Three apps I'm apt to make again

 

I'm always in the market for fresh appetizer options to stave off food boredom, but some bear repeating. Here are three likely suspects I tried recently.

Cucumber rounds with roasted red pepper hummus and Boursin

Adapted from Fine Cooking's Weekend Cooking 2006. The section was labeled "when you need to bring the hors d'oevre," and I did, so I did. It called for making a more basic hummus, but I thought the red pepper would make it more colorful. It called for a small dollop of plain yogurt on top of the hummus, but I worried a bit about it staying put on a day when we were invited to a porch gathering while there was a heat advisory in play, so I went with the cheese instead. The original recipe says it makes 40 or so. I just stopped slicing once I'd filled up the size tray I wanted to.

Ingredients

1 large seedless cucumber 
Roasted red pepper hummus (purchased, or see recipe below)
Boursin cheese
Toasted white sesame seeds or black

Method

Slice the ends off the cucumber, then use a fork to score the outside of the cucumber vertically to make ridges. (Alternatively, the original recipe called for using a peeler at ¼-inch intervals to create a vertical striped pattern, but I really doubted I would pull that off.) Slice ¼-inch thick horizontally and place on serving dish. Salt very lightly. Top with a teaspoon of hummus and then a small ball of cheese or dollop of yogurt. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.

Rating: Dave said they looked like the summer version of Christmas cookies. These were just as cute as could be, and just fine for a really hot day when you don't want to heat up the kitchen. My nit: I didn't find a large enough cucumber at the market so these were really small. That makes them both a tad harder for people to pick up as finger food and also meant those Boursin cheese balls on the top had to be super tiny, which was a bit of a logistical feat. Also, being that small made it hard to get very much of the roasted red pepper hummus on top, so that flavor was a little more muted than I would have liked, because that recipe is the bomb. I've purchased a variety of prepared roasted red pepper hummus from stores, but this was awesome. Definitely would make that part again.

Roasted red pepper hummus

Adapted very slightly from immigrantstable.com. The only change was swapping out the lemon juice for lime.

Ingredients

1 15-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
3 roasted red peppers
¼ cup tahini
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon smoked paprika
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine chickpeas, roasted peppers, tahini, olive oil, lime juice, cumin, paprika and cayenne in a food processor or blender until very smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and adjust thickness with additional olive oil if you need a less thick mixture.

Rating: Really nicely balanced spice. Definite keeper.

Creamy cilantro sauce (or dip, or spread)

Adapted from Bon Appetit, Summer 2006. This sauce was part of a recipe that called for putting it over tofu that had been marinated and grilled, an adaptation of a Peruvian chicken recipe. It called for a serrano chile but I didn't have one on hand, so it would be much hotter with that swap. And it called for half an avocado and adding ¼ cup of water, which would make it a runnier sauce.

Ingredients

1 bunch of cilantro, bottom stems removed
6 scallions, cut into 2-inch pieces
1 pitted, peeled avocado
1 jalapeño chile
¼ cup fresh lime juice
¼ cup mayonnaise
½ teaspoon ground cumin

Method
Combine all ingredients in a food processor until mostly smooth. Cover and chill until ready to serve.

Rating: We first served this over baked chicken, and it was a delight. Then we used it as a spread for a club sandwich and for BLTs, and it was heaven. Great on fish tacos. We made another batch to serve as a chip dip, and it was dandy there too. Super fast to make, and if you cover it well it retains its color when made ahead. An absolute keeper.

Smoked salmon and caper spread

From "Wine Bites" by Barbara Scott-Goodman. The book is subtitled "Simple morsels that pair perfectly with wine" and it's filled with lots of likely looking recipes. I can attest that in this case, the morsel also paired perfectly with gin and tonics.

Ingredients

1 8-ounce container cream cheese, softened a bit
4 ounces smoked salmon, divided
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon drained capers
Dash of hot pepper sauce
Grated black pepper
Sliced red onion, sliced tomatoes and bread for serving

Method
Combine cream cheese, ¾ of the smoked salmon, parsley, lemon juice, milk, capers and hot pepper sauce in a food processor and process until smooth. Mix in remaining salmon and black pepper. Serve as a spread for toasted bread or crackers. Top with red onions and sliced tomatoes if desired. Spread can be made ahead; bring to room temperature before serving so it's spreadable.

Rating: Not bad. I might like to add dill and/or lemon zest if I make it again, and I might well, because it's just so fast to make and doesn't heat up the kitchen. I just served it with gluten-free crackers rather than the bread route to accommodate dietary considerations, but if serving on bread I think some pickled red onions as a topper would be dandy. At any rate, our hosts' cat was pretty darn sure this dip was worth exploring and had to be continually dissuaded, so the salmon clearly comes through.

Leftover notes: This also worked well as a sandwich filling along with cucumber slices, tomatoes and lettuce.

Watermelon cornbread panzanella salad and two more cucumber summer salads

My lone cucumber plant is verging on yielding fodder for tiny pickles, but Minnesota growers are ahead of me so there are plenty at farmers markets. If you've got a bumper crop of salad cucumbers, here are three recipes to consider.

I love a good tomato and bread salad in the summer time. That and some fruit and you've got a fantastic lunch that uses up copious tomatoes and bread cubes. But it turns out you don't need to have either on hand to make this variation.

Cornbread panzanella with watermelon, cucumber and za’atar vinaigrette

Adapted from “It’s Always Freezer Season,” by Ashley Christensen and Kaitlyn Goalen. A salad recipe from a book about exploiting the wonders of a well-stocked freezer? Sure thing, when one of the salad ingredients is cornbread. This book isn't the standard cook-ahead freezer-food tome that's heavy on casseroles, although there are some. Think Boulevardier slushies, parcooked risotto and herbed bechamel — all stuff I would not have thought to freeze and now want to.

Note: That vinaigrette makes a generous quantity. You will have leftovers. This isn’t a bad thing; it works great as a recipe for a multi-bean salad, for instance. But if you don’t want to deal with/store leftovers, I suggest cutting the vinaigrette ingredients in half.

