Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley
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While searching for dessert recipes it is easy to get lost in the seemingly endless options of new and trendy flavor combinations. Exotic ingredients and complicated techniques can be fun when you have the time, or the budget, to bake for a special occasion. However, sometimes it is worth revisiting the humble classics. Lemon bars are in this category of easy to make homey favorites that are always a crowd pleaser. With a delicate butter shortbread base topped with a sweet and lively lemon...
In preparation for Valentine's Day, my mind naturally turns to food. The kitchen has always been an extension of my heart, cooking an act of love. While flowers and little trinkets are lovely, in my mind it is homemade edible gifts that have the most meaning. Among the list of romantic bites, sweet treats, and supposed aphrodisiacs, the ingredient most associated with this annual celebration of romance is chocolate. Foiled boxes of dark chocolate truffles, rich chocolate tortes and towering...
For me, cooking has always been about more than just sustenance alone. The foods we eat tell a story, and I am always listening. Every ingredient and technique used in modern kitchens are a daily retelling of the movement of cultures across time. Individual family histories come to life with the recipes that have been passed down from one generation to the next. Perhaps, this could be another way of interpreting the old saying, "you are what you eat." I can still remember the first time I had...
Since moving to Waitsburg, we have been slowly remodeling our older home one room at a time. Finally, the end is in sight with the biggest project, a planned complete overhaul of our kitchen, scheduled for later this year. In anticipation of this, we have getting by with the aging components of our current kitchen, making piecemeal repairs to buy us time until we eventually replace everything. Lately, it seems that as soon as we fix one problem the next one pops up. First, it was the dishwasher...
Everyone has their own unique way of expressing matters of the heart. For me, my love language has always been centered around the kitchen. Sharing recipes, cooking together, and serving special meals, are some of the ways that I communicate my feelings to loved ones. With that, there are certain homey recipes that are so comforting they feel like a hug. This dish of tender braised beef, spiced with a generous amount of sweet paprika, and served over small tender dumplings, is like a love...
My mother's family has roots in Texas, which often influences our holiday gatherings. In Texas, as with much of the South, eating black-eyed peas on New Year's Day is thought to bring good luck and fortune in the coming year. We often serve them simmered with bacon, along with a big hunk of my aunt's famous corn bread. This year, I wanted to try a twist on this family tradition, one that included a nod to my Latino heritage. The result was flavorful spiced black-eyed peas stuffed into flakey...
Among the things I love about living in Waitsburg are the packages of homemade Christmas cookies that we receive from several of our neighbors this time of year. Brightly frosted sugar cookies, chocolate crinkles, and spiced oatmeal raisin are just a few of the sweet delights already lovingly gifted to us this holiday season. A simple but thoughtful gesture, the sharing of treats from home kitchens is the kind of thing that gives small towns such big hearts. With platters of assorted baked...
Cranberries on holiday tables don't have to be in the form of canned jellied sauce. They can be a tasty year-round ingredient. The bright red fruit, with its distinctive tart flavor, can add the perfect sparkle to both sweet and savory dishes. The American cranberry, Vaccinium macrocarpon, delicious as fresh plump berries or sweet dried fruit is native to North America. After Wisconsin and Massachusetts, Washington State is one of largest American producers of cranberries, much of it grown up...
Recipes for holiday side dishes can vary greatly across the country, and opinions on proper preparations can be a source of debate, even within families. My Aunt Gail learned this the hard way while helping prepare a feast at a family reunion. She hoped to impress her Texas relatives with an alternative to classic sweet potato casserole, the kind made extra sweet with the addition of a molten marshmallow topping. She lovingly prepared sweet potatoes roasted with apples, spiced with cinnamon,...
It is ironic that I would start and finish my time writing this column with recipes for desserts, being that I do not have the biggest sweet tooth. In fact, my gastronomic cravings tend to be more for the savory or spicy side of things. However, after sharing an array of recipes, from appetizers, soups and salads to stews and meaty entrees, it made sense to end on a sweet bite. This week, to celebrate a family birthday I turned to a recipe that John developed during the early days of the coffee...
The last sweet weeks of summer are always my favorite time of the season. The days are still long, yet thankfully, the scorching triple-digit temperatures are mostly behind us. It is also when our homegrown tomatoes are ripe and bursting with sun-kissed flavor. When tomatoes are as good as they are right now, I mostly enjoy eating them as unadulterated as possible – just a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of flakey sea salt is all that is needed. As a result, I am always in search of recipes f...
As summer begins to wind down, our edible garden is often at its peak. With an abundance of vibrant basil, and my favorite nightshades, like tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant ready to harvest, my attention often turns towards Mediterranean recipes. Here, lovely eggplant and earthy mushrooms provide marvelous flavor and texture to this vegetarian version of a hearty Bolognese sauce. Satisfying without being too heavy, this comforting dish beautifully captures the delicious and sunny joys of late...
