Of Castles, Gingerbread & Wizardry

A castle from the Age of Princesses

I have been taken to task by the Picky Eater because I omitted too many of the fabulous gingerbread castles that have been constructed on our watch. So, without further ado, a second gallery of amazing edifices. Be sure to take your time and savor the tiny details.

The entrance to Redwall castle

Portrait of Martin the Brave

Last, but hardly least, is our friend Frank's truly spectacular Hogwarts Castle from 2010. See if you can find Nagini the snake, Nearly Headless Nick, and Hagrid's giant spider friend Aragog.

Hagrid guards the castle entrance

Quidditch, anyone?

Our Gingerbread House Gallery

Here are some of our gingerbread building efforts. I'm sure that you will be impressed- I always am!

And I hope that these will inspire your own innovative gingerbread house design. Remember, if all else fails, keep adding candy and you can't go wrong!

The Marc Chagall Flying Cottage

Flying Cottage with Family on the Roof

Frank's Soccer Stadium. Looks like the red shirts are ahead!

The Picky Eater's homage to Frank Lloyd Wright

A bird's eye view of the FLW house

L'Ecole de Danse, designed and executed by the Picky Danseuse

UC Davis Chem Building 194 

Frank's Football Stadium with bleacher seats and scoreboard

Sophia's Sugar Shack

Japanese Manka (farmhouse)- traditional side

Japanese Manka- Harajuku side (blurry photo due to house vibration)

Owl House

Don Quixote's lonely windmill

Tis the Season- for Gingerbread Houses!!

The Picky Eater- already a skilled decorator at age 4.

The Picky Eater has been building gingerbread houses since she was old enough to eat a jelly bean. Her many wonderful handcrafted edifices include the Ballet Studio, Science Building 194 at UC Davis, a Redwall castle, and the variation on Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling River. Her mother is no slouch in the gingerbread house department either- there have been the Japanese farmhouse, the Marc Chagall hovel, Three Bears at the Beach, the Hot Pepper Taco Stand, Don Quixote’s Windmill, and various other oddities over the years. We even featured a collection of our houses on our holiday card in 2008 (with apologies to Vincent VanGogh!)

Frank's first house at age 5

Even before the Picky Eater was born there was annual gingerbread house making with our friends Kathy, Lindsay, and Virginia Terry. We still chuckle about our first year, when at age two, Virginia was overwhelmed by the candy, chaos, and activity, and had to go to bed. (Virginia  is now twenty-eight.) Back in those days the construction took place at the Terry's house and inevitably it would be raining by the time came for our houses to go home- have you ever tried to carry a gingerbread house through the rain? Not one of life's great pleasures. I am well known for being insistent and over zealous when it comes to gingerbread houses. Pre 9-11 Dr. Hal's East Coast niece and nephew were visiting. Learning that they had never decorated gingerbread houses, we launched in the day before they left to fly home, and I insisted that their parents carry them on the plane, each in its own cardboard box. I can only hope that they ditched them before boarding, but to this day have been afraid to ask! Since the Picky Eater went to college we have enlisted a new generation of cookie house makers- Frank (age 9), Sophia (age 6), and Isabella (age 5).

Over the years we have honed our technique for maximum efficacy. These are some tips,  gleaned from our years of experience:
Cut & bake your house pieces the day before. After cooling, cover tightly on a cookie sheet or tray with aluminum foil.
Roll out, cut, and bake the dough on a sheet of parchment paper.
Use disposable pastry tubes and have one for each decorator.
Gingerbread House Dough
This recipe makes a stiff, forgiving dough that can tolerate lots of rolling and re-rolling out and still tastes good. I usually make 1 batch of dough per person, plus one extra.

1 c. butter
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. white sugar
4 eggs
1/4 t. salt
2 t. cinnamon
1 t. freshly grated nutmeg
1 t. cloves
2 t. ginger
5 c. flour

A heavy-duty electric mixer is a must to make this amount of dough. If using a hand-held mixer, halve the size of your batch.

Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and seasonings, and continue beating about 2 minutes. Gradually beat in as much flour (use the mixer, not by hand!) as you can. Turn the dough out on a board and knead in any remaining flour, to make a very stiff dough. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 24 hours.

Baking the cookies:
Preheat oven to 350°.
Roll half the dough out 1/4” thick on a floured board or parchment paper. Keep remainder of dough refrigerated. Cut out cookie shapes or house pieces. Transfer to a buttered and floured cookie sheet or slide parchment paper onto a cookie sheet.

Bake 12-18 minutes, until the cookies feel dry and firm to the touch. Cool on a rack.  (recipe from From Julia Child’s Kitchen.)

If constructing a house, use this icing as your cement:

Royal Icing
4 egg whites
1/2 t. lemon juice
1/4 t. cream of tartar
8 c. powdered sugar
1 Tb vanilla

With an electric mixer, beat the egg whites, lemon juice, salt, cream of tartar, and 2 c. powdered sugar  until you have a thick white paste. Add the flavoring, and gradually the rest of the powdered sugar, beating. Continue beating until the frosting is thick, smooth, and stands in peaks. ( From Julia Child’s Kitchen.)

This icing should be stiff enough to hold your houses pieces together after just a few minutes.
Here’s a good icing for “eating” cookies:

Cookie Icing
1 c. butter, softened
pinch of salt
6 c. powdered sugar
2 Tb milk or cream
1 Tb vanilla

Cream the butter and salt together in a bowl. Gradually beat in the powdered sugar and the milk. Add the vanilla. Continue beating until the icing is very fluffy.

