Strawberry-Lemon Curd Tart

Our neighborhood farmers market opened today—hooray! Strawberries were the featured item for the day and the farmers had beautiful specimens for sale. I had already planned to make Ina Garten’s lemon curd tart this afternoon and knew sliced strawberries would be the perfect flavor accompaniment. (I made a few adjustments to the original recipe.) This dessert looks impressive, but it is pretty simple to pull off. Enjoy!

Strawberry-Lemon Curd Tart
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
Zest and juice from 4 lemons
4 eggs
Pinch of salt

Sliced strawberries

1. Beat 3/4 cup butter and 1/2 cup sugar with an electric mixer just combined. Beat in vanilla, flour, and pinch of salt. Beat on low speed until the dough starts to come together. Spoon dough into a lightly greased 10-inch tart pan. Press dough into bottom and up sides of pan. Prick dough with a fork.

2. Bake at 350° for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from oven to cool completely.

3. Meanwhile, beat 1/2 cup butter, 1 1/2 cups sugar, and lemon zest with mixer until creamy. Stir in the lemon juice. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until blended after each addition. Add in pinch of salt.
4. Pour lemon mixture into a saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, about 15 to 20 minutes or until thickened. Remove from the heat.
5. Pour lemon curd into tart shell. Cover and chill until ready to serve. Top with sliced strawberries just before serving. (If you add the berries too far in advance, your curd will become runny.)

Berry Cobbler With Pound Cake Streusel

While cleaning out the freezer, I found a chunk of pound cake and thought that it would make a great topping for a cobbler. This one uses frozen berries, but if you have fresh, use them. I used the food processor to make pound cake crumbs; almonds mixed in add great texture. Of course we topped our cobbler with ice cream. Enjoy!

Berry Cobbler With Pound Cake Streusel
1 bag frozen mixed berries
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
2 cups pound cake crumbs
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 tsp. almond extract

1. Combine berries and next 2 ingredients. Let stand for 30 minutes or until berries begin to thaw. Pour into a baking dish. Combine pound cake crumbs and remaining ingredients. Sprinkle over berries.
2. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Serve warm.

Peanut Sauce

I love peanut sauce because it’s salty, savory, and delicious on so many things. Over the years, I’cvve tried many variations to get just the right combination of flavors. The recipe I had been using was good, but I wanted it to be better. My new go-to features the best of several recipes—it has a decadent flavor, complements of lite coconut milk. You may need to adjust the seasonings to get your perfect taste, but this is mine. Enjoy!

Peanut Sauce
2 cups creamy peanut butter
3/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup lite soy sauce
4 garlic gloves, minced
2 tsp. srirachi
1/2 cup water
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 cup unsweetened lite coconut milk
2 tsp. red curry paste
Juice from 2 limes

1. Combine all ingredients in a saucepan (an immersion blender is helpful for this). Cook, stirring often, 10 to 15 minutes. Add more water, if needed. Adjust seasoning to taste.

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Dinner tonight had an Asian spin: pork dumplings, noodles with peanut sauce, and this recipe. (Note: To cook the dumplings, I steamed them for 20 minutes; then tossed them with a small amount of oil, and baked them at 400° until crispy, about 10 minutes.) The meat mixture for the lettuce wraps has a lot of ingredients, but the flavor makes it worth the effort. I tossed the leftovers with noodles and peanut sauce for a great next-day meal. Enjoy!

Chicken Lettuce Wraps
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. sesame oil
2 carrots, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 jalapeño, seeded and minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp. lite soy sauce
1 lb. ground chicken (I used my food processor for this.)
1 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger

2 tsp. sriracha

2 tsp. chile-garlic sauce
1 Tbsp. cornstarch

1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup unsweetened lite coconut milk

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Juice of 1 lime
Boston lettuce leaves

1. Sauté carrots, bell pepper, and jalapeño in hot oil for 10 minutes or until carrots begin to soften. Add garlic and soy sauce, and sauté 1 minute. Add in chicken, and cook, stirring often, 5 minutes or until chicken is done. Add in ginger and next 2 ingredients. Stir together cornstarch and broth; add to pan with coconut milk, stirring often, until mixture begins to thicken. Stir in cilantro and lime juice. Taste and adjust seasoning. Serve in lettuce leaves.

