yogurt berry pancakes.

For the first time in a very long time, Tyler and I had a relaxing and leisurely Saturday morning in our own apartment.  We slept in until nine, walked over to the neighborhood farmers market to stock up on produce, and came back to make pancakes and large glasses of ice coffee. 

Generally, I don’t like pancakes or waffles for breakfast.  I prefer eggs.  Poached, over easy, fried, scrambled, it doesn’t matter (and the eggs must include a side of buttered toast).  But on occasion I get a hankering for pancakes – this usually happens when I have a fridge stocked with berries and yogurt and a lazy weekend ahead of me.

I used the wonderful Mark Bittman’s pancake recipe as my starting point to which I added ground cinnamon and ginger to the batter (those spices work so well with berries).  I also used a combination of Greek yogurt and milk  (instead of just milk) since it gives a nice tang to the batter.  Each pancake was loaded with blueberries and strawberries, which made for a very patriotic breakfast. 

Yogurt Berry Pancakes
Recipe Adapted from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything

Serves 2

Mark Bittman’s cookbook is necessary for every home cook to own.  Every recipe in the book provides the perfect foundation for you to customize based on personal preference.  This pancake recipie is my go to and I have adapted in many different ways.  Here I used berries and yogurt but I also adore it with late summer peaches and buttermilk.  

1 cup all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1 egg
¾ cup plain yogurt (I used Greek Yogurt)
¼ - ½ cup milk (depending on the yogurt you use you may need more milk to thin the batter)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
Zest of 1 lemon
½ cup assorted berries plus more for serving

Preheat a griddle or large skillet over medium-low heat while you make the batter.

Mix together the flour, baking soda, salt, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and lemon zest.  Beat the egg into your milk and yogurt mixture.  Gently stir this into the dry ingredients, mixing only enough to moisten the flour.  If the batter is thick, add more milk. 

Butter or spray your skillet.  When the skillet is hot, ladle the batter onto the skillet, making the pancakes your choice in size (I usually go for about 4 inches in diameter).  Layer your berries on top of the batter while the pancake cooks, about 2-4 minutes.  You’ll know its ready to flip when bubbles begin to appear around the edges.  Flip the pancake over and cook until the second side is lightly browned.  Top with maple syrup and more berries!

new amsterdam market (and lots of ice cream!).

Tyler and I spent Sunday at The New Amsterdam Market eating our way through all of the ice cold offerings (and we had a couple of tacos as well).  If you haven't been to the New Amsterdam I highly suggest stopping by some Sunday.  There is a ton of local food purveyors selling everything from produce, to artisan cheeses and breads, and ice cream/ice pops galore!  It's a nice way to spend the day outside and a lovely way to fill up your belly.  

1, 2 - The Bent Spoon Ice Cream: Ricotta and Berry Lemon Basil - Hands down the best ice cream ever (and I have had a lot of ice cream).  The shop is located in Princeton, NJ and it's worth the drive and if you do go please feel free to bring me some on your way back.
3 - Milk Shaved Ice with Mango and Toasted Coconut - This was my first time having this and it was incredibly delicious and refreshing.  The shaved ice has a subtle sweetness to it which I loved.  The coconut gave a great texture to the whole dish and you can never go wrong with mango.  

tortellini pasta salad.

Our freezer is filled to the brim.  It’s overflowing with pasta, grass-fed beef from Maine, cookie dough, and chicken stock.  In our previous apartment we were not afforded the luxury of a freezer, we had a mini fridge with one of those freezers that’s inside the fridge and can’t do anything but get covered in a thick sheet of ice (I think we were able to store a mini ice cube tray).  When we moved into our current apartment, I nearly wept with joy when I saw a normal sized fridge with an actual freezer (it’s the little things in life) – I managed to fill our freezer up almost immediately and I still can’t remember how I lived without one before.   

