When I leave the office every day, I make a detour through the veggie room picking up some corn or tomatoes or berries. Whatever looks good. Thursday I found purslane bundles in the refrigerated case. I’d never heard of it. A brief research told me that it is a weed often used as a vegetable. After trying it in potato salad, I’m a new fan. It also made a great addition to a tossed green salad with its crunchy, sort of spicy flavor.

“Common in our yards but little known in the North American kitchen, purslane is both delicious and exceptionally nutritious. is the most frequently reported “weed” species in the world. It can grow anywhere that has at least a two-month growing season. Purslane is somewhat crunchy and has a slight lemony taste. Some people liken it to watercress or spinach, and it can substitute for spinach in many recipes. Young, raw leaves and stems are tender and are good in salads and sandwiches. They can also be lightly steamed or stir-fried. ” Mother Earth News, April/May 2005, by Frances Robinson. Purslane is also good for you. It tops the list of plants high in vitamin E and an essential omega-3 fatty acid.. Purslane provides six times more vitamin E than spinach and seven times more beta carotene than carrots. It’s also rich in vitamin C, magnesium, riboflavin, potassium and phosphorus.

What’s not to like!

Potato Salad with Purslane

Ingredients

3 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and diced
4 plum tomatoes
1/4 pound purslane
1 large cucumber—peeled, halved the long way, seeded and cut into half-moons
1 medium sweet onion, thinly sliced
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes, (more or less depending on tastes)
1/2 cup chopped mint

Vinaigrette of choice*

1. Bring a medium saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add the potatoes and cook until just tender, about 12 minutes. Drain and transfer to a large shallow bowl.

2. Season with salt and drizzle with 2 tablespoons of the dressing. Allow to cool. Layer the onions over the potatoes, followed by the purslane, cucumber, tomato, red pepper flakes and mint. Just before serving, pour a bit more dressing over the salad and toss well.

   *My Favorite Vinaigrette

   1/3 cup white balsamic vinegar
   1 tablespoon sherry vinegar*
   1-1/2 teaspoons coarse Dijon mustard
   1/3 cup grapeseed oil**
   2 tablespoons olive oil
   ¼ teaspoon sugar
   Salt and pepper

   Place all ingredients in a jar and shake vigorously.

   * Or raspberry vinegar or seasoned rice vinegar
   ** I like grapeseed oil for salad dressings and cooking It is light and nearly tasteless with a high smoking point when sauteing with it.

Once upon a time, say from the time I was born until my children left home, dessert was a necessary part of every dinner. It could be simple, cookies or some fresh fruit but more often it was pie or cake or some other confection and if it was buried in whipped cream, so much the better. Pineapple Upside Down Cake, warm, moist, spicy gingerbread, strawberry shortcake, all served with whipped cream. Fruit tarts and pies were served with ice cream or if I didn’t have time to bake, a chocolate pudding served warm with vanilla ice cream melting in the center was a favorite.

These days dessert is something we rarely eat. Occasionally Sunday evening is a time for a little ice cream while we watch Masterpiece Theater but pies and cakes and elaborate desserts are only for birthdays or the occasional company meal.

In Sweden we surprised ourselves by frequently ordering dessert. One of the best and the most simple was a Berry Meringue dessert. It consisted of a meringue smothered in lightly sweetened whipped cream, drizzled with a sauce of pureed strawberries and garnished with the fresh fruit.

Strawberry season is over but we have an abundance of raspberries. I love them but the seeds are a problem for my teeth. I’ve been puréeing them to make a simple sauce. It is easy to make and is great over ice cream or a slice of white cake. I also use it to make a nice summery drink. A spoonful of the purée, vodka and soda stirred with ice in a tall glass.

Raspberry Sauce

Mash fresh or frozen raspberries with sugar to taste. Once the juices have been released purée the fruit in a food processor or with a hand blended. Put the puréed berries into a sieve and use the back of a spoon to push the fruit through leaving the seeds in the sieve.

A pint of berries will make almost a cup of sauce. It will keep several days in the refrigerator and freezes well.

I’m embarrassed to say that I have lived in Massachusetts for 54 years and never eaten oysters— until the weekend before last. I was invited to celebrate my friend Sadie’s birthday in East Dennis on Cape Cod. Gail, another friend came up from Rhode Island where her son-in-law is an oyster farmer. She brought a big bag of oysters fresh from the sea. After watching her struggle to open them, I couldn’t refuse to try them. Delicious! They were sweet and tasted of the sea. I preferred them with just a few drops of lemon, the cocktail sauce overpowered the fresh flavor. I discovered what I’ve been missing all these years.

Later in the week I had the pleasure of lunching with old friends, Katja and Nicole, along with my granddaughter Leah at Perwinkle’s in Essex. We came back to my house for tea and dessert. I had started to make a blackberry tart and had it partially complete when I dashed to the orchard for blackberries only to find that I was too early, they hadn’t been picked yet. Quick switch, it was turned into a blueberry tart combining two recipes. It was a hit.

