Delaware Girl Eats

My Mother's Chocolate Chip Cookies are Still the Best

Cooking with my mother in her kitchen was among the best activities of my childhood. As her helper, I got to participate by measuring mostly, then graduating to mixing and churning ingredients in bowls and pans. The biggest thing, and most childhood helpers would probably agree, was observing how mom prepared the family dishes and having that ingrained in memory. Later in life as a college student and an adult, we would sit down together as she prepared a dish and write down ingredient amounts, preparation tips and other advice for making a particular dish. I took notes and eventually... Read more →

Mushroom Risotto with Peas

Risotto makes for a wonderful, warming and easy to make winter dinner This month’s selection for the Cook the Books reading/cooking club is Undercooked: How I Let Food Become My Life Navigator and How Maybe That's a Dumb Way to Live by Dan Ahdoot, inspired by his obsession with food. In a chapter devoted to his travels in Italy he writes about a car expedition through northern Italy “where prosciutto and parmesan cheese were invented. Man were we stoked. We replayed the episode of Chef’s Table where Massimo Bottura, a charismatic chef, tells the story of how he single-handedly helped... Read more →

It’s Apple Season Again and Bundt Cake is on the Menu

Apples and cranberries are such a good match that they make this bundt cake a baking success I confess to getting a late start to Fall this year. I’ve refused to accept the change of seasons and it’s been so warm that it’s felt like a continuation of summer till just now as the leaves have started to turn and the night-time temperatures have dropped. With Halloween Trick or Treat’ers coming our way this weekend, it’s time though. And the garden cleanout got done while it’s still been warm and sunny. So I guess I’m ready to face the November... Read more →

Mini Citrusy Cheesecakes Make Refreshing Treats

Usually I think Summer ends at the strike of September 1st but this year, September on the East Coast has featured record-breaking high temperatures into the 90’s paired with suffocating humidity. In any case, it sure has felt like the continuation of high Summer rather than a transition into Fall. So when I was asked to bring a dish to a recent potluck, I was thinking about what would be refreshing rather than what would be hearty or filling. A friend posted a recipe recently for mini cheesecakes which would be the size of cupcakes and I thought, wouldn’t that... Read more →

Mexican Taquitos Make Yummy Snacks

What better munchie than a few Mexican Taquitos? For an East Coast girl of Italian heritage I’m awfully fond of Mexican cuisine and seek out the real deal when I’m in a part of the country where it’s truly authentic, in other words not along the East Coast. This is how I ended up at the El Indio Restaurant in San Diego which has been in business for over 80 years. I was visiting family there and heard they offered the real deal. That scuttlebutt was totally accurate – they do indeed offer masterful Mexican food. So when I read... Read more →

Savory Bite-Sized Muffins are a Great Party Appetizer

These chive and rosemary muffins are just bite-sized for popping into the mouth As most of my regular readers know I often write about family food traditions and long-time family food favorites. This is very fulfilling and I enjoy sharing these with the broader world in hopes of preserving these foods and enticing others to try the dishes. Every once in a while though I’m inspired to try something totally new which offers a creative challenge and is fulfilling in its own way. Which is why in reading Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus, the current reading choice of the... Read more →

Mangia Bene with Chicken Cacciatore

As winter draws to a close in the MidAtlantic there’s still time to savor a hearty Italian winter stew – chicken cacciatore, or in English, hunter’s stew. It’s named because in its origins the dish was prepared in the wild using ingredients the hunters could forage while on an expedition improvised based on what was in season. It’s traditionally made with naturally lean game meat like rabbit with a savory mix of fresh mushrooms and onions and herbs. The stew is earthy and sumptuous, with deep flavor and herbal brightness. In the book we are reading in the Cook the... Read more →

A Cheesy Baked Pasta Dish Can Crown Family Occasions

Simple yet luxurious, a baked pasta dish feeds a crowd and is rich with flavor Preparing pasta as the focus for family meals is core to our family’s heritage. My grandmother rolled her own dough, cut raviolis and made a red sauce to die for. Mom learned at her side, skipped the dough making, but made a mean red sauce too. And all the female relatives passed on their techniques to me which I dutifully recorded. When I have the luxury of a free Saturday afternoon, I do all those things too for nostalgia’s sake but I’ve come to relish... Read more →

Making Italian Pizzelles for Christmas

Italian Pizzelles make for a tasty holiday treat In my Italian-American family, holiday baking centers around traditional Abruzzo favorites. Rarely someone squeeze in a totally new recipe unearthed via a newspaper clipping but not me. For myself I like to focus the little time I have for baking on the tried and true. And easy to make I might add. My Dad who had a great deal more patience than I would slog through preparing Cajinettes or Giammelli which while delicious were very time consuming to make. Since he passed away I haven’t had the nerve to try making either... Read more →

It's Apple Season so Time to Make a Crumble

They say "when in Rome...." but here in the Mid-Atlantic at the height of apple season, it should be "when in autumn, bake apple desserts". And that's what I've chosen to do after reading the current selection of the Cook the Books group, "Cooking with Fernet Branca" by James Hamilton-Patterson. The quirky narrative chronicling the adventures of a lost soul living in Tuscany highlights the Italian bitters made with 27 herbs and roots whose aggressive flavor mimics bitter black licorice. It's referenced throughout the book including dishes made with it, but only one or two recipes using the herbaceous drink... Read more →