Holidays

Happy National French Bread Day!

While I picture the French scoffing at their across-the-pond neighbors celebrating a culinary trademark item of theirs for a national stateside holiday, America's long been prized as a melting pot -- and we're happy to embrace the wondrous baguette. The golden bread achieves a fluffy interior and remarkably crunchy crust through its use of water on the exterior during the baking process, creating a smoother glaze for added crunch.

Ambitious blogging cooks the "Daring Bakers" attempted the challenge of tackling Julia Child's recipe for French bread -- the glorious result of which you see pictured here. Blogger the Sour Dough promises, "I was going to conquer Julia's Masterpiece French Bread recipe. When I finally made the bread, it was the closest to real French bread I have ever had this side of the Pond." Bon appetit!

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Happy National Ravioli Day!

Encompassing a seemingly endless combination of cheese, vegetable and meat fillings, the pillowy pasta delicacies are a surprisingly achievable dish for home cooks. For helpful guidelines, check out Saveur's "Ravioli How-To," or eHow's instructions on how to make homemade ravioli, without the help of a machine.

Considering herself in an "Italian phase...," blogger La Tartine Gourmande created these elegant butternut squash ravioli bundles, topped with a buttery sage, orange and ginger dressing. Of the time-consuming task of creating her own ravioli from scratch, she has but one complaint: "How comes it takes two minutes to eat them when I obviously needed more than that to prepare them. Have you noticed how often this is the case with food?" We couldn't agree more -- but good food is worth the wait.

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Happy Oatmeal Cookie Day!

Filled with the savory crunch of oats, oatmeal cookies -- like the Marshmallow-filled version pictured here -- are a simple-yet-sophisticated childhood favorite. Says blogger Boastful Baker of these sweet treats, "These are a lot like the Little Debbie oatmeal sandwich cookies that millions of us inhaled as children. The cookie is soft and full of oatmeal. The filling is buttery and marshmallowy."

The Boastful Baker tweaked the cinnamon-heavy recipe, adapted from The All-American Cookie Book by Nancy Baggett. Try it yourself today!

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Happy Corned Beef and Cabbage Day!

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, today's culinary holiday is devoted to this traditionally Irish dish -- or, at least a dish that has been attributed as such stateside, even if its popularity in Ireland has been challenged. Named for the British terminology of "corn," in reference to the meat's increased granular texture, corned beef is typically cured in brine, which amps up its saltiness and flavor.

The bloggers of TheBittenWord.com tackled a Martha Stewart recipe for their St. Patrick's Day feast (pictured above), noting that, despite the two-week brining time, the recipe is remarkably simple, yielding "perfectly tender and juicy [beef], with a great balance of aromatic spices from the brine and the salt." Try the recipe yourself -- it may just become a meat-and-potatoes staple to your recipe repertoire.

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Happy National Artichoke Hearts Day!

Prized by the ancient Romans as food of the nobility, artichoke are still treasured today for their unique flavor and fresh texture. With more than 50 varieties growing worldwide, artichokes are largely valued for their edible hearts -- the fleshy base, including the surrounding tender leaves.

Pictured here, artichoke hearts are texturized further, beyond their natural layers, by being gently fried for a few minutes, adding an additional crunch to their edges. Though blogger Tamarind and Thyme provides only a pictoral recipe for this preparation, the guidelines are simple -- trim and rinse the artichoke hearts, dip in flour and fry in oil until lightly browned. They would fare well topped with fresh herbs and Parmesan; but are equally delectable on their own.

What's your favorite preparation for artichoke hearts? Have a heart -- share your recipes in the comments!

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