Compounding the problem: A bounty of herbs in butter
It’s early September. That tiny, cute sage plant you stuck in your garden three summers ago is now the size of a small ottoman, and gosh you feel like an asshole if you don’t use all those luscious, fresh herbs. Right? But one can only do so many summery dishes with sage, which you’re now […]
Berry picking: A summer tradition
This article originally appeared in the July 2016 “Foodie 40” issue of Buffalo Spree Magazine. indigo clusters. The distinctive, earthy-sweet fragrance of real strawberries that’s nearly impossible to imitate in a candle, try as manufacturers may. Thorny tangles of raspberry bramble studded with fragile, intricate jewels of fleeting sweetness. For many, summer in Western New […]
What’s old is new again: Fermenting in Buffalo
This article originally appeared in the July 2016 “Foodie 40” issue of Buffalo Spree Magazine. For more of that issue, go here. Many Buffalonians may remember ceramic crocks full of shredded cabbage or garlicky green cucumbers parked in dark corners of their Oma or Babcia’s kitchens. What our grandmothers knew—and a new generation of health […]
Kale crack
One time I bought a garbage bag full of kale. Why would someone do that? Well, it was a good deal. And I thought we’d be having more guests at Thanksgiving dinner. And it was being sold by an old farmer my grandpa worked with at the Clinton Bailey Market. And I like kale. But […]
The infamous dilly beans
I had no idea what a dilly bean was until I moved to Vermont. Turns out they’re just green beans pickled using the same herbs and spices you’d use to make a dill pickle, only they come out a bit more crisp than cukes. And if you tell people about dilly beans without enunciating, they’ll […]
Refrigerator pickles
If you’ve been paying attention to me at all in the last 11 years, you know I like to pickle a few things here and there. But not everyone is willing or able to buy a half bushel of produce, drag out canning pot, and spend the better half of a day steaming up their […]
Throwback Thursday Kitchen 2014 – show up
Dilly beans. Canned tomatoes. Homemade yogurt. Raw milk butter. Ginger green tea kombucha. Duck jerky. Sauerkraut. Herb-infused vinegars and teas. I make them. You eat them when I make them. You want to make them at your house. So you should. Introducing the Throwback Thursday Kitchen series, a chance to show up for a hands-on, […]
Add a little heat
Red chili flakes are one of those spices that I tend to reach for more than I realize. A few shakes go into soups, pasta sauces, egg bakes, chutneys, pizza – you get the idea. This year I tried making my own batch of chili flakes using dried red peppers from my garden and my […]
The freeze and the thaw
This past weekend it snowed enough to soften the edges of the landscape into the easy lines that liken it to a plush, white, lumpy comforter. It’s 12 degrees outside. And I cooked with corn that I met and fell in love with in the sweaty, barefoot soil of August. How? Freezers. Yes, plural. […]
Giving thanks for pickles
Does anyone remember coloring the cornucopia pictures – the “horn of plenty” – in elementary school? They featured a basket-like horn with a bunch of Pilgrim-y harvest items spilling out – pumpkins, nuts, potatoes, squash, indian corn, onions, the occasional apple, and, if the illustrator got really board or simply didn’t know his New England […]
Root cellar: creepy stairs become cold storage
Kevin built a root cellar in the basement last weekend. Which is weird, given that we’re city folk and don’t have acres of land from which to harvest bushels of carrots to see us through the winter or anything else remotely important like that. But we built one anyway. Disclaimer #1: We are not doomsday […]
Nana’s bread and butter pickles
This is the recipe that launched my canning and pickling problem over ten years ago – the thin, sweet-sour slices of cucumber, onion, and pepper flecked with mustard seed that my grandma served with ham salad sandwiches and in neat little piles on the holiday relish trays. It was her mom’s recipe – my nana. […]
