Camacho Watcho

While visiting Kate in Atlanta recently, we started talking about pies. She was planning her menu for dinner that Sunday and was thinking of whipping up a pie. As it is early Spring, we were in the mood for something lighter than the chocolate and rich custard pies that we eat in colder months, so we came up with the idea of looking for something with lemon.

I wish I could say that I was involved in the rest of the pie-making process but, truth be told, after helping with the idea for the flavor I left town for a few days. When I returned on Sunday (just in time for dinner), she had made a delightfully light Meyer lemon mousse pie with a gingersnap crust.

Someday I’ll actually be in town when she makes the pie and I’ll catch her in the action with my camera (especially to learn how to make her homemade pie crust). Someday…

Lemon Mousse pie
from 500 Pies & Tarts by Rebecca Baugniet

¾ cup fresh Meyer lemon juice
zest of 1 lemon
¾ cup granulated sugar
3 large egg yolks
pinch salt
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
¼ cup water
1 cup whipping cream
1/3 cup confectioners sugar
zest of 1 lemon to decorate

Preheat oven to 350. Press gingersnap crust (see below) into 9 inch pie plate. Bake for 15 minutes. Transfer to wire rack and cool to room temp.

Blend the lemon juice, zest, sugar, egg yolks, and salt in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat until the mixture thickens slightly- not as much as lemon curd. Sprinkle the gelatin over the water in a large saucepan. Set aside for a few minutes while you fill a large bowl with ice and water.

Add the lemon mixture to the gelatin and cook over medium heat for 3-4minutes, stirring continuously until the gelatin has dissolved. Pour the mixture into a metal bowl and set the bowl in the ice bath. Chill, stirring occasionally, for 10-15 min, until it begins to thicken.

Beat the cream using an electric mixer, adding 1 TBSp confectioners sugar at a time. Gently fold the cream into the lemon mixture, 1/3 cup at a time, until well combined. Pour the filling into the piecrust and refrigerate for 3 hours or until the filling has set. Sprinkle with lemon zest before serving with a dollop of whipped cream.

Ginger crumb crust:
1 c ginger cookie crumbs
¼ c melted unsalted butter
1 TBSP granulated sugar or honey
1 TBSP all purpose flour

Mix in food processor or if you have the crumbs you can mix by hand.

Just when you thought you had your Thanksgiving meal set, I put this post out there about my friend Kate’s Pumpkin Praline Pie. She describes it as one of the more involved pies she’s baked, but that it’s delicious and, perhaps, deserving to be called her new favorite.

Kate has a passion for baking pies. Her initial inspiration came from the movie Waitress. If you haven’t seen it, in the movie Keri Russell’s character is constantly baking pies. Since watching that movie, Kate is always trying new recipes. She regularly sends me photos (she lives in Atlanta so I have to be satisfied with eye candy only) and tells me about all the pies she’s tried. The photo above is courtesy of Kate.

Since I don’t do much baking, I thought I would share some of her kitchen adventures with you and have Kate guest-blog occasionally. In this post, she references a homemade crust, but we don’t get into it this time. Perhaps we’ll have to touch on that subject in an upcoming post. Enjoy!

Pumpkin Praline Pie

Fall is my favorite time of year to cozy up and bake pies so I was thrilled when Katie asked me to guest blog on her site. I started on this endeavor of learning the art of pie-making a few years ago when my son was born. My sister bought me a used copy of Pie by Ken Haedrich. I never would have imagined the number of pies that I would make from this bible for pie-makers. Haedrich has an amazing approach that makes even the most complex pie feel like something you can master in your own kitchen. The recipes are tried and tested and many of them are even tweaked from the original owner. The real gem of this book, however, comes from the pages and pages of techniques and ingredient secrets.

With my mother-in-law’s birthday approaching, I asked her for her pie request. She immediately said that pumpkin pie was her favorite. So I thought about that and made a few decisions right from the start. 1. I would make it with real sugar pumpkins and 2. I would have to find something that was special…no regular pumpkin pie that you whip up last minute before Thanksgiving.

