we’ve gone totally crazy for the grill here in our new place. you know that feeling, on the very last day of school, when you know you’re done for the year, and you’ve got a whole summer of doing whatever you want ahead of you? having a grill makes every day feel like that. there’s nothing more relaxing than lounging in the backyard and cooking up hot dogs and hamburgers, or something a bit more sophisticated, like pizza (that’s right, i’m calling pizza sophisticated).

it’s a little nerve racking throwing pizza dough right on the grill for the first time. i was sure it would fall through the grate, but sure enough, it cooked right up perfectly. the charcoal gives the dough a smokiness you don’t get from a conventional oven, plus the perfect combination of a crispy crust with a soft chewy interior.

here’s an extremely rare shot of me actually cooking. and readers, meet the girl. ain’t she sweet? sorry, no pictures of us together – it was just the two of us, so we had to take shots of each other. she’s a amazing cook and i’m an extremely lucky dude to have her.

look at those grill marks. this crust is about to be topped and tossed back on the grill to finish cooking.

here’s the girl adding a bit of sauce with fresh basil.

as you can see, i’m not a master at making a perfectly round pizza. we’ll just call it “rustic.” this one was topped with barbecue chicken, caramelized onions, mozzarella and more fresh basil. if you’ve never grilled pizza before, or even ever made pizza at home before, it’s actually easier than it looks. have all of your friends over, tell them to bring their favorite toppings, and just keep cooking them up until everyone is too full to move.

it doesn’t hurt to have a few glasses of wine to make the meal complete.

here’s the grilled chicken we added to the pizzas. we’ve been in our new place for 3 weeks, and this is the second time we’ve made this chicken. the girl whipped up a really incredible bbq sauce that caramelizes perfectly and makes the chicken tangy and hot.

hmmm…sausage, caramelized onions, local fresh ricotta, and swiss chard. this one got a helping of mozzarella once it hit the grill a second time. these were so much fun to make (and incredibly delicious), i might do it again this week.

one last thing – the kind folks at washingtonian.com were nice enough to do a little interview with me for their “blogger beat” section, which you can read here. it was totally humbling to get to do it, so i hope you enjoy it. i think i successfully came off looking like a total dork (totally my intention all along). big thanks to washingtonian.com and thanks to all of you for continuing to read this blog and just being generally awesome.

grilled pizza
same crust as the first time i made pizza. find it here.

1.day one: make dough.

2. day two: remove the dough from the fridge 2 hours before making the pizza. dust the counter with flour, place the number of dough balls down you are going to use, and sprinkle with more flour. gently press them into flat disks (about 1/2 inch thick). sprinkle with a bit more flour and cover loosely with plastic wrap. let rest.

3. about 45 minutes before making the pizza, fire up your grill. get it nice and hot. we started a bit earlier so we could grill some bbq chicken to top the pizza. when you’re ready to cook the dough, get all of your toppings ready. you’ll need a place to work quickly.

4. stretch the dough as you normally would (either by tossing or by rolling) and lay it on a cornmeal dusted pizza peel. it should be about 1/4-inch thick (the thinner the dough, the easier it is to cook fully). carefully slide the dough onto the grill. it takes a bit of practice, as working too slow causes the dough to bunch up and fall through the grate.

5. after 2-3 minutes, use a pair of tongs to lift up the dough and check to see if it’s baking. you should see some light grill marks. the top may bubble a bit as well. poke the bubbles with a fork. when it looks done on that side, pull it off the grill onto your pizza peel. flip it over so the uncooked side is down on the pizza peel.

6. quickly dress the cooked side with your toppings. slide the topped pizza back onto the grill to cook the other side. you can put the top on the grill to help melt the cheese. another 2-3 minutes later, check the underside of the pizza to make sure it’s done and remove from the grill. serve/eat immediately.

a week and a half in our new place, and this pie is already the third thing we’ve baked. the very first was a batch of chocolate chip cookies (to test out the oven), followed by blueberry muffins. but this past weekend we had a few people over for a bbq and i knew we had to have a pie. peaches are out in full force in dc right now, and peach pie + ice cream = good times.

now that we’re completely moved in and pretty much settled, we can really start enjoying summer. and now that we have a grill (which we plan to use several times a week), it feels more like summer than ever.

peach pie is one of the simplest pies to make, but also one of the most refreshing and delicious. there are few foods that actually taste like summer, but eating a slice of this pie just makes you feel like school’s out and nothing else matters except for taking a nap in the afternoon sun.

the key to this pie is getting good ripe peaches – once you’ve got that, you can just let the fruit do the work. so, you should probably get on making this pie, like immediately. don’t wait for the weekend – get yourself to the store, or better yet, the farmer’s market, and share the peach pie love now.

peach pie
from How to Cook Everything. makes 6-8 servings, or 1 serving for someone who really loves pie.

