**UPDATE** A lot of folks had trouble finding Amaretti cookies.  I’m lucky to live in an area where these are not an exotic item, but you know where I get them?  Amazon!**

This week, one of my favorite food bloggers, Holly of Phe/Mom/enon, picked 15 Minute Magic Chocolate Amaretti Torte, which you can find on pages 276 and 277 of Baking: From My Home to Yours.  (You can also find the recipe on Holly’s blog.)

DING! DING! DING!  WE HAVE ANOTHER WINNER!  Now, I know that photo doesn’t look like much, and I eliminated the ganache glaze and the whipped cream topping, but this is one fantastic dessert.  Moist, fudgy, chocolaty with a hint of almond, and great texture because of the ground almonds in the batter.  I would definitely serve this to guests with the glaze and whipped cream – I think it’s that good.

Now, I suggest you go off to the TWD blogroll to see what others did this week!

There are times in life when I really, really wish that people like The Equalizer, or the folks on Leverage existed in this world, and that they were on my side.  Or that I could conjure up Machiavelli, ply him  with food and wine, and get some sound advice on how to deal with nasty people.  Sometimes, I feel like I was raised amongst Hobbits in The Shire.  I need a cunning mastermind to help me navigate some of the perils of society.

Hey!  I can do that!  This month, Jacque and Natashya asked us to make a special pie based on someone famous.  So, in keeping with my savory theme of late, I decided to invite Niccolo over for dinner, and serve him a zucchini, lemon, and ricotta crostata.  Because he’s Italian, I thought the flavor combo would appeal to him.

I found inspiration from this recipe in the October 2008 issue of Bon Appetit.  It needed a bit of jazzing up, and I was happy to oblige.  I didn’t use Dorie’s pie crust (which I use for everything, including savory pies — I just omit the salt) because I like to practice with other dough recipes every now and then.  This was a good crust, but I still prefer Dorie’s.  The recipe can be found after the jump, but check out the Pies with That blogroll to see who others invited to dinner!  And I posted three times yesterday (making up for lost time), so scroll back and see what I’ve been up to.
continue reading "Where Is Machiavelli When You Need Him Pie? Zucchini, Ricotta, and Lemon Crostata"

Folks, as I’ve mentioned before, things have been mighty hectic.  I’m catching up with cooking, reading all of your blogs, and posting.  One of the dishes that I actually made on time, but haven’t had a chance to post, was this month’s Recipes to Rival challenge – Steak Diane.

In case you’re not familiar with R2R, it’s a small group founded by Temperance of High on the Hog and Lori of Lipsmacking Goodness as a savory alternative to The Daring Bakers. I have to say, every month is a wonderful new culinary adventure with this group, and the recipes are often quite easy, and often involve a dish that I’ve wanted to try but never got around to making. Steak Diane is one of those dishes, chosen by Temperance of High on the Hog and Shawnee of Delishes Delishes.

I whipped it together quickly, and served it to my husband who loved it.  I didn’t use filet of beef (too pricey), but I did use sirloin.  So, I used less meat than the recipe called for, but the full amount of sauce.  My husband liked the sauce so much (it failed to ignite for me, but tasted great) that he wants me to use it on chicken.  Fine by me!  Recipe after the jump (I clarified some instructions based on my experiences), and stop by the R2R blogroll to see how others made out with this dish.
continue reading "Recipes to Rival – Steak Diane Finally Arrives"

Banana Cream Pie.  BANANA CREAM PIE.  Just the name sounds wonderful, and I have wanted to make this for more years than I can remember.  This week, thanks to Amy of Sing for Your Supper, I finally made it!  Check out her blog for the recipe.

In the spirit of frugality and in the interest of cleaning out my freezer, I pulled out a blob of dough that represented the remains of several Dorie pie crusts.  Folks, you just CANNOT throw out scraps when they contain so much butter.  Now, re-rolling the crust so many times does make for a tough pastry, but it still tastes oh-so-good.  I couldn’t find my mini-tart pans, so I ended up with something that wouldn’t quite fill a 9-inch pie plate.  In the oven, it flattened out into a pancake.

But I would not be thwarted!  No!  I piled everything on top of said pancake – bananas, pastry cream, bananas, and whipped cream.  The verdict?

Well . . . mixed.  At first, I didn’t like the pastry cream very much.  Why?  I could taste the corn starch.  Blech.  I did like the depth of flavor that the nutmeg and brown sugar added to the dessert, but I really disliked the cinnamon.  After I put the dessert together, everything tasted a lot better – the components work better in concert than individually.

I would make this again, but I’d eliminate the cinnamon and use a whole vanilla bean while boiling the milk to intensify that flavor.  Master Chow felt the same way, and we both agreed that our favorite elements were the bananas, crust, and whipped cream.  To see what other bakers made, check out the  TWD blogroll.  Recipe after the jump.
continue reading "TWD – Part 2 – Banana Cream Pie!"

I’ve been traveling, got a headcold, and have been busy with LIFE – you know, the stuff that happens that interferes with baking, cooking, and blogging.  Later today I will post the Banana Cream Pie that the TWD bakers made this week, but I wanted to go back and post the Blueberry Crumb Cake of a couple weeks ago, since I didn’t get a chance to make it then.

I really wanted to make this because coffee cake/crumb cakes are usually easy, pack a big flavor punch, and are well received by my Honorable Husband, Master Chow.  Sihan of Befuddlement chose Dorie’s Blueberry Crumb Cake for TWD a couple weeks ago, and you can find the recipe on her blog, or finally go out and get Dorie’s wonderful book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.

