Something about pie dough scares me. I’m forever not rolling it to the right thickness or into shapes that resemble a rhombus rather than a circle. It’s ironic, because when it comes to eating pie, I love a double crust. But if pie making is a drug, this strawberry and lemon curd pie is a Nilla wafer and saltine cracker gateway drug. Yes, I said SALTINES. You’re in, right? So let’s go.
You've heard of the Donut Man in Glendora, California right? If not, let me introduce you, because what they do there, you need to know about it. The Donut Man is famous for their fresh strawberry donuts -- that's right, they take a glazed donut, slice it in half and sandwich in an enormous portion of fresh strawberries (or peaches, later in the summer) in goo. It's ridiculously deliciously goo-d. Today, I was thinking about those doughnuts and meant to stop by Top Pot on the way home for a couple of glazed and then I promptly forgot. Instead, I came up with these baked strawberry shortcake doughnuts (or in this case: short, cake doughnuts). Doesn't it look like one of those spongy dessert cups they sell right next to the strawberries in the produce department?
In the summer, salads are a no-brainer. You have amazing tomatoes for Caprese, you can throw berries or peaches or nectarines together with some arugula, the salads almost make themselves. But as we roll into the winter, I start looking blankly into my vegetable drawer. If only I'd planned ahead, maybe some roasted beets. Apple and celery? Raw lacinato kale salad...but we had that twice this week already. You've been there, right? So what to do? Insalata tricolore...the salad of three colors.
I've never been a super big fan of prosciutto, preferring instead the more bacon-like pancetta. Something about the texture, its sort of stretchiness and flavor just put me off. But lately, it's growing on me. (See the grilled pizza with prosciutto and arugula). When it's cooked just a little bit, prosciutto is an entirely different animal. And its saltiness is perfect in this baked pasta dish.
I must have looked for David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop for almost 6 months at my fave used bookstore, thinking a copy would turn up eventually. It never did. And now I know why! You'd be crazy to give up this book! Covering ice cream, gelati, sorbetti, granitas and a full spectrum of accompanying sauces, The Perfect Scoop offers a mix of more traditional (chocolate & peanut butter, rum raisin, chocolate sorbet) and not-so-traditional flavors (orange-Szechuan peppercorn, pear-pecorino, roquefort-honey). If it tastes great on its own, why not in ice cream? The book is a must for anyone who likes frozen treats, dairy or non-.
For those of you looking for Jen Andrews' orzo salad, here's my tweet capturing the recipe from the 5/23 episode of TBTL. It was in my twitter feed, so that's why some of you may have gotten here, but then there was no recipe. BTW - you've checked out Jen's merch site prettysnarky.com, right?
While I'm…