Buy My Books
Shop Chronicle Books
Archives
-
Categories
-
Connect with Vanessa
Copyright Information
The recipes and images on this site belong to Vanessa Barrington. Feel free to link here and if you’d like to use a recipe or image, please ask permission first. Thank you.Twitter Updates
- DIY Delicious and Heirloom Beans both featured on Amazon as a Kindle Big Deal until Aug 23rd http://t.co/YupbnPbB get them digitally! 2012/08/18
- New Recipe on the blog: Antipasti-style calamari salad http://t.co/vxAzXQfh 2012/06/11
- RT @ethicurean: Nice plug form @CKummer for great anti-waste cookbook "An Everlasting Meal" by @tamaradler #cfs12 2012/05/18
- RT @twyspy: My response to @Chef_Keller's "radical" take on flavor vs. sustainability http://t.co/IVTqJuXb @grist (please chime in!) 2012/05/18
Category Archives: Food and Drink
A Christmas Food Story: Father’s Nuts
Last Christmas I posted about orevnitza, the Serbian bread we eat at Christmas…What I didn’t mention was that there’s a back story to orevnitza from my childhood. A story about foraging (or stealing), mortification, and class difference. I wrote it down about ten years ago and never published it. When I finally went public with [...]
Also posted in DIY, breads and pizzas, foraging, holidays Tagged Christmas bread, Christmas food traditions, Christmas recipes, Christmas traditions, foraging, Orevnitza, Potica, walnuts 6 Comments
Albacore Ceviche with Pumpkin Seeds and Persimmon
I’ve been on a ceviche kick lately. It’s the perfect appetizer…satisfying, yet light. And it perfectly suits my way of cooking…invent as you go. Every weekend I’ve been picking up some type of fish (sustainable only) and experimenting with different ceviche flavor profiles. Eventually I plan to go around the word with my ceviche experiments, [...]
Homemade harissa d’espelette—a many splendored condiment
Lately I’ve been into making harissas and sambals and other fiery chile-based condiments. I think the attraction is that they provide a quick and easy way for a busy cook to make rather ordinary soups, seasonal salads, and baked chicken or fish a lot more interesting. Less than an hour in the kitchen on a [...]
Also posted in DIY, entertaining, from the market, healthy, pantry staples Tagged Basque chiles, condiments, corn salad, DIY condiments, dried chiles, harissa, Mediterranean food, Middle Eastern food, pantry, piment d'espelette, potato salad 5 Comments
Jammin’ Summer: Wild Blackberries and Feral Plums
There are two summer themes this year—gathering free fruit to make jam, and seeing how little sugar we can get away with using and still call it jam. Ok, sometimes its sauce. But I’m ok with that. I’ve been obsessed with making low sugar jam ever since I served as a judge in the Good [...]
Also posted in DIY, Travel, foraging, fruit, pantry staples, preserving Tagged foraged fruit, foraging, low sugar jam, plum jam, processing jam, wild blackberry jam Leave a comment
Plum Gorgeous & Cherries Galore
If you’re a person who reads cookbooks as much for stories as recipes, and aspires to an elegantly rural, abundant lifestyle, then Plum Gorgeous by Romney (Nani) Steele will speak to you. If you swoon over gorgeous photos of seasonal fruits set in dreamy tableaux, Plum Gorgeous, with photos by Sara Remington, will send you [...]
Also posted in Books, dessert, entertaining, from the market, fruit Tagged DIY Delicious, Gluten free baking, gluten free cherry clafoutis, Nani Steele, Romney Steele, Sara Remington, seasonal fruit desserts 2 Comments
Kitchen Hacker: Cowboy Stovetop Buttermilk Biscuits & Sorghum Syrup
I enjoy a kitchen challenge. My favorite variety of challenge is when I don’t have the necessary equipment for what I want to accomplish and I have to make do with what’s on hand. I think problem solving in the kitchen makes us smarter cooks. Recently a special someone and I had a hankering for [...]
Also posted in DIY, breads and pizzas, breakfast Tagged cast iron pan biscuits, Cultured Butter, DIY Delicious, homemade biscuits, sorghum syrup 1 Comment
DIY All-Purpose Red Chili Sauce, Posole, and a Little Appreciation
A couple of months ago I was gifted a lovely chile ristra by Annabelle Lenderink of La Tercera Farm. That same day, my friend Ellen came by and I shared some chiles with her. The next thing you know we’re scheming up dishes to make with dried chiles. It’s funny how one really special ingredient [...]
Also posted in DIY, Latin American, from the market, hearty Tagged dried chiles, homemade red chile sauce, hominy, posole, red posole Leave a comment
Creamy Polenta with Spicy Crab
It’s funny how recipes are developed. At least in my house. This one came out of the fateful collision between the opening of crab season and a few scenes in a bad Woody Allen movie. Let me explain. Crab season always opens just before Thanksgiving when everyone is busy with turkey, stuffing, gravy and mashed [...]
Also posted in entertaining, from the market, hearty, seafood Tagged Dungeness crab recipes, Hibiscus Restaurant, spicy crab, spicy crab and grits, spicy crab and polenta 3 Comments
7 Simple, Seasonal, (Nearly) One-Pot Meals