But have been in Italy, working my way through every gelato stand in my path. Will post again soon, but in the meantime, please enjoy this picture of a tiny sfogliatelle from a pasticceria in Como.
I love making this dish for lunch or a low-key dinner, both because it’s very easy and because it comes from one of my favorite Parisian landmarks, Laduree. Bacon matchsticks imbue the salad with an extra layer of flavor, and tarragon, my favorite herb, adds brightness. The original recipe recommends scattering baby spinach leaves over the lentil mixture right before serving, but I like to fold them in at the end of the cooking process, to wilt and integrate them into the salad. Topped with one or two soft-cooked fried eggs, this is a satisfying lunch or a light dinner.
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Meringues are so French to me; one of my favorite things about Paris is looking into the windows of pastry shops and seeing huge meringues piled on top of each other in the display cases. I had never tried making them because they seem so high-maintenance–you can’t make them on a humid day, they take a long time to bake, and you have to beat the egg whites very thoroughly. However, these are really easy, and a good way to use up extra egg whites.
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I am especially attracted to recipes that bill themselves as “even better the next day”–as a baker who doesn’t always have a crowd to bake for, it helps being able to extend the life of a dessert (and if it is eligible to become breakfast, all the better). So when I found this recipe in Dorie Greenspan’s Baking, I figured it would be practical enough. And healthy (bananas)! And, as much as I like it a day or two old, it is AMAZING right out of the oven. Even though it was 10 pm by the time I finished making this, I kept sneaking back into the kitchen to trim slivers as it was cooling. After a day or two, the texture changes from fluffy–almost bouncy–to dense, closer to pound cake, with a more concentrated, banana-y flavor. Continue Reading »
Posted 14 April 2009 |
Baking
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This New York Times recipe makes the perfect chocolate chip cookie. The downside: it’s pretty fussy. The amount of cookie dough it yields is quite large, and not easily divisible; it uses two types of flours (bread and pastry), neither necessarily a pantry staple; and must rest at least 24 hours, 72 to produce the best results. I rejiggered a recipe for White Chocolate-Butterscotch Cookies, from the Martha Stewart Baking Handbook, into fast, easy chocolate chip cookies. These may lack the caramelized and more complex flavor of the NYT recipe, but they are plenty buttery, soft-with-crispy-edges, and delicious. And easier.
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Posted 05 April 2009 |
Baking
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A more descriptive name for this could be Cookie Dough Pie. The filling is composed of very basic ingredients (eggs, sugar, a little flour, butter) and accessorized with chocolate chips, walnuts, and whiskey; when it comes out of the oven, it’s not exactly custardy (due to the flour) and not exactly cakey, with the sweetness of pecan pie filling but not the gelatinous texture. It is also surprisingly easy to make, especially if you have pie crusts on standby. The most important part of the process is achieving volume while beating the eggs, dry ingredients, and butter to make the filling; this will ensure a rich, but not-too-dense, end result.
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