Recipes

This cucumber cooler is made with Hmong cucumbers. Hmong cucumbers are larger and more watery than pickling cucumbers. The riper the cucumber gets (as it turns from yellow to orange), the less bitter. The mint adds a nice note. The Hmong cucumber is halfway between a cucumber and a melon. It doesn’t taste like much on its own until you …

More zing than lemon curd. Serve on toast, biscotti, as a filling between layers of cake, or straight up. Ingredients 3 ounces (6 Tablespoons) unsalted butter 1 cup sugar 2/3 cup lime juice (about 4 limes) Zest of 4 limes, divided in two 4 large eggs, well beaten Pinch of sea salt Directions Makes 2 cups. Use a double boiler …

Cherry Bombs are cherries that are pickled in a sweet and spicy brine. There are many variations of this dish. The brine can be thin (like pickle juice) or thick like syrup. The cherries can be pitted or left whole with the stems. The extra acid can come from lemon juice, wine, or vinegars (like apple cider vinegar, red wine …

Think Tabasco. Think Sriracha. Fermenting your own chile sauce is an alternative to a vinegar boil. So, what exactly does fermented mean? Fermented means that bacteria, such as Lactobacillus, have gotten into the food and eaten the sugars. The sugars, through the magical process of anaerobic respiration, have been converted into CO2, alcohol, and lactic acid. Lacto fermentation is when …

This hot sauce is not for the faint of heat. This is a variation of a recipe I first saw on the Rick Bayless show “Mexico – One Plate at a Time”. It has habaneros, carrots, onion, garlic, salt, and then either lime juice or apple cider vinegar.  

Marionberry pie is one of the best uses of the berry. This is a recipe I found in Sunset: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/anjou-bakerys-marionberry-pie

Fava Beans, called “fave” in Italian (pronounced “fa-vay”), are a centuries-old, archetypal “fast food” that used to be eaten in the fields, sustaining men and women working up to twelve hours in rugged conditions, keeping them going until the long-awaited evening supper.

This is a recipe copied from Chef Alice Waters served at Chez Panisse

In the summer, when you have more string beans than you can eat fresh, consider Dilly Beans.

Pork, tomatillos, chiles and verdolagas (purslane) are a traditional combination in Mexican cuisine.