Aren’t these strawberries AMAZING!

Normally we do not have enough berries to make a dessert but we added some more strawberries and our raspberry and blueberry bushes have doubled in size so we have a ton of berries this year.

The hens are laying as well. I have about 2 dozen eggs in the fridge and this is after giving a bunch away every week.

Life is good!

I have been thinking of desserts to make with my bounty and saw an article in our local newspaper about berries and saboyan sauce. It looked amazing and made me reminisce about all the times we used to go to Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse on Van Ness.  I lived a couple of blocks away when  I was a struggling 20-something and it was always such a splurge to go to Ruth’s Chris.  Even though the filet mignon and BBQ shrimp would bust my food budget for the week, I would always leave room for this dessert.

This is one of the simplest desserts to make and does not sound that exciting but once you taste the luxuriously silky sauce you will be smitten.

Here is my attempt at it.

Enjoy!

Fresh Berries & Sweet Cream Sauce (Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse)
Makes About 10 servings

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups Heavy Cream
• 3/4 cup of sugar ( this would be a good time to use the vanilla sugar)
• 8 Large Egg Yolks
• 2 tsp vanilla extract (not vanilla bean seeds as it is essential for the silky texture)
• 2 baskets of Fresh berries washed.  Hull and cut strawberries into bite size pieces (usually I quarter small to medium berries).

Directions:

Heat cream and 1/4 cup of sugar in a small saucepan on medium-low. Heat the cream and sugar through being sure to watch it carely so it does not boil over.

In a medium glass bowl, whisk egg yolks with 1/2 cup of sugar until sugar is well blended and dissolved.

This is what the mixture will look like after it has been whisked.

In a medium saucepan, fill half of pot with water and bring to a boil.

While water is coming to a boil, slowly incorporate cream mixture to egg mixture. Add about 1/4 cup of cream at a time to the egg mixture and whisk thoroughly. Add another 1/4 cup of the cream mixture to the egg mixture and whisk again. Then add the remainder of the cream mixture to the egg mixture and whisk again.

Put the glass boil over the boiling water to create a double boiler.

This is what the sauce will look like before it starts to thicken:

Slowly cook the sauce for 10-12 minutes, stirring constantly. The sauce will thicken and coat the back of a spoon.

Once thickened to the consistensy that you like (I like it to be similar to hollandaise sauce), you can pass it through a fine mesh sieve into the container you will use to store the sauce.   I usually don’t do this step.  The sauce is pretty fancy without straining …unless the President were to come to dinner or something….I might strain the sauce for him.

Put in an ice bath to cool rapidly.  The sauce will thicken some more when cooled.  If you are going to refrigerate overnight, put saran directly on the top of the sauce to avoid a “skin” developing.  If you are going to serve quickly, you do not need to saran wrap it.

Once cooled, store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Put some berries at the bottom of a bowl or wine glass, martini glass or larger shot glasses. I also like to use these wide mouth mason jars. They are a little sturdier and less likely to break. Then generously drizzle the cream sauce over the berries.

Garnish with a sprig of mint.

In the summer I like to make vegetable quiches with squash and peppers but right now leaks and chard are in season.  This is probably one of my favorite combinations.

Swiss Chard, Leek & Bacon Quiche

Makes 2 pies (about 12 servings)

Ingredients:

1 batch of Perfect Pie Crust

Custard Mixture:

• 8 eggs
• 2 cups half and half (or cream or milk or a mixture of what you have)
• 1/8 tstp nutmeg
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper

Filling:

• 2 leeks cleaned and sliced thinly (white parts only)
• 1 bunch of swiss chard cleaned and cut into ribbons
• 1 lbs bacon sliced
• 1 large clove of garlic minced
• 3 cups of grated cheese (I like to use grueyere or emmentaler)

Directions:

1. Bake pie crust at 375 for about 7 minutes. The pie crust will look cooked and set but
not browned at all. Take out pie crusts and cool but leave oven on.

(I am not as patient with pie crust as I should be…that is why all my pies look “rustic”…)

2. Sauteed the bacon until it is crispy. Then remove bacon and pour out oil leaving 2 TB.
You will use this pan to cook the swiss chard, leaks and garlic.

