We would peel the sugary goodness from the cellophane and wrap it around our, yet again, index fingers.  We would then suck it like a lolly pop until all that remained was a food colouring stained sticky finger.  That is, unless we fell asleep first or something equally gross.  I distinctly remember sitting in the bath with my pointer finger resolutely in the air, so as not to “mess up” my fruit roll-up.  At one point, they introduced cut-outs which made the process a little trickier but we remained undeterred. 

Fruit roll-ups are therefore both gross and packed with sugar but homemade fruit leather?  A different story all together.  The product of yet another attempt to preserve my seemingly unending glut of apples: apple and blackberry fruit leather.  Very easy to make, just takes a little time and patience, most of which can happen while you are asleep (maybe not if you are freaky about the oven being on).

You will need apples, blackberries (or some other fruit), a lemon or two, some honey (optional). 

Preheat the oven to its lowest setting, usually around 60°C or 140°F. 

I used 500g of each apples and blackberries but you can pretty much use any amount depending on how much you want to make.  Peel, core and slice the apples and put them in a pan with the blackberries, cook until soft.  Around 20 minutes.  Push the mixture through a sieve or food mill (if you have one) until its smooth.  You should have around 700g.

I then added around 150g of honey.  ADDED SUGAR all the parents in the room are screaming.  Yes.  Why did I do it? Firstly, the blackberries were extremely tart as were the apples so the resulting mixture was actually not sweet at all.  Had the blackberries been sweeter, or the apples, then I wouldn’t have needed it but they weren’t so I added it. 

Spread the mixture onto some parchment paper on a baking sheet and pop it in the oven for around 12-18 hours.  It will be completely dry and peel easily off the parchment. 

Roll it up in grease proof paper and store in an airtight container.  It should keep for around 5 months.  

Now you can wrap it around your finger and lick it, or you can also cut into shapes or use pinking shears to make strips.  The world is your oyster.  

It seemed a bit premature to begin at the end of the August but already the apples have started falling from the tree and we are faced with yet again another glut of apples.  I have a hard time throwing things away.  I am not a hoarder per se but there is the odd sweater from high school I cannot seem to part with.  So you can imagine that I am at odds with the amount of apples we have.  Looking for a way to turn them into treasure I thought the sweet apples would make nice dried apple slices.  Trimming away the bad bits (the bees like them too), I cored them and sliced them very thinly on the mandolin.  I popped them in a very low oven on a silpat mat and promptly forgot about them.  When I remembered them, they looked ok, I turned them over and forgot about them again.  I am not sure how the time got away but apples were clearly, for that one moment, not on my mind.  By the time I remembered them the chewy apple rings I had imagine were a distant memory and what remained were much much better.  As crunchy as potato chips but sweet.  Extremely addictive to adult and child alike.  If you are looking to upgrade your snacks I recommend you make them. 

You will need apples and an oven.  Some specialty kit is helpful like a mandolin and an apple corer but you can get around it if need be. 

Just core the apples and slice them very thinly.  I put mine on a silpat but parchment paper works too.  You just need to prevent them from sticking.  Then put them in a low oven, about 75°C or 170°F, for a while.  Then turn them and wait another while. 

After eating an entire bowl, Pascal proclaimed, “you should sell these.”  Unfortunately they don’t hold their crisp for more than about 12 hours so unfortunately you’ll have to make your own.  

Hoping to supplement my monthly parental stipend, read allowance, I enrolled in a course at the Columbia Bartending Agency during my freshmen year of college.  The dream was to whip up fantastic cocktails while lining my pockets with twenties.  The course took place over several evenings culminating with a written test and an oral examination at which point you would have to mix a drink while telling a joke.  As we waited for the tests to be handed out, my neighbor quietly asked if I had prepared any jokes.  I mentioned I had two I was considering.  She then offered to hear them and let me know which she thought was the better joke. Needless to say, when her name was called before mine for the oral examination she duly stole my joke, but then botched her drink.  As my husband would say, “God punishes immediately.”

