Mike, Maddie-pup, and I are off for a few days to celebrate Christmas with our families, which if I have my way will involve lots of cooking, baking, and long walks through the Upstate New York snow drifts. Boots are packed, sweaters are rolled up in our suitcases, and the goodies are tucked in the Boat & Tote. I wish you all a wonderful, happy, healthy holiday season and I look forward to being back with you here at goldfinch & scout next Monday!
Lemon Cranberry Bread | Image: Laura Messersmith
We just passed the longest day of the year, so scientifically we’ve turned the corner and are now on our way to spring, but practically we all know winter has just begun. Here in New York we can probably expect another 3 months of grey, cold weather, so I’m thankful that we have citrus season to look forward to.
It’s ironic to me that citrus is in season during the coldest months of the year, but I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth and just enjoy the gorgeous lemons, grapefruits, clementines, and oranges arriving here in the north.
While I plan to eat a ton of fresh fruit, I also want to incorporate citrus into my cooking and channel some of those tropical flavors. I can’t take full credit for this recipe – my girl Ina Garten’s Lemon Yogurt Cake and this recipe for Lemon Cake with Cranberries on Melangery helped guide my baking ways. Thanks Ladies!
Lemon Cranberry Bread | Image: Laura Messersmith
Lemon Cranberry Bread (yield: 1 loaf)
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup Chobani 2% plain whole-milk greek yogurt
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons lemon zest (2 lemons)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 cup fresh cranberries
For the glaze:
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1-2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Instructions:
In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into 1 bowl.
In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk together the yogurt, sugar, eggs, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla. Next, add the vegetable oil into the wet ingredients, making sure it's all incorporated.
Lastly, slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
Prepare a loaf pan by buttering and flouring the bottom and sides. Pour the batter into the pan and evenly sprinkle a 1/2 cup of fresh cranberries across the top. Use a bamboo skewer to gently press the cranberries toward the bottom of the batter spacing some closer to the bottom and some toward the middle.
Repeat the process with another 1/4 cup of cranberries, pressing them just below the surface. Bake at 350 degrees for 55-60 minutes.
Allow the cake to cool completely before turning out of the pan. Use a spoon to drizzle the glaze over the top of the cake.
Alternate Version:
Prepare the mini-muffin tins with non-stick spray or paper liners. Spoon the batter into the tins with a 1/2 teaspoon cookie scoop. Sprinkle 2-3 fresh cranberries in each cup and press gently into the batter. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Yield: about 2 dozen mini-muffins
Glaze:
Measure the confectioner’s sugar into a small bowl. Stir in the lemon juice one teaspoon at a time until the glaze reaches desired consistency. It should drip from the spoon in a thin ribbon.
Lemon Cranberry Bread | Image: Laura Messersmith
Small Kitchen Friendly?
Yes! I used one small mixing bowl, one medium mixing bowl, a mixing spoon, rubber spatula, liquid and dry measuring cups and measuring spoons. I also used a microplane zester and glass loaf pan.
The Verdict:
In this Lemon Cranberry Cake I wanted the lemon flavor to come through clearly and for cake to be on the savory side so that the addition of a lemon glaze wouldn’t make it too sweet. I love the citrus and thanks to the greek yogurt the cake is really tender and moist. This is perfect for a holiday brunch or as a fruit option on a dessert table.
Lemon Cranberry Bread | Image: Laura Messersmith
Urban Space Holiday Market @ Columbus Circle | Image: Laura Messersmith
Christmas is almost here, Hanukkah is in full swing, and there are a whole host of gift-giving occasions to plan for in the New Year. One thing New York does so well at this time of year is put on the holiday glitz including the markets Urban Space organizes in several parks across the city. I love wandering through them with a cup of hot cider in hand and looking for new treasures.
They’re open until December 24th, so I took a walk down to 59th Street to scout the Columbus Circle location and help narrow the gifting options for your favorite foodie, home cook, or gourmand. So if you’re a little stumped and looking for inspiration here’s your guide to the vendors that caught my eye.
