Despite the recent heat wave, I’ve been craving nothing but mushroom soup. I can’t really explain why – maybe it’s a throwback to my French culinary training that I’ve somewhat abandoned in recent months, or it could just something I need to make every other summer, or it could even be a weird umami craving? Stranger things have happened – just sayin’!

I used a variety of mushrooms from River Valley Ranch for this delicious soup including oyster, shitake and crimini and – get this – a half stick of butter! For those of you still working in professional kitchens, please don’t laugh at me! I NEVER use that much fat in anything other than pastries these days. Although I do fondly remember dumping pounds of butter and quarts of cream in soups in the past. Those are happy memories…

Either way, the butter splurge was worth it in this soup, although I did restrain myself and not use any cream. The other highlight was the dry sherry added at the end for a little extra flavor along with a bit of fresh lemon juice. The soup was so delicious that the other half stick of butter and pint of cream weren’t missed at all!

Here’s the recipe:

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Not to be overly dramatic or anything, but today my life changed forever and it’s all thanks to a sauce. Or rather this specific oven-roasted tomato sauce, which is unspeakably good – so fresh, so vibrant, I’m convinced I will never be the same as no other tomato sauce could possibly live up to this one.

What makes it so good, you ask? I think it has to be the slow-roasted fresh tomatoes. Or maybe it’s the simplicity of the ingredients – there aren’t many (so unlike me, I know). Or maybe… I don’t know, just take my word that it’s damn good!

I made this version with striped Roma tomatoes I picked up at the farmers’ market, but regular Roma tomatoes would also be great.

I’ll admit I upped the ante a bit by making fresh pasta, but dried is fine, and is in fact what I’ll probably use next time. As much as I love fresh pasta and as simple as it is to make (see video), some nights I just don’t have the energy.

Try this recipe and let me know if it changes your life, too!

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I’ve been having a great time this summer visiting the nearby farmers’ market on Saturdays, taking in the fresh smells and vibrant colors of the most amazing fruits and vegetables. I swear, I bought blackberries last weekend that were the size of my thumb! Unbelievable!

The only problem has been that I’ve been hoarding these amazing vegetables with no time to actually do anything with them! That all changed tonight with a delicious clean-out-the-fridge summer succotash. I took all the vegetables that were on the verge of, I’ll say it nicely, becoming compost and sauteed them with butter, olive oil and thyme, then served the whole mixture over quinoa for a perfectly fresh and light summer dinner!

I used onions, garlic, green beans, mushrooms, corn and little heirloom tomatoes, but you can use whatever you have on hand. Although, according to the ever-reliable Google search, a succotash is made of corn and some sort of bean (usually lima), so I’m pretty sure this counts. Even if it doesn’t – I don’t care because it just tastes SO good!

Here’s the recipe for Summer Succotash:

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From the lack of updates it probably looks like I haven’t been cooking much. While I have been cooking, although less frequently than I wish, it’s really just been not having the time to post.

Today, I finally got around to uploading my photos and discovered a bunch of shots from an amazing meal I made a few weeks back: fresh pasta with farmers’ market peas and spring onions. I know I jotted down the recipe on the back of an envelope or something that has since disappeared (shocking!), but the truth is that for something this fresh and delicious you don’t really need a recipe.

In fact, I’m not even sure what the highlight of the dish is: the fresh homemade pasta or the glorious peas and onions straight from local farms. But the best part of this weeknight meal is that it came together in less than hour!

I started with the homemade pasta by whipping up the dough and letting it rest at room temperature for about 30 minutes. I then rolled it into thin pieces using a pasta machine, but cut it by hand into wider pieces, which was a lot of fun.

While waiting for the pasta dough to rest, I prepped the other ingredients and began making the sauce: sauteed the chopped spring onions in equal parts butter and olive oil (be generous – this is the base of the pasta sauce!) until soft and caramelized, added minced garlic and cooked until fragrant, then removed the pan from the heat and stirred in about a cup of fresh shelled peas.

Next I cooked the pasta in batches of salted, boiling water and strained the noodles directly into the saute pan with the vegetables. Fresh pasta cooks really quickly – just two minutes. Finally, I stirred in ricotta cheese, fresh mint and basil, lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste. Save a bit of the pasta cooking water to thin out the consistency of the sauce if necessary.

And that’s it! Fresh, simple and incredibly delicious – quite possibly the best thing I’ve had all summer that didn’t contain chocolate!

It’s been a while since my last post and a much longer break than I’ve ever taken since starting this blog. It seems my life has gotten in the way of my hobby a bit, but it’s my hope that with the farmer’s markets now open and fresh produce (slowly) coming in, it’ll be easier to find the motivation to get back in the kitchen!

With that said, we can move on to more important things, like rhubarb.

Every year I get so excited for the first outdoor market of the season that I rush over with hopes of finding an overwhelming variety of fresh fruits and vegetables. And of course, every year I leave with just two items: rhubarb and asparagus.

It’s just the way it is here – May equals leftover apples and potatoes from the fall and fresh rhubarb and asparagus. It’s like they’re the starter vegetables warming us up for the real thing to come.

This year I wanted to do something simple but a little unique with the rhubarb. Playing off it’s tart qualities, I decided to mimic the sweet and sour flavors of lemon squares by making rhubarb squares with an almond crust.

These treats were a gooey, sweet-sour combination with a crunchy almond crust and are were enough to convince me that summer might actually get here soon. Or at least convince me that the wait won’t so bad…

Try the Rhubarb Almond Squares for a pre-summer fix!

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