Challenge yourself to make a beautiful blueberry filled coffee cake! Recipes for using cans of beans and other imaginative things to do with pantry staples are not really my thing. And there are a lot of much better chefs out there who are creating and sharing those kinds of recipes for you. I am working on the assumption that the cooks among you are looking for projects, something to stretch your mind and talents and hopefully result in something fun to eat (#gettingfatfromcoronovirus). Starting next week, I am replaying one episode from the Great British Baking Show, Season One and ...
Breads and Pastries
IF I CAN MAKE A FRUIT TART, YOU CAN MAKE A FRUIT TART
An elegant fruit tart is easy to make with this recipe. The cookie crust and quick custard support the fruit design of your choice! The first time I tried to make a fruit tart was 37 years ago. I lived in Paris and I was eager to try all kinds of cooking. I know exactly when it was because I still have the recipe written down in the notebook I was using at the time. It was from the August 1983 issue of Bon Appetit and it was called Crème Brulee Tart Jimmy. It consisted of a pastry shell, baked and brushed with chocolate, then topped with blackberries and custard. It was finished with a ...
READY FOR THE BIG LEAGUE? FETA CHEESE ROLLS
Up to now, we’ve been making bread the easy way—as a quick bread. But it’s time to step up our game and make a yeasty bun filled with a lovely herb, feta and cream cheese filling. Hey, come back here! There’s no reason to run away from baking bread with yeast! There used to be, back in the day before stand mixers with dough hooks and instant-read thermometers. But life is a lot easier now. The only thing that hasn’t changed is the time it takes to make it. These lovely cheese-stuffed rolls take about two to two and a half hours to make. Most of that time is devoted to letting the ...
A CONFLUENCE OF EVENTS: CHEDDAR-PECAN BREAD
Fresh Dill, Sharp Cheddar Cheese and Nutty Pecans combine to make a savory quick bread that is perfect for a winter day. There are two things I know: Never go shopping on an empty stomach, and The best time to read a cookbook is when you are hungry. Both of these things grow from the same stem. Because when you are hungry everything looks good to eat! I have been traveling a lot since January and while I’m not complaining (really!) it does mean that I have fallen behind a bit on cooking for my blog. But now I am home and I have been itching to get back into cooking and ...
BROWN BUTTER SAGE APPLE BREAD
Forsaking the traditional cinnamon flavoring, this quick bread uses the savory flavors of Browned Butter and Sage for a fresh take on Apple Bread. October is here. I am not sorry to say good-bye to September. My September was pretty eventful: from hurricanes to a wedding to a funeral, it pretty much spanned every type of stress. As a friend put it to me recently, I have been living in a deep end of emotion. Which might explain my obsession with baking these days. Homemade muffins and breads, pies and cookies, cakes and desserts, they all speak to me of comfort and stability. So ...
ADVENTURES OF AN ASHEVILLE COOK IN A HURRICANE
Did you miss me? Did you notice I was gone? It has been two weeks since I posted anything on my blog, the first missed entries in a year and a half. I wish I could say it was on purpose. I wish I had gone on a fabulous vacation and left the cares of the world behind me. But I did not. Instead, the roaring winds of Hurricane Dorian turned its sights on North Carolina, the beach on which my family has a much-loved home, and on Wilmington, the coastal city where my youngest daughter, Abby, was to get married that same week. I arrived in Sunset Beach a week before the wedding with every ...
Tomato Tarts: Summer on a Plate
This has been a wonderful summer. And now it is the middle of August. The mornings are getting cooler and the sun rises later. In the evening the light has a golden tinge which signals the coming Autumn. An even surer sign of summer's end is the sound of children waiting for the school bus. Their laughter is such a pleasant sound to wake to although I am sure they would rather not be headed back! My tomato plants are sagging under the weight of ripening red orbs and I have eaten tomato sandwiches for lunch and dinner with an undiminished joy. But, as the summer harvest continues, even ...
Spiced Tomato Bread
My crazy summer continues. I have been doing a LOT of traveling and really enjoying myself as I explore new cities and places, and their food. I realized that while I have traveled around a lot of the world, it has been a long time since I visited many of the cities in the United States. So it has been a treat for me to do some travelling in the United States. You can follow my travels on Instagram @awomancooks and on this blog in The Adventures of an Asheville Cook. This week I returned from Cincinnati (Graeter's Ice Cream and Montgomery Inn BBQ Ribs) to find a massive number of lovely ...
ALASKA: MOUNTAINS, SEA, ICE AND PASTRY???
I went to Alaska on a culinary tour with Access Culinary knowing I was going to see some beautiful scenery, eat some great food, meet some great chefs and learn some new things but I was not prepared for Laura Cole and her pastry. Laura is the owner and chef of 229 Parks Restaurant and Tavern, just inside Denali National Park in Alaska. It is considered to be the finest restaurant in the state. You may know her better from Season 15 of Bravo’s series, Top Chef . It was day one of our tour and we left Fairbanks early for the two hour drive to Denali and our cooking class ...
LEMON RASPBERRY QUICK BREAD, INSPIRED!
Even though lemons are primarily a winter fruit, we seem to pair them a lot with the dishes of Spring. I think it may be because their sunny color and fresh, clean, tang reminds us of the return of sun, the growing season and a new start. But too often I find that the promised flavor is missing in the finished dish, especially in quick breads (aka Tea Bread) and muffins. Then I found this. And I made a Lemon Raspberry Quick Bread that tastes of raspberries AND lemon! Some people window shop clothing stores, I browse supermarkets. I love checking out new products and trends. There is ...
