Hungry and Frozen: i've got thirty-six expressions, sweet as pie to tough as leather. Like all weeks are really, this one just gone by was kinda strange. On Monday morning - at work, shoes miserably saturated with rain, bag weighed down with a cake I'd baked for a new person's welcome, planning to watch relaxing TV shows later on - I got a call from Tim. And while I'm not psychic (good thing too, with the weird and sinister dreams I get) I just knew, as soon as his name flashed up on the screen, that he would be calling to say his grandmother Jude had died.
So, two gas station pies and seven hours later, we were in Wairoa. Which is where we stayed until late Thursday evening. By which stage I'd eaten a million Osler's pies (Jude was an Osler); attended my first Catholic rosary (she was intensely devout, but like all things, she seemed to exuberantly enjoy it); slept fractiously in a tiny bunk bed with an enormous spider overlord; drank endless cups of tea; washed dishes as much as I could to try and be useful; and cried harder at a funeral than I ever have before.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Pots de Creme. I always hate my house a little bit after the holidays. I’ve taken down the bright tree, dripping with glitter and shine. I’ve packed up the rosy faced Santas, the sparkling mercury glass trees, and the stoic, but festive nutcrackers. I’ve tucked away the ribbons and bows, the reindeer noses, and jingle bells. And the halls are no longer decked. At first, I breathe a deep sigh of relief at the open space left from removing the Christmas tree. Then something happens. In short, I see how boring my regular home decor is. That’s when the greatest tragedy of the holidays strikes…the Post-Holiday Redecorating Frenzy, a.k.a.
I start planning and scheming. …I realize that it’s two weeks after Christmas, I’m exhausted, I spent my decorating budget on new Christmas goodies, and I have to live real life for a while. It’s depressing, and it inevitably makes me hate my house for at least two months after the new year begins. Simple, easy pots de creme, in the most classic flavor combo pretty much ever. Creamy coconut rice pudding with date compote recipe {dairy-free} As a mum, I feel like I spend all my life preparing food.
As a food blogger, I feel like I spend all my time thinking about food. There's barely a second that goes by when I'm not doing one or the other, so much so that some would call me obsessed. I do. But believe it or not, it's not often I cook something that makes me jump of my seat, it's that good.This people, is one of those dishes.It was one of the first recipes I bookmarked in my new book. Creamy rice pudding with a touch of rose water, citrusy sweet date compote and crunchy green flecks sprinkled over top for a little added drama.
Creamy coconut rice pudding with date compoteAs I've mentioned before most tinned coconut cream and milk contain some really nasty additives. Raspberry Sort Of A Syllalub & Catching Up ... I really wanted to update the blog last week but if I had, it would have sounded vaguely familiar. In a way...
It would have started just as it did several times over the summer: "I just got back from here and I am re-packing to fly over there". And I did. Except I drove. I have been on 27 planes since June. I am so not kidding. Driving was a nice change. Right after I got back from teaching in New Hampshire, we loaded both our vans with "stuff". We were on a mission. Again. It's all falling into place.
Driving those eight hours to Birmingham was actually one great balancing act in itself. I also made a lot of recipes in my head. I wanted to remember Summer. Something that I hope will let Summer know that I am now ready for Fall. Makes about 2 cups flavored syrup Note: feel free to add a splash of vodka or Cointreau but this is what I drink all day long, alcohol free of course, when the temperatures are all over the map hot. Individual Whole Peach Pies. Even in my final throws of single-dom, I can’t bear to see ripe and juicy peaches go un-touched. I leave today for Milwaukee, (where the wedding is on Saturday,) but even as I packed and obsessed all day over every detail, I was craving dessert.
I mean what’s a final meal as a single girl without something sweet right? Since I was leaving today, small portions were key. I couldn’t make a whole peach pie and then have it get thrown out. SO- I thought- why not just make individual pies by stuffing peaches with all the good stuff? And wrapping them with dough…sprinkling the tops with sugar…that can only be good right? Turns out they were really great. Individual Whole Peach Pies Ingredients Crust: 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon sugar 1 stick chilled unsalted butter, cut in pieces 1/4 cup ice water Filling 3 ripe peaches 3 tablespoons brown sugar 1 teaspoon. cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger milk/sugar for brushing/sprinkling Instructions. A reliable sign of greatness. They say old habits die hard, but for me, it’s the new ones that dig in and don’t let go.
