A while back I was approached by a casting agent for a new cooking contest featuring home cooks with “a unique prospective and good short cuts”. I declined. Not that it wouldn’t have been fun, but I am not a good fit for that. More than anything else I believe that if you are going to the bother of cooking at home then you should use the best ingredients and give your efforts and the food the time it needs to be the best it can be. Also because rushing causes things like this: The Slow Food Movement was founded in 1986 to promote locally sourced, home cooked meals. According the ...
SO WHAT IS A JAPANESE STYLE STRAWBERRY CAKE?
A delicate sponge cake containing a layer of fresh strawberries and a gelatin stabilized whipped cream icing, made in the Japanese style. What is a Japanese Cake and how is it different from any other cake? If you have traveled to Asia and spent any time at all walking through markets and towns, chances are you have passed a bakery. The shelves hold beautiful confections, shiny with fruits glazes, filled with fruit flavored custards and mousse. They look familiar but somehow not. And that’s what they are. They are an Asian fusion of European style cakes using fruits and ...
Moroccan Lamb with Honeyed Figs
Wild lamb flavor is tamed with rich, winter spices: cinnamon, ground coriander, fresh ginger and cumin, and then finished with honey roasted figs, piquant pomegranate seeds and the complex citrusy flavor of cilantro. Serve it over couscous, quinoa or rice or sop up the juices with fresh bread--it's your choice! I have figs and I have lamb. Both of which are, in my opinion, under appreciated foods. Lamb is beef on steroids. Deep red and tender but with a wild gamy flavor that takes a little getting used to. It brings notes of earth and umani to a dish and can stand up to spice and heat ...
PUMPKIN BISCOTTI WITH GINGER AND CRANBERRY
And all the lives we ever lived and all the lives to be are full of trees and changing leaves. –Virginia Woolf Autumn is a time of reflection. As the light softens and changes; as the mornings darken and the evening comes earlier; as rain drops drearily, dragging reluctant leaves from their hold on branches, my coffee break demands a little more. It asks for biscotti. Crisp on the outside, soft on the inside, flavored with warm spices, candied ginger, cranberries and fragrant pumpkin, my biscotti reminds me of the past and future combined in each season. Spring, summer, fall and winter, ...
BRING ON AUTUMN! APPLE AND PUMPKIN SPICE BREAD
It’s October. Are we doing Halloween this year? I certainly hope so or, judging by the amount the grocery stores are selling, all of us are going to be munching on candy well into the New Year. And I am looking forward to seeing what ingenious costumes my neighbors come up with after a year’s break! October is time for apples, pumpkin, warm spices, and afternoon snacks. I took a trip over to my local Trader Joe’s to see what they were offering up this Fall. I came back with a fun assortment. One item in particular was begging for a recipe—Maple Butter! So I created this Apple ...
FAIRY CAKES FOR MAISIE
Fairy Cakes are a British treat. Small cakes made of Victorian Sponge and topped with a simple icing and a candy or two, they are easy to make and hard to resist! I spent four days last week babysitting my three-year-old granddaughter and 6-month-old grandson. My sister asked me how it went, and this is what I said: Babysitting was very similar to having children. Good days and bad days, boredom and anxiety, fun and laughter, hugs and kisses and tremendous love. Not to mention those lovely moments sitting in a dark room holding a baby and watching him fall asleep. And of course, ...
PUMPKIN SPICE ICE CREAM SANDWICHES
Sometime in late August or early September, Starbucks and other retailers pull the trigger on Autumn, and Pumpkin Spice Everything appears in stores throughout the country. This feels premature to me. Pumpkin Spice calls for sweaters, chilly evenings, and brilliantly colored leaves. I don’t know where you live but that is not how my September rolls. Where I live it’s still pretty hot. How to satisfy that yen for the cool days of Autumn on a sweltering 85-degree day? Ice cream sandwiches of course-- specifically yummy vanilla ice cream sandwiched between pumpkin spice cookies ...
ORANGE ALMOND TEA CAKE WITH CARDAMON
Autumn is upon us and it’s time for something different. Cakes! My glazed orange and almond cake with a hint of cardamon is perfect with a cup of coffee or tea, for breakfast (!) or lunch, snacking or dessert. Up to now we’ve been making a lot of pies. For the most part, pies are easy: pastry, filling, assemble, bake. Cakes require a little more care. Truthfully, they are less forgiving than a pie. But not that much! Let’s start simply. Get all your ingredients mixed and ready to go: flour, baking powder and salt whisked in a bowl, sugar measured, eggs beaten with almond and ...
GIANT FRUIT POP-TART!
When is a pie not a pie? When it is a Pop-Tart! Thick layers of pastry with a jammy fruit filling, topped with a vanilla glaze and sprinkles, it is deliciously sweet and satisfying. I can’t take credit for the idea. That comes courtesy of my daughter who saw it on Instagram and asked me to make one. At first I thought, “Uggh, another pie?” I’ve been making pies all summer and I was looking forward to moving on to something else. (As must you be.) But then I made it and I realized it may go together like a pie but it doesn’t really taste like one. It tastes like a jelly donut! ...
A PHENOMENAL CHERRY PIE: THE BEST CHERRY PIE RECIPE!
Fresh cherries are only part of the secret to making a phenomenal cherry pie. This recipe makes the best cherry pie ever and the only one you will ever want to make again! Cherry Pie. It’s legendary, a part of American culture. But when was the last time you had a cherry pie? More importantly, have you ever made a cherry pie without using canned cherry pie filling? If you have, you know what I am talking about. If you haven’t, you are in for a treat! The thing about convenience foods is they are convenient (Duh). But all too often flavor is sacrificed in the creation of that ...
