There is so much more to say about Nora Ephron than her vinaigrette was wonderful. The recent death of this author, filmmaker, director and dear friend to so many seemed to generate as many blog posts as the recent Supreme Court decision on health care.
In Heartburn—the thinly veiled story of her marriage to and divorce from Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein—the protagonist is a cookbook author. Ephron sprinkles recipes throughout. Here are a few easy ones, along with her a ricotta pancake recipe.
Ricotta Pancakes
Beat one egg, add 1/3 cup fresh whole-milk ricotta and whisk together. Heat up a Teflon pan until carcinogenic gas is released into the air. Spoon pancakes onto the frying pan and cook about three minutes on one side, until brown. Carefully flip. Cook for another minute to brown the other side. Eat with jam, if you don't care about carbs, or just eat unadorned. Serves one.
Vinaigrette, from Heartburn
Mix 2 tablespoons Grey Poupon mustard with 2 tablespoons good red wine vinegar. Then, whisking constantly with a fork, slowly add 6 tablespoons olive oil, until the dressing is thick and creamy; this is very strong and perfect for salad greens like arugula and watercress and endive.
Note: I like this with less mustard.
Nora Ephron's Cheesecake (which she had found on a package of Philadelphia Cream Cheese)
9 inches deep-dish graham cracker crust
12 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 eggs, well beaten
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups sour cream
1/2 cup sugar
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.
Mix cream cheese with the eggs, 1 cup of sugar and vanilla. Pour into graham cracker crust and bake 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool 15 minutes.
While pie is cooling, mix sour cream with 1/2 cup sugar. Spread gently over the top and bake 10 minutes more.
Cool and then refrigerate for several hours.
Nora Ephron's Bacon Hash
bacon, 2 strips
1 medium potato, cooked
salt
pepper
Directions:
Cut bacon into small pieces, then cook over low flame in skillet.
Meanwhile, dice up the cooked potato and, after some fat is rendered from the bacon, add to the skillet. Cook until the potatoes are crusty brown. season with salt and pepper.
Eat with an egg, if you like.
Prophetically in the last two chapters of her last book, Nora Ephron wrote "What I Won't Miss" (bras, bad dinners like the one we went to last night) and "What I Will Miss" (waffles, pie, the view out the window). You can see the entire lists on my blog, Confessions of a Worrywart.
See my bio for links to my healthy recipe, travel, relationship articles and more.
See also:
*Top 7 Books To Give As Gifts And To Read
*Sneak Preview Of Bobby Flay's New Cookbook, Bar Americain
*Can Working Women Have It All?
*Celebrity Photos From The White House Correspondents' Dinner
*Divorce, Downsizing, Dating & Death: One Woman's Story
*Last Week My Mom Died; This Week I Celebrated Her Life
