Food Swoon

Chocolate Pecan Praline Sticky Buns

I’m of the opinion sticky buns deserve better than a chalky, white, achingly-sweet glaze.

In my world, this beauty is the mother of all sticky buns, with its thick swirls of chocolate ganache dotted with dark and milk chocolate pieces.

The base is a brioche dough, which bakes up golden, buttery and pillowy soft.

In the oven, the sticky buns float in a hot, bubbly pecan-and-honey-caramel bath. The result? When unmolded, the buns are enveloped in a caramel glaze that thickens and sets as the buns cool, the caramelized pecans clinging to the tops and sides of the bread.

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Prosciutto-Wrapped Chicken With Goat Cheese, Chives and Fried Garlic

The inspiration for this recipe comes from Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Chrissy Teigen, who pens the food blog, www.sodelushious.com, where she writes in endearing, bawdy fashion about her favorite recipes, eating habits, her abhorrence of exercise, and the challenges of maintaining her (much envied) figure as a self-proclaimed bacon addict.

(Teigen with fiancé John Legend at a cooking class / www.sodelushious.com)

I interned at Sports Illustrated many, many years ago and was often asked what kind of interaction I had with the swimsuit models. I think people envisioned me bumping into Heidi Klum at the vending machine or sharing an elevator with Tyra Banks. Alas, the halls of Sports Illustrated were not filled with long-legged models. They were mostly filled with middle-aged men – and a few college interns, like me, trying not to trip over their own feet.* 

During my time at the magazine, I had the pleasure of meeting an up-and-coming reporter, Jeff Pearlman, who became a lifelong friend and quickly rose in the SI ranks to senior writer. Jeff, author of the New York Times best-selling biography on Walter Payton, once blogged about his week-long experience at an SI swimsuit shoot during the Molly Sims era. Spoiler alert (and unintentionally related to today’s recipe): chicken cutlets were strategically positioned in bikini tops. 

Last year, Teigen blogged at length about eating a primarily low-carb diet in preparation for various swimsuit shoots. This delicious creation appeared in a Shape Magazine article featuring her five favorite low-carb recipes.

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Salsa Verde

This salsa verde request and dedication goes out to my college friend, Woody, who declared in a voice of authority – OK, over text, but it was an authoritative text – that it was the best salsa verde he’d ever had.

Woody is well versed in many matters of importance: food, music, In Living Color reruns. He’s also a nationally-recognized privacy law expert and a college professor with fancy degrees from fancy schools. We’ve had the pleasure of reconnecting with him and his charming wife since their return to Birmingham last year.

Those two can host a dinner party, and Woody’s the kind of guy who, while carefully tending to a bubbling pot of Bolognese sauce, will captivate you with his expounding knowledge of the complexities of social media privacy – for example, why you should think twice before posting those racy pictures from spring break, Vegas or the family reunion. (Facebook friends, you know who you are.)

He will also tell you to stop what you’re doing and change your passwords. All of them. And come on, “PASSWORD” is not a password. My husband, after hearing Woody discuss internet security risks on NPR’s Talk of the Nation, immediately changed his passwords. Just when I had them all memorized. THANKS, Woody.

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Battenberg Cake

Battenberg cake, a checkered sponge cake with apricot jam filling and a marzipan coat, was created to celebrate the marriage of Queen Victoria’s granddaughter, Princess Victoria, to Prince Louis of Battenberg in 1884. The four cake panels symbolize the four princes of Battenberg.

That’s the word on the street, anyway.

Other sources claim the whimsical cake originally had nine sections, not the four you see today.

Who’s counting, I say. This English tea cake is irresistibly festive and begs to be served at a party or celebration; a bridal tea or baby shower seems fitting. In our family, the annual occasion is my mother’s birthday, as Battenberg cake is her favorite sweet confection and you can’t, to my knowledge, find it anywhere in Alabama.

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