December 28, 2009 Holiday

Birch de Noel

I love the concept of a Buche de Noel (or Yule log).  The dessert is traditionally served during the holidays in France.  It is shaped like a freshly cut log and often decorated with meringue  mushrooms, berries, and rosemary sprigs to give it that wintery look.  I’ve recently been raving about Francois Payard’s version after seeing him make it on Bobby Flay’s Throwdown last year, but my fascination for yule logs goes back to a winter white version done by Martha Stewart.

 
Payard’s buche de noel                                          Martha Stewart’s birch de noel

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December 3, 2009 Fall, Recipes

Thanksgiving Past: Apple Cranberry Galette

For this year’s Thanksgiving dessert, I made an elegant French Apple Tart.  It was all about the perfect presentation of apple layers.  In contrast, last year I made a Cranberry Apple Galette.  A galette is a free-form tart so no need for rolling out dough or a tart pan.  You simply gather up the edges of the crust around the mound of juicy apples and cranberries.  While not as fancy as the French Apple Tart, it is equally impressive-looking when the fruit bakes down and it has a rustic, golden look when finished.

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July 28, 2009 Uncategorized

Inside Ina Garten’s Barn

I’m so glad I was in NY the right week to see this.  Ina Garten’s barn, where she now films her show Barefoot Contessa, is House Beautiful’s Kitchen of the Year, so they created a replica at Rockefeller Plaza.  The whole plaza was actually pretty lively with all that was going on.

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