Table of Contents

Introduction

What is this?

This is a collection of recipes I cook reasonably regularly. Some recipes act as placeholders and just contain links to recipes I liked. At some point the recipe will actually be typed out.

The source is hosted on GitHub, and is built automatically [using GitHub Actions](.github/workflows/main.yml) and hosted by GitHub Pages. You can build locally using Sphinx. Feel free to fork the project or open pull requests.

The whole project is comprised of .rst files (primer on rst syntax). Images are tracked using git-lfs.

Why?

Because.

Units of measurements

The collection tries to use SI units, however, if the measurement is not crucial (eg if it won’t matter too much if you miss the amount by 30% or if the quantity is best estimated by the cook) cups and tablespoons can be used.

Appetizers

Baba Ganoush

Hummus is a glorious dip, which is well suited to dehydration and backpacking before the addition of oil. It will save any lunch.

Makes 2 portions

Ingredients

• 2 eggplants
• 1tsp tahini
• 1/2 lemon for its juice
• 25g yoghurt
• fresh garlic
• salt
• sumac
• pomegranate
• olive oil

For the eggplants:

Roast eggplants in the oven. This is a little messy, so put them on something to gather the liquids which will come out.

The goal is to cook them in the oven as if they were cooking on coals, my favorite way. So use high temperatures, I use 200°C, and roast them for 45min without any protection from the oven’s heating elements. The skin needs to turn black and carbonize in some places. Don’t worry! the inside won’t burn. This is how you get the typical smokiness in the baba ganoush.

Remember, a couple holes will prevent eggplant explosions. Up to you whether you like the excitement.

Let them cool slightly, and then tear them open a little bit. Leave them to drip for 10 min or so in a strainer.

Baba ganoush:

For making the dip, I prefer to use a spoon to scrape the cooked flesh out of the skin. This should be a fairly easy process.

Once you have all the flesh, chop it up finely with a knife. I prefer this to the blender version, but do explore! In my experience, this method helps to keep the correct amount of liquid: once you are done chopping, just pick the eggplant up and transfer it to a bowl, leaving most of the liquid on the cutting board.

In the bowl add lemon juice, garlic paste (just squished garlic, I use 1/5 of a clove), salt, yogurt, and tahini (make your own Tahini). Add the ingredients a little bit at a time, so you can adjust to your liking.

Spread it so as to create a pool for the olive oil. I like to make a little island in the middle just because. Add sumac and pomegranate seeds on top.

This is especially delicious over toasted bread.

Section author: Davide

Hummus

Hummus is a glorious dip, which is well suited to dehydration and backpacking before the addition of oil. It will save any lunch.

Makes 2 portions

Ingredients

• 250g cooked chickpeas
• 1tsp tahini
• 1/2 lemon for its juice
• fresh garlic
• salt
• pepper
• sumac
• olive oil

For the chickpeas:

Cooking your own chickpeas really makes a difference. If you have the time, presoak them over night, or put them directly in the pressure cooker for 10min with water and lots of salt, aim for mediterranean seawater.

The actual cooking comes after. Drain them, rinse them, and put them in a pressure cooker, or if you have time in a pot (for me terracotta pots work really well with legumes). Remember to add some whole garlic cloves and laurel leaves (I use one of each). In a pressure cooker they will take 45 min, in a pot they will take 1h30min. Add salt only when they are done, and leave them be for a little while. You should be able to squish them between your fingers. Keep the cooking water!

If you have canned chickpeas, and not a lot of time, this is where you start.

Hummus:

To make the hummus, blend the chickpeas while adding some of the lemon juice. Be careful: while delicious and refreshing, it can be overpowering. Add it slowly and taste often. If you are having trouble blending the chickpeas, add some of the aquafaba (the water from the cooked chickpeas), but be careful. You can easily make the hummus too soft.

Once it is blended to a smooth or more chunky cream, to your liking, add salt, garlic paste (just squished garlic, I use 1/5 of a clove), and tahini (or just roasted sesame powder if dehydrating). Make your own Tahini.

Distribute artistically in a bowl, so that a pool of olive oil can be formed on top, and add as much olive oil as you feel is enough.

Sprinkle with delicious sumac, and enjoy spread over some toasted bread.

Note

This recipe works great for a backpacking meal: it does not require cooking, and can be very calorie efficient with the addition of oil.

You can dehydrate the hummus if no oil has been added. The oil goes slightly rancid during the dehydration and storage process, and is best added later. You can add everything else, including the tahini, lemon, garlic, sumac, etc.

Spread the hummus thinly over some parchment paper or something fancier if you own a dehydrator, and dehydrate at 50°C until crumbly (it takes 2-3h for me).

Once dry, crumble to a powder by blending or even just crushing the dehydrated hummus.

To rehydrate, just add a little bit of room temperature water. Start with a 2:1 hummus to water volume ratio, and adjust later. It should rehydrate in 5 minutes.

Section author: Davide

Tahini

Makes 2 portions

Ingredients

• 50g sesame
• olive oil

As always, good things take time to make. Making your own tahini, in my experience, will improve some recipes significantly.

To make it, just roast husk free sesame seeds (this is what I normally find in stores) in a pot or pan: over high heat, continuously and energetically toss or mix the seeds. They need to uniformly roast, otherwise you will get both raw and burnt sesame. Do not let them smoke too much. Once the roasted sesame smell is filling the kitchen, put them in a blender and blend them. Do not leave them in the pan! even a few seconds will fuck up the sesame at the bottom, even after they are off the heat.

An all-metal pan or pot is best: the temperatures can get so high that coatings will burn.

Once the sesame is blended to a deliciously smelling powder, move it to a container and add oil for preserving. I use olive oil because I am italian and this is what I like. It will shrink in volume so much you can fit a lot of it in a tiny container. This will keep for months.

If you need to dehydrate whatever you are using the tahini with, do not add the oil. Just use the powder.

Section author: Davide

Breads

Ciabaguette

Makes 6 loaves

Ingredients

• 765 g bread flour (100%)
• 16 g salt (2%)
• 5 g instant yeast (0.7%)
• 610 g cool water (79.6%)

Mix all ingredients for 3-5 minutes. Wait 10 minutes. Fold the dough. Wait 10 minutes. Fold again. Since I can only fit 3 loaves on my baking stone, I like to separate the dough in half before the last fold. Wait 10 minutes. Fold again. (If you decided to up the hydration, wait 10 more minutes and fold again).

Let the dough rest in the fridge overnight (about 12 hours).

Let the dough get to room temperature again and rise until roughly doubled (again, since I can only bake 3 loaves at a time, I’ll take the second half of the dough out of the fridge roughly 30 minutes after the first).

Turn the oven on to 525 F, and let the pizza stone preheat (if you don’t have a pizza stone, you can use a sheet pan). Make sure to have a metal pan (that you don’t care too much about…) in the oven as well, you’ll use that to throw water in to create steam. Once the oven is ready, divide the first half of the dough into three loaves: I just flop it on a generously floured bench, make it approximately rectangular, and divide in 3 with a bench scraper. Score as your heart desires, and put them in the oven. I use a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and just slide the parchment paper onto the pizza stone in the oven.

Immediately pour 1/2-1 caup of water in the preheated metal pan that should already be in the oven, and at 30 seconds intervals mist the oven with water three times (I use a tiny spray bottle). Lower the temperature to 475 F. Cook for 20-24 minutes until the bread is golden brown or it reaches 205 F in the middle. Crank the oven to 525 F again, let everything warm up and thermalize and repeat with the second half of the dough.

References

This is pretty much lifted from the Pain à l’Ancienne recipe from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice, pp 199-202.

Note

This works pretty well with hydrations up to 84%, and is pretty delicious with an 80/20 mix of bread and whole wheat flour. The misting is probably overkill.

Section author: Carlo

Ciabatta

Ingredients

• 500 g AP flour
• 375 g water
• 10 g salt
• 5 g yeast

For the biga: mix 400 g of flour, 272 g water and 1 g yeast. Mix and let rest for 14-16 hours (until plump, gassy and sour).

Mix the rest of the ingredients (100 g flour and 103 g water, 10 g salt, 5 g yeast), mix to incorporate. Add the biga, mix, fold few times and let rise until slightly more than doubled (about 2 hours). Flop the dough on a floured surface. Let proof covered with a cloth for 1-2 hours. With a bench scraper, cut elongated rectangles, invert them in flour and place them on a baking tray.

Preheat the oven preheated to 230C, and place a container of water inside it. Place the tray in the oven, cook for 20 minutes or so. Take the water container out at about half way. Turn off the oven, leave the ciabatta inside with the door cracked open.

Note

Used bread flour, seemed good! Also, water was 382 g.

Section author: Carlo

English Muffins

Ingredients

• 540 g bread flour
• 400 g lukewarm milk
• 43 g butter
• 1 egg
• 6 g instant yeast
• 25 g sugar
• 9 g salt

Mix everything with stand mixer at medium-high speed for 5 minutes (until it forms a ball). Make a ball, cover dough, let rise for 1-2 hours. Coat cast iron pan with oil, sprinkle with cornmeal or similar. Deflate the dough, divide in 16 parts, shape into balls and place them on the pan. Let rise for 20 minutes. Cook until ready. If burning, move into a 350 F oven.

References

King Arthur’s flour blog

Note

Halved the recipe, but not the egg… Dough was extremely wet. The proofing made the dough ball bigger than expected.

Section author: Carlo

Hokkaido Milk Rolls

Ingredients

For the tangzhong:

• 43 g bread flour
• 86 g milk

For the rolls:

• 300 g bread flour
• 113 g milk
• 40 g butter
• 1 egg
• 5 g instant yeast
• 30 g sugar
• 6 g salt

Combine milk and flour in a skillet and cook on medium heat until it forms a gelatinous paste (about 5 minutes).

Mix everything (including the paste from the previous step) with stand mixer at medium-high speed for 5 minutes (until it forms a ball). Make a ball, cover dough, let rise for 1-2 hours. Deflate the dough, divide in 4 parts, shape into flat rectangles and roll them up. Place the rolls in a loaf pan. Let rise for 40 minutes - 1 hour. Egg wash. Cook in a 350F oven until ready (25 minutes). Add a container with water in the oven for the first 5-10 minutes.

References

King Arthur’s flour blog

Note

in the stand mixer, before adding the butter, the dough seemed too dry. Add water but overshot it. Added more flour… I think the recipe can take a bit more liquid (maybe 5-10 g?)

Section author: Carlo

Whole Wheat Sourdough

Ingredients

• 500 g AP flour
• 200 g whole wheat flour
• 200 g bread flour
• 100 g rye flour
• 200 g active starter (has been fed at least twice)
• 780 g water
• 20 g salt

Mix the flours with 700 g water at ~100 F and roughly mix. Autolyse for 20-30 minutes. Mix the starter and the remaining water. Add to the dough. Add salt. Mix using the pincher method and fold a few times.

Let raise for 3-6 hours (or overnight in the fridge), folding three-four times in the first hour.

