Endive, Orange, and Avocado Salad

Now that farmers' markets are fully stocked and hot weather is creeping up on us, I'll be kissing my oven goodbye and putting it to sleep for a few months. I don't know about you, but it costs us an arm and a leg to pump the A/C into our apartment enough that I don't faint from oversweating; the last thing I want to do is make it harder for our little cooling engine that couldn't. So long as I can hack it, I'll be making salads regularly. Summer's produce is fresh, juicy, flavorful, and tasty without any heat applied. Why make stew when tomatoes are perfect, yes perfect, with just some olive oil and salt? And when I'm making salads, I'm using avocados in almost every one of them.

A friend of mine calls avocados "god's butter." They're smooth and creamy without being overly rich, and I could eat a whole one for breakfast lunch a snack. Just sprinkle a little fleur de sel on top and they're good to go.

In this here salad, avocados really shine. Bitter, crunchy endive and sweet, tart, juicy oranges contrast the mellow richness of the avocado perfectly. You can take its dressing in all sorts of crazy directions, but the one I made was dead simple: orange muscat vinegar (a new pantry addition -- absolutely fantastic!) and a couple drops of good quality olive oil. And of course, a bit of fleur de sel for those avocados. Feel free to use flaky salt if you don't have fleur de sel.

Estimate 1/2 and avocado, 1 orange, and 1 endive per person; Separate the endive leaves from their base, halve them, stick them in a bowl with separated sections of orange (I used valencia seedless) and thick slices of avocado, and drizzle the dressing overtop. Finish with salt, and do enjoy these coming summer months.

Linzer Sables

If you love Passover, close your ears for a second... YAAAYYY it's done! we can eat bread again!

Ok. It's out of my system.

Linzer Sables are fantastic. The fact that they involve water, flour, and a nice long baking time is just icing on the cake. I've always loved Linzer Torte -- that fantastically dense and buttery torte made of almond flour and filled with black raspberry jam -- and these cookies share those rich, buttery, nutty flavors, but they're lighter, crispy, and compact. They've also got a fair amount of spice, and I like to add some orange zest, which I find really binds the flavors together. If you've got a scalloped cookie cutter, use it to make these cookies look more decorative (and sprinkle them with confectioners sugar for some extra zing.)

Traditionally, linzer sables are filled with black raspberry jam. I took this recipe from my go-to cookbook, Dorie Greenspan's Baking, From My Home to Yours -- and she suggests apricot as another possibility. Sure, you can be sophisticated with your apricot jam. I was always a red lollipop person myself, so I stick with the raspberry.

Whatever your jam of preference, linzer sables won't let you down. Enjoy, and to all you passover celebrators out there, happy chametz!

Linzer Sables

• 1 1/2 cups finely ground almonds, hazelnuts, or walnuts
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• scant 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
• 1 tsp. orange zest, finely ground
• 1 large egg
• 2 tsp water
• 1 stick unsalted butter, at room temp
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup black or red raspberry jam
• confectioners' sugar for dusting, optional

1. whisk together ground nuts, flour, zest, spices, and salt. Using a fork, stir the egg and water together in a small bowl.
2. working with a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together at medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl as needed. Add the egg mixture and beat 1 minute more.
3. Reduce the speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they disappear into the dough.
4. Don't work the dough much once the flour is incorporated. If the dough comes together but some dry crumbs remain in the bottom of the bowl, stop the mixer and finish blending the ingredients with a rubber spatula or your hands.
5. Divide the dough in half. Working one half at a time, flatten the dough between two pieces of wax paper, then roll into a disk about 1/4 of an inch thick.
6. Leave the dough in the paper and repeat with the second piece of dough.
7. Transfer the wrapped dough to a baking sheet or cutting board and refrigerate it until it is very firm, about 2 hours in the fridge or 45 minutes in the freezer.
8. Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 375.
9. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone.
10. Peel off the top sheet of wax paper from one piece of dough and, using a 2-inch round or scalloped cookie cutter, cut out as many cookies as you can. Use the end of a piping tip or something else small to make the peephole cutout.
11. Bake the cookies from 11-13 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly golden, dry, firm. Transfer the cookies onto a rack to cook at room temp.
12. Once all cookies are baked, take 1/2 tsp of jam and put on the center of half the cookies; top with the other cookies, and immediately before serving, dust with powdered sugar sprinkled through a sieve.

Hibernating...

Because it's Passover, and my fridge is completely empty, save for two trays of leftover chicken and a huge bag of chocolate chip cookies and marshmallow brownies graciously donated care-packaged by D's family. Thank heavens, we won't starve. But I'll be hiding out in my cave until Passover is over, at which point I promise more delicious treats and recipes. Hang in there!

Passover Dessert Ideas

It's that time of year again, folks...the time when desserts all begin "flourless..."To ease the pain of a cookie-less cake-less week, I'll share a fantastic post by awesome blogger Deb over at Smitten Kitchen. She offers 17 dessert ideas for Passover -- let's face it, who ever knew there were even that many possibilities? -- and they all look completely scrumptious. Go on, have a look!

Meanwhile, if you're still itching for ideas, be sure to check out Susie Fishbein's new cookbook, Passover by Design -- you can buy it straight from here by clicking the picture in the sidebar right next to this post. I've already given three as pesach/seder presents, and have made three balebustas very happy. Have a wonderful holiday!