2 lbs peaches (6-10 peaches, depending on their size)
1 Tsp lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
2 Tbsp butter, cut into bits
milk, as needed
2 frozen pie crusts (or homemade crusts, i recommend alton brown’s recipe)

1. peel the peaches: bring a pot of water to boil and drop peaches into it, a few at a time, for 10-30 seconds until skins loosen. plunge into a bowl of ice water and slip the peels off. pit, slice and toss skinned peaches with the lemon juice.

2. mix together the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and cornstarch and toss the peaches in the mixture. pile into the ready pie crust, slightly higer in the middle. dot with the bits of butter. roll the second pie crust on top and crimp edges of both crusts together to seal.

3. brush the top crust lightly with milk and sprinkle with sugar. use a sharp knife to cut two or three 2-inch long vent holes in the top crust.

4. place pie plate on a baking sheet (to catch any peach filling that bubbles out) and bake at 450F for 10 minutes, then turn the heat down to 350 and bake for another 40-50 minutes, until pie is golden brown. cool on a rack before serving warm or at room temperature.

in the short history of this blog, i’ve already moved twice. my moves were both in a 3-block radius, but regardless, it’s never an easy thing to do. the girl and i spent the entire weekend moving boxes and bags and furniture and plants into our new place (yes, i said OUR!), and have been too tired to do little more than look at our piles of stuff and imagine what the place will look like once we get enough energy to move anything.

so begins the long journey of figuring out where everything should go. one of the problems we’ve run into already is having doubles of, duh, of kitchen stuff. we were both thoughtful enough to get each other cooking gadgets and pots and pans when we moved into our old places, but now that it’s all combined, there’s just not room for 2 full sets of stainless steel cookware. and what are the odds that we’ll both need to press garlic at the same time? you can see the dilemma.

another issue is that we simply don’t know where everything is yet! not every box is labeled and packing got hastier just before the move, so if i wanted to find, say, a wooden spoon, i’d be hard-pressed to track it down. in lieu of full on cooking (which is actually killing us), we made hot dogs on the bbq (we have a bbq! and a shared backyard!). but enough about the new place. these rhubarb strawberry shortcakes were the very last thing i baked in my old place (the best cookies ever being the last thing i made last time i moved).

everyone is doing things with strawberry and rhubarb this time of year, and i can’t claim that this recipe is anything particularly special, except that it’s really really delicious. it was also my first experience with shortcake. i guess i never saw the point in shortcake before if there was tall cake to be had.

call me a convert, because these little guys are awesome. my only regret was not having whipped cream on hand to make the evening perfect.

i’m going to miss my old place, but i’m excited to fill our new apartment with memories, and more importantly, delicious baked goods. it may be a little while before i’m baking in full swing again, but there’s more to come!

strawberry rhubarb shortcake
makes about 6 shortcakes. shortcake recipe adapted from Alton Brown.

shortcake
1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt
1/2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp butter, at room temperature
1 Tbsp vegetable shortening, at room temperature
3/8 cup half and half

filling
2-3 stalks rhubarb, sliced
1/2 cup sugar, divided
2 Tbsp lemon juice, tsp lemon zest
1 dash cinnamon or nutmeg
3/4 lb strawberries, sliced

1. to make the cakes: combine the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large bowl. cut in the butter and shortening with a pastry cutter (or a fork). mix in the half and half. drop by spoonsfuls onto a baking sheet. brush with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar. bake at 350F for 15 mintues, until golden brown.

2. to make the filling: combine 1/4 cup sugar and strawberries in a bowl. set aside to soften for about 40 minutes. meanwhile, in a saucepan on medium heat, cook the rhubarb down with the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, lemon juice and zest, and cinnamon/nutmeg until it reaches a jam like consistency. combine the rhubarb and strawberries and mix together.

