Category Archives: spring

stuffed swiss chard with chocolate balsamic tomato sauce

Stuffed Swiss Chard with Chocolate Balsamic Tomato Sauce

2 Replies

april 11, 2014

stuffed swiss chard with chocolate balsamic tomato sauce

All winter long I made stuffed cabbage with sauerkraut tomato sauce.  For other people.  The aroma drove me to distraction but somehow I never got around to making it for myself and loved ones.  The vibrant hues of spring here in Richmond – periwinkle blue sky, butter yellow of daffodils, lime green of tender leaves on twiggy shrubs – inspired me to remaster the dish with rainbow Swiss chard, handily  found at my local market Little House Green Grocery, which also had organic ground beef from Polyface Farms.  The arrival of the chard marks a new collaboration with the owners and Amy’s Organic Garden in New Kent County, making it super convenient to travel the few blocks for dinner fixings on the fly.

Continue reading →

heirloom bean soup with parmesan and thyme

Heirloom Bean Soup with Parmesan and Thyme

4 Replies

march 21, 2014

heirloom bean soup with parmesan and thymeComfort has always been a pot of beans simmering on the stove.  It’s a favorite childhood memory – my mom’s white beans cooked simply, with or without meat for seasoning.  Gloriously overcooked so that beans and broth melded into a creamy slurry of bean goodness, and accompanied by a biscuit fresh from the oven.

Continue reading →

roasted baby carrots with dill and chipotle

2 Replies

june 14, 2013

roasted baby carrots with dill and chipotle

 

Ever had a baby carrot?  Not the baby cut carrots wrapped in cellophane at your grocery store, but a real baby carrot, just pulled from the earth.  Last weekend at the Lakeside Farmer’s Market, I noticed that Walnut Hill Farm had a feathery pile of brilliant orange baby carrots arranged on a wooden table, and the dreary, drizzly morning brightened considerably.

Continue reading →

breakfast bistro salad

Leave a reply

june 7, 2013

breakfast bistro salad

 

In the clear light of an early summer morning, just-picked local produce is pristine in appearance and calls forth the cook’s desire to improvise.  What can be created from the bounty of tables and baskets overflowing with homegrown goodness?

Continue reading →

strawberry cilantro cocktail

Leave a reply

may 24, 2013

strawberry cilantro cocktail

The fresh local strawberries from Agriberry at the South of the James Farmer’s Market presented me with a problem : eat them all up until they are gone, really gone, or make a tasty cocktail mix with cilantro and fresh lime juice?  I simply had to taste one, just one, and then another, and then…there were none left to make my spring beverage. So it’s a good thing Little House Green Grocery carries Agriberry’s strawberries, because my plan would have been foiled, as the market only comes around once a week and I had to strike while the berries are at their seasonal peak.

Continue reading →

herbed shiitake mushrooms

Leave a reply

may 17, 2013

shiitake mushrooms from Pine Fork Farm in Quinton, VA

luscious shiitake mushrooms from Pine Fork Farm at the SOJ Farmer’s Market

They were the biggest, fattest, meatiest shiitake mushrooms I had seen.  So impressively massive, in fact, that I had to ask Teal Brooks of Pine Fork Farm if they were a particular type or new cultivar.  Nope, she replied, they were standard issue, but perhaps the clean and clear conditions at her farm in Quinton, Virginia were responsible for their luscious largeness, or perhaps they were grown with love.

Continue reading →

lemon garlic shrimp with asparagus and baby peas

Leave a reply

may 10, 2013

lemon garlic shrimp with baby peas

 

Living less than two hours from the Atlantic coast, I take for granted the access to fresh seafood.  Folks in America’s middle surely find seafood in their markets and on their plates, but coastal citizens have the privilege of enjoying seafood hours to a few days from harvest.

Continue reading →

strawberry balsamic gelato

Leave a reply

may 3, 2013

strawberry balsamic gelato

strawberry balsamic gelato with local chocolate balsamic vinegar and chocolate mint from the garden

Spring means strawberries are in season, and strawberries are the crown jewel of the dessert family.  I’ve got a serious hankering for a creamy, frozen dessert and I want to invite strawberries to my ice cream party.

Continue reading →

asparagus with orange mustard vinaigrette

2 Replies

april 5, 2013

asparagus with orange honey vinaigrette

 

Being a fan of all things winter, I must be dragged kicking and hollering into the freshness of spring.  I got my wish for one last snow in Richmond March 24.  Like most southern snowfalls, it arrived magically and left town abruptly, leaving traces here and there and front yard snowmen with collapsed torsos and lumpen, tiny heads.

Continue reading →

pasta with kale apricot pesto

Leave a reply

march 22, 2013

DSCN1309

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.

Continue reading →