Going nuts for dessert

This simple concoction of nuts and honey is one of our favorite desserts. All it takes is a few handfuls of walnuts or pecans and a few spoonfuls of honey. In this case, we were lucky to have honey from the hives kept by Adele's sister Corrine in western Maine. The easiest way to make this is simply to put a few handfuls of nuts in a food processor and churn them into a flour-like substance with the metal blade.



Put the nut flour into a bowl or mug and pour in a few spoonfuls of honey. Stir with a spoon until the honey and nuts are well-mixed.

Give it a try...you'll be addicted.

Spicy sausage & fiddlehead stew

The hot sausages are from Appleton farm's grass-fed beef and the fiddleheads are from my sister Corrine who picked them in Weld, Maine. With some sliced onion and minced garlic, a little salt and pepper, all of these things together made a most delicious, simple and healthy meal.


In a dutch oven, sautee the onions and garlic in olive oil until translucent. Cut the sausages into chunks, add to the onions and garlic and stir, cooking on medium-low heat until browned.

Add the fiddleheads, salt and pepper and stir. Add about an inch of water and bring to a boil. Drop the heat to low, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes.

Serve hot with a side of vegetables, like sauteed carrots and turnips seen here.

Total prep and cook time : about 40 minutes

Total cost : about 5 dollars for two people (more if you bought the fiddleheads)

Savory brown rice, take 2

Josh and I have been growing basil and rosemary in the house now for several weeks in preparation for transplanting it into our garden, but we've been reluctant to use these lovely, aromatic herbs, so we woke up this morning determined to do so. And since we had plenty of leftover brown rice from last night's meal, why not something savory for breakfast?

Here's what you need (for 2 servings):
about half a large sweet potato, diced very small
about 4 tbsp minced onion and 1 minced garlic clove
a bit of vegetable broth or water
about 6 fresh basil leaves and a sprig or so of fresh rosemary, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

In an iron pan, sautee the onion and garlic for a few minutes in olive oil then add the sweet potato, salt and pepper. Cook on very low heat until the sweet potato is soft, about 20 minutes.
Add the rice and a little bit of vegetable broth and stir well to heat through. Add the herbs and mix through.

Serve hot for breakfast with fresh grated parmesan or romano cheese (or without for wonderful vegan fare), or pack up and eat later for lunch.

Total prep and cook time: about 30 minutes

Total cost: approximately 2 or 3 dollars for two people

Pig in a blanket

Here's what you need:

One overweight cat who will tolerate human absurdity
One blanket
A few too many glasses of wine

Fiddlehead casserole

When Adele was in Maine last week her sister Corrine gave her a whopping bag of fiddleheads that she had harvested along a stream in Weld. We got right to work using them up, and fiddlehead casserole was the first thing we made.

Here's what you need:
1/2 onion, chopped
a few cloves of garlic
8 eggs
feta cheese
butter
(no salt, the feta takes care of that)

The first step is to fry the onions in butter until translucent.

Butter the bottom and sides of an 8 x 11 1/2" glass dish and spread the onions evenly over the bottom. Then spread a generous layer of fiddleheads over the onions.

Now spread a generous layer of feta cheese over the fiddleheads.

Beat the eggs in a bowl (add milk if you'd like it to be more like a quiche) and pour evenly over the other ingredients. Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes or until eggs have set.

Serve with a side salad or any other veggie.

Blackberry jam

Digging around the freezer the other day, Josh discovered one last bag of frozen wild Maine blackberries that my sister Corrine picked last summer. And what better to do with frozen berries than jam? This is without a doubt the easiest, quickest, low-maintenance thing to make. Ever. All you need is berries (we had a five pound bag of them) and sugar (we used a cup).


Put the berries into a deep saucepan. Crush them a bit with the back of a wooden spoon. Add the sugar and bring the whole thing to a boil. Drop the heat to simmer, half-cover and let it go for an hour or so, stirring only occasionnally. After about an hour, turn the heat up and allow most of the liquid to evaporate.

Serve hot (with caution!) or store (for up to a couple weeks) and use later on top of peanut butter or butter on a slice of toast.

Fiddler on the stove

It's fiddlehead season! Not only is this greenery a beautiful and delicate work of nature for me, it's also synonymous with community and small town relations. One of my first memories is of picking them with my mother and a few of my sisters along a riverbed with other random folks with whom we struck up small conversation. There's also the man I used to buy them from when I was in graduate school - straight from the riverbed to the back of his truck parked on route 2 to my hands. And then there's the old couple in Frederickston, New Brunswick, selling them on the sidewalk in front of their house. Josh and I picked up a bag and had a wonderful meal that night in the little cabin we'd rented in St. Agathe, way up in Northern Maine.

The way I cooked them tonight is the way my mother cooks her greens, with pork fat grease. Normally, she uses salt pork, but all I had on hand was bacon but this works just as well.

What you need: fiddleheads, small potatoes cut in half (optional), half an onion, sliced, and about 2 tbsp of thinly sliced salt pork or bacon.


Put the pork fat in a dutch oven and heat it on medium low until the pieces get crispy and you have enough oil to work with. Remove the crispy pieces from the pan with a slotted spoon and reserve for later use.

Sautee the onions for a few minutes and then add the potatoes, if you're going to use them. Cook until the onion is translucent.

Add the fiddleheads, just enough water to barely cover and salt generously. Bring to a boil, cover and drop the temperature to simmer for about half an hour.

Serve hot with the crispy bacon pieces sprinkled on top, either as a side dish with any piece of beef or pork or as a main dish with a side of vegetables and grains, like we did here.