Isn’t fall the best time for baking? Fruit is still plentiful, you can have the oven on without feeling like you live in Satan’s kitchen, and it is acceptable to add nutmeg to anything. I like this recipe because it is so simple: 7 ingredients and not a lot of prep required. Continue reading
cooking
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This time of year (at least where I live), having puff pastry in the freezer is like having half of a meal made before even starting to cook.
Just throw something pretty on puff pastry, add some cheese, and (wowza!) dinner’s on the coffee table in 30 minutes.
And because I hang out at the farmers market with my husband selling his wares, that means I get to know the vendors. They’re nice and generous. Sometimes they slip me extra tomatoes because they know that I’m a tomato geek. Continue reading
The title is a play off of the movie “Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus,” because for the last two years I’ve only had these amazing scallions in the summer and was stymied about how to make them last.
Then it dawned on me – freeze them for the winter! Yay! It’s like Christmas in August. So, instead of having my refrigerator overrun with two-foot scallions that go bad before I can use all of them, I have them for soups, stews, sauces and salsas in December. Continue reading
Summer is great for eating. Hello, Nature’s Bounty! But the combination of hot weather and outdoor parties can leave me a little perplexed about what to bring to a barbecue or gathering by the lake. Dairy? Absolutely not. Pasta salad? Of course! However everyone brings those. (Literally. Everyone. I went to a party a couple of years ago that should have been called “The Great Pasta Salad Potluck of 2012.”) Homemade hummus though, works perfectly. Especially when it’s spicy and creamy like this one. Continue reading
Although it’s summer, that doesn’t mean that the urge for comfort food goes away. It just means that you get to make prettier comfort food with fresh ingredients. Continue reading
I absolutely love my slow cooker. Even though it gets used mostly during the winter, it’s great to bust it out every once in a while to make yummy one-pot dishes. This is somewhere between a stew and a hearty soup, so it is not heavy for summer. The original recipe comes form the Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook
Or, the not so humble sandwich. I have here on my plate a sandwich of roast beef, cambozola cheese and arugula, on potato bread. A moment of reverence for this divine combination, please.
In the image you see the Vietnamese classic, a banh mi. Variations abound, but start with a good crusty French roll (Vietnam was colonised by the French for awhile, and has glorious bread). Then you’ll want mayonnaise, soy sauce, sliced meat, sliced cucumber, cilantro and jalapeno slices. Maybe some daikon, pickled vegetables, sliced onion. Leaves of whatever lettuce you have handy. You get the picture. Eat it with a Vietnamese beer – the county was also colonised by the Germans for a period. Continue reading
I’m spoiled in a lot of ways. Not the least of which is that I have family “in the biz.” Well, not that business. No, they’re not actors or in show business at all, but they are in the sugaring business.
And oh, the wonderful maple syrup they give me that’s boiled in that sugaring shack on the hill. This year the cold spring didn’t help the sap flow, and I fully anticipated not getting a bottle of syrup at all. But, sure enough. My mother called me and said the wonderful phrase, “Uncle Fred has a bottle of syrup for you.” Continue reading
A few years ago a group of us had a “fried dinner” party at a friend’s house. Fried chicken, fried okra and fried pickles were served, along with copious amounts of beer and wine. Our friends are southern, and they know how to fry. And drink beer. It was a most excellent dinner party.
As delicious as everything was, the fried pickles were a revelation. I’d never even heard of them, let along tasted the wonder that is deep fried dills. I wanted to eat the whole batch myself. Continue reading
What’s your current food obsession? Baking? Frying? Grilling? For me it’s braising vegetables. But don’t let the word “vegetables” lead you to think this is a healthy dish, because it’s not. It’s filled with butter, wine and salty chicken broth.
In other words, it’s decadent perfection. Continue reading