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Meyer lemon curd

The other day, someone gave me a handful of Meyer lemons grown from their own backyard lemon tree. I had never tried Meyer lemons before, since there's only ever one kind of lemon available at Safeway or Trader Joe's, the only places I've been shopping these days.

I wanted to try something special with them, rather than just substitute them for regular lemons in something in which you'd never notice their presence. Searching Epicurious for "Meyer lemon" turned up a handful of recipes ranging from the complex (Crab fritters with herb salad and Meyer lemon aioli) to the even more complex (Moroccan chicken with preserved Meyer lemons and green olives, which actually comprises two recipes for one dish). Not for the faint-hearted or the short on time. I settled on Meyer lemon curd: 3 out of 4 fork rating; 89% who tried it would make it again; only 4 ingredients, all of which I had on hand; and most importantly, 20 minutes from start to finish.

I printed the recipe and left it on the kitchen counter to try over the weekend. Late one night as I was cleaning up after dinner, it caught my eye and reading through it one more time I was seized by the desire to try it right then and there. Twenty minutes! I could do that right now and eat it tomorrow, never mind the weekend. So between glimpses of women's snowboard cross and men's figure skating long program, I made my first Meyer lemon curd. It did take longer than 20 minutes with the t.v. watching, but it was definitely simple. And so delicious. Like lemon meringue with loads of butter.

The recipe suggested it could be used as a cake or tart filling, which I can imagine would be excellent, and which I may have to try because I have about two cups of it now. I have made a dent in it already, though, since I've been spreading it by the glopful on my toast. I don't think it will be much of a chore to finish it off.

Sunday brunch

Yesterday I had my first brunch guest -- or any guest for a meal, for that matter -- since moving to the Bay Area. When thinking about the menu, I had a few things to consider. First, my guest is vegetarian. Second, I am not a morning person, and want to do the minimum amount of preparation the morning of the brunch.

I remembered a friend of mine had once made a breakfast strata for brunch, and she said it was incredibly easy. You put it together the night before, leave it assembled in the fridge overnight, then bake it the next morning. Sounded perfect. Her strata had sausage in it, but I found a recipe for a spinach and gruyere one in The New Best Recipe, my current favorite cookbook.

It was actually about as easy as I thought it would be. Basically it's like a lasagna, but instead of layering noodles, filling, cheese, and tomato sauce, it's bread, filling, cheese, and an egg-half and half mixture. It took less than an hour to prepare on Saturday, and then I was all set for the next day.

I decided to try Margaret's scones again to go with the strata, and cut the recipe quantity by a third so that it would fit in my food processor. I seem to be cursed, because it looked like it was working beautifully -- I had the wedges cut and brushed with egg-milk mixture and everything -- then realized the cranberries were still sitting in a cup on the other side of the counter. D'oh! I had to mash everything together again to incorporate the cranberries, so I think the dough may have been a bit overworked. Still not too bad when they came out. Just not as tender and crumbly as I would have liked. One day I'll make this recipe without a mishap!

Of course, making scones required getting up early-ish, somewhat defeating the purpose of the make-ahead breakfast strata. They dovetailed pretty well, though. First I made the scones and put them in the oven. I pulled the strata out of the fridge to let it come closer to room temperature as the scones were baking. When the scones came out the strata went in. I then had almost an hour to get dressed and tidy up before the strata was done.

Then when my guest arrived, all I had to do was make a pot of tea, set the scones on the table, serve up the strata, and eat.

Pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving

My company threw a Thanksgiving potluck yesterday, one week before the date. Besides the usual turkey, stuffing and sweet potatoes, there were also some unusual Thanksgiving selections. Ethiopian food, sushi, shrimp and crab cakes to name a few. (Do Ethiopians celebrate thanksgiving?) Everything was very tasty, and everyone was stuffed.

I fretted for the past week over what I should make -- how much time do I have? do I care about impressing the CEO? what recipe do I want to try on a big group of guinea pigs? In the end, I settled on cornbread and cranberry sauce.  Both were under-represented on the potluck sign-up sheet, and both very simple to make.

Because I've started a cranberry theme here, let's talk about the cranberry sauce. I used this recipe from epicurious.com. It turned out good. The orange is very subtle and the cranberry flavor is great. The ginger is also subtle but provides a little kick. The only thing I would change is maybe add a little less crystallized ginger and a tiny bit less sugar. (I like my cranberry sauce just a bit more tart.) I would also cut the recipe in half. As it is, I'll be spreading it on sandwiches for days! So if you're looking for something simple to bring to a Thanksgiving feast, this may be your item.

Cookware Fetish

Lately, I've been thinking about purchasing another skillet to accompany my lone IKEA skillet.  That's when I shamefully realized that all my cookware is IKEA. It is time for an upgrade and I came across this hilarious column from SFGate columnist Mark Morford as he drools over All-Clad and Calphalon One.

*Update: Bloomingdales is having a cookware sale!

This week in dinner

This past week was a particularly good one for home-cooked meals. First Nate made chili, from recipe originally from his mom's roommate in the Sixties, modified by us, with a few extra modifications by his sister Lisa. It's damn good. Whenever we make it for gatherings at our place, the pots always end up practically licked clean. It's also great for leftovers, and only tastes better after the flavors have been able to mingle for a few days. We usually make a double recipe just so we can eat leftovers for days afterward. It has a secret ingredient. I try to make people guess what it is after they try it the first time. (See recipe for answer)

The other dish we made this week was chicken cacciatore with portobellas and sage, from the Cook's Illustrated website. I started getting the magazine last fall and got the big cookbook, How to Cook Everything, for Christmas last year, and everything I've tried has turned out incredibly well. I was missing East Coast Italian food after our move from Connecticut (the most Italian state in the country -- really!) to San Francisco in August, so when this recipe showed up in the Cook's e-mail newsletter I thought I'd try it out.

I don't know if I can post the Cook's recipe without getting into trouble, but I'll post the chili one.