Chocolate Shortbread with Crushed Pistachios

I originally indented these cookies as an adult alternative to cloying Halloween candy–a sweet with sophistication, if you will–but considering the hurricane that ripped through New York (among other locales) last night, I think perhaps we should rebrand these cookies.

If you are lucky enough to have power, please consider an afternoon of baking. It’s an activity to occupy adults and children alike, a survival tool to get you through through yet another day cloistered with your nearest and dearest. And as these cookies are made in stages, baking them will carry you through the better part of an afternoon.

In fact, I think I will enlist the Frenchman’s help. He is currently watching local news, reading French news, asking me what changes he can make to the website, and making fun of the blanket I have draped around my shoulders. (Apparently, dear readers, I look like a grandmother.) What this boils down to is that two days home from work gives my French Fry de se sentir comme un lion en cage.

(As it transpires, Monsieur French Dressing doesn’t appreciate being dubbed a French Fry. But as he is currently playing TV replete with shaky camera-post hurricane footage, listening to an electro pop track, all the while streaming piston noises from his mouth–after promising “not to be distracting”–I will desist pas.) Read more »

Banana Cake with Swiss Cream Cheese Frosting

When my sister was in elementary school, one day each year was devoted to “Multiculturalism Around the World”. On this day, the lunchroom was transformed into a kind of culinary bizarre where each student should bring in a food item to share with their class to represent their heritage.

My mother, mightily dutiful to the plenteous needs of her three daughters, but at the same time a full-time lawyer, had to be clever. A full blown observance of her Costa Rican and Panamanian ancestry would have required the sacrifice of night hours she should have been..you know.. sleeping. And so she decided to make a recipe much loved in our house. Meanwhile, she told my sister to tell the teacher it was “plantain bread”.

Plantain bread, ha! ‘Plantain bread’ summons images of a somber, dense brick, does it not? What my sister passed around that day was tender and sweet. Of course it was. It was the dog-eared banana cake recipe from my mother’s 1965 edition of the Fannie Farmer cookbook, fragrant with butter, sugar, vanilla, and banana mash. Read more »

Strawberry-Kissed Walnut Sablés

Butter, sugar, salt. When balanced properly, is there a happier confluence of ingredients? (The answer is no, unless you’d like to discuss the merits of cream, yolks, and sugar.)

My goal for this batch of cookies was to bridge the transition weeks from warm to colder weather. Toasted walnuts and notes of nutmeg tackle the ‘oh my, it’s quite nippy, I think I’d like something conforming’ aspects of fall, while drops of strawberry jam brighten each sablé and remind of sunny afternoons.

I decided these sablés (a word that means “sand” in French, in reference to both the cookie’s color and texture) should be pop-able, but ample enough so that a few would satisfy. Read more »

All About Crêpes

While crêperies originated in Brittany, that northwestern region of France famed for its rain and a slew of lovely edibles, they can now be found all over. If you must know, my very favorite crêperie is Le Bain des Fleurs; a family operation perched on a windy boardwalk in a town called Chatelaillon. What can I say? I am a fool for the multi-tonal blue and gray interior, which mirrors the sea. The stellar crêpes and affable service don’t hurt either.

A crêperie’s menu is typically split into two equal halves: crêpes salées (which are made with buckwheat flour and filled with savory fixings) and crêpes sucrées (made with white flour and eaten for dessert). You should get one of each. To drink, it is appropriate to order hard cider served in ceramic bowls, because it is traditional and because it tastes very good. Trust me on this. Read more »

Sardine Pizza

This pizza is for a winter weeknight when you want something tasty and substantial, but you do not feel like venturing out for too many ingredients. I typically have most of the ingredients on hand, or if not, some version of them: various nubs of leftover cheese, wilting greens and herbs, some form of leftover potato or onion, etc.

I should say that, although it feels like cheating to me, I do not make my own pizza crust for this recipe. Because this is a “make the night of, with as little fuss as possible” kind of recipe, I use either pizza dough purchased from my local Neapolitan joint, Sottocasa, or I buy naan from the supermarket. To make things even easier, you can also make most of the elements of this pizza ahead of time.

This pizza was my first go-around with a pizza stone, and here is what I learned: If you toss flour onto a stone surface that has spent an hour in a 500 degree oven, it is going to burn. Really, really fast. Then you will be forced to run around your apartment like a headless chicken, opening windows and turning on vents. It’s not a pretty picture. My suggestion, therefore, is to simply make sure the bottom of the pizza dough is well floured before you put it in the oven. Read more »

Madeleines

For Christmas this year, Paul’s grandparents gave me a book called La Cuisine Authentique de nos Grand-mères (translation: The Authentic Cooking of our Grandmothers). It is easily one of the best gifts I’ve ever received. I am currently working my way through all 400 butcher-paper pages, albeit slowly; there is only so much français a girl can read at a time, even when it pertains to la cuisine.

The book is full of the kind of French home cooking that made me fall in love with spending time in the kitchen in the first place. Best-quality ingredients are emphasized, and the recipes encourage slowing down for a minute. You simply cannot flambée les bananes au rhum with your mind on other things. (Well, I suppose you could, but in that I case I suggest you keep a fire extinguisher on hand.) Read more »

Pear and Cranberry Cake

This is a family recipe, no denying it. It was my Aunt Martha’s creation, but quickly became a holiday staple in my house as well. I distinctly remember eating this cake as part of our Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner, and then again the next morning for breakfast; a huge treat for my sisters and I. Now I make it too (although the pears are a recent addition), because it is mixed and in the oven in under fifteen minutes, and because it makes my kitchen smell divine. The flecks of mild, sweet pear and bites of sour cranberry are little gems, lending this moist, citrus-spiked cake a distinctive holiday look and taste. Read more »

Individual Blueberry Vanilla-Maple Pies

While strawberries have sadly disappeared from most farmers’ markets, thankfully I can assuage my sadness with the arrival of blueberries. Oh, blueberries. The only trouble comes when my enthusiasm outpaces my ability to consume them. Lucky for me, I had some extra pastry dough lying around the fridge. Throw a little maple syrup infused with vanilla bean into the mix, and I was in business. You can make these little tartes the morning, or even the night, before you plan to serve them. I topped mine with unsweetened Greek yogurt, but whipped cream or chocolate ice would work well too. Read more »

The Roaming Kitchen

Original Recipes and Culinary Yarns

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