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July 26, 2010

Summer Lentil Salad

What’s not to like? This recipe is low-fat, vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free!

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July 7, 2010

Double Header: Bay Chamber Concerts and Shepherd’s Pie

What a double header…opening night of the 50th anniversary of Bay Chamber Concerts and a dinner out at the spanking new Shepherd’s Pie.

shepherd's pie

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June 29, 2010

Laura Cabot’s Peekytoe Crab Cakes & Remoulade Sauce

These delicious crab cakes used to cause a fuss at my former restaurant the “Pine Cone Cafe” back in the day. It was our most popular offering. They even got published nationally in Ladies’ Home Journal back in the 90s. Never mind that the people who noticed were mainly friend’s mothers under the hairdryer in their beauty salons…I like kudos any way I can get them!

You’ll get kudos too when you serve these up. Best right out of the pan and onto the plate, but will hold nicely in a moderate oven.
crab

image courtesy of everythingsbetterwithbacon.blogspot.com

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June 14, 2010

Parsley’s Cousin Chervil

Motived once again by what I am using in my garden right now, I decided to research chervil and its uses.

Did you know that there is a National Chervil Board? Nor did I. I see the site has not been updated in a while, but I applaud their vision. Chervil is, as they put it, “an unjustly neglected herb.”

chervil image

chervil image above courtesy of cookalmostanything.blogspot.com

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May 26, 2010

Common Violets: The Gardener’s Flirty Muse and Culinary Companion

Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.~  Mark Twain

violets-and-quart-jar

image: rosecottagegardensandfarm.com

So much has been documented about the common violet. It turns out that this plant is anything but, and boasts a long history with documented uses that run from culinary to medicinal to industrial…to magical! Continue reading “Common Violets: The Gardener’s Flirty Muse and Culinary Companion” »

May 13, 2010

Spring Dug Parnsips….worth the wait

If you love the kick of getting early food from your garden, it’s worth planting parsnips. Taking a long time to mature, it’s a crop you can plant mid season, mulch with straw in the late fall, and winter over. There is nothing quite so sweet and satisfying as a big iron skillet of caramelized and crusty, tender coins of this delicious root vegetable. The cold winter weather makes them sweeter still, turning their starches into sugar.

I like them simply pan fried, in a creamy soup, as a gratin, added to a boiled dinner, or just in a supporting role as an accent to an entree. They are good grated raw, too. It’s surprising how many people don’t know what they are (is this a white carrot?).Parsnips

image: adventuresinshaw.com

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May 6, 2010

One Mainer’s Adventures in Costa Rica

When you sign on for an exotic trip, you have a good idea that there will be a deviation from the norm. Some of these detours may take you out of your comfort zone, and that’s when the fun begins. Call me an optimist, but when the going gets tough, that’s when I hope to learn something about myself. DSC01656DSC01657
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May 2, 2010

Stuffed Colossal Olives

These party favorites are from my friend Patience Sampson of Friendship, who deserves full credit for thinking of adding the Italian sausage to a cheese filling very much like my recipe that uses Parmesan and ricotta cheeses. Serve these at your next party and be prepared to share the recipe!

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image: foodnetwork.com

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April 25, 2010

Spring Appetizer: Pea Pesto Crostini

Either wait for your garden peas, or push the season by using frozen. It tastes just as good and is a gorgeous shade of green!pea pesto crostini

image: mygardenplate.com

Pea Pesto Crostini
Laura Cabot, Laura Cabot Catering, Waldoboro

10 ounces (1 package) thawed frozen peas or a comparable amount of your fresh garden English peas
1 clove garlic
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon fresh pepper
2/3 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Pulse all ingredients together in a food processor. Place in  bowl and cover. Refrigerate until you’re ready to use. This will keep a couple of days in the fridge.

Toast or grill “one bite” sized bits of bread/baguette to make toasts or crostini.

Moments before serving, top each toast with the pea pesto and serve on a tray garnished with pea tendrils. Watch your friends’ faces light up!

It’s spring in one bite! This recipe serves a party as one of several appetizer choices.

Laura Cabot Launches Summer Cooking Classes

CALLING ALL “LOCAVORES!”

Chef Laura Cabot will begin teaching cooking classes in Waldoboro.

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above photo: A cooking student enjoys a summer lunch at Laura’s
.

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April 19, 2010

Cheese Truffles

Remember those big ‘ol cheese balls from your mom’s cocktail party? Well, these are different, more contemporary, and one hundred percent delicious.

Here is a basic recipe, which you can mix and match with different cheeses and coatings to provide endless variety. At Laura Cabot Catering, we like to add a tray or two of these to our stationary display of local cheeses, crackers, and seasonal fruit. They are easy to pop in one bite and are delightfully different.Goat-Cheese-Truffles-with-Maple-Spiced-Pecans
image
: recipegirl.com

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March 26, 2010

Bottarga con Spaghetti

If you haven’t experimented with curing your own roe and cooking with it, you are in for a tasty surprise.

