The Best Way to Cook Fresh Beans

I’ve had a fresh food revelation. I’m really not exaggerating. This meal that I had was so utterly inspiring that it changed the way I look at this food. Stand back, I’m talking about beans. FRESH BEANS! This year, we grew a test patch of cannellini beans and, based on their outstanding flavor, we’ll be…

Basic Berry Jam in a Steam Oven

It’s jam season again and I have to tell you, I have a delightful new toy. I don’t think I’ve ever loved an object like this before and, though I probably should feel embarrassed, it makes me a little giddy and a little evangelical. Meet…my steam oven.  Nestled in there among those Shaker simplistic cabinets,…

Kid-friendly Crab Primevera

Oh, hello, summer days! It’s time for sunshine, a little bit of sweat, and big salads. Dirty, hungry, people eating outside, soil under fingernails. Lunchtime picnics at the beach. Let’s just do it all. Bed time is cancelled and sometimes, just sometimes, if you’re really lucky, someone will call you up and ask if you…

Lemon Meringue Pie

One rainy day, about a decade ago when we were staunch locavores and still beginning to learn about what that meant (and how to incorporate balance), a friend left a surprise sack of lemons on my porch.  During her drive north, they’d traveled with her in her tiny trunk, fresh from her parents’ CA tree,…