If you have never had homemade lemon curd you are in for a treat. Homemade lemon curd is luscious, tart, and sweet with a texture similar to pudding. In other words, nothing like the jelly-consistency store-bought lemon curd I have purchased. Not that I have anything against store-bought lemon curd; I grab it if I’m super time-crunched for a recipe or if I’m simply mixing a bit of it into a dish. But every time I make homemade lemon curd I stand there swooning while spooning it into my mouth thinking, why don’t I make this more often? Oh yeah, because then I will stand at my kitchen counter and eat it with a spoon while making inappropriate noises. Got it.

Making the lemon curd is super simple. As long as you keep your heat on medium-low and continuously whisk it you literally cannot mess it up. You can do this! It takes a bit for the lemon curd to start to get thick. It will stay liquidy for quite a while and you will be ready to give up. But don’t! Because then all of a sudden it will become thick and you will be moments away from the most decadent lemon spoonful of heaven you’ve ever had.

Other than eating it with a spoon, lemon curd is great for topping all sorts of baked goods to make them bright and springy. Lemon curd especially pairs well with berries. Some of my favorite ways to serve lemon curd is on this easy puffy pastry tart with berries, on top of this lemon cheesecake, or as part of a DIY waffle bar. I have a couple new outrageous ways to use lemon curd that I will be sharing later this week so stay tuned!

How to Make Homemade Lemon Curd

 

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Yield: about 1½ cups

Ingredients

• ½ cup lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• ½ cup sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced into small pieces

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, whisk together the lemon juice, lemon zest, sugar and eggs. Place the saucepan over medium-low heat and stir in the pieces of butter. Whisk the curd frequently until the curd is thick enough that it keeps the mark of the whisk when you touch it to the curd in the saucepan. It takes a bit of time for it to thicken, but just keep whisking!
2. Transfer the lemon curd to a small bowl to cool. If there are small lumps of egg you can push the curd through a fine mesh sieve, but I typically skip this step because it will also strain out the lemon zest, which adds a lot of flavor. Cover the surface of the lemon curd with a piece of plastic wrap so that it’s completely touching the curd. Place in the fridge to cool.

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Lauren Uncategorized 0 Comments

Yes, this recipe has a funny name, but I will get to that in a minute. For now, let’s focus on how absolutely delicious and stunning it looks. Beautiful! The enormous pancake is light and bursting with vanilla and cinnamon-sugar flavors. Crispy puffed pockets and softened doughy pillows cradle the syrupy strawberries and the whipped cream. Are you dreaming in your bed or did you actually just make this in no time at all with a blender and cast iron skillet? Since I just posted it you probably are dreaming, but you could be the later and be the hero of brunch this weekend.

I had seen these Dutch babies on Instagram and cooking shows for a while now, but I never actually read through a recipe. I assumed to look so impressive that they must be complicated. I apologize to the last five years of my life for never reading a recipe because it is the opposite of complicated. Complicated doesn’t even exist on the same continent! The eggs are beaten until frothy then the rest of the ingredients are dumped in for some more mixing. I used a blender to do this to make it even easier. The mixture is poured into a cast iron skillet that’s been getting hot on the stove-top with melted butter. If you don’t have a cast iron skillet any oven safe skillet will work. Into the oven it goes! When it is done in the oven it gets sprinkled with cinnamon-sugar, loaded with syrupy strawberries, and dolloped with whipped cream. In come the brunch eaters with their forks to savor the puffiness until the puff deflates, but the Dutch baby stays just as delicious.

I came across this recipe when I was brainstorming for Christmas morning. I wanted something that would be minimally hands-on while also looking impressive. That’s hard to come by in the realm of brunch food. Thank the breakfast heavens for these oddly-named Dutch baby things. I did a bit of research, aka read Wikipedia, about the name and it turns out that this cross between a pancake and a popover isn’t Dutch at all. It is an American food and name said to be coined by a family cafe in Seattle, Washington in 1942. It seems to be their version of the German-style pancakes known as pfannkuchen, which look like slightly thicker crepes and are topped with fruit and sweet toppings. They speculate the Dutch part of the name came from the German word deutsch, which means German, but no word on where the baby part came in. My guess is that it is so delicious when you eat it that your speech becomes incoherent like a baby’s.

