ludja

I posted my adapted recipe on RecipeGullet here: Fresh Raspberry Creme Fraiche Tart. It uses about 3 cups of berries so I don't know how much of a dent that will make! As a side note; I adapted it from Patrica Well's Bistro Cooking, a great cookbook. I've made many recipes from it and they are all almost foolproof on the first try. This recipe sounds similar to the suggestion pastryelf made above from Deborah Madison; another great cookbook author.

Definately national; I've been to or seen good tailgates in CT, MA, NC, NM and CA! Of course, the season may be a litttle shorter in Green Bay--but who knows; maybe they've come to some ingenious solutions. Thanks daniellewiley--fun blog so far, especially with the German Festival.

I do love that type of "cook and eat" liverwurst as well. The only distinction we made really was to call the "coldcut" liverwurst, "liverwurst" and the other, that you refer to, as "liverwurst sausage". (I'm not positive of this, but I don't think the ambiguity comes only from it being a translation-- I think over there, people would know what is meant by context. Hopefully some German or Austrian will jump in). I would think most people that like liverwurst on sandwiches would also like liverwurst sausage. (It's actually my favorite Austrian/German sausage). It's worth searching out in German/Austrian butcher shops. They may sell it fresh or frozen.

Fresh Raspberry Creme Fraiche Tart Serves 8 as Dessert. I adapted this recipe from Patricia Well's Bistro Cooking. She quotes Cafe du Jura in Lyon, France as an inspiration. I like this best made the same day; with a few hours to firm up in the fridge after baking. (Also good if made one day ahead). I take it out of the fridge about 30 min before serving. You can use either cream or creme fraiche in the filling; I've always used homemade "creme fraiche" and I think it adds a special taste. You need to start the creme fraiche about 24 hrs before making the tart. For a 10-inch tart (measuring the bottom of the pan) I have increased the amount of filling and also the amount of raspberries over that originally suggested. The raspberries are only cooked for ~ 15 min so they keep a nice fresh taste that contrasts well with the cream filling and sablee crust--which really does taste like a good butter cookie! Ingredients: 4 large egg yolks 1 cup creme fraich (see recipe below)or heavy whipping cream 4 Tbs granulated sugar 1 Pate Sablee shell, pre-baked (see recipe below) ~ 3 cups fresh raspberries 1 Tbs confectioner's sugar 1. Preheat oven to 375 deg F (190 deg C). 2. In large bowl, whisk egg yolks to break them up. Then whisk in the sugar and creme fraiche until well mixed. Pour mix into the pre-baked and cooked Pate Sablee crust. 3. Place raspberries by hand in concentric circles, in a single layer and closely spaced and with the bottom of the berries facing up. (The berries will shrink a bit so they should be very closely spaced at this point). 4. Cover edges of tart shell with Aluminum foil to prevent further browning if they are already pretty brown. Bake for ~ 15 min or until you filling just begins to set. (Jiggle a little to test). 5. Upon removal from oven, evenly sprinkle 1 Tbs sugar over the top of the tart. After it cools down close to room temp, cover and put in the fridge for at least 2 hrs to firm up a bit more. Take out of the fridge 30 min before serving. Homemade Creme Fraiche 1 cup heavy cream (manufacturing cream if you can get it) 1 Tbs buttermilk Mix cream and buttermilk together in ceramic bowl or crock and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit at 70+ degrees for 18-24 hrs and then put in fridge to firm up more. (Can make several days ahead) Can try to 'speed things up' a little by storing on top of stove with oven or pilot light on. Pate Sablee Crust for 10 inch tart pan, removable bottom 1 cup (140 g) all purpose flour 6 Tbs (3 oz; 90 g) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces 1/8 tsp salt (omit if using salted butter) 1/2 cup (70 g) confectioner's sugar 1 large egg, lightly beaten 1. Place all ingredients except egg in food processor and process until you get coarse crumbs (~ 10-12 sec). Add beaten egg and pulse 2 dozen times until the pastry just begins to form a ball. Between two pieces of wax paper, flatten out the dough with a rolling pin into a large disk. 2. Lift dough into tart pan and quickly press dough into pan with your fingers. Make sure there is enough dough at the edges to support the crust once baked. Even out the edges, make sure there are no holes in crust. Cover with foil or plastic wrap and chill in fridge for 1-2 hrs. 3. Preheat oven to 375 deg F (190 deg C). 4. Prick bottom of dough with tines of fork. Cover dough with foil and add in dried beans or pie weights. Bake dough until it begins to brown around the edges a bit and seems a bit cooked, ~ 15-20 minutes depending on your oven. 5. Remove weights and foil and bake further for ~ 15-20 min. I usually cover the edges with a rim of foil to prevent them from browning too quickly. Be careful to not overcook or burn the dough; it should be light brown and may cook more quickly in your oven. 6. Cool dough for a minimum of 15 min before filling. Keywords: Dessert, Fruit, Intermediate, Tart, French ( RG1158 )

