Posted in cake, chocolate, daring bakers, dessert, nuts on Jul 30th, 2008
There were a lot of similarities between the Filbert Gateau that Chris chose for this month’s Daring Baker challenge and the opera cake we made a few months ago. This works out well for me, because I could definitely use the cake-building practice. And I don’t know if I’m getting better at this whole baking [...]
Posted in custard, dessert, french, fruit, pie, summer, tuesdays with dorie on Jul 29th, 2008
It’s safe to say that this Summer Fruit Galette, chosen for TWD by Michelle, wasn’t my best effort. My baking has gotten really out of control lately – my freezer is full of cupcakes, cookies, muffins, and breads. There’s cookie dough and half a cake in my refrigerator. (But I finally found someone to offload [...]
Posted in cake, dessert, recipe comparisons on Jul 27th, 2008
Several months ago for the Daring Bakers, I made Dorie Greenspan’s Perfect Party Cake. Most of the group members, including myself, had very positive things to say about this cake. However, many of us, again including myself, found that the cake didn’t rise much. Granted, the copy of the recipe I used had a typo [...]
Posted in appetizers, asian, dips, healthy, one pot meal, seafood, vegetables on Jul 25th, 2008
I am not a collector of cookbooks. I do have one full shelf of about twenty or so, but I’m not one to idly buy any book I get excited about. Unless I’m interested in a very good proportion of the recipes in the book, I won’t buy it. Unless it’s only three dollars, and [...]
Posted in dessert, fruit, spring, summer, tuesdays with dorie, whole grains on Jul 22nd, 2008
Amanda chose possibly the healthiest recipe in the TWD cookbook. A portion of the flour in the biscuits is whole wheat and there’s <gasp> less than a tablespoon of butter per serving. Combining rhubarb and cherries is a little unusual – Dorie does it because they have contrasting and complimentary flavors. Fair enough, but they [...]
Posted in cheese, favorites, healthy, one pot meal, pasta, vegetables, vegetarian, weeknight meal, whole grains on Jul 19th, 2008
Apparently I can’t always predict when a dish is going to be good. The only reason I made this was to use up some soba noodles and scallions. Then I found two opened bags of peas in the freezer and half a lemon in the refrigerator, so the meal seemed worth making even if it [...]
Posted in bread, dinner party, french, yeast bread on Jul 17th, 2008
Cooks Illustrated’s Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic recipe is cooked through a combination of roasting and braising, which keeps the meat moist and the skin crisp. Once the chicken is cooked, the braising liquid is made into a delicious garlicky herbed sauce. I supposed you could make some creamy rich mashed potatoes to serve [...]
Posted in chocolate, custard, dessert, recipe comparisons, tuesdays with dorie on Jul 15th, 2008
Melissa’s TWD pick of chocolate pudding really hit the spot for me this week. I hadn’t made anything chocolately in a while, and something smooth and cool like pudding is perfect for the hot summer weather right now. Also, as much as I like to cook, it’s nice to have something simple every once in [...]
Posted in dinner party, gluten free, italian, summer, vegetables on Jul 14th, 2008
The side I originally served with Chicken with Forty Cloves of Garlic was shredded sautéed zucchini with tomatoes and basil. While it’s a very good dish, in retrospect, I don’t think the Italian bent in the zucchini matched the flavors and French feel of the chicken. My goal for the vegetable served alongside this flavorful [...]
Posted in chicken, dinner party, favorites, french, gluten free on Jul 11th, 2008
This chicken is the main dish of my favorite dinner party menu. But I’m not going to lie – there are good and bad aspects to making this dish for company. The advantage is that I’m pretty sure this is the best chicken I’ve ever eaten (although this comes close). It’s infused with the flavors [...]
