when you want a pie crust that doesn’t vie for attention, but beautifully compliments the filling, here is your recipe. You don’t have to obtain ice water for this crust or wash the food processor after you make it, either. This is pie crust the simpler, old fashioned way.
Read MoreMy head can only keep track of so many recipes, and often the ones it forgets are party foods, because I don’t make them as often as the main dishes, sides, salads, and soups that we eat for everyday meals. Even after serving this dip at a couple of parties where people raved about it, it faded from my active recipe mind. Last year, Amelia found it and started making it. She made it often, and I soon I realized it didn’t belong solely to the party food category.
Read MoreWe had finally decided that our local company’s frozen cinnamon rolls—which you defrost, let rise, and bake—were just as good as homemade when our beloved neighbor Lia brought us a plate of hers and irrevocably changed our minds.
Read MoreAt the Thanksgiving table of my childhood*, this was the main event for me. It’s the only Jell-O I (Amelia) have ever liked, and it comes from packages. But, friends, these are Chanel packages. The sweetness of this gelatin-borne wonder is soft and inviting, with whipped cream licking its raspberry-studded top. I can only eat this on Thanksgiving; I refuse to treat it as anything but a special occasion.
Read MoreThis recipe so satisfies our fall appetites that we have to share it with you even though it’s history with us is brief. One fall afternoon when one family member was at ballet class and two family members were at the opera, we (Amelia and Kate) went out for lunch, where they had a salad on the menu with both kale AND spaghetti squash. The very thought of that combination thrilled us and we had to negotiate a bit about which one of us would order it. Unfortunately, the salad itself was disappointing. Still, we were grateful because it got our imaginations humming and the following recipe is the happy result.
Read MoreSwedish pancakes are one of our favorite things to eat for breakfast. I (Kate) loved them growing up because they tasted so good. I love the flavor just as much as an adult, but my love has grown as I’ve learned more about Esther Lydia Akerberg, my adopted ancestor, who made these for my grandpa and his sisters as they grew up. Then they made them for their own children. I wish Esther had lived long enough that we could have made them together.
Read MoreI (Amelia) love tartines. I appreciate the idea of sandwiches, but I usually find that the ratio of filling to bread is off for me. The bread drowns out the filling; and the filling is my favorite part. With one swift decapitation, tartines solve the problem.
Read MoreSam discovered the ancestor of this recipe several years ago in Yotam Ottolenghi’s Jerusalem. We’ve simplified it A LOT since then. We have also changed some ingredients, and we love it. In fact, we prefer it to the original version. We love the flavors. We love that it’s exceptionally beautiful. We wanted you to have it now, so you had time to consider it for your holiday tables.
Read MoreI’d (Amelia) like to call this my first recipe, but in reality it’s not. My first recipe, conceived in about five minutes when I was maybe ten, closely resembles some of the health trends of 2019. It was a baked dessert boasting an enticing ingredient list: oats and bananas. By my vague memory (and the memory of my mom), I mashed bananas and oats together with an egg and baked them. I was very excited. Until I tasted it. Despite my parents’ best efforts to compliment and eat it all, I knew it was gross. (And, upon asking mom today, I discovered that she did think it was gross after all. Parents lie too, I guess.)
Read MoreWhen the girls were barely old enough to go trick or treating, I (Kate) decided we needed to develop a traditional Halloween meal that could 1) be prepared ahead of time without inducing decision fatigue; 2) be sufficiently substantial to offset the day’s candy intake; and 3) taste so delicious that it could tempt bellies already satiated with sweets (back then, I naively thought they’d be eating treats at school Halloween parties as I had. I did not forsee parents who would buy pencils, plastic jewelry, and stickers instead of candy. Nor had I an inkling that I myself might collude with them).
Read MoreOne summer at the Ranch (the cabin we share with relatives) I couldn’t think what to make for dinner. A chic friend and her young son were staying with us, and I felt the pressure of wanting to feed them something they’d genuinely like but without easy access to great produce or spices to make some of the dishes I could have made at home. All of this was good, as I came to see. Because she made us dinner--the following soup--and it immediately became part of our regular meals.
Read MoreYour palate might experience this breakfast as decadent, but it’s actually not. You will finish your serving feeling sated and energized by a delicious dish that, thanks to the cottage cheese and eggs, keeps hunger at bay until lunchtime. The pudding is also wonderful straight from the refrigerator and gives you a boost when you wonder what to eat for an afternoon snack, then remember you have this happiness waiting for you.
Read MoreI (Kate) started a book club right after moving to Boston. I’d graduated from college, was looking for my future, and a book club seemed the right thing to do. I know that I liked that book club, but I really remember only two things about it. One of the members designed an ironic T-shirt that said, “Kate’s Book Club.” A few years into the club, my new brother-in-law—a college student with a good heart and a ton of testosterone—wore the small shirt stretched tightly across his chest. The image has stayed clear in my mind.
Read MoreGrandma’s been gone for almost twenty years, and I still think of her often. Sometimes thinking of her makes me hungry for tuna salad. I’ve come up with a new-fangled recipe that I know she would like, and I make it at the cabin where we used to spend time together, because it calls for the basic pantry ingredients that we take on vacation.
Read MoreFrom late spring into the fall, this cake is a terrific way to celebrate the spectacular fruits that make our hearts flutter and our minds race as we stand in the center of our busy farmers’ market, wondering how to respond to the season’s ridiculous abundance. Our grateful but simple response to fruit? Some we leave out in a bowl to eat and some we bake into cake.
Read MoreWhen you find yourself in the lovely haze of vacation, the last thing you want to do is hunt down hunt down bottles of sauces, spices, and oils that you’ll use only to prepare one meal. Neither do we. But, we also love good cooking. Our compromise is the list that follows: an Away Cafe pantry essentials list. You can prepare a world of dishes with the following happy few. Rarely will an Away Cafe recipe call for pantry items beyond these - and if it does, we’ll warn you. (P.S. if you have to choose only one herb or spice to bring along, make it oregano.)
Read MoreHere is a peek at the yeasted waffle experience. You awaken and the dread you might normally feel at the prospect of leaving the bed dissipates as you remember the night before, when you whisked together a few things in a bowl sometime between dinner and wandering around the house, turning out the lights. Your eyes still closed, a smile plays around your lips and your shoulders relax as you realize you are only a few minutes away from eating some of the world’s most sublime waffles. How will you eat them? Plain? Adorned with whipped cream or yogurt? What syrup will you drizzle? Which fruit might you add? Or is it a day when simplicity feels best—a little maple syrup and nothing more?
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