Have I mentioned I’m a sucker for lemon desserts? (Yes, I expect I have.) The first thing I grab when the treats come out is anything tart, tangy and sunshine yellow. This is true yearlong, but especially in winter, when icy weather and gray skies have me seeking brightness wherever I can find it. A batch of glossy lemon bars with olive oil and sea salt with their sweet-sour-salty curd is my SAD lamp — Seasonal Acidic Delight, that is.
The recipe can seem tricky to get just right, but if you bring the curd to a full boil to activate the cornstarch, then chill the batter thoroughly before cutting, you should be good. Unlike the lemon bar recipes that use flour in the topping for stability, these are softer in texture and more bracing in flavor, with the olive oil adding herbal, complex notes that work wonderfully with the citrus.
Featured Recipe
Lemon Bars With Olive Oil and Sea Salt
It’s Cookie Week, so even if lemon bars aren’t your personal obsession, we have a thrilling spectrum of sugary, honeyed, nutty, fudgy and frosted new recipes for you here. Let the monthlong sugar high begin!
I know, the sensible adults among us are planning to eat dinner before dessert. For them, er I mean for us, we have Yewande Komolafe’s brilliant skillet chicken with peppers and tomatoes. On the table in about 40 minutes, it’s filled with plenty of wholesome vegetables to absorb the rich chicken drippings. And to hoist that vegetable quotient even higher, while the chicken simmers you can whip up Cybelle Tondu’s punchy, crunchy scrunched cabbage salad with fried almonds and sesame seeds to serve alongside it. It’s a hearty and vivid meal to warm any chilly weeknight.
Hetty “Stir-Crazy” Lui McKinnon’s stir-fried tofu with ginger is another fortifying option before you finally get into your lemon bars. Be warned, though: The crisp cubes of tofu are so complexly layered with pungent ginger and chile crisp that it might make you forget about your sweet tooth (at least while you’re eating them).
In the salad-for-dinner column, there’s my smashed cucumber, shrimp and avocado salad. Smashing cucumbers and seasoning them assertively with Sichuan peppercorns and chiles is a traditional Asian technique that I adapted to use as the base of a main course salad, rounded out with plush scoops of avocado and shrimp sautéed in sesame oil. It’s filling enough to make a light dinner, but won’t get in the way of copious cookie eating afterward.
Then to cap it all off, how about a fragrant hot beverage to sip by the fireside (or radiator)? Sarah DiGregorio’s hot mulled cider with cardamom, black pepper and ginger will fill your home with its cozy, spicy aromas. The recipe calls for spiking the heady brew with bourbon, but feel free to leave it out, or substitute rum or brandy. It’s especially lovely with a plate of gingersnaps — with bacon fat or without — for dunking.
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One-Pot, Once a Week
Coming back around to sunshine-y dishes, Ali Slagle’s turmeric coconut rice with greens is a golden-hued beauty that’s both earthy and sweet, and topped with toasted coconut chips for a pronounced but delicate crunch.
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