Rhubarb Almond Coffee Cake

(I'll just get this out of the way right now. Yes, those are pecans atop my rhubarb almond coffee cake. I really like the crunch of pecans. Could I have used almonds, for consistency? Sure. But I didn't, and no one in this house complained. If you're wanting to double down on almond flavor, go for it.)

Now then.

This is the coffee cake I've been craving for months. Did I know I was craving it? Perhaps I had an inkling. I think by now I've blown my cover as a lover of sweet, breakfasty things. A quick swim through my archives, and my, I do seem to like coffee cake quite a bit! But you can never have enough coffee cake recipes. And at the risk of wrist-slapping my shortsightedness the next time a find a recipe that can be called THE coffee cake, I'm telling you with as straight a face as I've got: this is THE coffee cake. The one coffee cake you really, truly will need.

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Now tell me you like almond and we'll be all set.

Lord knows I love almond cake. I've made this one, from Amanda's wonderful book, several times, and it doesn't disappoint. But even a slice of that cake is a serious commitment. It's texture falls somewhere between downy and downright dense, depending on how you make it (food processor or mixer), and the almond flavor, it does not hide. I like almonds, a lot, and I don't mind almond paste, either; but I tend to enjoy that sweet almond flavor when it's a great deal more subtle.

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Not absent, mind you - just more in harmony with other things. Like my favorite spring fruit, rhubarb. And some good vanilla. If all things had rhubarb, almonds, and vanilla in them, boy would I have an eating problem. The threesome are perfect together: almonds bring sweetness and also a milky flavor and texture; rhubarb offsets the sweetness with tang, and vanilla gives the whole thing somewhere to go. A coffee cake smooth with almond paste, fragrant of vanilla, with little lumps of soft, tart rhubarb throughout? Why yes, please. I'll take half the cake.

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How do I say this without sounding insincere? This cake is perfect. The batter is like silk, the finished cake as soft and fluffy as they come, without any of that strange springiness you'd find in an angel food cake. Just light and fluffy, really moist without being mushy or dense, perfumed with almond and vanilla, with rhubarb just when you want it. God, it is so good.

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Had enough of my kvelling? Go ahead, make it yourself.

Rhubarb Almond Coffee Cakeadapted from Amanda Hesser's Almond Cake and Claiborn's Sour Cream Coffee Cake, both printed in the NYT Essential Cookbook

2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 2 sticks (1/2 pound) unsalted butter, softened half a tube (3 oz.) almond paste 1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar 2 eggs 1 cup sour cream 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 2 cups rhubarb, cut into 1-inch pieces 1 cup sliced almonds or chopped pecans 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a bundt pan or 9-inch tube pan.

In a small bowl, sift or stir together flour, baking powder, and salt.

In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or a hand mixer), cream together butter and almond paste until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add 1 3/4 cups sugar gradually, beating until very fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Fold in sour cream and vanilla, then fold in dry ingredients and use a spatula to incorporate. Add rhubarb, and again fold into batter just until evenly distributed. Do not overmix.

Combine 2 tablespoons of sugar with pecans or almonds and cinnamon.

Spoon 1/3 of the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle 3/4 of the pecan or almond mixture over batter. Spoon in remaining batter, and distribute remaining nut mixture overtop. Bake for 50-60 minutes, until a knife inserted into the deepest part of the cake emerges clean. Cool on rack until cool enough to handle, then unmold cake onto serving platter. If you don't (I didn't), the sides will get a bit soft. Not that anyone here complained.

Bulgur with Asparagus and Preserved Lemon Dressing

This is the latest my Weekday Lunch series, where I share recipes suited to home or office.

[Sheepishly:] Remember me?

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted something fresh. I've been too busy at work to cook, and unless y'all wanted to read about the take-out pad thai I ate for dinner all of last week, I didn't have much to share.

But now work has calmed down, and my new-found freedom coincides nicely with some of the most awesomely beautiful days DC's had in a while. Sun-plus-breeze is something DC gets only about 4 days a year, and I'm determined to be outside for all of them.

Last Sunday got me to my first farmers' market in a long while. I picked up some beautiful asparagus - bunches and bunches; people, I can't control myself - as well as some ramps, green garlic, and heavy cream, which my favorite dairy stand just started carrying. It'd be a great food week even if you didn't compare to the last couple, but in light of those dim days full of takeout, I'm high on fresh produce.

