Adam D. Roberts's Blog, page 31

The Village Bakery’s Berry Ricotta Cake

One of the very best things about where we live in Atwater Village is our proximity to The Village Bakery. If you live on the east side of Los Angeles, chances are you’ve been to this sunny, cheerful spot; it’s got blue and yellow umbrellas outside, a counter filled with treats on the inside, and the friendliest staff you’re likely to meet anywhere in L.A. Barbara Monderine, who owns and runs the place, is also our neighbor here in our little apartment complex right nearby and what a neighbor she is. When we first moved in, she gave us free cookies; on my birthday, she brought over a box of red velvet cupcakes. But the greatest gift of all came two weeks ago; working up my courage, I asked if she’d share the recipe for one of the bakery’s signature desserts: their berry ricotta cake. To my shock and delight, she said “sure” and went into the back to type it out for me, scaling down the proportions for the home cook. What follows is a recipe that’s about to enter your life in a serious way.

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Watching Suzanne Goin Cook (With Special Appearances By Jackie Collins, Hugh Acheson, Scott Conant and Carla Hall)

This past weekend, I emceed the cooking tent at the L.A. Times Festival of Books. It was a pretty exhilarating experience: after the jump you’ll see pictures of me and Jackie Collins, Hugh Acheson and Carla Hall. But the highlight for me, personally, was getting to stand next to one of my food heroes–the author of one of my favorite cookbooks of all time, Sunday Suppers at Lucques–while she made two extraordinary dishes in front of a crowd of adoring fans (myself included). That would be Chef Suzanne Goin and this post is about that experience.

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Spaghetti with Purple Cauliflower Sauce

Unpacking my first CSA box felt a bit like opening presents on Christmas morning. (Note: I’m Jewish but I date a non-Jew, so I know what I’m talking about.) There was the going to bed the night before, knowing the box would arrive the next day; the anticipation, getting out of bed that next morning, going to the front door; and the actual physical pleasure of tearing open the box to finally see what was inside it. You already know the answer from my CSA post, but the most delightful surprise was a head of purple cauliflower. I’d never cooked with purple cauliflower before and I loved the challenge of building a dinner around it.

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My First CSA

So I have a friend named Rachel Sheridan who also happens to be a neighbor here, in Atwater Village, and recently she did an Instagram of a CSA box that had arrived at her doorstep. What’s a CSA box? CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture and the idea is this: you pay a set fee, each week, and as a reward a box arrives at your door full of fresh-from-the-farm produce. I asked Rachel about her CSA and she told me it was called Summerland and that I should check it out. Not only did I check it out, after clicking around for a bit, I signed up too. Cue the trumpets: this box arrived yesterday (Sunday) morning! What was inside? Let’s open it up.

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L.A. Times Festival of Books

Hey gang, if you’re in L.A. this weekend, come on down to the L.A. Times Festival of Books where I’ll be emceeing the cooking tent and interacting with the likes of Hugh Acheson, Suzanne Goin, Carla Hall, Scott Conant, and–believe it or not–Jackie Collins. All the info is here: should be fun!

Amanda Cohen on the Restaurant World

I’m not normally the kind of blogger who links to lots of little articles throughout the day, but this piece by Amanda Cohen of Dirt Candy is too good not to share. In it, she skewers the fanfare around the 15-year old chef (I’ve been skeptical from the get-go) and goes on to address how show biz and razzmatazz in the food world are distracting us from the reality that few chefs are brave enough to admit: at the end of the day, it’s just food.

R.I.P. Steven Shaw

Really sad, this morning, to read about the passing of Steven Shaw. In many ways, I owe my whole blogging career to him: his site, eGullet, is where I first cut my teeth as a food writer. Here’s a post I wrote about a lunch that I had with him at Ippudo in 2008; soon after, I became a regular speaker at his food blogging class at the French Culinary Institute. Thoughts and prayers to his family; he will be missed.

Sponsored Post: Cheese and Chocolate Are BFFs

You and me, we have a lot of history together, a history that covers a lot of cheese and a lot of chocolate. There was the time I made a cheese plate for Craig’s birthday dessert and the time I had a Gourmet Grilled Cheese Night. Chocolate-wise, where do we even begin? There’s a whole category of my site devoted to the stuff. And yet never before, until today, have I brought these two beloved worlds together on one plate: cheese and chocolate? Together? Have I lost my marbles? No, not at all. Turns out, they make a terrific pairing.

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Eggs in Tomato Sauce with Sausage and Basil

As you probably know, by now, I’m a pasta-loving fool. My blog has 78 recipes for pasta and risotto in its archives, so you know I take my pasta-eating seriously.

Sadly, my pasta love is now at odds with my spring-time desire to get in shape. I’ve been sticking to my gym routine for two months now, and though I still eat pasta and pastries and all the other naughty P foods on weekends, I’m trying to focus on a healthier P-word during the week: protein. The challenge I made for myself was this: transform the kind of sauce you’d love to eat over pasta on a typical weeknight into a protein-rich dinner that’s every bit as satisfying but way better for your beach bod. The secret? Instead of pasta, use eggs.

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PB&J French Toast

The issue was this: Craig bought the bread. Can you imagine the gall? When he’s in a relationship with one of the most important food writers of his generation, buying the bread? Without asking questions like “what kind of bread” or “should it be sliced or unsliced” just going out and buying bread? I mean, really. So there I was, on a Sunday morning, staring at a loaf of perfectly nice white bread from the Village Bakery with only one problem: he bought it sliced. If I tried to make French Toast with those individual slices, it would be super wimpy French Toast. No one likes wimpy French Toast, not even wimps.

How to transform already-sliced bread into bread thick enough for everyone’s favorite butter-fried breakfast treat? A solution suddenly appeared: I could make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and treat those like French Toast. PB&J French Toast. Genius!

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