Zosia's Profile

From: Toronto, ON

Joined: October 19th, 2011

Silk Chocolate Cream Pie with Pecan Crust from The Dahlia Bakery Cookbook: Sweetness in Seattle

This is a showstopper of a pie with rather sophisticated flavours - intense chocolate filling with salty, crunchy crust. Can't say I cared much for the crust on its own but it was a great foil, both texturally... read more >

recipe reviews (781)
book reviews (23)
useful review votes (669)

• Bookshelf Home
• Reviews
• Recipe Box
• Favorite Members
• Photos
• Covers

Zosia's Reviews

23 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 23Sort by: Title | Date | Rating

The Very Best Of Recipes for Health: 250 Recipes and More from the Popular Feature on NYTimes.com

By Martha Rose Shulman
Rodale Books - 2010

This tangy lime-juice based vinaigrette would probably be seasoned just right for a tossed green salad if made as per the recipe. However, I used it in a cabbage-daikon radish-carrot slaw and found that some of the dressing flavours, especially the ginger, were a little too muted. I added more directly to the salad to correct this and it tasted fine.

I made it with canola oil though it can be made with part buttermilk.

useful (0)  

Wonderful, hearty soup rich with the earthy flavours of mushrooms and kale.

It involves the usual preliminary steps of chopping and sautéing onions, mushrooms and garlic but is then left to simmer slowly while the barley, and then the kale, cooks. I appreciated that Ms Shulman had us include a parmesan rind in the bouquet garni…I often forget I have them and enclosing it in the cheesecloth bundle made removal from the soup much easier.

A perfect cool weather soup.

useful (1)  

These were fabulous, mainly because of the fantastic flavour of the simmered beans that are used as both filling and topping.

To save a little time, I took a potato masher to the beans while they were simmering with the added spices instead of puréeing a portion of them. The mixture was quite dry and it didn’t seem to matter how much of the reserved cooking liquid I added, it was absorbed. I hoped that some of the liquid would be released during baking, but that wasn’t the case – the beans became even drier. It wasn’t too much of an issue as I served them with a fresh tomato-corn salsa.

I wasn’t sure of the purpose of combining the tomato sauce for the tortilla dip with oil so I omitted it. After the first one disintegrated, I found that lowering the heat on the sauce to med-low gave me a little more control over softening each tortilla.

This is the most time consuming recipe I’ve come across so far in this cookbook; it does take planning, especially if you’re cooking your own beans, but it can be made in stages in advance and it’s certainly well worth the effort.

useful (2)  

The mushroom is front and centre in this ragu that’s flavoured with tomatoes, onions and garlic. The flavour was quite nice but it did need a little help.

The author gives you the option of using canned tomatoes; I chose to use fresh and that may have contributed to this recipe’s downfall. The tomatoes started to disintegrate after 20 minutes of simmering, so I didn’t cook them for the additional 10 minutes….perhaps canned would have fared better. Also, my tomatoes weren’t very acidic so I added a squeeze of lemon. Using stock instead of water or a splash of white wine would have improved the flavour of this dish even more.

It was a little watery for a bruschetta topping, but it was wonderful served over cheesy, herbed, grilled polenta.

useful (2)  

Delicious, versatile crêpes….tender, not too eggy with a pretty golden yellow colour.

I used light buckwheat flour, so though it added some flavour to the crêpe, it wasn’t too pronounced. I made them the night before I needed them; they separated easily the next day, even without wax/parchment paper between them and they were just as good reheated as they were freshly made. The recipe did make 12 – 8” crêpes (~1/4 cup/50ml batter each).

I served them for breakfast as Ms Shulman remembered eating them in Paris – with a cooked egg on top.

I've included links to southerncooker's review of this recipe from another of Martha's books as well as the recipe in the NYT.

useful (0)  

This recipe comes together quickly in the food processor and requires just a few minutes of kneading afterwards.

I didn’t have stone-ground whole wheat flour so just used regular whole wheat flour in its place. The dough was very easy to shape as it wasn’t very elastic. I was using a recipe that called for the pizza crust to be fully baked before toppings were applied…that took 12 min at 450F to achieve a nicely browned, crispy crust.

I haven’t been very successful at making food processor dough, and unfortunately, this one was no exception……the flavour was quite good but I did find that, though it was crispy, it was also a little tough and it dried out easily. I’ll try the recipe again with my stand mixer.

