If you have never heard of the New England tradition of Boston Brown Bread, you are in for a treat! When I was growing up, when we had a supper of beans, they were often served with Boston Brown Bread. This was the comfort meal, a bowl of beans and a biscuit or brown bread….
Category: Appetizers
New Year’s Shrimp Egg Rolls with Homemade Duck Sauce
A family tradition that is fun for all ages. The kids and I make Homemade Egg Rolls, Fried Rice, and Crab Rangoons every New Years. It is a change from other foods we’ve been feasting on the last couple of weeks, and it is always a lot of fun. It takes only moments for the…
Christmas Morning Breakfast Quiche
A Perfect Make Ahead Breakfast using Sugar Snap Peas and Caramelized Onions! I forget about quiche for long periods of time, or perhaps I make them too often and tire of them. If it’s been a while, perhaps it’s time to revisit. When I would serve this to my guests at the inn, I looked…
Whole Grain Buttermilk Biscuits with Herbs & Parmesan
Mom’s Weeknight Biscuits with a few Twists Biscuits with baked beans. Biscuits with soup. Biscuits with chicken and gravy, and just about everything else. That is how I grew up. My mom made beautiful yeast breads on the weekends, but weeknight supper was all about the quick biscuit. She didn’t need a recipe; she made…
Baked Camembert with Cranberry, Pecans, & Ginger
A Special Appetizer You can Assemble the Day Before Your Event, and Bake off as your Guests Arrive If you are looking for a special appetizer that is quick, easy, and can be assembled the day before your holiday or event, a wheel of Camembert or Brie, baked in puff pastry, and dressed up with…
Conjuring Clarified Consommé
It’s Kitchen Magic at its Best! It really seems like magic when you take a pan of murky stock and in just minutes transform it into crystal clear broth! There is no nutritional reason to clarify stock, it is all about the appearance and nothing more. But if you have never done this, it is…
Nana’s Flakey Lemon Braid
Pre-made Puff Pastry Makes Easy Work of this Dessert If I am going to use a pre-made product, it better not just be easy, it needs to taste good too. Pre-made puff pastry saves tons of times, and has countless sweet and savory uses. Look for one made with real butter; it is harder…
“Three Sisters” Baked Frittata
Corn, Beans, and Squash Revered by the Native Population, Combine for Delicious Meals When Indigenous Peoples’ Day arrives, I make a meal to honor the Native American population, and if I’m lucky I can even get the last of the local sweet corn to use. If not, I always have some in the freezer tucked…
Poached Pears with Homemade Crème Fraîche
A special dessert to enjoy when the pears are as beautiful as they are right now! What a good year for pears! Our Vermont pears have been sweet and juicy, with tons of flavor, and I’ve had plenty straight up with no adornment whatsoever. Most mornings, they appear in my breakfast fruit salad, and I…
Wild Mushrooms Galore!
Now’s the time to find wild treasures at farmers markets and farm stands. From soup to pate, mushrooms are the star! Hen of the woods. Chicken of the Woods. Lobsters. Winecaps. Combstooth and Lion’s Main. Ah, Yellowfoot Chanterelles and Black Trumpets! Some of our favorite mushrooms appear in the fall. Once we finally got some…
Beets are the Color of Fall
Roast them, sauté them, grill them, pickle them, steam them…from root to stem, it’s all good! Open just about any New England menu in the Autumn and you’ll find beets! These colorful vegetables are especially loved by chefs because they are one of the easiest to use “root to stem” every part of them edible, even…
Vanilla and Balsamic Peach Butter
A Good Year for Peaches? With a few shortcuts, you can make use of that golden surplus! I got a little carried away at the orchard this past weekend and ended up with a large crate of peaches. They were labeled as “seconds” but I didn’t find a one that was not near perfect. It…
