Cooking
Today is Dining with the Bloggers day. Today is Wednesday, also - so who better to cook with than The Wednesday Chef?
Luisa started her blog just a couple of months ago. She had this great idea of wanting to tell people how the recipes in the papers REALLY come out - when do they suck and when do they shine? Where do you have to watch your steps, and when is it as easy as pie? I don't get the newspapers she does, but I know exactly what it's like not having anyone to ask about a certain recipe - and I know about having too many clippings laying around too - so I love this approach to food blogging. She's focusing on LA and NY Times, but dashes of to other recipes every now and again. Some I'd love to try would be Regan Daley's Poached Quinces or Marcella Hassan's Sicilian Pesto - or, turning back to LA times, the I-can-almost-smell-it-from-here Garlicky Braised Cauliflower with Capers - this I GOTTA try!
This time though, because lately ALL of my DwB posts has been featuring something sweet, and because I like sweet things so much, I found this: Marian Burros' Plum Torte was what I'd noticed and what I was going to make. Luisa hadn't been totally convinced about the torte, and I can understand, seeing what she's grown up with (yeah, you'll have to check her post for that one!) but she wanted to know if anyone else had better experience with it. A lot of her commenters sure did, her friends loved it, and well - I'm a convert too!
Juicy plums on top of a simple butter-sugar-eggs-flour batter, that ends up with a texture (and to me taste too) somewhat like marzipan. I'd be tempted to substitute a bit of the flour with almond flour or ground almonds next time. Oh yes, and I might try making it with the plums underneath the batter - that was suggested in the comments. I really liked the simplicity of this cake, as well as how easy it was to do. Served with a bit of thick creme fraiche on the side - or just as a nice big slab standing over the sink, as I did - it is all bliss...
Now what HAVE Cathy been up to??
- Plum Cake Redux Recipe
I love the taste and texture of cooked plums. Plum jam is mouth-puckeringly delicious. Somehow when the plums cook, they concentrate and the richness, sweetness and tanginess all intensifies into something much more decadent than the raw version. Even...
- Plum Good Cake Recipe
The great thing about becoming an experienced cook is that you can be more creative with recipes. By that I mean you can experiment. Once you know a recipe well you can make changes as you like; but even if you don't know a recipe well, with experience...
- Dining With The Bloggers - November 30th
This week I want to tip my hat to my partner in this little venture, Zarah. I don't know how that girl does it all - studying, working and blogging. My guess is she does each exceedingly well too. I know she keeps a mighty fine food blog! Not too...
- Plum Crumble
I bought a small box of these little guys last week at the farmer's market. I have no idea what they're called (if you do, I'd love to know), but each is a little bigger than a cherry tomato - about the same size as those "cocktail tomatoes"....
- Dining With Three Bloggers - September 27th.
My apologies. It was my sincerest intention to do a DwB post at least every other week. Then what happened? Well, the boss left on paternity leave and left me with a whole lotta work, hence, no post last week. Yup, always blame it on work. So even though...
Cooking
Dining with the Bloggers - November 23rd
Today is Dining with the Bloggers day. Today is Wednesday, also - so who better to cook with than The Wednesday Chef?
Luisa started her blog just a couple of months ago. She had this great idea of wanting to tell people how the recipes in the papers REALLY come out - when do they suck and when do they shine? Where do you have to watch your steps, and when is it as easy as pie? I don't get the newspapers she does, but I know exactly what it's like not having anyone to ask about a certain recipe - and I know about having too many clippings laying around too - so I love this approach to food blogging. She's focusing on LA and NY Times, but dashes of to other recipes every now and again. Some I'd love to try would be Regan Daley's Poached Quinces or Marcella Hassan's Sicilian Pesto - or, turning back to LA times, the I-can-almost-smell-it-from-here Garlicky Braised Cauliflower with Capers - this I GOTTA try!
This time though, because lately ALL of my DwB posts has been featuring something sweet, and because I like sweet things so much, I found this: Marian Burros' Plum Torte was what I'd noticed and what I was going to make. Luisa hadn't been totally convinced about the torte, and I can understand, seeing what she's grown up with (yeah, you'll have to check her post for that one!) but she wanted to know if anyone else had better experience with it. A lot of her commenters sure did, her friends loved it, and well - I'm a convert too!
Juicy plums on top of a simple butter-sugar-eggs-flour batter, that ends up with a texture (and to me taste too) somewhat like marzipan. I'd be tempted to substitute a bit of the flour with almond flour or ground almonds next time. Oh yes, and I might try making it with the plums underneath the batter - that was suggested in the comments. I really liked the simplicity of this cake, as well as how easy it was to do. Served with a bit of thick creme fraiche on the side - or just as a nice big slab standing over the sink, as I did - it is all bliss...
Now what HAVE Cathy been up to??
- Plum Cake Redux Recipe
I love the taste and texture of cooked plums. Plum jam is mouth-puckeringly delicious. Somehow when the plums cook, they concentrate and the richness, sweetness and tanginess all intensifies into something much more decadent than the raw version. Even...
- Plum Good Cake Recipe
The great thing about becoming an experienced cook is that you can be more creative with recipes. By that I mean you can experiment. Once you know a recipe well you can make changes as you like; but even if you don't know a recipe well, with experience...
- Dining With The Bloggers - November 30th
This week I want to tip my hat to my partner in this little venture, Zarah. I don't know how that girl does it all - studying, working and blogging. My guess is she does each exceedingly well too. I know she keeps a mighty fine food blog! Not too...
- Plum Crumble
I bought a small box of these little guys last week at the farmer's market. I have no idea what they're called (if you do, I'd love to know), but each is a little bigger than a cherry tomato - about the same size as those "cocktail tomatoes"....
- Dining With Three Bloggers - September 27th.
My apologies. It was my sincerest intention to do a DwB post at least every other week. Then what happened? Well, the boss left on paternity leave and left me with a whole lotta work, hence, no post last week. Yup, always blame it on work. So even though...