Part of the Strawberry Dutch Baby’s deliciousness is that it has the perfect amount of sweetness. Even though the actual Dutch baby has no sugar in it, all the sweetness is coming from the cinnamon-sugar sprinkled on top and the syrupy strawberries. So stop dreaming and start planning when you’re going to make this impressively easy popover pancake!

Strawberry Dutch Baby

 

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Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• ⅔ cup whole milk, room temperature
• ⅔ cup all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ⅛ teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 cups fresh strawberries, tops removed and thinly sliced
• ¼ cup sugar
• ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Whipped cream, for serving

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Blend the eggs until frothy and pale in a high-speed blender, about 1 minute. Add the milk, flour, cinnamon, and salt then continue to blend until combined.
3. Over medium-high heat, melt the butter in a 10-inch cast iron skillet, or an oven safe skillet. Once melted, remove from the heat and quickly pour in the prepared batter. Place right into the oven and bake until the top is golden brown and the pancake has puffed, about 18-22 minutes.
4. While the Dutch baby is baking, combine the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Sprinkle a few spoonfuls of the cinnamon-sugar (reserving some for the Dutch baby) over the sliced strawberries then stir to coat and let sit until the Dutch Baby is ready.
5. When the Dutch Baby is done, remove from the oven and immediately sprinkle it with the cinnamon-sugar. Don’t be shy about it! Add the strawberries and whipped cream. Serve sliced with the extra strawberries and whipped cream.

Notes

If you do not have a blender, you can use a stand mixer or hand mixer.

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Lauren Uncategorized 0 Comments

Could there be any more delicious words in one recipe name? Oozing with melted mozzarella, this bread is begging to be made and shared. But maybe shared with a small group of people so there’s more for you. Unless you bake two, then the more the merrier!

In all seriousness, this recipe comes to you from a very special place. It was inspired by my Aunt Karen’s pepperoni bread, which is a definite top three staple at all extended family gatherings. When it comes out of the oven quiet whispers of its presence get spread throughout the party. Everyone fulfills their duty of not being selfish by letting at least one other person know it’s ready without alerting too many people so you have time to go snag some yourself before it’s gone in approximately eight minutes. And eight is probably being generous.

When I think of a recipe that is easy, family-friendly, and perfect for large-groups I immediately think of Aunt Karen’s pepperoni bread, however, it doesn’t really make me think of springtime or Easter. So I set out to “springify” the recipe and came up with the Cheesy Pesto Bread with Crispy Prosciutto you are currently drooling over on your screen. The pesto brightens up the bread and pairs well with the lighter prosciutto, which still brings the same mouthwatering deliciousness as the pepperonis.

In addition to being completely whisper-worthy delicious, this Cheesy Pesto Bread with Crispy Prosciutto is a necessary recipe in your repertoire for two other reasons. The first is that even though it looks fancy with its hypnotizing spirals of cheese, pesto, and prosciutto, making it is very simple. I use Trader Joe’s garlic and herb pizza dough (hard to beat $0.99 fresh dough that tastes like you got it at a pizza shop), but you can use any pre-made or homemade pizza dough you wish.

The pizza dough is rolled out then topped with pesto, fresh Parmesan, and crispy prosciutto. I quickly crisped the prosciutto in a pan over medium-high heat, but you can skip the crisping if you are in even more of a time-crunch. Then comes the shredded mozzarella. After a quick egg wash to seal the edges, the dough gets rolled up, topped with more egg wash and Parmesan, then baked until the top has a gorgeous browned crust and the inside is bursting with gooey cheese. Done!

The second reason you need this recipe in your life is that it is a great make-ahead dish. Whether it’s for a weeknight dinner or a dinner party I love make-ahead recipes. Make and bake the Cheesy Pesto Bread with Crispy Prosciutto ahead of time then when you’re ready to eat it simply reheat wrapped in foil in a warm oven for about 20 minutes. If you want clean and even slices you can cut the bread after it has cooled before wrapping it up like a loaf in the foil. This way after it is warmed in the oven it will already be sliced and ready to be eaten.

If you decide to make your own pesto, I highly recommend this kale pesto. I make a batch of it and then freeze it in separate small freezer bags. I lay the sealed bags flat in my freezer to freeze so once they are solid they take up barely any room. Freezing them like that also makes it easy to break off a chunk when you need only a little bit of pesto instead of defrosting the entire bag. Since they are frozen in a thin layer instead of a block they also defrost very quickly.

I hope you and your family, friends, and lucky taste-testers enjoy this Cheesy Pesto Bread with Crispy Prosciutto!

