Nostalgia in the form of spinach
Our favorite restaurants usually steal our hearts in the smallest ways. We return time and again for those perfect little biscuits or that slab of apple pie. My husband and I look forward to the carrot puree at our favorite teeny Italian café in South Lake Tahoe — and when it didn’t appear on one visit, we were bereft.
Andrew Hecker remembers the creamed spinach served long ago at the Pine Cone restaurant in San Leandro. Livermore resident Dona Dickie doesn’t have that recipe, but she thinks one of her favorite spinach recipes will make a fine substitute. This version calls for soft Boursin cheese, usually found in the grocery deli case. The rich, creamy mixture is topped with breadcrumbs and baked until golden. It’s a dish that should win Heck-
er’s heart.
Meanwhile Moraga resident Sandy Steele shared a happy coincidence. “This past weekend, I was visiting my daughter in El Dorado Hills, and we were reminiscing about how she and her brother loved picking out a toy from a treasure chest at a restaurant in San Leandro,” she says. “This was 40-plus years ago. We remembered it was at Bay Fair, but absolutely could not remember its name. Yesterday, I returned home and read my Sunday newspaper. Read your column first and lo and behold, there was the answer: the Pine Cone.”
Fixing the bars
The print version of a recent peanut butter picnic bar recipe left you guessing whether it was teaspoons, tablespoons or cups of confectioner’s sugar. The recipe calls for 2½ cups confectioner’s sugar.
Request line
You can rescue Jane Parks-McKay’s tastebuds. She’d like an authentic recipe for pasta e fagioli, the traditional hearty Italian pasta and bean soup. “I have broken down to ordering it in restaurants lately, and each and every time, it’s bland, tasteless and basically a waste of money,” the Santa Cruz resident says. “Best one we’ve had is at a restaurant down in the Twentynine Palms area. Wish I (had) asked for the recipe when we were there so many years ago.”
Mary likes the idea of keeping a refreshing icebox pie on hand during the summer months, but she has questions. Do icebox pies always use a graham cracker crust? What are the optimal cutting and serving temperatures? She’d like your advice and favorite recipes. She’s particularly wondering about a recipe that works with chocolate or various summer fruits. And how do you store your pie without messing up its lovely appearance?
Send recipes, tips and requests to Kim Boatman at HomePlates@ bayareanewsgroup.com. Find recent Home Plates recipes online at www. mercurynews.com/tag/ home-plates.