A FRIDGE FULL OF FOOD...

"Dexter" Apple Cake with Caramel Apple Filling

 

Love fall and all the desserts that go with it, including this apple cake with fresh caramel apple filling!  Not to mention the Dexter aspect...hehehe!

Dexter Dinner: Timpano, Dexter Cake, & Death in the Afternoon Cocktails

 

Dexter premiered season six last night and we were there! Last year, my cousin, James, came over to the house on Sunday nights so we could all watch Dexter together since we were all huge fans.  We adopted Auntie Miranda into the cult and have been a Dexter Dinner foursome ever since. We always meet at Gene's and my house and I make dinner, usually using them as guinea pigs to test new recipes.  It's a win-win for me and for them and the safety net is that if it's ever is a win-lose, there's always pizza that can be delivered.

 

Literally, for years I've been wanting to make Timpano, the classic "mythic dome pasta" (Mario Batali) dish made famous by the movie Big Night from 1996 where Stanley Tucci, as one of two restanteur brothers (Tony Shalhoub is the other) makes this dish for their "big night" make it or break it extravaganza.  My understanding is that Tucci himself came up with the idea to use this recipe in the movie since it's one that his family actually makes for special occasions in real life. In 1999, following the popularity of the food from the movie Tucci's mother and the chef who consulted on the film authored a cookbook "Cucina & Famiglia: Two Italian Families Share Their Stories, Recipes, and Traditions" by Joan Tropiano Tucci and Chef Gianni Scappin.

This week I'll be blogging my version of the Timpano recipe starting with a 15 hour slow cooker meat sauce for pasta, Auntie's fruited salad and vinaigrette, the apple cake with caramel apple filling, and Death in the Afternoon cocktail created by Ernest Hemingway using Absinthe which is now legal in the U.S. again.

Let's begin with the meat sauce...

Life on the Pop Culture Edge: Snack Cake Birthday Cake

For as long as we can all remember Gene and I have hosted a couple of summer family parties as birthday parties for the nieces and nephews.  At the end of May we celebrate Jordan and Isaac's May birthdays. In August we celebrate Sydney's July and Kaylee's September birthdays. 

I try to do something different and fun for cakes each time. One year it was a sculpted cake big rig, one year rice krispie treats molded into a car cake pan, one time a Twilight themed cake, and this year it was their favorite snack cakes built into a tower.



Even though Isaac will turn 11 this week and Jordan is 18 today, they (we all) still l love indulging our inner kid at birthday parties so the theme of decorations this year was both G.I. Joe Camo and Sponge Bob.  Hey, you're never too old for a little Sponge Bob.  As I often say: why did my siblings have children? To give me someone my own age to play with.

David Leong & Springfield Cashew Chicken VOA Story

 

The rough cut of the Cashew Chicken report Suli Yi of Voice of America made is up on You Tube.

To view, click here:  Springfield-Style Cashew Chicken

(Thank you Suli!)

For more info on the interview itself and recipes, click here:  Voice of America Embraces Cashew Chicken

Peggy Hill's Apple Brown Betty

Ever since Kyleen, the Texan New Yorker, pointed out that to me that if you Google "Peggy Hill's Apple Brown Betty" a link to a post on my blog from almost a year ago shows up as the number 1 link, I've been feeling a little guilty.  The post that got me up there on Google was a post for Frito Chili Pie and only mentioned Peggy Hill and Apple Brown Betty.  I feel like a bad girlfriend who's led all those people on without putting out.  But today is the day we remedy that. 

By the way, that happened a couple of months ago.  Since then I've dropped to number 3.  Which is a little strange considering that ever since that post, I've been getting fairly regular traffic from people looking for Peggy's Apple Brown Betty, but recently I've gotten a half dozen or more google searches for that every single day!  It makes me wonder if one of the episodes that features the Brown Betty has aired ln syndication lately. 

Happily on my part, for all of you "Peggy Hill's Apple Brown Betty" searchers on Google and Yahoo, here's your recipe.

I'll be honest.  I had never made or eaten it before. I looked at several recipes, all with variations on a theme but in general the dish seemed to be a cross between a crisp and and bread pudding.  I chose a recipe from Epicurious because I wanted to get something representative but also something from a site I felt pretty comfortable trusting.  I like all the recipe sites where anyone can upload recipes but a couple of times I've been disappointed in the past.  Not this time.  This Brown Betty turned out to be a simple, straight-forward, fresh-apple tasting dessert with a crunchy topping like crisp, but with a soft, comfort-carby mouth feel like a bread pudding. It wasn't nearly has heavy as I thought it would be which was a plus for these hot summer days.

Do you ever stop and think about how much our food is influenced by pop culture?  When I say Apple Brown Betty, everyone who watches King of the Hill immediately knows what I'm talking about.  Does the beverage Romulan Ale conjure up a memory?   How about Carmela's ricotta pie that bribed the reference letter for Meadow's college application or the baked ziti we drooled over for six seasons?  In Las Vegas, several of the 7-Elevens have been temporarily changed into Kwik-E-marts for the summer, selling "good Squishee", Krusty the Clown cereal, and Homer's pink donuts.  If you had the opportunity, would you go in?  I would. 

Food is so much a part of our culture in every facet: celebrations, family time, snacks, and even driven by our pop culture or there would be no market for the Star Trek Cookbook and Entertaining with the Sopranos and Artie Bucco's Sopranos family Cookbook. I suppose one could look down from one's nose and call it a travesty.  I call it fun.

Excuse me. I'm off in search for a recipe for Vulcan Plommuck soup.  Since Vulcans are vegetarians, it will probably be good for the diet...

Fairly heavy on the cardamom and nutmeg, Peggy's Brown Betty is my contribution to Weekend Herb Blogging this week. Created by Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen, WHB is hosted this week by Susan of Food Blogga.  Sunday evening, Susan will have a list of all the herby spicy dishes cooked this week.