My third experiment was inspired by the success of the spicy cranberry sauce.

I wanted to create an even more complex sauce with better color and texture. Roasting rather than boiling the cranberries would intensify the color and flavor of the finished sauce. After some tweaking I created a savory sauce with a spicy note. Here’s how I did it. … read more

This post is the first in a series of four. Check back tomorrow for part two.

The first time I saw cranberry sauce I had no idea what the red, wiggly disc wedged between mashed potatoes and a slice of turkey could be. With a mother from England and a father from Eastern Europe, beets were the only red food I knew and they were soaked in vinegar and didn’t wiggle. This mystery food was cold, sweet and looked like Jell-O. Never having seen a cranberry, I assumed that jellied cranberry started as a powder that was mixed with water and cooled until it was a brightly colored, quivering mass.

I discovered cranberry sauce with whole berries a few years before I saw bags of fresh cranberries at the market. When I used the recipe on the bag, the resulting sauce made with uncooked berries and oranges had more interesting flavor and texture than the canned version. This sauce was a step in the right direction but I wanted more – more variety, more interesting flavors.

My next experiment with cranberry sauce was inspired by a jar of Cumberland sauce. I wanted to mimic the spicy hit of this sauce seasoned with ginger and mustard but I had an impossible deadline: guests were arriving in ten minute. Limited in time and by the contents of the pantry, I managed to create a spicy, crowd-pleasing sauce with three ingredients in less than five minutes. Here’s how I did it. … read more

My painting of a turnip was featured in the Fall issue of Edible Green Mountains along with an article entitled Edible Traditions – Vermont roots: Gilfeather Turnips.   Inspired by the article and delighted to find locally grown, organic gilfeather turnips at the farmers’ market I decided to try this heirloom vegetable in my version of Turnip Soup. Worried that it would be too ‘turnippy’ I added potato and a bit of sour cream to the pot.

I wanted to serve the soup for dinner and decided to toast some pita and top it with cheese and tomato. I put the pita into the oven, set the timer for four minutes. Unfortunately, the broiler in my new oven is much more robust than the broiler in my old oven.  At the three minute mark, there were flames coming out of the oven vent. I opened the oven, dumped the flaming pita into the sink and filled the kitchen with smoke.

Twenty minutes later, the smoke was gone, (no we didn’t need the help of those folks who come in the big red truck), I made toast and dinner was ready and delicious. Here’s how I did it:

… read more

I planted tiny carrot seeds in May and I’ve been harvesting the fruits of my very minimal labor.

Carrots fresh from the garden or from the market with their green tops still attached are sweet, crisp, and full of flavor. They bear little resemblance to the carrots grown hundreds of miles away, harvested months ago, and packaged in plastic bags.

A cousin of both Queen Anne’s lace and parsnips, the carrots were brought to Europe from Asia by the Moors in the 10^th century. With more natural sugar than any other vegetable except beets, carrots are rich in carotene, which improves night vision, and are renowned as an anti-wrinkle agent.

According to some food historians, carrots originated in Afghanistan, which is enough of a reason to make a falafel with carrots as the primary ingredient.  Here’s how I did it. … read more

Summer has arrived in Vermont. It’s 83 degrees in the shade. At the farmers’ market, I saw the biggest Spanish onion I have ever seen. After the farmer assured me that no steroids had been used, she went on to say that the onions were sweet and mild. I thought, “Perfect for gazpacho,” that wonderful raw, Spanish soup served cold. Plans for dinner came together quickly, along with the tomatoes, cucumbers and bell peppers I needed for the soup I chose three curried vegetable samosas from the “Taste of Africa” booth and headed home.

Although many cooks use a food processor or blender to make a uniform soup I like the taste and appearance of hand cut vegetables. Here’s how I did it: … read more

It has been a busy, busy week for me. We picked blueberries, I sold an oil painting, friends came for a short visit, the tree man came and took care of our huge sugar maple, I saw and loved Julie & Julia, I submitted my first newspaper article and am working on my first food magazine article.

All good things – some stressful. I’m trying to figure out how to balance the write, paint, cook, play, parts of my life.

My garden is lovely, (I’m not looking at the weeds), and was the source of potatoes, parsley, patty pan squash and squash blossoms, for a breakfast frittata before our friends, Annie and Andy, headed home.

The goat cheese, eggs, tomato and onion came from the farmers’ market – everything else I needed was in my pantry.

This is not a recipe with exact amounts or ingredients. Here’s how I made it: … read more