The Naptime Chef

The Occasion: Friends coming over for a casual early dinner party with kids.

Menu: Fish Tacos, Roasted Asparagus, Guacamole, Salsa, Mexican Green Rice, Tres Leches Cake, Red Wine Sangria.

Attendees: Party of 7, with kids!

Naptime Goals: Bake cake, trim asparagus, make the green sauce for the rice, cook the onions and peppers for the tacos.

Our family entertaining style is casual with a capital “c.” I mean, who wants to have kids at a formal dinner party where they are expected to be quiet and well-behaved at the table. Not me! Let the kids run around the yard, I say, the more relaxed the better. Last weekend we had friends over for an easy dinner party and I decided to serve a Cinco de Mayo inspired menu. We called it our Treinta de Abril Fiesta! Mexican food always goes well with casual entertaining and it is so much fun to make.

What’s Going on Today: Easter wrap-up, waiting for the rain to subside.

Naptime Goals: Make Asparagus Soup, write thank you note to the Easter bunny for doing such good work.

Tonight’s Menu: Asparagus Soup, soft fresh bread, white wine.

Kitchen Tool of the Week: Cuisinart Hand Blender, the ideal tool for blending soups, smoothies and whatever else you want. Need one? Buy one here at my Amazon store!

I could eat fresh asparagus roasted with olive oil and Parmesan every day of the year. But, the other night when I pulled a bunch of fresh stalks out of the bag and showed them to my husband he looked less than enthusiastic when I announced yet another serving of my favorite dish. I can’t blame him really, when asparagus is in season I serve it at least twice a week, usually prepared the same way. To give him a break I decided to try something new and make an asparagus soup and serve it with fresh crab meat. The latter part of the recipe being influenced by the crab kick we’ve been on recently.

This is the latest installment of my Powernap column. The series where I share quick, easy food that can be made for all kinds of situations. Powernaps are short and sweet, and so are these recipes. These are the things I make in a jiffy when I need a quick snack, am in the mood for a recipe experiment, or simply need to clean out the pantry.

Today’s Powernap: Approximately 4 stalks of perfect rhubarb were scored at the early season farmer’s market (I took all that were available!) The kiddo was at school and I had less than an hour to bake. What is the perfect recipe to ring in rhubarb season that doesn’t take long to make? (Don’t forget: If you need tips on selecting and cooking with rhubarb don’t forget to see my All About Rhubarb Tips!)

Muffins, obviously! And, to elevate these muffins from ordinary to awesome I ramped up the flavor by browning the butter and sprinkling the tops with raw sugar for extra texture. I know when it comes to dreaming up a great one hour recipe, simple one-note muffins might seem a little basic — they only require one bowl and a spoon (!) — but I can assure you these are anything but. Each bite yields a new flavor and texture, inviting you to take more as you work your way through each discovery. One minute you chew a piece of golden almond cake, the next a chunk of soft rhubarb paired with a hint of nutty browned butter, followed by a third bite of crunchy raw sugar topping. They are so rich that I swear you could serve them with ice cream as individual rhubarb cakes and your family and friends would be none the wiser.

Rhubarb Hazelnut Oatmeal Squares

Saying I am a fan of rhubarb is putting it mildly. I simply love the stuff and bake or cook with it as often as possible. With rhubarb season on the horizon I thought I would offer up a few great rhubarb tips today and a terrific new rhubarb recipe tomorrow. Here are some helpful hints and tips about my favorite tart stalks:

Taste, Color & Texture: Rhubarb stalks come in a variety of colors from deep red, to pink to green. It is generally believed that the red thin stalks are the sweetest because they are young and the green stalks are more tart since they are more mature. However, the truth is, there are many variety of rhubarb plants and the color of their stalks is not necessarily related to the flavor. The best thing to do is sample a few colors from your local market and see what best suits your palate. Rhubarb can range from being incredibly tart to very sweet. The sweeter rhubarb is terrific for simple compotes and jams, while the more tart variety does well when paired with berries, or plenty of sugar, to balance out the taste.

What’s Going on Today: A birthday celebration!

Naptime Goals: Preparing the food for the party (see previous post), including baking the cake and whipping the cream.

More Great Birthday Baked Goods: Check out this Naptime Simple Tips column!

Yesterday you read all about the birthday dinner I prepped during naptime and today I am focusing on the delicious cake. This year my husband requested an Angel Food Cake for his party. He has fond memories of his mother making it for him when he was little and has asked me to resurrect the tradition. I love Angel Food Cake too, and I knew our daughter would, so I was all too happy to go along with his request. To start things off the first thing I had to do was buy a tube pan.

The Occasion: Husband’s 30-something dinner, served mid-week on a school day.

Menu: Roasted Zucchini with Tomato & Burrata, Grilled Steak with Smoky Blue Cheese Sauce, Parmesan Couscous, Citrusy Angel Food Cake with Dulce de Leche and Cinnamon Whipped Cream, Rasblini (Raspberry Champagne Cocktail)

Attendees: Party of 3!

Naptime Goals: Make Blue Cheese Sauce, season Steak, bake Angel Food Cake, make Cinnamon Whipped Cream, make Raspberry Puree.

It is pretty rare that my husband and I entertain mid-week. Generally my husband works late and it is really only in the dog days of August that he is home at a decent hour to have dinner with friends. However, we will happily break our regular dinner routine and do some mid-week entertaining for each other on special occasions like birthdays and anniversaries. Even if it means eating later in the evening, we think it is nice to serve up a special meal and compose a happy toast on these occasions. For my husband’s birthday this week I decided to make a few of his favorite dishes and have them ready to eat when he walked in the door around seven o’clock. I chose dishes that were ideal for making during naptime then pulling together right before we were ready to eat.