Sautéed Kale with Tahini Sauce

Sautéed Kale with Tahini Sauce

Oh my, this is a good one. I never would have thought to pair kale with tahini (thank you to my friend Peg for the suggestion), but it’s great. Sort of reminiscent of a popular Japanese dish with spinach and sesame gomasio. The slightly bitter green kale does a happy dance with the acidic lemon and salty richness of the tahini sauce. Very easy to pull together. Would make an excellent addition to a Thanksgiving or holiday spread. Enjoy. (And as my dad says, eat your greens!)

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Smoky Maple-Mustard Salmon

Smoky Maple-Mustard Salmon Recipe
It doesn’t get much easier—or more delicious—than this speedy recipe for roast salmon topped with a smoky maple-mustard sauce. The sweetness of the maple balances the tangy mustard; smoked paprika or ground chipotle adds another layer of flavor. Ask at the fish counter to have the salmon cut into four 4-ounce fillets with the skin removed. Serve with roasted green beans and whole-wheat couscous tossed with pecans and chives.

Green Beans with Bacon

Green Beans with Bacon

There is nothing better than garden fresh green beans. Even when my parents abandoned their garden beds for ten years, they still had their green bean “tee-pees” every summer. My father is rather picky about his beans. They must snap and break when you bend them, not wiggle around like a rubber band. That’s how you know they’re fresh. I have a couple rows of green beans this year, planted from seed right after I pulled out the fava beans and spring peas. (BTW, if you grow green beans from seed, it helps to soak the beans over night in water before planting them, or place them between two layers of wet paper towels for a couple of days, so they germinate first.) They like heat, and at least in our part of the world, come into their own in August and September. When I left for vacation the plants were only a foot high, two weeks later they are climbing over the fence.

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Green Beans with Bacon

Green Beans with Bacon

There is nothing better than garden fresh green beans. Even when my parents abandoned their garden beds for ten years, they still had their green bean “tee-pees” every summer. My father is rather picky about his beans. They must snap and break when you bend them, not wiggle around like a rubber band. That’s how you know they’re fresh. I have a couple rows of green beans this year, planted from seed right after I pulled out the fava beans and spring peas. (BTW, if you grow green beans from seed, it helps to soak the beans over night in water before planting them, or place them between two layers of wet paper towels for a couple of days, so they germinate first.) They like heat, and at least in our part of the world, come into their own in August and September. When I left for vacation the plants were only a foot high, two weeks later they are climbing over the fence.

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Zucchini and Spinach Gratin

Zucchini and Spinach Gratin

Another week, another refrigerator drawer filled to the brim with garden zucchini. Sound familiar? To take a break from our usual (almost daily in the summer) way to cook up the zucchini (see mom’s summer squash), we prepared a classic French gratin, with grated zucchini, spinach, onions sautéed with bacon, a persillade of parsley and garlic, all bound together with a few eggs, tossed with Parmesan, and baked until golden brown.

Zucchini has never tasted so good.

Continue reading “Zucchini and Spinach Gratin” »



Zucchini and Spinach Gratin

Zucchini and Spinach Gratin

Another week, another refrigerator drawer filled to the brim with garden zucchini. Sound familiar? To take a break from our usual (almost daily in the summer) way to cook up the zucchini (see mom’s summer squash), we prepared a classic French gratin, with grated zucchini, spinach, onions sautéed with bacon, a persillade of parsley and garlic, all bound together with a few eggs, tossed with Parmesan, and baked until golden brown.

Zucchini has never tasted so good.

Continue reading “Zucchini and Spinach Gratin” »