A Fresh Look at Lemon Bars

Pastry whiz Allison Robicelli shares her secret ingredients for updating a classic.

by Allison Robicelli

from 
Issue 140

As a pastry chef, I’m often asked to name my favorite ingredient, and without hesitation, I always answer “lemons.” Their sunny acidity is a brilliant foil in anything sweet, particularly in lemon bars. These simple concoctions of tangy lemon curd and tender shortbread crust are the perfect balance of sweet and tart, and I love their jewel-like shine.
 
Over the years, I’ve come up with a few secret ingredients that really make lemon bars sing. In the lemon curd, I use concentrated chamomile tea, which adds a floral note that really rounds out the lemon. Cornmeal gives the crust an ever-so-slightly crunchy texture to balance out the softness of the lemon curd. Finally, I finish the bars with a little sea salt, which makes all the flavors pop. These bars are a lemon lover’s dream, delicious any time of day.

Need to Know

• The finer the cornmeal, the tenderer the crust. Not all brands of cornmeal are ground the same. Bob’s Red Mill medium grind will yield a coarser, grittier texture (which I happen to like), while a crust made with a finely ground meal like Indian Head will be a little more refined.
• Bake the crust just until golden. It will become tough if overbaked, but underbaking can cause an unpleasant mushy layer where the curd soaks in.
• Pour the curd close to the crust. The curd is quite thin before baking, so holding the vessel you’re pouring from an inch or two over the crust will save you from messy splashing.
• Slice the bars in the pan and remove them with a cake server or offset spatula.Unless you have a baking pan with a removable bottom, you won’t be able to turn out the whole thing as you would a cake.
• Use an excellent sea salt. Maldon, with its large pyramid-shaped flakes, is a favorite finishing salt, but I also like the crunchy crystals of Halen Môn, or soft, delicate La Baleine French gray sea salt.
• Finish with the salt and confectioners’ sugar just before serving. Otherwise they’ll dissolve into the curd.
• Play with the flavor. Any tea that you might serve with lemon will work in place of the chamomile. You could also spread about 1-1/2 cups of chopped nuts over the crust before you pour the curd on top. I especially like untoasted pine nuts, which don’t need to be chopped.

Key steps to making lemon bars

• 
  Evenly press the dough into the bottom of the pan. Bake until golden on top, 20 to 25 minutes.
• 
  Pour the lemon curd on top of the crust, and bake until the curd jiggles like jello when the pan is nudged, 10 to 15 minutes.
• 
  Cool completely and cut into bars. Just before serving, dust with powdered sugar, and finish with flaky sea salt.

Charred Farm Radishes with Greek Yogurt Crema

• Lamasfrom Moveable Feast with Fine Cooking 
  Season 3, Ep. 3

The crema is also good served with fresh vegetables.

more about:

• goat cheese 
• Greek yogurt 
 
• lemons 
• Dijon mustard 
• cumin seeds 
• coriander seeds 
• kosher salt 
• black peppercorns 
• radishes 
 
• olive oil

• 1 cup fresh goat cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup plain whole milk Greek yogurt
• Juice and finely grated zest of 1 lemon
• 1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard, preferably Maille
• 1/4 tsp. ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp. ground coriander
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pound radishes, trimmed, or greens left intact if still young and tender
• 2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil; more for drizzling

Prepare a medium-high gas or charcoal fire. Combine the goat cheese, yogurt, lemon juice and zest, mustard, cumin, coriander, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. pepper in a medium bowl. Mix until smooth, season to taste with salt and pepper, and set aside.

In a large bowl, toss the radishes with the oil. Grill on a perforated grill pan, turning occasionally until lightly charred and crisptender, about 5 minutes.

Spread the yogurt mixture on a platter and top with the radishes. Drizzle with additional oil, and season with salt and pepper.

