Lemony Orzo-Veggie Salad with Chicken

We tried this Lemony Orzo-Veggie Salad with Chicken from Cooking Light this weekend and it was a nice summery meal.

Photo Courtesy of Cooking Light

Lemon Pound Cake

I have chronicled my search for lemon bread, but what I really should have admitted is that I was searching for something similar to Starbucks' lemon pound cake. This recipe from Dozen Flours is pretty darn close.

Her post is much more detailed, and gives some hints and tips. I'm just reposting the main instructions. I tend to shy away from four bowl recipes, but this one was worth it.

Better Than Starbucks Lemon Pound Cake
4 lemons
3 cups cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, completely softened
3 cups superfine, Baker's or caster sugar
6 eggs, warmed for 10 minutes in hot tap water before using
1 cup full-fat sour cream, at room temperature

Glaze
2 lemons
2 cups powdered-sugar*, sifted

Preheat oven to 325F. Grease a 16-cup tube pan and dust with cake flour; tap out any excess. Be sure to grease and flour the center column too.

Zest four of the lemons. With a very sharp paring knife, cut the tops and bottoms off of each lemon. With one cut side down on the cutting board, trim the pith off the lemon, vertically, going all the way around each lemon, exposing the flesh of the lemon. Over a bowl, cut segments from membranes, letting fruit and juice fall into the bowl, being sure to discard the seeds and the remaining membranes. With a fork, break segments into 1-inch pieces.

In a separate bowl, combine the sugar and the lemon zest. Work the sugar and zest together between your fingers until the sugar is moist, grainy and very aromatic. Set aside.

Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

Beat the butter for 2 minutes at medium speed in the electric mixer. Add half the sugar and mix for 2 more minutes, then add the rest of the sugar and mix again for 4 minutes, stopping once to scrape down the bowl and the beater blade.

Remove the eggs from the warm water. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating just until combined after each addition (about 30 seconds). On the lowest setting, mix in the dry ingredients, then the sour cream. Lastly, gently fold in the lemon juice and segments. Transfer batter to prepared pan.

Bake cake until tester inserted near center comes out clean, about an hour and a half. Let the cake cool in the pan on a rack for 15 minutes.

While the cake is cooling, juice the remaining 2 lemons. In a small bowl, slowly add the powdered sugar to the and stir until smooth. It should look thick, opaque, and should be thin enough to it should be pourable. If it's too thin, add more powdered sugar. If it's too thick, add more lemon juice. Poke small holes all over the top of the cake using a fork or toothpick. Carefully pour about 1/2 the glaze over the tops and the sizes of the cake. Let the glaze harden for about 2 hours or overnight.

Cover the remaining glaze and keep at room temperature. About a half hour before you're ready to serve, pour the remaining glaze over the cake.

Baked Lemon Pasta

We made this Baked Lemon Pasta this weekend from The Pioneer Woman. OH MY! It was so good. The only problem was wanting to eat too much. Next time, I would probably make both a salad and grilled chicken or salmon to help fill up with something a little healthier. Mmmm, I'm definitely making this again soon. Beware, that clicking on the recipe and seeing the picture will make you instantly hungry.

Christmas cookies - one to remind us of summer!

I don't know about everyone else but I for one love the taste of lemon in just about anything but especially desserts! So come time for Christmas cookies I always appreciate something lemon on the cookie tray- its a nice light addition plus the taste of lemon reminds me of summer which is nice when the Christmas snow is blowing outside. So for this year I found the following recipe I'm going to try...I hope they're as good as they sound!

Lemon Pistachio Cookies
4 dozen
1 stick butter (or half butter/ half crisco)
1 1/4 c sugar
1 egg
1 c chopped pistachios or macadamias
1 c white chocolate chunks or chips
2 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
grated rind of one lemon
1/4 c lemon juice

Cream butter, sugar, and egg until smooth..add lemon juice and mix well.stir dry ingredients together with lemon rind and add thoroughly to butter mixture. Fold in white chocolate and pistachios. Chill for 15-20 minutes.Drop heaping teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart on a silpat or parchment covered baking sheet. bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes or until just done and just turning color. Cool before storing.These will fall apart when they are warm..They firm on setting. Melt 1/4 c butter, and add 2 TBS lemon juice. Add enough confectioners sugar to make a thick frosting and spread on warm cookies.

