I'll Show You Mine If You Show Me Yours

Oh! My...well...this is really a bit personal, but...oh goodness, but I haven't even...if I'd known you were coming...

Oh, you really think so? Why, thank you! Well, alright. If you insist. Oh, yes, photography is fine...yes, it's organic coconut milk. I'm really very particular about those sorts of things!

You're doing an article? About me!? But, dear, I'm not even full-sized! And I haven't got a thing in my crisper!

Oh, this little old thing? Just a bushel of fresh baby garlic. Isn't it darling? I love how it compliments my sugar snaps. And these are Ronnybrook. It's very exclusive, but Ronnybrook is positively my favorite...every time Sunday rolls around, I can't resist getting dolled up in everything at the stand! Today I'm wearing the chocolate milks, a creamline yogurt, a bottle of heavy cream, and the newest crème fraiche. Dairy's all the rage, you know, and the bottles are returnable - isn't that quaint? Oh, and I can never resist the chocolate pudding, there on my middle shelf. It's not too sweet and positively to die for!

Exotics? Why yes, I do have a few of those...this jar here is candied ginger puree - have you ever heard of such a thing? And these other jars are rosemary-rhubarb jelly and ginger-black tea rhubarb preserves. I made them myself. I've got cold-pressed flax seed oil...and I've got some exquisite cheeses! I'm going through a soft cheese phase - see? I've got mascarpone and herbed goat cheese. But, believe me, I'm never without a good wedge of organic parmesan.

Excuse me? Have I got any unmentionables? Certainly not! And you shouldn't ask a lady such things! What? Those are sundried tomatoes! The sell-by date doesn't matter - they're very well sealed! And anyway, they - what? A butter-flavored product? I don't have butter-flavored products. What do you think I am, a Maytag? I don't know what you're talking about.

Alright, ladies and gentlemen, it's been a pleasure, but I think it's about time we - no! don't look at the door! You said the door was off-limits - it isn't even in the photograph! I - well, you have to keep those little packets somewhere!!

This interview with my fridge was conducted in honor of the first-ever "I'll Show You Mine If You Show Me Yours" event, hosted by Sweetnicks. The round-up will be posted there around next Saturday...check it out!

Monkey Bread

Just in case you all thought I was getting a little too healthy/veggie/prissy with my cipollini onions and peas gremolata...don't worry, I still go ape for sinful sweets.

This extremely kid-friendly recipe goes out to all my little monkeys (nine nieces and nephews!) in Atlanta and San Francisco. May you revel in indefinite sugar highs!

Aunt Kate's Monkey Bread

INGREDIENTS

1/3 cup butter
1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
2 cans Pillsbury Grands big buttermilk biscuits (or similar - 3 cans of regular-sized biscuits)

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons heavy cream (or 2 tablespoons milk)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Bundt pan

DIRECTIONS

Coat the inside of the Bundt pan with cooking spray or butter and set aside.

Melt butter in a bowl and stir in sweetened condensed milk until blended. In another bowl, mix the sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon.

Open one can of biscuits and separate. Cut each biscuit into four sections (you can do this step more efficiently by quartering the biscuits in stacks of two or three) and roll each section into a ball. Coat each ball in the sugar mixture, then place in Bundt pan. After finishing the first can of biscuits, drizzle half of the butter mixture evenly over the top of this first layer. Repeat these steps for the next can of biscuits. Sprinkle the remaining sugar over the top and bake in a preheated 350° oven for 30-35 minutes.

While bread is baking, mix sugar, cream or milk, and vanilla in a small bowl with a fork. Add more cream if necessary for desired texture (the icing must be drizzle-able).

When done, remove from the oven and let cool for a minute or two, then turn onto a plate and carefully remove the pan. (do this promptly or the bread will stick inside the pan.) While bread is still warm/hot, drizzle icing decoratively over bread.

Enjoy! Eat by tearing off biscuit hunks, monkey style.

Sugar Snap Peas with Lemon-Mint Gremolata

The hardest thing about preparing sugar snap peas, in my opinion, is getting enough of the sweet, crunchy little pods all the way to the table - most of mine never make it to the pot because they're so delicious raw! But 'tis the season for local sugar snaps, so when you buy a bunch at your local farmers' market, get enough to munch on with some left over for dinner.

When peas are fresh, crisp and in season, there's no sense in cooking them to death or masking their delicate green flavor, so keep it simple with a recipe like Sugar Snap Peas with Lemon-Mint Gremolata. There are many variations on this recipe, but this one was perfect for me because it put to use the mint that's quickly taking over my fire escape, despite my best attempts at keeping up with it via oranges sprinkled with mint, and with mojitos. The recipe is adapted from afore-worshipped Lemon Zest by Lori Longbotham. Lori taught me a very important lesson about lemons that has benefitted my cooking since I read the book: we use lemons all the time (or at least I do!), whether squeezed over grilled fish, to spritz steamed veggies, to flavor desserts, or just to freshen the scent of the fridge. From now on, every time you are going to use a lemon for its juice, take a minute first to grate the zest and freeze it in a ziploc bag or airtight container. Lemon zest, I've found, is good in everything from pasta sauces to muffins to stir-fry to a twist in your esspresso. I use my frozen zest almost every day! (Note: most lemons are waxed to preserve them better during shipping. If your lemons are waxed, be to scrub them with a vegetable brush - or a toothbrush! - before zesting.)

Sugar Snap Peas with Lemon-Mint Gremolata

INGREDIENTS

1 pound sugar snap peas

1 tablespoon lemon-infused olive oil, or regular extra-virgin olive oil

1 garlic clove, minced

1/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt

Pinch of freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon finely shredded mint leaves

1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

DIRECTIONS

Blanch the peas in a large pot of boiling salted water until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Drain in a colander, rinse under cold running water and drain again.

Heat oil, garlic, salt, and pepper in a large pan (or wok, if you are so blessed - but not if your wok is exclusively seasoned for Asian cooking, which rarely includes olive oil) over medium heat. Add peas and cook, stirring, unti lheated through, 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in zest and mint and serve hot.

Serves 4.

Olive Oil: From Tree to Table

I just wanted to formally introduce the cookbook from the previous post:

Olive Oil: From Tree to Table
by Peggy Knickerbocker

Photography by Laurie Smith

"Finally! The definitive guide to olive oil — what it is, how to use it, how to cook with it," one review reads. Knickerbocker sidesteps many of the spaghetti-style tried-and-trues and goes for unique recipies originating from the cuisine of olive oil's many homelands - Italy, France, Greece, Tunisia...even Portugal: Seared Ahi Tuna Encrusted with Roasted Pumpkin Seeds, Risotto with Prosciutto and Fresh Peas, Kalamata Olives with Orange Rind, Provencal Garlic Soup, to name a few. She also includes a thorough explication of the nature and history of olive oil that includes some very interesting tidbits; for instance, did you know that Greece produces a large amount of olive oil? We think of olives as being Greek in very essence, but rarely do we see a bottle of Greek oil on the shelves. Knickerbocker explains that this is because Italian companies buy olive oil in bulk from poor Greek farmers for ready cash at the beginning of the harvest season, then bottle it in Italy - an oil can be labled "Italian" as long as it's bottled there!

I've really enjoyed everything I've made from it so far, and gotten to know a lot more about the flavors and appropriate uses of the olive oils (yes, there are a few of them) in my kitchen.

Featured above: a surprisingly delicious plate of chopped navel oranges drizzled with honey and olive oil and sprinkled with spearmint and sea salt.