Desserts
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West Indian Black Cake - 1 Dec 2011
At Christmas time in Jamaica, a traditional black cake is baked in which the dried fruits and peel have been soaking in alcohol since the previous Christmas. It's a far more intense cake than traditional fruit cake, and covered in a dark, dark frosting. read more...
Chocolate Truffles - 1 Dec 2011
It's always a treat to be given a home-made food gift from a good cook. Trent Conry - one time chef of 401 then Ardeo - has three sumptuous chocolate recipes for food presents any time of year but especially the holiday season, that even a modest cook can tackle fearlessly. read more...
Chocolate tart - 21 Apr 2011
Forget Easter eggs. Make this celebratory tart from Tom Power, owner-chef of Corduroy. It's an elegant and deeply chocolate dessert that will pass you off as a master patissier yet it's not hard to make. read more...
David Guas - owner-pastry chef of Bayou Bakery - 13 Jan 2011
When he was young, says David Guas, pastry chef and owner of The Bayou Bakery, "A lot of people thought I had ADD." He was an outdoors boy who loved to ski, mountain bike and, yes, garden, not study as he was supposed to.
At a local food court making cheese steaks, he found he liked trying to get his customers to smile while he was making their sandwiches. "I'm not a stage person, but I like to be a little front-and-center. Behind someone? Not." He also got his first tattoo. His father saw the bandage and gave him 30 days to find somewhere else to live. read more...
York Castle Tropical Ice Cream - 26 Oct 2010
This is one of my favorite spots not just for its exotic ice cream flavors. Fall is the best time of year for one of them - Pumpkin.
Owner Caroline Tay is also one of my favorite market people. Like me, she thinks Washingtonians should venture beyond the diamond for their culinary adventures. After all, her ice cream parlor is just at the top of 16th Street where it meets Georgia Avenue - a straight shot from the 7th Street NW Convention Center.
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Baked Chocolate Sabayon - 15 Oct 2010
Corduroy on 9th Street NW is one of those restaurants chefs say they love to eat at. So if you can't get there, here is owner chef Tom Power's recipe for Baked Chocolate Sabayon which is just the ticket for fall feasting. read more...
Pan Dulce - 8 Sep 2010
Katsuya Fukushima, of Jose Andres' minibar and Café Atlántico, takes classic French toast and by changing the bread to brioche, putting Chihuahua cheese from Latino markets between the slices and adding cinnamon to the egg custard, gives it a Latin American twist. read more...
Jelly - the new old dessert - 26 Aug 2010
You call it Jell-O, I call it Jelly. It's that US/British pronunciation difference again. Whatever your preference, mine is for that wibbly wobbly dessert that has come roaring back into fashion, led by kitchen alchemists like Heston Blumenthal distilling intense flavors into a translucent confection.
So what makes them gel? read more...
Baskin Robbins' French Vanilla is no more! - 21 Jul 2010
It doesn't matter how inventive an ice cream company gets (consider the wacky concoctions from Jen & Berry's, as I know them). Bottom line, if you can't make a decent vanilla or a decent chocolate, then the rest of your flavors won't be much good.
So does Baskin Robbins suspect its French Vanilla is no great shakes? Because to celebrate its 65th birthday, it's taking the flavor off the market. read more...
Desserts: Sopa de Chocolato Blanco con Compota de Frutos Rojos - 24 Jun 2010
This is one of those recipes we all hunt for: a dish, in this case a dessert, that is impressive to taste and to look at, that can be whipped up with little effort and time. It came from Santi Zabaleta, when he was chef of Taberna del Alabardero. Now you'll find his cheerful face at A & H Seafood & Gourmet in Bethesda, which he owns. read more...
Berries - ripe for picking - 24 Jun 2010
Berry picking is one of the highlights of summer, with different fruits following each other through the season, even the rare blackcurrants and gooseberries. read more...
