When I visit my cookbook assortment seeking culinary inspiration, the nearly 100-year-old Girl Scout chant sung around the campfire, “Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold,” reminds me that when it comes to practical matters in the kitchen, old friends still have a lot to offer. One of …
Do you ever get a hankering for certain foods, like a cup of steaming hot soup on a cold and drizzly day, the silky smooth and rich taste of chocolate ice cream, the salty crunch of potato chips, the sour crispness of a pickle spear? The human palate, or the way we humans develop our …
The elegant, puffed and golden soufflé is considered the prima donna of the culinary world. Golden egg yolks enrich a delicious savory or sweet base sauce. In a hot oven, stiffly beaten whites gently expand the base to create a towering, light and airy mixture that melts seductively on your tongue. The time to enjoy …
This is the time of year when I get a hankering for beans; black turtle beans, white, oval-shaped cannellini beans, deep red kidney beans, brown Swedish beans, ivory white Great Northern Beans, any bean will do! A nearly perfect food, beans are packed with complex carbohydrates that help sustain the body’s energy; fiber, which helps …
In her book “Cooking Down East,” the late Maine Sunday Telegram columnist Marjorie Standish shares a historical note in her preface to the recipe for Maine Corn Chowder. “Do you feel a surge of pride when you open Maine canned corn?” the columnist asked readers. “You will when you recall that America’s canning industry was …
I’m coming down the home stretch in my resolution to discover, develop and test 31 wild blueberry recipes. My family and friends have sampled a wide range of delicious and some not-so-tasty creations with Maine’s best known fruit, including lots of smoothies. Try the beet and wild blueberry one. The flavor is nice and sweet, …
Although a glass of champagne at midnight and a kiss may be the way most Americans celebrate the new year, people around the world enjoy a variety of traditional food customs. Special cakes and breads, herring (representing abundance), long noodles (a long life), pigs (good luck), and field peas (coins) are a few of the …
Our daughter Emily and son-in-law Kent are hosting their first holiday party in their new home in Dryden, N.Y. Excited to receive the invitation, I texted Emily our reply. “What do you want me to make for your party?” “Haha … maybe a cheeseball?” she shot back. Then true to her Maine roots, she replied, …
My Meyer lemon tree is in full regalia, with star-shaped white blossoms filling the house with a sweet, heady fragrance. Since moving my plant inside for the winter, the five lemons on the tree have turned from pale green to quite yellow and ripe — a good time to harvest. The Meyer lemon is a …
I love winter squash; moist, rich and hearty, packed with vitamins, fiber and antioxidants. Native to the Americas for over 7,000 years, winter squashes and pumpkins were an unknown vegetable to the early European explorers, who mistook them for a variety of melon. Fortunately for us, squashes were adapted readily by the first New England …