Blueberry Cream Cheese Tart

Ingredients
9 inch baked tart shell

3 cups blueberries
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
1½ tablespoon cornstarch

Set aside two cups of berries. Mash remaining 1 cup of the blueberries with the sugar and bring to a boil in a saucepan. When the sugar is dissolved add the cornstarch dissolved in the water. Stir constantly over the heat until thickened and clear. Set aside to cool while making the cream cheese filling.

8 ounces cream cheese
1/4 cup sour cream
1/3 cup sugar
1 grated orange rind*
1 tablespoons orange juice*

Allow cream cheese to soften out of the refrigerator and then beat all ingredients together until smooth. Spread in the bottom of the pre-baked tart shell. Pour reserved berries over the top and then pour the thickened sauce over them. It can be still warm but not hot. Refrigerate for at least three hours.

*Or substitute 1 teaspoon vanilla for the orange.

My desk at home sits in front of a big window where I can watch the orchard through the seasons. Now that it is November the trees in the front yard have a few brown leaves clinging to their branches while the apple trees beyond are still thick with leaves but they have turned yellow and will soon join the apples that fell to the ground during the picking season.

It won’t be long before all the branches that I can see will be bare and perhaps snow covered. They have their own beauty and I try to enjoy the sight knowing that it won’t be long before the days again begin to lengthen and the tree buds will begin to swell in anticipation of spring. An ageless cycle.

It’s the time of year that makes me want to put some soup on to simmer and bake some bread. I have some of the rich turkey stock that I simmered a couple of weeks ago. I’ll use that with some bits of leftover turkey from the freezer saved just for soup. Whatever vegetables I have in the refrigerator will get added but for sure onions, celery and carrots. The great thing about soup is that it’s a good way to use up tired vegetables that aren’t good enough for salad. Maybe I’ll add a can of black beans or some rice or a potato to make it heartier but for sure it will be delicious accompanied by bread warm from the oven.

Now that I think about it, another option to bread is Beth’s Whole Wheat Rolls. My sister Beth makes these every year for holiday dinners. There is never even one left for a sandwich the next day. They’d be perfect with soup.

Beth’s Whole Wheat Rolls
2 packages yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1 stick butter, melted
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup honey, or sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
4 – 5 cups flour, (I usually use 1 to 1-1/2 cups whole wheat flour and 3 to 3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour). Half and half works fine too.

Soften yeast in in the 1/4 cup water. Mix everything else but flour together, stir in yeast and then flour. Knead on a floured surface until smooth and no longer sticky. (I use the Kitchen Aid mixer for this step but kneading by hand is good for getting rid of aggression) Place in a large oiled bowl and cover with a tea towel. Let raise until double. Form into rolls, let raise again. Bake in 375 degree oven 20-25 minutes. Makes 2 to 2-1/2 dozen

(I roll them into balls, dip in melted butter and bake in a 9×13 pan or round cake pans. They can be baked individually in muffin cups too. That would take less time to bake.)

This hot weather has made cooking a challenge. Last night we celebrated our son Aaron’s birthday with dinner on the terrace. Steaks on the grill were no problem but I wanted to have everything else ready.
The pea pods seem to be finished but there were some beautiful green beans from the vegetable garden, what to do with them? It was too hot in the kitchen to be cooking late in the afternoon. I’d made potato salad and torn greens for a garden salad but didn’t want to be doing the green beans when I could be with everyone else outside.
Googling Green Bean Recipes turned up hundreds, many with sauces or baked with other ingredients. I wanted something simple that could be made ahead and served at room temperature. There wasn’t any single recipe that was just what I wanted but I ended up with an idea. The beans were a success.

Green Beans for a Summer Evening
1/2 pound fresh green beans (I had about 10 ounces)
2 tablespoons chopped, toasted walnuts
2 tablespoons chopped scallions
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 teaspoon vinegar (I used Purple Basil from the orchard)
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon honey

1.Cut stem ends from beans and drop into boiling water for about 4 minutes, until tender crisp.
2.Drain and cool quickly in cold water. Drain.
3.Toast walnuts in a wide pan on high heat for about two minutes. Remove from pan immediately to cool and prevent scorching.
4.Whisk oil, vinegar, mustard and honey together and toss with cooled beans.
5.Top with walnuts, scallions and mint just before serving.
(Serves four)
If made far ahead they can be refrigerated but they should be brought to room temperature for serving. These would be good served hot too.

Green beans are one of our favorite vegetables but I usually just boil to tender-crisp, in salted water, drain and serve. Now I’m inspired to try some different combinations, maybe sesame oil and sesame seeds or melted butter and fresh thyme.

