Do you ever feel like you’re here but you’re not really here? I don’t know, this week has been sort of like that for me, in a good way mostly, since I felt completely disconnected from my duties. It feels good sometimes not to care. Usually, if I don’t post for more than 3 days, I start panicking, but this time, nothing. I even felt for a split second like cooking wasn’t my thing anymore. (Rest assured, it still is very much my thing.)

Maybe it’s from spending too much time eating the best pasta in the world in Tuscany. Or maybe having just okay pizza in Italy (!!) brought me back to reality. Either way, I’m being slower these days, but I’m enjoying this new pace, so bear with me. And bake this deliciously cute and happy little lemonade bars in the meantime. If you need to know one thing about them, it’s that they taste much better than they look. They’re a crowd-pleaser, plus I heard pink was back in style (apparently punk is back, who knew pink was punk?!)

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Raspberry lemonade bars

Prep time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 25 – 30 minutes
Chill time: 2 hours
Serves 6

Ingredients:

For the crust:

- 8 ounces (1 1/2 cups) ground graham crackers
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 8 tbsp butter, melted

For the raspberry lemon filling:

- 2 cups (9 oz) frozen raspberries, thawed
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2/3 cup flour
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 3 egg whites
- 1 egg
- 2/3 cup lemon juice
- confectioners’ sugar, to serve

Directions:

1. To make the crust: mix all the ingredients and press into the bottom of a 9-inch round springform pan or an 8×8 square baking pan. Place the pan in the freezer.

2. To make the filling: Preheat oven to 350°F. Place the raspberries in a fine-mesh sieve and press to the bottom with a fork or a spatula over a bowl, to extract as much pulp as possible (this might take a few minutes). Discard the seeds. Mix together the flour, salt, sugar and lemon zest in a large bowl. Whisk in the egg whites and eggs until smooth. Add the lemon juice and raspberry pulp and whisk until no lump remains.

3. Pour into prepared pan, bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the center no longer jiggles. Let cool before refrigerating for at least 2 hours, then slice into bars, sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar if you wish and serve.

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My tips:

- My bars turned out more pink than red even though I used the same amount of raspberries, so if you want a deep red color add a few drops of red food coloring.
- Add the confectioners’ sugar at the last minute or it will be absorbed.
- These keep refrigerated for 2 days.

Source: adapted from Annie’s Eats.

Told you I had another savory shortbread recipe in the works. Of course since I was abroad last week and apparently when I’m on vacation I go dumb, I forgot to schedule this post, even though I left feeling pretty confident everything was in order. So you’re getting this this week instead! No hard feelings.

Of the two shortbread recipes I have so far, I’m not sure which one trumps the other, I guess it’s a matter of taste, but I can say that both were a huge success. I can’t wait to make more. I whipped these up for a couple of friends who have been of great help making this blog more streamlined and user-friendly lately (the user would be me here.) It doesn’t show yet, but the reason why I’m posting less these days is because I’m working on an upgrade. I am pre-tty excited. I hope you will be too. Let’s talk in a few days!

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Goat cheese sundried tomato shortbread

Prep time: 15 minutes
Chill time: 1 to 2 hours
Cooking time: 10 – 15 minutes
Yields 1 dozen cookies

Ingredients: 

- 1/3 heaping cup flour
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 4 oz goat cheese (I used semi-firm)
- 3 1/2 tbsp butter, softened
- 2 tbsp milk
- 3 flakes sundried tomatoes
- 1/8 tsp salt

Directions: 

1. Mix the cheese and sundried tomatoes in a food processor until it forms a paste. Remove from food processor and set aside.

2. In the food processor (no need to clean it), add the flour, oats, salt and softened butter and mix until you get a crumbly dough. Mix in the milk, then the tomato-cheese paste, until smooth.

3. Roll into a 2-inch diameter log and wrap tightly, then freeze for 1 to 2 hours.

4. Preheat oven to 360°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove log from freezer and slice into 1/5-inch thick slices. Place on the baking sheet and bake for 10 – 15 minutes, until lightly golden. Let cool before serving.

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My tips: 

- This recipe can also be done manually, chopping the tomatoes and crumbling the cheese. Then work the dough by hand until it reaches desired consistency.
- If you’re in a rush, you can freeze the log for only 30 minutes, but the longer you leave it (no more than 2 hours), the easier it will be to slice it.
- Store in a tin at room temperature.