Kitchen Equipment:
Brooklyn Slate Co. – What better way to showcase and serve cheese than a slate board? Slate serving boards perfectly balance the tactile rustic texture of stone with sleek clean lines. I’d looove a large one in classic black and I’m honestly wondering how many people I could reasonably buy one for without it being weird.
Tree to Art - I’m a sucker for a good wooden cutting board or serving platter and these pieces are gorgeous! I particularly like the cutting boards that retain their natural shape, bark and all.
NY Cruet – I don’t normally go in for specialty serve ware pieces, but these cruets for oil and vinegar look so cool. Still, simplicity is the name of the game in my house – so the elegant curves of the La Mancha design top my list.
Natural Olivewood – More wood beautifully polished into bowls and utensils. Personally I use wooden spoons and spatulas all the time to protect my pots and pans from scratches and these are pretty enough to migrate from the stovetop to the tabletop.
Specialty Food:
The Truffelist – Full Disclosure: I can’t stand truffles, too over-powering for this palate, but that doesn’t mean these products don’t make great gifts for the truffle lover in your life. Even knowing my preference, I was still tempted by the truffle honey – if anything could convert me to the funk, it’s sweets.
Raaka Chocolate – You know my love of chocolate, so I was excited to discover another local producer during my visit to the market. Raaka has a different take than the Mast Bros. but same attention to detail and design. They even have a factory tour too, so guess who's going to have to visit soon…
Spices and Tease – If you have a tea drinker in your life, or someone who likes to spice things up this is the booth to pick up a house blend of loose leaf tea - apricot peach hibiscus sounds awesome - or a jar of specialty seasonings. If this is the mobile version of this New York shop I can’t wait to see the full array.
No Chewing Allowed – Fun fact: chocolate truffles intentionally echo the appearance of the fungi(?) and with these confections the name says it all, you’re going to want to savor as long as possible. A package of these French truffles would be a great gift for any sweet tooth who loves retro-cool style.
Miscellaneous:
Pop Chart Lab – Maybe your foodie is less hands on, or s/he has a particular love of deep-tracks knowledge. This is the place to find a cool new piece of décor or some housewares that chart the intricacies of whiskey, coffee, beer, or kitchen knives. Teaching through design!
Cream of Fresh Tomato Soup | Image: Laura Messersmith
Each week I follow along with Ina Garten (aka the Barefoot Contessa) and attempt to recreate one of her dishes in my tiny New York City kitchen. The catch? This is my version of cooking school and I’m making these recipes for the first time. I’ll share both my successes and um, challenges, along the way and we’ll see if I can keep up with the Contessa!
Episode: “Herb Hall of Fame”
The Set-up: Ina is writing an article about cooking with her three favorite green herbs: basil, chives, and parsley.
The Menu: Cream of Fresh Tomato Soup, Pasta with Pecorino and Pepper, Chive Risotto Cakes
0:31 – We’re starting off this episode about fresh herbs in Ina’s garden where she has the most massive terracotta pot of basil. “Such a luxury, indeed.”
1:12 – First recipe up: Cream of Fresh Tomato Soup which Ina says is a “classic culinary combination” tomatoes & basil.
2:46 – In this soup, Ina is using red onion and carrots with tops because their sweetness will emphasize the sweetness of the tomatoes.
3:25 – I’m noticing here that Ina isn’t de-seeding her tomatoes, just dicing them as-is – I wonder if it makes a difference…?
4:03 – Oooh, nice - this is a 2 for 1 soup that can be served either hot or cold.
5:22 – Now Ina is giving us a run-down of some of her other favorite basil-centric dishes: caprese salad, green goddess dressing, roasted pepper & goat cheese sandwiches, under the skin of a roasted chicken breast, or even as a table decoration.
6:17 – Now onto the processing, uh, process, compliments of the food mill. It seems to filter out some of the tomato skins and other fibrous parts, so maybe that’s why she didn’t bother to de-seed the tomatoes earlier.
7:45 – Soup’s on! We get a quick julienning lesson and then Ina plates her soup. [cooking nerd alert] I hate to be a stickler for accuracy, but what she actually demonstrated is chiffonade.
11:18 – We’re back in the garden to raid the chive border and Ina reminisces about her grandmother making chive cream cheese. Mmmm.