I opened up my favorite Pie book in search of the perfect pumpkin pie and, I dare say, I might have found it in Diane’s Pumpkin Praline Pie. Haedrich took this particular recipe from a cook and cookbook author in California named Diane Rossen Worthington. In introducing it, he was quick to point out that there are two kinds of pumpkin pie. The kind for pumpkin pie purists “bereft of fanfare and flourishes” and the kind that really wow a crowd because they are so over-the-top. I’m guessing you know which category this pie falls into.

I spent the first day preparing my crust – a basic flaky pie crust that I have made dozens of times and could do in my sleep. Next it was time to learn how to roast my adorable little sugar pumpkins that I picked up from Berry Patch Farms, my local pumpkin patch. It is amazing how simple it is to create fresh pumpkin puree for pie-making. Simply place the clean halves of the pumpkins facing up or down and roast them at 375 degrees with a little water in the bottom of the pan. After 50 minutes you will have soft fleshy pumpkin that is falling from the skin. A good tip is to wait and let it cool before scooping it out.

Day two of the Pumpkin Praline Pie was to roll out my crust and create this beautiful pie. This is really a three part pie, so as someone who loves the art and process of pie – making it is a fun project. It involves pre-baking the crust, baking the pumpkin pie and broiling the praline as the finishing touch. After a long day in the kitchen I sat and looked at my pie hoping that perhaps this pumpkin pie would change my mind about pumpkin pie, which I usually do not prefer…it did not disappoint.

Diane’s Pumpkin Praline Pie
From Pie by Ken Haedrich

1 single pie crust (homemade please!)

Filling
3 large eggs at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1 ¾ cup fresh pumpkin puree or 15oz of canned puree
¼ cup light cream or half and half
½ tsp salt
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
3 Tbsp bourbon or 1 tsp vanilla extract

Praline Topping
1 ¼ cups chopped pecans
¾ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
¼ cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
2 Tbsp heavy or whipping cream
¼ tsp ground cinnamon

Garnish
Fresh Whipped Cream (I added 2 tsp of pumpkin spice for every ½ cup of whipped cream and it was the perfect addition to this pie)

Prepare pastry and refrigerate for 1 hour before rolling it out.

Roll out pastry into 13 inch circle on a lightly floured piece of wax paper. Invert over a 9 ½ inch deep dish pie pan. Carefully pull off the wax paper and tuck the pastry into the pan. With your hands form an upstanding ridge. Place in freezer for 15 minutes.

Prebake your pie crust by placing a piece of foil over the crust and tuck it in so that it is a second shell but leave top of foil like wings so that you can easily grab them. Fill the foil with dried beans or pie beads (if you are fancy!) Place in preheated 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. Slide rack out and remove foil with beans. Prick the crust with a fork all over and twist slightly to enlarge the holes. Lower oven temp to 375 degrees and continue baking 10-12 minutes. The crust might pull a little or bubble. Prick the bubbles with fork and use back of spoon to push the crust gently back to the pie pan. Let cool. Lower oven temp to 350 degree.

Combine eggs and sugar in large bowl. Using mixer beat on high speed until light and lemon colored, about 3 minutes. Add the pumpkin, light cream, salt, spices and bourbon. Blend on low speed until evenly mixed. Pour filling into cooled pie shell.

Place pie on center oven rack for 20 minutes. Make sure you rotate the pie 180 degrees then continue to bake 40-45 minutes until filling is set. When done, the perimeter of the pie will have puffed slightly. Also the center will look a little glossy. Transfer pie to rack and cool completely.

Preheat broiler and adjust one of the oven racks so that it is 6-8 inches away from the broiler. Combine all praline toppings and scrape over cooled pie evenly. Place pie on the oven rack and let bake until melted and bubbly. This whole process will take about a minute and you should rotate the pie as it is broiling. Do NOT walk away! Transfer to wire rack and let cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.

Serve with fresh whipped cream (see note above). You can also add some pecan halves for show as a finishing touch on top. Just press into the warm praline.

Who knew that this huge red cabbage would lead to such a food obsession for me? It’s not that I’ve never eaten red cabbage before, but the recipes that some readers shared are just so good that I have now been obsessed and have eaten red cabbage about twice a day for the past week.

