La Legumiste

This cilantro based sauce feels summery to me, but that could just be because it’s summer. Unlike pesto, which depends on well flavored basil and lots of it, which kind of limits its production to the summer months around NY, this new love of mine can be made fresh anytime you grab some fresh cilantro, which in NY tends to be abundantly available all year round.

The recipe below was adapted from this one on SeriousEats. That recipe is a lose interpretation of Peruvian Aji Amarillo sauce, as I understand it, but I’m not sure how close to authentic the below is, so I’m sticking to calling it Spicy Cilantro Sauce.

Spicy Cilantro Sauce

2 fresh jalapeños, seeds and ribs removed, roughly chopped

1 tablespoon aji Amarillo paste 

1 bunch fresh cilantro, leaves and small stems only

2 tablespoons grated cotija cheese 

1 medium clove garlic, minced (about 1 teaspoon)

1 tablespoon vegetable oil or olive oil (I used olive oil because that’s what I had)

1 teaspoon white vinegar

juice from 1/2 lime 

1/3 cup mayonnaise

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Place the jalapenos, aji paste, cilantro, garlic, cheese, oil, vinegar and lime juice in a blender and puree until relatively smooth. Add the mayonnaise and pulse a few times until it’s blended with the other ingredients. Taste and season with salt and pepper if needed. Enjoy on everything you can think of!

So far I have used this sauce on shrimp tacos (first picture in post), as a dip for plantain chips and tortilla chips, as a salad dressing (thinned out with a little more lime juice, on grilled corn, and in the other ways seen below. I think it would be great with grilled or roasted fish or chicken, in all sorts of salads, and stirred into guacamole.

You can use it for breakfast (or brunch),

for lunch (taking your avocado toast, and naturally your Instagram, to whole new levels!),

and for dinner!

Potato Salad

1 1/2 - 2 lbs yellow and red new potatoes, well scrubbed

5 - 6 cremini mushroom caps, sliced

1 large pickle, minced

1/2 serrano pepper, very thinly sliced

1 cup fresh lovage leaves, chopped

1 lemon, juiced

3 T extra virgin olive oil

salt

pepper

vegetable oil for frying 

Place the scrubbed potatoes in a large stockpot, cover with cold water and season with a few pinches of salt. Bring to a boil and cook until potatoes are cooked through but not mushy - I test them by piercing one with a fork. They usually take about 7-10 minutes at a rolling boil to cook. Once cooked, drain in a colander and set aside.

Coat the bottom of a large skillet or frying pan with a thin layer of vegetable oil and heat over a medium high flame until the oil begins to shimmer. Add the sliced mushrooms in a single layer and sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper.

Cook for 3-5 minutes without moving, until the mushrooms have browned on one side. Flip and cook on the other side for another 3 minutes.

Chop the lovage as finely as you can, either by hand or in a mini food chopper. Place the chopped lovage in a small bowl, add the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper to taste (I used about 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper). Drizzle in the olive oil and whisk to combine.

Place the boiled and drained potatoes into a large bowl and add the mushrooms. Pour in the lovage vinaigrette and minced pickle and stir gently to combine.

Place the potato and mushroom salad on a serving plate and add a few slices of serrano pepper, more if you like things hot (!) and serve.

                                                       ***

This is not about how I will change my ways, and be more diligent about posting here, and getting on a schedule, etc - because I already wrote about that, and obviously it did not work and now I feel a bit like an errant kid.

This is more about some changes I’ve encountered that may or may not be related to my lapse in posting. If nothing else, it might help me sort out some thoughts, and what else is a blog good for if not for brain dumping into the world?

First of all, I became very enthralled with Instagram. Obviously, my writing here is not of the highly edited and fact checked variety, but after getting used to how easy it is to just post a picture and add some hashtags, using an actual keyboard to write out thoughts, spending more than two minutes putting something together before posting, well, it started to feel more and more “involved.” Which I guess is not something I felt like being for a bit. So, one of the changes was that I started posting pictures on the gram box regularly, and stopped even attempting to write here.

Second, I think I hit some kind of writer’s block/ boredom/ disenchantment as far as writing about food was concerned. I just couldn’t think about anything food related that I wanted to write about. Yes, I know how pretentious and borderline stupid that sounds, but it’s the way I felt. I did not want to write about my take on the chia bowl, or my adventures with non wheat flour baking, although I engaged in both. I felt a little bit like no one around me was eating real food anymore, and while I continued to cook and eat (of course!), I didn’t have much to say about it. So I didn’t. And yes, I know this is in part to spending too much time on Instagram.

Third, I started to question the validity of my posting here. It used to be that this was just something I did for me, giving me an outlet for my thoughts and maybe a bit of practice at writing, because we all know practice makes perfect. Ha! But after a few months of instantaneous likes on my Instagram posts, I started to feel a little miffed at not getting the same response here. Good old tree falling in the forest dilemma. Not sure why I couldn’t get past it, since it didn’t bother me before, but, there you have it.

Of course, after the extensive, although believe me, not exhaustive, rant, I guess I could have kept it a lot shorter and to the point: I’ve been neglecting my blog because of Instagram! But it’s never been my way to be quick and to the point, so I see no point in editing down this rant.

                                                      ***

Vegetarian Easter Pie (Drob)

1 lb mixed mushrooms (such as shiitake, cremini, oyster, button), finely chopped

1 bunch fresh dill, finely chopped

1 bunch parsley finely chopped

3 scallions, finely chopped

1 onion, finely chopped

2 hard boiled eggs, diced small

2 eggs well beaten

1 t fresh ground pepper

2 t salt, more to taste as needed

2 T olive oil

1 T butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Chop all the mushrooms, including stems, and place together in a large bowl.

Chop the parsley and dill and place together in a bowl.

Heat the olive oil and butter in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and scallions and cook until softened, about 2-3 minutes.

Add the mushrooms and salt, stir to combine, and cook until the mushrooms have released all their moisture and any liquid has evaporated, about 5 minutes.

Add the dill, parsley and chopped hard boiled egg and stir to combine.

Remove from heat.

Beat the two eggs and add to the mixture, stirring to incorporate. Add salt and pepper and stir to combine, adding more salt if desired.

Coat the bottom and sides of a 9 inch pie dish with butter.

Pour the mushroom mixture into the pie dish and bake for 35 minutes or until the top begins to brown and the edges of the pie begin to come away from the pie dish.

