Welcome to heatheranneatwood.com, where I keep track of my projects. Ask me questions! haatwood@gmail.com
A large dose of happy news came to the North Shore Hunger Network in December, when they learned that Gloucester’s Open Door had received $25,000 to expand their Mobile Markets Program through the North Shore Hunger Network. (photo by Jason Grow)
These cantuccini have a perfect ratio of breakable crust to gooey center, studded with a more-than-casual crunch of almonds. I’ve actually tried to bake these cookies, and they’re much more complicated than they appear; A masterpiece always looks so simple, right?
This brussels sprout recipe is Enzo’s answer to the question, “how do we make a panzanella salad - the traditional Italian bread salad made with summery red tomatoes and fresh basil - in New England in the winter?”
While this is not your traditional Valentine’s indulgence, you may know someone like my mother and me who loves pears more than chocolate. Indulge them, too.
I recently did a presentation for the North Shore Hunger Network, a collection of organizations working with feeding the hungry from Boston to Amesbury, on preparing low-fat, low-sodium meals from a Food Pantry. I’ll write more about this organization soon, but I thought I’d post my tips - some basic, some a little out there - and some recipes.
Skin and bones are a cook’s best friend; they never fail to remind me I’m not crazy to sign up for a whole fish when I sign up for my weekly Fresh Catch share.
Off all the recipes I’ve been picking through in my mother’s files, this is the one I’ve been longing to make. It may be that I can still smell the bread hot from the oven - nothing so memory-stirring as fresh bread and rosemary. It may also be the simple fact that across time rosemary has always symbolized remembrance.
My mother, even while she was probably feeling herself fade, was planning on a lunch of canned tuna dressed with mayonnaise, sesame oil and sriracha sauce, a recipe clipped from the Boston Globe in the not so distant past, according to the fade on the newsprint.
Think of our version of a prawn as a great local resource for flavor. Their shells, along with some onion, celery and carrot, make an amazing stock. Strain it, and throw in some pollock or hake for a delicious local soupe de poisson.
As the pond ice and the sea smoke thicken, it’s finally time for foods that answer cold and dark with steaming and rich.
It’s easy to resent the world for being beautiful if someone you love isn’t here to see it, and you know how much the full moon rising on a January night, or those five extra minutes of daylight falling through winter’s bare trees, meant to them.
Of the thousands of things I will miss about my mother an important one is the simple phone call to ask, “Mom, what are you making for dinner tonight?” So many conversations, so many themes on life, started right there.
The diet game is all about deprivation and denial. So learn to outsmart the game. Learn to play it in reverse. Make the game be about, “what delicious thing CAN I make for myself today?”
In late October three men from the BBC and one Cornwall fisherman checked into the rooms above the Crow’s Nest; they returned to England with a new Gloucester export: Community Shared Fisheries.
Maybe all this is happening in some lab?
Under one lamp by day
and billions by night?
A cornmeal pound cake, graced with pears poached in a rosemary syrup, sugared rosemary sprigs on the side, this dessert is winter fondly remembering September.
I belong to the “Always Eat Lentils On New Year’s Day” religion. Some may call it superstition; I call it religion, because I believe eating lentils - any recipe, any shape, any temperature, any course - will make the following year a lucky one.
This recipe is guacamole all grown up. Four avocados pureed with cream cheese, shallot, garlic and chili powder, the pate becomes a suave version of one’s favorite Southwest flavors.