I first made the Warm Red Cabbage Salad recipe that Emily suggested (recipe is below with my changes). I loved it the first night, served with a roasted Callister Farms chicken (I am continually impressed with how good their chicken is), but the following days the salad just kept getting better. With time to rest in the fridge, the flavors mellowed and blended together – the rosemary became a background pleasure and the balsamic vinegar came out a bit more. For leftovers, I simply heated the salad until warm (not hot) then topped with roasted pumpkin seeds (original recipe called for sunflower seeds) coated in brown sugar and salt, golden raisins and feta. I’ve made this twice now and I can’t get enough of it.

Although the salad made a very large portion, it didn’t even use half of the huge red cabbage from my CSA, so I turned to Susie’s recipe suggestion: Braised Red Cabbage from Wolfgang Puck (via The Food Network website). Another fantastic dish of beautiful red cabbage and apples braised in red wine and orange juice with a cinnamon stick (I was out of nutmeg, so I left it out and it was still fantastic). I served this with a pork shoulder that I made in my crock pot with onion, apples and garlic. Again, as I continued to eat leftovers throughout the week, the flavors continued to blend and it just got better and better. I also heated the pork with the cabbage to infuse some of the flavors into the meat, and that was also quite good. I have more plans for the cabbage leftovers to serve on top of a brat instead of sauerkraut. Note: the original recipe makes an insane amount of braised cabbage. I halved the recipe and it was still a lot of food.

I still have half a head of cabbage in my fridge and I have a feeling the recipe that Mimi linked to for Spicy Soba Noodles with Chicken and Cabbage will be made in the very near future.

A big thanks to my readers who suggested such fabulous recipes!

Warm Red Cabbage Salad
adapted from The Complete Tassajara Cookbook

1/2 cup pepitas
1 teaspoon natural cane sugar (or brown sugar)
fine grain sea salt

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 red onion, diced
3 medium cloves garlic, minced

1 pound head of red cabbage, quartered and cut into thin ribbons

1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, minced
2 ounces golden raisins (or other plump, chopped dried fruit)
1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

Roast the pepitas in a dry skillet over medium heat until golden brown. Sprinkle on the sugar, and a couple pinches of salt. Stir until the sugar melts and coats the seeds (your pan will need to be hot enough). Transfer the seeds immediately to a plate so they don’t stick to the pan. Set aside. (You can use roasted salted pepitas for this. If you do, just heat in the dry pan until warm, then continue with the sugar only.)

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet and saute the onion for a few minutes with a couple pinches of salt. Stir in the garlic, and the cabbage, and a few more pinches of salt. Stir and cook until the cabbage softens up just a touch. Then stir in the rosemary, most of the raisins, and the vinegar. The cabbage will continue to get more and more tender even after you remove it from the heat, so keep that in mind, and do your best to avoid overcooking it – where it collapses entirely. Fold in half of the feta cheese, most of the pepitas, then taste. Season with more salt if needed. *Serve garnished with the remaining raisins, feta and pepitas.

*I like to make mine ahead of time and refrigerate without the toppings to allow the flavors to blend and mellow. Remove from refrigerator and reheat in microwave until warm (not hot). Transfer to serving bowl and garnish with raisins, feta and pepitas.

Serves 6

Last week we decided to try out a recipe from Diana Kennedy – the Mexican cooking authority. I hadn’t really planned anything for dinner, so seafood seemed the quickest option (since a lot Mexican dishes seem to start with slow cooking a piece of meat).

Flipping through her The Art of Mexican Cooking cookbook, I was drawn to this shrimp recipe because I love chipotle chiles! Ripened and smoke-dried jalapenos, chipotles bring a smokey heat to dishes that brings depth to the spice, rather than just hot for hot’s sake.

The recipe turned out to be very simple. So simple, in fact that when it came time to add the dry white wine and I realized I didn’t have any to use, I used what was on hand…literally. In my hand was a bottle of Model Especial, so I just poured some in. Perhaps the original version is better, but my version with beer worked out just fine. I served the shrimp over Arroz Verde (green rice), to contrast the deep red chipotle sauce.

