Olga Breeskin, Mexico's biggest, brightest, buxomest super estrella is honored in this recipe for bacon-wrapped grilled hot dogs. As followers of Spectacularly Delicious will recall, our younger years were spent treading the boards of the wicked, wicked stage. Mexico City's "Super Olga Ochenta y Tres" extravaganza might not be the most wicked credit on … [Read more...]
DIAMOND JUBILEE CAKE: LONG LIVE THE QUEEN!
A Buckingham Palace favorite, this recipe for Diamond Jubilee Cake is Her Majesty's favorite tea cake, as well as the birthday cake of choice for the young royal princes. Also known as Chocolate Biscuit Cake (how terribly common....) this was the groom's cake Wills chose when he tied the knot with cute little Kate. So why, you may ask, do the Brits … [Read more...]
MacARTHUR PARK CAKE – IN HONOR OF DONNA SUMMER
Since Donna Summer famously sang she'd "never have that recipe again," we've created a recipe for MacArthur Park Cake that will endure. Yes, it does take a chunk of time to bake it, but I'm sure that we can take it, especially to celebrate the unbridled joy Donna's heart-pounding anthems brough us back in those halcyon days of disco. This triple-layer chocolate cake, … [Read more...]
MONT BLANC
Acclaimed blogger and urban farmer Charles Thompson introduced me to Gail Monaghan's Lost Desserts, a treasure trove of over-the-top sweet extravaganzas which was to be my initial inspiration for this Spectacularly Delicious recipe for the dazzling Mont Blanc. These first two photos are my Mont Blancs; the third is Ms. Monaghan's dazzler (paired with another of her glorious … [Read more...]
LOBSTER BISQUE a la POSEIDON ADVENTURE
When done properly, as it is in this recipe, there is nothing as sensuously delicious as classic Lobster Bisque. Silky smooth, generously studded with nubbins of the crown jewel of crustaceans, a gleaming tureen filled with piping hot lobster bisque is the ultimate in luxury dining. Today it seems that never was a more enthralling ocean liner sinking than the maiden voyage of … [Read more...]
BLOOD ORANGE CREPES SUZETTE
When all is said and done, we have that certain Cathy to thank for the enduring mystic of Blood Orange Crêpes Suzette. Sophisticated beyond her years, she embodied culture and refinement to a generation hooked on black and white after-school TV reruns. You remember Cathy, don't you? Of course I speak of the Cathy who adores a minuet, the Ballets Russes … [Read more...]
TASMANIAN SEA TROUT MARLENE DIETRICH: SOUS VIDE RECIPE
"I like boiled fish...almost any fish tastes wonderful when properly boiled...the fish must never boil." So sayeth Marlene Dietrich in her book ABC, first published in 1961. Like the lady herself, her culinary advice is mysteriously elusive. And as good a jumping off point as any for the inscrutable world of sous vide cooking with this recipe for … [Read more...]