Spring is a time for renewal — and spring cleaning. So away with the greasy recipe cards that you use over and over, or the dog-eared cookbooks with stains on the pages. Sometimes you simply must try new recipes, which I hope have the potential to be added to your rotation of reliable and tasty recipes.
Let’s start with a new twist on shepherd’s pie. This dish is traditionally made with lamb or mutton, but if we rethink it as a highly flavored savory pie made with Italian sausage and pesto-flavored mashed potatoes, you will have trouble keeping leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch.
Roasted cauliflower is a dish that can be a serious disappointment even when it looks beautiful. And it can be a very complicated to get it tender enough to eat. But when it is good, it is delicious — the flavors concentrated and unctuous. This version uses the microwave to precook the cauliflower before popping it into the oven. It comes out roasted and tender every time.
And what could be better than fresh blueberries and lemon pound cake? This cake is not too sweet and has a nice texture. The blueberries are suspended throughout the cake, so every bite is both blueberry sweet and lemon tart.
Your spring cleaning of your recipe box will have been worth it when you add these three recipes.
Shepherd’s pie at the home of Liz Williams in Chalmette, Tuesday, March 12, 2024. (Staff photo by Brett Duke, The Times-Picayune)
Shepherd’s Pie
Makes 4 servings.
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 pound Italian sausage meat (you can remove uncooked sausage from the casing or buy it uncased by the pound)
1 large zucchini, coarsely grated
1 cup chopped mushrooms
5 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup red wine
1 to 3 teaspoons Italian seasoning (depending on the degree of seasoning in the sausage)
TOPPING:
1 pound new potatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
6-ounce jar pesto
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Add the olive oil to a heavy skillet and heat to medium. Remove the sausage meat from the casing and cook, making sure to break up the meat until it is loose, like ground meat. Cook for 6 or 7 minutes until just done. Add the zucchini, mushrooms and garlic. Stir well and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add the wine and seasoning. Bring to a simmer and set aside.
4. Cut the potatoes into quarters without peeling them. Steam or boil the potatoes. When they are done, drain the potatoes. Mash the potatoes roughly with a potato masher. Add the olive oil, salt and pepper, pesto and cheese. Mix well. Place the mashed potatoes over the prepared meat to cover the entire top of the skillet like a pie crust. Place the pie into the preheated oven for 30 minutes.
5. Remove the pie from the oven and allow it to rest for at least 5 minutes before serving. Serve with more grated cheese on the table.
Cauliflower roasted at the home of Liz Williams in Chalmette, Tuesday, March 12, 2024. (Staff photo by Brett Duke, The Times-Picayune)
Roasted Cauliflower
Serves 4.
1 large cauliflower
3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon Spanish smoked paprika
1. Preheat oven to 325 F.
2. Trim the leaves off the cauliflower but leave the stem. Cut the cauliflower into eighths, but don’t cut all the way through the stem. Let the eighths fall open like a flower and place in large plate, like a pie plate, that is both microwave-safe and oven-safe.
3. Paint all the surfaces of the cauliflower with the olive oil. Salt and pepper the cauliflower. Cover the cauliflower tightly with microwave-safe plastic wrap. Cook for 5 minutes in the microwave at high power.
4. Remove the plastic wrap. If the cauliflower is dry, add more olive oil with the brush and cook in the oven for 30 minutes until the cauliflower is brown on the outside and tender on the inside. Place it on the table in the blossom form for show. Sprinkle with the paprika right before cutting.
Blueberry lemon cake at the home of Liz Williams in Chalmette, Tuesday, March 12, 2024. (Staff photo by Brett Duke, The Times-Picayune)
Lemon Blueberry Cake
Makes two loaves or one Bundt-pan-sized cake.
2 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Zest of one lemon
8 ounces (1 cup) olive oil (You may use 8 ounces softened butter, but the olive oil makes a fruitier cake)
1 3/4 cup sugar
6 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup whole milk
Juice of one lemon (This should be about ¼ cup of juice. Juice your lemon into a ¼ cup measure. If you are short, add just a bit of water to top off the juice.)
1 cup blueberries
1. Preheat oven to 325 F.
2. Prepare a Bundt pan by spraying a product with oil and flour to coat the inside of the pan.
3. Mix the flour, baking powder, salt and lemon zest in a bowl. Set this aside.
4. Beat the oil and sugar in an electric mixer for at least 3 minutes to aerate the oil. Keep the speed at medium and add the eggs, one at a time, beating at least 30 seconds before adding the next egg. Add the vanilla.
5. On low, add 1/3 of the flour mixture, 1/3 of the milk, and 1/3 of the lemon juice. Repeat in this order until all the flour, milk and lemon juice is just incorporated. Do not overbeat. Pour in the blueberries and mix in by hand. Pour the batter into a prepared pan and place in the preheated oven for 65-70 minutes.
6. You can use two loaf pans, prepared with the oil and flour spray, instead of a Bundt pan. If you use loaf pans, reduce baking time to 35 minutes and check for a clean skewer. If the skewer shows that the cake is not done, give it 10 more minutes.
7. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then loosen the sides and invert the cake. Allow to cool on a rake for at least an hour before cutting.
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8. Serve plain or with whipped cream.