3. halve the shortcakes and top with the filling while still warm (or chill the filling and then serve).

all of the best foods have “bizzaro” versions: regular pizza has dessert pizza, apple pie has chicken pot pie, and monkey bread has…savory monkey bread (though if you’re looking for a really good sweet monkey bread recipe, go HERE). this works out great, because while i have a serious sweet tooth, the girl usually prefers more savory flavors.

just like sweet monkey bread, the dough is a cinch to bring together. i used green onion and parley with a bit of greyere cheese, but any combination of herbs works. i could see adding some crumbled bacon as well…

when we were kids, the best part of making monkey bread was tearing it into tiny pieces and rolling it in cinnamon and sugar. with savory monkey bread, you roll the pieces in herb butter.

then you arrange all the dough pieces in a pan, and brush them with more butter. right before baking, you give it yet another brush of butter. i guess it goes without saying, but the finished monkey bread is incredibly buttery and rich. this would be great dish to just put out and snack on with some friends.

i wanted to give a gigantic shout out to everyone who donated to the susan g komen breast cancer 5k last week. if it was possible for me to give hugs through the internet, please know that i would. it was a fun event and you all really came through. you guys are the best.

and finally, i think i mentioned briefly last week that i was moving soon – well it’s happening this weekend. i’m saying goodbye to my current kitchen and hello to my new one. pro: i now have a dishwasher! con: i now have an electric range. it may take some time to adjust.

cheesy, savory monkey bread
adapted from Chris Pandel’s Monkey Bread with Dill, Butter and Sea Salt. makes one loaf pan full.

2 Tbsp warm water
1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
2 1/4 cups flour
1/3 tsp salt
1/2 cup whole milk
1 egg
1 Tbsp plus 4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted (keep them separate)
3 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
3 Tbsp spring onion, chopped
2 cups grated gruyere cheese

1. mix yeast, sugar, and warm water in a small mixing bowl. set aside for ten minutes to allow yeast to proof (bubbles will form at the surface).

2. mix flour and salt in large mixing bowl. set bowl on mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment (or use a spoon and some elbow grease). with the mixer set on medium speed, slowly add the proofed yeast mixture to the dry ingredients, followed by the milk, egg, and 1 Tbsp melted butter. add 1 Tbsp of the parsley, 1 Tbsp of the onion and 1 cup of the cheese.

3. mix on medium speed just until the dough releases from the side of the bowl, about 6-to-8 minutes. knead dough together lightly with your hands. transfer dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm place. allow dough to rise for 25-30 minutes.

4. after 30 minutes, punch dough down and roll into balls, about 1 inch in diameter. mix 4 Tbsp of the melted butter with the remaining parsley, spring onion and gruyere, roll balls in the mixture, and arrange in a lightly greased loaf pans. allow loaves to rise once more in a warm spot for 30 minutes.

5. Brush loaves again with melted butter. Bake in a 375F oven for 35 minutes, brushing twice throughout the baking with any remaining melted butter. serve monkey bread hot out of the oven.

View Washingtonian Cheap Eats 2009 in a larger map

for reference, the green tabs are places we’ve been and liked, the yellow are places we’ve been and would maybe give another shot, and the red tabs are places we hated. the blue tabs are all the places we haven’t been. i know, i know, we never go out.

if you’ve got a few hours to kill on a sunday afternoon, why not whip up some pasta? hold on, you’ve never made fresh pasta? it’s easy – here, i’ll show you. now you have no excuse.

take 2 cups flour and pour it out on a work surface. form it into a little volcano. add 1 tsp salt in the middle. now things are about to get messy (and fun).

crack 3 eggs into the middle (or crack 1, mix, crack another, mix, etc). carefully mix the flour with the egg, being sure not to break the edge of the flour volcano. you can use a fork to start, but after a few minutes, get your hands in there and really work the dough.

after a bit of mixing and kneading, you’ll end up with this. if the dough is too wet, add a touch of flour. if it’s too dry, sprinkle in some drops of cold water.

divide the dough into a few pieces and run them through a pasta maker. if you’re without a pasta maker, use a rolling pin to get it as thin as possible. it will take some time and elbow grease, but eventually you can get it to about 1/16-inch thick (or thinner). the dough will be springy, so it’s best to work on one piece for a while, let it rest while you work on the next, and just move through each one until little by little until it’s thin.

