This recipe is from the grandmother of a friend of a friend! My friend Carolyn and I have worked a local music festival for many years, and catering the green room for the artists has been one of our pleasures. Since the festival is in early June, Carolyn often brought this cake made from fresh…
Author: Dorothy Grover-Read
I'm a writer, cook, gardener, poet, quilter. Our family has run a small Vermont Bed and Breakfast Inn for 18 years, with our focus on local, organic produce, dairy, and meats. After many years of daily serving up of our local delicacies, cooking classes, and catering, we are now only open for special events and book a number of rooms for musicians and artists. I've been a writer all my life, newspapers, radio news, and magazines, but now turn my attention to my cookbook and a cooking column for our county newspaper "The Commons." And, of course, feeding family and friends! With a family that includes nut, peanut, fruit, and vegetable allergies, gluten intolerance, dairy intolerance, vegetarians, heart conscious, and a couple of picky eaters, there has to be a few quick tricks in the book to keep everyone fed and happy!
Quick Braised Spring Vegetables with Mint
Rhubarb adds the tart, spring radishes and turnips the savory, and a touch of honey balances it all out. Spring is finally here and we are now getting a steady supply of lettuces and tons of other greens, radishes, asparagus, and little turnips. Ruby red stalks of rhubarb have also made their debut, and together…
Slow Roasted Duck with Cherry & Fennel Sauce
Roast it slow, and the oven does all the work! Serve with either a long-summered or quick sauce. We don’t cook duck very often. We think of it as a holiday or special occasion dish. But roasting a duck is as simple as roasting a chicken, and it makes a lovely presentation for a simple…
Pasta with Asparagus and Spring Peas
Asparagus. Spring Peas. Vidalia Onions. In the time it takes to cook the pasta, you have a dish ready to serve. The asparagus has been stubborn this year. We’ve had a cold, wet spring, even snow this week in higher elevations! We live in a river valley, so we escaped the white, but it was…
Spiced Arborio Rice Pudding
This is Comfort Food with a subtle fragrance of spices! Most of us have memories of rice pudding. If the memory involves something wonderful your mother made, it’s a good one. But if your only memory is that of school cafeteria pudding, well, you might not think as kindly upon this dish. I have only…
Thai Baked Tofu with Peanut & Sesame
Flavorful and satisfying, even the meat-lovers will enjoy this! This is one of my favorite lunches or snacks. It is a little spicy, a little sweet, a little sour, and a whole lot savory. I find it addictive as well! Our local food co-op offered a baked thai tofu in its “Grab and Go” section…
Baked Salmon with Ramps & Lemon
Simple additions let the flavor of the salmon shine through! We eat a lot of salmon dishes in our house, and this is one of the easiest and most flavorful. The full flavor of the salmon shines through, with the wild leeks and lemons adding their own unique accents. Another bonus is that it is…
Spicy Guacamole Salad
A refreshing guacamole is not just a dip for corn chips. With just a few additions, you have a lovely spring salad or first course. Add a little shrimp, and you have a light lunch. I love avocados and eat them in some form most days. They are great simply sliced and drizzled with citrus…
Marinated Spring Vegetables
You can use either fiddleheads or asparagus, ramps or scallions. These spring treasures will add a pleasant freshness to any meal! When local wild spring vegetables are bountiful, we look for every way possible to use them. Fiddleheads make only the briefest of appearances in our Northern woods, but when they start poking their little…
Spring Foragers Supper
Celebrate early spring with the New England’s signature delicacies of fiddleheads, dandelions, ramps, and mushrooms, in two mid-week meals. The season of foraging has begun. Fiddleheads are everywhere, dandelion greens are decorating the lawn, wild onions are poking their heads up, and any day now, the reclusive morel mushrooms will arrive. In the garden, large…
Fairy Punch
This rhubarb punch makes its appearance in the spring, just about the time the fairies wake up from their winter’s rest and start to explore the spring garden. When the kids were very young, we started searching for fairies in the garden. We actually got a photo of one once, in the early spring after…
Split Pea and Cauliflower Soup
A little lighter than the original, but packed with flavor and nutrition. In a pressure cooker, this is easily a weeknight dinner. This is my 100th post! Pea soup made from dried legumes is a classic Northern dish with French Canadian roots. On rainy spring nights, this soup warms the bones and adds home comfort…
Maple Baked Egg Cups
There’s a little sweet, a little savory, and a lot to love in this brunch or breakfast indulgence. We got this year’s batch of dark amber maple syrup this week! Thank you to our friend Greg and his little sugarhouse for the sweet that lasts us all year. With the arrival of the new syrup,…
Our Favorite Carrot Cake
An old family recipe, traditional at Spring, topped with less-sugar cream cheese frosting, and made with a twist or two! As we think ahead to planning Easter and Spring gatherings, carrot cake comes to mind as a perfect dessert. The flavors and textures of this cake appeal to many, so it is often requested at…
Sweet or Savory Buckwheat Crêpes
Naturally gluten-free, these lacy traditional crêpes are perfect for either sweet or savory dishes. Buckwheat crêpes are one of my favorites from the family recipe box. My own family loves them as well. I might make them for a Sunday breakfast, brunch with guests, dessert, or as a well-loved after-school snack for my grandchildren. Everything…
Pan Fried Trout
Native trout brings flavor to the spring plate Nothing says spring to me more than the beginning of trout fishing season in Vermont, and we’re almost there, April 13 to be exact. Once the ice melts, and everything loosens up, it’s time to get your license, clean the poles, and plot your next expedition, even…