Fresh Raspberry Creme Fraiche Tart Serves 8 as Dessert. I adapted this recipe from Patricia Well's Bistro Cooking. She quotes Cafe du Jura in Lyon, France as an inspiration. I like this best made the same day; with a few hours to firm up in the fridge after baking. (Also good if made one day ahead). I take it out of the fridge about 30 min before serving. You can use either cream or creme fraiche in the filling; I've always used homemade "creme fraiche" and I think it adds a special taste. You need to start the creme fraiche about 24 hrs before making the tart. For a 10-inch tart (measuring the bottom of the pan) I have increased the amount of filling and also the amount of raspberries over that originally suggested. The raspberries are only cooked for ~ 15 min so they keep a nice fresh taste that contrasts well with the cream filling and sablee crust--which really does taste like a good butter cookie! Ingredients: 4 large egg yolks 1 cup creme fraich (see recipe below)or heavy whipping cream 4 Tbs granulated sugar 1 Pate Sablee shell, pre-baked (see recipe below) ~ 3 cups fresh raspberries 1 Tbs confectioner's sugar 1. Preheat oven to 375 deg F (190 deg C). 2. In large bowl, whisk egg yolks to break them up. Then whisk in the sugar and creme fraiche until well mixed. Pour mix into the pre-baked and cooked Pate Sablee crust. 3. Place raspberries by hand in concentric circles, in a single layer and closely spaced and with the bottom of the berries facing up. (The berries will shrink a bit so they should be very closely spaced at this point). 4. Cover edges of tart shell with Aluminum foil to prevent further browning if they are already pretty brown. Bake for ~ 15 min or until you filling just begins to set. (Jiggle a little to test). 5. Upon removal from oven, evenly sprinkle 1 Tbs sugar over the top of the tart. After it cools down close to room temp, cover and put in the fridge for at least 2 hrs to firm up a bit more. Take out of the fridge 30 min before serving. Homemade Creme Fraiche 1 cup heavy cream (manufacturing cream if you can get it) 1 Tbs buttermilk Mix cream and buttermilk together in ceramic bowl or crock and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit at 70+ degrees for 18-24 hrs and then put in fridge to firm up more. (Can make several days ahead) Can try to 'speed things up' a little by storing on top of stove with oven or pilot light on. Pate Sablee Crust for 10 inch tart pan, removable bottom 1 cup (140 g) all purpose flour 6 Tbs (3 oz; 90 g) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces 1/8 tsp salt (omit if using salted butter) 1/2 cup (70 g) confectioner's sugar 1 large egg, lightly beaten 1. Place all ingredients except egg in food processor and process until you get coarse crumbs (~ 10-12 sec). Add beaten egg and pulse 2 dozen times until the pastry just begins to form a ball. Between two pieces of wax paper, flatten out the dough with a rolling pin into a large disk. 2. Lift dough into tart pan and quickly press dough into pan with your fingers. Make sure there is enough dough at the edges to support the crust once baked. Even out the edges, make sure there are no holes in crust. Cover with foil or plastic wrap and chill in fridge for 1-2 hrs. 3. Preheat oven to 375 deg F (190 deg C). 4. Prick bottom of dough with tines of fork. Cover dough with foil and add in dried beans or pie weights. Bake dough until it begins to brown around the edges a bit and seems a bit cooked, ~ 15-20 minutes depending on your oven. 5. Remove weights and foil and bake further for ~ 15-20 min. I usually cover the edges with a rim of foil to prevent them from browning too quickly. Be careful to not overcook or burn the dough; it should be light brown and may cook more quickly in your oven. 6. Cool dough for a minimum of 15 min before filling. Keywords: Dessert, Fruit, Intermediate, Tart, French ( RG1158 )

Silly but true story. A friend and I wandered into this bar without knowng anything about it, ponied up on a stool, ordered Sazeracs and it actually took us a minute or so to figure out that the Carousel Bar was actually turning slowly ! Kind of freaked us out for a minute. I have no good excuse except maybe it wasn't our first bar stop that day... It's great!

It certainly is a tough decision; both drives are so beautiful. I have to say that one of my absolute favorite stretches is from Bodega Bay down to SF driving past Tomales Bay, etc. (if you have time; the coast north of that is incredible too and Caroline Tillie and Absonot mention and certainly worth it). There are very high cliffs on this part and also north of Bodega Bay--a different feel than Big Sur but very spectacular. If you get up to Mendocino it is incredibly lovely. A big hit with all my "East Coast" family has been the trip to Muir Woods (a little north of SF off of Hwy 1). Even coming from places with beautiful forests and trees they were very impressed with the redwoods. There is a very easy walk (paved and can do it with sandals) thru the redwoods if you don't have lots of time. And as mentioned, if you narrow down your itinerary, let us know and we can recommend food stops and watering holes!

grilled lamb chops with oregano and lemon; roasted potatoes to go with. Make the above and avgolemono a lot at home. For the latter especially when I have some extra egg yolks left after baking. Very quick and nice for a light meal. Thanks all for the links to the Greek cookbooks above.

