Hungry Cravings

Fifth Blogiversary!

2013-05-19T10:38:00.000-07:00

Hungry Cravings is celebrating its fifth blogiversary this month. Back when I started it, I never would’ve guessed that I’d still be at it five years later. This little blog has seen me go from aspiring writer to published cookbook author, and it has taught me a thing or two about the art of food photography. Though work keeps me busy and posts here are less frequent than they once were, I look forward to each opportunity to check in more than ever.

So I dug through the freezer for the last of the huckleberries we gathered last summer. I’d been saving them for a special occasion…a special occasion just like this one!

Lemony Huckleberry Crumb Bars
Printable Recipe

6 ounces (1 ½ sticks) cold unsalted butter, shredded, plus more for greasing the baking dish
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup powdered sugar
Grated zest of 1 lemon
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
1 ½ cups fresh or frozen huckleberries
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch

Preheat the oven to 375˚F. Butter an 8-inch square baking dish and line with parchment paper. Whisk together the flour, powdered sugar, lemon zest, and salt in a large bowl. Add the butter and, using a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Transfer about half of the dough to the baking dish and press into an even layer. Refrigerate for about 15 minutes. Toss together the huckleberries, sugar, and cornstarch in a medium bowl. Arrange the huckleberries over the crust and then spread the remaining half of the dough evenly over the crust and huckleberries in the baking dish. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool to room temperature.

Using the parchment paper, lift the bars out of the pan and transfer them to a cutting board. Cut into portions and serve.

Makes 12 bars. Huckleberries have a short summer season. Use frozen huckleberries the rest of the year, but do not thaw them. Small blueberries make a fine substitute if huckleberries are unavailable. These bars are best on the day they’re made.

Blog Touring and Guest Posting

2013-05-14T10:52:00.000-07:00

Flavored Butters is on an “I Can’t Believe it IS Butter” blog tour! Today’s stop: I’m Denise’s guest over at Chez Us. Please come join me there. My guest post is all about making and using sweet flavored butters and includes the Passion Fruit Butter recipe from the book.

Also on the blog tour…

· Creative Culinary featured the Citrus-Vanilla Bean Butter.

· A Little Loveliness highlighted the Whipped Vanilla Bean Butter.

· A Well Crafted Party posted the Whipped Vanilla Bean Butter.

· Willow Bird Baking presented both the Coffee Butter and the Salted Caramel Butter.

· Celebrations at Home offered up both the Gorgonzola-Chive Butter and the Bed & Breakfast Butter in apricot.

· Divine Party Concepts spotlighted the Whipped Chocolate Butter.

So it looks pretty safe to say that the Whipped Vanilla Bean Butter is becoming a crowd favorite! To go with all that vanilla, I’ll leave you with a little bit of chocolate!

Of course, the recipe for this Whipped Chocolate Butter appears in Flavored Butters.

Thanks to all of the wonderful bloggers for hosting a stop!

Bonus Butter

2013-05-12T13:49:00.001-07:00

My new book is part of The Harvard Common Press’s 50 Recipes series. I tried to sneak in 53 recipes thinking there’s no harm in giving people more than what they paid for. But I was busted. My editor caught me and made me do some cutting—when they say 50 Recipes, they mean 50 Recipes. It wasn’t easy deciding which three had to go. One recipe that ended up being sacrificed was the Black Garlic Butter, not because it’s somehow inferior to any of the others, but because black garlic is a bit hard to come by. The butter is in fact quite delicious, so I thought I’d offer it up here as a bonus recipe. (By the way, if you’re wondering why in the world anyone needs 50, let alone 53 recipes for flavored butters, here’s an explanation.)

Before I get to the recipe, I have to say how grateful I am for the warm reception Flavored Butters is getting in the media and blogosphere. I’ve been called a “butter goddess” and a “butter genius”, and it might just go to my head! (But more likely, it'll go to my butt!) But seriously, I have to thank The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for the shout-out, the Chicago Tribune for the great review (and the dozen or more other media outlets that picked up the story), The Kitchn for another fantastic review, and the Akron Beacon Journal for the mention in this article on herbs and gardening. I also want to show my appreciation to The Best Cookbooks List, Magnolia Days, and Fake Food Free for jumping on the butter bandwagon—the support means so much! And while this has nothing to do with Flavored Butters, I owe one more thank you to HuffPost Taste for including my Passion Fruit-Coconut Bars in their passion fruit recipe roundup.

And now to the Black Garlic Butter. Black garlic, which seems to have originated in Korea, is a product of fermentation.

The ink-colored cloves have a soft, gelatinous texture and a complex sweet and mellow garlic flavor with candy-like hints of molasses, caramel, smoke, and fruit. Roasted garlic fans would certainly love it. Blend black garlic with butter to use as a spread for crostini or as a sauce for seafood such as grilled or seared* scallops.

Black Garlic Butter
Printable Recipe

4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
4 cloves black garlic
2 teaspoons soy sauce

Combine the butter, black garlic, and soy sauce in a food processor and pulse until smooth. Form into a log and refrigerate until firm before slicing and serving, or use another shaping method described in Flavored Butters.

Makes 8 servings.

*For everything you ever wanted to know about searing, plus dozens of fabulous searing recipes, check out my first book Seared to Perfection.

Must-Have Ingredient

2013-04-20T16:16:00.000-07:00

When he returned from his first business trip to Taiwan, Hubby raved about the food there. He described at length the flavorful fried rice, the toothsome noodles which were always freshly made, and the spicy, aromatic soups. He told me about the pristine sushi and the enormous shrimp. He talked about the abundance of cheap luscious tropical fruit. There was this juicy sweet and sour fruit he bought for three for a dollar from a friendly vendor on the street. He said he’d never had anything like it before. My husband is not a man of many words, but this tropical fruit he went on and on about—if there was such a thing as nectar and ambrosia, this was it.

He informed me as he unpacked his suitcase that he had managed to smuggle one home. He wanted me to be able to try this wonderful exotic fruit. With a broad smile on his face, he held out the shriveled black specimen.

“That’s a passion fruit,” I said with that funny feeling you get when something you know to be an irrefutable fact is suddenly called into question. You see, after eight years of marriage it’s not unusual to feel like you and your partner share a single brain and that everything you know he knows. So it seemed incomprehensible to me to think my husband didn’t know what a passion fruit was. “It’s a passion fruit, right?” I repeated, this time speaking mostly to myself. And despite all my years in food and cooking, for a split second it somehow seemed more likely that it really was some strange tropical fruit previously unheard of in the United States. Those eight years of marriage flashed through my head, and I realized why he thought it was something completely new—I had never introduced him to it before. Denying my husband passion fruit all those years? What a failure on my part.

I’m going to blame it all on the price of passion fruits. At three or four dollars a pop, I never considered bringing them home to play with. But with my husband’s newfound love of passion fruits, I would have to make up for lost time with a steady stream of passion fruit baked goods.

Luckily, to make passion fruit goodies you don’t need cases and cases of the expensive and hard-to-find fruit. You simply need a tub of relatively affordable Les Vergers Boiron frozen passion fruit puree. It’s 100% pure passion fruit pulp with no added sugar that's every bit as good as freshly made passion fruit puree. The fact that you don’t have to spend time processing the seedy fruit is a bit of a plus too. You just stash the tub in the freezer and saw off what you need (it’s easy to do safely with a serrated paring knife) whenever the inspiration to create a passion fruit treat strikes. Frozen passion fruit puree—it’s a must-have ingredient. (In case you’re wondering, I get mine from Provvista, a local wholesaler of specialty foods.)

Now here’s a must-have recipe to use it in.

