whipped yogurt cheesecake with roasted rhubarb

sometimes in the spring i forget that i'm in practically canada because right now it's mid-70s and sunny and there are outdoor vintage tractor auctions about town, but then the sun sticks around shining bright like a diamond until quarter to ten and i'm reminded how essentially arctic we are. pros: i can photograph with natural light literally until 8:30pm, so i feel like i can get so much done. cons: i can photograph in natural light literally until 8:30pm, so i just procrastinate the day away. 

oof!

luckily my non-urgency to get home and photograph this weekend led to a lovely bit of time spent in fargo! we had pizza night at rhombus and then crashed at eggsister's spankin new apartment, which is so exquisitely decorated with vintage furniture and homemade blankets. i forgot what life pre-ikea looked like, but life in fargo is still exactly that, and it has so much personality. in the morning we ate bagels at the new great bagel place, visited our favorite coffee spot, and then bopped into unglued and zandbroz and fowler's before going back to the bagel place for some brisket for the road home. it was like we were regular city folk!

now i'm just noodling around, doing some laundry, and trying to get my ducks in a row re: book stuff! did you see the cover?? i'm so excited about it. now we're determining what the spine and back cover will look like.

anywho, shavuot is coming right up this weekend and on shavuot it's customary to eat dairy. cheesecakes and blintzes are traditional, but this year i took a route that requires a little less maintenance and went for a no-bake cheesecake parfait jar thing and topped it with an easy peasy roasted rhubarb that's inspired by claire. the thing is practically idiot proof and it can be made a day in advance. i used a biscoff cookie crust, but feel free to use a graham cracker crust, an oreo crust, a pretzel crust, or, i don't care, a gummy bear crust (?). (with more gumption i would have used the tahini oreos that have been in my fridge for months and that should have spoiled by now and they seemed ok but i was still chicken.) the filling here is just a basic fluffy cream cheese/whipped cream delight that's got some added tang by way of yogurt. it comes together in minutes and it's not too sweet. the rhubarb is though! because rhubarb is so sour, it needs an ass ton of sugar. oh and if you need some rhubarb, come over, my patch is bursting with glee. that's it. happy shavuot!

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whipped yogurt cheesecake with roasted rhubarb

serves 6-8

ingredients

crust:

24 biscoff cookies or similar
3 tb coconut oil

cheesecake:

1/2 c cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 c powdered sugar
1/8 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
1/2 tsp rosewater, optional
1/2 c plain full fat greek yogurt or labneh
1/2 c heavy cream

roasted rhubarb:

1 lb rhubarb, chopped into 1” pieces
1/2 c sugar
zest of 1 lemon
1 tb vanilla bean paste or extract
1/8 tsp salt

clues

To make the crust:

Blend the cookies in a food processor until finely ground. Add the coconut oil (it doesn’t need to be melted) and pulse until the mixture clumps together. Distribute the mixture between serving glasses and then use a muddler or the back of a spoon to pack it down firmly. Set aside while you make the filling. 

To make the cheesecake:

In a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat together the cream cheese and powdered sugar on high until smooth. Beat in the salt, vanilla, and rosewater (if using), and then add the yogurt or labneh. Beat on high for a few seconds until combined and smooth. Add the heavy cream and beat on high for about another minute until the mixture holds stiff peaks. Distribute the mixture between your serving glasses and then chill for an hour or overnight. 

To roast the rhubarb:

Preheat the oven to 325ºf. Spread the rhubarb out on a rimmed baking sheet and top it with the sugar, lemon zest, vanilla bean paste or extract, and salt and cover with foil. Roast for 15 minutes covered, and then roast for another 15 minutes uncovered. Let cool. (Store this in an airtight container in the refrigerator overnight if making this the day before.) And then spoon on top of the cheesecake directly before serving. Enjoy!

-yeh!

ireland

holy smokes, ireland is a dream. it's not leprechauny or saint patrick's day 24/7 (and i'm a bimbo for ever having that impression), it's basically home to what i imagine would be the greatest somersault ever in the history of mankind. because there are endless rolling hills that are covered in the greenest fluffiest grass you ever did see, they're dotted with zillions of huggable cuddly little lambs*, and when you're done with your miles-long somersault, you could probably just brush the dirt off yourself and walk into a pub and make a million new friends because everybody in ireland is the nicest person you've ever met. it's so cozy there, physically/socially/mentally, it's impossible not to be extraordinarily happy, even outside in the rain with an open container of labneh that's getting soupy. it's very hygge. i think i'm using that word correctly...?