Divide and let rest on a lightly floured surface for 10-15 minutes. Stretch and fold the four corners of the dough onto itself (I usually do east-west-north-south). Cover with an inverted bowl. After 15 minutes fold again if looking excessively floppy, if not, invert and by dragging the dough seam side down around on the board make into a taut ball (do not squish it though, you still want the bubbles). Put in bannetton (or lined bowl) seam side up. Cover and proof for 1-2 hours or in the fridge for 12-24 hours (finger dent test usually works well here).

Meanwhile heat the dutch oven in the oven to 500F. Invert the dough on parchment paper, seam side down. Score the top (I like a slightly curved score across the top, about 2cm deep, at about a 45 degree angle. Be generous here, the scoring allows the dough to expand). Using the parchment, transfer dough to dutch oven. Bake covered for 25 minutes. Reduce temperature to 450F. Bake for 25-30 minutes more until it looks baked to your taste. Put on cooling rack and wait until room temperature, 1-2 hours.

Note

I tried changing the hydration between 68 and 78 % (not including starter), and to my surprise there was no difference in crumb structure!

References

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlJEjW-QSnQ FSWY Tartine

Section author: Carlo

Croissants

A good reference

Joshua Weissman’s video recipe

Puff Pastry

Jamie’s suggestion:

Sourdough Waffles

Ingredients

For the overnight sponge:

• 227 g discarded starter
• 241 g AP flour
• 454 g buttermilk (or regular milk)
• 20 g sugar

For the rest of the batter:

• Overnight sponge (see above)
• 2 eggs
• 50 g vegetable oil
• 1 tsp baking soda

The night before you want to make waffles, combine the discarded starter, flour, buttermilk (or regular milk - see note below), and sugar in a large bowl. Cover and leave out overnight. The next morning, add the eggs, vegetable oil, and baking soda to the batter and mix well. Make waffles!

References

Source

Note

This is our favorite waffle recipe! They’re best when made into Belgian (thicker) waffles. I rarely keep the exact ratio of discarded starter to the rest of the ingredints the same (since it depends on exactly how much discard there is). The recipe seems pretty robust to any somewhat similar ratio to that listed above. Although the recipe calls for buttermilk, I also rarely have buttermilk at home, so I usually just use normal skim milk. If I have an open lemon or lime, I add a little bit of lemon/lime juice to it as a substitute as well. These are delicious when topped with whipped cream and maple syrup (and berries or bananas for Tori).

Section author: Tori

Entrees

Croque Madame

Ingredients

For the sandwich:

• 2 slices bread
• 2 ounces deli ham (french is recommended)
• 1 1/3 cup grated gruyere cheese, divided
• 2 teaspoons whole grain mustard
• fresh cracked black pepper to taste

For the Bechamel (3 - 4 sandwiches):

• 3 tablespoons 45 g all purpose flour
• 4 tablespoons 70 g unsalted butter
• 2 cups 512 g warmed milk
• optionally you can add a bay leaf to the warm milk before adding it to the bechamel
• scant 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg (fresh grated is ideal)

For the bechamel: warm the milk (stop before boiling, possibly add bay leaf and nutmeg). Heat the butter in a separate pot. Add flour to butter and whisk. Cook a few minutes. Add milk in batches whisking. Simmer for a few minutes.

Spread mustard on each slice of bread. Grate cheese on the bottom slice, top with ham. Grate more cheese on top. Top with other slice, press slightly. Cook in a pan with butter, both sides. Place in sheet tray. Pour bechamel, grate more cheese. Broil until ready.

Fry egg. Put egg on top of sandwich.

References

Source

Note

Tried this with weird pancetta sticks and caramelized onions instead of ham, and poached instead of fried egg. Topped with chopped parsley and fermented lemon peel. Would be better with some vegetable to make it lighter, maybe grilled eggplant.

Section author: Carlo

Pasta Aglio, Olio e Peperoncino

Pasta alla Carbonara

This makes enough for 3 (skinny) or 2 (hungry) people.

Ingredients

• 300 g pasta (spaghetti is traditional, I kind of like short pasta)
• 200/250 g guanciale
• 3 egg yolks
• 3/4 cup grated pecorino
• freshly ground black pepper

Start a pot of salted water on medium high heat. Cut the pancetta very thin (.3 cm) slices, then make 5 x 3 cm rectangles. Put the guanciale in a skillet, slowly warm it up to medium heat. Put the egg yolks in a large bowl (it will need to hold all your pasta eventually), and start whisking them. Once the guanciale has released a good amount of fat, pour the fat in a separate container. Once the fat cools down a little, slowly stream it into the yolks while whisking (like making a mayonnaise). Repeat this operation a few times (until the guanciale gets slightly browned, but not all the way to crunchy, then move the skillet off the stove). Drop the pasta in the pot of boiling water.

Two minutes before the pasta is al dente, add the grated pecorino and black pepper to the yolk mixture. Turn the skillet to high heat. One minute before the pasta is al dente, reserve some water. Drain the pasta and add it to the skillet with guanciale and a spoonful of cooking water. Reserve some water. Sautee for a minute or so, adding water if it looks very dry. Dump the whole thing in the bowl with the yolk mixture, mix, and add some cooking water as needed (the sauce should quickly become smooth and silky).

Serve with a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper.

Warning

This is not a completely traditional carbonara recipe. Still delicious!

At least it doesn’t commit crimes against humanity (cream or garlic).

Section author: Carlo

Pad Thai

Makes 2 large portions

Ingredients

For the sauce:

• 3 tbsp fish sauce
• 3 tbsp brown sugar
• 3 tbsp white vinegar (substitution for tamarind juice)
• 1/2 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp paprika

For the stir fry:

• 200 g rice noodles
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1/2 inch ginger
• 3 green onions
• 2 eggs
• whatever protein
• whatever vegetables
• some bean sprouts
• 1/4 cup chopped peanuts
• 1/6 cup chopped cilantro
• 1 lime

This makes two portions, and given the size of my skillet, I separate the ingredients into two portions and cook them separately. Mix the ingredients for the sauce. Prepare all the vegetables and protein (finely chop garlic and ginger, slice green onions in big pieces, separating white and green, cut vegetables and protein pretty this so they cook quickly). Whisk the eggs. Once all the ingredients are ready, cook the protein on high heat. I also cook the vegetables about half way through since my stove isn’t too powerful. Clean the skillet/wok, and on high heat add oil, ginger, garlic and the white part of the green onion. Once those get to a golden color, add the egg. Let it set for a 10-20 seconds and then scramble it roughly. If you didn’t cook the vegetables earlier, add them and cook for a minute or so. If not, add them with the protein. Add the protein. Add the noodles, and drizzle in the sauce. Make sure everything is coated, and cook until the noodles are ready. Add a little bit of water if it looks too dry. Just before the end, add the bean sprouts and the green part of the green onions. Cook for 10 seconds and serve with the chopped peanuts, the cilantro and a wedge of lime.

References

recipetineats

feastingathome

Section author: Carlo

Pasta al Fumé

Ingredients

• 400 g short pasta
• 200/300 g pancetta
• 1.5 onions
• 2 dried chili
• 1.5-2 cups tomato sauce
• 200 g swiss cheese
• 1-2 tbsp heavy cream

Cut the pancetta into 2 x 4 x .4 cm cuboids. Put the pancetta in a skillet with a little bit of oil. Slowly warm up the skillet to medium heat. Cut the onions to a thin julienne. Once the pancetta is just sightly crunchy on the outside (still soft inside!), if so inclined, discard some of the fat. Add the onions, and cook on medium high heat until the onions are caramelized (once almost caramelized, you can deglaze with a bit of beer and let that evaporate). Add the chilis after crushing themes. Add the tomato sauce, simmer for 5 minutes. Chop the cheese into a small dice, add it to the sauce. Drop the pasta into a pot of boiling salted water. Continue mixing the sauce. Two minutes before the pasta is al dente, add the cream to the sauce. One minute before the pasta is al dente, drain it and add it to the sauce. Cook in the sauce on medium low heat for the remaining minute.

---

This is a recipe from my grandmother.

—Matteo, who at some point was Carlo’s roommate

Bonus

What’s the most religious cheese?

Swiss, because it’s holy.

Section author: Carlo

Pasta all’Uovo

Ingredients

• 200 g farina 00
• 2 eggs
• 2 pinches of salt

Form a well with the flour, break the eggs in it. Add the salt. With a fork, slowly incorporate the flour into the egg. Once a shaggy dough is formed, start kneading by hand. Knead for 5-10 minutes, until the dough is elastic. Rest the dough in the fridge at least 30 minutes. Roll out with a pasta machine or a rolling pin.

Do whatever you want with it.

References

These are proper place for a better, more detailed recipe:

Pasta Grannies

Evan Funke

Section author: Carlo

Pasta alla Zozzona

Ingredients

• 300 g rigatoni (or whatever short pasta strikes your fancy)
• 150 g guanciale
• 200 g sausage
• 1 onion
• 1.5-2 cups tomato sauce (blitzed canned whole peeled tomatoes)
• 3 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup grated pecorino

Cut the guanciale into 2 x 4 x .4 cm cuboids and take the sausage meat out of the casing. Warm a skillet with some olive oil on medium heat. Slice the onion very thinly and add it to the skillet. Once the onion is tranlucent and slightly golden, add the guanciale and the sausage meat. Increse the heat to medium high. Once the sausage meat has changed color and is almost cooked through, add the tomato sauce. Cook on medium low for about 10 minutes, or until the sauce dries up a bit. Drop the pasta into a pot of boiling salted water. In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and the finely grated cheese until you get a creamy mixture (add a tsp of the cooking water to make it slightly easier to mix). One minute before the pasta is al dente, drain it and add it to the sauce, reserving some of the cooking water. Cook the pasta in the sauce on medium heat for the remaining minute, adding enough cooking water to make the sauce less dry. Turn off the stove, and incorporate the egg mixture into the pasta. Serve and eat.

Note

Didn’t have pecorino, so I ended up using parmigiano and it was pretty good. Also added 1 dried chili.

This is definitely a dish that very explicitly tries to murder you (a bit like Pasta al Fumé), but it’s really delicious.

References

Source (Il Cucchiaio d’Argento)

Section author: Carlo

Pastitsio

Makes 1 9x13 inch pan worth

Ingredients

For the meat sauce:

• 1 medium chopped onion
• 2 cloves mashed garlic (?)
• 1 lb. ground lamb
• 1 lb. ground beef
• 2.5 cups tomato puree (can use tomato sauce instead and cook longer)
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp pepper

For the white sauce:

• 2 cups milk
• 6 Tbsp flour
• ~4 Tbsp butter/olive oil
• salt/pepper/garlic powder to taste

Other:

• Parmesan cheese
• 1 lb. grated mozarella
• 1 lb. penne

Sautee the onion in olive oil for a few minutes. Add in garlic. Add the lamb and beef and cook until all meat is fully cooked. Drain fat. Add tomatoe puree, oregano, pepper, cinnamon and any other desired spires and simmer for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, make white sauce. Start with a roux of flour and butter (can substitute a little of it with olive oil). Add in seasonings. Slowly add in milk, checking consistency as you go (you may not need all of the milk). Cook pasta. Put together in a 13 x 9 in baking pan. There should be 2 completely layers of pasta, a little parmesan, white sauce, red sauce, and mozarella. Bake for 35-40 minutes, covering with aluminum foil at the start so the cheese doesn’t burn.

