Spring flower show, stay-at-home version

Not everything is worse in this timeline.The blooms are back and so are the bees.

Last year, Goldie did not bloom. At all. A late spring 2019 cold snap did a total number on our Golden Raindrops crabapple, which was a big disappointment to us and to the squirrels who dangle precariously from her branches each fall to eat the tiny golden berries.

This year, she put on a lush show in the front yard, a heavenly scented cloud of frothy blooms, hovered over by very intent bees.

I'm not sure I've ever seen this many stinging type pollinators this early in the year, from the bumblebee buzzing audibly among the pink and white bleeding hearts and deep blue centaurea, to the wasps working the other side of the patch. Still waiting for a fly-by visit from another pollinator, the tiny hummingbird that usually makes a spring and fall appearance at our weigela.

Note to self: Memorial Day weekend and the week after might be the best garden party timing. When we're allowed to have such frivolities again.

Hummingbird heaven.

This miniature rose has overwintered in our basement for about a dozen years.

Goldie starts life with tightly furled deep pink buds that open up to a surprise white.

The lilac tree is still hanging in there.

Only one azalea left of the three we planted years ago. Blasted rabbits. Go, foxes, go.

Chicken salad sandwiches with artichokes and bacon

This recipe is brought to you by a sort of Rube Goldberg form of pandemic tidying. 

While those unfortunately furloughed right now are busy posting about how much they're accomplishing around the house, the immediate impact in our house was to make it messier. The dreaded mail lurks in stages under the coffee table. Shelf stable groceries and sundries quarantine in sacks in the guest room.

And once my husband joined me in the home office, a chain reaction has rippled through the house. He needed a clear desk on which to work, so all the books and piles of papers got moved randomly out of the way. To make room for the displaced books, I displaced some magazines, which displaced some overdue clippings in need of filing and some other magazines in need of culling. This recipe came from the latter pile I'm working my way through very slowly.

Artichoke bacon chicken salad sandwiches

Adapted from Cooking Light, August 2007

Ingredients

⅓ cup plain yogurt

¼ cup light mayonnaise

1 teaspoon fresh rosemary

1 garlic clove minced

2 cup shredded cooked chicken breast (grilled works nicely here)

1 cup drained canned artichoke hearts, chopped

4 bacon slices, cooked and chopped

2 cups arugula leaves

8 slices bread

Method

Mix together yogurt, mayonnaise, rosemary and garlic in a large bowl. Add chicken, artichoke hearts and bacon. Scoop a quarter of the mixture onto a bread slice. Top each with a half up of arugula and another bread slice.

Rating: Not as amazing as I hoped, but nice enough. Might up the amount of rosemary and try it again. It does have the advantage that you can mix up the chicken salad in advance and then assemble the sandwiches readily for a weekday lunch while we're home.

Apple pancakes

 Sunday morning pancakes. Just saying.

Apple pancakes

Adapted from some edition or another of Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book

Ingredients

2 cups sifted flour

2 tablespoons sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs, divided

2 cups milk

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1 cup grated apple

Method

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Separate eggs into yokes and whites. Beat egg yokes well and combine with milk. Stir into dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in butter and apple. Beat egg whites until stiff. Fold into mixture and let stand for a few minutes. Spoon onto a hot griddle ⅓ cup a pancake. Makes 12.

Rating: Serviceable pancakes. The apple is subtle. Might suggest adding cinnamon next time.

And at least working from home, one can brew a proper cup of tea.

Pegu Club cocktail

This adaptation of the classic from the British social club in Burma comes via David Lebovitz, whose "Drinking French" cookbook came out in March, just in time for us all to be on lockdown with our liquor cabinets. He's been posting many recipes on his website, including this likely looking lovely. Très charmant.

He's also posted a French variation on a Negroni, which has long been among my favorite cocktails, even before I saw Stanley Tucci's recent home-bound video of him making his straight-up version of a Negroni. Molto affascinante. (Or at least that's what Google's translation claims.)

Pegu Club cocktail

Ingredients

2 ounces gin

¾ ounce Cointreau or Triple Sec

½ ounce lime juice (about half a small lime’s worth)

1 teaspoon simple syrup

Dash of aromatic bitters

Dash of orange bitters

Place all ingredients in a cocktail shaker. Fill two-thirds full with ice. Shake for nearly as long as it takes to wash your hands these days. Strain into a coupe or other cocktail glass. Sip gracefully, and gratefully.

Golden soup

You can imagine many soup recipes being born out of whatever was on hand at the time being thrown into a pot with broth. This an example of where it all works nicely together, a particularly nice balance and hue.

Golden potage

From “The Cafe Brenda Cookbook” by Brenda Langton and Margaret Stuart

Ingredients

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 cup chopped leek, white or light green parts only

8 cloves garlic, chopped

1½ cup chopped sweet potato or winter squash

½ cup chopped parsnip

½ cup chopped carrot

1½ cup peeled and diced potatoes

4 cups broth

1 teaspoon salt

½ cup half and half

1 tablespoon chopped fresh herbs such as thyme or marjoram, or 1 teaspoon dried

Method

Heat oil in a large Dutch oven. Cook leeks and garlic over medium low heat for 5 to 8 minutes or until just starting to soften. Add remaining vegetables and cook for another 10 minutes. Add broth and salt. Bring to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes until vegetables are very tender. Puree soup. Return to pot and add half and half and herbs and cook until warmed through again. 

Rating: Just a lovely soup. Golden and just what you would imagine warm would taste like if warm was a flavor instead of a temperature.

 

Pasta with mushrooms

 More comfort in a bowl, this time pasta instead of soup.

Pasta with mushrooms

From “The Tucci Table” by Stanley Tucci and Felicity Blunt

Ingredients

½ cup dried porcini mushrooms

1 cup warm water

4 tablespoons olive oil, divided

2 tablespoons butter, divided

1 large onion, finely chopped

1 shallot, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, fiinely chopped

2 to 3 pounds brown mushrooms, sliced

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 sprig each of rosemary, sage and thyme, tied into a bundle

¾ cup white wine

1 cup broth

1 ½ cups grated Parmesan cheese, divided

1 pound dried parpadelle

Chopped parsley for garnish

Method

Soak dried mushrooms in the warm water for a half hour. Remove from water and squeeze out liquid and chop them roughly. Strain the mushroom soaking liquid through a paper coffee filter and reserve liquid.

In a large deep skillet, heat 3 tablespoons olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter. Add onion, shallot and garlic and cook over low heat until softened. Raise heat to medium. Add remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil, the brown mushrooms, dried mushrooms, salt and the herb sprigs. Cover and cook about 5 minutes until mushrooms are slightly soft. Add white wine and cook, uncovered, for 1 minute. Add broth, reserved mushroom soaking liquid and a generous grind of black pepper. Cook on medium low for 20 to 25 minutes until mushrooms are soft.

Meanwhile, cook parpadelle in boiling salted water until just al dente.

Fish out the herb sprig bundle. Stir in remaining 1 tablespoon of butter to mushroom mixture. Add in drained pasta and 1 cup of Parmesan. Toss to coat and serve garnished with remaining Parmesan and parsley.

Rating: Comfort food in a bowl. Probably more a family-at-home dish than company, which is where we're all at now.