3. In the pan, sautee swiss chard, leeks and garlic until translucent and slightly carmelized. Add 1 tsp salt.

4. Whisk eggs, half and half, nutmeg, 1 tsp salt and pepper together.

5. Assemble the quiches. I like to sprinkle a large handful of cheese in each pie crust.
Then sprinkle the bacon. The I evenly distribute the vegetable mixture and the remainder of
the cheese. I then pour half of the egg custard mixture into each pie.

6. Bake in a pre-heated 375 degree oven for 40-45 minutes until the center of the quiche
looks set but still a little jiggly and top is slightly browned.

I love springtime.  The fruit trees are blossoming and setting fruit.  I know summer is right around the corner so we can harvest fruits and vegetables from the garden.  I especially love the fruits and vegetables that are in season….asparagus, artichokes, rhubarb, spring onions and especially strawberries!

We can never grow enough strawberries.  The kids pick them and eat them before we can harvest enough for anything so I like to get my organic strawberries from Mr. Lee at the Marin Civic Center Farmer’s Market.  He is a very kind and generous man that always gives us a great price.  Last weekend he gave us a whole flat of berries that were about to get too ripe for $10!  What in the world were we going to do with these?  I gave my sister 1/2 a flat and she made some strawberry rhubarb crumble.

With my half a flat, I cleaned, hulled and quartered the berries and made some jam.  Yeah, these strawberries were not perfect and had some blemishes but I cut those off and fed them to the hens for a yummy treat.

Making jam is easier than you think to do and when you read the ingredients from the jam at the store you will probably want to make your own (many are filled with corn syrup!).

Here is my easy recipe for Strawberry Meyer Lemon Jam.

Strawberry Meyer Lemon Jam Recipe

Makes approximately 10 1/2 pint jars

Ingredients:

• 10 cups of hulled, cleaned and quartered strawberries.
• 3 1/2 cups of sugar
• 2 Meyer lemons zested and juiced (if using regular lemons just use 1)
• 5 TB of Reaf Fruit Classic Pectin

Directions:

1. Bring a big pot of water to boil and sterilize jars, rings and lid. I do this by washing lightly with soapy water, rinsing, then boiling for 15 mins. I do not boil the lids. I add this at the last minute so the gummy part of the lid does not fail.  I also sterilize my jamming equipment as well and lay it out on a clean kitchen towel.

2. While jars are sterilizing, bring the strawberries, lemon juice, lemon zest and pectin to a boil stirring constantly.  You can use a potato masher to crush any large pieces of strawberry.  Bring this berry mixture to a hard boil that is hard to stir down.

3.  Add the sugar. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 more minutes.

4. Remove from heat.

5. Skim foam off with a metal spoon.

6. Quickly ladle into steilized jars being sure to leave about 1/2 inch from the top.

7. Clean off top of jars, put on lid and rings until sealed. Put back into a hot water bath and boil for 5 more minutes.  When you take that jars out of the hot water you may hear a popping noise as the jars seal.  If after a few minutes your lid in not concave and pops up when you press on the top it means that the seal did not take.  This just means that you are going to need to refrigerate this jam and use it right away.

Here’s the label I made for my jam

We are also lucky enough (or maybe not so lucky for my chickens) to have a hawk nesting in the big pine tree in our neighbors yard.  From our kitchen window we can see the happy couple setting up the nest and the papa hawk bringing yummy treats back to his family (as long as he stays away from our chickens!).

This treat reminds me so much of springtime and Easter!  It is a really easy cookie that you can make with your kids.  I can honestly say that I do not know of a treat that the kids have enjoyed more.  They look so cute but taste even better!

Butterscotch Bird’s Nest Cookies
makes about 24 nests

• 12 oz package of chow mein noodles (the crunchy kind) less about 1 cup that we snacked on
• 11 oz package of butterscotch morsels
• 1 bag of Cadbury mini eggs

• 1/2 cup of chocolate chips to melt to form “glue”…i didn’t have any butterscotch left…

Get all your ingredients and supplies in order as you will need to form your nests quicky before they
harden.

Get 2 baking sheets and line them with either silicone baking mat or parchment paper.

I a large glass bowl (large enough to hold butterscotch morsels and chow mein) melt butterscotch
morsels. I microwave them for about 3 1/2 minutes stopping every 30 seconds to stir the morsels.

When butterscotch melted, add the chow mein noddles and mix until noddles are evenly coated.

Quickly using an icecream scoop, scoop out mounds of the noddle mixture and press an indent in them
to form a nest shape and hold the eggs. If the mixture hardens in the bowl, microwave for 20-30 seconds
to melt butterscotch again.