Note

This is a family recipe of Tori’s. We have a hard copy of the recipe, but I’m not sure where it’s from.

Section author: Tori

Pasta al Paté di Olive

Makes 2 to 3 servings

Ingredients

• pasta
• 200 g kalamata olives
• 6 cloves of garlic
• parmigiano
• olive oil

With a mezzaluna knife (or whatever really), chop the garlic and olives until they form a very fine paste. Put a few generous spoonfuls of olive paste, a couple tbsp of olive oil and a small mound of grated parmigiano in each plate. Cook the pasta until al dente, drain, add it to the plates. Mix. Eat.

Note

Yes, chopping the stuff is time consuming and annoying, but the effort will make everything taste better. You can use a blender, just don’t tell me.

This is very garlic-y, feel free to chage the amount of garlic to your taste. More is better.

Section author: Carlo

Peanut Noodles

Ingredients

Sauce:

• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 3 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil (I always substitute with either sesame oil or chili oil)
• at least a tablespoon of grated ginger (I use a microplane)
• at least 6 gloves of garlic, pressed
• optional: crushed red pepper flakes (if not using chili oil)

Other:

• 1 pound pasta (or however much you want at a given time)
• scallions or green onions or something similar for garnishing

Combine all the sauce ingredients, adjusting amounts to taste. Cook and strain pasta. Pour sauce over pasta and mix. I prefer the sauce not cooked, so I sometimes keep a little extra to add after the initial mixing since it cooks a little when added to hot pasta in a hot pot.

References

This recipe comes from Talia.

Note

This proportions can be altered to taste. I usually make the recipe to use for one meal and then freeze the rest, so I only cook however much pasta I want on a given day. Even when frozen, the sauce is still soft enough to scoop some of it out.

Section author: Tori

Pasta al Porro e Salsiccia

Ingredients

• 200 g pasta
• 2 big leeks
• 150-200 g sausage (see Salsicce)
• 2/3 cup dry white wine
• generous amount of freshly ground black pepper

Slice the leeks into very thin rounds (stop after the light green part) and wash them thoroughly. Add 2 tbsp of olive oil to a skillet, and turn the heat to medium high. Take the sausage meat out of the casing, and add it in small chunks to the skillet. Cook until lightly browned. Add the sliced leeks to the skillet, and cook until they turn translucent and lightly golden. Deglaze with the wine. In the meantime, drop the pasta into a pot of boiling salted water. Reserve 1/2 cup cooking liquid, drain a couple of minutes shy of al dente. Add to the pan with the sauce and cook over medium heat for a couple of minutes, adding cooking water as necessary. Top with freshly ground black pepper.

Note

This one comes from Jessica.

Section author: Carlo

Tagliatelle al Ragù di Funghi e Salsiccia

Ingredients

• 300 g fresh tagliatelle (see Pasta all’Uovo)
• 1 cup dried porcini mushrooms
• 200 g sausage (see Salsicce)
• 1 onion
• 1.5-2 cups tomato sauce (blitzed canned whole peeled tomatoes)
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 bay leaf

Let the dried porcini soak in very warm water for at least 15 minutes. Warm up a sautee pan on medium heat with 1-2 tbsp of olive oil. Thinly slice the onion and add it to the pan. Sautee the onion until translucent and lightly golden. Sprinkle a pinch of salt mid way. Take the sausage meat out of the casing and add it to the pan. Once it has turned color and is almost cooked through, take the porcini out of the water, squeeze them, very roughly chop them and add them to the pan. Turn the heat to medium high, and after 3-5 minutes deglaze with the white wine. Add the chicken stock, and between 1/2 and 1 cup of the water the porcini were sitting in. Once it starts lightly boiling, add the tomato sauce and the bay leaf. After 5 minutes, turn the stove to low, and let simmer until it reaches a thick, creamy consistency (maybe about 30 minutes?). Drop the pasta into a pot of boiling salted water. Reserve 1/2 cup cooking liquid, drain when just shy of al dente. Add to the pan with the sauce and cook over medium heat for a couple of minutes, adding cooking water as necessary.

Note

Very delicious.

Section author: Carlo

Ravioli di Zucca with Kale and Pancetta

Ingredients

For the ravioli:

• 300 g of pasta all’uovo
• a butternut squash
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• 3/4 cups freshly grated parmigiano
• 1 finely diced garlic clove
• some chopped green onions
• 1 tsp maple syrup
• salt and pepper to taste

For the sauce:

• 100 g pancetta
• a bunch of kale or swiss chard
• 1/4 cup cream

Bake the peeled and cubed squash in a 350F oven with some oil until soft. Blend with the rest of the ingredients, adding the breadcrumbs until a thick consistency is achieved (something like ricotta).

Fill the ravioli (see links in Pasta all’Uovo for shaping).

Cut the pancetta very thin slices, then make 5 x 3 cm rectangles. Put the pancetta in a skillet with a little bit of oil. Slowly warm up the skillet to medium heat. Once the pancetta has released enough fat and is slightly crispy, add the kale to the skillet. Drop the ravioli in the boiling, salted water, cook for 2-5 minutes, depending how thick your pasta is. One minute before draining them, add the cream to the skillet. Drain the ravioli, and add them to the skillet. Cook for another minute, add grated parmigiano and pepper to taste.

Note

Maybe pecorino would be better in the filling?

Section author: Carlo

Pasta al Salmone

Ingredients

• short pasta
• smoked salmon
• lemon
• vodka
• butter

while pasta is cooking, take about half a cup of cooking liquid and pour in a skillet. Make it boil. Add a little bit of cold butter (30 grams or so) and mix until it emulsifies. You can use more water and butter if you want more sauce. Add juice of 1 big lemon (and zest if you like lemon). About 1 minute before the pasta is cooked, drain and reserve some water just in case. Add the pasta to the skillet, cook 1 minute. Add the salmon and a little bit of vodka (say 3 tbsp). Quickly mix until the salmon is barely cooked. Plate, add more salmon bites on top and a generous amount of freshly cracked pepper

Section author: Carlo

Pasta al Tonno e Pomodoro

Ingredients

• 300 g pasta (I like short pasta for this)
• 300-400 g tomato passata (or tomato sauce)
• 2 can of oil-packed tuna
• 1.5 yellow or red onions
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• salt
• a couple of dried chilis (or any kind scoville-increaser of your choice)

Get a pot of salted water on a medium high heat. In a skillet, sautee the onions (sliced, but not paper thin) for 5-10 minutes until they start to turn golden. Add the tuna (feel free to discard the oil that comes in the can), break it in 1-2 cm chunks with the back of a wooden spoon. Continue sauteeing for 3-5 more minutes on medium high heat. Stir often to avoid tuna explosions. Add the dried chilis, cook one more minute and add the tomto passata.

Drop the pasta in the pot of boiling salted water (this assumes it will cook in about 10 minutes, if it has a faster cooking time make sure to cook the sauce for at least 5 minutes). When it is 2 minutes shy of al dente, drain reserving a cup of cooking water. Stir the pasta in the sauce, continue cooking on high heat for two minutes, adding some of the cooking water if it looks too dry.

Note

Kalamata olives make a great addition to the sauce (to be added after the tuna), unfortunately Tori doesn’t like them…

Section author: Carlo

Bryan’s Curry

Ingredients

• 2 onions, diced
• oil or butter
• 4 cloves garlic
• 3cm block ginger
• curry powder
• black pepper to taste
• salt
• paprika
• cayenne
• 500 g of any kind of solid vegetable, meat cubes, paneer or tofu
• 1/2 can of tomato sauce
• 100 g ground cashews
• 100 g yogurt

Sautee onions in butter or oil. When translucent, add garlic ginger paste. Cook 1-2 minutes. Add spice mixture, cook until fragrant. Add paneer cubes. (If meat, maybe you should have browned it first, if tofu, simmer it in salted water for a few minutes). Cook 3 minutes, until everything is coated in spices. Add tomato sauce. Cook until the protein is almost ready. Add a bit of water/stock if too thick. Add cashews and yogurt. Cook 3-5 minutes more.

Note

Tried this with paneer, tofu, potatoes, chickpeas. Anything seems to work ok. Substituted the ground cashews with ground almonds and almond flour, also seems to work.

Section author: Carlo

Leeks Braised with Oranges

Makes 2 large portions

Ingredients

• 4 leeks
• oil
• 2 oranges
• 2 bay leaves
• fresh chili
• salt and pepper

Cut the leeks lengthwise and clean them. Pat them dry. Sear them on medium high heat on both sides.

Add juice and zest of one orange, salt pepper, bay leaves and chili. Top with thin slices from the other orange. Add some water until leeks are almost submerged. Partly cover and simmer for about 30 minutes or until ready. Add water if needed.

References

Smillie, J. 2015, Slow Fires, Clarkson Potter

Note

very citrusy and delicious. Maybe add less liquid.

Section author: Carlo

Peperonata

Ingredients

• 6 peppers (various colors!)
• 2 red onions
• 2 cloves of garlic
• tiny rosemary sprig
• 1-2 cups tomato sauce (can be passata, canned tomatoes, grated and cooked fresh tomatoes…)
• splash of vinegar

Put the two garlic cloves (smashed) in a pot with 1-2 tablespoons to oil. Heat to medium heat, add the onions (sliced into medium julienne), cook until translucent. Add a pinch of salt. Add the peppers (sliced into batonnets). Cook uncovered for 5 minutes. Put a lid on the pot and cook until (the peppers are soft) - 5 minutes. Add the tomato sauce and cook for the remaining 5 minutes. Salt to taste, and if so inclined, add a splash of vinegar.

Serve cold, possibly after a day in the fridge.

References

Source

Section author: Carlo

Pappa col Pomodoro

Ingredients

• about 2 cups tomato sauce (can be passata, canned tomatoes, grated and cooked fresh tomatoes…)
• 200-300 g stale bread
• 1 red onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• either a few basil leaves or a tiny rosemary sprig

Slice the bread into thin slices, dry in the oven (300F?). Slice the onion into thick (3mm slices). Smash the garlic in its peel. Add 2 tablespoons of oil to a pot on medium-low heat. Add onion and garlic, sprinkle a pinch of salt. The onion just needs to turn translucent and sweat, not brown. Add the tomato sauce, continue cooking for 5 minutes or so. Put the bread slices on top of the tomato. Cook covered for a few minutes. If necessary add a bit of water. Cook for 15 minutes on medium heat. After the first 5 minutes, break down the bread and mix. Discared the garlic cloves. Once cooked, break down the bread completely with a whisk. Rest for 5 minutes. Add the herbs. Whisk in a generous amount of oil. Serve.

References

Source 1

Relevant song

Section author: Carlo

Branzino al forno

Ingredients

Main:

• 1 branzino
• oil
• salt
• parsley
• rosemary
• 1 lemon

Garlic parsley sauce:

• garlic
• parsley
• oil
• salt
• fermented lemon

Scale and clean the fish. Season inside and outside with salt and oil. Inset 3 thin lemon rounds, some parsley and rosemary in the cavity. Bake vertically (propped up by lemons?) at 430/450 F.

For the sauce, chop parsley, garlic and lemon zest, mix with oil and salt.

