One of the best restaurants in Harvard Square, Alden & Harlow, has what they call the “ubiquitous kale salad” on their menu. The name is tongue-in-cheek, but the salad itself is phenomenal. The greens themselves are all kale (something that can be hard to pull off), and there’s nothing else garnishing the leaves except a deeply flavored, well-balanced lemony pistachio dressing. I’m lucky enough to live close by, but unfortunately, the restaurant isn’t open for lunch (when I’m in the square, solo, looking for a quick bite and glass of wine).
Sloppy Joes are considered a quick and easy weeknight option. They aren’t something I grew up with, but when I wanted to try them at home this fall (to use up some leftover hamburger buns from what is likely the last grilling night of the season), I wanted to get a bit creative and improve both the flavor and offer more than just a ground beef sandwich.
Out to lunch at a familiar bistro with my sister yesterday, I hit a kind of rut with ordering off the menu: none of the soups, sandwiches, flatbreads, or specials were sounding quite like they’d hit the spot. It was the Friday before 4th of July weekend, and I’d taken the afternoon off at my practice, turning the long weekend into a mini at-home vacation. But it was pretty sultry out, and some of my favorite dishes from the past (warm mini lobster rolls or a grilled cheese sandwich paired with tomato soup) felt too complicated. I wanted something scoopable: easy to eat, with the dish’s flavors blending in every bite. I opted for the chopped salad with medium-rare steak tips, but what I think I really wanted was a flavorful, twirlable noodle bowl.
Clearly, it’s the season for pumpkin, so if you’ haven’t already had your fill, I wanted to share this recipe for a coffee cake I’ve been baking in the fall over the past several years. It’s started out trying to be all fancy (cream cheese ripples through the batter, a spiced pecan streusel on top). I loved the taste of those original versions, but as I experimented with the recipe over the years, the frills fell away in favor of a simpler (easier!), no-fuss reliable pumpkin cake that can hold its own after dinner or as an on-the-sweet-side snack for mid-morning or afternoon.
Ingredients
1 pint strawberries
1 cup flour
1 cup oats
1/4 cup ground flaxseed (optional – if not using, increase the flour by 1/4 cup)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup butter, melted
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wash and prepare the strawberries: Cut off the green tops and slice the berries into quarters. Put the strawberry slices in a small saucepan over low heat. Add 1-2 Tablespoons water and simmer about 10 minutes, until the strawberries break down and lose their shape. Be careful not to scorch or burn the bottom of the pan. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
2. While the strawberries are cooking, combine the dry ingredients (flour through cinnamon) in a bowl. Add the melted butter and work evenly into the dry ingredients, forming a dough.
3. Divide the dough, reserving about 1/4 of it. Press the larger portion (about 3/4) into a rimmed baking dish lined with parchment paper. Spread the strawberries in an even layer over the dough. Using your fingers, break apart the remaining dough portion and sprinkle it over the strawberries (as you would with a crumble topping). Bake for 30 minutes.
Every once and awhile, I hit upon a recipe that David raves about. He tries to be pretty honest about the dishes I come up with, letting me know what parts work well, where they could use a little more work. It helps ensure less-than-stellar recipes get more revisions before being finalized and posted (or trashed), and I appreciate the honest feedback. First bites are often thoughtful and contemplative. But with this recipe, it was “wow” right off the bat. It was such a success that I made it again just a week or two after its debut, when David and I hosted a few friends for dinner before a show. One of our friends (who is training for a marathon) asked for the recipe to make again as fuel before heading out on her twenty-mile runs.
In addition to having fantastic flavor, it’s relatively quick and easy to put together, and it’s very healthy. With a base of whole-grain brown rice, quickly pan-seared tofu as the protein, and loaded with vegetables, it hits a lot of key components of a healthy recipe. When I first made this dish, I used a baked tofu from Whole Foods that had a pineapple marinade (the “Aloha” flavor); if you can find it, use it! I’ve since returned to the store many times looking for this same tofu, but I’ve only been able to get the teriyaki marinade, which, while good, doesn’t quite hit the nail on the head the way the pineapple does (I think the tropical fruit pairing of pineapple + mango was what did it).
This answer to the question “what’s for dinner tonight” stems from my recent efforts to cook more with dried (versus canned) beans. I had dried black beans on hand, and not quite sure what to make with them, I turned to the idea of vegetarian chili. To be a successful vegetarian main dish, it has to be full of flavor. There’s no ground beef (or rendered fat) to give an otherwise lackluster ingredient list a leg up. Every ingredient has to contribute its own brilliant texture and taste, and they all have to come together as a unified dish.
As I’ve mentioned earlier, my sweet tooth has been taking over this summer. This cobbler took a couple of tries to get right, but the final version here showcases some of the best of summer’s fruit, and David and I have been noshing on it after dinner for several nights now.
I usually try to incorporate some whole grains in the recipe, but I’ve discovered a few things to keep in mind with this recipe.
First, using a 50-50 combination of whole wheat and all-purpose flour just didn’t work here. With the first cobbler I made, the fruit turned out splendidly, but both David and I felt that we were eating an overly savory biscuit mismatched with a not-quite-sweet-enough dessert. To fix this, I adjusted a few of the ingredients: I took out the whole wheat flour all together and went with all-purpose flour with just a smidgen of cornmeal (which helps with the sweetness).
A few weeks ago, my friends and I met for dinner at one of Cambridge’s great new restaurants, Alden & Harlow. Their menu is based on small plates shared among the table. It was fabulous: we ordered corn fritters, chicken-fried rabbit, sweet corn gnocchi, and a kind of corn flapjack topped with fresh popcorn and sweet syrup. Given that we’re smack in the middle of August, it’s no surprise that the menu is full of fresh corn.
Tomatoes are the other late-summer signature ingredient, and this lasagna combines the best of quintessential summer flavors. It’s actually been rather chilly in Boston lately (barely above 70 degrees for a few days’ stretch), so I’ve been firing up my oven without needing to crank the air conditioning.
Although I’ve been lucky enough to have a summer full of strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries, I haven’t been eating many fresh peaches and nectarines. Not long in to my pregnancy, both Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, the two grocery stores just down the road from our house, were affected by a peach recall out of concern for Listeria contamination (and Listeria is the one that’s pretty scary for pregnant women because it can cause miscarriage). Even though peach season was just starting to blossom, I skipped eating them raw for a few weeks. Instead, I made my way through a spattering of baking projects with cooked peaches.
These cupcakes originally started as a quick and easy skillet biscuit. The first recipe was a bit of a flop. The biscuits were not airy, flaky, or light. They came out of the oven kind of rubbery and seemed to even deflate as the day wore on. The good news, though, was that the ginger-peach combination was an absolute winner, so it was just a matter of finding a better dough in which to house the spiced summer fruit. I tinkered a bit more with the biscuit idea before jumping ship altogether for cupcakes.