One of the must-learn drinks was the Bloody Mary; complicated only by it's litany of ingredients.  Ironically, it is not one often asked for by the clients of the Columbia Bartending Agency since Americans consider the Bloody Mary a morning drink and most events were not in the morning.  Be aware that while it is perfectly normal to order a Bloody Mary for brunch at 11am in the US, those in other countries, Switzerland for example, might think you are crazy. 

My grandmother, however, did not consider the Bloody Mary a morning drink.  It was actually the only drink I ever saw her order.  When asked by the waiter, she would reply, “a Spicy Bloody Mary.” The waiter would then nod in acknowledgement at which point she would say, “Not too spicy,” the allow a brief pause and say “but spicy!”  My grandmother passed away last week at the grand old age of 93 leaving us saddened but grateful.  This was her drink and everyone should know how to make a good one. 

For a classic version, you will need, vodka, tomato juice, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, horseradish, black pepper, celery salt, lemon juice and a celery stalk. 

You will need half as much vodka as tomato juice.  So fill the glass up by just shy of a third.  This drink should be cold so vodka from the freezer and tomato juice from the fridge is best. Served over ice.     

As for the rest of the ingredients it’s really to taste, but roughly here is how it goes.  A splash of Worcestershire sauce, a dash of Tabasco, a dab of horseradish, a pinch of black pepper, a pinch celery salt, a squeeze of lemon juice and garnished with a celery stalk.  An old roommate of mine used to add a drop or two of maple syrup claiming it brought harmony to the drink.  He is not wrong.

In loving memory of Dorothy Cooke Merchant. 

NB When buying tomato juice or Bloody Mary mix check to make sure there is no high-fructose corn syrup.  And if you are wondering what that weird root is in the picture, it’s horseradish. For some reason it doesn't come grated without added cream in the UK.  

Indoors, other treasures awaited; winding passages; bathroom’s decorated with humorous drawings; an enormous snooker table and; the drinks cabinet.  Tucked away in the sitting room was a cabinet containing, unsurprisingly, drinks for adults but, on the lower level, countless sodas, mini Cadbury’s chocolates, Salt & Vinegar chips and elderflower cordial.   I had never before tasted anything like those chips, at first disgusting but soon addictive.  The British have a word for it: moreish.  It has nothing to do with the Moors, as I believed for many years, but, in fact, just means you want more.  Then there was the elderflower cordial, added to sparkling water, served with ice in a highball glass.  Drinking it I felt so grown up and, to this day, it always reminds me of that time and marks the beginning of summer. 

The Elder Tree is a staple of the British countryside, in early summer the blooms dot the roads and hedgerows and by fall the berries are plentiful.  The tree was seen to have magical qualities and they were often planted to ward off evil spirits, perhaps the reason for their abundance.  Making the cordial is easy and requires little more than the flowers, sugar, lemons and water, and perhaps some citric acid but that is optional.   

This recipes makes around 2 liters.

After inspecting for bugs put around 25 flower heads and the zest of about 4 lemons in a bowl and cover with roughly 1.5 liters of boiled water.  Leave overnight to infuse. 

Strain the liquid into a saucepan through cheesecloth or something similar and add 1 kg of sugar (I used unrefined cane sugar so my product is a little darker) as well as the juice from those 4 previously zested lemons and about a tablespoon citric acid (this helps with preserving but is not a must).  Heat to dissolve the sugar and allow to simmer for a couple of minutes. 

Pour (carefully) into sterilized bottles and seal.  For a step-by-step method on sterilizing, click here.   For further shelf life, you can then place the filled bottles in water at a simmer (88° C) for 20 minutes.

As usual, I have more than enough to go around, so let me know if you are interested in buying a bottle.  A little goes a long way!   

We were recently in France for my father’s 70th birthday and we rented a lovely farmhouse in the hills above St Tropez.  The kitchen, it turns out, was organized exactly as my mother would have done it.  As the head chef for the week, it made explaining the kitchen a lot easier.  Kudos to my mother as the owner of the house is a well-accomplished chef.   My kitchen is short on storage so I have only one drawer in my kitchen, named the “drawer of death” as haphazardly reaching in could cause bodily harm, but if you are lucky enough to have many drawers this is a pretty great way of dividing them up.  

After my knives, there are a few items that I view as highly important.  After rummaging around the aforementioned drawer of death, this is what I have come up with in the handles category. 