The shrimp were just tender and were amped up by the smokey heat of the rich tomato sauce. This sauce is begging to be used in more dishes – I’m thinking enchiladas, huevos rancheros…the possibilities are endless. The onion, although it was a smaller amount than the original recipe called for, added a sweetness that really worked well together. The rice was good, but perhaps I would like it better using cilantro instead of, or in combination with, the parsley. I just don’t like parsley much – but I keep trying!

Camarones Enchipotlados (Shrimp in Chipotle Sauce)
Adapted from The Art of Mexican Cooking
serves 2

1/2 lb. large shrimp, peeled and butterflied with tail shell left on
sea salt and pepper to taste
2 T. fresh lime juice
1/4 cup light olive oil
1/2 medium white onion, thinly sliced
3 medium tomatoes, broiled (see below)
2 chiles chipotles in adobo (to taste)
1 garlic clove, peeled and roughly chopped
1/4 cup beer (or dry white wine)
1/8 tsp. Mexican dried oregano

Season the shrimp with salt, pepper and lime juice. Set aside to marinate for about 30 minutes.

Heat the oil in a frying pan; add the drained shrimp, reserving any liquid, and sliced onion and fry, shaking the pan and tossing the ingredients for about 3 minutes (shrimp will not be cooked through). Remove shrimp and onion with a slotted spoon and set aside.

In a blender, blend tomatoes, chipotles and their liquid, and garlic to a textured sauce. Reheat the oil, add the sauce and fry over medium-high heat, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan to prevent sticking, for about 8 minutes. Add the beer, oregano, marinade and salt to taste and cook for another minute. Add the shrimp/onion mixture and cook for about 2 minutes – the shrimp should be just cooked and still crisp.

*Broil tomatoes in a single layer in a pan that is just wide enough to fit them. Allow to boil and blister on one side, then turn and repeat.

Arroz Verde (Green Rice)
Mexico the Beautiful Cookbook
serves 3-4

1 cup long grain white rice
3 oz. fresh spinach
1/2 cup parsley leaves
1 T. chopped onion
1 clove garlic
1/4 c. water
1/4 c. oil
3 c. hot water

Soak the rice for 5 minutes in warm water, rinse well and drain.

Rinse the spinach well, place it in a saucepan with no added water, cover and cook over low heat for 5 minutes. Transfer to a blender, add the parsley, onion, garlic and 1/4 c. water and puree. Set aside.

Heat oil in a skillet, add rice and saute for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. When the grains begin to separate, remove from the heat and drain off the excess oil. Add the spinach-parsely mixture to the skillet and saute for 2 minutes. Add the hot water and salt to taste. When the mixture comes to a boil, lower the heat and cook, covered, for about 20 minutes or until the rice is tender.

Friday night was pizza night at my house. We made the overnight pizza dough recipe and a variety of toppings to try it all out.

But first, we started the night with the Braeburn Apple and Walnut Haroseth. Bon Appetit’s version of this Passover Seder dish is made with honey, lemon, apples, walnuts and fresh mint. While all the ingredients I like individually, overall this dish was not my favorite together. It felt like something was missing – maybe adding cinnamon, which is traditionally in the dish, would have helped.

The Overnight Pizza Dough recipe was pretty easy, but very time consuming. It starts with a sponge that sits overnight, then you add flour in the morning and chill 6 hours and then you knead it out, separate it into smaller portions and let rise for 1 1/2 hours. I almost gave up just making the sponge – not that it was hard but that doughs just don’t like me. They refuse to cooperate and won’t rise for me – I don’t get it. I pushed through, using a heating pad under the dough for the last 1 1/2 hour to make sure they would rise. Lo and behold – they did and the dough turned out great! I don’t know that this would be a go-to dough recipe for me, though…I’ll have to keep searching for a less time consuming recipe.

The toppings that we used were:
Arugula Salad with Lemon-Parmesan Dressing: This was a recipe for a salad that suggested piling it on top of a cooked pizza dough. It looked and tasted fantastic and was a great way of eating a salad course.

Roasted-Tomato Sauce, Sausage, Kalamata Olives and Mozzarella: The tomato sauce recipe was just ‘ok’. There is a quicker and much tastier recipe for tomato sauce in the magazine for the Steak Pizzaola. Next time – I’ll use that one. Otherwise, this was a really great combo – yum!

