This time of year, my salad will be different than yours, but it will all taste of the new season. This week, we had a perfect, even brilliant, May day. Brilliant in terms of the beautiful 74-degree temperatures, no humidity, and bright light, but also the blue skies, the still air, the newly green grass…
Category: Brunch
‘Ammesca Francesca’ with Wild Ramps and Mushrooms
Something different, with a lot of the familiar in a quick weeknight dish. I am always on the lookout for pastas that are a little different, something special to wake up those quick weeknight suppers. When it comes to dried pasta, there are hundreds from which to choose, so many delights are there to be…
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Kale Rabe (Nipini) with Fregola and Fennel
Kale rabe? Nipini? What in the world is that? It is always fun discovering seasonal vegetables at our local farms that are not available easily elsewhere. For the past two weeks, our CSA has included an option for kale rabe or napini. Much sweeter than regular kale, this is a spring treat that will please…
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Wild Rice Salad with Luscious Lemon and Merry Mint
We had a lovely family gathering to celebrate Spring and Easter this past weekend, with lots of family, cooking, good food, egg coloring, and enjoying the sunshine. It’s always nice to have (most of) my whole brood together, including some of my nieces and nephews. A thieving crow! I colored eggs with my two granddaughters,…
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Cookbook Confidential: “Simple” by Yotam Ottolenghi
“Simple,” by Yotam Ottolenghi, 2018, Ten Speed Press, California and New York. 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,…
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Apple Rum Butter
Apple butter. A wonderful slow-cooked spread with a depth of apple flavor like nothing else. No, there’s no butter in apple butter, but the process of boiling down applesauce until the sugars in the fruit caramelize creates a smooth and creamy texture perfect for spreading on a hearty whole-grain piece of toast, or perhaps a…
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Whole Wheat Scones with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Basil
When you’ve been away, even just for a few days, it’s always nice to get back in the kitchen and make something healthful! When winter holds on, even a mild one like this year, we can get in a rut and realize we are staying in the house way too much. Even when the days…
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Herbed Whole Wheat Naan
Don’t you love it when a new recipe just delights everyone? I had a big group of my family coming for dinner, and decided on a curry with all the trimmings. The curry was loaded with lovely local veggies and wild shrimp, a family favorite. Basmati rice, cucumber and winter radish raita, and curried green…
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Pick-me-up Broccoli, Radish, and Carrot Slaw
Food is our energy, and when we find ourselves running on empty during the busiest times of year, it is good to have a little something up our sleeves for a pick-me-up. Save time, make a lot A nutrition-packed vegetable slaw tucked in the refrigerator is a great time saver. This one holds there for…
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Welcome the New Year’s first light with a scrumptious Wild Mushroom Frittata
Flavorful, craveable, and yes, of course there’s a vegan alternative as well! The festive platters have been washed and put away. The last of the Christmas cookies tucked in the freezer for safe keeping. We’ve feasted and indulged, but now we want to start the year off on a more healthful note. But, of course,…
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Snow Day! Winter Bean Soup with Crispy Shallot Topping
The kids had a snow day here today! Some of us are wondering why! It was a quiet weekend here, but with weather all over the place. Saturday night, the North Winds howled like banshees, knocking over heavy outdoor furniture, and bending the trees. Sunday, the winds died down, the temperatures rose to the low…
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And now, something a little lighter: Salad of Japanese Purple Sweet Potato and Painted Radicchio
Even as we eye the rest of the Thanksgiving leftovers, our bodies tell us to look for something green instead. Or purple, or orange. Most of our farm stands are closing down for the season, but we still have a few that stay open all year, and limited farmers markets. We are, of course, entering…
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Smoked Haddock Cakes with Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce
You can use any smoked fish here, they are all delightful. Pan- or oven-fried cakes of any sort are an economical way to stretch a pound of smoked fish, which can be on the pricy side these days. When I was growing up, smoked and salted fish of any type was cheap food to feed…
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Rosemary and Goat Cheese Scones
The weather has turned, and with a chill in the air and a fire in the hearth there might be the urge to take a bit more time cooking, or bake something tasty. Bread baking is always satisfying, whether yeasted or a quick bread. Sometimes as we prepare a meal there’s a feeling a little…
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So when did they start growing watermelons the size of grapes?
Don’t you love it when you discover a new fruit or vegetable? When I picked up our CSA this week, I spied a bin of what looked like the world’s smallest watermelons, grape sized! I was handed one to taste and was absolutely astonished. The first moment was just like biting into a fresh watermelon,…
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Whipped Feta with Roasted Beets & Radishes
It is definitely beet season, and color abounds! Some of the prettiest side dishes are made with beets and radishes. Vibrant reds and pinks and golds, all invite you to eat that rainbow everyone is always talking about. However, as much as others in my family adore beets, I don’t really care for them, and…
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Brown Butter Broccoli Rabe with Macadamia Nuts
Save that butter wrapper! One of my first lessons in kitchen frugality was watching my mother unwrap her stick of butter for the butter dish, setting the wrapper aside. Once the green beans were cooked and drained, she placed them in the serving dish and topped them with the butter wrapper, to act as a…
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Sunday Brunch Potato Crusted Quiche: Shhh, it’s Gluten and Dairy Free, too.
Don’t we love a traditional quiche? The flaky pastry filled with a creamy baked custard, cheese, and whatever little additions one might want. I first fell in love with this dish when my mom made Julia Child’s classic from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. We probably watched Julia bake it on one of her…
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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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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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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…
