Posts Tagged ‘spring’

The first time I heard of vichyssoise was in 1992. I was 7 years old and watching “Batman Returns” (which I saw in theatres, which I now realize was probably totally inappropriate for my age). Bruce Wayne is sitting in the Batcave poring over information regarding The Penguin when Alfred brings him some supper. Upon eating a spoonful of soup he chokes, “Alfred, it’s cold!” Alfred gives him a dead stare. “It’s a vichyssoise, sir. It’s supposed to be cold.”

At the time I thought Alfred had said fishyssoise and the soup was a cold fish soup (blech!). It wasn’t until many years later I learned it was just cold potato-leek soup pureed into perfect smoothness. And now that knowledge has come in handy.

I’m getting the rest of my very impacted wisdom teeth removed tomorrow morning and this time it’s on both sides of my mouth and thus a liquid diet is on the horizon for a couple of days. My fridge is stocked with yogurt and the freezer has a pint of Häagen-Dazs, but I wanted one more thing to be able to gum down during my convalescence, so another pureed soup seemed smart. This recipe comes together very easily, has a lot of unattended cooking time, and if you use an immersion blender, is a one-pot-wonder. It’s unbelievably delicious and if you have some equally delicious bread to dip into it while you still can chew, I highly recommend it.

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Quick Friday post, quick Friday… dessert!

Cleaning out my fridge and freezer in a mad dash before I move cross-country, I have a lot of frozen pie crusts on my hands. “I mean, when you’re making one, why not make two?” was my mantra for awhile there, but now I’m thawing and baking like crazy to get rid of (but not waste) my freezer stash.

Galettes or free-form tarts are one of the most fun, easy, and versatile things to do with pie crust. The sky is the limit for filling ingredients, but since it’s spring and glorious rhubarb has arrived in force, I couldn’t resist making a bubbling, syrupy, sweet-tart treat like this.

This is a fantastic dessert for all those intimidated bakers out there because it comes together quite easily, uses only 5 ingredients, and is so delicious (and impressive!) you’ll never believe how simple it was to put together.

Small admin note: I will be moving over the next few days so it’ll be quiet around here. But don’t worry – a new post will be on its way soon enough!

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Quick post/Quick Friday dinner time!

I actually made this on Sunday for Easter lunch/dinner, but it also happens to be one of my favorite fast go-to dishes. My sister Valerie is nuts about this goat cheese tart and it’s the number one thing she requests when I’m home and cooking, and it’s easy to understand why. The tart is light and delicate, but also rich and satisfying, making it the perfect dish for brunch, lunch, or dinner. The dressing I threw together since I had leftover dill from the tart and buttermilk from making cinnamon rolls.

I cut time by using a prepared pie crust (which I had leftover from a previous baking adventure), but you can easily just use refrigerated pie crust and roll it out. The rest of the dish comes together in just a few minutes and then it’s just waiting for it to bake, which can be torturous but hey, just treat yourself to a glass of wine (a nice crisp sauvignon blanc is to die for with this dish) and relax. It’s the weekend!

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Oh, Easter. In a way you’re my favorite holiday in the culinary world more than any other because your day is devoted to breakfast and brunch, in which all my favorite foods reside. I was going nuts trying to choose what exactly to make for my Easter entry since there is no breakfast/brunch food I don’t love (no – really), and in the end, I had to go with one sweet and one savory dish (to be posted later).

Although we did a lot of the traditional Polish/Catholic customs for Easter growing up (dyeing eggs, strict lent, attending all Easter masses), our usual Easter fare wasn’t Polish at all. We’d have a big breakfast of sweet and savory things like scrambled eggs, potatoes o’brian, and Pillsbury cinnamon rolls before heading to church where I would secretly eat the Eggums I had snuck in my pockets and get disapproving looks from my mother. Then for dinner it would be bone-in ham, au gratin potatoes, and cornbread. There just wasn’t much Polish influence in our meals, so as much as I love my heritage and the food it offers, I decided to go with something we always enjoyed at our modern American Easter brunches.

The Doughboy certainly produces a delicious and fast cinnamon roll, but these just put him to shame. Although mine don’t make that glorious thoomp! sound when you make them, they are still ooey-gooey and rich cinnamon rolls with that cream cheese icing I could just eat by the bowlful. They require very little work (just time to rise) and once you’ve tried a homemade cinnamon roll, you’ll never touched the canned ones again.

Eggs, butter, buttermilk.

Dough + melted butter.

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Another quick post for a quick Friday dinner!

I think it’s this warm weather finally getting under my skin. I always eat so much lighter (see: healthier) when it’s warm and sunny, and the other day it was in the low 70′s and sunny. I had a big ol’ bulb of fennel lying in my fridge and most of the other ingredients on hand (a special trip for proscuitto but well worth it) so I whipped this salad together for a nice light supper.

Crunchy and refreshing fennel and apples with salty satisfying proscuitto, this whole dish just feels clean and oh-so-springish. Adding some walnuts (or even goat cheese would be nice) bulks things up a bit, but feel free to add some grilled chicken breast or serve it with nice hot crusty bread.

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