Saturday & Sunday: Meals Between Meals

On weekends, Don and I never have just breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Instead, we have pre-breakfast snacks, a sort of breakfast followed by a proper lunch and then many, many afternoon treats and drinks, dinner in the later evening, and then another smaller meal, and maybe a third or fourth dessert afterwards.

Most of our meals/snacks are eaten out, but the ones I enjoy the most are the ones we create ourselves. Don takes care of the savoury side, and I do the sweet, so it works out quite nicely.

Highlights from this weekend:

We made our weekly visit to the Greenmarket on Saturday morning for basic staples: eggs, Ronnybrook milk, and anything else that catches our eyes.

The ever trendy ramps are in season, (and just as quickly, are about to go out of season), so he got a few of those cause, can you believe it - up until this weekend, I've never had ramps before!

I was in the mood for pasta, so we went straight for the fresh beet pasta from Hudson Valley Farmhouse...

...and made little meatballs from the sun-dried tomato and chardonnay sausage at Flying Pigs Farm. With a generous hand of browned butter and plenty of talent, Don whipped up a most ideal spring dish in less than an hour.

The beet pasta turns a gorgeous pale pink after cooking, the colour accentuated with saut�ed ramps, butter, and sweet little rounds of sausages. Complete, no? "Wait!" he said, when I nearly took the first bite. I paused, and because sometimes, more is more, Don grated slivers of fresh parmesan, turned the black pepper a few rounds and then finished with just a sprinkle of Maldon salt. Perfect!

While he was working on the pasta, I got to start on brioche dough. We took turns babysitting the dough over the afternoon, with plans to turn it into a Sunday morning snack. Vanessa brought over brioche tins, and Don shaped the dough into classic brioche � t�te.

Now wouldn't it be lovely to wake up to this every morning? A dozen warm golden brioche, just minutes from the oven and a jar of Greenmarket raspberry preserves from Philip's Farm. Extra pats of butter always welcomed.

Don noted that it was on the yeasty side - perhaps I let the sponge sit for a tad too long before mixing it in with the dough, good to keep in mind for next time. I was happy with the texture, though wish it browned more evenly. I'll have to play around with the oven temperatures and rack setting. Post brioche, we went out for lunch at Taim, and then came back to...

...bake mini madelines using this recipe Kathryn recommended. Notice this is the first time we've made mini ones? Don just got a darling pan from Broadway Panhandler but a few hours before, and I simply could not wait to put it to use. Don't worry, we did not eat it alllll alone - they were shared with friends at dinner an hour later :)