aj12754's Profile

From: Montclair, NJ USA

Joined: November 22nd, 2009

About me: I can't be the only person who starts thinking about what to cook next while I am doing the dishes for the meal I just finished eating ... right?

Favorite cookbook: I flirt with all of them. But I am a sucker for good writing and great pictures.

Favorite recipe: Pretty much any combo of good bread and great cheese.


Latest review:

June 20th, 2020

Slow-Roasted Tomatoes from One Good Dish

A dish that could not be simpler to make, and absolutely delicious. Topped the cooled tomato with a room temperature slice of mozzarella drizzled with EVOO and some ribbons of basil. A real treat. read more >


recipe reviews (696)
book reviews (39)
useful review votes (442)

aj12754's Reviews


Search Reviews:

5 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 5Sort by: Title | Date | Rating

Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours

By Dorie Greenspan, Alan Richardson
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt - 2010

4th January 2011 (edited: 5th January 2011)

Honey-spiced Madeleines : page 408

We enjoyed these quite a bit -- the combo of honey, spices (ginger, cinnamon and cloves), and orange zest makes for a nice seasonal treat. The recipe calls for 1/8 tsp. or less of ground cloves -- and next time I would do a little bit less than that.

Need to plan ahead a bit with this one as Dorie suggests letting the batter chill for three hours before baking.

Although it would have been pretty, I skipped dusting the cookies with confectioner's sugar as we don't like things -- even cookies-- to be too sweet.

Makes 12 large madeleines. Mini versions of these would be great with an orange sorbet.

Looking forward to having these with tea tomorrow afternoon.

Day 2 note -- these are definitely better warm from the oven.

useful (0)  


14th October 2010 (edited: 15th October 2010)

Marie-Helene's Apple Cake : page 432

This cake is as much apple as cake which makes for a change of pace in our household. In fact, the texture is more fruity than cakey.

The cake batter is flavored with rum and vanilla and it's really nice.

Dorie suggests making this cake, which calls for 4 large apples, with four different varieties of apples. But I had about six small same variety apples and went with that. It may be better with different kinds of apples but its pretty darned good just like this.

Really simple to make; recipe calls for an 8 in. springform pan.

useful (1)  


12th October 2013 (edited: 12th October 2013)

Pumpkin stuffed with everything good : page 364

This makes for an impressive presentation, although I did place it under the broiler, with the cap off, for the last 2-3 minutes of cooking to improve its appearance.

Just one slight change -- I sauteed the garlic and a 1/4 cup of onion in the fat of the sauteed bacon rather than using raw scallions or chives.

Good flavour and nice comfort food feel for fall. It went really well with a California pinot noir.

useful (2)  


17th October 2010

Savory Cheese and Chive Bread : page 34

This bread looks beautiful and is really cheesy, but we didn't much care for it.

Possibly this is because I put in only half the amount of chives called for (all I had on hand) and it probably needed the full amount. But I think the real reason we didn't care for it is because of the addition of the walnuts the recipe called for. They were optional but I decided to toss 'em in because where Dorie leads I will generally follow, although I had my doubts about those walnuts.

We just didn't like the cheese-walnut-chive mix.

BUT -- I'd like to try a hybrid of last night's cheese-apple scones and this bread, i.e. create a sweeter version that includes apple, cheddar, and toasted walnuts, omitting the chives entirely.

useful (1)  


22nd October 2010

tuna rillettes : page 28

Nice flavors, easy to prep. I really enjoyed this and will make again.

useful (1)