Eat First

In asparagus season, it's easy being green

It's true that asparagus is available year-round now, but its real season is spring. So here is a recipe that puts the jolly green stalks to good use: Springtime Asparagus Puree. When shopping for asparagus, look for spears that are crisp and snappy, with tight, purple-ish heads. Those are the best indicators of freshness.
At home, stand the stalks up in a container or vase filled about a quarter of the way with water. If you're not going to use the asparagus right away, put a plastic bag over the top and store it in the refrigerator. When you're ready to cook it, rinse the asparagus and snap the tough ends off the bottom. It might seem like you're wasting a lot, but those ends are tough and stringy. Snap them about midway up the stalk, or where they want to break. Do this enough times and you'll know.

Two of the most simple and delicious ways to eat asparagus are to steam it until crisp-tender and toss it with a little butter or roast it in the oven, tossed gently with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. One more way is this puree. It's adapted from a recipe that appeared in the spring 2009 issue of Edible Finger Lakes magazine, and it's a snap to make. Asparagus is available pretty much anytime and anywhere, but do yourself a favor and seek out some that is locally grown. The Regional Market on Park Street is open year-round on Saturdays and the Thursday market there reopens next week. Springtime Asparagus Puree You will need: 1 tablespoon butter 1 tablespoon olive oil 2.25 pounds asparagus, ends snapped almost halfway up, cut in small pieces 2 medium onions, chopped 1 bunch or 1 10-ounce bag spinach (not baby spinach), washed and coarsely chopped 6 cups chicken or vegetable broth 2 cups water 1/2 cup heavy cream, half and half or milk Salt and pepper, as needed Heat the butter and oil in a large soup pot over medium flame. Add onion and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes.

Add asparagus, stirring to coat, then add spinach. Cook about 7 minutes, stirring vegetables from time to time, until the spinach has wilted considerably. Add broth and water and give everything a good stir. Cook cook 20 to 25 minutes.
Let the soup cool slightly then puree it using an immersion blender. Go through the soup with a slotted spoon, fishing out any strands of asparagus that might be in there.

Add cream, blend, and adjust seasonings if necessary. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

 

DiLauro's and DiLunas: DiLicious!

What's not to like about a lightly browned pocket of pizza dough, stuffed with cheese, roasted red pepper and Italian sausage? Or cheese, peppers and mushrooms -- hold the sausage? Call it a calzone or call it a luna. DiLauro's Bakery and Pizza, at 502 E. Division St., on the North Side of Syracuse, calls their version a DiLuna. 

Call it DiLicious! If you like Italian food and you've called Central New York home for a while, you know by now what a calzone is: an inside-out pizza, shaped like a half-moon, filled with ricotta and mozzarella cheese, meat and/or vegetables, and served with tomato sauce on the side. Your favorite neighborhood pizza parlor serves them, as do restaurants like Angotti's, a family-owned and family friendly restaurant on Burnet Avenue, which serves some of the biggest calzones I've ever seen. They're HUGE! Calzone rates an entry in my go-to food reference book, "Food Lover's Companion,'' but lunas do not. They are not as widely known and may (or may not) be an Upstate New York food thing, like tomato pie (Utica) and spiedies (Binghamton).

They show up up here and there on menus. Casa di Copani, on Burnet Avenue, offers individual calzones and lunas designed to serve a crowd through its pizza parlor, Via Copani. Pastabilities, in Armory Square, has a single-serving luna on its popular lunch menu. The menu describes it as a double-crusted pizza, and the fillings change daily. Friday featured a veggie-lover's luna: onions, peppers, zucchini and mushrooms, all held together with mozzarella cheese. Pasta's house tomato sauce is served on the side.
But back to DiLauro's and its DiLuna(s). Paul A. Waverchak, president of DiLauro's, describes the DiLuna as "a smaller version of the calzone, with some minor differences. Usually a calzone is made with ricotta cheese and other side items and is larger. Our 'DiLunas' are smaller, made with sauce, mozzarella cheese and other side items." They cost about $3 and they're one of our favorite grab-and-go/take-home treats. As for DiLauro's itself: It's a small bakery with the deepest of roots on the North Side. Waverchak proudly notes it has been in business 102 years at the same location. The place caters to all your carb needs, with crusty Italian bread, rolls, slices to go, individual tomato-basil pizzas, whole pizzas and more. They even sell bread crumbs.
For something different, try DiLauro's cinnamon raisin bread. It makes excellent toast and French toast. Unless you'd rather have a DiLuna for breakfast. It has been known to happen.

One of the best meals I NEVER made!

