A Blithe PALATE

Cookbook Spotlight Roundup: Gale Gand's Brunch

Stephanie and I initially bonded over brunch and we've been lucky enough to meet at least once a year over the last few -- always over brunch, so when relaunching Cookbook Spotlight, it wasn't hard to persuade us to begin with Gale Gand's new  book:  Gale Gand's Brunch.  Featuring 100 recipes encompassing drinks, sweet and savory dishes, it also wasn't hard to round up twenty-five friends to join us in a collaborative cooking exercise.  I'm always intrigued by what different foodies will choose to make when presented with the same book; and I'm always thrilled with the results.  Our planned event on April 17 was delayed due to a snafu in mailing but everyone was more than patient.  As one participant wrote, "I heart Gale Gand."  And another said, "I loooooooooooooooove brunch," a sentiment echoed across the board.

Thank you to everyone who participated!

Gesine is my favorite macaroon maker at Confections of a (Closet) Master Baker.  I have no idea how she has time to blog in the midst of baking, writing and starting new businesses but thank God she does -- it makes for some hilarious and mouth watering reading.  Her contribution is Angel Food Muffins - in which she makes an effort to confront long standing demons with angel food...

Sara at I like to Cook says brunch is the best meal -- and no wonder when she's putting Coddled Eggs, Caramelized Apple Crepes and Homemade Pork and Maple Sausage Patties on the table.  I have to try the coddled eggs soon; I've failed at the last five attempts to make soft boiled eggs and as Gale describes it, this is an easy alternative.

Breadchick Mary fell in love with Gale's book and wrote a Dear John letter to Waffle House.  She not only made the Baked Eggs and Ham Cups but made four variations of them!  And then there's the Bacon Waffle -- let's all acknowledge that few things in the world are as perfect as the savoriness of a strip of bacon -- but combined with a waffle?  Mmmmmm...  Mary also hosted a guest post from Sandra, one of her readers, who was one of the winners of the Invitation to Brunch.

Lizelle meets with coffee talk book group where they bring indulgently delicious treats.  For this gathering, she brought Ginger Scones.

Peabody loved a show Gale used to host on the Food Network called Sweet Dreams, and loves baking and sweets so it's no surprise that she focused on the sweets and pastry section of the book to make Chocolate Chip Crumb Cake Muffins and Chocolate Waffles with Bananas Foster.

Jamie lives her Adventures in SF and decided to make the super easy and super quick Pear Streusel Coffee Cake.  But now she's regretting not making the huge spread and is already going through the list of all the dishes she can make...which might be good for me as I'm heading out there in a couple of weeks and it would be so nice to be the recipient of her brunch largesse...

Liliana from My Cookbook Addiction was one of our Invitation to Brunch winners and did her review for The Daring Kitchen.  Liliana made the Pannetone French Toast using some leftover Italian Easter sweet bread and surprised her daughters by making this heavenly treat.

Jen at Use Real Butter says she's not a breakfast kind of gal, going for years without it because lunch was always more interesting. Still, she decided to expand her repertoire and made a beautiful Herbed Mini Popovers.  I think it might be possible to convert her...

Tanna at My Kitchen in Half Cups went straight for the cover recipe and made the Baked Eggs in Ham Cup, but followed that with the Chai Tea and the French Bread.  She's planning to cook her way through the book and I'm planning to see what she makes next.

Becke, our Columbus Foodie, was one of the Invitation to Brunch winners.  She made the Torta Rustica and has me sold on trying this recipe too -- look at those gorgeous layers of pastry, eggs, cheese, and vegetables.

Heather, aka girliechef, was one of our winners for the Invitation to Brunch.  Like all of us, she had a tough time picking a dish to make but settled on something even better:  comfort!  She made a White Hot Chocolate that the entire family loved (and there was enough left over to have over a book).

Irene at Confessions of a Tart says to give her brunch over flowers any day and is looking forward to more Sundays, Saturdays and even Mondays for brunches to come; she made a perfect Crepe with her own cinnamon apple filling.

Jasmine of the fragrant Cardamom Addict made three dishes, Baked Eggs in Ham Cups, the Torta Rustica, and this Cranberry Almond Granola.  She offers her own take on the granola and is pretty certain that once you've had Gale's recipe for hot cocoa with brown sugar, you won't bother with Swiss Miss again...

