Apt because there are so many things about which to wonder once you eat one. Things like, "I wonder if I can resist eating another one!" or "I wonder if all of my teeth are going to fall out of my mouth!" and maybe even "I wonder if that tingly sensation is that bite going immediately to my hips!" My reaction was, "Oh holy Mary mother of Jesus, I wonder where I put my antacids…" because these cookies? They mean business. In both the best and worst ways.
They’re from The Improvisational Cook by Sally Schneider, which is an interesting book not only because the title describes my polar opposite but because of the approach it has towards both the recipes and the layout of the book itself. For instance, the other day I made one of the recipes demonstrating what she calls "close-roasting", a pork shoulder braised in its own juices by covering closely with aluminum foil in a dutch oven and marinated overnight in a "mole-inspired ancho chile, cinnamon and cocoa powder" rub. This was but one of 4 variations listed under the category of close-roasting – the next variation? Duck. So the goal is to show you the technique and how you might apply it to anything you have on hand, so that you might – get ready for it – improvise! Amazing how that works. We’ll see how that works out for someone like me, what with my panic attacks at having a different kind of paprika than a recipe calls for.
Anyway, my lemon cake was almost gone and I needed something to keep me from reaching out to Little Debbie, (she’s so good to me!) so I plucked this recipe out of the back since Warren prefers brownie or other chocolate + flour treats. A word of caution – these tell you heaping tablespoon or 1/4 portions of dough. If you make these with the variation I have written, they are nearly too big to be comfortably enjoyed due to the richness. If/when I make them again, I’m going to scale it back to a heaping teaspoon instead (if you do it now, remember that smaller portion = less time in the oven.) Then again, I had half of one for breakfast and two after dinner, so…
Continue reading ‘The Aptly Named Chocolate Wonders’
Once upon a time, my brain rewired itself overnight to make me want to learn how to cook, and cook well. One of the first dishes I made after that epiphany was a braised short rib dish – this one, in fact – and to this day, despite the mistakes I made while cooking it, it remains possibly the most delicious meal to grace my kitchen. So when I was scouting cookbooks at a local library branch last week, imagine my excitement to see the very book that recipe was culled from on the shelf: Sunday Suppers at Lucques.
The photographs are beautiful, far outclassing anything I’ve accomplished to date.The variety is impressive and it’s categorized by season, so you know if you’ll be able to find the produce the recipe will call for. That said, there are a number of ingredients used that, if not difficult to locate, are expensive to purchase – saffron and fleur de sel, as an example – that can be intimidating. For someone like me who is not much of a seafood eater, it seems to be a heavyweight item on the menus, but it all sounds so good that frankly I’m reconsidering my stance.
This particular recipe appealed on several levels – first, it contains pig and I am very, very fond of cooked pig. Second, it sounded relatively easy and had a new vegetable (that I was ultimately too cheap to purchase) to try as a side dish. Finally, the use of fresh herbs appealed to me. The end result did not disappoint and will, in fact, be made again soon.
Continue reading ‘Herb-roasted Pork Loin with Green Beans and Spring Onions’
The thing with copycat recipes is you are never sure how close they’re going to get to the real thing. For instance, Food Network magazine had a copycat recipe for the OG’s salad dressing, which we all know is basically the best part of going there. I was all set to enjoy a delicious salad, my tastebuds were dancing with anticipation, then I took a bite and drowned in a deluge of disappointment. (raise your hand if you were embarrassed for me upon reading that!) It was good, don’t get me wrong, but when you are expecting a particular flavor and embark upon finding that flavor, when it doesn’t arrive it just feels a little cruel, that’s all.
I think with some tweaking this could be very close, but as it is, it’s delicious. I don’t think anyone would be too disappointed with the results and it’s moderately low-effort to achieve.
Continue reading ‘Lemon Cream Cake’
Pardon the dust, it was time to find a look that was both pretty and functional, the functional part being sorely lacking from the previous design. It will no doubt continue to evolve before your very eyes as I spot things I missed and things I willfully ignored for the time being just for the sake of getting it out there.
Yes, that’s right, I launched a redesign before it was completely ready. Eat me, dev nerds!
So anyway, in the meantime I hope this makes for easier reading, with the added bonus of my random tweets, and if anyone knows how to replace the widget titles for K2 with images, feel free to let me know because I sure as hell am not finding it.
