Adventures in cooking and baking.
This chocolate marble pound cake is a sweet way to say hello to spring by pairing the flavor of raspberries with the chocolate. The hint of raspberry is a wonderful complement to the chocolate.
This cake gets its raspberry flavor from raspberry jam. You add some to the vanilla batter and brush the finished cake with a thin layer of the jam before glazing it with a chocolate ganache.
Welcome spring with these bow tie cookies with strawberry jam. They are little poppable tasty treats. Everyone will be eating these one after another after another.
These bow tie cookies are tiny little bundles of cream cheese dough filled with strawberry jam and dusted with confectioners' sugar. They are the perfect size for sharing too. In the Midwest, they are called kolaczki.
This lomo saltado is a tasty mixture of beef, tomatoes, chiles, onions, and French fried potatoes. It is typically accompanied with white rice.
Lomo Saltado is a traditional Chinese Peruvian stir-fry, and another example of how Chinese emigrants adapted the local ingredients of their new land to their cooking style.
There are likely many versions of Brazilian Feijoada, with each family claiming that their tradition is the right one. After all, it is a national dish with roots in the country's past, including making the most of whatever ingredients are on hand.
Feijoada actually has roots in Brazil's slaveholding past (Milk Street Magazine, March, 2022) and it was made with whatever bits of meat, pork ears, tails, feet, and tongue that were leftover from the slaveholders meals. The meat was cooked low and slow with black beans.
This cod, leek, and potato chowder is super creamy and comes together very quickly. Pair it with a glass of chardonnay for a wine that holds up well to the richness of this soup.
This cod chowder is a wonderful combination of a creamy fish stock base along with leeks, celery, carrots, potatoes, onions, and herbs. It all comes together in less than 30 minutes if you prep your ingredients in advance. It's the perfect recipe for a quick weeknight dinner.
Pan di Ramerino are little rosemary, olive oil, and raisin buns from Tuscany, originally served on Holy Thursday right before Easter. Now you can find these sweet and savory treats in Tuscan bakeries any time of year.
These buns are lightly sweet from the raisins and a bit of sugar. They also have a savory side with rosemary infused olive oil added to the dough. They are easy to make and can easily be prepared in just a few hours. They would be definitely be a fun project to make with kids.
This tangerine ricotta cake is a dessert that you can bake ahead. It is actually better and more moist on the second or third day.
I love the moistness that ricotta brings to desserts. Some of my favorites include blueberry lemon ricotta tea cake, ricotta chocolate chip cookies, and tangerine ricotta cookies. Of course, I love it for making savory dishes such as lasagna or breakfast tomato and ricotta toast.
