Pasta Salad Niçoise

Here's a great dish that does double duty: it can be dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow. It's delicious served slightly warm or chilled. And it's especially great for a Friday night Lenten dinner. Using readily available ingredients including my favorite cans of tuna, this dish is light on the wallet too. For the best taste and texture use white albacore tuna packed in oil. It's much better than the chunk light in water.

My version of the French salad Niçoise is crossed with the American macaroni salad. Instead of boiled potatoes, I use pasta as a delicious alternative. Cavatappi, a corkscrew-shaped pasta, makes a playful addition, but elbow macaroni works well too. Green beans are quickly blanched and pasta is then cooked in the same pot before being combined with all the ingredients. A finish of briny olives and capers and a fresh vinaigrette make it feel like springtime on the Mediterranean coast.

Pasta Salad Niçoise

6 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 pound green beans, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
12 ounces cavatappi
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
coarse sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 6-ounce cans solid white tuna in olive oil, drained
1 red bell pepper, trimmed and cut into 1-inch slivers
1/3 cup Kalamata olives, pitted and sliced
1 tablespoon capers, rinsed
1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley

Make garlic oil by heating 2 tablespoons oil in saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute. Let cool.

To a pot of rapidly boiling, liberally salted water, add green beans. Cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon to a bowl and rinse with cold water. Drain.

Cook pasta in the same pot until al dente, a few minutes short of package directions. Drain.

In a large bowl make vinaigrette by combining garlic oil, 4 tablespoons oil, mustard, lemon juice, lemon zest, vinegar, salt, and pepper; whisk well. Add pasta, beans, bell pepper, tuna, olives, and capers. Toss gently to coat all ingredients with vinaigrette. Yield: 6 servings.

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Hamantaschen

I'm not Jewish but I love Hamantaschen. Maybe it's because my mom used to work at a Jewish bakery that I love them so much. Whenever I would visit her at work, she would always let me have a Hamantasch to try. I especially love the ones filled with apricot preserve, but the ones filled with prune lekvar or poppy seeds are more traditional. At the time I didn't know the meaning behind the triangular treats. It was much later that I learned they were made for the holiday of Purim, which celebrates the deliverance of the Jews from the evil Haman as told in the Book of Esther.

These little pockets of sweet filling are rather easy to make. The dough comes together in minutes; it's only the chilling that takes time. Since the dough is very sticky, it's important to chill the dough in between handling to prevent tearing and misshapen circles. Orange juice and zest are traditional ingredients, which give the Hamantaschen a nice citrus flavor, but lemon juice and zest would work just as well. Celebrate Purim today with these cookies.

Hamantaschen

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
apricot preserve
prune lekvar

In a medium bowl, sift together dry ingredients: flours, baking powder, and salt.

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add egg, vanilla, zest, and juice; mix until combined. Add the dry ingredients a little at a time on low speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Mix until combined.

Form dough into two disks and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours before rolling.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with oven-safe parchment paper or Silpats.

Roll out one disk of dough on a lightly floured surface to about 1/8 inch thick. Keep second disk in refrigerator until ready to roll. Cut out circles with 3-inch or 2-1/2 inch round cutter and transfer using an offset spatula to lined baking sheet. Chill circles until firm, about 30 minutes. Form scraps of dough into a disk, wrap in plastic, and keep in refrigerator until ready to roll again.

Remove chilled circles from refrigerator. Fill each with 1 tablespoon of preserve or lekvar. Fold up sides to create a triangular shape, pinching ends. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes. Let cool completely. Yield: 30 Hamantaschen.

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Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Glaze

As you might have noticed I'm now using Twitter. It's a fascinating microblogging platform and it's completely infectious. Yesterday I posed the question "What's your favorite way to use sour cream?" I got back many answers reinforcing my assumption that sour cream is completely versatile. It is commonly used in Mexican cooking as a topping. It can be served alongside crudités as a dip or as a topping on baked potatoes. It is a traditional ingredient in Hungarian cooking, from soups to stews. And someone even suggested it works great stirred into scrambled eggs.

My favorite way to use sour cream is in breads and cakes like this one. I always have a pint or two of sour cream in the refrigerator. You just never know when you might need or crave it. Sour cream also works well as a substitute in baking recipes that call for buttermilk or vice versa. This recipe for banana cake can be put together in minutes from ingredients that are easy to come by. The result is a moist cake with great texture that is full of banana flavor and lemon fragrance. Make a quick cream cheese glaze for decorating and to serve alongside each slice. The cake also works well in a Bundt pan form, but baking times may vary.

Banana Cake

2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two large (9-by-5-by-3-inch) loaf pans.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, at medium speed, cream the butter until fluffy. Add the sugar and continue to beat until incorporated. Add the eggs and beat until fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the bananas, vanilla, and zest; mix until incorporated. With the mixer on low, alternately add the dry ingredients, then the sour cream, and finish with the dry ingredients.

Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared loaf pans. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centers come out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Drizzle cakes with glaze. Yield: 18 slices.

Cream Cheese Glaze

1 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream
2 cups confectioners sugar

In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, at medium speed, beat the cream cheese and sour cream until smooth. With the mixer on low speed, add the confectioners sugar one cup at a time. Mix until incorporated. Yield: 2 cups glaze.

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