We’re enjoying the Thanksgiving holiday in Ithaca, N.Y., visiting with our daughter Emily and son-in-law Kent. It’s a break from the clan tradition of feasting at my mother’s family homestead in Norway, Maine. No 25-pound turkey, mounds of mashed potatoes, squash casserole, Robin’s buttermilk rolls and Aunt Jen’s pies. Instead of the assorted collection of …
Looking for something new, exciting and festive for your family’s Thanksgiving dinner? How about chutney? A spiced fruit condiment whose origin food historians have traced back to 500 BC in India, chutneys were an early form of food preservation adopted by the Romans. The sauces later travelled to the British Empire, where the Brits added …
My sister Jennifer Wixson and her husband, Stanley Luce, of Troy, Maine, are diversified farmers who raise Scottish Highland beef cattle, tend beehives and cultivate a wide variety of fruit, including cranberries. This has been a banner year for cranberries, also known as bounce berries (because the ripe ones bounce). These shiny, scarlet berries grow …
We Mainers love our coleslaw; Saturday night baked beans and hot biscuits with fresh and crunchy coleslaw. Traditional lobster feeds with a side of creamy coleslaw, corned-beef sandwiches bursting with slaw, even at barbecues and picnics, a bowl is always a welcome treat. Originating from the Netherlands, koolsla, or cabbage salad, features crisp shredded green …
Autumn is a festive time here at Rabbit Hill. My dining room table is decorated with trays of elongated yellow and red striped Blush tomatoes, blood red Goldman’s Italian American tomatoes, and plump processing tomatoes. Blue-green Hubbard squash, creamy yellow and green striped delicata and tan long-necked butternut squash are hardening in the greenhouse. And …
There is an abundance of fruit this fall; apple trees are lush with ruby red orbs while bright orange pumpkins and squash decorate prickly vines, deep purple blackberries line the woods, and peach trees are bowing down with jeweled globes of fruit. Our family loves fresh peaches. Intensely fragrant, perfectly ripe, sweet and juicy, with …
My corn patch was truly a work of art this summer. Regal, tall stalks almost 7 feet high in a neat 10-by-12-foot patch. Five rows of 12 plants. The variety, Natural Sweet (F1), sold by Johnny’s Selected Seeds, bore at least two and sometimes three 8-inch-long, plump ears per stalk. Delighted with the potential bounty, …
We can thank the French for the golden brown, crispy and savory casserole known as “gratin.” This comforting dish, often featuring potatoes, is assembled in a heavy, shallow pan, topped with combinations of butter, cheese and/or breadcrumbs and then baked or broiled until perfectly crusty brown, creamy and crispy. Classic and humble, the gratin accommodates …
The cucumber season is at full tilt, and friends have “gifted” me more than 60 pounds of pickling cucumbers. Bright green, blocky, crunchy fruit that ranges in size from 4 to 6 inches long. The perfect type for making old-fashioned crock pickles. Of all the pickles I make, these crock pickles are my favorite because …
Since the Fourth of July, we’ve been enjoying warm sunny days, brilliant blue skies, and balmy, starry nights. For those of us who wait 10 months for its coming, summer is the easiest time of year to entertain. We surrender to the call of the wild and move all of our eating outdoors with barbecues …
It’s strawberry pickin’ season! There is nothing more delicious than a sun-ripened sweet strawberry just plucked from the vine. I’ve been out picking twice now, treating my family and friends to perfectly ripe, juicy red berries, served up with cream or yogurt, in smoothies, on pancakes, and in pies. The recipe for Strawberry Cream Pie …
My foodie adventures started over four decades ago in Southern California when my Aunt Sharon moved from her East Coast apartment in Washington, D.C., to sunny Pasadena. For years, my annual visits were centered around enjoying the food of culinary icons like Wolfgang Puck, Alice Waters, Jonathan Waxman, Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken. No …
