Sugar & Spice by Celeste

Tarts are the best. T hey're perhaps one of the greate st culinary inv entions when it comes to showcasing the summer's best fruity bounty .  You can top them with just about any fruit, and they're always exceptionally yummy.   A recent trip to the farmer's market result ed in a big, beautiful bu cket of some of the juiciest, sweetest and most delicious fresh strawberries finding their way to my kitchen .  With my berry discovery, I knew that a tart was in our n ear future.   For this tart, I used THIS RECIPE FOR A BLUEBER RY TART as my insp iration.   By the way , t hat blueberry tart is without a doubt one of my favorite desserts , like, ever in the hist ory of mankind .  If you're a blueberry fan, you must try it.  The past ry cream is dotted with little specks of vanilla bean goodness, fresh orange zest , and nutmeg (the secret ingredient!). The tart shell is easy to assemble, and the ground almonds lend a wonderful ly nutty flav...

  I learned to really appreciate the wonderfulness of simple cooking, made with the freshest, in-season ingredients during our trip to Europe back in 2009.  There, we dined on the most exquisite food, but you know what?  It wasn't particularly fancy or pretentious food that comes to mind...It was simple, down-to-earth dishes packed with flavor from what was in season at the time.  To me, that's the best way to cook.  Period. This was most noticeable to us in Italy, where amazing toppings were carefully layered onto the pizzas, with thinner crusts than us Americans are used to, which really allowed the toppings to shine.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Earlier today, I came across an article written by the great Jacques Pepin, in which he recalled some of his favorite memories of Julia Child, one of which involved this simple, flavorful cooking technique.  Here's an excerpt from that article, where Jacques recalls a dinn...

Julia Child has been such a huge inspiration to so many people, myself included.  Tomorrow (8/15) is a big day for Julia fans around the world...It marks what would have been her 100th birthday!  In celebration of such a talented, fantastic and all-around amazing chef and person, I'd like to post a collection of some of my favorite Julia recipes for you to peruse.  Maybe one of them will even inspire you to get into the kitchen in honor of the great Julia.  ;) The Julia quote in my blog header above has become sort of my mantra...It rings so true and can apply to just about anything that you love.  What are you passionate about? "Find something you're passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it." Happy 100th Birthday, Julia! I'm thinking a big slice of her delicious Reine de Saba cake (linked below) and one of my favorite movies - Julie & Julia - would be the perfect way to celebrate.  :) Chicken Breasts with Mushroo...

There's a little Mediterranean market here in town that I love to shop at when I'm in the area.  It's called Nabeel's International Market , and I love perusing their shelves for little treasures to experiment with in the kitchen.  As you enter the front doors, your senses are greeted by an array of fresh cheeses and olives that will immediately make you hungry and the store shelves are packed with things like Chinese pine nuts, assorted olive and grapeseed oils, Greek dried figs, Turkish pistachio nuts, fresh Phyllo dough and mountains of spices. On my last visit, I turned the corner to browse the last shelf in the back of the store, and what did I find?  Clear bags bursting at the seams with gorgeous French green Le Puy lentils.  For some reason, these little beauties are hard to find around here, so I excitedly snatched up 2 big bags and added them to my basket. Who knew I'd EVER get so darn excited about LENTILS.  I guess it's the small things in l...

With a little imagination, "Mademoiselle de Paris" softly playing on the radio, and a glass of red wine in hand, my kitchen can be transformed into a Parisian  pied-à-terre near the Champs- Élysées any day of the week... Okay, maybe with A LOT of imagination! No, seriously...I love to get into the kitchen, put a little Juliette Greco or Edith Piaf on the radio and cook a classically delicious French meal.  There's something amazing about all those layers of flavor that go into a meal cooked slowly with red wine like Coq Au Vin or Boeuf Bourguignon.  And, if you've never made one of these, you are missing out on two of the best dishes you'll ever eat.  I blogged about Julia's Boeuf Bourguignon HERE , and her recipe below for Coq Au Vin is equally as life-changing.  When I'm in the mood for classic French cuisine, I undoubtedly always turn to Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking .  I only made a few minor adjustments:  ...

Are you looking for a veggie filled side dish that's got a pretty presentation?  Ina Garten's recipe for Vegetable Tian fits the bill perfectly!  This dish is easy to put together and is a great way to use up some yummy produce.  The colors of this recipe make you want to dive right in! The combination of the potatoes, zucchini and tomatoes makes this a one-stop recipe.  Your starch and your veggies are all right there...no need for a second dish to round out the meal.  And the Gruyere cheese...Oh my!  Gruyere has GOT to be one of my favorite varieties of cheese.  If you look closely at the photos, you can see that I actually had to substitute a little cheddar cheese since I didn't have enough Gruyere.  It tasted great, and I'm sure you could substitute your favorite if you aren't crazy about Gruyere. This dish is so pretty that it would make a great addition to your holiday table this season. Bon Appetit!! Before going into the oven... ...

Friends, my obsession with fresh figs continues.  I think David Tanis says it best in this excerpt from A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes : "The platter of figs perfectly illustrates the idea of eating with the seasons.  Fresh figs are available for only a few weeks in the summer.  The first figs are in June, but June figs usually pale in comparison with the late-summer crop, which benefits from warm August days.  As with good tomatoes, you wait all year for the best figs to arrive.  The reward is heavy, juicy fruit with oozing centers - sweet figs to swoon for.  Above all, the platter of figs is a metaphor for the food I like... Fresh ripe figs are voluptuous and generous, luxurious and fleeting.  And beautiful ." This week, I was able to get my hands on some of those "sweet figs to swoon for" from the late-summer crop.  My first priority was making another batch of Cinnamon-Fig Jam .  This jam is addictive...seriously.  It's grea...