We've been feasting lately.
The first thing Joel ever made me was whiskey pasta, and since then, I've been more than happy to relinquish all pasta and sauce duties to him. His patience is much better than mine in letting flavors develop and simmer on the stove for a long time. With the pesto, he didn't waste a single basil leaf and waited to finish the sauce just as the pasta was drained to maintain that pretty shade of green. We fixed up some chicken to accompany it, which added a little something special, but the pesto alone sent me. So, so delicious. 
Besides, there's nothing better than the smell of basil to make you hopeful for the coming of summer.
I spent Memorial Day morning in kitchen, steeping anise seeds in custard for ice cream and cooking apples for this Polish apple tart. I would love to go page by page through the Classic Home Desserts cookbook and make everything in there (almost), but usually I just look through it to find recipes using ingredients I mostly have already.
I must admit I'm not a huge fan of the crust. I prefer a much tenderer tart crust, and this dough only uses 2 T of butter which you melt and work in to the flour mixture with an egg and some milk. Fewer calories, I guess, but a little tough when all is said and done. Still, the apples are the winners here. Three Braeburns and three Granny Smiths, cooked until tender and mashed with sugar and spices. The lattice was sooo not my best work (at that point I was ready to be out of the kitchen and into the shower...at 2 p.m.), but I'm glad it kind of turned out. I've been sneaking slivers of it for breakfast for the past week. It looked even nicer when I took it out of the spring-form, but it was night time and I didn't want to take another picture of food.
As for the anise ice cream...I think that was my favorite part. The recipe came from David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop. He suggests adding some boozy raisins and toasted almonds for a biscotti-style version. Of course he did; he's a genius.
These are a couple reasons why I set my alarm for 5 a.m. to visit the gym.
I must admit I'm not a huge fan of the crust. I prefer a much tenderer tart crust, and this dough only uses 2 T of butter which you melt and work in to the flour mixture with an egg and some milk. Fewer calories, I guess, but a little tough when all is said and done. Still, the apples are the winners here. Three Braeburns and three Granny Smiths, cooked until tender and mashed with sugar and spices. The lattice was sooo not my best work (at that point I was ready to be out of the kitchen and into the shower...at 2 p.m.), but I'm glad it kind of turned out. I've been sneaking slivers of it for breakfast for the past week. It looked even nicer when I took it out of the spring-form, but it was night time and I didn't want to take another picture of food.
As for the anise ice cream...I think that was my favorite part. The recipe came from David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop. He suggests adding some boozy raisins and toasted almonds for a biscotti-style version. Of course he did; he's a genius.
These are a couple reasons why I set my alarm for 5 a.m. to visit the gym.
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