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…
Category: Farm to table
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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Spring Mixed Mushroom and Spinach Chowder
Spring is definitely here, but local spring crops are still a ways away, and snow squalls and flurries stubbornly dotted our week. There was some sunshine here and there, but snow stuck to the grass and trees and made driving a bit unnerving. This weekend, we’re due for more uninvited snow and an icy mix,…
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Rutabagas! A Favorite Winter Mash-up.
What a funny name, rutabaga. It makes you want to cook with it just so you can say it. A sweet root brassica that is hardy in the north and hearty on the plate. They are also really good for your heart as well, so it is win all the way with these, even though…
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How to tame a sweet potato…
I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with sweet potatoes. I love that they are extremely nutritious, full of so many vitamins and minerals – beta carotene, vitamins E and C, B vitamins, potassium. They are high in fiber and protein, and they are a winter staple that is also quite appealing on the plate. So…
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Ruby Swiss Chard with Leeks and Marinated Feta
“Eat your greens!” When I was a kid, I believed my mother was obsessed with greens. They were frequently on our table (cooked longer than I would now) and served with butter and vinegar. Spinach and Swiss chard were Mom’s favorites, both to grow and eat. Fresh in the summer and fall, canned spinach in…
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Grilled Cabbage Winter Stew with Smoked Paprika Olive Oil
Apparently, this has been a good year for cabbage, and I’m not complaining. If you live in the north, you have plenty of local cabbage available, always a staple crop. A lot going for it Big heads, green or purple, stay beautifully crisp all winter, and bulk up our farm shares along with the many…
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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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A Family Feast and Tradition: Tourtière, a French Canadian Meat Pie
This post is an encore holiday performance! The French Canadian Meat Pie, or “tourtière ” is a traditional dish passed down in my family, served on Christmas Eve and other special occasions, but never fear, we can even make it vegan! The story of my grandparents’ families is shared with…
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Delicata Squash: Simple and Fancy
Delicata Squash: A seasonal favorite from our local farms The farm stands and farmers markets are loaded with winter squash of just about every shape, size, and color right now. One might find a giant Blue Hubbard squash that could feed an army, or maybe a small Sweet Dumpling squash, just right for tonight’s supper…
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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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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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So, What to do with all that fennel…
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…
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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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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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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…
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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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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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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…
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Snow Peas with Brown Butter and Miso
This is a 10-minute side dish from start to finish that tastes and looks like you fussed! Peas are precious in Vermont, the growing season being quite short. But, during those fast and furious weeks of harvest, we have more than we know what to do with! We eat them raw, we turn them into…
