Spring Sauté with New Potatoes, Peas, Leeks & Artichokes

Really, any excuse to eat artichokes is valid in my book, at any time of year. In the winter and early spring, this means making do with canned or marinated artichokes. I say "making do" because the alternative is fresh, but marinated artichokes aren’t necessary lesser than their fresh counterpart. Just different.

So while artichokes aren't ready to be harvested yet, the canned variety still feels perfect in this moment. Leeks, with a mellow onion flavor, get caramelized in the bottom of the pan until they're sweet. Young potatoes and peas add a light starchiness to this dish -- making it satisfying on soggy spring days (it has been raining here all week) or warm ones.

Hope you enjoy! 

Spring Sauté with New Potatoes, Peas, Leeks & Artichokes

Published May 24, 2018 by Caitlin Sherwood

Serves: 4   |    Total Time: 20 minutes

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Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon butter or coconut oil
• 1 leek, roots and dark green pieces removed, and washed well
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 cup diced young potatoes
• 1 cup fresh or frozen english peas
• 1 cup canned artichoke hearts, halved or quartered, drained
• Salt & ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Heat butter/oil in a medium sized skillet over medium heat.
2. Slice leek into thin rounds, and add to pan. Sauté until leeks are softened.
3. Add minced garlic, diced potatoes, and peas to the pan, and cover. Cook, stirring every 3-4 minutes, until potatoes are softened through.
4. Add artichoke hearts and cook for 2 minutes more, until artichokes are warmed through. Season to taste with salt & pepper and serve hot.

Grilled Lamb Shoulder Chop with Strawberry Mint Truffle Sauce (Paleo)

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As many of you know, I’ve been working my way through old recipes, giving them an update here and there. A month ago, it was this Moroccan Carrot Salad. Today, it’s this lamb recipe, which was originally published in 2014. Oh how much has changed in three years! We were house sitting for my mom when I made this recipe, her strawberry garden providing much of the inspiration. We’ve since moved three times: into a rental apartment, and then another, and finally, into our own home. I don’t currently have a strawberry patch, but revisiting this recipe has made me seriously consider adding one, despite the fact that strawberry plants are super aggressive —verging on invasive here. So, I used store-bought strawberries, which are at their peak right now. They were so juicy and sweet. If you haven’t tried this one, I know you’re going to love it! The rest of this post is the original post from 2014 (with new images). 

It's a battle. A fight for spring's sweetest bounty and a race against the clock. Has anyone else failed to pick a single strawberry this season? I certainly have. It's not that I haven't tried. On the contrary, I've been eyeballing those berries since they were white flower buds. The problem is, I'm not the only one with a sweet tooth. 

Oh no, its seems that every being wants a share of these berries: the robins living in the tree, the chip monk--or was that a mouse?- and probably my own cat. They all have cheeks full of sweet strawberry pulp. Can you blame them? Strawberries on the vine are pretty much juicy summer in a bite.

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For the first time this summer, I took what I could get. After savoring the second bite of this grilled lamb with strawberry sauce, I understood what the animals in the yard were so excited about. Garden-fresh strawberries are good. Really good. 

This recipe showcases our garden's strawberries and mint (which I have no trouble harvesting--that stuff grows like weeds!). The truffle oil and strawberries play on the sweet earthiness of the lamb while the lemon and mint bring it to life!

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Grilled Lamb Shoulder Chop with Strawberry Mint + Truffle (Paleo)

Published Jun 23, 2014 by Caitlin Sherwood

Serves: 2   |    Total Time: 20 minutes

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Ingredients:

For the Lamb:
• 2 Lamb shoulder chops
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder OR 1 garlic clove, minced fine
• 1/8 teaspoon salt 
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper 

For the Strawberry Mint Truffle Topping:
• 1/2 cup fresh ripe strawberries, diced small
• 1/4 cup minced fresh mint leaves
• 1/4 of a red onion, minced
• 1 teaspoon truffle oil
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• Sea salt (to taste)
• Ground black pepper (to taste)

Directions:

1. Turn grill to high. While it heats, prepared the lamb: Season both sides of the lamb with garlic, salt and pepper. Place on grill, and close the lid. Cook for three minutes and flip, cooking for three more minutes (about a minutes less for rare, a minute or two more for well done). Remove from heat and turn off grill. Note: you can also do this in a large skillet. Heat your skillet over medium-high heat and grease with cooking oil. Cook lamb chops for 3 minutes on each side.
2. Make the topping: Combine diced strawberries, minced red onion, minced mint, truffle oil, olive oil, and lemon juice in a bowl. Stir, and season with salt & pepper to taste.
3. Serve lamb chops hot with strawberry mint truffle mixture on top.

Chewy Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies (Gluten-Free & Grain-Free)

If you make any cookie from this blog, let it be this one. I might regret saying that later, but it's how I feel now and what's a blog if not in-the-moment. 

While I've used a lot of nut and seed butters in baking before, tahini is something special in a cookie. 

First let me say that I love thin, chewy, fresh-out-of-the-oven-soft cookies. Gooey. Warm. Indulgence. That what makes tahini ideal: its consistency and fat content allows it to spread out into a thin cookie, and even as the cookies cool they never get crispy. They maintain that soft, chewy bite for days. 

Coconut sugar is also necessary here -- it's not something I usually use, opting for maple syrup or honey in most of my baking - but a crystalized sugar helps to glue the cookies together, so that everything doesn't just fall apart when you pick them up. So you can dip your cookie in a shot of espresso, or a glass of milk or cup of tea. 

Chewy Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies

Published May 17, 2018 by Caitlin Sherwood

Serves: 20   |    Total Time: 30 minutes

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Ingredients:

• 1 cup coconut sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt 
• 1 cup tahini (stirred well)
• 1 tablespoon vanilla 
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup chopped dark chocolate bar (about 2 ounces)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine coconut sugar, baking soda, and salt. Whisk briefly.
3. Add tahini, vanilla, and egg to bowl, and use a spatula to stir until a stiff, sticky batter forms. Fold in chopped chocolate.
4. Optional: place bowl of batter in the fridge for 10 minutes to allow dough to stiffen a bit more.
5. Using your hands, roll dough into spheres by the heaping tablespoonful. Place spheres 2 inches apart of a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and flatted slightly with your fingers.
6. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until cookies have spread and are golden. Cookies will still be quite soft when you remove them from the oven. Allow them to cool at least 10 minutes before attempting to move them to a cooling wrack or a plate.