Roasted Apricot Crêpes

We spent the weekend over the bridge in New Jersey with Robert's family.  His mom has a really big gorgeous garden full of vegetables that we helped weed and get ready for planting.  It's a short week for us with the holiday this weekend.  It's the first 4 days we'll have off in quite a while, and after a lot of back and forth we finally decided we're just going to drive south towards the Chesapeake Bay on Friday and see where we end up.   

I got home last night and had an itch to make dessert with the apricots we picked up this weekend.  Dessert on weeknights is rare, unless I've gone into a baking fit and decided that even though I'm already half asleep on the couch at 11 PM I absolutely have to make cookies.  It's been a while since I made crêpes and they just sounded good.  I didn't do anything fancy with the apricots, just sliced them in half and put a little bit of butter and brown sugar on top of each one.  The roasting really brings out the sweet flavor and makes them soft enough to roll up in the crepe. 

Roasted Apricot Crêpes
for apricots
6 ripe apricots, pitted and sliced in half
1/2 tablespoon butter, divided into small pieces
1 tablespoon brown sugar
Non-fat greek yogurt, for topping

Preheat oven to 400°.  Place sliced apricots on a baking sheet or small roasting pan, top with butter and a sprinkle of brown sugar. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the edges are browned and the apricots are soft. 

for crepês
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup fat-free milk
3 tablespoons melted butter
3 eggs

Using a mixer or whisk, combine all ingredients until completely smooth.  Prepare an 8" skillet over medium heat with cooking spray. Pour the batter onto the skillet about 3 tablespoons at a time to create a thin and even layer across the pan.  Once the sides are browning and curling up, flip the crepe and finish cooking on the other side.  Serve warm with a layer of greek yogurt, topped with roasted apricots.

Sugared Rhubarb Ginger Tart

With rhubarb in season and a hankering to make some sort of tart, I came up with this dessert that could be the perfect ending for any springtime meal.  I hadn't used rhubarb on its own, I usually pair it with a sweet fruit to balance out that tart flavor.  Instead of adding more fruit, I decided to let it sit overnight with sugar, lemon and fresh ginger.  It works out well since the dough should be refrigerated overnight as well.  It came out pretty rustic looking and was really overflowing with the rhubarb filling.  I didn't trim the sides but you absolutely could to make it a smoother looking circle. 

Sugared Rhubarb Ginger Tart
rhubarb filling
1 lb. fresh rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 cup sugar
Lemon zest from one lemon
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, chopped
Turbinado sugar, for sprinkling on top

for the crust
1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons cold water
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cut into pieces

Using a stand mixer combine flour, sugar and salt until combined.  Add in butter, mix until crumbs have started to form.  Pour in water and mix until well combined.  Press the mixture into a ball and refrigerate overnight.  For the filling, combine rhubarb with 1/2 cup sugar, lemon rind and fresh ginger.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.  When ready to bake preheat oven to 425°.  Roll out the dough into a 12 inch circle and transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet.  The rhubarb mixture will be a bit liquidy from sitting overnight, stir it all together until combined before baking.  Scoop the rhubarb filling in the center of the circle, drizzling any extra liquid on top.  Fold the dough over the sides of the rhubarb and sprinkle with turbinado sugar around the crust and filling.  Bake for 15 minutes and then lower the oven temperature to 375°.  Bake 25 minutes more until the crust is golden brown and the rhubarb is bubbling.  Serve warm. 

snapshots 5/2/13

Limoncello Ricotta Cake with Strawberry Cream

This is my cake for Spring birthdays.  A lot of leftovers from the recipes on here find their way into the studio at Free People. Nobody is surprised when I show up with desserts or bits of new recipe experiments, so I was excited to make a cake specially for them.

I kept thinking about the bottle of homemade limoncello my good friend gave me last time we visited home.  It's been sitting on top of our cupboards just waiting to be poured into a dessert.  Instead of using the whipped cream and strawberries as a filling I decided to trim a layer off the top of the bundt cake to make a smooth surface for topping, which worked out perfectly for the birthday girls.  I made each one their own cake jar- using the trimmed cake cut up into pieces and layered with the extra strawberry whipped cream and strawberries.  This way none of the cake went to waste and the jars were a nice little addition. 

Limoncello Ricotta Cake
1 3/4 cup cake flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup fat-free ricotta
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon rind
1/4 cup limoncello
1 large egg
2 cups strawberries, sliced 

Preheat oven to 350° and prepare a fluted cake pan with cooking spray.  In a large bowl mix all dry ingredients, flour, sguar, baking powder, salt and set aside.  In a separate bowl whisk together the ricotta, olive oil, water, limoncello, lemon rind and egg until completely smooth.  Pour the mixture over the dry ingredients and mix until well combined.  Bake for 30 minutes, until the cake is cooked through and the edges are golden brown.  Once the cake is completely cool, trim the top off to create a smooth surface for the strawberry cream. 

