Back to basics this week: Two local ingredients in a mug — Warm Highlawn Farm milk with Ioka Valley Farm maple syrup to taste. Very soul satisfying. Plenty of upcoming book events and signings, including one tonight (Friday) at the library in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts at 7 pm. If you come by, be sure to […]
Here in New England where it’s been gray or white, white white, my breezy old kitchen seems to shake in the winter wind, and the supply of local fare is dwindling. So it’s time to winter forage, throw a log on the fire, crank up the Billie Holiday, and cook up a warming mushroom stew. […]
Wake up winter! Now’s the time for fermented foods with their heady smell and stand-up-and-shout flavor. Good for the gut and dense with accessible nutrients, foods like sauerkraut and the kim chi here, extend the season when the ground is unyielding. Preparing fermented vegetables is easy, and you can invent your own variations over time. […]
My challenge? With guests arriving and meals planned, forage the house for local bounty for a simple but festive breakfast. This French toast, using nutty whole wheat bread, and other household staples — local eggs, maple syrup, apples, cider, milk and regional cranberries — makes it easy. 2-3 servings, easily doubled 1 large egg 1 […]
Sweet potatoes create a smooth orange soup that is quick to prepare. The fire of cayenne pepper cuts their natural sweetness. The first version is inspired by Southern cooking, with its roasted peanut and scallion garnish. The second is seasoned with the Mexican flavors of lime and cilantro. This is a simple recipe, but feel […]
Garlicky Bean Soup with Kale I admire soup’s simple needs — a few ingredients, a little time and a bowl to contain it. But then I come from a family of soup lovers. My father says he’s never met a soup he doesn’t like. And my great grandmother, a Polish Jew, made such tasty soup […]
Simple, classic and local — all from the farmers market yesterday. I roasted the beets while cleaning this morning, so they’d be ready to complete our dinner when we returned this evening. I hate to clean and tend to reward myself with food. The smells of simmering apple sauce or the happy longing for food […]
Chanterelle Vodka Taste the woods in an earthy shot of vodka. Pick or buy a scant handful chanterelles from your local forager, or as I did at the farmers market from a vendor, in this case Leslie Taft at Blue Moon Shrooms, who suggested I try this. Add to a small glass jar with a […]
Before the killing frost, make sure to pick up some readily available eggplant and arugula. I bought my eggplant at the biggest organic farm stand in New York, McEnroe’s in Millerton. It’s firm to the touch with shiny purple skin. The arugula is from my back garden, now a little leggy and spicy and but […]
Simple, but surprisingly good. I scissored garden arugula, young and lively, then added chives, which sit in a pot outside my kitchen door, diced Cortland apples from neighboring Taft Farms and young farmers market carrots. They all got a toss in olive oil and a hair of salt, just to coat, and then a light […]
USDA approved school-tested local food recipes and a supplement for educators.
