Tag: Lemon

Baked Rhubarb with Lemon and Cardamom

Baked Rhubarb with Lemon and Cardamom // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler

Baked Rhubarb with Lemon and Cardamom // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
Baked Rhubarb with Lemon and Cardamom // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler

It’s raining in Portland. I know, surprise, surprise. But it wasn’t that long ago that the sun was shining and I even got a sunburn. Seriously! Last weekend, Jonah’s mom and Grandma were in town for the day, and we took them to the PSU Farmer’s Market, which has got to be one of my favorite things about Portland. The sun was shining, I wasn’t even wearing a jacket, and there was beautiful crimson rhubarb everywhere! Rhubarb has got to be one of my favorite ingredients of all time, so I was excited, to say the least.

As I was getting ready for Passover dinner on Tuesday, I decided to nix the matzo crunch in favor of something a little more reminiscent of springtime: some baked rhubarb. After doing a little recipe hunting and finding this recipe on Food52 and this recipe on Orangette, I decided to do a little adapting. This recipe is so easy and delicious – I love the slightly sour flavor of the rhubarb and the hint of lemon, cardamom, and earl grey. I balanced the tartness with some fresh whipped cream, but ice cream, fresh ricotta, or yogurt are also great options.

Baked Rhubarb with Lemon and Cardamom

Ingredients

6 cups rhubarb, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 cup granulated sugar
1 meyer lemon, juiced
1/8 tsp cardamom
3/4 cup steeped and cooled earl grey tea

optional: fresh whipped cream, ice cream, fresh ricotta, or yogurt for serving

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a baking dish, combine rhubarb, sugar, lemon juice, cardamom, and tea. Stir to combine. Bake for 15 minutes, stir, and bake for another 15 minutes. Remove from oven, and allow to cool. You can serve the rhubarb warm, room temperature, or chilled, all are wonderful. Yes, that’s it. Can you believe how easy this is?

P.S. The leftovers, if there are any, taste delicious stirred into your yogurt and granola the next morning. Or on top of pancakes. Just saying.

Weekend Finds 1:5:14

Wow, I had trouble writing that date. I think around New Year’s my brain has trouble figuring things out, and reverts back to whatever year it was two years ago. In this case 2012. Oof. Weekend Finds! This week, free of holiday treats for the first time in a long time.

1. Galette Des Rois

Galette Des Rois from David Lebovitz on Weekend Finds // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
Galette Des Rois from David Lebovitz

Jonah’s birthday is tomorrow (!!!) and I thought it might be fun to try this traditional French Epiphany dessert for him (our plans also include dinner at Apizza Scholls with friends, then hopping across the street to Sapphire Hotel for drinks). Plus, it doesn’t even look that hard. And David Lebovitz is a genius.

2. SE Asia here we come!

Southeast Asia on Weekend Finds // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
Southeast Asia trip planning

It has been confirmed, we are going to SE Asia at the end of March/beginning of April. I think we’ve decided what region we’re going to, but I’m going to wait to tell you. I wouldn’t want to jinx or spoil it! More details to come!

3. The Importance of Acid

The Importance of Acid on Weekend Finds // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
The Importance of Acid

Whenever I am asked to taste a dish and see if it needs anything (by my parents, Jonah, roommates…), my answer is almost ALWAYS acid (second most popular response is salt). It is really incredible what difference a squeeze of lemon can make, which is why I like to always have a few laying around the kitchen.

4. Getting thyme off the stem

Thyme Tips from the Kitchn on Weekend Finds // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
Thyme Tips from the Kitchn

I recently made  more of the sea salt, thyme, chocolate chunk cookies (for a cookie exchange at work before the holidays), and while I love love LOVE those damn cookies, taking the thyme leaves off the stem is such a royal pain in the patootie. And I generally feel this way about thyme. I love the flavor of it, I love using it, but it’s so annoying. So I was pretty excited when I came across this little tip to make it easier to use thyme.

5. New Years Resolutions

New Year's Resolutions on Weekend Finds // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
What are you New Year’s Resolutions? Watch more fireworks?

I have a few. 1) Cook more new things! 2) Drink more green smoothies, they’re delicious and healthy. 3) Start painting again. 4) Learn more about my readers. Who are you? Where are you from? What do you like to cook? Is there something you’d like to see more of on my blog?