Ivonne, my very favorite Cream Puff in Venice waited until Sunday to make her dishes because, as she notes, Sunday is the "king of brunch."  She presents Buttermilk Pancakes, Cranberry-Almond Granola and Pear Streusel Quick Coffee Cake.  As always is the case with Ivonne, everything looks effortless and elegant -- not to mention delicious!

Don't forget to check out Stephanie's Round Up as well!  Gale Gand's Brunch is now available.

Cookbook Spotlight: Gale Gand's Crepes and Buttermilk Pancakes

Years ago Hani and I were driving our parents' friends back to their home in Georgetown. We were enjoying our time with Mark and Anne, whom we had not seen in some time.  Long time friends of our parents, we were enjoying our conversation with them.

Hani suggested meeting for brunch and Anne should her head.  "Let's do breakfast or lunch, dear," she said.  "I don't like brunch."

I think it's possible that Anne was the only person I've ever known who didn't love brunch.   As meals go, it's my favorite.  Straddling the informality of breakfast and the more organized lunch, brunch is such a lovely amalgamation of both, allowing for multiple dishes and leisurely eating.

Stephanie and I initially bonded over brunch and we've been lucky enough to meet at least once a year over the last few -- always over brunch, so in relaunching Cookbook Spotlight, it wasn't hard to persuade us to begin with Gale Gand's delicious new book:  Gale Gand's Brunch featuring 100 recipes encompassing drinks, sweet and savory dishes, bakery items, salads, side and condiments. 

When it comes to brunch, I'm much more partial to sweet - so for a friend's' visit this past weekend, we made buttermilk pancakes and crepes. 

My preferred recipe for pancakes is Marcus Wareing's; but those airy, delectable pancakes require a little more work, incorporating wet ingredients with dry, and the addition of beaten egg whites.  I was quite pleased to find that Gale's recipe is fast, easy and just as delicious.  Despite being denser, they puffed up beautifully, and the addition of melted butter on the pan, provided a wonderfully crisp edge.  The buttermilk also adds a nice tanginess to the pancakes.

The crepes were less successful, but that was my fault, not Gale's; they were entirely too thick -- crepes are meant to be delicately, Kate Moss-ishly thin.  The recipe is very straightforward but the trick is in quickly spreading the batter the minute it hits the pan. Apparently I'm no good at balancing Hoss on one arm and trying to swirl wafer-thin crepes with the other.  Despite the slightly thicker crepe, it's hard to complain about a carb enrobing macerated strawberries with mascarpone.  I'm going to have to try again, but there are other recipes I'm interested in trying first -- the egg segment is screaming my name as are the bakery items.

With so many dishes possible for this meal time, unconfined as it is to conventions dictating just eggs, cereals and pastries for breakfast and heartier dishes for lunch, I wonder, if given the time, we might have been able to convert Anne to the pleasures of brunch?

Check back soon for the roundup -- thank you to everyone who joined us!

Invitation to Brunch...

Stephanie and I are co-hosting a new edition Cookbook Spotlight on April 17 with Gale Gand’s new book. 

You may remember from the last few Cookbook Spotlights that food bloggers select recipes from the same cookbook, make the dish, and blog about it.  We follow with a round up of everyone's choices and pictures.  It’s always fun and interesting to me to see what different people pick to cook or bake from the same book.

This go-round we’ve been offered a chance to cook from Gale’s new book, Gale Gand’s Brunch!

I have an extra book and would like to invite one reader to participate.

If you would like to join this food blogging event, please send me an email at ablithepalate (AT) gmail (DOT) com with your snail mail address by noon EST on Friday, March 27.  I’ll have Puggle randomly select one person to join us.  If you don’t have a food blog but would like to participate, I’ll be happy to post your blog entry here.  

Look for the event on April 17 and the round up on April 20!
 

Adventures of an Italian Food Lover: The Round Up

I asked Ivonne about the genesis of her food blog's name, "Cream Puffs in Venice," and her dreamy description of her inspiration -- a book -- conjured up such incredible visions of the power of food in relationships and in memory that when I read through Faith Heller Willinger's new cookbook, "Adventures of an Italian Food Lover," I couldn't help but to wonder how others might be inspired by sharing meals with friends and family.  So I grabbed Ivonne and said, "Let's have a food blog event and let's ask bloggers to share stories about the meals they made and shared!"

