Potatoes make some of the best and most comforting side dishes,
especially when they're roasted or baked. A gratin of potatoes combines
the best of both techniques, a soft creamy interior and a crunchy
browned top. Much like scalloped potatoes but without the cheesy top
layer, gratin Dauphinois, from the former French province of Dauphiné,
is as simple as a homey country dish can get. The texture and the
flavors of the potatoes do all the work to make an out-of-this-world
potato dish.
Traditional gratin Dauphinois has no bells and
whistles. It's simply thinly sliced potatoes and luscious cream baked
in a dish rubbed with garlic and butter. The thick cream and starchy
potatoes create the perfect texture, consistency, and crust. Therefore
no cheese is even necessary. Some like to dust the potato layers with
gratings of nutmeg. But I prefer the earthy flavors of fresh thyme.
It's a lovely complement to the garlic as well as a favorite herb to
use with potatoes. The gratin goes excellently with any roast meat, but
in my opinion juicy roast chicken is the best. It's a simple yet
special meal to enjoy this fall and for the upcoming holidays.
Retro Recipes and Traditional Fare
Retro Recipes and Traditional Fare
Drake's Thick Crumb Coffee Cake Muffins
NY Style Coffee Cake typically comes with a thick rich crumb topping and one of the most famous brands is Drake’s Coffee Cakes. Newman E. Drake baked his first pound cake in Brooklyn in 1888 and sold them by the slice. Drake’s popularity grew and the Drake’s brand with it, supplying such favorites as Devil Dogs, Yankee Doodles and Ring Dings.
In New York City and New England, Drake's products came to rival national brand Hostess. Largely unknown outside of these areas until the 1990s, the Drake's product line received national exposure on the sitcom Seinfeld, most notably in the episode "The Suicide" in 1992. Later in 1990s television talk show host Rosie O'Donnell professed a fondness for them, sharing the cakes with her audience members on The Rosie O'Donnell Show.
Crunchy-skinny-sexy Waldorf
As I was making my Shepherd's pie for our book club supper last night, I started to nibble thoughtfully on a celery stick and realized with quite an epiphany what a maligned and ignored vegetable the poor celery is. All due credit to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall who said, famously, "Celery is a bit like a gym membership." The crunch is the thing, isn't it? It's the minxy little crunch that gets you every time.
Which led (as it does, stay with me here) to my driving home this morning down the CA 170 (my very favorite freeway) absolutely ravenous after schooling three horses and wondering what could prevent me from stopping at a fast food drive-thru. Cut to twenty minutes later and a plate adorned with a skinny version of a Waldorf salad sits in front of me, proud as can be. Easy and inadvertently calorie-conscious (as I couldn't find any mayo in the bloody fridge). Here's how you make this excruciatingly simple, scrumptious, crunchy lunch:
Cold Cucumber Soup
When it's incredibly hot outside, like it has been this month,
standing by a hot stove is not something anyone wants to do. Grilling
outside is another option, but when it's too hot to even do that, what
do you do? Why not make a no-cook recipe, like a chilled soup? The
cooling qualities of a cold soup are perfect on days where you need a
refreshing respite from the sweltering heat. And there's no better way
to achieve that than with a cold soup.
The tradition of cold, raw soups comes by way of Spain and their famous
gazpachos. Originally, the recipe was made with just bread, garlic, and
oil (bread and oil were the thickeners and garlic helped cool the body
by way of sweating.) After the New World explorations, tomatoes were
added to the recipe, creating what we know of today as the classic
gazpacho. Many other nations have cold soups too, just think of borscht.
In Hungary cucumber soup is very popular during summer. The pairing of
cucumbers and yogurt is one that can be found in Mediterranean, Middle
Eastern, and Indian cuisines. This recipe takes inspiration from all of
these.
Lapin aux Pruneaux
Okay, I'll try anything once and make the best of it if need be, but winter camping in near zero temperatures? I prepared a favorite dinner of braised rabbit with prunes, an undressed endive salad with the vinaigrette on the side and ramekins of chocolate mousse for our dream overnight camping in the backwoods of Northern Maine. We decided on a trail to cross country ski in on with my three dogs, nothing too challenging as we had lots of gear to transport on a toboggan plus it gets dark very early at this time of year AND it was our first test at "making camp" at rather cold temperatures.
Five miles in we found the perfect spot beside a icy, running stream to pitch our four-season tent, made a fire and enjoyed the pure silence of being in the Maine woods for the whole night. Everything was perfect, the tent went up easily without referring to the directions more than a couple of times, the sleeping bags were unrolled, the cushions to insulate us from the frozen ground were in place, we collected firewood from downed trees with a small saw as the sun started setting early like it does in the winter months.
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