A Taste of Spring Menu

Seasonal favorites—lamb, asparagus, and peas—star in this simple but elegant country French menu.

by Molly Stevens

Soon after my husband and I moved into our first house, we invited friends and family over for a dinner party. The snow was finally melting in Vermont, and we wanted to celebrate both our move and the new season. As we all squeezed together around the kitchen table, my heart nearly burst with happiness at being able to share a meal with guests in our new home. In the years since, it’s become our annual tradition to host a spring get-together, whether for Easter, to celebrate the lengthening days, or just because.
To me, spring means lamb, so the menu centers around a rolled and roasted boneless leg of lamb stuffed with bright herbs and apricots. Once rolled and tied, the lamb goes right into the oven and, when done, is about as easy to slice as a loaf of bread.
I also like to feature as many fresh spring vegetables in the meal as possible. Asparagus and pea shoots get tossed together for a gorgeous first-course salad. To accompany the lamb are two classic, elegantly simple French-inspired sides: a buttery ragoût of peas, radishes, turnips, and spinach; and a creamy potato gratin, flavored with caramelized onions.
For dessert, I serve a multi-layer carrot cake topped with a creamy mascarpone frosting. It’s a stunner, practically foolproof, and make-ahead. Come to think of it, the whole meal fits that description. And that, along with the warmer weather, is something to celebrate.

the menu

• Asparagus and Pea Shoot Salad with Pistachios and Soft-Cooked Eggs
• Apricot-and-Herb-Stuffed Leg of Lamb
• Potato and Caramelized Onion Gratin
• Spring Vegetable Ragoût
• Carrot Cake with Mascarpone Frosting

This menu serves 6-8 people, with generous side dish portions

Menu Timeline

Up to 1 day ahead

• Cook and peel the eggs.
• Make the vinaigrette.
• Bake the gratin.
• Stuff and roll the lamb.
• Bake the cake.
• Candy the nuts and carrot curls.

8 to 12 hours ahead

• Blanch the vegetables for the salad and ragoût.
• Assemble and frost the cake.

A few hours before dinner

• Take the lamb out of the refrigerator.

1-1/2 hours before dinner

• Take the potato gratin out of the refrigerator.
• Roast the lamb.

Just before dinner

• Make the ragoût.
• Reheat the gratin.
• Make the pan sauce for the lamb.

After dinner

• Garnish and serve the cake.

Shopping List

Fresh Produce

• 2 lb. asparagus, preferably thick
• 2 lb. Yukon Gold Potatoes (about 5 large)
• 7 medium carrots
• 1 lb. yellow onions
• 1 lb. radishes, preferably small
• 1 lb. turnips, preferably baby turnips
• 12 oz. sugar snap peas
• 8 oz. baby spinach leaves
• 4 oz. pea shoots or mâche
• 1 bunch scallions
• 1 lemon
• 3 cloves peeled garlic
• 1 medium bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1 medium bunch fresh mint
• 1 small bunch fresh rosemary
• 1 small bunch fresh thyme

Meat, Eggs, & Dairy

• 1 3-1/2- to 4-1/2-lb. boneless leg of lamb
• 7 large eggs
• 2 cups whole milk
• 18 oz. mascarpone (about 1-1/2 cups)
• 1-1/2 cups heavy cream
• 4 oz. Comté cheese
• 6 Tbs. unsalted butter

Other Groceries

• 2 cups lower-salt chicken broth
• 1-1/2 cups pecans
• 1/2 cup roasted, salted pistachios
• 1/2 cup dried apricots
• 1/4 cup dry white wine or dry vermouth

Pantry Staples

• 3-1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 6-3/4 oz. unbleached all-purpose flour (1-1/2 cups)
• 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 3/4 cup safflower or other neutral oil
• 4 tsp. Dijon mustard
• 2-1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. Champagne or white wine vinegar
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. table salt
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• Whole nutmeg
• Cooking spray
• Kosher salt
• Black peppercorns
• Flaky sea salt

What You Need to Know When Buying Shrimp

How to choose the best, plus why it really matters where they came from

Curry-Crusted Shrimp with Coconut Noodles: Tastes even better when you know the shrimp was responsibly harvested.

by Clare Leschin-Hoar

fromFine Cooking
Issue 140

Shrimp is America’s favorite seafood. We eat an astonishing amount of it—almost 1.3 billion pounds a year—far more than other seafood favorites, including salmon or canned tuna. A few decades ago, most of the shrimp in American markets and restaurants were wild-caught in the Gulf of Mexico, but today, the vast majority—nearly 90 percent—are imported from countries such as India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Ecuador. These imported farm-raised shrimp tend to be cheaper than domestic wild-caught shrimp, but some may also come with a bevy of hidden costs, including pollution, antibiotic use, and habitat destruction as well as something far more troubling: human trafficking and modern-day slavery.

