the left's answer to bacon

Perhaps I am a bit slow, but I've just discovered for myself the joys of brown butter, or beurre noisette if you're one of those people. It is pure bliss. I might even say it is a better flavor enhancer than bacon, although I am admittedly biased against smoky flavors and in favor of caramelly sweet fat stuff. And brown butter is approximately as easy to make as it is to hack off a slice of bacon from the packet in the freezer.

All you have to do is plunk a stick of butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat for about ten minutes. When it melts and simmers long enough to turn a medium to dark amber color, pour it through a thickness of paper towel over a strainer into a jar. Then bring the jar to your lips and take a long luxurious pull. Just kidding, you can just smell it. Mmmmmm!

I used this to dress some nasty bitter sauteed greens and they turned into nasty bitter greens coated with ambrosia. It was awesome, they were fabulous, yum, the end.

Honey Lemon Bars

Found this recipe while looking for a way to use up the six pounds of honey that attacked me at Costco and wrestled their way into my cart.

Crust:
1 cup flour
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 stick butter

Mix flour and sugar. Cut in butter until coarse crumbs form. Pat into the bottom of an 8x8 pan and bake for 12 minutes in a 350F oven.

Filling:
3/4 cup honey
2 eggs
2 tbsp flour
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp lemon rind
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

While crust is baking, whisk together honey and eggs. Add rest of ingredients and whisk well. (The salt I used was too coarse and didn't dissolve.) Pour over baked crust and put back in the 350F oven for about 25-30 minutes or until filling is set.

Next time I'm going to put it in the oven a little longer at a little lower temperature. In my oven the edges and top of this got rather too caramelized and chewy while the filling was still too runny. Tasted great anyway. The honey makes this much more interesting than the usual plain sugary lemon bars. I also used lavender salt, which gave these a barely-perceptible boost. The chief taster agrees: they're good!

Spring Veggies with Lemon Vinaigrette

This was so good, the chief taster requested a second round just as soon as the farm sends us more snap peas. I substantially modified this recipe from one found in Field of Greens, a vegetarian cookbook associated with Greens restaurant in SF. My version isn't vegetarian anymore, sadly, but I'm sure even the original version would have been good. It took about half an hour to assemble and cook.

4 or 5 potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
1 stalk green garlic, very thinly sliced
3 or 4 small young carrots, quartered and chopped
1/2 pound sugar snap peas, de-veined
1 strip cooked bacon, crumbled
3 canned artichoke hearts, sliced

Boil potatoes 15 minutes or until tender. Boil peas and carrots 2-3 minutes or until tender. Combine and toss with artichoke hearts, crumbled bacon, and sliced garlic. Add lemon vinaigrette:

Zest of 1 lemon
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp wine vinegar
1/2 tsp rosemary salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 tbsp bacon grease
2 tbsp olive oil

Whisk all together. Add a little mustard if desired. Pour over veggie salad and toss.

So tasty!

Caramel Popcorn

To make good popcorn, heat a tablespoon or two of oil in a covered pan with four or five kernels until the kernels start to pop. Immediately add 1/3 cup popcorn and cover again. Shake the pan frequently to prevent burning. I did this twice and not a single kernel remained unpopped either time.

While the popcorn is popping, melt 1/4 stick butter in a small saucepan. Add 1/2 cup brown sugar (or maple syrup) and 1/4 tsp salt and boil for about 10 minutes. Throw a couple of handfuls of salted peanuts in with the popcorn and then drizzle the caramel over while stirring.

When I made this I had the proportions wrong -- too much butter and too little sugar. The result was good, in a greasy sort of way, but it wasn't very sweet and it seemed excessively buttery. It didn't need to be much sweeter, but less butter next time will be nice.

Spinach and Green Garlic Souffle

This recipe was from the Eatwell farm newsletter last week. I modified it slightly to account for my lack of cream (I don't really make recipes involving cream anymore, except for special occasions and occasions for which I need to go out and buy specific ingredients).

Butter and flour (or dust with cheese) a 6-cup souffle dish and preheat the oven to 375 F.

1 cup minced green garlic (Cuisinarted)
3/4 cup milk
1/4 stick butter
1 sprig thyme

Combine in a small saucepan over low heat. Bring to a boil, then turn off the heat, cover, and steep for 15 minutes.

1 bunch spinach, stems removed, or about a pound spinach leaves (Cuisinarted)
4 tbsp butter
4 tbsp flour
1 cup milk
1 tsp salt
4 oz goat cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
5 egg yolks
5 egg whites

Melt butter in a saucepan, stir in the flour, cook for 1 minute while stirring. Whisk in milk and stir until it thickens. Add salt, goat cheese, and Parmesan. Turn off heat, stir in egg yolks, spinach, and garlic-milk mixture from above. Season with pepper.

Beat egg whites with a pinch of salt until they form medium-firm peaks. Fold the whites into the rest of the mixture. Bake in prepared dish until set. The recipe called for 30 minutes but for me it seemed to take more like 45 minutes to an hour.

This got rave reviews from the chief taster, who was also very helpful in preparing it. I served it with popovers and it was a simple but rich meal. With a salad too, it would have been perfect.