I had some leftover Moscato D’Asti wine that was very nice but just to sweet for me to drink. This turned out to be a perfect way to make use of it and a slightly under-ripe pineapple at the same time. This tart differs from the traditional clafoutis in that the pineapples replace the cherries. And, in an homage to the 50s style upside down cake, I served it flipped over. You don’t have to. If you do, the pineapple is exposed, which looks nice, and the custard that bakes on the top of the cake is transformed into a... Continue reading

For the upside down pineapple clafoutis recipe, Mark Bittman’s method for cutting a pineapple in How to Cook Everything works perfectly. Trim off the top and bottom ends of the pineapple. Cut the pineapple lengthwise into quarters. Remove the hard tip of the pineapple quarters. Use a grapefruit knife to cut the pineapple flesh away from the skin. Pare away any remaining bits of skin. Cut each quarter into slices. Continue reading

This summer I fell in love with peach-ginger pies. The sweet muskiness of peaches, spiked with ginger, was as luxurious as a dip in a clear pond. A few weeks ago, as the weather cooled down, I came across an apple-ginger pie at a fall carnival. Hoping that pie could gently lead me out of one season and into the next, I eagerly brought it to dinner at a friend’s home. The combination just didn’t work as well. “Reminds me of the pickled ginger you get with sushi,” is the description my friend offered up. I finished my slice, but... Continue reading

These are the scones I’ve been making on weekend mornings, after sending my kids out to pick raspberries. The recipe is based on a Martha Stewart cream scone recipe. I love the tartness of cooked raspberries. Here, it is offset by the turbinado sugar topping and the sweet richness of almond extract. By the way, please forgive the quality of some of my more recent pictures! The lighting of my home kitchen has changed and I haven’t yet figured out how to photograph in it. And some pictures, like this one, were taken with my iPhone upstate. Makes 8 scones... Continue reading

After a summer hiatus of tending a few other projects, I'm returning with new recipes. One of my projects has been to try to figure out how to transform the fruit yield from our new upstate property from the above – that's six gnarled peaches and a stunted apple – to something one can eat. By spring, we hope to have done some strategic pruning, minimal organic spraying, and a small planting of apricot, peach, and apple trees. It's been a learning experience. Our single blueberry bush was wasted by birds. My daughter's strawberry-growing project, now encased in layers of... Continue reading

My posting of recipes has been 'interrupted' for some time with kitchen renovations (it's really almost done and I'm so excited to be getting back in the kitchen!). Here's an interruption from my cooking that I would welcome any time I have a craving for a sweet treat... Mint Rice Dream bars Ok, it's a packaged good I manage to do a pretty good job of avoiding single-serving packaged foods. I don’t buy Lunchables, mini packets of cookies or pretzels, little cups of yogurt, or those pouches of apple sauce that kids slurp up directly from their little spouts. Spending... Continue reading

Pommes Persillade with anchovies. Simple and delicious with a fried egg. Secret flavor shortcut: anchovies My floral whiz kid friend recently let me in on her favorite quick go-to meal ideas. Like me, she often turns to roasted veggies and pasta. Her key addition, though, was one that I hadn’t been giving enough attention to lately: anchovies. (I haven't been giving enough attention to a lot of ingredients lately; more on my kitchen renovation soon.) Many people are turned off by the idea of their strong, salty flavor. But when anchovies are used as a seasoning (rather than as a... Continue reading

I seem to be posting a lot about sweet baked goods these days. Some winters, it was hearty stews that got me through the cold weather. This year, I’m turning to baking to warm up my kitchen. But I promise, next time, I’ll write about something savory. That may not be for a while, however. Project: Kitchen Face-Lift is kicking into high gear. I suppose I could write about toaster-oven cooking or the cheapest take-outs in Park Slope. Stay tuned… Warm in the kitchen with blueberries and spice Today I’m compelled to write about this blueberry coffee cake. It’s homey,... Continue reading

A perfect way to pass a winter's afternoon: peanut butter cookies & board games. My mission: a peanut butter cookie that is indulgent, but not heavy Making good peanut butter cookies is not hard. Most recipes are pretty straightforward and, with all that sugar and fat, pretty forgiving. But here’s my beef with peanut butter cookies: they’re often too flat, dense, and oily for my taste. I like a more cake-y peanut butter cookie. And I'd like it to be able to touch a napkin without immediately making it look like it's been dabbing up a greasy slice of pizza.... Continue reading