loosely roll the dough up jelly-roll style and cut them into small rolls. sprinkle some dust on the pasta rolls and unroll them into long strands. don’t worry about tearing it – the dough is surprisingly resilient. from here, you can cook this up immediately or hang it on a rack of some kind (a laundry rack will do) to dry. when you’re ready to cook, only boil the pasta for 3-4 minutes at most. i suggest serving it with creamy caramelized leeks and crispy bacon. that’s what i made, but, true story, i couldn’t get a good picture of it before i ate it all. yes, it was awesome.

quick reminder – there’s still time to sponsor my upcoming 5k for the susan g. komen breast cancer foundation. to everyone who has already donated, i can’t thank you enough. to those who would like to donate, please click here and then click on the “donate to pete” button.

fresh pasta with creamy caramelized leeks and bacon
you can make the pasta ahead of time and let it dry while you start the leeks and bacon. serves 2-3. pasta recipe from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything.

pasta
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
3 eggs

sauce
2 leeks, diced
3 Tbsp butter
4 slices thick-cut bacon, diced
1/3 cup heavy cream

1. form a small volcano with the flour and put the salt in the middle. crack the eggs into the flour and mix. work the dough with your hands until you have a firm ball of dough. add more flour if too sticky, or a sprinkle of water if too dry.

2. roll the dough through a pasta maker or with a rolling pin until very thin (less than 1/16-inch thick). roll up jelly roll style and cut into tiny rolls. sprinkle with flour and unravel rolls into long pasta strands. hang on a rack to dry or cook right away.

3. put on a large pot of water to boil. dice the bacon into small chunks and cook in a large saucepan on medium-low. dice the leeks into small pieces and cook in a smaller saucepan with the butter on low heat. when the leeks become limp and transluscent, transfer them to the saucepan with the bacon.

4. when the water boils, cook the pasta for 3-4 minutes. meanwhile, add the cream to the bacon-leek mixture and stir around. once the pasta is cooked, spoon some directly into the creamy bacon and leeks. ladle some pasta water into the saucepan as well (contrary to popular belief, pasta water is great!). toss to coat the pasta with the sauce. serve immediately with crusty bread on the side.

before i moved down to dc, i spent 4 years at school in baltimore. people say a lot of disparaging things about baltimore (most of which are based entirely on episodes of the wire), and granted, it did take a while for me to warm up to the city, but looking back it was a really incredible place to live. one of the things i miss most about baltimore is the food.

there’s akbar, with its excellent all-you-can-eat lunch buffet that exposed me to all sorts of new indian dishes, and sterlings, a literal hole in the wall seafood joint near my old house that still stirs up hunger pangs when i think about their crab cake sandwiches. by the way, i lived just around the corner from charm city cakes, duff goldman’s bakery on the food network’s ace of cakes (we never got the nerve to actually go in).

one of my fondest food memories is of vaccaro’s, an italian pastry shop located in the inner harbor’s little italy neighborhood. a two-story sit-down bakery and cafe, it’s a great place to end a night if you’re in the mood for authentic gelati or tiramisu. if you want the most for your money though, go on a monday night, where $12.95 will get you ALL YOU CAN EAT AND DRINK (alcohol excluded)

the game wasn’t merely to see if you could eat $12.95 worth of desserts, coffees, smoothies and gelati (that could be achieved in about 15 minutes). the real fun came from seeing just how far we could go in the 3 hours they give you to order. my personal best was somewhere between $30 and $40, but i watched others approach $60 in eclairs, amaretti cookies, cheesecake, and yes, cannolis.

luckily vaccaro’s has a branch here in dc, although it’s just a stand in the union station food court. still, i can satisfy my cravings if need be.

but the only thing better than buying a fresh cannoli is making one of your own. and get this – it’s really not as hard as you think! most recipes i found for the cannoli filling included some kind of flavoring with the ricotta. after making a batch of orange-tinged filling, i made another batch with nothing but ricotta and a touch of confectioner’s sugar. i definitely preferred the more stripped down filling, but then again, i could probably just eat a tub of ricotta for dinner and be happy.

the hardest part of the whole process is getting the dough really thin, and this is where a pasta roller could come in handy. but i didn’t let that small snag keep me from enjoying more than one of these cannolis.

