Marinated olives

Here’s an easy way to dress up green and/or black olives. The recipe is from Brett Harrision of Universal Press Syndicate.

WEST-COAST STYLE OLIVES
Yield: 16 servings

1 pound olives with pits, rinsed of any brine
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons tarragon vinegar
1/2…

Mini cupcakes; Post-Dispatch photos by David Carson

Cravings owner/pastry chef Tim Brennan will use this rich chocolate ganache to top his Mini Chocolate Cranberry Cupcakes at a fundraiser Nov. 14 for the St. Louis Public Library.

Chocolate Ganache > Tim Brennan, Cravings

1 cup…

Sour cream was an elusive ingredient in the stuffed cabbage recipe sought by Pam Schaeffer of Grover. We received three sour-cream-free recipes in response to her recent request and published one of them in the Post-Dispatch.

Thanks to Marilyn Rickmeyer, here is…

Chinese Celery Salad

My colleague Amy Bertrand made this recipe as she prepared to interview Lucinda Scala Quinn, author of Mad Hungry: Recipes, Strategies & Survival Techniques. You might not think of celery as a side dish, but Bertrand, her husband…

The recipe is adapted from the 1964 edition of “Joy of Cooking,” by  Irma Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker. For another recipe for this dish, which remains popular in Ste. Genevieve, Mo., check this week’s Recipe Exchange column.

In the book,…

Chocolate meringue pie

This recipe for chocolate cream pie is in response to a reader request. (You can find a dairy-free version at STLtoday.com/food.)

It’s from S.R. Bevirt of Belleville, who writes: “The following recipe is the only chocolate pie that I…

Anne Byrn

Anne Byrn, whose recipes dress up cake mixes, tackles gooey butter cake in her new cookbook, “The Cake Mix Doctor Returns” (Workman, $15.95). Here’s what she told food writer Joe Bonwich about the recipe:

“I was in St. Louis on…

Tapas are served on small plates

Here’s another recipe inspired by my recent trip to Spain. Actually, it was inspired by a few of my souvenirs  — cans of oil-packed tuna and piquillo peppers, which are large, sweet red peppers with…

Whether yo call it aioli (in France), alioli (in Spain) or garlic mayonnaise, this condiment is an easy way to add flavor. You can make it from scratch, and it is sometimes sold jarred in import stores. Or use this…

Apple-Spice Cake

My husband and I took advantage of Saturday’s lovely weather to go for a drive to an apple orchard. We picked about 20 pounds of apples — not as many as in the past, when we had kids at…