Icing should be smooth and stiff enough to spread. Tastes great topped with cookie sprinkles.
Makes 3 cups. (From Marion Cunningham's The Fannie Farmer Baking Book.)

House Construction

We usually do this as a 1-3 day process. Day 1: Make cookie dough, Day 2: Cut and bake pieces. Day 3: Make icing, assemble, and decorate houses. Can also be done in 2 days. THE DOUGH MUST BE MADE ONE DAY AHEAD!!
Baking the House Pieces
Supplies:
1 batch gingerbread dough (per house)
Baking parchment paper
flour
rolling pin
cookie sheets
cookie cutters
table knife
spatula

Preheat oven to 350°.
1. Form half of a  batch of dough into a thick pancake, and roll out on parchment paper until ¼” thick, using flour under and on top of dough to prevent sticking.
2. Lay as many pattern pieces as will fit on the dough. Cut out using a table knife. When cutting, make short, choppy overlapping strokes. Cutting in one smooth motion pulls on the dough. Don’t forget to cut out doors and windows – we sometimes use miniature cookie cutters.
3. When cutting and baking pattern pieces, your goal is to distort them as little as possible. The more distorted they are, the more difficult it will be to assemble your house.
4. Pull away the excess dough from around the pattern pieces, and gather it into a smooth ball. The excess dough should be refrigerated for at least 20 minutes, and can then be rolled out again for more pattern pieces or cookies.
5. Slide the parchment paper sheet holding the pattern pieces onto a cookie sheet, and bake in the preheated oven for 12-20 minutes, until the dough seems firm, dry and the edges are barely brown. Large pieces will need to bake longer; you may need to remove them from the oven as they finish baking.
6. Let pieces cool on the parchment paper for about 10 minutes, then use a spatula to transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling. House pieces must be almost completely cool before they can be assembled.

Assembling Your House
Supplies:
Plate, tray or cardboard base
Pastry bags (I use disposable plastic ones; we like to have one for each person)
Simple icing tips (one for each bag)
Royal icing (about ½ batch per house)
Extra cookies for decoration
Vast array of candies & sprinkles: jelly beans, gumdrops, Necco wafers, peppermint sticks, Gummi anythings, etc. etc. The bigger variety the better!

1. Make a couple of batches of royal icing while your house pieces cool. The icing should be on the stiff side so that it will harden quickly to avoid having your house collapse. Cut the bottom of your pastry bag, and insert a tip from the inside. Use a spatula to load up the bag with icing, forcing it to the bottom of the bag. Closing the top of the bag with a rubber band keeps the icing from squeezing out.
2. Also choose a base: it can be a flat plate, tray, etc. We cover large squares of corrugated (box) cardboard with aluminum foil. This type of base allows you to add snow, icebergs, trees and animals, etc.
3. Decide where on your plate or tray you will position your house; making sure that you allow enough space on all sides.
4. It works best if people work in pairs when putting a house together – that way one pair of hands can hold while the other assembles.
5. If making a house with a cookie rectangle base, glue the base down with a bit of icing. Whether using one or not, proceed to construct your house in this manner:
a. Run a line of icing along the bottom edge of the house front and stand it up where you want it. (Attach it to the long edge of your base, if using one.) Hold in place.
b. If your house has sides, run icing along the back of the house front next to the outside edges. Run a line of icing along the bottom edge of each side, and attach them to the front, gently pressing the edges into the icing and the bottom onto your base. Hold in place for a couple of minutes, until the icing is firm.
c. Attach the back by running icing along the bottom edge and inside edges and attach to the sides. Hold in place.
d. Raising the roof is probably the most challenging aspect of this. Run generous lines of icing along each edge with the roof pieces will touch on the house front, back, and sides. Also apply a generous line of icing to the top edge of one roof piece.
e. Quickly position both roof pieces, matching front edges and pushing the roof pieces together at the crest of the roof. Hold in place until you are ABSOLUTELY sure they are secure.
f. The hard part is done!! Now, enjoy decorating your house and landscape the yard with icing, cookies, candies, and sprinkles.
g. Nibbling is inevitable. Take lots of photos, then delight in playing Hansel or Gretel and breaking off bits of your house to eat whenever it strikes your fancy.

Can a Non (practicing) Jew Make Challah?

Looks like challah to me!

That was the question posed by the Picky Eater's cousin Samantha vis-a-vis moi on a recent Friday Sabbath. Samantha is a fairly devout Jew, and is very concerned about my lack of interest in religion. So concerned, that she was skeptical about a "non-Jew's" ability to make challah. This extended to doubting that I could find a proper challah recipe, and she wanted to use a recipe from an unreliable (read purchased on sale from a book remainder bin) looking Jewish cookbook that had been handed down from my mother. When I drew the line there, we compromised by calling Anne and Samantha's friend and expert challah maker Sandy Goldberg. And, I have to admit that Sandy was good- even though she was up at Tahoe, she knew the ingredients and quantities for her challah recipe off the top of her head. Sandy even shared the secret of her success- she slightly underbakes her challah loaves.
Everything went well as we proofed the yeast, kneaded the dough, let it rise, braided, and baked the loaves. And they came out of the oven looking beautiful! I guess that you don't have to be seriously Jewish to make challah, or maybe you just need a Jewish girl as an assistant.

Samantha with a braided loaf ready for its second rise.

After Samantha muttered a prayer in Hebrew over the bread, we fell on the first loaf and wolfed it down. I left the second loaf to cool on the stove prior to wrapping and freezing it- and that was my big mistake. While we lounged around in the back of the house, Teddy the Wonder Dog grabbed the second loaf off the stove, and had devoured two thirds of it before I caught him. He took off with the remains of the challah and made a mad dash for the back bedroom where he sought refuge in a dark corner behind the chaise lounge, unrepentant to the end!

