Gluten free Irish soda bread muffins

Claire Matern is a native of Park Slope, Brooklyn and has lived in Switzerland, London and Costa Rica. A newcomer to the food world via the fashion industry, Claire was inspired to make the shift by her dad, Ted Matern, who is a long-time chef and owner of Blue Apron Foods, a specialty food and cheese shop in Park Slope, Brooklyn.  When she’s not cooking, planning recipes, photographing food, or eating it, Claire can be found exploring small shops around New York City, picking up intriguing ingredients and working on her blog, “A Cheesemonger’s Daughter,” which chronicles her journey of learning to cook from her father.

Claire Matern

“My blog 
focuses on family recipes that my Pop has cooked for years, favorite go-to meals, and newly discovered dishes from my massive collection of cookbooks. A Cheesemonger’s Daughter shares recipes that highlight locally purchased ingredients and the importance of knowing your food,” shares Claire. KDHamptons asks the budding chef to share a complete menu of her favorite seasonal recipes below in this NEW Feast End Diary. Start planning your next Hamptons dinner party now…

Main Dish: Pasta with Peas and Lemon Crème Fraîche

Ingredients:

½ cup/4 oz. crème fraîche
8 oz. pasta
1 cup peas
1 tsp. lemon zest
1 tsp. lemon juice
olive oil
sea salt & black pepper

Directions:

Bring a pot of salted water to boil and cook pasta until al dente.  While the pasta is cooking, mix the crème fraiche with the lemon juice, lemon zest, salt and pepper.  In a small pot cook the peas for a couple minutes, drain, and add to the crème fraiche sauce.  Before draining the pasta, take 1 teaspoon of the pasta water from the pot and mix in the sauce, drain the pasta and put in a medium bowl and toss in a little olive oil.  Pour the peas and crème fraiche over the pasta and mix.  *Yields 4 servings

Side Dish: Baked fennel with Parmesan

Ingredients:

3 bulbs of fennel
parmesan cheese, grated (approx. 1/3 cup though the cheesiness factor is up to you)
4 sprigs of thyme
olive oil
flaked sea salt
pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450F/230C
Wash, trim, and cut the fennel bulbs lengthwise and parboil, about ten minutes.
Drain the fennel and pat them dry and lay in a baking pan (cut side up), drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and sprinkle (or in my case smother) with parmesan cheese.  Place in the oven until cheese begins to brown and the fennel softens (about 20 minutes).  It’s the perfect side dish for fish, chicken, or accompanied by a salad or soup. Yields 6 servings.

Appetizer: Arugula with blood orange & Stilton

Ingredients:

1 package arugula
2 blood oranges, peeled and segmented
Stilton (or another blue cheese), to taste, crumbled
olive oil
cider vinegar or lemon juice
salt and pepper

Directions:
Toss the arugula in olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper to lightly dress. Plate, crumble stilton and top with blood oranges.

Dessert: Mixed berry pie with chocolate lattice

Ingredients for the hot water crust:

3/4 cup (170g) lard (room temperature)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
6 tbsp. boiling water

Directions:

Using a large fork, a pastry cutter, or your fingers, combine the dry ingredients with the lard until they become a mealy, sandy texture.  Quickly mix in the hot water and knead until the dough forms a ball.  Wrap tightly in two layers of cling film and let rest in the fridge for at least an hour.

Ingredients for the chocolate crust: (yields enough for a top or bottom crust–double if you want to make a full pie)
1 cup all purpose flour
2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tbsp. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 stick/4 oz./~115g butter (BAF)*
2 tbsp. lard (optional though it helped to roll it out. An all butter crust will be crumblier, but flakier. It’s a toss up.)
~2 tbsp. ice water (I started with 2 and added a touch more to work it all in. Don’t exceed 3 tbsp.)

Directions:

Combine the ingredients as you did for the hot water piecrust, making sure the butter, and lard if you’re using it, has blended into the dry ingredients and the mixture resembles sand or meal. Add your water and knead until it comes together, wrap in two sheets of cling film and let sit in the fridge for at least an hour.

Ingredients for the filling:

1 cup strawberries
1 1/2 cup blueberries
1 cup blackberries
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 tbsp. corn starch

Directions:

Stir all ingredients together and fill in a blind baked crust.  Top it with any fun lattice you fancy and pop in a preheated oven of 350F/180C for 50 minutes, or until the filling is bubbling away and the crust as turned a golden brown.  *Yields one 9” pie

* For more great recipes follow Claire on Instagram @acheesemongersdaughter