Three bean salad with mustard greens

The mustard greens are here in full force in the garden, so the race to eat them all is on. In this lovely and delicious side dish, the greens are sauteed with a bit of crême fraîche and topped with a three bean salad.

• One big bunch of mustard greens, stems clipped, washed & cut in half (long way)
• 2 heaping tbsp crême fraîche
• About 2 cups total of 3 different kinds of canned beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 tsp minced onion
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1.5 tsp dijon mustard
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• Salt to taste

Mix the beans with the olive oil, onion, garlic, mustard and salt.

Heat some more olive oil in a non stick pan and sautee the greens with some salt for a few minutes, until just wilted. Add the crême fraîche and heat through.

Pile the bean salad on top of the greens, pouring the crême fraîche over all.

Serves two.

Blackberry vinagrette

Made with some of my sister Corrine's hand-picked wild blackberries from Weld, Maine, this was a lovely alternative to your standard vinagrette. A beautiful color, a great taste!

• 3 tbsp vinegar
• 8 tbsp olive oil
• Good pinch of salt
• 3 1/2 tbsp blackberry puree*
• 3 tsp maple syrup (or to taste)

This makes about 3/4 cup of dressing.

*To make the puree, process some frozen blackberries with a little water in a food processor until smooth. Strain, discarding the seeds.

Garlicky croutons

There's nothing more simple than making your own croutons, and they are a lot less expensive and healthier for your than anything you can buy at the store. All you need is a little bread (the older, the better), some garlic, salt and a little time. It's worth the little work it takes to make!

Slice up a thick slab of old bread and then cut the slice into cubes, and then finely mince a clove or two of garlic. In a non-stick pan, melt a few tablespoons of butter. Sautee the garlic over low to medium heat for a few minutes and then add the cubes of bread and salt generously. Shake the pan occasionally to turn the pieces until all (or almost all) of the sides are nicely browned. Serve on a salad or straight out of the pan as a poor man's appetizer. They are delicious!

Warm fiddlehead salad

Served with a generous portion of roasted potatoes and some thick slices of wheat bread, this salad makes a lovely centerpiece for a tasty vegetarian meal.

Wash, clean and snip the ends of about two cups of fiddleheads. In a non-stick pan, sautee a clove or two of minced garlic in a couple tablespoons of olive oil.

Meanwhile, make the dressing. First, grind 1 tsp dried rosemary, 1/2 tsp marjoram, 1 1/2 tsp sea salt, about ten pepper corns and 1 good pinch of red pepper flakes in a mortar. Add this dried mix of herbs to a mix of 1 tbsp vinegar and 3 tbsp olive oil.

When the fiddleheads are ready (about ten minutes; more if you prefer them softer), allow them to cool for about 5 minutes. Mix with the dressing and serve warm.

Mousse au chocolat

Because I had fresh, free range eggs from my sister Corrine this week, and since it was a dreary and rainy day yesterday, the time was right to whip up a chocolate mousse. My rendition of this lovely dessert is based on my friend Beatrice Luttman's recipe which I modified a bit by using crême fraîche instead of milk and by folding in the eggs whites in two stages, the way Bittman does with his mousse in How to Cook Everything and the way Patricia Wells' does with her chocolate cake recipes in Bistro Cooking. According to Beatrice, the mousse is to be made the night before you plan to eat it. However, following Bittman's advice, I put the mousse in small ramekins and they were set and ready to eat within three hours. If you are going to make this recipe, be sure to use the freshest of eggs from free-range chickens.

• 150 grams of bittersweet chocolate
• 1 tbsp crême fraîche (cream will work just fine)
• 3 fresh eggs, separated
• 4 tbsp sugar
• 1 1/2 tbsp butter

In a small saucepan, melt the chocolate with the crême fraîche over very low heat. When it is melted and smooth, add the butter and stir until it is completely melted. Remove from heat.

In a small bowl, blend the sugar with the egg yolks. Stir in the chocolate and blend well.

Beat the egg whites until they form firm peaks. Fold half of the whites into the chocolate mixture, slowly and patiently until all the white disappears. Repeat the action with the rest of the egg whites.