So, let sleeping dogs lie and stay on guard when baking challah!

The culprit- cornered but unyielding!

Sandy Goldberg's Best Ever Challah

Makes 2-3 loaves

2 Tb active dry (not rapid or quick rise) yeast

1 Tb sugar

1 cup warm water (100-110°)

7 ½ cups flour

1Tb salt

5 large eggs, at room temperature 

¾ cup honey

4 oz. (1 stick) butter, melted and cooled + 2 Tb butter to grease the bread bowl

Butter or oil to grease cookie sheets

Note: The most important rule for yeast breadmaking is like the story of the Three Bears- not too hot, not too cool, but just right. Be careful that all the ingredients are at room temperature or a little warmer, or the yeast will not rise. The same goes for the room where you let the dough rise- it should be cozy and warm too. Placing the bowl of rising dough near your stove with the oven turned on to its lowest temperature will work.

Mixing the yeast

Combine the yeast, sugar, and warm water in a small bowl. Allow the yeast to “proof” for about 10 minutes. It will start to bubble.

Making the dough

In a large bowl combine 7 cups of the flour and the salt. In a separate large measuring cup or medium bowl, whisk together 4 of the eggs, melted butter, and honey. Make a well in the center of the flour and pour in the yeast mixture followed by the egg mixture. Stir together with a wooden spoon until as much liquid as possible is combined with the flour, and then use your hands to mix in the loose bits of flour.

Kneading the dough- kneading pushes the yeast in the dough up against the gluten in the flour and makes the bread dough rise.

Sprinkle your work surface (i.e. counter) with the remaining ½ cup flour and turn the dough out of the bowl. Knead the dough by pushing the dough forward and down with your palms. Lift the dough and give it a quarter turn, then fold the half closest to you over, and push it again. Continue the rhythm of turn, fold, and push for about 10 minutes, until the dough feels soft and silky. Form the dough into a ball.

Grease the inside of a large bowl with the remaining 2 Tb of butter. Put the bread dough ball in the bowl upside down to grease the top, and then turn over. Make sure that the whole bread dough ball is buttered. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and then a clean dishtowel, and place in a warm spot in your kitchen to rise. Let the dough rise until double in size, about 2 hours.

Forming the loaves

After the dough has doubled, “punch it down” with your fist. Let it rest while you grease two cookie sheets with butter or oil. Cut the dough into either two or three pieces, depending on the size loaves that you want. Cut each piece into three pieces, and roll each piece into a rope about 14-16” long. Lay the three ropes side by side and braid tightly. Put the loaf on one of the greased cookie sheets, and form the remaining loaves in the same way. Lightly cover each loaf with a piece of plastic wrap or a clean dishtowel, and place them back in your warm spot. Let the loaves rise for about 40 minutes, until they are soft, puffy, and almost double in size. Remove the towels and plastic wrap.

Baking the challah

Arrange the oven racks in the upper and lower thirds and preheat the oven to 350°.  Beat the remaining egg with 1 Tb of water. Gently brush the top and sides of the challah loaves with the beaten egg. Bake for about 25-35 minutes, until the tops are nicely browned, taking them out when slightly underbaked.

Say a prayer (if you’re Jewish) and enjoy! Your extra loaf can be wrapped in plastic and foil and frozen. Defrost and reheat uncovered.

Faye's Carrot Cake

Faye Celayeta nee Stewart was my mother's closest friend from the late 1950's until Faye's death in 1995. Faye was also the “Auntie Mame” in my life. She lived in San Francisco in the 1930s, 40s, & 50s; had an apartment on Russian Hill, knew everyone there was to know, and went everywhere there was to go. In the 1950s, Faye had a cooking show on KPIX, and I remember watching her as a child. She always said that she replaced the test pattern. Faye had impeccable taste, wit, and an inspired zest for life. We will always love her.

The big secret is that Faye didn’t really like to cook. On her show, the floorboys always prepared the food, and she just faced the cameras.
We inherited several "heirloom" recipes from Faye, but none is more precious than her recipe for carrot cake. This is not heavily loaded with pineapple, coconut, and raisins, it is moist and elegant with a soupcon of toasted almonds to break up the texture.

My mother putting the finishing touches on one of her wedding cakes.

I don't recall quite when my mother started baking it, sometime in the late 1960's sounds about right. In the intervening decades Faye's carrot cake has been the basis for a plethora of birthday and wedding cakes for friends, cousins, children and grandchildren, including my own (wedding & child). While I have baked this cake for casual home consumption many times, this past Saturday was my first attempt for a "formal" event, on the occasion of my sister's milestone birthday.

Our wedding cake (made by Nadine) & the bride and groom, c. 1990.

Cake positioned to minimize its asymmetrical decorating.

And, I have to give my mother credit. While I know that she must have stabilized the cream cheese icing with some concoction purchased at Mrs. Edwards' cake decorating emporium, I was clueless as to what it might have been, as well as reluctant to adulterate the icing with artificial additives. BUT, with 1/2 pound of butter, 1 1/2 pounds of cream cheese, and about four pounds of powdered sugar,  this icing was a cake decorating challenge. It was a classic story of "too hot," too cold," and rarely just right. I kept refrigerating the cake and the icing to keep them from softening, but inevitably during the decorating, the warmth of my hands gripping the pastry tube for dear life would soften the icing inside until it collapsed as I piped it out, and when it was fresh from the refrigerator, it was too stiff to use! Frustrating. And, I was on such a sugar high from licking my fingers that it took a glass of cognac at 3:00 am to put me to sleep!

