Caper Berry Caesar Dressing

Have you seen that commercial where a family is out to dinner and someone orders a caesar salad and then Julius Caesar shows up on the table? I have no idea what the ad is trying to sell, but consider me unsold, because I HATE that ad.

Sure, commercials are something I barely have to put up with anymore, thanks to my DVR, but even so, lazy ad writing really irritates me. That ad only makes sense if Julius Caesar has anything to do with caesar salad, or if it’s even remotely Italian, and since caesar salad was invented in Tijuana by a man named Caesar, neither of these things is true, and that commercial is nonsensical and (probably irrationally) offensive to me.  

SO.

I made caesar dressing! Not in response to that ad, really (or oh, no, was it?), but I was craving a good caesar salad, and so here we are. This dressing has nothing to do with ancient Romans or Italy, or even the Tijuana “original” recipe, but it is definitely in the realm of caesar-ish, so I’m still going to call it “caesar” and anyone looking for anchovies or eggs can go elsewhere to the many, many, many iterations of caesar dressing that exist. Perhaps here?

But with that disclaimer out of the way, let’s talk about this dressing! It’s got all the flavors of caesar that I love, that mix of salty, creamy, tangy goodness that sits so well on slightly bitter, crunchy romaine. Here, instead of anchovies (which apparently aren’t even part of the original) we’ve got caper berries delivering the salt, which works so nicely I’m astounded I’m just hearing about this. It’s not that I mind the anchovies as long as I use the filet kind, but I’ve always felt a little weird knowing there are little fish blended up in my salad dressing. So bye, bye, fish. I’ve cheated on the egg component by using mayonnaise, which is just egg and oil anyway, but makes emulsifying so much easier. The rest is pretty standard, I think. 

The result, you must know, is an easy, satisfying example of the caesar dressing genre, one that I’m sure I’ll be making again, and not only because I’ve still barely made a dent in my jar of caper berries. 

And next time, I’ll show you what I did with this jar of goodness!

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Caper Berry Caesar Dressing

Makes 1 1/4 cup dressing. Adapted from Damaris Phillips.

• 1 oz caper berries (about 4)
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 1/2 tbs dijon mustard
• 1/2 tbs stone ground mustard
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 tbs toasted sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp cayenne hot sauce
• 1 lemon, juiced (about 3 tbs)
• fresh ground black pepper

1. Finely mince the caper berries and garlic, then sprinkle with the salt. Either mash with a mortar and pestle or using the flat side of your knife. Transfer the paste to a bowl and add the mustards, mayo, sesame oil and hot sauce and stir to combine. Add the lemon juice and season with more salt to taste, if needed. 
2. Transfer to a jar and store in the refrigerator.

All the Herbs Pesto Zoodles with Peas & Burrata

Hey from Christchurch!

It only took me two tries to get here and I'm a day later than I planned, but I made it! One more new city to explore, then it's back to Sydney and then SF. I'm not quite ready to head home but I am more than ready to enjoy slightly warmer temperatures tomorrow. You guys, Queenstown was COLD.

But it was ok, I didn't let near freezing temps stop me from enjoying some outside time in the mountains, and if I couldn't feel my face or my feet for some of it, that was ok, there was plenty of wine to warm me up! So, so much good wine.

I might miss the wine the most when I go home. I came thisclose to shipping myself a case of some NZ pinot noirs and sauvignon blancs, but then I remembered that I don't actually have to "start building a cellar" no matter what the guy at the winery on Waiheke told me, and I just bought myself a vacation to New Zealand anyway so am currently b-r-o-k-e.  

Which reminds me, anyone in the market to buy 8 bajillion photos of Hobbit holes? I've got some, if you are...

Anyway, I'll get into my New Zealand adventures another time, but ironically, I had this lovely dish of zucchini noodles and burrata all teed up to go, ironic because two nights ago I ordered "sauteed greens" at a tapas place and was given a lovely dish of green veggies very similar to this, sans the burrata. Why they were proudly serving summer veggies (that were in no way greens) in winter I don't know, but at least I have the recent taste of zucchini and peas on my mind to help me convince you that you need to try these zoodles ASAP. I mean, fresh zukes and peas sauteed up in no time flat, tossed in pesto and garnished with cool, creamy, burrata and breadcrumbs? If you are mid-summer in the northern hemisphere I assume you're thinking already of how much time sweating at the stove this can save you.

