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Posts from the ‘Desserts’ Category

Jan 13

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A January Menu for 6

Baba Ghanoush & Crackers
Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen Christmas Salad
Red Wine Braised Duck Legs
Fennel, Celery Root and Potato Purée
Arugula Salad
Grand Marnier Soufflée with Crème Anglaise

With busy schedules it is difficult to find the time to entertain friends at home, but with this menu plan you can spread the work out over several days. Following each recipe here you will find suggestions for advance preparation and at the end I have added shopping lists. I hope you enjoy this winter menu and time to relax with your guests. Read more

Sep 30

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Plums, Memories and a Special Birthday

My father remembers that there would often be a plate of buchty waiting for him and his brother on the kitchen table when they came home from school in Prague. They would race in and grab one or two of the little buns which they considered to be the perfect snack: sweet dough wrapped around pitted and sugar-filled fruit. Read more

Jul 3

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Italian Dinner for 6

Mixed Mushroom and Gorgonzola Crostini
Arugula and Mint Salad with Watermelon and Feta
Duck Ragù with Potato Gnocchi
Grilled Asparagus and Raddichio
Vanilla Bean Gelato, Chocolate Madeleines and Strawberries

The cookbook that I am currently enamoured with is Nancy Silverton’s The Mozza Cookbook, which brings to the home cook some of the specialties from her popular restaurants in Los Angeles. She writes that she “wanted the recipes to include all the information the reader would need to successfully replicate our food at home”. With this goal in mind, she and her team painstakingly adjusted the recipes so that they work in a home kitchen. Her attention to detail which has contributed to making her such a successful chef, restaurant owner and writer, is reflected throughout the book.

I used this book to guide me in producing an Italian dinner recently, with the duck ragù and potato gnocchi as the centrepiece. Read more

Mar 29

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Longing for Spring Berry Pie

I was intending to make a strawberry rhubarb pie recently but it turned out I was pushing the rhubarb season. Not to thwart my yearning for something that tasted spring-summery, I decided to mix raspberries with the strawberries instead. You can use any mix of berries in this recipe, but if you are adding rhubarb, just use a bit less flour (2 tablespoons) and a bit more sugar (1 cup) or to taste. Read more

Feb 4

Louisa’s Ricotta Cake

If you use the Scardillo Italian Style Ricotta Cheese that I recommended for the ricotta gnocchi, you will find that there will be about 1 cup of cheese remaining after making the gnocchi. You will not have to wonder any longer what to do with the leftover cheese if you check out the Food52 website here where you will find a ton of ideas from savoury to sweet. It made me think of Iron Chefs and how many different ways they think of to use one ingredient. Bravo to Food52 for using healthy ricotta cheese for one of their contests. I am eager to try many of them over the next while but here is the winner of the contest, with two adjustments that I have made: less sugar, and raspberry sauce to accompany it. Read more

Jan 6

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A Culinary Collage

Happy New Year from Nourishing Vancouver to you, wherever in the world you are living, cooking and nourishing those around you!

While I have had a brief hiatus from posting, I was busy in the kitchen over the holidays, connecting with family and friends, and collecting a few recipes to share ~ connecting…collecting…collaging, from my kitchen to yours. Read more

Dec 11

Paula’s Apple Pie

 

Yesterday I picked up a 20 pound box of Gala and Fuji apples from Jamie (see this post). The apples are crunchy and juicy and great for eating, but I also plan to use them in this fantastic apple pie recipe sent to me by my friend, Paula. I have tasted it but not yet baked one myself and I can tell you, it is wonderful. Instead of slicing the apples, they are grated, giving the filling a luscious smooth apple consistency. The recipe won Paula first prize (judged by John Bishop) for best apple dessert baked with apples from the bountiful trees of a neighbour who shares her crop this way. Read more

Oct 22

Rustic Plum Tart

Here is a comforting tart, adapted from Epicurious making use of the prune plums available in the Fall, but one that can be varied with other fruit such as apples and pears all year round. Read more

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