These cookies make it into the Christmas cookie rotation every holiday season. Over the years, I’ve been playing with the recipe, making small adjustments here and there. I really like the way the cookies turn out with this version – tender, not too sweet and speckled with vanilla. They make the perfect housing for the rich and silky bittersweet chocolate ganache filling. So many people have asked me for the recipe, that I’m obliged – happily – to share it. Happy Holidays! Makes 4-5 dozen 1 ½-inch sandwich cookies Preparation time: 1 hour 30 minutes, plus resting time for dough... Continue reading

After a Thanksgiving feast, there’s barely enough room for pie. Most of us find a way to fit it in anyway, but the decision often leads to regret. Especially when the pumpkin pie is on the dense and heavy side. Not this pie. It has a soufflé quality to it that comes from whipping the egg whites separately. And a spike of bourbon in the filling wakes up those indulgence-fatigued taste buds. This recipe may initially seem daunting, with ingredient lists and procedures for making each component from scratch, but if you can take it on at a leisurely pace,... Continue reading

Honey, rosemary, almonds, along with a chunk of Stilton. A little snack of harmony. These flavors go together so well and come together so easily you can make this treat just for yourself at the end of a long day. Or you can share it as an elegant lightly sweet, lightly salty, aromatic accompaniment to the holiday cocktails that are just around the corner. If you are serving it to more than four people, you'll probably want to double the recipe. Makes 1 cup Preparation time: 30 minutes 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil 1 tablespoon honey 1 cup whole... Continue reading

A neighborhood mom and fellow Park Slope Food Co-op member has for months been raving to me about sunflower seed butter. It took me a while to make room for yet another nut butter in the fridge (next to the peanut and almond butters) but when I finally got around to trying sunflower seed butter, I could definitely see its appeal. Slightly sweet, very creamy and very rich, but it has the delicate flavor of sunflowers. It was almost too rich for me to spread on a slice of bread. Doing that kind of felt like eating sesame tahini straight... Continue reading

This dish is what I like to think of as luxury-hippy food. Not in a fancy Whole Foods kind of way. More like, I’m-making-millet-but-this-ain’t-no-bird-food. With brown butter, sage, and toasted hazelnuts, millet and kale are transformed into a rich and deeply satisfying treat. Millet is high in protein and B vitamins and is shaped like little beads, which I think are sort of cute. You can cook millet like you would rice. The problem with millet, though, is that it has a tendency to clump together in sticky, not so cute way. This recipe gets around that potentially sticky situation... Continue reading

In my mind, using toasted nuts instead of raw nuts is almost always preferable. Every now and then I like the flavor of raw almonds. But that’s pretty much it. Raw food enthusiasts would clearly disagree with me. But if you happen to cook with heat, see what you think the next time you garnish a salad with nuts. Compare the difference between toasted and untoasted nuts. Hands down, the toasted nuts are crispier in texture, deeper in color and flavor, and just plain nuttier. Here is a simple guideline for getting beautifully toasted nuts. Uniform in size and type.... Continue reading

Is it me or does this year’s fig season just keep going and going? I’m not complaining. As long as the figs keep coming, I’m happy to let them find their way into my meals and snacks. I’ve been eating them on their own (biting into a ripe fig is an indulgence every time), with cheese (fresh goat, mild blues, Parmigiano Reggiano), grilled and tossed with caramelized onions. But it didn’t occur to me until this week to toss them with late season tomatoes. It’s a combination that works beautifully. The sweetness of the fig highlights the sugar in the... Continue reading

Fresh chanterelles are such a rare treat. Even when they’re in season, they can be quite expensive. So I stretched them out in this recipe with the ubiquitous and economical cauliflower. This pairing doesn’t just bring down the cost per pound, however. The mild earthy flavors of both ingredients blend into a mellow autumn dish. The chanterelles are meaty and tender and develop a nice crisp when cooked at a high heat. And cauliflower somehow manages to taste earthy and clean at the same time. Together, they taste to me like the culinary equivalent of a cozy blanket on a... Continue reading