Arugula-Pistachio Pesto, Grilled Asparagus and Mozzarella: Although the pesto recipe is really good – you got to love tangy arugula! – you could just as easily use the ramp or citrus pesto recipes that are also in the magazine (this would be an easy way to use up leftovers from previous recipes). We grilled the asparagus for just a minute or two with a brush of olive oil and then piled it on the pizza.

Caramelized-Onion, Rosemary, and Pine Nut Topping with Blue Cheese: This was my favorite pizza. Of course, with caramelized onions and blue cheese, how could you go wrong? The onions were sweet and the blue cheese was salty – perfect combination!

“Calorie density and serving sizes in recipes from The Joy of Cooking have increased since 1936,” reads the conclusion statement of a recent study by Brian Wansink, PhD (Cornell University) and Collin R. Payne, PhD (New Mexico State University) that was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine (February 17, 2009).

The study researched 18 recipes that have been published in each of the 7 editions of The Joy of Cooking (1936 – 2006) and found that the mean average calorie density has increased 35.2% per serving over the past 70 years through changes in ingredients and larger recommended serving sizes. Interestingly, the recommended serving size and caloric values increased most significantly from the 1997 edition to the 2006 edition. The overall effect? More calories packed into less servings.

This had caught my eye so I decided it was time for an experiment. I set out to the library. The only editions of The Joy of Cooking that I could find there were 1975, 1997 and 2006. I grabbed the latest two editions (as these had the highest calorie jumps) and took a seat. The 2006 edition indexed the “Joy of Cooking Classic Recipes” for me, so I started there. The list contained recipes like Country Captain Chicken (a curry dish…who would have guessed?), Chicken Morengo (a dish that apparently Napoleon loved), Brownies Cockaigne…

Wait…WHAT?!? Brownies? (Internal monologue: Hmmm…I am a little hungry. It’s noon and I haven’t eaten for awhile. This Joy of Cooking stuff is interesting, but brownies…those sound pretty tasty. Maybe I’ll just jot down the recipe quick…”)

Needless to say, I decided to leave research in the hands of the capable physicians who did the study and,a rmed with my brownie recipe, (which incidentally only changed over the years to decrease the vanilla by 1 teaspoon and suggested smaller serving sizes) set home. Not long later and I was tasting these brownies. Let me tell you, they are over-the-top, slap-me-across-the-face good. Chewy, moist, chocolately…and, as their name suggests, an extreme luxury.

Lessons learned – The Annals of Internal Medicine study taught me two things: 1. Trust your own moderation when it comes to monitoring your food intake, recipes are not all that they appear (I’m doing this by giving away most of my brownies…any takers?) and 2. Some luxuries are worth the calories (in moderation, of course).

Brownies Cockaigne
Joy of Cooking 2006

1/2 c. unsalted butter (1 stick)
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate

Melt the butter and chocolate together in a saucepan over low heat. Once completely melted, take it off the burner and cool.

4 eggs
1/4 tsp. salt
2 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. flour
1 c. chopped nuts (optional)

Beat until eggs and salt until light and fluffy. Gradually add the sugar and vanilla while continuing to beat until thick. Switch to a wood spoon or rubber spatula and stir in cooled chocolate until just combined. Stir in flour and chopped nuts

Pour batter into a greased baking pan lined with foil (9×13 pan for chewy brownies and 9×9 pan for cakey brownies) and bake at 350 F for 25 minutes.

With the weather at -6 degrees right now, my mind is on comfort food. To be more specific, I keep thinking about soup. Cozy and comforting, a bowl of soup can warm up a cold day in no time. Sadly, I have not made soup in awhile so I’ve been digging through some recipes, hoping to get inspired. My plan is to go to the market this weekend to pull together something new…I’m thinking something with winter squash…I can’t wait.

While I was rummaging through my soup recipes, I came across a couple recipes that I made late in the fall. Given the weather, I think right now is a great time to catch up on these comfort soup recipes. The two soups that I want to share are for corn chowder and tomato-cilantro soup.

