Stuffed Squash. 1/2 gallon Fennel Stock. Tomato Fennel Soup. Fennel Pesto. Toasted Fennel Au Gratin. I came home from this week’s CSA with two massive fennel bulbs complete with long stalks and the biggest toppings of frilly fronds I’ve ever seen. This was going to take a little work, and I suspected there would be…
Hearty Tofu with Apples & Sage
Vegetarians and meat eaters alike will enjoy this taste of the season! Autumn arrived officially last week, and many of us in the north country feel more than a little cheated by the weather this year. Our summer consisted of rain, rain, rain, flooding, cold, and one exquisite week (well five days in a row)…
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Cookbook Confidential: “Bistro Cooking” by Patricia Wells
A classic from the 1989 remains timeless! My friend Bernadette from New Classic Recipe (https://newclassicrecipe.com) came up with the wonderful idea to have an on-line cookbook club with some of her blog buddies. What a fun, and great way to choose a recipe or two from the books, cook them, and review them. Then,…
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Grandmother might not recognize this Macaroni Tuna Salad…especially the vegan version!
When I was growing up, macaroni tuna salad was a simple affair: a pound of elbow macaroni, probably a store brand, a can of tuna, ditto, a cup of peas, a minced onion, and lots of gloppy mayonnaise to extend that can of tuna as far as it could go. We loved it, and for…
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Roasted Ratatouille with Red Lentil Pasta
All of a sudden, you have too much of everything! This time of year, when the peppers, squash, eggplant, and tomatoes are staging their grand finale, and we feel like we have more than we can deal with, the urge to mix them all together is strong. Thoughts often turn to ratatouille. A humble peasant…
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Creamy Corn, Cauliflower & Crab Chowder
A simple classic dish with just a little taste of the sea to liven it up Corn season cannot go by without some more chowder, and it is going fast. As corn season progresses, this native treasure gets sweeter, and the price gets lower, so this is the time of year we pull out those…
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Let’s go to the fair, they have blooming onions!
The solution to Wordle on Saturday was onion. How could we not got to the fair and get a blooming one? Of course, I have an alternative. We try to eat healthy most of the time. However, when the fair opens, all bets are off the table and I plan my appetite around the sharing…
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So, you ended up with too many tomatoes? A savory clafoutis to the rescue!
One day, you are miser with the first couple of tomatoes; the next week, your counter is full! Clafoutis is a French dessert, a kind of an eggy, baked pancake, that is most commonly filled with seasonal cherries and enhanced with a bit of sugar, vanilla, and almond extract. I make this every year when…
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How to throw a New England Clambake for 750, or maybe just for six!
It’s a summer ritual, large or small, with all the flavors of New England’s luscious seafood, and a little smoke. It’s quite a process. Feeding any type of meal to 750 people is a daunting task, but when we are talking delicate seafood, all served up piping hot and perfectly cooked, the technique has to…
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Fresh Ginger and Marmalade Glazed Cod
A tropical crop in the the north country? Why not? The fresh ginger harvest is starting in the Northeast, and it’s a delightful addition to our meals. For the last five years or so, fresh ginger has appeared at our farm stands in late summer and fall. Until then, I had never seen or tasted…
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Super Corny Polenta with Roasted Heirloom Tomatoes
Some of the best flavors of summer combine for a memorable dish. Tomatoes and the sweetest corn imaginable are everywhere right now. Red tomatoes, green, purple, yellow, orange, striped and tie-dye too. All sizes, shapes, and flavors, and so many recipes to make! It was really hard to make my choice at the farmers market…
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6 Chilled Summer Soups
We have a dilemma – with all the wonderful vegetables available right now, it’s just too hot to cook! Chilled summer soups solve the problem, and can take only moments to prepare.