But the star of this dish is really the pesto. I know, I know, usually it's the burrata. But that curd pouch has got second billing here, because this sauce is something great, a lighter, cheese and nut free version of pesto that is a great summertime companion to veggie noodles, regular noodles, or anything you want to dump a fresh, herby mix on.

And it's perfect if you've got too many herbs left from all your recipes that call for 2 tablespoons of minced fresh parsley or 5 chiffonaded mint leaves. Just whiz up the leftover bunch with some olive oil and garlic and you've got yourself a pesto, baby. And if you can find it, throw in some sorrel too for that lemony kick. Did I mention it freezes, too? It does, so go nuts (free) with all kinds of flavor combos.

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All the Herbs Pesto Zoodles with Peas & Burrata

• 2 1/2 cups of herbs of choice (mint, basil, parsley, sorrel, etc)
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• salt, to taste
• 1 tbs white vinegar or lemon juice
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cups breadcrumbs
• 1 tbs butter
• 4 zucchini
• 2 cups frozen peas
• 2 burrata "purses", divided into halves
• olive oil
• chili flake

1. Blend all herbs, olive oil, salt, vinegar, and garlic until smooth. Taste and add salt if needed. Set aside.
2. Saute breadcrumbs in the butter until toasted and crispy, set aside.
3. Shred zucchini into noodles, heat a little olive oil in a large pan. When shimmering, add zucchini and cook for a minute or so, then add peas and cook for another minute or two. 
4. Toss zucchini and peas with the pesto, then divide into 4 servings. Top with breadcrumbs and burrata, and drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper, and chili flake. Serve immediately.

Vegan Berry Kiwi Pavlova Cake

Friends who don’t cook, how do you eat out or get food delivered EVERY DAY? Do you just eventually get used to it, or do you have strategic ways to make yourself not feel weighed down by it all? I’m on week three of not cooking and I have such dining out fatigue I don’t even know who I am anymore. I started thinking yesterday of where I was going to eat dinner and just sighed. Usually, thinking of dinner is one of my favorite things! 

I thought since I’m staying in an Airbnb I’d be cooking at least a little, but it turns out I don’t really want to have to guess at the purchase date of the dusty bottle of olive oil shoved in back of the cabinet. But I also don’t want to have to pick another place for dinner tonight, either. I’m thisclose to just giving up and going to McDonald’s, but I don't want to be an American cliche and besides, I already feel like that guy from Supersize Me. 

So tell me your secrets please, because this can’t be my mental state going into a week of vacation! I WILL discover all the food New Zealand can offer me in 8 days, and nothing’s going to stop me, but at the same time, I’d rather enjoy it, you know? 

Anyway, I do realize now that I seem to be complaining about going from Australia to New Zealand, but I promise I’m not! I just really, really, want a salad. All I really know about New Zealand food is that a lot of the lamb I buy seems to come from there, so let’s hope some of that meat comes with veggies, yeah? 

The only other thing I know about New Zealand food is that they are in a bit of a war with Australia over ownership of the Pavlova. Not the kind of war I worry about when checking twitter updates on North Korea, but more the kind of war like which tiny taqueria in SF invented the Mission burrito. I don’t know the answer to that one, and I think similarly, the Aussies and the Kiwis just agree to pleasantly disagree about who first thought to pair meringue with berries and cream. 

So, in honor of my flight today (tomorrow? what day is it?) from the Land Down Under to the Land of the Long White Cloud (heyyyy book club!), I made a pavlova!* I didn’t really want to upset tradition too much with this one, so I went with the usual mix of berries, kiwi, and passionfruit to decorate, but that’s where the tradition stops. 

*Obviously, like a month ago, see my above rant.

I’ve been curious about aquafaba, that brine that comes out of a can of chickpeas. Usually I just toss it down the sink, but some desperate vegan discovered that you can whip and whip and whip it until it behaves remarkably similarly to egg whites in baking. That includes adding a ton of sugar and baking it up into meringue, which I did here, and then layered it with a coconut whip cream and the fruit.

It was an impressive miracle of science for sure, but it’s probably my last vegan pavlova. For one thing, I kind of forgot I don’t like whipped coconut cream, and this cake has A LOT of it. You’ve really gotta be into eating that stuff with a spoon to enjoy the amount here. Also, aquafaba bakes up into a beautiful looking meringue, but I think egg whites add a little more stability to desserts, whereas my vegan version was a light-as-air crispy shell that disintegrated at the mere introduction of moisture. You can imagine how well it held up under the weight of whipped coconut cream and juicy fruit. Have you ever seen the episode of Great British Bake Off where they make towers out of eclairs and cream puffs? Call me Paul.

