I like winter squash. It’s in season, it’s hardy, and it’s often very local. But usually, in my kitchen, it winds up in the same old soup. I like squash soup, but that gets pretty old. So I bought a spaghetti squash, which I’ve never played with before, and threw together [...]
Monthly Archives: December 2007
Fridge Raid: Stuffed Spaghetti Squash
13-Dec-07I’ve been thinking about cheesecake. Lucky me, because of the time of year there have been oodles of cheesecake recipes around the blogosphere. I even saw a recipe on America’s Test Kitchen recently for a lower fat cheesecake that supposedly passes Christopher Kimball’s muster. (A difficult thing to manage. Those Vermonters [...]
Maine Shrimp are Good Shrimp
09-Dec-07Saw a post over on Slashfood that Dec. 1 marks the official beginning of the Maine shrimp season.
An interesting factoid about Maine shrimp (Pandalus borealis): Apparently, although the species lives across the oceans of the world, the population in the Gulf of Maine does not migrate. Instead, just like the human Mainers, they [...]
The truth is tasty and full of eggs
09-Dec-07A few weeks ago in the Press Herald there was a news item about a local dairy. Because of some FDA inspectors, the dairy had to find a way to label their egg nog as containing eggs. Because, you know, people with egg allergens would of course think egg nog was okay to [...]
Dinner Plus Leftovers: Beans and Greens
09-Dec-07I didn’t grow up in Maine. Shocker!
I grew up south of the Mason-Dixon line. Not very far, but far enough that split pea soup was on the rotation at home and I developed an almost unnatural love for good savory cornbread. So although I can’t remember eating anything with long-cooking greens at [...]
Friday Recipe Roundup
07-Dec-07As befits the season, I’ve been seeing a lot of recipes that involve sweet potatoes, potatoes, beets, carrots, parsnips — those incredible root vegetables that often get short shrift. With the snow not expected to melt anytime soon, and more of the white stuff in the forecast for today, it makes me feel warm [...]
Summer Vegetables: Coming Soon.
06-Dec-07My friend just bought the farm.
Ok, technically he’s leasing a few acres from a semi-retired couple. But he’s treating the land as if it was his own, measuring plots, drawing up plans for vegetables, chickens, and pigs. He has plans for cover crops, grains, even worms. I went out for a visit [...]
Dinner for Two: Skillet Hash
04-Dec-07My first exposure to TV cooking shows wasn’t Julia Child or the Galloping Gourmet. No, for me television cookery will always be epitomized by the manic grin of Martin Yan and his eponymous show, Yan Can Cook. I learned how to chop vegetables from him — the trick where you hold the flat [...]
My Favorite Eats: North Star
03-Dec-07The first real snow day of the season. A message from a friend: coffee break? And so I lace up my Bean Boots, throw my laptop in a bag, and trudge down the hill to the North Star Music Cafe.
I love this place. Ever since I discovered their wireless internet access, [...]
Seriously, bacon grease, oh my god.
01-Dec-07I was at a dinner party tonight. Somehow we got onto the topic of bacon grease. And so it came to pass that one of the hostesses shared how she cooks her popcorn: IN BACON GREASE. I AM NOT KIDDING.
This will happen in this household, mark my words.