Let cool to room temperature. Slice and serve with a green leafy salad - my favorite is torn butter lettuce leaves, red onion, and a simple red wine vinaigrette.

Cheesecake-like Pasca

1 32 oz container ricotta

1 oz cream cheese

1.5 T sour cream (optional)

4 eggs

1 cup raisins

4 t sugar

3.5 t vanilla sugar

zest from one lemon

rum (optional) or water

5 sheets phyllo dough

2 T butter, melted

*Note: This is less sweet than a typical cheesecake, although the raisins provide added pops of sweetness. You may want to taste the mixture after adding them to decide if you want to add more sugar than the recipe calls for.

Bring the rum to a low simmer over medium low heat. Remove from heat and pour over raisins in a small bowl, enough to cover the raisins with liquid. Cover with a small plate and set aside to steep, at least an hour. Drain the raisins very well in a fine mesh strainer. Follow the same steps with water if using instead of rum.

Preheat oven to 380 degrees F.

In a large bowl, using a hand mixer on low speed, mix together the cheeses, sour cream (if using), sugars and lemon zest.

Beat the eggs in, one at a time, until well incorporated.

Stir in the well drained raisins. Set mixture aside.

Brush the bottom and sides of a low 10 inch pie dish with melted butter. Layer a sheet of phyllo dough in the dish, centering it as well as possible, and press lightly so the dough adheres to the dish. Brush with melted butter, turn the dish slightly clockwise, and repeat with the next sheet of phyllo, brushing with butter again. Repeat until all phyllo sheets are in the dish and brushed with butter. Trim any excessive overhang around the pie dish, but leave some in order to be able to fold it around the filling.

Gently pour the cheese mixture into the prepared pie dish. Going around the pie dish, fold any phyllo overhang, almost as if braiding it over the edge of the filling, to create a bit of a decorative element. Brush the top of this braid with some melted butter.

Bake for 40 to 55 minutes, until the edges of the dough are browned, and the filling has become solid and slightly puffed.

Remove from oven, allow to cool to room temperature, slice and serve. It may take a while for the pie to cool to room temperature.

I like flax seeds in my bread, so when I came across Melissa Sevigny’s recipe for flax crackers on her blog, I had to try it. Unfortunately, the first time around I forgot to buy rosemary and tried to make the crackers with dried basil. Bad idea. They just tasted very grassy.

So I tried again, this time using rosemary. Dramatically less grassy, but I think I would like them even better with a stronger rosemary flavor and/ or maybe something spicy, like ground pepper or chili flakes. For now, here is what I did, which was to follow the recipe to a t. I am posting it below for ease (with very few alterations), but it can also be accessed at the link above.

Rosemary and Sea Salt Flax Crackers

1 cup ground flax seeds ( I used Bob’s Red Mill golden flax meal)

2 eggs

1/2 cup grated parmesan or romano cheese

1 t minced fresh rosemary

coarse sea salt for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the flax, cheese and rosemary in a medium bowl and stir well to mix. 

Add the eggs and mix using a fork until well incorporated and a crumbly dough begins to form. Set aside and let sit for 5 minutes.

Cut a sheet of parchment paper the length of the baking sheet you are planning to use. Gather the dough into a ball and place it in the middle of your piece of parchment. Flatten into a disc. Cut another piece of parchment paper of approximately the same length an place it evenly centered over the disc of dough. Roll out your dough as thinly as possible between the two sheets of parchment.

When sufficiently thin, slowly peel the top sheet of parchment and discard. Using a paring knife, cut a grid of squares or rectangles to a size you like (think Wheat Thins more than Wasa size here). Depending on your dexterity and precision, you will end up with fairly even sized crackers. I did not.

Sprinkle with salt and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, separate individual crackers, flip and bake for an addition 3 minutes. If the crackers are too thin and do not separate easily from the parchment, bake for an additional 3 minutes, then separate, flip and bake on the other side for 2 - 3 minutes more.

Enjoy these with any cheese of your liking. Or with cream cheese and salmon roe. Either way.

The second recipe I tried seemed more far fetched to me because it uses almond flour, and I firmly associate almond flour with baking sweet things. My ignorance was proven wrong by Mike and his recipe for almond poppy crackers. I’m happy to report I ate my words and was very satisfied.

Again, for ease, I am posting the recipe below, but you can also access the original at the link above. The first time I made these crackers I used the exact measurements indicated and thought they were just very slightly too salty for me. On my second attempt, I cut the salt to a very scant teaspoon - not quite a teaspoon but more than a half. I also substituted chopped rosemary for the poppy seeds. The winner in my book so far! Except now I also want to try them with cracked pepper, maybe cumin, and maybe even mixing the two flours. 

Almond Poppy Crackers (or Almond Rosemary Crackers)

1.5 cups/ 5.1 oz almond flour (I weighed here)

1 T poppy seeds (or 1 T minced fresh rosemary)

1 T olive oil

1 t fine grain salt (scant)

1 large egg white 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the almond flour, poppy seeds (or rosemary), and salt in a medium bowl and stir well to mix.

Add the egg white and olive oil and mix using a fork until well incorporated and a crumbly dough begins to form. 

Cut a sheet of parchment paper the length of the baking sheet you are planning to use. Gather the dough into a ball and place it in the middle of your piece of parchment. Flatten into a disc. 

Cut another piece of parchment paper of approximately the same length an place it evenly centered over the disc of dough. Roll out your dough as thinly as possible between the two sheets of parchment.

When sufficiently thin, slowly peel the top sheet of parchment and discard. Using a paring knife, cut a grid of squares or rectangles to a size you like (think Wheat Thins more than Wasa size here). Depending on your dexterity and precision, you will end up with fairly even sized crackers. I did not.

Bake for 12 - 14 minutes, until golden brown, watching closely for the last 2 minutes or so to prevent burning. 

Revel, like I did, in the fact that you will no longer have to eat your brie or Boursin on celery or cucumber and pretend to like it. Because now you have crackers!

Fish Curry

2lb catfish filet, cut into cubes 

1 large red onion, sliced into half rounds

1 26oz container strained tomatoes

1 T tomato paste

1 large habanero minced

2 T coconut oil

2 T turmeric powder

3 T garam masala (or fish curry blend if you have it)

1 T cumin

2 T chopped fresh cilantro

Note: Chopping onions might make you tear up, but chopping the habaneros with bare hands can really hurt, and the pain lasts a lot longer than those onion induced tears.I learned this lesson the hard way while chopping jalapenos a while back, and since then I have a new found love for latex gloves when chopping hot stuff. Save yourself the pain and wear gloves.

