Sesame Roasted Asparagus

    Something to do with asparagus right now…(and what I’m having for dinner.) <recipe> asparagus olive oil salt sesame oil toasted sesame seeds (a mixture of white and black, if available) Heat oven to 350° F. Toss asparagus stalks in olive oil and sprinkle lightly with salt.  Roast asparagus at 350° on a baking sheet… Continue reading Sesame Roasted Asparagus

Preserved Meyer Lemons

April 1st.  The “I think I can, I think I can…” continues.  I think I can make it to the end of this relentless Catskill’s winter.  Right now, even as I type this, one day after we were admiring deep purple crocuses at my mother’s for Easter, there are wide swirls of snow flurries mocking… Continue reading Preserved Meyer Lemons

Cornmeal Crusted Soft Shell Crab with Buttermilk Apple and Chive Coleslaw

This remarkably quick meal is a colorful and crunchy way to use the insanely good soft shell crabs that are coming into season right now.  I made this for my husband and I a few nights ago, and was so pleased with the speed to wow ratio.  But in addition it was so so so… Continue reading Cornmeal Crusted Soft Shell Crab with Buttermilk Apple and Chive Coleslaw

Technique Tuesday: How to Clean Soft Shell Crabs

It’s soft shell crab season!  From mid-May to early September for the east coast, and longer if you are near the gulf coast, we are in the time of year when these sweet, oceany delicacies are popping up practically all over. Soft shell crabs are regular crabs who have outgrown their current hard exoskeleton, and… Continue reading Technique Tuesday: How to Clean Soft Shell Crabs

Grilled Sesame Asparagus

Here’s another recipe to break up your asparagus monotony (that is, unless you are coincidentally eating sesame asparagus nightly). When cooked at its freshest, grilled asparagus spears are practically candy.  Tender, sweet, nutty, with a slight tang from the rice vinegar, this recipe is a natural in asian-inspired meals.  Try it alongside grilled chicken or… Continue reading Grilled Sesame Asparagus

Asparagus Ricotta Galette

As hinted at earlier this week, asparagus is bustin’ out all over on our micro-farm.  One of the very first signs of a long season of fresh food from the gardens, this perennial faithfully returns each May, basically without us having to do a thing.  (That’s my kind of garden vegetable!) Since it is never… Continue reading Asparagus Ricotta Galette

happyrampmonday

A walk in our woods today very pleasantly revealed that these ramps… which we dug up from friends’ woods last spring, which is overrun with them, and attempted to transplant to our woods…have successfully made it through this relentless winter and have become these ramps… having successfully taken root and are now growing for us… Continue reading happyrampmonday

Pan-Seared Sea Scallops, with Pickled Watermelon Radish and Microgreen Salad

  Here’s a great little dish using those irresistable watermelon radishes and microgreens now growing at a farmers’ market near you.  Ready in under a half hour, this would be a deceptively easy, super impressive first course for a local-chic dinner soiree.  Or triple the scallops, and pair it with cool buckwheat soba noodles dressed… Continue reading Pan-Seared Sea Scallops, with Pickled Watermelon Radish and Microgreen Salad

Homemade Irish Cream

  Kiss me!  I’m nearly 1/4 Irish! The tradition of enjoying a “drop of the hard stuff” on St. Patrick’s Day is an old custom known as Pota Phadraig or Patrick’s Pot.  The legend goes that St. Patrick taught a stingy innkeeper a lesson, when served a less than generous portion of whiskey.  He threatened the innkeeper,… Continue reading Homemade Irish Cream

Ode to The Minimalist

It was announced yesterday that Mark Bittman’s weekly column in the New York Times will end its thirteen year delicious, informative, enthusiastic, and encouraging run. I have learned many lessons from Mr. Bittman’s column.  Starting in 1997, a year after I graduated from college, I cooked recipe after recipe from his writing and suggestions and… Continue reading Ode to The Minimalist

Use those apples

Though apples are excellent long-keepers, and will be around for months at the markets, they never taste better to me than right now–sun still warm in the sky, “transition” jacket getting pulled out of the closet, leaves crunching beneath my feet, and halloween fast approaching. Grab a few extra apples at the farmers’ market this… Continue reading Use those apples

Ramp Tortilla Recipe

Ummmm…eggs…ramps…potato… When my brother returned from his junior year in Spain, he craved the egg tortilla espanola found on the counter at most tapas bars and eateries.  It also happened to be one of my favorite recipes I learned in my “egg” lesson in my first weeks in culinary school (thank you Chef Justin).  The… Continue reading Ramp Tortilla Recipe

Spicy-Tart Pickled Ramp Recipe

This past weekend friends who live near us upstate, on an area overrun with ramps, graciously invited us over for our second annual swap of all-we-can-pick ramps for a pick-up truck full of our “like gold” sheep manure for their garden. (So very cutting-edge-hipster-locavore.   Then again, poop for weeds…) After a very muddy morning,… Continue reading Spicy-Tart Pickled Ramp Recipe

Polenta with Goat Cheese, Shallots, and Greens recipe

On a trip to the farmers market it doesn’t serve you to bring a list or to have rigid expectations.  The most effective shopping there is always done by just discovering what is the very best of this week’s offerings.  As mentioned before, that can sometime be rough in the less produce-friendly times of year.… Continue reading Polenta with Goat Cheese, Shallots, and Greens recipe

Pea Shoot, Celeriac, Apple and Hazelnut Salad

One of the toughest parts of eating almost exclusively locally in Upstate, NY, is the lack of bright, refreshing, crunchy, raw foods and salads in the colder months. We are overflowing in hearty carrot and squash soups, but there are definitely days I would kill for the snap of a thick slice of fresh cucumber.… Continue reading Pea Shoot, Celeriac, Apple and Hazelnut Salad