Lemon Bundt Cake

Just got this recipe from a friend. After I bake some rhubarb things up, I'm going to give it a try

1 box Duncan Hines Lemon Supreme cake mix
1 box instant lemon pudding
¾ C oil
¾ C Apricot Nectar juice
4 eggs

Bake at 350 for 40 to 50 minutes. I kept checking with toothpicks, because the online printout had 30 minutes for bake time, which wasn’t near long enough. Cool in pan for 15 minutes before transferring to platter.

Glaze
1 to 1 ½ C powdered sugar
2 tablespoons melted butter
Apricot Nectar juice to finish consistency the way you prefer

Spring for Lemon Thyme Bars!

I was flipping through the channels yesterday and had to stop when I saw Giada De Laurentiis making these Lemon Thyme Bars for a spring dessert. They looked super easy to make and I love that they combine lemon and thyme in a sweet combination. I will definitely be making them in the near future and love having another reason to grow fresh herbs in the summer!

Picture from here.

Grilled Lemon Chicken Skewers

This is a recipe I've made time and time again, as well as the satay dip. I've made this chicken both as just breasts on the grill and skewers. I like the skewer version best.

Grilled Lemon Chicken
3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (4 lemons)
3/4 cup good olive oil
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme leaves, or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
2 pounds boneless chicken breasts, halved and skin removed

Whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, and thyme. Pour over the chicken breasts in a nonreactive bowl. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for 6 hours or overnight. Grill the chicken breasts for 10 minutes on each side, until just cooked through. Cool slightly and cut diagonally in 1/2-inch-thick slices. Skewer with wooden sticks and serve with Satay Dip.

Satay Dip
1 tablespoon good olive oil
1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
2/3 cup small-diced red onion (1 small onion)
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic (2 cloves)
1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger root*
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons good red wine vinegar
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1/4 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons dry sherry
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lime juice

Cook the olive oil, sesame oil, red onion, garlic, ginger root, and red pepper flakes in a small, heavy-bottomed pot on medium heat until the onion is transparent, 10 to 15 minutes. Whisk in the vinegar, brown sugar, soy sauce, peanut butter, ketchup, sherry, and lime juice; cook for 1 more minute.

Yield: 1 1/2 cups

*a tip about ginger root. Most recipes only call for a small bit of ginger root. It freezes very well, so you can just wrap it and freeze, then cut a piece off the next time you need some.

Lemon Yogurt Cake

I made this lemon yogurt cake for the first time last weekend and I have to say, it was a bit of a dud.

It took too long for the center to cook, so the bottom and the edges were too dark. The flavor was nice, but not as lemony I'd hoped. The texture was okay, kind of dry because of how long I had to cook it. I guess what I really wanted was more of a lemon pound cake, like the ones at Starbucks. And since this cake uses yogurt and theirs probably uses butter, that's probably where the main difference lies.

Anthony thought it was okay, so maybe its worth another go, but I think I'll keep looking.

Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti

My mom introduced me to this biscotti recipe a couple months back, and, even though it calls for just one teaspoon of citrus, I think it's worthy of citrus month. It's from Giada de Lauretiis and the Food Network. They call it holiday biscotti; I call it cranberry pistachio biscotti. (Recipe source)

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup pistachios, coarsely chopped
2/3 cup dried cranberries
12 ounces good-quality white chocolate, chopped

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Line a heavy large baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk the flour and baking powder in a medium bowl to blend. Using an electric mixer, beat the sugar, butter, lemon zest, and salt in a large bowl to blend. Beat in the eggs 1 at a time. Add the flour mixture and beat just until blended. Stir in the pistachios and cranberries.

Form the dough into a 13-inch long, 3-inch wide log on the prepared baking sheet. Bake until light golden, about 40 minutes. Cool for 30 minutes.

Place the log on the cutting board. Using a sharp serrated knife, cut the log on a diagonal into 1/2 to 3/4-inch-thick slices. Arrange the biscotti, cut side down, on the baking sheet. Bake the biscotti until they are pale golden, about 15 minutes. Transfer the biscotti to a rack and cool completely.

Stir the chocolate in a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water until the chocolate melts. Dip half of the biscotti into the melted chocolate. Gently shake off the excess chocolate. Place the biscotti on the baking sheet for the chocolate to set. Refrigerate until the chocolate is firm, about 35 minutes.

The biscotti can be made ahead. Store them in an airtight container up to 4 days, or wrap them in foil and freeze in resealable plastic bags up to 3 weeks.