Passion Fruit-Coconut Bars
Printable Recipe

For the shortbread crust:
6 ounces (1 ½ sticks) cold unsalted butter, shredded, plus more for greasing the baking dish
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup powdered sugar
¼ cup shredded coconut
¾ teaspoon kosher salt

For the passion fruit-coconut layer:
4 large eggs
¼ cup coconut milk
6 ounces passion fruit puree
1 ¼ cups sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon kosher salt

To serve:
Powdered sugar, for dusting

Make the shortbread crust:
Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Butter a 9×13-inch baking dish and line with parchment paper. Whisk together the flour, powdered sugar, coconut, and salt in a large bowl. Add the butter and, using a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Transfer the dough to the baking dish and press into an even layer. Refrigerate for about 15 minutes. Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Make the passion fruit-coconut layer:
Blend together the eggs, coconut milk, and passion fruit puree in a small bowl. Whisk together the sugar, flour, and salt in a large bowl. Add the passion fruit mixture to the sugar mixture and whisk until smooth. Pour over the shortbread and bake for 16 to 18 minutes, or until just set. Let cool to room temperature.

To serve:
Using the parchment paper, lift the bars out of the pan and transfer them to a cutting board. Dust with plenty of powdered sugar, cut into portions, and serve.

Makes 12 large bars. If frozen passion fruit puree is unavailable, you will need about 12 fresh passion fruits for this recipe. When buying passion fruits, look for fruit that's shrinkled—that's my word for shrunken and wrinkled—and trust me when I say there's no better way to describe a ripe passion fruit. To make passion fruit puree, halve the passion fruits, scoop out the flesh using a spoon, and strain it through a fine mesh sieve. For a professional-looking presentation, cut the bars using a hot knife and wipe it clean between cuts. Bars keeps for a couple of days tightly sealed in the refrigerator.

Release Day!

2013-04-02T17:33:00.000-07:00

Today’s the big day! It’s the official release day of my second cookbook. Flavored Butters is now out there for all the world to see and to cook from.

What a happy day! (And since just a few days ago I submitted the manuscript for my third cookbook, what a happy week!)

I hope this little book brings you tons of inspiration in the kitchen. Here’s a little sampling of what you’ll find inside the pages…

Caramelized Onion Butter for melting over a juicy steak—it’s sauce by the slice!

Shrimp Butter for anointing seafood bisque or making an outrageous seafood marinara.

Bed & Breakfast Butter for topping pancakes and waffles and biscuits.

And countless ideas for how to shape and serve flavored butters.

Want to know more? Check out this mention in Publishers Weekly. Better yet, let’s talk butter in person! I’m giving a Hands-On Flavored Butters cooking class at Clark College in Vancouver, Washington on Saturday, April 13. And I’ll be at the IACP Book and Blog Festival in San Francisco on Sunday, April 7 to sign books and at the Portland Williams-Sonoma on Sunday, May 5 for a demo and tasting. Please come join me!

Speaking of Clark College, the spring class schedule just came out. I’m also offering Hands-On Fresh Egg Pasta and Hands-On Galettes and Crostatas. Current class listings can always be found in the Cooking Classes, Book Signings & Appearances sidebar on the right.

Consuming Oaxaca

2013-02-28T13:37:00.000-08:00

It was Hubby’s turn to pick our vacation destination this time around. More than anything, he’s drawn to chiles, the spicier the better, so he picked Oaxaca. For years I’ve read that Oaxaca is one of the world’s best destinations for fooding, so I agreed it was high time we travel there to see what all the fuss is about. We fortified ourselves with several vaccinations and packed two bottles of Cipro and an English-to-Spanish dictionary, and we were off.

For the first day of our trip we organized a private lesson with Zapotec cook Reyna Mendoza, who teaches students traditional recipes out of her open-air home kitchen in Teotitlán del Valle.

Reyna welcomed us as if we were close friends and wowed us with her dedication to the labor-intensive techniques of her ancient cuisine, though I did spy an electric blender hidden in a corner.

Chocolate atole, a beverage of a hot and thick masa-flavored liquid topped with a cool, cloud-like chocolate foam, was first on the menu.

For the espuma, raw cacao beans, pataxle, wheat, rice, and canela are toasted separately on the comal and then ground together on the metate, formed into bricks, and dried. Pataxle, by the way, is also known as cacao blanco.

It’s cacao that has been buried in the earth until it turns white, and it’ll set you back a whopping 500 pesos per kilo (that’s like $20 per pound to you and me). The dried cacao bricks are reground on the metate.

The powder is blended with cold water, whipped with a special molinillo until every last drop is transformed into tiny bubbles, and then lightly sweetened with raw sugar.

If there was a theme in the class, it was the metate.

Reyna and her family own more than half a dozen, some deeply worn from decades of use by previous generations.

And as one of Reyna’s sisters proved making a batch of salsa, they’re all put to use on a daily basis.

Metates are traditional gifts to the bride at weddings. Many bear the word “recuerdo” along with the year, signifying that it’s a memento. You must have separate metates for processing chile, cacao, and masa preparations since metates are porous and absorb odors. Though I had always suspected this to be the case, I was dismayed to finally learn it for a fact—I knew that convincing my husband to lug just one metate back home, let alone three would be difficult. If you do manage to get it home, there’s a lengthy process of seasoning the metate and chipping down the mano, or rolling pin, to a more effective shape. I got to try my hand at grinding both cacao and chiles on Reyna’s various metates—let’s just say it was quite a work out. When I didn’t last more than a few minutes, I was told that no Oaxacan man would ever want to marry me. I suppose it’s a good thing I managed to snag a husband who’ll settle for blender use.

Reyna also made mole negro, probably the most famous dish of the region, from beginning to end with us. It's another labor of love which involves toasting countless ingredients…

And—what else—grinding them on the metate. Three different types of dried chiles, sesame seeds, almonds, walnuts, raisins, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, peppercorns, ginger, thyme, oregano, avocado leaves, bay leaves, garlic, onions, tomatoes, tomatillos, and bread and/or tortillas de maíz all go into mole along with a healthy dose of chocolate. The most unusual and surprising step of preparing mole negro, and the one that contributes most to the color, is toasting the chile seeds until they are jet black and then actually lighting them on fire. The seeds are left to burn until the flame dies out and then ground and incorporated along with all of the other ingredients. Reyna's mole negro was rich, spicy, and perfectly balanced, with the bitterness of the charred chile seeds providing the perfect contrast to the sweetness of the chocolate.

The final treat of our cooking class was drinking chocolate. Reyna toasted the cacao beans, which made them easy to peel. She placed a bowlful of hot coals under the metate that was reserved just for chocolate. Once the metate was properly preheated, she ground the cacao with canela until it was a shiny brown liquid.

Lots, and I mean lots, of coarse raw sugar was added and ground with the smooth, melted chocolate, and then little logs were formed to dry in the sun. This preparation is what's blended with hot water (not milk) to make hot chocolate.

Reyna offered up the chocolate with a selection of pan dulce, which included some really memorable conchas.

Quite a bit of our time was devoted to grazing our way through the markets in the different towns of the valley. They’re a riot of color, a hive of activity, a cacophony of vendors calling out what they have on offer. In short, it’s sensory overload. Every square foot is packed with shoppers, arms loaded with crinkly plastic shopping bags and live turkeys destined for mole, and if you don’t watch out you’ll be run over by one of the dozens of hand trucks darting up and down the aisles at high speed making deliveries of pillowy bread or tropical fruit or enormous blocks of ice. People negotiate the crowds however possible—it’s not uncommon to see a woman skillfully balancing her purchases on her head.

The Sunday Tlacolula market seemed to have the best goods and freshest produce. It definitely had the biggest selection of molinillos and other cooking utensils.

Tlacolula also had the most impressive fried pork rinds. The enormous pieces of chicharrón must have been made from whole pig skins. I can only imagine the size of the cauldron they were fried in! There we tasted the famous chapulines.

It’s been said that if you eat chapulines when visiting Oaxaca, you will always return. Even if I do return, I doubt I’ll be eating those grasshoppers again because the smell reminded me of something you’d feed your pet fish. The gelatinas were like stained glass, too pretty to eat.

Vine-ripened native tomatoes, known as criollo, were typical.

We also sampled the seeds of the guaje pod.

They taste green and vegetal and slightly pungent like garlic, and the flavor lingers with you for hours. Incidentally, the name Oaxaca comes from guaje. The piloncillo looked much darker and less refined than what I’m used to getting at my local Mexican tienda.

Perhaps Hansel and Gretel’s house was built of these bricks? Apparently, January is strawberry season in Oaxaca.

A fact that makes me very jealous since we have to wait until July in our neck of the woods. Fried peanuts tossed with plenty of chile and garlic are a favorite market snack.

The chickens at the market are sold with their heads and feet intact, and though they are gutted, immature eggs are left inside.

We also hit the markets in Etla and Ocotlán, and since Oaxaca City was our base, we visited Mercado Juarez and Mercado Sánchez Pascuas several times. The meat vendors at all of the markets display everything in the open air at room temperature.

Fish is kept on ice. Baskets overflow with dried shrimp.

Oaxaca is known for its cheeses, and quesillo is available everywhere.

Essentially a flavorsome string cheese that’s stretched and wound into balls, it’s shredded by hand and often used in quesadillas along with epazote and fresh squash blossoms. Quesillo is known as queso de Oaxaca outside of Oaxaca. Chiles de agua are displayed in pretty stacks and used for rajas and rellenos.

They are the same shade of green as New Mexico green chiles and mild like poblanos. Dozens of varieties of dried red and yellow chiles are sold in bulk.

I recognized many of them, but varieties such as Onza and Catarina were new to me. The dried chiles were so fresh, supple and flexible and aromatic. Chile vendors also offer up bulk spices and crumbly, fat sticks of fragrant canela that are over a foot long. Squash is another mainstay of the Oaxacan diet, and it comes in every shape and size.

Bananas come in a number of varieties.

Some are yellow, some are red, and they all have distinctly different flavors. Papayas are a favorite, and there are many types of unfamiliar tropical fruit, including mamey.

Another common sight is the rows of molinos, where locals who have given up the metate have their chiles, corn, and chocolate ground.

We planned to explore Central de Abastos. It is the largest market in Oaxaca, sprawling across several city blocks. Everyone told us that it was overwhelming and that it was crawling with pickpockets. We were warned time and again they would take our wallets, they would take my camera, they would take our hats and socks if we blinked. Still, we were confident in our instincts and took a taxi over. It was true that there were people loitering about, seemingly for no other reason than to look for potential marks. I certainly felt the eyes on the back of my head. But I don’t wear jewelry or carry a purse, and Hubby buries his wallet in a zippered pocket within a pocket. So everything was fine. Thank goodness we ignored the warnings and went. It was the only place we got to see colorfully painted metates and molcajetes for sale.

Sadly, I couldn’t work out how to get one of those heavy things home (shipping would’ve have cost a fortune—I checked), but it was fun to see them for sale. It was also interesting to see the livestock at Abastos. People can purchase a baby goat to fatten up for barbacoa. My most precious find at this market was a set of three different stamps for making conchas.

The markets really made me wish I had access to a kitchen, but since I didn’t, we took breakfast at our B&B and most of our other meals at street food stalls. We picked Casa Ollin because of its reputation for delicious breakfasts. Each morning we were treated to a multi-course meal of freshly squeezed orange juice, hot chocolate, coffee, a goblet of fresh tropical fruit with yogurt, a selection of pan dulce, and a main dish of mole negro tamales, entomatadas, enchiladas with salsa verde, or rajas Oaxaqueñas. Everything was superb, but the rajas dish was my absolute favorite. It consisted of strips of onions and fire-roasted poblanos with cubes of squash and chunks of barely-melting queso fresco in cream. We sopped up the sauce with fresh corn tortillas. The vegetables were especially welcome because it seemed like every other meal was a big hunk of meat.

On the street and in the markets, we tried everything from empanadas, which were made with corn tortillas rather than a flakey pastry, to freshly fried potato chips, to the regional pastries and beverages. Churros were part of our diet at least once, if not twice a day. Icy nieves were sort of similar in texture to Italian granitas, but flavors like queso and corn were purely Oaxaqueño. I ordered the leche quemada, which I thought would be some sort of caramel concoction, but it tasted precisely like scorched milk—ick. Though it was incredibly tempting, we passed up the tamales.

We avoided the rainbow of aguas frescas and steered clear of the cut and prepared fresh fruit.

It was so hard to resist.

But you see, delicate tourists are cautioned to eat only hot food. Aside from the aguas frescas, which are popular all over Mexico, Oaxaca has many unique beverages, and our tour guides insisted we try them all. Tejate is a foamy drink made of corn, cacao, rosita flowers, mamey pits, piloncillo, and water. We were told that it takes hours to prepare. Pulque is the sap that collects and ferments naturally in the center of a maguey plant that has been hollowed out. It has a milky appearance and is pleasantly sour and fizzy. Pulque that is mixed with pineapple juice, onions, and chiles becomes tepache.

We tried a number of restaurants. Without exception, the most humble ones were the most enjoyable. And they also had the best freshly-made corn tortillas. I’ve been told that the sign of an expertly-made tortilla is when it puffs up on the comal.

Caldo de Piedra utilizes a rather curious main ingredient.

The stones are heated in an open fire until they are red hot and then added to a bowl of shrimp, fish, water, and flavorings. The whole thing bubbles up furiously and cooks in a matter of moments. The rocks are removed from the bowl before the soup is served, but I couldn’t help but think that such a thing would never fly with the health inspectors and lawyers here.

Another memorable meal was at Mercado 20 de Noviembre, if just for the bureaucratic hurdles we had to jump in order to get it. We wandered the smoke-filled room trying to figure out how to order and where. Luckily, one of the guys behind the counter at the produce stall spoke English and gave us an overview of how it all worked. We were to order our raw chiles and onions from him. We were to take these and order meat of our choice from the butcher. The butcher would pass the meat to the grill cook, who would also take our chiles and onions and cook everything up. We would pay everyone separately. This was a particularly important detail to know as we took the tortillas offered by the grill cook and walked away. She gave chase as we had to pay her for those separately too. We sat down, at which point the produce vendors took back our cooked chiles and onions and offered us a trayful of different salsas and salads to choose from. Eventually the chiles and onions reappeared peeled, we settled our accounts with each of the vendors, and we could eat. Which was good because all that back and forth really worked up a hunger. This was Hubby’s favorite meal, especially the little links of chile-laden chorizo. Interestingly, all of the grill cooks in Oaxaca seem to be women.

They fan the flames furiously as they cook over the flaring grills breathing clouds of smoke, and they have scarcely an arm hair—or lung cell—left. Also interestingly, the preferred method of butchering meat is into thin pieces with the grain. The meat is usually cooked through and through, and the results are of course predictably chewy.

To my surprise, the best meal of the trip for me was at Tlayudas Libres (Libres 212). Oaxacan food experts always sing the praises of tlayudas, but they never sounded too exciting to me—I mean, what’s so special about a giant tostada? It turns out that a tlayuda isn’t at all like a tostada. It isn’t fried but rather griddled on the comal until it’s quite dry and shelf stable. The dry tlayuda is spread with a generous spoonful of savory asiento, the sediment-heavy lard that’s left at the end of rendering, and a layer of bean puree and then heated on a grill until softened. It’s topped with a sprinkling of cheese and shredded lettuce, and at Tlayudas Libres, folded in half and served with red salsa and your choice of grilled beef, pork, or chorizo on top. It was a revelation—the slightly leathery texture of the tlayuda, crisp in spots where it was licked by flame, the flavor of the smoke of the grill, the savory, porky asiento, the salty cheese, and the picante salsa together are truly greater than the sum of the parts. If you ever have a chance to go, keep in mind that Tlayudas Libres is open only at night.

