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Saturday, May 30, 2015

blueberry balsamic ice cream







 
blueberry balsamic ice cream

3 cups blueberries
6 T balsamic vinegar
1 cup sugar

heat until berries have burst. mix in blender add

2 1/4 milk or cream

cool mixture before pouring in ice cream maker

Friday, May 29, 2015

watermelon salad with lemon dressing




 
watermelon salad with lemon and coriander seed dressing
 
greens
watermelon
asian pear
tomatoes
radishes
basil
parsley
 
lemon juice
coriander seed
sugar
olive oil
s&p

Thursday, May 28, 2015

pickled grapes





pickled grapes
fresh plucked grapes
1 c white vinegar
1 c sugar
peppercorns
cloves
bay leaf
salt
heat over stove and poor over grapes, seal for at least 8 hours and enjoy!
 

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

homemade ricotta with broiled citrus crostini






fresh ricotta

4 cups milk
1 cup cream
juice from two lemons, but start slowly...
1/2 t salt

cheesecloth

combine milk and cream and slowly bring to 200 degrees. turn off heat and stir in lemon juice with salt. let sit for 10', if not curdled add more lemon juice until it curdles. let rest.

line a strainer with cheesecloth over a large bowl and pour in ricotta, let drain for an hour. pack in a jar, stores for 5 days.

for citrus crostini peel and slice blood oranges, grapefruit and oranges. drizzle with olive oil turbinado sugar and fresh thyme



broil until brown and bubbly





slather fresh ricotta top with citrus



drizzle honey





and sprinkle with fresh thyme and cracked pepper



ENJOY!




pink grapefruit
blood orange
orange
fresh thyme
turbinado sugar
 
honey
baguette
ricotta
flaky salt

preheat oven to broil

peel and slice 3/4" thick slices. arrange on sheet, drizzle with oil and sprinkle sugar. broil for 5' until golden. broil you toast with olive oil until brown.

spread with ricotta, citrus, drizzle of honey and or oil, flaky salt, pepper, fresh thyme.

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

breakfast bread








breakfast bread

pizza crust in a can

red onion
eggs
partially cooked bacon
gruyere
fresh thyme
s&p

make a well with onion rings to hold eggs, spread the goodies and bake at 425 for 15-20' until golden




Monday, May 25, 2015

the novel bakers present...

sunday suppers, recipes and gatherings.
 
sunday suppers is a food and design community based in south williamsburg brooklyn, their focus is on seasonal fare and simple, thoughtful living. their studio is 1500 sq ft, outfitted with top of the line commercial grade equipment, with 12' high windows and a northern exposure that is perfect for beautiful, consistent, diffused lighting for photography...




selected by the ny times as the top cookbook for 2014, sit back and enjoy while we gather to share a few recipes from this relaxed community of dinners...


i chose to start my day with this simple, but delicious breakfast while working in the garden. we devoured our breakfast bread served with iced cinnamon coffee and macerated minted blackberries. it was so good it was rather hard to want to continue working! please note i will be posting recipes next week for all the recipes shared here today, i have found it to hard to try and track down recipes when so many can be jam packed per post :-)















i spend most of my time on the cold california coast, but this week i am inland, where the temperatures are always warm and welcoming for outdoor dining. i wanted to take advantage of this lighter fare, when its 40 degrees, pure fog and blowing a gale, day in and day out all summer by the sea, cool refreshing salads and ice cream are far from my mind...

the first recipe i was eager to try was homemade ricotta...






as gorgeous as it looks now, it was not nearly as simple as it appeared in the recipe. i had to throw my first batch out, it never curdled... i was so disappointed i had to power down 3 brownies, grab my computer and google failed ricotta. after a brief chemistry lesson i was quick to right my wrongs, but i do think perhaps a little more explanation would have been helpful to those new to cheese making.

to make it even easier then their instructions, i followed another recipe with temperature guides, something i was in dire need of since i don't grasp the concept of proper curdling. heat your milk to 200 degrees, turn off the stove, add your lemon and salt and then don't touch it for 10 minutes. i checked back to find very weak curds, the new recipe said to keep adding a tablespoon at a time of more lemon juice until curdling begins, which was brilliant! i am sure if i had a wee bit of knowledge the recipe would have been something i could have handled, i was just in very foreign territory!

with our luscious homemade ricotta ready to go, i decided to do a simple little picnic on the deck with a mix of wonderful tastes and textures. i strolled the garden in the morning and picked my fresh citrus to try another recipe i found on their website,  broiled citrus and ricotta toast.


for an extra nibble i added pickled grapes...









keeping it light, we enjoyed this beautiful watermelon salad, a very unusual mix with tomatoes, watermelon and radishes in a lemon dressing~





followed up with blueberry balsamic ice cream




i hope you enjoyed your day with the novel bakers and that we may have inspired you to get out there and try new books and recipes~



visit the authors blog for more inspiration~

...thank you for visiting my quiet little life...