Side Note: Rhubarb Crumble

May 14, 2023May 12, 2023 by akc

For the last few years, I’ve made the Rhubarb Crumble from Simply Recipes in the spring. It’s a great way to use a bundle of rhubarb from the farmer’s market, especially since I probably have everything we need at home already.

I halve this and make it in four ramekins, which works really well. Usually they look a little too full when they go into the oven, but the rhubarb cooks down quite a bit. This comes together really quickly as there’s not much to do to prep the rhubarb, and as long as you don’t have too much less than a pound you’re good to go. (If you do, you might want to consider whether you the crumble-to-rhubarb ratio to lean more towards crumble or not and adjust accordingly.)

The first time I made this, I found it to be too sweet. Now I reduce the sugar in the filling by 1/4 cup, and in the topping by 1/2 cup. (That’s for a half batch.) I’d recommend this especially if you plan to serve it with ice cream or whipped cream.

These keep well in the fridge for a day and warm up nicely in the microwave. They’d probably keep for a bit longer but really, why wouldn’t you just eat the other two the next day?

A round white ramein is shown from above. The top is mostly covered in crumbly, golden brown topping. Around the edges you can see some green and pink pieces of rhubarb that have baked themselves into jam. Another ramekin is visible in the top right. — The Rhubarb Crumble from Simply Recipes.

Marbled Banana Bread

May 9, 2023May 9, 2023 by akc

Every once in a while, something goes awry with a grocery delivery order. For example, we typically order 8 bananas, and recently received this:

Eight bunches of bananas are shown strewn along the inside corner of an L-shaped countertop. They are mostly very close to ripe, and all have brown, Dole-branded tape holding them together. — Eight bunches of bananas. This is at least 5x what we actually ordered.

Over the course of a week, we made a good dent in them. But at a certain point several of the bunches were getting quite ripe. Partway through the week I froze two bunches for protein shakes but I knew we wouldn’t get through the rest before they got overripe in that unappealing way.

Last time this happened (yes, you read that right), I went on a hunt for the banana bread recipe that uses the most bananas, and made the New York Times’ Banana Banana Bread (gift link). But I’m not actually a big fan of banana bread. It’s fine, but it’s not something I seek out. But I wanted to bake something with at least a couple of them because I also wasn’t interested in making pudding or pie or ice cream with them.

I searched for banana on the Smitten Kitchen Blog and this Marbled Banana Bread was one of the top hits. I liked how chocolately it looked, and while it only calls for 3 bananas I figured if we liked it I could always make a second loaf for the freezer.

This calls for very ripe bananas — you want to be able to easily mash them. The ones I chose were ever so slightly too firm, but I just did the best I could and it was fine. I used the dutch-processed Guittard cocoa powder, which has a very deep chocolate flavor, and the Ghirardelli semi-sweet chips, which I think balance bitterness and sweetness perfectly. I weighed all the ingredients and eyeballed splitting the batter in half.

I baked this for 65 minutes, which was maybe 5 minutes too much, as the chocolate parts on the bottom were slightly overcooked (definitely not burned, though). I did check at 55 minutes, but it’s hard to gauge doneness on bakes like this that are so moist.

I would definitely make this again. It came out very moist, as is typically the case with banana bread, and the chocolate parts are intensely chocolatey, which is exactly what I wanted. I did miss the contrast of toasted walnuts, so next time I might throw some into the plain half of the batter.

A slice of banana bread marbled with chocolate sections rests on a white plate with part of a New Yorker cartoon showing. The chocolate sections are almost black, and in several spots you can see the shine of melted chocolate chips that haven't quite solidified yet. — The Marbled Banana Bread from the Smitten Kitchen blog.

Pearl Couscous with Olives and Roasted Tomatoes

May 4, 2023April 24, 2023 by akc

I made the Pearl Couscous with Olives and Roasted Tomatoes, from the Smitten Kitchen blog, as a side for salmon recently. I really enjoyed this as a side, it was a nice change of pace from our normal salmon side dish of broccoli or brussels sprouts.

By the time I went to cook the recipe, I’d forgotten that the tomatoes were roasted low and slow. So I cranked the heat up to 400° and turned on convection, and they were done in 20-25 minutes.

About half of the tomatoes I used had been in the freezer (whole). I didn’t thaw them, just sliced them and threw them in as is. I would not recommend frozen tomatoes for this recipe; they were fine but they broke down faster and a few of the smaller halves burned.

This would be great to make in a big batch and bring to a party; you could also throw in some chickpeas or white beans and call it lunch. This made enough for two big sides, with a small amount left over.

A white plate with the last few forkfuls of a serving of pearl couscous mixed with black olives and roasted halves of grape tomatoes. There are flecks of parsley throughout, and the left side of the plate has streaks of sauce. — The remains of a serving of Pearl Couscous with Olives and Roasted Tomatoes, from the Smitten Kitchen Blog.

Smashed Chickpea Salad

April 29, 2023April 13, 2023 by akc

For a while now I’ve been keeping an eye out for things I can make for lunch that rely on pantry staples, so I don’t have to plan ahead. Most of the time I just have leftovers, but some weeks there aren’t as many, or I’m not interested. The Smashed Chickpea Salad from the Smitten Kitchen blog fits the bill, at least for my pantry.

This came together in about five minutes, which is brilliant for a weekday lunch. I had parsley on hand so I threw that in, but I skipped the lemon zest because I already had a zested lemon from dinner the night before and I didn’t want another naked lemon in the fridge.

One of the things I like about this recipe is that it doesn’t really require measuring. I chopped up a few olives, took a thin slice off half a huge red onion we had in the fridge, and eyeballed the seasonings. I was able to make this a couple of hours before I wanted to eat so there was time for the flavors to come together and the onion to mellow a bit. I think it’d be best at room temperature, but it’s good straight from the fridge too.

I had this over baby arugula with some cherry tomatoes, but you could use it to stuff a pita or eat it on crackers or toasty bread (as Deb suggests). I got three small lunch servings out of this, which was not quite enough, but I was having it combo-plate style with the Baked Orzo with Artichokes so it worked out OK. In the future I’d probably call this two servings.

A shallow white bowl holds a pile of baby arugula. It's covered with a scoop of chickpeas, with black olives, flecks of parsley, and red onion scattered throughout. Several halved grape tomatoes are surrounding it. — Smashed Chickpea Salad from the Smitten Kitchen Blog.

Baked Orzo and Artichokes

April 24, 2023April 13, 2023 by akc

This hadn’t originally jumped out at me but as I was flipping through the cookbooks looking for vegetarian dinner ideas, the Baked Orzo and Artichokes from Smitten Kitchen Keepers presented itself as a great almost-farmer’s-market-season option.

This was another easy one to throw together. I made it in my dutch oven, because while I do have an oven-proof skillet it’s stainless steel, and I knew the dutch oven would clean up easier. I think I sacrificed some crispiness but I was OK with that tradeoff.

My only note on this one is that I added too much black pepper. Deb calls for “many grinds” and my interpretation of that was perhaps a little much. I believe I’ve also seen her say someplace that her pepper grinder is set to a very fine grind, so “a lot of pepper” will mean very different things based on the grind, not to mention your taste. Use your judgement, but personally I made a note in the book to use “some” pepper next time.

Deb notes in the headnotes that this is more of a side than a main, and I’d agree with that. I served it with side salads which helped a bit. It’s been great for lunches though, especially since I’ve been doing a smaller lunch accompanied by second breakfast and an afternoon snack. Anyway, I don’t usually think of pasta as a side, but it’d be easy enough to throw some chicken thighs or salmon in the oven to go along with this.