Sunday, August 29, 2010

Sunny


Lemon curd is such a delight. I feel more refined when I eat it, and also more full because I could probably eat about 10,000 pounds of it. Luckily, this sunny, eastery dessert is a cinch to make!

4 eggs
3/4 cup lemon juice
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 stick butter

Beat eggs lightly. Add beaten eggs, butter, sugar and lemon juice to small sauce pan. Cook over LOW heat (don't be tempted to turn it up here people) stirring constantly until mixture thickens and spoon is coated.

Serve with angel food cake, in individual tart shells, or with fresh strawberries for the perfect spring time treat. And yes, this post should have been written up long ago! :)

Spice Cake

This was one of my absolute most favorite cakes growing up. My mom made it and my sister and I shared pieces because I LOVED the icing and she LOVED the cake. Now I just love both! Yum! (recpie forthcoming- I just need some visual reminders about which recipes I still need to write up! Sorry to keep you waiting!)

Grilled Nectarines

These are the bomb diggity. 'nuff said.

If you can neatly halve your nectarines, the final product would undoubtedly be more pleasing to the eye. But alas, I was not skilled enough to do that, so my nectarines were sliced and then placed into a grill basket. Follow the rest of the recipe here, serve with high quality vanilla ice-cream or greek yogurt if you're into that, and enjoy. This is a recipe that seems impressive, is unique and exceptionally delicious, and is also (happily) exceptionally easy.

Grilled Pizza


I've been reading about how fabulous grilled pizza is for awhile now. I read about this recipe in my August issue of Bon Appetit, then salivated over a few more recipes I found online. Finally, my good friend Carolyne also gave it an unabashed accolade on her blog, so I decided to give it a whirl. The results? Drum roll please...divine! This pizza was scrumptious, and I'm convinced it could be even better if you plan ahead. My inspiration hit me at 5:30 on a Thursday when I was in the middle of the produce section at the grocery store, so the final product was decidedly less gourmet than those I'd read about. Still, it hit the spot, it was easy, it was super HEALTHY and did I mention delicious? Here's exactly what we did. Keep in mind that you could make yours even better (using fresh dough would be preferable I'm sure) by planning ahead, but in a pinch this was still fabulouso!

1 Boboli pre-baked pizza crust
1/2 yellow squash sliced paper thin
1/2 zucchini sliced paper thin
sliced mushrooms (I was craving portabellas but settled for the less expensive baby bellas)
fresh thin sliced tomatoes (from your garden would be heavenly)
fresh spinach
thinly sliced red onion
prosciutto (we were feeling especially bougie at the time- but I'm telling you people, so worth it!)

Ok, light up the grill and get it pretty hot. If you are using a charcoal grill like we do, then smoosh all of your coals over to one side. Spray the Boboli with Olive Oil- thank you pam can- and place on the grill. Grill for approximately three minutes, and then flip it. Grill for another three minutes and then remove the crust from the grill.
Back in the kitchen, top crust with a drizzle of olive oil, the rest of the toppings, and salt and pepper. Return pizza to grill (placing crust directly on grate of the grill, as before).
Cook for 15-18 minutes, or until toppings reach your desired cooked-through level. Because none of our toppings actually needed to be cooked, we just watched it carefully until it suited our tastes. We alternated between indirect heat (on the side with no coals) and medium direct heat (straddling the coals and non-coal section of the grill.)
Remove from grill, cut into slices, and serve!!!
Even with no cheese I give this recipe 4 stars!!