Source: Turbigo Gourmandises.

Today is a pretty important day around me; first my amazing girlfriend is getting married, and you know how you always say “she’s getting married to greatest guy on earth”? Well this time it’s actually true. He’s the first friend’s boyfriend I became friends with (and not just “hey, you’re here, I’d better talk to you” friends, he’s insanely cool and fun to be around.) They’re just so awesome together that nothing can really convey what’s going on when you’re in the same room as them. Nothing, not even a layered torte with fresh fruit, sweet wine and mascarpone.

But today is also my dad’s birthday, which I won’t attend since I will be at my friends’ wedding in Italy. That’s right, I’m in Tuscany right now. But that’s beside the point. My father is getting old(er), and that’s a big deal. I think. Since two of his favorite desserts are fraisier (a French strawberry and cream cake) and millefeuille (a thousand layers), let me stretch it a bit here and introduce a dessert with strawberries, cream, AND layers.

All of this is irrelevant really, if, like me, you love creamy white food and fresh fruit and alcohol. Then, who cares about people getting old or married? Just dive in.

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Strawberry raspberry tiramisu with muscat

Prep time: 40 minutes
Chilling time: 6 hours
Serves 6

Ingredients: 

For the berry layer: 

- 1 lb fresh strawberries
- 1/2 lb frozen (or fresh) raspberries
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 3 tbsp muscat wine

For the cream layer:

- 2 lb mascarpone
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract

For the cookie layer:

- 1 lb ladyfingers
- 3 cups muscat wine

Directions:

1. To make the berry layer: Hull and slice the strawberries (Save a few berries to decorate, if you wish.) Stir together all the ingredients of this layer in a bowl, then set aside to macerate.

2. To make the cream layer: Beat together all the ingredients of this layer on low speed in your stand mixer for about 2 minutes, until soft peaks form.

3. To assemble: Fill a bowl with 3 cups muscat wine, dip each ladyfinger in it for 1 or 2 seconds, then shape into a layer at the bottom of a 10 x 14 inch pan. Add half the cream mixture and spread evenly on top, then add the berry mixture and spread. Add another ladyfinger layer, dipping each cookie as you go, then finish with the rest of the cream layer. Decorate the top with a few berries. Refrigerate for 6 hours or overnight before serving.

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My tips: 

- Substitute any sweet wine of your liking.
- Do not dip the ladyfingers for too long or they will break apart.
- The original recipe calls for a 9 x 13 inch dish, but my 10 x 14 dish happened to be just the right size with these measurements.

Source: The New York Times.

This is not strictly speaking cilantro tabbouleh, it’s more like a pretty standard parsley tabbouleh with cilantro added. Get it? Good. I wouldn’t want any confusion as to the parsley to cilantro ratio, that could get awkward. It’s easy here: it’s 1:1.

I’ve had a lot of pretty mediocre tabbouleh in my life, considering that France seems to think tabbouleh is basically a cold version of couscous, sort of. You can even buy ready to make cans of couscous with dressing and cooked (!) veggies, and call it tabbouleh. When I realized that tabbouleh was exactly the opposite of that, namely a salade made primarily with FRESH herbs, I could never really go back to the French (European?) version. Now whenever I see cooked couscous or wheat soaking in chopped crudites and lemon, my heat sighs a little. It’s okay, it’s still good, I wouldn’t want to sound like a snob here, but it’s just not AS good as the real thing.

The idea of adding cilantro to the original recipe came very simply: out of necessity. Clearing out my fridge before a trip, I add to make something that involved a whole bunch of parsley and a whole bunch of cilantro (why these two got there for no specific purpose is another story.) Since I didn’t have time for two different recipes, I combined them in this salad, which I thought was a brilliant idea. Thank you very much.

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Cilantro tabbouleh

Prep time: 30 minutes
No cooking time
Serves 3 – 4

Ingredients:

- 3/4 cup fine bulgur
- 1 bunch flat leaf parsley
- 1 bunch cilantro
- 3/4 cup fresh lemon juice (about 3 lemons)
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 tomatoes
- 1/2 onion (or 2 scallions)

Directions:

1. Add the bulgur to a bowl and mix with 1/2 cup lemon juice, then set aside.

2. Finely chop the cilantro, parsley, tomatoes and onion. Add to a salad bowl, stir in the bulgur. Season with the remining 1/4 cup lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Stir and leave at room temperature until ready to serve. (If you’ve been as slow as me to chop the herbs, the bulgur should be cooked. If not, wait another 15 minutes.)

