Recipes | The Rambling Epicure

Olive, Parmesan, & Speck Breadsticks

Published by Jonell Galloway + Thursday, September 5, 2013 Permalink 0

Destination Dessert: Not a dessert, but delicious nonetheless: olive, Parmesan, & speck breadsticks

I am terrified of heights. Put me on the top floor of a building looking down through glass panes or, worse yet, from the edge of a balcony, and my knees buckle as I grasp for a handhold. My heart pounds at the idea of funiculars or Ferris wheels and their anticipatory crawl up into the clouds. That glance down comes with the fear of knowing that when I finally reach the summit I will be staring into emptiness, a deep void, an near-endless drop only broken by the tiny ant-like beings down on safe, sturdy ground staring up at me, ogling, daring me to make the leap so they can break my fall.

Roller Coasters slowly, painfully inching their way up until a mere thread is holding me over a dizzying descent make my head spin as my breath comes out, barely, in short, quick gasps. Airplanes, those silver boxes offering me quick passage to my loved ones, have me in a panic when I think of the nothingness holding them up. My very pragmatic, scientific husband refers to this seemingly (or so he says) irrational fear of heights as Cosmic Vertigo, these images in my overactive imagination of climbing up and standing on the edge of a precipice only to be pushed off of solid ground and plunging into emptiness, the unknown. So I never climb onto a Ferris wheel, it is impossible to convince me to climb aboard a roller coaster; as we spin our way up the glass elevator in the Mole Antonelliana in Torino or wander around the top balcony of the Eiffel Tower my eyes stay firmly squeezed shut and I can’t even look through the eyepiece of a telescope, nor am I comfortable wearing 3-D glasses or watching the world spin on Google maps. Yes, I am terrified of heights.

Happy New Year!

Published by Jonell Galloway + Monday, January 9, 2012 Permalink 0

We’ll be back in full force very soon with lots of good news and exciting new writers and photographers!

Wishing you all the best for the New Year.

Food Art: Fresh, a food photography exhibition by Sylvie Shirazi

Published by Jonell Galloway + Thursday, December 1, 2011 Permalink 0

Simon Says: Daily Food Quote, April 26, 2011

Published by Jonell Galloway + Tuesday, April 26, 2011 Permalink 0

by Sim ón de Swaan

Cooking is a test without paper, the questions, or the answers, in the sense that you, the cook, are constantly trying to please a disparate bunch of people, who most often, being family, will not hold back on the criticism.–Tamasin Day-Lewis, Good Tempered Food

Tamasin Day-Lewis is an English television chef, daughter of the poet laureate Cecil Day-Lewis and actress Jill Balcon, and sister of the actor Daniel Day-Lewis.

Simon Says: Daily Food Quote, April 1, 2011

Published by Jonell Galloway + Friday, April 1, 2011 Permalink 0

by Sim ón de Swaan

I have always thought that there is no more fruitful source of family discontent than badly cooked dinners and untidy ways.–Mrs. Isabella Beeton

Isabella Beeton was a Victorian-era writer who died prematurely at 28 years of age, but not before having four children and writing an 1112-page essential guide for women on how to run a Victorian household with 900 recipes and advice on fashion, industrialism, childcare, religion and how to manage servants.

On The Chocolate Trail: Elizabeth Taylor Chocolate Notes

Published by Jonell Galloway + Monday, March 28, 2011 Permalink 0

We wanted to share the comments and feedback we received about Christina Daub’s On the Chocolate Trail: The Elizabeth Taylor Special.

Alternative Recipe for Liz Taylor Special

A friend in Bethesda just asked about recipe for the Liz Taylor Special. All you do is place your favorite truffles artfully on your plate–and if you want to buy them, instead of make them, I suggest you get the Budapest truffles at Kron in DC and then cover them completely with whipped cream.

You might try sweetening the whipped cream with a splash of Grand Marnier and a sprinkling of sugar. This is an irresistible combination with the dark sumptuous truffles.

Alternative Recipe for a Chocolatini

Rim glass in cocoa powder or if you prefer sweeter, add some icing sugar to the cocoa first.

In a martini shaker, shake together one shot Smirnoff vanilla vodka and a shot of Godiva chocolate liquer over ice. Stir in 2 shots of cream and cocoa powder to taste. Shake quickly and strain into martini glass.

Alternative Recipe for a Chocolatini using vodka and Bailey’s Irish Creme

You can also use plain vodka and add Bailey’s Irish Creme to it and use creme de cacao instead of Godiva.

Garnish with dark chocolate shavings for some added pizazz.

Bollywood Cooking: Chicken tikka masala: New Indian or fusion?

Published by Jonell Galloway + Tuesday, February 22, 2011 Permalink 0

by here

Chicken tikka masala, New Indian or fusion?

Chicken tikka masala is quite likely one of the most popular Indian dishes the world. The irony of chicken tikka masala, better known as “CTM,” is that what is often enjoyed in restaurants as a traditional Indian dish has very little to do with authentic Indian cuisine. It is closer to “Britain’s true national dish.”

It was former British Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, who proclaimed chicken tikka masala as the new national dish of Great Britain, in an attempt to set an example of British multiculturalism. The chicken tikka masala Mr. Cook was referring to was in actual fact the gravy-based dish invented in Britain.

David Downie: Pandolce, Italian Riviera Icon

Published by Jonell Galloway + Monday, February 7, 2011 Permalink 0

by David Downie

Pandolce is one of the Italian Riviera’s culinary icons. It’s found from the Cinque Terre near Tuscany, to Genoa, all the way to Ventimiglia on the border with France. Ligurians call pandolce “pandöçe” in their challenging, tongue-dislocating dialect. For lack of a better description in English, you might reasonably call it a Christmas fruit cake.

Pandolce comes in two basic formats. The old-fashioned one, made in bakeries or at home (by about 10 people in the entire region) is tall, porous, airy and leavened twice, and has a round or dome-shaped form. It’s the Riviera’s answer to Milanese panettone.

The other Ligurian variety, which everyone mistakenly calls all’antica (it’s much more recent in invention) stands only a few inches high, is dense and heavy and fabulously good: take a look at the pic on this page (by Alison Harris, of course).

Recipes: Wild Woman on Feral Acres: Pantry Meals: Bounty from a Dormant Garden

Published by Esmaa-Self + Wednesday, February 2, 2011 Permalink 0

by Esmaa Self

We often think of fall as a good time to prepare meals from the garden, but those with a pantry filled with last season’s bounty will recognize the bitter days of a northern hemisphere February as a great time to dish up homemade soup.

As I write this, much of America is experiencing extreme winter weather. Our local forecast calls for a low of -21° F. So you may well imagine how hunkered down is the farm today. But isn’t this the sort of weather we plan for when we plant, tend, harvest and preserve the bounty from our gardens? Indeed, a pantry filled with homegrown goodness can assuage the sting of an ice storm.

Here are a couple of bone-warming recipes that make good use of a pantry stocked with home-grown foods. If you have no such thing, consider this an invitation to get into the gardening game.

Wild Woman on Feral Acres: Keep the Butter, Jettison the Guilt!

Published by Jonell Galloway + Monday, December 20, 2010 Permalink 0

by Esmaa Self

We’re well into the New Year, have you managed to slip into those skinny jeans yet? If not, don’t worry, help has arrived in the form of a quick tip for transitioning to a healthier you: replace your butter with better butter.

Better butter is the happy mix of olive oil and butter. By mixing your butter with equal parts olive oil, you trade 50% bad fat for good. Learn about good and bad fats on Health Castle.