The Most Pressing Problem: Slavery

In December 2015, the Associated Press reported that in Thailand’s network of shrimp-peeling sheds, migrant workers and children were being forced to work 16 hours a day for little or no pay in horrific conditions. That shrimp then found its way into restaurant chains such as Red Lobster and Olive Garden and into 150 American supermarkets, including Walmart, Safeway, and Albertsons.

Unfortunately, this isn’t an isolated incident. Since at least 2013, there have been reports of human rights abuses in another part of Thailand’s shrimp supply chain. These reports show that immigrants, many from Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos, have been promised good wages and steady factory jobs, only to discover they’ve been tricked by traffickers. Held captive at sea aboard Thai fishing boats, they’re forced to work for years under brutal conditions, fishing for what’s typically called “trash fish.” That catch is then ground up and used to feed shrimp in Thailand’s vast shrimp industry.

And slavery isn’t the only alarming issue tied to shrimp farming. Rampant chemical and antibiotic use, pollution, and destruction of environmentally important mangroves have long been on the radar of environmentalists. While there are earnest efforts to improve all of these practices, the industry still has a long way to go.

Three Ways to Find the Good Ones

For most of us (including me, a food writer who’s been covering seafood extensively for years), knowing which shrimp we can feel OK about purchasing and which we should avoid is tricky. Not all farmed-raised shrimp is bad, and not all wild-caught shrimp is good, but which is which?
Beyond stating whether the shrimp is farmed or wild-caught, and what country it’s from, most packaging is vague. You probably won’t know if it’s a whiteleg shrimp or a giant tiger prawn. If the shrimp was wild-caught, you won’t know if it was harvested using a skimmer trawl or an otter trawl—or that the latter is a better environmental option. If the shrimp was farmed, there’s no information on the aquaculture practices used to raise it. These variables make seafood buying guides like the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch—which base their recommendations on species and harvesting methods or aquaculture systems—less helpful.
Fortunately, there are other ways to ensure the shrimp you bring home is the best choice you can make regarding human rights and the environment.

Veggie pizza with Cheesy Cauliflower Crust

Veggie pizza with Cheesy Cauliflower Crust

No "knead" for bread—this cheesy veggie crust has half the carbs and double the fiber of traditional pizza dough.

• 1 cauliflower head, roughly chopped (about 3 pounds)
• Cooking spray
• 2 teaspoons olive oil, divided.
• ½ cup presliced cremini mushrooms
• ½ cup sliced red bell pepper
• ½ cup thinly sliced fresh basil, divided
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
• ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2.5 ounces shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese (about ⅔ cup), divided
• 2 large egg whites
• 0.5 ounce grated Parmesan cheese
• ½ cup thinly sliced seeded tomatoes
• ⅔ cup fresh baby spinach

1. 1. Preheat oven to 375°.
2. 2. Place half of cauliflower in a food processor; pulse 10 to 15 times or until finely chopped (like rice). Transfer cauliflower to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Repeat procedure with remaining cauliflower. Coat cauliflower with cooking spray. Bake at 375° for 25 minutes, stirring once. Cool.
3. 3. Increase oven temp to 450°.
4. 4. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 teaspoon oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add mushrooms and bell pepper; sauté 5 minutes or until tender. Set aside.
5. 5. Place cauliflower in a clean kitchen towel. Squeeze until very dry. Combine cauliflower, remaining 1 teaspoon oil, ¼ cup basil, ⅛ teaspoon black pepper, salt, garlic, 2 ounces mozzarella cheese, egg whites, and Parmesan cheese in a bowl. Press cauliflower mixture into 2 (8-inch) circles on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Coat crusts with cooking spray.
6. 6. Bake crusts at 450° for 22 minutes or until browned. Remove pan from oven; top crusts evenly with mushroom mixture, tomatoes, spinach, remaining ¼ cup basil, remaining ⅛ teaspoon black pepper, and remaining mozzarella cheese. Bake an additional 7 minutes or until cheese melts.

Hands-on: 25 min. Total: 60 min.

SERVES 2 (serving size: 1 pizza)
CALORIES 350; FAT 15.8g (sat 6g, mono 5.7g, poly 1g); PROTEIN 26g; CARB 32g; FIBER 11g; CHOL 25mg; IRON 3mg; SODIUM 658mg; CALC 488mg