When I came home on shopping day with two small pork tenderloins, each weighing about a pound, my "other" wondered A) WHAT did I plan to do with so much meat and b) HOW did I plan to cook it? Good questions, both. I thought: Well, it's getting warmer out, and these would make a quick meal on the grill. They'll also give us leftovers, which we can enjoy "as is'' or in something different, like fajitas or tacos. At our house, Robert is the go-to person for cooking meats, seafood and other things that require grilling, high oven temperatures and hot pans. He's also the go-to person for more impromptu fare, like throwing together pasta primavera using fresh vegetables we have on hand. I'm more the go-to person for cakes, cookies, biscotti, muffins and other goodies that are put in the oven and baked at your basic 350 degrees. So here is what Robert did with the tenderloins: • Remove from package and blot dry with paper towels. • Rub with oil and season liberally with Oncenter Chef Jerry Bolton's gourmet seasoning blend. Chef Jerry and his staff cook so many meals for so many diners that consistency in seasoning is key. His house blend is a nice combination of salt, pepper, garlic, onion, paprika and other spices, and works well on meat, poultry, fish, seafood and vegetables. • Let the seasoned meat "marinate'' in the refrigerator for about 6 hours. • Sear the tenderloins on a hot grill then transfer them to a casserole dish, cover them with sliced potatoes and onions that have been flash-cooked in a cast iron pan on the stove and remove to a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes. My contribution: A salad of spring greens, red grapes and toasted walnuts, tossed with strawberry-blueberry-balsamic vinaigrette dressing.
The pork, potato and onion melange was delicious, and I'm adding this dinner it to the list of best meals I never made. Thank you, Robert!

Heid's of Liverpool: Hot-diggety dogs!

Take me out to the ball game. On second thought, just take me out to Heid's. I can't drive through the village of Liverpool without going there, especially on a nice spring day. Heid's is a Central New York landmark and tradition, in business since 1917. I remember going there as a kid growing up in these parts. Back then, the only condiment they served with franks and coneys was German-style mustard. Things have changed a little there, but not too much. The calling cards there are still Hofmann franks and coneys, made in Syracuse by the Hofmann Sausage Company, and served in soft, white New England-type rolls. You can get French fries on the side, or potato salad, macaroni salad, baked beans or a pickle.
Some Heid's devotees insist that grilled dogs and franks go down best with an ice-cold milk or chocolate milk. I'll take mine with a Saranac root beer or ginger beer. Dessert? You really don't need any, but cookies and brownies are available. And Sweet Treats, an ice cream parlor, is right next door. It reopened earlier April, thanks to a run of sunny days and warm temperatures.

Whatever you eat, don't feel too guilty. Heid's is an institution and a bite there is a treat. Walk some of it all off across the road, on the walking/biking/skating trails at Onondaga Lake Park. Whatever the season or weather, there's always a line out the door at Heid's. Some say the secret to the success of the place is the blend of meat and spices in the Hofmann products; others say it's the way the dogs are grilled.

There's no debating that one of the best aromas in all of Central New York is the smell of dogs and coneys lined up and cooking on the grill at Heid's.
Make mine slightly charred, with just a thin stream of mustard. Some people who haven't lived here in years make Heid's one of their first stops when they return to the area for a visit. If you know someone in a distant corner of the country or world in need of a Heid's hot dog fix, check out the Hofmann Sausage Co. Web site. They ship franks and coneys all over the place.

A baking experiment gone right (mostly)

The marriage of ingredients in this cake came about by accident and inspiration. Rummaging through the pantry, I found a small wedge of almond paste left over from holiday baking. I took it out, crumbled it into small pieces and added it to the simple Bundt cake I was making to contribute to a post-funeral lunch gathering and spread.
Spring brings a boatload of special events worthy of baking cakes: birthdays, wedding showers, baby showers, graduations, teas. This cake works well for all occasions and serves a crowd (plan on about 16 slices). It's rich, dense and moist, and made with ingredients you probably already have on hand, except for maybe the almond paste.

Serve it plain, sprinkled with confectioners sugar or dressed up with your favorite icing or glaze.

To avoid blemishes on removal, grease and flour your Bundt pan really well. Use more of each than you think you need!