For the last three and half years, I have had the immense pleasure of writing this weekly recipe column in 'The Times." Since my first published recipe for Tarte Tatin in January 2021, I have tested and shared nearly two hundred recipes from my kitchen to yours. Inspired by my gastronomic heroes like Julia Child, Alice Waters, and Diana Kennedy, each column has felt like an opportunity to share my deep love of cooking with my readers. I hoped to inspire readers to try new dishes from around the...
The timing of the harvests in our backyard garden tend to vary greatly from year to year. It is always an adventure to see what is ripe and ready to pick each morning. With this, we try to stay creative and flexible in planning our summer meals. While our red tomatoes are still a few weeks aways from being ripe, this week our tomatillo plants were bursting with bright green fruit peeking out of their husks. This got me searching the many different styles of Mexican salsas verdes, which led me...
Too often, uninspired versions of this dish are slapped on restaurant menus, overdressed with bland mass-produced dressing. Originally created in 1924, by an Italian immigrant at his namesake restaurant in Tijuana, Mexico, Caesar salads quickly became a hit with Hollywood trendsetters. Here, I have a lively and fresh homemade Caesar dressing that will change how you look at those that come in a bottle. Adding seasoned grilled chicken turns this into a satisfying warm weather entrée. Ingredients:...
Several years ago, we were in Los Angeles visiting friends and family during a milestone birthday. As part of the festivities, we were invited to a friend’s house for a potluck barbeque. Being very familiar with the culinary trends of health-conscious southern California, I made a joke on our way there that the potluck would be nothing but raw kale. When we arrived at the party, there was fresh guacamole made from avocados grown in someone’s backyard, gorgeous wild-caught seafood on the gri...
Recently, while preparing for a dear friend's birthday celebration, I came across a recipe for an old-fashioned buttermilk cake. After adding orange zest to accentuate the tangy flavor of the buttermilk, the resulting cake was rich and moist with a perfect texture. Topped with an orange infused cream cheese frosting, this cake was a smashing hit with the guests of the party, and most importantly the birthday girl. This week, I plan on making this cake again for another summer birthday of sorts,...
There is no shortage of comforting dishes that can be made with a sack of potatoes. Light and tender, gnocchi are marvelous little Italian potato dumplings that can be dressed up in a wide variety of sauces. While packages of shelf stable, store-bought gnocchi have been a reliable staple in my pantry for many years, they are pale in comparison to the delicate texture of homemade. Here I have them tossed in a quick sauce of blistered tomatoes, garlic and herbs. A wonderful way to celebrate the...
Before moving to Waitsburg, bread baking was an elusive skill I always shied away from. Despite my deep love for all the shapes and styles of bread, the idea of making my own always seemed like an impossible feat. Perhaps inspired by the rolling wheat fields that surround us, I have since learned a lot while discovering the magic that can be made with a few ingredients, patience, and a hot oven. This chewy and crusty focaccia was one of the first successful bakes, filling our home with an...
As we move towards the summer solstice, many of our meals will be enjoyed on the back deck. From all-American cheeseburgers or Mexican carne asada to Korean bulgogi, the art of grilling is a culinary skill that brings people together all around the world. In fact, there is something quite primal in the communal experience of gathering around a meal sizzling over an open flame. A reminder of the universal commonalties of the human experience that far outweigh the differences. Here, ground beef...
In my kitchen library are some well-worn and much-loved cookbooks that I have referenced for years, many of which were gifts from beloved friends and family. One such culinary tome is my copy of "The Silver Palate Cookbook" by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins, a quintessential classic of American gastronomy. First published in 1982, the book is named after their Manhattan gourmet food shop, a location which was at the center of a shifting era in American culinary curiosity. My copy was gifted to me...
One of the things I most look forward to in late spring is the first bite of a plump sun ripened strawberry. This week, I noticed the first few bright red fruits ready for picking in our backyard patch. For the next couple of weeks, we will be plucking them by the bowlful. When fruit, such as strawberries, are perfectly ripe, and in-season, the general rule is the simpler the preparation the better. Which is perhaps why the combination of ripe strawberries with shortcake biscuits and whipped cre...
With a cleaned grill, refreshed flower containers, and a thoroughly swept deck, we are officially ready for outdoor entertaining. On the arrival of grilling season, I have been reviewing recipes for my favorite side dishes to serve while dining al fresco. Cool and brightly flavored salads are always an excellent choice as the days start to get hotter. This lively pasta salad, with a marvelous mint pesto and vibrant vegetables, is perfect served with grilled meats or seafood. Leftovers taste...