When we spotted fresh huitlacoche on a menu, we seized the opportunity to taste it. Huitlacoche is a fungus that takes over corn during the rainy season. It mutates entire ears, causing them to have overgrown, greyish mushroom-like kernels. This prized delicacy is sometimes referred to as the Mexican truffle, and I’ve always wanted to try it. Unfortunately, the huilachoche was overpowered by the massive quantity of onions it was sautéed with. I could tell that it had a slight bitterness, but beyond that I couldn’t get the flavor of it. This was one of the disappointments of the trip. Hopefully I’ll have a chance to give it another shot.

One of the highlights was hanging out in tiny bread bakery in Etla. The bakery was so small it didn’t have a name, and even our tour guide had trouble finding it. Inside, we discovered the truly artisan operation of an elderly couple working harder and faster than most people half their age.

José and Juana were tickled at the prospect of having visitors and gave generously of both their time and their bread. Their adobe oven was built by hand and fueled by wood.

They mix the dough each morning and form it in a variety of shapes, some pretzels.

Some rolls and rabbits.

Juana would spread each piece with melted manteca.

The savory pan amarillo was topped with sesame seeds. Sweet hojaldras were sprinkled generously with sugar. Juana would carry the racks of bread, which were longer than she is tall, over to the oven, where José would score them.

And load them into the oven.

And then bake them to perfection.

The hot rolls were irresistible, with a lovely char from the hearth on the bottom.

The hojaldras were barely sweet.

The granulated sugar topping turned into a crackling caramel crust.

Just as the last batches came out of the oven, the locals started trickling in—they knew exactly what time to come to stock up.

We journeyed to a mezcal distillery. This producer was off the beaten track—certainly not a place any tourist would just stumble upon. There, the agave hearts are baked in pits underground until they are a caramel color and intensely sweet and smokey. The cooked agave is mashed with Fred Flinstone-style clubs. The agave pulp is fermented in barrels and then distilled in clay stills over fire.

It’s surely a rustic operation, some might call it moonshine, but it was the best, most nuanced mezcal we tasted. And after a couple of shots, the world looked a little different…

The craft artisans of Oaxaca are as famous as the food artisans. We visited the village of San Marcos Tlapazola to see the famous red pottery being made. As you already know, I’m pretty single minded about all my travels having to relate to food in one way or another. This fit the bill because the pottery is largely utilitarian rather than decorative. These potters make comales, ollas, and other cookware.

They do everything by hand, from mining the earth and producing the clay, to forming each piece…

To firing, to burnishing. They lack even a potter’s wheel, instead relying on crude tools such as a corn cob for rolling out the clay.

The workshop of knife maker Apolinar Aguilar was another must-see destination. Apolinar carries on the generations-old family tradition of forging knives.

His claim to fame is that he made the swords used in the Conan movies. His demonstration of forging, polishing, and etching techniques was so practiced that it almost seemed scripted. In Apolinar’s hands, car parts and other recycled materials become cooking knives, sporting knives, or ceremonial knives for witch doctors. He showed off an ostrich foot that was destined to become the handle of a knife for a shaman. A beautiful turkey carving set that Apolinar signed and dated for us is a souvenir of our visit.

Thus we consumed all of Oaxaca, and we were definitely ready to get back home for some rest from our vacation.

Postscript: One thing we didn’t get to do is observe the cheese makers in Etla, only because they do most of their production in the wee hours of the morning before we could even roll ourselves out of bed. If and when I ever make it back to Oaxaca, they’ll be at the top of my to-do list.

Can't Wait till April!

2013-01-13T10:49:00.000-08:00

The release of my new cookbook Flavored Butters is closing in fast—April 2 is the big day. I’m excited to announce that the book will have a newly redesigned cover. I want you to see it here first…

Pictured is the Bed & Breakfast Butter in peach and cherry. I’m not too shy to say that I’m thrilled with the new cover. I had a fantastic time shooting it, and I think the design team at Harvard Common Press did a tremendous job. Hopefully it makes people very hungry!

While I’m making announcements, the winter issue of Cooking Club magazine is out. Check out the "Weeknight Cook" column for a Turkey-Sage Meatball Soup with Orzo recipe (on page 49) by yours truly. Try it once, and this healthy and delicious soup is sure to become a staple in your home.

And finally, the winter Clark College class schedule just came out. I'll be teaching Hands On Italian Restaurant Chicken Favorites, Hands On Potato Gnocchi, and Soup Series: Hands On Chinese Favorites. Please join me in the kitchen! Current class listings can always be found in the Cooking Classes, Book Signings & Appearances sidebar on the right.

At Long Last

2013-01-06T18:56:00.000-08:00

I’m back.

I didn’t mean to be gone so long, but this fall was a difficult one. Though I wanted nothing more than to be here, it wasn’t meant to be—one thing after another kept me away…

There were problems at work, problems that caused me much stress and angst. Complications that drove me to distraction and made it difficult to see the big picture. At times it seemed my entire professional future was in doubt.

There was a debilitating back injury, one that made both sleep and work nearly impossible. One that continues to lurk in the background, threatening constantly.

And then there was a death in the family the day after Thanksgiving. It was the result of a supposedly routine procedure. It wasn’t her time to go. There's no making sense of it. It was painful and needlessly drawn out, just heartbreaking.

So I hope you can understand why I had to be away. All I can say is that there was a lot of comfort food shared with family over the past few weeks. I saved some for you…

Home Fries with Chestnuts
Printable Recipe

6 ounces chestnuts
3 tablespoons canola oil
2 large Russet potatoes, peeled and diced
½ yellow onion, diced
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Using a chestnut knife, cut an X in the cheek of each chestnut. Arrange the chestnuts in a single layer on a baking tray and bake for 25 to 35 minutes, or until tender. Let rest for about 5 minutes, or until just cool enough to handle. Peel and dice.

Heat a large, heavy sauté pan over medium heat until hot but not smoking. Add the oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the potatoes and cook for 10 to 12 minutes, tossing about 2 times, until crusty and brown in spots.* Reduce the heat to medium-low, add the onion, and sauté for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the onion is soft. Add the chestnuts and sauté for another 20 to 22 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked through. Season to taste with salt and pepper, transfer to a bowl, and serve immediately.

Serves 2 to 4, depending on what else is for breakfast. Enjoy in the fall, when chestnuts are in season. A visit to the local chestnut orchard on a brisk day, after all the leaves have fallen from the trees, provided me a few moments of much-needed peace. Chestnuts are easiest to peel when they're hot.

*Searing the potatoes in this manner adds tons of flavor to the finished dish. For everything you ever wanted to know about searing, plus dozens of fabulous searing recipes, look for my book Seared to Perfection in stores now.

Opposites Attract and Chanterelles

2012-11-15T17:03:00.000-08:00

They say opposites attract. I believe it. In fact, I think my husband and I prove it. We couldn’t be any more different. He’s left brained and analytical. I’m a creative type and completely right brained. He’s practical, and my head’s always in the clouds. He’s quiet, and I chat endlessly. We don’t have any hobbies in common either. I’m a bookworm and love to shop, which he barely tolerates. He prefers sporty outdoor activities, activities which have often resulted in bodily injury (including one concussion) to me. It can be hard for us to find ways to spend time together.

But there is one thing we’re equally passionate about: foraging for mushrooms.

We both get excited when the fall weather comes, bringing with it the chanterelles. We both eagerly anticipate the thrill of the hunt, and we both fantasize about the size of our haul and the delicacies we will cook with it. The long drive into the woods, the bushwhacking in the cold rain, and the scouring of every inch of forest floor are things that we both enjoy. And of course, we both absolutely love the part where we devour the mushrooms. Now that’s what I call “quality” time together.

