Blueberry, Corn & Mint Salad + Dark Ale Mustard & Maple Syrup Dressing I had been up from lack of sleep and if you want to know what my brain does when I cannot sleep, it thinks up recipes. So, laying there at 3 AM my thoughts went to the market, what the farmers would […]
Recipes
Recipes from my kitchen, travels and demos at local farmer’s markets.
Crunchy Candy
Crunchy Green & Yellow Beans + Thai Basil I don’t think I had a particular like or dislike for fresh beans as a child, I ate them when my mum made them. But as an adult, I’ve come to love beans in season. Nothing can beat that snap and crunch of a fresh bean. This […]
Freshness in a Bowl
Great Gazpacho When the mercury crossed 90 degrees this Saturday, I knew for sure I would not be cooking anything warm at the Wakefield Farmer’s Market. So a gazpacho sounded just right, as I walked around the field saying hello to all our farmers and surveying the produce they were putting out. I got cucumbers […]
Primary Colored Slaw
Yellow Squash + Strawberry, Pickled Red Onion & Dark Ale Mustard Vinaigrette When you are married to an engineer, whose vision is in absolutes or black and white; the concept of using all the primary colors to freewheel based on instinct is often a point of our discussions. This Saturday morning was no different than […]
Sparkling Strawberries
Strawberry + Rhubarb + Basil Spritzer Being the first day of the Wakefield Farmer’s Market, I wanted to make it special, and so instead of one item at the demo table, I made two, and am so glad I did and I think so were the market customers. Farmer Dave’s had the juiciest strawberries; farmer […]
Tasty Tomato
Tomato + Scallion & Basil Bruschetta The first day of the Wakefield Farmer’s Market was beautiful, Mother Nature gave us a beautiful day and Farmer Dave’s and Kelly’s Farm Stand had the most gorgeous looking produce. I could not resist making two recipes for this week’s demo so you can thank the long winter we’ve […]
Shitake Pâté
Shitake Mushroom Pâté + Garlic Scape & Dijon Like a kid in a candy store, I am always excited to see which new vendor is at the market and what they have. So when I met Chris from the Mycoterra Farms who’s joined the market for the first time, I knew their mushrooms would feature […]
Ravishing Radishes
Radish + Spicy Greens & Basil Salsa This salsa is a throwback to ‘kachumbar’ salads I grew up eating in India with our meals. They’re meant to be crunchy, fresh, tart and spicy, adding a zing to all the other flavors in an Indian meal. So, this week, when I decided to make the mushroom […]
Red, Crunch & Green
Red Bok Choy & Cucumber Salad + Strawberry & Cilantro Vinaigrette What do you do at the first market of the growing season? I had the butterflies, like first day of school; I got to see all my regular farmers, artisanal producers and customers. And since it’s still early in the season, I knew the […]
Double ‘A’ Spring Salad
Warm Asparagus & Apple Slaw Spring Salad The season’s first few farmers markets are always exciting, you don’t know what will be available dependent on the fickle New England spring. So, to better prepare myself, I reached out to David, from Farmer Dave’s CSA who was going to be there at the Melrose Healthy Family […]
Quinoa Breakfast Bowl
One of the first things I learnt to make from my mum was a savory breakfast dish, Upma, traditionally made from suji – or cream of wheat. Think of it like a pilaf, it has veggies, cooks quickly and each bite still reminds me of home, of her and our life in Poona when I’d […]
Curry into Spring!
Spring Salad with a Creamy Coconut & Curry Dressing When trying to come up with new dressings, which are not just oil and vinegar based, I mostly use yogurt for the creamy versions. Having just made a cooling drink Komal, at a cooking class recently, this dressing is inspired by what was around me and […]
Cool as a Coconut
Mint & Coconut Milk Komal Lassi or chaas is a big part of Indian cuisine, rooted in Ayurveda, these yogurt drinks are cooling and work as a digestive aid, a fact that we now know as being rich in probiotics that support a healthy gut. When I’m in India, every meal is accompanied with the […]
Green Goddess Soup
– Broccoli & Sweet Corn Soup Watching the temperature plummet in New England whilst I sat here in Mumbai made me feel really bad for all of you back home, and I wanted to share this recipe to help everyone endure the bombogenesis show that mother nature sent along our East Coast. I turned a […]
A Flat World – Naan
Naan at Home Made Simple Breads in my mother’s home kitchen was made up of the traditional flatbreads like roti, theplas, parathas and naans. After leaving India, my world stretched beyond, and now I count tortillas, pita, lavash and focaccia in my ever-expanding flat world. The common theme I found in ancient food traditions, is, […]
Ode to Britannia – Cran-berri Pilaf
Roasted Squash & Brown Basmati Rice Pilaf One of the perks when I worked at the Times of India in Bombay was the food all around the historical downtown setting. You could eat anything ranging from hot vada pao, a vegetarian burger with a fried spiced potato fritter served with hot and spicy chutneys at […]
Kheer – A Memory Makeover
A New Take on Indian Rice Pudding – Using Quinoa & Fleur Spice Blend Growing up in India, the holidays came during the Fall, including the main Hindu festival of lights – Diwali. I’d be back home from boarding school, looking forward to the sparklers, my cousins and desserts. Desserts are a big part of […]
Something Warm & Spooky!
Roasted Cauliflower & Celery-Root Hash + Fennel Vinaigrette October rains call for warm foods, something to comforts us like a warm hug. And since last week was the final market for the season in Melrose, I was thinking about the warm memories I had made with the community. I needed to leave them with a […]
Smokey & Sweet
Roasted Poblano Pepper & Corn Soup One of my favorite things about soups in the fall is how sweet and ripe all the veggies are at the peak of harvest, and they need the least amount of intervention. One thing that enhances their sweetness even more is roasting them and cooking them simply. Roasted poblano […]
Rustic Pumpkin Soup
Sweet Pumpkin + Sage + Red Onions I’d been up since 3 AM, unable to sleep my mind jumped around – I could see the bags of apples at Charlton Orchards’ stand, the fluorescent romanesco called me over to Farmer Dave’s blue tent, the shinning smooth skin of the onions stretched translucent at Kelly’s Farm […]
Warm Apples Many Ways
Apples + Blackberries + Cinnamon Raisin Bread + Winter Savory As I drove to the market, I was watching the wind gusts shaking leaves off the trees that gathered along the pavements in large whirls of colour. On any other October afternoon, this would have been welcome for brisk walk, a hot beverage and some […]
Blissful Warm Salad
Red Potatoes + Green & Yellow Beans + Red Onion & Dill Vinaigrette As I am coming to terms with the fact that the markets are almost over, and was making a mental list of all the produce I wanted to hoard, freeze or preserve; I had to make something with the season’s potatoes and […]
Stirring it Up!
White Eggplant + Zucchini + Lemon Verbena It’s not just Mother Nature who throws a curveball at farmers markets’ from time to time, but also man-made logistics can get the better of the hour. This week’s market had some starts and stops, some with our cooking apparatus, and later as the wind kicked up in […]
Crisp Fall Salad
Golden Beets + Courtland & Golden Delicious Apples + Maple Mustard Dressing There are always going to be a couple of those Saturdays at the farmer’s market each season that are soggy and wet. This week, when the sun decided to hide, and the rain gods were more than benevolent, I decided to make things […]
Raspberry Apple Cider
Fresh Apple Cider + Raspberries + Maple Syrup The saying, ‘when it rains it pours’ was not only applicable to the weather on Saturday, but also to our demos. Once the rain petered off, the cold inspired us to make a second demo sample to keep all the pugnacious New Englanders who came to the […]
