farmers’ market

Laundry Is Forever, Fava Beans Are For Now

April 16, 2012

It’s fava bean season, and I’ve just returned from picking a basketful of fat green pods from my lovingly tended terraced and trellised hilltop garden, with its fairy tale view overlooking that quaint medieval village… and…CUT! The truth is, I feel a little disingenuous writing about fava beans. I don’t have any growing in my [...]

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Zuppa di Zucca Gialla {Winter Squash Soup}

November 13, 2011

Photo by Maren Caruso from Williams-Sonoma Rustic Italian (Weldon Owen) I resisted including a recipe for winter squash soup in The Glorious Soups and Stews of Italy. It seemed to me that there were already more than enough to go around, and one of my aims for the book was to shine a light on lesser [...]

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The Family Dish: Slow and Saucy Romano Beans

October 24, 2011

Green beans like to hang around, and I like that they like to hang around. Long after the corn and tomatoes and eggplant have departed from farmers market stalls, the piles of green beans remain, along with their cousins, flat-pod romano beans. In summer, I barely cook green beans, steaming them just until they are [...]

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‘Made In Italy’ Marmellata di Pomodori

September 9, 2011

I am nothing if not impractical. I have plenty of half-pint sized glass jars stacked in my storage room just waiting to be filled. And yet, when I spied the display of Bormioli jars at Sur La Table I couldn’t resist. It is, of course, the words ‘Made in Italy ‘stamped on the lids, that [...]

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The Family Dish: Watermelon and Tomato Salad

August 22, 2011

Did you ever mix milk and orange juice together when you were a kid? Gross, right? And yet, if you’ve ever enjoyed a Creamsicle on a hot summer day, you know that those two ingredients can be great together. Some food combinations are like that—completely counterintuitive. Take tomatoes and watermelon. The first time someone brought [...]

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Peas…with a little news tossed in

May 20, 2011

When my kids were little, I used to make them shell the peas I brought home from the farmers’ market. This accomplished several things: It kept their little hands busy, and it freed mine for other tasks. Also, it made them participants in the preparation of dinner, which I liked. My son, the oldest, used [...]

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Arugula Flowers

May 13, 2011

I was taught to harvest my arugula plants before they bolted and flowered because it would turn the leaves from tender and spicy to bitter and tough. It turns out, though, that bolting arugula has its own edible gift–the pale, cross-shaped flowers. They are delicious, delicately spicy and even a little sweet. I didn’t know [...]

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Zucchini Blossoms and Summer

August 15, 2010

The first time I wrote about zucchini blossoms I almost didn’t. I mean, why write about an ingredient that so few people seemed to have access to—other than those lucky gardeners who, every summer, are blessed with a bumper crop of squash (and then have the nerve to complain about it)? This was waaayyy back [...]

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