one last thing: i’m going to be running in a 5k on june 6 to benefit the susan g. komen breast cancer foundation. i would be eternally humbled if you could be generous enough to sponsor me, even if it’s just a few pennies. every dollar really does count, so you can click here and hit the “donate to pete” button  to donate if you are so inclined. thank you!

cannolis
makes 16 servings.

shells
2 1/2 cups flrou
1 1/2 eggs plus 2 yolks
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup marsala
1 egg white, beaten
oil, for frying

filling
1 lb whole milk ricotta, drained
3 Tbsp confectioner’s sugar
1/4 lemon, juiced (optional)
1/2 tsp vanilla (optional)
2 tsp orange rind, grated (optional)
mini chocolate chips (optional)

1. make the shells: place the flour on a work surface and make a well in the center. place eggs, yolks, butter and marsala in the well and combine with a fork. gradually incorporate the flour, little by little. knead the dough until smooth, about 10 minutes. let rest, covered with a damp cloth, about 30 minutes in the refrigerator. roll the dough very thin and cut into 4-inch circles (i used a tupperware lid).

2. loosely wrap the dough circles around the cannoli tubes and seal the overlap with beaten egg white. deep fry at 325F until golden brown. remove from oil and carefully slide off the tubes. cool on a wire rack.

3. for the filling, drain the ricotta in a cheesecloth-lined colander in the refrigerator for at least an hour (overnight works best). whip in the confectioner’s sugar with a fork. just adding sugar keeps the ricotta flavor very pure, but for a more varied flavor, add the lemon juice, vanilla and orange rind.

4. in a pasty bag (or a sandwich bag with the corner snipped), pipe the filling into the shells just before serving. sprinkle with chocolate chips and dust with confectioner’s sugar.

not only has it been a while since i last posted (sorry), it’s been a long while since i’ve made bread from scratch (double sorry). i had convinced myself that i would try to make fresh bread each week so i could stop buying it from the grocery store, but it’s proven harder to keep up than i thought.

luckily, baking bread is like riding a bike in that the old mixing, kneading and shaping methods become instantly familiar again once you dive in. it felt good to be throwing flour all over the counter again and making a giant mess.

i was lucky to get a few brotforms for my birthday and this seemed like a great opportunity to test one out. a brotform is essentially a bowl with ridges that helps shape and create designs on the dough during the final proofing. since these pieces of dough were pretty small, the effect was less dramatic than i had hoped, but it looked cool nonetheless. next time i need to remember to dust the inside of the brotform with whole wheat flour instead of unbleached white, because the whole wheat is much easier to get out. afterward. susan at wild yeast blog has a must-read tutorial on brotforms that i consulted more than once.

oooh, see how pretty?

here i tried another technique where you snip the top of the dough with kitchen shears to make the whole thing look like a hedgehog. i had never done it before, but i think it’s usually reserved for smaller dinner rolls instead of entire loaves. oh well!

after a long day of apartment hunting (more on that later), it felt great to open the oven to find these beauties ready to be sliced and slathered with butter or sweet pea puree – delicious! pain de campagne is an all-purpose french bread (literally countryside bread) that has no one single recipe – it allows for a lot of experimentation using different fours and rising methods,  so it’s a good way to play around and learn.

the hedgehog bread came out looking and tasting great, but those spikes were surprisingly sharp. like cut your finger/mouth open sharp. i may have to refine my technique next time.

pain de campagne
from Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. makes 3 loaves.

pate fermentee
1 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/8 cups unbleached bread flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp instant yeast
3/4 cup water, at room temperature

final dough
3 cups pate fermentee
1 3/4 cups unbleached bread flour
1/3 cup whole-wheat or rye flour
3/4 tsp instant yeast
3/4 cup water, lukewarm
semolina flour or cornmeal for dusting

1. day one: make the pate fermentee: stir together the flours, salt an yeast in a large bowl (or in a stand mixer). add 3/4 cup of the water, stirring until everything comes together and makes a coarse ball. adjust the flour or water so the dough is not too sticky or too stiff.

2. transfer the dough to a counter sprinkled with flour and knead for 4-6 minutes. lightly oil a bowl, transfer the dough to the bowl, roll around to coat with oil. cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour. remove the dough from the bowl, knead it lightly, return it to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator overnight.

