Learning to swim - on land

Via

Weekend Cooking

I was a cooking fool again this weekend - pizza, two bean recipes, tomato sauce, pecan butter cake, and ricotta stuffed chicken! Phew. The lemon-y, ricotta stuffed chicken recipe can be found here, and includes a fennel, lemon and garlic confit - really nice, we'll be smearing it on chicken all week.

The pecan, cornmeal butter cake is here, I've been wanting to make it for a while now and it did not disappoint. I covered it with macerated blackberries and lemon juice, which was a really nice balance with the buttery richness. Definitely recommend this one! Stay tuned for pizza making pics.

Blue Cheese at Whitman's

We made a repeat visit to Whitman's on Friday night, looking for some high quality burgers and kale chips. I definitely recommend this place, we ended up spending a little too much but mostly because we ordered bottle beers. I asked for my burger with blue cheese on it and let me tell you that it was as awesome as you might imagine.

Also. I love parks! And warm weather! And weekend times!!

More Beans

A three bean salad with edamame, pintos and black beans from Gourmet, the celery adds a nice crunch. Easy and yummy salad for summer lunches!

I also made this cornbread for a second time last night and while I over-baked it a bit, I have to plug the recipe again because of the ricotta. It adds a richness without feeling heavy, and the blackberries are such a nice addition at the beginning of summer. We added some of the ricotta to pancakes over the weekend - another great trick!

Pancakes

I know the better buttermilk approach is to make it, rather than buy a carton, use maybe 1 cup, and then let it slowly expire in your fridge. However the latter approach is where I found myself last week, so I started looking for buttermilk recipes to use it up. Pancakes! My dad has always made them from scratch and I know they're super easy, but when I went to buy flour I saw this mix and decided to try it - yum! Great company that regularly offers whole grain options, and they do not disappoint with this one. Easy breakfast and less buttermilk guilt!

Some Cooking

Made this last night for a couple days of eating, but we ended up inhaling half in one sitting. I used brown rice and just cooked it in the pot and then in the oven a little longer, really good. Lucky for us our new neighborhood has plenty of queso fresco on hand.





I also made this lentil and beet salad but I need to be better about tracking where I grab these recipes from, because I'm again unable to credit. The salad is great, I added olives forgetting there were already capers so mine is a bit salty. But, I'll take it.

French Lentil, Golden Beet Salad
serves 4-6
1 1/2 cup French Puy Lentils, rinsed and picked over (removing any teeny rocks or debris)
3 cups water
4 beets, roughly chopped
1 head raddichio, roughly chopped
handful of fresh herbs (I used Italian parsley and basil), chopped
1 generous glug olive oil
juice of one lemon
1/4 cup capers
2 shallots, minced
2 tablespoons nice, potent mustard
1 tablespoon honey
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400.  In a large roasting pan, spread the beets evenly and toss in a little olive oil.  Cook for about 15 minutes.  Add lentils and 3 cups of water, cover with foil and return to the oven for another 30 minutes, or until lentils are done.  In the meantime, make the vinaigrette.  In a large bowl, whisk the olive oil, lemon, capers, shallots, mustard, honey, salt and pepper and fresh herbs.  Set aside.

When lentils are done, dress with vinaigrette, sprinkle herbs and radicchio, and stir to incorporate.  Season with salt and pepper, adjusting acid and oils to your taste.

This salad is better the next day, when flavors have fully melded, but is delicious eaten straight away.  Serve with crackers, great bread or another green salad.  Enjoy.