Blue Cheese & Walnut Cornmeal Crisps

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Blue Cheese & Walnut Cornmeal Crisps

Last weekend, I was trying to sell my boyfriend on the idea of blue cheese and walnut cornbread.  I thought it was brilliant; he did not.  I even tried rebranding the idea as a gorgonzola- walnut polenta cake, but he still thought it sounded awful.

So naturally, I had to give it a whirl, out of spite.  The results were surprising.  Matt was way into it.

I, on the other hand, was not.

But I still had half a hunk of blue cheese, a bag of walnuts, and the urge to bake something awesome, so I decided to take another route and use the combination to make something I knew would be right up my alley: a crispy, crunchy batch of crackers.

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Cardamom, Orange & Honey Coffee Cake

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Cardamom & Honey Coffee CakeA few months back, I went to a cabin with a group of friends.  Matt and I arrived a couple of days ahead of the gang, so we were put in charge of packing kitchen necessities.  You know, the basics: butter, oil, salt, pepper, flour, sugar…

“Uh, Sarah, did you really need to bring 3 different sources of cardamom for a long weekend?”

What can I say?  It’s true; I love it and I like to be prepared.  You never know which day you might find yourself needing a quick fix of cardamom.

Today was one of those days.  It was a cold, snowy, really-need-something-sweet-with-your-sixth-cup-of-Earl-Grey kind of day.  This is just the cake for those days.  It’s fast and easy and won’t make you feel too guilty.  Sure there’s a stick of butter in it, but there’s also yogurt. Yogurt is good for you.  The cake is full of the sweet, spicy cardamom you’ve been craving and you’ll have it around for breakfast all weekend. Do it.  Make it.  Just make the cake.  You’ll be back to whatever you’re supposed to be doing in no time.

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Braised Leeks with Mustard Vinaigrette

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Leeks Vinaigrette

Ticka, ticka, tick, tick, tick…

…sometimes I get these food ideas that just won’t go away.  At least half the time they’re bad ideas and I know they’re bad, but I just can’t live with myself until I see them through.  Ideas like trying out dirty-looking restaurants, having blue cheese for breakfast, or making a dish that involves hard-boiled eggs even though I loathe hard-boiled eggs.  Matt calls it “pulling a Sarah”.

Well, guess what.  Once in a while, “pulling a Sarah” pays off.  Pays off big.

Remember last week when I made a squash and leek galette?  I took a bunch of pictures of leeks that I thought were really pretty.  And then I could not, not, not stop thinking about leeks vinaigrette.  Leeks vinaigrette are a French classic; braised or boiled leeks dressed up with a mustardy vinaigrette and chopped egg.  I’ve seen leeks prepared like this in a hundred magazines, cookbooks, and blogs made by everyone from Julia Child to Molly Wizenberg, but I’d never made them myself.

Why hadn’t I?  Well, who makes leeks?  Just leeks.  Not me.  For me, leeks normally play a supporting role, not the lead.  And more importantly: hard-boiled eggs.  They remain one of the few foods I really cannot bring myself to like.  But I just couldn’t get the image of braised leeks out of my head and rules have exceptions.  Occasionally, exceptional exceptions.

Leeks vinaigrette are one such exceptional exception.  Even though I’d never had them before, they transported me.  I served them as a first course before roast chicken and potatoes and I may as well have been dining in a Parisian bistro rather than my kitchen table in Minneapolis.

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Lemon & Rosemary Roast Spatchcocked Chicken

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Lemon & Rosemary Roasted Spatchcock Chicken

It’s difficult to take a photograph that does something as delicious as roasted chicken justice.

It’s difficult mainly because when face to face with a fragrant lemon and rosemary roasted bird, I want to get myself to the dinner table as quickly as possible, not futz around with making a spatchcocked chicken look cute for a picture.  You understand, I’m sure.

Wait.  There it is again.  That word.  Spatchcock.  It was in the title, too.  What does it mean?

You probably already know, I mean you look at food blogs, after all.  But my boyfriend, who is reading this over my shoulder, is wondering what the heck he just ate for dinner.

Spatchcocking is just another word for butterflying.  Sorry to disappoint you with such a simple explanation, but since it’s my favorite way to roast a chicken, I deem it worth sharing.  The backbone is removed and the bird is pressed and flattened.  A spatchcocked chicken will cook faster, more evenly, and allow all of the skin to crisp.  You can roast a spatchcocked chicken in the oven, as I have here, or you can grill it for an even more life-changing experience.  Plus, it’s a funny word for a process that yields a kind of funny looking bird.

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Gingersnap Bread Pudding with Bourbon Butter

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Gingersnap Bread Pudding with Bourbon Butter

There are days in this life when you just need a good dose of carbs.  Sweet, rich, custardy carbs.  Days when bourbon and butter never hurt.

With that said, allow me to present my totally over-the-top dessert concoction: Gingersnap Bread Pudding with Bourbon Butter Sauce.  It’s bread pudding, but it is so, so much more.  It is your ticket to comforting, custardy, carbohydrate heaven.

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