You will need to work quickly to get the nests form.  In the picture below, half of the nests are formed.  It will be easier if you flatten them and make a bigger indent in the middle than I have.

By the time I finished with all the nests they were too hard to allow the eggs to stick to them so I took 1/2
cup of extra chocolate chips I had lying around, melted them in a small glass bowl (took about 1 1/2
minutes – stopping every 30 seconds to stir).

The boys and I dipped the bottom of the eggs into the chocolate “glue” and stuck them in the nests.

Let harden for 5-10 miinutes before serving or transferring.

A fond memory I have of Becky is when we had afternoon Ladies’ Tea at the Ritz Carlton in San Francisco for her birthday.  They served the most amazing lemon curd so I thought I would make some for her since I am rich in lemons and eggs at the moment.

If you have not made lemon curd, you need to try it.  It is so simple to make and only takes 4 ingredients!  Once you make curd you can go on and make hollandaise sauce since they are very similar.  My kids love it on toast as a treat, or you can pipe it into cupcakes, make a great tart, the possibilities are endless!

Tammy’s Meyer Lemon Curd Recipe 

Makes a little over 3 cups

Ingredients:

• 1 cup lemon juice (5-7 large lemons)
• 1 TB zest from about 1 lemon
• 3/4 cup plus 1 TB sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

I am rich in meyer lemons and eggs.  The ladies are loving the sun and warm weather and have been laying up a storm and our meyer lemon tree is loaded with golden orbs of deliciousness so don’t be annoyed if all of my posts are about eggs or lemons.

This morning I woke up with a hankering for Lemon Bars.  I love the sweet, tart, creamy filling on top of the crisp shortbread.  So perfect with tea.

Hope you enjoy!

Tammy’s Meyer Lemon Bars

Makes about 32 pieces

For the crust:

• 1/2 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 cups flour
• 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

For the meyer lemon layer:

• 5 extra-large eggs at room temperature
• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar (if using regular lemons use 2 cups)
• 2 tablespoons grated lemon zest (about 3 lemons)
• 3/4 cup freshly squeezed meyer lemon juice (about 4-5 lemons)
• 3/4 cup flour

Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease either 2 8×8 baking pans or 9×13 by 2-inch baking pan and add parchment strips to make it easier to remove the lemon bars and cut them.

For the crust: In a food processor addbutter, sugar, flour and salt and pulse until mixture resembles samp sand. Then add vanilla extra and pulse 4-5 times until mixture clumps up a bit.

Dump the dough into the greased and parchment pans and flatten either with hands or I like to use this soup spoon with a flat bottom. Build up the edge a bit (like 1/2 inch).

See how crumbly the dough looks…like it is not going to come together…it will!

Bake the crust for 17 to 22 minutes, until very lightly browned. Let cool on a wire rack. Leave the oven on.

For the lemon layer: whisk together the eggs, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and flour. Be sure to whisk enough so that there are not any lumps of flour.

Pour over the crust and bake for 30 to 35 minutes until the filling is set (be sure not to overcook or the texture will get gummy).  Let cool to room temperature.

See how easy it is to pull out the entire pan …be sure to cut around the edges first to make sure nothing is sticking to the sides of the pans.

Cut into 2 x 2 inch squares and dust with confectioners’ sugar.

I came across these cute japanese egg molds and thought they would be a great way to get both the boys to eat hardboiled eggs.  Here are some tips on How to Hardboil Farm Fresh Eggs.

How cute are these eggs!

Here are some of the molds I bought.  I found them here:  Rabbit & Bear Egg Mold,  Hello Kitty Egg Mold, and  Fish & Car Egg Mold

Tip:  The Bunny & Bear molds are a little smaller so they do best with medium size eggs while hello kitty can use a medium or large egg.  Extra large or jumbo eggs may be too big.

We had a pretty mixed group of vegans, vegetarians, gluten-free peeps and major carnivores so I had to make food that would appeal to them all.

One of the highlights of the shower were my Truffle Deviled Eggs.  Who does not LOVE deviled eggs….especially if the come from super cute chickens…and are mini deviled eggs!

If you do not know How to Boil Eggs, I did a pictorial for you.

Ok, here is the recipe.  So simple yet elegant.

