Hot Cross Buns are delicately sticky-sweet and beautifully golden on the outside, the inside is gently scented with vanilla, warm spices, and studded with dried cranberries and golden raisins – all of which are reasons enough to love them, though I’ve always been most captivated by their history.
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As featured in Condé Nast Traveler Magazine “How to Build the Ultimate Picnic Basket, According to Chefs Around the World.” (France) Leeks are a staple in my springtime kitchen. They are one of my favorite seasonal ingredients for their gentle fragrance. I add them to soups, mashed potatoes, braise them in wine with pasta, and make this Savory French Leek Pie – though you’d be most accurate to call this a pie, as the crust has changed over the years, but the name has stayed the same The French have elevated leeks to an almost noble ranking. The leek, le poireau, is harvested in France throughout most of the year, and recipes abound…
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“It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart.” ― Rainer Maria Rilke This simple recipe for Olive Oil and Orange Cake celebrates the turning of the season. While it still feels a lot like winter most days, the buds on the trees have opened, a few sprigs of flowers have emerged next to mounds of melting snow, and the birds that left in late autumn have returned with their old familiar songs. Let’s bake a cake that is much like the end of March, a little bit sweet, a little bit savory.
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I first experienced red wine pasta (yes, this dish is an experience) while in Tuscany. It was on a long drive to escape the rain that we came upon a small osteria, somewhere outside of Chianti. I’m still not entirely sure that it was open. However, we were seated and exchanged pleasantries in Italian. There was no menu. The old woman who greeted us might have also been the cook, I’m not entirely sure. She returned with two plates of the most gorgeous colored spaghetti I had ever seen.
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Today I’m celebrating my part-Irish heritage by sharing my family’s recipe for Irish Cottage Pie. It’s March and for weeks now there’s been a battle of the wills between winter and spring. A few days ago we were graced with warm slow winds, the kind that billows the curtains just enough to carry the scent of the new grass. That evening, the icy and cutting breath of winter returned and dumped 4 inches of snow. The expected forecast for this week is another foot of snow or more… For me that means comfort food.
