Desayuno

Today I made my first real sourdough. Well, to be precise, today I baked my first real sourdough. Overall, the making of it was a three day process. I am posting a picture for now, and will be filling in the details, with a recipe, later.

On my first day in Dakar I had yassa, a Senegalese onion and lemon sauce, and I knew I was going to be enjoying the food for my whole stay. But it would be two more weeks before I was to taste what became my favorite Senegalese dish. A neighbor invited Teresa and me to lunch, and she served maffe.

I can’t offer you a place around the platter at Bintu’s house, but if you want maffe I do have some advice: From the Dakar airport, negotiate for a taxi ride to Yoff (You should offer 1000CFA, but you might not get better than 1500 from the airport.). When the driver makes a left turn off the main road, tell him to continue straight ahead. If it’s Tuesday, the street will be closed for the market, and you can just get out there and walk. The market is worth seeing. If it’s any other day, have the driver stop when you see a little white building on the right with “Saf Sap” painted on the wall. If it is lunch or dinner time, the door will be open. If not, the beach is only a few hundred meters further. Enjoy youself, and come back in a little while. They make two dishes a day, and one of them is usually maffe. It will cost 300CFA for a plate. Bring a container with you if you want takeout.

If you don’t plan on being in Dakar any time soon, you can make a very good version of it yourself, though it will cost more than 300CFA. But remember how to get to Saf Sap. After all, you never know. I didn’t plan on being in Dakar either. Read more

If you were to stop your car in the far end of my neighbourhood and ask for the toubab* girl with the scooter, I’m sure someone would be able to take you to my house. Living in Yoff, a sandy fishing neighbourhood north of Dakar, certainly has its perks: food is cheap, there are ladies selling peanuts everywhere, and even the woman who sells cookies by the school gets worried if she hasn’t seen me in a few days. Some days ago I was wandering around the market at dusk when I ran into my six-year old neighbour. She sighed, took my hand, and walked me home with a big smile. Read more

These came to me in a dream. Well, not quite. I was lying in bed, and my mind was drifting around like it usually does right before I fall asleep, and all of a sudden I was thinking of the loukamades a friend of mine made a few weeks ago. And then I was thinking of goat cheese. And here we are! That doesn’t explain my attempt at a French name, but I didn’t know “spinach” in Greek. Read more

This recipe came from really wanting potatoes for dinner, and really wanting dinner soon. I figured it was probably unreasonable, but I try not to let that stop me. Now, I am a fan of the potato, from latkes to shepherds pie. It’s one of my favorite foods, and this recipe has become one of my favorite preparations of potatoes. There is only one downside to this recipe: the potatoes are sliced thin, and cooked in a single layer on a rack, which means that you need a lot of surface area to make enough for multiple people. A half sheet pan with a cooling rack set inside will hold enough for two people. Read more

I have still not quite adjusted to a kitchen that is stocked for one person. All my life I have been in kitchens with food for six or eight. As one person it is difficult to keep five kinds of cheese on hand. Or to have ten pounds of various fresh produce. It would go bad before I could ever eat it. But sometimes the best recipes are the ones born of limited or seemingly mismatched ingredients.

This recipe came from having half a salt cod, a large plantain, a handful of pecan pieces, and some leftover black bean soup in the fridge. Well, it came from that and a desire to make something I had never made before. Read more

I spent December at home, between jobs, and devoted the whole month to concocting new plans to fatten up my parents and sisters. This recipe for chocolate cakes from Louis XV’s pastry chef Becary, posted at La Tartine Gourmande, seemed to work best. My family is always glad to have me back at home for a while, but I get the feeling their stomachs are a bit relieved when I leave. Read more

In response to Teresa’s orange tart, I offer a dessert that is both complex and inelegant. But it is very good.

I had my first gob (I did not name them) less than a month ago, but I already consider myself a devoted fan. The concept is simple: A soft, cake-like chocolate cookie, filled with vanilla cream. It almost sounds like something you would buy wrapped in plastic at a corner store and regret eating. But home made, with the tang of buttermilk and the richness of good cocoa, it’s a thing of beauty.

The original gob is from a friend’s old family recipe, and my only modification is in form: I have made them much smaller. As someone commented the first time I made the recipe myself: “this isn’t a cookie, it’s a commitment!” And it was. As a generous dessert, or a light meal, the cookie was well portioned. But for a snack, it was just too daunting. I made the next batch about 1/4 of the original size, and they were perfect. Two bites each, and you can always have a second. After brief consultation, it was named “the goblet.”

(My best friend immediately doused one in brandy and ignited it, to create a “goblet of fire.”) Read more

When I was little I didn’t have a very good sense of holidays and special occasions. Sure, I loved Christmas as much as any kid, but at five years old, as far as I was concerned Christmas was something that had happened three times in the history of the world. It couldn’t be counted on, and it was unrealistic to try to think far enough in advance to see it coming next time. Being told that my birthday was in eight months was like being told that Ghana is to the west: Entirely true, but I’d never make it all the way there, even if I packed a lunch. No, I celebrated smaller and more frequent holidays: Beach day; dad letting me ride on the hood of the car up the driveway day; going to the movies day. And perhaps the most important of them all was baking day. Read more