Strawberry Cream
2 cups whipping cream
2 tablespoons confectioners sugar
1 tablespoon limoncello
1/2 cup strawberry puree, from about 1 cup fresh strawberries

Using a mixter beat the whipping cream with confectioners sugar until soft peaks form.  Slowly pour in limoncello and strawberry puree until well incorporated.  Scoop the strawberry cream on the prepared Limoncello Ricotta cake and top with fresh strawberry slices.  Use any remaining strawberry cream for cake jars. 

 

Breakfast Polenta with Wild Ramps + Mushrooms

 

Ramps are here!  We had a nature filled weekend, with some brunch and plant hunting at Terrain followed by an afternoon at Longwood Gardens.  Once I get my film developed and scanned I'll do a post just about Longwood, it was so beautiful.

The ramp season was a little later than we remember last year.  We were buying them at the Union Square Green Market right around Easter, so naturally we were anxious to get our hands on some as soon as we could.  We made a trip to Green Aisle Grocery for the ramps that were locally picked.  Green Aisle is tiny little grocery store in Passyunk that has some of the best products we've found in Philly.  Robert's about to be off for another couple of weeks in Texas so I made sure we would fit in this recipe beforehand, ramps could be gone by the time he's back.  He came up with the polenta and ramp combination a while ago, and once I tried it I had a very serious wow this is the most delicious thing I've ever eaten moment.  He cooked the stems separately with the mushrooms, and sauteed the greens on their own.  The polenta was simple, no cheese and mixed with salt pepper and butter.  He topped it all off with a poached egg, naturally.  Everything tastes just a little bit better with an egg on top no?

 

Breakfast Polenta with Wild Ramps and Mushrooms
Serves 2 generously

1/2 cup polenta
2 cups water
1 bunch of ramps, cleaned thoroughly, with greens separated and the bulbs diced
1 cup mushrooms, diced
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
2 eggs, poached
Salt and ground black pepper

To prepare polenta, bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a medium sauce pan.  Once boiling add about a teaspoon of salt.  Slowly pour in polenta, whisking constantly.  Continue to whisk vigorously until the polenta begins to thicken and does not stick to the bottom of the pot.  Reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 30 minutes-stirring vigorously every 10 minutes.  After 30 minutes, remove from heat and stir in 1 tablespoon butter, salt and pepper to taste.  Heat 1/2 tablespoon olive oil in skillet over medium heat.  Add diced mushrooms, seasoning with salt and pepper.  Cook until mushrooms are releasing liquid, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes.  Add in diced ramp bulbs.  Continue cooking for another 2 minutes.  For the ramp greens, prepare a small skillet with 1/2 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat.  Sautee the ramps until tender, about 2 minutes, you'll notice the ramps wilt very quickly and there's no need to over cook them.  In the meantime, poach two eggs to your liking.  To assemble, pour about 1 cup of polenta onto a plate or bowl, make a small mound in the center and fill with half of the mushroom mixture.  Top with a poached egg and ramp greens. 

Banana Muffins with Chocolate Pretzel Topping

After ignoring some very sad looking overripe bananas for a few days I decided muffins were in order.  I think I've baked more banana muffins, breads and cakes more than any other baked good in my life.  They're generally very basic so I decided to get a little kooky with this topping.  I knew we had pretzel sticks and a hodgepodge bag of chocolate bars, some half eaten, some for baking, I think I even found a few mallow cups in there.  

I set out to make these early on Sunday morning and made it up as I went, beginning with the chocolate topping.  I melted half a dark chocolate bar with a little bit of vegan butter (Earth Balance makes vegan buttery sticks that have really grown on me for baking), added the pretzel pieces and set them out to harden before beginning the batter.  It made things a little easier since I didn't have to wait around for the chocolate to set once the batter was finished.  Speaking of the batter and my love for baking with vegan butter... the muffins don't need it.  I've found that after reducing and substituting the butter in a lot of recipes apple sauce works particularly well for banana breads and muffins.  

These were such an experiment for me, and I'll definitely be making them again and perhaps try a different method for the topping.  If you decide to make them I'd love to know how they turn out.

 

Banana Muffins with Chocolate Pretzel Topping
3 very ripe bananas, mashed
2 eggs
1/3 cup non-fat greek yogurt
5 tablespoons unsweetened apple sauce
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons agave nectar
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1.5 oz. dark chocolate, for melting
1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter, or vegan butter
5-6 pretzel sticks, broken into pieces

Over low heat in a small sauce pan, melt dark chocolate and butter together, whisking until combined.  Add pretzel sticks and coat thoroughly.  Remove pretzels from chocolate and place on wax paper to harden.  Once the chocolate has set, chop the pretzels into small pieces for topping.  Preheat oven to 350.  In a large mixing bowl, mix the bananas, eggs, yogurt, brown sugar, apple sauce and agave until very smooth.  In a separate bowl combine all remaining dry ingredients.  Pour over banana mixture and stir until just combined.  Pour the batter into prepared muffin tin, about 3/4 of the way full in each cup.  Top with chocolate pretzel pieces and bake for 20 minutes, until cooked all the way through and the edges are golden brown.  Serve warm.