But, I recommend this cake most highly for eating and celebrating. May it be your family heirloom too.                                                                                                                               

Faye's Carrot Cake

2 c. flour

2 c. sugar

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. cinnamon

4 eggs

1 cup salad oil

4 c. grated carrots

1/2 c. chopped nuts

Preheat the oven to 350°. 

Stir together the flour, sugar, soda, salt, and cinnamon. In a large mixer bowl, beat the eggs until frothy, then slowly beat in the oil.

Hand stir in the flour mixture, stirring until smooth. Mix in the carrots and nuts.
Pour the batter into 3 greased & floured 8” round cake pans, or a 10” tube pan. Bake 25-30 minutes in 8” pans, and about 1 hour in a tube pan.
Cool on a rack 10 minutes, then turn out to cool completely on racks. Fill and frost with cream cheese icing (below). Decorate with walnut halves.
Serves 8-12.
Cream Cheese Icing                                                                                                                                
4 Tb butter, softened
6 oz. cream cheese, softened
4 1/3 c. powdered sugar
1 t. vanilla
Blend the butter and cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually beat in the powdered sugar, continue beating until smooth and creamy. Stir in the vanilla. Let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes before frosting the cake.

Foraging for Food In Pittsburgh, Part 1

We all wondered how the Picky Eater would fare in the land of pierogi, Steelers, and pastrami; and the answer is, just fine, thank you very much! She spends most Saturdays taking public transit around Pittsburgh to her favorite exotic foodie haunts. On a recent so-called "Parents Weekend" visit, her dear old mom played chauffeur and ferried her east side, west side, and generally all around the town.

First stop was the Strip District, the city's food center, teeming with ethnic markets- Pennsylvania Macaroni Co., Lotus Grocery, Reyna Foods, and more. And, a newly minted "Public Market," fairly quiet on a Friday afternoon but demonstrating plenty of potential- heritage legumes, local dairy cheeses, and fresh olive oils at Olio Fresca (natch!) But, the Picky Eater's favorite stall is The Berry Patch, where she can't decide between the myriad of yummy flavors and has to try them all.

The Picky Eater is partial to weird Asian condiments at the Lotus. For some reason the sales clerk decided that we shouldn't take pictures of the vegetables, but here's the P.E. posing with the tofu.

Next it was ancho chiles at Reyna-

Doesn't she look happy? Who would have thought ....

After a few more stops to browse- the cheese counter at Penn Mac Co.,

the biscotti at Enrico's, and sniff the chocolates at Mon Aimee Chocolat, we were off to .... you'll never guess where!

An afterword: Somewhere on the strip there is a mythical (to me) restaurant named Primanti Brothers, where all sandwiches are topped with french fries, cole slaw & tomatoes, and onions by request. (See photo)                                         And, the Fresh Cut Fried Potato menu lists Primanti Fries, Cheese fries,  Chili Fries, Chili Cheese Fries, and Smallman Street Fries (chili, cheese, bacon & sour cream) 

Somehow I don't think that I will be dining there any time ever with the Picky Eater. Although I must confess that I did sneak away for a yummy corned beef sandwich at the Smallman Street Deli, and it was worth every inch of the 10 block trek!                       

Enrico Biscotti Company

2022 Penn Ave.

Pittsburgh, PA

Mon - Sat: 6 am - 4 pm; Sun 9 am - 2 pm

412-281-2602  http://www.enricobiscotti.com/biscotti2/

Lotus Foods                                                                                                                                              1649 Penn Ave.

Pittsburgh, PA

412-281-3050

Mon Aimee Chocolat

2101 Penn Avenue 

Pittsburgh, PA 15222

Mon-Fri 8:30 am–5 pm; Sat 7:30 am–5 pm; Sun 10 am–3:30 pm   

412-395-0022  www.monaimeechocolat.com/       

                                                                                              

Pennsylvania Macaroni Company

2010-2012 Penn Ave.

Pittsburgh, PA

Sundays 9:00 am- 2:30 pm

Monday thru Saturday 6:30 am - 4:30 pm   

412-471-8330  http://www.pennmac.com/   

                       

Pittsburgh Public Market

Produce Terminal Building

Smallman Street Entrance opposite 17th Street                                                                                   Fridays 10 am - 4 pm; Saturdays 9 am - 5 pm; Sundays 10 am - 4 pm  http://pittsburghpublicmarket.org/

Primanti Brothers

46 18th Street

Pittsburgh, PA 15222

(412) 263-2142   http://primantibros.com/home.html  24 Hours, 7 Days A Week!                                  

Reyna Foods

2023 Penn Ave.

Pittsburgh, PA

412-261-2606

Smallman Street Deli

2840 Smallman Street

Pittsburgh, PA 15222

412-434-5800  http://smallmanstreetdeli.com/

Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. – 5 a.m.  Saturday, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Birthday Polenta Cake

Celebrating after Champagne & two bottles of Rhone wine. (Don't tell the Picky Eater!)

