retrolillies

September 1, 2017

Sour Cherry, Red Currant, Rye and Poppy Galette

The changing of seasons makes me wistful. Have we come to the end already? Nights are already cool, mornings already crisp. The time seems to have slipped through my fingers and in my attempt to catch up with it, I am left grasping at air. I am worried that I will wake up and it…
August 25, 2017

Sweet Corn Ice Cream with Blueberry, Raspberry, Bay Leaf Swirl

Things pop out at me, now. The way the air is beginning to cool earlier. The late summer prune plums at the market, heralding the almost onset of fall. The apples, at the market too. I want to tell the farmer it is too early for them, but who am I to argue with nature?…
August 18, 2017

Tomato & Zucchini Cobbler with Gruyere and Thyme Biscuits

We’re making savory cobbler! Why let fruit have all the fun? This one’s quick, easy and full of flavor. The best kinds of cobbler are. We start with the filling: sliced zucchini, yellow summer squash and halved cherry tomatoes are combined with fresh thyme, salt, pepper and olive oil for lusciousness. A little bit of…
August 11, 2017

White Peach, Gooseberry and Spelt Pie

To bottle summer- to capture its fleeting spirit- pie. Always pie. It starts with a good, flaky crust. It contains the prettiest of summer’s bounty. Hopefully, maybe if you are lucky, it is made at dusk, when the air is thick and the fireflies are dancing. Maybe, if you are like me, a midnight baker,…
August 4, 2017

Herbed Wild Salmon with Roasted Summer Vegetables

My new job as a baker means lots of new side effects! Here are some of them: 1. Muscles! Whereas I couldn’t even lift one initially, I can now carry 50 lb. bags of flour across a room without breaking a sweat. Progress! 2. Back pain! Or stiff joints/tense shoulders/tense everything. Professional baking is like…
July 28, 2017

Cornmeal Shortcakes with Roasted Apricots & Whipped Ricotta

This recipe comes with a story. It’s slightly embarrassing. The usual. You know. I started by roasting the apricots. They were overripe, losing their resistance at the seams. I rubbed them with vanilla sugar and thyme and stuffed them into the oven. Soon, their blissful scent permeated the kitchen. As they roasted, I pulled out…
July 21, 2017

Poached Eggs & Avocado Toast

There is beauty in the poaching of an egg, in the way it swirls gently into togetherness. Water as land. Vinegar as air. Watch it. See how it starts out. Timid, first. Invisible, extant only by way of the bright yellow orb at its center. Drop! In the water, a ghostly, whirling specter as it…
July 14, 2017

When Words Fail: Red Fruit Galettes

If words fail you: close your mouth. Open your ears, your eyes always. Let your hands do the talking. Your hands will tell you if you are hurt, if they cannot do the work. Your hands will tell you if you are soft, full of love, caressing butter into flour. Your hands will cry for…
July 4, 2017

Roasted Potato Salad with Lentils & Asparagus

Happy 4th, everyone! I hope you are all barbecuing meat, grilling corn and drinking lots of beachside rosè. If you are, please have me in mind. I just started my new job as a pastry cook in Brooklyn (!!!) and our opening date is July 10th, so I’ve pretty much been working nonstop. No vacation…
June 29, 2017

Labneh Mousse and Olive Oil Tart with Cardamom Figs

Hi, everyone! Here’s a recipe I wrote up for The Nosher, an awesome, Jewish/Israeli food mashup site I occasionally write for. You can get the full recipe there! For me, summer desserts have to fit a few criteria. First off: they better be worth turning on the oven for. Second: if you don’t need to…