A Hero’s Cauliflower Gratin
“We all are Citizens of the World. What’s good for you, must be good for all. If you are lost, share a plate of food with a stranger… you will find who you are.”— Chef José Andrés Need a hero? How about considering Jose…
Recent Posts
A Cauliflower Bounty! Cauliflower Cutlets With Romesco Sauce
I have three cauliflower heads in my refrigerator right now–a beautiful orange one, a pristine white one and a spectacularly purple-hued one. The bins at my farmers market have been full of beautiful multi-colored cauliflowers in recent weeks. Although I live alone, the temptation to…
Chillin’ At Summer’s End With Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream
Who doesn’t need a little ice cream right now?
This Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream is pretty special. Creamy with a real coffee kick!
Living here in Southern California, I’m near Little Saigon in Westminster, California–the largest Vietnamese community outside of Vietnam. That gives me entree to all sorts of Vietnamese food delights–from the everyday to the esoteric. From a gazillion permutations of brightly-colored chili sauces to homemade tofu, it’s here.
For a very long time I’ve seen Vietnamese locals cruising the lanes of local stores nursing a milky-looking Vietnamese coffee creation–either hot or gloriously iced. Once I got up the courage to try one, I was hooked. And, of course, that brought me home to surf my cookbook collection (and the Internet!) for a recipe. There were a lot and I’ve happily enjoyed the treat ever since.
But Vietnamese Coffee ice cream! Who knew?
This recipe is adapted from Meera Sodha’s cookbook East. You can buy the cookbook through your local bookstore or at Amazon here.
Here is the recipe as I adapted it to my kitchen. This recipe is too simple not to add it to your cooking repertoire–a piece of cake! Speaking of cake, this would be pretty wonderful scooped on top of a small square of chocolate cake or a chocolate brownie.
Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream
August 8, 2026
Ingredients
- 4 T. espresso coffee concentrate (I used Trader Joe's brand)
- 3 C. heavy cream
- 1 14-ounce can condensed milk
Directions
- Step 1 Whip cream to soft peaks.
- Step 2 Mix espresso concentrate and condensed milk. Fold this mixture into the whipped cream.
- Step 3 Chill ice cream batter and then process in your ice cream maker. If your ice cream maker makes a “soft-serve” kind of ice cream (as does mine) spoon the soft ice cream into a freezer container and firm it up in the freezer.
Hot Charred Tomatoes With Cold Yogurt
This has long been a “viral” hit among the many popular recipes in the Ottolenghi cookbook world. The Hot Charred Tomatoes With Cold Yogurt dish even graces the cover of one of Yotam Ottolenghi’s cookbooks, Ottolenghi Simple. You can buy the cookbook through your local bookstore…
Oldies But Goodies…Pavlova!
Every month Blue Cayenne features recipes from our archive of more than four hundred recipes. These recipes are our “Oldies But Goodies.” Today’s Oldies But Goodies recipe is for a classic dessert, Pavlova. Here is the link: Pavlova.. Want to dive deeper into our Pavlova.…
Corn and Miso Pasta Salad
OK. Who put miso in the macaroni salad?
And corn? Doesn’t corn clash with pasta?
It was Ham El-Waylily of the New York Times and it is a brilliant move. And, no, corn works beautifully with this macaroni salad.
This is an adaptation of a New York Times recipe. You can find the original recipe here.
Here is the recipe as I prepared it in my kitchen. Like most macaroni salads, the quantities of ingredients are adjustable to your taste.
Corn and Miso Pasta Salad
July 21, 2026
Ingredients
- Kosher salt
- 8 oz. small macaroni pasta
- 3 ears fresh corn (or equivalent frozen corn)
- 2 celery stalks (peeled and chopped)
- 2/3 C. finely-minced chives
- 1/4 C. roasted red peppers (chopped fine)
- 1/4 C. chopped green onion
- Granulated sugar (to your taste)
- Salt
- 3-4 T. white miso
- 2-3T. lemon juice (or to taste)
- 2 t. Calabrian chiles (or chipotles in adobo or sambal oelek or gochujang)
- 1/2 -1 C. mayonnaise
- Sliced red onions (for garnish)
- Sliced black olives (for garnish)
- Chopped parsley (for garnish)
- More chopped roasted red peppers (for garnish)
Directions
- Step 1 Cook pasta in salted water following directions on the package.
- Step 2 Prepare corn by slicing kernels off the cob. Poach the corn in boiling water for a couple minutes to reduce the raw starchiness. Alternatively, use frozen defrosted corn.
- Step 3 Combine corn, macaroni, celery, chives, roasted red peppers and chopped green onions. Stir in a pinch (or more to taste) of sugar and salt.
