morsels & sauces

Um. I was not expecting this. Not at all. Creamed greens (in the U.S. generally creamed spinach) are those old standbys that no one really admits to making all that much anymore. And it's a shame, for creamed greens are not only good but the can be good for you (if you watch just how much cream you put in them).  From Food and Wine's Creamed Kale  to The Food Network's Creamed Broccoli , lots of people are jumping on the creamed vegetable bandwagon again these days, and I am no exception. However, most of these are very heavy on the cream. Not with this recipe from  Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs, the founders of  Food52 .   Instead, this is a bitter mouthful rounded out with only a susuration of cream. As it should be. As you probably already know given my last couple of posts , I have taken up Hesser and Stubbs challenge to spend my Sunday cooking and then sitting back for the rest of the week....

As promised here are these sweet little scones from  Miette .  I have written about my delight in Miette ( see here ), and so it was a no-brainer when I needed to whip up a vehicle for Strawberry Vanilla Jam. And these did not disappoint. Shall we explore the history of the scone, you and I? There's a lot of information out there about the scone. As in a lot, so let's see if I can round some of it up. The scone was originally a Scottish quick bread made with oats and then griddle-fried. The scone distinguishes itself as not utilizing yeast, as one might expect from other tea pastries, such as a tea cakes or sweet buns. Instead, this well-leavened pastry uses baking powder to achieve its heights. However, baking powder is a relatively recent invention, so scones probably soared using buttermilk as a boost. Now don't get all confused about "high" and "low" or "afternoon" tea. Americans (and their representative tea rooms) lik...