1. Microplane:  This item has changed everything for me. Originally, designed as a woodworking tool, the guys behind Microplane have adapted it for kitchen use.  I use it for garlic, ginger, nutmeg and, perhaps most importantly, Parmesan cheese.  It creates tiny curls of Parmesan that are far superior to anything a box grater can do. 
2. Whisk:  A kitchen workhorse.  A reminder that you can beat egg whites by hand.
3. Spider:  A Chinese tool for rescuing dumplings from either water or oil, I use it to fish out blanched vegetables or pasta while conserving the water. 
4. Fish turner:  Really it’s just a great spatula.  Gentle enough for delicate fish, strong enough for anything smaller than a rib eye.
5. Wine key: Also called a waiter’s friend.  The world is filled with expensive and awful wine openers.  If you find a good simple one, buy 5.
6. Vegetable peeler: There was a reason peeling potatoes was a punishment in the army.  It doesn’t have to be that way.  A good peeler will improve your life.  Plus you can use it to shave strips of vegetables for salads or pickling.
7. Ice cream scoop: How many bent spoons are you willing to endure?  Also great for portioning muffins or cupcakes.
8. Tongs: Probably the number one most useful.  Rubber tips don’t damage pans and they will turn that rib eye for you.    For me they also stir in place of a wooden spoon, of which I have many, but if we are talking desert island picks, I will always go for tongs over wooden spoon. 

I have tried to find as many of the above items on Amazon and create a little shop, so if you are interested in getting the ones I like, check out the below. 

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Around this time, my father announced that he would be in London and could we have dinner, that night!  Granted it was only a dinner for two but the thought alone of having only hours to prepare and no idea what was in my refrigerator was a bit daunting.  I took a deep breath and got back to whatever spreadsheet I was working on and made a note to myself to remember to leave work in time to hit the butcher.   Armed with a chicken, I managed to scrape together a pretty nice dinner with just the, previously unknown, ingredients in my kitchen.   It was the first time that it ever occurred to me that I might be ready to be a mother. 

I, obviously, had no idea what I was talking about but for me that meal tipped the balance.  After confidence, I realized that the ability to throw something good together quickly hinges on being prepared; a well stocked larder or pantry, the inspiration for the title of this blog.  Everyone finds her own way to manage.  My mother devised a set of dinners that were on rotation, they weren’t the most gourmet of options but they did set the stage for my childhood memories. Ragú was my one of my mother’s go-to staples, a fan favorite I might add. Who doesn’t love pasta with tomato sauce?  For me, I find that whipping up a good tomato sauce is often easier than making it to the shop, but again you have to be prepared. 

You will need olive oil, tomatoes of any kind, garlic and herbs. 

But first a couple of tricks:

• Having fresh tomatoes around is great but often, out of season, they suck (tough but fair, I think) so good canned tomatoes work just as well.  If you have fresh tomatoes, do not put them in the fridge, they will turn mushy and mealy, also if possible leave the stems on as removing the stems creates vulnerability in the flesh, which promotes deterioration. 
• Garlic keeps almost forever so just toss a couple of bulbs in at every shop and you’ll find yourself never wanting.  If they start to grow shoots, just remove these before cooking as they can be bitter. 
• Fresh herbs are great.  But sometimes you just don’t have them on hand.  Herbs de Provence are a great substitute for fresh thyme and rosemary and you can buy them almost anywhere. 

So here we go.  Put the water on to boil.  At the same time put a saucepan or frying pan on medium heat with a little olive oil and throw in one piece of chopped tomato.   Chop the rest of the tomatoes.  Cherry tomatoes are great as you can do them in one fell swoop by placing your hand on top to hold them down and running your knife underneath to cut them in half.  Embarrassingly I learned this on Iron Chef America, but it has been one of my favorite time saving techniques ever since.  Again remember to sharpen your knife!  If you are afraid, just use the top of a Tupperware container to hold the tomatoes.   When the tomato in the oil starts to sizzle, you will be about done with the other tomatoes, so put them all in and give it a stir.  When the tomatoes are in, chop the garlic and/or the herbs.  If you have a garlic press or a microplane (you should buy one of these if you don’t have one) and are using dried herbs then you can do whatever you’d like for a couple minutes.   When the tomatoes have softened, add the garlic and the herbs and a bit of salt. 