*in my somersault fantasy the lambs don't poop. 

the food was another part of my trip that was completely unexpected. i mean, i came for the butter, and i got the butter, which i ate with total abandon. but i also had meals filled with rhubarb, dainty asparagus, gorgeous greens of every kind (even from the sea!), and the most flavorful gooseberries from the gardens of wherever my group ended up. everybody we met had these massive healthy gardens and the way they used them, how they didn't just pluck a few herbs to put on their supermarket things but rather centered their whole meals around whatever was looking ripe that week, made me determined to come home and finally figure out what to do with all of the chamomile, chive blossoms, and other random plants that popped up in my garden without me even asking them to. i also revisited the idea of getting a pet cow to put the butter making skills that i learned at the butter museum to good use. everything i ate in ireland tasted so pure, there was nothing too complicated or frilly, it was just honest and good to the bone. 

my trip and my liver ended at the ballymaloe literary festival of food and wine, which was next level. i spoke a little about it here and here, but to recap: i can't imagine a food festival getting much better than this. ballymaloe is a little like ireland's stone barns in that it has a huge insane garden and greenhouse that grows everything, even nuts and kiwis, for their restaurants, cooking school, and farm shops. during my days at the fest i learned from yotam, francis, and claire, and at night the place turned into a wild face-melting techno club. i loved every second of it. i took notes, obviously, in hopes that maybe one day there will be an eggboy and molly farm litfest of food and wine.

eeep i can't wait to go back. see you at litfest next year??

-yeh!

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one hundred million thank yous to kerrygold for inviting me on this trip!! thank you also to the longueville house and castlemartyr resort for the wonderful hospitality.

falafel sliders with spicy yogurt, mint, and sumac onions

i have some advice for you! if you ever want your feet to fall off and your back to tell you no, silly pants, you won't be leaving your couch today unless it's to toast a bit of pita or fetch a bite of halva then do exactly this: get two hours of sleep tonight, two hours of sleep tomorrow night, fly on three airplanes including the 9:55pm msp-gfk flight which is basically a flying refrigerator, and then prep and cater a seven-course production in fargo the next day where two of the dishes are brand new things you've never made before but just *have* to figure out last minute because the rhubarb is here and the schnitzel doesn't feel right anymore. i'm not complaining. i'm just soliciting an energy drink sponsorship. 

i loved every minute of it though!!! i have a new favorite thing to do, and that's waking up at dawn, snooping around our yard filling up baskets of chives and rhubarb and any other edible plant i can find, and then hurrying back in to chop everything up before organizing them into labeled deli containers and prepping the day away. the dinner in fargo was at this beautiful old ginormous mansion and i got to cook on an 8-burner range that had its own warming shelf under the hood. i made fried olives and rhubarb malabi and in between served a hummus course, a soup course, a shameless hotdish 😛., and then ended it with a halva course. (those in favor of making halva courses the norm, say aye!) all of the guests and kitchen folks were so darn sweet and even though i actually could not stand up straight at the end, my heart was so full and happy. 

i am off to france tomorrow. pray 4 my feet.

to celebrate the upcoming memorial day weekend, i made you a recipe that's dressed for a party! mini falafel sandwiches on hot fresh pita with hot pink onions and a quirky yogurt sauce that's refreshing and spicy all at once. it's inspired by the fact that i'm conditioned to always want tabasco on my falafel. i don't know where this came from, it's just a habit, a really tasty habit, but it sucks when you accidentally add too much and then can no longer taste your food. yogurt (or any dairy) helps calm spiciness though, a thing i learned at hot sauce camp on avery island, so even though there's a ton of tabasco sauce in this yogurt, your mouth won't be on fire, you'll just get the lovely flavor of the pepper. fresh mint and pickled onions also carry their weight in making these little sliders refreshing and ready for the summer. 

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falafel sliders with spicy yogurt, mint, and sumac onions

makes 12

ingredients

pita:

1 1/2 cup warm water
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 3/4 cups bread flour, plus more for dusting (optional: sub out 1 3/4 cup bread flour for 1 3/4 cup for whole wheat)

sumac onions:

1 cup warm water
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon sumac
1 large purple onion, thinly sliced

falafel:

1 cup dried chickpeas, soaked for 10 hours or overnight and drained
2 teaspoons cumin seeds, freshly toasted and coarsely ground in a spice grinder
1 tablespoon coriander seeds, freshly toasted and coarsely ground in a spice grinder
1 small onion, coarsely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup lightly packed cilantro leaves with stems, roughly chopped
1/4 cup lightly packed parsley leaves with stems, roughly chopped
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
Black pepper
Tabasco original red sauce
2 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice

Olive oil or flavorless oil, for frying

spicy yogurt:

3/4 cup plain greek yogurt
1 1/2 teaspoons tabasco original red sauce
Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste

assembly:

a handful of nice big fresh mint leaves

clues

to make the pita:

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix together the water, yeast, and sugar. Let it sit for 5 minutes, or until foamy. With the mixer running on low speed, add the salt and oil, and then gradually add the flour. Increase the speed to medium high and mix for 7-10 minutes, adding just enough additional flour so that the dough no longer sticks to the bowl. Do not add too much flour. The dough should be smooth and slightly sticky. Lightly coat a clean large bowl with oil or cooking spray and then place the dough in the bowl and turn it once or twice to coat it in oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise at room temperature for 2 hours, or until it has doubled in size.

Turn the dough onto a clean work surface and divide it into 24 equal pieces. Mold each piece into a ball by stretching the top and tucking the edges under. Place the balls 1” apart on a piece of parchment paper, cover them with plastic wrap, and let them rise for 30 minutes. 