My love of asparagus being no secret, I'm sharing yet another recipe for those beautiful 'gus. The ones we're getting right now aren't the least bit woody - in fact, they're nice and slender. If yours feel too rough, simply peel the bottoms of the bigger ones; their interiors should be plenty soft.

The recipe I'm sharing today is a slight riff on one from Amanda Hesser's New York Times Essential Cookbook which, to my delight, just won a James Beard award. Three cheers for Amanda! This recipe, like so many others in that book, is just beautiful. For those of you with ambivalent feelings about bulgur, this will change your mind. Also, as Amanda points out, it'll make you wish you had preserved lemons in your fridge at all times. I do, and I've never been happier at being able to just grab one from the jar and whiz it into this bright, tangy, complex dressing.

Friends, it's nice to be back in this space. I'm looking forward to trying and sharing many more Spring recipes with all of you.

Bulgur with Asparagus and Preserved Lemon Dressingadapted from The New York Times Essential Cookbook, by Amanda Hesser

I changed a few things about this recipe to make it a convenient workday lunch. First, it originally was a prepared salad, but I just chopped up the asparagus and folded them into the bulgur. Second, I subbed out pine nuts (mine had spoiled) for toasted walnuts, and I liked the combination of the somewhat bitter nuts with the bright asparagus and the saltiness of the dressing. Third, I like my bulgur a bit wet, so I used some extra water in cooking it to give a more porridge-y texture. Since no one else seems to like it this way, I included her original instructions here.

For the dressing: 1 preserved lemon 7 tablespoons olive oil 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin (freshly ground if possible) 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated black pepper

For the asparagus and bulgur: 1 pound asparagus, cut into 2-inch lengths 2 tablespoons olive oil 1/2 red onion, chopped 1 cup bulgur 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1/4 cup chopped toasted walnuts (I toasted mine for 10 minutes in a 350-degree oven, but listen to your nose; when they smell fragrant, they're done)

To make the dressing, cut the preserved lemon in half. Chop one half and place all of it in a blender. Use a spoon to remove the pulp from the remaining half and add only the pulp to the blender. Save the rind for another use. Add the remaining dressing ingredients to the blender and process until smooth. Set aside.

To make the asparagus and bulgur, bring a large pot 2/3 full of salted water to a boil and add the asparagus. Cook just until tender, about 4 minutes. Drain and immediately plunge the asparagus into cold water. If not shocking asparagus, cook just 3 minutes, since they will continue to cook off the heat. Cool, drain, and set aside.

Place a large skillet over medium-high heat and add the 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the onion and cook for 1 minute. Add the bulgur and cook, stirring, until lightly toasted, 4 to 5 minutes. Add 2 cups of water and the salt and bring to a boil. Cover the skillet, reduce heat to a simmer and cook until the water has evaporated and the bulgur is tender, 12 to 15 minutes. Fluff with a fork, and bring to room temperature.

Place the cooled bulgur in a large serving bowl. Toss with asparagus and walnuts, and drizzle dressing overtop. Fold to coat salad with dressing. Serve at room temperature.

Salad will keep in the refrigerator for several days.

Simplest Asparagus with Fresh Peas

From the archives, just in time for my favorite vegetable to hit the market. Enjoy!

The markets are back open, the cherry blossoms are in full bloom, and I can almost forgive the swarms of tourists and the row of port-o-potties that totally block the view along the tidal basin, because spring has sprung! Thrills.

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After a long winter of stews and soups, rice dishes and noodle bowls, I crave the fresh simplicity of spring produce. When a Sunday at the market sends me home with asparagus, fresh shelling peas, rhubarb, and (cross your fingers!) ramps, I try to prepare meals in a no-frills manner, letting the vegetables speak for themselves. Why kill fresh peas with a gloppy sauce? Why bury asparagus in soup or risotto? Leave those more involved, less spare recipes for another time. These first spring vegetables should be celebrated, I tell you.

