Skip to content

Sep 23

2 Comments

Herbed (or not) rum apple cake

What if I said I made three of these cakes in two days?

Apple_rum_cake

There was a reason, see, and a pretty good one at that – a waxed cardboard box full of apples from Minnesota, bequeathed to us by my grandmother on Labor Day and rapidly softening thanks to the hot streak that followed. (Even Midwestern basements can’t store apples well in 95-degree heat.)

So I made 16 cups of apple pectin stock and 3 different types of apple jelly (Jameson, chili, and red wine/bay leaf), each of which was re-branded a glaze after utterly failing to set (whoops). But even that project used up only about half the apple stores, and with only a few days of usability remaining I turned my eye to desserts. So I opened up the usual suspects – a few favorite websites and books – to find inspiration, only to be almost immediately questioned by Brett as to why I would make anything other than this apple cake that I first made a few years back. It’s actually been on this site since back then, but tucked in the archives under the relatively unassuming name “Simple Apple Cake,” and after this binge I figured it deserved an updated page and a new title. Read more

Sep 16

2 Comments

Classic frittata recipe (with smoked salmon, fresh corn, and herbed goat cheese)

A frittata is a beautiful, easy meal to make. Combine eggs with meats, vegetables, herbs, cheese, or pretty much any other prepared ingredient you have around, and within 20 minutes you have a delicious, healthy, fancy-seeming meal. As an added bonus it’s perfect for making ahead, since you can wrap and freeze it for up to 1 month or at the very least save the leftovers (which are equally good room temperature or warm) for breakfast or lunch the next day. (A slice of frittata and some bread make a pretty delicious sandwich, I might add.)

Salmon_frittata

Cooled

And this is exactly the sort of dish I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. I’ve mentioned on the site before that I’ve been putting together a guide to these sorts of basic, foundational recipes, all of which act as a backbone or a stage for whatever vegetables, proteins, grains, or other items I happen to have in my kitchen or that look good at a market stand. These recipes make it easy to eat seasonally and help me avoid the sort of puzzle-piecing anxiety that results from grocery shopping without a plan in mind, and for most people having these sorts of recipes around can open a new world of quick, easy, healthy home-cooked meals. I love to talk about these sorts of “anything goes” recipes because they do wonders at making people more interested in cooking, more comfortable in the kitchen, and more at-ease with letting go of recipes and diverging from planned-out shopping lists.

Read more

Sep 13

Late summer cocktail: Aviation

Aviation

First: Welcome to all new readers who have found this site through the Capital Times article published yesterday! I’m excited to make contact with a new audience in Madison, and would love to hear about things you’re interested in, either for new classes or new site content. Stay in touch! I look forward to meeting many of you as I settle into this new part of the country. (Also, know that I don’t usually post recipes with such uncommon ingredients … this is a slight diversion from my normal sort of recipes. Stay tuned for a simple smoked salmon frittata recipe, coming soon!)

First Second: I can still post a “summer cocktail” recipe, right? I’ve started organizing my photos into a “Fall 2013” folder, as I usually do after my birthday, but here in Madison the intense heat of the end of summer is only now threatening to break, and I know Southern California is still feeling the heat.

Second Third: I generally do a pretty good job of picking recipes to post here that would be easy enough for most people to make at home, whether it’s a matter of finding the ingredients or of the complexity of the techniques involved. Today, however, I’m breaking that rule.

Read more

Sep 9

1 Comment

Gribiche-dressed simple potato salad

This one’s been on my list for a while.

Potato_salad

By “my list” I mean the running list of things I want to cook – recipes I’ve come across, ideas I’ve picked up from here and there, random inspirations that come to me at random. It’s a long list, and until recently sort of wild and overgrown like an uncontrollable and unmaintained patch of land, growing far more quickly than I could make any progress on it. I’d throw almost anything on the list, from a full-fledged recipe to just a word or two. (Until recently, one entry said merely “bacon.” Who knows.) It began to feel like a losing game, so a few weeks ago I culled and organized it, organizing it by type of dish and by season so I can more easily use it as a resource.

That’s how I remembered about gribiche. Read more

Sep 6

Upcoming classes with Bowen Appétit

Just stopping by quick to point out a new page on the site – Classes + Events details all upcoming Bowen Appétit classes and events. Registration is open for eight classes starting in the end of September. Spaces are limited, so register soon!

Tell your friends! (Your friends in Madison, at least.)

Teaching

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →