Looking for a different take on traditional pesto? Try this recipe using cilantro! Exactly why I always say one can never have too much cilantro.
It's vegan too! You can certainly still use parmesan rather than nutritional yeast as well.
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, toasted
1 1/2 cups fresh cilantro
juice of 1/2 Meyer lemon
1-2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1/4-1/2 cup olive oil
Make Lemon Curd
Make Rosemary Infused Butter
Make Rosemary-Lemon Cake
Make Rosemary Buttercream Frosting
Assemble Cake
About 6 Meyer Lemons
2 Tbsp. lemon zest
2 C. sugar
4 eggs
½ C. butter
1. Grate zest and squeeze lemons for 1 cup of lemon juice.
2. Beat butter and sugar on medium speed with and electric mixer or spoon until blended.
3. Add eggs one at a time beating until just blended after each addition; stir in zest and
transfer to a microwave safe bowl, heavy pot, or double boiler.
4. Microwave on high for 5 minutes, stirring at 1-minute intervals. Continue microwaving at 30
second intervals until mixture thickens, coats the back of a spoon, and starts to mound
when stirred. Or cook in your heavy pot/double boiler on medium low, whisking constantly
14-16 minutes until thickened and coats the back of a spoon.
5. Place plastic wrap directly on warm curd, to prevent a film from forming on top, and chill 4
hours or until firm. Will store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
1 cup unsalted butter
3-4 sprigs fresh rosemary
3 ¼ cup powdered sugar, sifted
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 Tablespoon heavy cream
1. Using a heavy bottomed saucepan, add butter and rosemary. Melt butter and bring to a boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and allow to cool until butter is cool to the touch. Strain out rosemary. Infused butter can be stored in the fridge until ready to use.
2. Let butter soften to room temperature, if chilled. Using an electric mixer with a paddle attachment cream butter. Add powdered sugar, salt, and heavy cream. Mix until smooth. If buttercream is too soft add additional powdered sugar 1 Tbsp at a time. If it is too thick, add a little more heavy cream until desired consistency is achieved.
2 1/2 cups (280 gr) cake flour, plus extra for dusting pans
1 1/4 tsp (5 gr) baking powder
1/4 tsp (2 gr) baking soda
3/4 tsp (3.6 gr) Morton kosher salt or table salt
1 3/4 cups (343 gr) granulated sugar (divided)
10 tablespoons (140 gr) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 cup (237 ml) buttermilk, room temperature
3 TBSP (44 ml) vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 TBSP lemon zest
1 TBSP fresh rosemary, minced
6 large egg yolks, room temperature
3 large egg whites, room temperature
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a quarter sheet pan or two 8-9-inch round pans with parchment paper or a silpat, and grease lightly. If not using parchment or silpat grease pan and flour lightly.
2. In a large bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and 1 ½ cups sugar.
3. In another bowl or 4 cup measuring cup, whisk together the melted butter, buttermilk, oil, vanilla, lemon zest, rosemary, and egg yolks.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites at medium speed until foamy. With the machine running, stream in the remaining
¼ cup of sugar. Beat at high speed just until stiff peaks form. Transfer to a clean bowl.
5. Put flour mixture into the stand mixer with the whisk attachment. Turn on low speed and stream in butter mixture and mix for 10-15 seconds. Turn off mixer
and scrape the sides of the bowl. Mix again for 20 seconds until just combined.
6. Using a spatula, carefully fold in half of the meringue until just incorporated. Then fold in the rest of the meringue. There will be a few white streaks in the batter. Gently pour the batter into the quarter sheet pan or two 8-9-inch round pans.
7. Place on center rack of oven and bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes, rotating halfway through. The cake will pull away from the edge of the pan and will no
longer jiggle in the center when baking is complete.
8. Cool cake in the pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Turn over onto, a piece of parchment paper or silpat, on a wire rack and allow to cool completely before
frosting or assembly.
1. If using a quarter sheet pan you, you can either make the cake twice and then layer or cut in half and then use those as the layers. If using cake rounds
the recipe will produce 2 rounds.
