Quoting... DeSylva & Brown

"You’re the cream in my coffee, 
You’re the salt in my stew; 

You will always be my necessity— 

I’d be lost without you. 

You give life savor, 
Bring out its flavor; 

So this is clear, dear, 

You’re my Worcestershire, dear."

—From the show "Hold Everything" (1929) 
Lyrics: B.G. DeSylva & Lew Brown / Music: Ray Henderson

(Click here for the song!) 

PS...Happy Birthday Honey! 

Popovers Filled with Beef and Leek Stew

I'll sometimes describe a dish as being much more than the sum of its parts. That can be said about lots of foods really, though it's most impressive when there are very few parts to the equation in the first place.

Last night I made one of our favorite budget-friendly dinners, a three-ingredient wonder that never fails to render us both into silent, ravenous reverie. Just three ingredients, including the roast. That's right, including the roast. There's a pinch of flour, a splash of olive oil, a sprinkling of salt and pepper, but really it all comes down to three ingredients... chuck, leeks, and balsamic vinegar. That's all.

A Stew From A Few

What else is remarkable about this stew? Besides the fact that one of the three ingredients is leeks and my onion-hating husband wanted seconds? Or besides how it's terribly cheap to make and yet tastes rich and complex? Well, yeah, other than that, I guess it is pretty unremarkable (she said with tongue planted firmly in cheek). Truly, it's nothing less than kitchen-alchemy.

Cocoa Almond Meringues

As we make our way through Spring wishing we could put away the cold-weather gear (and the wet-weather gear) and fling open the doors and windows to warm sunny days... sigh... we are naturally going to be drawn to bright vibrant colors and flavors. Soon enough, everything colorful and petal-bedecked will find itself center-stage. And it's about time.

It's always the quiet ones
But here is a cookie of humble appearance that will show up all the fancier cookies. It's the kind of cookie that won't be reached for first in an assortment, but once it's tasted, well, there won't be any left on the tray at the end of the evening. Heck, even before I baked these up I just knew they were going to be great. How could I tell? Well for one thing, I wanted to just sit undisturbed and just eat the batter by the spoonful*.

Dorie's Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are not Ultimate or Superior or even Great chocolate chip cookies. They are not even The Best. No, they are humbly named My Best, which says a lot about their creator. Sidestepping the chocolate chip cookie naming oneupmanship, these cookies are a little more personal and a lot more wonderful. If you've ever made any of Dorie Greenspan's recipes, you'll know that when she says "My Best", not only does she mean it, but it's going to be ultimately superior to any other merely great chocolate chip cookie you may have made before. These are thin, crispy and buttery*... everything a chocolate chip cookie should be. Make some and see if you don't agree with me...

Everything But The Kitchen Sink

onfession time. I've made delicious treats and not shared. Cookies... really good cookies too. But I never posted them. One was the victim of pre-holiday schedule-flurry, the other was simply toyed with during a seemingly never-ending gray winter. I made a third type of cookie the other day and realized that all three of the cookies came from the same cookbook and I'd be a cotton-headed ninnymuggins if I didn't share them asap.  First up...

• Chockablock Cookies pg 86 of Baking: From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan (2006)

Exactly what you'd imagine them to be like. Full of anything and everything. I couldn't remember their name once and called them "kitchen sink cookies". It's apt. If you can think of it, it's in there. They don't look like much, but they taste fantastic and are a great way to use up any random dried fruits and nuts and such that you might have hanging around. They've got molasses and oats, nuts and fruits, chocolate and coconut too. If you love a cookie with lots of texture and flavor, as I do, this is it.