Stone fruit. I can’t stop baking it. I bake apricots because it makes sense. It’s what you’re supposed to do. That’s how you get them to sing. Peaches, though, are a different story, one that typically begins once upon a time in a paper sack on my counter, and ends – happily, drippily – over the sink, where I eat them out of hand. Last year, intent on baking my favorite pie (which, coincidentally, is also Tim’s favorite pie!) Determined, I tell you, despite a new roadblock that’s plopped itself down in my path. When I sat down today to tell you about these peaches, I hesitated.
The transformation of peaches in the oven is not as dramatic as it is with apricots, but it’s there. “I can see every reason for cream here,” Nigel Slater says, and I agree. Baked Peaches with an Almond Crust Adapted from Nigel Slater’s Ripe: A Cook in the Orchard Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Gluten-free apple berry pandowdy recipe. I awoke yesterday to a very distraught little girl pleading with me to let her stay home from school. "My tummy really, really hurts mum", she said.There have been all sorts of nasty bugs doing the rounds lately and even though Ada has a bad habit of saying something hurts on a daily basis, for some reason her tears seemed much more genuine than usual and I found myself telling her she could have the day off at home with me.
We dropped Kye off at kindy and just like magic Ada perked up, tears disappeared and any hint of that sore tummy were long forgotten. I'd totally been conned. It's been a long term at school and we're nearing the end of it with only one week to go until the holidays start. It's not very often that Ada and I get to spend time alone without her brother around, so conned or not, I didn't mind letting her spend the day at home, call it a mental health day if you will.
So we baked. We made pandowdy, a smashed-pie-like dessert which originates from America's deep south. A new best. Favorites. Bests. Mosts-of-all. Superlatives make me nervous. It’s the way they tie your hands, bind your wrists so that you have no choice but to reach for one thing at a time. That’s no fun at all. I don’t play favorites, then – not my game. I do, however, collect them.
It’s amazing to me how these best things keep coming along. It makes me wonder how many more best things are out there, how many new favorites await. What has me going on about all of this today is rhubarb. Rhubarb crumble has taken on many forms in my kitchen since then. The plan for today’s crumble actually started with a cake, one from Nigel Slater’s beautiful new volume, Ripe: A Cook in the Orchard.
The crumble begins as most crumbles do, with a mess of dry ingredients whisked together in a bowl. Rhubarb Polenta Crumble Inspired by Nigel Slater’s Rhubarb Cinnamon Polenta Cake, from Ripe: A Cook in the Orchard and adapted from Marian Burros’s Plum Crumble, via Luisa and Molly I’m no sissy about butter. Gluten-free lemon delicious pudding recipe. Sticky toffee pudding recipe | Cake recipes & dessert recipes | Jamie Oliver recipe. Creamy Rice Pudding with the Quickest Strawberry Jam Recipe : Jamie Oliver.
Directions Rice pudding is loved by everyone, and it's one of my favorite desserts. Proper feel-good food, it's gorgeous served on its own or with whatever fruit you've got knocking around. For me, though, the best way of eating it, especially in the summer, is really cold with hot strawberry jam. As an alternative, you can broil or roast peaches and plums to serve with it. Beautiful! I used to make jam with my mum when I was a kid. Place the strawberries in a wide, stainless steel pan and sprinkle the sugar over the top. Meanwhile, place the milk, rice and vanilla sugar in a deep saucepan. To serve, divide the rice pudding between your bowls. "Our agreement with the producers of "Jamie at Home" only permit us to make 2 recipes per episode available online. Honey Panna Cotta Recipe | Amy Atlas. Party planner and dessert table extraordinaire, Amy Atlas is launching her new book, Sweet Designs today! Sweet Designs is gorgeous, as you can tell by just looking at the cover, and it’s packed with sugar and crafts that will help you create beautiful dessert tables.
