This is such a luscious time of year! The stone fruits, the bountiful green vegetables piled up at roadside stands and farmer’s markets – they beckon to us to cook for ourselves and enjoy the sensual pleasure of creating something delicious. It’s a great time to invite a few friends over for a drink, and whip up some hors d’oeuvres out of all this irresistible produce. (By the way, “hors d’oeuvres” is one of the hardest words to spell, and […]
Serves: 8 Prep time: two hours In the photo I used a springform pan, to see how it would come out. That was a mistake because it took much longer to bake and the top was uneven. It didn’t affect the flavor, and the frosting hides cake flaws very easily, but the original two-layer method is the way to go. Meringue Icing From the Betty Crocker Cookbook
Julia Child once famously said, “A party without cake is just a meeting.” I agree, and since today is my birthday, my gift to you is the recipe for my favorite cake of all time. It is my mother’s recipe, from the recipe book she made for me as a wedding gift many years ago. This cake is similar to an Italian vanilla meringue cake, and has a lot of sugar in it. I hesitated initially to post the recipe […]
Serves: 4 Horseradish Dipping Sauce I’m a little embarrassed to be typing this up because cocktail sauce is such a common thing, but in the interest of thoroughness: take a cup of ketchup and combine with a tablespoon of fresh, finely-grated horseradish. You can adjust the horseradish to your own taste – a tablespoon is a lot of heat, so start with less and add more until your eyes are watering at the appropriate level. If you’re using horseradish from […]
In keeping with the summer hors d’oeuvres theme, here is an American classic presented as an hors d’oeuvre. When I was 12, we took a family car trip to California. I ate fried shrimp everywhere they had it for three weeks straight. And then I didn’t eat it again for about thirty years, because fried shrimp in Amarillo or Dubuque in 1968 was not an informed menu choice. But the memory of the shrimp binge has faded and I’m back […]