Cheesy Pesto Bread with Crispy Prosciutto

 

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Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

• 16 ounces pizza dough
• 3 ounces sliced prosciutto
• 3 tablespoons pesto
• 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan
• 4 ounces shredded mozzarella
• 1 egg

Directions

1. Set the dough out to come to room temperature. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with nonstick foil and set aside. Meanwhile, crisp the prosciutto in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Flip the prosciutto once it becomes slightly browned then continue to cook until the other side is slightly browned as well. Once done, turn off the pan and lay the crispy prosciutto on a paper towel to soak up any grease.
2. Using cornmeal or flour so it doesn’t stick, roll out the dough on a clean surface until it is roughly the shape of an 11” x 14” rectangle. I usually hold it then let gravity stretch the dough to get it started. Leaving a 1” border, evenly spread the pesto on the dough. Sprinkle the pesto with 1 tablespoon of the Parmesan. Next, evenly lay the crispy prosciutto. Top with the shredded mozzarella.
3. Beat the egg in a small bowl. Lightly brush the egg on the border you left. Gently fold the short edges in then, working carefully, tightly roll the dough up lengthwise. You want to be rolling from long edge to the other long edge, being sure to tuck in the short edge sides as needed. When you’re done rolling, pinch the dough at the seam to seal it. I like to pinch it twice to make sure it’s really tight. Carefully place the bread roll seam side down on the prepared baking sheet. Lightly brush the egg on all exposed top and sides of the roll then sprinkle with the remaining tablespoon of Parmesan.
4. Bake for 22-25 minutes, or until the top is golden brown. Let cool slightly then cut into slices and serve.

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Lauren Uncategorized 2 Comments

Lunch always seems to be a struggle for me, especially when I’m trying to eat healthy. I don’t want it to be complicated because if I’m cooking lunch and dinner on a weekday I’ll feel like all I did all day was cook and work with no time to relax. Boring also won’t cut it because then I’ll find myself not wanting to eat it and will end up with takeout or vending machine chips instead. My ideal healthy lunch has lots of veggies, minimal carbs and is something I can mass meal prep on a Sunday without taking too much time out of one of my days off.

Roasted Veggie Hummus Wraps are one of the go-to’s in our house. I roast all the vegetables on Sunday and then we are ready for lunches for the week. Having lots of roasted veggies in the fridge for weekday lunches is great when you want veggies, but the thought of another salad is making you want to order a panini and fries! If you have never had roasted vegetables with hummus before you are missing out. The creaminess of the hummus with the tender bell pepper, zucchini, eggplant and mushrooms is a really tasty combination. This recipe makes four servings, but it can easily be scaled up or down. If you want more protein in your lunch these wraps work really well with grilled or rotisserie chicken.

When you are buying wraps, especially if you are trying to be healthy, make sure you read the ingredients and nutrition facts. I always thought wraps were healthier than sandwiches, but a while back I did some research and found that a lot of wraps can be worse for you than sliced bread. Many brands claim to be healthy, but are full of sodium and trans fat. Try to find wraps that are high in fiber, low in sodium and don’t have artificial preservatives.

A quick tip for softening your wrap to make it easier to roll so it won’t crack on you: wrap the tortilla in a damp paper towel and microwave for ten seconds. That’s it! I told you it was a quick tip!

Roasted Veggie Hummus Wraps

 

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Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 1 red bell pepper, thickly sliced
• 2 zucchinis, quartered then thickly sliced
• 1 small eggplant, small diced
• 1 package sliced baby bella mushrooms, about 8 ounces
• 4 6” whole wheat wraps
• ½ cup roasted red pepper hummus
• 1 cup spinach leaves
• Olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, Italian seasoning

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a half sheet pan with nonstick tinfoil. Arrange all the prepared bell pepper, zucchini, eggplant and mushrooms on the baking sheet. Try to get the vegetables in a single layer, slightly overlapping the mushrooms if needed. Drizzle with olive oil then lightly move around with a spatula to coat. Generously season with ground black pepper, salt, garlic powder and Italian seasoning.
2. Roast the vegetables in the oven for 20-25 minutes, adding more time if needed, until the vegetables are tender. Toss the veggies halfway through the cooking time.
3. Lay out the wraps. Spread 2 tablespoons of the hummus onto each wrap. Divide the spinach leaves between the 4 wraps then evenly divide the veggies. This is definitely a loaded wrap so you will probably need a fork to finish all the yummy veggies that fall on your plate while eating!

