Category Archives: Dessert
My Recipes for Luscious Couscous, Perfect Pot Roast and Amazing Applesauce
Some years ago, I spent a few hours in a restaurant kitchen with a young chef called Omar Houmani who was a recent immigrant to Canada from Algeria. The purpose of that evening’s venture: To learn from him how to make couscous.
Two Fall Fruit Desserts: More Proof that Sweet-and-Simple Takes the Cake
Joanne Yolles’s Delectable Plum Tart Is A Winner!
Joanne Yolles has long been my colleague, friend and baking buddy.
More proof that Julia Child’s advice to young people works: “Get into the food business and you’ll be part of one big family.”
Masala to Almond Cake: Restaurant-Hopping in Toronto’s East End
It’s been a rough few weeks.
In mid-December, my wise therapist, inspired spiritual teacher and beloved friend Terry Flynn died. It was sudden and unexpected. Although he had been diagnosed with the dreaded disease called ALS (Lou Gehrig’s), Terry assumed he had months, maybe more, to live. I miss him with all my heart.
Ginger Pear Pie: A One-Crust Wonder
When a reader of this blog e-mailed me with a question about my recipe for Jewish Chicken Soup — the best medicine I know for whatever ails body or soul — we had an exchange about the source of that recipe: my esteemed colleague and longtime restaurant critic for the Globe & Mail, Joanne Kates.
A Prize Pudding — Sticky and Sweet
In a column about famous and infamous recipe mistakes that I wrote for the Toronto Star in 2008, I confessed to not being happy with the Sticky Toffee Pudding in my latest book: Dish. Here is the amazing version I came up with after that confession, with help from top Toronto pastry chef and good friend Joanne Yolles. It is definitely a winner.
A Berry Good Sauce
I have a red currant bush growing in my garden underneath a trellis bearing a healthy grapevine. I haven’t yet found a use for the grapes other than eating them raw but have made this delicious sauce using those tangy currants for the past two summers.
This is excellent served with any chocolate dessert, drizzled over ice cream or as a sidekick to your favourite tart or cake.
Canada’s Queen of Tarts
Here is my recipe for butter tarts as discussed on my Food Sleuth report on Q with Jian Ghomeshi on CBC Radio One which aired June 29, 2009.
The following are the two best butter tarts I found after much sleuthing in Toronto and vicinity:
