Cooking

Swinging into spring

Sonya Verlaque
FCC Culinary Arts Student

Strawberry Spinach Salad

Ingredients - For the salad:

• 1 ½ cup pecans
• 16 ounces baby spinach
• 16 ounces strawberries quartered or sliced
• ½ red onion, finely sliced
• 4 oz goat cheese, crumbled

For 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

• 1-2 tbs honey more or less depending on how sweet you like it
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 garlic clove minced
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp fresh cracked black pepper

Preparation instructions:

For the Dressing: Place the Dijon mustard, honey, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, salt, and pepper in a glass jar and shake or stir until fully combined.

To assemble the salad: Toast the pecans in a dry pan until they become fragrant, then let cool completely. In a large bowl, add spinach, sliced strawberries, and chopped pecans. Top with red onion sliced and crumbled goat cheese. Add salad dressing and toss until evenly coated right before serving!

Pasta e Piselli

Pasta with peas always feels like a springtime, light pasta dish. Fresh peas are always sweet and crunch but you can use frozen peas for convenience as well. Pasta e piselli recipe is a flavorful dish that’s like a cross between a pasta dish and a soup.

Ingredients:

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 large shallot, finely chopped
• 500 g (1 lb) fresh or frozen peas
• 320 g (11 oz) ditalini or another type of small pasta
• 50 g (1 cup) freshly grated parmesan, plus extra for serving
• Handful fresh basil, optional
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation instructions: Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven and sauté the shallot for 3 to 4 minutes until softened. Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to a boil, salt it generously, and cook the pasta for half of the time indicated on the package. Before draining, reserve at least 4 cups of pasta water. Add the peas over the onions together with 1 cup of pasta water and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Transfer the pasta to the pan and gradually add some extra pasta water until the pasta is cooked al dente. This should take about 5 minutes, and you should still have some liquid when the pasta is al dente. Turn off the heat and stir in the grated Parmesan and basil if using. Season to taste with salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper and serve with extra grated Parmesan on top.

Mushroom Galette Recipe

To the dismay of my family, I love mushrooms. A galette is a rustic tart made from piecrust folded around the edges. Apple galettes are a great sweet treat, but a savory tart made with flaky pastry and a delicious combination of cheeses, mushrooms, and caramelized onions makes a great dinner.

Ingredients:

• 1 sheet of pie dough
• 1/3 cup whole milk ricotta
• 6 oz. crimini mushrooms, cut into slices
• 1/4 of a jumbo white onion, cut into thin crescent-shaped slices
• 1.5 oz gruyere cheese, shredded
• parmesan cheese, for grating as a garnish
• pinch of salt and freshly ground pepper
• pinch of nutmeg
• 1 egg, separated into white and yolk
• olive oil
• 1 sprig of thyme

Preparation instructions: Preheat the oven to 400EF. To a pan, add about a tablespoon of olive oil. Warm over medium heat and once hot, add in the onion slices. Cook until the onions begin to become golden along the edges and caramelize. Add the mushroom slices to the pan and cook for another few minutes until the mushrooms are tender. Turn off the heat and temporarily set the pan aside. Unroll the pie crust onto a baking sheet fitted with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Brush the egg white over most of the pie crust, leaving about a 1 1/2 inch perimeter bare. Let the crust rest for a minute for the egg white to slightly dry.

Spread the ricotta cheese all over the area covered with the egg white. Use a zester to finely grate a little bit of Parmesan cheese as a slight garnish over all the ricotta cheese. Add a small pinch of salt and freshly ground pepper, as well as the pinch of nutmeg, over the cheese. Distribute the mushroom-onion mixture all over the ricotta cheese, and then top with the shredded gruyere. Add the thyme leaves all over the top. Fold the edges of the piecrust over the mushroom filling, all along the edges. Brush the egg yolk over the pastry, then top the pastry with some of the finely grated Parmesan. Bake the galette for 20-30 minutes. If you're using store-bought crust, it will typically look golden and be ready in the 20-25 minute mark, whereas homemade pastry can take up to 30 minutes. Let the galette rest for 10 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to your serving plate.

Lemon Ricotta Cookies with Lemon Glaze

These light and fluffy cookies were developed by Chef Giada De Laurentiis and are a family favorite in our house. The are so full of citrus flavor you can almost pretend that they aren’t a desert but maybe not quite "healthy."

Ingredients:

• 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour (310 grams)
• 1 tsp baking powder (4 grams)
• 1 tsp salt (4 grams)
• ½ cup 1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature (113 grams)
• 2 cups granulated sugar (400 grams)
• 2 eggs
• 1 15-ounce container whole-milk ricotta cheese (425 grams)
• Zest of one lemon

For the Glaze

Ingredients:

• 3 tbs freshly squeezed lemon juice (45 grams)
• 1 ½ cups confectioners' sugar (180 grams)
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 3 tbs freshly squeezed lemon juice (45 grams)

Preparation instructions: Preheat the oven to 375EF. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating until incorporated. Add the ricotta cheese, lemon zest, and lemon juice and beat to combine. Stir in the dry ingredients. Line the 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Spoon the dough onto the baking sheets using 2 tbs for each cookie.

Bake for 15 minutes until slightly golden at the edges. Remove from the oven and let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 20 minutes. While they cool, combine the confectioners' sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice in a small bowl and stir until smooth. Spoon about ½ tsp of the glaze onto each cooled cookie and use the back of the spoon to spread it to the edges. Let the glaze harden for about 2 hours. Pack the cookies in an airtight container.