References

Source

More recipes with branzino: alla ligure

Section author: Carlo

Chicken Chile Verde

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

• some amount of meat (I used 2 chicken legs + 1 breast)
• 15 tomatillos
• 1 onion
• jalapeño pepper
• 2 poblano peppers
• 3 serrano peppers (adjust to your favourite spice level)
• 1 tomato (optional)
• 1 tbsp cumin (possibly ground)
• 1 tsp salt

Put the meat in a pressure cooker. Roughly chop all vegetables to 3-5 cm pieces, add them to the pressure cooker as well. Add a tsp of salt and the cumin, make sure to mix stuff well. Close the pressure cooker and put it on medium high heat. After 15-20 minutes after it has reached full pressure, take it off the stove. Take out the meat and reserve it. Blend all the rest. Add salt if necessary. Put the meat back in, shred it if you like. Eat.

Note

I think pretty much any kind of meat would be ok, probably cubes of pork shoulder might be best.

References

Kenji López-Alt

Section author: Carlo

Ritz Cracker Chicken

References

Source

Section author: Cassie

Pork Rillettes

Ingredients

• 1 kg pork shoulder, cut into chunks
• 2 cloves garlic
• sprig rosemary
• a couple bay leaves
• zest of half of a lemon
• 2 cups of some kind of stock
• salt and pepper to taste

The day before, salt the pork and rest uncovered in fridge. Brown pork in a dutch oven. Add the rest of the ingredients, put in a 275 F oven for 2.5-3 hours. Take out the cooked pork (should be very tender and almost fall apart). Shred the pork. Continue reducing the liquid. Once reduced, add some of the liquid and fat to the shredded pork. Salt and pepper to taste. Pack tightly in a jar (small ones are better). Top with some of the fat. Store in fridge for up to a week.

References

Source NYT

Source BonAppetit

Note

The lemon zest was great! Didn’t end up using all the liquid, the remaining stock was very dense and flavorful. More, smaller jars rather than a single big one would have been better.

Section author: Carlo

Salsicce

Ingredients

• 1 kg pork shoulder
• 20 g salt
• 2 cloves garlic
• 50 ml white wine
• 6 g freshly ground black pepper
• 3 cloves
• a dash of nutmeg
• sausage casings

Let the cloves and the smashed garlic soak in the wine for at least an hout. Chop the pork into ~4cm cubes (or whatever will easily fit in your meat grinder), and put them in the freezer until very firm but not frozen. Grind on a coarse setting. Mix in the salt, pepper and nutmeg very thoroughly. Add the wine and mix again. refrigerate the mixture for at least an hour.

Fill the casings!

The sausages should rest refrigerated at least a couple hours, but no more than 3-4 days.

References

Salsiccia fatta in casa

Note

You can (possibly should!) substitute about 1/3 of the pork shoulder with pork belly, but I didn’t have any…

Section author: Carlo

Gohrme Sabzi

Ingredients

• 2 lbs lamb shank
• 1 large yellow onion
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp tumeric (I use more)
• 1 can kidney beans with juice
• ~1 can sadaf gohrma sabzi herbs
• 2 dried persian limes, stabbed with a fork

In a dutch oven brown onions and meat in 3 tbsp oil. Add salt pepper and tumeric. Pour in 3.5 cups water, kidney beans, pierced limes. Bring to boil, cover, simmer about 1 hr on low heat stirring occasionally. Add herbs can. Cover and simmer 2 hours on low heat. Check if meat and beans, season accordingly. Transfer to serving dish, serve chelow (rice and tahdig). Pour the liquid from the stew on your tahdig

Note

(From Sean) I love this dish with garlic yogurt. Crush 1 bulb of garlic in a 32 oz container of plain yogurt. Stir. Wait one week (or 2) in the fridge.

Section author: Sean

Galette with Onions

Ingredients

For the crust (makes 2):

• 450 g AP flour
• 300 g frozen butter
• 150 g cold water
• 5 g salt

For the filling:

• 3 Onions
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp butter
• a bunch of green onion and/or scallions and/or one leek
• 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
• copious amount of Comte

For the crust:

Cube the frozen butter into 3cm cubes. Add flour, salt and butter to a food processor. Process until the biggest butter chunk is about 1cm. Start rolling it on your work surface until the butter chunks are flattened out a bit. Add the water gradually, folding the dough onto itself and rolling it until it comes together. Divide in two, wrap in plastic wrap (make sure to roll the wrapped dough so that it fill the plastic). Chill for 30 minutes before rolling out (or freeze until needed).

For the filling:

Sautee the thinly sliced onions in a skillet with the oil and butter. They should be golden, but not yet caramelized. Set aside, and in the same skillet sautee quickly the green onions, thinly sliced lengthwise.

Roll out the dough to 3mm thick. Spread the mustard up to 5cm-ish to the edges. Cover with the sauteed onions. Grate the cheese to cover the onions. Top with the green onions. Fold the edges to overlap on top of the onions for a few cm.

Bake at 375 F for about 40 minutes.

References

Tartine book for the pie dough.

Triple-threat onion galette (Bon Appetit)

Note

We tried both Comte and Gruyere and preferred Comte. I think i would have liked to eggwash the exposed dough.

Section author: Carlo

Sides

Hollandaise

Ingredients

• 4 egg yolks
• 1 Meyer lemon juice
• pinch of salt
• 1 stick of butter

Whisk the eggs and most of the lemon juice. On a double boiler, whisk while slowly streaming the melted butter in. Add the remaining lemon juice and salt to taste.

References

Source (foodnetwork)

Section author: Carlo

Soy Sauce Kale

Ingredients

• a bunch of kale
• garlic (n cloves, lightly smashed)
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• juice from 1/8th of a lemon

In a skillet, heat up the oil. Add the smashed garlic. Cook 2 minutes until golden. Cook 3-5 minutes until wilted and slightly browned. Add soy sauce and lemon juice. Cook until the liquids mostly evaporate and the kale is more wilted and darker.

Section author: Carlo

Indian-Spiced Roasted Chickpeas

Ingredients

• a bunch of cooked chickpeas (2 cans)
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 3/8 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Microwave chickpeas until the exterior is dry (10 minutes). Cook them in 350 F oven with oil for 30 minutes. Roast them for 20-40 minutes more without burning them, until they are dry. Toss in the spice mixture.

References

Source

Note

Pretty good, cooked a bit too little. More crunch would have been nice

Section author: Carlo

Desserts

Apple Pie

Ingredients

For the pie crust:

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 12 tbsp. butter
• 6-8 tbsp. cold water

For the filling:

• 6 peeled, cored, and sliced apples
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 tbsp. flour
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• (optional: 1/8 tsp. nutmeg)

Combine flour and salt and cut butter in to mixture. Mix with hands until there are no large pieces of butter left. Add cold water a couple tablespoons at a time until the dough is just sticky enough to work with (knead it as little as possible). Divide dough into two not-quite-equal pieces. On a floured surface, roll out both parts individually until they are about 1/8 inch thick. Place the larger one in the bottom of a pie tine and poke small holes in it with a fork.

In a separate bowl, mix sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Pour this over the sliced apples. Fill the pie crust with the apple mixture. Cover the apples with the rest of the pie crust dough (either as a single sheet with slits cut into it or as a lattice). Place in a preheated oven and bake at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes. Turn temperature down to 275-300 degrees Fahrenheit and bake another 40-50 minutes or until crust is golden brown and apples are tender. Let cool and serve.

Note

I rarely add nutmeg, but you could. This still isn’t my favorite pie crust recipe, but it works. I really like the way lattice pie crusts look, but it requires slightly more pie crust than just a layer on top.

Section author: Tori

Basque Burnt Cheesecake

References

Bon Appetit recipe

Boysenberry Crunch

Ingredients

For the crust:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup butter (cool, but not completely frozen)

For the filling:

• 7-8 cups boysenberries
• 1 cup sugar
• 7 Tbsp. cornstarch (more if using frozen berries)
• 1/2 cup water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, oats, and brown sugar. Cut butter into mixture until it resembles fine crumbs (this is easiest to do with your hands). Press about half of this into the bottom of a 13 x 9 inch baking pan (and save the other half for the top). In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and cornstarch. Add the water and cook over medium heat stirring constantly until thickened and clear (wait for a couple of minutes after it boils). Remove from heat and add about 2/3 of the berries, mixing as little as possible until completely mixed. Pour this mixture on top of the flour mixture in the pan. Top with the rest of the berries. Add the rest of the flour mixture and spread evenly over the top. Bake in preheated over for 10 minutes then turn the temperature to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and bake for 40 minutes longer. It should be golden on top with berry juice bubbling up around the edges.

Note

This is a family recipe of Tori’s from one of the cookbooks (I’ll try to remember which one and add it here). This works with brozen boysenberries, but it’s better with fresh ones. It also works with blackberries.

Section author: Tori

Cantucci

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 170 g sugar
• 280 g AP flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda/powder
• 40 g softened butter
• 70 g almonds
• 1 orange
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 yolk for eggwash

Mix eggs and sugar (do not cream them). Mix flour and baking soda. Mix the two. Add butter, almonds, orange peel and honey. Work the dough quickly and make a ball. Divide into two, roll into two cylinders (3-4 cm diameter, they will puff up considerably). Apply eggwash. Cook at 190 C/374 F for 20 minutes. Rest for a few minutes. Slice 1 cm thick slices, cook for 5-7 more minutes into 200 C/392 F oven.

Note

Maybe more orange and almonds, and less sugar?

Source 1

Section author: Carlo

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• just under 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/3-1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• around 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix the butter with both kinds of sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix flour and baking soda together and add them to the other mixture. Add however many chocolate chips you want. Bake for 8-12 minutes.

Note

Tori has been making this since she was little. The dough tastes amazing, and it works well to shape it into balls and leave it in the freezer to snack on later. This recipe theoretically makes a little over two dozen medium sized cookies, but that depends on how much sampling occurs.

Section author: Tori

Chocolate-dipped almond cookies

Makes 6 dozen cookies

Ingredients

For the cookies:

• 1 cup butter
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 cups sifted AP flour
• 1 1/3 cups finely chopped blanched almonds

For the decoration:

• 6 oz. semisweet chocolate
• 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 Tbsp. hot water
• chopped almonds

Cream butter and sugar. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and mix. Add the flour and finely chopped almonds and mix. Shape the dough into rolls about 1 inch in diameter. Wrap rolls in wax paper and refridgerate until firm (~ 2 hours). Preheat the oven to 350 Fahrenheit. Cut the dough into 1/4-inch thick slices and place 1-2 inches apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until slightly brown. Cool. Melt the cholate and butter. Add the water and stir until smooth. Dip half of each cookie into the chocolate and sprinkle with chopped almonts.

References

This recipe comes from Lou and Chris. It was originally from Martha Stewart’s Christmas - 1989.

Note

These stay good for a while and are pretty sturdy, so they’re a good option if you want to mail someone cookies.

Section author: Tori

Chocolate Mousse

Ingredients

• 1 pound semisweet chocolate, broken into smaller pieces
• 1 1/2 cups whipping cream
• 6 egg whites

In the top of a double boiler over barely simmering water, melt the chocolate, stirring intermittently until just melted. While the chocolate is melting, place the egg whites in a clean dry bowl and whip them with an electric mixer until they hold soft peaks. When the chocolate is melted, stir in 1/2 cup of the whipping cream. Fold in the whipped egg whites, being careful to retain as much of their volume as possible. Whip the remaining 1 cup of cream until it is quite firm, and fold it carefully into the chocolate mixture. Pour into pretty glasses and chill for several hours. You may optionally top with extra whipped cream, mint leaves, raspberries, or other garnishes before serving.

Note

This is a family recipe of Tori’s.

Section author: Tori

Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients

For the rolls:

• 1 cup warm milk (105-110 degrees F)
• 1/4 ounce active dry yeast (1 packet)
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 eggs
• 4 cups flour

For the filling:

• around 1/3 cup softened butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 1/2 tbsp. ground cinnamon

For the icing:

• 2 tsp. softened butter
• 6 oz. cream cheese
• 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. For the rolls, dissolve the yeast in the warm milk in a large bowl. Let sit for a few minutes. Add the sugar, butter, salt, eggs, and flour and mix well. Knead the dough into a large ball, put into a bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place about 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until it is around 21 x 16 x 1/4 inches. For the filling, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Spread the softened butter and then the cinnamon mixture evenly over the dough. Roll the dough (either way, depending on how big you want the cinnamon rolls to be) and cut it into about 1 3/4 inch slices. Place these on a greased baking sheet so they have room to expand but they will still run into each other and cause the edges to be gooey. Bake in a preheated oven for about 10 minutes or until they are light brown on top. While the rolls bake, combine the icing ingredients and beat well with an electric mixer until fluffy. When the rolls come out of the oven, coat each generously with icing.

Note

This is a family recipe of Tori’s.

Section author: Tori

Cinnamon Swirl Bread

Ingredients

For the bread:

• 1 cup warm water (110 degrees F, feels warm but not hot)
• 1 packet (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 tbsp. vegetable or canola oil
• 3 cups flour

For the filling:

• 3 tbsp. butter, softened but not melted
• about 1/3 cup sugar
• 1-2 tsp. cinnamon
• optional: about 1/3 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in the warm water, and then stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam, about 10 minutes. Mix salt and oil into the yeast. Mix in flour one cup at a time. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth, about 8 to 10 minutes. Place in a well-oiled bowl, turn dough to coat, and cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. Punch the dough down, and knead for a minute or two. Roll the dough out into a rectangle, approximately 9 x 15 inches. Spread the softened butter all over the surface, then sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar all over the buttered surface, and then the raisins. Roll up from short end (so the finished roll is 9 inches long), and place into a well-oiled 9 x 5 inch loaf pan. Allow to rise for around 30-40 minutes. Bake for 30 minutes.

References

This recipe comes from Sonia. She gave it to Tori as thanks for driving her to a trailhead one time while at Williams.

Note

I’ve always made it without raisins, and it’s a great snack food (or good as french toast).

Section author: Tori

Crostoli

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 40 g sugar
• 300 g AP flour
• 30 g melted butter
• 60 g milk
• zest of 1 orange
• 2 tbsp grappa
• 1 pinch of salt

Mix all ingredients and knead for a couple of minutes. Form a ball, wrap i in plastic wrap and let rest in the fre=idge for at least 30 minutes. Roll the dough as thin as possible (about 1 mm). Cut in strips of about 4 cm x 15 cm. Fry in 350 F oil until golden. Dust with powdered sugar and serve. Do not choke on the powdered sugar.

References

tavolartegusto

Section author: Carlo

Apple Pie Ice Cream

Ingredients

For the ice cream:

• 400 g milk
• 200 g cream
• 2 egg yolks
• ~90 g white sugar
• ~20 g brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon (I think a little less would be better - see notes)

For the mix-ins:

• 2 apples, peeled and sliced into small pieces
• just under 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 tsp cinnamon
• ~ 1 Tbsp butter
• several graham crackers, mashed

Mix both kinds of sugar and cinnamon in a bowl on the side. Whisk milk, cream, and egg yolks in a pot. Heat to 40C, then add the sugar mixture. Heat to 82C, and maintain that temperature for 3 minutes. Cool down quickly in ice bath, let rest in the fridge overnight.

Peel and cut up the apples (into pretty small pieces). Heat up butter in a frying pan. Add the apples, cinnamon, brown sugar, and mix. Cook for 10-20 minutes until apples are soft. Cool.

Mash up a few graham crackers.

Churn the ice cream. When done, put it onto a container and swirl in the apples and graham crackers. Freeze.

References

I altered the cream gelato recipe for the base (see referenes on that recipe page) and figured everything else out after skimming over a lot of apple pie ice cream recipes online (they were all pretty similar and there wasn’t one in particular that I followed).

Note

This was a good first attempt, but I think it could be improved. Without the apple mixture, the ice cream had about the right amount of cinnamon for me if I wanted to make cinnamon ice cream. Since there was cinnamon with the apples, I would probably cut down on the amount of cinnamon in the ice cream (maybe to half of what I used?). Also, I would make more ice cream (the fior di latte gelato recipe currently makes a better amount for our ice cream maker). I had way too many apples for the amount of ice cream, although the left-over ones were a delicous snack. I also had way too many graham cracker crumbs (I think I mashed up around 4 or 5 homemade ones). I think I should have cut the apples even smaller (I cut them into thin slices and then cut the slices in one direction, but that left pieces that were ~1cm long in one direction and thin in the other two - they should be even smaller). I’d also probably cook the apples even longer. Overall, I’m pretty happy with how this turned out, but the primary flavor was cinnamon. The apples and graham crackers do add an interesting texture. The apples made the ice cream more solid/icy than I would like while trying to scoop the ice cream, but I’m not sure if there’s anything I can do about that. I ended up using skim milk since that’s what we had at home, so maybe it would be a bit better if I had used whole milk instead?

Section author: Tori

Boysenberry Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 245 g (1 cup) milk
• 240 g (1 cup) cream
• 1/2 cup plus a tiny bit sugar
• 1 pint frozen boysenberries
• juice half a lemon
• ~1/2 tsp vanilla

Heat frozen boysenberries, 1/2 cup sugar, and lemon juice in a pan. Cook (stirring frequently) until mixture begins to thicken. Cool. Heat milk, cream and a little bit of sugar until it is just boiling. Remove from heat, cover, and let steep for 20 minutes. Cool. Once both mixtures have fully cooled, mix together and add vanilla. Churn.

References

Source: Modified from the book Molly Moon’s Homemade Ice Cream.

Note

The consistency seemed pretty good (it was pretty smooth), but I wasn’t quite happy with the flavor. I think I would try adding more boysenberries (and maybe see if the boysenberry flavor is stronger if I don’t cook them). I would also alter the ratio of milk and cream so there’s more milk and less cream. The ice cream seemed too creamy to me, when I wanted the berry flavor to dominate. I’m not sure what was the fat percentage of the milk I used for this, but I don’t think it was skim milk, so maybe using 2/3 skim milk and 1/3 cream (like I do for mint ice cream) would be better.

Section author: Tori

Gelato alla Crema

Ingredients

• 400 g milk (2% or whole)
• 200 g cream (36% fat)
• 2 egg yolks
• 120 g sugar
• 15 g cornstarch
• zest of 1 lemon

Mix sugar and cornstarch. Whisk milk, cream, and egg yolks in a pot. Heat to 40C, then add the sugar mixture. Heat to 82C, and maintain that temperature for 3 minutes. Cool down quickly in ice bath, let rest in the fridge overnight.

References

Source 1 Source 2

Note

The first time I made it, I used 4 egg yolks, and it was really rich and creamy. The second time, I used only 2 egg yolks, and it was still quite delicious and creamy, so I’m probably going to stick with that. The first time I used 2% milk and the second I used whole milk, and both seemed to work well. The second time I added around 1/2-1 tsp vanilla after I had let it cool down in the ice bath and before refrigerating. I think I could add more if I want it to have a vanilla flavor. It might we worth trying either cooking to a slightly lower temperature or adding the egg later since this ice cream is very custardy.

This works well to pour coffee over it (Carlo made an affogato with it). It also works to add chunks of cookie dough for cookie dough ice cream.

Carlo: made it with 3 eggs to split the difference, was good. Could increase the total yield though.

Section author: Carlo + Tori

Gelato al Fiordilatte

Ingredients

• 500 g milk (2%)
• 200 g cream (36% fat)
• 100 g sugar
• about 20 g honey
• 15 g cornstarch

Mix sugar, honey, cornstarch. Mix milk and cream in a pot. Heat to 40C, add the sugar mixture. Heat to 75C, maintaing the temperature for 3 minutes. Cool down quickly in ice bath, let rest in the fridge overnight.

References

Source 1 Source 2 Source 3

Section author: Tori

Gelato al Fiordilatte (2)

Ingredients

• 565 g milk (0% fat)
• 225 g cream (36% fat)
• 225 g sugar
• 30 g nonfat dry milk
• 1 g guar gum
• 2 g salt

Mix 360 g of milk and all the solids. Heat to 50 C. Icorporate with the rest of the liquids. Refrigerate at least 12 hours.

References

seriouseats

Note

This is WAY too much guar gum (the flavour was good but the consistency was super weird). A good start might be 1.5g. Will update next time I try it.

Tried with 1.2g of Guar Gum, still too much!

Section author: Carlo

Cookie dough ice cream bar

Makes around 7 bars

Ingredients

• ice cream (see, for example Gelato alla Crema)
• 15+ oz chocolate (I used ~60% Valhrona solid chocolate in small pieces)
• 1/2 recipe cookie dough (see Chocolate Chip Cookies)
• (Optional: almond slices)

Make cookie dough. Cut/tear into small pieces (however big you want in your bars) and freeze. Make ice cream. As soon as it comes out of the ice cream maker, mix pieces of cookie dough into ice cream, if desired. Put ice cream into a container to harden and put ice cream bar sticks into it before it goes in the freezer. Wait until ice cream fully freezes. Temper chocolate (or maybe just melt it - see notes). Cut ice cream into bar like shapes. Once cut, place all but one of the ice cream bars back in the freezer so you’re only working with one at a time. Dip in tempered or melted chocolate. If desired, sprinkle almonds (or other possible toppings) on outside. Immediately place back in the freezer to harden.

Note

We have now made ice cream bars twice and both were ok, but not completely successful. The ice cream and cookie dough tasted great. Cutting the ice cream with a big knife worked better than putting it in popsicle molds (some came out, but others broke apart while trying to remove them). The hardest part was dipping the ice cream into the chocolate all at once so extra chocolate would nicely fall off. Both times, the chocolate ended up being too thick. We want to try just melting chocolate and having the nice crunch come from it being frozen instead of being properly tempered since it will make it a lot easier to quickly dip the entire bar in chocolate and have only a thin layer remain on it. The limiting factor for the amount of bars was the chocolate. The ice cream and cookie dough recipes linked here made more ice cream and cookie dough than there was chocolate. Thankfully both are delicious on their own!

