Andrea Lott
Claim to Foodie Fame: Author, Dining in Seattle: Past & Present
What is your earliest memory of cooking?
There are so many, but one of my favorite memory is making bagels with my mom at about age 4. She would boil a huge pot of water and drop them in. She would let me stand on the step-stool next to the stove to help her flip them and then she would let me scoop them out with a big wire strainer.
What is your idea of comfort food?
Comfort food for me is something sweet and mostly likely has chocolate in it — a homemade chocolate chip cookie — or fresh homemade bread. My mom’s Challah is one of the best comfort foods — warm and doughy in the middle and golden outside.
How did your family honor food traditions in your household?
My mom, sisters, and I love cooking together to make our favorites dishes.
Who first taught you how to cook or inspired in you a love of food and cooking?
That’s easy – my mom. She has always been an amazing chef and baker, which means I have a lot to live up to!
Share an example of one of your family food traditions.
My sisters, mom, and I making the Thanksgiving stuffing. The day before Thanksgiving, we all get together and chop, sauté, and mix pounds and pounds of onions, mushrooms, and celery. We have to take turns stirring because the pot is so large and filled to the brim — it easily tires you out. We don’t use a recipe so it’s a lot of tasting and adjusting along the way and always a fun time together, but more than anything it’s continuing a tradition that started with my mom and her mom, so each year we remember and tell stories about my grandmother, who was a truly amazing woman.
What is your favorite dish or meal to cook?
Carrot cake — a ton of fresh carrots and a lot of healthy ingredients — it’s a slice of heaven and everyone loves it. Or even a simple quinoa salad — you can pretty much use anything you’d like and it always tastes good!
If you could invite anyone — living, dead, famous, imaginary — to Thanksgiving dinner, who would it be?
My great-grandparents. I never had a chance to meet them and would love to have a glimpse into my family’s history.
Andrea Lott's Carrot Cake
Serves 16
Ingredients:
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups walnuts, chopped
1 1/2 cups shredded sweetened coconut
5 cups carrots, grated (about 6 to 8 carrots
3/4 cups crushed pineapple, drained
3/4 to 1 cup raisins
Method:
Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease two 9-inch cake pans.
Sift the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon into a large bowl. Add the oil, applesauce, eggs, and vanilla. Beat well. Fold in the walnuts, coconut, carrots, pineapple, and raisins.
Divide the batter between the prepared pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula. Set on the middle rack of the oven and bake for about 50 minutes, until the edges have pulled away from the sides and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool the cakes for 15 minutes, then remove them from the cake pans and cool completely on a wire rack, at least 3 hours. Frost with cream cheese frosting.
Frosting:
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 lemon, juiced (optional)
Cream together the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixture, fit with the paddle attachment. Add the powdered sugar and continue beating until fully incorporated. The mixture should be free of lumps. Stir in the vanilla and lemon juice, if desired.
