Apartment Dining

After looking through my Grandma Mangan’s recipe book at my mother’s house last fall, I decided to buy a scanner and archive the book’s contents on my computer. My father has now loaned me the recipe box of his mother, my Grandma Cahill, and I have started scanning her recipes as well.  Grandma Cahill’s collection has more recipes in poetic verse (total: 2), and Grandma Mangan’s collection has more clippings of famous dishes from local restaurants, but overall, their contents are similar. They include a recipes scribbled on scraps of paper, clippings from newspapers and processed food packaging, and index cards from friends and family. Lots of jello molds. Lots of “whipped topping.”

The first recipe I chose from my Grandma Cahill’s collection was for molasses cookies. Internet sleuthing while the cookies were baking yielded many similar—if not identical—recipes on the web, so it must have appeared on the side of a molasses container at one point and now graces the index cards of many collections. Recipe and photos after the jump. » Read the rest of this entry «

If I’m forced to choose between all of the pies that appear on the dessert table at a Thanksgiving dinner, pumpkin pie always wins out. I love the custard filling, and I find it difficult to pass up another vehicle for whipped cream during the holidays. My mind also rationalizes that it must be healthier than an apple pie because it has only one crust, conveniently forgetting the amount of sugar and cream required to make the filling.

I have attempted two pumpkin pies over the last month as part of my Pie and Manicure Sunday series, during which I bake a pie and get an very cheap manicure around the corner from my apartment. The first pie’s crust had some issues, and the amount of cream in the filling was overwhelming. I made the second one yesterday and I think I’ve found the correct ratios, but the cooking process was not without incident. More photos and a recipe after the jump » Read the rest of this entry «

It was a banner weekend: dinner on the Upper West Side on Friday night, the farmers’ market in Grand Army Plaza on Saturday morning, shopping and macarons in SoHo in the afternoon, beer and tacos in Sunset Park at night, and finally on Sunday, manicures, pints of pumpkin ale, and lots of cooking in Park Slope. It felt the way a New York weekend should, with just the right balance of adventure and absurdity, and enough scenic views for a Woody Allen film. Much of it also revolved around food, so it was natural to wind down by baking a pie Sunday afternoon with my well-manicured hands.

I wanted to go recipe-free to make an apple cranberry pie, so I tried to remember as many techniques as I could from last year’s apple pie adventure and winged the rest. The pie was a success, but I forgot to add flour to the apple mixture which resulted in a little excess liquid. I’ve corrected it in the recipe after the jump. » Read the rest of this entry «

My friends Angela and Sean hosted a small gathering Sunday afternoon to celebrate an a match made in culinary heaven: grilled sandwiches and beer. They gathered an impressive array of meats, cheeses, mustards, and more, and were ready with some fantastic combinations. More photos and combos after the jump » Read the rest of this entry «

This week has been a roller coaster ride of uncertainty, and when I’m uncertain about things that factor largely into my life and well being, my mind turns into a simulator of worst case scenarios. Like the NASA astronauts or people playing SimCity, it prepares me for anything that could come my way, for better or worse. It’s why I carry a sewing kit and a pair of socks in my purse at all time, I had a sleeping bag in the trunk of my car throughout college, and I always leave my apartment with an extra half-hour to spare if traveling by subway. I mentally note easily accessible bathrooms around the city, and if you called me from most neighborhoods below 23rd Street or in northern Brooklyn, I could probably give you directions to one.

I was sprawled on the couch last night in the midst of one of my “What if…” sessions when I made an important decision. It was time to relax. It was time to make some brownies. For me, there is no dessert more comforting in both taste and texture, especially when they contain more butter than is found in many homes these days. Forget chocolate chip cookies. These childhood icons are low maintenance and no electric mixer needed.

This is one of my favorite brownie recipes, and while it does require a little time on the stove, the results are completely worth it. If you make them, cut them into small pieces because they are very, very rich. Relax and enjoy.

