Monthly Archives: October 2011

salted caramel ice cream

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While much of the Northeast United States is being blanketed by snow from an historic October storm, here in Southern California, we are enjoying an absolutely gorgeous 75-degree day.  The sun is shining and the skies are blue this afternoon, and it’s a perfect time to indulge in a scoop (or two) of some homemade Salted Caramel Ice Cream.  This is one of my favorite ice cream flavors.  Actually, it is quite possibly the best ice cream I’ve ever had. Period.  It is so smooth and buttery, with a nice balance of sweet and salty flavors. Everyone who’s tasted this ice cream has raved about it, even those who aren’t ice cream fans.  It’s that good! Continue reading →

meyer lemon-mascarpone bars

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I am huge fan of the Meyer lemon. I prefer to use it whenever possible instead of the regular lemon because it is slightly sweeter, without the acidic flavor. I have a prolific dwarf Meyer lemon tree in a container in my garden that produces about 60-70 lemons twice a year. I share some with friends, but I juice most of them and store the juice in 1- or 2-cup portions in freezer bags.  Depending on the amount a recipe calls for, I defrost a smaller or bigger bag.  I am spoiled having Meyer lemon juice all year long, since I can make these anytime the mood strikes me. Continue reading →

roasted radishes with radish greens

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Today’s dish showcases beautiful homegrown radishes from my garden.  Radishes, one of the easiest vegetables to grow, are also one of the most nutritious root vegetables and a great source for Vitamin C and calcium.  When eaten raw, radishes are crunchy and has a sharp, pungent flavor.  However, when cooked, radishes become mellow and lose their spicy zing.  For this recipe, the radishes are first roasted, then their greens are added and the whole thing is finished with butter and lemon.  Prepared this way, radishes lose their crunch, but instead, takes on crisp, yet tender texture.  Their flavor is reminiscent of roasted turnips.  The greens, which are slightly bitter, retain their peppery zip and they make a great substitute for arugula.  Roasted radishes make a great side dish for roast chicken or a grilled steak. Continue reading →

banana tarte tatin

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Tarte Tatin is a French upside-down tart primarily made with apples, and caramelized with butter and sugar until golden brown. It is usually made in a skillet and put over the stove top first to start the process of caramelizing the sugar and then finished in the oven. In this shortcut version from the October 2011 issue of Bon Appétit magazine, the apples are replaced by bananas and then baked in ovenproof crème brûlée dishes. I added some orange zest since I’ve been on such an orange kick lately and I knew that it would enhance the sweetness of the caramel.

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prosciutto, mascarpone, and spinach pizza with balsamic glaze

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On a trip to San Francisco a couple of years back, we had dinner at Wolfgang Puck’s restaurant, Postrio, located in the Prescott Hotel in Union Square.  We sat at the bar and ordered two of Puck’s wood-fired pizzas – the Smoked Salmon with dill and crème frâiche and the Prosciutto & Figs with balsamic, mascarpone cheese, and  truffle oil. The Smoked Salmon quickly became his signature pizza when he opened the original Spago’s in 1982.  It was a huge hit with the Hollywood crowd who couldn’t get enough of the smoked salmon topped with caviar.  Although Postrio’s version omitted the pricey roe, it was still a great pizza.  However, what stole the show was the other pizza we ordered, the Prosciutto and Figs.  This is still one of the best pizzas I’ve ever had.  I mean, who wouldn’t love this?!  Just imagine it – chewy pizza dough with a base of mascarpone cheese covered with a generous amount of prosciutto and arugula drizzled with a balsamic glaze and truffle oil. Right after inhaling that pizza, while still sitting there at the bar, I wrote all the ingredients so we could try replicate it as best we can when we got home. Continue reading →

quick and easy nutella orange brownie bites

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I need basic recipes like this 4 Ingredients Nutella Brownies in my repertoire.  This treat is perfect for those times when pretty good is good enough and I don’t have the inclination to spend a lot of time prepping, baking, and cleaning up. (Sometimes it’s nice not to haul out the Kitchenaid mixer!)  I just want to get in and get out of the kitchen, but also satisfy an unexpected guest or persistent craving for something sweet. Cookbook author, Abby Dodge, has written many more of these quick and easy recipes in her book, Desserts 4 Today: Flavorful Desserts with Just 4 Ingredients.  The concept of this book is pure genius because the recipes are simple, versatile, and inspires creativity.  In each recipe, Dodge includes numerous suggestions for substitutes when you don’t have an ingredient or don’t care for it and for ways to “gussy it up” to make it fancier. Since one of my favorite flavor combinations is hazelnuts and orange, I followed this recipe, but added 2 more ingredients – Cointreau and orange zest. From start to finish, it took about 20 minutes before I had this flavorful dessert with just 4 6 ingredients.  The hardest part of this recipe is waiting 10 minutes for the brownie bites to bake. Continue reading →

polenta tart with goat cheese and slow roasted tomatoes

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polenta tart with goat cheese and slow roasted tomatoes | daisysworld.net
One of the things I really like about blogging is interacting with people who share my interest in and passion for food.  I follow many food blogs to gain inspiration and to learn from other cooks and bakers.  For example, the idea of combining polenta and tomatoes came from a fellow blogger, Lizzy, who shared with me her recipe for soft polenta and tomatoes.  I would have never thought of that pairing on my own. Polenta, which is made from ground corn, is a very versatile ingredient. It can be served soft, like a porridge, or firm, usually cut into slices. Polenta can be served plain or with added ingredients like herbs and cheeses. I recently discovered that it could also be used to make crusts for tarts.  I ran across this recipe for polenta tart with goat cheese and tomatoes from the Whole Foods Market website and I knew that this would be perfect with slow roasted tomatoes. Continue reading →

bacon and egg cups with cremini mushrooms

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I knew immediately when I saw this post on Joanne’s amazing blog, Fifteen Spatulas, that I would be making mini bacon and egg cups. After all, it’s got three of my favorite things – bacon, eggs, and cheese. The beauty of a recipe like this one is that it can be easily customized to our own particular tastes.  The eggs can be cooked over easy, medium, or even scrambled. There are many varieties of cheeses that would work well.  Proscuitto may be substituted for the bacon.  You see, the possibilities are endless.  For my version, I added some crimini mushrooms that I sautéed in butter with a little garlic and chives.  For the bread on the bottom, I cut rounds from a couple of slices of buttermilk bread. Continue reading →

snickerdoodle cookies

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The essence of the classic snickerdoodle cookies lies in its utter simplicity.  They are unfussy cookies made from ingredients you most likely have on hand – flour, eggs, butter, salt, baking soda, sugar, and cinnamon. You probably even have the cream of tartar, which you forgot you had, shoved all the way in the back of the spice cabinet. Snickerdoodles can be made entirely by hand, without any kitchen appliances, although I prefer to use the stand mixer for convenience. All you really need is a bowl and a whisk to combine the ingredients and your hands to roll the dough into balls and to dredge them in cinnamon sugar.  Fifteen minutes later (10 minutes to bake, 5 minutes to cool), you will be eating a crackly-topped cookie, fresh from the oven, that is soft in the middle with slightly crunchy edges.  Don’t forget the milk!

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i made it on tastespotting!

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OMG! I just made Tastespotting on my first try with my pumpkin bread pudding photo and recipe, not knowing they actually reject many submissions!  If you Google “tastespotting + rejections”, you’ll see countless bloggers pour their frustration out on their blogs on being “gently rejected by TS.”  (Click here and here, for example).  Apparently, in the food blogging world, it’a medium-big deal and I didn’t even know it.  On a whim, I registered, carelessly wrote a caption, added my blog link and hit submit.   Within two hours, I knew something was up because my wordpress stats were going through the roof.  I was expecting it to take 24 hours to be notified of the status of my submission, but look here, I made it… Click here to see my post. Enter “pumpkin” in the search field found on the upper right hand side.  Yeeaay, for me!!!  It’s nice to be appreciated once in a while….ok, I’m done acting like a real  food geek!

classic comfort food: bacon mac and cheese

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I have a confession to make.  I’ve never had mac & cheese from that iconic blue box.  While eating the neon orange concoction was a childhood rite of passage for most of my friends, Kraft’s version was never very appetizing to me.  However, this made-from-scratch mac & cheese, oozing with cheesy goodness, is a whole other story!  Adding bacon to this is just pure genius!  Thanks to my friend, Patti, who posted a photo of her mac & cheese on facebook, for reminding me that I had this recipe from Lori at RecipeGirl that I’ve been wanting to try. Continue reading →

zucchini fritters

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Having a vegetable garden has been such a joy to me!   I know I’ve said it a few times before, but it’s worth repeating.  The weekly harvest of tomatoes, zucchinis, peppers, string beans, and radishes has really inspired me to cook in a way I’ve never done before.  Take the zucchini, for example.  It is actually one of the few vegetables I don’t dislike, but I usually only ate it breaded and fried, with gobs of ranch dressing.  The very fact that, in the last week, I’ve made zucchini muffins, zucchini chips (ok, this is not a surprise to anyone who knows my penchant for fried stuff dipped in fat), and now, zucchini fritters, is a testament to the power of home grown vegetables and organic gardening.
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mexican mocha ice cream

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In Mexican hot chocolate, unsweetened cocoa  is usually laced with vanilla, cinnamon, and almond flavors to make a fragrant chocolate drink.  In this recipe, the espresso and cocoa combine to make a mocha ice cream with a cinnamon twist.  Follow this recipe from A Pastry Affair  to make your own Mexican cocoa or use a mix like Azteca D’Oro, which is readily available in grocery stores (at least in California). Continue reading →

mascarpone rice pudding with dried tart cherries

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On one of my recent trips to New York City, I discovered Rice to Riches, a modern, Jetson-inspired store that serves only one thing – rice pudding.  The gourmet rice pudding at Rice to Riches comes in 21 designer flavors with whimsical names such as Fluent in French Toast, Cinnamon Sling, and Sex, Drugs, and Rocky Road. There are a variety of toppings to choose from – toasted buttery pound cake, espresso crumble, toasted coconut, and graham crackers, to name a few.  The bright, bold color scheme – orange, pink, yellow, and white – along with the irreverant slogans makes Rice to Riches a fun and kitcschy hangout.  The rice pudding is served in the coolest custom-made plastic containers with long curved spoons.  I loved those containers so much, I had to buy a pack of them.  They are cool, aren’t they?

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caramelized fig breakfast bruschetta

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This is reprinted from The Thompson Family Cookbook, a collection of recipes from my extended family that I compiled last year.  The recipe was adapted from the Breakfast Bruschetta served at Starling Diner, a cute little neighborhood restaurant in Long Beach, California owned by my cousin, Joan.  Starling Diner is a wonderful place to hang out and have a leisurely breakfast.  The food is outstanding and the ambience is comfortable and relaxed.  My favorite things on the menu are the creamy Breakfast Polenta, the decadent San Francisco Stuffed French Toast and these Breakfast Bruschettas.  At Starling Diner, the bruschetta is served with seasonal berries, but I think the recipe works beautifully with caramelized figs as well.  Perfect for a casual brunch, this is a quick and easy dish to prepare that may be assembled ahead of time.

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