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Pesto Recipe
2 cups loosely packed fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup (118ml) extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 clove garlic, sliced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3 tablespoons finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Directions:

For the pesto:
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil over medium-high heat. Have ready a bowl of ice water.

Blanch the basil leaves in the boiling salted water for 30 seconds. Remove the leaves with a spider (or other handheld strainer) and quickly shock them in the ice water bath to stop the cooking (this sets the chlorophyll and helps keep the vibrant green color).

When the leaves are completely cool, remove them from the ice water and gently squeeze them to remove excess moisture. Be careful not to squeeze too hard, as you don’t want to remove the delicate and flavorful essential oils. Let dry on paper towels.

Put the basil leaves, olive oil, and garlic in a blender and puree until completely smooth, about 90 seconds. The blending step will also warm the puree to nearly 120°F, which will bring out the bright green color. Transfer the puree to a mixing bowl and fold in the salt and Parmigiano-Reggiano. Fresh pesto should be served within a day or two after it’s made. Store refrigerated.

Makes about 1/2 cup.

I tossed the pesto with corzetti pasta, using these wooden stamps.

Recipe re-printed with permission from Thomas McNaughton’s Flour + Water Cookbook, (Ten Speed Press, 2014).

Ingredients:
190g unsalted butter, room temperature
75g confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 pinch fleur de sel or other flake salt
1 pinch vanilla powder*
1 large egg white, room temperature
225g all purpose flour
200g dark chocolate

When visiting Bouchon Bakery, one of my favorite things to purchase is a bag of the shortbread cookies. It may not sound as exciting as the nostalgic TKOs (Thomas Keller Oreos) and Better Nutters, or as visually appealing as the rainbow of macarons in the cold case, but I love the simplicity of a classic buttery, sugary cookie. It’s cut into a thick slice so its satisfying to sink your teeth into. The top is sprinkled with sugar for extra crunch. You can see the vanilla bean flecks throughout.

*This post uses affiliate links.

*This post has affiliate links

I’ve been wanting to make my friend Lauren Ko’s geometric spoke pie for a a while now. We first met in 2018 at her spoke pie class in Portland and again for brunch in New York City, where she was very hush hush about her trip (to film an episode of Martha Bakes, NO BIG DEAL). Fast forward to 2020 and her pie creations are now in print, a debut cookbook called Pieometry, with her signature spoke design on the cover.

For this project, I attempted everything without her book, the one thing I forgot when I packed for Thanksgiving, so this recipe pieces together components of different pies I’ve made, with the end goal of making sure that spoke design stays in tact! To do this, I pre-cooked the apple filling so it wouldn’t be too watery. For the dough, I adapted Chef Ashley Christensen’s recipe that I successfully used for blind baking this braid so I felt good about using it for this spoke pie. The addition of cornstarch (Christopher Kimball trick) helps prevent shrinkage. Happy pie making!