This chowder is dairy-free, but you’d never guess! Many New Englanders and Canadians grew up with the classic Scottish Finnan Haddie, a delicately smoked haddock with a funny name. It was used in chowders and fish cakes when I was a kid, and was often served frequently during Lent. I loved the chowder the best….
Category: Preserved foods
Light & Lively Open-Faced Tuna Sandwich
Not quite the tuna sandwich you grew up on! Tuna sandwiches were a mainstay in our house growing up. They were simple, just canned tuna, mayonnaise, diced onion, a little celery. If we had unexpected company at lunch time, my mom could make an amazing number of sandwiches with just one can of tuna! She…
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Preserving Herbs for use all Season
No, it is not the same as fresh; sometimes it’s even better! This post is an encore of one I wrote a few years ago, so please forgive the late summer rerun! Ah, those fresh herbs I admit to being spoiled all summer long when I walk a few feet from my kitchen door to…
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Pat’s Holiday Gravlax
I first received gravlax as a gift from my Mother-in-Law and was amazed that this could be accomplished in a home kitchen I remember getting this gift of home-cured gravlax, a salt-preserved salmon, every year at Christmastime from my mother-in-law Pat, my husband’s father’s second wife. The first time she gave it to us, I…
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Aunt Mary’s Salt Cod Cakes
The fish that fed the world, traveled from my Aunt’s kitchen to mine, with a few changes along the way. My Aunt Mary made cod cakes frequently, with a flavor that still tickles the memory after all these years. An old New England standby, these were extremely economical, although usually a bit on the bland…
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Sushi Salad with Shrimp, Pickled Ginger, & Wasabi Dressing
A salad using some common components of a sushi roll fits the bill as a light offering, and it’s also quick and easy to make. Now, one might not immediately associate Vermont with the growing of ginger, and yet, in the past few years these exotic tropical nuggets, along with their cousin turmeric, are making…
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Totally Tomatoes!
Red, yellow, orange, purple, green. They’re here! “What’s for dinner?” “Tomatoes.” “Didn’t we have tomatoes for lunch?” “Yep. Guess what we’re having for breakfast?” We wait all year for that blush of red in the garden, and the first few are precious. Nothing beats the flavor of fresh tomato, unadorned except for a sprinkle of…
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Rhubarb and Jalapeño Marmalade
Nothing says Spring like the arrival of rhubarb! My granddaughter brought be an abundant bouquet of freshly pulled rhubarb this week. It was magnificent! The beautiful, ruby stalks are frequently paired with strawberries, also in season at the same time, and usually in a sweet application –– strawberry rhubarb pie or crisp, muffins, coffee cake,…
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A slice of homemade bread with some fresh blackberry jam?
Both of these recipes are quicker than the vintage versions, but just as delicious! It’s berry season and that means time to make some jam. I usually make strawberry jam, sometimes blueberry, raspberry if there are enough to be found, but always blackberry! It is one of my favorite kitchen gifts, and on the rare…
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Brandied Cherries
A perfect cherry suspended in a spiced brandy. These treasures will delight all year long, and they are one of the easiest kitchen gifts to make!Local is always best, of courseMake these when local cherries are ripe, firm, and beautifully colored. If you can get them, try using a mix of sour and sweet cherries, but…
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Winter Vegetable Refrigerator Pickles
Winter root vegetables are beautiful to look at, all the colors of the rainbow. Right now, I’m still excited to cook with them, but I know that by March I’ll be tired of rutabagas and beets! The holidays are over and we’re settling in to that long stretch of winter that holds both magnificent beauty…
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Crystalized Ginger
This is a “three-for-one recipe” using only two ingredients – ginger and sugar! You can always have crystalized or candied ginger in the pantry if you make it yourself! If you have a local source for ginger, even better! Our Vermont farmers have started growing fresh ginger during our long daylight hours of summer. They grow…
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Spiced Crabapple Jelly
We thought of these as a gift when I was growing up, the crabapples that no one wanted to pick or mess with, but we transformed them into a jewel-like jelly with just the addition of a little sugar. They are tiny. They are sour. They are hard. And each 2″ or smaller apple has…
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One-Ingredient Melon Granita
They are sweet. They are enormous. Muskmelons are in-season right now at the farm stands. Freezing these bargains can preserve this summer treasure for at least a little while longer. At the farm stand this week, I found a beautiful muskmelon that was bigger than my head with an enticing aroma that begged me to…
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Spiced Currants
Slightly tart, slightly sweet, this vintage recipe needed little to enhance its flavor. My luck was with me when I found some beautiful currants at the farmers market this week. In our area, they arrive with the blueberries and are gone in a blink, a favorite of the birds as well as the humans, so…
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A Special Holiday Dish
I first received this as a gift from my Mother-in-Law and was amazed that this could be accomplished in a home kitchen I remember getting this gift of home-cured gravlax, salmon, every year at Christmastime from my mother-in-law Pat, my husband’s father’s second wife. The first time she gave it to us, I was truly…
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Finding your roots, and saving them!
It is the Season of Root Crops! But how much of these treasures can you store yourself? It is Autumn, and the farm stands are offering bulk supplies of winter roots: potatoes, carrots, beets, and onions. Some store easily, others not so much. I’ve had my share of onions that rotted, carrots that turned to…
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Roasted Tomato Sauce & Quick Roasted Pasta Sauce
When you roast vegetables, the flavor is always enhanced. This tomato sauce has an intensity that is hard to achieve if you cook your tomatoes in a pot. It also needs less babysitting. If you have a lot of tomatoes to process, this is the quickest and easiest way. Look for bargains at the farm…
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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…
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Put the Season in a Jar!
Savor the best all year long! Jams, Jellies, Preserves, Fruits, Pickles, Relishes, Vinegars, Chutneys, Salsas, Tomatoes I grew up with Ball canning jars. My mother would fill them with jams and jellies and applesauce, and pickles of just about anything in abundance. She made sweet pickles, relish, dill pickles, zucchini pickles, and pickled green…
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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…
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Berries: The Jewels of Summer!
Enjoy the treasures while they last, then make them last all year – without standing over a hot wood stove for hours! There is a perfect moment in Vermont when the strawberries, blueberries, cherries, and raspberries are all singing together at the same time; only a moment it is, and only if we are lucky. These…
