A few years ago, a curious dessert began popping up on restaurant menus around San Francisco: sticky toffee pudding. I'd never heard of it before, and the name, which conjured up visions of syrupy-sweet goop, made my teeth hurt just reading it. I would skip right past it in favor of a nice apple crisp...
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Pear, Blue Cheese and Hazelnut Tart
One summer afternoon between my junior and senior years of high school my mom and I took a walk (more of a sweaty stagger in the Woodland Hills heat) to a nearby restaurant for lunch. We managed to stop squabbling long enough to enjoy the food at Villa Piacere, and dessert consisted of cake and...
White Bean, Kale and Farro Soup with Parsley Pesto
Growing up in LA, I never experienced grocery shopping (or anything else, really) sans car. Because it is so vast and the public transportation so atrocious, you pretty much have to own an automobile in order to get anywhere. You don't take the bus unless you are extremely poor, extremely masochistic, or have had an...
Persimmon Pudding
Many people I know (including myself) have at some point been traumatized by persimmons. Heart-shaped hachiyas must be eaten when squishy-ripe and the flesh reaches an almost liquid consistency, lest the tannins cause your tongue and teeth to feel like the inside of a fur-lined trapper hat; hence the persimmon’s dubious reputation. When ripe, however,...
Spiced Sweet Potato Oven Fries
I've never been into self-inflicted New Year's deprivation (or really deprivation of any kind). But after all the decadence of the holidays, simple vegetable dishes like this one have felt like a soothing relief. (What do you mean the holidays aren't over yet?!) Steamed broccoli dipped in tamari-mayonnaise, leafy green salads brimming with beets and...
Cardamom Snickerdoodles
These soft and chewy cardamom cookies are everything you love about snickerdoodles, but with the beguiling flavor of cardamom in place of cinnamon. Elevate your snickerdoodle game with these crinkled cardamom snickerdoodles that are made with 9 ingredients in 20 minutes! Or you might like my gluten-free cinnamon snickerdoodles made with almond flour. Though it...
Cranberry-Pear Upside-Down Gingerbread
Being a Jew (even a bad one) in December in the U.S. can prove trying. I don't mind the trees, wreaths and boughs (they smell great!), the perpetual Christmas music playing everywhere (well, so long as it's Bing or Ella), or the plethora of baking magazines stocking the racks at every grocery store in town...
Nibby Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
These thick and chewy chocolate chip oatmeal cookies can be made wheat-free with spelt flour. (Make these if you're looking for gluten-free chocolate chip oatmeal cookies!) When the weather turns cold and rainy, I find few activities as satisfying as baking chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. Curling up in bed with a cup of tea and...
Sage, Thyme and Mimolette Cheese Straws
Growing up in LA, I was bound to meet many interesting people. On a camping trip in my late teens, I chatted with a friend of a friend who described trying crack cocaine for the first (and luckily, last) time. He said the high was so pleasurable and so fleeting, that had he any money...
Homemade Eggnog
This homemade eggnog infused with vanilla, allspice, and fresh nutmeg is as easy to make as simple custard. No raw eggs, and the alcohol is optional. While Christmas may have lost some of childhood's glory (i.e. receiving dozens of gifts from your entire adoring family without the stress of reciprocating with anything better than school-made...
Lentil Soup with Chestnuts and Fennel
I seem to have a penchant for tedium, insofar as food is involved. Pitting cherries, blanching almonds, shelling fava beans; if it's edible and time-consuming, I probably love doing it. Which is why I didn't blench when Rachel, chef/owner of the late, great Petite Patisserie, arrived with 5 pounds of fresh chestnuts one day. We...
Thanksgiving Round-Up, 2010
No, I'm not talking about an herbicidal Monsanto creation, merely a collection of recipes which you might consider making on the big day this year.
Pecan-Topped Sweet Potato Pie
Though I generally don't get excited about holidays, Thanksgiving is one exception...
Baked Pancake with Pear and Cardamom
The end of summer always comes as a bit of a shock. I'm not talking about the lack of beach days, road trips or forest hikes - I'm a spoiled Californian, after all, and can enjoy these activities nearly year-round. No, I'm talking about breakfast.
Smoky Tomato Butterbean Soup, with Herbed Cheddar Biscuits
When I was 9, I was lucky enough to move into a house across the street from my best friend. We'd spend most afternoons at her house playing while my mom worked, and sometimes I got to dine with her family as well. While I didn't envy her her bratty younger brother who often got...
Lemon Huckleberry Tea Cake
This super moist huckleberry cake is loaded with fresh (or frozen) huckleberries and lemon zest. Cream cheese gives the cake a sturdy, tender crumb, and a two-ingredient lemon glaze locks in moisture and adds delicious tangy flavor. This cake can also be made with other berries such as wild blueberries or raspberries. I've more recently...
Buckwheat Crepes, Any Which Way
I never felt truly at home while growing up in LA, but when my dad took me up to Berkeley one summer to visit my older brother, I fell immediately in love.
Pumpkin Flan
While most people receive gifts with anticipation and enthusiasm, Jay does so with vociferous griping and grumbling.
Avocado-Tomatillo Salsa
Like most things in life, I had romantic notions when I decided to sign up for a CSA box several years ago. I imagined perfect produce every week, fancier than what one could ever find in the markets: ripe blenheim apricots, loads of plump cherries, flawless heirloom tomatoes, pristine heads of baby lettuces, maybe something...
Almond Plum Tart with Cardamom Ice Cream
I had high hopes for plum season this year. Though not my favorite fruit for eating, their sweet-tartness makes them lovely for baking into desserts (and we are all about desserts, yes we are.) I plotted all summer long, daydreaming of frangipane tarts, lavender-plum ice cream, cornmeal crusted galettes, tarte tatin, cobbler, sugar plum cake...
Roasted Summer Vegetable Caponata
I have done many silly things in my life, but among the most foolish was going on the Atkins diet...
Cacao Nib Ice Cream
Except for a certain tween-aged obsession with Madonna,I've never been particularly star-struck by actors or pop musicians.I spent many slumber parties listening to my friends whisper excitedly about some guy named Jason Priestly, wondering whether or not he was related to Elvis and if they were mispronouncing his last name.
Summer Veg Crustless Skillet Quiche
I quite dislike the term 'last gasp,' especially as it is bandied about this time of year. Suddenly, every event and weather condition takes on a sort of melancholy freneticism: a trip to the beach, a streak of fog-free days, a camping trip, a perfectly ripe peach.
Pink Pearl Apple Custard Tart
I find it very inconsiderate of apples, pears, and quinces to suddenly burst into season in late August and early September, just when bakers like me are scrambling to make good on all the summer fruit recipes we spent the last 11 months ogling. Finally, all the berries, stone fruit, figs and melons are in...