A simple galette, a flat sweet or savory tart, is a go-to dish I rely on for special occasions and everyday meals. For this Onion Galette, I’ve adapted my favorite dough recipe from Jacques Pepin’s Art of Cooking to feature stone ground whole wheat flour and sesame seeds. When rolled out thin and baked, it’s good enough to eat on its own as a savory cracker. A layer of onions adds some sweetness and gives
Butterhead, Apple, Beet and Almond Salad, Herb Buttermilk Dressing
After a summer of eating greens that have become tough and bitter, I look forward to tender hothouse lettuce. This refreshing Butterhead, Apple, Beet and Almond Salad with Herb Buttermilk Dressing combines soft butterhead lettuce with contrasting textures and flavors. Thinly sliced apples give it tartness and crunch. Sliced cooked beets add a soft sweetness and bright color. The herb buttermilk dressing ties the salad together. Because salad is all about texture, I finish it
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Almond and Buckwheat Flour Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
If I were unable to digest wheat flour, I’d miss chocolate chip cookies as much as chewy bread and good pasta. That’s why I came up with this recipe for Almond and Buckwheat Flour Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies. They are chewy and crunchy with a complex taste from grains and almonds flour. There are in regular rotation at our house. Inspired by Alice Medrich’s Flavor Flours, I had already been experimenting with buckwheat and
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Summer Apricots, Baked with a Sweet Almond Filling
Baking apricots, nectarines, peaches and plums brings out their deep flavors. It is one of my favorite ways to prepare them in season. Split the ripe fruit, sprinkle it with sugar and bake until the juices flow. Summer apricots, baked with a sweet almond filling is a simple yet dressed up way to serve apricots or other stone fruit. Start by Finding a Good Apricot It’s sheer luck to find a decent fresh apricot on
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Asian Coleslaw with Cabbage, Carrots and Toasted Almonds
On NPR this week, Kathy Gunst spoke about transitional recipes to help us segue into spring. These are recipes that use the last of winter produce with a hint of what’s to come when our gardens recover. The same though has crossed my mind. Don’t we automatically look for fresher flavors when the days become longer and brighter? This Asian inspired coleslaw incorporates some of my favorite flavors, fresh ginger and creamy almond butter among
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Rose Almond Butter Cake
This Rose Almond Butter Cake has a tight crumb and rich buttery flavor without being too sweet. Rose powder in the batter along with orange flower water and a garnish of freeze-dried raspberries give the cake its subtle floral notes. The batter includes blanched almond flour, one of my secret ingredients, as well as cake flour. When I open my next bakery, this will be my signature cake. Almond flour does not absorb liquid as
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Healthy Baking with Almonds
Almonds are the secret ingredient in classic and modern baked goods. Think French macarons, financiers and frangipane. And almonds croissants too. And almonds are my go-to ingredient for making good-for-you treats. Healthy baking with almonds means adding almond flavor and a healthy halo to anything you bake, whether a cake or cookie, a quick bread or tart. Here is my outline of the ways to use almonds—in all their forms — as a stand in for less healthful ingredients in baking
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Honey Almond Ice Cream
The combination of icy frozen cream and the delicate flavor of almonds, honey and lavender speaks to the summer season. Honey almond ice cream has a mellow sweetness that reminds me of the close relationship between bees and almond growing. Almonds require bees for pollination. In the Mediterranean where almond trees once thrived, the bees might feed on the fragrant nectar of lavender after the almond trees bloom. This recipe is simple. There is no
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Chinese Almond Cookies
Although they are a Lunar New Year specialty, Chinese American style almond cookies pair well with ice cream and summer berries. So I thought this would be a welcome recipe with the abundance of truly tasty local strawberries right now. And I am looking to catch some luck. Almond cookies were once a staple at Chinese restaurants in the US. But you rarely spot them now that fortune cookies have taken over. Growing up, I
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Digestivo Mandorlato – Priscilla’s Green Almond Liqueur
The Mediterranean region provides inspiration for many of the things I make with almonds. In that almond-growing region, there is a tradition of eating immature fruits and nuts that we don’t hear too much about in the U.S. let alone the Northeast where I live. (Although Turkeywood Farms in Mystic, CT is distilling shagbark hickory to make a sweet syrup I love.) This is my signature spirit, Digestivo Mandorlato – Priscilla’s Green Almond Liqueur Think of
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"Let no man fancy he knows how to dine Till he has learnt how taste and taste combine."
-Horace, Satires, 2.4