Actually, as regards baking, it is interesting to read Bill Neal and Damon Lee Fowler (Biscuits, Spoonbread and Sweet Potato Pie and Classical Southern Cooking, respectively). Keep in mind that the period they are writing of in their books is the 19th century; especially before the War and has more to do with how Southern desserts evolved at that time. I can't do justice in a few words to all their scholarship, but in baking, the southern tradition is most heavily influenced by English Cooking--of course, eventually adapted by Southern ingredients, available cooking methods and also African cooks. Fowler describes Southern cooking at this time as a "complicated mix based on the union of two predominate elements: English cooking and African cooks". In Classical Southern Cooking there is a great introductory chapter that speaks in detail about the major influence of African cooks and English traditions mixing together. Here is his quote on Southern baking: "This aspect of the Southern kitchen strays the least from its Anglo roots and is also the one over which the African cook had the least control. Baking remained a primary responsibility of the white mistress, often to the point that she actually did it herself. And while other aspects of the cookery changed--sometimes radically--baking, especially sweets remained solidly English, varying little from that of other regions of the country" This probably changed later on; ie in the 20th century as people hired cooks or cooked for themselves or were working themselves, but I thought it was an interesting point when I had read it earlier. Also, it doesn't relate directly to the discussion of how Southern desserts may have migrated out of the South. Something like pralines may have been one of the more "indigenous" sweets.

Thanks slkinsey for bringing up a lot of good points---I need to try the olive oil drizzle (after cooking!) next time. It would seem like either the lemon juice or olive oil are "authentic". Bugialli is from Florence and seems to strive for "authentic" recipes. I bring it up not to argue which is "more" authentic but it's interesting to hear of both methods. Have you ever had it with lemon? When we were in Florence, most places were not serving Bistecca al Fiorentina b/c of the mad cow scare.

I've used guidelines by Guiliano Bugialli in his Foods of Tuscany when making this and it came out great. Nice hot grill with no flame... Start with thick t-bones as mentioned above ~ 3 " thick)- no oil or salt and pepper at this point. In fact, Bugialli says, "The meat is not marinated and no butter or oil is used". Pretty sure that rosemary or parmesean is not in the 'classic' prep either. Use tongs (so as not to pierce the meat) to place meat (close to RT) on grill. Cook 4-5 minutes or until brown crust forms. Salt the side facing up; then turn and cook 4-5 min. Turn steak over one more time and cook 4-5 min. Steaks should still be quite rare. Remove to platter and add pepper. Serve with lemon wedges to be serves w/the steak. (The lemon adds a great taste that blends in really well with the other flavors). This turns out really well!!! I really like the idea of tuscan white beans with it as DaleJ suggested. Simple and delicious; no distraction from the steak. Maybe a green salad after the meat course. Though I'm sure this is not authentic, if you have a second person to man the stove; another excellent side dish is a tomato risotto. (oops--I see that Marcella actually recommends a risotto as a possibility!) Most important to me also, is to have a great big red wine with the meal.

I really enjoyed Quimper and we did have a nice lunch there---just a simple place we stumbled upon near the pottery shops. We enjoyed the tour of the factory and also shopping afterwards; you can get very good prices in their "second' shop--and they will ship items home so you don't have to worry about transporting them back in one piece.

I love Thai Tamarind Shrimp (with rice!) --- but Roccos' version sounds like it is very tasty too. Shrimp and Tamarind; definately a good combo.

It did seem to work very well. (i.e. frozen okra in the soup). Thanks for the tip. Surprisingly, a few of my good local retail green markets here (in No Cal) did not have fresh okra in mid-August! Some of my farmer's markets have it but the timing didn't work out for me when I needed it. There are also a bunch of Indian markets around here so I could have probably found it there... Anybody else cooking up any nice okra dishes right now?

Made a nice okra and corn soup recently--with fresh local corn and (unfortunately)frozen okra.... tasted very nice though. The okra adds nice body to the soup and the corn stays fresh and a little crunchy. Reheats well and keeps for a few days too. The recipe was out of Damon Lee Fowler's New Southern Kitchen ($$ for egullet if you order thru this egull-amazon link). Simple as can be and a great summer vegetable soup. I'm already thinking of trying other variations with the addition of tomato, carrot, etc. Just saute some onion in butter; then add chopped okra and minced fresh sage and cook until some of the okra juices start to appear and the okra is bright green. Add a mix of 1/2 chicken stock and 1/2 water and cook for 10-15 min. Then add corn cut fresh off the cob (plus the corn milk from the cobs). Add s&p and some red pepper and cook for another 10-15 min. This is one of the nicest summer soups I've made; guests were happy with it too; even okra newbies. Funny note: As I was ladling the soup into the bowls one of my Scotttish friends said, oh neat, there is cheese in the soup... I said it was thickening from the okra juice... tried to avoid the term "slime" as I thought it might be offputting...

