Roasted Broccoli and Chickpea Salad with Honey Walnuts

I just got back to Berkeley from visiting my parents in Ohio this past Sunday, so I'll be featuring some Ohio recipes that I made with my mom over the next few posts (and a few have already been popping up, as you may have noticed!) I always love cooking with my mom in the kitchen, so these recipes are always special! One even features an ingredient that's impossible to find in Berkeley: sour cherries!

This salad is an excellent combination of sweet and salty with lots of textures and flavors going on. I love roasted vegetables, so the roasted broccoli here is one of my favorite components. Its nutty flavor goes well with the sauteed chickpeas. The honeyed walnuts add a unique and satisfying sweet twist to the salad, and the feta cheese is salty and delicious. The salad dressing here is also a real winner, and one I will definitely be using over and over again in various salad recipes. You could switch out the balsamic for another vinegar as well. The salad was topped off with salad from my mom's garden.

Roasted Broccoli and Chickpea Salad with Honey Walnuts (adapted from Martha Stewart Living Magazine)
Serves 4

For the broccoli
2 small heads of broccoli, trimmed and cut into florets
3 T olive oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the chickpeas
2 T olive oil
1 shallot, thinly sliced
1 can (15 ouncea) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
Coarse salt
1 tsp balsamic vinegar

For the vinaigrette
2 T Dijon mustard
4 tsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp honey
1/2 tsp coarse salt
A few grinds black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil

For the honey walnuts
3 T honey
4 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 1/2 lemon)
1 cup walnuts
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 tsp coarse salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

To assemble the salad
A few handfuls salad greens (we used greens from my mom's garden, but Romaine or baby lettuce would be good too)
A handful feta cheese, crumbled

1. Make the broccoli: Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Toss the broccoli with oil, and season with salt and pepper. Spread onto a rimmed baking sheet and roast until tender, about 15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, make the chickpeas: Heat the oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook, stirring until tender and translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chickpeas, and season with salt. Cook for a minute, stirring, and then add the vinegar. Cook until the liquid is evaporated, about 5 minutes.
3. Make the vinaigrette: Place all ingredients in a jar with a tight lid, screw on the lid, and shake until well combined.
4. When the broccoli is done, make the honey walnuts: Turn the oven down to 400 degrees. Stir together the honey and lemon juice in a small bowl, and then add the walnuts, garlic, salt, and pepper. Spread on a rimmed baking sheet, and roast for about 10 minutes, until golden brown. Stir occasionally while the nuts are roasting. Let cool, and then coarsely chop.
5. Assemble the salad. Toss together the broccoli, chickpeas, walnuts, and salad greens in a salad bowl. Add dressing and toss. Top with feta cheese.

Individual Asparagus-Manchego Tart

This month's theme for You Want Pies with That was Taste of Summer Pie. We had to create a pie that evoked the tastes and flavors of summer. I picked fresh asparagus as my summer veggie, and paired it with a puff pastry crust and nutty Spanish Manchego cheese. Marcia's Kitchen made a similar tart with Gruyere cheese, but the Manchego was on sale at the grocery and I thought the taste would be excellent with the asparagus.

I made an individual tart for a quick summer dinner, but you could easily multiply this recipe to make multiple servings. I'd suggest serving this with more veggies (I roasted some more asparagus, but a light salad would be great too).

Individual Asparagus-Manchego Tart (adapted from Marcia's Kitchen)

1/3 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
4-5 stalks asparagus, rinsed and trimmed
Manchego cheese
Freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Roll out the puff pastry until it is as long as the asparagus. Score the edges of the pastry about 1/4 to 1/2 inch from all the edges. Prick the inside of the rectangle and leave the edges un-pricked.
3. Bake the tart for about 10 minutes until lightly browned. Place the asparagus in a neat row on the puff pastry, and then generously grate Manchego cheese over the top.
4. Bake the tart for another 10-15 minutes until it is nicely browned and the asparagus is tender. Remove from the oven and grate more cheese over the top. Serve with freshly ground black pepper.

