Magical Eating

[Note: No picture of this until I make a fresh batch. It doesn't last long unless I hide all the spoons. - e]
I’m back from camp and a last-minute experiment turned out to be a massive hit.
Ingredients (for about 1.5 quarts)

2C (500ml) Heavy cream
2C (500ml)  Buttermilk (use a good buttermilk, ideally something that’s made locally [...]

It started, innocently enough, when our regular CSA (Eating With the Seasons) offered some grass-fed beef. The results were extraordinary and we kept an eye out for future offerings.
Then they mentioned that Morris Grassfed Beef was offering “split halves”. That’s half a side of beef, delivered all at once or in 4 equal packages CSA-style. [...]

The cooler summer weather means we’re getting stone fruit far later in the season than usual. The peaches are more tart than sweet, but the nectarines have been perfect! It was time to show them some love.

I had an abundance of nectarines, and with Witchlets in the Woods coming up (where I help cook), it [...]

When Ambar brought home a Zucchini plant from the nursery (“we’re only planting one this year”), it turned out to be three plants all intertwined. So, we’re getting about a zucchini a day. I’ve been sautéing it, adding it to frittata, and baking it but it’s still the green Sorcerer’s Apprentice.
Then I ran across this [...]

It started with an email from Ambar:

I vote Balela for dinner

 
So I pulled out a can each of cooked chickpeas and black beans, dumping them into a colander and rinsing first; minced a quarter of a red onion, three cloves of garlic, and some parsley; cut up a tomato; and mixed the whole thing together [...]

We interrupt your regularly scheduled salads to bring you a bit of food science. The Maillard reaction is the one of the ways foods turn brown when you roast them (along with caramelization.) Oh, as in roasted garlic (done in a hot, dry pan)…

…or when you let Zucchini sauté until brown spots appear (here aided and [...]

With the temperature climbing over 100°F daily, we’ve turned to cooling summer salads here at Sagehenge*. The first salad I have to share is the incredibly tasty, cooling, and simple “Mediterranean salad”:

Ingredients

3 Cucumbers, peeled, quartered lengthwise, and sliced thinly
8-10oz of cherry or grape tomatoes, quartered
1/4-1/2 red onion, sliced very thinly (“shaved”)
Red wine vinegar or white balsamic [...]

I’ve learned that Springfield, Illinois just doesn’t garden like the North. The flowering dogwoods everywhere were a clue. Broccoli and brussels sprouts definitely sulk, so on a whim this year I rescued a dozen runty, overstressed collard plants from an end-of-season nursery and put them in the garden I tend for my employer.
They are looking [...]

Hello magical ones…
I have been inspired by the honey magic that took place at Wintercamp this year and have been continuing it at home.  I found some delicious local honey from the Chicago Honey Co-op, which I recommend highly for those in my area (check out their website, they have an interesting blog on beekeeping).  I [...]