Here’s the concept: pasta + greens + very light cream sauce = deceptively elegant, super easy dinner in a hurry with stuff you have lying around. The exact pasta, greens and cheese can be mixed to suit whatever you have on hand. This version is Orecchiette with Rainbow Chard, Tomatoes and Stilton. Chard (like its…
Season
Beet Greens with Bruschetta
I remember back when I bought a lot more produce at the store. A women picked out a few bunches of top-on beets and took them to a produce employee. “Can you cut the tops off these for me?” she asked, “I don’t want them.” I hovered near the Asian veg section, eavesdropping and mildly horrified….
Fall The Wife
I’ve been thinking about this. Fall is my favorite harvesting season. If I had to marry a vegetable growing time of year, it would be Fall. Spring is a virgin. She makes you wait. You want Spring in April, but she doesn’t actually put out until late June. I’m all for keeping it buttoned up…
Plum Perfect Galette
You know how people say “easy as pie,” when something couldn’t be simpler? Well, sorry pie, there is something simpler, and tastier: the galette. Oh, sure, you might argue that a galette is just a French pie, and in a way you’d be right. But this flat, simple, rustic (galettes are always described as rustic, which I find…
Walnut Lemon Pesto
This Walnut Lemon Pesto has become my go-to pesto recipe in late summer when the basil is huge and really needs to get cut back before it flowers. While I adore a classic pesto, this version has a few advantages over the traditional pine-nut & parm variety. First, it’s way cheaper to make. No $25-a-pound…
Salad Days, Summer Style
Salad Days are here….again. But this time, spring’s tender lettuce isn’t taking center stage. Because it’s moderately warm here in the Maritime Northwest (and, I gather, roughly as hot the 6th circle of Hell elsewhere in the U.S.) I want to cook and eat cold food, and entree salads fits the bill perfectly. Here’s a…
Toddler: 1 – Zucchini Chips: 0
I made zucchini chips for the first time. They were easy, they were a hit, they made zucchini into something fun. Something really fun. Maybe too fun. This is how it happened. Zucchini Chips 1 medium zucchini Olive Oil, for brushing dehydrator trays Salt, to taste Slice zucchini very thin. I used a Japanese slicer (like a mandoline,…
Roasted Beet Salad: Three Variations
Not everyone loves beets. Good, more for me. I love roasted beets tossed with a simple vinaigrette. The technique is dead simple and lends itself to multiple variations. I pick my beets at around golf ball size. I’d like to say that’s because they are sweetest when they are small, but truthfully I’d love big,…
Sugar Snap Peas with Herbs and Feta
I don’t want to brag, but because of that sowing peas in guttering technique I tried this year, we’ve been enjoying sugar snaps for about six weeks now. I have photographic proof that our first harvest was June 6th, and it’s been pretty well continuing since then. I am almost relieved to say that the pea…
Duck Egg Fettuccine with Oyster Mushrooms and Herbs (Plus the Mushroom Kit Winner!)
As promised, today is the day to announce the winner of the Back to the Roots Oyster Mushroom Giveaway. In a few weeks, our lucky winner is going to be sporting some serious Fungus Among Us action, just like this: But first, an idea for what you can do once you harvest your can’t-get-fresher-than-this mushrooms….
Creamy Spinach Puree
The garden has had a spinach ka-boom moment. I was waiting patiently for my spinach to size up, and now, oh boy, has it. But that’s not something to complain about, really. Spinach is tasty, quick to wash up, and always on those magazine lists of “Foods You Must Eat To Be Healthy.” When faced…
The Simplest Salad In The World
Salad days are here. My lettuce is responding to our cool drizzly weather by growing big and verdant and tender. Say what you will about a crappy, sunless spring; the lettuce loves it. Thanks to an over-eager over-seeding of lettuce back in February, I have a bed of lettuce to eat, and it all looks like this:…