I AM ON THE ASPARAGUS DIET, because that’s what the garden has to offer at the moment: beautiful spears of tender asparagus. I like them tossed in olive oil and sea salt and roasted till nearly crispy, but sometimes I want not a side, but a meal, and here’s my favorite one: Easy Asparagus-Parmesan Bake, a fast concoction that’s not quite a quiche nor a frittata, but does involve a nice fresh egg or two. [read more…]
recipes & cooking
"Margaret lets the garden tell her what to eat," a food-blogger friend said recently, and that is true, since I grow edibles to eat fresh in season and also can, freeze and store for offseason use. From heirloom baked beans to refrigerator pickles and peach clafoutis, some of my favorites--along with preserving and storage tips--can be found here.
in season: easy asparagus-parmesan bake
April 25, 2012 at 7:27 am
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growing (or just eating!) heirloom dry beans
February 15, 2012 at 10:09 am
SOME YEARS MY ‘SCARLET RUNNER’ BEANS—a pole variety and hummingbird favorite I’d never be without—finally peter out and then dry right on their bamboo teepees, when the fall is neither too wet nor complicated with an early frost. I always grab some of the big, flat purple-and-black-mottled seeds for next season’s planting, leaving the rest for whatever furry creature comes along to cache them for their own winter use, but lately I’ve been thinking: Why not grow beans for drying (a.k.a. shelling beans)—or at least start experimenting with dry beans for cooking, and see if we can get you hooked? [read more…]
giveaway: rose marie nichols mcgee’s herb q&a
February 12, 2012 at 7:43 am
WHEN I CALLED Rose Marie Nichols McGee after much more than a decade, it was like we’d just hung up moments before. “Do you still grow Phlomis?” she asked without missing a beat, referring to a mint relative I’d loved early on in my garden’s life, a former Nichols Garden Nursery purchase I’d almost forgotten (since I’d eventually killed it, oops). That’s OK, she said; it got tricky here, too. The nursery, with more than 60 years selling herbs and much more—one of the first places I ever shopped as a gardener—is Rose Marie and her husband, Keane’s, family business (that’s them above), and they’ve seen lots of plants come, and go, and come around again. With a gift-certificate giveaway and an herb-growing Q&A, meet an old friend and some great new and old plants as well–and learn tricks for growing them. [read more…]
rescue operation: freezing stored garlic, onions
February 3, 2012 at 12:31 pm
REACHING INTO THE NET BAG of onions in my cellar this morning, I got a little wakeup call—from a few onions that were themselves waking up. Uh-oh. A quick check of the garlic revealed a couple of restless heads as well. An extra-warm winter has meant an extra-warm storage space, so it’s time to intervene before all is lost. I’m peeling and freezing whole garlic cloves and chopped onions today to get me the rest of the way into the next harvest. It’s simple: [read more…]
giveaway: ‘cook this now’ + carroty mac & cheese
November 17, 2011 at 4:58 pm
MELISSA CLARK IS ONE OF US. The prolific cookbook author and “The New York Times” food columnist has a homegrown Dahlia (her young daughter); knows a rutabaga from a turnip (so many people don’t!), and is intrepid in harvesting year-round farm-and-garden gleanings—if not in her own backyard, then in Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza Farmers’ Market, where she has been a year-round customer for years, come hell or ice age. With her latest, “Cook This Now,” the hard part will be figuring out which of 120 recipes to start with. Win one of two copies I’ve bought to share—and get her recipe for Carroty Mac and Cheese right now. [read more…]
giveaway: easy, cozy recipes from beekman 1802
October 14, 2011 at 11:12 am
IAM SIMMERING A POT OF ONION SOUP as I type, thanks to a reminder from “The Beekman 1802 Heirloom Cookbook” about how simple, delicious and suited to the season it is. Broccoli-Cheddar Soup may be next (not sure I can resist!) and then there’s a recipe for Roasted Cauliflower and Apple Soup, too. Oh, dear; I haven’t even gotten beyond the fall chapter and I’m already over the limit of what the freezer will hold the leftovers of. Want the onion soup recipe—and a chance to win one of three copies of this new cookbook that I’ve bought to share? [read more…]
recap: stashing the harvest, a bounty of tips
September 26, 2011 at 2:40 pm
ARE YOU RUNNING MADLY AROUND like a squirrel, caching your foodstuffs before you-know-what arrives? Me, too. Red squirrels, in particular, know you have to store the stuff right, so they pile up green conifer cones while fresh, but first cure treasures like fungi and apples—putting them up in the crotch of a tree to dry a bit before adding them to the larder. From potatoes to tomatoes, peppers and herbs and more, a fast review of how we humans can store it for later. [read more…]
the canning queen of the concrete desert
September 12, 2011 at 6:33 am
PRESCRIPTION FOR HAPPINESS: Watch this video. Meet Classie Parker, who has taught more than 4,000 New Yorkers to can. “I teach people how to put the love in their food—by canning,” Classie says, getting right to the heart of the matter. (Thanks to Etsy for the full story and for creating the video. Thanks to another canning queen, Food in Jars, for the tipoff that caught me up on my clicking around and streaming.)
cookbook giveaway: ‘good food to share’
August 17, 2011 at 11:48 am
SARA KATE GILLINGHAM-RYAN’S “Good Food to Share,” invites us into a place where lucky guests get to start meals with finger food like green beans in garlickly toasted-almond and parsley pesto, broccoli spears roasted in olive oil and red pepper flakes, maple-glazed sweet potato wedges, or the most heavenly looking deviled eggs. It’s also a place where the host gets to have a good time. I’d be happy at such a party—and plan to cook from The Kitchn [dot] com founder’s latest cookbook even when I’m a party of one. Want to win a copy and feast along on Sara Kate’s beautiful, seasonal food that matches any occasion? [read more…]
