Archive for August, 2007 « Previous Entries

Cool Tool

Friday, August 31st, 2007

I found this overgrown micro-zester last week at my local kitchen shop and have been merrily grating cheeses and citrus rinds at every opportunity. It requires a little restraint when used on lemon skins, lest its Big Boy teeth slice down into the bitter pith, but basically it does a splendid [...]

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Eagerly Awaiting Nigella

Wednesday, August 29th, 2007

Be of good cheer, Nigella fans, as I bring you tidings of great joy: “Nigella Express” will be serialised in The Times Magazine, starting this Saturday. And since it’s the London Times, the first installment should be posted sometime Friday, US time. I’ll be at the computer obsessively logging on to www.timesonline.co.uk from [...]

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Souffle Tuesday: Pears A-Plenty

Monday, August 27th, 2007

These Comice pears on the tree just outside our kitchen window won’t be ready for picking for another few weeks, but good pears are beginning to appear in the markets, which means I’ll soon be making one of my favorite dessserts: Poire William Souffle with Fresh Pear Slices.The recipe is an adaptation [...]

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Ugly but Tasty

Sunday, August 26th, 2007

My dislike of carrots holds only a weak candle to my abhorrence of peas, but if Bugs Bunny’s favorite snack should vanish from this earth, I’d shed no tears. The Resident Gardener, of course loves carrots and insists on growing them — not just the basic orange variety but also yellow and [...]

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Sunday Supper, Italian-style

Thursday, August 23rd, 2007

La Posta Restaurant, Santa Cruz
I’m still purring with delight at the memory of last Sunday’s dinner: a four-course, set-menu meal served family-style at La Posta in Santa Cruz. Describing the menu makes the food sound prosaic: tomato bruschetta, followed by a zucchini frittata, chicken caciatore as the [...]

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Souffle Tuesday: Showcasing Fresh Thyme

Tuesday, August 21st, 2007

Souffle sur un plat
Four varieties of thyme are thriving in our vegetable garden right now –and all of them work well with goat cheese. To showcase the lemon thyme I took an unusual souffle recipe from the lovely cookbook by Sally Clarke of Clarke’s — [...]

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Charcuterie of My Dreams

Sunday, August 19th, 2007

Crepinettes : The Real Deal
I’ve been to three farmers’ markets in the last eight days — despite having my own rather substantial vegetable garden. But I’ve been seeking sausages rather than late summer produce. Sausages and bacon and mortadella and the savory little [...]

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Belated Birthday Musings

Friday, August 17th, 2007

Wednesday was Julia Child’s birthday.She taught me how to cook. Who knew there was an easy and efficient way to chop an onion, julienne a carrot, roll an omelet? Truth be told, I’d never seen or eaten an omelet before opening “Mastering.”One of the many things I loved about Julia was [...]

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Honey Lemon Souffles

Tuesday, August 14th, 2007

Damn these were good! And I’d had low expectations: I wanted to play around with some souffle techniques, didn’t want to trek to the store and had the ingredients in my pantry. I set out some vanilla gelato and a bowl of olallieberries and raspberries as accompaniments, but the souffles were so [...]

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Inaugurating Souffle Tuesday — part the first

Monday, August 13th, 2007

It was, after all, a five- (maybe six-) inch souffle dish, certainly an adequate portion for two. But the next time I’m in Paris I’m going back to Le Recamier and have a caramel souffle ALL TO MYSELF.Le Recamier is a delightful little restaurant in the 6th arrondisement, just across the street [...]

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