Sept 1:
Made the dough in a stand mixer....no discernible difference. However, baking the dough with toppings on it made a huge difference in texture: it was crisp, yet chewy (in a good, bread-like way) and didn't dry out at all.
I've increased my rating to 3.

useful (0)  

Sometimes it’s the simplest things that are best – bananas and milk come together to make a cool, creamy concoction with a milkshake-like consistency and a pure banana flavour.

I sliced the bananas before freezing to make the blending easier and skipped the honey….the smoothie was sweet enough without it.

It’s no different from eating a banana with a glass of milk, but it’s certainly a lot more fun!

useful (1)  

This is a simple, spicy tomato sauce that cooks in the time it takes to boil water and cook the pasta.

It starts with canned tomatoes flavoured with garlic, red pepper flakes and thyme. Cooked cauliflower, olives and the cooked pasta are added at the end. I don’t particularly like washing pots so instead of cooking the cauliflower separately, I cut the florets into bite-sized pieces and cooked them with the pasta during the last 3 minutes.

I’m not familiar with this triumvirate of cauliflower, tomatoes and olives but found the combination to be quite delicious. The cauliflower was bland enough to absorb the other flavours in the sauce but at the same time helped to temper the saltiness of the briny olives and the heat of the red pepper flakes while adding a little sweetness and crunchy texture.

This dish went over very well with family…apparently totally masking the flavour of cauliflower makes it much more palatable ; )!

useful (3)  

Mango + grilled fish = delicious.

The simple salsa, made primarily of mango with a little bit of heat from a chile and some crunch provided by jicama complemented the fish very nicely. It was quick to put together and with the fish taking just a few minutes to cook, the dish was done in less than 30 minutes.

Very nice combination that I’ll make again.

useful (0)  

Delicious and light tasting and also fairly quick to put together.

The broth is gently flavoured with the dry mushrooms and scallions; I added some soy sauce as I was making this with vegetable stock instead of kombu dashi stock. I used frozen peas - ~1 cup – and added some fresh shiitake as well.

The gentle poaching of the salmon worked beautifully…the fish was moist and added flavour to and was flavoured by the broth. I cooked the soba noodles separately as per the instructions on the preceding page, but frankly, this method took longer than if I had just followed the package directions and it yielded the same results.

It was a very satisfying meal but being rather short on veggies, I didn’t think it was as balanced as it could have been. I’ll have to rectify that next time.

useful (0)  

I don’t think I’ve ever cooked anything in my microwave but the promise of a 14-minute polenta certainly made me want to try. It worked!

There was no mention of the type/power of the microwave that was used in developing this recipe so I approached the cooking times with caution – glad I did because the polenta was done in 10 minutes.

The resulting polenta was not as creamy as stovetop (but I may have overcooked it by a minute or so) and I think it would have benefited from being stirred earlier in the process, or perhaps just more vigorously, as it ended up with a few lumps in it. I intended to chill it and grill it so these things weren’t too important to me. I added some grated parmesan and fresh thyme to it before chilling and served the grilled polenta with this mushroom dish.

Really very good for a 10 minute time investment.

useful (2)  

I loved the idea of this as soon as I read the description and the recipe didn’t disappoint.

I made it with fruits my family likes, dried apricots, cherries and blueberries, sweetened it with honey and added chopped pistachios along with the fresh oranges just before serving. I made it the night before as the author suggested and used the microwave to heat it in the morning. The couscous fluffed up considerably during reheating. A single portion took ~45 seconds to heat in the microwave.

A great alternative to oatmeal.

useful (0)  

Very nice combination of flavours and textures baked on this pizza crust.

The toppings start with a base layer of sautéed mushrooms. Once the crust is partially baked, the goat cheese and walnuts are added and the baking is completed. The final layer is a dressed arugula salad. Next time, I’ll use more strongly flavoured mushrooms as the white cultivated variety got lost among the stronger flavours of the other ingredients.

The experience was very much like eating a salad on a pizza crust…..a little messy for finger food, so best served with knife and fork.

useful (1)  

Peppers prepared 2 ways, garlic, basil and classic Italian cheeses made up the delicious topping for this pizza.

I used a fresh red pepper instead of green as that’s what I had, a little buffalo mozzarella as well as regular, and this pizza crust.