Notes: You can skip the dipping in chocolate part if you'd like. Also, I think, adding white chocolate chips to the batter would achieve the same effect as dipping in chocolate.

Lemon Fusilli pasta

Okay, so this weekend I'm going to make a new recipe with lemon. In the meantime, here's one I've made before (including last night). Its great reheated and makes a lot for leftovers. This is from the Barefoot Contessa at Home cookbook. I serve it with Parmesan crusted chicken and good bread.

Lemon Fusilli with Arugula
1 tablespoon good olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic (2 cloves)
2 cups heavy cream
3 lemons
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound dried fusilli pasta
1/2 pound baby arugula (or 2 bunches of common arugula, leaves cut in thirds)
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved


Directions
Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat, add the garlic, and cook for 60 seconds. Add the cream, the zest from 2 lemons, the juice of 2 lemons, 2 teaspoons of salt, and 1 teaspoon of pepper. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until it starts to thicken.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add 1 tablespoon of salt and the pasta, and cook according to the directions on the package, about 12 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain the pasta in a colander and place it back into the pot. Immediately add the cream mixture and cook it over medium-low heat for 3 minutes, until most of the sauce has been absorbed in the pasta. Pour the hot pasta into a large bowl, add the arugula, Parmesan, and tomatoes.

Cut the last lemon in half lengthwise, slice it 1/4-inch thick crosswise, and add it to the pasta. Toss well, season to taste, and serve hot.

A couple of notes:

1. I am a very lazy cook and use mixed field greens instead of arugula. Mostly because I always have field greens on hand, but also because the arugula is just a bit too much for me.
2. I skip the last step, also because I am lazy. There is PLENTY of lemon flavor.
3. The online recipe calls for the addition of broccoli. I've never done that, but the cookbook encourages adding other vegetables if you wish (like asparagus, etc). Whatever you add, don't omit the tomatoes. They add a tasty tartness to the dish that you would really miss.

Favorite One-Pot Meals - Egg Lemon Soup (Avgolemono)

This soup is one of our absolute favorites. I have yet to meet anyone who doesn't like it once they try it even though it might sound kind of odd. Having a good stand mixer is key to making it.


Ingredients:

96 oz. Chicken Broth
12 oz. Orzo
9 Eggs
6 tablespoons of Lemon Juice
1-2 Fresh Lemons
Black Pepper

1. In large pot, bring chicken broth to a boil.
2. Add 12 oz. of orzo to broth and cook per directions on box. *
3. In two smaller bowls, separate whites and yolks of 9 eggs.
4. Whip eggs whites on high until they have a stiff peak.
5. With mixer running continuously on medium, fold in yolks, one at a time.
6. With mixer running continuously on medium, add 6 T. (or more to taste) of lemon juice.
7. With mixer running continuously on medium, slowly add 2-4 c. of broth to eggs, until egg mixture is heated throughout, being careful not to cook the eggs.
8. While wisking the pot continuously, pour the heated egg mixture into the pot with the orzo and broth.
9. Continue to stir the soup, folding from the top down to dissipate foam, over low heat.
10. Serve with fresh lemon slices and black pepper to taste.

Makes about 8 servings.

*It is key that the egg mixture is ready about the same time the orzo is finished cooking. Letting the eggs sit, waiting for the orzo, will make them lose their peak.

Image courtesy of http://www.hort.purdue.edu/

Spinach and Brie Chicken with Tomato Orzo

Remember my post about brie in a log? This is the recipe I got it for. I made it last night, so good.

Spinach and Brie Chicken with Tomato Orzo

Ingredients
Serves 4
Coarse salt and ground pepper
8 thin chicken cutlets (1 1/2 pounds total)
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 package (10 ounces) frozen leaf spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
4 ounces Brie cheese, cut into 8 slices
1 cup orzo
2 plum tomatoes, cored and chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Set a large saucepan of salted water to boil. Heat broiler, with rack set 4 inches from heat. Place chicken on a large rimmed baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Dividing evenly, spread one side of each cutlet with mustard; top with spinach, then cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Starting at short end, roll chicken up tightly, and arrange, seam side down, on sheet.

Season rolled chicken with salt and pepper. Broil, without turning, until tops are lightly browned and chicken is cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook orzo in boiling water until al dente. Drain well; return to pot. Add tomatoes, parsley, butter, and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper, and toss to combine. Serve stuffed chicken with orzo.

Recipe and photo from here.