Think you don't have time to make a delicious, old-fashioned dessert for your family tonight? Well, I think that you do. Forget about making an elaborate dough that needs to be chilled and rolled out. Forget about softening butter and getting out your stand mixer. The easiest dessert to make, by far, is a crisp: sliced, sweetened fruit dumped into ...
Coffee House Strawberry Scones
The coffee house in my town makes the best scones I have ever tasted. I am never one to waste calories on inferior pastry. For example, I make regular trips to Starbucks for a Chai Tea Latte, but I haven't eaten one of their baked goods in years. But the scones at Blue Max Coffee are worth the indulgence. Huge, flaky and studded with fruit, these ...
Lemon Orzo Salad with Asparagus
My mom returned from Paris a few weeks ago and reported that all the markets, and all the restaurant menus, were full of asparagus. The French get so excited about asparagus season because they don't expect to see asparagus all year round. In France, you get asparagus in the spring and once they're gone, they're gone until next year. Au ...
Scenes from the Oak Park Farmers Market
The Oak Park Farmers' Market has been open since May 18, but, as always, the market started slow. The first few weeks offered little locally grown produce beyond lettuce, asparagus and rhubarb. Don't get me wrong: I can do a lot with asparagus and rhubarb. Like grilled asparagus, asparagus pesto, rhubarb jam, and rhubarb-ginger buckle, just to name ...
Chicken Tomatillo Stew
Tomatillos are one of the more misunderstood fruits out there. Perhaps because of their name or because they are often used to make salsa, many people associate them with tomatoes. But in fact, tomatillos are members of the nightshade family. Their closest relatives are the gooseberry or the ground cherry -- a late-summer farmers' market crop that ...
Farmers’ Market Find: Rangpur Limes
Obviously I'm talking about a Florida farmers' market. You wouldn't be likely to find Rangpur limes at an Illinois farmers' market even in good weather, which it's not right now. No, today's farmers' market find is courtesy of the Saturday morning Old Naples Farmers" Market, which is a must on all of our Naples trips. The Old Naples Farmers' Market ...
Farmers’ Market Find: Currants
I stood in front of the table of fruit deep in thought: three kinds of currants -- white, red and black -- plus gooseberries! Another vendor a few tables over had four or five small boxes of hard-to-find tayberries. What to get? It was an embarrassment of riches. So much fruit! So many unusual and old-fashioned crops that you never see at the ...