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…

Grilled Shrimp with Ginger, Lime, and Garlic, and Sesame Baby Pak Choi

Quick, delicious, healthful! Our farm stand had some lovely new baby pak choi (bok choy, Chinese cabbage) this week, and I knew I had to build a meal around it. It is extremely nutritious, delicious, and easy to grow, especially in cold climates. A great source of fiber, antioxidants, Vitamins C and K, zinc, and…

Those Funny Little Fiddlehead Ferns Play Nicely with other Spring Treasures

Fiddlehead ferns are a ritual in the northeast, and with a fleeting season, you have to be quick. From my youngest childhood, I remember foraging fiddlehead ferns with my Uncle Leonard. The appear only for a few weeks, and then become the beautiful fronds of the ostrich fern that greens our woodlands. They are delicious,…

New England Stewed Yellow-Eyed Beans with Greens. Mother made them first!

      This New England classic tastes like no other bean, and can be slow cooked all day on the stove, in the oven, or in a slow cooker. However, you can make them in a fraction of the time in a pressure cooker, or multi-cookers. My mother was known for her baked beans, a long-baked…

Traditional Boston Baked Beans? May I introduce you to their great-granddaughter?

A New England favorite with lots of twists! In years past, every New England cook had their own recipe for Boston Baked Beans. Inexpensive, filling, and nutritious, peasant food at its best. Baked beans were a Saturday night staple dating back to Colonial times when cooking on the Sabbath was forbidden and the beans could…

Tangy Endive Salad that can take a year to make, or just a few minutes…

A light and refreshing side to those hearty cold weather meals. At this time of year, daylight is precious, the weather chills and we tend toward heartier suppers. Soups, stews, casseroles, all help to warm the body here in the north country. A welcome addition to any winter supper is a side salad that refreshes…

A little fire, a little smoke, and a few pretty vegetables

Campfire Chioggia Beets with Summer Vegetables, Garlic, and Lemon features a classic technique with a little lively added! Our camping trips with my parents always centered on playing in the water and enjoying the food. When we weren’t boating or eating, it seems like we were talking about what we were going to eat next….

New Potatoes and Green Beans with Ginger and Mint

Potatoes with ginger? Green beans with mint? Both combined, along with garlic and sesame oil? Why not? July was always rob-the-potato-hills time in our garden growing up. Dad was the vegetable gardener and potatoes were his favorite to grow. He loved the whole process from planting the seed potatoes, hilling them up, and harvesting. About…

Parsley and Parmesan Broth with Crabmeat Salad

Full of flavor, and we didn’t waste a thing! One of the joys of having an accomplished chef and restauranteur for a mother-in-law was the abundance of knowledge of little techniques along the way from her, often just by eating what she served. It was always incredible, always memorable, and never skimped on calories, carbs,…

Tomato and Fennel Summer Salad

Here come the tomatoes, and my first fennel! I picked my first cherry tomatoes from my plants this week, and this is what really marks summer’s beginning to me. Of course, the farm stands are full of beautiful heirloom fruits of many colors, tempting me into making Salad Caprese with local fresh mozzarella, Bruschetta with…

Celebrate the Season with a Luscious Lighter Strawberries Romanoff

This is a much lighter version of the old standby, with all the flavor and beauty. Strawberries are our first fruit of the season, and we wait all year for these beautiful little gems. Sweet, sometimes with a tart edge, red through and through, there is something magical about the aroma of macerated strawberries when…

Leek, Asparagus, and Fennel Soup

Served hot or chilled, this soup is the flavor of Asparagus Season! Asparagus season is fleeting here in the Northeast, but we celebrate it with great flair. There are even asparagus festivals to celebrate this vegetable with every possible cooking method! Raw, baked, roasted, boiled, braised, sautéed, steamed, stir-fried, and grilled, any way you cook…