Poached pears are one of the easiest and sexiest desserts there are. They sit on the plate like a jewel, filled with the essence of wine and in this case pomegranate. The house becomes scented with spices and vanilla. Once these regal beauties are tender and succulent they can be paired with pastry cream, ice cream, sorbet or even blue cheese. A sprinkle of crushed praline and you have a classic dish that takes very little effort.
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Children’s Heartlink asked several pastry chefs from all of the top restaurants in the Twin Cities (I’m talking the BEST our city has to offer!) to come up with the most decadent dessert for Valentine’s Day that they could think of. This team of pastry goddesses and one very talented guy, includes: Michelle Gayer (Le Belle Vie & Solera), Christina Kaelberer (Chambers), Khanh Tran (Cosmos), Margo Bredeson (Patisserie Margo) and even Andrew Zimmern with his best ever fudge brownies. I’ve worked with Andrew and if there is one thing that man loves, its chocolate! Well, they asked me, too. WOW, what an honor to be in this line up!!!
For the Warm Chocolate Rum Cake recipe and more information about Children’s Heartlink: Read More
May Chen asked me what I fed my boys when they were little, as part of an article she wrote for Cribsheet, a blog about kids at the Star Tribune. My guys are very adventurous eaters, borderline extreme. Yeah, they will try anything once. The raw oysters were not a huge hit but sushi is a favorite. I suppose they have to draw the line somewhere, for now!
As part of the article I gave her a recipe for crepes, because my boys LOVE them, depending what you fill them with they can be a meal or a sweet treat!!!
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In Minnesota for the past week it has been a little too gray for my taste. The one consolation to all the cold and snow we get around here are the endless clear blue skies. They are rather remarkable and make the winters tolerable. When they refuse to show themselves through the clouds I go cold. This means I need a little something to brighten up my day. Something sweet! Something easy and quick. Sunny-Side-Up Apricot Pastry (p. 225) will do the trick. A combination of buttery brioche, luscious vanilla pastry cream and tangy sweet apricots. Read More
They are the chocolate chip cookies we all ate as kids and probably still make on occasion. Toll House, of course. The recipe right off the bag. It is the cookie by which all others are measured. The perfect balance of sweet, salty, gooey, chewy and crisp. Most of us, as we got more confident in the kitchen, ventured from the bag and experimented with other recipes. We dared to add oats, nuts, dried fruit, black pepper, and even pumpkin puree to our chocolate chip cookies but there is still a place for the original. Read More
It is Minnesota and there is about 6 inches of snow on the ground, not exactly the time of year for a fresh fruit dessert. So what do we Northerners do when we want something sweet and bright, but can’t find berries that aren’t from the freezer or even a decent apple? We turn to citrus. Of course it doesn’t grow here, not even in the summer, but it travels well and there is such amazing variety. For these lemon meringue bars I actually use a combination of lemons, limes and Meyer lemons (for their perfume). The combination is more interesting and has a zing to it that one fruit alone won’t give.
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