Tyler has kindly informed me that next week is “only eat food from the freezer week” since the freezer situation is getting out of hand.  I think this is somewhat cruel since we are currently in the throws of summer and the peak of farmers market produce.  I told him I was willing to compromise and use some of the stuff in the freezer along with produce I buy, he agreed (more so because if he didn’t I was still going to do it anyway).   I decided to be generous and begin the freezer clean out last night by making a tortellini pasta salad for dinner.  I used a box of tortellini we had (I tend to stock up on good pasta when I have the chance to buy in) and combined it with quickly sautéed cherry tomatoes and garlic (tomato season is slowly arriving!), olives, and basil.  The tomatoes and olives were the perfect contrast of salty sweet and the basil added a lovely freshness.  I drizzled a little balsamic vinegar over the whole thing for a bit of necessary tartness.  It was a beautifully simple and quick dinner that left everyone happy (and the freezer with a little more space!).

Tortellini Pasta Salad

Serves 3

1 9oz. package frozen tortellini (I used a combo of cheese and meat since I had both but cheese is best here)

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

½ - 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (depending on your level of heat)

1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

1/3 cup black olives, pitted (I used spicy oil cured olives)

½ cup mozzarella, provolone, or other cheese (I used a spicy table cheese I had on hand)

¼ cup packed basil, sliced in thin slivers

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

Bring a large pot of water to boil, salt your water and add the tortellini to the pot, cook until just tender but still a little firm, stirring occasionally. Drain well and place in a large bowl

In a large sauté pan, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil.  When hot add your minced garlic and red pepper flakes, stirring until fragrant.  Add the cherry tomatoes and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat. 

Add tomatoes, olives, cheese, and basil to the bowl with the tortellini.  Sprinkle with salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.  Toss to combine.  Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and remaining tablespoon of olive oil.  Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.

austrian shortbread bars.

Summer always ends up consisting of lots of road trips.  Weekend jaunts to friend’s homes and to any place where there is a body of water I can swim in.  I adore driving (because I’m rarely the one driving and can instead indulge in car naps, my favorite).  I love having my feet up on the dashboard, listening to mix CD’s, feeling the sun warm my skin and the wind whip through my hair – it’s summer perfection.  No matter where we go I pride myself on always bringing a hostess gift (it’s how you ensure you get invited back!), wine and liquor (I personally adore artisan bourbon or prosecco) are always good choices, but homemade cookies/brownies are the best.

The perfect summer cookie has to fulfill many criteria.  It needs to be easily portable (no broken cookies upon arrival!), it needs to freeze easily (big batches that you can store for later make life so much easier), and it needs to taste like something you would eat on a summer picnic.  These Austrian Shortbread bars fulfill all those criteria and more.  They are heaven – buttery but not too sweet (the jam gives the perfect amount of sweet and tartness), and incredibly beautiful looking.  I find they are best eaten late in the afternoon after a day spent swimming and I imagine most everyone else would agree with me on that. 

Austrian Shortbread Bars

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

These bars are infinitely adaptable.  My personal favorite involves cherry jam and almond extract (that flavor combination screams summer to me) but whatever jam you have on hand works well here.  This recipe also halves beautifully.  I usually make these in an 8 x 8 pan because I have no self-control.   I would eat all of them if I made a bigger batch and left them in the freezer, sigh.  I also recommend using more jam then the original recipe calls for, using more gives the bar more distinct layers which I love.  In addition, this is the time to splurge on the good butter.  Pulga is my choice and in a recipe like this that uses a great deal of butter, it makes all the difference.  The recipe below includes my changes but you can see the original at Smitten Kitchen!

1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly softened (Pulga!)

4 egg yolks

2 cups granulated sugar

4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon almond extract or vanilla extract

1 ½ cups cherry jam at room temperature (or any other type)

Cream the butter in a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until soft and fluffy.  Add the egg yolks and mix well. 

Mix the granulated sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt together.  Add to the butter and egg yolk mixture and mix until incorporated and the dough starts to come together.  Turn the dough onto a floured work surface and form into two balls.  Wrap each ball in plastic wrap and freeze at least 2 hours or overnight (or up to a month). 

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Remove one ball of dough from the freezer and coarsely grate it by hand or with the grating disk in a food processor into the bottom of the 9 x 13 baking pan.  Make sure the surface is covered evenly with shreds of dough. 

Dot jam over the top of the dough and spread as evenly as possible over the dough with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon (it helps to heat the jam up a little in the microwave do so at 10-second intervals as you don’t want the jam super hot!).  Remove the remaining dough from the freezer and grate that as well, spread evenly over the jam. 

