It's beginning to look like spring...

The weather has finally turned and we seem to be leaving winter behind here in the Philly area. The cherry trees are in full bloom, daffodils are everywhere, and I haven't worn my heavy winter coat in a couple of weeks. One of the other changes evident of spring is in the produce department at the grocery stores---strawberries are in abundant supply.  

I can remember the best strawberries I ever ate. I was in, of all places, Sweden, about 17 or 18 years ago.  I was traveling with my parents, and there was a farm we passed every morning. The fields were a deep, dark green, but one morning, we drove by and half the field was suddenly a bright, light green. At the end of the field was a small farm stand with strawberries for sale. What I realized was that the field was full of strawberry plants, and the section of the field that was suddenly a light, bright green had been picked of its fruit. We stopped at the stand and bought a quart of berries. They were smaller than we're used to seeing in the grocery stores at home, and they were so ripe that they oozed juice into the palm of my hand. I bit into the berry, and I couldn't get over that amazing, sweet flavor. I looked at the berry where I had bit it in half, and to my amazement, the berry was red all the way to it's core. Red. Not white, but red. My parents and I stopped at that stand almost every day during the rest of our visit.

That experience left a deep impression on me, it made me appreciate that eating local, in season, and buying directly from the farmer can make such a profound difference in the quality of the foods we eat. I wish I could say that I ate local/seasonal/farmer's markets foods all the time, but I try to when I can. It's still too early in the season to get local strawberries at the farmer's markets, I can't wait for those. But the ones at the local grocery store were so beautiful (and on sale), I couldn't resist picking up a package.  

Before I moved to Philadelphia, I worked at our company's location in Arlington, Virginia, where I was known as the "Cupcake Queen". I served as our store's primary pastry instructor, and one of our most popular classes was the cupcake workshop. I changed the menu five times a year--spring, summer, fall, holiday, and winter. I had students who I would see every time I changed the cupcake menu, and I'm told that they still ask after me, even 5 years later. 

One of my favorite recipes was a strawberry cupcake from the spring menu. I've tweaked the recipe over the years, sometimes adding chopped white chocolate, sometimes using a cream cheese frosting. Today, staring at my bounty of strawberries, I decided to make a strawberry buttercream. I hope you enjoy them!

Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream

Makes 18 cupcakes

For the cupcakes:

1 cup chopped strawberries

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 Tbsp water

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 eggs

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

For the buttercream:

4 large egg whites, room temperature
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
1 lb unsalted butter, softened
2 cups fresh strawberries, pureed and passed through a fine mesh sieve*

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Place 18 paper baking cups in muffin pans.

Place the strawberries, ¼ cup sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally until the strawberries are soft, about 10 minutes.  Break up the strawberries into a pulp using a fork.  Set aside to cool.

Place the butter and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer. Cream on medium speed until pale in color and light and fluffy in texture, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat until combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a silicone spatula.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt, then add the flour mixture to the butter and egg mixture. Mix on slow speed until combined, then scrape down the sides of the bowl. Stir in the strawberry pulp (you can either mix it in completely, or leave it partly mixed and swirled through the batter). Spoon the batter into the cupcake cups, being careful to fill them evenly and to fill each cup no more than about ²/₃ to ¾ full.  Bake for 17 - 20 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the cupcakes comes out clean. Remove the pans from the oven and cool for 5 minute, then remove the cupcakes and cool on a rack.

To make the buttercream, place egg whites and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and hand-whisk to blend. Bring 2 inches of water to a gentle boil in a medium saucepan. Place the mixer bowl over the simmering water and heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture reaches 160 degrees on an instant-read thermometer.Immediately remove mixture from the heat, and attach bowl to a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Whip the mixture on high speed until the base of the bowl cools to room temperature, the meringue is light and billowing and resembles marshmallow fluff. If the mixture is warm, it will melt the butter you’ll be adding next, so touch the meringue and make sure it has cooled to room temperature before continuing.

 

With the mixer on medium-high speed, add the softened butter a couple of tablespoons at a time, allowing each addition to blend in fully before adding the next. Halfway through the butter, stop the mixer and use a silicone spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl thoroughly. Continue until all the butter has been added and the mixture resembles velvety mayonnaise.

