A Quickie!

Hello readers.

I'm in the process of moving. I can't wait to share pictures of my new house with you during the week of June 11! But in the meantime, stay hungry and enjoy this recipe for stuffed portabello mushrooms. 

-serves two

2 large mushroom caps

1/2 can canellini beans, drained

1/2 medium yellow onion, diced

1 medium tomato, seeds removed and cut into large pieces

1/4 cup fresh flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped

1/2 cup shaved pecorino cheese

juice of one lemon (1/4 cup of dry white wine will also do)

mozzarella to top

grapeseed oil, salt, pepper

Preheat oven to 400. Drizzle mushrooms with oil and bake, stem side down, for 25-30 minutes. And don't you dare throw out that mushroom juice at the bottom when they come out. We'll get to that later.

 

Meanwhile, heat about 1T of oil over medium high heat and cook onions until they just start to turn brown on the edges. Add tomato and cook for another 2 minutes. Add lemon juice, mushroom juice, parsley and beans and cook until heated through.Take it easy on the salt; the cheese and the beans are already pretty salty. Do add plenty of freshly-cracked black pepper. Toss with pecorino cheese and stuff bean mixture into mushrooms. Top with mozzarella and broil in the oven until cheese is melted. Serve with a simple green salad.

*If you have extra beans, and you probably will, mix them with cooked quinoa, good olive oil and maybe some more cheese. Eat for lunch the next day and make all of your co-workers jealous. 

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!