Chanterelle Ragu
Printable Recipe

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 pounds chanterelles, diced
4 slices bacon, diced
1 yellow onion, diced
3 stalks celery, diced
1 large carrot, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
¼ cup white wine
1 cup milk
1 14 ½-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 cup chicken broth
1 bay leaf
Generous pinch freshly grated nutmeg
Freshly ground black pepper
Kosher salt

Heat a large, heavy pot over high heat until very hot but not smoking. Add the oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the pot. Add a third of the chanterelles and sauté for 5 to 6 minutes, or until tender. Using a slotted spoon, remove the chanterelles to a plate. Sauté the remaining chanterelles in the same manner and set aside. Reduce the heat to medium-low, add the bacon to the pot, and fry, tossing frequently, for 10 to 12 minutes, or until rendered. Add the onion and sauté for 5 to 6 minutes, or until soft. Add the celery and carrot and sauté for another 5 to 6 minutes, or until soft. Add the garlic and tomato paste and sauté 2 to 3 minutes more, or until fragrant. Add the wine and simmer for a minute or so, scraping up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan with a heat-proof spatula. Return the chanterelles to the pot and add the milk in thirds, simmering for 2 to 3 minutes, or until nearly dry, after each addition. Add the tomatoes, broth, bay leaf, nutmeg, and a generous pinch of pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer for about an hour, or until thickened and saucy and the flavors come together. Discard the bay leaf and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Makes enough for 8 to 10 portions of pasta or polenta, which absolutely must be topped with plenty of grated Parmegiano-Reggiano. If you want to go all out, use this to make Lasagna Bolognese. When working with chanterelles, I usually prefer to tear them into bite-size pieces, but I chose to dice them here so that the texture of the finished ragu would more closely resemble Ragu Bolognese.

Cranberry Gingerbread Upside Down Cakes

2012-10-24T12:52:00.000-07:00

Hubby took one bite, smiled, and said, “Tastes like fall!” Exactly the reaction I was going for!

Before I get to the recipe, I’d like to take a moment to thank HuffPost Taste for featuring my Wonton Soup in their Chinese Takeout Recipes to Make at Home recipe roundup and my Steak au Poivre with Red Wine Sauce in their Classic French Recipes to Cook at Home recipe roundup.

Cranberry Gingerbread Upside Down Cakes
Printable Recipe

5 ounces (1 ¼ stick) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for greasing the pan
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 ¾ cups cranberries
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 ¼ cup milk, at room temperature
¼ cup molasses

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Butter a jumbo 6-cup muffin pan. Spoon 1 teaspoon of the butter and then 1 tablespoon of the sugar into each muffin cup. Divide the cranberries among the muffin cups.

Whisk together the remaining ¾ cup of sugar and the flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk together the remaining 4 ounces of butter and the eggs, milk, and molasses in a medium bowl. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Bake for 32 to 36 minutes, or until the edges of the cakes start to shrink away from the pan and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cake comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. Invert onto a cooling rack and let cool slightly. Serve warm.

Makes 6 large individual cakes. Can also be made in a standard 12-cup muffin pan—just adjust the baking time accordingly.

Grano Arso

2012-09-25T23:33:00.000-07:00

Grano arso means burnt grain. The use of burnt grain for making pasta and bread is thought to have originated a couple of hundred years ago in the cuisine of poverty in southern Italy. Now, while it may not be a necessity for survival, burnt grain is still of interest to the experimental cook.

When I first learned about grano arso pasta, it went directly to the top of my to-do list. It was a must as I love to make pasta and I love toasty flavors.

To make grano arso pasta, simply replace about a quarter of the flour in the recipe with toasted flour. I chose to make grano arso semolina cavatelli. I toasted the semolina until it was very dark—in fact, it was actually smoking when I finally decided it was dark enough to take out of the oven.

Making pasta dough with the toasted semolina was no different than making it with untoasted semolina, though it did absorb a touch more water. But the color, texture, and flavor of the resulting pasta were completely different. The texture of the brown pasta was slightly grainy, and the flavor deep and toasty, reminiscent of a well-charred pizza crust. I served it in my Angry Tomato Sauce, and it was as if a base note was added to the dish.

Fresh Grano Arso Cavatelli
Printable Recipe

16 ounces semolina
8 ounces warm water

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Spread 4 ounces of the semolina on a baking tray and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until toasted and dark brown. Let cool to room temperature.

Combine the toasted semolina, untoasted semolina, and water in a large bowl and mix until a rough dough forms. The dough will seem very dry at this point, but resist the temptation to add more water. Transfer to a work surface and knead for about 10 minutes, or until smooth and elastic. Wrap in plastic wrap and let rest for about half an hour.

Cut the dough into eighths. Keeping the remaining dough covered as you work, roll 1 portion of dough into a ½-inch thick rope. If the dough springs back as you roll it, cover it with plastic wrap and let it relax for a few minutes before continuing. Using a table knife, cut a ¾-inch piece of the rope. With the side of the knife, press down on the cut side of the piece of dough, dragging it toward you at the same time. Unroll the resulting little cup of dough. Make more cavatelli with the remaining dough in the same manner. As you work, arrange the cavatelli in a single layer on lightly floured parchment-lined baking trays. Let dry for a few hours.

Makes about 1 ¼ pounds, enough for 4 to 6 main-course servings. Cook as you would any other pasta, in a large pot of boiling, salted water for 10 to 12 minutes, or until al dente. Regular cavatelli does not contain toasted semolina. Cavatelli can be turned inside out to form orecchiette (watch me make orecchiette in this video).

Flavored Butters Available for Preorder!

2012-09-19T00:38:00.002-07:00

Big news! My second cookbook Flavored Butters: How to Make Them, Shape Them, and Use Them as Spreads, Toppings, and Sauces is now available for preorder on Amazon!

It comes out in the spring, and I can hardly wait to share the deliciousness and versatility of flavored butters with the world!

Varenye

2012-09-06T16:38:00.000-07:00

Varenye is Russian for fruit preserves. Varenye differs from American-style fruit preserves in that it's syrupy rather that spreadable. Though it can be made from any kind of fruit, in my family varenye was just one flavor: sour cherry.

You can find decent quality varenye at most Russian stores, but homemade is best.

Luckily, at the very end of cherry season I happened to score some u-pick sour cherries with which to make it.

But before I get to the recipe, the fall issue of Cooking Club magazine is out! Check out the "Weeknight Cook" column (on page 46) for four recipes by yours truly. My Seared Sirloin Steaks with Horseradish Cream Sauce, Spicy Baked Catfish with Garlic Butter, Smothered Pork Chops with Onion Gravy, and Spiced Chicken Drumsticks with Blood Orange, Red Onion and Parsley Salad are simple and delicious, even if I do say so myself.

Also, the fall Clark College class schedule just came out. I'll be teaching Baked Custards, Seared to Perfection, and The Season for Soup. Please join me in the kitchen! Current class listings can always be found in the Cooking Classes, Book Signings & Appearances sidebar on the right.

Sour Cherry Varenye
Printable Recipe

1 pound sour cherries, pitted
12 ounces sugar

Toss together the cherries and sugar in a small saucepan and let macerate, stirring occasionally, for 20 to 30 minutes, or until soft and juicy. Stir in 4 ounces of water. Bring to a boil and simmer, stirring occasionally and skimming off any scum that rises to the surface, for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until thickened and slightly syrupy.

Makes about 1 ½ cups. Keeps for months tightly sealed in the refrigerator. For teatime in the Russian style, forgo the sugar and sweeten your hot tea with a spoonful of varenye.

Sparkling Cherry Limeade

2012-08-15T11:19:00.000-07:00

In case you need a little relief from this heat wave…

Sparkling Cherry Limeade
Printable Recipe

1 pound cherries, pitted
10 ounces sugar
10 ounces water
Grated zest of 3 limes
10 ounces freshly squeezed lime juice
2 quarts soda water, chilled

Combine the cherries, sugar, water, and lime zest in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 4 to 5 minutes, or until the cherries are tender. Remove from the heat and let cool. Puree in a food mill using the finest disc. Strain through a fine mesh sieve, stir in the lime juice, and chill.