We were utterly delighted and awed by the wonderful posts that came in for our Adventures of An Italian Food Lover event. 

Here's one of the Round Ups -- find the other at Cream Puffs in Venice.   

Sherri at Braude's Bites met Geneve, on a serendipitous flight to Sydney.  Geneve introduced her to the joys of blogging.  Now these two friends share a lovely Sunday meal with a plate of Scquacquacio di Mare...

 

Barbara at Winos and Foodies reminisces about a lost friend..a bittersweet love story in oh so many ways, over the sweetness of Zia's Tiramisu

 

Like Faith, Chubby Hubby and his beautiful wife S. were inspired by their friendship with a chef and they share their take on his recipe for Laksa Fisherman's Pie...

Mary, aka Breadchick at The Sour Dough and her friends Weedhopper and Wife of Weedhopper (seriously, you gotta go learn more about this interesting duo) each pick a recipe to make and share, including this gorgeous Chickpea Puree with Shrimp...

Tanna at My Kitchen in Half Cups has packed this Etruscan Grape Tart (you should see a picture of the baked version!) in a basket for an overnight adventure with her friend Gorn.  Where did you end up going Tanna?

 

Foodbeam's Fanny talks about her great grandfather Tranquillo  for whom food and wine  were life, love and raison d'etre.  Fanny riffs on one of Faith's recipes to produce a Pesche al vino con vanilla, panna and sablé breton

Stephanie dispenses happiness from her kitchen (I know -- I've had the chance to visit that kitchen!) and tells us about Erin, the sister she chose for herself at age four, and for whom she would make a dinner including this Leek & Sausage Orzotto ...

Jennifer Jeffrey follows in Faith's culinary booksteps and shares with us the tale of her first trip to Venice.

And Nicole has the final (and some very kind) word(s) for us at Baking Bites.

To our friends and participants: thank you for sharing your stories with us!

Update:   

Oh my FREAKING HEAVENS.  I had these beautiful posts written up and due to some HTML coding gone mad, they got buried and never popped up in the post.  I've only just now discovered the error! 

RUN RUN RUN, look at this beautiful posts

Tartlette  made Amaretti -- inspired by the memory of first time she had them at a restaurant whose name is now long-forgotten, but which experience still resonates

 

  More deliciousness!  The indefatigable Béa at La Tartine Gourmand makes this gorgeous walnut cake -- which makes her think about picking fresh walnuts with her mother, and  about life as an expatriate...

Chewy Brownies: A Day That Really Schmecks, Part II

When Jasmine at Confessions of a Cardamom Addict  invited me to join in her event, A Day that Really Schmecks, in honor of Edna Staebler, I was delighted to join.  Due to a post office problem (I never got Edna's cookbook), I wasn't able to join part one, but Jasmine graciously held a second event for latecomers like me. Now, until Jasmine mentioned the book, I had never heard of Edna.  Born in Ontario, Edna was a prolific author and best known for her book, Food That Really Schmecks, recipes based on Mennonite home cooking.

The book is full of Edna commentary, a warm, folksy touch here and there about the origin or a memory of a particular recipe.  I must confess that when I first read through the book looking for a recipe to make for the event, I wasn't struck by anything in particular, until I hit the cookies section.  And maybe it was the particular mood I was in but her one line comment for that most plebian of all chocolate cookie desserts -- the Brownie -- was something of a challenge and something of an enticement:  "The best I've ever tasted."  I'm deeply fond of brownies.  For Christmas my nieces sent us a box of Fat Witch Brownies and we very quickly devoured those. 

Still, for an event in which the first set of participants made desserts as delicious sounding as Coconut Cloud Cake and Maple Syrup Cake with Soft Maple Icing, I thought I needed to try something more complex.  I eyed the tapioca pudding based on Hubby's preference for the stuff; but nixed that seeing as how I wanted to eat what I made too and tapioca pudding just doesn't do it for me.  I dog eared the book and circled various recipes, but I kept coming back to the brownie recipe.  And ultimately, the point of Edna's cooking is summed up in the title -- food that really Schmecks...that is, food that really tastes good.

