not sticky toffee pudding … Moist Date Cake with Brown Sugar Caramel Glaze

Sticky toffee pudding has always intrigued me. It’s warm, nice and moist and bathed in a buttery caramel sauce that reels me in every time. Warm caramel sauce is my thing. What has always surprised me is this cake has dates in it. It’s a date cake with caramel poured over, which in theory, always sounds a bit odd to this Yank. Dates have really come on strong in the last few years but sticky toffee pudding has been a thing in Great Britain for forever, best as I can tell. For good reason too … it’s delicious.

cooking for others … Classic Minestrone

Last month, I spent a chunk of time caring for my mother, post surgery. This essentially consisted of me complaining how hot it was (115°F), cajoling her to do all her physical therapy, eating as much Mexican food as possible and cooking up a storm. I wanted to fill her freezer with easy meals that could be simply reheated in the coming weeks; healthy, comforting dishes that both she and other friends and family members could easily heat up for lunches and dinners without much fuss.

when life gives you peppers … Southwest Peperonata

I came home from the Labor Day weekend with a big bag full of peppers, a gift from a friend with a large and productive garden. I was thrilled – homegrown produce is always welcome – but I wasn’t sure what to do with them. Her husband suggested salsa but I’d just come off a similar project and wasn’t all that interested in making more. I’d already made a delightfully cheesy hatch chile queso dip, but that only used five of the hatch chiles. There we so many more in the bag. So I did what I always do when I’m not sure how to proceed: I googled. “What to make with a lot of peppers” yielded the expected results with recipes for peperonata dominating. No surprise as it is essentially a pepper dish but I was surprised at the lack of variety in the recipes. Italian in origin, peperonata contains slowly stewed sweet peppers, onions, garlic and sometimes tomato, and it is absolutely delicious. But my peppers were mainly Mexican/Southwest in origin – anaheim, poblano, hatch, jalapeno as well as a mess of hungarian yellow. An idea formed. Would a spicy version work? I wasn’t sure but a southwest style peperonata was now in the works.

you know you love it … Hatch Chile Queso Dip

Queso. Chile con Queso. Cheese Dip. As a kid we called it Dip Dip. Whatever you call it, it’s damn good. We all know this. And we all know one other thing, though some may be ashamed to admit it. Skip the real cheese. It has to be made with melty, smooth processed cheese. Yes, the beloved Velveeta. This is not the place for fancy cheese. I’ve tried. Boy have I tried. I may make macaroni & cheese with a béchamel and handfuls upon handfuls of sharp cheddar but when it comes to queso, I track down the Velveeta. Because that’s just what it needs to be.

best of the season … Almond Summer Fruit Galette

When it comes to bringing a dessert to a party or summer bbq, a fruit galette is the way to go.  Absolutely, no question. First off, they are way easier to make than a traditional pie especially in an unairconditioned summer kitchen (hello, welcome to my world.) The pastry is a lot friendlier and forgiving than a pie dough due to the addition of a bit of sugar and is much easier to handle. Since galettes are free-form, they scale up or down easily and take any extra fruit additions like a champ. The filling is simple: some kind of fruit, sugar, a bit of thickener and if you’re feeling super duper fancy, some citrus zest and/or juice. But the number one reason you should be bringing galettes to parties is that there is no need to bring a pan home. Nope. No driving back the next day to get your pie tin, no wondering where the hell the bottom to your tart pan went. Slide that thing off the sheet pan onto a piece of cardboard or a cheap thrift store plate and you’re off. How many pie plates and tart pan bottoms have you lost over the years, left at long forgotten parties? Exactly my point.

four bite summer … Catalan Tomato Toast (pan con tomate)

Pan con tomate. Pa amb tomàquet. Or, simply put, tomato toast. Crusty bread, juicy tomato, maybe a hint of garlic, a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of salt. That’s all there is to it. Summer in a few bites. When the tomatoes are bursting to the point of juicy ridiculousness and its too damn hot to think about doing much, this is what you make. When done properly, you’ll wonder why you eat anything else.

to cheese or not to cheese … Strawberry Mascarpone Galette

I had strawberries. A lot of strawberries. Due to a wet, miserable and achingly long spring, local strawberries haven’t yet made an appearance in my farmers markets so I turned to a not ideal option for a dinner party dessert I had my heart set on: Costco. Not surprisingly, they weren’t that great; rather large and bland without much of that sweetness that makes a strawberry a strawberry. Isn’t that always the case? But I hate wasting food so I made something with the extras, nearly half of the big ass container. Roasting often helps intensify flavors so in this spirit, I made a tart. An easy, freeform galette.