Cookbook Club, Fig & Almond Cake + A Vegetarian Phyllo Pie | Our Best Home Cooking Bites

Food Friends: Home Cooking Made Easy

In this episode of Food Friends, hosts Sonia and Keri dive into two standout recipes from David Tanis' 'A Platter of Figs' cookbook: a golde

Key takeaways

• David Tanis' recipes encourage intuitive cooking rather than strict adherence to measurements, fostering confidence in home cooks.

Main topics

• Fig and almond cake from David Tanis' 'A Platter of Figs'
• Vegetarian phyllo pie with chickpeas, cauliflower, sweet potatoes, and seasonal vegetables

Notable quotes

"It's deceptively simple. Like every David Tanis recipe, what I learned about David Tanis is he invites you to be an intuitive cook."

Conclusion

The episode celebrates the joy of home cooking through accessible, flavorful recipes that inspire

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:01) Welcome to Food Friends, a podcast inspiring home cooks to try new dishes in the kitchen by sharing trusted recipes, tips, Speaker 1 (0:10) and friendship. Hi, I'm Sonia. And I'm Keri. We met in Los Angeles over 15 years ago as personal chefs and haven't stopped talking about food since. We're so glad you're here. Speaker 1 (0:24) Hi, Sonia. Hi, Keri. Sonia, what was your best bite this week? Speaker 2 (0:28) It is another Cookbook Club recap week. We haven't done that. They just keep coming, Sonia. Well, Speaker 1 (0:34) it's Speaker 2 (0:34) been a minute. I feel like the last time was late spring. What Speaker 1 (0:38) was the cookbook that you cooked from and what were your best bites? There's always multiples. That's what I think is so great about these conversations. Speaker 2 (0:45) So the cookbook we cooked from was David Tanis' A Platter of Figs. I always think of you when I think about David Tanis because you invited me to one of his book launches in Los Angeles. in the, what was it called? The Grand Central Market. Yeah, Speaker 1 (1:00) I was just there this week, actually. Speaker 2 (1:02) Oh, you were? Oh, that's so nice. So we went, it was a very small event. We met him. He was lovely. I feel like there was 30 people there. Yeah, Speaker 1 (1:10) it was very small. And I also remember meeting Kevin West, who's known for preserving. He's like a friend of David Tanis'. I hadn't Speaker 2 (1:17) really been acquainted with David Tanis' work before then. And so you really introduced me to him. But what you realize is he is part of the Chez Panisse legacy. He was one of their chefs. I just can't believe how much Alice Waters has impacted all of food as a whole because Seminoe Sratz from Chez Panisse, David Tannis, there's so many world-renowned cooks and pastry chefs. David Leibovitz worked at Chez Panisse who've written their own cookbooks who we're all cooking from who contribute to the New York Times. And so actually my best bite, I went a little bit rogue. Okay, I did cook something from the cookbook. I honored Cookbook Club, but I made a second dish, not from the cookbook, but still from David Tannis. So the dish I made not, from the book was fig and almond cake recipe that's in the New York Times. We were cooking from a platter of figs. No one had signed up for any fig recipes. It is still fig season. I was like, we need to have figs at this table. And also during one of our live around the table with food friends, which we host every month for paid Substack subscribers, one of our community members, Mary Jo, had recommended this recipe. She had said that she had made it. She loved it. And you and I both, I think, instantly took note. Speaker 1 (2:25) Yeah, I also put it on my kitchen list because I had received figs in my farm box that week. And I was like, oh, that's perfect. She's literally solved my problem. And then what I did was we ate all of the figs or we ate most of them. There weren't enough to make the recipe. And so you and I were talking about it and you're like, oh, I'm going to make this. I was like, please make this cake and tell me. So is this cake was your best bite of the week then? Speaker 2 (2:48) Yeah. And at first though, I'll say I didn't think it was. It became my best bite the next day. So the day made at Cookbook Club, I tried it and maybe because I was eating so many other things, I was like, I don't know. It's good, but it's, but then the next day I was like, oh my God, it's so good. And it's deceptively simple. Like every David Tanis recipe, what I learned about David Tanis, I learned so much about him from this cookbook club and from this recipe. He invites you to be an intuitive cook. He is not a recipe developer or cookbook author for someone who likes exact, exact everything. And I respect people who need an exact recipe. and want to follow things to T. That's not his style of cooking. And what he really encourages with every recipe is for you to trust your gut, to make little modifications he doesn't handhold. And it's just so interesting because there's always this debate among recipe writers about how much do you hold someone's hand. Back in the day, a recipe was like, make a dough, put it in the oven. And now we're in this era where it's like every single minute detail is often included in the recipe. I think David lands in the middle of these two places. So some people struggle. with some of his recipes and some didn't. Now the fig and cake recipe, it's pretty clear, but I still feel like there's moments where you can kind of modify and trust your gut. And the comments in the New York Times section definitely have input too. But what I love about this recipe is it is one of the easier cakes you can make. You do need a fluted tart pan. Speaker 1 (4:12) Which I don't have, but at least my food friend, Maylin has, I could borrow from her. Speaker 2 (4:17) Now I know what to put on your Christmas. Speaker 1 (4:20) Totally. Speaker 2 (4:21) Nine inch fluted pan. I only have a 10 inch, so I use that. And then what you do is you put whole raw almonds, not blanched almonds, just regular old almonds in a food processor with some sugar and you pulse it to combine. And then you add to that crumbly mixture, some flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt, and you pulse to combine it some more. At first, when I read the recipe, I was like, I'm not doing that. I'm just going to use my almond