Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell are the farmers and innovators behind Beekman 1802, a 200-year-old estate and farm in upstate New York. We'll be running recipes, photos and tales from the farm as their crops come into season. Catch them on the Farm to Table episode of 'Rachael's Vacation' on the Food Network.
We had a bounty crop of carrots this year. We sliced them and diced them every which way we knew how and still they kept coming. It seems like you can open almost any refrigerator in America and find a neglected bag of carrots. You use one or two in a salad and then get stumped as to what to do with the rest.
We turned to our friend Sandy Gluck who always helps us out with our overstock. The result is a sweet and spicy carrot dish that will definitely clear up crisper space in refrigerators across the nation.
Find the recipe for Sicilian Glazed Carrots after the jump...
Few of us want to make a complicated lasagna for solo dining -- by day six, you'll never want to see lasagna again! In this series, AOL Food staffer Sarah LeTrent taste-tests simple recipes suitable for a "table for one."
When we think of peanuts, we think Virginia, ballgames and a top hat-wearing, cane-holding, monocled mascot. However, peanuts are also a staple in West African cooking and used prominently in many dishes. One such typical meal is a hearty stew made with tomatoes, sweet potatoes and peanuts.
This vegetarian version of the soup relies on the saltiness and creaminess of peanut butter -- the pantry staple and venerated American spread that is an often unsung hero in meals that don't include jelly or two slices of bread.
Presenting a new (and more acceptable) way to eat peanut butter by the spoonful.
'Tis the season for pumpkin carving, but don't throw out the scraps! AOL Food's toasted pumpkin seed recipe and these tips make it easy to turn a pile of pumpkin seeds (or pepitas) into a tasty and healthy snack.
Sweet potato pie is a Southern food superstar, immortalized in song, celebrated in literature and beloved by American food authority President Barack Obama, who confidently called the filling his favorite while on the campaign trail. And then there's sweet potato cake.
Sweet potato cake is so thoroughly obscure that René Simon, spokesman for the Louisiana Sweet Potato Commission, claims he's never tried it: "I've lived in South Louisiana all my life, and I don't think I've ever had sweet potato cake," Simon tells Slashfood.
According to him, the Pelican State's sweet potato scene is all pie, all the time. "Here, America means mom and sweet potato pie," Simon says.
One of the nation's largest pumpkin festivals, the Circleville Pumpkin Show, gets underway this week in Circleville, Ohio.
The show opened Wednesday for its 106th year and runs for four days with more than a hundred pumpkin varietals, the Columbus Dispatch reports.
The pumpkin varieties have been expanding every year," Kurt Engle, manager of the show's pumpkin sales, told the paper. "But most of what's sold are used for decorating."
Apart from a big juicy steak, I think a lot of us associate meat with certain recipes. From burgers to tacos and meatloaf, meat adds flavor and texture to meals that meat lovers crave.
But I know quite a few vegetarians who cook for their meat-loving spouses and friends on a regular basis, as I do. I've always wanted to cook the dishes I crave, without having to make something separate when vegetarians come to dine. Here are my staple meat substitutions and how to use them. Now you can keep those classics on the dinner table without a trip to the butcher.
Chickpeas have a firm texture that makes them ideal for burgers. Use them directly out of the can -- just drain, then pulse in a food processor for a chunky base that works well as a ground meat substitution. When working with beans, remember to add some spice with lots of seasonings. I like to use Worcestershire and steak sauce that are both vegetarian but have the seasonings cooks usually pair with meat. A dash of hot sauce can also add depth and warmth to the dish.
More meat substitutes and my Luscious Lentil Taco recipe, after the jump.
Tomatillos and hot peppers. Photo: Brent Ridge, Beekman 1802.
Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell are the farmers and innovators behind Beekman 1802, a 200-year-old estate and farm in upstate New York. We'll be running recipes, photos and tales from the farm as their crops come into season.
Earlier this summer, when a friend gave us a few small tomatillo plants, we weren't really that interested in them. Nevertheless, we found a spot in the heirloom garden and pushed them into the dirt.
Three short months later, as we watched every blight-bitten tomato turn brown and drop from the vine, we were thrilled to have those tomatillo plants.
Oddities in the garden, we've been asked more than once what they were. One visitor even exclaimed, "I didn't know you could eat Japanese Lanterns!"
Today's the day to skip burgers and bacon -- it's World Vegetarian Day! Slashfood is celebrating the beginning of vegetarian-awareness month with lots of posts highlighting the best in fruits and veggies. They'll be a few roundups that aren't all-veg, but barring those, we're bringing you meat-free fare all day long. Check back here for posts on vegan wine, the best in vegetarian cookbooks and food festivals, plant-based recipes and more.
In this weekly series, home cook Bruce Watson works his way through a decades-old family cookbook, adapting the best recipes exclusively for Slashfood.
When I was a kid, the end of the summer brought with it a painful, unpleasant tradition. Every August, when the farmers' market was filled with tomatoes, my parents would buy a few bushels, and the whole family would spend a couple of days blanching, peeling and processing the fruits. Every time, the process resulted in clothing and skin that reeked of tomatoes, fingers that stung and a freezer full of watery tomato sauce that we would defrost throughout the year.
As an adult, I have continued the tradition, although I make my sauce in the fall, when cooking pleasantly warms and perfumes the house, rather than turning it into a sweatbox. I also prefer using canned tomatoes, rather than fresh ones: In addition to sparing my fingers from burns, they produce a sauce that is richer, more flavorful and has a better texture than my parents' marinara. On the other hand, I still use my mom's recipe, which she learned from her Italian godmother, although I add a little bit of red wine vinegar, which gives the sauce more depth. Ultimately, it's a spicy, fennel-accented marinara that freezes well, tastes delicious and is inexpensive to make.
Get the recipe for all-purpose marinara after the jump.
September might be halfway over and autumn imminent, but that doesn't mean the fall food fun has to end. Here's a selection of September food fests across the country.
Nappanee Apple Festival, Nappanee, Ind., Sept. 17-20: Apple season is upon us. Many are headed to pick-your-own orchards. This festival includes an apple-peeling contest, apple bake-off, pie-eating contest and the world's largest baked apple pie, weighing in at 600 pounds and a whopping 7 feet across. There's a daily lumberjack show, too.
The Houston Hot Sauce Festival, Houston, Sept. 19-20: Hot sauce festivals are on fire! Nationwide, they're popular, chilehead blow-outs. Attendees can sample and purchase a plethora of sauces, chiles and dry rubs. Don't forget to vote in the People's Choice for the Hottest Hot Sauce at this ninth annual festival.
Here's a little restaurant technique to make the rich, sweet, tangy, roasted tomatoes that many restaurants use to add a flavor and dimension to various dishes.
I like them best with pasta and although they do take time to cook, they are well worth the wait.
Making tomato confit isn't hard but it can heat up the house and seem wasteful to run the oven for hours -- so why not use an energy-saving toaster oven?
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