This is not, as you may have divined, one of those recipes that yields beautiful food. Each bit is not an aesthetic delight, and this is not going to grace the cover of any food publication that I know. But what it is is this: deeply, deeply delicious. And EEEASY. So easy that just writing easy was not sufficient.
When Deb over at Smitten Kitchen (which remains to this day on my list of most inspiring food blogs wrote this post about this raspberry gratin I was intrigued. I love variations on berries and cream, and this, with the caramelized sugar, is really the poor man’s creme brulee (or given the price of raspberries on the open market, the very very rich man’s creme brulee.
Now I LOVE raspberries, but I hold them in such reverence that dimming their flavor with (really, a lot of) sour cream seemed like a bit of a cruel fate. But then, I was visiting one of my favorite vendors at the Hollywood Farmer’s Market and their crazydelicious (and very reasonably priced) Tra-Zee peaches called out to me. A ripe peach is delicious and exquisite but not quite the valuable commodity that fresh raspberries are. And nobody can deny that peaches and cream are a classic pairing. And besides, this dish is an excellent way to use those perfect ripe peaches that may have gotten a little squished or bruised on their way home.
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Tags: easy·peaches·sour cream·sweet·weeknight
One of the things I love most about writing a food blog is that people come out of the woodwork with their best and most cherished recipes. I don’t know if they want a moment in this small spotlight, they entrust me, as an “expert” to recreate their family treasures, or they are just inspired by the community of cooking to share, but I am glad, whatever the motivation. Although I love my cookbook collection fiercely, and poor over the food glossies every month looking for recipes and inspiration, nothing floats my boat so much as a tried and true family favorite — a recipe that is burnished by love and experience until it just shines. And they’re almost always completely and totally delicious (we will ignore for the moment my own family’s recipe for tomato aspic made with tomato juice, lemon jello and chopped celery and served with a side of mayonnaise).
This is one of those recipes that makes me happy to be working in food and writing about food, because if I wasn’t, this recipe might never have come into my life. It comes from the kitchen of Spring (her actual name), the lovely mama of my lovely friend Rebecca (progenitor of the Bacon Salted Caramel Brownies – these people know good food.) Spring is very English but has lived in California for years and years — this dish, in my mind, combines the best of those two culinerary traditions — an English focus on simple heartiness (and gravy!), with California Mediterranean flavors.
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Tags: chicken·weeknight
I do apologize for my quiet recently. It all stems from some exciting news, which is that after years of bubble sitting, Ken and I finally bit the bullet and bought a house. I say “bought” but we don’t own it yet. Please keep your fingers crossed. It’s not a fun process.
Of course, this probably more exciting for us than it is for you, other than an increased variety in backgrounds to food photography you see on Savour Fare, and a period of quiet while I’ve been stressing, packing, organizing, purging, drinking very large glasses of wine and lukewarm margaritas (it was an EMERGENCY), packing, stressing, packing some more, and not cooking. Seriously, we’ve been living on hamburgers (frozen, courtesy of the George Forman Grill) and toast. A lot of toast. Good thing I really like toast. I’ve also been a bit, um, distracted, with my new project. So not enough posting. I’m sorry. Maybe I’ll come back and teach you how to make a lukewarm margarita in an emergency (hint: it involves not measuring the tequila).
Of course, this means I found myself, a couple of Sundays ago, due for book club and having NOTHING to bring. (I said I’ve been busy, but book club is sacred. I need my girl time. And there needs to be carbs). So I whipped up this very basic coffee cake based on things I had in my house and one cookbook that had escaped the boxes (I keep finding cookbooks in the oddest places all over my house). Now you know my staples. (I know buttermilk seems like a weird staple, but buttermilk biscuits and dressing can save almost any meal). And this is delicious — gooey, decadent — not at all the plain coffee cake I envisioned. And it comes together in a flash, too. Don’t try to unmold it — you’ll just lose all that gooey, sticky icing. Just scoop it out with a spoon. If you’re under just a tiny bit of stress and you need a good hit of carbs and sugar, this has DEFINITELY got you covered.
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Tags: brunch·easy·weeknight