Cream teas - a summer staple - 20 May 2010
The British love their afternoon tea in town. Cream teas are another passion and no tourist to Devon or Cornwall should leave without having had one. They're named for the fresh baked scones smothered in jam and a cream so yellow and thick you could hang tiles with it. The great debate between the two English counties is whether the cream or the jam goes down first.
Clotted cream, the ultra heat-treated, stiff white paste sold in glass jars here is no relation to the real McKoy which you can make yourself. read more...
Moorenko's Ice Cream Café - 17 May 2010
Susan Soorenko was on vacation with her two sons and stopped for some particularly good ice cream. "Mom", said the sons, "why don't you bring this back to Virginia?" Soorenko, a fitness trainer, didn't realize they meant a quart of the stuff and approached the company to ship their ice cream across the country for her to sell. When they told her it was too far and she'd have to learn how to make it herself, she took herself off to Ice Cream University. read more...
Cupcake mania? I don't get it. - 12 May 2010
Aside from Ladurée in Paris which launched beautiful, crisp yet melting, highly-colored, scented macaroons as a patisserie to cross town for, the joy of indulging desire for a cake is to linger over a case full of éclairs, japonnaises, babas, fruit tartlettes, confections of chocolate, cream and custard, before pointing at the one gateau of the moment's desire.
A cupcake bakery offers you - cupcakes. I don't get it. Okay, you can pick between flavors and toppings. But cupcake is cupcake. Besides, cupcakes are so last tea party. The next fad coming down the pike is the individual whoopie pie. You read it here first. read more...
Bittersweet Mocha Grappa Torte with Walnuts - 23 Apr 2010
Domenica Marchetti, author of Big Night In, from which this recipe is taken, says: "I can't even count the number of times that chocolate tortes have been a source of disappointment to this chocolate lover...either too liquored up, too jammy, too nutty, too dry, or too dense (giant chocolate truffle, anyone?). That's why I am so in love with this recipe; it delivers everything it promises."
So I tried it. And she's right. But the photo is of my version not her elegant one. Tidying up its overspill was a treat - I just ate the bits I sliced off for beautification... read more...
Apple Tarte Tatin - 10 Mar 2010
This French classic gets a contemporary make-over from Michelle Poteaux, co-owner and co-chef at Bastille. Easy to do - though perhaps not quite as beautifully as professional pastry chef Michelle has done - it's a star at any party year round. read more...
Quince - 4 Nov 2009
Quince season is short, so run out to a Middle Eastern market like Yekta or an Asian market like H Mart or Le Market, and pick out some of these yellow, pear-like and scented fruits to chop into a rough-on-the-tongue stewed puree or to make membrillo, the Spanish paste to eat with Manchego or Cheddar cheese, or for an exquisite translucent coral pink jelly to go with cold meats. read more...
Mochi - a Japanese dessert - 14 Oct 2009
Mochi, a Japanese ice cream covered in dough, has developed a broad fan base. It makes for a very different dessert... read more...
Endless Simmer picks up an eatWashington recipe! - 23 Sep 2009
Endless Simmer, a DC-based food blog, has picked up a recipe (and some info) from eatWashington! read more...
Barbara Kafka's Crème Anglaise in 6 minutes - 9 Sep 2009
Crème Anglaise is such a seductive, soothing vanilla sauce wonderful with fall fruit tarts and cobblers, it's tempting to ignore the dessert it coats and just eat this perfect custard. Cookbook writer and regular New York Times food pages contributor Barbara Kafka has a brilliant short cut to perfect Crème Anglaise that you don't need to stand over fearfully to prevent it from curdling. It's one of two good reasons to invest in a microwave. (The other is heating milk to froth for coffee...) read more...
The lunch shift is over and chef Peter Smith, owner of PS 7’s restaurant is surrounded by gin. No, he’s not relaxing over a drink. The gin is in bowls in an pre-formed state. It’s the mash, a mix of herbs and berries and peels and roots that Smith has worked out how to use in his food as flavorings.
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