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Category Archives: Food

Adventures in recipes, restaurants and other food topics.

Yeast-based coffee cake with orange and cheese

What better way to have your coffee (and tea) with this rich, yeasted cake?

Even better crumble topping: Streusel v2.0

I believe I’ve found a superior streusel recipe, via Sarah Jampel’s recipe on Food52. It has a much better texture than my older version. The trick, I believe, is to omit nuts, use a blend of moist and dry sugars, and a food processor.

Mocha ice cream

For me, mocha has a more chocolatey dimension added to the coffee ice cream. Since that post, we’ve gained a burr grinder and relegated the old rotary blade one for grinding up spices.

Gajar halwa, or Indian carrot pudding

Carrots are one of my favorite vegetables. Although I don’t like carrot cake, I do love this Indian pudding made with lots of milk, some amount of sugar, and not as much butter (ghee, really) as I had anticipated. It takes a long time, but is so worth it!

Saag paneer: Indian greens curry with farmer’s cheese

One of my favorite desi dishes is saag paneer: Spicy greens with chunks of farmer’s cheese. It’s very similar to palak paneer which, if I understand the names properly, is made primarily with spinach as the leafy green. I enjoy a mix of several greens, including fenugreek leaves and mustard greens to add some oomph […]

Spiced chicken apple “sausage” patties

To my sadness, our local Whole Foods no longer carries (at least not regularly) delicious chicken apple-spice sausages. I found a good reference for poultry sausage recipes, and decided to make some patty-style “sausages” — in quotes since I don’t have casings. These patties work nicely for the toad in the hole dish! Also, the […]

Chômeur, or maple pudding

Chômeurs referred to the unemployed in Canada, and this was originally a quick dessert made by and for them. I think of it as a quebecois version of treacle pudding, but using maple syrup. Warning: It ain’t a pretty pudding, but it is so, so good! Especially for cold winter nights.

Hazelnut & date bars, with a touch of chocolate

I’m rather picky about what goes into snack bars: What kind of nuts? (No walnuts or pecans, if I can avoid them.) And I’d prefer the absence of dried coconut. Not too sweet, as I don’t want a sugar rush that results in a headachey crash — dried fruits are good, as long as they […]

Gluten-free flour mixes

Need a substitute for wheat or gluten-based flours? Look no further! Shauna the Gluten-Free Girl provides an excellent tutorial: Just weight out the ingredients, then toss to mix. These are just a collection of gluten-free flour mixes that I’ve liked using in baking and thickening sauces. Recipes can be completely gluten-free, including brownies, financiers, and […]

Mint lassi

It started with an avocado lassi: smooth, minty, and refreshing on a hot day with spicy food. The problem with avocados is that their season is limited—they peak in winter here in CA—and dishes made with them quickly go brown, also muddying the flavor. Slightly brown avocado lassi tastes icky. But I learned it was […]