It seems that our version of winter weather has finally arrived in Southern California. We’ve enjoyed some spring-like days these last weeks, but now gray skies and drizzly rain has made its way into our weather forecast. No complaining here – we need it!

Soups On!
I’ve been working on modifications of this Split-Pea Soup for the last couple of weeks. I think we’re just about all split-pea souped out! The best thing about it…it’s a healthful version so I don’t feel as bad about having served bowls of it almost every evening for the last two weeks.

This is a more healthful version of a classic soup that traditionally uses a ham hock. I’m not going to lie to you…there’s no substitute for the fantastic flavor that a ham hock adds to a soup. That said, if you’re looking for a split-pea soup version with less sodium but with split-pea and veggie goodness – this is a good alternative that you can work with and further customize to your culinary and palate preferences.

Serve it up with a fresh baguette that’s been sliced, brushed with extra-virgin olive oil and sprinkled lightly with Parmesan. Toast the slices in the oven at 400 degrees until golden.   Serve the tasty toasts as a complimentary accompaniment next to a cozy mug of this heart healthy soup!

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The holiday season is officially over. Whew! Made it through another year. I hope you all enjoyed a happy holiday season and rang in the New Year of 2012 with happiness and promises of good things to come for you and your loved ones!

The Happy Meyer Lemon Tree
Wouldn’t that be a cute title for a children’s book? Our Meyer lemon tree is making up for lost time and has been working overtime with lots of juicy, beautiful, and bright yellow fruits. I spent part of the weekend squeezing lemons to freeze lemon juice. I tweeted for some insights from others if anyone knew how to “preserve” lemon zest. It’s such a wasting shame to throw away citrus without zesting it and having it on-hand when needed. I’ve read that you can freeze zest, but that it loses its potency. Blah! Not the ideal preservation method. Please share with me if you have any words of wisdom on how to preserve the zest.

I’ve made this recipe twice over the last week and can attest that it’s a good recipe for lemon bread. I used a slightly larger loaf pan than what the recipe calls for, a 9×5-inch, so my bread obviously didn’t bake as high. There’s some modifications I made that are reflected in my notes and the recipe itself. This quick bread has a good texture and subtle lemony goodness. The complimentary sugary-lemon glaze drizzled on the bread after baking lends to additional moistness and will beckon you for yet another slice!

I’ll be featuring more recipes using lemons…the next feature on Teenie Cakes appropriately uses 4 + lemons. What uses that many lemons? I bet you can guess. :)

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Focaccia has been on a long list of something I’ve wanted to try for awhile. So a couple of months ago when the New York Times’ Dining and Wine section featured this Grape Focacccia, I knew this would be the recipe I used for my first go at an Italian flat-bread, Schiacciata.

Grape Schiacciata con L’uva is a traditional bread made during the Tuscan grape harvest. Schiacciata means “flattened down” so you may be more familiar with it by the name focaccia or Italian flat-bread. This recipe uses cornmeal…and I absolutely loved it! The cornmeal lends to a rustic texture and the olive oil and rosemary infused through the schicciata is subtle but absolutely lovely.

Adorning this Tuscan-themed focaccia with both red and dark purple seedless grapes made for a seasonally gorgeous and tasty flat bread. The sugar adds a sweetness in contrast to the flaky sea salt used, but the sugar also does a number on the aesthetics. Look at those toasty, buttery pine nuts and sprinkles of fresh rosemary leaves!

This is a rustic-type bread, but I may have unintentionally formalized it by using a deep-dish pizza pan. It worked out well using the pan, but as the original recipe directed, you could just shape the dough into an oval and bake on a cookie/baking sheet. The dough is rather wet and sticky when starting off. Read through my notes and the directions beforehand, so you’re not alarmed of the initial state of the dough before working/kneading it.

This is a good recipe that produces not only a tasty, great textured flatbread, it makes use of those gorgeous seasonal grapes. Serve it with a glass of red wine…this is my idea of tasty eats!

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• Dough will initially be quite wet and sticky. During kneading, work a tablespoon at a time to both your working surface, dough ball and hands and continue working to workable consistency.
• Used more grapes and pine nuts than called for (reflected in ingredients).
• Baking time could be increased another 10 minutes to allow the middle to cook more thoroughly (reflected in directions).
• Used a 14-inch deep-dish pie pan.
• When finishing the preparation of layering the topping ingredients, I skipped drizzling extra olive oil (personal preference).
• The combination of the toppings, sweet and salty is fantastic…the amount of sea salt you use will be your personal preference.
• Be sure to use the sweetest grapes possible to produce the tastiest Schiacciata con L’uva.
• Using a 14-inch pizza pan will make for a thinner focaccia with this recipe.  If you’d prefer a thicker bread, use a smaller sized pizza pan or just shape the dough in an oval on a baking sheet.

Grape Focaccia with Pine Nuts – Schiacciata con L’uva

source modified from New York Times, Dining & Wine section

Makes 6-8 servings

Ingredients

6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for prep
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves

3/4 cup lukewarm water
2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for prep
2/3 cup fine cornmeal
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

TOPPING
2 1/4 – 3 cups Concord, black or red seedless grapes
1/2 – 3/4 cup pine nuts (optional)
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary leaves
Flaky sea salt for sprinkling (quantity to preference)

Directions

In a small pan, warm olive oil over medium heat. Stir in 1 tablespoon of rosemary. Remove pan from heat and let it cool.

Pour the 3/4 cup of water in a large bowl. Sprinkle yeast over it and let it stand until foamy, about 5-8 minutes.

Stir in the olive oil/rosemary mixture, flour, cornmeal, sugar, and salt to yeast mixture. Stir until a soft dough forms. The dough will initially be wet and sticky.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Add a tablespoon at a time of more flour to dough ball, and working surface as you work the dough. This could take as much as another 1/3 cup of flour until the dough is workable, but not sticky.

Oil a large bowl and place the dough in the bowl. Coat lightly with the olive oil. Cover bowl with a dish towel and place in a warm place to allow it to rise until the dough has doubled, about 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours.

Halve the grapes if they are large. If you’re using grapes that have seeds, pit them.

Grape Focaccia – Schiacciata Con L’uva – Preparation, layering ingredients

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Oil a 14-inch deep dish pizza pan -OR- a large baking sheet.   (Note: Using a 14-inch pizza pan will make for a thinner focaccia with this recipe.)

Punch down the dough, then pat it into the pan.

• If using a pizza pan, work the dough with your fingers to stretch along the edges of the pan.
• If using a baking sheet, stretch into an oval about 1/2-inch thick.

Dimple the dough with your fingertips. Evenly distribute and scatter the grapes and pine nuts over the dough, pressing them lightly into the dough to hold. Sprinkle the sugar, rosemary leaves and flaky sea salt (to preference) over the grapes. Drizzle lightly with olive oil. Bake until golden brown, about 25-40 minutes, rotating pan about half-way through baking time.

It’s baking…Get ready to open a beautiful bottle of red wine with this gorgeous focaccia!

Our lemon tree was in need of serious pruning. Hubbs called me over to marvel at his work of art – the art of pruning the lemon tree. I had to bite my lip and hold back the tears. Hubbs hacked the heck outta that poor tree. It could have been a combination of other environmental factors, including ground squirrels – but that lemon tree would not bear fruit after that artistic trauma. We waited patiently for over two years before it started bearing fruits again. Right now we’re enjoying a very happy lemon tree. It’s been a long time since we’ve had our own home grown lemons and we’re so relieved the tree has finally recovered and has returned to being fruitful!

So what to do with those fragrant, juicy lemons…

Have some leftover ricotta? This is a fantastic recipe for a coffeehouse-type muffin. It’s not a sweet muffin, but it has a great texture, moist, crunchy topping and lovely delicate flavors of lemon and almonds. The use of almond extract in combination with the fresh lemon juice and zest that you use is a tasty compliment.

The batter is thicker than most muffin batters I’m used to working with. It has a texture like biscuit dough, so don’t be alarmed when you’re preparing.

This recipe is from Camilla Saulsbury’s 750 Best Muffin Recipes. If you enjoy making and trying out new muffins…this is a fantastic book packed with all kinds of muffin themes and inspiration.

These Lemon Ricotta Muffins are my third feature from one of my favorite cookbooks. Although I will share about other recipes from this book in the future, I won’t be including the recipes in future posts. I’m starting a new Teenie Cakes initiative that I’ll be exercising going forward with my culinary journal. I’ll introduce my new “Cookbook Love” section within the next weeks.

Other Recipes From This Book
- Coconut Almond Joyful Muffins
- Pecan Pie Cakelets

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• One very juicy lemon yielded more than enough lemon juice for a batch of these muffins. If the fresh lemon you’re using feels somewhat small and not as juicy, have another on hand. You don’t want to skimp on the lemon juice for the batter.
• If you yield more than a tablespoon of zest from your lemon, throw the excess zest in the batter too!
• Used reduced-fat ricotta cheese that produced excellent results.

Lemon Ricotta Muffins with Almonds

modified from 750 Best Muffin Recipes: Everything from breakfast classics to gluten-free, vegan and coffeehouse favorites by Camilla Saulsbury

Makes 12 Muffins

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
1 cup ricotta cheese (reduced-fat or low-fat)

1 egg
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

TOPPING
1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 cup sliced almonds

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare muffin pan using paper liners or spray with non-stick spray.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In another larger bowl, using either a stand or handheld electric mixer, beat the 3/4 cup of sugar, butter and lemon zest until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the ricotta cheese. Add the egg, lemon juice and almond extract until incorporated.

Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and stir until blended (do not overmix).

Divide batter equally among 12 muffin cups/wells. Sprinkle each muffin with a little sugar, followed by the sliced almonds and then sprinkled again with the rest of the sugar.

Bake for about 22-25 minutes or until tops are golden and a toothpick inserted in the center of one muffin comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes and then transfer each muffin to a wire rack to cool.

Store covered with plastic wrap in the refrigerator. Serve warm or chilled.

I’ve been offline for a couple of weeks since the last Holiday. It wasn’t intentional. In fact, I’ve been here all along…creating culinary mishaps one right after the other. Frustration ensued but not giving up. Isn’t that the love-hate relationship we sometimes have in our kitchens? There’s something to be learned by each experience that is less than…edible {deep sigh}. I’m being melodramatic about the mishaps…the fancy dinner turned out quite tasty, but there were no images to record its delivery and I have to retry some of my methods.

For the last two years, I’ve written a little something about Cuties California Clementines®:

- ‘Tis the Season for Roasting Chestnuts and Grabbing Cuties! Holiday 2010
- It’s Time for Cuties Holiday 2009

Right now between Thanksgiving through January, they’re the Clemenule variety and these little citrus sweet treats are not to be missed!

They are the perfect snack…pick up two or three on your way out the door. I feel much better about going for my fourth Cutie rather than a fourth holiday cookie. You only live once, right? Why not enjoy something healthful, sweet and ready to eat by Mother Nature herself! Save the fatty, sugary baked goods for later or smaller portions.

Toss Cuties in stir-fry or add them to a lunch or dinner salad (peeled and segmented of course!). Hurry…they’ll be out of season before you know it and they’re at their sweetest right now!