Stir together the cherry-lime syrup and soda water in a large pitcher. Serve immediately over ice.

Serves 8 to 10. Combine the cherry-lime syrup and sparkling water just before serving. If you won't be serving it all at once, make just what you need by mixing 1 part syrup with 2 parts soda water. Good spiked with a little vodka. Syrup keeps for several days tightly sealed in the refrigerator.

Single Subject Studies

2012-07-29T23:02:00.003-07:00

It's been over a month, but I'm back. So, so happy to be back and brimming with new inspiration! For the last month, posting has been scarce here because I've been hard at work doing the photography for my forthcoming book Flavored Butters. Yes, it's for real, I got the job! And even before the papers were all signed, I dedicated every waking moment to photos of butter and more butter. Four weeks of blending, shaping, styling, and photographing butter. To the point where I even dreamed butter. It's amazing how a study of a single subject can get your creative juices flowing and get you all fired up to work with other ingredients.

And how lucky is this? The day I was finally ready to take a break from all the butter just happened to be the opening of cherry season. Hubby and I hightailed it out to cherry country for some u-picking.

Did you know that you have to risk life and limb for the best cherries?

The sweetest ones are always on the highest branches!

What a luxury—an abundance of cherries and some time to be able to cook and bake just for the pleasure of it. Needless to say, I have embarked upon another single subject study…

Stay tuned—there are more cherry recipes to come!

Cherry-Custard Tart
Printable Recipe

1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
¾ cup heavy cream
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pound cherries, pitted
1 partially baked 9-inch Pâte Sucrée Tart Crust

Blend together the egg and yolk in a small bowl. Stir in the cream, sugar, and vanilla. Spread the cherries in the bottom of the tart crust. Slowly pour in the egg mixture. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until just set. Let cool to room temperature. Refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours, or until firm. Cut the tart into portions and serve immediately.

Makes 1 9-inch tart, serving 8. This tart is perfect in the summer, when cherries are in season.

Working on Cookbooks Two and Now Three

2012-06-26T12:55:00.000-07:00

It's official, I have a signed contract in my hand. Which means I can finally tell you the big news—I've got a THIRD cookbook in the works! It'll be all about marinades, and it's slated for publication in the spring of 2014. I've already begun recipe development and testing—15 down out of 200. At the same time, I'm still in the midst of working on Flavored Butters. Every meal at my house involves something that's soaked in a marinade and then topped with a compound butter, and I can tell you things have been very tasty lately. This is such an exciting time. I've never been so inspired as I am at this very moment!

So here's a recipe for a side that I served with one of my many marinated, butter-topped creations. Of course, it was inspired by the goodness at the farmers market. Substituting chard for the traditional spinach yields a dish with more flavor and texture.

Creamed Chard
Printable Recipe

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ yellow onion, diced
1 1-pound bunch Swiss chard, preferably rainbow chard, stems and ribs diced and leaves cut into 1-inch strips, blanched, and squeezed dry
2 cloves garlic, minced
¾ cup heavy cream
Generous pinch freshly grated nutmeg
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano

Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Generously butter 4 individual baking dishes. Heat a medium, heavy sauté pan over medium-low heat. Add the remaining butter and the onion and sauté for 5 to 6 minutes, or until soft. Add the chard stems and ribs and sauté another 4 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté 1 to 2 minutes more, or until fragrant. Remove from the heat, stir in the chard leaves, cream, and nutmeg, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Divide among the baking dishes and sprinkle evenly with the Parmegiano. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown and bubbling around the edges. Serve immediately.

Serves 4. It’s important to squeeze all of the liquid from the blanched chard leaves or the dish will be soupy. The recipe can be prepared up to a day in advance, covered, and refrigerated and baked right before serving.

Colorful Carrots and Other Exciting Things

2012-06-13T13:16:00.000-07:00

Exciting things are happening around here. Exciting things like…

The summer issue of Cooking Club magazine just arrived! I'm super excited to see it because it contains four recipes by yours truly. If Asian Pork Tenderloin with Sriracha Dipping Sauce, Chicken Salad with Pine Nuts and Feta, Ratatouille Pasta, and Chipotle Macaroni Salad with Chicken and Corn sound good to you, then you've got to check out the "Weeknight Cook" column (on page 44). All of the recipes can be prepared in under half an hour, and they're absolutely delicious, even if I do say so myself.

Also, the summer Clark College class schedule just came out. I'll be teaching Fabulous Frozen Desserts and Seafood Primer. Please join me in the kitchen! Current class listings can always be found in the Cooking Classes, Book Signings & Appearances sidebar on the right.

Then there's the farmers market. After endless months of Pacific Northwest rain and gloom, the early season farmers market is as exciting as anything can be around here. Just have a look at what I discovered on a recent trip.

The most stunning carrots. Purple Haze, White Satin, Jet Black, and Creme de Lite carrots.

Every year, I look forward to this season and the abundance of local produce it brings with the greatest anticipation, and now it's finally here. Exciting and inspiring!

And there's even more exciting news coming. BIG news. News I hope to share very soon, so stay tuned!

Spicy Carrot Salad
Printable Recipe

1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
1 ½ teaspoons sugar
Generous pinch cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons canola oil
Kosher salt
4 large carrots, julienned

Whisk together the rice vinegar, garlic, sugar, cayenne, and oil in a small bowl. Toss together the carrots and dressing in a large bowl and season to taste with salt. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve immediately.

Serves 4 to 6 as a side dish.

Passion Fruit Cake for My Fourth Blogiversary

2012-05-28T16:52:00.002-07:00

This month marks the fourth blogiversary of Hungry Cravings. It blows my mind that the little blog I started way back in 2008 is still going strong and now has almost 250 recipes to its name. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you, dear reader, for inspiring me and supporting me. Thank you for sharing my passion for food and cooking. I love this virtual space of mine, and I always look forward to when you visit me here. I think Hungry Cravings turning four calls for a celebration. And you know what any good celebration needs? Cake!

Passion Fruit Cake
Printable Recipe

8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing the pan
9 ½ ounces all-purpose flour
4 ounces cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
13 ounces sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
10 ounces milk, at room temperature
1 recipe Swiss Buttercream
4 ounces passion fruit puree
1 recipe Passion Fruit Curd

Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Butter 2 9-inch round cake pans, line the bottom of the pans with parchment paper, and butter the parchment. Sift together the all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking powder, and salt.

In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar on high for 3 to 4 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time until thoroughly combined and then beat in the vanilla extract. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture, then ½ of the milk, then 1/3 of the flour mixture, then the remaining ½ of the milk, and then the remaining 1/3 of the flour mixture, mixing on low for only a few seconds after each addition until just combined, and stopping the mixer once or twice to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Do not overmix. Divide the batter among the cake pans. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the edges of the cakes start to shrink away from the pans and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cake comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in the pans for about 10 minutes. Invert onto cooling racks and finish cooling completely.

In a mixer fitted with a whip attachment, whip the buttercream and passion fruit puree until smooth, stopping the mixer once or twice to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Using a long serrated knife, level the tops of the cake layers. Place a dollop of the buttercream onto a 9-inch cake circle and top with one cake layer cut side down. Transfer about a quarter of the buttercream to a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip and pipe a circle around the top edge of the cake layer. Spread the curd evenly on top of the cake layer inside of the circle of buttercream. The circle of buttercream will act as a dam to keep the curd from oozing out. Top with the remaining cake layer cut side down. Spread and pipe the remaining buttercream evenly over the top and sides of the cake in a decorative manner. Cut into portions and serve.