I’ll start with the corn chowder. I love this corn chowder recipe; it has definitely become of one my stand-bys when I’m in need for something tasty. I use Cascadian Farms frozen organic corn, so it’s easy to keep the ingredients on hand and pull out on a cold day. I like to make mine with large chunks of corn kernels and potato, so it has a hearty texture. In the picture, I actually substituted the chives for cilantro and used white wine instead of sherry, as another variation of the soup. There are more variations to try as well, making it spicy with cayenne pepper added to the onion mixture or throwing in some cooked chicken before serving. Every time I’ve made it slightly different and I’ve loved all the varieties.

The tomato-cilantro soup is a new recipe that I made for the first time this fall. It was from another food blog that I love, Orangette, so I knew it would be tasty! I followed her advice and used Muir Glen organic canned tomatoes and I doubled the amount of fresh lime juice, as I love citric flavors. It was fantastic…a combination of some of my favorite flavors. The link to this recipe is here. I served my soup with homemade tortilla chips and a quick guacamole. Yum!

Corn Chowder
from The Complete Vegetable Book
4 T. butter
1 large onion, finely diced
3 garlic cloved, minced
1/2 cup potato, finely diced
1 1/4 c. milk
6 T. medium sherry
2 1/2 c. vegetable or chicken broth
3 c. fresh or frozen corn kernels
1/3 c. light cream
2 t. lime juice
2 T. snipped chives
salt & pepper

Melt the butter in a large saucepan, add the onion and garlic and fry over gentle heat without coloring it. Add the diced potato and cook for a few minutes. Add the milk, sherry and broth, season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes.
Add the corn, return to a boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes.
When the soup is ready, pour 3/4 of it into a food processor (I do about 1/2) or blender and puree until smooth. Add the puree to the soup remaining in the pan and return to a boil.
Season with salt and pepper and stir in the cream and lime juice, adding a little extra of both if necessary to obtain desired consistency and taste. Heat thoroughly and stir in the chives.

A couple years ago, I made a resolution to try any food that was offered to me. When I made the resolution, I knew there was a chance I would be trying some interesting things. There was a possibility that I would try things that I never would have tried before and that I might actually like them…which happened. There was also the possibility that I would try things and rediscover the fact that I don’t like them…which also happened (I’ll never like pickled herring).

What I was not prepared for, however, was to try something as simple as cherry pie and discover that I actually do like it. Now, don’t get me wrong, I have always loved cherries. In the summer when they’re ripe, there is nothing better than a juicy bing cherry. But somewhere along the way I had turned up my nose to cherry pie and decided that I didn’t like it. And because I had made that decision, there was no convincing me otherwise.

Enter my friend Kate. In the past year, I have watched Kate become a mother, tackling the very challenging job of taking care of a little one all day. And in the midst of those early days of motherhood, I watched her discover a passion for pies. She is the type of person who follows her inspiration and does the very thing she sets out to do in every case (even with a one month old at home). In this case, it was to master the art of pie making. She makes her own crust and tries all sorts of new recipes…it’s really too bad we don’t live in the same city to reap the benefits of a pie-making friend.

This summer, however, I was the recipient of such a reward. We were vacationing together at a house on the beach and she treated me to the fruits of her labor…a sweet cherry pie. I was very much looking forward to trying it because of my resolution, but also because I knew that she had put many loving hours into pitting the cherries by hand, rolling out the pastry and baking the pie. What I was afraid of, however, was that I wouldn’t be able to open my mind to the possibility of liking cherry pie. Happily, I absolutely loved it. In particular, the crumble crust with coconut was outstanding! (Perhaps Kate would share the recipe?)

Because of this new discovery, when my sister brought home tart cherries over Christmas that had been frozen since their harvest in the summer, I jumped at the chance to get my hands on a bag. Packed into a cooler in the trunk of our car, these cherries traveled over 400 miles home with us after the holidays and made it safely into my freezer. Unfortunately, our freezer had a minor blip the next day. While most of our refrigerated and frozen goods went directly out onto our patio (sometimes it is helpful to live in the tundra where the outdoors can literally be your freezer), I didn’t want to risk it with the cherries so I let them thaw.

