Dark Days Week 19 – Asparagus and Chanterelle Bread Pudding

This is my last Dark Days post.  I think a few die hards might be going one more week but this will be it for me.  So, I wanted to go out with a bang.  On Saturday at the farmers market I picked up some gorgeous asparagus. and I got some of these…chanterelles. I decided [...]

Read Full Post »

Dark Days Week 17 – Butternut Squash Quesadillas and Avocado Citrus Salad

Last night was a late night.  We were out celebrating friends’ engagement and I woke up this morning starving.  Granola and yogurt didn’t really cut it, so when I was at the farmers’ market, I went a little crazy.  In my mad frenzy to find things to make the hunger go away, I grabbed some [...]

Read Full Post »

Dark Days Week 16 – Dining Out

This week was unusually hectic and I’ve been feeling uninspired. I’m sure the Dark Days bloggers in more snowy areas are probably rolling their eyes at me right now, but the farmers’ markets right now seem to be having a bit of a seasonal identity crisis.  There’s still a lot of winter squash, apples, and chard, which are starting to [...]

Read Full Post »

Dark Days Week 15 – Citrus Marinated Pork, Roasted Potatoes, and Radicchio Walnut Salad

This week, I prepared another piece of meat from my meat CSA through Marin Sun Farms – a boneless leg of pork.  Not something I’ve ever eaten before, as apparently the vast majority of this cut goes to making hams.    There wasn’t even any useful instructions in the Joy of Cooking.  The series of tubes to the [...]

Read Full Post »

Dark Days Week 14 – Braised Beef Ribs with Mushrooms and Kale over Pappardelle

A couple weeks ago, I signed up for a meat CSA program through Marin Sun Farms.  Once a month, we’ll get a random assortment of braising and roasting cuts and ground meat from grass fed, pasture raised, humanely treated animals.   Our first shipment arrived February 11 and the meat looked amazing.  We celebrated Valentine’s day by cooking [...]

Read Full Post »

Dark Days Week 12 – Pear and Autumn Vegetable Soup

A slightly more sophisticated looking dinner than last week, using very similar ingredients. And, this soup rocked.  Butternut squash, pear, and turnip?  Yes, please.  I already had one standard butternut squash soup recipe, but now it has competition in the rotation.  You can definitely taste the pear in it, though the spicy turnip balances everything [...]

Read Full Post »

Dark Days Week 11 – Even Food Bloggers Have Bad Days

I am embarrassed to be putting this picture up because it just is not an attractive meal.  But, this was my local meal for the week, and I’ve committed to talking about it.  So, let’s just get the ugly photo out of the way. Yeah.  Sorry about that.  It’s a butternut squash pancake with smoked cheddar cheese and [...]

Read Full Post »

Dark Days Week 10 – Onion and Smoked Cheddar Custard and Braised Escarole

For this week’s Dark Days challenge, I tried out two new recipes.  The first comes from Deborah Madison’s Local Flavors, a really wonderful cookbook that a friend lent to me and I’ve been hoarding for way too long.  Deborah Madison was the genius behind the delicious goat cheese and leek tart, and this recipe for onion and smoked [...]

Read Full Post »

Dark Days Week 9 – Celery Root Soup with Mandarin Relish Toasts

  These ugly looking things are celery root.  I’ve never cooked with celery root, and not even sure if I’ve ever eaten it.  Nevertheless, this recipe for celery root soup has intrigued me ever since I saw it in Food and Wine last year. I’m not  a huge fan of celery, mostly because it’s just [...]

Read Full Post »

Week 8 of the Dark Days Challenge – Braised Sausage with Fennel and Apple

The challenge with relying on the farmers market is that you never know what you are going to get.  When I made my trip yesterday, it was my first in nearly a month and things had changed a little.  Some of the vendors that I rely on weren’t there and a few others were carrying [...]

Read Full Post »