Buttermilk Cherry Scones

Scones are sort of like a sweetened version of biscuits. I used buttermilk to wet the dough, as you would for biscuits, but I then added dried cherries for sweetness. You don’t want the scones to be as sugary as French pastries, because scones are typically eaten with jam. I spent most of my childhood vacations in Great Britain, and what I remember most is how wonderful English breakfast and tea time food was. Between the wonderful tea selections, orange marmalade and scones, I can't recall better breakfast fare anywhere else.

This weekend I felt like introducing my little 5-year-old munchkin to the scones I enjoyed in my childhood. She helped me measure everything, all the while proudly spelling out loud every single ingredient while nibbling on the extra dried cherries. She's in kindergarten and is so eager to learn. Cooking with children is a great way to give them a little knowledge about food, while at the same time introducing them to spelling and a little bit of math. Teaching small children how to read and count should be kept fun and lighthearted, and I can’t think of a better way to do so.

Gulab Jamun (Indian Sweets)

Gulab jamun is my husband Lulu's favorite Indian dessert. The sweets are deep-fried balls of dough, bathed in rose (gulab) and cardamom syrup. The texture resembles the liquor syrup-saturated French cake Baba au Rhum.

I've just experienced making my own for the first time and it tasted pretty similar to the ones I've had in the past. I added a few saffron threads to impart a brighter yellow color to the syrup and I didn't add finely crushed pistachios as Lulu's great-aunt does, because of my little sister-in-law's nut allergy.

You can eat them cold, but our favorite way to enjoy gulab jamun is to warm them a bit before serving. It adds another dimension to the dish. Gulab jamun is a bit too rich to eat on a regular basis, but it's perfect for special occasions when you want something more exotic than cake.

Apple Bread Pudding

This recipe calls for all the usual suspects that are found in bread pudding, namely sugar, milk, fresh or dried fruits and some dry bread cubes. I made my apple raisin bread pudding using stale bread that has been sitting on the kitchen counter. The dryness of stale bread is actually an asset in preparing bread pudding, because the dry bread will soak up a good deal of flavor. If you buy a lot of bread and sometimes don't use all of it, this recipe might be helpful for you. It was amazing how fast these little mini loaves of bread pudding disappeared!

Bread pudding to me is a perfect breakfast food, similar to pain perdu, or French toast. I also often enjoy it for le goûter de 4 heures, which in English translates to "4 p.m. snack". As a child, this was my favorite time of the day! My childhood memory of a typical "4 heures" would be a piece of warm baguette with a piece of chocolate, an apple and chocolate milk. If you ask any French kid, that's pretty normal but it doesn't seem to be this way in America. The juice box and supermarket candy bar that most American kids eat (including my little sisters-in-law), definitely don't compare.

Kumquat Breaded Baked Tofu

Kumquat breaded baked tofu is the result of one of my various culinary experiments. I pan-fried pieces of tofu, covered them with a crust of bread and baked till golden. Tofu is a blank canvas that will absorb any flavor. By drizzling the puffed baked tofu with a ginger kumquat sauce, the complexity of the flavor matched the complexity of the texture of the dish.

After making my breaded version of Frenched rack of lamb, I thought it would be fun to make a vegetarian alternative. My little munchkin and I went to the garden and picked a basket full of mini kumquats, and it occurred to me that a kumquat persillade crust would go great with tofu.

Experiments don't always go the way you want them to, but judging by how quickly Lulu and the girls devoured the dish, I'd say it worked out all right. Give it a try, and don't be afraid to add your own twist!

Yorkshire Pudding (Popover)

Yorkshire pudding batter contains very basic ingredients that I'm sure are already in your kitchen; eggs, milk, flour and oil (or fat drippings). The final product is greater than the sum of its parts, and there are few things more dramatic than a basket full of Yorkshire pudding.

Food has an incredible ability to evoke memories, and for me, Yorkshire pudding really takes me back in time to my childhood vacations in England. I stayed 2 years in a row at Tracy's house during Easter break in 1989 and 1990. It's been almost 20 years since the last time we met but we've kept in touch ever since. Tracy is an amazing cook, and I have fond memories of her delicious meals. A typical dinner would be roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, some greens and carrots and a wonderful banana mousse. Tracy, if you're reading, send my love to your lovely girls Emily and Alice!