Ingredients

4 squares of cornbread (out of 9 squares in a standard cornbread recipe)
4 tablespoons butter, melted

⅔ cup olive oil
⅓ canola oil
¼ cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons za’atar
2 tablespoons dried oregano
1 tablespoon kosher salt

1 English cucumber, cut into quarters lengthwise and then into ½-inch pieces
2 cups cubed watermelon
¼ red onion, thinly sliced
4 ounces feta, crumbled
2 tablespoons fresh basil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon balm
1 tablespoon fresh dill

Method

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Cut cornbread into 1-inch cubes. Toss with melted butter in a large bowl. Spread on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown and toasted, flipping once part way through. Set aside to cool.

Combine olive oil, canola oil, vinegar, mustard, za’atar, oregano and salt.  Set aside. (Can be made ahead and brought to room temperature before using; it’s a broken vinaigrette anyway.)

In a large serving bowl, combine cucumber, watermelon and onion. Drizzle with ¼ cup of the vinaigrette and season with salt and pepper. Fold in toasted cornbread cubes. Sprinkle with feta, basil, lemon balm and dill. Drizzle with 2 to 4 more tablespoons of dressing as desired.

Rating: Fabulous flavors together, and nice textures. And like tomato-bread salad, it feels like a lunch main course without adding protein. My only nit as this was originally written (aside for the mint for which I substituted lemon balm), was the copious quantities of za’atar called for. It wanted ½ cup, and not only did I only have half that amount on hand, I didn’t think it needed that much. I was not wrong. Even cutting that in half resulted in a sort of gritty roughage. The recipe as written above cuts it back even further reflecting my second try. There’s still plenty of flavor, but it now no longer seems like you’re consuming silage along with an otherwise delightful salad. I'd definitely put this one into the rotation.

Cucumber, radish, olive and dill salad

Adapted from Better Homes & Gardens magazine. This one is more of a side salad, but if you wanted to make it more of a main dish, some cooked chickpeas would seem to fit right in. 

Ingredients

½ cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 medium cucumbers, thinly sliced
5 small radishes, thinly sliced
½ cup red onion, thinly sliced
½ cup sliced pitted Kalamata olives

Method

Whisk together vinegar, dill, olive oil, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add cucumbers, radishes, red onion and olives. Chill well before serving.

Rating: Fine. Fast. Crunchy.

Cucumber and carrot salad with tahini-ginger dressing

Adapted from Bon Appetit, Summer 2006. The original recipe calls for zucchini that's been salted and gently smashed, an approach that did not appeal to me. The theory is that it mimics the effect of a light cooking and gives it crannies for the zucchini to absorb the dressing. That theory sounds good, but all I could think of was that the nature of zucchini would not be improved by making it mushier, where as cucumber and carrot could deliver the crispness I was after.

Ingredients

3 small cucumbers, thinly sliced
2 medium carrots, thinly sliced
5 tablespoons tahini
¼ cup tamari or soy sauce
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar
1 tablespoon sriracha
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
1 garlic clove, finely grated
1 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
Toasted white sesame seeds and fresh cilantro leaves for garnish

Method

Place sliced cucumbers and carrots in a serving bowl.

In a small bowl, combine tahini, tamari, brown sugar, rice vinegar, sriracha, sesame oil, garlic and ginger. Mix well and toss as much as desired with the vegetables in the bowl. Garnish with sesame seeds and cilantro leaves. 

Rating: The tahini makes this dressing slightly sludgy and not the most attractive color, but it is flavorful and pairs well with the crisp veggies. Fast to fix with mostly shelf stable ingredients. (Obviously cucumbers don't count as shelf stable; those suckers turn to mush in the frig the minute you turn your back on them.)

Kale salads aren't just for winter

Halloumi croutons are a nice touch.

Many of our local crabapple trees are in full bloom, signaling a seasonal shift. The early blooming varieties are shifting from canopy to carpet as spring waxes and wanes on its way to sudden summer.

So you might think kale season is about to be behind us, since it's often used as a reliable way to get greens in winter. But here's a reminder (to gardeners like me, at least) that kale sneaks up on you, so incorporating some throughout the growing season when the leaves aren't yet riddled with holes will leave you far less to deal with after frost hits.

Kale salad with halloumi croutons and preserved lemons

From Food & Wine, February 2024. I would link to it online, but I can't find it on their site. The original called for mint instead of lemon balm, but I don't do mint and I have an exuberant quantity of lemon balm growing even in winter, since it self sows wantonly and hitches a ride inside in pots.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
2 tablespoons olive oil
1½ tablespoons Dijon mustard
1½ tablespoons sherry vinegar
1½ tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon maple syrup
½ teaspoon za'atar
¼ teaspoon kosher salt

2 bunches lacinato kale, stems removed and leaves coarsely torn or chopped
1 cup shredded purple cabbage
1 tablespoon thinly sliced preserved lemon peel, about 1-inch long
Canola oil for frying
1 8.8-ounce package halloumi cheese, patted dry and cut into ½-inch pieces
½ cup dried tart cherries
¼ cup fresh lemon balm leaves, chopped
¼ cup fresh parsley leaves, chopped

Method

Combine shallots, olive oil, mustard, vinegar, lemon juice, syrup, za'atar and salt in a small bowl.

Combine kale, cabbage and preserved lemon peel. Toss with ⅓ cup of the dressing and massage well into kale leaves. 

Heat ½ inch of canola oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add halloumi in a single layer. Fry, turning often, until golden brown on all sides. Remove from pan to drain on a paper towel on a plate. Let cool 5 minutes.

Add halloumi cubes, dried cherries, lemon balm and parsley to kale mixture. Serve along with the additional dressing available on the side.

Rating: Tangy. The combo pack of the salty preserved lemons and the lemon balm work well here. And crunchy cheese chunks are just fun. Nicely colorful. 

