This page is a work in progress, as this is a large subject and I feel that some info is better than no info… Succinctly, pickling is a process of adding shelf life to food, usually fruits or vegetables. When folks talk about pickling they are usually speaking of one of three distinct processes. Natural…
Seared Shishito peppers with corn grits topped with fresh tomato and red onion. Whether whipping up a quick table sauce from grilled serrano chiles or fire roasting whole green chiles to peel and use for chile rellenos the midsummer pepper crop is a season highlight for us. Most peppers are great candidates for pickling or…
This time of year the simpler the better. Fresh living foods need very little to shine. Besides the occasional blistering of cherry tomatoes on a grill pan for inclusion in a pasta dish or with some crusty bread or a classic pesto we tend to keep things simple. During the height of summer especially we…
This is a broad topic. I make no attempt to cover all aspects of the preservation of seasonal produce, but I will offer some thoughts and link to resources that I’ve found valuable. Food safety, the primary goal of any type of presurving is to transform perishable food stuff into a more stable form that…
One of my favorite ingredients. I say this about a lot of things, but it’s true. Whenever you encounter an ingredient that is truly at its best it is a joy to work with and that shows in the final result. Young freshly harvested leeks are to be celebrated and the grilling season is the…
One of the mysterious inclusions in many CSA boxes. What does this “scape” plant look like and what other flavors is it available in? Scape – /skāp/ noun1. BOTANYa long, leafless flower stalk coming directly from a root. Scapes are the flower stalk produced by many members of the allium family. The allium family includes onions, garlic,…
If you’ve bought our beets, you’ve probably heard me ask “And you eat the tops, right?” So many people toss the best parts of so many crops. Partly because we’re just not used to seeing some of these items in the grocery store, but that’s often due to how poorly some of these items ship.…
Lemongrass, is one of our favorite seasoning crops. Great to use fresh, dried, or frozen. All this winter we’ve been making tea with just lemongrass steeped for a few minutes in hot water, sometimes with a little ginger or honey. The same technique is good for capturing that flavor in a quick broth.
Never had I thought this could be this simple. The first time I started in this direction I followed a method that started with fresh ginger, lemon grass, Kaffir* k-lime or Makrut Leaves, Thai hot chilies and serrano peppers and went on from there. Now I keep a jar of Thai curry paste at the…