Makes 1 9-inch cake, serving 8. In addition to the passion fruits for the curd recipe, you will need 6 to 7 passion fruits to make the buttercream in this recipe. When buying passion fruits, look for fruit that's shrinkled—that's my word for shrunken and wrinkled—and trust me when I say there's no better way to describe a ripe passion fruit. To make passion fruit puree, halve the passion fruits, scoop out the flesh using a spoon, and strain it through a fine mesh sieve. Cake keeps for 2 to 3 days tightly sealed in the refrigerator.

Two Books in a Single Shot

2012-05-18T13:24:00.002-07:00

I recently had the opportunity to work with the very talented and charming John Valls. As a long-time admirer of John's photography, I jumped at the chance. John suggested we do some photos of raw and cooked red meat, which of course is right up my alley. We spent an entire afternoon playing with our food. With John behind the camera, I got to focus on my food styling skills, making an enormous steak look sexy for the camera. I gave the steak a good sear and topped it off with some Shallot-Herb Butter. I have to say I'm absolutely thrilled with the results of our photo shoot.

It's amazing to me how this one photograph sums up both my first cookbook and my forthcoming one. And speaking of my next cookbook, this Shallot-Herb Butter recipe will appear in Flavored Butters, which is due out from Harvard Common Press in the spring of 2013.

A big thank you goes out to John Valls and his lovely wife Theresa, who were a pleasure to work with. I look forward to collaborating with you again soon!

You can check out John's recap of our photo shoot here.

Photograph ©John Valls.

Something Special for Mother's Day

2012-05-06T17:34:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day is right around the corner. Have you decided how you're going to make the day memorable for your mom? If you're thinking of treating her to a special homemade breakfast, make her some crepes or scones and a batch of this Passion Fruit Curd.

She's sure to love it!

Here’s wishing a happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there!

Passion Fruit Curd
Printable Recipe

4 large egg yolks
3 ounces sugar
2 ounces passion fruit puree
2 ounces (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, diced

Whisk together the yolks and sugar in a medium bowl. Whisk in the passion fruit puree. Place the bowl over a medium pan of simmering water and heat, whisking constantly, for 7 to 8 minutes, or until thick. Immediately strain through a fine mesh sieve into a clean bowl and stir in the butter. Chill.

Makes about 1 1/3 cups. Keeps for a day or two tightly sealed in the refrigerator. You will need about 4 passion fruits for this recipe. When buying passion fruits, look for fruit that's shrinkled—that's my word for shrunken and wrinkled—and trust me when I say there's no better way to describe a ripe passion fruit. To make passion fruit puree, halve the passion fruits, scoop out the flesh using a spoon, and strain it through a fine mesh sieve.

The Flavors of Celery

2012-04-24T16:16:00.000-07:00

Celery is vastly underappreciated. Sure, it's an ingredient in mirepoix, but how often is it the star of the show, the feature flavor? I, for one, love its juicy crunch and bitter herbaceousness. Here's a dish that is a study in the flavor of celery. It was inspired by celeriac from the farmers market.

I added lovage from the garden and celery seeds for a variety of different celery flavor notes.

But before I get to the recipe, I'd like to invite you to visit my new photography portfolio. I've added a link to it in the sidebar on the right. It's a work in progress, but I hope you like it!

Celeriac Soup with Seared Scallops & Lovage Oil*
Printable Recipe

1 celeriac, diced
1 leek, pale parts only, cut in half lengthwise and sliced
1 small parsnip, diced
1 bay leaf
1 sprig thyme
1 sprig Italian parsley
2 tablespoons packed lovage leaves
¼ cup plus 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
12 large sea scallops (about 1 pound), feet removed
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon celery seeds, ground
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Combine the celeriac, leek, parsnip, bay leaf, thyme, parsley, and 2 quarts water in a large, heavy pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 45 to 50 minutes, or until the celeriac is tender.

Meanwhile, combine the lovage and ¼ cup of the oil in a blender and blend until smooth. Gently pat the scallops dry with paper towels. Season them generously with salt and pepper, sprinkle with the celery seed, and set aside at room temperature for about half an hour.

Strain the lovage oil through a fine mesh sieve. Heat a large, heavy sauté pan over high heat until very hot but not smoking. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons of oil and swirl to coat the bottom of the pan. Add the scallops and cook without disturbing for 2 to 3 minutes, or until they release from the pan and are crusty and brown. Using tongs, turn the scallops and continue to cook over high heat another 1 to 2 minutes, or until the desired doneness. Moisture will just begin to accumulate on the surface of the scallops when they are medium-rare. Remove the scallops to a plate and tent with foil to keep warm.

Discard the bay leaf, thyme sprig, and parsley sprig from the soup, remove from the heat, and puree with an immersion blender until smooth. Strain through a fine mesh sieve. Add the lemon juice and season to taste with salt and pepper. Arrange the scallops in shallow individual bowls, divide the soup among them, being careful not to pour it directly over the scallops, and drizzle with the lovage oil. Serve immediately.

Serves 4 to 6. Celeriac is also known as celery root. Leeks tend to be very dirty, so rinse them thoroughly after you chop them. Celery leaves can be used if lovage leaves are unavailable. If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can use a regular blender but remember: never fill a blender more than half way with hot liquid. This means you will need to blend the soup in batches and reheat it before serving.

*For everything you ever wanted to know about searing, plus dozens of fabulous searing recipes, look for my book Seared to Perfection in stores now.

Big News and Chocolate Therapy

2012-04-19T21:07:00.011-07:00

You know when life is so crazy busy that the only thing keeping you going is a good dose of dark chocolate? Well, that's how my life has been lately. I've had too many irons in the fire. It's why I haven't been here in a more than a couple of weeks…

Happily, I'm back now. And I have something really important to share. You see, I've been keeping a secret from you, but now I can finally tell—I HAVE A NEW COOKBOOK IN THE WORKS!!! It's all about flavored butters, a subject I'm passionate about because I use flavored butters in place of sauces all the time. I began to write about them in my first book Seared to Perfection, and now I'm going to have a book dedicated to flavored butters! My kitchen has been a frenzy of buttery recipe testing. Compound butters. Brown Butters. Drawn butters. Butters, butters, and more butters! Every meal I've made, be it breakfast, lunch, or dinner, has been anointed with a melting slice of flavored butter. My manuscript, which includes over 50 recipes for sweet and savory butters, is done now, and I couldn't be more excited because my publisher Harvard Common Press has already accepted it (my editor may have used the words "love it" when he told me). And on top of all that, they're considering hiring me to do the photography for the book! Over the next days, my agenda is to photograph flavored butters in all their luscious glory so that I can present them with a couple of sample images good enough to win the job. Keep your fingers crossed for me because I want nothing more than to do the photography for my book myself.

And as if that wasn't enough to keep me frantically busy, I was asked to teach an introductory baking class at Mount Hood Community College. I took on the job even though I was given only half a week to prepare for the term. What can I say, I just can't pass up a teaching opportunity!

A couple of other announcements…In case you've been wondering about that new footer you see down there, I accepted an invitation from The Daily Meal to become a member of their culinary network. It's a very cool website for food-minded people, so it seemed like a perfect fit. Check out the From Culinary Content Network section to see my last post about Savoy cabbage from the farmers market featured. Also, I'd like to thank Sweetspot.ca for featuring my Tuna Salad Niçoise.

Anyway, it's time for another dose of chocolate therapy to keep me going.

And off to work on that butter photo shoot!

Mint Chocolate Bars
Printable Recipe

For the shortbread crust:
6 ounces (1 ½ sticks) cold unsalted butter, diced, plus more for greasing the baking dish
7 ounces all-purpose flour
¾ ounce cocoa powder
½ teaspoon kosher salt
3 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped or ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
3 ounces sugar

For the chocolate layer:
3 ounces heavy cream
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped or scant 2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
¼ teaspoon peppermint extract

Make the shortbread crust:
Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Butter an 8-inch square baking dish and line with parchment paper. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Place the chocolate into a medium bowl, place the bowl over a medium pan of simmering water, and heat, stirring frequently, until melted. In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar on medium until blended. Beat in the chocolate until thoroughly combined. Add the dry ingredients and mix on low until the dough comes together, stopping the mixer once or twice to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Transfer the dough to the baking dish and press into an even layer. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until firm. Let cool to room temperature.

