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…
Category: Vegetarian options
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…
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Rhubarb and Berry Upside-Down Cake
I had a small bag of rhubarb in the freezer, as well as some cherries and raspberries, so this upside-down cake was made with frozen leftovers from last year. It did not taste left-over at all! My ornamental “Snow Fountain” cherry tree is in flower, and that means my fruit cherry tree is not too…
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Fregola Salad with Asparagus and Artichokes
The flavorful dressing in this fregola pasta salad lends itself to the vibrant spring asparagus. Once asparagus season starts, I’m happy! It’s not quite here yet locally, but I couldn’t wait, and used the last of the frozen asparagus in one of my favorite salads to console myself after the appearance of more snow flurries…
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Ginger Shrimp Fried Rice
We stocked up the freezer, now it’s time to use those treasures! What could be better than a savory bowl of fried rice? I try to avoid going to the store for at least 7 to 10 days between trips. Last week, I managed to find much of what I was looking for, timed it…
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Chickpea Flour and Chive Wraps
Chickpeas are everywhere! We love them stewed, added to soups and casseroles, curried, turned into hummus, tossed in a salad, and toasted for a crispy snack. But the flour also makes a delicious and economical wrap! These delicious wraps use chickpea (also garbanzo bean, basin, gram) flour and little else, a thinned out version of…
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A Dressed Up Bowl of Sesame Noodles
A simple bowl of sesame noodles will hit the carb appeal spot most of the time, but with just a few extras, you have a meal that is as inviting as it is tasty. One of my all-time favorite comfort foods is a simple bowl of sesame noodles. They have flavor and carb appeal, a…
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Roasted Asparagus and Potatoes with Maple Dijon Sauce
Although we were teased with daffodil sprouts earlier this week and the calendar said it was the first day of Spring, this is what we woke up to. No, it didn’t last long, but that is hardly the point. What I needed was asparagus I decided I needed asparagus. I knew I had two bags…
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Favorite Pantry Pasta
Coronavirus aside, it’s always a good idea to have a few easy, delicious recipes that use all or mostly pantry ingredients. This is one of my favorite pasta recipes. It is easy, fast, did I say easy? And it’s absolutely satisfying. Vermont is closed. The schools are closed. The restaurants and bars, library, town offices,…
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Sweet and Sour Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms
A versatile recipe that is not overly sweet or sour, just right in the middle of delicious. I love stuffing vegetables –– peppers, tomatoes, onions, zucchini. But my favorite is portabella mushrooms. They just ask to be stuffed with something. Whenever I use them in a recipe where they are sliced up I think it…
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Savory Vegetable Crisp
We all love apple crisp, but this creamy and crispy savory version uses potatoes, carrots, an apple, onions, garlic, and rosemary. There’s a vegan option too! Apple crisp is a delicious Autumn dessert that causes many a heart to flutter. If I had an event to cater at that time of year, apple crisp was…