Almond-y Chocolate Chip Cake Adapted from "Bundt Classics'' 1 3/4 cups sugar

2/3 cup butter, softened

2 eggs

1.5 teaspoons almond extract

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups flour 

1 1/3 cups milk

1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips 

4 ounces almond paste, crumbled in small pieces

1 tablespoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt Heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan. Using a stand mixer with paddle attachment, combine sugar, butter and almond paste until well blended. Add eggs and almond and vanilla extracts and combine until light and fluffy. Add all remaining ingredients and mix well. Pour batter into pan, smoothing top with spatula. Gently tap pan on countertop once or twice to help batter settle.
Bake 55 to 65 minutes, until center of cake tests "clean" with a toothpick or cake tester. Cool 15 minutes, then remove cake from pan and cool completely. Before serving, lightly sift some confectioners' sugar on top of cake, if desired. Makes 16 servings. Notes: For less almond-y flavor, use 1 teaspoon almond extract and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. The cake freezes well, double-wrapped.

We, the Peeple

I know that people use marshmallow Peeps -- chicks, bunnies and eggs in sunny spring colors -- to create three-dimensional scenes (click to see winners in the annual Post-Standard contest). And I know that Peeps are the most popular non-chocolate Easter candy. More than 700 million of them are sold at Easter time, according to the National Confectioners Association and Just Born Inc., the Bethlehem, Pa.-based maker of Peeps.

What I did not know until yesterday is that people take their Peeps a step further by dipping them in chocolate! I'm not a Peeps person, but I have to say they looked really cute on the plate, nestled among Martha's lemon cookies. Martha submerged the bottoms of some in dark chocolate and some in milk chocolate. Both were a hit, especially with the "kids" in the crowd. Got leftover Peeps hiding out in Easter baskets?

Here's a recipe for dipping them that I found online. Sprinkles and nuts are optional. Chocolate-Dipped Marshmallow Peeps 1 package marshmallow Peeps 4 ounces semisweet chocolate or milk chocolate 1 teaspoon shortening Sprinkles (optional) Chopped nuts (optional) Line a baking sheet with wax paper or aluminum foil. Melt the chocolate and the shortening in a double-boiler or in the microwave. Holding the Peep by the head, dip the bottom in the chocolate, covering a scant ¼ inch with chocolate. Shake it several times to remove excess chocolate before carefully placing it on the baking sheet. If desired, dip Peeps in sprinkles or chopped nuts when the chocolate is still wet. Refrigerate the Peeps until the chocolate is set, about 30 minutes.

 

No Peeps show on this bunny trail

Call me the Grinch Who Stole Easter. No foil-wrapped chocolate eggs or bunnies. No cream-filled eggs, peanut butter-filled eggs, speckled malted milk eggs or Peeps are hiding out in baskets and candy dishes at our house. There's not a single jelly bean to be found, either, though I did manage to scarf a few of the black ones at my mother's house the other day. Today, we'll have our Easter sugar in the form of Martha's outstanding lemon cookies and my Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake, and a take-home treat for brunch guests to munch on later.
The treat, sugar-cookie cut-outs, are my signature cookie. I make them year-round -- Easter chicks, bunnies and eggs, Christmas trees, Santas and mittens, Halloween ghosts and pumpkins, Valentine hearts and flowers. The occasions and possibilities are endless. I never get tired of making them and eating them, and my "peeps'' don't seem to, either. Or they just don't have the heart to tell me.
Now that I've posted about them several times, I thought I'd share the recipe with you. They're light, thin, crisp and very faintly spiced with ... Sorry, I can't tell you what they're spiced with. That's a trade secret. Use a quarter-teaspoon of your favorite baking spice. Or try a blend, like apple pie or pumpkin pie spice, and experiment until you come up with something you like. In my next post, I'll tell you about the Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake with an optional secret ingredient. All-Season, All-Occasion Sugar Cookie Cut-Outs 1 3/4 cups flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon baking spice or spices of your choosing 1/2 cup butter, softened 1 cup sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 egg Sugars for decorating (see note) In a bowl, stir together flour, baking powder and spice(s) to blend thoroughly. Set aside. In a mixer bowl, combine butter and sugar; beat until light and fluffy. Blend in vanilla. Add egg and beat again until fluffy. Gradually add flour mixture, beating until just combined. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm (at least 2 hours, or overnight). Heat oven to 325 degrees. Work with half of dough at a time and keep half in fridge. Roll out dough to a thickness of about 1/8 inch on a lightly floured board or pastry cloth. Cut with cookie cutters to make a variety of shapes. Transfer to lightly greased baking sheets and decorate with sugars as desired. Bake until cookies are golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Let stand for a couple of minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool. Makes about 3 dozen cookies. Note: Recipe is easily doubled. The dough freezes well (double wrapped) as do the finished cookies. Decorating gels, sold in tubes, also work well with these cookies.