This year, Alex and I stayed home on Valentine’s day.  No neighborhood parties, no dinner reservations, just the two of us, well, three with our dog Wiley.  A neighbor had told us about this great Persian supermarket with amazing fruits, veggies and meats.  We took a field trip to see what it was all about and stock up for V-day dinner.  We got a rack of lamb, Persian flat bread, and colorful tomatoes.

How to be Neighborly: Let your neighbors in on the secret hole in the wall finds!

Now I was off to menu planning.  My mom had given me some blood orange curd, so I needed to find some way to use that for dessert. So this was what I whipped up for dinner:

• Bruschetta with aged balsamic, yellow and red tomatoes, and basil from the garden
• Lentil & beet salad with goat cheese and a dill vinaigrette
• Roasted rack of lamb with apple and pomegranate salsa and minty chimichuri sauce
• Rosemary Shortbread with curd and whipped cream

Bruschetta

Beet and lentil salad

Roasted lamb

Rosemary shortbread with curd and whipped cream

Everything was pretty darn amazing, but the dessert was to die for.  Blood oranges are hard to find most of the year, but you can make curd with anything.  I use Ina Garten’s Lemon Curd recipe.  It’s very fast, easy, and fool proof.

Neighborly dessert

Directions

Rosemary shortbread

It was so good, I’ve made it again and again.  I even made some for my neighbors to assemble for a weekend treat after dinner.  Here’s how you can spread the love:

Rosemary Shortbread, Citrus Curd & Whipped Cream

Rosemary Shortbread

Modified from Gourmet Magazine, 2007

• 2 c all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1/2 c confectioners sugar
• 1 tbsp granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, and rosemary in a bowl. Mix together butter, honey, and confectioners sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer, then add flour mixture and mix until dough resembles coarse meal with some small (roughly pea-size) butter lumps. Gather dough into a ball and transfer to a lightly floured surface. Knead dough until it just comes together, about 8 times.  Divide into 2 parts.

Roll out dough (keep remaining dough at room temperature) between 2 sheets of parchment to a thickness of about 1/8 to 1/4 inch. Remove top sheet. Using a biscuit cutter, cut round cookies, and place on baking sheet.  Continue to roll and cut until all dough is used.  Sprinkle dough with 1/2 tablespoon granulated sugar.

Bake shortbread in middle of oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes.

Citrus Curd

I use Ina Garten’s recipe, but add other citrus besides lemon.  Anything will work- lemon, lime, orange, grapefruit, etc.  Use what’s fresh, or you can buy lemon curd.Or you can make friends with my mom.

Whipped Cream

Make my Spiced Whipped Cream, but omit the cinnamon and nutmeg.

Assembly

Place cookie on plate, top with curd, then whipped cream.  Sprinkle with sea salt, and garnish with a rosemary sprig.  You can also add chopped pecans as a garnish.

Enjoy!