I was forced to celebrate another birthday yesterday. But, with my history, every birthday is one more to the good. Did some of my favorite things - shopping, swimming, dinner at Enoteca Donato. Made my own birthday cake- that way you always get what you want.
This year it was-

The remains of the cake

Polenta Cake with Olive Oil, Chocolate and Dried Fruit

adapted from Ready for Dessert by David Lebovitz

1/2 c unsalted butter (or substitute), softened, plus more to grease the cake pan
3/4 c polenta or cornmeal,
1 c flour plus 4 Tb for pan and fruit mixture
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 c mild olive oil
5 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 c sugar
1 c chopped good quality chocolate
2/3 c dried cherries
2/3 c golden raisins
Optional: 1 cup chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)

Chocolate glaze choices-
Traditional
6 oz. semisweet chocolate
1/3 c. whipping cream
1 Tb sugar 1 1/2 Tb butter

(For non-dairy eaters):
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/3 cup sugar
3 ounces semi- or bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a 10 cup bundt or kugelhopf pan with a tablespoon or so of butter and dust with flour.  Combine the chocolate, cherries, and raisins in a bowl and toss with 2 Tb of flour.

Stir the flour, polenta, baking powder, and salt together in a small bowl. Set aside. In a second bowl, whisk together the olive oil, eggs, egg yolks, and vanilla.

Use a mixer to beat the 1/2 cup butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Slowly dribble in the egg mixture and beat until completely incorporated. Hand stir in the flour and cornmeal mixture until just mixed and then stir in the chocolate, cherries and raisins.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake in the upper center of the oven until the cake has pulled away from the sides of the pan, is firm on top, and a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean, about 50-60 minutes. Cool in the pan on a rack for 15 minutes, and then invert the cake on the rack to cool completely.  Makes 10-12 servings.

Traditional Chocolate Glaze
Place all ingredients in a small heavy saucepan over moderate heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate is almost melted. Remove from heat and stir until smooth. Transfer to a small bowl and let cool slightly, until it is the consistency of honey.

Non-Dairy Chocolate Glaze
When the cake is cool, drizzle on this glaze (work quickly):
In a small saucepan, bring the water, corn syrup and sugar to a simmer over low heat. Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat and add the chocolate, swirling pan to submerge it in hot syrup. Whisk the mixture until smooth.

Pour the warm glaze of choice over cake and drizzle it down the sides- you will only have a couple minutes to work with it before it sets up.

Memories of Monticchiello con Risotto al Limone

Podere San Guisto

The Picky Eater's idea of heaven on earth is our friends' Ann & Pier Paolo's farmhouse in the Monteleone, about halfway between Pisa & Florence.

La Foce

Our last visit was in the summer of 2011, and one of our forays was a field trip to La Foce, the famous house and garden of the Anglo-American writer Iris Origo. (I highly recommend her autobiography, Images and Shadows: Part of a Life, which details her early years traveling the globe with her wealthy gypsy parents, her youth in Florence when her mother held court with the likes of Bernard Berenson, and the years of hard work she and her Italian husband spent reclaiming the impoverished lands and people that were La Foce.)

Montecchiello view

The daddy will be happy to tell you that any day trip with me in Spain, France or Italy always includes the obligatory two hour lunch, and this day was no different. As usual, we arrived our at destination just in time for lunch- at La Taverna di Moranda in the beautiful village of Montecchiello in the southern Tuscan region of Pienza. Not only is Montecchiello sited on a gorgeous hilltop with amazing views, it also has the best linen shop I have yet to encounter anywhere and a tiny altarpiece "Madonna con bambino" by Pietro Lorenzetti.

The Picky Eater ordered her standard pasta with tomato sauce but for some unknown reason (perhaps a desperate attempt on the chef's part to make it more interesting?) it tasted "too spicy" to her, and seeing her untouched plate, the chef's wife / hostess told us that her seven year old daughter loved it and didn't find it too spicy! Ann, a fellow vegetarian, ordered lemon risotto, which she liked very much and later tried to recreate at home using a recipe for lemon-asparagus risotto from Alice Water's The Simple Art of Food, without the asparagus, and with mixed results.

Ann & the Picky Eater trying to digest
 her spicy pasta 

Linen shop con gatto

Ann is here in Palo Alto visiting her father at the moment and last week we made another go at it. Please note that some hardy soul has to be prepared to wield a spoon and stir for almost all of the 17-20 minutes that it takes to cook the risotto to a creamy finish.

Here is the very delicious result of our experiments-

Amalgamated Lemon Risotto
(a distillation of 2 recipes- one from Patricia Wells' Trattoria 
& one from Nigella Lawson courtesy of the Food Network)

3 shallots, finely chopped
2 ribs of celery, small dice
6-7 cups of vegetable broth
3 Tb butter
2 Tb olive oil
2 cups Italian Arborio or Canaroli rice
1/2 c. white wine
1-2 Tb grated lemon zest
2-4 Tb fresh lemon juice
1/2 c. Parmesan cheese, grated
Fresh ground pepper
Salt to taste

Optional:
1 egg yolk
4 Tb heavy cream
4 Tb grated Parmesan cheese

Ann stirring up a storm

In a large saucepan, heat the stock and keep it at a low simmer.

Melt 2 Tb of the butter and all the olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan over moderate heat. Saute the shallots and celery until the shallots are soft and translucent, about 3 minutes, but do not let them brown. Add the rice and stir until it is well coated with the butter/oil mixture, glistening and semitranslucent, about 1-2 minutes. (Do not skip this step! It helps separate the grains of rice.)

When the rice is shiny, add a ladle of stock, and cook, stirring constantly, until the rice has absorbed most of the stock, which will take 1-2 minutes. Add additional ladlefuls of stock one at a time, stirring constantly, as each ladleful is absorbed. Adjust the heat if necessary to maintain a gentle simmer. Continue adding stock, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan. Taste the risotto regularly until the rice is almost tender but firm to the bite, about 17 minutes. The risotto should have a creamy, porridge-like consistency.