Bake until lightly golden brown and the center no longer wiggles, 50 to 60 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack (and even go so far as to put it in the fridge overnight), then cut in the pan with a serrated knife (do not try and cut or remove from pan until cook, disaster ensues otherwise!).   

maine vacation.

 I’ve spent the last several days up in Maine with my better half gorging on lobster rolls, taking long drives through farm land, swimming in lakes with puppies, wearing cut-offs and nude sandals, eating freshly picked strawberries, antiquing for gold jewelry, watching the most beautiful thunderstorms, and celebrating our anniversary with dinner at Miyake in Portland (a must go!).    

1 - Scarborough Lobster for lobster and crab rolls
2 - Freshly picked strawberries from a roadside market.
3,4 - Stanley Pond
5 - Portland Lobster Company
6 - Miyake in Portland, Maine - Snails in Anchovy Butter and Red Pepper Flakes.
7 - Miyake in Portland, Maine - Lobster Roll
8 - Drive back from Portland, Maine
9 - Rope Swing!
10,11 - Lobster and Crab Roll from Scarborough Lobster

green bean, potato, and tuna salad.

I am one of those people who bring their lunch to work.  I realize that this is the norm in some industries, but in the world of finance doing so makes you stick out like a sore thumb.  I used to try and bring inconspicuous items like turkey sandwiches and chicken noodle soup, but sandwiches generally feel less then chic and elegant.  When you’re forced to eat all your meals at your desk, you want to try and bring a little French je ne sais quai to your meal. 

To make my lunch feel a little more special and a little less like I’m eating in a white walled cubicle (when I’d rather be eating on a bench in the sun), I’ve taken to making salads.  We are not talking about bagged lettuce mix salads (the horror!) but rather positively French salads filled with farmer’s market vegetables and some kind of protein. 

My current version features skinny haricots verts (a green bean with a fancy name) with baby red potatoes, chopped egg, and olive oil packed tuna.  I use the olive oil the tuna comes in to make a tart and spicy vinaigrette that I drizzle over the whole thing while the salad is still warm.  The warm vegetables soak up the vinaigrette which makes each bite taste creamy and rich.  The dish is at its best the next day once the flavors have melded, making this the perfect easy lunch that tastes like so much more.  If only I had macarons for dessert (and white wine to drink!)

Green Bean, Potato, and Tuna Salad

Serves 4

This is my version of a nicoise salad (so French!).  In addition to being a super fabulous lunch, it also makes the perfect meal for an impromptu alfresco dinner especially if you serve it with a wedge of brie and crusty bread.  Finish the meal with a bar of the best dark chocolate you can buy.  Simple and wonderful.

For the salad

1 ¼ pound green beans washed and ends removed, cut in half on a diagonal

1 pound red baby potatoes washed and quartered (or more if bigger)

3 egss

1 can good olive oil packed tuna (this is the time to splurge)

Salt and pepper to taste

For the dressing

Olive oil from can of tuna (about 3 tablespoons, add fresh if not enough)

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard (plus more to taste if you like lots of mustard)

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

1 teaspoon honey

Salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, bring water to boil, salt your water, and add green beans.  Cook 3-4 minutes, depending on how crisp you like your beans.  Remove from the pot with a slotted spoon and place in large bowl.  Rinse beans with cold water to stop cooking. 

Add potatoes to pot, cook until fork tender, about 6-8 minutes depending on the potatoes size.  Remove from pot with a slotted spoon. Add eggs to pot and cook 10 minutes. 

While eggs are cooking, make dressing.  Drain tuna olive oil into a small bowl.  Add tuna to the green beans and potatoes.  Combine mustard, white wine vinegar, and honey with the oil.  Stir to combine.  Season with salt and pepper to taste. 

Remove eggs from pot, and dunk in cold water.  Peel the eggs, halve them, and dice each half.  Add eggs to the beans, potatoes, and tuna.  Season beans and potato mixture with salt and (lots of!) pepper to taste.  Mix in dressing, and toss to coat.  Taste, and adjust seasonings as necessary.