don’t waste garden thinnings: a recipe for braised whole baby beets

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I always feel a little lost, a little wasteful when it’s time to thin my garden as though all those little plants, doing their best to grow in our very rocky mountain soil, are being plucked early with no chance of reaching their potential.  It’s a curious thought, but I’m known for being particularly sentimental when [...]

mystery veggies in your csa box? what to do with what’s in your box.

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I have a confession: I have no idea what’s in my CSA box this week, and, I’m confident I’m not alone.  Sure, I can recognize the sugar snap peas and carrots, the lacinato kale with its pebbled dark green leaves, the baby collards (which we’ll combine with cream and the last of our overwintered shallots [...]

Brine-pickled Beets with Ginger and Orange

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Fermented beets, dank and earthy and sour, number among my favorite ferments of vegetable.  While I will always love the fetid odor of a true sauerkraut, the clean and salty sharpness of Moroccan preserved lemons or the brackish must of a home-cured olive, it is fermented beets – lovingly spiced and brine-pickled – that makes [...]

Five Spring-weather Crops that Do Great in Containers

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It may be officially spring, but here in the heart of ski country, we woke to six inches of fluffy white powder and my heart has begun to ache for bees, for the sweat of the summer sun and, undoubtedly, for something green.  I itch for the view from our plot in the community garden, [...]

Rabbit in Riesling with Winter Vegetables & Fresh Herbs

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It’s cold where I live. Very cold. Very very cold. But beautiful, too.  And here, where snow graces our mountain town nine and sometimes ten months of the year, you learn to make a lot of soups and stews – warming dishes that nourish the body, satisfy the tastebuds and sustain your will through the [...]

a recipe: triple beet salad with basil and olive oil

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Beet salad with fresh basil and olive oil, sweet and fresh and earthy, becomes the center of our supper tables in late summer and early autumn when both beets and basil appear at market in abundance.  Farmers sell half-pound bags of fragrant Genovese and Violetta basil for as little as four dollars, and you can [...]

A Recipe: Potato Leek Soup with Dill

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Potato Leek Soup, dotted with dill and pasture-raised bacon, may seem like an odd addition to a June post. I mean, really now, summer’s less than a week away – and I imagine all of you sipping away at icy tomato gazpachos and spooning sweet cherry sorbet into your mouths. It’s hot. It’s humid and the night air is sultry and warm where you are, isn’t it? Don’t lie to me now – I know it’s true. While you’re lounging by the grill, sending your kids to run naked through the sprinklers and collect raspberries on tall, leafy canes, I’m shivering and considering turning out the heat though it’s the middle of June dammitall.

Maple-glazed Root Vegetables

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Maple-glazed root vegetables, slightly sweet, and a charming accompaniment to winter time suppers, satisfy and nourish. In our home we love to combine fresh, crisp and local carrots and parsnips with clarified butter and organic, grade B maple syrup for a nourishing side. Well-suited to lamb and pork, this side dish is easily prepared and [...]