Jeanne Kelley

strawberry rhubarb pie

Even though Angelenos enjoy cookouts year-round, tradition (and marketing) tells us that Memorial Day weekend kicks off the official outdoor cooking season. What better way to celebrate the beginning of summer, end a barbecue, and to mark a holiday originated to commemorate fallen civil war soldiers, than with pie?

The perfect late spring/early summer, old-fashioned pie is definitely filled with strawberries and rhubarb. Rhubarb is one of those weird vegetable-cum-fruit plants that, despite being delightful, can't help but come off as a little archaic -- it has toxic leaves, after all. But pair the long pink stalks with strawberries and you've got a sublime combo. Rhubarb gives body, texture and earthy tartness to strawberries. Strawberries lend color, juice and sweet floral fruity-ness to rhubarb.

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Amazon

Scandinavian cuisine is newly hip, thanks to René Redzepi and Noma in Denmark.
Now Norway is getting into the act with something that just might steal Redzepi's show: glorious, buttery pastries and rich, creamy desserts. The contender is Norway's star pastry chef, Sverre Saetre, whose book on modern Norwegian baking has just been translated into English.

Its plain title, Norwegian Cakes and Cookies (Sky Horse Publishing), and blue-and-white-checked cover lead you to expect a collection of Grandma's homey recipes. Instead, Saetre twists, tweaks and reconstructs Norwegian classics into stylish new presentations. The photographs by Christian Brun are just as innovative. The one that goes with strawberry jam with star anise could hang in a gallery.

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Ryan Robert Miller

mini peppers

At first I was skeptical of the colorful mini peppers packaged in the clamshell at the grocery store. I can be wary of produce not sold from crates at farmers markets, and these glossy, firm, petite yellow, red and orange babies looked just too plastic-perfect and remarkably un-heirloom to be any good. But eventually the mini-me cuteness and a giant, bargain-priced bag proved too tempting.

The little peppers turned out to be as fun as they look. Not only are they honeyed as the name implies (they are marketed as both Sweet Mini Peppers and Veggie Sweet Peppers), their flesh is tender and they are practically seedless. Tasty cooked or raw, you can eat the peppers whole, and when roasted or grilled, the skin is so thin it needn't be removed.

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G. Snyder

Beer Belly Brussels

Between serving up his "Death by Duck" grilled cheese sandwich at this weekend's Grilled Cheese Invitational, preparing for a championship-defending rematch at this summer's Korean BBQ festival, and engineering weekly creations like pizza cheesesteaks and fried house-cured pickles at "New Order Mondays", Beer Belly chef Wes Lieberher has been pretty busy. He took some time out this weekend to share with us a recipe for one of the most popular dishes at the Koreatown beer bar, which will be celebrating its one-year anniversary in a few weeks. Lieberher amps up the gastropub staple of roasted Brussels sprouts to maximalist levels by tossing in sliced pancetta, apples, and onion for a sweet-salty sauté.

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Ron Dollette

Lou's Pig Candy

Several weeks ago, when it was announced that Lou Amdur was selling his wine bar, LOU, we offered a parting culinary keepsake for Squid Ink readers -- the recipe for LOU's famous pig candy. Want to know the origin story of this sweet, bacon-y side dish? If so, forget about the chocolate-dipped pork morsel you read about on Slashfood as well as that anecdote about Lou Amdur roaming through the hills of Kentucky and running into a mystical sugarpig and... (OK, we made that one up). The real birth of Pig Candy involves a cold night, a roaring bonfire, high school stoners (implied) and an enterprising teenager. To read about it -- and for the recipe -- turn the page.

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Anne Fishbein

Chef David Myers at Comme Ça

If you read Laurie Winer's story about L.A. cookbooks and chef David Myers, you may have had a lot of reactions -- one of which might have been hunger. Sure, you can go to Comme Ça and eat Myers' take on French bistro food. But, if you frequented Sona (late, lamented) or have visited Myers' Tokyo restaurant, you'll know that the chef is known for his Japanese-influenced cuisine. Which, yes, you can make yourself. Really. Turn the page for two of Myers' recipes.

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amazon.com

It's the Friday before Easter weekend (Really?) and you (we) have no idea what to cook on Sunday (oops). Lucky us, Nigel Slater's new book Ripe: A Cook in the Orchard, which hits stands next week, has just shown up at our doorstep.

We're considering the book's arrival a premonition. We should really be cooking up something beyond the ordinary roast ham or lamb shanks this year, something saffron-scented and intensely colored with turmeric and paprika. The sort of dish that stains the tablecloth, the tips of your fingers, those boiled eggs you forgot to dye earlier this week. And there it is, on page 86: Lamb tagine with apricots. Even the recipe layout is a little offbeat.

And if we can't find fresh apricots, and we suspect we will not, we'll be trying the recipe with dried apricots instead. It's not such a crazy idea, as there are already raisins and preserved lemons in the dish. Besides, we all should have a little Easter egg hunt (recipe) fun, shouldn't we?

More on the book next week. Get the recipe after the jump.

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Andrea Raffin

Editor's note: As many of you have probably noticed, the Weekly is currently searching for a new food critic. This sort of thing takes time. Sometimes a lot of time, right? So in the interim, we've asked (begged, really) noted cookbook author, television personality, foodist, movie star and local mom Gwyneth Paltrow to come aboard as our guest columnist. We're also very happy to announce our partnership with her company goop. Welcome, Gwyneth! Her first story...

My close friend and confidant Victoria Beckham and I were just discussing over brunch how stressful it is being busy moms in heels. It's insane. Between reading emails, making vision boards with Isabel Marant, and researching the most effective psyllium husk, there's very little time to whip together a quick, healthy, committed and tolerant weekday night dinner for your family.

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Patrick M. Gookin II

Pistachio pesto with brown rice from Spork Foods

For sisters Jenny Engel and Heather Goldberg of vegan cooking school Spork Foods, the path for many uninitiated in the possibilities of veganism is sometimes paved with pesto. Built on an unyielding umami-laden trifecta of pistachios, roasted garlic and light miso, the condiment is a veritable Odyssean stratagem. It's purposefully chosen -- served with brown rice and topped with cherry tomatoes and kalamata olives -- for those who haven't been exposed to what Goldberg described as "level two" ingredients like tempeh and seitan. And if you need any mechanical help in the process of making the recipe, check out our recent story: 8 Essential Vegan Kitchen Tools: Spork Foods on Good Knives and Baby Whisks.

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Jeanne Kelley

stout float

I don't know if a stout float is an Irish dessert, but it doesn't really matter, as St. Patrick's Day celebrations aren't really Irish anyway. A beer float can be awesome, and when done right, it's the perfect creamy-sweet refresher after the traditional American-Irish salty dinner of corned beef and cabbage. (Side note: If you boil corned beef until fork-tender, then slather it with a mix of equal parts Dijon mustard and brown sugar and bake it till glazed -- it's actually quite tasty.)

I first encountered a beer float at a McMenamins pub in Oregon in the '90s. I must admit, I was slightly horrified as I watched the fair-skinned, stocky patrons switch from pints of ale to pint glasses filled with scoops of industrial vanilla ice cream -- with a healthy dousing of stout bubbling over the top as last called neared. But I've since learned that by reducing the scale, and by playing up and off the complex flavors of stout, that frat-boy, beer geek, gut-busting nightcap can be transformed into a damned good, sophisticated dessert.

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