Recipe: Summer Salad – Tomato Pesto Mozzarella Panzanella

If you are looking for an authentic, traditional panzanella salad, you’d be better off with this one from Giada De Laurentis. But if you want something equally delicious,  that can be made in about 4 minutes, I’m your girl! There is no toasting of the bread, no seeding or peeling of tomatoes, or other fussy steps.

A bounty of tomatoes from Common Hands Farm

Recipe: Wintery Spiced Fruit Compote

My younger sister likes to tell people that I went through a period,  early in my cooking life, where almost everything I made was stewed. I claim no recollection of this and yet, here I am with a stewed fruit compote recipe.

Why? Because it’s delicious and warming and fragrant and elegant. Not to mention, it was THE perfect dish to bring to a brunch potluck during the holidays. Did I mention, it has no added sugar?

Recipe: Roasted Orange-Fennel Salad

Epic Christmas Eve dinner 2013,  continued:

Sicilian Roasted Salad

Our menu was coming along swimmingly, but there was a marked absence of greens. I said something about how elegant whole romaine leaves can be as a salad; my sister Peggi said something about once having a broiled salad with oranges; my sister Lisa said something about “stop talking, start cooking!” and we were off and running.

Recipe: Spanish Chorizo with Smoked Paprika Potatoes

In continuing to document the most fun Christmas Eve meal I just had, I have to tell you about this dish!

Chorizo & Potato with smoked paprika

Recap: no kids this year, no enduring family traditions, opening the door to the imaginative Spanish-style menu we developed.

I had been keeping an eye out for appropriate ingredients during the week before, and I spotted fresh chorizo at The Berry Farm while making a delivery. I’ll be darned if I can’t remember the brand, but I do recall that there were no gross ingredients, no nitrates or mentions of organ meats, and it was local. (I also picked up a package of huge, moist Medjool dates which got transformed into this recipe.)

Recipes: Fall Favorites ~ Pumpkin Soup and Braised Purple Cabbage

Fall has arrived in the beautiful Berkshires, with all of the things we love about it: the vibrant colors, crisp air, dramatic skies, apple harvests, picking pumpkins and the transforming leaves.

I’ve been experimenting a lot with all of the wonderful Fall vegetables. Pumpkins are the most iconic, of course, so I’ve been playing around with both small “pie pumpkins” as well as larger Jack-o-Lantern types. [Scroll down for a 2nd recipe after this one]

Recipe: No-mayo Kohlrabi Cabbage Coleslaw

My sister and I used to sneak Hellman’s mayo and lettuce sandwiches when we were kids… ahh, a little salt, a little pepper, on some good bread, it was the best. I cannot deny loving me some Hellman’s (and no other brands, quite emphatically).

BUT… there is just something about mayonnaise during the Summer… I can’t do it.

Maybe it’s the vision of potato salad sweltering in the heat during a picnic that throws me off. Or a macaroni salad, gone completely limp as the elbows swim around the mayo pool at the bottom of the bowl.

Recipe: Mexican Cornbread Muffins

I am not a baker. Really.

So why did I tackle cornbread muffins? Because I had a fabulous idea for a Mexican-style muffin, and I wasn’t going to let my fear of baking stop me!

Here is the scoop:  this is the peak of the corn season, and I’ve been having fun preparing corn all sorts of ways. I pictured some nice, moist cornbread with lots of fresh kernels, something that my sister used to make and call “Corn on the Cube”.

 

Recipe: Not Your Usual Potato Salad

Forget what your usual potato salad tastes like….  this is a whole new approach!

Recipe: Fresh Mediterranean Pasta Salad

Pasta salad is a summertime staple. It’s quick to make, universally enjoyed, and affordable. The only downside to the usual pasta salad? Gobs of mayo, and overcooked pasta.

You’re not going to find either of those things in this recipe!

This salad uses extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice; the juice from the fresh tomatoes also adds moisture. And for the pasta, I tend to use only Barilla brand. I think they are the best commercial brand out there, and you can choose from traditional, whole wheat or mixed.

The real star of this dish, though, is the produce. You can add a huge burst of flavor, color and nutrition with the creative use of veggies of all kinds. In this particular version, I used what I had on hand, but the variations are endless.

Recipe: Curried Spinach with Raisins

You can look at this recipe two ways:  as a quick and tasty side dish, or a mega-dose of nutritional goodness on a plate.

To discover the “quick and tasty”, you will have to take my word for it; for the nutrition, check this out:

• Full nutritional profile of spinach
• Benefits of curry
• Resveratrol-packed raisins
• Monounsaturated fats in olive oil