I don’t know where sugar snap peas have been all my life but now discovered I can’t get enough of them. I know that I’ve eaten them occasionally in Chinese food but had never cooked them. I’ve mentioned before the paucity of vegetables in my early life. Nearly every vegetable we ate came from a can. In the summer my grandfather had a vegetable garden but everything was allowed to get too big and then boiled to tastelessness. When we started our own garden in Andover we never even thought of growing sugar snap peas. We did grow peas but the task of shelling a mountain of pea pods and ending up with a little bowl full for our family of seven was too much work.
On Wednesday when I returned from my trip I was eager to get to the orchard and see if there were still strawberries. There were not only beautiful strawberries but baskets of sweet cherries, raspberries, and blueberries. And, right next to all the bounteous fruit were boxes of sugar snap peas.
I brought a box home and started checking cookbooks. My cookbooks have been around for a lot of years and I didn’t find many recipes but when I looked on-line, there were dozens. For the last three nights I’ve prepared them in three different ways. The sweet flavor and crunchy texture go perfectly with almost anything.
One night I sautéed them briefly with olive oil and fresh thyme, the next night with julienned carrots in a little sesame oil and a drizzle of honey, last night I used a bit of bacon fat and basil. Delicious in every case.
Tonight I think I’ll use butter and a bit of chopped fresh mint over them. I’m also thinking of other combinations. Maybe cumin seeds and then there are all the different herbs that abound in the summer.
They’re easy to prepare, I remove the stem end and in the bigger peas, I pull off the string along the back. I’ve been boiling them for exactly three minutes and then chilling them quickly with cold water. They’re ready then to be quickly reheated in a little butter or oil or orange juice or stock with herbs, maybe a bit of grated ginger would be good too. So many possibilities.

Eating well and good nutrition have been a major focus for most of my life. Well, maybe I should amend that, eating well has been my focus and I’ve tried for good nutrition. Once upon a time, if it tasted good, it was okay. Over the years, as we are reminded continually by the media, our the population has grown more sedentary and fatter. Much of the responsibility falls to the mega food industry. Additives to tantilize the taste buds have addicted us to sugar, salt and fat. Restaurants have up-sized portions and the ease of just opening a package instead of cooking completes the cycle.

I’ve learned to shop the sides of the supermarket for dairy, meat, fresh fruits and vegetables. The aisles get a fast run through for baking supplies, paper products, and a few other staples like olive oil, vinegar, and canned tomatoes. Otherwise, I try not to buy prepared foods.

All this is a preface to telling about our scrumptious pot roast last week. It was sooo good, a recipe that I used frequently when feeding a family of seven but seems almost decadent today. It was an inexpensive beef pot roast. I put it in a heavy dutch oven and sprinkled it with a packet of onion soup mix then covered all with a can of cream of mushroom soup. I added some more chopped onion and some leftover canned tomatoes just because I had them. Covered tightly and baked at 325 degrees for three hours the smells soon coming from the oven were divine.

When I opened the pot, it was a thing of beauty. Meat so tender it was falling apart nestled in rich, brown, delicious gravy. Have I mentioned before that I love gravy? Served over mashed potatoes with fresh asparagus and salad, it was pure bliss.

There were leftovers and I’m not even going to think about all the salt, MSG, and other unspellable ingredients while I enjoy them.

We had the first asparagus of the season last night. I’m afraid I broke my “strawberry” rule and didn’t wait until it came from our own garden. It was still delicious.
Before moving to Massachusetts in 1960 the only asparagus I had ever eaten had come from a can.  A mush green unpleasant vegetable.  My grandfather always had a garden but never planted asparagus and I don’t remember ever seeing fresh asparagus in a store.
It wasn’t until I received Julia Child’s first book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, as a Christmas gift in 1961 that I discovered this wonderful veggie. We promptly planted it in our home garden and ever since it has been the much awaited first vegetable of the season.
In Mastering the Art, Julia said that she had tested every asparagus method that she’d heard of and the French method was the best. The asparagus was partially peeled, tied into bundles and placed in a kettle of salted, boiling water until it is just tender, but not limp, then drained and served immediately.
It doesn’t matter whether the stalks are thin or thick but the thick ones are easier to peel. The stalks should be crisp and moist on the end. If it isn’t used immediately, it should be stored upright in a glass with a little water. Peeling is the key to having it perfect every time. I’m frustrated when served asparagus that looks beautiful but has woody ends that turn into stiff strings when chewed.
This is my own variation of Julia’s method. It eliminates the tying but otherwise follows her directions. I agree that it retains its color, texture and flavor best cooked this way.
Fresh Asparagus
6 to 10 spears per person, more if they are very thin
10 or 12 inch frying pan of salted boiling water (I like the wide
flat pan for vegetables)
1. Cut any very woody ends off and then, holding with the butt end up,
use a small, very sharp knife or vegetable peeler to peel the outer skin off the lower part of the stalk leaving the tender center. The upper part of the stalk doesn’t need it.
2. