#melissaclark

I’m so glad I cut back on the sugar on these creamy lemon bars. Licking the spatula with the lemon curd, I had to hold back from putting my face in the pot. It was so tart. It was so delicious. The bag of lemons was screaming lemon bars, but I wanted to do something different than my usual recipe. I watched the video of Melissa Clark making them, and just decided to go for it, despite the odd-sounding ingredient - olive oil. Despite the amount of butter. Despite the guilt. Haven’t told my kids yet that they’re made with olive oil. I will, but right now they are loving them. Maybe I’ll wait until they are all gone.

I’ve been feeling so down about the news lately that when I decided late in the morning to make the lemon bars, my mood lifted. I had to work very fast in order to be done and get them cooling by the time my teaching gig began. Making that decision last minute set my wheels spinning, grating zest, squeezing lemons, separating eggs. But it was worth it. I got my baking high.  

And I finally found another book that I think I’m going to love - a mystery novel by Tana French. I could tell by the opening pages. I’m lost without a good book. This afternoon I had all my comforts - my tea, my sweet, my book. Ahhhhh. 

I worked all day today, morning until late afternoon, recording myself reading stories to put up on my classroom dashboard, meetings, teaching, preparing for Back to School Night. Did I mention that I’m part-time and my salary begins with the number three? Ah well. I know that working part-time means that some days I need to put in more, and some days I’m allowed to put in less. My choice. 

Working most of the day today meant that around 2:30 when I was craving a chocolate chip cookie, I ran upstairs when my students were on a 15 minute break from virtual learning, and threw together cookie dough. (That’s the nice thing about breaks at home -  you can make cookies and no one will know!) The dough now had enough time in the fridge to chill before I turned on the oven. Sometimes, no other cookie will do. Except today, I didn’t use the standard toll house cookie recipe. I found a recipe with “quintessential” in the title and went with it. It was as it said it would be, a higher level cookie. I ate two when they were still warm.

Flying around the kitchen has been my M.O. this week. Sometimes I go like that. Yesterday, I watched a three minute video of Melissa Clark making fish cakes, and around noon, I was up for the challenge of getting it all in the fridge in 45 minutes so that it could chill for the necessary three hours. Check! I used basil, because I had it, and lemongrass because, why not? 

Today I enjoyed the leftovers by making a fish cake sandwich. Delish.

Fishcakes with mayo:

And my sandwich for lunch:

I’ve had a heavy-hearted day, thinking about my friend who ditched me. Sigh. But I checked in with my sister, Amiel, and she was right there convincing me to shoo away the negative thoughts and let the good ones in. Amen to that.

I put a picture of me and Billy up on FaceBook announcing our eighteenth wedding anniversary yesterday and received many wishes of love. I must have needed that affirmation - it felt really nice. But, honestly, who knew congratulating someone on their wedding anniversary was such a big deal? I mean, lots of people commented. People seem really into that which I find a little puzzling. Anyway, it was nice reading the comments and the well wishes. I felt the love. 

I pushed to get dinner on the table tonight by seven o’clock and I succeeded. Without a salad. Just wasn’t in the mood for lettuce tonight. I followed THIS recipe for penne with caramelized cabbage and it was delicious. And just before the timer went off for the pasta, I finished cutting up the last of the two mangoes, so we had that for a cooling dessert. Even more delish.  

The cabbage, five large cloves of minced garlic, olive oil, and red pepper flakes.

The butter, anchovies, garlic, sage, and bread crumbs.

Spinach and Tallegio risotto

I love the funkiness and creaminess of tallegio - especially in grilled cheese so this recipe intrigued me immediately. It’s simply marvelous, the spinach, arborio rice and tallegio blend into a rich unctuous almost fondue like creaminess while still being fresh and green and summery

The recipe is modified from the Melissa Clark recipe linked below which is also modified from a River Cafe cookbook recipe.

Wilt 10 oz of spinach (one large container) in one tablespoon butter on the stove. Purée it with some salt and set it aside.

Use the same pan and sweat together 1 medium chopped onion, 3 cups celery, 3 cloves garlic with 5 tbsp of butter for around 10 min on medium heat. Don’t brown them and yes the quantities are correct and necessary.

Add 1.5 cups unrinsed arborio rice and roast till all the water is soaked up and the rice starts getting toasty pale brown (5 min)

Add 3/4 cup of white wine (serve the rest of the bottle with the dish or drink it while cooking). Cook till the wine is all absorbed

You remembered to warm up a quart of vegetable stock right. The traditional method is to add a ladleful at a time as it’s absorbed while continuously stirring. I add the liquid all at once and stir every 3-5 minutes (serious eats did a blog post on this- the risotto is just as good). Add more hot stock if needed. Season with salt.

20 min later- the rice should be creamy and cooked. Add the spinach purée and 8 oz of tallegio (take the rind off with a knife and break the cheese into pieces - try not to eat all the cheese before it goes into the risotto) . Stir till cheese melted! This is a superlative recipe! It’s a keeper

Spanish tortilla

Exactly like Melissa Clark- I’ve always been wary of any dish that starts with 1-2 cups of olive oil and I’ve been unimpressed with the Spanish tortillas I’ve eaten in tapas bars (vegetarian food is always an afterthought in these places)

But on a sunny Sunday morning, when you are waiting to hear from the on-call resident to see if you have to go back to the OR- it’s a perfect distraction. And most of the oil does get poured off.

I followed the recipe linked below. I chopped 3 large Russet potatoes (equal size cuts) and finely chopped one onion and poached all of it in enough oil to cover the potatoes for 15 min on gentle heat till the potatoes are soft and the onion is golden( I did add one dried chili to poach in the oil). Drain some of the oil - add 6 eggs to the potatoes with salt and pepper. Cook on the stove top till set and then in the oven (375F) for 10 min or so till set all the way through. I skipped the flipping over part and added 2 sauces , one is my tomato chutney and the other was a yogurt, parsley, garlic, olive and some of the drained olive oil sauce.

All I can say is that I’m really sad I waited so long to make this. This may have been the best brunch dish I’ve ever eaten. It should be great for brunch guests as well- everything can be done in advance till the eggs are added.

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/12/25/dining/a-potatos-postcard-from-spain.html