Reviving Traditional Foods
Sourdough focaccia with grapes, fresh rosemary and coarse sea salt found its way to our kitchen last week. Loosely adapted from the classic Italian grape bread or schiacciata con l’uva, this sourdough focaccia with grapes and rosemary takes an even more rustic approach – omitting enrichment by egg and sugar in favor of only the [...]
Four Thieves Vinegar can cure the plague, at least, that’s what French folklore teaches us. And while I can’t comment on the veracity of this statement (and, no, it hasn’t been approved by the Food & Drug Administration), I will say that in every little garden whether it’s an expansive lot on a farmstead, a [...]
Sole meunière is heavenly – slightly crispy, dripping with brown butter and infused with lemon and parsley. For all its flavor of citrus, butter and fresh parsley, sole meunière is so simple to prepare at home, and like all of the most nourishing dishes, it s its very simplicity that is so appealing. And everything, [...]
I drink fresh, raw milk. Really fresh, really raw and always in season. In essence, I drink real milk. I’ve waxed poetic about my love of fresh cream before, but now it’s milk’s turn.
My milk is fresh, in season, grass-fed, full-fat and locally produced. It is rich, and luscious and creamy and it is a living food, teeming with beneficial bacteria, food enzymes and naturally occurring vitamins and minerals. It is not fortified; it doesn’t need to be – for every mineral, every vitamin contained in that cool glass of frothy white milk was placed there by nature as it is in all truly whole and unrefined foods.
Homemade ketchup – it sounds complicated as though you’d spend all day in the kitchen pounding your way through vats of tomatoes and slowly simmering them away in kettles on a wooden stove. Making homemade ketchup from scratch seems complex, almost unfathomable in an era when quick-fix, all-in-one bagged skillet dinners constitute “cooking from scratch.” [...]
Mayan chocolate, bitter and sexy, with its resonant flavors of cinnamon and chili always reminds me not of Mexico, but of Amsterdam. It was in that cold and wet city that my husband and I tied the knot to the bells of the Oude Kerk six years ago. We’re not much for fanfare, we two. [...]
Winter squash soufflé, sweet and mild yet robust with the complex flavor of roasted garlic, finds its way to our kitchen table towards winter’s end every year. It’s this point in mid- to late-winter that we sort through the remnants from autumn’s harvest gleaned from the last days of our farmers market: stray turnips [...]
Ever wondered how to make coconut milk? No, not the tinned stuff; rather, have you ever wondered how to make truly fresh coconut milk? While tins of coconut milk do just fine – a compromise food that balances the traditional with the modern, the flavor of a true homemade coconut milk is unsurpassed. Take the [...]
This is not your lunch lady’s Salisbury steak recipe. No. Not by any means. In this Salisbury steak recipe, we pair grass-fed beef with earthy oyster and shiitake mushrooms, fresh thyme and mineral-rich homemade beef stock. It’s a luxurious dish – rich and robust. For a woman who lives food, dreams food, revels in food [...]
Sugar plums, round and humble, evoke a sense of otherworldly fancy – of mystic lore, ancient yuletide celebrations, of poetry. From Clement C. Moore’s much-cherished ‘Twas the Night before Christmas to sugar plum fairies of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, these beloved confections have woven themselves in and out of the culinary traditions of Christmas and Yule. [...]
free resources to get started
The Thing About Blueberries . . . is that they don't grind their Harleys over the hot desert tarmac, … [read more]
Confused about grains? You're not alone! It seems that everyone is telling you - to either get … [read more]
I love my immersion blender. No, really. I love my immersion blender. You see, broth … [read more]
Jenny McGruther is a wife, mother and cooking instructor specializing in real and traditional foods. Her work has been featured on CNN, the Globe & Mail, the Atlantic, the Christian Science Monitor, Denver Post and WebMD. Click here to learn more.
What People are Saying