AWEsome Cookery

  What to do with old food magazines? For years they sat on the shelf and I would occasionally peruse them to search for a new concept or favorite old recipe, but mostly they just sat there taking up space. Last winter I declared them the low-hanging fruit of Clearing and Cleaning, so for a series of mornings I sat down with my coffee, a fun-looking notebook, and the piles of magazines and proceeded to flip through them and scribble

    Just living is not enough… one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.”  . ~Hans Christian Andersen     First, a few delectable moments of spring from last weekend. While we sisters visited inside our little rented getaway house, outside these beauties in the front yard opened up during the night. What a gift! I love how they arrive while everything else is still gray and brown around them, an appreciated contrast. Contrast is an interesting thing,

  A Springtime Soirée. My friend Patsy and I have a little tradition of setting a date then seeing what we have in our fridge, freezer, or pantries to create an evening of delicious Small Bites. It might be a cup of pintos, salmon, broccoli, olives, soup, cheese…even when it feels like I have nothing special to bring somehow between us the combination of treats works perfectly together. It’s amazing what abundance can happen when sharing. Without fail they have

  This is a super-duper easy way to enjoy the creamy pudding sensation with a bonus of a protein boost and without worrying about ‘breaking’ the custard. We were enjoying this and musing that everything can benefit from adding chocolate, que no? Well, maybe not grapefruit. Or rhubarb. But pretty much everything else. Ricotta cheese can be found in stores, or try making your own, it’s easier than it looks.   Re-entry after our simpler and nearly internet-free life in the

  Cheery and light, this is a great soup for any season.     But first, a few more pictures of SNOW. Keweenaw Peninsuala style, that is, as in 274 inches this year (yep, that’s right…nearly 23 FEET of snow!). So far.        These are not drifts from the wind or snowplows…it’s just snow. Somewhere back there through the tunnel is a door to the house. Needless to say the Great Bear Chase ski marathon was not cancelled due

  Let’s face it, I’m kind of lazy.   I love skiing in the woods and being surrounded by snow-laden trees, appreciating the incredibleness of our world, and once I get moving I love the action. But honestly, what I also love is the wearied-muscle-relief of coming in from a ski in the woods. That bliss-loaded exhaustion after outdoor fun exertion (very different from stress-loaded exhaustion) is part of the reason I go out at all. I do love my endorphins. Someone

  The warm weather of the weekend brought everyone out of the woodwork. Some items don’t fit in our little freezer-cooler so they live in the snow, apparently it piqued the interest of a small neighbor in the hood who took advantage of the higher temperatures and ventured out from their subnivian homes to find some snacks. There’s an amazing world of activity under the snow, insulated from the cold and hidden from many predators.     Kids in bright

  Oh Deborah, we love you. As I mentioned earlier, I’m in a phase of sorting through the cookbooks—culling then re-exploring the ones that are staying. Different foods catch our eye at different times, so it’s a great experiment to pull out the books and give them another round of attention. Deborah Madison is always a favorite, and as we are now in the winter wonderland I wanted to bring ideas for hearty vegetable dishes that were easy and could

  Rick Bayless again comes to the rescue providing interesting foods. He does pretty dang well at trying to give the real story of these foods, and the love of Mexico comes through in his writings. This provides good reading and happy thoughts on these chilly evenings.   Masa Harina and Fresh Masa Fresh masa is mashed or ground hominy—corn that has been soaked in lye (sodium hydroxide) or lime (calcium hydroxide) which dissolves the hull and releases calcium and niacin

  We made a version of this soup in the Deli but I seem to have misplaced the recipe so I’ve been trying to recreate it lately. I started with the basic ingredients of a classic peanut soup—peanut butter or ground nuts with sweet potato and tomato—then went from there. The recipe is based on soups common in western Africa, but interestingly those three ingredients originated in the Americas.   Peanuts probably originated in Brazil or Peru where there are