The delicious results!

Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the remaining tablespoon of butter, half of the lemon zest and half the lemon juice, and the Parmesan. Taste and increase the lemon zest and juice to the desired level of "lemony-ness," and add salt and pepper to taste.  Serve immediately.  Serves 4 to 6.

As an alternate finish, you can beat the egg yolk with the cream and Parmesan, and stir it into the risotto along with the lemon zest and juice. This makes for an even creamier and richer tasting risotto.

Zucchini Pancakes- No Maple Syrup Needed!

A perfect crispy zucchini pancake

I bought some exotic "Roman" zucchini at the farmer's market on Sunday, and last night I whipped up some zucchini pancake batter based on a Mark Bittman recipe in How To Cook Everything Vegetarian. It was one of his variations listed under "Vegetable Pancakes." I haven't been a big fan of his recipes in the past, but these were pretty yummy. Dr. Hal refused anything that might be goopy and veggie, so I just made 3/4 of a recipe with two zucchini, and had batter left for two more meals.

The nice thing about this recipe is that you only add enough milk to make the batter spoonable, so you can use the whole egg used for a whole recipe and just add less milk. (I hate having to beat up an egg and try to divide in half or worse, as in this case, 3/4ths!) Last night I cooked the pancakes on medium heat and they were still a little damp inside, so today for lunch I cooked them on a lower heat for longer. I also hand grated the vegetables which helped  preserve their structure. My onion grating experiences usually result in a mess of onion juice and slop, but the onion I used last night grated up into nice little slivers.

Zucchini Pancakes a la Mark Bittman
Makes about twelve 3-1/2" pancakes
1 lb. zucchini
1/2 onion, grated
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup flour
salt and pepper
Milk, as needed
2 Tb olive oil
1/2-3/4 cup Parmesan cheese
Butter or olive oil for the pan

Grate the vegetables by hand into a medium mixing bowl. Stir in the onion, cheese, and flour, andthen the egg. Season with salt and pepper. (You can go easy on the salt because the Parmesan is salty.) Add just enough milk so that the mixture drops easily from a large spoon. Stir in the 2 Tb of olive oil.

Melt a small pat of butter in a large skillet over medium low heat. When the butter is melted and bubbly, drop in spoonfuls of the batter, flattening slightly with your spoon. Cook, turning once, until brown and crispy on both sides, which will take about 15 minutes total.

Partially cooked- it's hard to wait!

You can scarf these up plain, like I did, or serve them with a soupcon of yogurt, sour cream, tomato sauce or pesto. If everyone wants to eat at the same time, you can keep the pancakes warm in a 275 degree oven.

So the $64,000 question is would the Picky Eater eat one?

Further Escapades with Julia

The Picky Eater makes Pate A Choux.

A day spent cooking with Julia is loaded with memories for me, and leafing through the cookbooks brings so many of them flooding back. So, I decided to make a list of all the Julia recipes that I can remember ever cooking, evidenced by the rumples and food dribbles on the cookbook pages.

The recipes are Picky Eater star rated:
*** Fabulous and worth the trouble
** Good relative to the effort
* Worth a try
No Star - Never, ever, ever again!

From Mastering the Art of French Cooking vol. 1 (1961)
**Potage Parmentier (Leek & Potato Soup)
*Soupe A L'Oignon- requires slicing several pounds of onions; guaranteed to make you weep
**Soupe Au Pistou (Provencal Vegetable Soup with Garlic, Basil & Herbs)- one of my earliest attempts, circa 1973 & my first introduction to the French version of pesto, made with dried basil, naturellement!
***Sauce Bechamel & its cousins- Veloute and Mornay
*Sauce Aioli (Garlic Mayonnaise)- guaranteed to spoil after three days
**Piperade (Basque Onion, Pepper, Tomato Ragout)
**Pate Brisee (Pie Crust)- don't forget the fraisage! So much easier made in a food processor.
**Quiche Lorraine
*Pissaladiere Nicoise (Onion Tart with Olives)- Used to make jelly roll pan size for catering. Another onion eye killer.
***Pate A Choux (Cream Puff Paste)
***Petits Choux au Fromage aka Gougeres- the yummiest cheese puffs! I like to add a spoonful of Dijon mustard for contrast.
**Crepes- once made 1000 crepes for....
***Gateau de Crepes a la Florentine- made fifty of these for a backyard wedding with 500 guests in my catering days. My brother ferried the hot crepe gateaux from a rented industrial kitchen to the house for serving.

Dr. Hal's Coq au Vin

**Coq au Vin (Chicken in Red Wine)- a Dr. Hal favorite. He made it just two weekends ago, telling me "I know that you don't like it, but it's really good."
***Poulets Grilles A La Diable (Chicken Broiled with Mustard And Herbs)- relatively easy for Julia
***Boeuf Bourguignon- another all time Dr. Hal favorite
Paupiettes de Boeuf- very 1950's dinner party style

***Tomates A La Provencale (Tomatoes Stuffed with Bread Crumbs, Herbs, and Garlic)

***Champignons Farcis (Stuffed Mushrooms)

**Souffle Au Fromage- our feeble attempt to interest the Picky Eater in eggs & cheese.

A glorious Cheese Souffle 

Gratin Dauphinois (Scalloped Potatoes)- still working on getting the potatoes to soften up! One of my guaranteed ongoing disasters, along with chemically unleavened French cakes.
*Legumes A La Grecque (Vegetables Cooked in Aromatic Broth)- have made a slew of these in my day.
*Celeri-Rave Remoulade (Celery Root in Mustard Sauce)
**Pommes De Terre A L'Huile (French Potato Salad)- still embarrassed about the first time I made this and didn't cook the potatoes all the way through.
***Salade Nicoise- one of my all time favorites!
*Mousse De Foies De Volaille (Chicken Liver Mousse)- chopped chicken liver gone elegante.
**Creme Anglaise (Custard sauce)

The French Chef Cookbook (1968)
Sorry to say that I have never used FCC- no need with access to the other books. Love the still photos of Julia sniffing vanilla beans, tasting for seasoning, and preparing to poach a salmon in a washtub!

