I love an excess of a single ingredient that allows me to experiment. Watch what you wish for! Opening day of our CSA season brought 4 pounds of spinach and 8 large heads of lettuce into the kitchen, not to mention a pound of baby bok choy and ½ pound of arugula. All those greens [...]
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Seasonal Tart: Spinach, Dill and Ricotta
Posted in Greens, Herbs, Pie, Ricotta, Uncategorized, tagged Spinach ricotta tart on May 23, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Sea Scallops with Orange “Aigre-doux” and Chives
Posted in Citrus fruit, Preserving, Seafood, Uncategorized, tagged Paul Virant aigre-doux, preserving citrus in wine on May 12, 2012 | 1 Comment »
I have a new favorite cookbook. Ha. I know I could say that every week. This new book of mine is titled The Preservation Kitchen, written by Chicago chef Paul Virant. Among his many accomplishments is a brush with Christine Ferber, the famed French doyenne of the jam kingdom (and maybe the entire preserving kingdom) [...]
Apricot Almond Cake
Posted in Cake, Uncategorized, tagged Apricot almond cake on April 15, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Simple cakes that can be eaten as is with seasonal fruit are very appealing to a person who has no sweet tooth (me). I call them “amiable cakes” and I’ve posted a few examples in the past. This one, from Nigel Slater’s brilliant book, Appetite, is one of the best. (He’s a hoot – check [...]
Easter Egg Hunt: Quest of the Holy Quail
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged gold-leafing an egg, quails' eggs on April 8, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
We have an annual Easter egg hunt at our house, for those who are actually children and the virtual child in each adult. The competition is fierce because a Golden Egg (leafed with real gold) is displayed in nearly plain sight by hiders who collapse laughing at what seems obvious to us but is elusive [...]
Dark Days 18: Oxtail Stock and Borscht
Posted in Beets, Cabbage, Soup, Stews, Uncategorized, tagged Cooking with oxtails on March 22, 2012 | 2 Comments »
A continuing series on weekly meals that use sustainable, organic, local and ethical food during the challenging winter months. For more information, go here to the DDC section of Not Dabbling in Normal’s website: Dark Days Challenge. In which I discover a new meat stock, which promises to be as versatile as it is delicious… [...]
Seafood Chili
Posted in Beans and legumes, Chili, Seafood, Uncategorized, tagged Seafood chili on February 19, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
This is the season of the dried bean. Soups, stews, chilis and chowders, and even a few salads and sides have benefitted from the addition of these nutritious legumes. That’s how this seafood chili originated. I had cooked the last of Rancho Gordo Yellow Indian Woman beans that we brought back from the famed San [...]
Spinach and Ginger Soup
Posted in Greens, Soup, Uncategorized, tagged Ginger in soup on December 31, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Cleansing, comforting, there’s nothing like ginger to ease you from last year to next. Restorative and regenerative as opposed to simply sustainable, one of my goals for all things related to the earth. This delicious soup adapted from At Home with Madhur Jaffrey is very simple, assembled and cooked in under half an hour. It [...]
Wild Rice “Salad”
Posted in Grains, Salad, Uncategorized, tagged Wild rice salad on December 30, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Feed a few, feed a lot. After a small family dinner of roast chicken and a medley of multi-colored and wild rice, I was inspired to make a wild rice salad for a family luncheon for 18 a few days later. Our local health food store sells beautiful wild rice – which is not rice [...]
Dark Days 5: Sea Bass Stuffed with Tarragon-Braised Leeks
Posted in Dark Days Challenge, Fish, Leeks, Potatoes, Uncategorized on December 28, 2011 | 1 Comment »
A continuing series on weekly meals that use sustainable, organic, local and ethical food during the challenging winter months. For more information, go here to the DDC section of Not Dabbling in Normal’s website: Dark Days Challenge What a catch! When my husband came back from the shore with a couple of just-caught fish, I [...]
Cauliflower Soup with Bacon and Hazelnuts
Posted in Cauliflower, Soup, Uncategorized, tagged Soup with nuts on December 19, 2011 | 2 Comments »
I’m a great fan of Nigel Slater so whenever he comes up with an unexpected combination, I know it will be a winner. Despite the poor growing season for most vegetables, cauliflower has been abundant and flavorful this year. Though the markets were full of the big blowsy ones, labeled “Jersey Fresh,” I tend to [...]
