cooking with curiosity…from the ground up
Today I remember my mother, who passed from this existence and into the next on March 31, 2023, with one of her best recipes: Ann Ripley’s Potato Salad. The day mom passed, even though the calendar said it was spring, the weather was deeply cold. It was one of the harshest winters we had during…
As the wise Samuel Johnson once said, “People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed.” So as we return to the salad theme, FFA reminds you—although you probably need no instruction—about the Crunchy Broccoli and Cauliflower Salad made popular in the Midwest. This simple recipe has been around a lot…
Green Beans with Tomatoes Garlic and Herbs – à la Julia is a recipe FFA interpreted from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. These beans go well with sautéed ham, roast lamb or beef, steaks, pork chops or baked or roasted chicken. This is a 3-step recipe that’s simple to make with dazzling…
Have you heard the shocking Thanksgiving news? We’ve been warned that the global supply chain and labor shortages will keep turkeys safely at the farms this year and breathing. Good news for the gobblers among us but, if the unthinkable happens, what are the alternatives to turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and green bean casserole? Naturally…
April 9, 2021–Yangchow Fried Rice – à la Mai Leung is a delicious way to resurrect leftover rice that sits shivering, cold and unloved in your refrigerator. I present you today with a fabulous dish from Mai Leung’s The Classic Chinese Cook Book, first printed in 1976. It has since been updated, but I use her…
The Hill Seafood and Chop House is a small, toney restaurant that has long graced the upscale Kercheval Avenue neighborhood of Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, where I once worked. The food is good, if expensive, but its best-kept secret remains its white beans vinaigrette served with a basket of bread when you sit down for…
SAN MIGUEL COUNTY, CO—Oct. 12, 2019—These are the busy cabbage days of fall. At night around here the cold descends into the mid-teens and lays its killing frost on whatever tender, leafy vegetables are left in the garden. (Cue witch’s cackle!) Although cabbage is hardly tender, before the predicted 15 degrees Fahrenheit set in last…
A stupendous almond tart, discovered by accident in 19th century England, was thought so wonderful as to deserve its own holiday. For the few of us who celebrate Bakewell Tart Day every year on August 11th, I offer a 1927 recipe for the elusive original, curated by Regula Ysewijn, a Belgian anglophile whose British cookbooks…
It’s getting cold out there and that means it’s pie-making season and I always begin with a quantity of pie crusts. Rather than build a crust for every pie as I bake, I like to prepare this–my go-to recipe–which makes six, 9-inch crusts that are superior to the Pillsbury crust found in your grocery store….
Have you heard the shocking Thanksgiving news? We’ve been warned that the global supply chain and labor shortages will keep turkeys safely at the farms this year and breathing. Good news for the gobblers among us but, if the unthinkable happens, what are the alternatives to turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and green bean casserole? Naturally…
It’s just after Halloween and our counters are still covered in bowls of remaining candy. One way I used up some of it was to make pecan turtle brownies with my caramels. This delicious brownie recipe is from The Turtle Bay Cookbook: A Feast of Flavors from Latin American and the Caribbean and the results…
This sponge cake – biscuit de Savoie – is an airy and simple way to sate your sweet tooth. It’s a great dessert to have on hand and can be dressed up or down, depending on how you like it. Try it by slicing into its caramelized crust and eating it plain, or serve it…
Crème Anglaise & Fruit Sauces are easy to make and nice to have on hand: to pour over sponge cake, use in layers of trifle or to deepen the flavors in a bowl of oatmeal, in lieu of milk and sugar. First, the recipe for crème anglaise, a pouring custard, is easy to make if…
Rice pudding with stewed fruit is an old-fashioned comfort food that uses your fruit-tree harvest. Whatever fruit doesn’t make it into a jam or canning jar is game for stewing. Drop fruits like plums, apricots or cherries whole or halved into boiling water and cooked until tender. Add sugar, cook a bit more and then…
Keep Oranges in Cointreau on hand during the high-pressure holidays to help preserve your sanity and reputation for delicious desserts when friends and family casually drop in—with or without notice! Oranges in Cointreau takes only 20 minutes to prepare and can be kept in the fridge through November and December (if it lasts that long!)….
