Black and White Sesame Tuile for the Daring Baker Challenge!

Print Print   |  Print Email this to a friend   |  January 30, 2009
Filed Under Daring Baker Challenge, recipe, restaurants | 54 Comments

Last summer Graham and I went to NYC to eat, take in a few museums, visit with cousins and eat some more. Graham’s cousin Riad is the executive chef at Pastis and Balthazar (and the author of the The Balthazar Cookbook).  It goes without saying that Riad is an amazing culinary guide. I’ve never eaten so well and so much in my entire life!

After a 12 course meal at Devi (you must eat Suvir Saran’s food at least once in your life), Riad took us to meet Johnny Iuzzini, the extraordinary pastry chef at Jean Georges. They worked together at Daniel and Riad wanted to show off Johnny’s talents. We arrived at 11pm and Johnny marched through the dining room carrying 24 desserts. Twenty Four exquisitely plated desserts, plus truffles and other small delicacies he whipped up. They were absolutely gorgeous, so despite the 12 courses we had just consumed, we tasted them all! The perfect evening.

For this month’s Daring Baker Challenge I made White and Black Sesame Tuiles perched on Coconut Ice Cream, all inspired by recipes from Johnny’s new book Dessert FourPlay. Read more

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Saffron Scented Panna Cotta - from one of my favorite new books!

Print Print   |  Print Email this to a friend   |  January 27, 2009
Filed Under cookbooks I love, dessert, low fat version | 31 Comments

My husband is going to have a fit when he realizes that I’m talking about his diet on my website. It really does have some relevance to this post, so I hope he will forgive me! He went to the doctor recently and was basically told he needed to cut back on butter, cream and puff pastry. Hahaha. Can you imagine how a request like that goes over in my house. We both stared at the contents of our refrigerator and sighed. After the shock wore off we decided to approach his doctor’s advice as a challenge. How can we continue to satisfy our love of eating and cooking, but do it in a way that fits his new diet. I immediately saw it as an opportunity to buy more cook books.

Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift from the Splendid Table just came out with a fantastic book How to Eat Supper.  It has encouraged us to try new things and rethink some of our classic recipes. Much like the philosophy Jeff and I have written about in our book about bread Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, they use for cooking. The food we cook should be fresh, made with great ingredients, fit into our busy schedules and above all else taste great! They deliver on all fronts and I just love this book!

One of the desserts I’ve tried from it is Lynne’s panna cotta recipe. Read more

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Butterscotch Pudding with Coffee-Caramel Bananas, and a Trifle!

Print Print   |  Print Email this to a friend   |  January 15, 2009
Filed Under dessert, recipe | 43 Comments

Butterscotch is one of those flavors that can make you travel through time. I remember eating it, still warm off the stove, when I was just a kid. It was straight from the box of Jell-o instant pudding and it was fabulous to my 7 year old taste buds. Today I’d probably have a very different reaction to that product and my poor kids have never even tried it. I’d be horrified by its overly sweet and gelatinous taste and they would probably love it! Instead I made them some from scratch, so they would have the same romantic memory, but this one they can take into adulthood.

I got David Lebovitz’s Ripe for Dessert book this year from my aunt Kris, the same one I sent the cake to FL for. It is a lovely book about all kinds of tasty desserts made with fresh fruit. As I was flipping through it  fell to the page with butterscotch pudding. He paired it with bananas, which at first seemed like a match that would be far too sweet.  But the banana’s are caramelized in coffee, which perfectly balances the sugar with the bite of coffee.  Sweet enough to satisfy my sons and yet not at all cloying like the Jell-o of my childhood. Read more

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My Aunt’s Birthday Cake flies to Florida!

Print Print   |  Print Email this to a friend   |  January 10, 2009
Filed Under cake, recipe | 47 Comments

Many of you may have read about my aunt Kristin in past posts. She is a true lover of food and cook books. In fact, she supplies me with a great number of the books that fill my shelves. That is saying a lot considering I own hundreds of them. In addition to the books she sends me articles and pictures of food, mostly pastry. She has been a constant source of inspiration. Her birthday is coming up and because she lives in FL I can’t be at the party. In my stead I sent a cake to the party. My father, who lives just blocks from me, carried the cake on his lap during his flight to see her. When I handed over the cake, all nestled safely in a cake box, my dad said “can’t you pack it with pop corn or bubble wrap?” I took a deep breath and said “No, dad you can’t pack a cake with bubble wrap!” LOL!

Happy Birthday Kristin! I love you bunches and hope the cake got to you in one piece and everyone enjoyed it!

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Chocolate Poached Pears!

Print Print   |  Print Email this to a friend   |  January 7, 2009
Filed Under dessert, recipe | 23 Comments

Every New Years Eve my husband and I stay home and have raw oysters, lobster and champagne. This has been our tradition ever since we moved to Minnesota, 15 years ago. Graham proposed to me on NYE so it has always been a special night for us. This year our two young boys joined us in the celebration. They helped to shuck the oysters and then reluctantly slid them down. Our 9 year old was satisfied with just one and will perhaps forgo this part of the tradition next year and head straight for the lobster! ;) Our 7 year old, on the other hand, ate the oysters like popcorn. The only problem with having a child who likes raw oysters is now I have to share!

After a meal this rich I wanted something decadent, but light. Poached pears seemed the perfect ending, but with a twist on the classic. Pears slowly poached in chocolate sauce. Gorgeous and luscious, but absolutely no fat in the entire recipe. The 4 of us ushered in the New Year while playing scrabble and eating our pears! Not exactly the dance-all-night-raves of our youth, but just as wonderful! Read more

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