Seems weird right, backwards in a way.  We are so used to putting the garlic in first. But this way, you don’t burn it and the tomatoes have enough time to reduce into a sauce. 

By this time your water is ready, throw your pasta in.  When the pasta is ready, your sauce will be too.  Also, tomato sauce is not just for pasta.  It is great over vegetables or chicken or fish.

Yaya, of course, isn’t her given name but it’s what we called her and still do.  For almost 35 years, she has taken care of our family in one capacity or another, which means we have never had to say goodbye to her.  Frisko also did his best in that regard, living until the right old age of 22 and a half.  We were Yaya’s third family.  She had two boys of her own and had taken care of another family before us. She was also a seamstress.  Took night classes at FIT, had string trailing from everything that she wore and, when babysitting, spent the evenings tracing patterns, cutting fabric and sewing.  The whirr of a sewing machine will always remind me of those nights: watching The Cosby Show and if we behaved A Different World; sitting on Yaya’s feet to help her do sit-ups; and the tick tick tick of the sewing machine.  She taught me how to sew, thus its no surprise that I think of her every time I am picking out a seam or am dangerously holding pins in my mouth. 

I now have two sewing machines.  One in New York and one in London.  I resisted it for a while.  Lack of space, lack of time, lack of inspiration. It only took over priced, adorable baby clothes to motivate me to pick it up again.   Before committing, I signed up for a sewing class, left the building and ordered a machine.  I made a dress for Lillian with a meter of fabric I bought off eBay and then one for my niece. 

I am happy to make dresses on commission. You can choose the fabric or leave it up to me.   I have several designs to work from and will be adding more as I find them.  You will still need to pull strings and might notice some imperfections but they are what make things handmade.   If you are interested please use the form below.  

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While I quite like dark chocolate, I have never been much of a candy person.  My sister, Eliza, had an almost cult-like obsession with Skittles and I was fond of the occasional Mounds but the bulging bag of collected Halloween candy would barely have a dent in it by the time the next Halloween rolled around.  The exception to all of this, as you may have guessed, is Easter.   I love Easter candy.   

I like a lot about Easter actually.  A friend recently asked me if I knew why Easter occurred when it does.  By the leading tone of his voice I could tell he knew the answer.  Without skipping a beat, I replied, “it’s the first Sunday, after the first full moon following the Vernal Equinox.”  I also really like fun facts.   

I am pretty much a fan of all that Easter has to offer, but it was never about the spring lamb, just the candy.  An Easter Egg Hunt, perhaps a few dyed eggs and the candy.  My father loves Easter Egg Hunts and has declared that only women and children can participate in the hunting while the men hide the eggs.  Not sure where he found these rules but it never bothered me as I was either in one hunting camp or the other.  Jelly beans never did it for me but they were always a staple in our Easter baskets, lovingly prepared by my mother, because she is, in fact, quite a fan of jelly beans.  Peeps remain to this day a guilty pleasure but since I only like them stale (just pierce the package and wait, perfect for international shipments!) they only really count for Orthodox Easter, which is two weeks later.  

For me, it was always the marzipan.  Shaped like bunnies, apples, pigs.  No matter.  I love it.  This adoration even graced the pages of the New York Times when my mother’s Upper East Side marzipan go-to of 20 years shuttered its doors. 

It would only make sense to try and make it myself.  Turns out, its basically just sugar which can part explain the attraction but it’s also relatively easy to make.  Ever since the red M&Ms disappeared from their packets and Red Dye #2 was demonized across the land, I have been a bit skeptical on food coloring so I decided to go the natural route for dyes.  Some of the below are better than others but each are easy to make and can be used to dye eggs too.

