A crunchy mix of toasted walnuts and chocolate combine with melted butter, sugar and cinnamon, to make a luscious topping and interior layer in this classy banana cake. As it baked, the house filled with banana perfume. It came out beautifully browned and we could hardly wait for it to cool. We ate half of it (over three days) as…
Avocado and Orange Salad – Updated Classic Combo
Cooking, Melissa's, Produce, Recipes, Uncategorized, VideosAvocado’s rich, nutty taste and creamy texture pairs beautifully with the sweet-sour perkiness of oranges. The fruit duo is especially appealing in a simple salad along with tender lettuce, fresh lemon juice and crunchy almonds. Most often avocados are found firm-to-the-touch in the marketplace; they only ripen off the tree. If they are hard when you buy them, they will…
Gravlax can be the centerpiece of simple-yet-elegant appetizers, first courses and salads. It’s delicious for breakfast or brunch, served with brown bread, cucumber slices, capers, red onions and mustard sauce (much more delicious than lox in my opinion). Toss it into warm potato salad or pasta. Mouthwatering. Making It Easy Gravlax, pronounced GRAHV-locks, is a Swedish-style cured salmon made by…
Pasta + Baby Spinach + Ricotta + Half & Half + Butter = Quick-to-Prepare Fun In the ten years I served on the James Beard Foundation’s Cookbook Award Committee, I flew to NYC four times a year to attend the meetings (we had no idea that ZOOM would become a thing – after all it was the 90’s and early…
This salad recipe is adapted from “Ancient Grains for Modern Families” by Maria Speck (Ten Speed, $29.99). Speck used marinated dried figs in the salad, which are delicious. But I changed my mind about the figs when I had a luscious quinoa salad at Marche Moderne restaurant (Newport Coast). It was adorned with candied kumquats. Reset. I love the sweet-tart…
Make or buy a pumpkin pie if you must, but these layered creamy-crispy squares will most-likely be the pumpkin stars. Make Ahead: Can be prepared 2 days in advance and refrigerated. Happy Holidays to all the cooks and all their helpers. Pumpkin Cheesecake Crumble SquaresYield: 20-24 squaresCrust and Streusel:1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour3/4 cup golden brown sugar1/2 teaspoon salt1/2 cup…
Chicken with Caramelized Onion and Cardamom Rice, Wowzers
Chefs, Cookbooks, Cooking, Melissa's, RecipesChicken with Caramelized Onion and Cardamom Rice: My niece Holly Sue is a chef. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, many years ago she left a restaurant career to raise her family, but later started a highly successful at-home personal chef business when her boys were approaching middle school age. Her clients pick up made-from-scratch family dinners twice…
Rad Red Times Three Salad with Beets, Blood Oranges and Pomegranates
Cookbooks, Cooking, Melissa's, Produce, Recipes, VideosI love red-fleshed fruits and vegetables! Red Times Three Salad showcases three of my favorites: blood oranges, red beets and pomegranate seeds. Blood orange’s sweet-sour flavor profile has a subtle note of raspberry. It pairs beautifully with the earthy edge of beets. I use Melissa’s ready-to-eat peeled and steamed baby beets – they are so convenient and beat the heck…