 

Kale and fennel salad with cherries

Adapted from Dan Buettner's "Blue Zones Kitchen: One Pot Meals," which aims to marry up those flavors we like with stuff that's also good for us and not so time-consuming that it discourages one from making them. I cut the amount of fennel in half because I find that unless it's roasted, fennel can easily overtake a dish. My take is that this serves 6 as a side salad.

Ingredients

1 bunch kale (dinosaur kale works well), stems discarded and leaves torn into bite-size pieces
½ fennel bulb, sliced very thinly (a mandoline does an admirable job, if you have one)
4 to 6 tablespoons apple balsamic vinaigrette (see below)
½ cup pitted fresh cherries
¼ cup pine nuts, toasted
Fennel fronds or other chopped fresh herbs for garnish

Dressing:

½ cup apple cider
½ cup olive oil
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
4 teaspoons Dijon mustard
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves (if you've got lemon thyme, that's a bonus)
½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Method

Combine dressing ingredients, either with a whisk or blender until emulsified. Place kale and fennel in a large bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of the dressing and massage into the kale. Add more dressing to taste. Top with cherries, pine nuts and herbs. Chill until ready to serve. This benefits from having more time for the kale to absorb the dressing.

Rating: The dressing bears repeating. While it does a decent job of breaking down the kale, I actually appreciated the dressing more when I tried it with a simple lettuce and arugula salad with pepitas. As for the salad itself, it was a good counterpart to an otherwise brown meal. I liked the cherries and pine nuts both flavorwise and for looks. I also drizzled some of the dressing over some chicken before roasting and it worked well as a sort of marinade.

Tuscan kale salad with pecorino and lemon

From  Crate and Barrel

Ingredients

2 small heads of lacinato kale, stems and ribs removed, leaves coarsely chopped
3-plus tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 ounces Pecorino cheese
2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts

Method

Place kale in a large serving bowl. Sprinkle with kosher salt an a drizzle of some of the olive oil and then massage it in with your hands for a minute.

In a small bowl, combine lemon juice, mustard, 2 tablespoons grated Pecorino, ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon black pepper. Whisk in 3 tablespoons of olive oil until combined.

Pour dressing over kale and toss to combine. Garnish with pine nuts and some Pecorino cheese shavings.

Rating: Super simple and fast to make, and sometimes the simple things are simply good at being what they are. Far less fuss than the other recipes and with fewer odd ingredients to assemble. Not quite as elevated perhaps as the other recipes in terms of ingredients and looks, but I still would feel fine serving it to company.

Super seedy kale salad

From Bon Appetit, Winter 2026, a recipe adapted for the home kitchen from Nick Curtola, executive chef at the Four Horsemen in New York.

Ingredients

For dressing:
1 large garlic clove, finely grated
⅓ cup olive oil
¼ cup almond butter
¼ cup fresh lemon juice (you'll use the zest of a lemon below, so I'd zest it first before juicing it)
¼ cup white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons Calabrian chile paste
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons water

Salad:
2 tablespoons olive oil
¼ cup pine nuts (raw shelled sunflower seeds were listed as an alternative)
3 tablespoons raw shelled pumpkin seeds
Zest of 1 lemon
⅓ cup golden raisins
2 bunches Tuscan kale, ribs and stems removed and leaves thinly sliced

Method
For dressing, in a medium size bowl combine combine garlic, ⅓ olive oil, almond butter, lemon juice, vinegar, chile paste, onion powder, sugar, water and a large pinch of salt and whisk together well, (Incorporating the almond butter takes some vigorous whisking, so I recommend a large bowl than the ingredients would seem to call for to allow for splashing room.)

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a medium-size non-stick skillet over medium heat. Cook pine nuts and pumpkin seeds until golden brown, stirring as you go to avoid burning them. Remove from heat and add lemon zest, raisins and a generous pinch of salt.

Put about a quarter of the salad dressing in a large bowl. Add chopped kale and massage with your hands for a minute to combine. Add enough of the remaining dressing to coat to your liking. Then mix in a quarter of the nut-raisin mixture. Garnish with remaining mixture and serve.

You could pass the remaining dressing on the side for people to suit their taste. For us, adding all of it would have resulted in a completely drenched salad; perhaps the bunch size in the restaurant is different. At any rate, you won't mind leftovers of the dressing, which can be made ahead.

Rating: Dave, unprompted, called this a pleasant combination of flavors and textures. This is a perfectly lovely salad all around. The dressing has a nice balance; you detect a very subtle amount of heat but the almond butter and other flavors temper that. It's a nice combo of crunch between the kale and the nuts. It hits a cook's sweet spot of effort vs. outcome: Fairly minimal upfront effort with good enough for company outcomes. The dressing could have all sorts of uses. This was my favorite of the four recipes I tried and is going in the keeper pile, despite the price of pine nuts.

Leftover factor: Since we made the entire recipe, which is said to serve 4 (quite, quite generously) we had leftovers. We added grilled chicken and a tad more of the leftover dressing for a perfectly passable lunch. 

One more in the pile to try: Better Homes & Gardens posted a copycat recipe of Chick-Fil-A kale crunch salad. I've never been to one, so I can't vouch, but it looks interesting.

Three bean soups

As in three soups that have beans in them, not three-bean soup, which is its own thing. When you think of bean soup, if you're like me, the first thing that comes to mind is navy bean with ham or bacon. But given the variety of beans out there, there's a wide variation of bean soup recipes. In some cases they provide the solid heft, in others, pureed creaminess. Beans' basic blandness lends itself to be a carrier for whatever flavor profile you choose to apply.

The fact that these three recipes are all from Cooking Light is no coincidence. I'm finally starting to slowly go through old cooking magazines to clip likely suspects and recycle the rest. It was one of those tasks that fell into the category of oh, that seems like a good job to deal with when I'm retired. It didn't particularly strike me as odd to retain what are essentially monthly cookbooks, but if casual acquaintances came to the house, they'd invariably comment on the shelves of magazines lining the sunroom. Regular friends don't bat an eye at this apparent aberration, just file that under one of my basic personality quirks.

