There’s lots going on in the garden right now, and farmstands are filled with just about anything we could want from peas and squash to corn and tomatoes. Many an evening meal around here consists of nothing but vegetables in just about every preparation. Little vegetable boats Since my kids were little, we’ve loved to…
Category: Vegetables
Green Beans and Tomatoes, summer veggies surviving the floods
Fresh green and wax beans are coming in strong right now, and they are fat and delicious this year, at least those grown in the farms that were not affected by our recent flooding. For the second year in a row, mid-July brought torrential rains, tornado warnings (unusual in Vermont), and damaging winds that washed…
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Grilled Sesame Summer Squash and Radishes
You wait with anticipation for those first few fruits of the summer squash, and then, before you know it, you have more than you can wrangle. It’s just about time to start giving them away, or smuggling them in an unsuspecting visitor’s car, but for right now, enjoy the harvest, and the sharing. Love the…
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Grilled and Chilled Asparagus & Leek Soup
The house will stay cool! We’re firmly in the middle of wonderful Asparagus Season here in Vermont! How delightful those tender and flavorful shoots. We wait all year, and this is one crop that never disappoints. It’s always the best, and we make the most of it and use those tender spears in everything possible….
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Rhubarb, Cherry, and Red Wine Sauce
When the rhubarb gets big enough to harvest, that is always a time to celebrate spring in New England. And we’ve got a great way to celebrate! Not many people are neutral on the topic of rhubarb; either you love it, or don’t want it in any form. I am in the group of the…
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Hakurei Turnips with Baby Potatoes in Mustard Sauce
It’s always exciting when the first crops of spring-grown vegetables make their way to the farm stands, and this week’s delight was the tender, sweet Hakurei turnips. These mild turnips are nothing like the turnips I grew up with, which were larger, with extremely strong flavor, and could be unpleasantly bitter, especially the tops. Plus,…
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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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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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Grow your own crop of spring bean sprouts
Way back in the day, when I was just finding my way around my mother’s kitchen, we often had a canning jar of bean sprouts on the counter. My Aunt Janet, the family health nut, was the first to introduce us to the idea, and we loved it. They were hard to find in the…
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Cookbook Confidential: “Oh She Glows for Dinner”
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, you decide if the book is worth you…
