Meyer Lemon Curd & Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes

Tonight I'm planning to make lemon curd from approximately 60 Meyer Lemons the boys picked a couple days ago. The lemons are large, ripe and orange-gold. Their perfume has been filling the kitchen with the most heavenly aroma. We'll squeeze them all tonight and half will be used to make Meyer lemonade, another portion will go in to meyer lemon curd, and a final portion will make lemon squares.

But what to do with all the left over lemon rinds? I'm going to make candied meyer lemon peels. These particular lemons look like they'll make great candidates for this application. Candied citrus peels are great for eating plain, for use in baking, teas, as a garnish or dipped in to dark chocolate. By my estimates we'll have pounds and pounds of candied meyer lemon peels as a byproduct of all all the juicing we're going to do.

For dinner I'm going to make jumbo lump crab cakes served with a garlic/meyer lemon aioli. To accompany, I'll snip some leaves from my newly emerged baby lettuce and make a nice little salad. I have a bottle of white wine chilling and it's just the ticket for this meal. The artichokes look so tempting and can certainly be harvested now but if I leave them to get a little bigger, they'll make a meal unto themselves.

A Sigh...

The compost is black, the worms are dense, the sun is plentiful and luckily, so is the rain. My largest garden bed is well on it's way to a fruitful season. The peas, lettuces, carrots, green Spring garlic, shallots, and brassicas are all making their way up through the soil. There are a million morning glory seedlings creeping up the fences bordering the raised garden bed. I'm anticipating a solid wall of scarlet morning glory blooms within the next few weeks. I'm taking a deep breath and relaxing as the hardest part is now over. Preparing the soil properly is hard work but it makes for healthy plants. Taking steps to prevent disease and pests down the road by focusing on soil health is where it's at.

We are about to start harvesting the first of our early Spring crops such as strawberries, artichokes, lettuce, rhubarb, garlic, carrots, shallots and potatoes. More is coming up each day and the best is yet to come. I love Spring. I love what it means for the bounty of the garden. *SIGH*

Catering is like childbirth....

I find it dreadfully painful and laborious when in the throws of it, but at the same time there's a sense of exhilaration coupled with act of accomplishing the monumental task of feeding dozens if not hundreds of people food lovingly prepared. It is precisely because of this labor of love that I tend to get amnesia once the job is complete. When euphoria really sets in, I want to do it all over again... and maybe for twice as many people the next go around. This feeling is further stoked by the fact that the catering industry standard is to mark up food and services by approximately 600% above cost... it makes the pain melt away very effectively.

Since I have chafing dishes and all manner of equipment necessary, along with as many food/ingredient connections as any caterer could possibly desire, I've decided that the only missing piece is a website which I'm in the process of having designed by a good friend so that I can ply my services more effectively.

Sunday Comfort Food

Yesterday as I do every Sunday, I had my entire family over for Sunday Supper. I brined and roasted two chickens over Yukon Gold potatoes studded with onions and herbs from the garden. With all the broccoli the kids picked from the garden we had steamed broccoli with a bechamel cheese sauce and as a second veggie side I also made pan roasted brussels sprouts with bacon and onions. Early yesterday morning I started a chive cheddar whole wheat dough which rose slowly for hours. This dough produced super soft dinner rolls which were ideal for mopping up the pan juices. For dessert I made a carrot cake using the fresh carrots the kids picked in the garden. I frosted it lavishly with copious amounts of cream cheese frosting and made a healthy pot of very dark coffee to finish it off.

Boys In The Garden

Our Winter Sustenance

This 280 square foot raised bed supplies us with our winter and warm weather organic produce and means that we very rarely purchase vegetables at the supermarket. Growing here and still producing are red and green cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, radish, beets, collards, kale, borage, carrots, celery, shallots, onions, potatoes, mizuna, spinach, swiss chard, corn salad, rhubarb, malabar spinach and more... The veggies taste amazing when picked and cooked within minutes.

WARNING! Explicit: Hot Sticky Buns Gone Wild!

In my never ending quest for deliciousity, I stumbled upon this recipe a few years ago which makes the most heavenly, HUGE, sticky, glazed cinnamon rolls imaginable. These are not illegal, yet, but I hear there's some legislature in the works.

I shot this video right around midnight last night. If I dare to make them when another soul is awake in my home, I must suffer through a prodding and impatient audience asking preposterous questions such as "Are they done yet?" and "When will they be done?".

The secret that makes this recipe so darn good is that these babies take their own sweet time to complete. The recipe calls for a frustratingly long 18 hour cool rise period during which the sweet yeast egg dough develops its' flavor and the rolls slowly double in size. You'll just have to trust me when I say that every second of the 18 hour rise is thoroughly worth it. But that's not the end of the story... Once they come out of the cold rise, they endure a second warmer 2 hour rise.

Not Your Mama's Fudge

Not made with marshmallow fluff, chocolate chips or any of the usual suspects... this is the good old fashioned fudge that calls upon fundamental pantry staples and takes some serious work but is well worth every step.