What to do with pumpkins other than pie? Roast wedges, cook soups, use in stews and curries, bake pumpkin bread. Here’s another idea to use up a pound or so of pumpkin. Make hummus. This smooth whipped hummus is our Waste Not recipe this week. To save time we started with canned chickpeas, but gave them an extra simmer until […]
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1 tightly-packed cup washed, dried basil leaves, or flat Italian parsley leaves and basil 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced 1/3 cup olive oil Chop leaves, slice garlic and put in blender with oil. Pulse, on and off, to a fine loose paste. Salt to taste.
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Now that nights are cooler, it feels good to switch on the stove. Here’s a late-summer soup, this week’s Waste Not crisper-cleaner recipe. While you cut up the vegetables, simmer their trimmings to make a broth. While the soup cooks, make a quick pistou, a French kissing cousin of pesto. (If basil is in short supply, use a mixture of flat-leaf parsley and basil leaves.) […]
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Non-conforming veg—too large, too small, too oddball in shape — may be rejected by large store chains, but our market has a very different perspective. We love taste! We celebrate diversity! We’re all for heirloom tomatoes with their rich colors, flavors, and free-spirited personalities. You can cut heirlooms into wedges for salad, of course. And they’ll look more like a conventional tomato. But why not slice heirlooms […]
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How come “Russian Salad” isn’t better known in the US? Variations on the theme of potatoes, carrots, peas and pickled cucumber in a creamy dressing seem to have spread around the globe, from Europe to Latin America and parts of Asia. When peas aren’t available, cut-up beans can take their place. In the Mediterranean you’ll find pickles nudged out by green olives. Sour cream (even yoghurt) […]
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Our weekly recipes will be focusing on sandwiches this year – sandwiches interpreted in the broadest and loosest sense, including tartines, flatbreads, rolls (some fairly classic, some breaking all the rules) plus all kinds of quick-pickles, fixings and sandwich fillips. This week: herb-butter from scratch for your radish sandwiches. Choose the most additive-free cream you can find, grab a handful […]
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. […]
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2 Tbs. olive oil half an onion, chopped 2 Tbs. minced green garlic (or 1-2 cloves of mature garlic) 2-inch strip of lemon zest, pared from the outer yellow peel 1 – 2 tsp minced fresh jalapeno peppers 1 medium Yukon gold or white potato, peeled and diced 3 cups light vegetable or chicken stock 6 ounces fresh tender spinach, […]
Read moreBrussels sprouts are in season, and here is a genius way to cook them. Turn them into a pile of leaves and give them the briefest stir over heat for a medley of tender, bright greens. Deconstructing sprouts is easy with a good little paring knife – actually, bait knives from Eastman’s make perfect instruments. Count about 8 sprouts for […]
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 […]
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