Carrots, Roasted and Brined
It’s usually one or the other. But with certain sturdy root vegetables, you can do both to great make-ahead advantage. At this time of year, prepping it forward is the way to go.
Finger-lickin’ Good
An open house is a good way to corral a crowd of family and friends at holiday time, feeding them family-style the friendliest of foods. Want to make it easy? Give a hand to letting put-together finger foods do the heavy-lifting.
Boiled Apple Cider
Forget candles and air fresheners. Making a pot of this autumnal elixir is aromatherapy with a big benefit: a condiment you can use at the table for months to come.
One Sweet Potato, Two Dozen Ideas
One of the most versatile vegetables on earth is being harvested on Garden State farms right now. Time to stock up – and stockpile ideas for giving it a star turn on your dinner table.
Pawpaw: Personal Pudding
Some use this large tree fruit in baking, but its growing number of fans know it’s best straight from the “cup” Mother Nature wraps it in, a kind of custard that needs no accoutrements to adore.
Game Day Take-away
Call this Mid-week Quarterbacking: Up your game-watching eats into next-level nutritional value by faking out your mates with a spread that allows everyone to pass right by the antacid aisle.
Salad Upgrade
’Tis the season to re-think the tosses that have served you well these last several months. It’s time for something more challenging and complex – something not accomplished by adding cheeses, seeds, fruits and nuts.
Homemade Tomato Sauce
The greatest gifts do come from the heart, but the best of the greatest gifts come as well from harvests at our Garden State farms and the backyard gardens of friends.
Ramps, Vintage ’24
Beware the hawker of this wild allium whose sales pitch comes with strings attached for that person is not paying the darling of spring the respect it needs to survive. Buy only sustainably harvested ramps and in this, a slow year, use more sparingly in accenting roles. In other words: Enjoy, but mindfully.
Heirloom Apple Salsa
Change up the topper for Hanukkah’s latkes by dolloping potato pancakes with neither sour cream nor applesauce but by taking a spin on the lighter side with a refreshing – and seasonal – salsa.
Cranberry Contest
Native to our Pinelands and popping up in markets right now throughout the Garden State, the ruby berry that is equal parts nutritional and flavor powerhouse may be fundamental to our holiday-season tables, but could and should be a year-round staple. Herewith, YOUR chance to prove its singular mettle.
‘Blessed Little Fishes’
Tinned fishes are easy to take for granted. They’re also easy to take advantage of when dinner-in-a-minute is the order of the day.