This week I had some leftover pesto from a day I spent at Jacob’s Cove farm. It wasn’t from the actual farm day, but from the batch I made the day before, the ‘test batch’. We have been putting it to good use, eating it with fresh vegetables, on all our sandwiches, even straight from the bowl; but I think my favorite was this pizza. The dough was thick and earthy, the robust pesto a perfect match with the creamy and unmistakable goat’s mozzarella, and the greens were cool, crisp and seasoned perfectly to accent pure, clean flavor.

It was a good pizza. (more…)

I’m not sure how long I was peeling (and continually wasting) ginger with a knife before I finally figured out the best way to peel it without wasting ginger by the slice.  Use a vegetable peeler.  I’m sure most of you already do this, I’m just a couple years behind everyone else it seems.

So you may have known that, but did you know the best way to keep ginger when you have half a root left to use - but won’t need it for a while?  Honestly, I buy ginger to use for one meal then often don’t need it again for a week or so.  By that time the leftover root is all shriveled up if kept out in the open, or it’s bad from sitting in the refrigerator for so long.  So how can you lengthen your ginger’s shelf life? Ready for the secret?

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For a lot of people, Brussels sprouts get quite a reaction - either positive or negative.  It seems like either you love ‘em or you hate ‘em.  As a child, I never had them growing up but they were the vegetable that - just by mentioning, it brought a lookof distain to most kids’ faces.

Now as an adult, I’m starting to wonder why there is so much negativity about this vegetable.  They are delicious, and there are so many ways to prepare them.  But one word of advice - make sure you don’t overcook them.  When they are overcooked, they release a compound called sinigrin, which creates a sulpher smell.  This just may be why many children don’t like this vegetable!!

If you haven’t tried Brussels sprouts lately, now is the time to give them a try!

Brussels Sprouts with Bacon on Daily Unadventures in Cooking

Golden Crusted Brussels Sprouts on 101 Cookbooks

Hashed Brussels Sprouts with Lemon on Simply Recipes

Fettuccine with Brussels Sprouts and Pine Nuts on Epicurious

In my opinion…nothing will change your cooking
more than fresh herbs.

The use of herbs and spices date back prior to recorded history. Many early records reveal a mixture of medicinal and magical uses for herbs. But herbs were also used to mask unpleasant household odors and to enhance the taste of dull foods. The use of culinary herbs is a feature in one of the first recorded cookbooks from the first century epicure, Apicius. In England (1699), John Evelyn wrote Acetaria: A Discourse of Sallets which went into great detail of 73 salad herbs and their uses.

Today there has been a great surge of renewed awareness in herbs. A revival of the culinary arts and various ethnic cuisine has prompted new interest. Health conscious cooks have found that herbs contain no calories or fat - a fact of great importance to those on weight loss diets. Doctors even recommend the use of herbs and spices in salt-restricted diets to enhance flavor without adding sodium content. Adventurous cooks have found that raising their own herbs can be quite fulfilling as a hobby with the end results in cooking as just an added bonus.

-Herbs de provence is a mixture of dried herbs from Provence (Southern France) invented in the 1970s.
-The mixture typically contains rosemary, marjoram, basil, bay leaf, thyme, and sometimes lavender flowers and other herbs. Thyme usually dominates the taste produced by the herb mixture.
-Herbes de Provence are used to flavor grilled foods such as fish and meat, as well as vegetable stews.
-The mixture can be added to foods before or during cooking or mixed with cooking oil prior to cooking so as to infuse the flavour into the cooked food.
-They are rarely added after cooking is complete.

This is one of my favorite spice blends to use. The combination of perfectly paired herbs allows you to get more bang for your buck. Herbs de Provence is one of those items I always like to have on hand.
-Zupas Aficinado