Posted in Holiday dishes, tagged Earth Day, Easter eggs, Holiday food on April 22, 2011| 3 Comments »
My organic brown eggs come with a newsletter. The Country Hen is out in Hubbardston, Mass., and although I’ve never been there the notes folded on top of my eggs nestled in their carton make me feel somehow connected to a flock of chickens wandering around their barns, sniffing fresh air from sun porches.
The most recent newsletter asked, “Why should the white eggs have all the Easter fun?”
Yes, why indeed? I decided my brown eggs needed some fun for the holiday, too.
Posted in Dessert, Holiday dishes, tagged baked goods, Christmas, cupcakes, snowmen on December 5, 2010| 18 Comments »
Since I’ve started this little food blog and especially since I started producing Stir It Up! on CSMonitor.com I find that a lot of people share their food-related thoughts with me and sometimes ask me questions. Sometimes I have an answer or an idea, and sometimes I do not. Here are for-real questions that I’ve received in the past two weeks:
“Do you know how to de-bone a duck?”
“I’m throwing an Inuit-themed dinner party for my wife’s birthday. Have you come across any good northern recipes that maybe Eskimos would serve?”
“I’m going to a Christmas cookie party that is actually quite competitive. Do you have any good ideas for what I could bring?”
The first two drew blank stares from me. For the third question I decided to fake it (I love a good challenge). “Sure,” I replied, “I think you should take snowman cupcakes.”
What? Where did that come from? I’ve never seen or made snowman cupcakes. (more…)
Posted in Holiday dishes, Side dish, tagged cranberry orange relish, side dishes, Thanksgiving on November 24, 2010| 8 Comments »
Cape Cod cranberry orange relish
At every Thanksgiving table there is some kind of cranberry, whether it is canned, sauced, or chopped into a relish. We have always been a relish family. Again, this is a preference of texture – something to balance all of the sweet mash on the dinner plate like peas and pearl onions do. And if the relish is tangy, even better for cleansing the palate between the second and third helpings of sweet potato casserole.
I was delighted to come across this recipe in “Cape Cod Table” by Lora Brody. It has walnuts and lime juice to keep that tangy texture that I like. It also uses brown sugar and maple syrup as sweeteners instead of white sugar. I like a dish that tells a story and this one tells the story of New England. (more…)
Posted in Holiday dishes, Side dish, tagged pearl onions, peas, recipes, side dish, Thanksgiving, vegetables on November 23, 2010| 2 Comments »
Peas and pearl onions
You may have heard that this year marks the 55th anniversary of the green bean casserole, invented by the Campbell Soup Company to promote its cream of mushroom soup. It has been called a “Thanksgiving icon.”
Not in our house. I only encountered green bean casserole if we ate Thanksgiving dinner at the homes of friends or family. My mother disdained the idea of pouring canned soup over vegetables. Americans have made green bean casserole an “icon” because all the salt, sugar, and fat make those otherwise hearty greens taste really, really good. If Hershey’s had dreamed up cocoa covered green beans they may have been the ones celebrating the anniversary.
Remember: even though green bean casserole has clocked 55 years, the Pilgrims knew nothing of it. We strove for historical purity in our house. (more…)
Posted in Baked goods, Dessert, Holiday dishes, tagged baked goods, cookies, dessert on October 31, 2010| 11 Comments »
This weekend felt like fall’s grand finale. The temperature dropped and dry leaves skittered through the air like colorful confetti. It was, in a word, magnificent.
There was this other event going on, too, called Halloween. But for me the real costume parade was happening overhead. (more…)
Posted in Dessert, Holiday dishes, Main dish on December 29, 2009| 2 Comments »
When everything ’70s came back in style about 15 years ago, the words “lava lamps” and “fondue parties” became part of hipster lingo once again. I understood the ironic fashion of lava lamps, but fondue? The communal dish had never gone out of style in my world. My family has circled round the cheese fondue pot every Christmas Eve since, well, the early 1970s. This year when we descended upon our cousin’s family in Washington, D.C., for Christmas we made sure we loaded up the fondue pots before making the drive from New England (we asked first, of course).
Table set for holiday fondue.
Few of our holiday traditions have persisted year to year, but a bubbling mass of Swiss cheese has held its steady place. If there is a fireplace or a wood stove, the logs get stoked and stirred as we assemble the small plates, the fondue forks, flour the cheese, and fill a large bowl with crusty French bread. We slice oranges to help everything slide down and maybe nibble on a pickle or two. (more…)
Posted in Holiday dishes, Salad on November 22, 2009| 4 Comments »
I just got back from a Thanksgiving “warm-up” meal, which was a delicious evening full of good food and good people. There is nothing like a family of friends to be grateful with before giving thanks with the nation. A casual meal of bounty also helps to temper holiday psychosis (admit it, you know what I am talking about).
Originally I said I would bring corn muffins in the shape of ears of corn simply because I somehow acquired a cast iron muffin pan in said shape. But in a burst of culinary confidence I dug out a Martha Stewart “Living” magazine from November 2000 and settled on Wild Rice and Fruit Salad.
Wild Rice and Fruit Salad
“On a day when warm side dishes abound, salads provide a welcome contrast,” purrs the recipe introduction. “This one has many merits: the hearty, nutty flavor of wild rice, the freshness of fruit, and a tart dressing…. It can be served chilled or at room temperature and can even be dressed in advance, since the rice will stand up to a long soak without losing its pleasant chewiness.”
Wild and nutty. Sounds like Thanksgiving to me. Other than having to hunt for wild rice in two different stores and then paying much, much more than I ever imagined I would for rice, it was worth it. (more…)
Kitchen Report 