End of Summer Cake
You only need to know a few cake formulas to be able to look smart in the kitchen. Because once you understand the recipe, you can tweak it ad infinitum to vary the result: …
In Season & Fresh from the Garden, the Fields, the Orchards & the Woods
locavore log
On Making Tomato Paste
10 pounds of tomatoes = 12 fl oz of tomato paste. Or conserva as the Italians call it. Three years ago, I was using Saveur Magazine’s recipe and Italian-type tomatoes to make tomato paste. I have since learned to use any tomatoes to make tomato …
Peach Chutney
If you need one reason to can, peaches is it. Perfectly ripe and luscious peaches are as much a treat now as they are when I open a homemade can of peaches in the dark months (or next spring before the first seasonal fruit, strawberries, …
August Flavor
Flavor Magazine August/September issue is coming out in just a few days, and it’s – in the words of the editor Pam Hess – an action-packed issue. I am delighted with the way my Seasonal Table column was shot and shows. With the help of …
Tequila Yellow Plum Sorbet
I am canning. Jamming. Pickling. Wining. Infusing. Freezing. Chutneying. Syruping. Cordialing. And otherwise having great fun in the kitchen. And the garden is calling most insistently: “Yo! When are you picking that corn? Have you checked the cabbage lately? The beans, the beeeeans…” and “It’s …
Berry Season
There is no question that we are well into berry season. Strawberries are the first berries to ripen for us here in the Northern Virginia Piedmont. The most common ones that you are likely to grow or buy are the June bearers. They produce a …
Sour Cherry Cake
I’ve picked lots of cherries this year. How much exactly? 87 pounds to date both sweet & sour, over a few weeks in 3 different places. This past Wednesday morning I picked 40 pounds from about 7:45 AM until 10:00 AM on a hill top …
Post Card From The Porch
We did a photo shoot for Flavor Magazine today, styled by Joanie Ballard of R.H. Ballard, in Washington, VA. After we were done, and everybody left, I simply had to use the little table. It looks much better with everything Joanie brought, but still the …
On Cherries
I first encountered really fresh cherries when I was 15 – a defining age to meet a flat of just picked sun-gorged brilliant cherries, I can tell you. On the tropical island where I grew up, cherries do not fruit – they grow, but without …
June Flavor
Flavor Magazine is a regional publication focusing on the Capital Food Shed, Virginia, Maryland, DC. I started to write the Seasonal Table column in January 2011. The June/July issue is out with 10 seasonal recipes. 8 are extremely easy but nonetheless flavorful. No surprise indeed …