Three Things To Make the Holidays Easier and Tastier

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Apple-cranberry galette ($32) from Manresa Bakery. (Photo courtesy of the bakery.)

Pre-Order At Manresa Bread Bakery

Yes, Manresa Bread Bakery in Los Gatos is now taking online pre-orders for breads and pastries up to two weeks in advance.

For Thanksgiving orders, you can pick up your items anytime from Nov. 20 to Nov. 25. Just note that the bakery will be closed on Thanksgiving and the day after that holiday.

For those of you in Santa Cruz, you can even choose to pick up your items Nov. 25 at the bakery pop-up at Assembly in Santa Cruz.

The super-sized kouign-amann. (Photo courtesy of Manresa Bakery)

The super-sized kouign-amann. (Photo courtesy of Manresa Bakery)

Items that can be ordered ahead include baguettes, brioche rolls, almond croissants, apple-cranberry galettes, pumpkin loaves, pumpkin pie, and even a giant version of the kouign-amann ($28) that feeds 6 to 8 (or probably one in my case).

Stock Up on Pies and Cakes To-Go at Presidio Social Club

Up in San Francisco, Presidio Social Club is also making it easy to enjoy fresh-baked pies and cakes this holiday season.

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Splendid Squash

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Imagine setting this dazzling dish down on your holiday table.

Imagine setting this dazzling dish down on your holiday table.

 

Come closer. Closer still. Come on, put those peepers right up to the screen.

Because This Is Squash. From “This Is Camino.”

Of course, that’s not the actual name of this gorgeous dish. But it might very well be because this is the only squash recipe you’ll need this season.

That’s how delicious it is.

The recipe for “Kabocha Squash and Grilled New Onion Salad with Yogurt, Pomegranate, and Almonds” is from the new cookbook, “This Is Camino” (Ten Speed Press), of which I received a review copy.

The 100 recipes draw from the cuisine of Camino, the soulful farm-to-table Oakland restaurant run by Chef Russell Moore, who cooked at Chez Panisse for 21 years, and his co-owner and wife Allison Hopelain.

Much of the cooking at Camino is done on a wood-fired hearth in view of the dining room. The crackling flames kiss dishes such as “Grilled Squid with Tomatoes and Korean Perilla,” “Grilled Chicken Ballotine with Green Lentils and Parsley Root,” and “Grilled Fig Leaf Ice Cream with Grilled Figs.”

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Rachel Khoo’s Cream of Tomato Soup with Crunchy Lemon Chickpeas

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A tomato soup that goes down so easy.

A tomato soup that goes down so easy.

 

Is it soup time yet?

I think of soup, salad and bread as the perfect trifecta of meals.

So perfect noon or night. Nourishing, filling but not leaden. And so easy to put on the table.

I’m already missing summer tomatoes. But “Cream of Tomato Soup with Crunchy Lemon Chickpeas” still lets me enjoy the tangy-sweet perfume of tomatoes even off-season.

It’s from the newest cookbook by Rachel Khoo, the London- and Paris-based food columnist and host of the TV series, “The Little Paris Kitchen.”

Like her other cookbooks, “Rachel Khoo’s Kitchen Notebook” (Chronicle Books) is illustrated with her whimsical illustrations. The more than 100 recipes riff on familiar dishes with Khoo’s unmistakable thoughtful and creative touches.

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Join the Food Gal and Lisa Murphy of Sosu Sauces For A Macy’s Demo

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You’re in for a spicy, scrumptious time at Macy’s Valley Fair in Santa Clara when Lisa Murphy, founder of the Bay Area’s Sosu Sauces joins me for a cooking demo at 6 p.m. Nov. 19.

Sosu Sauces makes my favorite sriracha sauce. The artisan sauce is hand-made in small batches, then aged in whiskey barrels to give it great complexity and a hint of smokiness.

Learn how Murphy gave up a career in banking and high-tech to spread the gospel of sriracha and Srirachup (that’s her mashup of her sriracha with ketchup).

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White Lily Introduces Its First New Flours In Over A Century

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Individual cakes made with dessert wine, whole grapes, and a new red grapeseed flour blend.

Individual cakes made with dessert wine, whole grapes, and a new red grapeseed flour blend.

 

You probably know the name White Lily as the go-to flour Southerners swear by for the most tender biscuits.

Now that Southern institution has introduced its first new flours in 130 years.

Partnering with Shepherd’s Grain, a group of wheat growers in the Pacific Northwest, White Lily has created three new flours: Wheat and Red Grapeseed Flour Blend, Wheat and White Grape Seed Flour Blend, and All-Purpose Wheat.

The non-GMO wheat is grown sustainably. You can even plug in a code printed on each bag of flour into the Web site to find out information about the farmers who grew the wheat for your specific bag of flour. For instance, I tried a sample of the Wheat and Red Grapeseed Flour Blend, which was made with wheat grown by Cherry Creek Ranch in Washington, Spokane Hutterian Brethren Inc. in Washington, and RattleSnake Ranches in Idaho., all of whom have operated for generations.

Grapeseed flour is gluten-free, but of course not when it’s mixed with all-purpose flour, as is the case with these blends. But what’s great about the blends is that they have been formulated so that you can use them 1:1 in place of regular all-purpose flour in any recipe. Grapeseed flour also is purported to be high in antioxidants.

I was most eager to try out the Wheat and Red Grapeseed Flour Blend because of its subtle purple color.

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