What’s Cooking?
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Lemon Lemonies
It’s no secret that I like lemons. I did even before I acquired the last name in a previous marriage. Even as a kid, my love for all things tart extended to rhubarb and gooseberries. Lemon bars didn’t exist in that world, but if they had, I would’ve been right there. I came across this
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Cajun Sweet Potatoes
Like many small-town Midwesterners and Southerners, I grew up in a world of candied sweet potatoes. Marshmallows were a new-fangled poseur-type thing when they showed in the Eisenhower Administration, not that anyone ever knew that French word. I never saw a recipe for sweet potatoes; like dressing, it was something you, or your mother or
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Pumpkin Pudding
Here’s the pumpkin pudding recipe from Larry Forgione that I wrote about in a story about An American Place. I’ve gotten a couple of requests for it. This is part of a dinner menu I haul out when I’m feeding people whose palates are conservative. (A nice soup to start, then roast chicken and a
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Mediterranean Chicken Salad
Quickly – before tomato season is over, make this salad. It’s gorgeous, much of it is make-ahead, and it’s way not the mayonnaise-type chicken salad that so often induces stultifying boredom. I found it in the old, classic Silver Palate Cookbook and did a little adjusting. While I’m buying the tomatoes, I usually can pick
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Ginger-Molasses Cookies
Cookie time again. I brought a batch of these with me when I worked at the polls Tuesday. I suppose there are folks who don’t like this sort of dark, chewy, spicy cookie, but there aren’t many. The original recipe, which I got out of the Back in the Day Cookbook from a few years
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A Better Gingerbread
Do you own a Microplane? That’s the long, file-looking thing that grates all sorts of stuff. I bought one when they first came out and it’s one of the few gizmo-ish things I won’t give up. It’s not essential to make this gingerbread, but it surely does help. And it’s far more efficient than the
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Vaguely Caesarian Dip
Another addition to my collection of things to go with crudites, yes. I don't think this is quite as good with corn or potato chips, although pita chips might do. It all began with a recipe on the net that offered a Caesar salad dressing made with smoked oysters. Smoked oysters are pretty intense. I
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Milk Punch
One of the great brunch traditions in New Orleans, a great brunch town, is the eye-opener. That's an alcoholic drink served before or with the meal. Beyond the Bloody Mary and the mimosa, and far more local in character, is milk punch. Gentle and sippable, it's a welcoming drink, one of my favorites. But I'd
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Eating On the Eve, and a Recipe
Christmas just isn’t the same. Well, of course it isn’t. You’re not the same, your family isn’t the same, your circumstances aren’t the same. The raggedy old knit stocking, faded and bedrabbled and loved, that hung from the front door knob – no fireplace at your house – for all the years of your childhood
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A Potato Gratin
Found: A truly excellent potato side dish. The fact that it's portable enough to carry off to holiday dinners elsewhere adds to its charm. And I found that it's flexible – once you learn the basic recipe, the theory will let the cook make it larger or smaller as the number of diners vary. Credit