Frank Picchione

Caramel Pudding

This was very much like making vanilla pudding with the additional step of caramelizing the suger, into which I whisked the milk and corn starch.

Cornmeal & Olive Oil Cake with Rosemary Poached Pears

Over the weekend I made my favorite cornmeal and olive oil cake for my mother's birthday dinner. It is a dense, moist cake with notes of honey and lemon. In the summer I serve it with poached peaches, but this time I topped the cake with slices bosc pears I had poached in a honey-lemon syrup infused with fresh rosemary sprigs.

Grasshopper Cocktail

Photo by Jilda Caccavo

My Friend Jilda recently took a bartending course and she has one of the most well stocked bars I've seen in a person's home. She even has one of those contraptions which makes large, perfectly round ice cubes. One could call her enthusiastic about the art of mixology.

The other night after a delicious and filling dinner at Sandro's Jilda conviced me to join her for a nightcap -truthfully it did not take convincing, but merely suggesting - so she whipped us up a couple of grasshoppers. I'm sure I hadn't had a grasshopper since literally 1982, which is I think six years before Jilda was born. They were festive and tasty, though rather more a dessert than a cocktail.

Vanilla Pudding Under Glass

An elegant presentation for a simple, homey dessert.

Caramel Syrup

I prefer my caramel syrup to be very dark and rather thick, with an ever so slight burnt taste as with the torched sugar of a crème brûlée. This way it contrasts nicely in color and texture to my fluffy floating islands.

Lots of Floating Island

Thanksgiving Crisps

I don't make very many crisps because I prefer a pie with a buttery crust, but for Thanksgiving I made these two large apple crumbles with a brown sugar pecan topping. Naturally served ala mode.

Chocolate Pudding

Pumpkin Panna Cotta

Pumpkin Pie

One of the keys to a delicious pumpkin pie is a properly blind-baked handmade crust.