Truffle Deviled Eggs
Serves 8-10 as an appetizer/hor d’oevres

• 1 dozen eggs hard boiled (I like to use 2 dozen bantam chicken eggs since they are about half the size of large store eggs)
• 1 1/2-2 cup of mayonnaise
• 2 TB dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 pinch of cayenne
• 2-3 TB truffle oil (taste your yolk mixture to see how truffle-y you want it)
• 2 TB chopped chives as garnish

1. Cut eggs in half and remove the yolk. Put the yolk in a food processor and add mayonnaise, dijon mustard, salt, cayenne pepper and truffle oil.

2. Puree until egg mixture is smooth. Taste egg mixture to see if you have to adjust the seasoning or add a bit more mayonnaise for a smoother consistency.

3. Once egg mixture is done, spoon in a piping bag or ziploc bag. If you do not have a piping tip, just cut a small corner off the bag and pipe the egg mixture into the egg white shells. The piping tips make them a little more decorative but are not necessary.  Tip: If you are making these for a party, you can pipe the eggs right before the party starts.  Just be sure to wrap the egg white shells tightly and also make sure the yolk filling mixture is tightly seal

4. Garnish with a sprinkling of chooped chives and serve.

Many people do not know that it is much harder to boil fresh eggs.  Normally the eggs that you find in the supermarket are at least a few weeks old if not closer to a month old.  Not great for freshness but older eggs are easier to peel.

We love boiling eggs for deviled eggs, to put in the kids lunches or just for a quick snack.

Here is how I hard-boil our fresh backyard eggs.  It really is better to use eggs that are a few days-1 week old.

1. Bring a pot  of water to boil.  I like to use a pot that is large enough so that all the eggs cover the bottom of the pot in just one layer and usually put in about 2-3 inches of water.  While the water is coming to a boil, wash your eggs if you have not already done so (when I keep my eggs on the counter, I usually do not wash the eggs so that the “bloom” stays on the egg to keep it fresh.  Once I wash my eggs I either use them right away or put the in the refrigerator.)

2. When you water has come to a boil, heavily salt the water (for a medium-big pot I use about 1/4 cup of kosher salt), then lower the eggs in carefully with a big spoon.

3. Once all the eggs are in the pot, bring the water back up to a medium boil and boil your eggs for 8-12 minutes depending on the size of the eggs and how you like your yolk.  For my bantam eggs I usually cook for 8 minutes.

4.  When the eggs have finished cooking, remove them from the heat and drain out the water.  Then immediately submerse your eggs in an ice water bath.

5. Once the ice has melted, feel the eggs and water.  They should still be very cold.  If they are warm, add more ice.  Then drain some of the water out, put the lid back on and shake the pot to break the shells of the eggs.  The water in the pot will get between the egg and the shell membrane making it much easier to peel the eggs.  The practically peel themselves.  The only ones that did not come out perfectly were the 3 eggs that were laid that morning.  Even the eggs from the day before turned out perfectly.

 Voila…perfect hard-boiled eggs!

Here is a great Truffle Deviled Egg Recipe that just elevates the humble deviled egg into a sophisticated party or shower dish.

One of my favorite dips to make when I have a brunch or party is this cannellini bean dip.  It is great because it is vegan, gluten-free and is a crowd pleaser.  Everytime I make it, I am always asked to get the recipe.

Here is the recipe for a bean and artichoke dip.  The great thing about this recipe is you can substitute or add different herbs or olives to change the flavor profile.

Cannellini & Artichoke Dip

Ingredients:

• 1 can Cannellini Beans (drained)
• 1 can artichoke hearts (drained) *
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 lemon (juiced)
• 1/2 cup of olive oil
• 1/2 tsp salt (or less if adding something salty like olives)

Directions:

1.  In a food processor, puree garlic, beans, lemon juice, salt and olive oil until smooth.  Stop processor and scrape down sides to make sure all the chunks of garlic are back in the mixture.  Then turn on the processor and blend for 30 seconds more.

2.  When the bean mixture is completely smooth, add the drained artichoke hears and pulse the processor 3-4 times so that the artichoke hearts are still chunky.

3. Drizzle with some high quality olive oil to finish it off and serve with pita chips, crostini, crudites, or pretty much anything….

* In this recipe I use artichoke hearts but you can easily substitute sun-dried tomatoes, chipotle peppers, olives, herbs, parmesan cheese, etc. to work with what you have on hand.