Homemade tortilla chips

Happy Mother's Day, everyone!

Tell your mom how much you love her with chips.

Now, I know what you're thinking: why are you making chips, when you can buy a whole big bag of them for practically nothing? Well, 1) as an experiment, 2) this way I know exactly what goes into them, and 3) I can limit quantities this way. If I bought a bag of chips, my husband would have a bag of chips for dinner. When I make a small, hand-crafted batch, it's a special treat for both of us.

Essentially, you're deep-frying cut-up tortillas. That's it. That's the recipe. Cut up tortillas. Deep fry. Eat. If you have a deep fryer, it's super easy. I used whole wheat flour tortillas, which honestly were a little bready. Next time I'll use corn tortillas. But you know what--still good.

If my mom were nearby, I'd make her a nice Mother's Day brunch, with fresh-squeezed juice, maybe a zucchini-potato frittata, some artisanal bacon, and fresh rosemary bread. Actually, I think I may go make that anyway.

Israeli couscous with squash, pistachios and mint

This is one of those great lunchtime dishes that's good either hot or at room temperature. You can bring it to work, leave it on your desk all morning, and still have a nice meal, even without a refrigerator or a microwave.

Israeli couscous, cooked
1-2 yellow squash, chopped fine
1 shallot, chopped fine
a handful of pistachios (shelled, of course)
a handful of dried cherries or golden raisins
chopped fresh mint
a lemon

Saute the shallot in some olive oil until soft, and add the squash. Let that cook for a couple of minutes, then combine with the cooked couscous and everything else in a big bowl. Add more olive oil to the mix, along with a few squeezes of fresh lemon. Stir, and let sit for a few minutes to let the flavors combine.

Lemon-buttermilk muffins

I have a container of buttermilk in my fridge that needs to be used up, so last night I made a batch of these lemon-buttermilk muffins.

Reprinted below:

2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 egg
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup buttermilk
Sliced almonds (optional), for garnish

Grease a muffin tin and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat 1 cup sugar with the butter and lemon zest on medium until light and fluffy. Add the egg, lemon juice, and almond extract. Beat until just combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl if necessary. Add one third of the flour, then one third of the buttermilk, beating until combined. Repeat with the remaining flour and buttermilk and combine until just blended.

Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Sprinkle a few almonds (if using) over the muffins. Bake 20-25 minutes, or until the muffins just turn golden.

Notes: THESE WILL SPILL OVER THE TOPS OF THE MUFFIN TIN, so only fill the cups up about 2/3. That's not a bad thing, mind you, they taste the same, but I did end up with some very blobby-looking muffins. They're very tasty, and I think they'd be even better with some fresh berries added in.

Linguine with kale, breadcrumbs and goat cheese

I was pleasantly surprised by how tasty this was. It's definitely one of my new favorite kale preparations. Also very quick and easy to throw together.

A box of linguine, cooked

1 head of kale, chopped

1-2 cups breadcrumbs

olive oil (I used a garlic-infused olive oil, which was lovely; if you're using regular olive oil, add a couple of diced garlic cloves to the recipe)

goat cheese

Heat the olive oil in a skillet (with garlic, if you're using it) and add the breadcrumbs. When they're brown and toasty, add a splash of the pasta water and the kale. Saute all that down for a couple of minutes. Combine the pasta and kale mixture in a large bowl; add a squeeze of lemon juice, and more olive oil if necessary. Top with lots of crumbled goat cheese.

The lemon and goat cheese offset the natural bitterness of the kale very nicely. You could use any kind of dark leafy green instead (arugula, spinach, dandelion, etc.) and get the same effect.

Zucchini cake with lemon glaze

Like carrot cake, only with zucchini!

Adapted from David Lebovitz. Copied below.

1 cup (135g) almonds, pecans, or walnuts, toasted (I used almonds)

2 cups (280g) flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon dried ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 3/4 (350g) cups sugar
1 cup (250ml) extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups (300g) finely grated zucchini

For the lemon glaze:
1/4 cup (60ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/3 cup (65g) granulated sugar
1 cup (140g) powdered (confectioner’s) sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Grease a 10 cup (2.5l) bundt or tube cake pan with non-stick spray or butter, dust with flour, then tap out any excess.

2. Pulse the nuts in a food processor until finely chopped.

3. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Set aside.

4. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs, 1 3/4 cup (350g) sugar, and olive oil for 3 minutes on medium speed, until light and fluffy. Stop and scrape down the sides of the mixer, then add the vanilla.

5. Mix in the dry ingredients, scraping down the sides of the mixer bowl to make sure everything is mixed in well, then beat on medium speed for 30 seconds.

6. Stir in the chopped nuts and zucchini.

7. Scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan, smooth the top, then bake the cake for 45 to 50 minutes, until the toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the cake has begun to pull away from the sides of the pan.

8. During the last few minutes of the cake baking, make the glaze by whisking together the lemon juice, 1/3 cup (65g) granulated sugar, and powdered sugar.

9. Let the cake cool for 10 minutes, then carefully invert it onto a cooling rack. Brush the glaze over the cake with a pastry brush and let the cake cool completely.

Notes: Yum. Not too sweet, not too zucchini-like. A great way to use up zucchini.

Morel crostini

Naturally, given my morel bounty, they needed to be part of the menu for Saturday's dinner party. I took this recipe from Food 52 for morel crostini. I've copied it below.

Serves 4-6

1 fresh baguette, sliced thin
extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
6 ounces fresh morels, cleaned and sliced lengthwise
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
3/4 cups leeks, sliced thin, white and pale green parts only
2 tablespoons Italian flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
goat cheese, to taste

MAKE THE TOAST: Preheat oven to 350. Place sliced bread on a baking sheet. Brush each piece with olive oil. Bake until bread is lightly toasted, 10-15 minutes. Arrange toast on a serving tray.

SAUTE MORELS: In a large skillet, melt butter over MEDIUM HIGH heat. Add morels and saute 2-3 minutes. Add thyme and season with salt and pepper. Saute until morels are tender, about 3 minutes.

ADD LEEKS, LEMON JUICE, AND PARSLEY: Add leeks to mushrooms and saute until soft, 3-4 minutes more. Stir in the lemon juice and parsley. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

ASSEMBLE AND SERVE: Pour mixture into a serving bowl and then place the bowl on top of the serving tray with the toast. Place goat cheese on the tray. Let everyone assemble their own crostini: smear a bit of goat cheese on toast, then top with a spoonful of morels.

Notes: Goat cheese for the win. I made some with and some without the goat cheese, and the cheese ones were definitely best. A great appetizer; but you know, I'd eat a plate of these with a glass of wine and happily call it dinner.

Saturday's dinner party and menu

I had some friends over for dinner Saturday night, and I wanted to cook something (well, many things) special for them. But I also didn't want to/couldn't afford to go out and buy a bunch of stuff. So I needed to put together a fancy menu based on what I already had.

Here's what I came up with:

Morel crostini (I have a crap-ton of fresh morels in the fridge; all I needed to complete the recipe was a loaf of Italian bread and a leek)

Scallops seared on the salt block (a special request to see the salt block in action)

Linguine with Italian sausage ragu

Salad (I still have a bunch of greenery that my mom gave me from her garden last weekend, plus a jar of her homemade plum vinaigrette)

Grapefruit-Campari sorbet

Zucchini cake with lemon glaze

Wine

Believe it or not, the only things I had to purchase for this menu were the scallops and the loaf of Italian bread and leek. I already had all the other things. (And I probably could have substituted a shallot for the leek.)

My CSA boxes provided me with salad greenery, zucchini and grapefruit; my pantry supplied me with lemons, onions, garlic, linguine, canned tomatoes, and baking stuff (flour, sugar, etc.); my freezer had Italian sausage purchased in bulk; my mom also provided me with a bag of fresh herbs, which will go into everything; and the liquor cabinet gave me the wine and Campari.

That's the beauty of a well-stocked kitchen; you can pull together any kind of meal you feel like. Simple, fancy, one person, 10 people, it doesn't matter. In fact, I normally wouldn't have bothered with purchasing the bread and the scallops--I would just rejigger the menu until I had one composed entirely of stuff I already had.

The main course, linguine with Italian sausage ragu, cost all of $1.66 per person. THAT'S the beauty of shopping in bulk. Even with the cost of the morels and scallops, the total cost was well under $5 per person. (The flowers came from my front yard, believe it or not.)

And it had been a while since I'd seen these friends. We had a great time. Isn't there some way I can just throw dinner parties for a living?