Bottarga is a traditional Sardinian condiment, often using the roe or egg sacs of tuna or mullet. Here in Maine, shad roe works wonderfully well. It is salted and cured, usually ground or thinly sliced. Often sprinkled over pasta dishes, it tastes like the essence of the sea, fresh, a little fishy and briny. A little goes a long way.
Bottargaimage: amateurgourmet.com

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March 25, 2010

Classic Shad Roe Recipe

Spring has sprung early this year and many of the harbingers of spring are appearing early too. My spinach from last year has made a return from the dead, and garlic chives and garlic sprouts are up in the garden. Then there is shad roe, one of my personal favorites.shad roeimage: flickr.com/photos/jakeslagle
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February 2, 2010

Cheese Blintzes

Here’s another terrific brunch recipe…and another way to use crepes. This recipe was given to me orally by my wonderful grandmother Fanny Gross Marad who let me help in the kitchen when I was just a wee thing. Thanks to her, my first kitchen experiences were rewarding and I like to think that her support of my early endeavors helped me down my culinary path. A talented cook herself, I often think that if Fanny had been living in more modern times, she would have been a chef and restauranteur instead of a mother who cooked fantastic meals for her kids and grandkids and worked part time managing a Horn and Hardart in Philadelphia. The only other blintzes I ever tasted that were as good as hers was at The Ambassador, a Jewish dairy restaurant near her home on Girard Ave. in Philly.
blintzes-500

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January 27, 2010

Chocolate Crêpes: The Joys of Nutella

Got kids?
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No one, except perhaps a native of Paris, understands chocolate for breakfast the way children seem to. But, if we’re going for the gusto, let’s make it better than Count Chocula. Continue reading “Chocolate Crêpes: The Joys of Nutella” »

January 1, 2010

A New Year’s Missive/Delicious Duty

I am practically upside down… cleaning out the freezer by leaning into the freezer in a big way, getting to the bottom of it all…and thinking on the fly. No one really likes getting their hands freezing cold in this weather, but taking stock of the freezer is something we must do now and then to keep order and be frugal. Here are some of my Non-Recipes, which got their inspiration from viewing the freezing heap on my kitchen table.

My New Year’s resolution is to use up all this stuff in my freezer before buying more. It’s crazy to let good food get freezer burned or go to waste. Let’s see what’s good… and what good recipes come out of this. Continue reading “A New Year’s Missive/Delicious Duty” »

December 10, 2009

Visions of Sugarplums

This holiday’s winter show stopper came to me in a long chewy moment of bliss at a recent holiday gathering. The crust, so delectable, the filling, deep with perfectly buttery and slightly sweet and salty caramel, studded lavishly with pecans. Pure perfection, compliments of Friendship’s very good cook, my friend and the artist formerly known as Patience Sampson. Whether you’ve been naughty or nice, these caramel bars will hit the spot!

sugarplum

(image: weblogs.baltimoresun.com)

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November 8, 2009

All About Endives

This is the time of year when I crave Autumn’s bitter greens. People in the know call bitters a liver tonic. Every culture seems to have a “bitter” and sadly, coffee appears to be America’s bitter of choice. Now I LOVE coffee and you can even drink chicory (endive) coffee…but there is more good bitterness out there to choose from. I take mine in salad greens too.

The escarole and treviso I planted this summer are still going strong in the garden. I have so much escarole, in fact, that I’ve taken out the cookbooks for inspiration and learned a bit about the endive family in the process.

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October 19, 2009

Celeriac? What’s that?

It looks like this year’s alleged “growing season” is coming to an end in Maine. What’s left in my back vegetable garden is an array of healthy weeds, wizened squash vines, and a sunflower or two.

While out strolling in this summer’s battleground the other day (aka “my garden”), and facing with the few remaining survivors……I had a surprise. A bumper crop of celeriac or celery root. For those not familiar, celery root has dark green celery – like fronds perched atop a large gnarly root ball, which, when peeled, becomes a power ingredient to flavor boost soups and stews or to create culinary classics such as celery root remoulade or an Autumn root gratin.

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August 20, 2009

Corn, Batters, and Blooms

(Something corny …and if it looks good…EAT IT!)

Frisky, Polka, Aloha, Kandy Korn, Super Snow, Kiss and Tell, Applause, Honey and Pearl, Bodacious, Tuxedo, Excel, Sugar Buns, Cameo, Dazzle, Avalon, Merlin, Country Gentleman, Platinum Lady. All names for varieties of our favorite summer treat.

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