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A Classic with a Twist: Mom’s Scalloped Potatoes with Truffle Butter and Parmesan
Is it possible to make scalloped potatoes taste better? Making a good pan of scalloped potatoes takes some patience, but not a lot of hands-on work. It takes a good hour and a half, plus maybe longer, to bake, and more time to rest and set up. But there’s lots to be done while playing…
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Grilled Corn & Black Bean Salad with Creamy Avocado Dressing
‘Tis the season of abundance! Don’t you love a salad that’s a whole meal? In summer, the fewer times I put on the stove, the better. We love to barbeque, even if it is just tossing a veggie burger on the grill for a few minutes. Vegetables can star in many meals, even as a…
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Summer Cantaloupe Soup, or is that a Muskmelon?
We wait for them all year, and they are well worth the patience. It’s a pleasure indeed when we pick up that first heavy cantaloupe of the season! They always feel twice as heavy as they should be, and a little whiff at the stem end gives you a preview of what is to come….
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Phyllo Nests with Blueberries and Lemon-Lavender Cream
Light, refreshing, and guilt-free. Did I say tasty? It’s blueberry season, and we’re having a really good year here! The surplus of these gems always gets me excited, and although my absolute favorite way to eat them is right out of hand, it’s fun to dress them up. Lots of blue memories Blueberries have a…
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The taste of the Sea, with a little curry to flavor it up!
This curry can be made with whatever seafood you find locally! Here, we’ve used wild caught sustainable New England fish and shellfish from the cold northern waters of the Gulf of Maine. When I make a seafood curry, you know company is coming. Let’s get together! We’ll cook. Recently, we were delighted to have a…
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Everyone Wins: Grilled Summer Vegetables with Two Sauces!
It’s a feast in itself, and everyone gets to choose their favorite veggies and sauce. Happy Days! So, there was a break in the weather. It has rained here in Vermont for over three weeks, and everyone has seen the terrible consequences of that with flooding throughout our beautiful little state. There are still road…
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Did you say Snickerdoodles?
New Englanders love to give silly names to simple dishes, just for the sake of saying them! My granddaughter asked to make snickerdoodles the other day. She asked me multiple times, using the word as much as possible because it is really lots of fun to say. “It should be a grandmother to make snickerdoodles…
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Hot Soup in Summer? Of course, especially if it’s rained for two solid weeks.
Lentil Soup with Kohlrabi and Swiss Chard The weather has been brutal in Vermont. The devastating flooding in our dear little state this week has left most of us is dismay at the massive property and land damage, destroyed buildings and roads, a landscape changed by towers of rushing waters. Anyone who has watched the…
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Ginger Spiced Stuffed Patty Pan Squash
It’s that wonderful time in Vermont when we feel like we have everything at our fingertips. The tables at the farmers markets are filled with color and texture. The little farm stands, often self-serve, that are dotted around the back roads hold just about everything one might need from raw milk to locally raised honey,…
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For those of you who love Goat Cheese, and especially for those who don’t.
This nibble is lunch, or supper, or a very quick first-course for a casual dinner party. Or slip into goat cheese quietly with a flavorful retro-inspired cheese ball, perfect for the Fourth of July celebrations. Half of our family loves goat cheese, and half do not. In fact, a couple put it on their terrible,…
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Baked Tofu with Ginger & Orange over Scented Jasmine Rice
Ginger and orange are lovely flavor companions. They are also quite a pretty color! Tofu usually appears on our table once a week, in some form. I might marinate it, fry it, add it to smoothies or sauces, accent miso soup, or even dress it up for dessert. I have a couple of favorite week-night…
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Baked Sockeye Salmon with French Mustard and Yoghurt
Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon is in season right now with its dark red flesh and full flavor. In fact, sockeye salmon is considered to be the most flavorful of wild salmon. In season from mid-June through July, it is a popular summer barbeque fish, and frequent star of wedding feasts. The harvest of these fish…
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Summer Solstice Strawberry Crunch Cake
Strawberries. Sweet, luscious, red through and through strawberries. They herald the summer season of fruits, and do so delightfully as we move to the longest day of the year. Happy Summer Solstice! Here we are at the longest daylight of the year, which means twilight here until nearly 9:30 p.m., tons of fireflies, and I’m…
