Jumping off point for this cake came from dear friend and baking genius Max Lesser. Check out his handiwork at Morninggloryconfections.com
Read MoreMerguez with Caramelized Onions, Beans and Parsnip Chips
Some people carry a safety twenty. Others stock the freezer with sausages and soaked beans.
Read MoreBuckwheat Crêpe with Roast Butternut Squash, Gruyère and Bacon
Our final crepe from the series. Last but by no means least! A healthy dose of winter crepe.
Read MoreCrêpes Provençal with Poached Cherry Tomatoes
After a fair amount of experimentation we think this dish is best eaten with one's fingers - leak layer by leak layer - tomatoes plucked from their vine - and the last drops of heavenly olive oil sopped up with a crêpe/sponge.
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Sweet Crêpes with Dried Persimmon, Dulce de Leche, Hazelnuts and Cream
Buckwheat Crêpe with Smoked Trout, Sour Cream and Dill
Even in a world where so little makes sense - good food always does.
Buckwheat Crêpes with Smoked Trout, Sour Cream and Dill
Basic Buckwheat Crêpe
- 3 large eggs
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1 cup cup water
- 1/4 cup hard apple or pear cider
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 cup buckwheat flour
- 4 tablespoons melted butter or ghee, plus more for griddle
Combine eggs, milk, water and hard cider in the jar of a bar blender. Process until smooth. Add salt and flour and blend. Add butter and blend just until batter is smooth and the consistency of a nice pourable cream. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight. Let stand at least 30 minutes before using.
Heat griddle over a medium low flame. Brush with melted butter - just so shiny. There should not be a butter puddle. Same as pancakes - first crêpe is usually a dud - so be prepared. Pour a scant 1/4 of batter onto griddle. Lift griddle and gentle tip and turn so that batter spreads naturally into a nice even thin circle - you are looking for something with about 1/16 inch thickness.
There are various schools of thought when it comes to crêpes. Some believe that they should be flipped and others say no - JAMAIS JAMAIS JAMAIS! In the end it all depends on your mood and/or expertise.
- 1 recipe Basic Buckwheat Crêpes
- 1 pound smoked trout, skin and bones discarded
- 1 cup sour cream
- Small bunch fresh dill
- 1 red onion, thinly sliced
Prepare crêpes as above. While still warm fill with desired amount and combination of above ingredients.
A Hot Chocolate Valentine
Recipe inspired by dear friend Max Lesser who knows his way around spice and chocolate and all good things. Check out his handiwork at Morninggloryconfections.com. We highly recommend the Za'atar Spiced Nuts. HAPPY VALENTINE.
Read MoreRaspberry Jam Crêpes with Powdered Sugar
Simple. The new fancy.
Basic Crêpe
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup milk
- 4 large eggs
- Pinch salt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more for griddle
- Lots of good jam
- Confectioner's sugar, for sprinkling
Combine water, milk, eggs, salt and vanilla in the jar of a bar blender. Process until smooth. Add flour and blend. Add butter and blend just until batter is smooth and the consistency of a nice pourable cream. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight. Let stand at least 30 minutes before using.
Heat griddle over a medium low flame. Brush with melted butter - just so shiny. There should not be a butter puddle. Same as pancakes - first crêpe is usually a dud - so be prepared. Pour a scant 1/4 of batter onto griddle. Lift griddle and gentle tip and turn so that batter spreads naturally into a nice even thin circle - you are looking for something with about 1/16 inch thickness.
There are various schools of thought when it comes to crêpes. Some believe that they should be flipped and others say no - JAMAIS JAMAIS JAMAIS! In the end it all depends on your mood and/or expertise. Serve spread with jam and sprinkled with sugar.
Buckwheat Black Forest Crepe Cake
Buckwheat Black Forest Crepe Cake
Chocolate, cream and cherries. What is not to love!
Basic Buckwheat Crepe
- 3 large eggs
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1 cup cup water
- 1/4 cup hard apple or pear cider
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 cup buckwheat flour
- 4 tablespoons melted butter or ghee, plus more for griddle
Combine eggs, milk, water and hard cider in the jar of a bar blender. Process until smooth. Add salt and flour and blend. Add butter and blend just until batter is smooth and the consistency of a nice pourable cream. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight. Let stand at least 30 minutes before using.