In a large saute pan over medium heat, melt the coconut butter. Add the sliced onion and a pinch of salt and stir to coat with oil.

Cook the onion until it softens and browns.

Add the spices and cook, stirring frequently, for about 2 minutes, until very fragrant. Be careful not to burn the spices.

Add the tomato paste and the chopped habanero and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring frequently to avoid burning.

Add the strained tomatoes and a pinch of salt and cook for 5 minutes, to let the flavors develop.

Add the catfish and stir to combine. Reduce the heat slightly and simmer for 10 minutes. Cover with a lid and cook for an additional 10 minutes.

Remove the lid and simmer uncovered for another 10 minutes or so, stirring occassionally, until the sauce has reduced a bit

While the curry is simmering, chop the cilantro.

Once the curry is done, remove from heat and stir in the cilantro. Serve over rice, with naan or pita, over quinoa - any way you want as long as you make sure to have some way of absorbing the delicious sauce.

Confession time: I like Chipotle. Or I liked Chipotle before I became too afraid to eat there. And I don’t mean because of the calorie count, although that can be very scary. My favorite thing at Chipotle was the cilantro lime rice. Not sure what makes it so good, I’ll probably never know exactly, and it probably should remain that way.

Anyway, since I am trying to curb my carb feasting, or at least get it a bit more in line, I needed an alternative to the lovely, fragrant basmati rice I would normally enjoy my curry over. Enter that other internet celebrity of low carb eating (besides zoodles) - cauliflower rice. I like plain cauliflower rice well enough, but I thought this curry was special enough to deserve something a little more upgraded. Like a Chipotle inspired cauliflower rice.

Cilantro Lime Cauliflower Rice (yes, I said cauliflower rice)

1 medium to large head cauliflower, separated into smaller florets

3T butter

3T finely chopped cilantro

juice and zest from 1 lime

salt to taste

Add the cauliflower florets  to the bowl of a food processor and pulse until they are broken down to a grain like consistency. Don’t overcrowd the food processor bowl - you will probably have to repeat this step 2 or 3 times.

Remove the riced cauliflower to a bowl. Remove any larger pieces and add to the next batch to be processed. Repeat until all the cauliflower florets have been riced. 

Note: Yes, I know the picture below shows something more like couscous in texture, and if you want to process it to a larger grain, feel free. Or call it couscous. Whatever works for you.

Once all the cauliflower florets are riced, melt the butter in a large skillet and stir in the cauliflower and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook over medium low heat for 3 - 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. When the cauliflower is done to your liking (I don’t like mine too mushy), stir in the lime juice and cook for another minute.

Remove from heat and stir in the cilantro and lime zest.

Taste and add more salt as desired.

First things first, you must prepare your “spaghetti.” I have gotten better, more even results roasting spaghetti squash cut in halves, with the seeds removed prior to baking. However, these babies are not easy to cut when raw, and my current kitchen set up (looking at you, dull knives and little counter space) has led to a few close calls for my fingers. So I have been roasting my winter squashes whole and dealing with the seeds later.

Preheat your oven to 375 F and prick each squash all over with either a fork or the point of a knife. Place the squash on a baking sheet or in a roasting pan and roast until the skin softens, turning once about halfway through the roasting process. The roasting time varies, so you will have to check on your rotund friends a few times. A large squash took me about 80 minutes to roast to perfection. This time around, using small to medium squash, I roasted them two at a time, and they only took about 45 - 50 minutes for each pair. 

One last note: I started out with 4 squashes, but the smallest one was roasted beyond usage. So maybe have a back up squash on hand.

Once the squash are roasted, the fun part begins. Let them cool down enough to be able to handle comfortably, cut off the two ends, scrape out the seeds and begin making your spaghetti by raking a fork from one side of the cut up squash to the other. Set aside in a colander or large strainer set over a bowl to let some of the water drain.

You can roast the squash a day before making the cake and refrigerate the noodles. I did this because of time constraints, but I think it ended up helping to draw water out of the squash strands, which helped the cake hold its shape rather than collapsing in a soggy pile. So if you can, I say roast the squash and separate out the strands a day ahead.

Spaghetti Squash Cake

4.5 oz comte, shredded

4.5 oz fontina, shredded

1.6 oz pecorino romano, grated

3/4 cups whole milk

3 medium eggs

1 t freshly ground black pepper

1 pinch cayenne powder

3/4 t salt 

3 - 4 medium spaghetti squash, prepared as above

Preheat oven to 425 F. Butter the bottom and sides of an 8 inch springform cake pan. Wrap the bottom of the pan tightly with aluminum foil and place on a baking sheet - this is all to prevent or limit any potential spill.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, salt and pepper.

Add half of the shredded fontina and comte and all of the grated pecorino and stir until well incorporated.

Add the spaghetti squash strands, one handful at a time. Try to squeeze as much water out of each handful as possible before adding. Stir to mix and add the next handful until you have added all the squash.

As you can see, even after squeezing more water out of the squash, my mixture still started to get pretty wet, and continued to get more puddly with each additional handful of squash.

Since my final cake mix was pretty wet, I decided to scoop it out by the spoonful rather than dump the entire thing in the prepared pan. It turned out to have been the right decision.

Even out the top of the mixture in the pan and top with the remaining shredded fontina and comte.

Bake until the top is almost completely set. For me, this was only 20 minutes, but the time may vary depending on the quantity of squash and the oven.

Turn off the oven and turn on the broiler. Broil until the top becomes crispy and browns in spots. For me, this was 7 minutes, but again, the exact time can vary.

Run a butter knife along the edge of the cake pan. Let it sit 10 minutes and open the ring of the form. Slide onto a plate and dig in!

Since this was my first time baking donuts, but also the last time I would be baking something for a bit, I did not want just any old plain donut recipe. Christmas had just wrapped up, and I still had a faint lingering regret from not having baked any cookies. Late to the party, but I thought something in a chocolate/ peppermint combination would be nice. I couldn’t find an exact recipe for what I had in mind, and after reading a couple of them for chocolate donuts, I felt ready to proceed - apparently a lot less cautiously than I should have. This is the recipe I cobbled together.

