This change of season brings out the squirrel in me. No buried acorns but I do buy half bushels of fruit for jam, cook up the dribs and drabs of the garden for soup and find other ways to prepare for winter eating. If you’ve never done it, you can begin with easy and satisfying jams, jellies, relishes and chutneys. Just follow the instructions that come with packaged pectin for the jam or jellies. Chutneys and relishes usually call for a mix of fruit and vegetables, chopped finely, simmered in vinegar and sugar and packed in hot jars. Onions, raisins and mustard seeds are often part of the …
On Thursday, Sept. 22 at the John Jay Homestead in Katonah, The New York Unit of the Herb Society of America will hold its 63rd annual Herb Fair. Admission is free and lunch is available, served under the airy tents. Put on your broad-brimmed straw hat and come between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. to learn more about using and growing herbs. Herb Society members will be there to share their expertise and answer all your questions. “Everything for sale will have been made, baked, grown or collected by our members,” says event co-chair Maggie Limburg. “Everyone in the Unit has been working all summer to …
September is time for school buses, school supplies, new school shoes and school lunch. To pack an appealing, healthy and safe school lunch for your kids takes a little planning. After a summer of ice cream, here are some ideas to get you back-to-school and back on track for healthy kids who are ready to learn: An insulated bag is ideal and juice boxes or even milk boxes can be frozen to do double duty as cold packs inside it. Freeze individual yogurt, fruit or applesauce packs too, which will also defrost in time for the cafeteria. Freeze sandwiches as well but pack the lettuce leaves and …
A frosty, pastel soup is a relief on muggy days and they are generally breezy to make too. You need no more than the ripest ingredients and a good blender (or food processor) to prepare them. Light and nutritious, a cold soup for dessert will be a novelty for the kids as well. For adult company, add a splash of sherry, champagne or dessert wine, such as Sauternes. A scoop of vanilla ice cream or sorbet in a contrasting flavor can be the icing on the cake, so to speak, and a couple of sugar cookies or shortbread squares on the side add crunchy extra luxury. Cold Coconut-Melon Soup For a …
I admit I’m not much of a cocktail drinker. But red wine can feel too heavy in the wicked summer heat and white wine repetitive. I also admire dedicated and creative mixologists who make me curious with their bacon martinis and cucumber gin. So this summer I’ve discovered two basic cocktail alternatives that I love fooling around with. The two are basically champagne cocktails or variations of the Tom Collins. You’ve undoubtedly already quaffed a free-with-brunch mimosa (OJ and champagne) and a Bellini (peach puree and champagne) on a leisurely Sunday. Maybe you know the Kir Royale too (…
Spiny and curly, smooth-skinned and long, olive shaped, pale-green ones, round yellow ones and grooved ones, cucumbers come in many varieties but all of them are about 95 percent water. So it’s no wonder they are thirst-quenching and the perfect vegetable for sultry summer nights. It also means you may have to draw out some of the water from the cucumbers before dressing them by slicing and salting, rinsing and draining them so they do not turn your salad into a puddle. If you find your cuke is very seedy, slice it halfway first and use a melon baller to scoop out the excess seeds. If it’s a …
At our garden project, we’re cutting the summer squash aggressively from under their prickly elephant-ear leaves because the weather has been so wet. Last year, the farm was afflicted with a squash bug so we’re being extra careful in 2011. The squash grow so fast that you can practically pull up a chair and watch. We aim to get them still small so at our weekly meeting, we looked at the ideal 8” yellow one with a green stripe at the end, so gracefully curved and slim. But the suggestions for bigger, overgrown ones were soon flying. “Peel them, grate them for pancakes, scrape out the seeds and…
When peas come into season, they come in gangbusters and have to be picked like crazy. Early and speedy radishes go by the wayside as the summer warms up. Earthy little turnips become gonzo baseballs. I have had a long run of these first, cooler weather goodies because of our wet, cool season this year but I’d still like to hold onto some of them throughout the summer, so I learned how to treat them to a fast, mild pickling to hold them. These are bright and fresh-tasting, not the pucker-y, complex pickles and relishes of later in the summer. I also have to keep them in the fridge because I …
