I woke to the sound of rain. No market today, I thought.

May Market – Ramp, Seedlings and Nasturtium

By eleven the rain had stopped and there was a bit of sun. There would be a market and not just for the die hard u call this rain?< farmers.

The market was very busy, shoppers eating Umpleby’s meat pies, baskets of nasturtium in full bloom – begun by Tim and Jan Taylor of Crossroad Farm when the ground was covered with snow, vegetable seedlings ready to plant – I got one delicata squash and four flat leaf parsley seedlings for my garden from Suzanne Long of Luna Bleu Farm, and then got a bunch of ramps (also known as wild leeks), a green zebra tomato plant and the first hug of the season from Jennifer Megyesi of Fat Rooster Farm.

Jen suggested that pasta with ramps and morel mushrooms would be a good choice for dinner.  Here’s how I made it. … read more

With friends coming to dinner, I decided to make a meal with flavors of the Middle East. Mini lamb burgers flavored with garlic, onions, olives, dried tomatoes and cumin. I had planned to top the salad with feta but at the last minute remembered the blue cheese I had at the Norwich Farmers’ Market from the cheese makers at Woodcock Farm in Weston, Vermont. The cheese was creamier than feta and just right with romaine lettuce dressed simply with olive oil, red wine vinegar, sea salt and pepper. Hummus served with warm pita bread left no doubt that this meal was inspired by food of the Levant.

Rhubarb heralds Spring in Vermont. Pink sprouts push up from the cold earth.

‘Still have snow?’
‘Is the sap running?’
‘Are the mergansers back?’

The familiar litany of questions heard around town – at the post office, the Creamery, the market, and at community dinners. And then the rhubarb appears – over night, huge green leaves pop up. The first garden harvest of Spring. Although technically a vegetable, I think of rhubarb as fruit, the primary ingredient in one of my favorite pies, as a lovely sauce eaten alone or topped with a dollop of yogurt (see post below), or starring in a chutney or relish.

Today I baked rhubarb with sugar and a bit of butter and finished it with heavy cream and fresh nutmeg. Very easy, yummy and with rhubarb from my garden and cream from the Farmer’s market,

Here’s how I did it. … read more

At the Norwich Farmers’ Market this morning I stopped to chat with Kathy Barrett from On The River Farm, my source for local, organic, raw, Guernsey milk. With half a gallon, I can make yogurt for the week and have enough milk to last til next Saturday’s market.

Yogurt is extraordinarily simple to make.  Here’s how I made it. … read more

Fleur de sel is the most expensive of the three kinds of salt in my pantry and with beautiful thin crystals and exquisite flavor it is my all time favorite for seasoning food at the table.
This salt comes from the south east coast of France near Collioure.  The salt flats were flecked with pink flamingos as my train whizzed by.

Sel de mer, also from France, is less expensive and quite fine making it perfect for sauces and salad dressings.

Turning heavy cream into butter isn’t difficult. In fact it can happen when you are whipping cream to top strawberry shortcake and the telephone rings. The gift of two quarts of heavy cream was a perfect excuse to make butter.

I used my KitchenAid mixer to whip the cream until the butter was massed on the blade leaving a pool of milky buttermilk in the bottom of the bowl.