Parchment Baked Salmon with Lemon and Dill

Recipe by Robin

At last, fresh dill is available in the market again. Not that it’s exactly in season here in Santa Cruz in April. However, its annual reappearance on shelves inspired a way to use the fresh frozen Alaskan salmon that my  colleague’s kids caught and gifted to me last season. This recipe requires little prep time, minimal ingredients, and just a little finesse with the parchment. Key to its success are very fresh (or flash frozen and thawed) wild salmon and a bunch of fresh dill. Simple is good.

Lemon Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Bacon

Bacon Makes it Better

Recipe adapted from Jamie Deen

This month I’ve been on a Brussels sprouts kick. The autumn crop is still fresh, and they’re still available on the stalk—at Trader Joe’s as well as the farmers’ market. Whether purchased on or off the stalk, smaller sprouts are tender and can be served whole or halved, with mustard-, maple-, or balsamic-based sauces. The real challenge is how to make large, tough sprouts from the top of the stalk into something tender and delicious. Halving and thinly slicing these large toughies makes them amenable to any sort of cooking treatment you’d use for cabbage, including this lemony sauté seasoned with brown sugar and bacon.

Persimmon Pudding (Bread) with Lemon Sauce

Celebrating Year of the Wood Horse with Pudding

Recipe from "Orange County Fair Centennial Cookbook" and Dave Wilson Nursery

Gung Hay Fat Choy! Let’s welcome the Chinese Year of the Wood Horse. According to Bay Area astrologer and feng shui consultant Susan Levitt, we can expect fast victories, unexpected adventure, surprising romance, and success in travel off-the-beaten path this year.  Since China produces almost 75% of the persimmons in the world—and because I still have a goodly amount from my friend and super-realtor Bill, I’m celebrating the new year with an award-winning persimmon pudding recipe from the 1920s, topped with in-season lemon sauce from a longtime California-based fruit grower.

Strawberry Lemonade

Welcome to Summer

Recipe by William

At first glance, my cousin William and I don’t have much in common. He’s a young man with a daughter, and I’m his mom’s age and have never had kids. He’s a career military man, and I work in higher education building websites. He lives down Kentucky way, soon to be on duty in Germany, and I’m in California near the coast. He’s got a couple of dogs and I have goldfish. So what do we talk about? Family, food, and home. We’re both happily married (his wife is a Robin too) and like hanging out at home. Like me, William likes to experiment in the kitchen and make up new recipes. This recipe is his creation, and it’s perfect to celebrate the start of summer today in the northern hemisphere. The longest day of the year calls for some seasonal refreshment!

Lemon Poppyseed Mini Muffins

Next Time They'll Look Better

Recipe by Robin

We have a lemon angel at my day job. Every week or two during winter and early spring, a sign appears outside the techie’s printing/photocopying/microwaving room. “Free Lemons,” it declares, punctuated by a few yellow clip art lemons in case techies need visual convincing. I picked up quite a few of these throughout the season, and wanted to surprise my colleagues and give something back to Source—source of the lemons, that is. I had poppyseeds in the freezer from last year’s harvest, and dreamed of perfect poppyseed mini muffins. Unfortunately, the muffin reality didn’t match the dream.

Meyer Lemon Cake

A Little Chocolate Makes Anything Better

Recipe adapted from Cooking by the Seasons

One of the best things about winter in Santa Cruz, at least for foodies, is Meyer lemons. They grow abundantly throughout the county, and chances are someone at your work, among your friends, or in your rock band has a tree. If that’s the case, sooner or later you’ll get to share the wealth. A cross between the standard Eureka lemon and a mandarin, they are more fragrant and sweet than the Eurekas. This sweet bit of sunshine in the midst of winter is perfect for baked goods.

