I’m a fiend for elderflower-flavored goodies — the aroma reminds me of British gardens, not to mention the lushness of spring, and relief from the heat of summer. The weather is getting hot over here, so I find it high time to make an ice cream with this most refreshing of floral extracts.
Category Archives: Food
Preserved Meyer lemons
Friday, 20 April 2012
Every two or three years, our Meyer lemon tree has a boom season where all we see are fruits covering and weighing down the branches, as if the leaves have gone on vacation. This is one of those years. Other than using them in nearly every savory dish, not to mention lemon curd and lemonade, [...]
Carrot soup with cumin
Friday, 30 March 2012
This soup was inspired by the carrot velouté scented with coriander+cumin foam I had at the Musée d’Orsay’s Café Campana in February. Hm, “inspired” isn’t quite the right word; more like “became obsessed with until recreated in our own kitchen.” I suppose this could be made vegetarian, but it tastes best with a well-made chicken [...]
Pickled red onions are even better
Wednesday, 21 March 2012
After posting the pickled radish recipe, I got a hankering for onions made in a similar fashion. You know what? I like them even better than the radishes. They ended up rather versatile, as we found many uses for quickly pickled onions: soups, sandwiches, falafel, pizza, sautés, eggs, rice bowls, pasta, etc. As an aside, [...]
Quick radish pickle
Tuesday, 21 February 2012
Back in high school, when my taste in foods was just barely starting to broaden, my friend Kim N. fed me and our friends Vietnamese salad rolls (gỏi cuốn) and spring rolls (chả giò) after school. Ever since then I’ve loved that cuisine! I recently got back in touch with Kim, and during one of [...]
Multigrain Pullman, rustic loaf, or pizza dough from a starter
Wednesday, 11 January 2012
To make a Pullman loaf, which is a bread shaped perfectly for sandwiches and toast, I use the same recipe as the multigrain sourdough loaf, with these changes: Use a heavy-gauge Pullman measuring 4 by 4 by 9 inches, but without the lid, to encourage height. I like the USA Pan brand made of aluminized [...]
A crusty, multigrain sourdough loaf of bread
Saturday, 17 December 2011
For the past few years I’ve been playing around with a couple sourdough starters I created, and I’m amused to note that, except on a very few occasions, I’ve ended up using starters instead of packaged yeast for my yeast-based baking needs. It’s really nice to be able to produce one’s own bread. It’s especially [...]
Sweet creamy yogurt dressing
Tuesday, 6 December 2011
This sauce is perfect for fruit salads, puddings and cakes which need just a hint of sweet moisture. A note about the yogurt: I use lowfat yogurt that’s smooth in the Australian/European style, e.g., Wallaby Yogurt. It doesn’t contain any thickeners like pectin or gelatin. Ingredients 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream 3/4 cup plain yogurt [...]
Preserved green satsumas
Thursday, 17 November 2011
Our bush-like satsuma tree had so many fruit on it that the branches were threatening to break. “Time to thin down.” The prospect of throwing out, even into the compost, nearly half of the satsumas made me feel guilty. That is, until I realized I could treat the underripe fruit like lemons, and preserved them. [...]
Plum jam with ginger & cinnamon
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
We didn’t manage to make any preserves this summer. Both the apricot and tomato harvest were, well, were not. However, on the first day of autumn, Simon got a load of Betty Anne plums from the farmers’ market, and we made jam. The resulting flavor, with ginger and cinnamon, brings stars of chilly air tang [...]
