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My First Faux-caccia

You know, this whole gluten-free thing hasn’t been quite the pain in the ass I expected at first, and not just because I’m lucky enough only to get joint pain when I eat gluten (meaning I can cheat without major repercussions from time to time). I work in New York, so GF lunches are fairly easy to find, and once I got over my egg sandwich craving for breakfast it was pretty smooth sailing. The difficulties I’m having are in finding acceptable pre-packaged bread and pasta. I’ve turned out a few decent loaves of bread on my own in the past few months, but dried pasta offerings have been uniformly disappointing so far. If you have any recommendations, I’m all ears!

One of these surprisingly good homemade bread experiments was a gluten-free redo of a Concord grape focaccia I first tried last year. It took a couple of weeks to get to the point of baking that bread, just because focaccia is a favorite of mine and I knew no wheatless version could compare to the real thing… but then I sucked it up, put on […]

By |September 28, 2010|Baking, Bread, Fruit, Gluten-free, Grapes, Pictures|3 Comments
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Finally, focaccia

091015_focaccia_sm

Finally.

It took two weekends of tweaking, combining and adapting recipes, but I finally settled on a Concord grape focaccia (inspired by schiacciata, but less desserty) we couldn’t stop eating. Gil did his damage to it while I was away at work, but each night before bed, I stood at the counter nibbling on tiny pieces that always added up to the one large piece I should’ve just cut for myself at the start.

Apart from the focaccia, I didn’t really do any cooking last weekend because I was working on my first (paying) portrait shoot! Last winter, Cara Packard, the super-talented owner of Cara Linn Cakes, hired me to take some promotional pictures for her business. She’s getting married next month, so her sister did a little sleuthing to find me and arrange a surprise bridal portrait session in the city. I had a great time working with someone so natural and relaxed in front of the camera, and found that taking pictures of humans is even more fun than taking pictures of food. Go figure.

a few bridal pictures and focaccia recipe after the jump

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By |October 16, 2009|Appetizers, Baking, Bread, Fruit, Grapes, New York, Pictures|1 Comment
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The grapes of Roth

The Grapes of Roth, aka Concord grapes
(Click the image to view larger on flickr)

This is why you’ll find us at the Ringwood farmers’ market every Saturday.

These Concord grapes called to me from the Orchards of Concklin booth as Ru dragged us there to visit his girlfriend, Laura. When I got within a few feet of the table, the jammy aroma hit me and made it impossible to pass them up. I’ve never experienced anything like it at the local grocery, so I’m very thankful for the farmers who come to our town every Saturday morning to share the results of their hard work with us.

Now, what to do with them? Jelly is the obvious choice, but I’m all canned out. Sweet-savory, maybe? I’m thinking a Concord grape tart with an olive oil crust could be a very, very good thing.

By |October 3, 2009|Fruit, Grapes, Ringwood|7 Comments
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’08 Advent Calendar, Day 16

Grapes are just about the perfect snack already, so I almost felt guilty for dipping them in bittersweet chocolate then coating them with walnuts. Almost.

For the 2007 Advent Calendar, click here.

recipe after the jump

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By |December 16, 2008|Advent Calendar 2008, Christmas, Desserts, Fruit, Grapes, Pictures|4 Comments
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