Strawberry Picking and Cupcakes to Swoon Over

Summer has come to Tennessee and it has a certain smell- poignant and nostalgic. For me, it is freshly cut grass, chlorine and very ripe strawberries. 

On Sunday I went strawberry picking with Rebekka. The fields were absolutely lush with fruit and I was reminded of this poem; I wanted all the strawberries for myself! 

"Look how beautiful this one is, Dad!" a little girl yelled out. The sun beat down on us and we were happy. 

 

What better to go with strawberries than butter and basil, really? It's a romantic combination.

Browned Butter and Strawberry Cupcakes with Ricotta Basil Buttercream

Yeild: 38 mini cupcakes

For the cake-

1 1/2 cups flour, sifted (all-purpose, please!)

1t baking powder

1/2 cup 2% milk

1t vanilla 

1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter

3/4 cup cane sugar

1 large egg

2 large egg whites

1/3 cup fresh strawberry puree (about 6 large strawberries)

extra strawberries for slicing

Preheat oven to 325. Sift flour and baking powder into a small bowl and sit eggs out so that they come to room temperature. In a pan, melt butter over medium until froth forms on the top. Then watch it like a hawk! Remove from heat immediately when it starts smelling like heaven and brown bits form on the bottom. Let cool. Puree strawberries and mix with milk and vanilla. Set aside. In a large bowl, mix butter and sugar until combined. Add eggs and beat on medium until just bubbly, about 2 minutes. Add half of flour and beat until barely combined. Mix in strawberry mixture. Fold the rest of the flour into the batter with a rubber spatula. Do NOT over mix! This will make your cupcakes tough. Yuck! 

Fill cupcake liners 3/4 of the way full and put a big, juicy slice of strawberry vertically down the middle. Bake for 16-18 minutes or until cupcakes are set in the middle. 

For the buttercream-

1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/3 cup good quality ricotta cheese

handful (6-8 large leaves) fresh basil

Put 4T (half a stick) of butter in the microwave until melted, about 20 seconds. Tear basil roughly with your hands and add to the butter. Let this cool enough to re-solidify. In a small bowl, combine basil butter with plain butter and whip with a hand mixer until basil breaks apart into small pieces and butter turns a much lighter color. Add sugar. Beat. Add ricotta and beat until combined. Pipe buttercream onto cupcakes modestly. A little bit of this stuff goes a long way. 

Enjoy!

Color is Delicious: Red Curry and Red Lentil Soup

I heard a story recently on NPR about how beans are the food of our era. It makes sense, doesn't it? They're cheap, easy to cook, environmentally friendly to grow and oh, so nutritious. And if you think they aren't delicious, you're downright crazy. Beans are one of nature's most versatile edibles. I'll be proving that to you in the coming weeks. Let's start with this fun fact: I just made the best brownies I've ever had with black beans.

So here's to eating more beans- my New Year's resolution, only four months late. You may begin with the fart jokes now.

Red Curry and Red Lentil Soup
-serves 6-10, depending on how hungry you are


1 1/2 cups red lentils
1 can light coconut milk
1 can full fat coconut milk
6 medium carrots, diced
3 ribs celery, diced
2 medium yellow onions, diced
2 oz red curry paste
1 cup water

kosher salt, olive oil
* spinach
* cashews
* lime

Toss onions, celery and carrots with oil and a pinch of salt and roast at 375 until cooked through and starting to caramelize, about 25 minutes. Place lentils, light coconut milk, curry paste and water in a large pot and cook according to these instructions. It is very important that you do NOT salt the lentils until they are nice and soft but not mushy, which should take about 30 minutes. Remove one cup of cooked lentils and blend them with the full fat coconut milk. Return the mixture to the pot and add vegetables.

* These things are optional. If you are going to use them, serve each bowl of soup over freshly wilted spinach. Adding it in while cooking will result in brown spinach. Use as many cashews as you like; I prefer raw, unsalted ones. Squeeze lime over the soup before serving if you're feeling fancy.

