Halloween has come and gone, and the two sugar pumpkins (a.k.a. pie pumpkins) I bought for decoration have been sitting in my kitchen since then. I like to buy the small pumpkins instead of the big ones (perfect for carving) because they’re decorative AND edible — their flesh is sweet and firm, not stringy like…
Sauce
A Batch of Red Sauce
I’m not Italian, but I adore Italian food, and my obsession started as a kid. My family’s old farmhouse had a big yard with a field that backed up to our Italian neighbors. I was friends with their granddaughter, who lived there with her brother, mother and grandparents, and it was my first exposure to…
Sour Orange Mojo Marinade
I had never even seen a sour/bitter orange (a.k.a. Seville orange) before last week, when some dear friends picked ‘em right off their tree and gave me a bunch. They have a darker orange exterior color, with a distinctly rough, thick and dimpled skin — not the prettiest oranges you’ve ever seen, but they’ve got…
Green Almond Sauce for Fish
I love to read food memoirs, and one that I recently pulled off my shelf is a long-time favorite. Laurie Colwin, in her “Home Cooking” memoir, shares delightful food memories and humorous tales of the evolution of her culinary prowess, including her many cooking foibles. One of my favorite quotes in her book is “One…
Yummy Chimichurri
You’re probably thinking today’s post is all about this beautiful steak. Actually, it’s about the tasty chimichurri sauce I made to top it, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t first share a story about my family’s funniest experience with steak. . . Like many families with small kids in the 1960s-70s, we were on a…