Butter
Good butter is sometimes worth paying more money for. Want to find out why you should go for a better fat?
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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...
Baguettes the French like - 2 Jun 2010
With grilling and picnic weather now in, a meal al fresco can be made or broken by your choice of bread. A bad baguette is almost as bad as that squish-flat-between-forefinger-and-thumb Kleenex bread. But there are some good ones around. read more...
Brioches - 18 Nov 2007
Brioches are a chef's toque-shaped French bun made from a sweet yeast dough made rich, yellow and fluffy with large amounts of eggs and butter. Make a breakfast change from croissants, try a brioche with good sweet butter and a fruity jam. read more...
Butter - a good fat if it's good butter - 2 Jun 2010
We make such a fuss about fat. Like everything else, don't have too much of it and aim for the best. Good butter is sometimes worth paying more money for. Read "Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, with Recipes" by Jennifer McLagan to feel better about it. read more...
Cakes - to order or make beautiful - 10 Mar 2010
Baking cake for a celebration, cupcakes for school or work? Or need someone else to do it for you? Here's all you need to keep you in cake. read more...
Desserts: Blue Duck Tavern Apple Pie - 3 Sep 2009
You can't have enough apple pie recipes. Here's a very different one with phenomenal, though very challenging, pastry from Laurent Merdy, pastry chef of The Blue Duck Tavern. It was selected by USA Today as one of the Top 25 Best Dishes of 2006. read more...
Desserts: Greenage tart - 2 Jun 2008
Greengages are little green plums. I found them recently at the Afghan Mini Market on Backlick Rd, Springfield and at Iransara, in the Peking Gourmet shopping strip, at 6039 Leesburg Pike. Buy ones that are soft only. But you can make this tart with any kind of plum - or with apricots or apples. It's quick, it's easy, it's mouthwatering. read more...
Desserts: Sticky Pecan Buns - 12 May 2008
He Who Must Not Necessarily Be Obeyed bought me a KitchenAid. So he is being obeyed for a wee while, which means I downloaded the Food Network's recipe for Joanne Chang's Sticky Buns. After all, they won against Bobby Flay's in a throwdown. And as a first-time bun baker, I thought I'd have a go at perhaps the trickiest dough there is. Paradise reached in one! The photo is of that key moment before they went into the oven, demonstrating that despite all the goo they were sitting in and my lack of faith, they did rise again. (Besides, when I took the photo of when they came out, it was as dark as the buns. Want do you want? I have to learn to conquer a KitchenAid, a brioche recipe and camera all at once?) read more...
Fish: Halibut with Fanny Bay Oysters, Sauternes and Blood Orange Reduction - 8 Oct 2007
The secret of this recipe from Yannick Cam, once owner-chef of Le Paradou, is in balancing the tartness of the citrus fruits against the unctuousness of the Sauternes and the butter in the sauce, then serving it with fish of prime freshness. read more...
Jamaican burnt sugar - 28 Nov 2007
Jamaican burnt sugar adds a strong depth of flavor when added to sweeten desserts like a creme caramel instead of ordinary sugar. read more...
Kwansaa cakes to order - 23 Nov 2007
Kwansaa cakes, made and decorated to order. read more...
Mains: Flemish Beef Stew with Belgian Beer - 24 Jun 2009
Bart Vandaele, owner-chef of Belga Café, says, “Beef stew with beer is a traditional Belgian dish. I love it and it still is one of the most popular dishes in Belgium. You can find it in Belgium in different varieties, because it is typically a dish that every mother cooks her own way." read more...
Mains: Roasted Peking Duck, Kohlrabi, Apples, and Chard - 9 Sep 2008
This is a dish to take you into fall and winter from Brendan Cox, late of Circle Bistro and Notti Bianche, now of DC Coast. While the duck is roasting in the oven, you have plenty of time to tackle the vegetables and the rich sauce. read more...
Marmite madness - 4 Mar 2009
Marmite is a shiny tar-like spread made out of the residues that come from brewing beer. Brits love it. 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...
Risotto - the grains of truth - 21 Jul 2010
You can't make risotto from any old rice. Certainly not from a Carolina short grain. That'll just make a rice pudding. If you buy the right rice, turning out a perfect risotto is not hard. read more...
Saint Michel Bakery - one of my favorites - 8 Jul 2009
I've been mourning the deterioration in quality of Bonaparte Bakery's baguettes. They've lost that balance between crustiness and crumbiness and Wagshal's, where I go to buy them, no longer stocks their ficelles which I preferred to the baguettes. I don't know if that means that Bonaparte's doesn't bake them any more. But at any rate, I don't mind too much. I've discovered a proper French bakery - Saint Michel Bakery, owned by a proper French baker, Bertrand Houlier. read more...
Scones, the English way - 20 May 2010
Eat these scones warm from the oven. You won't recognize them: they've barely any relationship with those marginally edible rocks better suited to breaking windows sold in bakeries. read more...
South Mountain Creamery - one of my favorites - 2 Jul 2009
Not strictly speaking a market, because you don't go to it, it comes to you. But South Mountain Creamery is worth knowing about. The Sowers and Brusco families behind it deliver farm-fresh ice cold milk in the old fashioned glass bottles direct to the cooler on your doorstep - if you're not in to take collection personally.
You put your order in on-line. And it's not just for milk. read more...
Starters: Flambéed Figs with Goat Cheese and Prosciutto - 23 Sep 2009
Janis McLean, chef of The Morrison-Clark Inn, turns fresh or dried figs into an appetizer or something to pass around with cocktails that's a little out of the ordinary. read more...