Recipes

This light and airy chocolate cake is perfect with a chocolate buttercream frosting, a coffee buttercream frosting, or sweetened whipped cream. It has a rich cocoa flavor, with an underlying hint of espresso. It’s also fun to put a thin spread of seedless raspberry preserve between the layers, particularly if you are choosing the chocolate buttercream. The lightness comes from incorporating air in both the initial blending of sugar with butter, oil and egg yolks, and the secondary lightness from the egg white meringue. Remember, the lightness of the sugar/butter/egg mixture is made possible by all the ingredients being at room temperature, and beating the mixture for several minutes. Adding cold eggs or cold half & half will greatly diminish the rise and airiness of the layers.

A tasty savory tart that can be eaten hot, room temperature or cold. It’s great for lunch with a salad, part of a picnic spread or even a light dinner. The curry and cumin gives the tart a wonderful aroma, as well as depth in flavor. The spices pair perfectly with the firm, lightly processed rice blend as well as the medley of vegetables.

This is another in a series of basic pastry doughs. It is used mainly in savory dishes like quiche, the rice and vegetable tart and meat or chicken pot pies. The dough can be made ahead, refrigerated for up to 3 days, or frozen for up to a month, or several months if you use a food saver vacuum sealer. As with most pastry doughs of this type, it is best when worked as little as possible, and that all ingredients be very cold. When rolling out the dough, you should be able to see small pieces of butter. This will ensure that it will be tender and flakey when baked.

I love soups for many reasons. They are generally easy to make, they feed your spirit, and soups place no limits on your creativity. This flavorful soup fills the house with the aroma of the curry and other spices that date back thousands of years. Curry powder is actually a spice blend, so different brands will have slightly different flavors. Any that appeal to you will work for this recipe.

This is the classic choux paste that has been around since the 1500’s, and is the base for eclairs, cream puffs, profiteroles, gougeres and more. It is not difficult to make as long as you keep to a few simple rules. The liquid must be heated to a full boil, the flour must be completely incorporated and cooked for one minute to get rid of the raw flour taste, and the paste must be mixed and baked while still warm. The baked outcome is sort of magical in that these few simple ingredients puff up crisp on the outside, hallow on the inside and can be filled with just about anything. Have fun and be creative.

My grandmother was born in a small town in the Lombardia region of Italy, that bordered the Piemonte region. I don’t know for certain, but through research I believe this is the reason that growing up, the risotto in my house was made using red wine as was common in Piemonte. I actually wasn’t aware that there were other ways of making it until I moved to San Francisco in 1964 and tasted Risotto Milanese. It was also a great introduction to saffron. Since then I’ve made my favorite rice dish many different ways, but this version from my childhood still feeds my soul. I realize that the giblets are something that most people discard, but I urge you to try them. They add a special flavor and texture that blends well with the spiciness of the sausage, the earthy quality of the dried Porcini and the “toothyness” of the rice.