A while back I was approached by a casting agent for a new cooking contest featuring home cooks with “a unique prospective and good short cuts”. I declined. Not that it wouldn’t have been fun, but I am not a good fit for that. More than anything else I believe that if you are going to the bother of cooking at home then you should use the best ingredients and give your efforts and the food the time it needs to be the best it can be. Also because rushing causes things like this: The Slow Food Movement was founded in 1986 to promote locally sourced, home cooked meals. According the ...
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THE EASTER “SUG-CUTERIE” BOARD: AN EGG-CELLENT SHELLECTION
Think outside the basket this year and make a "Sug-Cuterie" Board of Easter Candy. A dazzling array of sweets inspired by the Charcuterie Board trend of the past few years, it will be the star of your table! Growing up, Easter was one of my “Big Three”. Christmas, Halloween and Easter: each is full of anticipation, tradition and ultimate reward! Easter started with Palm Sunday. After a church service filled with song, my sister and I paraded up to the altar to be gifted with a long piece of palm frond, which we waved and curled into shapes before letting them dry in a corner of our ...
MOVE OVER PIMENTO CHEESE, THERE’S A NEW KID IN TOWN! JALAPENO CHEESE
Way up north, In Alaska, there is a very popular cheese dip known as Kenai Cheese Dip, or Jalapeno Cheese Dip. But I didn't actually find it when I was there, I found it later in The Alaska from Scratch Cookbook by Maya Wilson which I brought home as a reminder of my trip. The recipe caught my eye because it looked a lot like that Southern favorite, Pimento Cheese, altered to fit the tastes and available produce of the north. It also caught my eye because I have three pounds of jalapenos needing to be eaten or preserved in some form. The cookbook version calls for store-bought ...
SAVING SUNSHINE FOR LATER: SLOW ROASTED TOMATOES
Yesterday I slow roasted a bunch of tomatoes, packed them in oil and put them in the fridge to use next week. I had to. My garden was getting away from me. After ten years of struggling with bad drainage, soil contaminated by conifer needles and a lack of sunshine, I finally have a location where my plants are thriving. As I stood and looked at my tomato plants bending under the weight of ripening fruit; at my lush zucchini plants which for the first time have survived an early onslaught of aphids, worms and mold and are continuing to turn out squash at a steady rate; at the strawberries ...
RICOTTA FROM HOME
Here it is, Summer again and the markets are full of more fresh fruits and vegetables than one person can eat. I have written about tomatoes and squash, peaches and watermelon, fresh corn and herbs unending. Which is all very nice but I am starting to feel like a one trick pony. Isn’t there something more to say? Rhetorical question! Of course there is! The finest fresh ingredients call for the finest complements. The perfect tomato deserves the best balsamic, corn that is just minutes off the cob needs seconds in the water and the perfect peach needs creamy, slightly salty, ...
