Some time ago, I went a little overboard in a gourmet food shop, buying up all sorts of little French and Italian goodies – the kind of things that tend to linger on a shelf waiting for the “right” time to use them. More often than not, they go bad before the “right” time comes. I bought a tiny little tube with tomato shortbread batons from France. Only after I left the store … [Read more...] about Tomato Sablés
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Baked Camembert with Hazelnut and Cranberry Crumble
When I was in school in England many moons ago, the chic appetizer on menus all over the country, from bistros to pubs, was fried camembert with a cranberry relish. Small wheels, or sometimes wedges, of camembert were breaded and fried and served with anything from a canned-type cranberry sauce to complicated cranberry relishes. One English grocery store even (to this day) … [Read more...] about Baked Camembert with Hazelnut and Cranberry Crumble
Herbed Focaccia Dinner Rolls
If you search through the bread recipes on this site, you will see that it maps out my quest to bake fresh bread without too much effort. I am not one who is going to carefully nurse starters or delicately knead and form stylish loafs of artisan breads. The mysteries of yeast sometimes elude me. I love a shortcut, but I do love the smell of fresh bread baking and the sense of … [Read more...] about Herbed Focaccia Dinner Rolls
Farro and Herb Minestrone
There are one million and one delicious versions of an Italian style bean soup that it is almost impossible to narrow down a favorite. So the best thing to do, in my opinion, is to start from scratch, and that is what I’ve done here. I don’t really know if this is technically a minestrone, a pasta e fagioli or what, all I do know is that it is really delicious. I have become a … [Read more...] about Farro and Herb Minestrone
Gorgonzola and Rosemary Gougères
I discovered gougères quite by accident when I was a teenager curious in the kitchen, though not at that point by the name gougères. I found a recipe for cheese pastry puffs in a cookbook or a magazine and gave them a try. They were such a hit, particularly with one family we used to have for dinner, that I made them over and over and over again. I think I wanted that family to … [Read more...] about Gorgonzola and Rosemary Gougères
