Prep Week

We have our first taste of summer weather this week. I doubt it will last: June in Seattle is usually a grim, wet slog. But this week is inspiring me to prepare for coming season. I just planted 10 tomatoes and 15 basils, and I'm already dreaming of late-July caprese. This weekend I made the year's first pitcher of sangria, cold-brew coffee, and simple syrup. So summer beverages are under control.

Now for summer eating. This spring we joined the local pool and signed the girls up for swimming lessons. That means that I'm out of the house from 5:00 to 6:30. I need recipes that can be prepared at noon and then reheated quickly. Or even better, served straight from the fridge. I've decided that this summer should be about durable salads. Crispy vegetables and canned legumes that can marinate in something tasty and then last in the fridge for a few days. This morning I bought Lars fried onions, pitted nicoise olives, and a jar of sundried tomatoes. And I'm making a large batch of the ultimate salad garnish: coconut "bacon." That deserves its own post.

Fun with Latticework

This year's big Easter treat was raspberry rhubarb pie. I always top rhubarb pie with a lattice crust. The Executive Chef is a fan of Arabic decorative art, and he started musing about pie lattice that imitated Arabic design. He did some Googling, and I decided I could work with this picture.

Lesson learned: next time I will refrigerate the cut lattice strips before weaving the pie top. My pastry was too soft to get the sharp corners I wanted. I also should have completely defrosted the rhubarb. Or used very small fruit pieces in the filling. The bumpy pie surface also made it difficult to shape the design properly. With a square pie plate and very thin lattice strips, I could try inserting a few more design elements.

I used the pie filling recipe from this link: http://www.marthastewart.com/356180/ritas-raspberry-rhubarb-lattice-pie. It was very tart and just fantastic. The inlay image comes from this website, http://www.catnaps.org/islamic/geometry.html

Tired Cook Salad

I was tired last night. And so my planned Greek cucumber salad became this.

Sliced cucumbers on a plate. I squeezed a lemon over the plate and sprinkled everything with sea salt. And the Executive Chef ate all of it.

Strawberry/Pear/Prune Smoothie

Smoothies are my favorite go-to snack for the girls. I make them with boxed tofu and frozen fruit. That makes it super-easy to keep ingredients on hand. I have a light-weight blender, I'm not sure it would handle frozen fruit. So I defrost my fruit first. This makes a great thick smoothie that keeps well in the refrigerator.

For toilet-training reasons, we are currently trying to boost youngest-child's fiber intake. So I'm experimenting with new smoothie recipes, and omitting the usual bananas. Today's experiment turned out great. It was quite tart. A few teaspoons of sugar would make this more child-friendly while still making a healthy treat. My girls drank it down though, and asked for more.

Strawberry/Pear/Prune Smoothie
1 lb of frozen strawberries, partially or fully defrosted
1 can of pears, drained
15 prunes, soaked in 1/2 cup of hot water and then drained
1 box of Mori-Nu soft tofu

Blend until smooth. That's it.

Leftovers

One of the best benefits of cooking is having awesome leftovers. Especially leftovers that you can combine for completely new meals. On Monday I had bread  and mock Hollaindaise from the Sunday's Egg Benedict. The Asparagus was leftover from Saturday's dinner, I had already recycled it once for the Benedict. And Sunday evening's deviled eggs produced a lot of extra deviled egg yolk. For lunch I microwaved Asparagus and sauce while I toasted some bread. Then spread the egg mixture on toast, and enjoyed a rare solo lunch that wasn't PBJ.

Peeps

This is what you (might) get when you invite the Executive Chef to a party. I saw these on Pinterest last year and made them for a party. When we were invited to a St. Patrick's party this year, I volunteered to make deviled eggs. The Executive Chef asked "please please can they be the fancy chick eggs." And I said "only if you do it." So he did. And at the party, everyone told me how awesome the eggs were. No one complimented the poor Chef.

For easy transport, keep the original egg carton. Drape it loosely in 2 long strips of Saran wrap.

If you had the patience to cut away all the extra Saran wrap, this would be an awesome presentation.

Benedictish

I have finally found a good title for referring to my husband: the Executive Chef. He doesn't like to cook, and refuses to do anything much more complicated than pasta and a vegetable. But all of our best family recipes have been thought up by him. It's probably because his imagine runs completely free. He knows that however crazy the idea, I will think out the details and do all the cooking myself. 

This Sunday's breakfast incorporates one of his best ideas ever. He asked me if I could replace the egg yolks in Hollandaise with mustard. I've experimented with sauce a couple of ways, using mustard powder and prepared mustard. Either way, it makes a fantastic sauce. Almost the same taste as Hollandaise. But none of the food safety issues. And much easier too, since you don't have to worry about overcooking the sauce and curdling the eggs.

Mock Hollandaise

1/2 cup unsalted butter

2 tsp prepared mustard (French's for the best color, or Dijon for the best flavor)

juice of one small lemon

Melt 1/4 cup of the butter. Whisk in mustard and lemon juice until emulsion is smooth. Then whisk in remaining butter, adding 1 Tblsp or less at a time, and whisking well after each addition. This sauce keeps well. Just reheat and whisk until emulsion is restored.