And is there anything that tastes better than a warm brownie with a tall glass of cold milk?

Was Edna right?  Were these the "best I've ever tasted?"  Well...there's not much left in the pan.  And we're out of milk.

Heaven in 30 minutes:  that really Schmecks.

Jasmine will have the second round of posts on her site soon so go and see what other food bloggers chose to make from Edna's wide repertoire!

Cookbook Spolight: Kitchen Sense Roundup!

25 food bloggers.  1 cookbook.  Outstanding choices.

When Sara, Ali and I invited several food blogger friends to join us in our  inaugural Cookbook Spotlight event, we were all curious to see what everyone would choose from Mitchell Davis's new cookbook, "Kitchen Sense," to make.

And despite initial comments about the lack of photos in the book, half the fun of the event was seeing how fellow food bloggers style and photograph their masterpieces -- so technically, the book does have pictures!

Here's part one of the round up -- Sara has part two at Weekend Cookbook Challenge -- enjoy!

Barbara at Winos and Foodies leads off with this mouth watering Bourbon Bread and Butter Pudding - I'm sure this was the perfect warming dessert for a cold day in Auckland!

Stephanie at Dispensing Happiness let her hubby, Matt, pick the recipe -- he chose the Italian Meatballs. What is it with husbands and meatballs?  In any case, Alex got to pitch in and the final result -- an Italian meatball sandwich.

My favorite Cream Puff in Venice, Ivonne, makes exotic, gorgeous desserts -- so no surprise that she happened to randomly pick this exotic, gorgeous recipe:  Roasted Figs with Mascarpone Mousse.

As I wrote to Geneve from Geneve's Kitchen when she made this dish:  carbs, carbs, carbs.  How do you go wrong with a Potato Focaccia?  Unfortunately I don't think there's any left for me...is there Geneve?

 

Alberto, of Il Forno, created the original food blog event -- Is My Blog Burning? so I was thrilled when he graciously accepted the invitation to join.  Alberto told me that Southern American cuisine interests him --so no surprise that his entry is a classically Southern dish:  Buttermilk Biscuits with Sausage Gravy.  I think my arteries started hardening just looking at his picture...

I'm not sure Béa from La Tartine Gourmande sleeps; her output is prodigious.  And thank goodness because in addition to making food all the time, her styling and photography are utterly stunning.  She made not one, not two, but three recipes from the book:  Strawberry Clafoutis, Cherry Clafoutis, and Asian Beef and Watercress salad. 
 

I love reading about Chubby Hubby and his wife S.'s food adventures.  CH grew up in the States and was hankering for some American favorites.  S. delivered with Buttermilk Fried Chicken and Cream Gravy.  I am wondering if this recipe could possibly come close to my Grandma's buttermilk fried chicken?  It certainly looks like hers...

The verdict?  A great book and a lot of fun.  It was also amusing to discover that some bloggers tried the same recipe -- we foodies do think alike when it comes to certain recipes!  Thank you to everyone who agreed to join us and help us answer the question -- "What happens when foodies get the same cookbook?"

Cookbook Spotlight: Potato Chip Cookies (no, seriously)

What happens when 25 food bloggers get the same cookbook?  What does everyone choose to make?  Sara and Alicat at Weekend Cookbook Challenge and I were curious to find out so we invited a group of friends to join us and make recipes from Mitchell Davis' new book, Kitchen Sense. 

When the book first arrived, I was a little disappointed because like most food bloggers, I'm all about poring over pictures of food -- and there aren't any pictures in the book at all.  But, flipping through, I noted some interesting food recipes, not the least was this one --Potato Chip Cookies.  At first I thought I was reading it wrong.  Then I realized, no, I hadn't gone totally myopic.  Intrigued, I started reading through more recipes and pictures or no --I'm really enjoying this book.  My fears that it would be too cerebral were unfounded:  it's a great basic cookbook with good recipes and a conversational tone that makes it easy to read.  I can't say that I would have picked it up at a bookstore if I'd been on my own -- but that adage about never judging a book by its cover?  Pretty true.  This was an inspiring read and several of the participating bloggers and I swapped notes about how much we were enjoying just reading the book.  It makes sense since Davis is the VP and Director of Communications for the James Beard Foundation -- so he knows a good cookbook when he sees one; and better yet, he can write a pretty good one too.  After marking off countless pages for recipes to make, I came back to this one -- it was just too odd and intriguing to pass up.

I was talking to Stephanie and told her I was planning to make the potato chip cookies.

"Don't forget to use cheap potato chips," she said.

"Oh man, I forgot about that." The recipe calls for thin potato chips -- not fancy, organic chips -- they're too thick and taste like (surprise) potatos.

I never buy junk food, so when Hubby saw the bag of potato chips, he was confused. 

"Potato chip cookies," I informed him.

He frowned.  "Honey...that sounds like something a frumpy housewife makes.  And you are not frumpy."

So here we have 'em -- verdict?  Well, interesting, that's for sure.  It tastes just like a yummy butter cookie -- except with a pototo crisp crunch to it.  I'm not at all certain how to feel about them quite yet.  Maybe I need to try a few more.

Hubby decided to be a good hubby the other night and make dinner.  In a twist on Knock Knock Dinners, he checked the fridge for ingredients and found enough to make the meatballs recipe from the book.  Stephanie made the same recipe -- and they're a knockout.  I did get chastised for lack of oregano ("It's only one of the most important spices and we don't have it in our garden?!") but that didn't detract from the overall dish.  There's a recipe for corn chowder I'm dying to try since I've got some fresh corn in the fridge.  Actually, the book is fairly dog-eared with recipes to review and attempt.

And, I do know there are  some other runaway successes in this book -- Sara and I will have the roundups of everyone's posts up soon so check back!

SHF #18: Frangelico Honey Panna Cotta

I am on a serious sugar high right now.  Or maybe it's not so much a high as drunk on sugar?  See, the last two days have involved some serious sweets.  First, there were bite sized desserts for Stephanie's Blog Party (more on that later) and today, there's Sugar High Friday #18, hosted by Chandra at Lick the Spoon.  Sugar High Friday, as we all know, is the brainchild of the Domestic Goddess and it's a great reason to indulge my sweet tooth one Friday out of the month.  So for Chandra's designated theme, "Liquor is quicker!" we're presenting desserts infused with liquor.

Our colleague David was in town again and in a passive aggressive manner worthy of the best teenaged girl, invited himself to dinner on Wednesday.  Okay, it's not really that bad.  He asked Greg to find out if I would cook and ... huh.  It does sound that bad.  No seriously, when I found out David was coming back, I asked Greg if he thought David would like to have dinner with the group before Greg could do his middleman thing.  So high school.  Anyway, it being the normal hot disgusting weather that precedes a hot disgusting summer in the deep South, I didn't want anything too heavy for dessert on Wednesday night.  My sister Kaly had raved about a vanilla panna cotta (we give Martha Stewart her due for the original recipe) she'd made the weekend before.  It sounded great; but not being a fan of plain vanilla panna cotta, I substituted wildflower honey for the sugar.  Yummy.  It was perfect.

So when I was thinking about what to make for SHF #18 today, it seemed appropriate to tinker with the recipe and add in some of my favorite liqueur:  Frangelico!  Result?  Seriously heady stuff.  Only don't do what I did and eat three in row without thinking because it was so refreshing I forgot about the alcohol.  Sugar Drunk Friday, I think.

WCC #4: Zucchini Fritters with Egg and Caramelized Onions

Sara from i like to cook, and Alicat of Something So Clever are the co-hosts of Weekend Cookbook Challenge. The challenge? Make a cookbook recipe that matches the month's theme and blog about it; the theme of this fourth edition is Easter Breakfast & Brunch.

I absolutely love brunch. It's my favorite meal of the week. Depending on what's happening, Saturday or Sunday brunches are usually à deux, or with a large group of friends. When it's just the two of us, Hubby makes elaborate dishes, like cinnamon raisin waffles with maple cream cheese, coupled with perfectly crunchy bacon ("The secret is to cook it over low heat."). I make the coffee. If there's a group, it become more elaborate; the last brunch party was a panoply of all the sweets I could cram into one meal.