Had friends over after a day of winetasting in the Santa Cruz Mountains (No Cal)- David Bruce, Burrell School and Bonny Doon. Two different crostini: Roasted red peppers with thyme and lemon Arugual butter with thin slices of bresaola on top Fresh corn and okra soup Herb Salad Pizza & Margarite Pizza (tomato, basil and mozzarella) Rosemary Syrup-Soaked Cornmeal Cake with black and blue berries and whipped cream Had Mojitos to start (to revive are wine soaked taste buds) then a Fetzer dry Rose (Valley Oaks; Vin Gris de Pinot Noir) 2002 Dessert was inspired by Abra's recent foodblog (even used her presentation method re: wedges of cake w/berries in between and whipped cream in the middle). I'll definately make this again. The herb salad pizza was excellent! -- recipe from Joanne Weir's book, "From Tapas to Meze". She says they used to make it at Chez Panisse when she was there. Pizza has garlic oil and mix of mozzarella and fontina cheeses--bake. When it comes out, immediately top with herb salad (parsley, basil, chives, mint) tossed in a lemon-garlic vinagrette; then top with shavings of parmagiano or pecorino.

Yum; that sounds good. A interesting recipe is Winter Squash and Hominy soup Cook a squash like pumpkin or butternut and puree. Sautee onions in butter and than add chicken broth and hominy. Add squash puree and cook until just before the boil. Season with red chile and salt. One of my favorite dishes is New Mexican Posole though, with pork and either green or red chile.

I was wonderfing if some egulleteers were over in Athens--happy to find your thread! Thanks so much, for the great commentary and excellent photos. (Great captions too, I cracked up over, "you can eat with the kitties...). It's very entertaining and will also be a great resource before a trip over there.

or you can grab a mojito there and then cross the street for dinner at Bistro Elan. It's not new, but has been my Palo Alto favorite for years. I've heard good things about Bistro Elan for a number of years but have never been. Thanks for the reminder!

I reallly liked that place (on Polk) and was sad one day to see it was no longer there. I tasted a bunch of their different tea ice creams in particular and they were all very good. So I'm sure the Thai iced tea would be very good. I wonder if using a tea syrup as Rachel suggests and also steeping the tea in the milk or cream would help to boost to the flavor... Peet's Coffee used to have these great summertime tea smoothies as well; I think they had green tea and also jasmine. Anyway--I've been meaning to experiment with different tea ice creams--maybe this thread will get me off my butt (of course that doesn't solve the problem of my overstuffed freezer right now--no room for the Donvier... )

I need to add my thanks also Abra! Your blog has been very entertaining, informative, and inspiring. I've had a similar recipe for a rosemary soaked cornmeal cake with berries around for a while; you're blog is inspiring me to make it for friends this weekend (a happy coincidence with the wild blackberries I picked last weekend!).

Here's a few ideas: It's not a new place, but you may enjoy "La Bodeguita del Medio" (a Cuban restaurant) on California Ave in Palo Alto. Semi-fancy place; good food, nice bar with mojitos and nice atmosphere overall. Another favorite place is "The Los Altos Grill" in downtown Los Altos. Used to be called "Banderas". American cuisine, comfort food but updated; all well done; also has a nice cocktail bar if you enjoy that and very congenial atmosphere. Just went recently again to one of my favorite Afghan restaurants in Sunnyvale--called, "Afghani House" on El Camino in Sunnyvale (near Santa Clara border). Beautful service and great food.

Thanks samgiovese.... We may just try them out!

We're taking a rather spur of the moment trip up to Mendocino tomorrow and would like to visit some wineries... Definately on the list is: Navarro & Fife On previous visits we've been to Husch, Roederer, Edmeades... Any other favorites or suggestions? Wine quality and distinctivness trumps wine type for us since we like many different varietals. Thanks--we'll report back on what we taste also...

Sorry for your ordeal Squeat (but--if Acme is what you have to "settle" for; it's not all bad... ). Picked up a loaf of their buckwheat raisin for the first time yesterday at the Ferry Building and it is great for breakfast! Also; after a fun excursion thru the market in the early am, we headed over to Red's Java House (on the Embarcadero) for the first time. We had some great home made corned beef hash with two eggs over easy and coffee. Very fun and relaxing.