Preheat the oven to 500ºF and line two baking sheets with parchment.

With a rolling pin, roll out the balls of dough into 3" circles. Place them on the baking sheets and bake for about 5 minutes, or until they're puffy and just starting to brown. This will make more pita than you need for the sliders. Leftovers are tasty and can be frozen and reheated in the toaster. 

to make the onions:

whisk together all ingredients except for the onion. add the onion, cover, and let sit at room temperature for an hour or in the refrigerator overnight. 

to make the falafel:

In a food processor, combine the chickpeas, cumin, coriander, onion, garlic, cilantro, parsley, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, a few turns of pepper, a few shakes of tabasco sauce, flour, and lemon juice and pulse quickly, about 80-100 times, until the mixture is combined, but still slightly grainy. 

In a large skillet, heat 1/4” oil over medium high heat until shimmering but not smoking. Form 2" patties of the falafel mixture, packing them firmly. Fry on both sides until golden brown. Transfer to a paper towel. 

to make the yogurt:

combine all ingredients.

to assemble:

cut open a pita, spread it with the yogurt, and top with a falafel patty, a mint leaf or two, and a pile of onions. enjoy!

-yeh!

thank you, tabasco, for sponsoring this post! check out the #tabascotastemakers hashtag for more tabasco recipes!

red velvet cake

I rang in my birthday dancing to techno with a gaggle of new girlfriends in the great big shed at the Ballymaloe Litfest. I wore my favorite pastel horsey romper and smelled faintly of Francis Mallman's fire. We laughed, we screamed, we sang. It was nothing like what I'd planned, which was to take a midnight moment by myself in the Castylmartyr gardens with Mahler's Adagietto and layers of fleece and reflection, and then to wake up for an early morning stroll by the ponies and a civilized breakfast on hotel china. Lol. Even though what actually went down on Saturday night came with a gnarly hangover, it was without a doubt one of the best ways I've ever rang in a birthday. I highly recommend it. 

On my birthday I had about six nespressos, a rasher and egg sandwich that was covered in the most beautiful coating of grease, a bite of an apple scone made by Claire, labneh and carrots in the rain, and a cone of pork fat fries covered in rosé vinegar and vodka ketchup. And seaweed! And a Sunday roast with Imen and a side of giggles.

Then there was more techno, like *so much* techno, techno that made me love techno. I slept in all of my clothes and woke up to begin my long journey home, which is where we're at right now (hi from the Minneapolis airport!).

So in other words, this birthday was a very solid 12 out of 10 and I will remember it forever and ever. It included three birthday cakes! (And if Eggboy pulls through with his mission to bake me a yellow cake, it'll be four!) There was a cashel blue cheese cake from sweet Clodagh in a little house by the sea, a fimo clay sprinkle cake from jewhungry, and this red velvet cake that I made before I left. I'm going to tell you more about my Ireland trip very soon! But for now let's focus on cake...

question: what's better than a red velvet cake?

answer: a red velvet cake made with coconut oil!

question: what's better than a red velvet cake made with coconut oil?

answer: a red velvet cake made with coconut oil and topped with a marzipan crown 👑 👑 👑 👑 👑 !!

tbh this is a very standard red velvet situation. the only difference between this and other red velvet cakes is that i used coconut oil instead of butter, which when you use unrefined coconut oil, you get a nice hint of coconut flavor tossed into the mix. a great thing! i went with red velvet for my birthday this year as a nod to my birthday cakes of yore, which were bright red, covered in pistachios, and from buca di beppo. i'd have a big slice on my birthday and then smaller slices for breakfast every morning for the rest of the week. this recipe makes a baby 6" cake but if you'd like a larger one, double it and bake it in two 8" pans. yay, happy birthday to me (and my pops)!!! 

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red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting

makes one 6" cake

ingredients

cake:

1 1/4 c all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tb unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 c coconut oil (unrefined for a hint of coconut flavor, refined for no coconut flavor)
1 c sugar
1 large egg
1 tb red food coloring
1 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
1/2 tsp vinegar
1/2 cup buttermilk

frosting:

4 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 c unsalted butter, room temperature
2 c powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
1/8 tsp kosher salt

clues

to make the cake:

preheat the oven to 350ºf. grease two 6" round cake pans and set them aside.

in a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder.

in a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the coconut oil and sugar until pale and fluffy, 3-4 minutes. add the egg and mix to combine. mix in the food coloring, vanilla, and vinegar. add the dry ingredients and buttermilk in 2-3 alternating additions and beat until just combined. divide the batter between the cake pans, spreading it out evenly, and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. begin checking for doneness at 25 minutes. using a rubber spatula, gently press down the top of the cakes to even them out while they're still hot (this way you won't need to level them). let cool for 10 minutes in their pans and then turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.

to make the frosting:

cream together the cream cheese and butter in a stand mixer until combined. mix in the powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt. 

to assemble:

stack up the cooled cake layers with a thick layer of frosting in between. frost all over. top with a marzipan crown, if desired.

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-yeh!