Tag: lemon

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very spring salad

We had this salad on Sunday and Monday. It is very spring, very light and very lovely. It also used up all of the fruit and veggies left over from our CSA Box—win-win.

Very Spring Salad, adapted from The Heart of the Artichoke by David Tanis
a few handfuls of arrugula
a few handfuls of lettuce
1 bunch radishes, cut into thin slices
1 small bulb fennel, cut into thin slices
2 oranges, cut into segments
2 T mint, finely chopped
2 T olive oil
juice of one lemon
salt and pepper

Toss the arrugula and lettuce together. Place in a platter or large dish. Slice radishes, fennel and mint finely. I used a mandolin to slice the radish and fennel. Sprinkle them on top of lettuce. Segment out the oranges and place on top. I segmented the oranges over the salad platter so that the juices from the orange fell into the salad. Just before serving, drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Now, isn’t that an adorable radish?

-Emily

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grilled cheese with asparagus and preserved lemons

Like I said, cheese sandwiches are all the rage. I had a version of this sandwich at Mission Cheese Shop a few weekends ago and it was delicious. I had to recreate it at home for Jordan.

Grilled Cheese with Asparagus and Preserved Lemons
4 slices of sourdough bread
2/3 cup fontina cheese, grated
1 T butter
4 stalks asparagus, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 preserved lemon, cut into very thin slices

Turn on the broiler. Spread the asparagus on a baking sheet. Drizzle with a little olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Broil the asparagus for a few minutes, until al dente and browned slightly.

Spread the bread with butter. Heat a nonstick saucepan over low heat. Put the bread in the pan butter side down, layer with cheese, asparagus and preserved lemon, top with another slice of bread. Cover the pan and let cook for about 5 minutes, until golden brown. Flip and cook the other side until golden. Cut in half and serve hot.

-Emily

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lemon raspberry muffins

These muffins may look familiar … And that’s because I made them just a few weeks ago with blackberries in place of the raspberries.  The lemon muffin is delicious and the raspberries are an even better topping. Just make them!

You can find the original recipe here. Follow that and just replace the blackberries with raspberries at the last step.

-Emily

 

 

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crostini with spicy salmon, lemon and avocado

I impulse bought an entire salmon in the Whole Foods parking lot the other day. While I don’t think that this particular urge affects many girls my age, I just couldn’t help myself. They were just so cute and so well-priced …

Jordan invented this little crostini. I have to say that salmon and lemon are a match made in heaven! He threw this together in just a few minutes and it looked and tasted dang impressive. Give it a go at your next dinner party.

Crostini with Spicy Salmon, Lemon and Avocado
10 pieces of rustic style bread, thinly sliced and toasted
1 lemon, halved lengthwise and then very very thinly sliced
1/2 avocado, thinly sliced
1/2 cup raw salmon, cubed (We used the beat up remains from slicing the fillet into pieces for sashimi. You need small, bite-sized pieces of fish to make this easy to eat).
1 t sriracha hot chili sauce
1 T soy sauce

In a small bowl, mix the salmon, sriracha and soy sauce. Layer each crostini with the spicy salmon, lemon slice, and top with avocado. Enjoy!

-Emily

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honey ginger sandwich cookies with lemon cream

These cookies started out as ginger snaps. And then I realized that I didn’t have any ground ginger, remembered that I don’t actually like molasses, and worried that ginger snaps are often teeth-breakingly crunchy. Also, I wanted something lemony. So I improvised and ended up with these soft sandwich cookies. The fresh ginger is refreshing and pairs nicely with the lemon. The honey is mild, and much better than molasses. I might even suggest that it lends the soft texture to these cookies.

Honey Ginger Sandwich Cookies with Lemon Buttercream

For the cookies
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 stick plus 2 T unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar, separated
1 egg
1/4 cup honey
2 T fresh ginger, diced

Preheat an oven to 350. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a small saucepan over low heat, dissolve 1/4 cup sugar with the ginger. Take care to  stir often and watch it closely. Once dissolved, take of the heat. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt. In a mixer, beat butter until light and fluffy. Cream in remaining 1/2 cup sugar. Add egg, honey and ginger-sugar mixture. Add flour and stir just to combine.

Place 1 T size dollops of cookie dough about 3 inches apart on a cookie sheet. These cookies will spread out and flatten quite a bit while cooking. Bake for 15 minutes, until golden brown. Cool on a rack before frosting.

For the buttercream
6 T unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 lemon, zest and juice

Beat the butter until light and fluffy. Add the zest and lemon juice. Beat in the powdered sugar. Spread a large dollop of frosting on one cooled cookie and top with another.

Jordan and I both enjoyed these cookies. While they won’t become my go-to cookie, Jordan says he wants to give them another try. The cookie was overshadowed by my very lemony buttercream frosting. Jordan thought I was just crazy to try a new cookie and a new frosting in just one confection—maybe I’ll bake only the cookies next time.