More and more, I’m cooking with less meat and more beans, tofu, and whole grains. I’ve been motivated partly out of a desire to reduce my family’s carbon footprint and partly to eat more healthfully. But mostly, I’m subscribing to the Old Miller Lite “Tastes Great, Less Filling” philosophy. To me, there’s no point in eating a meat-heavy meal when a colorful, hearty vegetarian dish can satisfy me without leaving me overly stuffed and remorseful. I haven’t lost my taste for meat – I’ll still occasionally crave and happily eat a duck breast or a bison burger. But these days,... Continue reading

This is a bagna cauda-inspired salad. It has the anchovies and garlic of the classic Italian warm dipping sauce for veggies. But the dressing is served at room temperature and is brightened up by a whole lot of parsley, borrowing a little from another Italian favorite: pesto. I love it on raw cauliflower, but you could also use blanched and chilled cauliflower if you prefer it cooked. Serves 4-6 Preparation time: 15 minutes For the dressing: 1 large clove garlic, roughly chopped ¼ cup packed flat-leaf parsley 3 anchovy fillets 1 teaspoon lemon juice ¼ teaspoon Kosher salt Freshly ground... Continue reading

I’ve made this cake often – it's a simple cake, perfect for an afternoon tea. And it dresses up nicely with whipped cream and a fruit sauce or preserves. The recipe is adapted from an old William-Sonoma cookbook called “The Best of Taste.” One especially nice thing about this cake is that it stays moist for days. In fact, it seems to even improve on the second day. This past weekend, I thought, how nice would a quiet family afternoon tea be. The cake was already made; I had put it in the freezer a couple weeks ago when a... Continue reading

When I made the raspberry sauce from our family’s recent berry-picking expedition, I immediately thought of a childhood favorite: spaghetti ice. This was (and probably still is) a popular kind of sundae that I had eaten in Germany. Vanilla ice cream is passed through a press with little holes in it so that it comes out as soft-serve ‘spaghetti.’ Then it’s topped with raspberry sauce and grated white chocolate for the parmesan. I tried to replicate this at home using a well-chilled potato ricer to shape the ice cream. It didn’t look quite as convincing as the ones from the... Continue reading

We went raspberry picking over Labor Day weekend at Thompson-Finch Farm in the Hudson Valley. It had taken a little bit of searching to find a u-pick place that doesn’t spray their berries. But when we found it, we showed up bright and early so that we could get some good picking in before we had to wrap up our vacation and head back home to Brooklyn. As I reached out for that first berry I was feeling especially thankful that it was free of pesticides and said to my 5-year-old, “I think fresh raspberries straight from the bush are... Continue reading

Summer must be coming to a close, because the thought of a bowl of hot soup has once again become appealing to me. I’m not ready to throw on a parka and snow boots quite yet, though. I still want more of the flavors of summer. This soup makes use of farm-stand ingredients like ripe tomatoes, fresh corn, and thyme. If it already is parka and snow boot time when you set out to prepare this, you can use boxed or canned tomatoes and frozen corn. I also used Irish bacon here, but Canadian bacon or pancetta are excellent substitutes.... Continue reading

Here's how to get the pulp and seeds out of a tomato easily when all you want is the sweet tomato flesh. If you also want to skin the tomatoes (for a more smoother texture and none of those floating bits of tomato skin in your sauce or soup) do a real tomato concassé. I usually skip this step since I tend to make more rustic, home-style dishes. Score a cross-hatch into the bottom of the tomato and blanch it for 30 seconds or so in boiling water, just long enough to make the skin easier to peel but not... Continue reading

There’s something very gratifying about sharing chocolate chip cookies. The first recipe I ever posted on my blog was one for chocolate chip cookies. I’ve baked up at least a couple thousand of those cookies and shared them with family, friends, colleagues, friends of friends, and fundraising events. Sometimes I’d leave out the sea salt, sometimes I’d change the type of chocolate, but there has really been no reason to alter the recipe. It’s a tried and true hit as it is. But more and more I’ve been appreciating the flavor and texture of whole grains in baked goods. I... Continue reading