From the category archives:

Preserves

Pink Grapefruit Curd with Honey

by Laura 14 April 2012

This pink grapefruit curd is buttery and silky and pleasantly piquant with a strong note of honey. Eat it smeared on toast, biscuits, or scones; stirred into plain yogurt or oatmeal or porridge; rolled up in a jellyroll or between cake layers; or piped into plain cookies. Share This: Recommend on FacebookShare on PinterestShare with [...]

Read the full article

Five-minute Cranberry Schmutz

by Laura 14 December 2011

Alongside a Thanksgiving or Christmas turkey or smeared on sandwiches, this five-minute, four-ingredient cranberry schmutz is a little tart, a little sweet, and exactly perfect. I’m putting a little on a pumpkin muffin for breakfast, too. If there were ever a reason to stop sliding that factory cranberry sludge out of a can, this is [...]

Read the full article

Lemon Balm Syrup

by Laura 2 July 2011

It’s my birthday today, so I’ll be brief. I’ve got celebrating to do! I made this lemon balm syrup the other day with a summer tipple in mind (recipe soon), but I think it would nice in iced tea or brushed onto cake layers, too. Lemon balm is a member of the mint family and [...]

Read the full article

Strawberry Lemon Verbena Refrigerator Jam with Candied Lemon Slices

by Laura 1 July 2011

Yesterday morning I went out to the hen house in my pajamas at six o’clock in the morning to open the door to the coop. Instead of the usual parade, Beatrice emerged first. She needs a minute or two, thank you very much, to sort out this whole business. When you’re second to last to [...]

Read the full article

One-pot Rhubarb Cordial, Sauce, & Compote

by Laura 24 May 2011

I really should have posted this as the three-in-one it is in the first place. So here it is, in all its glorious simplicity. You start with a three and a half pound bouquet of rhubarb. Once you have it diced, 15 minutes of cooking yields three cups cordial, three cups compote, and two cups [...]

Read the full article

Rhubarb Cordial

by Laura 19 May 2011

Definitions for cordials seem rather contradictory. Dictionary dot com defines one as “a strong, sweetened, aromatic alcoholic liquor or liqueur;” others describe a sweet, nonalcoholic fruit concentrate. My favorite definition comes from Merriam Webster: “tending to revive, cheer or invigorate,” and is associated with cordial waters. It seems the most fitting for this rhubarb cordial. [...]

Read the full article

Ten-minute Rhubarb Vanilla Conserve

by Laura 12 May 2011

Thirteen years ago, during the first spring in our house, I discovered that you could make a simple rhubarb conserve in less than ten minutes. We’ve come to call it a refrigerator preserve, since there isn’t a high heat canning process involved, and the springtime jars vanish from our refrigerator so quickly it would be [...]

Read the full article

Pearl Muffins & Winter Citrus Jelly

by Laura 12 March 2011

I picked up my Honey Girl this morning from an early flight from Boston. She is my pearl, my sunshine, my joy. So it seemed fitting to make these pearl muffins and some shiny-wiggly, glowy-jiggly winter citrus jelly for her welcome-home breakfast. I took the syrup I boiled down yesterday from the candied winter citrus [...]

Read the full article

Pickled and Candied Brown Turkey Figs

by Laura 13 October 2010

This summer I was treated to a storybook week in Santa Fe: beautiful meals, four delicious operas, and charming company. It was my first time in the city, and I was overwhelmed by the quality of the light, the vastness of the sky, and the lavender mountains at sunset. It was an unexpectedly beautiful place, [...]

Read the full article