Charles

Ajo Blanco – White Gazpacho

September 7, 2009 by Charles 1 Comment

Gazpacho requires a descriptor. As I’ve noted previously, asking for plain, old “gazpacho” just won’t cut it.

There can be tomato gazpacho, watermelon gazpacho, or mango gazpacho, the cold soup characterized by its underlying fruit. But there can also be green gazpacho and white gazpacho, the latter often referred to as ajo blanco. Ajo blanco is made from ground almonds, combined with what makes gazpacho, gazpacho: bread, garlic, and vinegar. Once prepared, ajo blanco is traditionally served with green grapes.

While ajo blanco remains incredibly popular in southern Spain, its tangy flavor may…

Blueberry Oatmeal Pancakes

August 31, 2009 by Charles 2 Comments

From apples in pie, to peaches in cobbler, and from cherries in clafoutis, to bananas in pudding, certain fruits have their calling. With blueberries, they answer to pancakes. Nothing says pancakes, like blueberry pancakes. That is, unless you’re making blueberry oatmeal pancakes.

Replacing most of the flour with oats turned out to be a great adaptation for an otherwise classic recipe. I should have stopped there though. Once I had oats in my mind, I immediately thought raisins – another one of those traditional pairings. After dropping blueberries in the batter, I changed to amaretto-soaked raisins. It was not to be. Raisins and oats, I learned, are best left to cookies. But at least …

Baked Sweet Potato with Maple-Pecan Butter

August 28, 2009 by Charles 1 Comment

Sweet potatoes are probably the first thing I ever put in the oven.

I can’t quite remember how old I was, but I can remember the early fascination with the magic of baking. I tore off a sheet of foil, set the oven to 420 degrees, and placed a hard, unattractive object into the oven. There was no cutting, no slicing, no mixing, no peeling. There was no other ingredient, and no other steps. And yet, after ninety minutes, a sweet smell enveloped the kitchen and much of the house, beckoning me downstairs. I grabbed the pot-holders, cut a tablespoon of butter, and sat down to dig into the soft, sweet flesh of a baked sweet potato.

I couldn’t have been older than twelve or thirteen, …

Buttermilk Plum Pancakes

August 24, 2009 by Charles 3 Comments

In feeding my clafoutis addiction, I got into the habit of picking a handful of plums and peaches every Saturday morning at the Farmers’ Market. The peaches, both white and yellow, would make their way into my Peach Italian Ice. The plums, I decided, would partner perfectly with pancakes.

Plums were first cultivated in China about 2000 years ago, but didn’t arrive in the United States until about 1880, when the renowned botanist, Luther Burbank, began importing Japanese plums into California. Indeed, at last count, California was home to nearly 200 varieties of plums. Unfortunately, most plums are characterized…

Vanilla Sugar

August 20, 2009 by Charles 1 Comment

Adding some vanilla-sugar is one of my favorite ways to spice up a recipe. Where ordinary sugar might seem dull and uninspired, the simple addition of vanilla-sugar gives any dish an extra sense of wow! Best of all, …