I recently discovered an early recipe for Baked Cheese Babka, a Ukrainian Easter dessert, in an out-of-print 19th century cookbook published in western Ukraine. What intrigued me most was the fact that this Baked Cheese Babka is flourless. After researching other baked cheese babka recipes, I realized the uniqueness of this recipe. Other baked cheese babkas […]
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Country Captain, a chicken classic of southern cookbooks, became a staple in my childhood home after Mama read that it was a favorite of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. As the story goes, whenever President Roosevelt traveled by train to his Little White House in Warm Springs, Georgia, his assistant would warn Mrs. W.L. Bullard, a
I first tasted reindeer stew at a Bavarian dinner in the lovely chalet home of Hermann Pfieffer, a German steel cable manufacturer. Hermann’s wife Sieglinde, an accomplished cook, served hirschgulasch (reindeer stew in German) and I was a little anxious about eating reindeer. I was torn between being a gracious guest and my affection for the Rudolf
As we ate our way through my list of must-try dishes, we discovered that Peruvian cooking is a fusion of traditional indigenous practices, local ingredients and imported food practices. Each wave of newcomers to Peru added their cuisine atop that of centuries of indigenous pre-Incan and Incan cooking. Absent familiar ingredients, new immigrants adapted their recipes
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Preparing for a recent family trip to Peru, I researched Peruvian cooking and arrived in Cuzco armed with a list of must-try dishes. After a brief reading of Peru’s long history, I was captivated by this multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society going back ten millennia which melds numerous Amerindian civilizations, Spanish conquerors and settlers, imported Black
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A recent article in the New York Times’ Thanksgiving Food section suggesting alternative pecan recipes to the traditional pie reminded me of this Chocolate Pecan Mille Crêpes Torte I made for Mama’s 94th birthday. Mama’s birthday on November 18 was for many years my annual kickoff for holiday baking. Each year it was a warm-up
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This Spiral Stromboli with Three Fillings (of Italian sausage and spinach, mushrooms and onions and sundried tomato and cheeses) is a product of insomnia. I am a chronic insomniac and when I can’t sleep through the night, rather than frustratingly toss and turn in bed, I go to a comfortable armchair in the another room
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I was thinking recently about making crèpes when I stumbled on this Spinach Nalysnyky (Crêpes) recipe from a Ukrainian food blogger at panistefa.com. The Ukrainian language recipe, written with a chatty narrative, and its accompanying photos inspired me to try it. So I translated the text and made a batch. The nalysnyky turned out great
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This Italian Plum Ginger Frangipane Tart was prompted by an eye-catching farmers’ market display of stone fruits last week. The abundant harvest of beautifully ripe peaches, nectarines and plums jolted my realization that these fruits would be available in their prime for only a few weeks, and I needed to move fast if I wanted
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When the dog days of summer bring temperatures in the high 90s and turn the air thick and sultry, my enthusiasm for the kitchen diminishes: it’s too hot and sticky to cook a dinner, with or without an outside grill. What is needed now is an easy to prepare meal that cools us down, and a visit