Baked Chocolate Chocolate Chip Donuts with Peppermint Icing

1 cup all purpose flower

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup milk

1 large egg

2 T butter, melted

1 t baking powder

1/4 t baking soda

pinch of salt

1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, chopped

Icing

1 cup powdered sugar

3 T milk

1 t peppermint extract

peppermint flavored candy cane sprinkles (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Measure out your ingredients.

Roughly chop the chocolate chips and set aside.

In a small bowl, mix together your wet ingredients until well combined.

In a large bowl, mix together your dry ingredients until well combined.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix together quickly until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Divide the batter evenly between the six spaces in the donut tray, making sure not to fill them more than 2/3. Place the silicone tray on a baking sheet to stabilize it. Obviously, no need to do this if you’re using a metal tray.

*Note on common sense: Use yours, don’t be like me. Sure, it looked like there was too much batter for the tray, maybe even, say, double the amount that would be needed for six donuts. Sure, the reasonable thing to do would have been to use half the batter, bake and repeat. But I dispensed with reason here the same way I did when I bought the tray in the first place, and carried on, clearly over-filling the tray.

Place on the middle rack in oven and bake until a test toothpick inserted in the batter comes out clean, about 12-15 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool in the mold for 5 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack and let cool 

At this point, you would ideally have 6 lovely donuts, ready to drizzle with icing and enjoy. However, if you ignored your common sense earlier in the process, as I did, you will have 6 of these things, Dominique Ansel may have invented the cronut, but I invented the cupnut - half donut half cupcake. Donut on the bottom, cupcake on the top. The mullet of baked goods.

This is what I aimed to end up for from the beginning.

Clearly, I overshot my aim. You could, I suppose, decorate and enjoy the mutant in its original shape. But I was determined to have donuts, so once they were cool enough, I performed a little surgery and ended up with six donuts and six cupcake tops. Since both of those could be decorated with icing, I’m sure some would call this a perfect outcome.

I was here for donuts only, so the poor cupcake tops did not get a loving icing treatment. No matter, they were scarfed down all the same. It seems chocolate chocolate chip batter cannot be resisted, no matter what shape it comes in.

Back to donuts. While they’re cooling - completely cooling, by the way, if you want the icing to stick - you can make the icing by mixing the powdered sugar, milk and peppermint essence in a small bowl. The finished icing should be very thick, having the consistency of honey. If yours is too thin, add more sugar. If too thick, add a few more drops of milk. 

Now the fun part. Using a spoon, drizzle each donut liberally with icing and douse liberally with sprinkles if using. Let set for a few minutes and dig in.

Don’t forget to lick those figures at the end!

I made this with a mix of plums, mostly sugar plums. I have also enjoyed it with apricots and sour cherries, so I have to assume pretty much any stone fruit will do. The original measurements were given to me in grams. I converted them below, but I also put in the gram measurements because they give a better idea of the proportion of ingredients to one another (basically, whichever measurement you go with, you need to use equal quantities of sugar and butter).

Sugar Plum Cake

5 oz /12 T/ 145 g butter, softened at room temperature

5 oz/ 12 T/145 g sugar

7 oz/ 32 T/ 200 g all purpose flour, sifted

5 eggs, yolks and whites separated

juice and zest from 1 lemon

1 t /4 g  baking soda

2 lbs plums, pitted and sliced either in halves or quarters, depending on size

confectioners sugar to serve

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, toss together the pitted and sliced plums with half the lemon juice and all of the lemon zest.

In a large bowl, beat the sugar and butter together with an electric mixer until they form a cream.

Add the  egg yolks and remainder of the lemon juice and mix to incorporate.

Add the flour and baking soda and mix well to create a smooth batter.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until very stiff.

Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the batter, stirring only a few times to incorporate.

Pour the batter into a  9in x 12in baking dish lined with parchment or aluminum foil. 

Arrange the plums on top of the batter.

Bake for 40 minutes, or until the top of the cake is lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Remove from oven and let cool for at least 30 minutes. Slice into squares.

Prior to serving, dust each square lightly with confectioners sugar.

Since I cooked each type of eggplant separately and then tossed them all together with the dressing, I thought that would be the easiest way to structure the recipe as well. It may look like a lot of steps and ingredients, but they’re all simple and straightforward enough.

Notes: I waited to cut each kind of eggplant up right until before cooking them, rather than do all the chopping in the beginning. I also started off with the Chinese eggplant, so it could bake while the other ingredients were being prepared on the stove top. For the dressing, I suggest grating or chopping the garlic and letting it sit with salt and lemon juice while you cook the eggplants - it helps mellow it out. Oh, and lastly, I tossed mozzarella and basil into the salad, but this would probably also work with feta and mint or parsley.

Multi Eggplant Salad

Chinese White Eggplant

4- 6 small, long white Chinese eggplants, washed, dried and cut into 1 inch or so pieces diagonally

1 T white miso paste

1 T rice vinegar

1 T olive oil

1 t sesame oil

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

In a small bowl, dissolve the miso paste into the rice vinegar. Add the oils and whisk to emulsify into a dressing.

Place the eggplant pieces in a ceramic or glass baking dish. Drizzle with the dressing and toss to coat.

Bake for 7 - 10 minutes, until eggplant pieces begin to soften and brown. Broil for an additional 5 minutes if (like me) you want the eggplant more browned.

Remove from oven and let cool.

Italian Eggplants

2-3 small Italian eggplants, washed, dried and cut into cubes

3 T olive oil

1/2 t fine sea salt

1/2 t ground black pepper

1/2 t Italian seasoning (I have one that contains dried herbs and red pepper flakes)

1/2 t piment d’Esplette or smoked paprika

Heat the oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the eggplant and toss to coat. Add all the seasonings and toss to coat again.

Cook the eggplant until all the cubes are brown and golden on both sides and the skin has softened, but they are not yet falling apart.

Remove from the pan and set to cool on paper towels. Wipe the pan to reuse.

Turkish Eggplants

5-6 Turkish eggplants, washed, dried, and sliced very thinly into rounds

1/4 cup vegetable oil for frying

salt

fresh ground pepper

In the same pan used for the Italian eggplants, heat the oil over high heat and add the eggplant slices without crowding them. 

