No-Knead Cinnamon Walnut Twists

This very easy recipe took the whopping $50,000 Grand Prize at the First Pillsbury Bake-Off in 1949. The original way of letting the dough rise occurred under water. The wet dough, wrapped in a tea towel, was immersed into a bowl of warm water, and when the yeast performed its magic, the package of dough floated to the surface. This is a great method, especially in a cold kitchen.

For the article and accompanying Video, please click here.

Onion Quiche

One of our best storage crops is onions. And you have many kinds to choose from in markets right now. Yellow and white onions, in particular, make great quiches, soups, and salads. Cooking them until tender and golden smoothes out any harshness. I like to bake quiche shells in a metal ring. I find the bottom crust is crisper compared to prebaking the shell in a pie pan--a nice texture contrast with the soft filling. Click here for the story, recipe and photos.

Homemade Baking Mix

Putting together your own baking mix is a snap. Just 5 ingredients go into it, and you're ready to make all sorts of pancakes, muffins, biscuits, cakes, and cookies. The article with photo and video will show you how to get started.

Cinnamon Apple Cake

Last friday I baked ten Cinnamon Apple Cakes for a dinner theater benefit for our local synagogue Har Shalom. Four other area chefs cooked the rest of the menu. This cake (see story and photo at http://bit.ly/3pocIZ) was featured on the October 1996 cover of Cooking Light magazine. It gets its special texture from a combination of low-fat cream cheese and butter and 3/4 pound of chopped crisp apples. I used Goodland apples provided by Harry Richards, a local apple rancher.

We're on a road trip now, and a couple of days ago we paid a visit to Nick Botner in Yoncalla, Oregon. He is also an apple lover and grows 4,000 apple varieties. Yes, 4,000. Best estimates put the world's apple varieties at around 7,000. On Nick's farm, each variety has its own tree, and Nick led us through his orchard, plucking apples here and there and cutting slivers for us to taste. We tried about two dozen kinds we'd never tasted before and were blown away by the different tastes, textures, and aromas.

Apple season is in full swing right now, so try as many as you can.

Chinese Appetizers

Last week we had a Chinese artist, Lian Zhen, staying with us. He's a terrific cook, too, and made dinner for us twice. What really stood out for me were two appetizers: Chicken wings with black bean garlic sauce and pork ribs with ginger and garlic. Both are amazingly easy to make and they're absolutely delicious. You mix up a marinade, toss in your meat, stir to coat well, and cover and refrigerate a few hours or overnight. Pop them into a 350 degree oven for an hour, turning them once about halfway through, and you're done. If you're in a hurry, even a 1 hour soak in the marinade is fine. For the full story with recipes, video, and photo please visit the Missoulian.

Here I am with Lian and a delicious steamed trout dish he cooked for us.

Summer Soup

Here's a great recipe to help you use up all your garden veggies--Soupe au Pistou, a Mediterranean soup that gets its name from pistou or pesto, in this case a tomato-based garlic and cheese paste that gets stirred into the soup at table. Full recipe and story with photo at http://bit.ly/czzbA.

Peach Cheesecake Pie

As peach season is coming to an end in western Montana, do try this extraordinary pie--a layer of fresh peaches poached in a vanilla syrup topped with a layer of creamy cheesecake. The dessert, originally called Peacheesy Pie, won the $25,000 Grand Prize at the 1964 Pillsbury Bake-Off for 17-year-old Janis Boykin of Melbourne, Florida. Miss Boykin used canned peaches and a shortening pie crust. I use a butter crust and fresh peaches. Hurry to the kitchen while fresh peaches are still a possibility!

Here's a link to the recipe.

http://gregpatent.com/recipes.html