the dessert that outdid itself: meyer lemon blueberry pastry
28 Feb 2010 Leave a Comment
in blueberries, lemons, pastry, recipes, sweets, vegetarian Tags: Brooklyn, brown sugar, butter, cooking, dinner, meyer lemon, parties, weeknight dinner, winter
over this glorious pastry as it cooled (admittedly near the unpicturesque sinkful of dishes), our friend from India leaned in and cooed, oh, I don’t know what you usually do—but you’ve outdone yourself.
in a sudden fit of late winter, Brooklyn was covered in snow. it was getting late. the kitchen fugged with cookery; the laughter of the folks at table in the living room where the Christmas lights are still up at the windows. the pastry was golden and layered with sunny lemons, smelling of lemons and buttered sugar.
this dessert is the best kind of cooking, ridiculously easy and utterly delectable. because the Russian bodega on the corner sells frozen puff pastry for a buck o’five thus making the splurge on meyer lemons and grossly out of season blueberries doable.
thaw frozen pastry dough and gently stretch it until it is about a quarter of an inch thin. I just carefully pull it and stretch it with my fingertips like pizza dough then drape it over a towel covered chair and let it hang out. Depending on how your pastry comes, you may need to roll it out. If you make your own, that’s all you my friend and kudos!
melt half a stick of butter over low heat. When just foaming, turn off the heat and grate in the peel of meyer lemon and about an inch of peeled and minced ginger. Cut the ends off a fresh, unzested, lemon and slice thinly.
heat your oven to 375°. On a baking sheet covered with parchment paper, lay out your pastry dough. Spoon lemon ginger butter over the surface and spread. Gently fold over each edge of the dough to make a rimmed rectangle of pastry and smooth the seams with your fingertips. Brush the newly revealed surfaces with butter, and sprinkle the center with brown sugar. Lay in the slices of lemon, touching but not overlapping. Drop two handfuls of the best blueberries picked from a pint over the lemons. Drizzle the whole thing with the remaining butter and finish with a bit more brown sugar. Bake for 20 minutes to half an hour or until the edges are golden brown and the center cooked through. Cool enough to eat, slice and serve.
i prepared this before any of the dinner and set it out on our fire escape, putting it in the oven as we sat down to eat, and it was perfectly ready come dessert time.
quick curried peanut sauce for many veggies
03 Jan 2008 Leave a Comment
in artichoke, broccoli, eggplant, garlic, poems, potatoes, recipes, string beans, vegan, vegetarian Tags: cooking, cooking for one, curry, peanut butter, sauce, weeknight dinner
chop one medium yellow sweet onion, and smash, peel, and mince a few cloves of garlic. Peel and mince a half inch of fresh ginger.
sauté the onions and garlic in olive oil until the onions are translucent. Stir in the ginger along with a teaspoon of curry powder and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Stir in about three teaspoons of sesame oil and three tablespoons of Braggs or tamari sauce.
glop in a cup of peanut butter, and whisk in boiling hot water in a thin stream to bring the mixture to a saucey consistency.
prepare the veggies of your choice: fairy tale eggplant sliced in half and roasted; purple potatoes halved, par boiled and fried; steamed baby artichokes; bell pepper and broccoli sauté; string beans. What’s in season?
miso awesome soup
26 Dec 2007 2 Comments
in greens, mushrooms, recipes, soup, vegan Tags: asian cooking, ceramic bowl, chopsticks, cooking for one, everything & anything, garlic, ginger, london, miso, noodles, radical muffins love good food, weeknight dinner
The amounts here are for a generous bowl for one voracious feminista yogi. This soup is quite adaptable by size – feed your feminista yogi flock!
Bring a pot of water to boil and cook a handful of udon noodles. The corner health mart carries an organic brand that comes in 8 oz packets with three bundles of noodles, and one bundle is just right amount for a big bowl. (One big bowl eating is typically friendly cooking for one eater, one broke but taste-conscious eater. Those inspired, sexy soups, pastas, and salads you whip up for dates with your one true one want a roomy, gorgeous bowl. Right now my favorite is a ceramic piece that heats up comfortingly in my lap when I sit cross legged on the couch. This bowl, runny with glaze in cinnamon, oatmeal and cream, is my flat mate’s handmade treasure. I gotta find my own perfect piece; I will let you know how the quest goes.)
Slice two or three scallions (green onions). Peel and mince an inch of ginger and two cloves of garlic. Slice three or four thin slices of chili. Chili is highly subjective; know thyself.
In a medium sized sauce pan, heat a few teaspoons of vegetable oil and sesame oil. When a flick of water sizzles in the oil, lower the heat and add the chili, garlic, ginger, and scallions along with some sea salt and black pepper. Add two to four tablespoons of tamari.
Clean off your mushrooms—any kind you like, of course. I used the smallest possible shitakes and creminis, carefully de-stemmed and cleaned with a paper towel. Sauté the mushrooms briefly in the fiery oil, about five minutes, until their heads are glistening and glossy brown.
Pour broth over the frying mushrooms, about 3 cups. Bring broth to a boil.
Halve a lemon. Snip a cup or so of watercress and add it to your bowl.
Lower heat and with the soup at a low simmer, squeeze in the lemon juice from both halves and stir in two tablespoons of miso. Bring back to a fine simmer and pour over the delicate greens.
I eat this with two tools: chopsticks and a big, shallow spoon.