-Emily

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lemon blackberry muffins

I was very much in a muffin mood this Saturday morning—sometimes it just feels good to make muffins! (I think this might make me weird/a grandma, but I’m going to roll with it). It does help that both Jordan and Robin very much enjoy when I am in a muffin mood and generously offer to help me eat the muffins produced.

These muffins are adapted from Smitten Kitchen. Deb is just so good at making recipes that I absolutely must try. I definitely have a cook-crush on her, no question about it.

Blackberry-Topped Lemon Muffins, adapted from Smitten Kitchen
1 1/8 cup sugar, divided
2 lemons, zested
2 cups flour
2 1/2 t baking powder
3/4 t salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
2 t vanilla extract
1 container blackberries (in my case) or raspberries (per Deb’s recommendation)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners or grease and flour them. In a small bowl, mash 1/8 cup of sugar with the lemon zest. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.

In the bowl of a mixer, cream the butter. Add the remaining 1 cup sugar. Add the egg, buttermilk, vanilla and lemon sugar. Mix in the flour just to combine.

Spoon the lemon muffin batter into the cups. Top each muffin with several berries, pressing the berries into the batter slightly. Bake for 30 minutes, until the tops of the muffins are just golden.

When we first tried these muffins, Jordan thought that the berries weren’t really necessary.  They sure looked pretty, but didn’t add much in the way of flavor. I kind of had to agree. The lemon muffin was great without them. But the second morning that I enjoyed the muffins, I changed my mind. The berries add a great tartness to the muffins and have a nice texture to boot. If I make these again, I will most certainly keep the berries.

-Emily

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lemon tart with shortbread crust

What does one do when one somehow (how?!?) forgets an entire tin of shortbread cookies on top of her refrigerator? Well, this girl turns those past-their-prime cookies into a delightful pie crust. And then fills that pie crust with a dreamy lemon cream.

Lemon Cream Tart with Shortbread Crust, lemon cream from the Tartine Bakery Cookbook and cookies from Lottie + Doof

For the crust
1 cup shortbread cookie crumbs

Forget about a tin of these cookies or purchase a decent shortbread cookie. In a food processor, process the cookies until they are sand-like and start to come together. At this point, you may need to add a little melted butter to bring the crumbs together. My cookies were already so buttery that I didn’t need to. Push the crust into a tart pan or pie dish using the back of a measuring cup. Refrigerate the crust.

For the lemon cream
1/2 cup plus 2 T lemon juice
3 eggs
1 egg yolk
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup butter, cut into 1 T pieces

In a metal or glass bowl set over simmering water, whisk together the lemon juice, eggs and sugar. Tip: Don’t let the eggs and sugar sit together without whisking because the sugar will “cook” the egg and make the whole mixture grainy. Continue whisking until the mixture has reach 180 degrees and is a thick custard. Take the bowl off the heat and let it cool to 140 degrees.

Once it has cooled slightly, blend in the butter 1 T at a time. The Tartine Bakery Cookbook recommends using an immersion blender for this step. Once you have added all the butter and the mixture is smooth, pour it into the tart shell. Refrigerate for a few hours to let it set up.

I served this with peaches one night and on its own the next. Both were wonderful.

-Emily

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cream cheese pound cake, two ways

I made this cake for a dinner party we went to on Friday night. It was great and I decided to make it again for our mamas when they came down to celebrate Mother’s Day last Sunday.

A quick side note here: Jordan was an absolute champ both nights. Friday night he sweetly convinced me  – braving my baking righteousness – to bring the cake unbaked to Matt and Alexa’s to finish there. I had just assembled the ingredients and it was already 6:35 pm when I sheepishly admitted that the cake would need to bake for at least an hour. Good call Jordan! Sunday night he was also a dream. Jordan cooked an amazing dinner for 6 ladies, listened to them gab endlessly for hours and did all the dishes! I am a lucky, lucky girl!

Now onto the amazing cake! My new go-to pound cake (aside from the blood orange olive oil cake from a few weeks ago).

Cream Cheese Pound Cake with Strawberry Coulis or Passionfruit Glaze, adapted from Smitten Kitchen

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
4 oz  cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cup sugar
zest of two lemons
3 large eggs
1 t vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 t salt

Preheat an oven to 325 degrees. Butter and flour a loaf pan (or butter a loaf pan and dust with granulated sugar- my preferred method borrowed from my friend Miykaelah).  

Beat the butter and cream cheese in a mixture until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and zest. Beat in the eggs one at a time until combined. Add the vanilla. Stir in the flour and salt until just combined. Pour into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from the pan. If serving with strawberry coulis, you can serve the cake warm. If you plan to glaze the cake, let it cool to room temperature before glazing. 

Strawberry Coulis
1 cup fresh strawberries, stems removed
1/4 cup water
2 T sugar
1 T lemon juice 


In a blender or food processor, puree the berries, water, sugar and lemon juice until smooth. Strain though a fine mesh sieve and chill. Serve with several tablespoons poured over each slice of cake. 