Pour into four ramekin molds and place in the refridgerator to set. Serve cold.

Trout spread

This simple spread, which was made with a little leftover trout from a previous meal (see "truite sautée à la poêle"), is based on a recipe called "Anchoiade chez Gilbert" from Patricia Wells' Bistro Cooking. On some fresh baguette from Anarosa's in Newburyport, it made a most delicious little appetizer.

• Leftover cooked trout, chopped up fairly small (about 1/4 cup)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tblsp olive oil
• 1 tsp red wine vinegar
• 1/2 tsp each kosher salt and dried rosemary, ground up with a mortar and pestle
• 8 thinnish slices of good baguette

The the broiler on and place the baguette slices on a tray. Toast the bread for about two minutes, turning over once. Reserve. Mix all the ingredients for the spread together in a small bowl. Spread evenly on the toasted baguette slices and return to the broiler for about one and a half minutes. Serve immediately.

Spinach and Cottage Cheese Omelette

When I went home to Maine this past week, my sister Corrine gave me a dozen fresh eggs from her free-ranging chickens (hence the bright yellow color of the omelette seen in the photo) and I picked up some homemade cottage cheese from my cousin Gloria's and her husband Greg's farm store at Nezinscot Farm on Route 117 in Turner. I also picked up a loaf each of anadama (seen in the photo), wheat and seven grain bread. If you are ever in the area, you must absolutely stop! The farm is excellent, Greg and Gloria are real and the food is fantastic. I highly recommend the cookies, especially the chocolate chip cookies!

You might think it weird to add cottage cheese to an omelette. Of course, you aren't wrong to think so if your notion of cottage cheese is that watery, chemically-tasting stuff you buy at the grocery store. My cousin Gloria's cottage cheese is drier and crumblier. It has the texture of feta, so if you can't get your hands on some homemade cottage cheese, use feta in this recipe instead. It will change the taste, however, as feta is much more salty than cottage cheese.

• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• Half a small onion, sliced thinly
• A few generous handfuls of fresh spinach
• 2 - 3 eggs per omelette, lightly beaten and generously salted and peppered
• Cottage cheese (or feta)
• Butter

In a non-stick pan, melt a few tablespoons of butter over medium-low heat. Sautee the garlic and onion until translucent. Add the spinach and cook until it wilts without losing it's dark green color. Remove the spinach, onion and garlic mix from the pan and reserve in a bowl. Melt a few more tablespoons of butter in the same pan and raise the heat. The butter should sizzle but not brown. Add the beaten eggs. Lift the pan a bit from the stove and shake it as though you were making popcorn. Place it back on the heat and cook, lifting it to shake every once in a while to keep the eggs from sticking to the pan. This will also help move the uncooked liquidy eggs to the edges of the pan to cook. Right before the eggs are set, remove from the heat and add some spinach and cottage cheese to one side of the circle. Using a plastic spatula, flip the other side of the circle over the part that has the spinach and cottage cheese. If you like your eggs runny, serve it up just like this. If you want them a little more cooked, place the pan back on the heat and cook until your desired consistency.

Enjoy with a light green salad and a thick slice of homemade bread. This is dinner in 5 minutes! This is heaven on your plate! Enjoy!

Truite sautée à la poêle

There is nothing more simple or more delicious than fresh trout fried in butter! I got this fish from a friend and colleague, Bill, who went fishing in Cape Cod last weekend and didn't hesitate to cook it up as soon as I had it in my hands. This was easy to do since Bill had already gutted the fish and removed the scales and the head!




For two medium-sized trout, mix about half a cup of corn meal with some fresh ground pepper, fresh ground sea salt and ground rosemary in a shallow bowl. Rinse and pat dry the fish, then roll it in the cornmeal mix. In a non-stick pan, melt a generous amount of butter (3 to 4 good tablespoons) over medium heat until melted but not browned. Place the fish in the butter and cook, turning only once, for about 4-5 minutes on each side. Sprinkle with more salt, pepper and rosemary if you wish.

Serve with sides of fresh veggies and quinoa, or other grain of your liking. Enjoy!