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4.25.21

Peas + Lemon = Spring!

Happy Friday! Did you catch the sourdough bug last year? Or do you have a friend who did?

We did not catch the that bug. But our friend Dan has been baking spectacular bread for years, and because he is the nicest, most generous person in the universe, he just shipped us a couple of loaves via UPS. (How lucky are we???!) As we are in possession of a couple of his fabulous loaves, I’m going to whip up some of this Pea-Ricotta Dip this weekend to make delicious springtime canapés.

If you’ve got some great crusty bread on your hands, consider doing the same. Slice it thin, toast it, and let everyone slather to their heart’s delight. It’s quick and easy to make (with frozen peas, not can o’ peas), lemon zest, ricotta, and an optional flurry of fresh mint. The dip/spread really shines on fabulous whole-grain breads, like dark rye, or Dan’s beautiful freekeh bread that I really wish you could taste. But you don’t need home-made bread to enjoy it: It’s great on whole-grain crackers or toasted baguette rounds, as well.

Salad of the Week: Salaryman Potato Salad

We love this Japanese potato salad from the erstwhile Dallas restaurant Salaryman (which chef Justin Holt had to close for health reasons. We hear he is recovering well). This is like two recipes in one, because it’s topped with marinated Japanese egg (ajitama). I love having a few ajitama in the fridge for things like topping a bowl of instant ramen. Or garnishing this delightful potato salad.

Andrea Nguyen’s Ginger Halibut Parcels

Have you signed up for the Culture-Dive event coming right up on Tuesday? If not, you should! And if you can, before the event, treat yourself to these parchment-baked Ginger Halibut Parcels from Andrea’s Vietnamese Food Any Day.

Here’s the link to the event. (Password is CWBVFAD )

Then enjoy this dish — which is elegant enough for a dinner party and easy enough for a weeknight dinner. (What more could you want?)

Mmmmm . . . lamb meatballs!

I love meatballs — any kind of meatballs. I especially love meatballs that you don’t have to brown, partly because browning is a pain, and partly because they stay tender if you don’t go the browning route. I wrote about these Lamb Meatballs a few years back. They look so good to me at this late-afternoon moment that I think I’ll make them for dinner tonight, even though I’d have to zip over to the supermarket under threat of a hail storm. They’re so saucily satisfying!

These are dangerous — just try to resist!
👇 👇 👇

Get a load of these insanely good Browned Butter Macadamia Nut Blondies, from Roxana Jullapat’s Mother Grains. In the book, the L.A. baker/pastry chef writes that she has made them every day since opening her Friends and Family bakery in L.A. One bite, and we understood why.

You’ll need barley flour, which isn’t necessarily easy to find, along with a 9-inch cake pan and parchment. The recipe says to spray the pan with non-stick vegetable oil spray. I didn’t have any so just ignored the step and saw no ill effect. I’m working on a review of the book, at which point the recipe will live at CWB; till then, you can grab it here.

Interestingly, the recipe in the cookbook does not say to roughly chop the macadamias, so I didn’t. I do think chopping them rather than leaving them whole is a nice idea, and might do so next time; in any case, I’d add a few more, more like 3/4 cup. We didn’t have it with ice cream — and we didn’t miss it. I wish I had just one more, now. Can’t wait to hear what you think!

Have a great weekend. Hope to see you on Tuesday — either at the Simmer Session or the Culture-Dive Q & A — or both! Lots of love, Leslie

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Have a comment, or want to tell us about something you’d like to see covered here? Drop me a line at leslie@cookswithoutborders.com.