Persimmon Tangerine Lemon & Ginger Marmalade

Persimmon Marmalade with Fuyu Persimmons

Recipe by Robin

‘Way back when during the winter of 02 – 03, when I developed this recipe, I gave away over 400 oz. of this stuff. All told I canned about 60 jars. I had only a vague recollection of my mother making jam, and internet resources for recipes weren’t what they are today. Basically, I had no idea what I was doing. Yet, with two giant Hachiya persimmon trees at my (former) home, I couldn’t stand for the fruits to go to waste. True that crows and starlings liked them, but their constant squabbling and wastefulness annoyed me. Especially when they tossed the squishy remains all over the yard, fence, and garden for you-know-who to clean up. After making 12 successful batches (and one failure), I could barely think of making persimmon jam the following year. Or any other year, until now.

Salade Nicoise Californian with Creamy Lemon Vinaigrette

All This and Romaine Too

Recipe inspired by the Lunch Box

Oddly enough, American versions of Salade Nicoise have evolved so much that they’re no longer Nicoise. Readers who are versant in French (I’m not) know that Nicoise means from Nice, the largest city on the French Riviera. In Nice, Salade Nicoise always contains local Cailletier olives, cured in a salty olive oil brine. The original recipe that I altered, like many American recipes, contains no olives at all. So I needed to add some high quality, salty, oily olives.

Cold Summer Borscht: Chlodnik

When Stirred, It Gets Pinker

Recipe by The Art of Polish Cooking

Third in a trio of seasonal beet soups, this borscht features the summertime bounty of old world Poland, the country of my ancestors. Simple borscht, a wintery dish served hot, is made from shredded beets and seasoned beef broth. Spring borscht is served at room temperature. It contains young sliced beets with their greens, along with young dill and green onions, lemon, sour cream, and eggs. Summer borscht is served chilled. In addition to the ingredients in spring borscht it contains meat, shrimp, and cucumbers of the plentiful summer season.

Bessara: Moroccan Fava Bean Dip

Thick Bessara with Rainbow Carrots

Recipe Adapted by Robin and Bruce from “Cooking By Moonlight”

Fava beans are small but mighty. They’re grown as cover crops, to “fix” nitrogen and naturally fertilize fields. Fava beans are harvested in spring, then the plants are plowed under, adding usable nitrogen to the soil. Fava flavor is strong and their texture hefty. I’ve tried using them in many recipes with less-than-bloggable results. Both fava beans and chickpeas are used in the Middle East and northern African cuisine, somewhat interchangeably. Substituting favas for chickpeas in known recipes is risky, note my recent oven-roasted fava fail. The concept of preparing favas as  hummus actually has a name (bessara), which was a good sign.  It’s still a strong dish, and makes a memorable appetizer.

Chillin' with Meyer Lemonade

Refreshments!

Recipe by Robin and Bruce

What’s your to-do list like? Hopefully it’s shorter and less complicated than mine! Preparing to sell a 1988 “special needs” car (cheap!), major planting projects in the garden, paying the usual monthly bills, and some minor surgery that caused me to lose my appetite have slowed me down blog-wise, particularly in the area of creating recipes. My apologies! The creative (recipe) process can be unforgiving.

Mostly I’ve been stuck on fresh fava beans and strawberries, which present opposite challenges. Favas are so odd, it is hard to know what to do with them. My proposed Oven Roasted Fava Bean Appetizer, based upon a similar Roasted Chickpea Appetizer, failed. The favas didn’t get crispy like the chickpeas, perhaps because of their greater surface area in contact with the cookie sheet. They were slightly caramelized, and “interesting” at best. You don’t want to know. Next recipe up: hummus made with favas. This is bound to work out better.

Asparagus Almondine

Steamed Asparagus Ready for Dressing

Recipe by Robin

Asparagus is an iconic spring vegetable, and the first asparagus of the year is cause to celebrate. It’s asparagus season! According to University of California Davis, California leads the nation is asparagus production, followed by Michigan and Washington. Asparagus is harvested 7 months of the year, but largest harvests occur in March through May. With production going up and prices going down, this is the perfect time of year to look around the markets for fresh young asparagus.

