Babycakes

Strawberry Shortcakes with Sugared Cream Biscuits, Strawberries & Cream

June 15, 2019

Dough made with a high fat-to-flour ratio is called “short” and bakes up into the tender crumbly biscuits we call shortcake. Although my mom sometimes brought home store-bought cell-o packs of little yellow sponge cakes to serve as the base for strawberry shortcake desserts, those were never as good fresh, hot biscuits topped with strawberries in their hot-pink sugared juice, and plenty of fresh whipped cream.

 First featured in a British cookbook in 1588, strawberry shortcake went on to become very popular in the United States, where by the 1850s it was served hot with both butter, cream, and of course: sweetened fresh strawberries. Continue Reading…

Retro Burgers

Mister MacTavish Rarebit Burger

May 25, 2019

Once-upon-a-time, I left a job as an editor for a national food magazine, to do marketing for Chicago’s beefy Lawry’s the Prime Rib. Housed in the former 1889 L. Hamilton McCormick mansion at the corner of Ontario and Rush, the restaurant was soaked in history and the smell of slow-roasted meat. Before Lawry’s set up shop there in 1974, I used to go with my family to see the bizarre puppet operas the Kungsholm Scandinavian restaurant used to put on there. When I arrived decades later to do PR, the sloping theatre floors had been covered over to shore up Lawry’s dining rooms, and the managers weren’t quite sure where to put me. Continue Reading…

Appetizers & Snacks

Cheddar Crackers

May 13, 2019

These nippy, buttery little crackers are soooooo easy to make! And they have a wonderful, crumbly texture. You can make them with store-bought pub cheese, or, make them using the recipe Chef Jonathan Lundy gave me for a creamy, smoky pub cheese that includes barrel-aged ale and a splash of bourbon in the mix. Either way, this recipe is a snap: just blend the pub cheese, with unsalted butter and some flour, knead into a smooth dough, chill, roll out, cut and bake. I like to cut the crackers into rounds, but you can also score the dough to make squares. Be sure to prick each cracker with the tines of a fork to keep them from puffing up when you bake them. To serve, I like to blend a little mascarpone cheese with orange marmalade and spread between two crackers to make savory sandwich “cookies.”  Enjoy! Continue Reading…

Appetizers & Snacks

Pub Cheese

May 13, 2019

You could buy pub cheese from the refrigerated section near the deli, or you could make this creamy, smoky, beer-and-bourbon-spiked version yourself! I got this recipe from Chef Jonathan Lundy in Kentucky, and it’s a keeper. Lundy comes from family long-known for good recipes–starting with his great-great-grandfather William Monroe Wright, founder of the Calumet Baking Powder company, and a cousin of flight-tastic Wilbur and Orville Wright. William sold his baking powder company to General Foods for $40 million back in 1929 and used the profits to create the Calumet Farm racing stables in Kentucky. (The most successful in American history, with six Kentucky Derby winners.) Lundy likes to make this spread using a bottle of Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale from Alltech Lexington Brewing and Distilling Co., but you can substitute another barrel-aged ale.  I love this pub cheese with carrot and celery sticks. But I also make my own cheddar crackers with it–sooooo easy: just butter, this cheese and flour. Do try both recipes! Continue Reading…

Cake Walk

Dreamsicle Birthday Cake

March 21, 2019

In the hazy realm of childhood memory live two related events: The first time I plopped a scoop of my dad’s orange sherbet into a bowl of vanilla ice cream, and the first time I had an Orange Julius—that icy, OJ + dairy, beverage-stand joy. What a sensation! Bright shock of citrus swathed in cream: cold and shimmery, sharp and smooth, all at once.   To me, orange and cream is the stuff of dreams. In fact, the Dominican Republic’s classic orange&dairy drink is called morir sonando “To die dreaming.”  March being my birthday month, I decided to put those favorite tart, sweet, and dreamy flavors into a cake. And I am very happy with the result. Continue Reading…

Must Have Noodles

Shortrib Stroganoff

January 20, 2019

For many during childhood, “company coming” unexpectedly meant mom whipping up the 2-cans-of-condensed-soup-ground-beef-bacon-&-sour-cream stroganoff.  Although that was a comfort classic for then, this deeply-flavorful short-rib rendition elevates this dish to gourmet status you’ll enjoy now. A slow-braise with red wine & sherry, rosemary & thyme, mushrooms & bacon, crème fraiche & truffle oil, it is very, very good.  For best results, make the short ribs the day (or night) before you plan to serve the dish.

And since you like stroganoff? Here’s another, classic versionto try, with the story of the original stroganoff.

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Must Have Noodles

Veal Stroganoff

January 20, 2019

When Count Pavel Alexandrovich Stroganov wasn’t busy commanding the Russian infantry in Napoleonic Wars, he feasted: Historians suggest that an early version of the stroganoff the world came to love was served in Stroganov’s family kitchens for a good number of years before it was published in a Russian cookbook in 1871. Early stroganoffs specified beef cooked in sour cream, with a little mustard, flour & butter and not much else. But by 1927, when the dish was first published in America (in The Congressional Club Cook Book: Favorite National and International Recipes), it had evolved to include onions, mushrooms, stock, Worchestershire sauce and even a little pureed tomato. Our version builds on a recipe that Gourmet magazine published in 1963. Like the early versions of the dish, it’s made with tiny cubes of meat (we chose veal) simmered in butter.

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Soup Kitchen

Leek & Potato Soup

January 7, 2019

There is a delicious vegetable soup in this post. But first? Some stories. I don’t know why but I awoke full of them—mostly about my grandfather. Grandpa was a big believer in a vegetable diet, eating large quantities of carrots and beets, celery and onions, turnips and potatoes, green beans and cabbage, most of which he peeled and chopped while sitting on a little handmade wooden perch called his “stropping stool.” 

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Meaty Mainstays

Ancho-Braised Lamb Shanks

January 5, 2019

It’s 12th night tonight! I’m not in baking mode–running about in the sunshine with my boys–so no kings cake,  but tomorrow, will make this wonderful dish in keeping with the Spanish tradition on Epiphany (Reyes) of eating one last feast of the holiday season, including slow-roast lamb. This  “low & slow” fabulosity is a dish you can start in the morning and feast on at dinner.  You’ll put it in the oven with a full gallon of chili-spiked braising liquid which, simmered down for four hours, still leaves plenty to reheat and glaze the shanks for several reprises. Served with little pearls of Israeli couscous, rich gravy & a sauce of preserved lemon, mint, garlic and Greek yogurt, these ancho-spiced shanks make a meal full of bright flavors.

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Beans, New Year's Day

Hoppin’ John (Black-eyed Peas with Rice, Greens & Cornbread)

January 1, 2019

We could all use a little good luck to kick off the new year–platefuls of it, in fact. Good thing eating “lucky” on New Year’s Day is a worldwide tradition.  Because so many people link prosperity with luck, if it looks like money—coin-shaped legumes and breads, green greens, silvery fish—you can bet somebody’s eating it on New Year’s Day.  In America’s Southern states, black-eyed peas are the lucky-food favorite. Cooked up with pork (or smoked turkey necks) and served over rice with greens, the peas become Hoppin’ John, down-home delicious, and lucky good. Continue Reading…