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My tips: 

- You can substitute couscous for the bulgur.
- I chose to go light on the onion,  but you can add more, especially if they’re green onions.

Source: clementinecuisine original.

I’d been dying to make savory shortbread for months, but as life often goes, I ended up stalling, and then making my grand entry into the savory shortbread world with a homemade recipe. Somehow, last weekend, it just felt right. I still have gorgonzola shortbread in the back of my head (it’s been stuck there for over a year now), but for now parmesan and poppy seed will do, or even a bit more than that.

I’m amazed at how easy shortbread is to make, mostly with ingredients that you certainly have in your kitchen, or if you don’t, the recipe is very adaptable. I’m thinking it might be the answer to a last minute invite with not much in the fridge but a bit of parmesan. The garlic really did the trick for me, I’m already thinking up a garlic-only shortbread recipe. Do you think it would work? In the meantime, I have another savory shortbread coming to you next week… I’m hooked.

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Parmesan poppy seed shortbread

Prep time: 20 minutes
Chill time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 10 – 15 minutes
Yields 1 dozen 

Ingredients: 

- 3/4 cup flour
- 1 large egg
- 1.5 oz parmesan ( or 1/2 cup grated parmesan)
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 tbsp poppy seeds
- 3 tbsp butter, softened
- 3 tbsp water
- salt and pepper

Directions: 

1. Place the parmesan (grated or not) and the garlic in the bowl of a food processor, and mix until finely ground. Remove from bowl and set aside.

2. In the same food processor (no need to wash it), add the flour and egg and mix until you get sandy crumbles. Mix in the butter until it forms a consistent dough. Add the parmesan mix and poppy seeds and mix until combined, then add water 1 tbsp at a time, mix until combined. Generously season with salt and pepper while mixing.

3. Shape into a log with a 2-inch diameter and wrap tightly in film (if the dough is very sticky, use film to shape into log), then place in the freezer for 30 minutes.

4. Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove the log from freezer and cut into 1/5-inch slices, then place on the baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes, or until the top is slightly golden. Let cool before serving.

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My tips: 

- The water makes the dough very sticky, handle carefully.
- You can double the amount of parmesan for a more prominent taste.
- You can make a longer and thinner log, for smaller bite-size “cookies”.
- You can also cut thinner slices for thinner shortbread.

Source: inspired by Emilie and Lea’s Secrets.

I finally made my New York cheesecake. I took me a while to figure it out, but after making cheesecake for several years, I got what was wrong with every single recipe I followed: they didn’t involve 5 whole packages of cream cheese. That’s the clue to a towering cheesecake, that’s the key to my heart. Five packages of Philadelphia cream cheese. I literally cleared out the cream cheese section at my supermarket (to be fair, in French measurements, it was 8 packages…)

There’s something about a flat cheesecake that just makes me sad. After eating my fair share of thick and high-rising cheesecakes when I was in New York, I finally decided enough was enough: I had to set out to make a real New York cheesecake. I knew the ultimate New York food blogger wouldn’t let me down, and she didn’t, oh no. Please disregard the funny color on the top, it’s just that I don’t have a food blogger-approved oven (or an anyone-approved oven for that matter), the creamy tangy feeling and the crunchy caramelized crust were enough to send me right back across the ocean, to the city with towering cheesecakes.

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New York Cheesecake

Prep time: 40 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
Chill time: 6 hours
Serves 8 to 10

Ingredients: 

For the crust: 

- 8 ounces graham crackers
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 8 tbsp butter, melted
- 1/4 tsp salt

For the cheesecake: 

- 5 (8 ounce) packages Philadelphia cream cheese, softened
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 3 tbsp flour
- 1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
- 1 tsp finely grated orange zest
-  5 large eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions: 

1. To make the crust: Finely grind the graham crackers in a food processor, add the sugar and salt and pulse to mix. Mix with melted butter and press into the bottom and sides (not all the way to the top) of an 8-inch round springform pan. Place in the freezer while you go on with the recipe.

2. To make the cheesecake: Preheat oven to 400°F. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the cream cheese, flour, zests and sugar on low speed, until smooth. Gradually beat in vanilla, eggs and yolks, waiting until incorporated to add the next ingredient. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to avoid strips of unmixed cream cheese.

