Fresh Chive Noodles with Spring Things

Fresh Chive Noodles with Arugula & Fiddlehead Ferns (More variations below) On Sunday, my 8-year old niece, Sadie, and I popped over to my neighbor Ruth’s place to visit her parrot and chickens  and pick up a dozen fresh eggs. Black and white with deep red beaks, Ruth’s hens pecked grain out of Sadie’s small […]

Ramp it up!

Ramp Pesto I bumped into two fellow foragers gathering ramps two miles from my house. Even from my car, I could see the woods were lousy with ramps as well as the red flowers topping endangered trillium. So I scissored a large bowlful of ramp leaves, leaving their roots to regenerate next year’s crop, but also […]

Connie’s Apple Coffee Cake

  (Going, going, almost gone. One classic coffee cake, nutty and moist with apples.) Last of apples! Connie, my pal Eileen’s mom, may be gone, but her recipe is not. What better way to conjure her to join our intimate celebration than to bake her fabulous apple cake? Plenty of local ingredients can be used […]

Indian Pudding

Sweet, slow cooked and back-to-the-womb satisfying, Indian Pudding is a New England classic. This version is adapted from an old James Beard recipe, using maple syrup instead of molasses along with local milk and freshly ground local flint corn. I used dried corn kernels from my Pioneer Valley Heritage Grain CSA share, which was ground […]

Winter Black and White Truffles

Thinking of a locavore treat that you can make in the winter? (Full and festive winter locavore meal below) These truffles were so popular last year that I’m blogging them again. They’re extraordinary in their simplicity — fresh local cream mingles with the best chocolate you can find. I used Belgium Callabuat chocolate with butter […]

Locavore Mulligatawny Soup

Coming up? My winter Moroccan cooking class in Northampton, Register here! Last year, my oldest pal, Judy, came up from the city for a perfect 24 hours, complete with book talk and a giggle over the personal ads in London Review of Books, which are witty as hell. We even improvised a curried vegetable soup. […]

Weekday Chinese Cabbage 2 Ways

My mother-in-law called my husband half lace-curtain and half shanty Irish. He calls himself neither, but has an Irish passion for cabbage and potatoes, which I have learned to embrace. Right now my house boasts both the giant Chinese cabbage used here and large glass crock with half-fermented multicolored sauerkraut with ginger and anise. I […]

Perfect Potato Latkes

You don’t have to be Jewish to enjoy these honeys, which use local apples, parsnips, onions, sour cream and potatoes, if you can find them. (I had trouble, but don’t get me started.) The parsnip adds a touch of earthy sweetness to the traditional flavor, and underestimated fresh apple sauce is always heaven sent. I […]

Bulgur and Shiitake Stuffed Mushrooms

At Leslie Taft’s shiitake farm in Housatonic before she moved to Maine These nostalgic treats make a stress free Thanksgiving side, because they can assembled ahead, refrigerated, then cooked while the turkey is waiting to be carved. Local dried mushrooms, shallots and cheese abound. (Hawthorne Valley Farm makes what they call an Alpine Cheese with […]

Butternut Squash Risotto Two Ways

Last night I made a warming, not-too-rich risotto with fall crops, butternut squash and leeks. Season with a choice of either light Asian flavors, with a gentle touch of fire to spar with sweet squash, or with cheese and aromatic sage or green peppercorns. I liked it both ways and so did my guests. 1-1/4 […]