Saturday, October 28, 2000
Pineapple-Cranberry Deep Dish Pie
Carole Walter is my personal baking guru, by which I mean that when I don’t have the answer to a baking question or problem, it is to Carole I turn. She always knows. When I was working on the dessert chapter of “Naples at Table” I was calling her constantly. Nowadays, I have been known to call out for Carole on the radio when a listener stumps me with a technical baking problem. Carole comes on the program regularly to answer the tough baking questions, but she also listens to the program when she is in her kitchen in New Jersey developing and testing recipes for the classes she teaches all over the metro area and for her books, so sometimes she can actually get to the phone and call while Food Talk is on the air. [more]
Tuesday, October 24, 2000
Halvah
I have been looking for a recipe for halvah, the Middle Eastern sesame confection, for many years, although it is easy enough to buy. The excellent Joyva brand is widely available in New York City metro stores, and Middle Eastern groceries, of which there are plenty in New York, sell it by the pound, cut from huge wheels. I have always been told that it something one needs certain commercial equipment to make and that homemade halvah is not possible. On the other hand, over the years, I have found recipes for halvah that are a different candy than the one with which I am most familiar. It ends up, the word means dessert or sweets in Arabic. Witness the chapter heading for “Desserts, Pastries, and Sweetmeats” in Claudia Roden’s New Book of Middle Eastern Food: “Halaweyat.” [more]
Sunday, October 22, 2000
Knife Skills and More
So many of you have expressed an interest in studying knife skills with my friend Norman Weinstein, the master teacher, that I asked Norman to provide me with his current schedule. Many of his classes are sold out, but call the schools and ask about cancellations. There are always cancellations and the schools always keep waiting lists. Or, you can put your name on a list for Norman’s next round of classes. Norman also teaches Chinese cooking (and some other subjects), for which their is considerable interest lately, too, so I’ve included his class schedule for that, too. [more]
Wednesday, October 18, 2000
No-Bake Chocolate Cake
Yesterday, Marcel Desaulnier was my guest and he brought this cake with him. It’s from his new book Death By Chocolate Cakes. It is any wonder that he is called the “guru of ganache” when his mother (Mrs. D) made him such rich cake when he was young. He explains in one of his “Chef’s Touch” footnotes to the recipes that this was his busy mom’s big treat – easily and quickly made with ingredients usually in her pantry. Marcel is executive chef and co-owner of the acclaimed Trellis Restaurant in Williamsburg, Virginia, and his other works, including Death By Chocolate and Desserts To Die For, have garnered him many awards. By the way, in case you don’t know, ganache is simply chocolate melted and blended into cream, sometimes with butter. It’s the heart of a chocolate truffle, so you might say this cake is a huge nut and corn flake-studded truffle. [more]
Monday, October 16, 2000
Martha Stewart's Mac and Cheese
Martha Stewart has been everywhere promoting her new cookbook, The Martha Stewart Living Cookbook, which commemorates (and cashes in on) the 10th anniversary of her magazine. It has something like 1,200 recipes. A big book. [more]
Saturday, October 14, 2000
Lemon Yogurt Cake
All my pals at Sutter Home Winery’s Build a Better Burger contest in Napa Valley (see the October 10th diary entry) were raving about the cakes served for breakfast at the Sutter Home Inn. Besides the following, the Lemon Yogurt Cake, which I loved, too, there was a pumpkin loaf, a cinnamon swirl loaf and who knows what else. Truthfully, I don’t like sweets in the morning so I only had a bite of each. [more]
Tuesday, October 10, 2000
Hawaiian Tuna Burger
Last weekend was the 10th annual Sutter Home Winery Build a Better Burger contest in St. Helena, California (Napa Valley), and I was honored to be one of the judges. I am not big on judging cooking contests. I figure you don’t make friends being a judge. But I can’t say not to a few of the many I am asked to do. So I’ve judged the Pillsbury Bake-Off, the National Beef Cook-Off, the National Chicken Cook-Off, a few local contests for which I have felt some civic responsibility, and now this one, which got me to be in California for a weekend with a bunch of people I love and respect. [more]
Friday, October 6, 2000
My Grandmother's Yom Kippur Noodle Pudding
Elise Sonkin, my maternal grandmother, was, as I have said many times on the radio, a very glamorous woman. Despite the appearance she gave of a pampered lady of leisure who never prepared a meal or washed a dish, her cooking was the despair and envy of the neighborhood. Everyone in our circles knew she was the best around. Elise loved doing it and she loved the reputation, knowing full well it was at odds with her appearance and demeanor. [more]
Thursday, October 5, 2000
Taiglach, Pine Nuts, Sun-Dried Tomatoes
Some notes on taiglach, the Yiddish dough-ball candy that is almost identical to struffoli, the Neapolitan dough ball candy, Italian pignoli, and sun-dried tomatoes. [more]
Tuesday, October 3, 2000
Jerusalem Kugel (Caramel-Pepper Noodle Pudding)
I finally made a Jerusalem kugel. I have been meaning to for years, but somehow never got around to it, like so many other recipes that I eat, or see a recipe for, or hear about .My sister asked me to make a kugel for Rosh Hashonah, so it seemed it was Jerusalem kugel’s moment. [more]