Heat griddle over a medium low flame. Brush with melted butter - just so shiny. There should not be a butter puddle. Same as pancakes - first crepe is usually a dud - so be prepared. Pour a scant 1/4 of batter onto griddle. Lift griddle and gentle tip and turn so that batter spreads naturally into a nice even thin circle - you are looking for something with about 1/16 inch thickness.
There are various schools of thought when it comes to crepes. Some believe that they should be flipped and others say no - JAMAIS JAMAIS JAMAIS! In the end it all depends on your mood and/or expertise.
Black Forest Crepe Cake
- 1 recipe Basic Buckwheat Crepe
- 1 pint heavy cream
- 1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
- 1 tablespoon kirsch or pure vanilla extract
- 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 16 ounces brandied or canned sour cherries, drained with a few tablespoons liquid reserved
Prepare crepes as above and let cool. Combine cream, sugar and kirsch or vanilla and whisk to form soft peeks. Starting with a crepe - create layers of crepe, cream, cherries and chocolate - stacking the layers one on top of the other to form a beautiful whimsical cake. Drizzle a bit of cherry juice here and there as you work. Serve immediately.
Mung Bean Salad with Butternut Squash and Grated Coconut
Starting the New Year off right. No punishing juice cleanse here. Just real food - prepared with a light hand and mind set on living well.
Read MoreSimple Oven Roasted Kalettes
Kaffir Lime and Kumquat Chicken
Kaffir Lime and Kumquat Chicken
Storm warnings abound. Time to get cooking! Stay home. Stay safe. Stay warm. And eat well.
- 4 kaffir limes, halved
- 6 kumquats, halved
- 2 cloves garlic smashed
- 1 piece lemon grass, finely chopped
- 1 chicken, about 3 1//2 pounds, cut into 8 pieces, rinsed and pat dry
- 1 tablespoon coriander seeds, toasted and ground
- Sea salt
- Ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 1/2 cups chicken stock, homemade if you can manage
- Fresh cilantro, for serving
- Rice noodles, for serving
Heat oven to 425. Strew a large cast iron skillet or smallish roasting pan with limes, kumquats, garlic and lemon grass. Season chicken with coriander, salt and pepper and arrange pieces, skin side up on top of fruit. Roast in hot oven until chicken is golden brown, crisp and cooked through, about 1 hour. Remove from oven. Transfer chicken to a serving platter and keep warm. Add chicken stock to pan and set over high heat. Let liquid bubble up - scraping up any cooked on bits in pan to create a rich flavorful juice. Pour juices over chicken and serve with fresh cilantro and rice noodles.
Chocolate Chip Commune Cookies
Maria Robledo - our dear friend, teacher and guru brought a cookie similar to these back from her dreamy Costa Rican vacation in the hopes that we could replicate the recipe. These are darn close. Thinking a trip to the Caribbean might be needed so to perfect.
11/2 cups sprouted almonds
1 cup buckwheat groats
1/2 cup flax seeds
6 dates, pitted
1 teaspoon Maldon sea salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup oats (gluten free avoiding)
3/4 cups ghee, room temperature
1 cup Sucanat sugar (brown sugar makes an OK substitute)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 ounces bitter or semi sweet chocolate, cut into small chips/chunks
Combine 1 cup almonds, buckwheat groats and flax seeds in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to form a fine sandy flour. Add dates and pulse until dates are completely incorporated in the mix. Whiz in salt and baking soda. Add oats and pulse just a few times so that oats are just slightly pulverized. Transfer dry mix to a clean bowl and set aside
Return work bowl to food processor. Add ghee and sugar and whiz just to cream together. Add eggs and process until smooth. Add vanilla extract. Add wet ingredients to the dry flour mix and stir to combine. Stir in chopped chocolate. Roughly chop remaining 1/2 cup almonds and stir into dough. Cover and refrigerate dough.
