Cut 1 stick unsalted butter into 8 pieces and let soften at room temperature. Add 2 tsp. chopped fresh rosemary leaves (or a rosemary-thyme mixture) and 2 fresh sage leaves, chopping everything as fine as you can. Mash butter with herbs and season with crunchy Kosher or sea-salt. Pack into a crock or ramekin. Cover and refrigerate if making ahead. […]
Read moreCut 1 stick unsalted butter into 8 pieces and let soften at room temperature. Mash with 2 Tbs. finely chopped parsley and 1 tsp. or so of finely grated tender garlic scape (or smidge of grated garlic clove.) Add a squeeze of lemon juice, a pinch of finely grated lemon zest, crunchy salt. Pack into a crock, cover and refrigerate. […]
Read moreShelling beans—in the cranberry bean family– appeared at Moonlight Alpaca’s table last week. (Look for them this week!) Their slightly bumpy pale green pods are mottled with crimson streaks. Inside you’ll find fat shiny alabaster beans, marbled with pink, almost too pretty to cook. The beans lose their looks as they cook, turning tan outside, but their interiors quickly […]
Read more“What are those?” a customer asked, eyeing a basket of green tomatillos. “And what do we do with them?” Tomatillos, available at Allen and Silverbrook farms, are part of the extended tomato family. You may already know the sweet little husk-tomatoes at the market, with their hints of strawberry or pineapple, which are eaten as fruit. They have papery outer […]
Read moreWith both peaches and tomatoes at the market, here’s a fruit salsa that comes together in minutes and works well with grilled or sauteed local fish—or grilled chicken. You could also serve it more as a side-salad, say with a wedge of classic burrata and something leafy on the plate like arugula or pea greens. Look for yellow, orange or […]
Read moreThis week we focus unabashedly on scapes, the curlicued shooting-stalks of hardneck garlic plants. Their season is fleeting—fire up your food processors and grills! We like simply anointing garlic scapes with olive oil and sea-salt and singeing them on a hot grill or grill pan –just until they’re crisp, tender if you want to keep some of their garlicky flavor, […]
Read moreThis week’s recipe is sweet and simple, and it’s a twofer. In no time, you’ll have a small bottle of ruby-colored syrup and a little dish of fruit compote. Local strawberries take the star role in this recipe, with rhubarb as the character actor, and parsley playing the part of “mystery ingredient.” We had two other local inspirations. Grown-up rhubarb […]
Read moreHere’s a recipe for a holiday apple sauce. Roasting the apples is a good way to concentrate flavor and also makes it easy to cook larger quantities. Freeze sauce in batches to use for everything from dessert to a scrumptious accompaniment to roast pork. Oven-Roasted Apple Sauce 5 lbs. apples ½ (half) cup apple cider ¼ (quarter) cup maple syrup […]
Read moreIt’s time to think of putting by some tomatoes for the fall. If ripe tomatoes inspire you to can, canning supplies are available at Eastman’s Hardware Store, just down the road from Peg Noonan Park. You can also purchase jars of already preserved tomatoes and sauce from Da Silva Farms, made from home-grown tomatoes. Salsa may also appear this week. […]
Read moreScape afficionados rejoice! The whimsical curly shoots that spring from garlic plants in early summer have arrived at the market. (Note: When you get home, trim your scape-stems and prop in a tall glass or vase with some water at the bottom.) Since the first cucumbers are showing up, too, this week’s recipe is a local, seasonal take on Tzatziki […]
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