Sunday September 3, 2017 With the close of the California grape harvest comes the fresh crop of dried grapes. Picked from the end of August until late September in Arizona and California, the fall crop of Thampson seedless and red Flame seedless are ready to be consumed now. Left on the vine longer than wine grapes […]

Lemon Curd is a thick, soft and velvety creamy custard made from fresh fruit juice that has a wonderful tart yet sweet citrus flavor and thick smooth texture. It is almost like the custard as it is cooked on the stove and is thickened by eggs alone. It is used as a spread for scones, […]

The Tunnel of Fudge Cake is somewhat of a legend in cake making land and precursor to the now-hot restaurant dessert of individual chocolate cakes with a oozing, under baked center that looks like a thick sauce. Tunnel of Fudge was a Pillsbury Bake Off Winner decades ago and has never lost its appeal. The […]

One of the best meals is a steaming pot of Italian sausages cooked with sweet bell peppers. This adapted recipe was always known as Frank Sinatra’s Sausage and Peppers, from his mother Dolly, and became a kitchen staple after Dinah Shore put it into her cookbook “Someone’s In the Kitchen With Dinah” decades ago. It […]

Fillings are often made from shredded chicken or pork flavored with chile and spices, but once you become familiar with them, or have traveled in Mexico, you can find as many meat or vegetable fillings as there are cooks. One of the most luscious and satisfying is a stuffing of fresh corn, green chiles, and […]

Any serious cook or baker eventually tackles making homemade tortillas. I was lucky as one of the staff in my bakery was from Mexico and was happy to show me how to make them. But even she had problems when the dough wasn’t just right. The dehydrated cornmeal specifically used for tortillas is known as masa harina […]

This cheesecake is as close to divine as food gets. It is an uber-creamy, standard cheesecake with lots of sweet-hot candied ginger, a hint of ground ginger in the cake, and a gingersnap cookie crust added in. It is a perfect Easter dessert. It is easy to make. Bake the day before, as the cake […]

I would be remiss not to include a vegetarian cassoulet since it is so popular a casserole. Cassoulet is said to have originated in the 14th Century in Castelnaudary in the south of France during the Hundred Years War. During a siege, the Provost Marshall apparently made this by putting the beans, vegetables, and available […]

I started making steamed puddings in my restaurant days. Barbara Hiken brought in a recipe from one of the waitresses for persimmon pudding and we made it that day. And never made another recipe since it was so darn good. I would go to a friend’s house for dinner who worked at the restaurant and lo, […]

Christmas is not considered complete without special occasion baking and Hungarian poppy seed roll is the premier of the genre. Recipes for Hungarian rolls with a poppy seed-raisin filling are known as Mákos es Dios Kalacs (known in village slang as a Beigli). Every home has it’s own recipe for these rolls and they are a favorite sweet […]