Weekend Finds 12:8:13

Well, we’re officially over the Thanksgiving hump. In this weekend finds, we’re on to the world of Christmas, and starting to think about decorations and gifting.

1. Meyer Lemon and Sage Hot Toddy

Meyer Lemon and Sage Hot Toddy on Weekend Finds // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
Meyer Lemon and Sage Hot Toddy

I’m having trouble thinking of much else other than hot, wintery, alcoholic beverages. The other day, I was cozied up on the couch with my big sweater, a blanket, some tea, and my knitting, and my roommate Sophie said to me, “You are made for winter.” I think it’s true, I am. I love being warm and cozy in big sweaters sipping warm drinks. I love this time of year because you get to drink things like this Meyer lemon and sage hot toddy.

2. DIY Limoncello

DIY Limoncello on Weekend Finds // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
DIY Limoncello

A while ago when Jonah and I went to Toro Bravo, we were gifted some limoncello after we had to wait a little bit. And I must say, I really enjoyed it. So, while we’re on the topic of lemony alcoholic beverages, I think this DIY Limoncello would make a great gift. Plus, it’ll be a nice light after-dinner drink for those heavy Christmas dinners.

3. Geometric Ornaments

Geometric Ornaments on Weekend Finds // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
Geometric Ornaments featured on Design*Sponge

Yesterday Jonah and I went with our roommates to get our Christmas tree! And it is all now decorated with Carmelle’s ornaments. When I get to a point in my life where I’m collecting Christmas ornaments (maybe I should say if I get to that point), I like to think I would collect things like these beautiful geometric ornaments featured on Design*Sponge. I especially like the second ones, by FlaneursPockets on Etsy.

4. DIY Vanilla Extract

DIY Vanilla Extract on Weekend Finds // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
DIY Vanilla from HonestlyYUM

I’ve heard of lots of people gifting homemade vanilla extract for the holidays. And I think it’s a great idea. But before I read this post on HonestlyYUM, I never really thought about using a) different types of vanilla or b) different kinds of liquor. It might be cool to give people a “flight” of vanilla, as it were.

5. Winter Salad from 101 Cookbooks

Winter Salad on Weekend Finds // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler
Winter Salad from 101 Cookbooks

Sometimes in winter I have trouble making an interesting salad. I mostly just use mixed greens, dried cranberries, candied nuts, and some cheese. Same old, same old. BUT recently I’ve started using delicata squash in everything, including salads, after eating a delicious salad at Grain & Gristle. This salad from 101 Cookbooks not only looks unlike anything I’ve made before, but it also has delicata squash in it! Yum.

The Rattlesnake: a cocktail

The Rattlesnake // Serious Crust by Annie Fassler

Sometimes, when you’re spending all day cooking, it’s important to spoil yourself with a cocktail break. And sometimes you are given an all access pass to someone’s liquor cabinet, and you have lots of cocktail blogs to choose from (There Will Be Bourbon, Spirited Alchemy, 5 o’clock cocktails…), and you finally pick one called the Rattlesnake, and whip up a batch for all the chefs in the kitchen. Just sometimes.

This cocktail is creamy and light, tasting kind of like a grown up lemon curd/lemon meringue drink. Adapted from There Will Be Bourbon, the recipe below makes enough for 6 drinks. When I’m making that amount, I like to use a trusty tupperware with a good seal instead of a shaker… it means you have to do less work by making all the drinks in one batch.

The Rattlesnake

Makes 6 cocktails

Ingredients

9 oz. bourbon
5 Tbl freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 Tbl sambuca (the recipe called for absinthe, but you can use any anise-liqueur)
2 Tbl powdered sugar (or simple syrup, if you’ve got some around)
3 egg whites

Instructions

Combine all of the ingredients in a tupperware (or cocktail shaker, if you’re only making 1 or 2) with ice. Shake it up! Until the egg whites get nice and frothy. If you want more froth, you can add more egg whites. I wasn’t initially going to add any but when I tasted it without them, it was VERY bourbon-y. So I added half as many as the original recipe called for (which is 1 per drink). I never really realized what egg white did to a drink other than create that frothy foam, but it really mellowed out the flavors. Add bits of whatever you like until it tastes how you want. Strain into glasses filled with ice. If you’re feeling fancy, you can garnish with a lemon peel, or a sprig of mint or rosemary.