Recipes
Umami Apple Pie
An essential cookbook on our shelves is The Flavour Principle: Enticing Your Senses With Food And Drink. This cookbook, containing recipes from around the world, focuses on the fundamentals of flavor and suggests pairings to complement the unique tastes of each dish. One of our favorite recipes is this exceptional umami apple pie, which uses white cheddar in the crust for another delicious sweet & savory pairing.From the Author: "One issue I have with apple pies is that the apples are not soft and juicy enough. To avoid that, I use several different kinds of apples, some hard and some soft, and precook them for a few minutes to just soften."
Learn more
Japanese Chicken Curry
The Flavour Principle: Enticing Your Senses With Food And Drink contains recipes from around the world, focuses on the fundamentals of flavor and suggests pairings to complement the unique tastes of each dish. This Japanese curry recipe which balances sweet and spicy flavors for a wonderful, balanced taste, and has become a staff favorite.From the Author: "You can buy Japanese curry powder but it’s just as easy to make your own with our recipe. Serve the curry with rice or udon noodles and Japanese pickles (recipes follow). The grated apple gives sweetness to the sauce.This curry powder gets its traditional deep yellow colour from the turmeric. It is not a hot curry; it is more textured, with layered flavour."
Learn more
Chicken Vindaloo
Many of us grew up having grandmothers who were wonderful cooks, so we were happy to find this cookbook full of grandmotherly love. In Her Kitchen: Stories and Recipes from Grandmas Around the World, is a memorable compendium of portraits featuring grandmothers around the world alongside their signature family recipes. This chicken vindaloo recipe comes to the book, and to us, courtesy of Grace Estibero, 82, who grew up in the South Indian state of Goa. If you love a good spicy dish, this one is absolutely delicious!From the Author: "Typical of Indian cooking, chicken vindaloo is a hot dish, which was originally introduced to Goa by the Portuguese. Often served on special occasions, this dish is traditionally prepared with pork, but I am sure you will be fully satisfied with this chicken version."
Learn more
Frank's Chocolate Cinnamon Cake
Need a chocolate fix? If you can't decide between brownies, cake or fudge, make Frank's Chocolate Cinnamon Cake and enjoy all three. The cake is dense and moist like a brownie, the frosting is like fudge, and the two combine to create the ultimate chocolate cake. Thanks, Frank!
Learn more
Sri Lankan Banh Mi
Who doesn't love a great sandwich! We are all fans of banh mi sandwiches, and loved this recipe from Andrea Nguyen's The Banh Mi Handbook: Recipes for Crazy-Delicious Vietnamese Sandwiches. We have tried many different types of banh mi, and loved this one made with a Sri Lankan Curry.From the author: "When Viet people eat curry with baguette, they typically dip the bread into the spiced coconut-scented sauce. San Francisco chef Alex Ong sent me his recipe for this bewitching curry (the name comes from the dark-colored spice blend), insisting that it would be perfect stuffed inside a baguette for banh mi. He was right, but to avoid a soggy sandwich, I hand shredded the cooked chicken and recooked it in the sauce, allowing it to fry in the residual oil and become encrusted with the seasonings. It became like an Indonesian rendang or, as my husband put it, a curried chicken carnitas. It’s fantastic."
Learn more
Banana Upside Down Cake
We're used to having Pineapple Upside Down Cake, but one made with bananas?This Banana Upside-Down Cake from Brazilian Barbecue & Beyond sounded so delicious that we just had to make it, and it's sooo good and easy to make!From the authors: "In Brazil there are many types of banana cakes: cuca, a German cake with a rich, crumbly topping; banana bread; bolo cakes, which are sometimes made in a ring shape and often spread with cinnamon; and our favorite, the upside-down cake. Like the French tarte tatin, this indulgent cake is cooked with a layer of caramelized bananas at the bottom, then turned upside-down to show its sticky-sweet banana topping. Perfect as a teatime treat."
Learn more
Bejeweled Spice Cake
The holy trinity of baking spices: ginger, cassia-cinnamon and allspice combine in this traditional medieval spice blend called Poudre Douce. It makes this upside-down fruit cake an essential for the winter holidays -- and it's a table-top stunner, too! We made a festive selection of dried fruits over the classic pineapple to allow the spices to shine through. Less sweet than those pineapple upside-down cakes of our childhoods, we like this cake at brunch as well as for dessert!
Learn more
Ginger Snappiest Cookies
These ginger snaps are the snappiest in town and offer a classic belly warming tingle all season long. Equally at home with a glass of milk, egg nog, hot cocoa or a cocktail, they offer a petite bite of concentrated spice. We added a sprinkle of sugar to our finished cookies for some holiday sparkle.So pretty and delicious on the plate, and so yummy straight off the rack!
Learn more
Pumpkin Kale Enchiladas
Last October, the shop was bedecked with lovely heirloom pumpkins. Once they had seen the end of their lives as decorations, we roasted them and added them to everything -- and I mean everything! This recipe was conceived to please the vegetarian we had on staff at the time, as well as all of the ardent carnivores we always have around. It's the best of our pumpkin experimentation and was the first dish to disappear at our most recent tasting.Cooking with whole chile pods can be intimidating, if you've never done it, but it isn't difficult and the flavors are unparalleled. It should be mentioned that "chile" is not synonymous with heat. In this sauce, darkly sweet Anchos complement the roasted pumpkin, while Pasilla Negro and Mulato provide an earthy base to support the sharpness of the kale. Just a touch of smoke is added with the Pasilla Oaxaca, producing a rich and complex concoction that is remarkably mild. If you like your Latin fare a little spicier, you can customize the heat level with a pinch or two of Chipotle Flakes.
Learn more
