Year: 2014

Ingredients for a Happy Holiday Feast

Published by Kathy Hunt

Right now I have a story running at Zester Daily and MSN about what it takes to throw a fantastic holiday party. After writing that piece, I started thinking about the ingredients that I keep on hand to ensure that, no matter who or when someone drops by, there will be something warm and tasty on the table to eat. Bread, eggs, milk and butter are givens. With these I can fry up French toast, egg-in-a-hole and egg sandwiches or make scrambled eggs and toast. I also like to keep the following items around, things that I dub the ingredients for a happy holiday feast. With them I can pull together a nice meal, one that looks as though I’ve spent hours hovering over a hot stove when, in fact, I’ve thrown the dish together in 30 minutes or less. PUFF PASTRY: Defrost a sheet or two of puff pastry and in 30 minutes I have everything from breakfast to dessert. I’ve used puff pastry to make a simple pizza— partially bake the pastry, remove …

The Favored Few: Cookbooks in Review

Published by Kathy Hunt

It’s that time of year again, time for my rundown of good books for food lovers and cooks. Among 2014’s recommendations are three sweets-oriented cookbooks, two boozy books, a tome dedicated to Nordic cuisine, another focused on preservation and one devoted to mushrooms. Capping off the list is a quirky and humorous general purpose cookbook. So, without further introduction, here are my favorites of 2014. 80 Cakes from around the World by Claire Clark (Absolute Press, 2014) Fans of baking, world travel and food histories will especially enjoy Claire Clark’s colorful dessert book. It includes traditional recipes for Irish barmbrack, Hungarian dobos torte and Dutch apple cake as well as modern takes on French croquembouche, American doughnuts and Polish beetroot cake. Historical accounts and photographs enliven every sweet. The Little Book of Scones by Liam D’Arcy and Grace Hall (Random House UK, 2014) Possessing the tagline “meet the 21st-century scone,” D’Arcy and Hall’s slender cookbook introduces readers to 30 contemporary scone creations. Basil and salt dip scone sticks and red velvet scone fancies are among …

Lovely Littlenecks with Sherry-Shallot Butter

Published by Kathy Hunt

I’ve got a bit of thing for clams, particularly for the smallest of all hard-shell clams, littlenecks. Whether farmed or hand-harvested, these bivalves are one of the eco-friendliest shellfish around. Along with sustainability, they have healthfulness in their favor. Rich in omega-3 fatty acids and protein, they’re a heart-healthy seafood. The joys don’t end here. Quick to cook and easy to pair, clams make wonderful appetizers as well as entrees. What would winter be without a warming bowl of clam chowder or linguine with clam sauce? In my case it would be a cold, dreary winter. What I adore most, though, about clams is how simple it is to clean them. Before cleaning, you should sort out the clams with broken shells or shells that don’t close completely after being tapped with a knife or finger. Once you’ve discarded the duds, tumble the remaining bivalves into a large bowl. Cover them with cold water and then add a generous amount of salt. Almost immediately the clams will begin to push the salted water—and bits of …

ginger-scallion shrimp

Sautéed Ginger-Scallion Shrimp at Shockingly Delicious!

Published by Kathy Hunt

I’m thrilled to be branching out this week and sharing Sautéed Ginger-Scallion Shrimp with the readers of Shockingly Delicious. If you’ve yet to check out this fabulous food blog, it offers “unbelievably drool-worthy, scrumptious, ‘scary good’ recipes for people who love food!” Such a nice venue for this quick and delicious shrimp recipe! Please head over to fellow journalist, food blogger and seafood fan Dorothy Reinhold’s site for more about Sautéed Ginger-Scallion Shrimp. You’re sure to get hooked. It’s Shockingly Delicious!

The Persuasive Persimmon Graham Pie

Published by Kathy Hunt

Every fall I try to convince my husband that persimmons are one of autumn’s best treats. In turn, he reminds me that the most repugnant fruit that he’s ever eaten remains an unripe persimmon. For years we’ve been stuck at this impasse. Here’s the deal with persimmons. If you yank a hard, yellowish persimmon from its leafy branch and then immediately take a bite, you’ll experience the bitterest fruit around. Have some patience, wait until the orb has turned reddish-orange in color, has softened and maybe even fallen to the ground and you’ll taste a honeyed fruit like no other. How do I erase a bad food memory or, at the very least, persuade someone to give this berry another try? Persimmon pudding didn’t do the trick nor did persimmon tarts. No matter how beautiful or aromatic I made the offering, the memory of that acrid flavor lingered on. This year, though, I hit upon a winning combo, matching pureed persimmons with graham cracker crust. Maybe it’s the mild sweetness of the cookies or the …