The book is both a cookbook and a craft book, with 374 pages chalked full of more than 175 projects and full of information to get you started on your own table designs with lots of beautiful pictures throughout. I love that Amy shows you how to Bake it, Craft and Style it! Amy lays it all out for you, from the sweet basics, like how to melt chocolate, to a walk down the candy aisle, with candy couture and candy math, to how to find inspiration and use fabric to accessorize a cake pedestal and she ends it all with a “Find it” section, sourcing all the items she used in the book.
How cool is THAT?! Amy Atlas is the dessert guru. It’s hard to know what to make because every single one of the recipes look so darn good. Tartelette. Came back from Utah last night and it's been a day of catching up. Running around. Grocery shopping. Laundry doing. And of course playing with Bill and snuggling with the pups...Wait!
I have had to jump right into work mode this morning and just cannot wait to cozy up on the couch tonight and look through all the pics I took this past week in Utah during the Plate To Pixel Book Tour Workshop and the three days spent at Evo in Park City. If you knew the (good) fire burning in my guts right now about everything seen, accomplished, witnessed, made part of, shared with, taught, learned about. Part of all these good all around feelings started right before Utah when I cooked my first recipe out of my friend Matt Armendariz first and freshly released cookbook "On A Stick". The weather sure did not get any milder while I was gone and tonight we got right back into our routine of grilling as much as possible instead of turning the stove or the oven on.
Apricots & Honey Panna Cotta: Serves 4-6. Indian Sweets - Phirni (Creamy Indian Rice Pudding) Growing up, dessert wasn't something we ate very often. In fact, our eating habits in India were rather weird, particularly with my mum being a working woman. We would always have a filling and hot breakfast, something I have no idea how my mum actually managed. She used to wake up at 5 AM so we could have hot breakfasts... I realise now how lucky we were! Getting back to the point, we would end up eating lunch at school, and then have a heavy tea at about half past four when we got home. So essentially 'family dinners' as we know it here weren't a big part of my life, growing up.
So you can imagine the excitement when my Uncle W showed up from Germany with a crateload of cookbooks (along with a housefull of academic ones, but those were of no interest to us work shirkers). But one fine day Uncle W allowed us to take a book back home. The one recipe that stands out in my head though, is for this phirni. For me, this dessert was a straight throwback to my childhood. Method: Pot de Crème: Chocolate and Raspberry | Citrus and Candy. For the first time in a while I sat outside on the weekend sun baking with my newly adopted rescue pooch, Kiki, and the sad thing is this is probably one of the first times in her short neglected life that she has chilled out in the sun free and relaxed. I shudder at the thought that if she was never rescued in the first place by the shelter, she would’ve been another tragic victim of backyard breeding.
It makes me even more determined now to give her a life of TLC that she deserves (and to show her that not all humans are scary) and to fight harder for a cause dear to my heart. On a more positive vibe, I’ve been happily pottering around in the kitchen again, much to Kiki’s curiosity, but that means that I now had to face a stockpile of unused stuff; frozen blobs of unlabelled pastries and cookie doughs, apples at the back of the fridge and a formidable wall of containers filled with frozen egg whites (I’m not a meringue/macaron fan so jeezus what am I gonna do with all of them?!).
Hot Chocolate Pudding. I had some friends over for dinner recently who were moving away, which is always sad, and they were in the full-on stress of moving; packing up boxes, dealing with logistics, selling most of their things, and taking care of the details of deménagement. I had been leafing through Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts by chocolate expert (and comrade in chocolate) Alice Medrich, who I was introduced to in the 80s, not personally, but though her spectacular chocolate cakes and confections. Her chocolate shop in Berkeley was changing the way we thought about chocolate in America, and I’d like to think my (near-daily) allegiance to the store, called Cocolat, had something to do with it.
Alice had learned techniques for making French cakes and truffles, and was getting national acclaim for her extraordinary treats sold in the shop. I was such as fan that when I was baking just down the street, at Chez Panisse, I used to stop in on my way to work for a truffle or a slice of cake. Chocolate FAQs.