I do a lot of canning and pickling, and I love seafood. So color me surprised when I came across a recipe that combined both that I hadn’t heard of before: pickled shrimp.
Think of it as a Southern-style ceviche. Shrimp are marinated–essentially pickled–in a tart, citrusy brine with garlic, onions, spices and a thick layer of olive oil. If you’re one of those people who like to drink pickle brine like I am, you’ll love sipping from this jar in front of the fridge late at night.
Memorial Day means picnics! We’re heading down to a park and/or beach tomorrow to chow down al fresco and play some frisbee or washers or something. So that means it’s time to come up with food that travels well and is easy to eat. We’re having fried chicken, cilantro pesto pasta salad, hummus and pita, watermelon and lemon bundt cake.
This bundt cake (courtesy Cook’s Illustrated) is perfect for summer. It’s light and slightly crunchy on the outside the day you make it, but it gets denser as the days go on, similar to a pound cake. It’s got lots of fresh lemon flavor.
Lemon Bundt Cake
Cake
3 lemons , zest grated and saved, then juiced for 3 tablespoons juice
3 c unbleached all-purpose flour (15 ounces)
1 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 t table salt
1 t vanilla extract
3/4 c low-fat buttermilk
3 large eggs , at room temperature
1 large egg yolk , at room temperature
18 T unsalted butter (2 1/4 sticks), at room temperature
2 c sugar (14 ounces)
Glaze
2 – 3 T fresh lemon juice
1 T buttermilk
2 c confectioners’ sugar
1. FOR THE CAKE: Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 12-cup Bundt pan with nonstick baking spray with flour (alternatively, brush pan with mixture of 1 tablespoon flour and 1 tablespoon melted butter). Mince lemon zest to fine paste (you should have about 2 tablespoons). Combine zest and lemon juice in small bowl; set aside to soften, 10 to 15 minutes.
2. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in large bowl. Combine lemon juice mixture, vanilla, and buttermilk in medium bowl. In small bowl, gently whisk eggs and yolk to combine. In standing mixer fitted with flat beater, cream butter and sugar at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes; scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula. Reduce to medium speed and add half of eggs, mixing until incorporated, about 15 seconds. Repeat with remaining eggs; scrape down bowl again. Reduce to low speed; add about one-third of flour mixture, followed by half of buttermilk mixture, mixing until just incorporated after each addition (about 5 seconds). Repeat using half of remaining flour mixture and all of remaining buttermilk mixture. Scrape bowl and add remaining flour mixture; mix at medium-low speed until batter is thoroughly combined, about 15 seconds. Remove bowl from mixer and fold batter once or twice with rubber spatula to incorporate any remaining flour. Scrape into prepared pan.
3. Bake until top is golden brown and wooden skewer or toothpick inserted into center comes out with no crumbs attached, 45 to 50 minutes.
4. FOR THE GLAZE: While cake is baking, whisk 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 
buttermilk, and confectioners’ sugar until smooth, adding more lemon juice gradually as needed until glaze is thick but still pourable (mixture should leave faint trail across bottom of mixing bowl when drizzled from whisk). Cool cake in pan on wire rack set over baking sheet for 10 minutes, then invert cake directly onto rack. Pour half of glaze over warm cake and let cool for 1 hour; pour remaining glaze evenly over top of cake and continue to cool to room temperature, at least 2 hours. Cut into slices and serve.
Avgolemono is a Greek lemon and egg soup, usually with a base of chicken stock.
It’s a perfect soup for a number of reasons:
Creamy but with no dairy products – lactose intolerant friendly
Can be made with veggie stock – vegetarian friendly
Super fast and only 5 ingredients – everyone friendly
The only unfriendly bit about this is the amount of eggs if you’re watching your cholesterol. I imagine you could cut down on the amount of egg yolks in the recipe if you’re concerned about it. It really only works out to about 1-2 eggs per serving, though.
Avgolemono
~12 c chicken broth or stock
7 lemons
10 eggs
1 1/2 cups rice
fresh dill for garnish
1. Bring your broth or stock to a simmer and add your rice. Cook until the rice is almost tender, about 5 minutes before it’s finished.
2. Crack your eggs into a large bowl. Juice the lemons into the bowl (through a sieve, watch out for pits!). Whisk that together well, and let it sit and come to room temperature before you proceed.
3. When the rice is almost tender and the eggs are room temperature, temper the eggs by adding a ladle of hot broth while whisking constantly. Keep adding ladles of broth one by one while whisking until you have double the liquid in the bowl than you started with. The egg mixture should now be hot.
4. Add the tempered eggs back into the pot of broth and simmer gently until the rice is fully cooked and the soup has thickened. Top with snipped dill to serve.
I don’t roast chickens much, but this was a pretty good one that I might do again when the roast chicken bug bites. It’s adapted from a Cook’s Illustrated recipe.
Herbed Roast Chicken
1 whole chicken, about 5 pounds, cleaned and trimmed of excess fat
1 T fresh thyme leaves, minced
6 scallions, green parts only, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 T butter, softened
zest of 1 lemon
1/4 t salt
For the pan sauce:
1 c chicken broth
2 t flour
juice from half of a lemon
1.Preheat oven to 450 F. Butterfly the chicken by cutting out the backbone, then flattening the breastbone. Make 3-4 shallow cuts on legs and thighs.
2. Mix butter, scallions, thyme, garlic, zest and salt in a small bowl. Slip fingers between muscle and skin of the chicken, forming a pocket. Smoosh half of butter mixture under the skin and spread around. Rub more on the skin of the chicken, reserving 1 T of the mixture.
3. Heat vegetable in ovensafe 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Place chicken skin-side down in skillet and reduce heat to medium. Cook until lightly browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer skillet to oven and roast chicken 25 minutes.
4. Using tongs, flip chicken so skin-side is facing up. Using spoon or spatula, evenly coat chicken skin with remaining softened herb butter and return to oven. Roast chicken until skin is golden brown and chicken breast registers 160 degrees and 175 degrees in thickest part of thigh, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer chicken to carving board and let rest, uncovered, 20 minutes.
5. To make the sauce, return the pan to medium heat. Whisk in the flour. Add the chicken broth and simmer to thicken, about 5 minutes, while scraping the brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice and reserved herb butter. Serve over chicken.
