Winner of Your Best Recipe with Walnuts

Congratulations to Aliwaks, whose The Walnut Variation: A Cake won the contest for Your Best Recipe With Walnuts! 

Describe an early food experience that has influenced the way you think about food and/or cooking.
When I was about 7 or 8, I baked my first cake. It was a rainy Sunday on Fire Island, but I walked to the general store, bought cake mix and frosting, and went home to bake it. The cake ended up being a total mess since I frosted it while it was still hot and mixed the whole thing with a fork, but I can still smell the rain, the beach, and the cake baking -- and it makes me happy.

What's your least favorite kitchen task?
Anything involved with cleaning.

What is your idea of comfort food?
Depends on what kind of comfort I need! For the most part, bread and butter will set me right -- especially if they're accompanied by oysters and champagne.

More: Homemade bread is not as scary as it seems -- here's how to do it.

 

Your favorite kitchen tool?
My hands. I use them to crush garlic cloves, squeeze lemons, pit cherries, shape dough...the list goes on.

What is your greatest kitchen disaster?
A few weeks ago I was making fresh pasta. It was a little dry, so I was adding some olive oil. Just as I started to drip the oil into the dough, my husband came through the door and startled me -- and I accidentally added in half the bottle! I poured most of it out, but the pasta ended up tasting very strange. Needless to say, I chose to make fazzoletti rather than tagliatelle!

Brought to you by our friends at California Walnuts.