Maine Lobster Stew
Lobster stew, in all its simplicity, is a total celebration, a glamor dish reserved for Christmas Eve or for special guests arriving from away who want their first taste of Maine lobster to be as...
View ArticleSpicy Ginger Cookies for a Rainy Day
Back in the old days there came a time late in January when the weather might warm, the sun come out, the temperature rise, and there would be a brief period we called a January thaw before winter...
View ArticleBest Banana Bread (with Toasted Nuts & Olive Oil)
I have made banana bread at least a dozen times since the pandemic began. Somehow there always seem to be just-before-rotten bananas in the fruit bowl. I take ‘em out, turn ‘em into banana bread, buy...
View ArticleAsparagus Season
My father, may he rest in peace, was a champion Yankee gardener, as proud of his vegetable garden as he was of the flowerbeds that surrounded his bayside home. He did almost all the garden work himself...
View ArticleFond farewell to asparagus
Asparagus Risotto Because the asparagus season is past but the flavors linger on, I wrote this paean to one of my favorite vegetables and one of my favorite ways of cooking: Risotto. With a totally...
View ArticleA Very Young Traveler
By the time I was four years old, I was allowed to cross the street, our street, by myself. My mother taught me to stand at the edge, where the sidewalk, such as it was, broke into the street, and… The...
View ArticleApple Time
Farmer Victoria’s surprise gift this week of a dozen small green early apples, of unknown variety but rigorously organic and unsprayed, led me to the first apple crisp of the season. I follow an old...
View ArticleExtra-Virgins: Tasting the Best
Rolando Beramendi of Manicaretti imports visited us in Maine recently and brought with him five Italian extra-virgins–one Tuscan and four southern ones. These were intended as candidates for a...
View ArticleTuscan Harvest
During the golden days of autumn, when the vendemmia, the grape harvest, is in full swing, Tuscan country bakers take advantage of the abundance of wine grapes to make schiacciata coll’uva, an...
View ArticleTime for dead man’s bones
Some people claim Halloween is their favorite holiday. Not me! I respect its origins in Samhain, the Celtic celebration of harvest’s end and remembering those who died in the previous year, but its...
View ArticlePear Tarte Tatin
You could order a special tarte tatin pan for this splendid tart, but I use, as I have for years, a 10-inch black iron skillet that’s about 2 inches deep. A similarly sized skillet, maybe an enameled...
View ArticleA Warm Ragù for Cold Winter Nights
The other day at my favorite local butcher, Bleecker & Greer in Rockport, Maine https://www.mainemeat.com, I spotted a freezer tray full of chunks of oxtail and immediately grabbed it to add to my...
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