reinventions … Chorizo and Cornbread Strada (savory bread pudding)

It seems I am incapable of cooking for one person. I try, I do, but this fact has become abundantly clear during this quarantine and I am overrun with leftovers. Browning bananas, pieces of half used vegetables, staling loaves of bread, and plastic deli containers of semi-identifiable ingredients are taking over my kitchen. I don’t like leftovers so I’ve taken on the challenge of turning them into something new. Last night’s pasta, beans and greens became today’s lunchtime soup. Dinner leftovers were chopped up, encased in pie dough and reinvented as lovely turnovers. Last week’s excess cinnamon rolls became the weekend’s bread pudding. It’s been working out pretty well. Necessity is the mother of invention after all. The other day I found a plastic wrapped chunk of cornbread, hidden behind an enormous bowl of oranges. Wonderful. Forgot about that. It was fine, but stale. I thought about making stuffing to go alongside a roast chicken but bread pudding has been on my mind. What if I turned this stale hunk into a strada, a savory pudding with whatever I could wrangle up in the fridge? I could use those little bits of whatnot tucked in plastic wrap and Ziploc baggies and make something delicious. This was how a cornbread pudding was born.

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the inevitable situation … Cinnamon Roll Bread Pudding

You saw this one coming, didn’t you? That last cinnamon roll post – for a small batch to minimize extras – took me two attempts to get right so let’s just say I’ve got quite a few cinnamon rolls lying about. I took one for the team, my friends. Oh the irony. I’m not a big fan of leftovers so I’ve been trying to keep on top of things but one of the biggest offenders in my house lately is bread. Like many, I’ve embarked on several bread adventures during this quarantine and there’s one great truth in all this: I can only so much bread. Loaves and bagels and buns, oh my and those cinnamon rolls certainly didn’t help. Now, probably more so than any other time, we’re all acutely aware of what we eat and how much we waste. Due to shortages, we’re careful how much flour or rice or pasta we cook and certainly don’t want to throw anything away if avoidable. We repurpose leftovers into lunchtime salads, little casseroles, stir fries and soups with varying degrees of success. For the first time in many of our lives, we’re aware. And right now, many of us are aware of an excess of bread hanging about, keto diets be damned.

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post holiday clearance … Eggnog Panna Cotta

Every year, while home for Christmas at my mother’s, I buy a quart of eggnog. Every year, I forget to drink it. Every year, after I’ve returned home she calls me up and yells at me for not drinking said eggnog. I’m not too sure what happens but essentially, I forget. This year though, I made a pretty good dent in it. I didn’t finish the container but I did make a conscious effort to drink it, starting with a large glass Christmas Eve morning with a healthy shot of bourbon in it. Maybe that’s the secret: booze. I’ll keep that in mind.

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no bake ease … Greek Yogurt Cheesecake with Spiced Fig-Date Compote

A chef friend recently stayed with me for a few weeks and we had an interesting chat at the grocery store. She was raised in Switzerland, is currently working in Hong Kong and was in town to work at a Michelin starred restaurant for a short time. We’d made a quick stop at the grocery store to pick up some food and she stood in front of the yogurt display, baffled. “Why is there so much yogurt? Why do you have so much yogurt?” Good question. I looked at the display and was a little embarrassed. Have you taken a good look at the yogurt selection at your local grocery store lately? It’s absurd. Why do we have so much yogurt? My store is on the smaller side and has a 7-shelf display that is at least 10 feet long. Hundreds of containers and more than half of it is Greek yogurt. It’s really ridiculous.

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getting more in our lives … Triple Chocolate Cream Puffs

Cream puffs. Oh my. I am thoroughly convinced we do not eat enough cream puffs in life. No way. We all need to change this immediately. I couldn’t even tell you the last time I had a cream puff. Éclairs, certainly and I even know when I last had a Paris-Brest (because that happens, am I right??) but a cream puff? No idea. What’s up with that? Éclairs are so refined, so pretty – just look at what L’éclair de Génie in Paris does with a humble choux paste – but cream puffs seem more informal, more casual, more fun. So in my one-woman quest to change this situation, today I present to you a dark, triple chocolate cream puff. Lent is a whole week away; get it in while you can. Yes indeed.