We all know the smart-aleck fact that a tomato is a fruit. Maybe you’re a gardener too so you recognize that cucumbers and melons are related. When we want to keep cooking to a minimum and enjoy cooler flavors, it’s fun to turn the tables on these major food groups, using sweet elements with the vegetables and adding savory touches to the fruit. This not a new idea. Obviously many of us put grapes in our chicken salad, eat cheddar cheese with our apple pie or prosciutto with sweet melon. The recipes here just push the concept. Feta & Watermelon Salad Salty feta cheese and aromatic basil …
Sorry, no champagne flutes, no folding tables, no candelabras; those kind of picnic will have to wait until the kids are just a little older, won’t they. Still, with a little planning and minimal equipment, a family picnic can be an adventure. Our area has great picnic spots: a wooden table in a garden glen before a family performance at Caramoor, a boulder next to a stream in Ward Pound Ridge (remember to pack out your trash) or Mountain Lakes, a Tuesday night summer concert in Ballard Park (with a designated run-around area for little ones) in Ridgefield or even on the benches on the …
At Rainbeau Ridge Farm, the kids in the small front paddock next to the farmhouse gambol, butt heads and tussle. The milk that helps the baby goats practically sprout before your eyes is also the wonderful raw material of Bedford Hills cheesemaker Lisa Schwartz. Her 2011 season is well underway and those award winning goat cheeses (aka chevre) are available again. The quintessential seasonal, local product for lucky us, Lisa’s cheeses “capture the essence of the milk,” as described by respected cheesemonger Ken Skovron of The Darien Cheese Shop. The youngest cheeses are vibrant and clear-…
If the spring holiday meals have left you with a surplus, think of those leftovers as raw material or natural resources, not tired re-runs. Of course, you’ve packaged up and frozen whatever you can, such as the ham bone or lamb bones for soup, and slices of the remaining desserts, maybe. You’ve made deviled eggs and egg salad for lunch and sandwiches from the brisket. Here are some flexible, versatile, family-friendly recipes that will help you go the next step. Using these, you can work with what you have and even re-purpose the leftover dips and stale rolls. Matzoh Brei Usually …
My family and I love muffins. I usually have a dozen handy in the freezer but I can have a fresh “set” in less than 30 minutes, including oven time. I can bake them nearly blindfolded and having been doing so with my kids as “helpers” for years. We eat them (with butter, jam or cream cheese) for breakfast, of course, and with melted cheddar or Gruyere cheese for lunch. A savory version accompanies any soup or stew. These muffins are nutritious, portable, fast and thrifty, especially using a flexible, creative basic recipe I’ve developed that minimizes sugar and fat and maximizes using what …
The earth smell of spring has been in the air occasionally in the last few weeks. The snow piles are disappearing, like The Wicked Witch of the West, and the sky is tender blue. The baby goats at Rainbeau Ridge are getting born and the days are perceptibly longer in the evenings. Still, it will be a long wait for chives, rhubarb and mache around here. Until we wake up thoroughly and get ready to leave our caves, I turn to bones with a near-primal attraction to gnawing and to using my fingers, pre-history style. I try not to snarl. Using a large slow-cooker (aka crock pot) or small pieces make…
A grilled cheese sandwich and a bowl of soup? As lyrical as a children’s song, this is almost a primal lunch pair for most of us, especially when winter winds blow. If you still occasionally finish the last triangle that your child has left uneaten, you know what I’m talking about. Let’s explore some very quick riffs on the basics that go beyond the Kraft singles on white. The kid combos are wonderful as is but if there’s time, try one of these imaginative adult versions for yourself. Quesadilla An easy one: stick to a tortilla and mild queso blanco for the kids. Or maybe a little leftover …
I love low-key, communal parties. My theory is that with less stress on the host and when everyone only has one dish to pull off (and show off), everyone eats better. We do this all the time in the summer guise of the backyard barbecue, right? You fire up the grill and ready the meat. Then the non-cooks show up with the soda and booze, one guest brings chips & dip, another contributes a salad, another the dessert. It's perfect for family entertaining and gives you more time with your guests. The winter version of this format is a soup dinner. The host is responsible for a big pot of a hearty …