2. Place one piece on your cake platter and lightly top with buttercream. Put about ½ cup of buttercream in a bag and pipe a border around the perimeter
of the cake.
3. Spread enough lemon curd on top to fill the buttercream perimeter.
4. Place the other cake on top and spread the remaining buttercream on top and on the sides. Chill cake for 20-30 minutes after to set buttercream. Let
cake sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.
By Jody Walthall
We can welcome winter migrating birds to our yards by planting American (native) trees and shrubs to create habitat. Birds need insects, berries and seeds, as well as cover, that native plants offer.
Cool autumn temperatures bring winter migrating birds to our area. The greater the percentage of native plants in your yard, the more birds will be able to thrive there. Research by nationally celebrated entomologist Doug Tallamy, author of Bringing Nature Home, has shown that 96% of land birds feed their young insects that rely on native plants for sustenance. Native plants are the base of the ecological food web. In addition, his research indicates that when a landscape dips below 80% native plants, the reproduction rate of birds begins to drop. Thus, we can all make a difference in our yards by increasing the percentage of native plants each year.
Insects are important for some birds year-round, but other birds depend on berries to make it through the winter. Florida’s state bird, the northern mockingbird, eats primarily insects in spring and summer. Late summer through winter its diet is heavy in berries from pokeweed, elderberry, arrowwood, bluestem palmetto, American beautyberry and hollies, among many others.
Wax myrtle grown as a small tree. Photo by Jody Walthall.
Wax myrtle is another native shrub, having berries ripening in October and November. Unlike the bright red berries of holly, wax myrtle berries are not real visible. The very small, hard berries are arranged in clusters along the stem and are covered in a thin gray waxy coating. Two small birds that breed in the boreal forests of Canada, the ruby-crowned kinglet and yellow-rumped warbler, relish wax myrtle berries here in winter and are closely affiliated with this shrub. The birds get nourishment from the berries; the wax myrtle shrub receives seed dispersal service via the digestive tract of the birds in return, delivered complete with fertilizer.
The yellow-rumped warbler used to be known as myrtle warbler because it is so fond of wax myrtle berries. On our neighborhood morning walks, we have been hearing the distinctive “chips” of yellow-rumped warblers coming from the thick wax myrtle bushes around McCord Pond. Wax myrtle berries are an important source of winter food for this warbler, as they are for the kinglet.
Speaking of kinglets, last Christmas season at Native Nurseries, our supply of wax myrtle berries for decorating wreaths was discovered by a ruby-crowned kinglet. This diminutive bird, in its constantly flitting manner, put on quite a show for staff and customers alike as it stole wax myrtle berries from wreaths and then discovered its reflection in a nearby silver gazing globe. For several days it could be seen flashing its normally hidden red feathers on its head at the “interloper” in the globe.
Gray catbirds and white-eyed vireos are also known to feed on wax myrtle berries. Apparently not all birds can digest the waxy coating. Another winter visitor that sometimes depends on wax myrtle berries, along with holly and other winter fruit, is the tree swallow. During much of the winter these birds can obtain enough insects, but during sharp cold spells when there are few insects to be found, they will descend in numbers for a feeding frenzy on wax myrtle and holly.
As a landscape plant in your yard, wax myrtle will be a fast-growing, large evergreen shrub. Sometimes it is used as a small, multiple trunk tree. It prefers full sun, but light dappled shade is fine. Wax myrtle does best when allowed to grow to its full size and natural shape. That said, it responds well to periodic pruning, especially on old growth. Only female plants will produce berries, but all wax myrtle will provide excellent cover for birds.
North Florida still has a fair amount of native forest of both pines and hardwoods. Tallahassee is one of the most forested cities in the country. Our urban forest consists primarily of native species, though we have problems with Chinese camphor, Chinese elm, Chinese tallow, mimosa, tree Ligustrum, and Taiwan cherry. You can improve your yard by removing these space-hogging invasive alien plants and replacing them with American native species. You will be doing the birds a favor!
Learn more about the importance of native species for wildlife when Dr. Doug Tallamy speaks in Tallahassee on March 19, 2020 (location to be announced). Dr. Tallamy’s presentation is titled, The Insect/Native Plant Connection: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants.
