I was in the commissary today picking up a few items and as I passed the lemons, I thought, mmm, I want to do something with those lemons. They were so beautiful and yellow. I could taste them just by looking at them. What to make with them? The obvious choice is of course lemon bars.
When I got home, I started thumbing through my cookbooks. When exploring a new recipe, I always turn first to Joy of Cooking. Nearly every recipe in there works, even with substitutions, and most of them are fairly simple. But to my horror, there was nary a mention of lemon bars in this old standard!
I didn't even bother looking in Laurel's Kitchen or The Enchanted Broccoli Forest; lemon bars are far too decadent for these two cooks. My paperback copies of these cookbooks are stained, dogeared, and festooned with paperclips; the binding on my copy of Laurel's Kitchen long ago gave up so I hold it together with a big rubber band. (I heartily recommend both if you want to explore flavorful vegetarian cooking beyond beans and rice. The banana bread recipe in Laurel's Kitchen is the only one I have used for years.)
My French cookbooks (from Thierry Marx and Julia Child) of course have recipes for lemon tarts...but lemon tarts simply aren't lemon bars (besides, the French lemon tarts have their feet firmly planted in soufflé territory, which is definitely not what I want). I want lemon bars. You know what I'm talking about: tangy and sweet, sticky, just the right bit of crunch in the crust, lovely yellow color, all in one bite-size package. Nothing else would do for those beautiful lemons.
Of course this minor kitchen crisis was averted by a quick search on the internet. Lemon bars only involve half a dozen ingredients and about the same number of steps--no rocket science or graduate-level chemistry required. Still, I have only made them once before and I do like to work from a printed recipe.
Of course no cooking adventure undertaken in the Magic Kingdom is without crisis. While I may have found a recipe, I couldn't find any powdered sugar. I'm sure that I'll manage without it, just like I manage without the dozens of other food items that are impossible to get here. (Speaking of that, I do have to tell you that a Saudi importer has picked up a soy milk line from Europe so I can now get decently priced soy milk whenever I want, and one of the Saudi dairy vendors has come out with a line of firm, unsweetened, bioactive yogurt. Mmm. I eat some nearly every day.)
I figure all the challenges will make me a more flexible and creative cook.
When I got home, I started thumbing through my cookbooks. When exploring a new recipe, I always turn first to Joy of Cooking. Nearly every recipe in there works, even with substitutions, and most of them are fairly simple. But to my horror, there was nary a mention of lemon bars in this old standard!
I didn't even bother looking in Laurel's Kitchen or The Enchanted Broccoli Forest; lemon bars are far too decadent for these two cooks. My paperback copies of these cookbooks are stained, dogeared, and festooned with paperclips; the binding on my copy of Laurel's Kitchen long ago gave up so I hold it together with a big rubber band. (I heartily recommend both if you want to explore flavorful vegetarian cooking beyond beans and rice. The banana bread recipe in Laurel's Kitchen is the only one I have used for years.)
My French cookbooks (from Thierry Marx and Julia Child) of course have recipes for lemon tarts...but lemon tarts simply aren't lemon bars (besides, the French lemon tarts have their feet firmly planted in soufflé territory, which is definitely not what I want). I want lemon bars. You know what I'm talking about: tangy and sweet, sticky, just the right bit of crunch in the crust, lovely yellow color, all in one bite-size package. Nothing else would do for those beautiful lemons.
Of course this minor kitchen crisis was averted by a quick search on the internet. Lemon bars only involve half a dozen ingredients and about the same number of steps--no rocket science or graduate-level chemistry required. Still, I have only made them once before and I do like to work from a printed recipe.
Of course no cooking adventure undertaken in the Magic Kingdom is without crisis. While I may have found a recipe, I couldn't find any powdered sugar. I'm sure that I'll manage without it, just like I manage without the dozens of other food items that are impossible to get here. (Speaking of that, I do have to tell you that a Saudi importer has picked up a soy milk line from Europe so I can now get decently priced soy milk whenever I want, and one of the Saudi dairy vendors has come out with a line of firm, unsweetened, bioactive yogurt. Mmm. I eat some nearly every day.)
I figure all the challenges will make me a more flexible and creative cook.
6 comments:
Too funny - I am thinking of the once or twice a year I bother with powdered sugar and whether I will miss it. Time to google "substitutions"?
Coincidentally, I was at my book club ten days ago and lemon bars were served - a rarity and I love them, but can't remember ever having made them. I asked for the recipe and was told it was in an Electric Company cookbook.
I do think you can MAKE powdered sugar! http://greekfood.about.com/od/doityourself/ht/make_ahni.htm
Isnt the internet a wonderful thing?
Hey, DSL, I thought about making my own powdered sugar too! Aramco censors block the site you mentioned but I did find others that I could access. I could probably do it with my food processor. But that would sort of spoil the story, don't you think? :) The lemon bars, on the schedule for this weekend, will taste fine with regular sugar on top.
Would sweetened condensed milk work? Surprised they block a Greek food site. : p
Well, tell us how they turn out, they sound delicious - wish John could make some kind of yummy desert that doesn't involve chocolate!
When we lived in Baghdad, my mom used to make powdered sugar in the coffee grinder. Can't make pounds of it, but enough for a decent recipe.
G
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