Homemade Veggie Burgers
Veggie burgers don’t always have to be seen as a second-rate meat substitute; at their best they have a wholesome, not-too-filling-but-still-satisfying vegetable-y goodness. From a culinary perspective, veggie burgers are just a savory vegetable croquette topped with all of the delicious trimmings of a burger. The freezer section of your local grocery probably has its...
Oatmeal Sandwich Bread
To be perfectly honest, I am really more of an artisanal bread person. I swoon over a chewy yet crisp ciabatta, or a thick slice from a rustic boule. But I’m no bread elitist. I am not blind to the pleasures of American-style sandwich bread. It’s soft, moist even crumb is perfect for toasting, and...
Blood Orange Marmalade
Marmalade is much easier to make than most people presume (particularly made in small batches like this one). There are plenty of recipes dedicated to making jams and jellies with low sugar content. This is not one of those recipes. Marmalade is traditionally a sugar preserve — so I make no apologies about the sugar...
Whole Wheat Crackers
I enjoy all of the little– shall we say– particularities of working with pastry doughs. They must be carefully handled. (As one of my dear pastry instructors would say “like children: gentle, but firm.”) They must rest, chilled, for the appropriate amount of time, allowing the gluten to relax. Then they must be cut and...
Homemade Vanilla Extract
If you read the “ingredients” section in any book with a pastry chef’s name on the front, you will likely find a discussion of that chef’s preferred vanilla bean, complete with a discussion of its unique and superior qualities. Now let me first state that there is a marked difference between vanilla beans from different...
Candied Citrus Peel
I first candied citrus peels when I was living in Florence. In fact, I’m not sure that I had even heard of candied citrus peel before. I was amazed to find out that the pithy, spongy white part of the rind could be miraculously transformed into something far better than edible…. I would even say...
Labne (Yogurt Cheese)
Cutting back on my budget has, inevitably, meant cutting back on cheese. Cheese really ought to be an expensive product. To get a little perspective on food costs, I’ll often think of all of the steps it takes to produce a particular food product. Cheese gets very involved: first feed must be grown to nourish...
Seeded Granola
I have done a lot of fussing with granola recipes. I wasn’t able to find one that I liked (crunchy, clumps that don’t dissolve at the sight of milk, not too sweet). So I was forced to fiddle until I found a method that I liked. The procedure I’ve arrived at is, admittedly, not the...
