Apple Cherry Strudel (how to get paper thin pastry)

Print Print   |  Print Email this to a friend   |  May 27, 2009
Filed Under Daring Baker Challenge, recipe | 46 Comments


I loved this Daring Bakers’ Challenge. I hadn’t made a strudel in years, not since I worked in a restaurant and had lots of space and hands to help. In fact, this is the first time I’ve ever stretched strudel dough solo. When I was in culinary school we made one as a class that stretched out about 5 feet long and was nearly transparent, never half measures at the CIA. There were at least 6 of us gingerly pulling and stretching and our instructor, Stacy Radin was coaching us through the whole process. I think we all napped after that class!

I went into this thinking I’d be lucky to come out alive, and in the end I vowed to make it often. I had a wonderful time, it went together very easily and the strudel was flaky and delicious! It is all about staying calm and allowing the dough to speak to you. Yeah, you heard me, the dough will tell you when to pull or stretch or just leave it alone! I suggest some chamomile tea, your favorite jazz CD and just have fun with it.

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague Read more

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Coffee Ice Cream with Rosemary Shortbread

Print Print   |  Print Email this to a friend   |  May 25, 2009
Filed Under cookies, frozen dessert, recipe | 32 Comments

For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you know that I’m a dedicated coffee drinker. I was very loyal to illy for a time, while Costco carried it, but now my heart belongs to LavAzza. Many of you recommended it to me, but honestly I never tried it until I went to my friend’s bakery. At the Salty Tart Michelle creates pastries that inspired Andrew Zimmern to say it is the “best bakery in the World!” The coffee she serves is LavAzza. The coffee is excellent, worthy of her treats and good enough to make me switch from illy!

So when I wanted to make coffee ice cream I used Lavazza beans and a recipe from David Lebovitz, which I found in a recent copy of Fine Cooking magazine. The coffee flavor is so deep and intense that it almost has a bittersweet chocolate taste to it. If you’ve ever had Vietnamese ice coffee, this ice cream is reminiscent. That rich flavor just begged for something bright, so I paired it with a rosemary shortbread cookie. A new addiction is born! Read more

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How I Became an Organic Backyard “Urban Farmer!”

Print Print   |  Print Email this to a friend   |  May 18, 2009
Filed Under Backyard Urban Farm | 33 Comments

I should have been born with a green thumb! My grandmother is a natural in her flower garden and she passed the skill to my father. He has had gardens, really spectacular ones, for as long as I can remember. My earliest memories of my father are of him in the gardens he set up for the commune we lived on in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. We lived off of that Garden. Dozens of people lived off of that garden. He went on to start the first co-op in that part of Vermont and eventually worked at both Organic Gardening and EatingWell magazines, it was his calling. Apparently the gardening gene skipped a generation. I inherited a deep appreciation for the food he was growing, but absolutely no abilities to create my own garden.

This summer all of that is changing! My friend Barb told me about a program that would pair me and my tiny urban yard with a farmer, who would help me set up an organic garden. I called the folks at the Backyard Harvest Program and asked them to come see if my rather pathetic yard was worthy of their project. Krista and Stefan came to the house and assured me that they could transform my space into an organic garden, full of over 30 varieties of vegetables, herbs and edible flowers. The one thing my yard does have is sun, which is the one essential element.  They also promised to teach me and my boys every step of the process. Read more

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Plate-Lickingly Good Chocolate Cake! (Henri’s TWO Birthday Cakes)

Print Print   |  Print Email this to a friend   |  May 12, 2009
Filed Under cake, recipe | 56 Comments

Henri Turned 10 this month and the celebrating has been at a feverish pitch for weeks. It is a big year when your little baby hits double digits and becomes a Tweenager. On his actual birthday we celebrated with our family. He wanted to rent the movie Grease (one of his babysitters was recently in the play at the high school), have sushi and eat chocolate cake! It sounded like a fantastic idea to me. After 20+ years I’d forgotten about some of the racy content in the movie, which they edited out of the high school play, Oooops! Luckily we were watching at home and could fast forward through the more “educational” scenes!

The cake he chose was amazing. I used my Devil’s Food Cake recipe and topped it with Dorie Greenspan’s Chocolate Malted Buttercream. A bunch of chocolate shavings made it look festive, but it was so simple to put together. Read more

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Springtime Fool! What to do with all that rhubarb.

Print Print   |  Print Email this to a friend   |  May 6, 2009
Filed Under dessert, recipe | 30 Comments

It is officially spring when I walk outside my door and there are stalks of rhubarb standing tall in my garden. To date rhubarb and strawberries are the only edible things I’ve managed to grow. Every year the rabbits and squirrels wait until the strawberries are perfectly formed and just about to turn red, then they systematically eat them all. So, in the end all I am left with is my huge patch of rhubarb. It may be why I love it so much, because I feel a sense of accomplishment.

This year will be different. I have signed up for the Backyard Harvest Project. They assigned me a master “urban” farmer, Stefan, and we will work the land together. My city farm is tiny, no more than 10×14′ of organic growing space. This is apparently enough room to grow about 30 varieties of vegetables, herbs and edible flowers. So far we’ve prepped the land, shoveled loads of beautiful black organic dirt, planted leeks, cauliflower, spinach, peas and radishes. The beauty of this program is that Stefan is here to make sure that in the end I have a bounty of produce. In other words he makes sure I won’t kill it. He even installed a fence today to keep out the rabbits. Hmmm, perhaps I’ll get strawberries this year after all. *

The spring “fool” came to me on Twitter. @francis_lam, who is a writer for Gourmet magazine posted that he had some fresh heavy whipping cream and asked what he should do with it. I thought, rhubarb Fool!  It is a classic British dessert made of cooked, sweetened fruit that is folded into whipped cream. There is nothing as simple, and yet just a touch decadent. I wonder where the name comes from??? ;)

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