Lemony Zest :: Kim Lewandowski

Archive for January, 2009

This month’s topic for the food blogging event Tasty Tools, hosted by Joelen of Joelen’s Culinary Adventures, is measuring tools. I’ve had this push-up-style measuring cup for years now. It’s very handy for measuring semi-solid, sticky ingredients like peanut butter, jams and jellies, mayonnaise and sour cream.

You set the cup to the measurement you need, use a spatula to put the ingredient in the cup, then push up the plunger and use the spatula to scrape the ingredient into your bowl, saucepan, whatever. No muss, no fuss, and you get all of the ingredient easily into your dish.

Thai food is one of my favorite cuisines. I especially love Thai spring rolls – I could eat them every day for lunch, particularly if I had this delicious dipping sauce to go with them. The push-up measuring cup makes it really easy to measure the peanut butter for this sauce.

Thai Peanut Dipping Sauce

1 tbsp. brown sugar
3 tbsp. peanut or vegetable oil
1/4 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup cream of coconut
2 tbsp. Thai sweet chili sauce
1/2 tsp. sriracha Thai hot sauce
1 tsp. lemongrass powder

In a small saucepan, over medium heat, cook and stir all ingredients till smooth. Serve with spring rolls or chicken satay.

Geeze, how did another week go by already? I guess that’s what happens when you’re working long hours. It’s all good, though.

So, last weekend we had Bill and Barbara over for dinner before we all went to see “The House of Blue Leaves” at the Little Theater of Norfolk. I made roasted duck breast with cherry chutney (from the new President’s Inaugural Luncheon menu) and roasted vegetables, along with twice-baked potatoes. For an appetizer before dinner, I made Warm Artichoke Dip with Scallions and Jalapeño, from the “Great Party Dips” cookbook I won a couple of weeks ago, from Andrea’s Recipes. Thanks again, Andrea

We all enjoyed the dip, although I must say, I think combining this recipe with the Ya Ya Sisterhood artichoke dip recipe I made last year would yield even more tasty results. The jalapeño added a nice kick we really liked.

Unfortunately, we didn’t like the play quite so much. It was really strange; at intermission, I said I wouldn’t be unhappy if we left, but the others wanted to stay and see if it got better. It didn’t, and it had a really weird ending. It was billed as a farce, but according to Wikipedia, it’s a black comedy. Well, that makes more sense. Not recommended.

OTOH, if you like artichoke dip, try this one. As I said, it’s not my favorite rendition of this classic, but it might suit your taste buds better.

Warm Artichoke Dip with Scallions and Jalapeño

2 scallions, coarsely chopped (I used green onions from the garden)
1 1/2 tsp. pickled jalapeño, coarsely chopped
1 garlic clove, cut into 2-3 pieces
Dash of salt
4 oz. cream cheese, room temperature, cut into several pieces
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
Dash of cayenne pepper
1 14-oz. can artichoke hearts, drained

Preheat the oven to 400*. In a food processor, combine the scallions, jalapeno, garlic and salt. Pulse until the scallions are finely chopped.

Add the cream cheese, all but 1 tbsp. Parmesan cheese, mayonnaise, lemon juice and cayenne. Puree until smooth. Add the artichokes and pulse until coarsely chopped.

Scrape the mixture into a 2-cup gratin or other shallow ovenproof baking dish. Sprinkle the reserved Parmesan cheese over the top. (At this point, thd dip can be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 24 hours before baking.)

Shortly before serving, bake for about 20 minutes, until the dip is slightly browned on top and bubbly hot. Let cool slightly before serving.

I served this with toasted baguette slices. Crisp raw veggies, baked pita chips or crackers would also make good dippers.

This is my entry in “Grow Your Own,” the twice-monthly food blogging event that celebrates growing our own food. It was started by Andrea of Andrea’s Recipes.

Yeah, I know you knew that but here’s proof. I posted my favorite party dip at Andrea’s Recipes last week and won a book containing – guess what? – party dips! Thanks, Andrea!

In fact, it’s called “Great Party Dips,” by Peggy Fallon, and has lots of recipes that sound great. I’ll be looking through the book again today; we’re having friends over for dinner, so I’ll have something from the book for them to snack on till dinner is ready. Details tomorrow.

Congratulations to Barack Obama, on becoming the 44th President of the United States of America! And to his family – the new First Family of the United States. Best wishes on a successful presidency.

In 2005, Dan and Barbara and I took a long-weekend trip to the Grand Canyon. While we were there, we stayed in Sedona, Arizona, and went hiking on a trail to Cathedral Rock. We didn’t know this would be there, too, but we came upon Buddha Beach, a place where people pile up river rocks so they resemble a Buddhist temple. We sat on a large rock on the opposite side of the river, ate a snack and took pictures.

So far, I’m doing pretty well with this new project. I’m sure that as time goes on, I’ll get more thoughtful about what I take photos of every day. For now, I just want to remember to take my camera everywhere and shoot something

Thursday night, when I was making dinner, I turned around and saw the layers of veggies in the measuring cup. I liked how it looked so I shot a few pix.

Friday, I was about to go to bed when I realized I hadn’t taken a photo of anything that day. A dilemma – should I skip it and fail on day 3, or go downstairs, get the camera, and find something to take a picture of? Door Number Two. So here’s a picture of Elwing, our 13-year-old formerly feral stray.

Friday night, we had some snow flurries. Dan insists this is frozen sea foam, but Saturday I went down to the beach at the end of our street and touched it. This is snow, baby.