Posts Tagged ‘David Lebovitz’
Trio of preserves
Jams and marmalades this season
Black berry jam:
It is the end of the season here, and I picked up 2 lbs of blackberry at 1/2 the usual price!
Rinse, crush, and add 1 lb sugar. Add juice of 1 lemon reserving the zest. Cook on medium until candy thermometer reads 220 F. Switch off flame, add zest of the lemon and proceed to can.
Heart healthy breakfast bars
Banana-chocolate bar
I am sick of store bought bars – I don’t know what it is about them that makes them repulsive after one bite. So, I have been asking my husband to experiment with home made bars. The first one he made was David’s fruitcake bar with a minor modification – an added teaspoon of fennel seeds. It turned out delicious of course, perhaps a little crumblier than a breakfast bar and a little sweeter, but delicious all the same.
The next one he attempted was Clotilde’s banana chocolate breakfast bars. This turned out great as well. For some reason, we always seem to have overripe bananas at hand, so we have made the banana bar a few times already. The recipe is highly tweakable and easy to make. In fact we put together the last batch at the end of a 14 hr long work day! The basic idea behind these banana bars is to make a matrix of solids – oatmeal, coconut, chocolate chips and nut flakes, then make a gooey mix by adding in the wet components – mashed ripe banana. In the last batch, we added a dollop of chestnut puree. Yum! To avoid the bars from drying out, I wrap individual size portions in stretch plastic and store in airtight container in the fridge. It makes them easy to carry to work for breakfast or snack.
French toast with brioche bread
Almond and citrus brioche slices
What is better than French toast on a lazy weekend morning – french toast with brioche bread! Very Thomas Keller-ish. We recently got this fabulous brioche bread from our local farmer’s market (thanks Acme) – made with almond bits, candied citrus and orange blossom water. We took a low fat french toast recipe from Sally Schneider’s “New Way of Cooking” and applied that to the brioche – and wow! what a fantastically soft custard like French toast emerged.
A taste of London and Paris
Brioche with marmalade
A slice of brioche with a drizzle of Seville orange marmalade…..
Local citrus growers have started bringing their Seville oranges to markets now. Made a batch of marmalade this spring following David Lebovitz‘s recipe. We did only one alteration – removed the white pith from the rind before chopping them up. Result – absolutely the best Seville orange marmalade ever. And I am glad we canned the batch – if used in moderation, this should last us the year.
The Brioche was from Acme stand at Mountain View Farmer’s market – a citrus and almond brioche with candied orange and lemon peel and orange blossom water.
Banana bread – be happy and healthy
Chocolate buckwheat banana bread
Growing up in India, soft ripe bananas usually translated to sweet and savory banana fritters. Now, they also end up in banana bread.
Yesterday, instead of the tried and tested banana bread recipe from Joy of Cooking, we decided to go for a new one. So, we substituted whole wheat pastry and buckwheat flour in David Lebovitz’s banana bread recipe, and added 1% homemade sour yogurt instead of sour cream.
Result: A dark, nutty and moist banana bread with only 120 calories per generous slice.
Is it bread or is it cake?
Spice cake/bread
Here is a link to a cake recipe that is not only great tasting but it not too bad for your arteries.
We have made it several times now with multiple variations and it turns out great every time.
Chocolatey chocolate biscotti
Chocolate biscotti
Here is a link to our favorite chocolate biscotti recipe from David Lebovitz. When had along with an excellent cup of coffee (e.g. Blue Bottle), this is chocolate and coffee heaven.
We rarely make variations on this one but for this batch, we used dried apricot kernels (source: Trader Joe’s).
