A few days of SPRING EATS 🌸

It's finally the season of veggies and bright fresh flavors, letting beautiful produce shine, and going on long walks. The recipes below are some of the things I've been inspired by and craving to cook - all featured in the above video!

Syrniki (Easter European Farmer’s Cheese Pancakes)

• 1 tub Farmer’s Cheese (look for dry packed brands)

• 1 Egg

• 2-3 tbsp sugar

• 2 tbsp flour (more if the cheese is wet)

Mix all ingredients except flour in a bowl, then add in the flour looking for the mixture to come together in a rough dry dough. In my video the cheese was too weat and wouldn't come together so I added 5 tbsp of flour and it still wouldn’t come together. Even if they were wet they still came together in the end and were delicious. If dough is loose spoon pancakes directly on the preheated oiled pan, if dough is dry (in a good way) shape the dough into a long log and cut the pancakes in thick even rounds with a knife. Flip and cook through, top with butter, jam, fresh fruit and enjoy.

^ example of syrniki dough log, cut into even pancakes

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Pesto Chicken with Fennel Citrus Burrata Salad

• Full pack of Chicken

• Salt, Pepper, Garlic powder

• Pesto (love gotham greens)

• 1 Fennel bulb

• 2-3 oranges (navel, cara cara, or blood orange)

• 1 handful of shelled pistachios

• 1 large or 2 small Burrata cheeses

• Chives

Pat your chicken dry and season with salt, garlic powder, pepper, and pesto. Cook chicken on medium until golden brown, flip, and cook through. While chicken is cooking prep the salad. Using a mandoline or a sharp knife, thinly slice the fennel bulb. Zest 1 of the oranges directly on top of the cut fennel.

Cut both ends of the orange and with the orange standing on a cut side, use the tip of your knife to slice around the pulp and carve away the pith and skin. Slice the whole orange into medium-thick slices. Give the pistachios a rough chop and cut the chives. Drizzle olive oil over fennel and orange zest, take the orange rinds and squeeze the little juice that might be left over (if none, use another quarter orange or half a lemon), sprinkle a pinch of salt, and massage the fennel by hand.

Plate orange slices, make small mounts of fennel around the oranges, break burrata and place on top, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle salt, pistachios, and chives. Serve chicken on the side.

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This photo is from a different night, when I made it with fennel salad.

Deconstructed Cheeseburger Bowls

• 2-3 large Russet potatoes

• 1/2 iceberg lettuce

• 1/2 yellow onion

• 1 medium tomato

• EVOO

• Mayo

• ketchup

• vinegar

• sprinkle of sugar

• 1 pickle

• 1 lb grass-fed ground beef

• cheese (I like American)

Preheat oven to 450°F and slice potatoes into French fries shape. Place cut fries on a baking sheet, drizzle with avocado oil, and bake for 40 min. Thinly slice iceberg lettuce and onion, and roughly chop the tomato (I like large pieces). Place veggies in a bowl, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt, and mix with your hands to combine.

Combine equal parts mayo, ketchup, a drop of vinegar, sprinkle of sugar, and 1 diced pickle in a small bowl to make burger sauce. I eyeball everything so add more or less of what you like.

Once potatoes are done, take them out of the oven and immediately season with salt and toss them around. Divide the ground beef into four even meatballs. On a preheated and oiled pan (ideally stainless steel), brown two meatballs on one side for about 20 seconds. Flip meatballs and using a wide spatula or grill press, smash meatballs down into as thin as possible smashburgers. Season the top with salt. Let brown for 2 min and flip. While it finishes cooking on the second slide, place a slice of cheese on each patty and cover to melt.

Plate fries with patties right on top, spoon salad on the side, and drizzle with burger sauce. Optional but very good - add bread and butter pickles on top.

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Spring Veg Fritatta

• 6-8 eggs

• 2 tbsp milk

• 10-15 asparagus sprigs

• 1 leek

• feta cheese (eyeball)

• 6-8 breakfast sausages (I love Bilinski’s)

• Dill

Preheat oven to 350. Slice the leek into medium-thick rounds and set aside. Snap hard asparagus ends off, lay them in an even line, slice sprigs into medium-sized pieces, and set aside. Slice sausages into the same size as the asparagus sprigs. Chop feta cheese into small cubes. Mince dill.

In a large preheated oven-safe pan, drizzle with oil and cook sausage pieces. Once brown, remove from the pan and set aside. Add asparagus and leek to the pan and sweat down for 4-5 minutes until asparagus is getting soft (not all the way). While veggies are cooking, whisk together eggs and milk, and season with salt and pepper. Once veggies are softened halfway, add sausage back to the pan, mix and spread evenly in the pan, pour egg mixture right on top, and top with feta cubes and dill. Place the frittata in the oven. Bake for 15-20 min (check at 15 min) and let cool for 5 minutes before slicing and serving.

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Steak with Mango Salsa and Coconut Rice

• 2 cups Jasmine Rice

• 1 Can unsweetened full fat coconut milk

• 2 Steaks

• 1-2 Mangos

• 1/2 Red Onion

• 1 Jalapeno

• 1/2 bunch Cilantro

• 1 Lime

Rinse 2 cups of jasmine rice until the water runs clear and place in a rice cooker. Pour in a full can of coconut milk and 1 cup of water in a rice cooker, add 1 tsp of salt, and cook on the regular setting.

While rice is cooking, make salsa by dicing red onion, mango, jalapeno, and cilantro. Mix in a bowl with lime zest and juice, season with salt, drizzle olive oil and miz all together. Preheat pan, pat dry each steak, season steak with salt and pepper on both sides, and brown until desired doneness. Let the steak rest for 5 minutes before slicing, plating on top of rice, and topping with mango salsa.

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Zucchini Fitters with Smoked Salmon and Crème Fraiche

• 2 Zucchinis

• 2-3 green onions

• 10 Chives

• Dill

• 1 Egg

• Onion Salt (or onion powder and salt)

• Garlic Powder

• Paprika

• 1 Egg

• 3 tbsp of flour (add more until right consistency)

• 1 tsp baking powder

• Creme Fraiche (or sour cream)

• Smoked salmon

Start by grating your zucchinis on the larger setting into a big bowl. Sprinkle generously with salt and mix with your hands. While the zucchini sits for 10 minutes, thinly slice green onions, chives, and dill. Grabbing a handful of grated zucchini at a time, squeeze as much water out of the zucchini as possible and place in a separate bowl. Repeat with all the zucchini, discarding leftover water. Add onions, chives, and dill to the drained zucchini and mix. Add the egg and mix again thoroughly - season with onion salt, garlic powder, and paprika to your taste and mix. Add 3 tbsp of flour and mix again, and if needed, you can add more to reach a good consistency, but not dry. In a preheated oiled pan, make 2-3 zucchini fritter nests and cook, making sure they are not too thick so they cook all the way through. Flip and finish cooking.

Once plated, spoon a dollop of crème fraiche or sour cream on each fritter, top with smoked salmon and more dill.

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Bean and Sumac Onion Salad

• Red onion

• Salt

• Sumac (to taste)

• 1/2 bunch of parsley

• 1 Can White Beans

• 1/2 Can Chickpeas

• 1-2 medium tomatoes

• Vinegar

• EVOO

Slice red onion thinly, season with salt and sumac, macerate with your hands, and set aside. Dice parsley and chop tomato into medium pieces. Rinse white beans and chickpeas, place in a bowl with the rest of the ingredients, salt and pepper to taste, and dress with vinegar and EVOO.