This one’s a ‘tweener. Not really a jelly, since I’m too lazy to strain it a second time. And not really a jam, since I’m too lazy to pinch the skins off each berry so they don’t get filtered out with the pips when cranked through the food mill. Why’s that? Because I’m also too…
Wild-Fermented Beans? No Big Dill
Making pickles doesn’t have to be a Big Production. Sure, if you’re sterilizing jars, assembling a vinegar brine, bringing it to a boil, packing jars, and canning them, you’ll need to block out at least an hour and bust out some pots and pans. But if you’re making fermented pickles—say, wild-fermented* dilly beans—once you top…
Pasta with Fresh Asparagus and Mushrooms
We’re big fans of pasta al crudo over here. It’s quick, it’s easy, and, as the name implies, it requires little to no cooking beyond the noodles themselves. Just chop some stuff up, drizzle it with oil, let it marinate a bit in a big bowl, dump warm, cooked noodles on top, maybe sprinkle on some…
Swap-Box Hero: NSFW Edition
Cover photo partially redacted for your safety. Because horseradish, often, is Not Safe. Not for work. Not for polite company. And certainly not for expectant, insistent little pups who run counter-side as soon as they hear the clink-scrape of the carrot peeler.* Who knows whether it was squeamishness or unfamiliarity that put off our CSA…
Lemon PECOTA
Sometimes, I wish preserving projects had Sabermetrics scores. Maybe a twist on VORP, which attempts to quantify the value a player adds to your team over an average-ability replacement player. Value Over Replacement Condiment? That’s close. Moneyballjars. VORC could not, alas, match PECOTA for pun potential, but, yes, preserved lemons will certainly up your chicken/fish/veal PICCATA game….
This little piggy went to a party
Who takes Mexican cookies to a Lunar New Year party? That would be me. But these crisp, orange-scented, piggy biscuits are tough to resist. And in the Year of the Pig? That’s a free pass. I first had piggies from a storefront bakery in Pilsen (Chicago, not Czech Republic), right down 18th Street from The National…
Babycakes
This year’s “summer” CSA season is winding down—just three weeks left—and it’s been a rough one for farmers and gardeners in our neck of the woods. Stifling heat mid-summer, bookended by two of the wettest months on record (indeed, Philadelphia surpassed its annual average rainfall totals in just the first nine months of the year),…
Middle-Age Spread
This here Yankee was well into her forties before she tried Pimento Cheese. She is, apparently, making up for lost time. I’ve been CSAing with Lancaster Farm Fresh Co-op for eight years now. This past week was the first time I scored a bag of pimento peppers. Bingo. Pimento Cheese Spread As with pesto, potato…
Easy-Street Corn
A couple weeks ago, an ear of grilled corn rolled into a couple bloops of mayo from my BLT, and I was reminded how much I like elotes, the Mexican street corn. So the next time I made corn (the next day, actually), I got out the mayo and the lime and the paprika and…
Boxing Day 