Posted in Soup, tagged celery, pear, soup on January 18, 2011| 7 Comments »
The first words I heard this morning were “… 2 inches of snow followed by sleet followed by freezing rain.”
A wintry mix. Again. We are only one boot into January and we’ve already been walloped with two blizzards and now rainwater is flooding icy sidewalks and curbsides. But I haven’t succumbed to the winter blues – yet. I mean, at least the weather outside is interesting even if it has been a bit frightful lately.
Last week my commute to work in the blizzard looked like this:
And this:
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, tagged baked goods, cookies, dessert, Thanksgiving on November 20, 2010| 3 Comments »
These cookies are a riff on the recipe found inside the lid of the Quaker Oats canister. They use less butter and have some of the best flavors of Thanksgiving: cranberry, pumpkin, and cinnamon. I find them to be a great treat to make a day or two after the holiday meal as friends and family still linger on the sofa and the leftovers start to ebb. (more…)
Posted in Cookbook reviews, Main dish, tagged baked goods, chicken potpie, cookbook, homemade on November 19, 2010| 6 Comments »
I have never made a homemade chicken potpie. Until now.
Woah. I feel like I just got let in on some secret toward finding eternal happiness. This is encouraging, particularly at this time of year when it is completely dark by 5 p.m.
Chicken potpie is one frozen food that I will admit to eating. Maybe it has some childhood nostalgia for me. My parents had busy careers and even though we enjoyed lots of home cooked meals, an upside down chicken potpie straight from the mini aluminum pie tray with a slosh of applesauce on the side was one of my favorite dinners. It was one of the first things I got to make as kid all by myself, which means, I got to poke fork holes into the top of the frozen pastry and slide it into the oven. By the time I finished watching an episode of “Laverne & Shirley,” my dinner was ready. (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 Baked goods, Side dish, tagged apple, baked goods, cheddar, savory, scones on October 28, 2010| 9 Comments »
I was settling sweetly into fall, having allowed those feelings of rush rush rush pass me by when I suddenly realized: My apples were going “off.” This means all those apples I had gathered from beneath the trees just a few weeks ago were beginning to look a little wrinkly and soft. Oops. So much for my reverie.
It’s good practice to buy fresh produce but that actually requires doing something with this produce. And I sometimes don’t follow through. (I am ashamed to admit to how many bell peppers I have tossed out recently.) I needed to snap awake before the apples were for naught. (more…)
Posted in Soup, tagged dinner, roasted butternut squash, soup on October 18, 2010| 9 Comments »
There is something about October that says slow down: two-hour naps should follow two-hour walks in the arboretum; spending a few hours to finish a book should pass without guilt. Think Dave Brubeck’s “Indian Summer.” This is about the pace that October should feel – kind of relaxed and bouncy, lightly mellow, and warm. The other day I rearranged my living room so I could lie on the sofa in golden autumn light and watch the shadows of changing leaf patterns silently tattoo across the floor. That’s all I did for a half hour.
Posted in Eating in season, Salad, tagged Boston Local Food Festival, goat cheese, Golden Beets on October 4, 2010| 6 Comments »
I had an epiphany at the Boston Local Food Festival on Saturday. I was standing in line at a farm stand, arms overflowing with vegetables, bright sunshine bathing rows of colorful vegetables in white light, and listening to the jangle of banjos from a Cajun band playing on a nearby stage when I realized: Why can’t buying produce always feel like this?
Going to the grocery store, bracing against its uncomfortable chill, wandering aimlessly in aisle after aisle of fabulously packaged goods competing for my attention as Top 40 music wails of love gone wrong – simply fills me with dread.
Would I consider buying kale in that kind of environment? No. Would I consider it in a sunbathed pile while a smiling farmer stands nearby? YES. (more…)
Kitchen Report 