Honey White Bread

Until recently, I had no interest in baking my own bread. But good bread at the grocery store is expensive, so I decided to try my hand at it. My stand mixer has a dough hook, so kneading the dough is a breeze. This recipe is from Barefoot Contessa at Home and makes two loaves. The first time I made the bread, my loaves had a free-form French bread look because I didn’t have loaf pans. That situation has been rectified. Next month, I plan to substitute whole-wheat flour for half of the white flour. I’ll let you know how it turns out. Enjoy!

Honey White Bread
2 packages active dry yeast

1 tsp. sugar

1/2 cup warm water

1 1/2 cups milk (warmed in the microwave, about 2 minutes)
6 Tbsp. butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 1/2 Tbsp. honey
2 eggs, separated
5 to 6 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. salt

1. Add yeast and sugar to water. Pour into bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook. Let stand 5 minutes.
2. Add the milk and next 2 ingredients. Beat on medium speed until blended. Add in 2 egg yolks, 3 cups flour, and salt; beat on low for 5 minutes. With the mixer running, beat in 2 more cups of flour. Beat at medium speed for 8 minutes, slowly adding enough of the remaining 1 cup flour so the dough forms a ball and doesn’t stick to the bowl.
3. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface, and knead 1 minute. Transfer to a lightly greased bowl, turning dough to coat the top. Cover with a damp towel, and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, for 1 hour or until doubled in volume.
4. Divide dough in half, and roll into a loaf shape. Place in 2 lightly greased (9- x 5-inch) loaf pans, and cover with damp towels. Let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in volume. Brush tops of dough with reserved egg whites.
5. Bake at 350° for 35 to 40 minutes or until loaves sound hollow when tapped. Cool in pans 10 minutes; cool on wire rack completely.

Blue Cheese-and-Bacon Mac and Cheese

This recipe was inspired by the Barefoot Contessa. I mean, how could you go wrong with this flavor combination? Not at our house! The original recipe supposedly serves two, but four is a more accurate number. Instead of expensive Gruyere cheese, I used mild, creamy Havarti. The bacon and blue cheese worked beautifully together. A simple tomato salad was the perfect partner. Enjoy!

Blue Cheese-and-Bacon Mac and Cheese
4 bacon slices, chopped
2 Tbsp. butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups milk
4 oz. havarti, shredded
2 oz. sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
2 oz. crumbled gorgonzola cheese
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
Salt and pepper

6 oz. cooked pasta

Fresh breadcrumbs

1. Cook bacon until crisp; drain. Wipe pan clean, and melt butter. Sprinkle in flour, and cook, whisking constantly, 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk; cook, whisking often, until mixture is thickened. Stir in cheeses and nutmeg. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in pasta and bacon. Pour mixture into a baking dish. Spread breadcrumbs on top. Drizzle with a little olive oil or melted butter.
2. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Serve immediately.

Tomato Salad

Our dinner tonight was kind of heavy, so the side dish needed to be the opposite. Yesterday at Costco, they had yellow cherry tomatoes. Paired with grape tomatoes on hand, I created a simple, colorful dish that tastes like summer. The fresh basil came from the mini herb garden that's growing in a pot on top of our grill. This will definitely become a go-to side for summer. Enjoy!

Tomato Salad
1/2 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1 garlic clove, finely minced
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
6 basil leaves, chopped
Salt and pepper

1. Combine tomatoes and garlic. Stir in olive oil and vinegar. Sprinkle with basil, and season with salt and pepper to taste.