On Dutch Babies, Failure and Butter

Let's talk about pancakes. I can't make one to save my own life. I just wanted to let you know that there are other options out there. My favorite of which is called a Dutch Baby.

You're probably sick of hearing my "love child" analogies by now. Too bad. A Dutch Baby is the love child of a pancake and a popover, baked in one pan with lots of butter.* It requires little time and effort, aka, two of the things I dislike most about making pancakes. The thing I dislike the very most about making pancakes is failure. I always fail at making pancakes.

In fact, I fail quite a lot in general. And that's okay. So it's okay if you fail, too.
Good, now we both feel better about it.

Pictured above is my first Dutch Baby, a complete failure. Looks pretty, tastes like what I imagine flan's poop might be like, if flan could make a poop. One big mistake: not reading/following directions.

My second Dutch Baby: light, crispy, buttery success! The instructions mean it when they say "make sure the butter is hot" and "use a blender or food processor." Melted butter and a hand mixer just won't do.

To make a Dutch Baby, follow this recipe.

Tips:
1. Sift your flour (All-Purpose, please).
2. Make sure you use a dry measuring cup for the flour and a liquid measuring cup for the milk.
3. Use large eggs.

I topped mine with Greek yogurt (1T cane sugar for every 7oz of plain yogurt, also whirled through my food processor), Trader Joe's salted caramel sauce, and strawberries. You can also go minimalist and use only a dusting of powdered sugar. BUT if you discard the browned butter at the bottom of the pan, you bring shame to me and your entire family!

*Every time I use the word "butter," I would appreciate it if you inferred that I mean "glorious butter." Because it is what it is.

Update and Things to Come

Friends, did you think I forgot about you? Because I didn't! I've just been gallivanting around Europe. No biggie. Last week I was in Madrid and Barcelona. I got to go to a Calçotada, just like Anthony Bourdain.

Hopefully you'll be able to read more about that in print later, but let's not get our hopes up too soon.

I've also been doing some styling and product photography for Sweet Betweens. Yum.

Also, I think I'm the only person in the world that is absolutely thrilled about the time change. For me the time change means I can shoot after work because of the extended daylight. So time change=more posts! In the weeks to come I'll be sharing framboise cake, a dutch baby with whipped greek yogurt and browned honey, and how to cook the perfect steak. OH, and ice cream. Lots and lots of ice cream.

But for now, let me just say: Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Food to Share: Lovely Lemon Madeleines and a Winter Picnic

We haven't had much Winter here in Nashville but lately I've found myself longing for Spring nonetheless. Perhaps it's because the weather hovers in the 50's, teasing me. A picnic on a bleary (thank you Rebekka, that is the perfect word) Sunday was exactly what I needed: to be outside, to relax, to eat delicious food and drink wine with friends. 

I went to Arrington Vineyards to share a picnic with Rebekka and Colleen. We had prosciutto and mozzarella sandwiches, brie and with crackers, and I made lovely lemon madeleines. They're lovely because, well, they're just beautiful to look at. That much is obvious. They're also packed with lots of meyer lemon zest, cornmeal, almond flour and best of all, butter!

Oh, and did I mention that I woke up to this precious face on Sunday morning? My sweet little Pixel, patiently waiting for me to get up and take her to play outside in the fog.







Lovely Lemon Madeleines
makes 18


1/3 cup semolina
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 cup sugar
1t baking powder
3 large eggs
pinch kosher salt
1 stick (8T) unsalted butter
1T limoncello
1T meyer lemon zest

Preheat oven to 400.
In a small bowl, whisk semolina, almond flour and baking powder together. In a separate bowl, beat eggs, sugar and salt with electric mixer until tripled in volume, about 5 minutes (if you see peaks beginning to form you have gone too far!). Melt butter and let cool slightly. Pour butter and almond extract into egg mixture. Beat until combined. Add zest. Fold dry mix into wet mix with spatula until just combined. Let chill in fridge for one hour. Spoon batter into madeleine mold. Bake for 6-7 minutes at 400, drop oven temperature to 350, and bake for another 4-5 minutes.