Speculoos
This cookie has seduced the non-cinnamon loving population of France. It will seduce you too.
Corn Rounds
Rhubarb Ginger and Speculoos Tartelettes
These tartelettes surprise and delight everyone because they offer just the right combination of sweet, crisp, creamy, and tart…you’ll see. If you don’t want to make tartelettes, you can make a big tart – this is enough for one that measures 10-1/2-inches (27cm) across. There is nothing to this, it’s like a cheesecake only easier and, honestly, more fun.
Irish Brown Bread
You’ll love this nutty, whole-meal bread. You can get wholemeal from King Arthur
And if you don’t have buttermilk on hand you can make an excellent facsimile by adding 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice to each 1 cup (250ml) whole milk. Let it sit for 15 minutes and voila!
Braised Spring Vegetables
Late spring is a perfect moment in the life of vegetables. Peas, carrots, potatoes and onions are brand new, filled with tender, sweet flavor, the juiciest and most flavorful they will be all year. This dish, which is topped with a fresh lettuce that melts gently into it, is a celebration of spring, ideal to serve with roasted meats or fish.
Aili Takala’s Rhubarb Cake
Couscous
ASTUCE: Pay careful attention to these pearls of wisdom, as they will ensure perfect couscous:
*The directions urge you to proceed gently, so please do. As you use your fingers and palms, urge rather than rub the liquids and fats into the couscous, very lightly, very gently.
*It is very important that the couscous steams uncovered. If it steams covered, condensation falls from the cover onto the grain causing lumps and making it soggy.
*Wrap a towel around the seam of the steamer to make sure steam doesn’t escape into the atmosphere.
*If you do not have a couscous steamer, you may use a traditional, two-part steamer.
Fish Stock
I always have fish stock in my freezer, for making a quick soup or adding to a sauce. I freeze about 2 cups in ice cube trays, then pop the cubes in ice cube trays, then pop the cubes out of the trays and put them in freezer bags or containers. (Each cube is approximately 1 ½ tablespoons of stock).
ASTUCES: freeze whatever fish stock you don’t use in 1 cup (250ml) increments. Then it’s at your fingertips for other recipes.
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT: heavy saucepan
PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: simple
Marmite Dieppoise
SPECIAL EQUIPMENT: large, heavy saucepan
PREPARATION TIME: 30 minutes
DIFFICULTY LEVEL: simple but requires attention
YOGURT CAKE – GATEAU AU YAOURT
This simple cake goes together in minutes. I melt the butter and the chocolate over the pilot lights on my stove. Do that before you measure out anything else, then by the time you’re ready for them, they’ll be cool enough (even if they’re lukewarm) to use. I love to serve home-made orange marmalade, just a small mound, alongside this cake.
Normally, you melt chocolate in a double boiler, but if this feels like a complication, and you have a burner on your stove to go very, very low, just melt the chocolate here, stirring it often so it doesn’t stick. I normally don’t recommend microwaves (ask me later), but if you’ve got one of course you know, they do make good chocolate melters.
