By A'Dell
I am kind of obsessed (in a non-stalker way, I promise) with a food blogger named Annie and her lovely, wonderful, DELICIOUS website called Annie's Eats. The site was new to me about a year ago and I've since made several of Annie's recipes. They've all been stunners that I've put into heavy rotation in my kitchen.
I do find that Annie's recipes can be a bit step-intensive, which is off-putting to me in a major way upon first glance. I've devised some shortcuts here and there but I have to say, her steps are well worth the effort and I do love that her instructions are so detailed and leave very few questions.
My favorites?
Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Layer Cake
I reviewed this recipe here, last fall and I still think about this cake on a weekly basis. I have yet to make it a second time, because it's pretty time consuming, but MAN was it delicious. Excellent choice for a special occasion.
Herbed Risotto with Chicken and Carmelized Onions
I make this almost every week and it is SO amazing. I leave the chicken out: it's too much hassle/not enough flavor reward for me and I never miss it in the final dish. I have also made this with romano cheese and then once with sharp white cheddar because that's what I had on hand two nights and it was fine. This freezes pretty decently and makes a LOT of risotto. And oh, man. IT IS SO GOOD. I once added shiitake mushrooms and that was very yummy. Whatever you do, do not skimp on the herbs because they absolutely make the dish. Be sure to slice the onions very, very thinly to get them to carmelize faster and blend into the final dish better.
They taste JUST LIKE the grocery store ones. They're different than my favorite roll out cookies (Vanilla Almond!) but these are similarly delightful.
This red sauce is DIVINE and freezes beautifully. Again, lots of chopping, lots of steps, TOTALLY WORTH IT. I usually quadruple the recipe once a month or so and freeze boatloads for dinners later. (I use my super smart enchilada freezing method. Enchiladas defrost pretty fast on the counter and pop in the oven right in the foil to warm through, which means no dirty dishes, which is MY FAVORITE.) Open a can of black beans, make a salad or plate of guac and you're in Tex-Mex heaven for almost zero effort.
When making the sauce I don't bother to separate the solids from the liquid as she directs. Again, time consuming and dirty-dish making. I just sort of portion it out with my eye and they turn out just fine. Enchiladas aren't too much of a science so it seems to work.
I made that cake for my daughter's big party-- it's not too bad if you break it up into separate days!
Posted by: Sheila Garrett | February 08, 2012 at 02:41 PM
After reading about the cake on food lush I had to make it too, well worth the many hours that went into it!
Annie's french onion soup is sooo good.
I've also made her pumpkin butter scotch cookies which everyone enjoyed.
Good find, thank you!
Posted by: Molly | February 08, 2012 at 11:47 PM