Passionfruit Glaze
3 T passionfruit pulp
2/3 cup powdered sugar

We all know how much I love passionfruit. It is the most amazing tropical fruit I’ve ever eaten. I wrote a delightful piece about my love here. You can find passionfruit pulp in the freezer section of some latin markets. If you ever see one fresh, buy it (and immediately call me with the market coordinates)!

Whisk together the passionfruit pulp and powdered sugar until smooth. Pour over the cooled cake. Let sit at room temperature to harden. 

Passionfruit Sauce
1/4 cup passionfruit pulp
3 T simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water heated until the sugar dissolves)

Serve with several spoonfuls poured over each slice of passionfruit glazed cake for an extra passionfruity tartness. 

This cake is awesome with both fruit sauces. The strawberry is delightfully seasonal and fresh. The passionfruit is too good to describe, especially if your are as obsessed as I. Honestly, I’d recommend both. Maybe do half and half when you bake it at home. 

-Emily

 

 

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lemon cream pie with fresh strawberries

This pie is about as spring as you can get in one dessert! The fresh strawberries compliment the lemon cream perfectly and it’s not heavy, which is nice now that the weather is starting to warm up a bit. Additional bonuses: it looks gorgeous and you can assemble it all in advance!

Lemon Cream Pie with Fresh Strawberries

For the crust, from the Tartine Bakery cookbook


This recipe makes two pie crusts. You’ll only need one for this recipe, so stick the other in the freezer and defrost overnight in the refrigerator the nigh before you want to use it. 

1 1/2 t salt
2/3 cup very cold water
3 cups plus 2 T all purpose flour
1 cup plus 5 T unsalted butter very cold, cut into cubes

In a small bowl, add the salt to the water and stir to dissolve.  Put the flour in the bowl of a food processor.  Sprinkle the butter on top. Pulse briefly. Add the water. Pulse again. The dough will just begin to come together. Pour the dough onto a lightly floured counter. Divide into two balls. Press into 1 inch thick disks. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight. 

Roll out the dough until it is 1/8 inch thick. Lay into a pie or tart dish. Line with parchment and fill with pie weights, beans or rice (new discovery on the rice – works just fine). Chill the shell for another 30 minutes to get the flakiest crust. 

Heat an oven to 375 degrees. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove the weight and parchment and bake for another 5 minutes. Cool completely.

For the filling, adapted from the SF Chronicle
4 eggs
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
zest of two lemons
1/2 cup lemon juice (from about 4 lemons)
a pinch of salt
4 T butter, cut into cubes

Over a double boiler, whisk the eggs, sugar, salt, lemon zest and juice together. Continue stirring until a custard has formed. Be very diligent with this step. You can very easily end up with lemon scrambled eggs!  No good! Once the mixture has thickened, take it off the heat and whisk in the butter. Strain though a mesh sieve and chill. Ta-da! Lemon curd!

To assemble
1 pound fresh strawberries, sliced
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 T sugar

Slice the strawberries. Whip the cream with the sugar. Lighten the lemon curd with the whipped cream by first stirring in 1/3 of the whipped cream and then folding in the remaining. Carefully! I always am too hasty here and Jordan has to remind me to slow down. Pour the lemon filling into the prepared crust. Top with sliced strawberries. Refrigerate until ready to serve. 

This pie is delicious and the lemon cream would compliment any berry as each comes into season. The combination of the lemon and the strawberry is particularly satisfying because it hit a nostalgic vein in all of those eating it … Jordan, Matt, Alexa and I were eating our dessert on Sunday evening when Jordan pauses, “Does this remind anyone of some sort of ice cream novelty?” Instantly, and almost in unison, the rest of us cried, “Flintstones Push Up pops!” Yep. The pie tastes like a Push Up. Not sure how it happened, but it is absolutely going to happen again.

-Emily

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strawberry lemonade sorbet

What do you do when life (aka my CSA fruit box at work) gives you lemons? Make lemon sorbet! What do you do when those lemons don’t yeild nearly enough juice to make sorbet? Steal a bag of frozen strawberries from your neighbor and make strawberry lemonade sorbet!

Strawberry Lemonade Sorbet
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 lb frozen strawberries, defrosted
zest of 4 lemons
8 lemons, juiced

Over low heat, heat sugar and water until the sugar is dissolved completely. Zest four of the lemons into a bowl. Juice the lemons into the same bowl. In a food processor, puree the strawberries until smooth. Add the strawberry puree to the lemon juice and zest. Add the simple syrup. Chill this mixture until cold.

Pour the strawberry lemonade mixture into your ice cream maker. Churn until it has a sorbet-y texture and lightens in color. Pour into a tupper and freeze until firm, or until you are ready to serve it. Garnish with mint.

I loved this sorbet! It was so summery and tart. Jordan would have preferred to cut its tartness with some vanilla ice cream, which isn’t a bad idea.

-Emily