1. Red Cabbage: This is the left over water from boiling red cabbage reduced.  It is great for dyeing eggs. 
2. Beet Juice:  Also great for eggs, worked well for marzipan too
3. Charcoal:  The chick was going to need eyes, right? This is an edible charcoal that comes in a tablet.  Also good for clearing the system of toxins. 
4. Carrot Juice:  Good for eggs, also works for a subtle carrot. 
5. Spinach Juice:  I would say lukewarm for both but I couldn’t stomach the spirulina mixture.
6. Turmeric:  Great for both eggs and marzipan.  I thought the strong spice might be a deterrent but my 9-year-old assistant assured me it was still plenty tasty. 

It turns out this is a great activity for kids but make the marzipan first, powdered sugar can turn your house into a culinary meth lab if you’re not careful.  You will need 200g caster (fine) sugar, 200g icing (confectioners) sugar, 300g ground almonds, 2 egg whites and a teaspoon of vanilla.  You could also use almond extract instead for extra almondy marzipan.  

• Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl (pulse in the food processor if you feel the ground almonds are too coarse)
• Lightly whisk the egg whites and vanilla extract in separate bowl. 
• Create a well in the center of the sugar mixture, pour in the liquid and use your fingers to incorporate them into a ball   
• Refrigerate until ready to use. 
• You can use the dyes to either color the marzipan or as paint. 

It has been great hearing feedback from many of you over the recent posts. Don’t be shy, post your comments here.

If you are interested in some of my marzipan creatures please feel free to contact me on the form below.

A little while back, I attended my first proper Swiss wedding.  They tend to be intimate but lively affairs.  This one was mostly family and some friends, a grand total of perhaps 30 people and only one American, me.  I pride myself on my intuition regarding languages.  I can sit at a table listening to a conversation in a say Swiss-German and just tie together the couple of words I know to get the gist.  Needless to say, this takes a lot of concentration. 

My skills also tend to degenerate after a glass of wine and then miraculously improve after a couple.  It turns out that the main course that night hit me squarely in the middle.  As the gentleman to my left began to tell me all about the bärlauch risotto, I must have stopped paying attention for long enough to lose the plot entirely or perhaps my perceived talent as a universal linguist is vastly over blown.  Either way, I stared at him blankly and replied “How delicious!”  I learned later that he had been telling me about how one had to be careful in harvesting the wild garlic or ramps, as the foxes like to use them to clean their nether regions.  Thankfully his English was just about as good as my Swiss. 

Every year when all the chefs around town are humming about the appearance of wild garlic, my mind will often wonder to foxes.  Even so, I do love it and its just one more affirmation that springtime is upon us.  One of my favorite applications for the allium is pesto.  Pesto, commonly made with basil, comes from the Italian word pestare meaning to crush.  The basic construct is the same.  Greens, nuts, oil and cheese.   In this case I went with wild garlic, toasted pine nuts, olive oil and Parmesan.   The flavor of the pesto will be quite strong, to mitigate this you can blanch the wild garlic before hand or allow it to mellow out in the fridge over the coming days.  Basil too, appreciates a dip in some hot water, as it tends to darken when blended, this way it will keep its vibrant green color.  Rocket/Arugula is a nice spicy alternative; also subbing in walnuts for pine nuts works a treat. 

You will need 2 handfuls of greens, 1 handful of pine nuts, a healthy chunk of Parmesan, Olive Oil, and salt, perhaps a lemon.

• Blanch (briefly introduce them to boiling water) the greens or in this case, wild garlic, and wring out the water. 
• Add to a food processor or blender or mortal and pestle if you’re feeling up to it
• Chuck in the pine nuts and grate as much parmesan as you see fit
• Give it a pulse or two to get it going then start to drizzle in a bit of olive oil, let it go full whack for a while before adding more oil
• Give it a taste; add salt, more oil, more cheese, lemon zest? 
• The rest is up to you

Wild garlic isn’t only for pesto; you can use it in sauces or as an herb.  I substituted it for the parsley in Sole Meunière and it was delicious.  Gentle enough not to overpower the fish.  And pesto isn’t just for pasta.  Use it as a spread on toast; I happen to have given the 4-hour baguette recipe from Food 52 a try so was very happy to have a vehicle for my pesto or as a chimmichuri sauce for steaks, adding lemon here makes it especially nice.  Needless to say, you will have thought you made way too much and will soon find it all gone.

If you’d like to purchase a limited edition 2014 jar you can contact me here or use the form below.