The Kitchenette

Happy Birthday to Me!

Gayle — Wed, 16 May 2012 12:00:02 +0000

There is an Italian dessert called cassata cake that features sponge cake layered with ricotta, candied citrus peel and a kind of vanilla cannoli cream all covered with marzipan and topped with candied fruit. This isn’t that. This is the version you can only get in Cleveland. Cleveland? Oh, yes. Cleveland. Apparently the children of [...]

Cooking the Book: Linguine with Arugula-Mint Pesto

Gayle — Wed, 09 May 2012 12:00:22 +0000

This stuff tastes like spring! Here’s a great alternative to traditional pesto if your basil isn’t big enough to hack into (or if it just doesn’t look great in the store). And coming from someone who is, ahem, a little bit of a pesto purist, that’s saying a lot (I usually won’t even permit walnuts [...]

Wilted Bitter Greens Salad with Warm Goat Cheese

Gayle — Wed, 02 May 2012 12:00:33 +0000

There may be a little finessing going on with the title of this one. I’ll be honest: we’re gonna fry up some goat cheese and put it on a salad, y’all. Oh, yeah. Bitter greens aren’t up everyone’s alley, especially raw. And while I like most bitter greens, sometimes they get a little tired, especially [...]

April in Paris: Lavender Creme Brulee

Gayle — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 12:00:58 +0000

In all honesty, I am not that much of a custard person. There’s plenty to go wrong while you’re making it, from letting the cream boil to sort of scrambling the egg and ending up with custard with weird little bits in it to not cooking it enough and having slimy custard. Sometimes these things [...]

April in Paris: Steak Frites

Gayle — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 12:00:30 +0000

One of my very favorite places to eat in Paris I refer to as simply “the entrecote place,” which isn’t really that far off from its real name, Le Relais de l’Entrecôte. There are a few of them, around Paris and around the world, all connected to the same family in different ways, but they [...]

April in Paris: Veal Marengo

Gayle — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 12:00:27 +0000

After having it for the first time at the Paris buffet in Las Vegas (don’t knock it ’till you’ve tried it. The cheese alone is worth the price of admission, and if you’ve been losing there’s nothing like a display of French desserts to cheer you right up), I became a little bit obsessed with [...]

April in Paris/Cooking the Book Bonus Round, Part Deux

Gayle — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 22:32:40 +0000

Ah, a bonus/double whammy post that’s actually French! No offense, chicken cordon bleu, we still love you lots, but those flavors of Provence, le sigh…. The Good The sauce and vegetables are great. I was tempted to get out the v-slicer when I saw “sliced thin” in the recipe but I was glad I didn’t [...]

April in Paris: Tiny Quiche

Gayle — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 12:00:02 +0000

If you find yourself in Paris this April (or any time really) you can eat quiche for breakfast, lunch and dinner if you want to. And there’s no reason not to do the same at home, too. For breakfast, these can be made the night before and reheated in the oven while you’re getting ready [...]

April in Paris: Duck, Duck, Confit

Gayle — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 12:00:51 +0000

If I close my eyes and let my mind wander ever so slightly, I can still taste the best duck confit I ever had. It was not, actually, in Paris but Brussels, after several long, thankless days of intense and demanding work. My 30th birthday was barreling down on me, about to attack in a [...]

April in Paris/Cooking the Book Bonus Round!

Gayle — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 12:00:07 +0000

So yeah, it’s a mostly American invention from the 1960s, but what else says “an American in love with Paris” like chicken cordon bleu? Plus, it gave me a chance to knock out another recipe from the book and still stick with the French(ish) theme for April, wink wink. It’s something I’ve made before — [...]