Photo: Thelonious Gonzo/Flickr

It’s farmers market season and you’ve now got loads of choices. But what if you’re short on ideas as to how to prepare all this gorgeous food at home? 

Here’s some help. Tomorrow how2heroes will launch a live farmers market demo series, wherein local chefs visit the Kendall Square market each Wednesday at 12:30 and showcase, live, how to cook some of your favorite fresh produce at home. Catch the demo then and there, or view it post facto; either way, your repertoire of ideas is about to expand.

Here’s the line-up of ‘visiting’ chefs, plus more info. The series begins with Erbaluce’s Charles Draghi on June 1st at 12:30 pm.

Photo: Chiot's Run (Susy Morris)/Flickr

Right now I have some beautiful beets burning a hole in my fridge’s crisper. Okay, not literally, but I have been looking for new recipes for the lovely, jewel-like beets I picked up over the weekend at Allandale Farm. The greens from this bunch were out-of-this-world, but what to do with the main attraction.

I think I’ve found the answer at Boston Found, where they tweaked a recipe for Beet Hummus, which looks pretty darn special — and colorful, too!

Photo: Courtesy of The Garden of Eating

Tempted??

I sure am. It’s that gorgeous fruit — glazed, grilled and sitting pretty as a savory-sweet side to meat. Today’s Food Therapy is “Grilled Pork Chops with Balsamic Glazed Peaches” from Eve of The Garden of Eating. Dee-lish.

Photo: Steven, of Two Coast Table

Mayonnaise can be rather mundane.

But, doctored up with a few simple ingredients, mayo can transform the mundane and excite the palate. That’s exactly what today’s Food Therapy offers.

Straight from dual bloggers Steven and Meaghan of Two Coast Table comes “Cherry Pepper Mayo” — your favorite mayonnaise dressed up with garlic, lemon juice and cherry peppers. Just in time for BBQ season.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

Spice Rubs (Photo: Anna Miller)

Oh yes, the sun is definitely out here in Boston.  THANK GOD.  While we aren’t dealing with deathly tornadoes (believe me, I know we’re lucky), this morose springtime has taken its toll.

Food to the rescue.

Here & Now’s Kathy Gunst helps us celebrate the return of sunshine and summer with some fantastic grilling tips. Featured on today’s program and now available online, Gunst’s ideas and recipes never fail to inspire.  This time, she focuses on spice rubs and Asian-inspired marinades.

YUM.

Listen to the segment and get the recipes HERE.

Photo: jacobjanssen/Flickr

LOCAL BITES

Eat on the Cape
Eat Boston’s Chef Will Gilson made the news again, this time as he sets up shop in the Outer Cape at Adrian’s Restaurant. Gilson created a new menu for Adrian’s featuring “Farm to Cape” ingredients, which will debut tonight with seven-day-a-week hours beginning June 17th. Try Gilson’s Crispy Pork Belly with Local Clam Chowder and Thyme, or “Rock” Chicken a la Plancha with Confit Potatoes, Spring Onions and Rapini, among other dishes.

Scottish Summer
Boston’s only Scottish restaurant and bar, The Haven, is celebrating its one-year anniversary with a Taste of Scotland, and you are invited! Every Monday and Tuesday in June, the restaurant is making a special offering of small plates ($22) with beer pairings ($12) using local ingredients. The small plates will draw from the regular menu, as well as introduce new items, and can be ordered veggie or non-vegetarian. Check out a list of the local farms and businesses The Haven is supporting HERE.

Houseboat Cooking
Ready to give up your land-lover lifestyle and head to sea (at least for the summer)? Learn how to prepare meals from markets and the sea with “Houseboat Cooking” with Steve Johnson, chef/owner of Redezvous in Central Square. Johnson will give tips on how to combine seafood and other ingredients he learned on his houseboat. The class will be held at the Formaggio Kitchen Annex, June 9th at 7 p.m. Tickets are $60 and can be purchased online. Continue reading →

Photo: Courtesy of Jessica Leibowitz

Jessica Leibowitz’s camera is well fed. Most recently, it tasted hand rolled corn tortillas and sipped Kahlua in Mexico.

It might be a stretch for some to think of a camera as a living thing, but Jessica makes it much easier through her beautiful food photography and videography on her blog: My Camera Eats Food. She doesn’t provide recipes, as per most Food Therapy posts in our series, but her work is awfully satisfying. Check out these photos she made for a cocktail post on Serious Eats – it almost quenches your thirst looking at them.

Want to try your hand at this art? In an April post Jessica, who works and eats in Boston (and New York City) gave three tips for taking great food photos. She said to use natural light, to change up exposure and shooting angle, and to remember to white balance.

Photo credit: Heidi Swanson © 2011

I don’t like diet food. This has been documented on this website before. Many times.

I do, however, like healthy food – food that makes me feel energized after eating it, food that fills me up (but not overly so), food made from the freshest ingredients I can find and centered around produce and whole grains and legumes. Sorry – I don’t mean to sound like a yuppie advertisement for Whole Foods. It’s just that in those special moments when I make a meal that is fulfilling on every level – emotionally, nutritiously, creatively, aesthetically, tastily – it’s just awesome. I feel like a functional adult instead of a poor college student cramming for finals and not calling her mom enough.

When I want I real confidence-boosting meal, more often than not my first stop is Heidi Swanson’s 101 Cookbooks, one of my favorite food blogs (both for recipes and photography – it takes a lot of talent to make a plate of lentils look beautiful).  So, as you can imagine, I was thrilled when I received a review copy of  Swanson’s Super Natural Every Day a few weeks ago. If you’ve ever read another food blog apart from this one, you’ve probably heard of this book – it’s been garnering praise from foodies across the spectrum since its publication for its unpreachy and generous approach to vegetarian cooking.

It’s easy to see why. The book is, first of all, beautiful and absorbing – I’ve spent hours with the book just reading about Swanson’s philosophy toward food, her little tips (whole wheat crepes are “too heavy and flabby”), her odder flavor pairings (peanut butter, tofu and tomato panzanella?). The photos conjure Californian countrysides, lazy days on the porch, strolls through the farmers’ market. It’s a lovely book to just have laying around on a coffee table- my boyfriend’s mother spent about twenty minutes oohing over it on a recent visit.

But how, you’re wondering, is the food? I’d give it a solid B+. See why – and get a recipe you absolutely need to try – after the jump. Continue reading →

Photo: Courtesy of Sweetly Serendipity

Compared to a lot of breakfast pastries, muffins aren’t really sexy. You hear croissants and think of Paris; scones and you think of tea in London. Muffins conjure no such image – in fact, most of the time I hear the phrase “muffin top” it has nothing to do with a comforting, crispy-chewy breakfast and everything to do with too-tight jeans.

Sweetly Serendipity’s strawberry lemon-ricotta muffins, however, look pretty dreamy. Lemon and ricotta are a classic combination, of course – and while most fresh strawberries I buy this time of year are eaten fresh, raw and unadorned, I might be able to part with a handful or two if this is the result.

Mixed in an unusual batter that includes sour cream and yogurt, the muffins look simultaneously light and rich – just right for a sunny spring weekend (or even, as the case may be, a stormy one).