The topping wasn’t very heavy but it was very flavourful….....nobody missed the usual tomato sauce/cheese/pepperoni toppings that I use on pizzas.

useful (0)  

Lovely herbed baked tomatoes with a cheesy crust and potatoes to balance the intense roasted tomato flavour and add texture and substance to the dish.

Though the baking time is fairly long, prep time is minimal, especially if you don’t peel the potatoes, and the gratin can be assembled well in advance. I made the recipe in individual dishes and it made 6 generous portions. I used new Yukon Gold potatoes, which maintained their shape nicely during baking, and Roma tomatoes.

Next time, I’ll finely chop the rosemary and add it to the tomatoes with the thyme and garlic as I didn’t enjoy picking out the needles that fell off the sprig after it was baked. Also, I would add the cheese at the very end and put the gratin under the broiler to melt it…there’s such a thin layer that it was over-browned after 30 minutes of baking.

Served with a salad, this was a light yet satisfying main course.

useful (2)  

This is an excellent way to prepare chard, not only because the Asian flavourings complement the vegetable so well, but because the cooking method addresses the different cooking times of the stem and leaves.

The leaves are briefly steamed until wilted, cooled then squeezed dry before being added to the diced, stir fried stems.

I used regular chard and the optional soy sauce to increase the Asian feel of the dish. A drizzle of sesame oil would also have been a nice addition.

useful (0)  

A lightly spiced tomato-based soup that makes use of very basic pantry items.

The recipe calls for a hot curry powder, which I used, but the quantity is small relative to the amount of soup the recipe makes so the flavour was not very bold. Curry is a new flavour to some of the people I was serving the soup to, so I left it as is but this would be easy to adjust to suit personal taste. The addition of cumin and coriander gave the soup a more complex flavour.

I pureed about ¾ of the batch – it had a very nice consistency, thick but still soup-like, with a little texture. The flavour improved on the second day.

useful (1)  

Very delicious, owing in part to starting with these simmered beans. They're excellent on their own so adding some toasted cumin and chili powder, and concentrating the flavour by cooking off the liquid takes them to another level.

useful (0)  

Previously reviewed here.

useful (0)  

A delicious and versatile sauce made with roasted peppers and tomatoes and thickened with toasted bread and ground almonds.

The ingredient preparation is a little fiddly but once the roasting and toasting is out of the way, everything is simply blended together. The author warns that the raw garlic in the sauce becomes more pungent over time so, since I was making enough to serve at 2 meals, I roasted the garlic with the red pepper to make it more mellow.

A few options are given regarding the spices…I went with red pepper flakes and smoked paprika. As a result, the sauce was smoky, sweet and tangy with a little bit of heat.

It was delicious with grilled chicken and fish but I think it would be great as a spread on a burger/sandwich or just on a slice of toasted crusty bread.

useful (2)  

I think this recipe deserves a better name, unless, of course, the word “stewed” brings to mind melt-in-your-mouth deliciousness …..it doesn’t for me but that’s exactly what this dish is.

Sweet bell peppers are slowly simmered with onions, garlic and tomatoes until they’re almost silky in texture. The tomatoes dissolve and help create a sauce that has just enough acidity to balance the sweetness of the peppers.

I served it hot as a side dish but I agree with the author that it would make an excellent topping for pasta, bruschetta, polenta etc…

useful (0)  

A wonderful way to experience sweet summer corn.

This side dish is very quick and easy to prepare and I saved myself even more time by not blanching the cobs of corn before sautéing the kernels with the other vegetables …..it was so fresh and sweet that I didn’t want to mess with it too much. I used edamame in the dish, another time-saving measure that didn’t involve blanching and skinning, and basil instead of tarragon to garnish.

Much as my family and I love fresh corn on the cob, it’s not always a practical thing to serve at a sit-down dinner. This recipe is a great alternative…..

useful (2)  

I had all of the ingredients on hand so I made this to top some greens for a nice salad.

I served this to most of the family shortly after making and we thought it a little bland, mainly because of the zucchini. However, vegetarian daughter had it a little later, after the flavours had had a chance to meld, and loved it, so perhaps that was the best way to enjoy it.

Personally, I think tomatoes, avocado, jalapeño, coriander and lime are always a winning combination so whether you add zucchini or something else to the mix, it’s always going to taste good.

I found that this salad served only 4, not 6.

useful (0)