It's been an interesting exercise going through the back issues. Back then I was going through each issue and writing out on a sheet of scratch paper which recipes I wanted to try from each issue, noting the page number and which sort of meal they were suited for: weeknight supper, weekend lunch, etc. I'd put checkmarks and comments by any I tried and an arrow in front of ones I really wanted to try first. Comparing what I clipped out now to what I wanted to try then shows that tastes change. Recipes I hadn't even marked to try are now in my clipping pile, while some former must-tries didn't move the needle.

This first soup makes me feel vindicated in hanging on to what for others are ephemeral periodicals. 

Creamy truffle-scented white bean soup

From Cooking Light, sometime in the aughts.
Note: This recipe called for bottled minced roasted garlic. That might be a thing still and I just haven't looked for it. At any rate, I opted for roasted garlic from the grocery store deli. I also included a bit of the cooking liquid with the beans, since I used beans I'd cooked and stored in the freezer instead of canned. The recipe also calls for truffle oil, which is dandy, but feel free to try whatever flavored oil you want. My favorite with this is actually a lemon-infused oil.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon minced roasted garlic
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
1½ teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary leaves
2 cups broth
2 (19-ounce) cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained (see note)
1 to 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon truffle oil or other flavored oil

Method

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook until tender. Add garlic, pepper and rosemary and cook until fragrant. Add broth and beans. Bring to a simmer and cook 20 minutes. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Stir in 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Puree soup. Check seasoning, adding more lemon juice if desired. Serve each of the 4 servings topped with a ¼ teaspoon of truffle oil for each serving.

Rating: Quite nice. Worth making even if you don't have any flavored oils, because the roasted garlic and rosemary do quite a nice job on their own, flavorwise. Decent texture, and really a nice fast fix. While the flavor may deepen a bit if made ahead, it's plenty tasty right away, so it's one you can whip up quickly anytime you have roasted garlic. Well, assuming you have a rosemary bush or the equivalent. Definitely going in the Keeper pile.

Black bean soup

From Cooking Light

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
½ cup diced celery
½ cup diced onion
¼ diced peppers (I used red and yellow since that's what I had)
3 tablespoons chopped carrot
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1½ teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon chili powder
¼ teaspoon black pepper
2 cups broth
1 cup water
3 cans (15-ounce) black beans, rinsed and drained
Sliced green onions for garnish

Method

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add celery, onion, bell pepper and carrots. Cook until tender. Add garlic, cumin, oregano, chili powder and pepper. Cook 3 minutes. Add broth, water and beans. Cook 20 minutes. Cool slightly and puree. Serve garnished with green onions.

Rating: Sludgy texture, but that's not entirely a bad thing in winter, and it delivers your basic chili spices. Improves with reheating, so it's one to make ahead for best flavor.

Leek and lima bean soup with bacon

From Cooking Light, June 2008 issue. Makes 8 skimpy servings.

Ingredients

3 bacon slices
2 cups chopped leeks, white and light-green parts only
4 cups lima beans, fresh or thawed if frozen
4 cups broth
1 cup water
2 tablespoons lemon juice
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
¼ cup chopped green onions for garnish
¼ cup sour cream for garnish

Method

Cook bacon in a large, deep-sided pot until crisp. Remove from pan, drain and chop when cool.

In bacon drippings, cook leeks until tender over medium heat. Add beans, broth and water. Bring to a simmer and cook about 15 minutes. Cool mixture slightly and puree in a food processor or blender. Return to pan and season with lemon juice, salt and pepper. Serve garnished with chopped bacon, a tablespoon of sour cream and some green onions.

Rating: As much as I ordinarily like fresh lemon in pretty much anything, it strikes a really off note in this recipe, so if I ever make it again, I'm going to skip that. The bacon is doing all the flavor work here, and it comes in more fully upon reheating, so I'd suggest making it ahead for better flavor. Because bacon. But overall, this one falls into the category of worth trying, better than canned, but not really worth repeating when the world is filled with tastier soup recipes.

3 slaws that slay

Curtido should preferably be made at least a few hours ahead and keeps for 2 weeks.

Sometimes I feel the need for a different kind of coleslaw. There's absolutely nothing wrong with a well-executed standard mayo-based slaw dressing, but sometimes I want the slaw to do a bit more work as part of an overall menu, delivering both a good solid crunch factor and some added what's-it in a way that the more mild-mannered versions don't. 

While coleslaw might most often be thought of as a summer cookout side dish, I think it really shines the most in late winter, when we haven't seen a truly decent green salad for months. Then cabbage, kale and other sturdy carriers for dressing fill that void, with the added bonus that cabbage is open to a lot of different flavor combinations. Here are three to try:

Curtido

Adapted from Food & Wine May 2023 issue. The recipe is credited to Evelyn Garcia of Jūn in Houston. This slaw was a topping for pupusas, and would work in other sandwich/wrap usages. I just served it as a side with a sturdy soup.

Ingredients

4 cups thinly sliced green cabbage
½ cup thinly sliced red onion
¼ cup shredded carrot
1 medium jalapeño chile, sliced (or I used 1 tablespoon sliced pickled jalapeños)

1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh cilantro stems, plus leaves for garnish
1 cup white vinegar
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon fine sea salt

Method

Toss together cabbage, onion, carrot and jalapeño in a large bowl. In a small saucepan, combine vinegar, sugar and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and poor hot vinegar over cabbage mixture. Combine well, cover and chill at least an hour, and preferably overnight. Garnish with cilantro leaves.

Rating: This one will make you pucker up. It actually provided a nice bright flavor contrast to an Italian sausage soup served with cornbread. I don't think I'd make it again as a serve-alone slaw because a little goes a long way with that sharp vinegar, but if you cut the recipe in half and use it as a relish, it definitely has merit. 

 

Napa cabbage slaw

Adapted from Better Homes & Gardens July/August 2024 issue, although I can't find the original recipe on their site to link to, where it was served as a side for a pork dish. Serves 6-ish.

Ingredients

5 cups shredded Napa cabbage
1 cup sliced yellow pepper strips
½ cup shredded carrot
½ cup snap peas, chopped on the diagonal (or slivered snow pea pods)
¼ cup chopped green onion
3 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon tamari or soy sauce
¼ salt
¼ teaspoon pepper

Method

Combine cabbage, pepper strips, carrot, snap peas and onion in a large serving bowl.

Whisk together vinegar, oils, tamari and salt and pepper. Drizzle over slaw mixture and toss to distribute dressing.

Rating: Colorful, crunchy and with a snappy dressing. It was a nice contrast to a bowl of chili.

Leftover factor: While the Napa cabbage is fairly sturdy, I wouldn't count on making this a day ahead without it losing at least a bit of its crunch. But you could certainly assemble the slaw parts and dressing separately and then toss them closer to serving time. It's not like it instantly wilts or anything like that, so I imagine a hour ahead of serving would still be just dandy. I was struck by how well this slaw would do on a chicken/bean wrap, so I suspect it has other uses.

.

Kaleslaw

Adapted from "Fifty Shades of Kale" by Dr. Drew Ramsey and Jennifer Iserloh. Serves 8 quite readily.

Ingredients
1 bunch dinosaur kale or a mixture of kinds of kale, stems removed, about 10 cups chopped
1 red, orange or yellow pepper sliced thinly or a mix thereof
6 grated carrots (I used a mix of the tri-colored snacking carrots for extra color
1½ Kale-onaise (see recipe below)

Method
Combine chopped kale, sliced pepper and carrots in a large bowl. Toss with dressing and chill for at least an hour before serving or overnight to give it time to break down the kale a bit.

Kale-onnaise

2 cups chopped packed kale
½ teaspoon sea salt
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 cup mayonnaise
Zest and juice of 1 lemon

In a food processor blend kale, salt and garlic until finely chopped. Add mayo and lemon zest and juice and process until smooth.

Rating: The salad is fine enough, but the dressing is one of those that you could inhale. It has a very bright, fresh flavor that tastes of sunnier days. It works well on the salad, as a sandwich spread, pretty much anything you can think of. It does not taste particularly kaley, so it's a great way to use up part of a bunch of kale before it eventually wilts. This usage is a keeper.

Leftover factor: Even kale will start to lose a tad bit of its sturdiness in the face of being in dressing for a few days. It was still OK enough the second day, but I think if I were do it again I would have tossed in some chickpeas with the leftovers and put it over leftover grains for a grain bowl treatment.

Spiked soups

Some people like their bourbon neat. I apparently like mine warmed through, at least sometimes. Here are three soups packed with a little extra punch. Good for those days when you contemplate if the weather can be said to be a blizzard even when it's not actively snowing, just moving existing snow in a most untidy sideways manner, which was the case when this first soup was made. After that we briefly entered false spring mode, but then the snow made a triumphant return. There's at least a month and a half of prime soup weather left, so drink up. 

Spiked pumpkin soup

Adapted from Cooking Light, November 2005 issue. To restore the recipe's lightness, use cooking spray instead of olive oil and low fat milk and sour cream.  

Ingredients
I cup onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ teaspoon minced fresh peeled ginger
½ teaspoon ground cumin
1½ cups apple cider
14 ounces broth
⅓ cup bourbon
¼ cup maple syrup
1 29-ounce can pumpkin puree
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon flour
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground pepper
Sour cream
Chopped fresh parsley

Method

Add a drizzle of olive oil n a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, ginger and cumin. Cook for about 5 minutes until somewhat softened. Add cider, broth, bourbon, syrup and pumpkin. Bring to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes.

Working in batches puree pumpkin mixture. Add back to sauce pan and stir in milk, flour, salt and pepper  Heat through, stirring frequently. Serve garnished with a dollop of sour cream and chopped fresh parsley. Serves 6.

Rating: A very pleasant soup. Dave calls it drunken pumpkin soup. I'm not sure if I detect the bourbon, but it's probably there as a background note, which seems better than having it be overwhelming forward. A fairly fast, easy fix.

Bourbon corn chowder

Adapted from Barbara Kafka's "Soup: A Way of Life." 

Note: The original recipe called for igniting the bourbon in a small saucepan and letting it flame for a minute before adding it to the soup. I'm sure that would add a lovely deeper caramel note, but I am match-averse stemming from an childhood incident when asked to do the seemingly simple task of lighting the candles on the table when company was coming over. (Don't worry, only a few of the green beans almondine got singed, so the damage was mainly psychic.)

Ingredients

4 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, chopped small
2 (14.75-ounce) cans creamed corn
¼ cup bourbon (see note)
½ cup chicken broth
½ cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 to 3 drops hot red pepper sauce
Ground pepper to taste

Method

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Cook onions in butter over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Stir in corn. Add bourbon (after igniting in a small pan, if desired) and then broth, cream, salt, nutmeg, hot sauce and pepper. Heat through.

Rating: While I'm not usually a creamed corn fan, this makes a quite nice soup. The bourbon is once again more of a background note, adding a sort of silken flavor, if silk can be said to be a flavor. (I'm going with yes.) A very fast fix that's pantry/bar friendly. And then part of me pondered, hmm, what would this be like if I'd made the creamed corn? Luckily, the other part of my brain told me to stop being such a pest to myself and stand down. Makes 4 first-course servings.

This recipe did not call for a garnish, but it occurred to me that if I'd had any fried shallots on hand, that would make a dandy topping for this.

Kentucky bourbon black bean soup

From "The Kentucky Bourbon Cookbook" by Albert W.A. Schmid; the restaurant source was Panache, a former French restaurant in Indianapolis and the chef-owner was the late Richard Cottance.

Note: The bourbon in this recipe is by no means cooked off, since it's added as a garnish. Serves 4 somewhat skimpily.

