Bars for chocoholic lemon-heads
Kick dessert up a notch with rich cocoa and butter. Wines to punch up a citrusy pasta
Up the game on lemon bars by using a chocolate crust instead of the usual all-purpose flflour one.
T h e h o l y t r i n i t y f o r a lemon bar crust is flflour, butter and sugar, usually powdered sugar as granulated sugar can produce a brittle texture, giving it a shortbread taste and feel. There’s nothing wrong with that tried and true recipe, but how about amping the flflavor and giv- ing the crust some chocolate love that would still have a buttery goodness about it?
It’s easy to scoffff and say lemon bars are for rookies, since all it takes is to whisk egg yolks, cream cheese or heavy cream (if you want it creamy), sugar or sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice and lemon zest together, pour the mixture into a crust and then bake. And voila, you have a citrusy treat.
But take a pause, and keep a few guidelines in mind.
It’s best to crush the cookies with a rolling pin so that they are a combination of crumbs and bi t s to form a sturdy crust to shoulder the weight of the fifilling. The crumbly mixture needs to be fifirmly pressed into a baking pan evenly so that it is compact. This helps prevent the crust from crumbling when cut. Then it needs to be baked for about 15 minutes at 325 degrees. The crust needs to stay crisp even after it’s topped with the fifilling.
I prefer if the bars are not cloying sweet and instead have a bright fresh lemon flflavor and plenty of pucker power, so I add fifinely grated lemon zest to the smooth fifilling.
My colleague Kevin Kirkland grows a dwarf Meyer lemon tree in a container, a n d I u s e d t h e s moo t h - skinned, juicy, sweet and fragrant fruits of his labor to bake the bars. He said his lemon tree took eight months to bear eight fruits. I kicked myself for “wasting” them in the bars as Meyers generally are not in the least sour, and the ones I used were not tart enough for the bars. They would have received the deserving accolades in a vinaigrette instead.
One way to ensure that squares come out in equal sizes is to fifirst cut the entire square in half and then cut i nt o s mall e r e qu a l - s i z e d squares.
If you are a lemon-head and a chocoholic, look no further than the lemon chocolate bars.
When you have a dish with high acidity, you can go two ways with the wine: match or contrast. This pasta dish with lemon, white wine and capers would taste great with a tangy wine, like the English sparkler or New York pinot noir here. Or, take another tack, contrasting the rather simple dish, with a complex French chardonnay.
Make this
Place 2 chicken breast halves, bone on, skin removed, in a saucepan with 1 cup water, ½ cup white wine, 1 clove garlic, 1 teaspoon lemon zest, 1 tablespoon lemon juice and ¼ teaspoon salt. Simmer over low heat until chicken is just cooked through.
Transfer chicken to a cutting board; slice thinly.
Cook braising liquid on high to reduce by half. Lower heat to a simmer; stir in 3 tablespoons cream. Cook until beginning to thicken. Stir in 1 tablespoon capers and reserved chicken.
Serve over linguine, with fresh basil and grated lemon zest. Austin:
2010 Digby Fine English Brut Reserve, Sussex, England: Acidity is the key to this pairing, and English sparkling wines tend to offffffffffffer much brighter tones than French Champagne. This sparkler, aged 36 months on the lees for added richness and texture, drinks like a sophisticated white wine with bubbles and is just what this dish calls for. The wine’s brightness will complement the puckering flflavors of both the lemon and the capers.
2014 Domaine Labet Les Champs Rouges Cotes du Jura Chardonnay, Jura, France: Grown and produced only a stone’s throw from the famous Burgundy region, this single-vineyard chardonnay has notes of muted citrus and crushed grain. It also has the power and density to balance the protein and cream in the dish. Sometimes it’s a good idea to pair a simple dish with a dynamic wine, and this is an example of that.
2014 Forge Cellars Classique Pinot Noir, Finger Lakes, New York: Although at fifirst glance this dish appears to scream for a white wine with high acidity, this cool-climate pinot noir with Old World qualities will also do the trick. Its herbal-driven palate and focused acidity could make it a bit awkward to drink on its own right now, but those same qualities also make it a great match for this zingy dish.