Susan

Wonder and Bounty

My Thanksgiving prep is nearly done. The crucifers are cut and ready to roast; the butternut squash cakes are frosted (and tucked into covered pans set in the garage, since there’s no room in the fridge); and the cranberry relish is already ready to relish. I’m grateful always, but today especially, for those who grow…

Pickled Daikon & Carrot Coins

Twenty-eight weeks of CSA deliveries this year, and not a single daikon radish had crossed my cutting board. So when I saw them – a bundle of three, nearly as long as my forearm – in Thursday’s swap box, it was bye-bye, kale. I shredded half a radish into a slaw, set one aside for…

I Cannot Tell a Fibonacci

No lie. I’d never cooked Romanesco before today. I wasn’t really trying to avoid it; it’s just that whenever it’s been an either/or option in my sharebox, I’ve always drawn a box with the “or.” But last week, I guess because there are fewer subscribers in the fall, everybody got one. Yippee! With its hypnotizing,…

Heads up: Addictive Cauliflower Pasta

Cauliflower’s been spectacular this past month here in southeast Pennsylvania. The co-op included big heads in our last couple-three shareboxes of the spring/summer season (which ended with October) – and it was the centerpiece of last week’s inaugural fall-season box. Twice now, I’ve made crispy cauliflower, roasting half a head at high heat with a…

Squashapalooza 2.0: Squash and Beet Risotto

Eight. Again. Thanks to the swap box, a few forfeited shares, and my own carryovers from the past couple weeks, I now have eight squash clogging my kitchen counter. It’s Squashapalooza 2.0: Winter Edition. But at least these cool-weather varieties don’t demand immediate consumption (or preservation) like my week-long zucchini fest this past July….

The Knights Who Say Nehi: Concord Grape Shrub

No romantic childhood memories in the lede this week, unless you count the Monty Python film festival my college pal, Becky, and I binged on in 1983 at London’s Barbican Centre. Nope, I’m a newbie. I’d never even heard of shrubs when Bryn brought a blackberry version to a Mann Center picnic a few years back. Then,…

Really, Really Slow Food: Asian Pear Butter

My first memories of fruit butters are driven out of Carbondale, Illinois, which seemed worlds away from the Chicago suburbs, both in station-wagon miles and in accent. Maybe Aunt Harriet’s slower cadences and shifts and drawls reinforced her patience for hours and hours of bubbling the moisture out of the orchard’s apples and peaches. All…

Father knows best: Grilled cheese & grapes

“My father was an amazing man. The older I got, the smarter he got.” – Mark Twain For a couple years when Mike and I were little kids, my mom went to night and summer school, wedging in courses to wrap up her master’s (in between teaching and, you know, momming). Once a week or…

Apfelfest 2013: Chops, Cabbage, and Riesling

Apples, apples everywhere. On Saturday night, apples were in everything. In the cider brine. Smothering the pork. Braising with the cabbage. And echoing through the wine. Hello, Oktober. Cider-brined pork chops with apples and onions Adapted from a recipe I clipped out of Bon Appetit back in 1999. I’ve changed the pan sauce up a bunch over…

Haiku Carrot Soup

Simple. Really. I mean, 5-7-5 simple. Infused with ginger and thyme, this is a subtly spicy-sweet soup that’s downright velvety—even without dairy—and perfect for a fall lunch or light supper. Start to finish, it’ll take you about 40 minutes, and most of that’s idle time while the carrots are roasting and the stock is simmering. Though…