These are the peppers from my garden this year. You can call me Peter Piper. Thank you.
Pickled Peppers:
The truth is, that they were planted by my brother's mischievous friend Francesco. But Francesco dropped off the radar screen sometime in mid-summer when the weeds became unruly and it was time to separate the men from…
On a scale of 1-5, how ambitious were you with your garden this year?
I started out extremely ambitious. Like, I'm-the-best-farmer-in-the-world-ambitious.
Then I had my ego handed to me on a platter made of corn stalk nubs, meticulously gnawed down by the chipmunks.
Pickled Swiss Chard:
But there were a few successes. In fact, there were many in…
I'm pickling a lot these days. That seems to be the way it goes with summer gardening. You hoe and weed and till and sow and water and worry and then it all comes pouring in at once, faster than you can eat it.
When I have this problem, I pickle.
Folks, get ready for a lot…
The elderflowers are blooming. This is good on many levels. For one, flowers are just a prelude to berries. And berries are just a prelude to jelly. And elderflower jelly is something that my grandmother made as a child with her mother. I'm going to make some and bring it to Grandma Pellegrini.
Now that the…
The idea of homemade Nutella just thrills me. There is something so addictive about Nutella to begin with, but then when you tell me there's a healthy version I can make... sign me up!
My friend Elana over at Elana's Pantry created this recipe. It has natural, whole ingredients, including unsweetened cocoa powder, protein rich nuts,…
Butter sauce, that is, in English speak.
Butter is such a magical thing, don't you think?
I call it udder nectar. Sometimes.
Only with people who know me well, like you for example. But I usually don't call it that at a first encounter.
You see, we get so caught up in recipes, but sometimes it can be simpler…
As you well know, I have a thing for hot sauce. At one point I thought I had tried all of the bottles in the store. Then I made this whiskey hot sauce for my book Food Heroes. I felt it was my job to preach hot sauce to the world.
Then I found one more recipe to try... it was magical.
Lots 'o fresh ingredients like cilantro, cherry tomatoes, onion, garlic, and eight habaneros. Are you ready for this?
Can you handle the heat?
"You can't handle the heat!"
Name that movie.
Once they're all roasted in a lovely kind of way, you blend everything together.
It's yellow and sublime. It tastes like... the sun.
Actually it's mildly addictive and flavorful, despite the burning lips.
How about you? Do you like hot sauce? Or are you a wimp? I'm just wondering...
I'm at the airport again. I think I am now officially on a first name basis with many airport security people around the country. They have my x-ray on hand to refer to, which expedites things nicely.
While I'm sitting here though, I thought I'd tell you about my favorite hot sauce recipe of late. It's…
As you may recall, I went apple picking with an old college friend not too long ago. It was an attempt to re-live those cool, crisp New England days.
But seeing as it was 104 degrees, and we were sweaty, I don't think it was really a walk down memory lane.
But we got apples. And I…