Blog Archives
Coconut Lemon Cake Revisited
I visited family for Easter and it seemed like a good time to make my Coconut Lemon Cake. It was a hit – though my niece would have preferred a less tangy lemon curd. I will admit, I made it super lemony because my brother and I both love lemon.
I made a few changes.
For the cake, I substituted coconut oil for both the oil and butter. When I originally made the cake, I didn’t keep coconut oil in the house, now it’s a staple. This upped the coconut flavor in the cake itself.
For the lemon curd, I flipped the water/lemon juice amounts. Using 1 cup of lemon juice and only 1/2 cup water. This upped the tartness substantially, so be prepared!
For the layers – this time I cut down from 4 to 3, using pie pans for the cake pans. This made for a much sturdier cake without losing any of the flavor – especially with the super tart curd.
Nom-nom. I really could have eaten the entire cake myself.
I’m off to do more prep on the vegetable garden. I have a hoop and 6 wall of water, so I’m hoping to get a head start later this month.
Depending on how the harvest goes, I’m definitely going to get a vacuum sealer to make freezing veggies easier. I. Do. Not. Can.
Are you planning your garden, yet?
Grilled Vegetable Salad
This works well as a side or a nice, fresh main course.
Grilled Vegetable Salad
- 1 large red onion, quartered
- 4 red potatoes, quartered
- 8 oz baby carrots
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp rosemary, crushed
- 1 tsp sage, crushed
- 1 tsp crushed garlic
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- 8 oz bag spinach leaves or spring greens
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp melted butter
serving bowl, large bowl, grilling basket or foil
Mix oil and spices, toss with onion, potatoes and carrots in a large bowl, until well coated. Place in a grilling basket or wrap in foil and grill for 20 minutes, stirring or turning frequently. Mix together lemon & butter. In serving bowl, add greens, grilled vegetables and toss with lemon butter
Chicken Wings Piccata
Lemon goes well with chicken. The recipe is an easy one, I adapted it for wings. Because I’m lazy, I roasted the potatoes and the sprouts in the same tray. The potatoes are done, albeit without much crust. They could have done with another few minutes but the sprouts needed to come out so I called them good enough.
Friday Recipe Exchange: Sweet Tart
Since lemons were on sale, I was planning on this recipe last week, but I never found time. This week I made time because I really wanted some lemony-blueberry goodness. It was very, very simple. Though I did manage to unnecessarily dirty quite a few dishes in the process.
The basis for the custard pie is my Key Lime Pie recipe, found here.
Key Lime Coconut Bars and Key Lime Gelato recipes are here and here. I LOVE Key Lime.
JeffreyW made Cabbage Rolls this week, pictured above – recipe, instructions and more photos are here
That’s it for this week. I’ve been busy with many new clients and switching everything over to a new computer. I’m really looking forward to a relaxing weekend. What’s on your plate this weekend. What’s cookin’ in your kitchen?
Tonight’s featured recipe, pictured at top, satisfied a craving for a sweet-tart dessert. Starting with my standard custard pie recipe and adding blueberry filling turned out to be just what I wanted.
Blueberry Lemon Pie
Blueberry filling:
- 1 1/2 cups wild blueberries (I use frozen, thawed)
- 1 tsp corn starch
- 1/4 cup sugar
saucepan
Add ingredients to the saucepan. Bring to a low boil and immediately reduce heat to low and let simmer until thickened. Stirring occasionally. Let cool completely.
Lemon pie:
- 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
- 4 egg yolks
- 6 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 9 inch graham cracker pie crust
Preheat oven to 250°
Combine milk & yolks with mixer until well blended. Add lemon juice and zest, mix well. Add enough blueberry filling to thinly coat the bottom of the pie shell. Pour the lemon mixture into pie shell – try to pour it in evenly, because you don’t want to spread it with a spatula and disturb the blueberries. Bake for 25 minutes. Let cool completely and top with remaining blueberries. Refrigerate before serving, and any leftovers.
That’s it for this week. Have a great weekend – TaMara
Grilled Lemon Salmon with Corn Pepper Relish
This is a great recipe and you can cook it on the grill or indoors in the oven. Add baked potatoes or rice and fresh greens from the garden for a nice summer meal. Serves 4.