Cook until the eggplant slices begin to crisp up, then remove to a paper towel using a slotted spoon. Let cool and season lightly with salt and fresh ground pepper. Repeat with any remaining eggplant.

Dressing

1 garlic clove, minced or pressed

1 t sea salt

1 T lemon juice

2 T olive oil

1 T balsamic vinegar

1 T maple syrup 

In a small bowl, mix the garlic with the salt and lemon juice and set aside while cooking the eggplants.

Add the balsamic vinegar, maple syrup and oil and whisk to emulsify into a dressing.

Assembly

If using them, start with the artichoke hearts. I just cleaned and steamed the four baby artichokes I’d picked up.

In a large bowl, combine the Italian and Chinese eggplants with the dressing, basil leaves and pieces of fresh mozzarella. Toss to combine, then add the Turkish eggplant and gently toss to incorporate. Serve.

Scapes and Blossoms Frittata

8 eggs

1/3 cup milk or cream

4 - 5 garlic scapes, washed and dried

4 - 5 squash blossoms, trimmed

4 oz feta cheese, crumbled

6 fresh thyme sprigs

1 T butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, using a fork, crumble the feta cheese and mix it with leaves stripped from the thyme sprigs.

Using the butter, coat the bottom and sides of a low baking dish. Sprinkle in some of the thyme leaves.

Very gently, fill each one of the squash blossoms with a generous scoop of the feta mixture, without over stuffing. Twist the blossom’s petals together to better hold in the cheese.

*Note: I wasn’t quite sure how to prepare the squash blossoms since I never worked with them before, only eaten as many as I could at every restaurant that serves them. So, to be  safe, this is what I did for each blossom: rinsed the outside with water and gently patted dry with paper towel; removed the rough-ish stem stub and little leaves around the bottom; made a tear in one of the sides and removed the flower organs; used the same tear to fill the blossom with cheese. No allergies or choking were reported, so this will be my method for prepping squash blossoms until someone (the Internet !) tells me differently.

Layer the garlic scapes as photogenically as possible in the bottom of the baking dish, and then lay the cheese stuffed blossoms on top. Sprinkle all of the remaining feta cheese mixture in.

Beat the eggs with milk or cream in a bowl and season with salt and fresh ground pepper to taste. Pour the egg mixture evenly over the scapes and blossoms.

Bake for 15 minutes. If you want a little more color on top like I did, switch on the broiler and broil for an additional 3 minutes.

Ta-da!

You could enjoy a slice of this masterpiece with a side of salad, but I try to rationalize a need for potatoes any time I can, and this was the perfect occasion. There is really no need for a recipe, just roast any potatoes any way you like them and serve along the frittata. 

But, just in case you need a recipe for roasting potatoes:

Oven Roasted Potatoes

2-3 lbs baby potatoes

1/4 cup pesto

olive oil

salt 

pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Brink a large pot of well salted water to a quick boil. Add potatoes and boil for 10 min. Drain well in a colander.

In a large baking dish, toss the potatoes with enough olive oil to coat well and season with salt and pepper.

Bake for 15 minutes. Depending on your oven and your preferences, you may find the potatoes good to go at this stage. Because I like my potatoes extra crispy, I also broiled them for an additional 8 minutes.

Place about half of a the potatoes in a serving bowl, add the pesto and toss to coat.

If you don’t like pesto, you could also simply sprinkle your potatoes with fresh chopped herbs like parsley, thyme or both. Or any other fresh green herbs you prefer!

I wasn’t sure what proportions of whole wheat to buckwheat to use, all I knew was that crostatas are very forgiving as far as working with the dough goes. No fear inducing pie crust here. So if my dough turned out a little dry or a little mushy, it would probably still be ok. I used this Melissa Clark recipe as my starting off point, and it turned out pretty well in terms of consistency, especially when fresh out of the oven. The dough was a little stiff  coming out of the fridge, so I might try only chilling it for an hour next time, and I’m reasonably sure there will be a next time.

Buckwheat Crostata with Peaches  (Adapted from Melissa Clark)

2/3 cup buckwheat flour

2/3 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 t salt

3 T sugar

1/2 ground cloves

1 stick unsalted butter cut into small cubes

2 t lemon juice

zest from 1 lemon

1 egg

heavy cream

4 - 5 medium peaches, sliced

10-15 sour cherries, pitted

1 T cornstarch (or all purpose flour if, like me, you don’t have cornstarch)

salted caramel sauce (or cherry jam)

cinamon sugar

cornmeal for dusting

In a food processor, mix together the flours, cloves, lemon zest salt and 1 T sugar until blended.

Add the butter to the flour mixture and pulse until large pieces begin to form. In a measuring cup, lightly beat the egg with enough cream to end up with 1/3 cup. Pour the mixture over the ingredients in the food processor and pulse again until dough begins to come together but is still crumbly.

Remove dough from food processor and knead together into one piece. Flatten into a disk, wrap in plastic, and chill for 2 hours.

In a bowl, toss the sliced peaches with the lemon juice, 2 T sugar and the cornstarch (or flour).  You can also add a few drops of bourbon if you have it. I didn’t, so I added a few drops of rum and some thyme sprigs.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator. Sprinkle some cornmeal onto your rolling area and roll the dough disk out into a 12 inch (or so) diameter round. It really does not have to be perfect. After 2 hours in the fridge, my dough was really hard to roll and kept ripping. It may have been the fridge, the type of flours I used, or both, but since this was a crostata, I just patched up the rips and moved on.

Spread a thin layer of caramel (or jam) on the area in the center of your crust, leaving about a one inch margin all around. (I included the picture above for instructional purposes only - I just couldn’t get a good shot of brown on brown.)

Add the peaches on top of the caramel and top with the sour cherries. Gently fold the edges of the dough over the fruit, pleating and patching as you need to hold fruit in. Brush the top of the dough with some cream or a bit of water and sprinkle with cinamon sugar.

Bake for 15 minutes, then broil for an additional 5 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for at least 15 minutes, then slice and serve with ice cream.

I will spare you the detailed dissection of every salad I’ve made in the last two months or so. There were a lot of them, all following the same template with occasionally varying ingredients: leafy greens + chopped vegetables and nuts + dressing. For me, the greens are always mixed, the chopped vegetables depend on a complex formula of (availability + laziness) / time, and the dressing is still a work in progress. If I ever master a basic vinaigrette to my satisfaction, I will let everyone know.