The Beef Box- never again!

Mastering the Art of French Cooking vol. II (1970)
***Potage Magali (Mediterranean Tomato Soup with Rice)- Yummy & never fail!
La Paupiette De Gargantua (Giant Stuffed Beef Roll)
Boeuf en Caisse, Surprise (Stuffed, Braised Pot Roast of Beef- Beef Case) aka as "Beef in a Box"- The night I made this recipe as a donation luncheon, Dr. Hal made me swear at least 30 times "Never, never, never again" to  any outside catering! he had to cut a 7 lb. piece of top round beef into a box shape and cut out the inside, while I made a roux based sauce. The "surprise" had to be braise for hours (until 2 am in this case) and then I was up at 3 to rip off its cheesecloth cover, worried that it would stick as the meat cooled.
La Tentation De Bramafan (Eggplant Caviar with Walnuts)
*Tuiles Aux Amandes (Lacy Curved Almond Wafers)- guaranteed to singe your fingers!


Julia Child & Company (1978)
***Los Gatos Gateau Cake- rum flavored buttercream and apricot filling sandwiched between layers of almond meringue and iced with more buttercream and sliced almonds. Thank god for parchment paper!
Poulet De Charente A La Melonaise (Chicken Melon)- only fools rush in ...
**Skewered Vegetable Salad- good summer veggie dish
**Apple Turnover- gargantuan size to serve 6. The dessert cousin of the "pantins" listed below.
Chicken Bouillabaisse with Rouille (Garlic & Pimento Sauce)- part of the Lo-Cal Banquet, too lo-cal for me
*Aspargus Tips in Puff Pastry with Lemon Butter Sauce- And this she considers part of an "informal" dinner? Who makes puff pastry for a casual appetizer?
An American Paella In A Chinese-Style Electric Wok- beware of uncooked rice
**Ham Pithiviers (Puff Pastry Tart with Hidden Ham Filling)- worth making puff pastry for this one. Like the Almond Pithiviers, it will have you licking your plate
*Gravlaks (Dilled Fresh Salmon)- be sure to plan ahead, it takes 5 days to cure
***Minimeatballs- yummy mix of ground beef and pork pork sausage in a tangy sauce. One of the best of the genre.
*Bourbon-soaked Chocolate Truffles- too alcoholic and bitter for me
**Homemade Noodles- my first noodle manufacturing experience. Ok, as long as you don't try to jam the dough through the pasta machine (I bent ours).
***Le Gateau Victoire Au Chocolate Mousseline- a chocolate mousse cake of epic proportions. I have only made it once and it was amazing! Requires focus and serving right from the oven- do it for a dinner party when someone else is sharing the cooking duities with you.
**Homemade Pita Bread Pizzas- yummy, but, like all pizzas, very high carb/fat.
Chocolate-Chip Spice & Pound Cake

The Chocolate Bombe- how we love you so!

Julia Child & More Company (1979)
**Buttermilk-Herb Baking Powder Biscuits
**Celery Root Remoulade - I like to use the sour cream-mustard dressing on other cruciferous vegetables like cabbage.
*******Bombe Aux Trois Chocolats (A Chocolate Mousse Hidden Under a Mold of Chcolate Fudge Cake, Topped with Chocolate Sauce) - we have a bowl and pattern cutouts devoted just to this dessert, our go-to tradition for Christmas. Rich and amazing. Never, ever, ever make this recipe with anything but the best quality chocolate.
*Cobb Salad - hearkens back to Julia's Southern California roots
*French Onion Soup Gratinee - a little over the top to make your own beef stock (I never do)
Gateau of Crepes Layered with Vegetables and Cheese - I once made this for a catering client who cold called me and asked me to make it for her after she had watched Julia make it on tv.

**Pears Poached in White Wine - these days I prefer to use apple juice, you skip the wine & sugar and throw in lemon zest, cinnamon sticks, and a soupcon of vanilla.
***Caramel Sauce - the BEST!!
*Gazpacho Salad (Layers of Colorful Freshly Cut Vegetables with Bread Crumbs and Garlic Dressing) - a ton of finicky dicing but a nice result. This can take hours if you're making enough for fifty or sixty people.
Plantation Spice Cookies - never became a fixture in my repetoire
Artichoke Scoops with Shellfish - love the egg yolk vinaigrette dressing, but only tried the whole process once.
Pissaladiere Gargantua (Giant Onion and Anchovy Pizza) - used olives instead of anchovies for catering purposes. This really isn't a pizza as it has a pie dough base. Haven't made one of these in years- sort of got sick of it.

