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Day 5, Orange-Scented Rice Pudding

2012 Advent Calendar, Day 5

It’s a real joy to reach into the fridge for prepared ingredients and pull together a new dish in no time flat. If you’ve been following along, you’ll know I made extra rice for the smoked turkey gumbo on Day 2 and was left with orange sugar syrup from yesterday’s candied orange peels, so I added just a few staples and came up with this quick, elegant rice pudding.

2012 Advent Calendar, Day 5

The orange flavor wasn’t assertive at all, but the scent was divine. To send it over the top, add a little orange flower water.

2012 Advent Calendar, Day 5

Garnish individual cups with a sprinkle of cinnamon, add a few candied orange peels, and you could serve this to guests who’d never know they were eating leftovers. Hah!

2012 Advent Calendar, Day 5

Day 4, Lemon Curd Tart

2012 Advent Calendar, Day 4

I just love the bright zing of a citrus dessert, don’t you? Chocolate has its place — I’ve known and loved many chocolate desserts over the years — but citrus just seems fresher and lighter on the palate, if not in calories. This tart came about through a bit of trial and error, but I was very happy with the final product and hope you will be, too!

2012 Advent Calendar, Day 4

The fillings are quite sweet — apple-lemon curd topped with candied orange peel — so a buttery almond crust is the perfect foil. Elana’s Pantry is my go-to site for anything almond-flour related, and this simple, rich tart crust did not disappoint. Just be sure to make the base as thick as the sides. You can see my base was a bit too thin which caused a few problems when cutting.

2012 Advent Calendar, Day 4

Instead of a straightforward […]

Sunny

Spring is right around the corner.

It really is.

You gotta have faith.

A GOOP apologist

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In the late 90s, when the first anti-Gwyneth Paltrow backlash was in the news gossip pages, one of my contrarian friends made the conscious decision to become a Paltrow supporter. If something negative came up (and working at a sports magazine with grizzled black-hearted former newspapermen, it did), he’d extol her virtues, her beauty, her cerebral screen presence — basically, anything he could do to get under a detractor’s skin.

Now that the second wave of backlash has come around, I think I might just find myself taking on his old role. Like many people, I signed up for the GOOP newsletter looking for a laugh, but something odd happened — I didn’t always delete them. In fact, I’ve kept nearly every recipe sent from the beginning. (I make no such claim about the lifestyle or shopping tips, but this is a food blog after all.) And let’s be honest — who among us wouldn’t want to be in her position, culinarily speaking? She’s buds with Batali hisownself and probably picked up a thing or two traveling through Spain with him. So when she speaks (and mentions […]

’08 Advent Calendar, Day 14

A new spin on an old favorite: Orange and pomegranate pancakes. Just the motivation (and sugar rush) you need to finish your Christmas shopping.

For the 2007 Advent Calendar, click here.

recipe after the jump

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’08 Advent Calendar, Day 3

Candied orange slices: Not just a garnish anymore!

You often find these decorating orange-accented desserts, but they’re really delicious on their own. And when you dip them in melted bittersweet chocolate, they become one of the world’s most perfect foods. Mmmm…

For the 2007 Advent Calendar, click here.

recipe after the jump

(more…)

Weekend breakfasts, brought to you by Zabar’s

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A few weeks ago, I made a Dutch baby pancake for breakfast and learned from Audrey in the comments section that lingonberry jam is a terrific addition. So when I found myself at Zabar’s last Sunday (my first time!) after brunch with Gil’s family (another first!), I made sure to look around their jam section for a jar. I chose between three brands, which was such a luxury.

And Audrey was oh, so right — the jam was a perfect accent to the pancake. It melted into the butter and lemon juice and turned into a sweet & tart glaze and oh dear lord I really need another one right this second…

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Deep breath. And moving on…

Because I didn’t know when we’d be coming home or after how much walking last weekend, I didn’t want to get too loaded down at Zabar’s. It was tough, but we left with only a few precious items. In addition to the jam, I picked up a smallish container of truffle butter because I could almost taste the shirred eggs I’d […]