 

With mixer on low speed, add the strawberry puree and beat until smooth, about 3 to 5 minutes, scraping down the bowl with a silicone spatula as needed. Do not be alarmed if the buttercream breaks, just keep mixing and the buttercream will absorb the puree. The puree not only flavors the buttercream, it also tints it a delicate pink color. Use immediately to frost the cupcakes, or cover, and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Bring to room temperature, and beat on low speed until smooth before using.

*Pureeing the strawberries and passing them through a sieve will remove the seeds.  Place the berries in a food processor and process until pureed. 

Place the puree in a fine mesh sieve set over a bowl and press the puree against the mesh with a silicon spatula until only seeds and pulp are left.

I hate lima beans...

I hate lima beans. I've never liked them, and unlike other vegetables I didn't care for as a kid, I haven't grown to like them as an adult. Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli--loved them. But lima beans....bleh.

When I was in culinary school, one of our assignments was to write a paper on a vegetable. We could pick any vegetable we wanted, and we needed to include a recipe with the report. There was a list of suggested vegetables written on the marker board in the classroom, and I immediately focused on fava beans. I didn't know anything about them, other than they looked a little bit like limas, and that Hannibal Lecter enjoyed them with liver and chianti. I had decided early on that if I was going to be a chef, I couldn't let fears or aversions drive my cooking. So, since one of the reasons I had always avoided favas was their resemblance to limas, I decided that this a perfect reason to choose them for my assignment.

In doing my research, I found out that fava beans are a member of the pea family (I don't particularly care for peas, either, so I was really questioning the wisdom of my choice for this paper).They are a cool season annual, and are typically harvested in the late spring. Chances are, you're probably seeing favas on the menus of your favorite restaurants right about now. If the beans are allowed to fully mature, they are usually then dried and often ground into a coarse flour used in dishes such as falafel.  

The beans grow in long, thick pods, about 5 to 7 inches in length. Fresh fava beans are typically sold in the pods and must be removed from the pod prior to cooking. You can also often find favas in the freezer section of the grocery store--look in the international foods section of the freezer. Fresh or frozen, the individual beans are encased in a thick, somewhat translucent skin called the pericarp, which also must be removed. To prepare the beans for use, bring a large pot of salted water to the boil, and drop the beans into the water. When the water returns to the boil, drain the beans into a colander and transfer them into a bowl of ice water to shock them and stop the cooking. The pericarp can now be easily removed with a sharp paring knife.  

In my research, I found many recipes, but the one that caught my eye was a pureed dish called Bissara. It's flavored with lemon juice and parsley and usually served with pita bread, crackers, or fresh vegetables. So, I made a batch, scooped some onto a slice of pita, and took a bite. It was delicious! I was completely surprised to find that I liked it so much. Even though I thoroughly enjoyed that fava dish, I can't say that I've changed my opinion on lima beans...but I did get an A on my paper.

Over the years, I've tweaked that original recipe, and it's become one of my standard offerings for parties and potlucks. And, when I have the time, I like to make my own flatbreads, too, so here are the recipes for both. Enjoy!

Bissara - Middle Eastern Fresh Fava Bean Dip

Makes about 3 ½ cups

3 ½ cups boiled and peeled fava beans

¼ cup fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin
²/₃ cup fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley

2 cloves garlic

2 teaspoons Kosher salt

Process all of the ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Serve with flatbread, pita bread, vegetables, or crackers for dipping.

Flatbreads

Makes 12 pieces

¾ ounce active dry yeast (3 packets)

¾ cup whole milk at room temperature

1 ¾ cups all purpose flour, plus extra for dusting

¾ teaspoon Kosher salt

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to garnish

Place a pizza stone in the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F.

To make the flatbread, mix the yeast and milk together in a small bowl. Place the flour and salt in a food processor and process to mix. Add the yeast mixture and process for about 60 seconds, until you have a well-mixed dough. Transfer the dough to a bowl and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Set the bowl aside at room temperature for 30 minutes to rise. 

Remove the dough from the bowl and knead on a lightly floured surface for 2 to 3 minutes. Cut the dough into 12 equal pieces and form into balls. Roll each ball of dough out to form a very long thing strip, about 8 inches long and 2 to 3 inches wide.

Sprinkle the dough strips with Kosher salt and pepper, and transfer them to the pizza stone in the oven. Bake until gold brown, about 6 minutes.

Remove the flatbreads to a rack to cool. Serve with the bissara.