This was just pure play. I wanted to see if I could do a cheese course that would look like cheesecake, but not be particularly sweet. I landed on a Laura Chenel chevre with a little salty crust and strawberry granita.
A cheese course, like an amuse bouche or a tapa is an opportunity to be …
I "met" Ivy Manning when my wife gave me her terrific first cookbook. Since then, we've become frequent visitors to each other's blogs, and we keep up on Twitter as well. (Come follow me or Ivy, we'd love to hear from you).
We've discovered that although she's an omnivore and I'm a vegetarian, our taste …
This was my dish for the MasterChef auditions that took Seattle by storm last weekend. I guess it must have been ok, it earned me a callback for a second round interview. There were no cooking facilities for the audition, so the judges made allowances if your food was intended to be served …
Sometimes I read a recipe and it burrows into a corner of my brain, gathers twigs and moss, builds a little nest, and refuses to move out until I make it. That was the case with this Gâteau de Crêpes from Amanda Hesser in the New York Times magazine back in 2005. The …
I love to make sweet bread puddings with leftover challah or brioche, because they are already rich. Today’s version is filled with molten chunks of bittersweet chocolate. Let’s just say I find myself eating less challah on Friday night because I’m hoping there will be enough left to make this for dessert the next day.
The …
Flan, aka Creme Caramel, with Burnt Sugar
I've never made flan before, so I had a bit of trepidation when my sister-in-law requested it for her birthday dinner. I knew I could count on Mr. Bayless's classic to send me down the right path, and the trust was well deserved. I opted to raise the degree …
Peach and Nectarine Crostata
Crostata: pie without the fuss. With a pie (or tart), it can be hard to make one as pretty as the picture I have in my mind, either cooling on Grandma's window sill or on the cover of Gourmet. Crostata takes my inability to make a precise pie and makes a rustic …