Section author: Tori

Lemon Sorbet

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups lemon juice
• zest of 4 lemons
• 2 cups water
• 1.5 cups sugar

Zest and juice the lemons and let the zest sit in the juice for around 24 hours. Mix the water and the sugar in a pan and heat up until the sugar has entirely dissolved. Take off the stove. Strain the lemon juice (so the zest gets strained out) and mix with the water/sugar mixture. Put the mixture in the fridge until completely cool. Churn in the ice cream maker on the sorbet setting until the noise changes and it looks like it’s the right consistency.

Note

We’ve made lemon sorbet with a variety of water/sugar/lemon juice ratios, and I’m still not quite sure what is ideal, but this one turned out well. It probably depends some on how sweet the lemons are though. I don’t always let the zest sit in with the juice ahead of time (sometimes I just add the zest to the sorbet), but this method seems to work well, although it’s not necessary if time is limited.

Section author: Tori

Maple ice cream

Ingredients

• 1 cup maple syrup
• 1.5 cups milk
• 21.5 cups cream
• 2 egg yolks

Put maple syrup in a pan and reduce it until it’s around 1/2 - 3/4 of its initial volume. After that’s done, heat up cream, milk, and egg yolks until it reaches 180 F. Take off heat and add in syrup. Chill in fridge overnight. Once cool, pour into ice cream maker and churn.

Note

The first time I tried this, I used 1.5 cups of maple syrup, and it was too sweet for me. The texture was amazing though. Using less maple syrup still gives it a strong maple flavor and the sweetness isn’t quite as overwhelming. The texture isn’t quite as good, but it’s still pretty good. I added toasted walnuts to this and it worked well. When reducing the syrup, I’m usually lazy, so I take it off after 10-20 minutes when it’s only down to around 3/4 of the initial volume (approximately). I’ve used different mixes of skim and whole milk, and everything I’ve tried has worked well. This is delicious on it’s own, and works well in coffee and as a waffle topping.

Section author: Tori

Gelato alla Menta

Ingredients

• 490 g milk (2%)
• 250 g cream (36% fat)
• 135 g sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 25 mint leaves
• few drops of vanilla

Heat milk, cream and mint leaves to 180F, take off heat and cover. Steep for 10 minutes. Strain out the leaves (press the leave in the strainer to get the oils out). Whisk egg and sugar together, whisk half of the milk mixture in. Add the resulting liquid to the rest of the milk mixture. Heat to 160F, take off heat. Put the mixture in another bowl, cover and cool until it’s fridge temperature.

Churn.

References

Source

Note

The first time I tried it since creating this recipe, I used the recipe here and it was a little icy. The second time, I replaced the 2% milk with whole milk and it was still a little icy. It’s been smoother/creamier before so I’m not sure what was different. I could try skim milk since that’s probably what I’ve used before, but it’s not obvious to me that would make it smoother. One time I mixed in chocolate ganache after it had churned, and it looked great and tasted good, but I think I prefer my mint ice cream without chocolate.

Section author: Tori

Raspberry sorbet

Ingredients

• 650 g pureed (frozen) raspberries
• 250 g water
• 150 g sugar

Puree raspberries in food processor. They’re easier to strain if they’ve had some time to defrost first. Create a simple syrup by heating up the water and sugar together in a pan until the sugar has fully dissolved. Mix the raspberries with the simple syrup. It’s possible to strain at this point if the raspberries were previously too frozen to strain easily. It’s ok if some seed remain, but I was happy that I removed most of them. Churn in ice cream maker for 30 minutes on the sorbet setting.

Note

I had tried making raspberry ice cream several times (replacing some of the milk/cream in the fior di latte recipe with pureed raspberries added at the end), and each time even as I increased the ratio of raspberries to milk/cream I just wanted it to be more raspberry-y. I finally decided to ditch the cream/milk entirely and just go with sorbet. This is amazing raspberry goodness that doesn’t seem diluted in any way, like the ice cream did. I’ve made this recipe several times now, with the approximate ratios above, but with slightly different amounts of raspberries (based on what I had) each time, and it always worked out well.

One time I replaced the raspberries with boysenberries, and it was ok, but I definitely prefer it with raspberries. For some reason the boysenberry sorbet tasted like generic berry sorbet as opposed to boysenberries and the raspberry sorbet has always had a very strong raspberry flavor. Another time I replaced the raspberries with strawberries, and that worked well.

Section author: Tori

Grapefruit Cookies

Makes around 24 cookies (fewer if lots of dough is sampled)

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar (plus a little extra for dipping)
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 Tbsp grapefruit juice
• zest of 1 grapefruit
• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 F. Cream the butter and sugar. Mix in the egg, vanilla, grapefruit juice and grapefruit zest. Add the flour, baking powder, and cinnamon and mix. Create small balls of the dough and roll gently in extra sugar before placing on baking sheet. Bake for around 12 minutes.

References

link

Note

Carlo prefers these when they are flattened out a little before baking. We tried with and without the extra sugar on the outside, but they do seem better with it.

Section author: Tori

Ice Cream Cone

I tried two recipes as my first attempt at making ice cream cones. See notes below. These need to be iterated on.

Recipe 1

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp melted and cooled butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat over to 300 deg F. Beat the egg and sugar in a bowl until it is thickened and pale yellow. Add the butter, vanilla, and milk. Add in the flour.

Put parchment paper or a silicon mat on a cookie sheet. Put 1.5 tbsp batter onto the cookie sheet and spread out until it covers a 6 inch circle. Repeat until cookie sheet is full. Bake for around 10-15 minutes until lightly browned. Remove the cookies one at a time and immediately roll into a cone shape.

References

Source: Modified from the book The Ultimate Ice Cream Book by Bruce Weinstein.

Note

One recipe book suggested parchment paper instead of the silicon mat, so I started with that; however it ended up having creases in it which split the cones in half while they were still in the oven. I then switched over to the silicon mat, and this recipe was sticking a little bit, but it was much more even. A fish spatula seemed to be the best instrument to remove the cookies from the tray before rolling them. Using what I learned when I made fortune cookies when I was younger, I used a pair of small cotton gloves to handle the hot cookies as I shaped them, and it worked well. This would be a lot easier with the appropriate cone mold. It would also be fun to get a waffle cone maker at some point. Without ice cream inside the cones, Carlo liked this recipe better than the other because it was sweet and tasted like what he thinks cones should taste like. However, once there was ice cream inside, he said that maybe it was too sweet and crunchy, and he prefered the other one.

Recipe 2

Ingredients

• 70 ml (+ more added later) egg whites (~ 2 eggs)
• 60 g sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 90 g flour
• 2 tbsp melted and cooled butter

Preheat over to 350 deg F. Mix together egg whites, sugar, and vanilla. Add half the flour, then add in the butter, and then the rest of the flour, beating until smooth.

Put parchment paper or a silicon mat on a cookie sheet. Put 2 tbsp batter onto the cookie sheet and spread out until it covers a 6 inch circle. Repeat until cookie sheet is full. Bake for 10-15 minutes until lightly browned. Remove the cookies one at a time and immediately roll into a cone shape.

References

Source: Modified from the book The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz.

Note

(See notes from previous recipe). I used only the silicon mat for these, and they all came off easily. This recipe calls for slightly more batter per cone, and I found the 2 tbsp in this recipe to work well. Following the recipe as it’s written, the batter ended up really thick and hard to spread. The first batch of this recipe was way to clumpy and they cracked as I was rolling them. I then added some more egg whites to the remaining batter until it was the consistency of the previous recipe and it spread well. Those turned out nice and smooth. If I make these again, I would either cut down on the flour, or add additional egg whites or milk at the beginning. Carlo thought these were too doughy without ice cream, but liked them when they had ice cream inside. Tori liked that these were less sweet. They were a little thick/doughy at a couple of places in the middle, but that could probably be altered by making the dough thinner before baking. Current plan for next time: make a combo of the recipes- probably more like this one, but add extra milk to thin it down to the right (easily spreadable) consistency.

Section author: Tori

Key Lime Pie

Ingredients

For the pie crust:

• 18 Graham crackers
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• optional: 1/8 cup sugar

For the filling:

• 2 cans sweetened condensed milk (about 800 grams total)
• 5-6 egg yolks
• 1 cup key lime juice

For the whipped cream:

• 1 pint heavy cream
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2-3 Tbsp. powdered sugar

Mash Graham crackers until very fine. I often do this smashing them up in the bag they come in by hand and then using a rolling pin. (Mix with sugar, if desired.) Mix in melted butter. Put this mixture into a pie tie and pat it down so it covers entire pie dish (it should probably be 1/4-1/3 inch thick). Refrigerate crust until firm (at least 30 minutes).

In another bowl, mix the condensed milk, egg yolks, and key lime juice. Pour into refrigerated crust. Bake in a preheated over at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 15-20 minutes, until the filling is set. Let cool and refrigerate.

Whip cream and gradually add vanilla and sugar once it’s almost done. This needs to be whipped well in order to keep its shape for several days. Spread whipped cream on top of key lime layer once it’s chilled.

Note

If key limes aren’t available, regular limes work well too. We also tried with lemons, and it still tasted good (more custardy) but we prefer with limes. Squeezing the citrus ourselves (even if it’s then frozen) tastes way better than buying key lime juice from the store. I haven’t added the extra sugar to the pie crust for years, and it’s plenty sweet without it. We tried experimenting with making our own Graham crackers and sweetened condensed milk each once, and I’d like to do that again to have more control over the sweetness. Growing up at one point, we experimented with using slightly fewer eggs, separately beating the whites, and adding that to the pie filling. If I remember correctly, it gave a lighter filling (which was also delicious just different), but I don’t remember the details. I want to try that again at some point.

Section author: Tori

Lava Cake

Ingredients

• 220 grams dark chocolate (64%)
• 8 squares of the same chocolate
• 220 grams butter
• 160 grams white sugar
• 120 grams flour
• 4 eggs

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. In a double boiler, slowly melt the chocolate and then add in the butter. Take away from heat and let cool. Beat eggs and sugar just to the point that they have whitened. Add flour into egg mixture. Add egg/flour mixture to the chocolate. Prepare molds: grease with butter and then a layer of cocoa powder so the cake won’t stick. Fill molds halfway, place a squre of chocolate in the middle, then finish filling. Cook 7-10 minutes until the outer edge of the cake has cooked, but it is still nice and gooey in the center.

References

This recipe comes from a French cooking class Tori did with her family.

Note

Carlo thinks these are too egg-y. Tori likes them.

Section author: Tori

Cassie’s Lemon Bars

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Mix 1 cups of flour and confectioner’s sugar together. Cut in the butter or margarine. Mix well until the dough resembles pie dough consistency. Press the dough into an 8x8 inch baking pan. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Beat together eggs, sugar, 4 tablespoons flour, lemon juice and lemon rind for at least 1 minute. Pour the mixture over the baked crust. Bake the bars another 20 minutes, or until the lemon topping has set. Sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar when cooled.

Note

(From Tori) Although this recipe initially called for twice as much crust, that had way too high of a crust to filling ratio, so I edited the recipe and the ratio is better now. If you want to bake this in a 9 x 13 pan, you could double the current version of this recipe.

