DORIE GREENSPAN

Heads Up New Yorkers: A Good Program at NYU

I just got the info on this program and want to pass it along because I know it's important and I think, knowing two of the speakers, it will also be very, very interesting.  Here are the basics: The Farm Bill 2007:  Understanding the Political, Agricultural and Nutritional Impact OR Understanding That What You Pay For an Apple or a Twinkie Can Affect Public Health

The speakers are: Marion Nestle, Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies and Public Health at New York University and the author of Food Politics and What to Eat, Dan Barber, chef of Blue Hill and Stone Barns at Blue Hill (these are the panelists I know and they're both terrific speakers), and Christina Grace, manager of Urban Food System Programs at the NY State Department of Agriculture and Markets.

Monday, November 12; check in at 6:45; Presentation 7:00-8:30; Reception to follow

Click through for all the details

Maca-rounds from Pierre Herme

This summer, when I had dinner at Pierre Herme's, we had ice cream for dessert and, as our after-dessert dessert, we had macaroons, which came to the table in this fabulous round box, the top of which also has a hole in the center, making it a Macaroon Lifesaver (which, and I don't think I'm speaking for myself alone, is often just what we need, isn't it?).  At that time, the box wasn't in production - we were getting a sneak preview - but this afternoon, when I went into the shop, there it was.  And with it, the perfect-for-the-season macaroon, the Marron et The Vert Matcha, a chestnut macaroon filled with Matcha green tea and marrons glaces (candied chestnut) cream.  Coming later this month:  Infiniment Vanille, an all-vanilla macaroon, and Pistache, a pistachio macaroon with a white chocolate and pistachio cream. 

Maybe macaroons don't make the world go round, but they certainly make the round world a sweeter place.

Baking with Dorie: Baked Apples

This week's Baking with Dorie recipe on Serious Eats is for down-home old-fashioned baked apples.  As desserts go, baked apples are very low on the fancy/fussy scale, but they're way up there on the comfort-o-meter, so I hope you'll make them this weekend.  If it's chilly where you, they're guaranteed to taste even better.

Lenotre Bakes Itself a Birthday Cake

Maison Lenotre turned 50 and it's celebrating its Juliblee Year with a series of creations called Jubilantes, any one of which would make any birthday a happy one.

Among the treats that executive pastry chef Guy Krenzer and his team are introducing are two new macaroons: one is whisky and tonka bean, and the other is chocolate with orange zest.  The chocolate macaroon is called Camille and is named for the young apprentice who invented it.  I love that an apprentice is given the chance to make this kind of contribution and get this kind of recognition from a legendary house - bravo, Lenotre.

Then there are lollipops that look like pieces of jellyroll on a stick.  In fact, they are pieces of bittersweet chocolate jellyroll cake, but there's no jelly anywhere:  the cake is rolled around foie gras.

Finally, because every birthday should be celebrated with a cake, there's the Ice Cube in the picture.  Looking like a velvety Rubik's Cube, the cake's elements include: dark chocolate ice, ice cream, dulce de leche and hazelnut dacquoise.

Gaston Lenotre, the founder of this remarkable company, has been called the father of modern French pastry, in great measure because of his forward thinking creations, but also because of the systems he developed to produce polished, grand-quality pastry on a large scale; the schools he created to train professionals, Ecole Lenotre (I went to "chocolate college" there years ago and treasure the experience), and amateurs, Pavillon d'Elysee; and the hundreds of pastry chefs he inspired, nurtured and launched, among them Pierre Herme, who apprenticed under him.

Happy Birthday!  Here's to another 50 delicious years!

A New Crop of French Cookbooks; An American One, Too

Here, in Paris, the supermarket shelves are already filled with bags of Christmas candy and the holiday lights have been strung from the trees along the Champs Elysee, so it's not surprising that stores are showing off their new crop of gift books -- not that these boxes offer even a hint that there are books within.

Both La Boite a Legumes (the vegetable box) and La Boite a Gateau (the cake box) hold a series of paperback books by Keda Black, an imaginative cookbook author and food stylist.   The vegetable box has 14 books, each with 20 recipes - the only thing the box doesn't come with is seeds and soil

And the cake box has 16 books, again each has 20 recipes, and each covers a flavor or a combination of flavors.  For instance, in addition to the requisite chocolate and vanilla, there are books on coffee+chestnut, cherry+white chocolate, mango+coconut, licorice+mint, and the current darling of French flavor combos, litchi+ rose

For chocolate lovers, there's the first book from Patrick Roger, master chocolatier, Fort en Chocolat

The book comes in a signature Roger presentation box

French publishers often publish just enough books for the season and then rarely reprint them, so if there's something you want, you have to grab it on the spot.  But here's an American book you should grab quickly not because it will go out of print - this one's destined to be a classic - but because you'll want to start reading it and cooking from it immediately

Country Cooking of France by Anne Willan is both a treasure and a treasury of authentic recipes from every corner of France written by a woman who has devoted her life to studying and teaching French cooking. 

Anne, the founder of the La Varenne Cooking School (which graduated such stars as Amanda Hesser of The New York Times, who wrote about her experiences at La Varenne in The Cook and The Gardener; Jonathan Waxman, chef of Barbuto; and Molly Stevens, whose books, particularly All About Braising, are must-haves for serious cooks), is a champion of all that is genuine and good in this country.  She is both a scholar and a terrific cook, so with each recipe you learn something of its history, its ingredients and its importance in the region.  If you're like me and think that knowing about a dish makes it taste even better, then you'll love this beautifully photographed new book.