Heat oven to 350. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Use a tablespoon to shape cookies - using a heaping tablespoon of dough per cookie. I THEN FROZE THE SHAPED DOUGH FOR ABOUT 30 MINUTES BECAUSE I THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD IDEA - NOT SURE WHAT WOULD WOULD HAPPEN IN YOU DID NOT - PROBABLY FINE. Transfer frozen cookie to prepared baking sheet (work in batches - cookies spred but not horribly) and bake until golden and just set - about 12 minutes. Remove and let cook on a wire rack.
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Fabulous hearty dishes that more or less tend to themselves are key to post Holiday culinary survival. The same can be said of houseguests.
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Salt and Pepper Turnips
The Farmer's Market never fails to surprise and inspire. Who knew the lowly turnip has so many incarnations?
Read MoreCitrus Chips with Smashed Avocado
Citrus Chips with Smashed Avocado
Citrus Chips
- 2 medium organic navel oranges, washed and scrubbed
- 1 medium organic lemon, washed and scrubbed
- 1 medium organic lime, washed and scrubbed
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Sea salt
- Ground black pepper
- Several sprigs fresh thyme
Heat oven to 425. Slice citrus into rounds - work with a sharp knife to produce rounds as paper-thin as possible. Reserve any mangled slices for Smashed Avocado (recipe below). Brush baking sheet with 1/2 tablespoon olive oil. Arrange citrus rounds on prepared pan - creating a single layer with little to no overlap. Drizzle citrus with remaining olive oil. Sprinkle with a generous amount of sea salt, several cracks of black pepper and fresh thyme. Set in oven and roast until edges start to turn a dark golden brown, about 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 200 and gently roast until citrus flesh is completely crisp, about another 45 minutes. Keep an eye on things as oven temperatures can regulate at different speeds. Remove from oven and let cool before serving.
Smashed Avocado
- 1 teaspoon coriander seeds, toasted and crushed
- 1/2 clove garlic, minced to a paste
- Citrus juice and scraps from above - rind finely chopped
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon zaatar spice
- 4 ripe avocados
- Sea salt
- Ground black pepper
- large handful fresh cilantro, stems removed and leaves coarsely chopped
Combine coriander, garlic, citrus juice and scraps, olive oil and zaatar spice in a bowl. Let stand about 15 minutes. Peel and pit avocados and cut into large pieces and add
to bowl. Season well with salt and pepper and use a butter knife to smash avocado into a chunky mash. Stir in cilantro and serve.
Steamed Mussels with Oven Fries
Simple pleasures to start the new year. In my house there are FOUR birthdays in January so its like the holidays every weekend for the next month. Easy meals from here on out!
Steamed Mussels and Oven Fries
Steamed Mussels
- 5 tablespoons butter
- 1 clove garlic, minced to paste
- 4 large shallots, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 5 pounds mussels, scrubbed and debearded
- Sea salt
- Ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup finely chopped mixed soft herbs such as chervil, tarragon and parsley
Melt butter in a large soup pot over medium low heat. Add garlic and shallots and cook just until very fragrant - a minute or two. Add wine and let come to a simmer. Add mussels, season well with salt and pepper, cover and steam until mussels open, about 7 minutes. Stir in herbs and serve with oven fries (recipe below).
Oven Fries
- 6 Russet baking potatoes, scrubbed
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- Sea salt - Maldon best
- Ground black pepper
- Several sprigs fresh rosemary, stems discarded and needles coarsely chopped
Heat oven to 425. Set a large baking sheet in oven to warm while potatoes soak. Slice potatoes to resemble traditional french fries. Soak in a bowl of cold salty water for about 1 hour, making sure all of the potatoes are completely submerged. Lift potatoes out of water, rinse well and pat dry. Transfer to a large bowl and drizzle with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Season well with sea salt, black pepper and chopped rosemary. Pour remaining tablespoon olive oil on hot baking sheet and tilt from side to side to spread evenly. Transfer potatoes to baking sheet - they should sizzle on contact. Place in oven and roast, without turning potatoes, until deep golden and crisp, about 45 minutes. Remove from oven, loosen from tray with a spatula and serve immediately.
Rosemary Gruyere Popovers
Pipe down! Pop up! Of my gosh there are a lot of loud hungry people in my kitchen. Happy New Year!
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