The next day I went for it and decided to bake a cherry cobbler. Tart cherries with a toasted walnut crumble topping….wow! Pure heaven. When the last bite made it past my lips, I sent a message to my sister to put in my order for her father-in-law’s harvest next year. I needed more of those perfect cherries. The response I got sent me into a day long funk. They had cut down the tree and those were the last of the cherries. As sad as that made me, I was glad that I had treated them right…baking them into a perfect cherry cobbler.

Cherry Cobbler
Adapted from Alice Waters: The Art of Simple Food
3 cups tart cherries
1 T. sugar
1 1/2 T. flour
Mix all together in an 8×8 in. greased baking dish and let set for 10 min.

1/3 c. toasted walnuts, coarsely chopped
3/4 c. flour
3 T. brown sugar
1 T. granulated sugar
1/8 t. salt
1/8 t. ground cinnamon
Mix well and then add 6 T. butter (cut into small pieces). Work the butter into the flour mixture with your fingers until the mixture comes together and has a crumbly texture.

Spread topping mixture over the cherries and bake in a 375 degree oven for 40 minutes or until the topping is golden brown and the fruit is bubbling.

To ring in the New Year, Kyle and I decided to try something new and fun for our dinner party. Kyle had seen a recipe on the Food Network for salt crusted whole red snapper and wanted to try it…a perfect opportunity to start the year with an adventure. So we invited some friends over for dinner and games but didn’t tell them what we would be serving so it would be a surprise.

The first order of business was finding whole red snapper. Unfortunately I waited until New Years Eve day to start calling around to stores so the supply was limited. I lucked out, though, and found a couple 1.5 pound beauties at the Midtown Global Market. They were already scaled, gutted and had the fins cut off so when I got them home I just needed to rinse with water and dry to finish up the cleaning.

We stuffed them with lemon slices (an alteration from the original recipe) and laid them on a bed of lemon slices (to keep them from sticking) and rubbed a bit of olive oil on top. We then whisked egg whites until they were stiff and folded in kosher salt. Then came the fun part…encrusting the fish with the salt mixture. Kyle got to do this since I was taking photos, but it was all I could do to keep myself from helping. It looked like fun! We popped them in the oven just before our guests arrived and set the timer for 30 minutes.


When our guests arrived Kyle turned on the oven light so they could see what the surprise was. Of course, they continued to be baffled, which was a lot of fun. After 30 minutes, we opened the oven to find two lovely browned lumps, ready to be broken into and eaten. After peeling back the salt crust, we transferred them to a serving platter and dug in.


The meat was incredibly moist and fresh tasting and tucked into tortillas with the mexican rice and mango salsa salad, it made the perfect meal. We ate and ate until there was nothing but bones left on the platter. It was both a delicious and fun meal to serve at a dinner party! I would definitely like to try it again and to try different types of fish as well.

After dinner we put out a buffet for desserts (i.e. I put out all my leftover holiday candies and sweets and told my friends they had to be gone by the end of the night) and we snacked on these for the rest of the night. Carly’s chocolate oat cookies were sweet and crispy. My friend Kate’s mom’s cookies were like pure butter and sugar melting in my mouth. And the juicy, ripened pears that Jason and Sue brought over were the perfect complement to my brie, honey and fig jam.

The rest of the night we played games, toasted with champagne and celebrated to good friends, good food and a great year!

I love to eat eggs for breakfast. Most of the time I eat them when I go out and occasionally I’ll whip some up on a weekend morning. I don’t usually do anything fancy with them when I’m cooking them up at home, usually just some fried eggs and toast to quickly quench my egg craving.

A little while back, however, I was in Chicago and had breakfast with a friend. The restaurant was a cute place with a great menu, including an item of eggs and chorizo with cornbread. It had all the ingredients for a great breakfast…and I loved it!


That weekend I decided to break my usual routine and to replicate my chorizo and egg breakfast at home. I had picked up a little chorizo at the store and had some leftover cornbread from a few nights before. I sauteed the chorizo with some onions and diced potato, then added the cubed cornbread. All this was piled onto a warm tortilla and then topped with poached eggs. Just as I had remembered – savory, spicy and sweet…at home on a Saturday morning.