Lemon Posset
It’s almost impossible to believe that lemon posset, a silky soft dessert, shares a name with a medieval cure-all of hot curdled milk and ale. Prescribed as a cold remedy throughout the 14th and 15th centuries, the original posset was more medicine cabinet than dessert bowl. Thank the ingenuity of 19th-century British chefs for rescuing…
Gazpacho
It’s funny how conversations get replayed in your head. I was just thinking now about one I had a couple of months ago with my daughter, Laura. She asked me if I liked her at this age (20) or when she was younger. I paused, thought about what she asked, and said that I enjoy…
Peppers Stuffed with Couscous, Halloumi and Currants
There is no such thing for me as a casual glance at a cookbook. And, when I see one that is esthetically pleasing to the eye with beautifully illustrated drawings, tactile, and delicious-looking recipes I am hooked! Mr. Wilkson’s Vegetables truly is ‘A Cookbook To Celebrate The Garden‘. For every vegetable he writes snippets of…
The Cookery’s DoughNation
Food trucks have been around since the mid 1800’s although back then they were called chuckwagons. Food trucks of today have evolved and now offer gourmet food at take-away prices. These mobile kitchens are growing in numbers and the ones that really entice me to stop by and sample are those using a variety of…
Thai Larb
The other night John and I were watching Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Guy Fieri was visiting a diner in Hawaii called Opal’s. It’s owned by a Thai family and as we watched the larb come together, our mouths started to water. It has been far too long since we had this! Larb is the national…
Melon and Cucumber Salad
According to The Oxford Companion to Food, salad is a term derived from the Latin sal (salt), which yielded the form salata, ‘salted things’ such as the raw vegetables eaten in classical times with a dressing of oil, vinegar, or salt. In the medieval period, salads composed of green leaves, sometimes with flowers. Later, at…
Strawberry Granita
Summer brings a host of welcomed changes…longer days, warmer sunshine, fresh fruits and vegetables, being outdoors more, freshly cut lawns, pretty flowers, outdoor social gatherings, and birds singing. When the temperature soars, it’s time to cool down and a favorite of mine is homemade granita. Originating in Sicily, granita is a semi-frozen dessert made from…
Fresh Spring Rolls
The house feels empty now that Aida and Laura aren’t here. I enjoy cooking for both of them as they aren’t fussy eaters and are game to try new foods. One morning Aida asked me if I thought my time spent in Asia made me a better cook. Hmm, a good question to which I have…
Grilled Vegetable Stacks with a Feta Salsa
It’s been a scorcher the last two weeks but that hasn’t stopped us from being outdoors. Summer for us automatically means using the barbeque more – and we grill anything! Of course we grill the usual suspects such as meat, chicken, fish and veggies. But we also love grilled bread, pizza, artichokes, onions, romaine lettuce,…
Blueberry Grunt – a Maritime dessert
This easy and basic dessert is called a grunt because the blueberries make a grunt-like sound while boiling under the dumplings. The grunt was an early adaptation of an English steamed pudding. The New England colonists had limited cooking equipment and a dumpling-like pudding using local fruit was cooked on the stove top. Wild blueberries…
Stuffed Round Zucchini (zucchine tonde ripiene)
Farmers’ markets always provide interesting selections of fruits and vegetables and most vendors are happy to share their knowledge of their produce. I spotted these round zucchinis at the Ridge Hill Yonkers’ Down to Earth Farmers’ Market – aren’t they adorable? Serves 4 4 round zucchinis 1 garlic clove, minced 3 or 4 sun dried…
Grilled Garlicky-Herbed Shrimp
Grilled, poached, fried, battered, roasted, sautéed, steamed – you name it I’ve tried it. Shrimp are one of my favorite crustaceans, they take little time to cook and there are health benefits, too. Shrimp is a nutritious alternative to meat proteins as it is low in calories and saturated fat. It is an excellent source of…
Roasted Red Pepper Salad with White Beans and Anchovy Sauce
I enjoy listening to stories of the past and with my mother in-law visiting, it’s the perfect time to hear more. Aida was born on the tiny island of Gibraltor 89 years ago. She moved to England in 1946 and has what I call a lovely Spanish/English accent. We are never short on conversation, our…