One of life’s great pleasures is picking perfectly ripe blackberries, still warm from the sun, and popping them directly into your mouth until you have juice dripping down your elbows. … [Read more...]
Strawberry Shortcake with Rhubarb Sauce
It rained last night! In California that is cause for celebration. At the market today I found gorgeous Lucerno Farm’s strawberries. Tiny berries, red through and through, sweet as can be. Also, rhubarb. What better way to celebrate! … [Read more...]
Cured Meyer Lemons
The Meyer lemon trees in Berkeley, including mine, are still loaded with fruit. Not wanting to waste a single lemon, I searched through my cookbook collection to find something new to make with them. I came across a way to preserve lemons quicker, and different … [Read more...]
Pie Dough
It makes me sad when I see an empty wedge of pie crust on someone’s plate. Crust should be delicious in its own right, almost as satisfying as when accompanied by a mouthwatering filling. You may think of the filling first, but pie is not pie without the crust. Pie crust has … [Read more...]
Blood Orange Tart
My favorite anytime-of-the-year color combination is red and orange, the colors that come to life when you join persimmon with pomegranate, cranberry with orange, kumquat with rhubarb, cherry with apricot, watermelon with cantaloupe, or peach with plum. Standing alone in a … [Read more...]
Kumquat Poppy Seed Financiers
When my daughter showed me a photograph of The Bojon Gourmet’s gorgeous Black Sesame Kumquat Financiers, I knew I needed to make them as soon as I could get my hands on some kumquats. Kumquats are the darlings of the citrus family, are the size of oblong marbles and are fun to … [Read more...]
Mom’s Bread
My mom was crowned The Bread Queen by her friends years ago. Everyone knew she made the best bread around. In the 60s and 70s not many people made bread at home, and there weren’t artisan bread shops on every corner as there are now—at least in the S.F. Bay Area. Homemade bread … [Read more...]
Meyer Lemon Curd
I could eat lemon curd by the spoonful. It is that good. Made with Meyer lemons, it is sublime. Though I like it on a scone with a bit of clotted cream, I like it best in a tart, as a cake filling, or best of all, in a nest of billowy meringue. Over the years I … [Read more...]
Caramel Sauce
You can make caramel sauce with just sugar and cream--and it will be wonderful. Those two ingredients are all you need to make an excellent topping for ice cream, or for a sauce poured over slices of cake, pie, or profiteroles. However, if you are going to swirl caramel sauce … [Read more...]