In America, when we think of cheesecake, we usually think of New York Style cheesecake, which uses a cream cheese filling and a graham cracker crust. In other parts of the world, Cheesecake may incorporate cottage cheese ricotta, or other soft cheeses baked im a pie crust or phyllo dough. This recipe combines the best of all worlds, with a buttery shortbread cookie crust, creamy ricotta interior, fresh roasted pumpkin and warm spices.
This recipe is the definition of easy as pie. The secret is simple: use roasted sugar pumpkin and a half whole wheat. Most pumpkin pie recipes call for evaporated milk, but this isn’t necessary. If you like you can roast your pumpkin and prepare your pie dough a day ahead.
If you enjoy english muffins, and have never made them at home, you’re in for a real treat! Whether you serve them with butter and jam, sausage, eggs and cheese, or go the distance and make Eggs Benedict, you will never regret a batch of homemade English muffin.
the quality and vitality of your culture determines the texture and tang of your sourdough. It’s important to become familiar and comfortable with your starter before making bread as it is very discouraging to have a bread failure due to poor starter.
Like many of the world’s most scrumptious food inventions, this iconic sub, born in the city of brotherly love, inspires passion and debate. From its humble origins in the 1930s as “frizzled beef and onions” at Pat and Harry Olivieri’s hotdog cart, the Philly Cheesesteak was a winner. It was such a hit that by 1940, the brothers had made enough money…
Crispy on the outside, soft and buttery on the inside, buttermilk biscuits are in many ways similar to croissants, only much quicker and more practical to make at home! The layered texture is the result of repeated stacking and rolling (steps 8 and 9 in the following recipe).
Char Siu is a celebrated Cantonese dish made of honey-glazed roast pork, marinated in red rice fermented tofu, hoisin sauce, five spice, soy sauce and honey. In the fast food industry, red rice tofu is often replaced with red food coloring, but the traditional flavors are of course far superior (and non toxic). Many cuts of pork can be used, although I recommend pork butt or shoulder.
For years, I thought that hummus wasn’t hummus without chickpeas, then I learned that in some parts of the middle east and north Africa, hummus is traditionally made with fava beans – an entirely different species of bean altogether. My eyes opened to the wider world of hummus, I began to experiment with our own local heirloom beans, and the results did not disappoint!
This is my favorite way to make pita bread. Pure, fresh-milled, Ancient einkorn wheat makes a fine, soft, golden yellow flour. While the dough is a little more tender and sticky than a modern wheat dough, making it a bit harder to handle, it’s incredible flavor and soft texture is well worth the extra effort. Einkorn pitas are a delicious plain, with hummus, yogurt, or as base for gyros and other wrap sandwiches.
Known as gua bao in their home country, these delectable Chinese buns are super easy to make, and even easier to eat! Traditional Chinese filling include braised pork belly, thinly sliced vegetables, pickled mustard greens and chopped peanuts, but you can fill them with almost and combo of meat and veggies you can dream up. The cabbage used to line the steamer basket also makes for a sweet, tender addition.
Pierced through its soft center and filled with extravagant quantities of whipped cream, then lavished with fresh fruit, shaved chocolate, pistachios and other myriad toppings, it’s no wonder Maritozzi became a symbol of romantic desire.
Biscuits – from the Latin biscoctus, meaning “twice-cooked”– go back at least as far as the 1500s. The first biscuits were made from three basic ingredients – flour, water and salt – and cooked until they were hard, dry and tasteless. These compact bricks of bread, which the British called hardtack, were given as rations to soldiers and sailors because they could travel the world without spoiling.