In more exciting news, strawberries are taking over the farmers’ market in the last few weeks. These were the first ones of the season for me!

I ate a good amount of them sliced on top of a fresh baguette slathered in goat cheese and drizzled with balsamic vinegar. Oh, and there was chilled rose to go with it all. Good choice all around.

There was also fresh asparagus. My first attempt to gorge on the speared one was met with defeat, and some disappointment. In spite of repeatedly seeing pictures of a market piled high with green and purple spears, I couldn’t find a single strand when I got to the market. It seriously looked like no one had even heard of asparagus. The following week, I dramatically improved my timing and was rewarded with this:

I didn’t want to do much with it, but even though I know I can, just rinsing and eating doesn’t sound that appealing when asparagus is involved. For whatever reason, cooking didn’t sound that appealing at the moment either.

After enduring years of cocktail parties where fancy people around me ate asparagus spears wrapped in prosciutto, I decided to do something about it. Namely, I wrapped slices of smoked salmon around very lightly blanched asparagus. Definitely prize winning material, but it did make me question myself a bit - why did it take me so long to get to this point? Mentally, I mean. 

Whatever. Just glad I made it. For good measure, I drizzled the plated feast with a light dressing made of lemon juice, olive oil, finely chopped chives and scallions and some salt. The thyme sprigs were purely decorative, because I have a thyme bush that’s gone nuts. Now all I need to do is throw a cocktail party and impress everyone with this amazing discovery!

Worry not, I saved the bottom part of each and everyone of the asparagus spears, plus those from a subsequent bunch, and made them into a quick creamy soup. I guess I cooked more than I thought, because for that I had to chop the asparagus, plus some onions, saute it all, then boil it, puree it, and stir in some cream. Phew!

There was, of course desert, prompted mostly by the half used package of puff pastry lingering in the freezer and the pretty rhubarb that I bought and then didn’t feel like doing much with. Because that’s what sometimes happens.

I (over)roasted the washed and trimmed rhubarb for about 20 minutes at 375 degrees with a tablespoon or so of brown sugar. While that was going on, I rolled out the puff pastry to a slightly larger rectangle than the one it comes pre-folded in, scored a border about half an inch in from each side, and pricked the poor thing all over with a fork. Then I lined up the rhubarb pieces and baked the whole tart again until golden, about 15 minutes at 400 degrees. The thyme on top is just decorative, once again.

I wanted to make this pie for the following reasons:

1) I am reading this book called "The Jungle Diet," and  in the section about traditional diet in Crete there is mention of hortopita - a version of the Greek pie you can find many, many versions of throughout NY. Hortopita uses wild greens instead of spinach and reading about it made me want to forage for my own wild greens. Given where I live, I thought it was safer to stick to chard and spinach.

2) I am intimidated by phyllo dough in the same way I am intimidated by wonton and rice paper wrappers. This has led to a lone packet of phyllo sheets in the freezer for....many months. I figured it was now or never, and if I ruined it, I wouldn't cry too hard.

3) it seemed like a very appropriate Easter/ spring appetizer to make.

I ended up loosely following Mark Bittman's recipe for Hortopita, adapting it to what I could actually locate. Still looking for sorrel and hartwort.

The Pie

1/2 pack phyllo dough sheets, thawed

2 bunches chard, stems removed, leaves cut into strips

1 bunch spinach, chopped

2 leeks, green leaves discarded, white parts thinly sliced

1 red onion, finely diced

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 bunch fresh mint, finely chopped

1 bunch fresh parsley, finely chopped

1 bunch fresh dill, finely chopped

1 small bunch fresh oregano, finely chopped

1/2 lb feta, crumbled

3 T butter

olive oil for brushing

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Wash the chard and spinach, remove the stems from the chard and chop it all in strips. Thinly slice the white portion of the leeks. Finely dice the onion. Mince the garlic.

Mince all the herbs as finely as you can.

In a large saute pan, melt 3 T of butter over medium heat. Add the onions and leeks and 3 pinches of salt  and cook for 5 - 7 minutes, until they soften and become translucent. Add the minced garlic and cook for another 30 seconds.

 Add the chopped greens, herbs and another generous pinch of salt. Stir and cook until the greens have wilted down, about another 5 minutes. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste. Place greens mixture in a colander and allow to drain while you prepare the dough.

 Grease the bottom and sides of a 9 or 10 inch glass or ceramic pie dish. Lay 2 or 3 phyllo sheets in the dish and brush with olive oil. Layer another 2 or 3 sheets on top and brush with olive oil again. Repeat with a third layer and brush with olive oil again.

Place the drained greens in a large bowl and mix well with the crumbled feta.

Place the greens mixture in the phyllo lined pie dish by the spoonful. Spread it around so that it is even, and continue filling the dish until it is filled close to the rim. You will very likely find that, like me, you have a decent amount of greens mixture left. Resist the urge to cram it all in, it will keep the pie from becoming soggy.

 Fold any overhanging edges of phyllo over the greens.

 Layer 2-3 layers of phyllo over the greens mixture and brush with olive oil. Trim any pieces that hang over the edges of the dish and layer them on top. Add a second layer of phyllo sheets, trim and add the pieces to the top of the pie and brush generously with olive oil.

Score the top layer of phyllo dough into serving pieces.

  Bake for 40 to 50 minutes. My pie clocked in at 45 minutes to golden perfection.

 Remove from oven and allow to cool for 20 minutes before cutting into slices and serving. Resist the urge to pick golden phyllo pieces off the top.

  The Fish

serves 2

whole sea bass, about 1 - 1.5 lbs, scaled and gutted

2-3 sprigs fresh thyme

2 sprigs fresh rosemary

4-5 lemon slices

5.5 cups coarse kosher salt

3 egg whites

cookie sheet

aluminum foil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil.

Beat the egg whites until foamy, then mix in salt until it forms a paste.

On the cookie sheet, arrange a thin layer of the salt mixture about the length and width of your fish.

 Rinse the fish with cold water and pat it as dry as possible, inside and out, with paper towels.

Stuff the cavity of the fish with the rosemary, thyme and lemon slices.

Place the fish on top of the layer of salt on the cookie sheet.

  Cover the fish completely with the rest of the salt mixture.

 Bake for 25 minutes.

 Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes.

 Crack the hardened salt crust with the back of a spoon. Remove as much of it as possible from the fish. Remove the head, tail, spine and rib bones of the fish and serve.

   The Sides

These were the simplest and least prep dense dishes on the menu.

I scrubbed a bunch of fresh carrots well and removed the green leaves. The smaller the better as far as these carrots are concerned, but I couldn't find any that were to small, so these had to do.

 Place the carrots in a sauté pan and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with a generous pinch of salt and pepper and roast in the pan over medium high heat for about 7 minutes.

Cover the carrots with vegetable stock, add a few sprigs of rosemary and thyme, a few black peppercorns and a bay leaf. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and allow to poach at a very low simmer for 20 - 30 minutes, until carrots are very tender but not mushy.

  Drain and plate.

I needed a starchy side for the fish. I first thought of rice or quinoa, but that seemed to weeknight. When I was looking up how to salt bake a whole fish, I saw a mention of "lemony Greek potatoes." Then I saw a mention of these Greek potatoes on TheKitchn a few days later and knew that someone was trying to tell me something.

This is how the potatoes happened for me:

4 medium large potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges (I used Russet)

juice from 2 lemons

1/4 cup olive oil

1/3 cup vegetable stock

1T dried oregano

1t dried thyme

3 t semolina

salt, to taste 

pepper, to taste

fresh oregano to serve

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Toss the potatoes with all the other ingredients besides the fresh oregano and place in single layer in baking dishes.

Cover loosely with aluminum foil and bake for 10 minutes.

Remove aluminum foil, baste potatoes with any pan liquids and return to oven for another 15 minutes. Remove from oven and baste, or, if the potatoes look dry, drizzle with a little additional olive oil. Bake for another 10 minutes.

Turn on the broiler, and broil potatoes for 5 - 10 minutes, until they get extra golden and some of the edges look a little burned.

   Remove from oven, sprinkle with fresh oregano and serve.

  Promise yourself that you will make this exact meal at least once a month going forward, because it's too easy, to tasty, and leaves you feeling way too good not to.

    The Dessert

In keeping with the day's trend, this also had to be something easy, which I made a little bit more complicated when I decided to peel the skin off of every slice of orange, as opposed to slicing the oranges into rounds. Next time.

Really, the absolute perfect desert here would have been fresh berries with whipped cream. Talk about easy. But Easter is just a little too early in the year for the local berry plants, and I got a little tired of the dull, overly big strawberries the supermarket is flooded with. So I went with oranges, because they're never local in our parts anyway.

Happy coincidence then, that I finally started reading Marcella Hazan's "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking," which has been untouched on my shelf for almost six months. There is a recipe for macerated oranges, which was easy enough that I could remember it by heart (I think - I may have gotten one or two things wrong). Slice 4 oranges and remove as much pith and skin from each slice. Zest and squeeze two other oranges. Zest and squeeze one lemon.

   Arrange the orange slices in a lipped serving dish.

Combine the juices, zest, and 1 T sugar and mix well to dissolve the sugar. Pour this mixture over the oranges and drizzle a tablespoon or two of Cointreau on top if you want (I did).

Cover tightly with a piece of plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

 How easy was that? I couldn't resist adding one last touch and serving the oranges over slices of Easter bread, topped with toasted Easter bread croutons, but I'm sure they would be just as good on their own. Or on pound cake. Or with madeleines. You get the idea.

 I was very excited when I read this because it led to a whole new way to get out of my quinoa slump. In the name of giving credit where credit is due, I linked the original recipe, but  it is so simple that I can’t resist paraphrasing it too.

Quinoa Cakes in 3 Steps

Step 1: Cook some quinoa the way you always would, maybe boil it a little longer so more starch is released.

Step 2: Mix in chopped cilantro and scallions, a few squirts of rooster sauce, and stir to mix well. This is where you can let your creativity shine - maybe use parsley and some minced garlic. Maybe corn kernels, cilantro and a few dashes of barbecue sauce. You get the idea. Form mixture into patties like you would with burgers.

Step 3: Heat oil in pan. Add a few cakes, flatten a bit with a spatula. Cook for a few minutes until one side crisps up, flip and repeat. Don’t crowd the pan.

That was easy. And fun! Thank you, Mr. Bittman! 

 All together now!

Stir to mix.

 Form the patties.

 All the cute little cakes ready for a hot oil bath.

 Look how golden they get.

   This is where I tried to experiment a little. I thought that flattening the cakes further would result in more surface contact with the pan and lead directly to more crispy, crunchy cakes.

 It only kind of worked, since the edges of each cake didn’t get all that crispy.

Lastly, I also made a variation with finely chopped red pepper and crumbled feta, as you can see below. Taste wise, it was successful, but the cakes didn’t hold together as well as the scallion/ cilantro/ sriracha combo. I’m guessing it may have something to do with both the peppers and feta being chunkier and having a fairly high water content (even though I patted both down, I promise). Maybe chopped pine nuts and rosemary next time.

This stew came about because I wanted something similar to Indian food, but didn’t feel committed enough to look up a recipe and wanted to just use what I already had available. Other than the garam masala, the other ingredients are most likely present in everyone’s cupboards. I wanted this stew to feel hear and not have too much sauce, so I immediately thought of potatoes. I would have been just fine with only potatoes, but a nagging little voice kept pestering me to add something that might appear more nutritionally well rounded than taters. That’s where the eggplant popped in. The peas were just in the freezer and needed to be used up. Plus, I thought they would add some color and at this point I really needed to see some green.

Curried Eggplant Stew

2 medium eggplants, washed and cubed

2 large potatoes, peeled and cubed

5 - 10 oz frozen peas, thawed

1 15 oz can chopped tomatoes

1 medium onion, diced

1 T fresh ginger, minced

1 t turmeric

2 T cumin

1 T curry powder

1 T garam masala

2 T coconut oil

1 cup vegetable broth

olive oil

fresh cilantro to garnish

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Wash the eggplant and trim the ends. Cut into medium sized cubes.  In a large bowl, toss the eggplant with about 2 T olive oil, a large pinch of salt, some fresh ground pepper and the garam masala. Stir to combine. 

*If the eggplant cubes look a bit thirsty at this point, add some more olive oil and toss to coat. Eggplant can drink a lot of oil, and I like to be generous with it because I think it really helps with both flavor and texture.

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, spread the eggplant cubes on it in a single layer and roast for 20 minutes, or until the skin of the eggplant has softened a bit.

