My ultimate Key Lime Pie, Florida’s signature dessert (scroll down for recipe)
Miami, Fla: I call Miami “New York on the beach.”
In particular, I mean the South Beach hub of ocean-front that’s been a magnet for northern snowbirds fleeing the chilly grip of winter in my home of Canada.
The recipe for this French Apple Tart comes from ‘America’s Test Kitchen’
Food magazine covers often catch my eye.
Such was the case recently when I was browsing the racks of a newstand at the Toronto airport on my way to to visit my elderly mum in London, UK.
This appeared as my column in the Toronto Star on June 25, 2005.
Evelyn Smail has been driving her aging, slightly rickety Ford sedan slowly along the bumpy country road for several miles.
I am her lucky passenger.
This appeared in my column “Dish” in the Toronto Star in 2004.
I baked my first Tarte Tatin late last fall.
I had come across the recipe in Kitchen Wisdom (Knopf, $29.95), Julia Child’s latest cookbook and a nifty, compact collection of her favourite recipes.
It all began about a year ago when I gave two people I had no reason to distrust full access to my large, fully-furnished house while I was away.
All went well for several months during which time I would visit the place occasionally to pick up mail and move items to my new place – mostly clothes, work-related stuff and some important papers.
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.
When I get obsessed with a recipe, it pervades my waking and sleeping hours.
Of late, it’s been peach galette, how much ground almonds to use in the layer below the peaches, what oven temperature, how long to bake – the list goes on. Then comes the testing and re-testing until Ross and I are eating the dessert daily and the freezer is full of various renditions, all clearly labelled.
In spite of the mild sun-stroke I incurred during the sweltering afternoon heat at a recent country pie festival, it was all worth it. It happened in a lush field at the lovely McCully’s Hill Farm located a short drive from my part-time home of Stratford, Ont.
I’ve long been expert at sniffing out a good recipe. After all, I’ve done it professionally for more than 25 years and as an intriguing hobby for most of my adult life.
So when I recently met Judy Trogadis, a friend of my good pal Visnja Brcic, it wasn’t long before we were talking spanakopita, that delectable, deservedly famous Greek pie made with phyllo, spinach and feta that’s often served as a snack at parties.
