morsels & sauces

I'll eat kale, sure. I know it has a plethora of health benefits, and prepared properly, it's a mighty fine, if somewhat aggressively bitter, leafy green. However, given the choice, I always reach for the milder, sweeter spinach first. This was not always the case. In fact, like many children, I hated spinach (despite Popeye's proclivity for the leaf that made him super strong). However, like with most things, I have come around, and that picky eating of my youth has been abolished. I have detailed earlier the reasons why some people get a chalky feeling on their teeth (blame oxalic acid), and true to form, the husband did profess a little of the chalky feeling. Having never experienced this chalky feeling, I have no real idea of what he's going through. However, I do know that this open-faced sandwich is a light, simple summer supper, and one you can pull together in a snap, especially if you happen to have the roasted red peppers and caramelized onio...

I love me a grain. What I don't love is my overdependence on refined wheat. As I have mentioned before , I have snapped up gluten-free cookbooks not because I am gluten intolerant, lord no. In fact, I love gluten--what, with its pleasing protein elasticity that makes my breads rise in a light and poofy way. However, I want said cookbooks because they push me out of my comfort zone and into the world of amaranth, millet, teff, quinoa, wild rice. What is downright delightful about Maria Speck's new cookbook, Simply Ancient Grains , is that she sets up a parade for all of the gluten-free grains to attend, and the ensures that those wonderful whole grains that have gluten (such as barley, rye, bulgar, farro, freekah) all have a place in the marching band. Simply ancient grains is Speck's sophomore collection, following her delightful debut  Ancient Grains for Modern Meals , which was published in 2011 and gifted to me that year by one of my fathers-in-law (he has gre...

I have a dear friend who is a phenomenal baker. She can make cakes like no other, but her preference is for pies. I have another friend who had a catering service on the side of a demanding teaching schedule; her brownies and cookies are to die for. I am no baker. Humidity and altitude and baking times and measuring ingredients precisely: all seem to baffle me when it comes time to bake something. However, I have Miette to help me. Miette  is a wonderful little cake, pastry, and confections shop begun in 2001 by Meg Ray as part of the Berkeley Farmer's market; nowadays, she boasts four shops, including one in the Ferry Building, another in Hayes Valley, a new boutique in Larkspur Landing, and my favorite--a small shop connected to the bakery in Oakland at Jack London Square. Her focus is on cakes, particularly the cakes she loved as a child, and she has streamlined her baking to focus on a foundation of tried and true recipes from which she can build. For example,...

Ree se's Peanut Butter Cups, people ! Or at least something like that. It's almost the fourth of July! That means time for insane dessert treats.  This one qualifies. My mother, back in Illinois, has been complaining about the overabundance of rain and out here in California, we're aching for it. I am sitting in a coffee shop in Fort Bragg with a cup of peppermint tea, the fog is burning off, I just finished reading a collection of short stories ( The Hall of Small Mammals ) that I found delightful and strange, and I am contemplating a day of cooking (from my new cookbook, Honey & Co. (certainly, I will be featuring it here soon)). This is what vacation looks like. Before coming up to Fort Bragg, though, I took some time to convert my recently made chocolate ice cream from Big Gay Ice Cream  into a total diet-busting shake, and let me tell you, it was worth it.  Sure, sure, y ou can make all of this from store-bought ingredients, which...