  It’s easy to spend hours reading books by Rick Bayless. Restauranteur author, educator, and host of PBS’s Mexico: One Plate at a Time….needless to say he’s a busy guy. Rick has lived and still spends time in Mexico, and does a respectful job at bringing traditional Mexican fare to the spotlight with a modern interpretation, not to mention the recipes with side notes are both incredible and accessible. His restaurants include the extensive Frontera family of sites, Topolobampo, Red O,

  My sister sent this link to me and it sounded delicious so I gave it a try at Thanksgiving. And whaddayaknow…it WAS DELICIOUS! These are great as a side dish, or skewered with adorable bamboo skewers on a holiday hors d’ oeuvres table. I go in phases of perusing others’ food ideas, whether it be blogs, books, or restaurants. Sometimes all we need is the one ingredient used in a new way to give inspiration or delight. This recipe

  This sounded so Scandinavian to me, but that’s because I live in a Norski kind of town. Skordalia is a Greek garlic-potato-nut mash that is so tasty and easy I have no idea why it isn’t made everywhere. It would be a great little addition to a Holiday party, or part of a hearty supper in the early darkness of these winter months. Naturally there are oodles of variations on this—some use dried bread instead of potato, some have

  Last spring I came across the recipe of a peach-leaf infused Crème Brûlée featured at Chez Panisse and I thought it sounded divine and vowed to try it sometime in the summer. In our region of the Upper Midwest few peach trees can survive but I had heard rumors of one or two that were tucked away in protected spaces and I had hopes of trimming a few leaves for this project. Alas, after asking around, I now think these

  So many veggies to fritter, so little time. Shred them up, add eggs, seasonings, and something floury, then fry or fry-and-bake. It’s a great way to eat veggies when you’re craving something decadent. The photo is from a breakfast at the Dug Road Inn last week, along with local greens with pea shoots and a frittata from hens living about 30 miles away.   I was in a parking lot in Iowa City a few days ago and the

  While perusing the NOPI cook book I noticed Burrata with Blood Oranges and Lavender Oil looked divine. I suppose that sparked the motivation to make this savory oil drizzled on a fruit—-sometimes we have to take inspiration wherever we can and utilize that which is around us. These pears are from the Farmers Market, they are the Gourmet variety which are hardy in cold regions and the window of opportunity for fresh fruit is only two or three weeks. You

  This book made me so happy. I’m involved in other activities so that I fall behind on the goings-on of the larger Food World, but perhaps that keeps me from becoming jaded and makes the discoveries that I do encounter even more magical and appreciated. So I am still elated when I come across works of art. Yotam Ottolenghi is a name you may recognize from his London restaurants and numerous cookbooks.  Jerusalem has been on my want-list— he

  There are innumerable pickling directions you can go, most regions of the world had either a fermentation process or made fermented liquids (like vinegar) to quick pickle and lightly preserve. I’ve been reading about Korean versions of pickled veggies and getting excited to try them, but for the Seed Savers Conference Dinner I wanted an Indian direction to the seasonings since it would be servedwith Smoked Lamb, Chickpea Masala, and Pilau.   The most surprising addition idea to me

  It’s handy to find leftover hominy in the freezer, it goes so well in soups and other dishes. Recently I needed to make something tasty for a potluck dinner and found all of these ingredients within easy reach. Numerous other additions could fit with this as well—black beans, green onions, peppers, tomatoes—feel free to amend. This is the stunning Henry Moore yellow hominy from Anson Mills that I used in a Seed Savers dinner last year. The process of nixtamalization

  My friend and former housemate Carrie O used to often make a version of this dip to serve with a stir fry or other group dinners at our house. This was decades ago, so I’m leaning on a 30 year old memory to reenact whatever I can for the flavors and ingredients. Our dining goals back then: good food, lots of garlic, cheap because we were often feeding numerous people, and to use things we had around. The garlic