One of the first edible harbingers of spring is rhubarb. And what a show! This perennial, a vegetable given the royal fruit treatment, rocks a shrub-like explosion of frilly lime green leaves and shiny stalks in various shades of red and green.
It’s that time of year again, when gyms are at full capacity and holiday excess gives way to spartan diets and promises meant to be broken, eventually. The time of year when we divide foods into two groups : good, and bad.
The heady perfume of Virginia apples at my local roadside stand draws me in, and I load up my box with way more than I can use in a week. What’s a cook to do? Well, cook ’em up, of course.
When you are given a gift of late season tomatoes, you have only two choices; you can eat them all right away, or make them last longer by preserving them for later enjoyment.
When summer’s end robs us of vegetables that peaked earlier in the season, we can always count on eggplant as a farmer’s market lure with its high gloss and firm form. Its meatiness holds up well to grilling and it marries well with tart or sweet condiments, marinades and sauces.
The sweet scents of summer : freshly cut watermelon, peppery blossoms of abelia draping over my back yard fence, just-made pesto redolent of basil and garlic and the smoky aroma of steak on the grill. Continue reading
fresh Bombolini gluten free shells with kale apricot pesto
What I love about greens : kissed by the first frost of autumn, they are tender and flavorful; picked in springtime, they are equally tender and just as flavorful. Something else to love about greens ? Their versatility in the art of cooking.
herbed mushroom spread with Bonnyclabber Cheese‘s “Cendre” grapevine ash coated fresh goat cheese, caper berry and pink peppercorn
When I have a taste for snacks, I think spreads, dips and what Sheila Lukins, the late, great cookbook author of The Silver Palate series, refers to as “slathers”, as in something savory you can generously slather onto flatbread, croutons or thin slices of English cucumber.
Childhood memory : grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup. Very likely this comfort meal was prepared with processed yellow cheese on white bread and canned condensed tomato soup. Now that you are a grownup, officially, you may crave a more adult version of this perfect meal for a chilly winter’s day.
lemon caper caesar dressing
Folks are deeply into New Year’s resolution mode : salad green mixes are flying off the shelves and merchants cannot keep up with the demand. So. You have resolved to eat more salads and fewer French fries. And what are you putting on your colorful, crunchy salads? How about propylene glycol alginate, high fructose corn syrup, sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate? Not quite what you had in mind when you signed up for better health in 2013, huh? I thought so. These keep your commercial salad dressings shelf-worthy, but who knows what they do to our bodies, our temples. I would love to convince you that making your own salad dressing is easy, cost effective and a healthier choice overall.