Vanilla Pound Cake

My mom and I made this vanilla loaf cake for my dad for Father's Day, but it would be equally delicious for today, the Fourth of July (just throw some blueberries on that plate!). We used a delicious recipe from Caviar and Codfish that I bookmarked a while back but never got around to making. (Oh, my backlog of bookmarked recipes! Someday I will have to start a special day for everyone to post recipes that have caught their eye from other blogs like Magazine Mondays.)

Anyway, back to the cake! We had to make a few changes, namely reducing the double vanilla (bean and extract) to just extract since my mom didn't have vanilla beans on hand, but the pound cake was none the worse for it and was absolutely delicious, with the vanilla flavor coming through very well! I also mixed the batter a bit wrong due to not having left enough room in my "butter and sugar and eggs" bowl, which may have contributed to those unsightly stripes you see in the picture...or that could be undercooking...either way, it tasted excellent so we ignored the cosmetic problems! If anything, I think you'd want to undercook this pound cake a tad rather than overcooking to ensure that it doesn't get dry. The cake is only improved by the addition of fresh fruit like these strawberries from the orchard behind my parents' house.

Vanilla Pound Cake (adapted from Caviar and Codfish, original recipe here)
Makes 1 loaf pan sized cake

3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
3 large eggs, at room temperature
4 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups (7 ounces) sifted cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup sour cream, at room temperature
Fresh fruit, to serve (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour one loaf pan.
2. Cream together the butter and sugar in a large bowl until fluffy and pale. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until well mixed after each addition. Add the vanilla and mix well.
3. Whisk together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.
4. Add the flour mixture and the sour cream in alternating additions (flour-sour cream-flour-sour cream-flour), mixing well after each addition.
5. Scrape the dough into a buttered and floured loaf pan. Bake for 45-55 minutes, until a tester comes out clean.
6. Cool and serve with fresh fruit.

Fourth of July Desserts and Strawberry Sour Cream Ice Cream Sandwiches

The Fourth is coming up, so I thought I'd make a list of all the red, white, and/or blue desserts I've made over the past couple of years (mostly red/pink, to be fair!). You could make these even more patriotic by adding complementary fruits: for example, a handful of blueberries on top of the raspberry gelato would be delicious! I also won't leave you without a new recipe: my mom says this strawberry sour cream ice cream is the best ice cream she's ever tasted!

The strawberry flavor in this ice cream really comes through, and the addition of sour cream adds a delicious tang. It's also not overly rich with no egg yolks and just a half cup of heavy cream, while still providing that satisfying ice cream texture. I thought it was amazing sandwiched between two chocolate chip cookies; this recipe is nice because they're crispy on the outside but soft and chewy on the inside, and they're also thin enough to eat this way without all the ice cream squooshing out of the ice cream sandwich. I think these would be perfect for the Fourth because they're portable and delicious, and the pink ice cream is perfect for the holiday (especially if you added some black raspberries or blueberries sandwiched in between the cookie and ice cream!).

Strawberry Sour Cream Ice Cream (adapted from The Perfect Scoop)
Makes about 1 1/2 pints

1/2 pound fresh strawberries, rinsed, hulled, and sliced
1/4 cup sugar, more to taste
1/2 T vodka or kirsch, optional
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

1. Place the strawberries in a bowl with the sugar and vodka or kirsch, if using. Stir until the sugar begins to dissolve. Cover and let stand for at least one hour, stirring occasionally.
2. Place the strawberry mixture in a food processor or blender and add the sour cream, heavy cream, and lemon juice. Pulse until the mixture is smooth with some pieces of strawberry remaining (not too large or they will become icy once frozen). Taste and adjust for additional sugar or lemon juice.
3. Chill the mixture until cold, and then freeze in your ice cream maker.