12:30 – Now on to the Chive Risotto Cakes which I am excited to see prepared. So far so good – chives, greek yogurt, Italian fontina.
13:50 – This is the tricky part in my mind: the risotto. Even after making it twice (here and here) I’m still a little nervous about it.
14:01 – The risotto has been mixed into the cheese and it kinda reminds me of a rice casserole, which sounds like I’m being mean, but I swear it’s more of a reassuring feeling.
15:36 – The risotto cakes have chilled for a few hours and now Ina is forming the cakes and coating them in panko for frying.
19:42 – I just realized that these risotto cakes are pretty close to an arancini, just without the filling. A gateway rice ball if you will.
20:15 – Ina and I have the same approach to meals – don’t know what else to serve with something? How about salad leaves with vinaigrette?
21:20 Ina’s friend Cathy arrives right on cue to taste test the risotto cakes, excellent timing because they look so good.
22:53 – Now we’re on a little field trip to see an herb garden that Cathy helped design(?) plant(?) which gives the two ladies a chance to brainstorm all the ways Ina uses fresh herbs.
23:29 – I assume Cathy has permission to raid the garden for parsley, because she hands a huge bunch to Ina for her Pasta with Pecorino and Pepper recipe right before they leave. Run!
26:13 – Ina is full of tongue twisters today: Pasta with Pecorino and Pepper (and parsley.) She says parsley is the unsung hero of the herb garden, which seems about right.
27:34 – Ina is all about the hard Italian cheeses today, first Fontina, now Pecorino.
28:48 – The pasta is done cooking and now Ina is maling the sauce right in the pot – cream, butter, halved cherry tomatoes, parsley (!), pepper, and a big handful of pecorino.
29:56 – Ina finishes up her article over a bowl of pasta and compares it to completing a homework assignment, but getting to eat the research.
Final Thoughts:
I have a hard time narrowing down my favorite herbs – rosemary, thyme, tarragon – they’re all so good!
Using fresh herbs is such an easy way to elevate your cooking, Ina’s right when she says they have much better flavor than the dried versions.
Question: what would Ina say if I just “borrowed” and handful or two of her basil. NBD, right?
Cream of Fresh Tomato Soup | Image: Laura Messersmith
Lessons Learned:
Cream of Fresh Tomato Soup is really an easy recipe - the main skills you’ll need are chopping the tomatoes and the vegetables, and measuring the seasonings. I used Roma tomatoes, sometimes called plum tomatoes, and de-seeded them before chopping. It’s kind of a messy job, but as Ina always says, “clean hands are a cook’s best tool,” so I quartered them length-wise then ran my index finger along the ribs to scoop out the seeds. Our blender can definitely handle them and pretty much anything else we throw at it, but for some reason I prefer to leave them out.
I know I’ve mentioned before that I find vegetable prep meditative, so I tend to take my time when I’m cutting produce, usually because I’m being overly attentive to keeping the sizes consistent. This is a great recipe to practice with – large dice (tomatoes & carrots), small dice (red onion), mince (garlic), chiffonade (basil). It will be helpful to your cooking in general, but with this recipe in particular it’s not such a big deal because eventually everything will be pureed anyway.
Small Kitchen Friendly?
Yes, assuming you have access to blender, immersion blender, or food mill. I used a high-powered blender, a 5 qt. French oven, medium mixing bowl (for prep and during the blending process), a medium cutting board, a chef’s knife, a liquid measuring cup, measuring spoons, a wooden spatula and a rubber spatula.
Cream of Fresh Tomato Soup | Image: Laura Messersmith
The Verdict:
Cream of Fresh Tomato Soup will make you question everything you thought you knew about tomato soup. Okay, so maybe that’s a little dramatic and this might seem like a lot of effort, but imagine making a beautifully smooth restaurant-quality soup that has deep tomato flavor. It’s such a great recipe for chilly winter days, but still light enough for warmer months. I love serving this with a simple garnish of olive oil and basil and accompany it with crostini or a toasty grilled cheese. Yum!
Cream of Fresh Tomato Soup | Image: Laura Messersmith