 cup (145 grams) grated apple (from 1 7-ounce/medium-large apple)
  • 1 cup (115 grams) grated carrot (from 1 thick carrot)
  • 1/2 cup (80 grams) very well-drained crushed pineapple or chopped fresh pineapple
  • 1/3 cup (30 grams) shredded unsweetened coconut
  • 1/4 cup raisins or another dried fruit (optional)
  • Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
  • 2/3 cup (130 grams) raw or granulated sugar
  • 2/3 cup (155 ml) neutral oil
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 1/4 cups (160 grams) all-purpose or whole-wheat flour
  • 2 tablespoons toasted, salted pepitas (optional)

Heat your oven to 350 degrees F. Coat 8-inch square baking pan with butter or nonstick cooking spray. Line the bottom with parchment and let it extend up two sides of the pan. 

In a large bowl, combine apple, carrot, pineapple, coconut, dried fruit, if using, lemon zest, sugar, and oil. Add eggs, and whisk to combine. Sprinkle spices, salt, baking powder, and baking soda over the batter and stir very well to combine. Add flour, and stir just until it disappears.

Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth the top. Sprinkle pepitas over cake, if using. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out batter-free. Let cool in pan then carefully cut into squares with a serrated knife. 

The cake is very moist and a little crumbly. I find that it keeps best in the fridge. The cake will keep for 5 to 6 days, chilled.

Stovetop Mushroom Lasagna from ba

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  • 5 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, divided
  • 12 oz. mixed mushrooms (such as maitake, oyster, shiitake, and/or crimini), trimmed, torn into 1″ pieces
  • 1½ tsp. tsp. kosher salt, plus more
  • 2 Tbsp. thyme leaves
  • 1 large shallot, finely chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves, finely grated
  • 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
  • 2¾ cups whole milk
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 lemon
  • ⅓ cup crème fraîche or thinned sour cream
  • 8 oz. regular lasagna noodles, broken in half
  • 4 oz. mozzarella, thinly sliced
  • Finely grated Parmesan (for serving)
  • Heat 3 Tbsp. oil in a large high-sided ovenproof skillet or small Dutch oven over medium-high. Add mushrooms and cook, undisturbed, until starting to brown, about 4 minutes. Season with salt and cook, tossing occasionally, until golden brown, 5–7 minutes. Transfer to a bowl; mix in thyme.
  • Reduce heat to medium-low. Heat remaining 2 Tbsp. oil in skillet. Add shallot and garlic and cook, stirring, until starting to soften, about 1 minute. Sprinkle flour over and cook, stirring, until golden, about 1 minute.
  • Add milk, pepper, 1½ tsp. salt, and 1¾ cups water, then finely grate zest of ¼ lemon into pan. Stir to dissolve flour, increase heat to medium, and cook until gently bubbling. Reduce heat to low, whisk in crème fraîche, and stir to combine. Add about one third of noodles, pushing down into sauce to submerge, followed by a third of  mushrooms. Repeat with half of remaining noodles and mushrooms. Top with another layer of noodles. Set remaining mushrooms aside. Cover with a lid or foil and cook 15 minutes. (If lasagna threatens to boil over, use very lowest heat and/or prop open the cover.) Uncover; cook, gently lifting and separating noodles occasionally with tongs or a spatula to let sauce flow around, until sauce is thickened and noodles are cooked through, 6–8 minutes. Mixture should be bubbling gently; adjust heat as necessary. Remove from heat.
  • Heat broiler. Top lasagna with mozzarella and reserved mushrooms. Broil until cheese is bubbling and browned in spots, about 2 minutes. Finely grate more lemon zest over. Sprinkle with Parmesan; season with pepper. Let sit 5–10 minutes. Cut lemon into wedges and serve with lasagna.

Roasted Zucchini With Garlicky Bread Crumbs and Mozzarella, melissa clark

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  •  Extra-virgin olive oil, as needed
  • 4 medium zucchini, sliced lengthwise into 1/2-inch-thick planks
  •  Fine sea salt
  • ½ cup panko bread crumbs
  • ½ cup grated Parmesan
  • 4 anchovy fillets, minced
  • 1 garlic clove, finely grated or mashed to a paste
  • ½ teaspoon herbes de Provence or dried oregano
  •  Pinch of red-pepper flakes, plus more for serving
  • 4 ounces mozzarella, grated (about 1 cup)
  •  Black pepper
  • 3 tablespoons chopped, pitted black or green olives
  • 2 tablespoons torn basil or parsley leaves
  •  Lemon wedges, for serving
  1. Heat broiler. Brush a rimmed sheet pan with olive oil, then lay the zucchini out in an even layer. Brush zucchini with more oil and sprinkle generously with salt.
  2. Broil until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Flip and broil until golden in spots, 4 to 6 minutes.
  3. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, toss together bread crumbs, Parmesan, anchovies, garlic, herbes de Provence or oregano, red-pepper flakes and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Add 2 tablespoons oil and use your fingers to rub oil, garlic and anchovies into the crumbs.
  4. When zucchini is browned on both sides, turn off broiler and set oven to 500 degrees. Sprinkle zucchini with mozzarella, then bread crumb mixture; generously drizzle with oil. Bake until cheese melts and bread crumbs turn golden, about 4 minutes.
  5. Grind black pepper over top and drizzle with more oil, if needed. Top zucchini with olives, basil and additional red-pepper flakes, if desired, and serve with lemon wedges for squeezing.

Lulu’s crab supreme

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for the white sauce
4 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
1 c milk
1 tsp mustard
1/2 tsp worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp horseradish
salt
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp mayo
1 lb crab
for topping
1/2 c fresh bread crumbs
2 tbsp melted butter

Preheat oven to 400. Lightly butter a shallow 2 qt baking dish.
White sauce: melt the butter in a small sauce pan. stir in the flour and cook stirring constantly for 1-2 min. Slowly wisk in the milk bring the mixture to a boil and cook until mixture thickens (2-3 min) Remove from the heat and stir in mustard, wor sauce, horseradish, salt, lemon juice and mayo.

place the crab in the prepared dish.pour in white sauce and stir gently/

in a small bowl toss the bread crumbs with butter. sprinkle over the casserole. bake in oven for 10 min NO Longer.