Other Perfect Desserts for the Fourth

Ice Creams:
Strawberry Frozen Yogurt
Strawberry-Balsamic Ice Cream
Raspberry Gelato

Cupcakes:
Strawberry Cupcakes
Red, White, and Blue Cupcakes (midway through the post)
Neapolitan Cupcakes
Raspberry Cupcakes

Pies & Tarts:
Meyer Lemon-Strawberry Tart
Blueberry-Raspberry Pie
Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie

Other:
Berry-Brioche Bread Pudding
Yeasted Sugar Cake with Strawberry Sauce
4th of July Star Cookies (scroll to end of post)

Ricotta Pasta with Snap Peas and Caramelized Onions

This pasta recipe from Bon Appetit was easy to make but a bit bland. I guess I might have guessed that since it was in the "cook for your kids" section, but I didn't really think about it beforehand. The sweet sugar snap peas were certainly delicious, though, but the dish just needed a bit more "ooomph." If I make this again, I think I would add some diced and sauteed pancetta to add some needed salty and savory flavors.

Ricotta Pasta with Snap Peas and Caramelized Onions (adapted from Bon Appetit)

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 cups (packed) chopped onions
8 ounces sugar snap peas, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
12 ounces dried pasta
1/2 cup whole-milk fresh ricotta cheese
1/4 cup torn fresh basil leaves
1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions. Saute until onions are pale golden, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and saute onions until tender and deep golden, about 15 minutes longer. Add peas to onions in skillet. Saute until peas are crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat.

2. Meanwhile, cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite. Drain pasta, reserving 1 cup cooking liquid.

3. Add pasta and 1/2 cup cooking liquid to onion mixture; stir over medium-high heat 30 seconds. Mix in ricotta, basil, and lemon peel, adding more cooking liquid to moisten as needed. Season with lemon juice, salt, and pepper.

June Daring Bakers: Bakewell Tart

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England. The flavors were absolutely delicious together...I loved this dessert!

A Bakewell Tart is basically a sweet shortcrust shell topped with fruit jam or curd and frangipane. I'd never made frangipane before, so I was excited about this challenge! I decided to make Sherry Yard's blackberry-lime curd as my filling because I'd been flipping through her cookbook just before finding out about the challenge and wanted to try out the recipe. I'd never made a curd that wasn't lemon or lime, so this was also a new recipe for me!

I unfortunately underbaked the tart a bit, so the frangipane in the middle was too soft, but the tart was really delicious nonetheless (I just scraped off the oozy frangipane at the end of each slice). The sweet-tart curd went really well with the soft frangipane and overall it was just a really delicious dessert.

Next time I would probably use Dorie's sweet almond tart dough instead, only because I think it's a bit easier to work with and it has a nice crumbly texture from the addition of almond meal. I'd also make sure to bring my filling to room temperature before using it in the tart and to cook the tart until it is no longer at all wobbly in the center. I'm also interested in trying this with some different jams in the future.

Bakewell Tart with Blackberry-Lime Curd
Makes one 9” tart

Prep time: less than 10 minutes (plus time for the individual elements)
Resting time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 30 minutes
Equipment needed: 9” tart pan or pie tin (preferably with ridged edges), rolling pin

One quantity sweet shortcrust pastry (recipe follows)
Bench flour
250 ml (1 cup) blackberry-lime curd, room temperature
One quantity frangipane (recipe follows)

Assembling the tart

Place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface. If it's overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the centre and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When the pastry is to the desired size and thickness, transfer it to the tart pan, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200C/400F.

Remove shell from freezer, spread an even layer of curd onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 40 minutes.

The finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy and a bit spongy-looking. A tester should come out clean. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter. Serve warm.

When you slice into the tart, the almond paste will be firm, but slightly squidgy and the crust should be crisp but not tough.

Sweet shortcrust pastry

Prep time: 15-20 minutes
Resting time: 30 minutes (minimum)
Equipment needed: bowls, box grater, cling film

225 g (8 oz) all purpose flour
30 g (1 oz) sugar
2.5 ml (½ tsp) salt
110 g (4 oz) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better)
2 egg yolks
1 vanilla bean, seeds scraped
15-30 ml (1-2 T) cold water

Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside.

Lightly beat the egg yolks with the vanilla seds and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough.

Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes

Frangipane

Prep time: 10-15 minutes
Equipment needed: bowls, hand mixer, rubber spatula

125g (4.5 oz) unsalted butter, softened
125g (4.5 oz) icing (confectioners') sugar
3 eggs
125g (4.5 oz) ground almonds
30g (1 oz) all purpose flour

Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle. In the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine. After all three are in, pour in the almond extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow colour.

Blackberry-Lime Curd (adapted from The Secrets of Baking by Sherry Yard)

2 pints (4 cups) fresh blackberries
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
3 large eggs
4 large egg yolks

1. Prepare a double boiler with simmering water in the bottom portion of the pan.

2. Puree the berries and pass through a fine-mesh strainer into a small bowl. Measure out 1 cup of puree and reserve the remaining puree for another use (like blackberry lime-ade...yum!)

3. Melt the butter and blackberry puree in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the butter is fully melted. Add the sugar and lime juice, and stir until the sugar is fully dissolved.

4. Whisk together the eggs and egg yolks in the top of the double boiler. Slowly whisk in the hot blackberry mixture into the eggs in a thin stream, whisking constantly.

5. Put the top of the double boiler over the simmering water and whisk continuously for about 5 minutes, using a rubber spatula to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl from time to time. The curd is ready when it is as thick as sour cream and registers 160 degrees on an instant read thermometer.

6. Strain the curd through a fine-mesh strainer into a bowl, and let sit at room temperature until cool, stirring occasionally. While cooling, cover the curd with plastic wrap and press down so the plastic wrap touches the entire surface of the curd, to prevent a skin from forming.

7. You can now use the curd immediately, or chill it in the fridge. Just make sure to bring it to room temperature before using it in the tart. You will have extra, which is delicious on toast or pancakes!

You can see how runny my almond frangipane was in the middle! Oops!

Here are some of my personal favorites from this month. Be sure to check out all the amazing Bakewell Tarts at the Daring Kitchen.

Bakewell Tart with No-Recipe Cherry Jam
Bakewell Tart with Hazelnut Frangipane and Nutella
Bakewell Tart with Strawberry-Maple Jam
Bakewell Tart with Plum Jam or Lemon-Myrtle Curd
Mini Tarts with Lots of Flavors, Including Pear Vanilla Bean Jam
Bakewell Tart with Peach-Rosemary Jam
Bakewell Tart with Chili-Apricot Jam
Bakewell Tart with Lots of Lemon Curd
Bakewell Tart with Cherry-Thyme Jam and Cashew Frangipane
Berry and Coconut Bakewell Tarts

Cherry-Apricot Upside Down Cake

This dessert is an unusual spin on pineapple upside down cake--the pineapple slices and maraschino cherries are replaced by apricots and fresh sweet cherries. It's also not overly sweet despite all that sugar, because the fruit and sugar topping is combined with a delicious, not-too-sweet rustic yellow cake. The apricots also add a slightly tart note (or at least the variety I used did!).

The cake is easy to pull together, and the fruit topping makes it really special. I used a fancy muscovado sugar because I had it on hand from another recipe, but any brown sugar would work well. Make sure to unmold the cake from the pan while it is still warm so that the sugar doesn't solidify and make the fruit stick. I love the presentation of this cake, with the pieces of fruit like little jewels all over the top! Enjoy!

Cherry-Apricot Upside Down Cake (adapted from Eating Out Loud, original recipe here)

Topping
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup muscovado or brown sugar, packed

In a large skillet, melt the butter and add the sugar. Cook over medium heat just until sugar begins to bubble. Remove from heat and allow to cool while you prepare the cake.

Cake
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 /2 cup milk
1 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp fresh lemon zest
6-8 apricots
1/3 cup cherries, pitted

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs and milk, and beat until well combined.

2. Slowly add the flour, mixing just until blended. Add all remaining ingredients and beat together until the mixture is smooth, about 1 minute.

3. Check the skillet. If the sugar has totally hardened, you may need to place it back over a burner for a couple of minutes until it softens. Arrange slices of apricots and cherries on top of the butter and brown sugar mixture, pushing them down slightly.

4. Pour cake batter over fruit, using a spoon to gently spread it smooth and to the edge of the skillet. Bake at 350F for 40-45 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.