But I managed to take a couple shots of it before it fully collapsed, and it’s certainly pretty! All you vegans out there, enjoy the pudding-like final result! I’ll be busy crying over Yelp and Google maps trying to figure out where to feed myself in Auckland.

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Vegan Berry Kiwi Pavlova Cake

• One 14 oz can chickpeas (unsalted)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
• 3 tsp vanilla bean paste, divided
• two 15 oz cans full fat coconut milk
• 2 tbs sugar
• strawberries, sliced
• 1 kiwi, sliced thin
• pulp from 2 passionfruits
• blackberries for garnish

1. Chill cans of coconut milk in fridge upside down, overnight.
2. Make meringue layers: Drain the chickpea brine into a bowl, and reserve the chickpeas for another use. Chill the chickpea brine until cold, about 2 hours.
3. Heat oven to 250 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and trace two 4-inch circles on each. Transfer chickpea brine to the bowl of a stand mixer or a mixing bowl and using the whisk attachment, whisk on high for 5 minutes, until white and foamy and doubled in size. Add the cream of tartar and whisk for another minute. Continue whisking and add the sugar 1 tbs at a time, for about 5 minutes more, until mixture forms stiff, glossy peaks. Whisk in 2 tsp vanilla bean paste.
4. Spoon mixture onto parchment lined sheets, just a bit smaller than the 4-inch circles (mixture will expand a bit when baking). Bake for 2 to 2.5 hours,  until the outsides are firm and crisp and meringues sound hollow when lightly tapped. Turn off oven and leave to cool in oven for at least 4 hours or overnight.
5. When ready to assemble cake, make the whipped coconut cream. Open bottoms of cans and pour off the coconut water. Spoon the chilled coconut cream into the bowl of a mixer, add the sugar and remaining 1 tsp vanilla bean paste. Whisk to soft peaks. 
6. Strain the passion fruit pulp into a small pot and heat to simmering on the stove over medium high heat. Cook for about 1-2 minutes, until thickened and reduced to a syrup. Watch closely as this happens fast! Spoon into a bowl to cool completely.
7. Spread a bit of the coconut cream onto each meringue round, then pipe a thick border of the cream around 3 of the rounds. Fill each with assorted fruit and drizzle with a bit of the passionfruit syrup.
8. Stack the filled layers on top of each other, and top the third filled layer with the last meringue round. Pipe on remaining coconut cream and decorate as desired with strawberries, kiwi, blackberries, and the remaining passionfruit syrup. Serve immediatley.

Hibiscus, Mint & Green Tea Lemonade Popsicles

It's popsicle week!!! That means the internet just exploded with the most creative, indulgent, crazy popsicles and it.is.awesome.

It may be a balmy 54 degrees in Sydney right now as I write this, but that's not stopping these photos from giving me serious popsicle cravings. It could also be that they look and sound so wonderfully light and refreshing after another week of me eating like it's my last meal on death row. I'm not sure if a person can eat too much crab fried rice or dumplings or donuts, but I seem determined to find out. 

Thank goodness I left one of these popsicles in my freezer for when I'm back in SF. There would have been more left but I ate maybe 4 or 5 while packing for my trip, whoops! I have no regrets about that, though I may feel differently when I get home and only find the one. 

In all fairness to me though, it's really hard to stop eating these guys once you start! The tangy, zippy hibiscus + lemon give them a wonderfully tart flavor, mellowed by the green tea and cooled ever so subtly by the mint. There's a lot going on, flavor-wise, but it all comes together beautifully. As a bonus, the mixture is basically just frozen lemonade, so these guys freeze up into the very definition of "ice pop", aka mostly just a popsicle shaped ice cube, and essentially a drink in frozen form you can happily slurp in the summer sun/humidity/wet blanket. And tonight I learned that hibiscus tea and gin go very, very well together so maybe throw in a little dipping sauce on the side too? 

Shout out to Billy for organizing, and you can check out all the other #popsicleweek creations over at Wit & Vinegar!

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Hibiscus, Mint & Green Tea Lemonade Popsicles

• 2 1/2 cups filtered water
• 1/8 cup dried hibiscus flowers
• 1/8 cup fresh mint leaves, torn and crushed a bit
• 3 green tea bags
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

1. Bring water to a boil, remove from heat, and stir in hibiscus flowers, mint leaves, and sugar. Add the tea bags and steep 30 minutes, let cool completely.
2. Add the lemon juice and stir to combine. 
3. Divide between popsicle molds, add popsicle sticks and freeze until solid.