3. day two: remove the pate fermentee from the fridge 1 hour before making the dough. cut it into about 10 small pieces and cover with a towel or plastic wrap and let sit for 1 hour to take off the chill.

4. stir together the flours, salt, yeast and pate fermentee in a large bowl (or stand mixer). add the water, stirring until everyting comes togerther and makes a coarse ball. the dough should be soft and pliable. transfer the dough to a floured counter and knead for 8-10 minutes. lightly oil a bowl, transfer the dough to the bowl, roll around to coat with oil. cover with plastic wrap and ferment at room temperature for 2 hours, until the dough doubles in size.

5. sprinkle flour on the counter and gently transfer the dough. divide into 3 pieces. shape the dough into your desired shape. sprinkle baking sheets with semolina flour or cornmeal and transfer the dough to the pans. mist the dough with spray oil and loosely cover with plastic wrap. let rise for 1 hour. preheat the oven to 500F (with your baking stone inside if you are using one) and place a steam pan on an oven shelf beneath where the loaves will bake.

6. slide the dough to your baking stone or place the baking sheets directly in the oven. pour 1 cup of hot water into the steam pan and close the oven door. after 30 seconds, spray the oven walls with water and close the door. repeat twice more at 30-second intervals. after the final spray, lower the oven setting to 450F and continue baking for 10 minutes. if necessary, rotate the loaves 180 degrees for even baking. continue to bake for 10-15 more minutes. they should be a rich golden brown all around. the bread should sound hollow when thumped on the bottom.

7. transfer the bread to a cooling rack. allow the bread to cool for at least 40 minutes before slicing or serving.

can we all agree that winter dragged on for far too long this year? in dc, we’ve been eagerly awaiting spring, but instead we skipped straight to summer – literally a 40 degree temperature change over one week. at this point, it’s easier to just accept the weather.

the only problem is, skipping over spring means less time to find delicious rhubarb. to be honest, i’d only used rhubarb one time before this, in a traditional strawberry rhubarb pie, but earlier this week i had the pleasure of guest-judging a foodie fight where the ingredients were rhubarb and coriander, so my eyes have been opened to some more creative preparation.

but i love sweets, so i had to try this tart with an orange glaze that ended up being so good, after a huge dinner and swearing we would only split a piece, it disappeared in a matter of minutes. it’s sweet without being cloying, and tempered perfectly by the puff pastry. the only drawback is that the glaze is incredibly sticky, so be careful you don’t, say, drop a piece sticky side down on yourself. i suggest enjoying this tart on your front stoop (if you’ve got one), watching the last minutes of sunlight dip below the horizon on a warm spring/summer evening. romantic, eh?

rhubarb tart with orange glaze
makes 8 servings. from Epicurious.com.

1 cup fresh orange juice
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 lb rhubarb stalks, thinly sliced diagonally (1/8 inch)
1 sheet frozen puff pastry (from a 17 1/4-ounces package), thawed
1/2 tsp grated orange zest

1. preheat oven to 400F with rack in middle. stir together orange juice, lime juice, and sugar in a bowl. add rhubarb and let stand, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes.

2. meanwhile, cut pastry in half lengthwise, then roll out each piece into an 11-by 7-inch rectangle on a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin. arrange pastry rectangles side by side on an ungreased large baking sheet. make a 1/2-inch border around each pastry rectangle by lightly scoring a line parallel to each edge (do not cut all the way through). prick pastry inside border all over with a fork (also called “docking,” this helps the pastry from puffing in the middle so the filling stays in).

3. strain rhubarb mixture through a sieve set over a bowl, reserving liquid.top 1 pastry rectangle (within border) with half of rhubarb, overlapping slices slightly. repeat with remaining pastry and rhubarb. bake until pastry is puffed and golden (underside of pastry should also be golden), about 30 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, boil reserved rhubarb liquid in a small saucepan, skimming foam if necessary, until reduced to about 1/4 cup, 15 to 18 minutes. transfer tarts to a rack. Brush rhubarb and pastry with glaze and sprinkle with zest.

over the weekend, i engaged in deadly (not really) food battle against nick! if anyone reading this blog doesn’t know who nick is, you need to get to know him. nick runs an amazing blog called macheesmo, where among many other things, he allows other bloggers to challenge him to a cook-off. i was psyched to find out that he accepted my challenge and the ingredients were chosen: lamb and leeks. read my post, then find out what nick made, and then vote for your favorite at the end of this post.