Ingredients

¾ cup finely diced onions
½ cup finely diced carrots
½ cup finely diced celery
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh oregano
1 pinch ground cayenne pepper
1½ cup black beans, divided
3 cups broth
4 tablespoons bourbon
4 tablespoons sour cream
Diced tomatoes
Fresh cilantro sprigs

Method
Film the bottom of a heavy soup pot with a bit of oil. Add onions, carrots and celery and cook, covered, over very low heat until tender but not browned. Add garlic, cumin, oregano and cayenne and cook for about 5 minutes. Add 1 cup of black beans and the broth. Simmer for about 20 minutes. Puree soup. Add remaining ½ cup black beans and heat through.

Serve the 4 servings garnished each with 1 tablespoon of bourbon, 1 tablespoon of sour cream, some diced tomatoes and cilantro.

Rating: Bizarrely, adding a swirl of bourbon as a garnish actually works, at least if you're not concerned greatly about alcohol consumption. I was afraid it would be too in-your-face boozy, but stirring it into a warm soup mellows it immediately. I appreciated the fact that there were actual beans in the soup as well as the pureed variety, which I think helps with the overall appeal of the soup. It was overall fine and worth trying, but I'll stick with another bourbon soup recipe from that same book that has a lot of the same flavors (see below.)

Also, too

I'll add a shoutout to this bourbon chili recipe I've made before, and like a bit better than the black bean soup above.

Strata with prosciutto, rosemary and sun-dried tomatoes

Strata recipes are a great way to use up stale bread and all those ends of loaves that would otherwise wind up green and fuzzy. So in theory, they're frugal. Even though they use a lot of eggs, and egg prices have become more carefully monitored than the stock market in some quarters, eggs are still comparatively cheap protein given the price of a lot of animal sources of protein, at least in our community. So, still frugal-ish. 

But then practically every recipe I run into loads up the strata with some of the most expensive ingredients: truffles, imported Italian cured meats and cheeses, etc. My longtime go-to strata recipe for brunch guests is a case in point: Goat cheese, artichoke and ham strata from Bon Appetit in 1997 is packed with expensive cheese and other goodies. It is also intensely tasty.

I googled cheap strata, and aside from a bunch of guitar pictures (that would be strata, various), I got some AI hallucination that thinks mushrooms and sausage are cheap. Again, regional price differences might account for that apparent puzzling disconnect. (Also, I'm going to ignore the fact that technically strata is already a plural noun in other use cases and avoid that rabbit hole of stratas.)

This recipe definitely falls into the price (and calorie) stuffed category, but I made it anyway.

Fresh mozzarella, sun-dried tomato and prosciutto strata

Adapted from Cooking Light, June 2005. To make it lighter, opt for fat-free milk.

Note: The amount of bread cubes and dairy might seem like more than you'd think would fit in the baking dish, or at least I worried it would be, but the bread shrinks down a lot when it soaks up all that dairy.

Ingredients

1 pound focaccia, cut into 3/4-inch cubes, about 15 cups
3¼ cups milk
¼ cup crème fraiche or sour cream
8 ounces egg substitute (or 4 large eggs plus one egg yolk is a close approximation)
1 garlic clove, minced
¼ cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
4 ounces prosciutto, chopped
4 ounces fresh mozzarella, cut into narrow strips
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary leaves
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread bread cubes on a large baking sheet in a single layer and toast for 10 minutes.

Combine milk, crème fraiche, eggs and garlic in a large bowl. Stir in toasted bread and let stand for 5 minutes.

Grease a 9-by-13 pan. Place half of bread mixture in the bottom of the pan. Top with prosciutto, mozzarella, sun-dried tomatoes and rosemary. Top with remaining bread cubes. Cover and chill 8 hours or up to overnight. 

Uncover and bake in 350-degree oven for 20 minutes. Top with Parmesan cheese and return to oven to bake for another 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand 5 minutes before cutting and serving Serves 8.

Rating: Really pleasant rosemary flavor, which complements the prosciutto and Parmesan nicely.  Fast to assemble compared with some more elaborate strata recipes. Worth making now and again as a splurge. And like all strata dishes, having something prepared you can whip out of the refrigerator for brunch or dinner is priceless at that moment. Plus, lots of leftovers that reheat just fine in the oven. 

I'm thinking the next time I have a pile of bread cubes lurking in my freezer I'll have to try a strata with some of the frozen roasted farmers market vegetables I stash each summer. Layer in some feta and mozzarella and it might still qualify as frugal-ish.

 

My brother always likes to joke, "What's pie?" So when he gave sufficient warning that he was contemplating riding up for a visit a few weeks ago, I decided it was high time it was pie time. 

Blueberry pie

From King Arthur Baker's Companion. It’s a variation on their bumbleberrypie, which uses a mix of blueberries, blackberries and raspberries.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons orange juice
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Zest of 1 lemon
6 cups blueberries
1 cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling on  top
¼ cup cornstarch (or quick cooking tapioca)
¼ teaspoon allspice
1 9-inch double  piecrust (see recipe below or use your favorite)

Method

Combine juices, zest, blueberries, sugar, cornstarch and allspice in a large pan and simmer until thickened. Cool to lukewarm.

Preheat oven to 425.

Roll out one pie crust into a 13-inch circle and set into a 9-inch pie pan. Spoon the filling into the shell. Roll out the other pie crust and place on top, crimping edges. Sprinkle with sugar.

Bake pie for 15 minutes at 425. Reduce heat to 350 and bake for an additional 35 to 50 minutes, until the top is evenly brown. Allow to cool several hours before slicing.

Rating: Really nice the second day. It was probably a few hours too warm for the best slicing the first day for lunch and would have been better baked either the day before or a few hours earlier than I had any interest in getting up, but set up nicely once fully cooled. Packed with blueberry flavor and a respectably crackly crust. Beats the heck out of canned filling. If you want filling to have on hand, try out Cathy Barrow's blueberry pie filling you can put up.

Julia Child’s Flaky Pie Dough

From “Baking with Julia.” This recipe is cut in half from her recipe; this yields two crusts for making one 9-inch pie with a top and bottom crust. I went this route because I know myself and the chances of me using the other two before they went off in the freezer seemed unlikely. But otherwise it would be a good time saver to make the double batch. And it makes for easier-to-measure amounts than the 2-crust version.

