On more than one occasion I’ve heard people say something along the lines of “Oh what’s the big deal with dry-aged beef…I got a couple of steaks and they are not that different that the run of the mill steak from Costco”. Well, these guys are either not really buying dry-aged steak or have some […]
Dry-Aged Strip Steak, Carrot and Sour Onions Read More »
Persimmons are one of my favorite fruit. I bet one does not hear that too often, but these orange fruits really are one of my favorites. To be specific I am talking about the acorn shaped Hachiya persimmon not the squat round Fuyu one. The Hachiya persimmon is very astringent and really inedible unless very
Alinea: PERSIMMON, Aroma Strip, Carrot, Red Curry Read More »
This is another example of dishes I came up with that I was hoping would be more successful on the plate. I debated if I should post about it or not at first. However, I try to make this blog an accurate “diary” of food and movies so of course I should post about it.
Plums, Rice Pudding and Almond Read More »
Francisco Migoya from the CIA (the Culinary Institute of America, not the other CIA) is a superb pastry chef and judging from his books, an excellent teacher. He has 3 books and I got a hold of two of them so far, Elements of Desserts and Frozen Desserts. While I have many high end, modern
Pear, Caramelized Genoa Bread, Chocolate Veil Read More »
I love it when a book never disappoints, whether I am doing a complete verbatim recipe or in this case using it for a template and making parts of a recipe. The book I am talking about is of course the French Laundry Cookbook. This lovely plate of confections is based on the recipe for Chocolate
French Laundry: Chocolate Cakes and Gelato with Toasted Hazelnuts and Syrup Read More »
Sticky Toffee Pudding, a classic British dessert, has quickly become one of our favorite sweet dishes. The first time we tried it was at Feast restaurant in Houston where they make an outstanding version. It’s gooey, rich and sweet with deep mildly bitter toffee flavor. Feast’s version has become our gold standard and none we’ve
Sticky Toffee Pudding, Rum Ice Cream, Caramel Read More »
This delicious vegetarian dish comes from Yotam Ottolenghi’s book Plenty. The chef is much better known in the UK where he runs a chain of “deli” shops that serve a huge variety of creative dishes, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian. He also has a weekly column in the Guardian newspaper. The website has a lot of his
Yogurt Flatbreads with Barley and Mushrooms Read More »
Making pasta at home is nothing new. I’ve been doing fresh egg pasta, flat, stuffed, hand-rolled or on a chitarra for years. However, making “dry” fresh pasta was not something I’ve tackled. I did not want to invest in a pasta extruder and was not sure it will be worth it. Also, most books never bother with
Fresh Extruded Pasta: Rigatoni, Sausage and Ricotta Read More »
From the title of this recipe one would not know what to expect. Is it a hot chcolate drink? Just warmed chocolate? Honestly it sounds a bit boring. Boring, though, this recipe is not! Without waxing with no end about the nuances of this dish I have to say that this dessert from Alinea is
Alinea: Chocolate, warmed to 94 degrees Read More »
I’ve tried making mozzarella a couple of times before with no success..until now. This was fantastic. The recipe that worked for me was from the “Ideas in Food” book (I just did not use the Lipase enzyme). Now, this time I used raw non-homogenized milk from a farm. So, it still remains to be seen
Homemade Fresh Mozzarella Read More »