Last weekend brought my very first clafoutis. Cherry and blueberry, eggy and deee-licious! A well-trod recipe requiring just a handful of ingredients, and a pile of fruit, clafoutis is easier to make than a pie (my other summertime favorite), yet equally as delectable. I even included a copy of my recipe in the book. Have a lovely long weekend folks!
from Nosheteria
All popovers are not created equal. Awhile back I made a recipe for oatmeal popovers by Marion Cunningham, whom I normally adore. With finely ground oatmeal, and a dollop of orange marmalade baked in the bottom, they sounded superb. Well, turns out they weren’t. They never really puffed (or popped as it may be), and I had a muffin pan of full of deflated batter with marmalade that was too bitter for my taste. Oh well, every cookbook writer is allowed a dud every now and again.
When I was at the market last week, the strawberries finally looked good– rosy, with a sprightly green stem– not a crinkly brown one. I bought a basket, and ate almost all of them plain. But with the final few, I decided to make a more classic popover to redeem the oatmeal debacle of late. And [...]
I think that rhubarb is really one of those vegetables that is best served as a fruit– like a tomato in reverse. That is not to say that I have never been swayed to try out rhubarb as a savory component to my meals. If I remember correctly, several years ago, I tried out a pork tenderloin dish with roasted rhubarb and sage. It was bad. Needless to say, as I was ingesting the relaxed, roasted rhubarb, all I was thinking was that I wished I had stewed the rhubarb in sugar, and forgotten about the pork entirely. But you have to give things a shot to determine their worth.
Rhubarb is an odd vegetable/fruit. It can range in color from a gentle celadon to a shocking pink, all in the same stalk, making it look like celery’s racier cousin. I am always [...]
As you probably can guess, from being a food blog writer, I also read a lot of food blogs. And if there is one common thread that is sewn amongst my fellow bloggers each February and early March it is that spring cannot come soon enough. So I feel that it is safe to speak for a few and say: we are tired of soup, and braised dishes are lovely and rib-sticking, but—bring on the grill and we are all dying for a peach!
But speaking from 30 years of experience, let me say, as the wind whistles round us, we have some time to wait before Spring’s arrival. So why not enjoy it? Dust off that soup pot for just a while longer, braise yet another interesting cut of meat, and discover the wonders of citrus fruit. To me, nothing invokes warm weather fare like [...]
Did all of you have a nice Thanksgiving? It’s hard to believe this Fall holiday has come and gone as quickly as a potato waiting to be mashed. Now, gearing up for the Christmas holidays begins. I must say, that for as excited as I get each November, I am always happy to say goodbye to my gravy boats and my roasting pans until next year. For as festive as Thanksgiving may be, it always makes me feel like I have been run over by a freight train for the few days following.
Away go the potatoes, scrape the bowl clean; the stuffing is neatly wrapped in crinkly foil; cranberry relish is nestled in Tupperware containers, waiting to dye the plastic; globs of congealing gravy go into the fridge; and the crowning achievement, the bird, is sliced and ready to be saved. Just like the shopping [...]
It’s nice living within a walking distance from a thriving farmers’ market. Each Saturday morning, after a strong cup of coffee, and a slice or two of toast, I grab my Moe’s tote (a proud relic of my Berkeley days) and Brian and I take a stroll down to Wooster Square. I peruse what the vendors have for sale each week, and although it is fresh, bright, and bountiful, I must admit, it is standard fare. The summer squash is just zucchini, there are a few peaches, but simply the yellow sort, and although the tomatoes are plentiful, there are just a handful of the heirloom variety. As I pick up my bundles it is hard for me not to remember the potato man at the Union Square Greenmarket fondly, and to think back to the multi-colored hues of a California cauliflower. (I know, I [...]
I don’t think I have ever moved in Winter. My moves have always been marked by the school calendar– a flurry of finals, rapidly moving, and then, enjoying a bit of summer vacation. And I guess that since I have married an academic, this is the way that our moves will always be. It works out fine, we managed this move with only a few bruises from bumping into boxes of books, and more than a few towels have been used to mop our sweaty brows.
The hardest thing for me to move is, of course, the kitchen. There are pots and pans, bake ware, popsicle molds, utensils, my fondue pot, to name just a few from the laundry list of items. Naturally, those all get packed up. (You never know just when that fondue pot will come in handy!) But then there are [...]
It has been a dizzying few weeks for me, how ’bout you? This is how my weeks went: climb over mountainous piles of moving boxes to get to my computer, sit there for hours, the time punctuated by the occasional beeping of a car horn by some impatient Connecticut driver, and pour through pages and pages of my manuscript edited thoughtfully (and thoroughly) by my editor. Yes, my computer became my best friend, the only other thing/person that I interacted with was my husband…and even that was minimal.
It was difficult having an entirely new state to explore and trying to be good, trying to stick to a deadline, so I knew that this exploration would have to wait. But summer stretches out before me, bringing with it soft serve ice cream cones, baskets full of cherries, and buttery lobster rolls. I can’t wait! Now, with [...]
My dad was a traveller. Not a camper, and certainly not the sort of traveller interested in lying on some white, sandy beach. He was a fly by the seat of your pants sort of traveller, an adventurer, an explorer. When I was growing up, every few months he would get that undeniable itch that needed scratching, and the only way he knew to scratch was by boarding a 747 and heading off to a foreign land. Fortunately for me (or my sister), he often brought us along on his travels.
We would take leave from school and a-travelling we would go. My dad would board the plane, with a pigtailed little me following him and besides the final destination, and maybe a few business meetings along the way, my dad never had a solid plan about what we would do when we arrived. Meticulously [...]
…who doesn’t try this deliciously simple dessert. As summer is approaching I can feel my culinary muscles getting sluggish. I don’t want to turn on the oven. It is enough to set a pot of water on the stove to boil. And baking? Well, just forget about it. I am tired, or maybe it’s just that I am lazy. That is why I’m happy to announce the discovery of the strawberry-rhubarb fool.
I had never had a fool– that mix of freshly whipped cream and fruit compote of your choosing– they had always seemed like a bit of a hoax to me. “So it’s some whipped cream, anyone can do that,” I questioned. And the answer is: precisely, anyone can do that. That is what makes this dessert so wonderfully egalitarian.
When I was a little girl we always had large Thanksgivings with all of the fixins’ at home. Except for one [...]
