Bitter just needs to be balanced, and since the sap is running, we know what to use! The sap is running! Today, it is supposed to hit 55 with spring rains forecast! Warm days and cold nights in late winter and early spring in Vermont mean the precious gold of our region is flowing through…
Category: Vegetarian options
If you don’t like the weather…
In New England, we’re told if you don’t like the weather, wait a minute and it will change. This is quite often true! So let’s just cook. In the past week, we’ve gone from temperatures below zero to shirt-sleeve weather. We’ve had snow, rain, sunshine, sleet, mud, and a howling wind storm. Yesterday morning I…
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Honey Whole Wheat Sourdough English Muffins
That sounds like a mouthful, but they are easy to make, and full of flavor and nutrition! When I was growing up, my mom made English muffins once in a while, but not as a regular part of her baking routine. She used tuna-fish cans as the mold to shape them, and as a kid…
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Cauliflower Soup with Sun Dried Tomato Chili Oil and Anchovy Croutons
If you’re having a tough week, a pot of soup always helps! I am not quite sure how, but I ended up with both a large and small cauliflower in my refrigerator this week, and while there are indeed a thousand uses for this vegetable these days from pizza crust to stand-ins for mashed potatoes…
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Charred Pak Choy Salad with Apple Cider and Miso Dressing
Flavors of the season unite for a delicious and healthful dish! When I was growing up, my dad was the gardener in the family and my mom the cook. He loved puttering with his tomatoes and potatoes, and I think it was probably the only time in his life, besides fishing. when he was alone,…
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Corn and Red Pepper Fritters with Poached Eggs and Salsa
Hurry! Corn season is fast winding down. This dish will serve as breakfast, brunch, or a quick summer supper, and there’s simple vegan and gluten-free options as well. We are approaching the Equinox, and with it the final days of our corn season. This is the time to squeeze in as many fresh corn dishes…
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Cod (or tofu) Baked with Fresh Tomatoes, Swiss Chard, and Summer Herbs
This is a quick summer supper with little hands-on time. There are lots of tomatoes about in New England (and everywhere else) right now. A perfect time to sample beautiful heirloom tomato varieties when they are at their peak of freshness, flavor, and a good price as well. Cod is a favorite in this region,…
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Savory Olive and Rosemary Madeleines
Little three-bite savory delights, perfect for a party! It started with a trip to King Arthur Baking in Norwich. I was meeting my friend Suzy for lunch at the cafe, and had a couple of things to pick up from the baking store, primarily the organic white whole wheat flour I frequently use. Of course,…
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Strawberry Orange Crêpes with Nutella Sauce
Strawberries, chocolate, hazelnut, and a hint of orange make this a memorable breakfast. My guests at the inn always loved crêpes, any kind of crêpe, sweet or savory. When it is strawberry season, and they are starting their annual bounty so nothing else will do, of course. It’s a show-off kind of breakfast that is remarkably…
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Stuffed Swiss Chard
It’s the end of our Winter CSA, but we still have lots of veggies to use! It is the end of our winter CSA, so I stocked up on a few favorites to tide us over until the farm stands open and the season begins anew with radishes and lettuces from our fields, plus a…
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Shrimp and Arugula over Jasmine Rice
A spicy scampi-type dish that you can also make vegetarian. The base of this dish is a flavorful rice, topped with either shrimp or tofu which have marinated in a lemony, garlic, and paprika bath. It has a lot of the flavor of shrimp scampi, with the rice holding its own here. It is easiest…
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Irish Cream Cheesecake, dairy free
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Although the March Winds are blowing and the temperatures below freezing, we had several glorious days last week where it felt like spring and we could enjoy being outside in our shirtsleeves. So fleeting these delights! Once I heard the forecast of possible 60 degrees, it took me about one minute…
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Zucchini with Garlic, Lemon, and Hazelnuts
The humble zucchini moves from quiet weeknight sidekick, to dinner party pretty, and it’s quick and easy too! My grill has reappeared from the snow, and while I seldom hesitate to fire it up in the middle of winter, it was just been a little too cold this week to stand there for any length…
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New England Bay Scallops with Penne
New England bay scallops are the best in the world, and for a brief period, if you are lucky, you can find them!
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A New Season, a New CSA: Winter Salad
Sunset is now at 4:16 p.m. and our days are short. While my grass may still be green, the only thing surviving in my garden is parsley and Swiss chard in the cold frame, and some scraggly thyme, sage, and peppermint in the herb bed. Our local farmers to the rescue!
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Carrot Salad with Caper and Herb Dressing
This is not quite your mother’s carrot salad! Every holiday, mom made a little side salad of carrots. Sometimes, all it included was carrots, mayonnaise, a bit of sugar, salt, and pepper. Often, she would add dried cranberries or raisins, and sometimes cabbage as well. A change here and there I’ve changed her salad many…
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New England Haddock (or tofu) in Curry Sauce served with Autumn Delights!
A little spicy, a little sweet, and a lot of the flavor of New England, and you can easily swap out the fish for tofu! October! This year most of the fall foliage turned a little early, but here, by the Connecticut River, we’re just catching up. What a vibrant, colorful year it has been!…
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Yankee Skillet Cornbread
This is a job for your grandmother’s cast-iron frying pan! Talk to a southern cook about cornbread, and a New Englander like me may well end up in a verbal disagreement over two aspects: the addition of flour and the addition of sugar. The southern cook will probably tell you that neither has a place…
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Corn and Black Bean Salad with Malt Vinegar Dressing
During corn season in Vermont, we often have left-over corn we’ve cut from the cobs, perfect in salads, especially with a little accent of craft beer! Actually, sometimes it’s a big container leftover! I’ll usually buy a full dozen ears of corn, and what we don’t eat gets cut off the cob and either frozen…
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Mixed Berry Clafoutis
It’s a baked pancake, but more custardy, not quite a flan but kind of, and in a class of its own. Although traditionally the French dessert clafoutis is made with cherries, you can use any fruit you like. It is also delicious using a mix of berries, and since we are at the peak of…
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Summer Squash and Broccoli Rabe Sauté
Fresh from the farm Broccoli Rabe and Summer Squash combine with Toasted Garlic and the unexpected pop of Preserved Lemon for a bright and pleasing summer dish At this time of year, we can easily make a quick ands simple meal out of what is available at the farmers market and farm stands, which is an awful lot!…
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Kamut with Cherry Tomatoes and Green Beans
The cherry tomatoes were falling out of every nook in my kitchen, I had to come up with something! This is certainly a good year for cherry tomatoes. We’ve had lots of really hot weather here in Vermont, and I can almost see the plants grow! The cherry tomatoes have been producing a bounty all…
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Squash Flowers Stuffed with Swiss Chard and Beans
These pretty baked summer squash blossoms are dairy- and gluten- free, and stuffed with a flavorful chickpea and rainbow chard filling. There is something simple and beautiful about an edible flower on a plate. Used sparingly, they can add interesting flavor and color to many dishes. But a flower big enough to stuff? The granddaddy…
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Strawberry and Rose Crêpe Tower
A festive take on a strawberry Crêpe. My garden roses are blooming like crazy, and I’m always inspired by their fragrance to create something special in the kitchen. This year, I decided that since the strawberries are so wonderful, I would start there, with roses, their late spring friend, providing the accent. People love crêpes,…
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Seared Scallops, Artichokes, and Tomatoes over Polenta
When I was growing up, my mom would make corn meal mush. This was the New Englander’s version of “polenta,” but since we hold not a single Italian gene, it was just mush to us. We had it for breakfast as cereal, sweetened with maple syrup, as a starch at dinner, and the leftovers were…
