salads Archives - A Way To Garden

springtime recipes & d.i.y. salad dressings, with justin chapple

margaret — Sun, 17 Apr 2022 13:16:26 +0000

FINALLY, the first fresh flavors of spring are starting to show up at the farmers’ markets, and before long in our gardens, with more to come every unfolding week. Chef and cookbook author Justin Chapple, who’s also the “Food & Wine” culinary director at large, offers ideas to use the coming bounty, starting with an idea for asparagus, plus easy but transformational homemade salad dressings and more. Which vinegar with which oil please, and why? Justin is known for his energetic and very approachable style, creating what he calls “built-to-be-easy recipes.” As part of his role at “Food & Wine,” he hosts their video series called “Mad Genius Tips,” the title of his first book, and he authored another called “Just Cook It” (affiliate link). Justin is going to be teaching a workshop near me in the Hudson Valley on May 8th, 2022, at HGS Home Chef Cooking School in Hillsdale, NY, as part of the big Workshop Experience Weekend that I’m involved with, with lots of festivities. How to get tickets for his event, and the whole May 7-8 festival schedule. Plus: Enter to win a copy of “Just Cook It” by commenting in the box near the bottom […]

The post springtime recipes & d.i.y. salad dressings, with justin chapple appeared first on A Way To Garden.

get it while it lasts! corn, tomato and zucchini recipes, with alexandra stafford

margaret — Sat, 31 Aug 2019 14:04:17 +0000

THE BACKYARD HARVEST is probably coming in fast and furious, and the farmstand and farmers-market tables are loaded, too. So, what to do with all those gorgeous zucchini and tomatoes, and how to savor every kernel of the fleeting peak moment of sweet corn? I called my friend Alexandra Stafford, author of “Bread Toast Crumbs” and creator of the indispensable food website Alexandra’s Kitchen, for ideas, and she had as many as I have zucchini at the moment. Uh-oh. If haven’t followed Ali on Instagram, where her how-to videos and stories are like a short course in better cooking, don’t delay any longer. She joined me on the radio show and podcast to talk about summer’s best flavors, with recipes for squash, corn and tomatoes in particular—galettes (top photo) and gazpacho, fritters and quick sauces, ratatouille and more. Links to each recipe we mention are in the text—with a list of more ideas below the transcript. enter our 2-book giveaway! Plus: Enter to win Ali’s cookbook by commenting in the box at the very bottom of the page…and be sure to follow the links over to her website next, because she’s giving away a copy of my latest book, “A […]

The post get it while it lasts! corn, tomato and zucchini recipes, with alexandra stafford appeared first on A Way To Garden.

mesclun 101, with kate spring of good heart farmstead

margaret — Sun, 28 May 2017 10:10:45 +0000

MESCLUN SIMPLY translates as “mixture,” meaning its interpretation can be pretty loose. But for organic farmers like Kate Spring and Edge Fuentes of Good Heart Farmstead in Vermont, it’s something really solid: a strong foundation to rely on, a main crop that’s become the underpinning of an entire livelihood. Good Heart Farmstead began in 2013, located 9 miles north of Montpelier in Zone 4, with a goal of becoming a “full-diet CSA,” but quickly evolved otherwise. “We raised sheep, turkeys, pigs, laying hens and broilers, and grew a long list of vegetable crops,” Kate recalls of Year 1. “AND we had a baby. It was crazy.” Add to that the fact that in year one Edge and Kate were cutting their mesclun by hand, meaning it took so long to harvest that they couldn’t be competitive in pricing on a wholesale level. Goodbye soon thereafter to the pigs and turkeys; hello to an expanded vegetable field—and, “an amazing quick-cut greens harvester, developed and sold by Farmers Friend, which transformed everything,” she says. “We can cut up to 100 pounds an hour with it.” Each year since, the Good Heart Farmstead team has increased the amount of mesclun they grow—harvesting 100 […]

The post mesclun 101, with kate spring of good heart farmstead appeared first on A Way To Garden.