- Step 4 In a separate bowl, whisk miso, Calabrian chiles (or one of the alternatives), and lemon juice together.Fold in mayonnaise and whisk to combine.
- Step 5 Combine the corn/macaroni mixture with the dressing. Adjust seasonings. Chill.
- Step 6 At serving time, top macaroni salad with red onion, chopped parsley and sliced black olives.
- Step 7 Cook’s Note: I used Trader Joe’s Hot Calabrian Chile paste. It was indeed hot. If you use the paste, taste as you go and add to your salad to your taste and tolerance. Also, miso is pretty salty, so be cautious when adding more salt to the recipe. I went with the larger amount of mayonnaise because I like macaroni salad pretty creamy.
Cafe Sperl’s Plum Squares
At my local farmers’ market, the stone fruits are winding down. The cherries are gone. The apricots are so ripe they’re squishy by the time you get them home. Peaches and plums, however, are still available in abundance. As you know if you read this…
Soup in July? Lemony White Bean Soup
Soup in July? Is that even allowed? This is highly rated soup from Melissa Clark’s Dinner In One cookbook. You can order the book through your local bookstore or on Amazon here. If, on the other hand, you are craving a cold soup to get you…
A Dream Chocolate-Chocolate Poundcake
If chocolate rocks your world, this is the cake for you.
It is decadently bittersweet with a poundcake texture. The frosting is to die for. For this recipe, I used Callebaut Bittersweet Chocolate and Double Dutch Cocoa; both were purchased from King Arthur Baking.
This recipe if from David Lebovitz’ newly revised cookbook, The Great Book of Chocolate. You can buy this cookbook through your local bookstore or on Amazon here.
Lebovitz is the author of a number of great cookbooks including My Paris Kitchen, The Perfect Scoop, Ready for Dessert and Drinking in French. He was a pastry chef at the famed Chez Panisse Restaurant in Berkeley. He currently lives and bakes in Paris and writes a wonderful newsletter you can find on Substack here.
Here is the recipe as I prepared it in my kitchen.
Chocolate-Chocolate Pound Cake
June 27, 2026
Ingredients
- For the Cake:
- 4 oz. bittersweet chocolate
- 6 T. unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 3/4 C. heavy cream
- 2 t. vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 C. all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 t. baking powder
- 1/2 t. salt
- 11 T. unsalted butter (cubed, room temperature)
- 1 1/4 C. sugar
- 3 large eggs (room temperature)
- For the Frosting:
- 4 oz. bittersweet chocolate
- 2 T. water
- 2 T. heavy cream
- 4 T. unsalted butter (cubed, room temperature)
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Use a 9 inch loaf pan. Butter the pan and dust it with cocoa. Line the pan with parchment, leaving two sides long to use as handles to assist you in removing the cake from the pan.
- Step 2 Put 4 oz. chocolate and the cocoa powder in a medium heat-proof bowl. Set aside.
- Step 3 Heat the 3/4 C. heavy cream in a small saucepan to a boil. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and cocoa powder. Let this sit for a couple of minutes. Whisk until smooth.Stir in vanilla Set aside.
- Step 4 Whisk flour, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Step 5 Using your stand mixer and the paddle attachment, mix 11 T. room-temperature butter cut into chunks with the sugar. Mix for about 3 minutes until the butter mixture is pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time to the butter mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl after the addition of each egg.
- Step 6 Remove the bowl from the stand mixer stand. Using a spatula, fold in half the dry ingredients. Then, add the melted chocolate and stir. Then, add the remaining dry ingredients. Give the mixture a good stir to be sure there are no dry spots of flour in the mixture. Spoon this batter into your prepared pan.
- Step 7 Bake your poundcake for about 55 minutes. Your cake is done when it is firm on the top and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Remove cake from oven and let it cool on your counter for about 20 minutes.
- Step 8 While your cake is cooling, prepare the frosting. Use a medium-sized heatproof bowl. Position the bowl over a pan of shimmering hot water. Add the water and 2 T. cream and stir until the mixture has melted. Once it has melted, remove the bowl from the heat and bit by bit stir in the room-temperature butter. You want the butter to be completely incorporated into the frosting but you don’t want to beat or whisk it too vigorously. Doing so would cause you to lose the beautiful glossy sheen. Let the frosting sit for a few minutes to thicken to a spreading consistency. Once it is at the right consistency, frost your cake using an offset spatula.
A Gorgeous Grilled Sweetcorn Slaw
It’s summer! Woo-hoo! Right now, my favorite local farmers’ market is bursting with beautiful produce. What better way to showcase (and enjoy!) that bounty than by making a fresh salad? Make that a fresh crunchy coleslaw and I’m in heaven. Make it beautiful and just…