my head was swimming with possibilities, so i bought a few different cuts of lamb – shoulder and butterflied leg. i ended up combining them to make a great ground lamb mixture in the food processor. but what would i do with all this ground lamb?

dish 1: lamb sliders with caramelized leek jam. i decided on a mediterranean flavored slider, so i mixed the lamb with feta cheese, mint and garlic.

i quickly shaped the patties and set them in the fridge to firm up while i tackled the next dish.

here’s a nice picture of leeks to break up the photos of raw lamb. next up…

dish 2: lamb in a slanket with leek yogurt sauce. once i had the sliders going, i got inspired to make more lamb-ified bar food. lamb in a slanket are basically pigs in a blanket, except made of lamb, and indian-spiced. i mixed together ground corriander, curry powder, ginger, cinnamon, cliantro and a few other spices and shaped the lamb into mini-hot-dog shapes.

these are about to get wrapped in pillsbury crescent roll dough.

now the leeks! the first topping to make was the leek jam, which is leeks cooked down with butter and cream until it’s an incredibly thick and rich sauce.

the next sauce was a leek yogurt sauce for the lamb in a slanket. i was looking for something refreshing and cool to match up with the spices. leeks have a pretty mild flavor, but it still came through in the sauce.

here’s the assembled meal – one thing i didn’t get pictures of was the making of the crispy fried leeks. i dipped strips of leek in tempura batter and quickly fried them until crispy. the whole thing came together nicely, and everything was delicious.

the bonus to this food battle was actually getting to MEET nick face to face so we could try each other’s dishes. he and betsy were kind enough to host the girl and me over so we could feast and swap stories (oh the crazy lives food bloggers live). it was awesome to hang out and i can tell you that nick is just as generous, funny and talented as it appears on his blog.

finally, here’s a sneak peek at what nick made (it was great!).

lamb sliders with leek jam, lambs in a slanket with leek yogurt sauce and crispy fried leeks

lamb sliders
1 lb ground lamb (half shoulder, half leg mix)
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
2 Tbsp minced mint leaves
2 cloves crushed garlic
salt and pepper
slider buns

lambs in a slanket
1 lb ground lamb (half shoulder, half leg mix)
1 tsp toasted and crushed coriander seeds
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbp minced cilantro
2 tsp curry powder
2 tsp chili powder
1 1/2 tsp crushed ginger
salt and pepper
1 tube pillsbury crescent rolls

caramelized leek jam
1 leek, chopped
3 Tbsp butter
1/3 cup heavy cream

leek yogurt sauce
1 leek, sliced into long flat strips
olive oil to coat
1/2 cup yogurt
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 clove garlic, minced

crispy fried leeks
1 leek, sliced into short flat strips
3/4 cup ice water
1 cup tempura mix

1. to make the sliders: mix the feta, mint, garlic and a healthy sprinkle of salt and pepper with 1 lb ground lamb. shape into small patties without overworking the meat (overworking it will cause the burgers to be tough). refrigerate until ready to cook, or grill immediately. serve on a little bun with leek jam.

2. to make the lambs in a slanket: mix all of the spices with 1 lb ground lamb. shape into small mini-hot-dog sized sausages. heat a pan to medium-high and cook just until browned on the outside in a few teaspoons oil. do not cook all the way through. allow lamb to cool. unroll tube crescent rolls and cut each biscuit into 3 small triangles. wrap 1 sausage in 1 small dough triangle and bake at 375F for about 10 minutes (until rolls are browned). serve with leek yogurt sauce.

3. to make the leek jam: in a small saucepan, cook leeks with butter until they cook down and become translucent. add cream and bring to a simmer. turn heat to low and put a lid on the pot. cook until you are left with a thick and creamy jam.

4. to make the leek yogurt sauce: toss the leek slices in olive oil and place on a hot grill pan to quickly heat. cook until leeks become limp. remove from pan and place in a food processor with remaining ingredients. cover and refrigerate before serving.

5. to make the crispy fried leeks: stir the tempura mix into the ice water just until large chunks of flour disappear. dip each piece of leek into the batter to lightly coat. fry in deep fryer or in hot oil in saucepan until tempura just browns.