Roasted Fig-Goat Cheese-Butter Lettuce Cups
The unpredictability of harvests causes me to marvel at the steadfast dedication of farmers. One season to the next, they never know how well or poorly a crop will do, despite all care and meticulous...
View ArticleOne-Hour Cheese! review, recipes, and a giveaway
It wasn’t just the allure of this gluten-free, no-bake tart, coupled with the fact that local strawberries are here at our markets, ready to spill their juicy sweetness over its top. It’s the homemade...
View ArticleDark and Light: Two Apple Cakes
What would you like with a cup of coffee right now? How about a slice of roasted apple walnut cake napped in apple caramel? Or perhaps a wedge of this fragrant apple-blueberry-cardamom cake? With...
View ArticlePear-Almond Clafoutis (with almond milk) and an invitation
We’ve all passed that bin or cart at the grocery store filled with discontinued or out-of-season products. I’ll stop and cast a cursory glance over the array, before moving on. Typically a bust, the...
View ArticleRugelach! candied ginger-apricot-almond and garam masala-chocolate-cherry twirls
I first encountered these engaging little confections in a now long-extinct bakery in Nashville called Bokay’s. Its owners were Hungarian, and they specialized in towering, elaborately decorated...
View ArticleSummer on the Move
Puttering in the garden. A dip in the pool. A day trip to the country. Stirring a pot of blackberry jam. Tomatoes, and more tomatoes, at every meal. That’s the summer in my mind. I’ve caught glimpses...
View ArticleEnd of a Cycle, with end-of-summer recipes
I recently spent a week in New York City helping my girlfriend Pat pack up her apartment, a studio on the tenth floor of a grand old building overlooking Gramercy Park. Rare and remarkable are two...
View ArticleFried Apple Hand Pies
The first time I recall eating a fried pie was almost 25 years ago when I was on a little fall jaunt, driving the backroads of middle Tennessee. Back then, Bill and I had a notion that we’d run a...
View ArticleIt’s a Date
When I decided to make Maggie’s Momma’s Pinwheel cookies last month, I purchased a large bag of dried pitted dates to get the job done. Turns out, that recipe made a whopping 5 dozen cookies, (enjoyed...
View ArticleStrawberry-Rhubarb Custard Cake
It’s been a long while since I’ve made a big beautiful delicious cake, but the stars aligned last week. Gigi’s “double nickel” birthday and our “last—for a little while” community potluck fell on the...
View ArticleChanterelle Confit
Confit: from the French word confire meaning “preserved” a confit is any type of food cooked slowly, often in fat, as a method of preservation. If the stars align and I happen to be shopping at Costco...
View ArticleWhat a Throwback!
Right now, I’m sure many of you are forming your Thanksgiving plans–choosing recipes, composing grocery lists, plotting your course to the Thursday feast. I am too; we’ll be driving to DC to spend the...
View ArticleFavorite Cookies of the Moment
I have a friend who has a nice philosophy about food. If ever asked, “What’s your favorite _________?,” —-and you can fill in that blank with burger, cupcake, taco, milk shake —- she’ll respond, “It’s...
View ArticleCarrot-Cauliflower Soup with lemony cilantro oil
I’ve never talked about it here, but one of the food hats I wear is that of restaurant critic for our newspaper, The Tennessean. For over six years, I’ve been covertly dining around town and writing...
View ArticleBeets all the way: hummus and pesto
Kale, Swiss chard, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, parsnips, beets: After years of being forgotten, feared, distained, dismissed, each of these veggies is having its moment of redemption. They all have...
View ArticleHeirloom Grains, and Moving Musings
roasted cauliflower-vidalia onion ragu over blue corn grits and sea island peas cooked in bay laurel over carolina gold rice Bins, boxes, bubble wrap, newsprint, packing tape, Sharpies. Bit by bit,...
View ArticleIn Abby’s Kitchen
Hello Friends, I am sorry I have been out of touch the past (gasp) five months. The sale of our house was a speed of light event this spring that left us in an odd spot. With the home we’re building...
View ArticleA Fresh Start
Nomadic no more. Welcome to my kitchen; welcome to my new home. It’s been a long journey getting here. Three years, from when we first found the lot, its blighted home in foreclosure, to moving in,...
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