Sweet potatoes can be prepared exactly as you would prepare regular white potatoes, though the flavor will be considerably different–richer and sweeter. In salads, as fries, mashed, sautéed, boiled, steamed, or however you choose to prepare them, sweet potatoes add a sweet earthy flavor to any dish.
I also use them in recipes just as I would squash or pumpkin. Their sweetness makes them ideal for desserts as well as savory dishes. The classic sweet potato pie is a good example. In the recipe below, I’ve used a favorite German potato salad recipe and adapted it to use sweet potatoes instead. Continue Reading
Winter squash (including pumpkins) have a nutritional treasure at the center–and a tasty one, too! In the middle of the stringy pulp are the lovely squash seeds. They are quick and easy to roast, filling the kitchen with a wonderful fragrance that only comes in the fall.
Fall is the time for ripening winter squash. Most people are familiar with acorn squash, pumpkins, and maybe delicata or hubbard varieties, but there are dozens of squash varieties available to grow.
I’d read you could smoke salmon in a charcoal barbecue grill using a hot smoking technique, so I decided to try it with some f
(Originally published October 10, 2012)
Poaching is a simple cooking technique used for things which need to be cooked gently, either because they are very tender or because they cook really quickly. Poaching is very forgiving in terms of slowly cooking things to the point of being perfectly done.
Last year we tried growing the Col White variety of potatoes in our garden, an early producing variety. They were creamy and delicious, and we really enjoyed experimenting with them in some of our favorite potato recipes.
Eggplants, those lovely deep purple vegetables with smooth skin and undulating curves, are difficult to grow in our climate. That makes it a particular pleasure to find at the Farmers Market or in a home garden.
Here’s a beef sausage recipe I created as a substitute for chorizo in a recipe for
This recipe is reprinted from 
Local hazelnuts, known to some as filberts, are a wonderful counterpoint to a lot of fruit and vegetable flavors. They also can add a crunchy texture to soft foods, and ground hazelnuts make a nice finishing touch as a topping for meat sauces, desserts, and casseroles.
My daughter Joan created this delectable recipe, inspired by ingredients harvested from our home garden. Our garden is small, but we grow an amazing amount of food in it.