The Always Delightful Dal Tadka

Published by Kathy Hunt

Thanks to a Sunday evening spent eating platefuls of homemade Indian curries and watching Ritash Batra’s charming The Lunchbox, I’m shifting gears this week to share one of my favorite meals, dal tadka. In India dal is both an ingredient—legumes such as split peas, beans or lentils—and a savory dish. Regarding the dish, at least 60 types of dal exist. What differentiates each are the combination of legumes and spices, the cooking times and the final consistency. Some dals are soupy while others are thick and stew-like. In the case of dal tadka I’ve made and eaten both types. Although turmeric injects its rich color into dal tadka, legumes likewise imbue it with a golden hue. Wondering which legume to use? In northern India I was instructed to buy yellow lentils. However, the staff at New York’s Kalustyan’s swear by chana dal or split black chickpeas. Following their advice, I use chana but, when I don’t have that on hand, I substitute the smaller toor dal or split pigeon pea. With the latter you get …

Sailing away in Raspberry Meringue Boats

Published by Kathy Hunt

Sometimes my timing is off. During the last days of summer I collected and baked a rare autumn treat, ground cherries. On the first day of fall I took a field trip to a community supported agricultural garden and picked a quart of a beloved summer delicacy, raspberries. That they had not already been scavenged by birds, bees and other berry fiends amazed me. That they retained their brilliant ruby color and sweet, juicy flavor at the end of a long growing season was even more shocking. How lucky could I get? Although I’d spent much of the summer simmering, pureeing and swirling fruits into desserts, I didn’t want to toss these fresh-from-the-vine beauties into a blender or pot. Such gorgeousness should be showcased and not transformed into a lumpy, red mass. Rather than just serve them whole with a dollop of homemade whipped cream, I turned to an old family favorite, the meringue. A simple sweet, it would be the perfect foundation for these exquisite berries. If your ancestors are French as a smattering …

Dishy and Delicious Pistachio Coconut Creams

Published by Kathy Hunt

Over the summer I became infatuated with the English syllabub. Velvety and light, this simple dessert consists of only three ingredients—cream, sugar and a smidgen of alcohol. If you’re a traditionalist, you add sweet wine or cider. If you’re more of a rebel, you may include a splash of rum, brandy or any other liqueur or flavoring that strikes your fancy. Whip it all together and you’ve got an ambrosial syllabub. As winter creeps closer to my doorstep, I start to crave desserts heartier than flavored whipped cream. I still like the idea of a creamy treat that I can spoon into and out of elegant Moroccan tea glasses. However, instead of stuffing these delicate souvenirs with cream, I’m filling them with a far more common and filling Moroccan ingredient, yogurt, and a few other tasty things. The end result? The easy, dishy and delicious Pistachio Coconut Cream. Reminiscent of the English syllabub, Pistachio Coconut Creams feature yogurt whisked together with confectioner’s sugar, dried coconut and thick and sweetened cream of coconut. Don’t confuse cream …

Bewitching Black Currant Palmiers

Published by Kathy Hunt

A few Sundays ago I lucked out and found fresh, plump red and black currants at the Rhinebeck Farmers Market. Unlike the red currants, which I’d churned into sherbet, I took a fairly traditional approach with the larger, purplish-black fruit and cooked up a batch of black currant jelly. Why jelly? Like their red relation, black currants contain a large amount of pectin, the substance that causes foods to thicken and gel. To make black currant jelly, I simmered the fruit with some sugar and lemon juice. Once the berries had softened and the sugar had dissolved, I strained the reddish-violet syrup into a glass bowl. I allowed it to cool and set and — voila! — I had black currant jelly. Because I’d wanted to do more with currants than just make preserves, I came up with a twist on an old family favorite, palmiers. Made from puff pastry, this simple French cookie gets its name from its palm leaf-like shape. Depending on where you live and how you perceive its appearance, you may …

Elderberries and Cream

Published by Kathy Hunt

A little over a month ago I spent a morning picking elderflowers at my friends’ farm in Southeastern Pennsylvania. Last weekend I returned to find one lone cluster of white flowers and an inordinate number of reddish- to blackish-purple berries drooping from the limbs of their elderberry trees. Since my last visit those pert, little flowers had transformed into August’s big bounty, tart and spicy elderberries. As with all of this summer’s foraged fruit, elderberry collecting is a new undertaking for me. Sure, I’ve been the beneficiary of others’ wild berry gathering, adding elderberries to mini apple pies and boiling them into violet-colored sauces. However, this would be my first venture into harvesting them. Thankfully, the task turned out to be quite easy. Just look for the darkest fruit, snap off the sprays of berries and shake them into a big bowl. As I said, easy! Berries picked and shucked, I took my share home and tried to think of creative ways to use two pounds of this fruit. After washing and removing any remaining …