THE QUEEN’S DROP SCONES on Americas-Table.com
recipes

The Queen’s Drop Scones

There’s a really fascinating book called “Letters of Note: An Eclectic Collection of Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience,” which I’ve been reading this summer. It’s a compilation of historic, moving, and extraordinary letters written by famous people throughout history.  One of the more endearing is a handwritten letter from Queen Elizabeth II to President Dwight Eisenhower, in which she shares her recipe for drop scones – which the President had tasted and admired while visiting the Queen at Balmoral […]

GLAZED HAM WITH PICKLED APRICOTS on Americas-Table.com
food

Glazed Ham with Pickled Apricots

A summer ham is so versatile. It goes seamlessly from Sunday dinner to Monday morning breakfast with eggs, and then maybe a ham sandwich with dill pickles and mustard for lunch. Stone fruits are one of my favorite things about the summer – they remind me of this lazy, easy time of the year and have such versatility. I decided to combine the two: I pickled some apricots as a delicious garnish, as well as pureeing some into a glaze, […]

CHOCOLATE SODAS on Americas-Table.com
food

Chocolate Sodas

It’s time for another of those unhealthy treats that I cannot resist from time to time. Chocolate sodas. Here’s my rationale for making them: they’re delicious, especially when you use thick chocolate milk, cold-pressed coffee, and dark chocolate and Turkish coffee ice cream to amp up the flavor. To make them less unhealthy, I made them half the size of a standard ice cream soda. They satisfy the craving, but not in a way that fills you with self-loathing afterward. […]

SIDE BY SIDES on Americas-Table.com
recipes

Side by Sides

Really good vegetable sides recipes are easy to find these days. Here are two – one new, and one dating back to the Kennedy White House. Both are memorable. They’re the kinds of vegetable dishes that you’ll want to make again, and I especially love the history behind the endive recipe. I found it in a book called, “In the Kennedy Style,” by my old friend Letitia Baldrige. Tish was Jacqueline Kennedy’s social secretary and helped to bring high French […]

BLUEBERRY COCONUT BAKED DOUGHNUTS on Americas-Table.com
food

Blueberry Coconut Baked Doughnuts

“Blueberries as big as the end of your thumb, Real sky blue, and heavy, and ready to drum In the cavernous pail of the first one to come!” –Blueberries by Robert Frost Blueberries are one of the greatest foods ever. They’re so forgiving; toss them into a muffin, a cake, a pancake, a pie, and they bubble and ooze into all the other flavors, making everything taste better. Maybe we should all try to be more like the humble blueberry, […]