Packages of hominy grits always seem too large. So, having heard that some cakes are made with polenta, I tried something similar with grits. My recipe resulted a moist yet pleasantly crunchy cake, with a thin sugary crust and pine nuts to add to the crunchiness.
Category Archives: Food
Elderflower cordial & citrus cake
Friday, 19 August 2011
Elderflower has the aroma of spring, and brings respite from the heat of summer. (Even though, admittedly, we’re not having much of summer. But still.) Combining elderflower cordial with lime or lemon juice in a cake has yielded one of my favorite cakes for this and the last season.
Passion fruit ice cream
Saturday, 6 August 2011
Oh, sure, passion fruit sorbet is yummy and popular. But what if you, I or any one of our friends want some creaminess to counter passion fruit’s extraordinary tartness? Here I present passion fruit ice cream.
Cream scones
Wednesday, 25 May 2011
I can’t believe I haven’t posted a recipe for cream scones! My version is somewhere between the classic and cream scone recipes from The Joy of Cooking, wherein I use cream, eggs and butter. This yields a very tender and very rich scone, as one could imagine.
Yellow sponge cake: génoise
Friday, 13 May 2011
I’ve been searching for years for a sponge cake recipe. A cake that’s less dense in texture than the typical American butter cakes, that’s not necessarily made by the creaming method, which is to say, by beating soft butter and sugar until creamy and somewhat fluffy, then adding the other ingredients (eggs, flour, etc.). So, [...]
Cauliflower with black garlic, anchovies & white wine
Tuesday, 26 April 2011
There was a head of cauliflower sitting in the vegetable box in the refrigerator. I didn’t feel like steaming it, or making a gratin, but wanted a dish that was flavorful yet on the lighter side. Jeremy F. had mused about cooking this veg with anchovies and garlic, and I thought, “Hey, that does sound [...]
What’s wrong with prunes in sticky caramel pudding?
Thursday, 7 April 2011
Nuffingk. Nuffingk at all. Nor is adding five-spice powder. “What? What?” you ask. Yes, warm sticky pudding made with prunes and dates, especially if one runs out of dates but finds a nearly full bag of prunes, and especially with five-spice and ginger and cardamom — “Bwah! Madness!” you exclaim. Ah, but this pudding does [...]
Yemisir wat: Ethiopian lentil stew
Saturday, 19 March 2011
Yemisir wat (a.k.a., misir we’t, mesir wot, and so on, because I’m poorly transliterating it from another alphabet) is my go-to dish at any Ethiopian restaurant I visit. I’ve always wanted to make it at home, mainly to control the amount of fat that goes in, but most importantly, to consume it without having to [...]
Lentil and kale soup
Monday, 7 March 2011
I love many mustard greens and other cruciferous vegetables, but have had a tricky time with kale. No matter how much we sautéed it, with lots of oil and garlic, it remained a bit too tough and a bit too bitter for me. The trick, I found, is to slowly cook it in a soup, [...]
Pistachio tea cookies with orange blossom water and a hint of spice
Wednesday, 16 February 2011
The inspiration for these nutty-dusty-tender cookies come from Russian tea cakes I used to get many years ago in cafés. There are also called Mexican wedding cookies (or cakes). My version has a faintly Middle Eastern flavor, just to throw in another regional description. Though less sweet, uncoated cookies are still yummy.
