Grape pies have all the voluptuous qualities of a blackberry pie, but I've never found a commercial one, or even one from a farmers' market, that's even half as good as homemade. The filling can also be used to make individual tarts or a lattice-covered pie. It freezes well, too, which means you can have a grape tart on Thanksgiving, which I always do.
Ingredients
I had these potatoes for Christmas dinner at the home of my friend Lindita Klein. She found a similar recipe in Gourmet magazine that called for butter in place of the olive oil and a sprig of Italian parsley in place of the rosemary. You can use either or both of the herbs, but olive oil makes these potatoes remarkable. This is one of those dishes that everyone loves and wants to know how to make. It is simple and enormously appealing.
All those people who claim to hate Brussels sprouts will like this.
As plain as these cookies look, that's how surprising they are. At first glance, they have the look of little meringue buttons: their tops are pale, smooth, buff colored, and as crackly thin as parchment. Tucked beneath the crust is the cookie proper, a tidbit that is all crunch. These are cookies you might be tempted to gobble like gumdrops if it weren't for their flavor: anise, a flavor so assertive it can never be taken lightly.
Ingredients
Light, bumpy, nutty and completely higgledy-piggledy-shaped, these cratered meringue nuggets are just the cookies to reach for with your last coffee of the afternoon or your last spoonful of ice cream at night. They are featherweight but packed with flavor, and I love the way they disappear in your mouth — quickly, so quickly and fizzily that if they didn't have nuts, you'd think you were eating espresso Pop Rocks.
I roasted slabs of peasant bread with thin slices of pancetta on top; as the fat renders out of the pancetta, it bastes the bread, leaving the bottom and the pancetta top crisp, the center tender. It is at once indulgent, elemental, and somehow slightly taboo, a perfect hors d' oeuvre or snack.
Mary Sonnier's eccentric hot chocolate is an evocation worthy of New Orleans's legendary voodoo priestess, Marie Laveau. But the potion has more to do with the restaurant Gabrielle's Contemporary Creole Cuisine, characterized by enchanting complexity, bold tastes, and unusual combinations, than with the casting of spells or keeping the bayou's spirits at bay.
A pâté de campagne, or country terrine, is a rustic preparation, slightly more refined than a pâté grandmère mainly in that it uses only a small amount of liver—liver is a seasoning device here rather than the dominant flavor. Also unlike the pâté grandmère, some internal garnish, such as fresh herbs and chunks of smoked ham or duck confit, go a long way. The panade (notice that it's made with flour, not bread) helps to retain moisture and to enrich and bind the pâté.