3. Place the prepared pan in a shallow baking pan (to catch the drips when it bakes). Pour the cream cheese filling into the pan, smooth the top with a spatula, and bake for about 1 hour, checking regularly, until the top is puffy and the center is almost set.

4. Remove from oven, run a knife between the sides of the pan and the cake, then let cool before refrigerating for 6 hours or overnight. Remove from pan delicately. Serve chilled.

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My tips: 

- If you’re not a fan of citrus zest, reduce the amount, or skip the orange. I for one love it but the taste is a bit more than subtle.
- As you may have noticed, my cake is way more ‘golden’ than it should be on the top, because of my $*%$ oven which, even when the cake was covered ALL THROUGH the baking time, manages to burn things. As a result, I had to remove the cheesecake from the oven slightly early to prevent a catastrophe, and let me say that an underbaked cheesecake is just a creamy dream.

Source: Smitten Kitchen.

I’ve had my eye on this salad for the better part of a year but of course, when I found out about the glorious combination of avocado and strawberries, strawberries were not in season. Damn produce, always have to follow their schedule. So I waited, and it was worth it, and now when I bite into a fresh strawberry I don’t have to feel guilty for destroying the planet.

I don’t think I need to say a lot to sell you this salad, I mean look at these colors, what else do you need to brighten your week? Especially with a ridiculously easy ingredient list, it’s just the perfect recipe for this time of year: not quite bikini season yet, but it’s starting to lure in the distance — still, a few cold days roll around now and then (more now than then in my case), so you need to strive to keep comfort food at bay, am I right?

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Strawberry avocado salad with honey poppy seed dressing

Prep time: 15 minutes
No cooking time
Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

For the salad:

- 2 cups greens of your choice
- 2 large avocados
- 1 pint strawberries

For the dressing:

- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp maple syrup (optional)
- 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp poppy seeds
- salt and pepper

Directions: 

1. To make the salad: add the rinsed greens to a salad bowl. Peel and dice the avocados, add them to the greens and stir delicately. Rinse and halve the strawberries, add them and stir.

2. To make the dressing: stir together all the ingredients. Add to the salad and serve chilled.

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My tips:

- All the salad measurements are adjustable to your taste.
- The dressing measurements yield a lot: use what you need and save the rest for the next salad.
- Do not make this salad ahead or the avocado will brown. Also add the dressing at the last minute (you can make it ahead.)

Source: For the love of cooking.

I had been craving raspberries. Fresh raspberries to be more specific. I needed to make a cake for work — that happens. I thought: “Hey! Let’s make a raspberry cake!” Life sounds so simple sometimes. I was so happy to finally have a reason to buy the overpriced raspberries that had been eyeing me on my way home for a week; then I set out to find a recipe. Turns out, if you look for a raspberry cake, they’re going to give you a whole lot of raspberry JAM cakes. No thank you.

Then Deb came to the rescue, wonderful thunderous Deb [I saw "I give it a year" last night, felt like adding this adjective to my repertoire afterwards, don't judge.] And then this cake came, moist, light, tasty, fresh, fruity but not overwhelmingly, just the right dose of everything. I will say that I wasn’t really convinced while making it, but I feel guilty now for doubting Deb. And raspberries. It was all forgotten after the first bite. Happy weekend!
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Raspberry buttermilk cake

Prep time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients:

- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 4 tbsp butter, softened
- 2/3 cup sugar + 1/2 tbsp
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- zest of 1/2 lemon
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup buttermilk, shaken
- 1 cup fresh raspberries

Directions:

1. Grease an 8-inch round pan. Preheat oven to 400°F.

2. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of your stand mixer, add the butter and 2/3 cup sugar and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla extract and lemon zest. Add the egg and beat until well incoporated.

3. Add 1/3 of the flour mix and beat on medium speed, then 1/2 the buttermilk, 1/3 of the flour mix again, the rest of the buttermilk, and finally the end of the flour mix, beating well each time, and scraping the sides as needed. When the batter is smooth, pour into prepared pan.

4. Scatter the raspberries on top, then sprinkle 1/2 tbsp sugar, and bake for 25 minutes. Let cool before removing from pan and serving.

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My tips:

- Watch the cake while it bakes, it may brown very fast with the sugar.