In a large pot over medium heat, melt the coconut butter. Add the onion, ginger, turmeric, cumin, curry and a pinch of salt. 

Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion has softened and the mixture is very fragrant, about 5 minutes.

Add the tomatoes and their juice and the vegetable broth and cook until they begin to simmer.

Add the cubed potatoes and cook, stirring occasionally, until they are almost completely cooked through, about 5 - 7 minutes.

Add the roasted eggplant and stir to combine. Cook for an additional 5 - 10 minutes, until most liquid is absorbed.

*If you prefer a saucier stew, add another 1/2 - 1 cup of vegetable broth. I wanted to bring this to work and was also trying to eliminate the temptation of mopping up extra sauce with bread or naan, so less sauce was best for me.

Add the thawed peas and stir to combine. Cook for another 2 minutes to allow the peas to warm through but not lose the bright green color. Season with salt and pepper to taste and remove from heat.

Garnish with fresh cilantro and serve. A squirt of lime didn’t hurt either.

As I said, each recipe had elements that I liked, and others I wanted to skip. Adding brown sugar to the roasting tomatoes sounded just a tad fancier than using plain old granulated stuff. So did adding a few garlic cloves to the roasting tray and some sherry to finish things off at the end. I like shallots, so I used some in addition to the garlic, but I thought the soup would be creamy enough on its own, so I passed on the cream calories. Finally, I did not have fresh herbs, so I used this opportunity to make a teeny, tiny dent in my sack of herbes de Provence.

The result was rich and satisfying, but definitely not everyone's cup of soup and definitely only a remote cousin to most store bought tomato soups. This version of the classic had more flavor - you could taste the garlic and the herbs. There was also a slight tang to it, which surprised me, given the brown sugar. I know tomatoes can be acidic, but I thought the sugar used for roasting would take care of that. If I make this again, I might try mellowing it a bit more by using only half the shallots and garlic and adding a bit more sugar.

One last note, on the odd quantity of canned tomatoes. I originally intended to use 3 28 oz cans of San Marzano tomatoes. Of course, the first store I went into only had this particular kind of tomatoes in 14.5 oz cans, so I bought 5 of those. Then, just to satisfy my curiosity, I stopped by another store, which had these tomatoes in the 28 oz size, so I bought a can there as well. Don't ask why, I just did, thinking to myself that I would use all of them. I got home to realize I did not have a large enough pot, so that's how I ended up with the quantities below.

Roasted Garlic Tomato Soup

1 28 oz can + 3 14.5 oz cans whole peeled tomatoes

1 T dark brown sugar

4 T butter

4 large shallots minced

6 garlic cloves peeled

2 cups low sodium vegetable stock

2 T sherry

pinch of nutmeg

2 pinches herbes de Provence

toasted pumpkin seeds to serve

 Preheat oven to 450 degrees, with a rack in the top third of it.

Drain the tomatoes and reserve all the juices. Remove the seeds from the roasted tomatoes and slice so that you can lay the flesh of the tomatoes flat on a roasting tray. Work over a fine mesh strainer set over a bowl so that you can save any additional juice.

Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil and lay the seeded tomatoes flat on it. Sprinkle with the brown sugar. Place the garlic cloves among the tomatoes and roast for 20 minutes, until edges begin to brown. Depending on how large a baking sheet you have, you may need to roast the tomatoes in batches like I did.

Melt the butter in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add the diced shallots, a pinch of salt and pepper and the nutmeg. Cook for 4 - 5 minutes, until the shallots soften.

Add the vegetable stock and cook for about 5 minutes, until well warmed through. Add the reserved tomato juice and continue cooking for another 5 minutes.

Add the roasted tomatoes and garlic, an additional pinch of salt and pepper, and the herbes de Provence. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Turn the heat off and let cool for a few minutes.

Using a strainer set over a large bowl, strain the solids and reserve the liquids. Place strained solids and a ladle or two of liquid into a blender and puree until completely smooth.

Return the pureed and liquid ingredients to the pot and stir well to combine. Heat for an additional 5 minutes over medium-low heat, adding salt and pepper to taste. 

Remove from heat and stir in the sherry. Top with the toasted pumpkin seeds and alongside your favorite grilled cheese sandwich.

 Can you believe the bright little toasts above got their start in these few bags?

I love bread and crackers, but left unchecked, my fondness for wheat products does not lead to good things, so I am always on the lookout for alternatives. Most leave me cold - rice crackers and the like didn't do anything for me. Others, like this "bread," have a lot more potential. I had heard about the Hemsley sisters on various websites, so when T magazine kindly offered up two of their recipes, I was game.

The multi-seed loaf was nutty and grainy - in the way a really good whole wheat and seeds loaf of bread is. It was a little sweeter and stickier than I expected (so I'm glad I skipped the raisins), but that could be because of this guy, roasted while I measured out the other ingredients and made that greener than Irish Spring spread.

I would like to take this moment to introduce my latest gadget - a kitchen scale! Had it not been for the 7 ounces of sweet potato or squash the recipe calls for, I would have continued to drag my feet on its purchase. 

I want to make this recipe with squash in hopes that it might make the dough a little less sticky.

This was the dough - very sticky and goopy, so I had my doubts about being able to shape it into anything resembling a loaf. I'm really curious how the sisters got the loaves in their pictures so tall and uniform. Practice?

For me, it was "rustic" to the rescue once again, as this was the closest I could come to a loaf shape.

I could think of lots of other things to top my bred with once it came out of the oven, but none of them were as virtuous as this neon green puree. This is 2015, so I figured any recipe from an article with the word detox in the title would be on trend. Right? Or was detox a 2014 only thing?

Regardless, the green mash was easy to make and could be easily doctored up later if need be. In its true to recipe form it was a bit bland, but some chili flakes or smoked paprika could up the ante. Or, you know, some Parmesan :).

 When the loaf came out of the oven, it was crusty and smelled delightful, which made me very happy. 

My one disappointment with it is that it was so small! Nowhere near enough for all the green mash, but I guess that may have been by design. I shared this loaf, but I could easily have scarfed down two or three loafs on my own. Even without wheat, probably a bad idea.

The important take away is that I found a non-wheat loaf whose taste and texture I like enough to make again. And that a little shot of neon green food enabled me to ignore what was taking place outside my window and feel a little closer to spring.