We are having the toasted sesame salmon again as I have sauce leftover and I thought it would go well with the asparagus pesto that I used as an appetizer for our Easter dinner. Remember I told you that they said you could also serve it as a pasta sauce and that is what we are doing tonight. I am using whole wheat spaghetti. I had leftover peppers and I chopped them up to add color. Jim really liked the meal.


Tomorrow my friend Sally and her husband John are coming for dinner. Today I made the Strawberry shortcakes and lemon curd that I will use for the dessert. Once you make these shortcakes you will never again buy those spongy things in the grocery store that magically appear every strawberry season. You do need a special pan. It is called the Chicago Metallic 6 cup shortcake pan. Just go on line to www.chicagometallic.com. I bought mine ages ago and as I tell everyone, if you need a special pan to make something, call me first before buying one.

Strawberry Shortcake
¾ C sugars
1 ½ C all purpose flour
2 t baking powder
1/8 t salt
1 stick unsalted butter
2 eggs
½ t vanilla extract
2/3 C milk
Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl. In another bowl beat the butter with an electric mixer until it is creamy. Gradually add the sugar and beat until fluffy about 5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time along with the vanilla extract. Alternate the flour mixture and the milk until all is combined on low speed. If you do not use low speed, you will be wearing the flour. Turn it up and scrape the bowl and mix until all is smooth. Pour into the greased and floured molds. I use Bakers Joy. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Next I made the Lemon Curd. I used Alton Brown’s recipe. I had a lot of egg yolks left over from the Easter Angel Food Cake.
5 egg yolks
1C sugar
4 lemons, zested and juiced
1 stick butter, cut into pats and chilled
You need a saucepan and a metal bowl or double boiler. Heat about an inch of water to boiling in the pan, or whatever level will not touch the bottom of the bowl you are using. Whisk the yolks and the sugar in the bowl; add the zest of 4 lemons and juice of the lemons to 1/3C. My lemons only needed 2 ½ to come to a 1/3 C. Reduce the water to a low simmer and place the bowl on top. Keep whisking for approximately 8 minutes until the mixture is light yellow and coats the back of a spoon. Quite frankly I did not test it with a spoon; you can see it getting thick. Next, a couple cubes at a time you whisk in the butter. After all is smooth, put in a container and place plastic wrap on the surface so it does not form a crust. It tasted much better than store bought lemon curd.

Tomorrow I will put the lemon curd in the top of the shortcake shell and top with strawberries that I have chopped with a little lemon juice and sugar.