This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.

On Being Imperfect and a More Perfect Recipe

First of all, let me tell you, once again, that I am far, far from perfect. Now, I could pretend that the mistake in Lois Porter’s recipe for macaroni salad [July 8 column “Losing a Brother, Gaining a Friend”] was her mistake, but that would be untrue. Or I could pretend that I made that mistake to keep you on your toes. The truth is I made a big mistake leaving out a word: in the ingredient list it says, “2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni, cooked.” I left out the word “cooked.” Lois’s recipe was perfect—cooked macaroni and uncooked macaroni are not the same. As I said, Lois is more perfect than I am, even if there is really no such thing as unperfect.

This week’s recipe is, I think, more perfect if not entirely perfect. I have been playing for more than a year to find ways to use a new flavor bean been found by the Callebaut chocolate company called a ruby chip. It is a deep pink and looks like any chocolate chip, but it takes nothing like a chocolate chip. Instead it has floral notes and when you taste it, you taste its essence. Priscilla Martel, my human food encyclopedia, asked if I’d like to share the cost of an enormous cache. But I had a difficult time finding a way to use them where its flavor could shine.

Over the past month or so I played around a recipe for banana bread, leaving out the banana and pure vanilla extract. I added ruby chips, fresh fruit, and buttermilk. I made it with fresh strawberries twice, once with fresh raspberries. I will continue to perfect the recipe and may try it with plums. If you can’t get ruby chips, try regular chocolate chips or maybe cinnamon and adding back the pure vanilla extract instead of the almond.

Lee White of Old Lyme has been a food editor and restaurant reviewer for more than 25 years. You can email her at leeawhite@aol.com.

A New Tea Cake

Yield: 3 loaves, each of which will feed 10 and freeze beautifully

Ingredients:

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ cup sugar

1 ½ tablespoons baking soda

1 ½ teaspoons salt

2 ½ cups toasted pecans, coarsely chopped

12 ounces ruby chips in tossed with 2 tablespoons flour

(other chips will work)

½ cup sour cream

4 large eggs, beaten

2 teaspoon pure almond extract

1 cup buttermilk

12 ounces butter (1 ½ sticks), melted and cooled

1 pint fresh strawberries or raspberries, coarsely chopped

Directions

Adjust oven rack to middle position, heat oven to 350 degrees, and use spray Pam on the bottom of the three, 8-ounce loaf pans.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, pecans, and chips in a large bowl. Toss the fruit with about 2 tablespoons flour and, using your hands, add the fruit.

In another bowl, add sour cream, eggs, extract, buttermilk, and butter. Fold into the dry ingredients and add the mixture fairly equally into the prepared pans. Bake loaves for about 55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool in pan about 5 minutes, the transfer to a wire rack. Try not to eat it until it is cool. It’s even better a few days later and yummy if toasted and topped with just a little butter.