Spoon & Shutter

Saturday, April 30, 1-2 p.m., Watchung Booksellers, 54 Fairfield Street, Montclair

Saturday, May 7, 11 a.m. – noon, Bookends, 211 East Ridgewood Ave., Ridgewood

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2 cups frozen peas

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

3 cooked bacon strips, chopped

1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 tbsp. lime juice

2 garlic cloves

1 to 2 tsp. minced chipotle pepper in adobo sauce

1/4 tsp. black pepper

In a small saucepan, bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Add peas; cover and cook for 1 minute. Drain and rinse the peas with cold water. Pat dry.

Place peas in a food processor; add the cheese, bacon, sour cream, oil, lime juice, sour cream, chipotle pepper and black pepper. Process until smooth.

Let stand for at least 1/2 hour to blend flavors. Can be made up to one day in advance – let come to room temperature before serving.

3 cloves garlic

1 square-inch cube of fresh ginger root, peeled

1 cup loosely packed, coarsely chopped cilantro

1/4 cup lemon juice

2 tbsp. soy sauce

1/4 tsp. olive oil

20-25 large shrimp, peeled and deveined

In a food processor, puree garlic, ginger and cilantro. Add lemon juice, soy sauce and olive oil and blend until combined. In a small bowl, toss marinade with the shrimp and refrigerate for for at least 30 minutes or up to 24 hours.

Heat a grill pan or non-stick saute pan over high heat. Cook shrimp for 2 minutes on each side. Serve warm or at room temperature.

A whole, bone-in leg of lamb, butterflied, either by you or the butcher – save the bone.

Be sure to “trim out” the lamb so you have it uniform in thickness and in final shape.  Save the scraps for kabobs or stew.

Note: All amounts of the following ingredients are approximate.  Adjust according to taste, and size of leg of lamb.

1/3 cup pitted kalamata olives, coarsely chopped

1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese

1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil, coarsely chopped

3 tbsp. toasted pine nuts

3 tbsp. fresh rosemary

Place butterflied lamb fat-side down on work surface. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Distribute olives, cheese, sun-dried tomatoes and pine nuts as evenly as possible over the meat, then add 2 tbsp. rosemary.

Starting at a short side, roll as tightly as possible and tie in several places with butcher’s twine.  Be sure to finish with the fat side exposed so that the juice from the fat will drip during cooking. Sprinkle the top with salt and pepper.

Lightly oil a roasting pan and place the tied lamb in the pan, with the saved bone(s) alongside, but not touching. Roast at 375 for about 1 1/2 – 1 3/4 hours, or until a meat thermometer reads 130-135. Let rest 10 minutes while you make a sauce.

Remove the roasted bones and the stuffed leg of lamb from the roasting pan.

Deglaze the pan over a medium heat with 1/2 cup of red wine, and 1/2 cup of chicken stock

Add one large sprig of rosemary along with 2 Tablespoons finely chopped shallots.

Add one healthy squeeze of lemon juice

Strain liquid through fine strainer to remove shallots and rosemary.

Serve on the side.

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Pecan Snowballs

Reprinted with permission from “You Can Trust A Skinny Cook”

Prep Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Makes 16 servings

Serving size: 3 cookies

These cookies are tender like shortbread, with a gentle, rich pecan flavor. Though I call these little guys Pecan Snowballs, you may know them as Mexican wedding cookies or Russian tea cookies. Call them what you like; a cookie by any other name would taste as sweet.

6 tbsp. (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon confectioner’s sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/3 cup chopped pecans, toasted

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon

Pinch of kosher salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a medium bowl, combine the butter and  1/4 cup of the sugar. Using an electric beater at medium speed, beat until fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add the vanilla and beat to combine.

3. Put the pecans and 1 tbsp. sugar in the bowl of a food processor. Chop until nuts are very fine, about 30 seconds. Add the flour, cinnamon, and salt and pulse to combine.

4. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Using electric beaters at low speed, beat until combined. The dough will be crumbly.

5. To form cookies, press the dough into the bowl of a teaspoon, packing it firmly. To get the dough out of the spoon, tap the spoon on the baking sheet. Place the shaped dough on the prepared sheets, flat side down, at 1-inch intervals. Bake until golden on the bottom, about 15 minutes.

6. Place the remaining 1/2 cup sugar in a shallow bowl. Toss the warm cookies with the sugar, no more than 5 cookies at a time. Remove the coated cookies to a plate and let cool.

Nutrition information (per serving): Calories 107, Carbs 13g, Fiber 0g, Protein 1g, Total Fat 6g, Saturated Fat 3g