Make the chocolate layer:
Bring the cream to a bare simmer in a small, heavy saucepan. Place the chocolate into a small bowl, add the hot cream and peppermint extract, and whisk until smooth. Pour the chocolate mixture over the shortbread and spread evenly. Let cool for a couple of hours, or until set.

To serve:
Using the parchment paper, lift the bars out of the pan and transfer them to a cutting board. Cut into portions and serve.

Makes 12 bars. For a professional-looking presentation, cut the bars using a hot knife and wipe it clean between cuts. Bars keep for several days in a tightly sealed container in a cool, dry place.

Fresh from the Farmers Market

2012-03-31T18:06:00.004-07:00

Farmers market season is back! Sadly, I missed the opening day, but it was for a good cause—I had a cooking class on potato gnocchi to teach. But let's just say nothing was going to keep me from the market a second weekend in a row. I dragged my husband out of bed early, in fact. After a long grey winter, strolling through the colorful displays of lush produce inspired me anew. Greens and root vegetables are the main offerings this early in the season. Tuscan kale, curly kale, rainbow chard, Savoy cabbage, leeks, celeriac, yellow potatoes, and eggs looked good, so I stocked up.

I had no thought as to what I would make with these ingredients, but I knew it would be good…

And it was. With the cabbage I made Russian cabbage rolls, a family recipe. Delicious.

Golubtsi
Printable Recipe

1 large head green or Savoy cabbage
3 tablespoons canola oil
1 yellow onion, julienned, plus ½ onion, grated
1 ½ pounds 85% lean ground beef
¼ cup long grain rice
¼ cup minced Italian parsley
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 ¾ cups strained tomatoes, preferably Pomì brand
1 green or red bell pepper, julienned
Generous pinch cayenne pepper

Using a paring knife, cut the core out of the cabbage. Cook the cabbage in a large pot of boiling, salted water for 6 to 8 minutes, or until tender. Transfer the cabbage to a large bowl of ice-cold water to stop the cooking process, reserving the cooking liquid, and then drain the cabbage thoroughly.

Heat a large, heavy pot over medium-low heat. Add the oil and the julienned onion and cook, stirring frequently, for 45 to 50 minutes, or until caramelized.*

Meanwhile, mix together the grated onion, ground beef, rice, 3 tablespoons of the parsley, and a generous pinch of salt and pepper in a large bowl. Carefully remove the outermost leaf of the cabbage and place it cupped side up on a work surface. Place about ¼ cup of the beef mixture toward the base of the cabbage leaf. Fold the base of the cabbage leaf over the beef mixture, tuck in either side, and roll all the way up. Make more cabbage rolls with the remaining cabbage leaves and filling in the same manner, using 2 overlapped cabbage leaves per roll as the leaves become smaller. As you work, arrange the cabbage rolls seam side down on a plate. Separate any remaining leaves from the heart of the cabbage.

Add the tomatoes, bell pepper, and cayenne to the pot. Line the pot with the remaining cabbage leaves and add the cabbage rolls seam side down. Add enough of the reserved cabbage cooking liquid to cover by an inch. Place a small upturned plate over the cabbage rolls, bring to a boil, and simmer, covered, for 45 minutes. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of parsley and simmer, covered, for another 10 to 15 minutes, or until the cabbage rolls are cooked through. Remove the plate, season to taste with salt and pepper, and serve immediately.

Serves 4. Serve with crusty bread. My mom always used green cabbage, but the Savoy cabbage at the market looked too good to pass up. Basmati rice is good in this recipe. The plate will keep the cabbage rolls completely submerged beneath the cooking liquid so that they cook evenly, and it will also keep them from unrolling as they simmer.

*For information on making and using caramelized onions and everything you ever wanted to know about searing, plus dozens of fabulous searing recipes, look for my book Seared to Perfection in stores now.

Pink Cakes and Freeze-Dried Strawberries

2012-03-20T17:08:00.009-07:00

My ingredient obsession of the moment: freeze-dried strawberries. Have you tried them yet? You may have had them in your breakfast cereal. They're light as a feather and seem to dissolve instantly on your tongue, and they taste like…well, imagine if you crammed an entire pint of super-ripe strawberries into your mouth along with a couple of strawberry Jolly Ranchers—that's how they taste.

Perhaps it's because strawberry season is three long months away or perhaps it's because freeze-dried strawberries really are that good, but I've been grinding them up and putting them in everything. I love how they turn buttercreams and cake batters technicolor pink. It's like when Dorothy found herself in Oz and suddenly the world was in brilliant color. But with flavor! Three quarters of an ounce of strawberry powder plus a little tinkering transformed my regular financier batter into these lovely treats.

I'm thinking of making pink angel food cake or pink yellow cake frosted with pink whipped cream next.

Strawberry-Almond Teacakes
Printable Recipe

¾ ounce freeze-dried strawberries
5 ½ ounces sugar
2 ½ ounces all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the tins
2 ½ ounces almond meal
5 ounces egg whites, at room temperature
5 ounces (1 ¼ sticks) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for greasing the tins

Grind the freeze-dried strawberries to a fine powder in a blender, spice mill, or clean coffee grinder. Whisk together the strawberry powder, sugar, flour, and almond meal in a large bowl. Whisk in the egg whites until thoroughly combined and then whisk in the butter until thoroughly combined. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 1 to 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 375˚F. Butter and flour a standard 12-cup muffin pan or line with paper liners and divide the batter among the muffin cups. Bake for 24 to 26 minutes, or until golden brown and the edges of the teacakes start to shrink away from the pan. Let the teacakes cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. Invert onto cooling racks and finish cooling completely.

Makes 1 dozen teacakes. Both the unbaked batter and the finished teacakes have good keeping qualities.

Have a Biscuit

2012-03-11T16:41:00.007-07:00

This morning I had a little bit of time to spare, so I decided to bake biscuits. Want one?

But before you dig in, I have to mention that registration for spring Clark College classes just opened. Please join me in the kitchen! I'll be teaching Seafood Primer, Quiche, Sensational Salads for Spring, and Muffins & Scones II. Current class listings can always be found in the Cooking Classes, Book Signings & Appearances sidebar on the right.

Cheddar-Herb Biscuits
Printable Recipe

4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
2 tablespoons baking powder
2 tablespoons minced fresh chives
1 tablespoon minced Italian parsley
2 teaspoons nigella seeds
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Generous pinch cayenne pepper
8 ounces (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, shredded
8 ounces (2 cups) shredded sharp cheddar
1 ¾ cups buttermilk
1 tablespoon heavy cream
½ teaspoon paprika

Preheat the oven to 400˚F. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, chives, parsley, nigella, salt, and cayenne in a large bowl. Add the butter and, using a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Toss in the cheddar. Add the buttermilk to the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Transfer to a work surface and knead a few times until the dough just holds together. Lightly flour the work surface, pat the dough into a 1-inch thick circle, and cut using a 2 ½-inch round cutter. Arrange the biscuits a couple of inches apart on parchment-lined baking trays. Gather the scraps, knead once or twice, and roll, cut, and arrange on baking trays in the same manner. Lightly brush the biscuits with the cream and sprinkle with the paprika. Bake for 24 to 26 minutes, or until golden brown.

Makes about 2 dozen small biscuits. Work quickly and with a light touch to prevent the butter in the pastry from melting. Dip the cutter into a little flour between each cut to prevent the dough from sticking to it. Serve biscuits warm, possibly stuffed with a slice of good ham. Nigella, which can also be known as kalonji or charnushka, tastes very much like thyme and is available at Indian markets and at Penzeys Spices. Biscuits keep for a day or two in a tightly sealed container in a cool, dry place.