As far as the cake went, I made the whole thing in my food processor.  The one thing you have to be careful about is mixing in the flour – you barely want to pulse it in or you will over mix the batter and get a tough cake.  I increased the lemon zest to that of a whole lemon, and instead of the crumb topping, I substituted an oat topping that I prefer.  Why?  The topping on crumb buns always looks amazing, but I find that they generally have no flavor –  they’re just sweet.  I really liked the depth of flavor that the oats provided on this crumb cake, and so did Master Chow – he asked me to put it on the repeat list!

Be sure to stop by later today for the Banana Cream Pie post.  In the meantime, check out the TWD blogroll to see what others have been up to!

Unless you act now. Meet Congress’s latest nightmare.

If you don’t think this will apply to your small backyard garden (Factcheck.org is dead wrong on this issue), then check out this provision in the bill:

Here is how this bill defines who is included in “Food Production”:

(14) FOOD PRODUCTION FACILITY- The term ‘food production facility’ means any farm, ranch, orchard, vineyard, aquaculture facility, or confined animal-feeding operation.

The summer roadside vegetable stand appears to be both a Category 3 and 5 “food establishment” since it sells “fresh produce in ready-to-eat raw form” and “stores, holds, or transports food products prior to delivery for retail sale”. The explicit exclusions in Section 3 (13)(B) do not exclude roadside vegetable stands.

Think it stops there?  Another bill, provides for the creation of the National Animal Identification System:

The USDA’s proposed National Animal Identification System (NAIS) was originally designed to give the big beef producers help in getting export markets which required disease controls. The idea is that every single livestock animal in the United States will be identified and tagged. All livestock animal movements will be tracked, logged and reported to the government. The benefit is to the big factory farms who probably do need this type of regulation. They get to do single ID’s for large groups of animals. Small farmers, pet owners and homesteaders will have to tag and track every single animal.

There are no exceptions – even small farms that sell direct to local consumers will be required to pay the fees and file all the paper work on all their animals. Even horse, llama and other pet owners will be required to participate in NAIS. Homesteaders who raise their own meat and grandma with her one egg hen will also have to register their homes as ‘farm premises’ and obtain a Premise ID, tag all their animals and submit all the paperwork and fees. Absurd? Yes – There are no exceptions under the current NAIS plan. The USDA has slipped this plan in the back door without any legislation. This is going to be very expensive and guess who is going to pay for it in higher food prices… You!

Get on the phone.  Check out this link and this link for other ways to stop this legislation.  Time is of the essence. Email your senators and congressmen.   BLOG ABOUT IT.  The right to grown our own food is one of the few rights we have left.

Just got back from a trip, and have a combination of a head cold and allergy.  Oh, and my new refrigerator is leaking water.  Stay tuned!

This week, Liliana of  My Cookbook Addiction! chose Dorie’s French Yogurt Cake with Marmalade Glaze on pages 224-225 of Baking: From My Home to Yours.  The result?  We have another winner!

I loved this cake, which resembles a French poundcake, known as a “Quatre–quart.” It has a tight (but not dense) crumb, and it is very moist and flavorful.  I used low fat yogurt, and cut back on the oil in the recipe, and it was still moist!  I also used a mixture of lemon and grapefruit zest, and whipped up the whole thing in my food processor.  It did take a long time to cook in my convection oven – about an hour and 25 minutes, but it came out perfectly.  I’m going out of town again, so I was in a rush and decided to skip the marmalade glaze, and believe me, I didn’t miss it at all.

All in all, a very easy and delicious cake.  My two tips are (1) be generous with the zest, and (2) really grease and flour the loaf pan.  This cake sticks!

To see what other bakers came up with (and there were a lot of lovely variations), check out the TWD blogroll!

I’m going savory on you again with this month’s “You Want Pie with That?” theme of herbs and spices – I made a quiche for the first time in about twenty years!  Thanks to Elizabeth of Cake or Death for choosing the theme.

I was inspired by a Tastespotting post I saw several months ago from a blog called “No Thyme to Cook.”  It appears that the blog is now gone, but I was able to find her recipe by looking through cached records on Google.

I tweaked it to work with what I had on hand, and it was delicious!  This recipe includes nutmeg, pepper, thyme, Tabasco (made from a Tabasco chili pepper) and mustard, for a total of five herbs and spices!  Woo-hoo! Something I’ll be making again and again to use up leftovers.  To see what the other pie bakers were inspired to make, be sure to check out the Pies with That blogroll.  Recipe after the jump . . . .
continue reading "You Want Pies with That? Herbs & Spices on Pi Day (March 14 – 3.14!)"

***Remember to enter the cookbook giveaway!*** UPDATE ON MARCH 11, 2009 – WE HAVE A WINNER!!! ikkinlala from Canada!****

This week, Tuesdays with Dorie host Bridget of The Way the Cookie Crumbles chose Lemon Cup Custard on page 387 of Baking: From My Home to Yours. Because I know Master Chow, my honorable husband, prefers to avoid dairy, I decided to cut this recipe in half.  Why?  Because if it was really good, I knew I’d eat all of it.  If it was bad . . . I knew I’d have to eat all of it!  So, how did it turn out?  All I have to say is . . .

BURP.  This was fantastic.  I made a vanilla version, so I halved all the ingredients in the recipe except for the vanilla bean.  I used an entire bean, then added about 1/2 tsp. of vanilla extract after the milk mixture had cooled.  I also threw in a small pinch of salt.  It took about an hour for this to bake to the right consistency, and it was smooth, silky, and a lot like flan.

Which just happens to be my favorite dessert in the whole world.  Sigh.  My mom’s version was out of this world.  Eggs, cream, milk . . . so rich she’d only make it around the holidays, and we would devour it.  Ah, to be young again, and oblivious to the scale and cholesterol levels!

This recipe is now among my top favorite Dorie recipes.  Be sure to check out the blogroll to see what other custard variations everyone came up with.