Category Archives: Fruit

Apple-Stuffed Biscuit Buns — That’s What I’m Talkin’ About

These are practically too good for words.

Oh, I know what you’re thinking, “These sure look like cinnamon rolls.”

But don’t let your eyes fool you.

They may look like pillowy, yeasty cinnamon rolls, but they actually have the flakiness of biscuits.

These “Apple-Stuffed Biscuit Buns” are true butter bombs, too.

For nine rolls, you use 17 tablespoons of butter. (Cough, cough) But let’s not hone in on that, shall we? After all, without the butter, these wouldn’t be so wonderfully fall-apart flaky. And that’s what you want in a great biscuit or else why bother, right?

The recipe is from the new “The Apple Lover’s Cookbook”(W.W. Norton & Company) by Amy Traverso, senior food and home editor of Yankee magazine. The book, which I recently received a review copy of, is full of 150 recipes, both sweet and savory, that make use of fresh apples, apple cider and applesauce. There’s a handy primer, too, on varieties of apples that includes tasting notes, texture descriptions, best uses and origins.

Flaky, buttery and full of apples and cinnamon, it just doesn't get better than that.

These biscuit buns get their name from the fact that the dough is rolled up around a filling of cinnamon-sugar and one diced apple to create a pretty spiral effect when cut into slices.

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Chef Mourad Lahlou’s Prawn-Kumquat Skewers

How pretty are these shrimp-kumquat skewers? And they taste even better than they look.

If ever food on a stick could be drop-dead glam, this would be it.

I practically felt like lighting candles and artfully arranging silk pillows all over the floor to set the proper mood to enjoy them with.

“Prawn-Kumquat Skewers” will do that to you.

The irony is they couldn’t be easier to make, yet they look as if some fancy restaurant made them for a fortune.

The recipe is from the new cookbook, “Mourad: New Moroccan” Artisan) by Mourad Lahlou, chef-proprietor of the magical Aziza in San Francisco, the only Moroccan restaurant in North America to boast a Michelin star.

Born in Marrakesh, Lahlou left his native land at age 17 to study economics at my old alma mater, San Francisco State University. But the flavors of his homeland beckoned him into the kitchen and it wasn’t long before he was running his own restaurant, Aziza.

Over the years, the food there has morphed from traditional to astoundingly progressive, with flavors that are hauntingly true and clear.

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A Grape Way to Sweeten Your Valentine’s Day

A grape way to someone's heart.

Sure, you can celebrate Valentine’s Day with chocolate.

But that’s just so expected, isn’t it?

Why not shake things up by giving a gift that’s sweet, symbolizes (ahem) fertility and is loaded with antioxidants that do a body good?

I’m talking about the humble grape.

You might be thinking, “boring,” but hear me out. The juicy seedless clusters you mindlessly pick up at the grocery store go all-out glam here.

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A Pasta Ragu with An Unusual Ingredient

"Top Chef'' Stephanie Izard's pasta with pork, bacon and apples.

Could this meaty ragu dish prove to be the apple of your eye?

It just might — because besides the expected pork, tomatoes, bacon, garlic and basil, it also contains slices of fresh, juicy apples.

This unusual pasta dish is from “Top Chef” victor Stephanie Izard, the only woman who has thus claimed the title in that Bravo TV show, now in its ninth season. After winning, she went on to open the wildly popular, Girl & the Goat restaurant in Chicago, which was nominated last year for “Best New Restaurant” by the James Beard Foundation.

This recipe is from her new cookbook, “Girl in the Kitchen” (Chronicle Books), of which I received a review copy late last year. The book spotlights her signature rustic cuisine with Mediterranean and Asian influences.

Unlike some ragus, which take hours to cook, “Apple-Pork Ragu with Pappardelle” is quite quick to make. It’s a powerhouse, too, with the sweetness of apples playing off the richness of pork and bacon, and the saltiness of capers. Ladle over homemade fresh paparadelle or most any store-bought dried pasta. (I used orechiette.)

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Pick a Pimenton

A "chem set'' for heating up your cooking.

If you’re a fan of the unusual summer peppers sold at Bay Area farmers markets by East Palo Alto’s Happy Quail Farms, you’ll be glad to know you can savor their exotic tastes year-round now in dried form.

The specialty, family-owned farm smoke-dries its peppers over oak and fruit wood to create its new smoked pimenton powders; and dries other peppers either in the sun or in a dehydrator for its small-batch paprikas.

The result is a range of spices so handy for creating so many dishes at home. Mulatto paprika, made from a mild spicy brown chocolate pepper, is perfect for traditional Mexican moles. Smoked Ají Amarillo pimenton has a vibrant marigold color and is ideal in a sour cream dip or a lime juice marinade. And Serrano paprika, with its sweet-hot notes, makes a mean rub.

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