I tried to make a peach and blueberry galette on Sunday and failed miserably. The tart’s sugar levels were off and crust wasn’t rolled thin enough, turning it into a rock hard biscuit surrounding a pile of roasted fruit. This happens from time to time when I’m making up recipes and trying new dishes, but usually Ramsey offers a comforting, “Oh no, it doesn’t look that bad, I’m sure it tastes fine.” However for the galette, he conceded that there was no way to spin it.

Feeling defeated, I turned to one of my favorite simple desserts: roasted stone fruit. I usually serve them with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream, but I made a cinnamon whipped cream instead and I think it worked well. Plums, peaches, and cinnamon feel like a natural combination, and they can all be thrown together and cooked in under 30 minutes. » Read the rest of this entry «

Despite temperatures in the nineties, I continued my trend of incredibly easy desserts this afternoon by making a blueberry crisp. It’s cheap, it’s fast, and you can usually make it without having to run out for special ingredients as it follows a simple formula of fresh fruit + sugar + oats, flour, and butter topping. If you’re really lucky, blueberries will be very ripe and on sale at the local market (a whopping 3 pints for $5 was what I found today). You can also get away with eating it for breakfast, however adding a scoop of ice cream in the morning may go too far. A dollop of whipped cream might be the perfect compromise. Full recipe after the jump.

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When I think of pie, my mind immediately goes to setting up a workstation complete with flour, ice water, a rolling pin, and plenty of wax paper. I recall the careful waiting game of chilling the dough, then rolling it out (but not too much!), and trying to place it into a pie dish without ripping it. It’s a rewarding but stressful process that I’m not always prepared to undertake.

Enter the graham cracker: a buttery, sweet angel to the rescue of those who want to bake a pie but don’t want the hassle of a flour-based crust. It’s the crust of choice for chocolate and banana cream, but it’s most notably found lining the pans of key lime pies everywhere.

I made my first key lime pie this weekend for a small gathering of friends. Although I had consumed more than my weight in the pie as a child visiting my grandparents in Florida, I’d never even looked at a key lime recipe before. This was the simplest version I could find, as I wanted to skip the meringue topping.

Overall, it was one of the easiest baked goods I have ever made, save for the labor involved in squeezing the limes. No stress, no rolling pins. I was unable to find key limes in Greenpoint, I so I used regular limes, a dash of lemon juice, and 1/2 tsp. of lime zest in the filling to make sure it had the right balance of tart and sweet. My only recipe suggestion is lightly greasing your pie dish with butter because the graham cracker crust may stick a bit.

In place of photos from my baking process (I was frazzled getting ready for company and forgot to document), I offer you photos from a yo-yo competition I attended the following day at South Street Seaport. » Read the rest of this entry «

It’s been years since I’ve had rhubarb pie. I’ve always equated its flavor with early summer, particularly Memorial Day weekend which was usually spent at a family friend’s cottage in the Finger Lakes when I was a kid. The wonderful balance of tart and sweet brings back memories of sitting on a dock near sunset with a paper plate and a big slice of pie, just as the fireflies started to appear over the water.

When temperatures reached into the seventies this weekend I was inspired to make my first rhubarb pie. Rhubarb has only been in season for a few weeks, so every stand that had it in Union Square seemed to be especially crowded with people inspecting each stalk. I grabed enough for three cups worth of pie filling (along with a bunch of asparagus) and headed back to Brooklyn. » Read the rest of this entry «

Happy Cinco de Mayo! To celebrate the holiday I’ve turned my attention to flan, a caramel-topped custard dessert that you can prepare with just five ingredients. I consider it to be the under appreciated cousin of crème brûlée, often overlooked because it doesn’t require the pageantry of a butane torch (nothing says “fancy” quite like a controlled fire in the kitchen). You can easily flavor it with chocolate, coconut, or just about anything else that can be added to or infused into custard, but I decided to go for a basic flan with just a touch of vanilla. » Read the rest of this entry «