At first glance, this recipe looks mighty simple; its success lies in the precise cooking of the vegetables until just tender and golden, and in the careful balance of the peas' sweetness and the asparagus' bitter earthiness with salt, pepper, and citrus. It's also paramount that you serve this dish immediately after cooking. If you plan to let it sit a while before eating it, know that you'll have something just fine, but not particularly remarkable. This should hop off the stove and go right into your mouth.

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If you've got access to really good asparagus, shelling peas, and fresh basil or tarragon, I can't think of a better way to use them. What are your favorite spring dishes?

Simplest Asparagus with Fresh Peasserves 4

1 pound asparagus 1 cup fresh shelling peas, from about 40 pods 3 tablespoons unsalted butter good flaky salt freshly cracked pepper 1/4 cup torn basil leaves zest 1 lemon, preferably unsprayed 1-2 tablespoon lemon juice

Wash and dry asparagus spears. Trim 1-1.5 inches off the ends, and cut on the bias into three or four pieces each.

In a large, shallow frying pan, heat butter on medium until it foams and then subsides. Add asparagus, and shake pan to get pieces into a single layer. Add a sprinkling of salt. Continue cooking, shaking pan frequently, until asparagus are cooked through but still very firm, about 2 minutes. Turn heat to low. Add peas. Shake pan to distribute, and cook 1 minute longer, just until peas are very plump (they may start to pop and/or jump out of the pan; if that happens, you're done -- turn off the heat).

Remove pan from heat; add lemon zest, basil, and a few grinds of pepper. Shake pan again to distribute evenly. Transfer to serving bowls or platter and sprinkle with another pinch or two of salt, to taste. Squeeze abut 1-2 tablespoons of lemon juice over the vegetables -- just enough to offset the salt, you don't want the lemon to overpower the vegetables -- and serve immediately.

Amaretti

As I've said many times on this site, my philosophy of Passover eating is to steer clear of matza meal and potato starch, and keep things as normal as possible. Meringues, mousses, fruit curd of any flavor: these are the ideal Passover desserts. But cookie cravings call, and can't be ignored, even on Passover. So I'm making good on my promise to share one more Passover cookie recipe before the holiday. Those chocolate cookies sort of can't be beat -- unless you use margarine in place of butter, which I hear can cause problems! -- but these amaretti are chewy, flavorful, and pretty addictive in their own rite. They've got the golden touch of Passover cookies, which is to say, they weren't designed with Passover in mind.

The recipe is very lightly adapted from Garrett McCord, who writes his own blog, Vanilla Garlic, and guest posts occasionally for Elise at Simply Recipes. They can be made chewy or crunchy just by fiddling with the baking time. They're redolent with almond flavor and some vanilla, too. They're highly scarfable, which on Passover isn't something to scoff at.

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If you're celebrating, happy holiday! If you're not, make these anyway: they really are quite tasty.

Amarettiadapted from Garrett McCord, via Elise Bauer

Note: I found this recipe really near-perfect in terms of flavor and consistency. The only ingredient changes I made were to reflect that fact that kosher for Passover almond flour and bakers' sugar are hard to find. If those aren't concerns, feel free to substitute 2 1/2 cups almond flour for the 3 1/4 cups whole almonds I call for. I also used a tablespoon instead of a teaspoon to measure out the cookies, and liked the texture of these slightly larger bites. The baking time increases slightly for tablespoon-sized cookies: I baked mine 25 minutes for very chewy, 30-35 minutes for crunchy. Oddly, my dough made about 30 tablespoon-sized cookies, which is the same yield in the original recipe.

3 1/4 cups almonds 1 1/4 cups of sugar 3 egg whites 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract (if you can find it) Extra sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 300 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a food processor, grind the almonds until fine. Add sugar, and continue grinding another 30 seconds, until well blended and very fine. Add the vanilla and almond extract (if using) and pulse for a few seconds. Add the egg whites, one at a time, and continue to process until smooth.

Place tablespoons of the dough on the parchment paper and dust with sugar. For chewy cookies, bake for about 25 minutes, when tops are golden brown but cookies are still soft to the touch. For crunchy cookies, bake about 30-35 minutes. Note that cookies will still feel somewhat soft when coming out of the oven - even if you've baked them for the full 35 minutes -- but they will firm up within a day.

Cool completely before serving. Store in a cool, dry place. Makes about 30 cookies.