June's Recipes

• In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine milk and poppy seeds. Let stand one hour.
  
  
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. and grease a 9x5 loaf pan.
  
  
• Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Combine flour, baking powder, lemon zest, and salt in small bowl. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture in three equal portions, alternating with poppy seed milk. Beat until just smooth.
  
  
• Pour into prepared loaf pan. Bake in center of preheated oven for 55-65 minutes, until loaf is golden brown and a cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Place loaf, in pan, on cooling rack.

• Make lemon syrup: combine sugar and lemon juice in small saucepan and heat just until sugar dissolves.
  
  
• Pierce hot loaf about 12 times with bamboo skewer or cake tester. Immediately pour hot syrup over loaf. Cool 30 minutes; turn out of pan onto rack to cool completely. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and let stand overnight at room temperature before serving.

• Sear meat in a heavy skillet. Plunge into very cold water until chilled. Pat dry and set aside. In a medium bowl, combine soy sauce, mirin, lemon juice, ginger, garlic, onion (reserve a few pieces for later), and pepper. Marinate meat in mixture for several hours (up to overnight), turning frequently.
  
  
• Cut meat into very thin slices, drizzle with marinade. Peel daikon and grate to a fine pulp. Add reserved onion pieces to garnish daikon. Serve beef chilled, with daikon as a topping.

• Wash zucchini and squash, trim ends, and slice thinly (~1/8 inch thickness). I used a Benriner slicer (Japanese style mandolin). Set aside. Combine garlic, salt, pepper, and a little water (~2 T) in a bowl. Set aside. Wash basil, slice into ribbons. Set aside. Peel tomatoes and remove seeds. (To peel tomatoes, blanch briefly in boiling water, then plunge into cold water. This greatly facilitates the removal of the skin.) Dice tomatoes, set aside.
  
  
• Peel and chop onion into small pieces. In a small saucepan, combine onions, tomato puree, canned tomatoes (drained, chopped, and seeds removed). Bring to a boil and then set aside. Total volume in saucepan should equal ~2 cups.
  
  
• Get out the largest skillet you own. (I mean this. I had to fry the squash slices in to separate pans until they wilted enough to fit into one pan.) Fry sliced zucchini and squash in a minimal amount of olive oil until barely wilted (do this quickly, lest the squash release too much water and dilute the final dish). Add to the skillet in this order, mixing well after each addition: garlic mix, basil, tomatoes, tomato sauce (saucepan contents), heavy cream, Asiago cheese. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat.
  
  
• Serve immediately with extra Asiago cheese sprinkled on top.