We finally had a hard frost this past week, three crisp and clear nights in a row actually. We woke up each morning with the fields as white as snow, shimmering in the morning light. I have to say, it was quite beautiful. The hardier flowers such as calendula and petunias are still hanging in…
Category: Suppers
If I make a pot of something special, will you help us stack some wood?
There’s something about the light this time of year that gives one pause; not quite stark winter light, but more a luminescent cast that makes color dance. Shadows deepen, and when night falls it does so like a curtain dropping with no long summer twilight. The temperatures change quickly too. We’ll be outside appreciating the…
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What’s that lovely aroma? Certainly, it’s not cabbage braising, right?
Oh, we knew what was coming for dinner the moment we stepped through the door after school. Cabbage. Cabbage braised for an hour until all the life was let from it. Cabbage, with its distinctive aroma that lingered, and lingered. Oh the memories! Little ways around it Mother made it edible by adding a drizzle…
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I’m taking a quick side trip to Morocco for a flavorful stew. Want to join me? We won’t be gone long!
Lovely welcome rain this week, and we’re hoping we get enough to end the drought here in Vermont, but that is probably not likely since we’ve a whole lot of catching up to do. We’ll take whatever we can get at this point, drop by precious drop. The weather has been mild, so foliage season…
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Let’s make this easy: One pan or dish, no recipe. Are you with me?
We could call the The Season of Ease. At this time of year, we have vegetables of every possible type, sometimes in great abundance, and dinner is easy. When my kids were small and I relied heavily on my garden, supper in the summer was often a collection of whatever vegetables were in abundance on…
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Surprise! Thirty-seven pounds of summer squash. Free for the taking. Would you like some?
I made a little mistake when we set out for vacation last week. Although I asked my dear niece, who was kindly house and dog sitting, to water the garden on our absence, I forgot to ask her to pick any summer squash that were ready. They do grow quickly this time of year, and…
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Corn meal mush you ask? It sounds funny, but you can spell it ‘polenta’ if you like.
When it all catches up with you, a plate of comfort is just what the doctor ordered! Perhaps Pearl Onions and Mushrooms over Corn Meal Mush? Sometimes we had it for breakfast when I was growing up. Corn meal mush. It is really delightful, especially if drizzled with a bit of real maple syrup or…
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Lean into ‘Stick Season’ with vibrant Potato Coated Halibut Steaks
Make this just for the halibut!” My mother used to say this all the time to the point where we would roll our eyes. The annoying thing is that I find myself using the same tired old line. I guess it is part of our cooking repertoire, and she probably got it from her mother….
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Marvelous Miso Mushrooms perk up any meal!
The weather has been all over the place the last month. We finally got a hard freeze, but it was followed by 70-degree F. weather last week which brought all the ticks out of hiding. Then it turned cold again, good to get rid of the ticks we thought, but here we are at 65…
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After the frost, the menu changes for the season, let’s start with cabbage and squash.
Roasted Cabbage with Pears & Curried Roasted Butternut Squash Mash We had our first frost last night, or rather a freeze. The cherry tomatoes have finally stopped producing, and only the hardier herbs, fennel, and Swiss chard remain in the kitchen garden unscathed. It was time. The irony is that the weather is turning again,…
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Cod and Cherry Tomatoes over Creamy Spiced Cauliflower
It happens all at once. My tomato plants are extremely large this year, a combination of really hot temperatures, tons of rain, and of course, our long days. They have started ripening, have sprawled out of their raised beds, and I now have a windowsill full and the abundance of cherry tomatoes at my fingertips….
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Let’s savor a spring salad
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…
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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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Baked Sole with Grapes and an Herb Stuffing
You never know what twists and turns a recipe will take. Rarely do I make a recipe exactly same as the last. Even my favorite dishes morph until I sometimes don’t recognize them from the original. Many of the meals we have started out in some way from a recipe of my mother, aunt, grandmother,…
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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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Cookbook Confidential: “Bistro Cooking” by Patricia Wells
A classic from the 1989 remains timeless! 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, and review them. Then,…
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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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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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Coaxing Spring one Root at a Time
Spring turnips and radishes are the flavors of right now. It has been chilly this week, but we’ve had some breaks of sunshine in the spring rains. These blessed showers brought the green grass, and the trees are starting to leaf out as well. Perfect weather for the daffodils and tulips. It does the heart…
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Cookbook Confidential: Whole Wheat Pasta with Walnut Sauce and Swiss Chard
My friend Bernadette from New Classic Recipe came up with the idea to have an on-line cook book club with some of her blog buddies. What fun, and a great way to choose a recipe or two from the books, cook them, and review the books. “Milk Street Tuesday Nights Mediterranean,” from Christopher Kimball The…
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Stir-Fried Tempeh with Peppers and Onions
This nutritious ingredient is all about possibilities! You’ll always find a package of tempeh and one of tofu in my refrigerator. They are stable for quite a while, and make for a really quick weeknight meal when somehow the day has gotten away from the someone who shops and going to the market ended up…
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Spring Sorrel and Parsnip Soup
It’s time to make a spring tonic soup since the ice is out at Joe’s Pond! Ah, April. Just when we thought it was safe to ditch the boots and winter coats, just as the daffodils delight with their beautiful spring show, we had a spring snow storm that left thousands without power. The ice…
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(Today’s)Yankee Bean and Macaroni Soup
A New England classic that stands the test of time – inexpensive, quick, and really tasty. When I was growing up, Mom often put together a “Yankee Bean Soup” using leftover beans from another meal and a ham bone for flavor. It was a quick meal, tasty, filling, and usually served up with biscuits. There…
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Shiitake Mushroom Noodle Soup with Peas Three Ways
Shiitake mushrooms are the star here, but peas three ways are perfect supporting actors. Growing up, my uncle Leonard and Aunt Mary were neighbors. He was a great forager of many wild delights, especially mushrooms. From a young age, I learned to love the flavor of chanterelles, hen of the woods (maitake), morels, and other…
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Noodles with Tuna and Peas
Tastier and easier than that retro Tuna Noodle Casserole you may have grown up with (or not!). We have a vegan version too! I did not grow up with Tuna Noodle Casserole in our home. I guess my mother did not like it, or my dad! She loved egg noodles though, and usually served them…