Notes

- If making ahead, store the roasted veggies separate from the wraps and add when ready to eat so they don’t make the wraps soggy. This can be eaten with the veggies room temperature or heated up. If I was bringing these wraps to work or packing in a lunch I would put the divided veggies in a little reusable container. That way the veggies can either be warmed up in their container or left cold. Then I would put the hummus and spinach on the wraps and roll them up. When it is time to eat, carefully unroll the wrap, add the veggies, and wrap it back up.
- For additional protein, add some grilled or rotisserie chicken to the wrap.

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Lauren Uncategorized 0 Comments

I am channeling some serious warm weather feels with these Thai Steak Lettuce Wraps with Charred Green Beans. Maybe it’s the lettuce or maybe it’s the lime, but they’re definitely bringing me to fresh springtime. Matt learned how to ski a few years ago and ever since winter hasn’t seemed so bad up here in Boston because we get to go skiing on the weekends. So we tough through the driveway shoveling and the messy commutes because we know there is a bright snow-covered mountain light at the end of the New England winter tunnel. However, now that we are solidly in mid-March I am ready for spring to emerge. Come on barbecues, flip-flops, grilling, and outside walks with no jacket on! Is there anything more exciting than being outside without a jacket on?! Ok, yes, but it’s still pretty awesome.

We first made this recipe as one of our Blue Apron meals. Have you tried Blue Apron? There are aspects I love about it, such as having all the ingredients sent without having to run back and forth across a grocery store. I’m also a big fan of the detailed photo instructions so other family members can jump in and help by picking some steps to follow on their own. And by that I mean Matt can help without asking me questions or what he should do next while I’m working on another part of the dish 😂.

The main reason we don’t order Blue Apron more (and why we order a different box now that I will share in another post) is the recipes seemed to be hit or miss for us. These Thai Steak Lettuce Wraps with Charred Green Beans were a definite hit. I’ve made steak lettuce wraps before, but I’ve never added sushi rice and green beans. The rice bulks them up a little and adds a balancing tenderness to the wraps. Charring the green beans brings some smokiness and crunchiness. Finally, the sauce is the perfect combination of zesty, sweet and umami for this springtime weeknight meal. Enjoy!

Thai Steak Lettuce Wraps with Charred Green Beans

 

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Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients

• ¾ cup sushi rice
• 3 teaspoons olive oil
• 4 ounces green beans, trimmed
• 8 ounces sirloin steak
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons ponzu sauce
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 lime, quartered
• 1 head butter lettuce, washed and separated
• A small handful of cilantro leaves, roughly torn
• A small handful of mint leaves, roughly torn

Directions

1. In a small pot or a rice cooker, combine the sushi rice, 1½ cups of water, and a pinch of salt. Heat on high until boiling, then cover the pot and reduce the heat to low. Continue to cook for 15-17, or until the rice is tender and there is no more excess water. Remove from the heat and fluff with a fork.
2. While the rice is cooking, heat 2 teaspoons of the olive oil in a pan on medium-high heat. Add the green beans and season with salt and pepper. Cook the green beans until they are slightly charred and softened, about 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the green beans and wipe the pan with a paper towel.
3. Dry the steaks if needed then season generously on both sides with salt and pepper. Heat 1 teaspoon of the olive oil in the same pan over medium-high heat. Add the steaks and cook to your desired degree of doneness. For medium-rare steak, cook about 2-3 minutes per side for a 1" steak. Remove the steaks from the pan and let them rest before cutting them for at least 5 minutes.
4. With the browned bits from the steak still in the pan add the minced garlic, as well as a drizzle of olive oil if the pan is dry. Heat over medium-high heat for 30 seconds to 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add the ponzu sauce, sugar, the juice of 2 lime quarters, and 2 tablespoons of water. Continue to cook for 1-2 minutes or until the sauce has slightly thickened, continuing to stir. Remove the sauce from the heat.
5. Place the lettuce leaves on the plates. Top each lettuce wrap with some cooked rice and charred green beans. Slice the steak against the grain and place over the rice and green beans. Finish the lettuce wraps with the sauce, torn cilantro and mint leaves, as well as an extra squeeze of lime as desired.

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 Recipe from Blue Apron.

Lauren Uncategorized 0 Comments