Ingredients

2⅝ cups pastry or all purpose flour
½ tablespoon kosher salt
3 ounces butter (6 tablespoons) cold butter, cut into small pieces (she specifies unsalted, but I didn't have any on hand and regular seemed fine)
5½ ounces (⅞ cup) chilled solid vegetable shortening (I used butter flavor Crisco)
½ cup ice water

Method

(Note: Julia gives three methods, one for a food processor, one for a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and by hand. I opted for by hand since it saves messing up an appliance and it makes it less likely that I’d overwork the dough.)

Mix flour and salt in a large bowl. Add the chopped butter and cut in using a pastry blender or two table knives. Mix until coarse and crumbly. Add shortening in small bits and work in until it’s in small clumps. Stir in ice water with a wooden spoon to blend it in. Turn out onto a board and fold it over just a few times. It will be a soft dough until chilled. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill. The recipe calls for at least 2 hours, but in my refrigerator I’ve found overnight yields a happier outcome. Once when making this the morning of for use in a quiche that evening for guests, there was some panic time in the freezer to get it to the right consistency to work with. (It can be stored for up to 5 days in the refrigerator or frozen for a month. Defrost first  if using frozen pie dough.) Divide in half and roll out as directed in the recipe.

Rating: A really good, reliable crust providing you've got the chilling time. Good for both sweet and savory pies.

All-butter crust purist? Lard fan? Swear the store-bought ones are just fine in a pinch? I won't say you're wrong. I spelled out my open-minded approach to pie crusts here. 

Bacon cheddar tea sandwiches

Cut off the crusts and slice the triangles in half and you get tea sandwiches.

Tea sandwiches at the cabin? Why not?

While Cabin Breakfasts get the most advance prep attention before our annual trip north, I always try to come up with some sandwich enhancers to take along to elevate lunch choices. This year I opted to try this tea sandwich filling, which I ran across when trying to make inroads into some 20-year-old magazines. 

The factor that led me to try it as a cabin option was the fact that it looked like something that would work really well on presliced brioche bread, which has the advantage of being viable longer than some other types of bread, and we haven't generally had good luck buying good sandwich bread at the stores in Grand Marais so I try to take something along. I've resorted to the potato rolls at Gene's as being the most viable option ever since The Loafer was no more. (The building that housed that much-missed establishment has passed through two incarnations as a restaurant and now appears to be associated with real estate sales.)

But a new option opened in town after our visit last year, so I may no longer need to rely on ferrying bread north. They offer some basic loaves, focaccia and several sweet rolls from cruffins to all manner of croissant. On the way out of town we stopped at Crosby Bakery and picked up a sourdough loaf and a couple of ham and cheese croissant that we had for a lunch during a stop at Hoops in Duluth on the way back. Definitely a good call.

Bacon and cheddar tea sandwiches

Adapted from Cooking Light, December 2005, which specified reduced fat cheese and fat-free cream cheese and mayo. I used Cry Baby Craig’s jalapeño and garlic hot sauce. I also left on the crusts and didn't do the second diagonal cut to make them into tea sandwiches.

Ingredients
1½ cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
 5 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
 5 tablespoons thinly sliced green onions
 1 ½ tablespoons mayonnaise
 1¼ teaspoon hot sauce
 3 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled
 12 slices bread, crusts removed if making them into tea sandwiches
 Microgreen sprouts

Method
Combine cheese, cream cheese, green onion, mayonnaise, hot sauce and bacon. Spread on half of bread slices. Top with sprouts and remaining bread. Cut in half diagonally, and to make into tea sandwiches, cut each diagonal in half to make four small triangles out of one sandwich.

Rating: These would make really nice actual tea sandwiches, although I'm not sure I'd choose to make them for a large party since the bacon makes them off limits for a couple of dietary subsets. But as a filling on brioche bread, they were very tasty, and work well with the filling made ahead; the filling becomes spreadable in pretty quick order, so you're only a few minutes away from lunch. And the leftovers when we got back made an admirable base for a pizza, with some Parmesan sprinkled on top before baking. 

And of course, the annual waterfall shot:

Crustless asparagus-Gruyere quiche

 

I was in the market for a gluten-free asparagus quiche recipe for a gathering. I opted to avoid recipes that required pastry, since I'm only just now dipping a toe into gluten-free baking and that smacks of something that might involve some trial and error to get optimal results. I'm perfectly willing to make my guests guinea pigs, but I'd like them to feel like well-fed guinea pigs, so I pick my battles.

This still delivers all the cheesy custardy goodness of a quiche, and it comes together quickly enough that you could pull it off on a weeknight or for a weekend brunch. 

Crustless quiche with asparagus

Adapted from the Bojon Gourmet website. The original also includes options for other gluten free flour options, so if you don't have that combo on hand, they're not the only choice that would work in this recipe.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon butter, divided, plus a little softened butter to grease the pan
1 bunch asparagus, 12 to 16 ounces, tough ends snapped off and discarded
¼ cup cassava flour
3 tablespoons arrowroot starch
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
Generous pinch of black pepper
6 eggs
1 cup whole milk
¼ cup heavy cream
2 to 3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
4 to 5 ounces grated Gruyere, divided

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 10-inch quiche pan or 9-inch deep dish pie plate.

Cut tips off asparagus; set aside. Cut rest of the stalks into ½ thick pieces on a diagonal. Heat ½ tablespoon butter in a large skillet. Add asparagus stalk pieces and a generous pinch of salt and cook until asparagus is bright green and tender crisp. Remove from pan to cool.

Add remaining ½ tablespoon butter to the pan and cook the asparagus tips for a minute or so. Remove from heat.

In a large bowl, combine cassava flour, arrowroot starch, salt and pepper. Add two eggs and whisk until smooth. Add remaining eggs two at a time, whisking mixture well in between. Whisk in milk, cream and chives.

