Notes about Recipes in this book

• Wild mushroom risotto

  • anya_sf on December 10, 2021

    Good, fairly basic risotto recipe with lots of mushrooms. Very flavorful using a variety of wild mushrooms. I scaled this down for 3 main course servings - not sure if that's why my rice needed a good 10 minutes longer to reach al dente, and also needed extra broth.

• Brandied pears

  • Pmarks2 on November 29, 2014

    Made this recipe for a simple dinner with friends and was the hit of the evening. My pears took a little over 1 1/2 hours and had to keep adding water for the caramel sauce. The end result was a rich delicious caramel sauced pear. Served with Vanilla ice cream. Quite delicious!

  • anya_sf on March 02, 2024

    I've made this many times, but it had been a while. This time I scaled the recipe down for 2, so the caramelization happened much faster. The pears took an hour to bake. Made ahead and reheated, the pears were delicious with ice cream, but the caramel sauce hardened fairly quickly.

• White bean and escarole soup with smoked ham

  • anya_sf on June 11, 2017

    I just had 12 oz white beans, but kept the other ingredient quantities the same. It seemed like plenty of beans and still made a lot of soup. I may have had more than a pound of escarole - used 1 head - again, it worked fine. I didn't have a ham hock, jut 1/2 pound ham steak, so I added it in the 30 minutes of cooking. I also added a parmesan rind, which is one of the suggested variations. I cooked the recipe for the first 1 1/2 hours (without the potatoes and escarole) a couple of days ahead, then cooked the final 30 min (with potatoes and escarole and ham) on the day of serving. That worked great. Like most soups, it keeps well. We really liked it. It's very flexible too. I added some chopped tomato to the leftovers and that was also delicious.

• Roasted pork tenderloin with Bing cherries

  • anya_sf on June 15, 2021

    I made the variation with grilled pork and sauteed cherries. Grilled 15 minutes, the pork was juicy and delicious. The cherry sauce was a bit sweet after simmering, so I added another tablespoon of vinegar, which improved it somewhat; what really helped was stirring in the meat juices after the pork had rested. The sauce went well with the pork, but there was much more than needed. The suggested accompaniments of couscous and spinach went well with it.

• Herb-marinated flank steak with a new potato salad

  • cfrailey on February 20, 2023

    Delicious! Steak can be marinated an additional day, if necessary. Interesting sides.

• Caramelized peach tart

  • anya_sf on June 11, 2017

    This is the BEST peach tart recipe and I make it every summer. It could not be easier - no peeling required! But be sure to use freestone peaches or it will suddenly become a lot of work. The long baking time sounds excessive, but it works. It's important to switch the baking racks as the recipe instructs. Definitely put the tart pan on a lined baking sheet, as the peaches will most likely bubble over, creating a sticky, sugary mess. I sometimes reduce the recipe for a 9" tart pan, which works fine as well. This is fantastic with the caramel ice cream, but also great with vanilla ice cream or just plain.

• Caramel ice cream

  • anya_sf on June 11, 2017

    This isn't difficult to make, but it is important to let the caramel get nice and dark, but not burn of course, which means being patient and watching it closely. It's a great accompaniment to the caramelized peach tart.

• Pan-roasted ling cod with sweet red peppers, capers, and lemon

  • anya_sf on April 21, 2019

    I used ling cod, but would probably choose a different fish next time. The red pepper compote was nice, but I think it might be better with a stronger-flavored, meatier fish like swordfish or tuna. I had some leftover artichoke dip made with sour cream, mayo, mustard, lemon, and celery salt, which I actually preferred with the ling cod.