Perfect Pizza Crust at Home? by Brian Ricci Making a satisfying pizza crust can be difficult at home. For one, our ovens don’t get hot enough to bake high-hydration doughs, and if they did, most likely we would be setting our sensitive smoke detectors off whenever we tried. Let me suggest an alternative: cooking with
MoreSavory Winter Stew by Anna Herman Some version of this soup is always on my stove during open house gatherings in fall and winter. Although the recipe is somewhat vague on quantities, almost any combination of vegetables works. The key to a good soup—or any other dish—is the quality of the ingredients. Use whatever you
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Spud Life by Peggy Paul Casella As soon as my sister and I were big enough to wield snow shovels, my mother would pawn us off to help clear the steep driveway outside Grandma and Grandpa’s house in Huntingdon Valley. Our reward? One whole quarter each from Grandpa (50 cents if we did a really
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Slow-Cooked Beans and Beer by Brian Ricci Winter brings an excess of darkness and chills. It invites us to stay indoors and gather to share a meal. You might want to read a book for a while and catch a nap—either way: Before you do, read this, go shopping and start your cassoulet. Ultimately, this
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Beautiful Beets by Peggy Paul Casella The beet plant is an ancient member of the chenopod or goosefoot family of vegetables, along with chard and spinach, and its leaves are similar in taste and texture to that of its relatives. In fact, the greens—not the sweet red root we think of when we think of
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Spicy Sprouts by Peggy Paul Casella For a short window of time, from September through December, you can find knobby Brussels sprout stalks at farmers markets and some grocery stores across our region. These mini brassicas are one of the healthiest vegetables around, with more vitamin C per serving than oranges and lots of vitamins
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Clean and Simple by Anna Herman Soapmaking is a blend of art and chemistry, and you shouldn’t take the chemistry part lightly. Once you understand the basic chemical process, you will see the importance of taking precautions. Then you’ll learn the many possible combinations ofingredients, and your inner artisan can emerge. I have come to
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A New Take on Cauliflower by Peggy Paul Casella Mark Twain once said, “Cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education.” Though it’s often upstaged by its flashier, green-hued cousin broccoli, cauliflower has many unique attributes and nutritional benefits that should earn it a place in your regular meal rotation all season long. It
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Peach Bliss by Anna Herman Gorge though you may, there are only so many peaches and cherries you can eat this summer, and some fruits are just better when they aren’t fresh: I’ve rarely had an apricot on the East Coast that was worth eating when I bought it. But sweet and tart jam made
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A Fresh Take on Fruit Salad by Peggy Paul Casella Welcome to the sweetest time of the year, when bins of fragrant, bowling-ball-size melons crowd farmers market stalls and grocery store displays. Though you may think they belong to the botanical family their name suggests, watermelons come from a completely different genus—Citrullus—and are actually classified
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