Savory Do-It-Yourself Power Bars

Those of you who have been readers for a stretch know how much I love a homemade travel snack. I went on an intense 48 hour sourcing trip last week and posted a photo to Instagram of the Do-It-Yourself Power Bars I made to take with me. They were based on the recipe I published years ago in Super Natural Cooking (2007! Not sure how ten years passed that fast....laugh/cry), the main difference here was that I made these more savory. I packed them full of toasted walnuts, crumbled kale chips, and oil-cured olives. They we're fantastic, and I can actually imagine little architectural cubes of them being right at home on a cheese plate. They're the perfect plane snack, and were fantastically resilient after a long day wrapped in parchment paper in my purse. The saffron and chile flakes were a flavor bonus, but you could substitute whatever spice blend you're inspired by at the moment, and build the bars around that...

I posted the recipe here.

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At the Studio: Coconut Yellow Split Pea Soup

It might be incredibly hot where you live right now, and, if that's the case, I apologize for posting a soup recipe. But its one I love, and it's the sort of thing I like to take for lunch at the studio. Also, I live in San Francisco, and it's nearly always sweater weather - 58F. The soup: the base is yellow split peas incorporated into a ginger-spiked yellow coconut curry broth (lots of turmeric). It's filled with flavor, and substance - with a good amount of protein to get you through the afternoon strong. You get an added bit of summer and sweetness from yellow cherry tomatoes, and vibrant chive oil, toasted seeds, and some micro greens take the whole bowl over the top. Give it a try - you can transport the soup in one jar, and toppings in another.

I posted the recipe here.

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I'll kick this off by saying, this is a roasted potato salad with a secret weapon ingredient. Or, if you prefer, a wild card. Pickled sushi ginger. It sounds odd, but I'm going to argue that it works. Here's what's happening. I took the tiniest, little baby potatoes I could find, and threw them in a hot oven until they were fluffy and tender. Not long at all. Then I smashed a portion of them, and tossed the whole lot with French lentils, plus a mix of ingredients that really punch when it comes to flavor - sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, scallions, pickled ginger, and lemon juice.

We had some leftovers, and I plan on working them into a frittata I'm planning on making tonight.

For those of you who appreciate variations - I can imagine a smashed chickpea version of this, or roasted cauliflower. I made this with sun-dried tomatoes driving the flavor profile, but kept thinking a version with preserved lemons and preserved lemon oil would also be a stand out! Enjoy!

Smash-and-Toss Roasted Potato Salad

If you can't find jars of pickled ginger, leave it out. Still delicious!

1 pound small potatoes, smaller is better
1 1/2 cups cooked lentils, room temperature

3 tablespoons chopped sun-dried tomatoes (oil packed)
2 tablespoons oil from sun-dried tomato jar
1 tablespoon pickled sushi ginger
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
2 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
5 scallions, chopped
Juice of half a lemon, or to taste

1/3 cup toasted, sliced almonds
a handful of basil, slivered
basil flowers, to finish

Heat oven to 425F. Rinse the potatoes, and pat dry with a clean dish towel, absorbing as much extra water as possible. Place the potatoes on a baking sheet and sprinkle with a bit of salt. Roast until well-cooked through - you want them to be fully cooked, fluffy and tender. Remove from the oven, wait five minutes, take a fork, and press about half of the potatoes. You want to smash the potatoes, while still having them retain some structure.

In a large bowl, toss the lentils with the sun-dried tomatoes, sun-dried tomato oil, ginger, sea salt, garlic, most of the scallions, and lemon juice. Toss well. Add the potatoes and gently toss again. Top with the remaining scallions, the almonds, and basil.

Serves 4.

Prep time: 10 min - Cook time: 25 min

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The first time I made this was a year or two back, while visiting my friend Bonni's cabin. It's a riff on the Saffron Honey I included in Near & Far. Both rely on a technique using the alcohol in either vanilla or almond extract to pull the saffron flavor into a liquid. You then stir that saffron liquid into honey (or whatever else you like). It's incredible. Drizzle over cheese, yogurt, oatmeal, waffles - you get the idea. When blackberries are in season, I like to heat them just long enough for them to break down a bit, and then stir the berries into the honey as well. That's what you see here. I used blackberries, but blueberries or other ripe, seasonal berries are equally delicious. It's one of those things you can make in a flash that ends up putting a special accent on a breakfast, brunch, cheese plate, etc.

Blackberry Saffron Honey

2 pinches of saffron (about 40 threads)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or almond extract
1/2 cup (120 ml) runny wildflower honey
1 pint ripe blackberries

Place the saffron threads in a tiny bowl. Add the extract and stir until the saffron is wet. Let it sit for 10 minutes before stirring the saffron mixture into the honey. You'll want to stir well, until the honey is uniform and the threads are evenly distributed throughout. In the meantime, gently heat the blackberries in a saucepan over medium heat. You want the berries to begin to breakdown and release juices, but not overcook. Stir the berries into the honey, and store in a jar in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Prep time: 5 min - Cook time: 5 min

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