Section author: Cassie

Lemon Cake Cookies

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups + 3 tbsp. flour
• 3/4 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 9 tbsp. butter
• 1 cup + 2 tbsp. sugar
• 1 tbsp. grated lemon zest
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 whole egg
• 1/4 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Beat butter, sugar, and lemon zest in a mixer for 2 minutes. Add egg yolks then the egg, and beat 10 seconds on high. Add the sour cream and beat for another 8 seconds. Fold in the dry ingredients first by hand and then with the mixer for 15 seconds. Bake about 12 minutes until firm to touch.

Ingredients

Optional glaze:

• 6 tbsp. butter
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 3 tbsp. lemon juice

Melt butter. Add lemon juice and sugar. Whisk until smooth.

Note

This is an old family recipe of Tori’s. Growing up, I don’t remember making the glaze. I feel like I’ve tried it a couple of times without being too happy with the result, but I’ll update this once I try it again. The cookies are quite delicious even without anything.

Section author: Tori

Lemon Pound Cake

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 3 cups sifted cake flour
• 2 cups white sugar
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 cups softened salted butter
• 1/3 cup buttermilk (or a few tbsp. powdered buttermilk + 1/3 cup lemon juice)
• 6 large eggs
• 2 tsp. lemon juice
• 1 tbsp. grated lemon zest (from 2 medium lemons)

For the glaze:

• 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/4 cup white sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large bowl with an electric mixer on low speed, blend flour, sugar, and baking powder (and powdered buttermilk if using it in powdered form). Add butter, buttermilk, and 3 eggs, and beat on low until moistened. Increase speed to high and beat for 2 minutes. Add lemon juice and lemon zest, and blend at medium speed. Add the 3 remaining eggs one at a time, beating at high speed for seconds after each addition. Pour into greased tube bundt pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes in a preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean (it should be pretty brown). While cake is baking, put lemon juice and sugar in a small saucepan for glaze. With a tootpick, insert holes in the surface of the cake and pour most of the glaze over this (if you have a syringe, that works much better for injecting the glaze inside the cake). Cool in pan for a little while then invert onto a cooling rack. You can optionally brush the top of the cake with the remaining glaze (but it often doesn’t soak in well there), or leave it on the side for dipping. Serve at room temperature.

Note

This is an old family recipe of Tori’s. We usually used powdered buttermilk (however much was needed to make 1/3 cup) but replaced the 1/3 cup water that went with that with lemon juice. Using a syringe to inject the glaze is the superior strategy - make sure the syringe doesn’t get plugged with any pulp or zest. We sometimes used 5 eggs instead of 6 and it tasted pretty similar.

Section author: Tori

Lemon Tart

Makes 1 9-inch tart (or several smaller tarts)

Ingredients

For the crust (enough for 2 tarts):

• 1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp. butter at room temperature
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 egg at room temperature
• 1 3/4 cups (500 g) flour

For the filling:

• 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 3 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• ~4-5 Tbsp butter

Optional topping:

• Whipped cream (cream, powdered sugar, vanilla)

Combine butter and sugar and mix in stand mixer. Add in egg and mix well. Add flour and beat on low until just mixed. Divide into two balls of equal size and shape each into a disk 1/2 inch thick. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill at least 2 hours. Roll dough out until 1/8 inch thick on a slightly floured surface. Trasnfer dough to pan without stretching it out. Trim so it’s level with the sides of the pan. Refridgerate or freeze for 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 325 Fahrenheit. Make holds in the bottom of the tart with a fork. Bake in oven for 12-15 minutes until golden brown.

For filling: Mix lemon juice, eggs, egg yolk, and sugar in a pan. Whisk ingredients together while heating until it reaches 180 F. Pour into an immersion blender. Add in butter 1 Tbsp at a time until the appropriate taste is reached. More butter will make it creamier but also cut down on the lemon flavor. Pour filling into cooled tart shell. Cool.

If desired, top with whipped cream.

References

Tartine cookbook.

Note

This works as a large tart or as smaller ones. Sometimes I’ve been very happy with this tart crust, but I’m still on a quest for my optimal tart crust. I’ve used this recipe with lilikoi as well, and that works well.

Section author: Tori

Lilikoi (Passion Fruit) Cheesecake Bars

Ingredients

For the crust:

• 1 pack Graham crackers
• 1/3 cup butter, melted

For the cheesecake filling:

• 2 eggs
• 2 8-oz packs of cream cheese
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla

For the topping:

• 1/2 cup lilikoi juice
• 3 (?) Tbsp cornstarch
• ~1/3 cup sugar

Mash up the graham crackers, mix with melted butter, and press into an 8 x 8 pan (going up some on the sides if you want). Refridgerate. Preheat oven to around 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix the filling ingredients together. Pour into crust and bake ~15 minutes, until the filling has set (one recipe said a thermometer inserted about 1 inch from the edge should be at 180 F). Cool. For the topping, mix the sugar and cornstarch in a bowl on the side. Heat up the lilikoi juice in a pan and add the sugar and cornstartch mixture. Bring to a boil and let cook while mixing continuously for a couple minutes to remove the cornstarch flavor. Remove from heat and let cool. Pour the topping over the cheesecake layer after both have cooled, ideally before the topping has fully set. Can decorate the top with lilikoi seeds if desired. Refrigerate together before serving.

Note

My first attempt used this tart crust, and this cheesecake tart. It was ok, but I like the Graham cracker crust much better. I’d have to compare the two lilikoi toppings since I really like both on their own, but the one currently in this recipe seemed to work well with cheesecake bars. I’d be curious to try one of the cheesecake recipes with sour cream. I was happy with this one (if I remembered the amounts correctly), so I don’t think it needs to be changed, but it’s also the part of this recipe I’m the least certain about since I don’t have a go-to cheesecake recipe. I also may be completely misremembering how long it cooked for and the temperature, so that culd be investigated more.

Section author: Tori

Lilikoi (Passion Fruit) Curd

Makes enough for 1 9-inch tart

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup lilikoi juice
• 50 g butter, melted
• ~1/3 cup sugar
• 1 egg, whisked
• cornstarch (possibly around 1.5-2 Tbsp?)

Mix the sugar with a little cornstarch in a bowl on the side. Melt the butter in a saucepan and add in the sugar/cornstarch and lilikoi juice over low heat. As soon as the sugar has dissolved (while the mixture isn’t too hot yet), add the egg. Continuously mix until boiling. Remove from heat and let cool. Use over a cheesecake or tart crust or cake or eat on it’s own. Refrigerate before serving.

References

Source

Note

I used this curd for my first lilikoi cheesecake tart and a raspbery/lilikoi cake, but have since used Tartine’s lemon curd recipt replacing the lemon with lilkoi (see Lemon Tart recipe). Both are good - I should do a direct comparison sometime. For this one, I used lilikoi juice instead of pulp, so I needed to add extra cornstarch to the topping since it didn’t thicken enough on it’s own. I’m not sure exactly how much I added since I did it after the fact (mixed in with a little of the topping to avoid clumps). It tasted great and ended up being the consistency I wanted, so I think using juice works well. The biggest mistake I made was that I added the egg when the lilikoi mixture was too hot, so a little bit of the egg scrambled and I had to remove it. Avoid that in the future, probably by using a thermometer.

Section author: Tori

Marble Brownies

Ingredients

For the brownie:

• 1 1/2 oz. unsweetened chocolate
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup water
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup sour cream

For the swirl:

• 8 oz. softened cream cheese
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 egg

Topping:

• 6 oz. semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Add butter, water, and chocolate to a saucepan, and bring to a boil (then remove from heat). In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, and baking soda. Add the chocolate mixture to the flour mixture. In a separate bowl, mix eggs and sour cream, and then add this to the chocolate mixture. Pour into a greased and floured 13 x 9 inch pan. Combine cream cheese and sugar, mixing until well blended. Mix in egg. Spoon cream cheese mixture over chocolate batter, and cut through batter several times with a spatula for the marble effect. Sprinkle with chocolate chips. Bake in a preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Note

This is a family recipe of Tori’s. Sometimes we’ve made it with 2 oz. chocolate, 1 cup water, and 8 oz. of sour cream, and that’s also delicious.

Section author: Tori

Lemon–Olive Oil Tart

Ingredients

For the tart shell:

• 192 g AP flour
• 60 g sugar
• 112 g olive oil
• 30 g water
• 1 pinch of salt

For the filling:

• 3 eggs
• 3 eggs yolks
• 200 g sugar
• 16 g AP flour
• 118 g lemon juice
• lemon zest to taste
• 56 g olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix flour, sugar salt, oil and water to form uniform dough. Press that in a 9 inch tart pan.bake for 30 - 45 minutes.

Whisk sugar flour and salt in medium saucepan. Whisk in eggs and yolks. Whisk in lemon zest and juice. Cook while stirring until reaches 160 F. Whisk in oil off heat.

Pour curd into the tart shell and return to oven. Bake 8 -12 minutes.

Cook’s Illustrated

Note

The filling was delicious (maybe could have done with slightly less sugar), but the tart shell wasn’t great (kind of had a very strong flavor, and was a bit too crumbly).

Section author: Carlo

Orange Oatmeal Coffee Cake

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 cup quick-cook oatmeal
• 1 cup milk

For the glaze:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts
• 3 tbsp. fresh squeezed orange juice
• some orange zest

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time. Sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt, and add in the oatmeal. Add the dry ingredients to the the butter/sugar alternately with milk, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Pour into a buttered 8-inch square pan, and bake for 35-45 minutes.

While cake is baking, prepare the glaze: melt the butter and mix it with the sugar, nuts, and orange juice. As soon as the cake is done, pour the glaze on top, and place it under the broiler for a couple of minutes, until the glaze is bubbly.

References

This is a recipe from Chris’ family. I really like it because it’s delicious and slightly different than most other cakes I’ve had. The initial recipe didn’t call for orange zest, but I always add some. I don’t remember if I add it to the cake or glaze or both, but I’m sure it would work in all of them.

Section author: Tori

Kue Nastar (Indonesian Pineapple Cookies)

Ingredients

For pineapple jam:

• 550 grams pineapple chunks (from 1 large fresh, peeled, and cored pineapple)
• 75 grams sugar

For pastry:

• 254 grams all-purpose unbleached flour
• 65 grams confectioner’s sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 4 oz unsalted butter, cut into large chunks
• zest 1 large orange
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 tbsp milk

For egg wash:

• 1 egg wash
• 1 tsp milk

Additional:

• 28-29 cloves (1 per cookie)

Puree pineapple chunks using food processor or a blender. Transfer to sauce pan, add sugar, then cook on medium heat until all liquid has evaporated. Lower the heat to low, continue to cook until it has thickened and is a little drier than the consistency of regular jam. Remove from heat, cool completely.

Place pastry ingredients in a food processor, pulse for a few seconds until it is starting to come together.

Take about 16 grams of dough, flatten it, place 6 grams of pineapple jam in the center, and enclose the filling, forming into a round ball. Place the ball on a cookie sheet. Repeat with the rest of the dough (the cookies can be pretty close together since they don’t expand much in the oven). Cover the sheet with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour (or overnight).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a small bowl, whisk the yolk and milk together for the egg wash. Brush each cookie with egg wash, then top with a clove (pushing the rounded part in a little so the pointy end sticks straight up). Bake in the center of the oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden to your liking. Cool completely before serving.

