Comfort Foods and Indulgences

We had overnight guests last weekend. Two couples arrived on Saturday afternoon about an hour before it got dark. The guys immediately strapped on their snowshoes and hit the trail. The “girls” stayed back, with the intention of preparing toppings for the pizzas the group would be making together for our evening meal.

It’s nice to have friends who are totally comfortable with a laid-back, casual interactive couple of hours of meal preparation. Last spring I was introduced to the recipe for homemade pizza crust in the April 2011 edition of Food & Wine magazine. The dough is great for beginners who haven’t had a lot of experience with yeast dough and who whimper at the thought of kneading dough. A stand mixer with a dough hook does all the work for you. Then, the dough raises for about 1 1/2 hours. The recipe yields 8 balls of dough that can be easily patted and rolled into 8-inch rounds. The thin pizza crusts can be topped with any of your favorite ingredients. I asked everyone to bring toppings of their choice. We wound up with a couple of mean taco pizzas. And, several “green” pizzas.

Did you know transporting leafy greens to your mouth on thin, crisp and hot pizza crust is a blissful experience? If you’ve been digging in your heels and resisting fresh leafy greens — spinach, arugula, kale, Swiss chard, collards — even though you know very well they are loaded with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and flavonoids that nourish bodies and help maintain good health, I’m here to tell you they are not as bad as you think. Especially when they are piled onto pizza just out of the oven.

When my friend, Ann, discovered I was making raspberry brownies, she quickly sent me a recipe for one of her favorite raspberry-spiked brownies. They have a layer of creamy raspberry-flavored butter frosting sandwiched between moist chocolate brownies and a rich, fudge-like topping.

These brownies have an interesting history.

According to Ann, this recipe originally came from R. Marie Jones, a sister to John Carlson, both originally from Fargo.  John is no longer living, but the ice coliseum in north Fargo is named after him.  Marie, who was very instrumental in Trollwood and the presence of Altrusa’s concession stand there, passed away in July of 2006.

Apparently, many years ago the sweet and lovely Marie brought the Chambord brownies as a treat to a needlepoint class Ann was teaching. Since that sinfully delicious introduction, Chambord brownies have become a favorite of Ann and her husband, Pat.

Ann describes these brownies as “a melt-in-your-mouth indulgence.” She’s absolutely right!

From the L.A. Times

Fried chicken is a beautiful thing.

Nothing beats the simplicity of a tender, moist piece of meat, delicately seasoned and lightly dredged with a dusting of flour, and then baptized in a pool of sizzling fat to crisp, golden perfection.

Quintessential comfort food that it is, fried chicken is unpretentious. No haughty airs here. Eating with your fingers is not only acceptable, it's all but required.

So maybe it's a little surprising to find that fried chicken has become the hot culinary muse of the moment. Chefs, meet Eliza Doolittle. Fine cuisine, meet fried chicken.

Read article...

I made this cake a few weeks back to celebrate the Jewish New Year. Traditionally, apples (and honey) are served in abundance during the 10 day period between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. Eating this combination stems from an age-old Jewish tradition of eating sweet foods to express our hope for a sweet new year.

I was a bit nervous to serve this cake as one never knows how it will turn out. I did take a little nibble from the bottom of the cake and it was tasty. The true test came when the kids took their first bite. My niece, Ruby, and my nephew, Luca were raving and saying things like, “this is the best cake I have ever eaten”.

They stole little slices, wrapped them in plastic wrap and vowed to eat them the next morning. According to their parents, the cake never made it to the next morning!