In my world of forever looking for things to do with our garden’s bounty of lemons and citrus, making candied rinds is an easy and always delicious treat. That is, if I can remember to peel them before I use them for something else. It is not worth trying to skin a lemon after it has been squeezed of it’s juice, but a skinned fruit can certainly be put in the refrigerator for later use.
My husband is from Maryland and he has friends who send us crab cakes every year during the holidays. They come from a place that has been written up in multiple publications as having the best crab cakes in Baltimore. They are very rich and greasy. Frankly speaking, I don’t like them at all. Regardless of my somewhat militant ways when it comes to cooking and how I eat, I do happen to believe that almost anything fried is delicious and my favorite treat is french fries.
Pizza. As far as I am concerned, it is the perfect food. That is, if it is good pizza, and determining one is highly subjective. Regardless of what one might qualify as a great pizza, almost all can agree that one bubbling hot out of your own oven is always good and deeply satisfying. I should know as I have been making pizza dough at home for over 20 years.
My daughter has been asking me if there was such a thing as lemon cake. She’s four, so its a reasonable question. I told her there was, and she, of course, wanted to make one. I have always made Maida Heatter’s Best Damn Lemon Cake as it’s my personal favorite. The title of the recipe says it all. It’s a pound cake of sorts, laced with ground almonds and glazed with sweetened lemon juice. Since Maida Heatter is the Goddess of all things dessert, I thumbed through her other recipes. The East 62nd Street Lemon Cake, a hostess and socialite fav, and Lemon Buttermilk Cake #2 were other worthy options. I have made the East 62nd Street Lemon Cake many times and its delicious, but have never tried the buttermilk recipe. Buttermilk not only offers additional tang to the flavor of the cake, but makes cake very moist. It seemed to be a fitting choice for the old fashioned cake I was aiming to make. As I had expected, the cake did not disappoint.
I love really good lemon bars. Unfortunately, most lemon bars out there don’t taste as good as they look. I mostly find them to be disappointing as they are too sweet, not lemony enough, and seem to have been thickened with corn starch. In my search for finding the perfect recipe to make on my own with the mouth watering tang I yearned for, I had to kiss a lot of frogs. It is not as simple as playing with ratios, or adding more juice or zest. The crust and texture of the lemon bar is just as important as the flavor.
This is my grandmother’s recipe. Her name was Thelma and making ‘mandels’ was her greatest pleasure. I don’t recall her making much else as she truly relished in her popularity for making what she became somewhat famous for. She deserved the accolades and proved that its better to be the master of one great thing. She left us with the legacy of her recipe.
We are blessed here in California with the perfect climate for growing citrus. I have always been fascinated at the number of Orange, Lemon, and Avocado trees heavy with fruit that I see all around the Los Angeles area. The trees are beautiful with the bright skinned fruits dangling from their branches, but they must be picked to ensure a larger crop for the next year. The new blossoms come before all of the fruit is off the trees and the perfumed smell in the air is amazing.
Icebox Cookies also known as Refrigerator Cookies are among the long gone creations of the 1950’s worth keeping around. There is not much to making the dough as most recipes have no method. They are rolled into logs, refrigerated or frozen, and sliced before going in the oven. There are infinite variations that can be made, and they can be stored for months for your own personal supply of slice and bake treats.
When was the last time you had or even thought about a dessert like Pineapple Upside-down Cake? My husband claims that it’s his all time favorite dessert. He is a throwback sort of fellow who gets real pleasure out of things from the long gone eras of wearing hats, Beaux Arts architecture, and dishes like Beef Wellington. It is only fitting that a dessert like Pineapple Upside-down Cake would fall high on his list of favorites. For him, a bite of the caramelized cake takes him back to a time in his childhood. For me, it evokes memories of the covers of my mother’s editions of Gourmet magazine that were always laying around the house I grew up in. Old fashioned and classic American; Pineapple Upside-down Cake is so good that it holds up to the test of time.
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