Growing up I spent a lot of vacations traveling up the California coast. It always seemed our first stop was a small town just north of Santa Barbara known as Buellton. Here we would stop at Pea Soup Anderson's to have...wait for it...their famous split pea soup.
I don't think it was the best pea soup I've ever had but I do know it is where I became a fan of this hardy, green liquid. There was something about stopping at Pea Soup Anderson's that seemed special. I'm not sure if it was the giant windmill turning out front or going into the gift shop and buying some candy that made it exciting. I just remember loving it.
Split pea soup is so easy to make. It falls into the category of "set it, and forget it" for me. This recipe is quite tasty and doesn't require any additional seasoning. We love it with crusty bread on these beautiful but cold winter days.
Retro Recipes and Traditional Fare
Retro Recipes and Traditional Fare
Poires Belle Helene
These tiny, almost impossibly perfect little Forelle pears are the kind I could only imagine in an Hironymous Bosch painting. They weigh almost nothing and go down in two bites.
I had never seen them before, and when I looked them up I discovered they are an old variety dating back to the 1600s in Germany. I spotted them in a supermarket and asked the staff what their name was. “I don’t know, but no one is buying them.”
I scooped up a few and coveted their shiny colorful beauty in such a small package. I placed them on a plate and put them in front of one of my recent paintings. I gazed at them for almost a week before deciding to use them to make a French classic dessert: Poires Belle Helene—a chocolate dessert with a healthy twist to it.
As far as easy desserts go, this has to be one of the easiest. Poach the pears. Ladle warm chocolate sauce over them. And use any kind of pear. I just happened to fall in love with these little wonders!
Drake's Thick Crumb Coffee Cake Muffins
NY Style Coffee Cake typically comes with a thick rich crumb topping and one of the most famous brands is Drake’s Coffee Cakes. Newman E. Drake baked his first pound cake in Brooklyn in 1888 and sold them by the slice. Drake’s popularity grew and the Drake’s brand with it, supplying such favorites as Devil Dogs, Yankee Doodles and Ring Dings.
In New York City and New England, Drake's products came to rival national brand Hostess. Largely unknown outside of these areas until the 1990s, the Drake's product line received national exposure on the sitcom Seinfeld, most notably in the episode "The Suicide" in 1992. Later in 1990s television talk show host Rosie O'Donnell professed a fondness for them, sharing the cakes with her audience members on The Rosie O'Donnell Show.
Rugelach
I’ve made lots and lots of rugelach in my
day, but this one takes the cake. I have made my grandma’s, I have
made Ina’s, Martha’s and Rose’s. This one, from Cooks Illustrated is by
far the best I have ever had. Better than Weby’s bakery (most Sunday
mornings, when I was little, you could find me and my dad, waiting in
line to buy the fresh baked egg-onion bread). My kids don’t really like
raisins or dried fruit in their sweets. I altered the filling. I
substituted mini chocolate chips for the raisins.
The dough was super easy to work with. Even though the recipe didn’t ask me to refrigerate the dough after rolling, I did anyways. Only for about 15 minutes. I feel it made all the difference in the world. I baked off a few to taste and then cut and flash froze the rest. Even though they look more like a pinwheel cookies, they taste like rugelach.
Homemade BBQ Baked Beans
When ever we go out for barbque, I always, choose baked beans as one of my sides. There is something so satisfying and so comforting in eating a dish like this along with my tri-tip sandwich and a double portion of asian slaw.
I have had this particular recipe for baked beans in my repertoire for over 25 years. They serve a crowd – a very large crowd. Therefore, I only have a few opportunities through out the year to make this dish. Using only 5 ingredients, cooked slowly in the oven for about 5 hours, these baked bean are always the star of the evening.
This past July 4th, we celebrated the day with our good friends and 60 of their nearest and dearest. When I heard the number of people I asked if I could make my homemade baked beans. My friend, B, responded with, “my husband will love you and covet the whole pot, please do”.
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