Tangy Lemon Pound Cake

Speaking of spring fever, this pound cake is light, fresh-tasting, and a not-too-sweet end to a meal.  The yogurt gives it a hint of tanginess that almost reminds me of cheesecake, and the strong lemon flavor just screams "spring".

Tangy Lemon Pound Cake

Serves about 8

1 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1/8 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
1/2 cup plain Greek style yogurt

Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease and flour a bread pan. 

In a large bowl, cream butter, sugar, eggs, lemon juice, and yogurt. Add flour, baking soda, salt, and lemon peel and stir or beat with a hand mixer until smooth.

Pour batter into prepared bread pan and bake 1 hour or until golden brown on top and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before slicing.

My desserts might be a little more hard-core than your's, but I think this cake is perfect with a whiskey old-fashioned.

Nashville food rocks!

After a really fun visit to Nashville last week, it took me a while to get myself together to report to y'all about some great restaurants in the area.  Nashville is a surprisingly diverse city, a moderate size that can offer a lot of entertainment and food options without feeling overwhelming, and it's filled with great people who want you to have a good time.  I-65 is home to some pretty crazy driving, though--they could really use some public transportation (and I will continue to say this about every town I visit until American society embraces mass transit, which is to say, until blogs cease to exist).

Lockeland Table: New American and small plates, with an emphasis on locally sourced ingredients.  I sat at the chef's bar, which was centered around the brick pizza oven in the back just in front of the kitchen, and the small pizzas looked and smelled amazing.  If I had ordered one, I probably would have gotten the "Octopi", with octopus, tomatoes, caramelized fennel, oregano, garlic, chili oil, and Parmesan.  However, what I did get was also delicious: roasted heirloom carrot and beet salad and wood fired oysters Rockefeller from the starters, and a plate of local cheeses with homemade crackers, apples, homemade almond brittle, and fig jam. The cocktails are also cool, though I can't remember what I had.  Something with rye whiskey.  The wait staff are knowledgeable and friendly, and they are happy to make substitutions whenever possible.

The Smiling Elephant is tiny inside, so go early for the best Thai meal of your life.  Their Pad Thai is apparently award-winning, but I couldn't resist getting the Pad Makea, a spicy-sour stir fry with ground pork, smoky eggplant, tomatoes, bamboo shoots, and basil over jasmine rice.  When we asked about the spice level of the green curry, the owner brought us a sample--it was surprisingly fresh and light with a good bit of after burn.

The Slick Pig: Enough of this frou-frou shit; if you're in Tennessee, you should get some barbecue.  The Slick Pig, located in nearby Murfreesboro, seems like one of those grungy college hang-outs that is a part of graduates' memories from generations back (Murfreesboro is home to Middle Tennessee State U.).  My host loves the smoked wings; I really enjoyed my "pork plate", which was a huge pile of smoky barbecued shredded pork with little cornbread pancakes, seasoned white beans, and tomato and raw onion (the true sign of authenticity).  I had to do some extra jogging the next morning, but what's a trip to the South without the BBQ?!

Asparagus, eggs, and mustard...

There's nothing really all that French about this, except perhaps for the seasoning, but asparagus, eggs, and mustard always seem so right in the spring, and so very Gallic.

French Stir Fry. P.S.--that drink in the upper left hand
corner is Pinot Grigio with a splash of lime on ice. 

French Stir Fry

Serves 4

2 cups white rice
1 teaspoon dried summer savory
1 teaspoon herbes de Provence
½ teaspoon salt
1 small garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon diced red onion
Handful chopped fresh parsley

1 pound asparagus, cut into ½-inch pieces
1 small carrot, peeled and thinly sliced
½ cup frozen corn
½ cup frozen shelled edamame

1 tablespoon grainy mustard
2 tablespoons lemon juice
8 tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon fresh lemon zest
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Salted peanuts and chopped hard-boiled egg for garnish (optional)

Combine rice, savory, herbes de Provence, ½ teaspoon of salt, garlic, and onion in a rice cooker or medium saucepan with enough water to cook rice according to package directions.  Fluff to combine when done.

Steam vegetables.  I use a steamer insert over my rice cooker so that I can do both at once.

Whisk together  mustard, lemon juice, olive oil, lemon zest, and salt and pepper in a small bowl.

To assemble, spread a serving (¼ ) of the rice on a dinner plate and top with ¼ of the vegetables.  Pour  ¼ of the dressing over food and sprinkle some egg and peanuts on top.

Cranberry Sauce Muffins

This warm weather is great, but don't you miss the carby, comforting days of November and December just a little bit?  Your former enthusiasm for clean, white snowfall that keeps you inside, watching a movie on the couch? These muffins evoke the flavor of the holidays by using the same spices and fruit you expect from a Thanksgiving meal.  And in keeping with my ongoing love affair with the muffin, they're healthy enough for breakfast or a coffee break with guests, and they freeze perfectly for later consumption.

Cranberry Sauce Muffins

Makes about a dozen muffins

1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
½ cup quick cooking oats
½ cup brown sugar
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground flax seed
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoons orange rind
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 large apple, grated
1 ½ cups dried cranberries
¾ cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 375°F.  Grease a 12-cup muffin tin.

In a large mixing bowl, combine egg, milk, brown sugar. And grated apple.  Add all remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly; dough should be thick, but you can add milk if it’s difficult to stir.

Fill muffin tins 2/3 full.  Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with more brown sugar if you like.  Bake 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.  Cool on wire racks and serve or freeze until ready for use.