Grilled Lemon Salmon:
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 4 – 6 oz skinless salmon fillets
zip-lock bag
Add ingredients to bag and refrigerate 1 hour or overnight. Grill on a clean, oiled grill or use a well oiled grilling pan, or broil in oven in a heavy skillet or broiler. Cook for 4 minutes on each side, or until fish flakes easily. Serve with relish.
Corn Pepper Relish:
- 1 cup cooked corn (or canned, drained)
- 4 green onions, chopped
- ½ green pepper chopped
- ½ red pepper chopped
- ½ yellow pepper chopped
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp chopped cilantro
- 1 tbsp chopped jalapeno
- salt & pepper to taste
- ½ tsp crushed garlic
bowl
Combine all ingredients and let marinate while salmon cooks. You can use the remaining peppers in a salad for your next dinner.
Lemon Ricotta Pasta with Chicken and Spinach
Someone asked me if I could post a few recipes that limited the amount of salt, so this week I thought I’d focus on that. I’ll start with lemon. It makes a great substitute for salt, it adds flavor, a bit of bite and enhances the flavors of many things like fish, chicken and pastas. In this recipe, both ricotta and Parmesan are salty enough that additional salt should not be necessary.
Lemon Ricotta Linguine with Chicken and Spinach
- 1 lb boneless chicken breasts
- 2 lemons
- 2 oz fresh basil leaves
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 10-12 oz dry linguine pasta
- 1 cup reserved pasta water
- 6 oz baby spinach, washed
- 12 oz ricotta cheese
- fresh ground pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup fresh shredded Parmesan, additional for garnish
shallow dish, large pot, skillet
Place chicken between plastic wrap, pound flat and place in a single layer in a shallow dish. Zest lemons and then juice them. Reserve 2 tbsp of juice, mix the remaining juice with 1 tbsp of oil and basil leaves and pour over chicken, making sure it’s well coated. Cover and marinate for 30 to 60 minutes, turning the chicken halfway through.
Cook pasta according to directions. While it is cooking, heat oil in skillet, remove chicken from the marinade (toss the marinade) and cook chicken breasts over medium high heat until cooked through. Remove from heat, cover and let rest. Alternately you can grill the chicken.
When pasta is al dente, remove 1 cup of water and then drain the pasta and return it to the pot. Over low heat, add lemon juice, ricotta, lemon zest, 1/2 cup of Parmesan and toss. Slowly add a 1/2 cup of pasta water, tossing to make a sauce, until the pasta is coated evenly. Add more water as needed. Slice chicken into strips and add to pasta mixture, then add spinach leaves and toss. Add pepper as desired and serve immediately with more shredded Parmesan. Serves 6
p.s. Schedule is still crazy this week, so time for recipes, but not photos. I may update later with pix as time allows. 😉
Quick Tip: Freezing Fresh from the Garden
It’s the time of year again when things begin to ripen faster than you can eat them, but there are still not enough to think about canning or cooking down and freezing. So what to do?
I had a bunch of cilantro and two tomatoes which were rushing to ruin and decided I needed to do something so I didn’t end up composting them. You can do this with any leafy herb, such as the basil, parsley, cilantro and veggies such as tomatoes, peppers, and zucchini.
I added the tomatoes and cilantro into my blender, covered with water and blended together well. I froze them in 8 oz portions, as that is the amount I would use in soup or sauce. Ice cube trays are an option, too, but that size is better for when you’re freezing intense herbs, like basil, by itself, where you would only use a tablespoon or so in a recipe.
I also zest all my oranges, lemons and limes and freeze them in a thin and flat layer in ziplock bags. Then I break off whatever amount called for in a recipe.
Herbs can also be packed in oil (click here) as JeffreyW did with his basil pictured above and tomatoes can be flash frozen whole, as JeffreyW did with the batch pictured at the top and detailed here, green and red peppers can be seeded and cut up into large pieces and frozen in the same manner.
There are many more ways to preserve fresh from the garden produce and I’ll try and remember to document as I go along this summer. Until then….