The Twice Cooked Guide to Shortcrust Pastry

   Adam Zolkover
Twice Cooked Guide to Shortcrust Pastry

It has begun, dear friends, to seem a bit absurd to me that every time I make a pie, tart, or pasty for the blog, I provide instructions for making shortcrust pastry all anew. As I browse back through the last few months’ entries, this habit, it seems to me, is responsible for taking up quite a lot of space.

And so I thought to myself this morning — I thought: why not write a shortcrust primer, instead? Why not work up a master recipe that will recount my shortcrust technique, its major variations, and maybe offer just a couple of tips for making it work?

Miniature Corn Scones

   Adam Zolkover
Miniature Corn Scones

It feels like it’s been forever since I made a post, here. Forever. And many, many miles. When I last put fingers to keyboard, the saurian hulks of gourmet food trucks dotted my neighborhood’s landscape. There was music in the air. And from underfoot, children and darting drunkards threatened to lurch and leap out into traffic.

Since then, I’ve had a birthday, a concert, a road trip, and a stay in a hotel. I’ve had a protracted bout of the flu (complete with fever, chills, and a full set of aches).

Manayunk StrEAT Food Festival, 2013

   Adam Zolkover
Manayunk StrEAT Food Festival

It’s been a little while since I’ve made a post that’s primarily an excuse to show you photos. But this past Saturday was the Manayunk StrEAT Food Festival. And excavating my camera and a couple of rolls of last year’s unexposed film from a growing layer of domestic sediment (and in the process, hopelessly disturbing the nascent fossil record that is my house) I decided to head down there to see what’s what.

Steamed Artichokes with Garlic-Tarragon Mayonnaise

   Adam Zolkover
Steamed Artichokes with Garlic-Tarragon Mayonnaise

When I was a child, steamed artichokes were my very favorite vegetable. Bitter and creamy, almost meaty at their heart, you could give childhood me an artichoke and a little puddle of butter, stand back, and watch in amazement as I picked it clean of all the parts you can possibly eat.

My mother made them on a fairly regular basis. Steamed artichokes were easy and could be done a day ahead. And my own partiality for them aside, both she and my father would devour them with visible pleasure, and sometimes go back for more.

Rabbit Pie

   Adam Zolkover
Rabbit Pie

I’ve been sitting on this recipe for almost a week, now, not because there’s anything wrong with it, but because I haven’t quite been able to figure out how to make it work for this space.

Here’s the problem: last week, with Easter close at hand, with Elizabeth’s post about carrot soup newly live, and with my recent enthusiasm for savory pastry, I made the decision that my next post here at Twice Cooked was going to have to be a rabbit pie. It appealed to my sense of impropriety — a rabbit for Easter! — and it appealed to my sense of propriety, too — a classic early-spring meal, timed just right for the early spring.

Carrot and Coriander Soup, Not Once But Twice

   Elizabeth

When I lived briefly in England, more than ten years ago now, I used to love a wonderful Carrot & Coriander soup. It was bright and light and warm, like spring and fall in the same bowl. And it was everywhere: in the pub, at the sandwich shop, in cartons in the grocery store. And everyone made it well. At least, in my memory they did.

I miss it, on and off. I never see it on menus over here. I never see it in recipe books. I don’t know why my carrot soup hasn’t translated, when potato & leek is so common but so much less interesting.

Charoset, Two Ways

   Adam Zolkover
Charoset, Two Ways

Ask me why Monday night is different from all other nights. Come on — ask me. I got four reasons for you right here.

Bitter vegetables, double dipping, hardtack, and — why I oughta!

But seriously, folks: Monday night is different from all other nights in that it’s the first night of Passover. It is one long, well-ordered feast in which the wine starts dribbling in at sundown, and doesn’t stop flowing until legally-mandated closing time at midnight. And it is — traditionally — my favorite holiday of the year. Or at least, one of them.

News, Updates, and Miscellany

   Adam Zolkover

Good news! And some reminders, too.

The big item of interest — the thing that has driven me to metablogging — is that Elizabeth, author of the Bread and Honey blog and sometime guest blogger here, has agreed to become a regular Twice Cooked contributor. Which means that, beginning in the next couple of weeks, you’ll see her name pop up in the author field somewhat more regularly, unaccompanied by the italicized mini-biography that ordinarily prefaces posts by folks who are not me.

Kheer, Vindicated

   Adam Zolkover
Kheer, Vindicated

Did you think, perhaps, that I might leave my kheer experiment like this? Did you think that I could swallow my pride like a spoonful of hot pink pepto bismol, accept my failure with equanimity, and abandon my aspirations toward that creamy, spicy Indian rice pudding in favor of some more comfortable fare? Did you?

Nah. Of course you didn’t. Because you (dear readers!) know me better than that.

Meat Pies with Broccoli Rabe

   Adam Zolkover
Meat Pies with Broccoli Rabe

I’d like to begin by assuring you all that this post in no way promotes cannibalism. Nor cattibalism, neither. It seems as though, as with my quiche lorraine, a great deal rides on a name. And while an empanada might be perfectly innocent, and while a Cornish pasty might pass with little more than a blush and a raised eyebrow, a meat pie is a horse of a different feather.