Place asparagus stalks in base of prepared dish. Top with most of the cheese. Pour flour-cream mixture over the top. Array asparagus tips on top and top with remaining cheese. Bake for 40 minutes or until golden and puffed. Remove from oven and let sit for a few minutes before slicing. It will settle a bit, but it stays warm for quite some time if you tent it loosely with foil, so it's something you can get completely out of the way before guests arrive so you're not answering the door as the buzzer goes off.

Rating: With that much Gruyere and creamy dairy, it's really hard to go wrong, and this didn't. It's got that classic quiche flavor and custard texture.

Do I miss the crust? Well, if it's a really good one, like my favorite Julia Child leek quiche, then perhaps a bit. but so many quiche crusts I've been served turn out either mushy or dried out, so it's not always a plus. I'll have to revisit a couple of my favorite recipes to compare; it's been awhile since quiche was my go-to so I need to refresh my memory. 

I do know that not having a crust makes it super fast to make, which definitely cannot be said of the Julia Child recipe. I remember a number of angst-filled moments the first time I attempted that for company. It turned out to be heavenly, but again, that pastry came with a learning curve.

My only nit: The recipe is actually fairly attractive in the pan, but you'd be doing your guests a disservice by making them be the ones to extricate a piece, especially that first one. You really want to get the serving spatula well under the base.

Variation: Zucchini-red pepper quiche with feta

 I wanted to see how well this approach would stand up to substitutions, so I tried this variation. Make as above, only instead of the chopped asparagus stems, I substituted 2 medium zucchini/summer squash, sliced in half lengthwise and then cut into ¼-inch pieces. I used 4 ounces of feta in place of the Gruyere, 1 roasted red pepper cut into narrow slices in place of the asparagus spears (no need to heat them) and 2 tablespoons fresh oregano for the chives.

Rating: The soft cheese didn't result in quite the same quiche texture while it was warm that the Gruyere provided, so I was a bit disappointed. I suspect hard cheeses work better in this recipe in that regard. But the leftovers, served cold, were quite nice, since cold quiche always has a more custardy consistency, so it wasn't a detraction there. The flavors had intensified, and the oregano and feta really came through. I seriously could see making this ahead and just eating the entire thing cold for office lunches or a picnic. 

Somehow or another I had never made rhubarb bread. It seems an odd omission that needed to be rectified. I suspect it's because I usually use rhubarb in baked goods, and I have a preference for warm baked goods straight out of the oven on a Sunday morning, so I skew toward scones and muffins over quick breads, which generally should be allowed to cool.

This recipe comes from a 1979 tome on baking, written in calendar format. It smacks of its hippy-dippy era, with a noticeable bent toward honey, bran and whole grains, and rustic line drawing illustrations. This clearly is not written in the era of relentlessly photographed recipes. The receipt that has been bookmarking the rhubarb recipe all this time dates to 1992 from the Hungry Mind Bookstore in St. Paul, so clearly a vacation souvenir.

The cookbook is also sometimes a tad loose on the recipe end. This one says to divide the dough between two "small to medium size loaf pans." Um?? I've got three bread pan sizes in my house, but it seemed fairly clear from the baking time that they weren't necessarily thinking of the standard size loaf pans. Also not thinking of the miniest of loaf pan sizes. I opted for three of the regular minis but should have gone for four since it overflowed a bit so now I've got a mess on the oven floor. They must have had something else in mind entirely that's lost to the ages and 1970s Vermont.  

Rhubarb bread

From Garden Way Publishing’s “Bread Book: A Baker’s Almanac,” by Ellen Foscue Johnson. Now I just want time off to cook my way through the rest of the year. 

Ingredients

2½ cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ginger
½ cup melted butter, slightly cooled
1 cup honey
½ cup orange juice (or pineapple)
1 beaten egg
1½ cups chopped raw rhubarb
¾ cup chopped nuts

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease four mini bread pans. (See discussion above about size.)

Whisk together flour, baking powder, soda, salt and ginger in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Combine butter, honey, orange juice and egg in a large bowl. Stir in rhubarb and nuts. Stir in dry ingredients until just wet through. Divide among pans and bake. I found the small loaf pans took about 30 minutes until top is springy.

Rating: Delightful. Wonderful flavor and texture; perfectly moist. It comes together quite quickly, so it's a fast fix if you don't count cleaning up the oven if you guess wrong on pan size. Works fine served at room temperature. And now I don't have to go down the hill to get bread for breakfast.

Yet another rhubarb scone recipe

Did I need another rhubarb scone recipe? Heck, no. I've already tried several, including revisiting a favorite during our recent cabin week. But was I rewarded for trying another rhubarb scone recipe? Hell, yeah.

Rhubarb scones

Adapted from theviewfromgreatisland.com. I ran across this one in my rhubarb Pinterest feed (is it peak Minnesotan to have a rhubarb feed?), but this site has lots of other lovely looking prospects to try as well.

Ingredients

½ cup sugar
2¼ cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons cold butter (1 stick), cut into pieces
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup buttermilk or half and half
1 cup chopped rhubarb

Method

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In the work bowl of a food processor, combine sugar, flour, baking powder and salt. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. (Alternatively, if you don’t have a food processor, you can use a pastry blender or two knives to achieve the same result.) Add vanilla and buttermilk and process briefly until dough just comes together.

Remove to a lightly floured board and knead a few times to fold in rhubarb. Pat out into a circle and cut into 8 triangles or pat into a rectangle and cut into squares. (Or use a fluted biscuit cutter to cut rounds, as the original recipe called for.) Place two inches apart on a baking sheet (they spread quite a bit) and bake for about 20 minutes until just turning golden.

Rating: These are superb. Moist with excellent texture, not overly sweet or overly rhubarby, if that's a thing. They also reheated well. OK, so maybe I didn't need another rhubarb scone recipe, but I may have found a new favorite. It's possibly tied for first. It would be worth trying with the biscuit cut-out method, since it was the prettiness in the picture that led me to try this one in the first place only when it came time to make them I was in a hurry.