Source: Smitten Kitchen.

My posts have been few and far between around here, and the truth is I don’t even have an objectively good reason for this. True, I was abroad last week and without an internet connection, but that had happened before, and never prevented me from posting regularly in the past 13 months. Maybe the magic of the first year of blogging is gone? Ha! Who knows. But I’ll be back to posting regularly as soon as I get a second to catch my breath.

Once again this recipe posed the question of *the* right title. Ah, how to convey all the connotations of one dish with just a few words? I felt like ‘egg and onion salad’ was a bit too bland a title considering the beauty that this dish is. Beautiful tastes, beautiful colors, beautiful combinations. Plus it’s incredibly easy and made with mostly pantry staples (eggs and onions hello!)

Ok, if you still don’t have sumac lying around your house, once again, do without. No sumac is just not an excuse not to make this salad. Chop chop chop, mix everything together with a bit of olive oil and onions, and you have a fresh and colorful salad on the table.

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Middle Eastern egg and onion salad

Prep time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Serves 3 – 4

Ingredients:

- 4 large eggs
- 1 small red bell pepper (or 1/2 big one)
- 1 red onion
- 4 tbsp green olives, pitted
- 2 tbsp sumac
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 clove garlic, smashed
- juice of 1 lemon
- 2 tbsp pine nuts
- 3 tbsp sesame seeds
- 1 small bunch flat-leaf parsley

Directions:

1. Cook the eggs in a small pan of boiling water for 5 minutes, then run under cold water, shell them and quarter them delicately. While the eggs cook, halve and thinly slice the onion, rinse it in a sieve under cold water, and sprinkle with salt. Set aside.

2. Finely chop the parsley, red bell pepper and olives. Lightly toast the sesame seeds and pine nuts in a skillet over medium heat without grease, stirring constantly (3 to 5 minutes).

3. In a salad bowl, mix the onion, parsley, red pepper, olives, pine nuts, sesame seeds, and sumac. In a small bowl, stir together the olive oil and lemon, and add the smashed garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Add the seasoning to the salad, and toss delicately. Add the eggs at the last minute so they don’t break. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

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My tips: 

- This salad can marinate in its dressing for a couple hours, and I think it’s best eaten at room temperature to preserve all the flavors.

Source: The illustrated food and cooking of Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, by Ghillie Basan.

These were originally called pumpkin cheddar muffins, but I live in Paris (news flash) and I didn’t have the heart to run to the nearest British grocery store to get extra sharp cheddar. I’m still amazed at how hard it is to find certain staple ingredients of foreign cooking in a city such as Paris. I’m sure the French cheese lobbyists keep the cheddar locked away for fear it will take over French palates. They might be on to something, considering how I, The smelly cheese lover, would sell my soul for one last bite of cheddar.

Anyways, I substituted, and decided to call it fusion food. I know that these might look terribly unseasonal to some (pumpkin in April?) but once again, it’s just cultural differences. We don’t have the fall pumpkin craze over here, and I was just so glad I could whip up these muffins without having to to run across Paris to the nearest US food store to get canned pumpking (take 2). Bottomline:  I didn’t want to run last weekend. And I was thankful to Edouard for giving me canned pumpkin for my birthday. That’s right, you can make me happy with almost anything that comes from a supermarket.

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Pumpkin cheese muffins

Prep time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 15-20 minutes
Yields 12-15 muffins

Ingredients: 

- 1 (15 oz) can pumpkin
- 3 tbsp sour cream
- 2 eggs
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- 2 cups flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 1/2 cups grated cheddar or other cheese (I used mimolette)
- a few drops Sriracha sauce, or to taste

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease muffin tins, if necessary. Melt the butter, and let it cool.

2. In a medium bowl, mix the pumpkin and sour cream. In another medium bowl, beat the eggs and cooled melted butter with a fork for 30 seconds. In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

3. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, and add the wet ingredients (pumkin + egg mixture). Stir well until well incorporated. Stir in 1 cup grated cheese and the Sriracha sauce.

4. Pour into prepared tins, sprinkle with remaining cheese on top, then bake for 10 to 20 minutes, until the top is golden and the bottom is solid. Serve warm or at room temperature.

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My tips: 

- Substitute 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper for the Sriracha sauce.
- Make these for brunch, they’ll be a hit.

Source: Bake at 350.