References

From Armin and Amalia.

Note

The pineapple jam stores really well in the freezer. Last time I did this, I made jam from one pineapple, and it lasted me through several batches of cookies. Making the jam is the most time intensive part. I may have skipped the refrigerate step some of the times I’ve made these (I don’t remember doing it, but it’s been a while).

Section author: Tori

Pound Cake

Ingredients

• 196 grams unsalted butter, plus more for the pan
• 250 grams sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 3 eggs + 1 yolk, at room temperature
• 120 grams sour cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 187 grams AP flour
• 15 grams cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp milk or water

All the ingredients should be at room temperature. Make sure to scrape mixing bowl and paddle very often.

Preheat the oven to 350°F and greas a loaf pan.

Beat the butter, sugar, baking powder and salt for 8 minutes. Scrape bowl and paddle periodically.

Add the eggs and yolk one at the time.

Mix sour cream and vanilla separately until blended.

Add half of the sour cream, incorporate, add half of the flour, incorporate. Repeat with the rest. Give a final gentle mix with a spatula.

Stir the cocoa and milk/water to half of the batter.

Dollop alternating loads of white and black batter in the loaf pan. Swirl a knife to ensure mixing. Score the center.

Bake 65 to 75 minutes. If necessary, tent with foil or shield with a baking sheet.

References

food52 generic pound cake

food52 cocoa swirl pound cake

Note

Very delicious. Next time I’ll try without the swirl, and add some lemon zest with the butter and sugar.

Section author: Carlo

Raspberry Pie

Ingredients

For the pie crust:

• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/3 cup butter
• 4-5 tbsp. cold water

For the filling:

• 6 cups raspberries
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 6+ tbsp. cornstarch (up to 7-8 if using frozen berries)

For the whipped cream:

• 3/4 pint whipping cream
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 2-3 tbsp. powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Combine flour and salt and cut butter in to mixture. Mix with hands until there are no large pieces of butter left. Add cold water a couple tablespoons at a time until the dough is just sticky enough to work with (knead it as little as possible). On a floured surface, roll out the dough to be a 12 inch diameter circle. Place it in the pie tin and poke a few small holes in both the bottom and sides with a fork so it won’t bubble while cooking. Bake in the oven at 450 F for 8-10 minutes (until it is just turning golden).

Smash the berries in a saucepan. Mix the sugar and cornstarch and add that to the berries. Bring to a boil (the mixture will thicken and start to become clearer). Cook for 3-4 additional minutes and transfer to pie crust (that has already cooled down). Let cool and refrigerate.

Whip cream and gradually add vanilla and sugar once it’s almost done. This needs to be whipped well in order to keep its shape for several days. Spread whipped cream on top of raspberry layer. Enjoy!

Note

This is a family recipe of Tori’s. You can’t go wrong with raspberries and cream. It’s better with fresh raspberries, but frozen work well too. The crust recipe here isn’t my favorite, but you can easily replace it with a better one.

Section author: Tori

Sheet Cake Brownies

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup water
• 2 eggs, well beaten
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

For the icing:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 6 tbsp. milk
• 3 1/2 tbsp. cocoa
• about 450 grams powdered sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Sift flour, measure, resift with sugar. In a saucepan, add butter, water, and cocoa, and bring to a boil. Pour chocolate mixture over sugar and flour mixture and mix well. Mix together beaten eggs, baking soda, buttermilk, and vanilla, and add this to other mixture. Mix well. Pour into a greased and floured 15 1/2 inch x 10 1/2 inch pan. Bake for 20 minutes in preheated oven. Start the icing in the last 3 minutes that the cake is baking. Bring the butter, milk, and cocoa to a boil. Remove from the heat and add sugar, vanilla, and nuts. Beat well and spread over the cake as soon as it comes out of the oven.

Note

This is a family recipe of Tori’s. We always called it brownies growing up, but it’s probably more similar to a cake.

Section author: Tori

Snickerdoodles

Ingredients

For the dough:

• 1 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 2 3/4 cups flour

For the topping:

• 3 tbsp. sugar
• 1 tbsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Beat butter, sugar, and eggs together until creamy. Add cream of tartar and baking soda. Add flour and mix well. Chill at least 2 hours (overnight is preferred).

Combine topping ingredients in a small, shallow bowl. After chilling the dough, shape it into balls about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Drop dough balls into topping mixture and coat entire surface well. Place on ungreased baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Bake in preheated over for about 10 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand one minute before moving removing cookies from tray and placing on cooling rack.

Note

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Section author: Tori

Sour Cream Banana Bread

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs, well beaten
• 5-6 mashed overripe bananas
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 2 cups flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar until smooth and creamy. Add in eggs, bananas, sour cream, and baking soda. Stir in flour. Pour batter into an 8-inch greased loaf pan. Bake in pre-heated oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Section author: Tori

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 1 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 2 cups sour cream
• 1 tbsp. vanilla extract

For the filling/topping:

• 1 tbsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 cups chopped walnuts (optional, could also be replaced with pecans)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 10 inch bundt pan. Cream together butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar. Add eggs and blend well. Mix in sour cream and vanilla. Sift together flour and baking powder. Fold the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture and beat until just blended. Do not overbeat. In a separate bowl, mix the remaining 1/4 cup sugar with the cinnamon and walnuts. Pour half of the batter into the bundt pan. Sprinkle half the sugar/cinnamon mixture on top. Add the remaining batter and top with the rest of the sugar/cinnamon mixture. Set on middle rack of the over and bake for about 60 minutes or until a toothpick can be inserted in the center and come out clean. Can serve either warm or cool.

Note

This is a family recipe of Tori’s.

Section author: Tori

Susie’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour (whole wheat medium grind)
• 1 cup oats
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/3 cup chocolate chips
• just under 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 tbsp. water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix the dry ingredients (flour, oats, salt, baking soda, chocolate chips). In a separate bowl, mix the oil, maple syrup, vanilla, and water. Put the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix. Shape, put on cookie sheet, and bake for 8 minutes.

References This recipe comes from Susie.

Section author: Tori

Tiramisù

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 80 g sugar
• 450 g mascarpone
• 250 g savoiardi
• 1 cup coffee

Whip the yolks with the sugar until creamy and almost white. Add the mascarpone, incorporate and continue whipping until creamy and smooth. Meanwhile, whip the whites until hard peaks. Fold the whites in the other mixture.

Soak the savoiardi one by one for 1-2 seconds in the coffee, arrange at the bottom of a casserole dish. Spoon in a layer of the cream. Make another layer of coffee soaked savoiardi. Add another layer of cream. Top with a layer of unsweetened cocoa powder. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours before serving.

References

Souce

Section author: Carlo

Tiramisù Alle Fragole

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• 80 g sugar
• 450 g mascarpone
• 250 g savoiardi
• 60 g (1/4 cup) lemon juice
• 60 g (1/4 cup) lemon water
• <50 g (<1/4 cup) sugar
• 450 g strawberries

Chop the strawberries into sixths. Macerate the strawberries with the lemon juice, water and sugar for 1-2 hours. Strain the juice and reserve.

Whip the yolks with the sugar until creamy and almost white. Add the mascarpone, incorporate and continue whipping until creamy and smooth. Meanwhile, whip the whites until hard peaks. Fold the whites in the other mixture.

Soak the savoiardi one by one for 1-2 seconds in reserved juice, arrange at the bottom of a casserole dish. Spoon in a layer of the cream. Make a strawberry layer. Make another layer of juice soaked savoiardi. Add another layer of cream. Top with a layer of strawberries. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours before serving.

References

Souce

Note

more straberries, more lemon juice. It worked but barely side of ok for strawberries and lemon

Section author: Tori

Torta Sbrisolona

Ingredients

• 200 AP flour
• 100 g fine cornmeal
• 200 g almonds
• 2 egg yolks
• 170g sugar
• 200 g butter (softened)
• zest of one lemon
• 1 tsp vanilla
• pinch of salt

In a food processor, pulse the almonds, sugar and cornmeal until they form a coarse powder. Mix the result with the AP flour. Add in the yolks, vanilla, salt and lemon zest. Add the butter, and mix until you get a more or less homogeneous result. If you want to, you can add 30 g or so of roughly chopped almonds to the mix. Press the mixture into a 2cm high disk, and put in the freezer for about 30 minutes.

Line a 10 inch cake pan with parchment paper and butter. Crumble the semi frozen mixture into the pan, without pressing it. Top with a few whole almonds and a sprinkle of sugar. Bake covered for 40 minutes in a 350 F oven. If needed, uncover and bake for 5-10 minutes more.

References

Source

Note

This is an amazing cake for tea. Try to use fine cornmeal (I only had the coarse one and it is slightly annoying).

Section author: Carlo

White Cake

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup soft butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup plus 2 tbsp. milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
• 3 tsp. baking powder
• 4 medium egg whites (at room temperature)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large bowl at medium speed, mix butter with 3/4 cup sugar until very light and fluffy. In a separate container, add the vanilla to the milk. Sift flour and baking powder together. At low speed, beat in alternately just until smooth, the flour mixture in fourths and the combined milk and vanilla in thirds. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites on high speed until foamy. Gradually add 1/4 cup of sugar to the egg whites and keep beating until the egg whites hold a soft peak. Gently fold egg whites into other mixture. Pour into greased pans lined with wax paper or parchment paper at the bottom. This recipe usually makes a single sheet cake or 2 x 8 inch circles. Bake in a preheated oven at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 minutes.

Ingredients

Optional lemon filling:

• 1 cup sugar
• 3 tbsp. cornstarch
• 1 cup boiling water
• 2 tbsp. grated lemon zest
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 2 tbsp. butter

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a rolling boil while stirring. Turn down heat and boil for another minute while stirring. Let cool to room temperature and beat by hand before using.

Note

This is a family recipe of Tori’s. The lemon filling works well with either vanilla or lemon frosting as a layer cake.

Section author: Tori

Zabaione

Ingredients

• 4 egg yolks
• 40-120g sugar
• 80-200g sweet wine/beer

Mix yolks and sugar until light in color. Add liquid and cook onto double boiler until thickened. (Possibly 83C????)

References

Source 1

Source 2

722. ZABAIONE

• Rossi d’uovo, n. 3.
• Zucchero in polvere, grammi 30.

Vino di Cipro, di Marsala, o di Madera, decilitri 1½ pari a nove cucchiaiate circa. Doppia dose potrà bastare per otto persone. Se lo desiderate più spiritoso aggiungete una cucchiaiata di rhum; anche un cucchiaino di cannella in polvere non ci sta male. Lavorate prima con un mestolo i rossi d’uovo collo zucchero finché sieno divenuti quasi bianchi, aggiungete il liquido, mescolate, ponetelo sopra un fuoco ardente frullandolo continuamente e guardandovi dal farlo bollire perché impazzirebbe; levatelo appena comincia ad alzare. Meglio, io credo, sia il servirsi della cioccolatiera.

—Pellegrino Artusi

Note

ended up with 3.5 egg yolks, ~ 60 g sugar and about 80 g beer. Seemed a bit too yeasty. Might be better with wine (possibly less), maybe some citrus zest somewhere.

Section author: Carlo

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