From Julia Child's Kitchen (1981)
*Soupe Au Cresson (Watercress Soup)
**Quiche Aux Brocoli
**Pantin Aux Epinards, Simone Beck (Simca's Spinach Turnover with Ham & Mushrooms) also Pantin Au Chester (Cheddar Cheese Turnover)- early adventures in freeform turnovers
***Le Gateau Omni-Omelette (Many-layered Omelette with Multiple Fillings)- I foolishy used to offer a catered "breakfast in bed." Which meant I was up at dawn making omelettes and sneaking into customers' kitchens to leave this omelette, coffeecake, and fruit salad, etc.
**Roulade Au Fromage; Souffle Au Fromage Roule (Cheese Souffle Roll)- Watch out for cracks and craters when you try to roll this baby!
**Poulet Saute Grand'mere (Chicken sauteed with Potatoes, Salt Pork, and Mushrooms)- another opportunity for under-cooked potatoes.
***Supremes De Volaille en Goujons, A La Creme et Aux Champignons (Sliced Chicken Breasts Sauteed, with Cream & Mushrooms)- Yummy, yummy, yummy (and easy once the chicken breasts are boned). My mother and I evolved into speed chicken breast boners- we could do one a minute at our peak.
***Supremes De Volaille Sautees, Andalouse (Chicken Breasts Sauteed, White Wine Sauce with Tomato Fondue & Tarragon)- one of the all time best make ahead dishes for a large crowd.
Dinde Rotie Au Four (Roast Turkey)- I am not a big time meat cooker, and it took only one Thanksgiving turkey roasting experience to happily turn the honor over to my carnivore cooking husband.
Spaghetti Marco Polo (An Unorthodox Main-Course Spaghetti Dish to be Eaten with Chopsticks)- this may be heresy, but don't bother, there are plenty of better pasta recipes out there.
*Tranches D'Aubergine A L'Italienne (Eggplant Pizzas)
Caviar D'Aubergine (Eggplant Caviar: a Puree with Garlic, Sesame, and Lemon)
**Caesar Salad- Made this version once, then switched to the simpler styled salad in Field of Greens. Who needs to deal with coddled eggs?
Pain Francais (French Bread)- almost laborious beyond belief, but I did learn how to properly form round loaves and rolls.
**La Tarte Des Demoiselles Tatin (Upside-Down Apple Tart)- Impressed my future husband with one of these, cooked in an outoor porch oven the first time that he came to lunch.
**Tarte Aux Fraises (Fresh Strawberry Tart)
Fantaisie Glacee Aux Poires (Pear & Meringue Fantasy, Ice Cream Topped with Fruit Poached in Wine)- made individual heart shaped meringue bases for one of my first catering experiments.
***Mousse Au Chocolat- An extraordinary recipe- more complicated than many chocolate mousses- but worth it.
***Gateau Saint-Honore (Ring of Cream Puffs Filled with Pastry Cream and Fruits in Season)- challenging and spectacular!
***Buche De Noel (Christmas Chocolate Log Cake)- from the meringue mushrooms to the roughed up chocolate icing bark to the spun-sugar moss, a labor of love
**Les Madeleines de Commercy- Confirmation of my love-hate relationship with sponge cake.
***Spiced Dough for Gingerbread Houses- probably the recipe I have made more than any other over the last 30 years. I routinely go through 10 pounds of flour, 4 pounds of butter, 8 pounds of powdered sugar, and dozens of eggs for our holiday gingerbread house parties.
**Le Pithiviers (Almond Cream Tart in French Puff Pastry)- one of the yummiest!

Clafouti with Stuffed Pears- New Year's Eve 2001

The Way To Cook (1989)
This book brings Julia full circle- combining her French culinary expertise with American recipes, ingredients and traditions. What a great integration! Recipes are simplified but without the loss of quality. This tome seems sadly under appreciated or even noticed.
**Fisherman's Salad
**Chicken Breasts Meuniere - One of the Picky Eater's few attempts at eating meat. We sauteed some chicken breast, cut it up in little bits, put them on her high chair tray and were told that it "tastes too strong"
**Deviled Chicken with Mustard Coating - I prefer cut up chicken pieces to struggling with a butterflied chicken.
The Re-assembled Roast Turkey - Dr. Hal did it once for Thanksgiving, but his loyalty has since switched to Thanksgiving gone the America's Test Kitchen way.
**Boned Stuffed and Roasted Turkey Breast - a dlectable luncheon dish that can be made ahead and roasted close to serving time. I like the Mushroom Duxelles Stuffing.
**Roast Prime Ribs of Beef - Julia's guidelines for roasting a prime rib have saved many a Christmas roast from cremation.
***Stuffed Tomatoes Provencale - a summer standby with barbecued meats
**Feta Peppers (Bell or Chile Peppers Baked with Cheese)
*Wild Rice Braised with Mirepoix & Mushrooms Duxelles
***Ratatouille - my favorite version
**All-Season Bean Salad
**French Potato Salad - a standby
***Salade Nicoise
*Hot Corn Salad - a no-show at our Julia Child dinner; I made it a day or two later.
**Broccoli Quiche - prefer this to spinach
***Free-Form Fresh Apple Tart - minimum effort yields maximum success; you can use a variety of fruits
**Clafouti with Stuffed Pears - deep dish pie shell + custard + poached pears = a fun special occasion dessert

Baking with Julia (1996)
Julia was 84 years when this book was published, and her involvement was as host, coach, and cheerleader. Many of the recipes are a little hardcore at this stage in my life (especially the "Glorious Wedding Cake," in case you want to bake your own), but I have used one or two. The format is much more "coffee table" than her other books, with full page shimmering, mouthwatering color photos.
*Alsatian Onion Tart
***Cheese & Tomato Galette
**Vegetable Cream Cheese
**Salmon Spread

Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home (1999)
Still a new frontier for me!

Clearly, there are many happy but exhausting hours of cooking with Julia left for me!!