Golden Raisin and Carrot Salad with Peanuts

Winter Perk-Me-Up

Recipe by Yankee Magazine

I love when an old friend surprises me. As a former New Englander, I’ve enjoyed Yankee Magazine for years, finding it a great source for traditional recipes that use seasonal ingredients. Yankee isn't the first place I’d think to look for a nutty, nontraditional, vegan salad, and yet their  Fruits of Fall magazine supplement, published in 2000, contains just such a recipe.

Vegan Cilantro Pesto

Pesto with Garden Tomatoes

Recipe by Sheryl Crow and Chuck White

Finally a vegan pesto, with no cheese whatsoever, and not much oil! Made with cilantro and almonds instead of basil and pine nuts, this seems more Cali-Mexican than Italian. It’s from the cookbook If it Makes You Healthy: More Than 100 Delicious Recipes Inspired by the Seasons by Sheryl Crow, her chef Chuck White, and Mary Goodbody who probably did most of the writing and editing.

Lemon Herb Sauce for Fish or Veggies

Lemon Sauce over California Sea Bass

Recipe by Mom, Dad, & Robin

Another recipe inspired by my parents. They’re both gone now, but in their day loved eating fish, befitting their New England heritage. One of their favorites was Atlantic swordfish. According to NOAA’s Marine Fisheries Service, both Atlantic and Pacific swordfish populations are now at sustainable levels and not in danger of overfishing.

Poached Fish with Herbs

Cilantro and Capers on Tilapia

Recipe from “Good News”

“That’s a good recipe,” said my husband about some leftover fish.  He meant that it’s tasty, but it’s also easy to remember and simple to prepare. The recipe was given to me by a woman who was selling fresh fish at the local farmer’s market in the late 1990s. Her husband and son caught the fish from their small fishing boat. I was looking for a way to prepare the skate wings I’d just bought.

Lemon Hummus

Carrot: Perfect Vehicle for Lemon Hummus

Recipe Adapted by Bruce from “Cooking By Moonlight”

My husband Bruce loves hummus. I shy away from it because, at least in Santa Cruz county, it is often packed full of raw garlic that overpowers the other tastes and sometimes upsets my stomach. I knew that Bruce was looking for a good hummus recipe, and the one in Karri Ann Allrich’s excellent Cooking By Moonlight intrigued me because I love lemon. Bruce was interested because the recipe doesn’t call for tahini. It seems that when we’ve bought tahini for the small amount needed in hummus, the rest goes to waste. 

Asparagus Salad with Lemon-Ginger Dressing

Asparagus Salad with Lemon-Ginger Dressing

Recipe Adapted by Bruce from Health Net

New recipes can be found in strange places. This one was on the back of a health insurance company mailer. Originally called “Asparagus Salad with Lemon-Soy Sauce,” Bruce kicked up the amount of ginger so much that we had to rename it. He also added extra lemon (he juiced ½ lemon) and substituted veggie broth for the chicken broth, to make the recipe vegan. You could use the smaller amount of ginger if you prefer a less gingery dish.

Braised Whole Fava Beans with Lemon

Fresh Young Fava Beans and Lemon

Recipe by (Bon Appetit)? and Robin

First of the season’s fava beans this week. Young favas can be eaten pod and all, if the beans are small. Even if the beans inside are big enough to eat on their own, as long as the pods are still green and smooth and “give” when you squeeze them, it’s still fine to eat the pods, if you like. When the pods are big and yellow, and/or tough, you will want to shell them and find another way to eat them. But in the meantime, enjoy this recipe.

Creamy Lemon Pie

Pie before baking

Recipe from Weight Watchers

Happy Beltane (mid-spring)! Hope you enjoyed your holiday today. I finally made the Weight Watchers Lemon Pie, but as usual made some alterations. The crust did not press into the pan easily, so I added another tablespoon of butter to the graham crackers (it would have tasted fine without). A hint for pressing crust into pan evenly: pat in with fingers, then use the back side of a teaspoon to press more firmly and evenly. To make the crust top edge even, hold your fingers on top edge of the pie pan as you push crust up against the sides of the pie pan with the spoon back. Crust does take a bit of finessing. The filling is simple to make, though.