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no explanation needed … Dark Chocolate Pudding

Chocolate Pudding is one of those classic recipes that stick around forever. It’s one of those dishes that make you feel better, no matter what’s going on or how crappy your day may have been. If you hadn’t noticed, I’m big on comfort foods and memories. In my world, food can easily turn around a blue day. Things like chicken pot pies, squishy rolls and of course chocolate pudding, can turn the tide on an upside down day.

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quin dim who what? … Coconut Quindim (Brazilian Coconut Flan)

I’ve been on a real coconut bender lately. Some people despise coconut and I just don’t understand it. Coconut is delicious! I guess that just means more for me, which is A-OK. I’ve been going through coconut milk at a rapid pace lately, making a slew of frozen desserts, savory stews and rice dishes not to mention dried coconut in a bunch of things. I recently made a blender full of old school piña coladas for friends not long ago and they were fantastic. A properly made, boozy, retro piña colada is something that is most definitely due for a comeback. (I’m looking at you Tiki Bar trend.) Tasty but potentially lethal, you gotta keep and eye on these things and the rate at which your friends are downing them. Trust me on this. For an Olympic Opening Ceremonies party two weeks back, I was searching for an appropriate dessert and with neither the time nor the energy to attack my favorite egg custard tarts; I narrowed in a coconutty custard that looked perfect. Coconut Quindim. Interesting name. This had potential.

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brûlée makes it better … Tuscan Rice Pudding Torte

I am a pudding fan, pudding of any sort: chocolate, butterscotch, rice, tapioca, flan, creme caramel, pots de creme, whatever. Sign me up. I was poking around the internet not long ago, as I do, and a recipe on Food52 caught my eye. Torta di Riso alla Carrarina. It was a rice pudding cake. Holy moly. A cake made of rice pudding on the bottom with a thick custardy layer, almost a flan, on top. I needed to do this. With Easter coming up, what better? I had a pile of leftover candied clementines from the Orange Chocolate Angel Food Cake I made last month that would be a delightful addition. That sealed the deal. Rice pudding cake, you would be mine.

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textures and custards … Dark Chocolate Tapioca Pudding

When I was a kid, every couple of summers we’d visit the grandparents in Chicago and sometimes, we’d pile into my grandma’s car and visit her mother in Cleveland. We’d drive through toll roads and eat lunch at truck stops, both very exotic things to this little southwest girl. We’d stay in the house that my great grandfather built, in the unfinished second floor, in a bunch of bedrooms in beds piled high with hand made, soft and cozy quilts. We’d run around like lunatics and laugh with an enormous extended family, something we didn’t have back in Arizona. We’d eat giant piles of amazing foods from her Czech heritage – kuchens, dumplings and her legendary apple strudel, which she would hide from our greedy mouths. Once my great uncle and I found 12 beautiful strudels hidden in the clothes dryer. She’d greatly underestimated our detective skills. We each had nearly demolished a whole strudel a piece when she caught us on the basement steps, crumb covered faces and sheepish grins. Despite her stern reprimands, I think she got a kick out of the whole thing. I also have distinct memories of eating chocolate tapioca pudding on the front porch swing. Nothing fancy – it was right out of the Jell-O box – but oh, was it good.

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curious name, delicious eats … Eton Mess

Eton Mess. Sounds delicious, doesn’t it? Oh those Brits. Makes you wonder what they were thinking when they named things like Spotted Dick, Jam Roly Poly and Stargazey Pie. So let me tell you about “Eton Mess”. It’s a delightful traditional English dessert said to have originated in the 19^th century at the hoity toity British boarding school and is traditionally served on June 4^th at the annual cricket game against the rival Harrow School. It always contains ripe fresh strawberries, whipped cream and meringue bits all sort of folded together or if you’re fancy, layered parfait style, in a bowl or cup. The strawberry juices run into the cream, which soaks into the crunchy meringue bits making one delicious mess of a dessert.

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