Sara and Alicat sent us forth to make an Easter brunch featuring recipes from our cookbooks. I'm pretty sure everyone out there has a dazzling array of cookbooks that we use haphazardly; so I loved the idea of trying a new recipe. As it happens, I was visiting Dad in Orlando so a family brunch to spend time with my cousins Nellie and Terri had been planned. I forgot to pack a cookbook, but coming from a food obsessed family, this was not a problem: Terri's bookcase was crammed with cookbooks, including Brunch, the Perfect Weekend Treat by Jennifer Donovan. Scanning through, I found this recipe: zucchini fritters with egg and caramelized onions, which looked great in the photo. It showed so much promise -- the ingredients, the directions, and most of all the picture. Sadly, models aren't the only thing that look great on paper only to disappoint in real life.

I can't say this recipe knocked me over. The tastes and the textures were okay; I would have been more pleased if the fritters had been crunchier (maybe I didn't use enough oil; imagine that: living in the South and not using enough oil for frying?!) or tasted more like zucchini, instead of an Egg McZucchini (seriously they looked like egg McMuffins only with zucchini bits). The only thing that I really liked on the plate was the bacon and that wasn't part of the recipe (it was Hubby's recipe).

We grew in number from five for brunch to seven because Nellie invited two more (she had enough sense to let me know so I wouldn't have a repeat of the multiplication episode), and this exposed another downside to the dish: there's no way to keep the fritters crispy and eggs warm enough without being overcooked if you're making this dish for more than two.

"It's like making Eggs Benedict," Terri noted.

Frankly, Eggs Benedict would have been easier. I'm going to have to try this recipe again, with some tweaks. I'm sure there's something worthwhile here. Still, having brunch with my family, and especially Dad, was wonderful; I treasure whatever moments I get with my family, even if it's over an okay meal.

Don't forget to check out the roundup and see what other great Easter Brunches were held.

IMBB #24: Panfried Herbed Chicken and Potatoes with Braised Leeks, and Saffron-Vanilla Waffles with Mascarpone and Honey

Friday nights are sacrosant: they are Hubby's Poker Nights with the boys (theoretically; but since the boys are married to the girls, it ends up being co-ed anyway). On Friday nights, if I leave work on time, it will take at least 20 to 30 minutes to get home; this is assuming I don't need to make a grocery run -- so, by the time I get home, it's usually 6:45 pm. We don't have time for a lengthy dinner. This is not to say we don't cook; it simply means we have no more than an hour (if that) in which to prepare and eat dinner because the game begins at 8 pm. Hubby needs to leave at 7:30 to make the game.

So Friday night dinners are perfectly apt for this month's IMBB event, IMBB #24: Make It In 30 Minutes, hosted by Barrett at Too Many Chefs

For a delicious and very quick meal, I give you: Panfried Herbed Chicken and Potatoes, with Braised Leeks; and for dessert, Saffron-Vanilla Waffles with a quenelle of Mascarpone and Wildflower Honey. This dish is simply a seasoned chicken breast panfried in oil and butter. A potato is sliced thin, then fried in a generous heaping of melted butter until crisp. Concurrently, washed and trimmed leeks are wilted in butter (okay, I didn't say this meal was healthy; just fast) and broth, then tossed with white wine vinegar for an edgy bite. Total cook time from prep to finish? Right about 30 minutes. And of course, the waffle batter is poured into the iron and cooked while we are eating the entrée, so dessert can immediately follow dinner.

The trick to making meals quickly, I've discovered, is to know what you're making and have your mise en place ready to go. I know this sounds geeky, but I always write out a menu beforehand -- I've noticed that even a few sentences about the meal helps me to structure the cooking schedule, and of course, repetition will make for faster cooking because you'll know all the shortcuts.

Here's how this meal breaks down:

2 minutes: trim and chop leeks. Rinse and agitate; leave in cold water.
3 minutes: season chicken and peel 1 potato, melt butter and heat oil in respective skillets for chicken, leeks and potatoes; slice potato
5-10 minutes: add chicken to pan, then potato slices, then leeks; while the main dish is cooking, make the waffle batter and set aside.
10 minutes: finish the entrée and heat the waffle iron. Add batter to the waffle iron, serve main dish. The waffles should be ready to plate and eat by the time you've finished the entrée.

Fast food, the home cooked way.

Tagged with: IMBB24 + 30Minutes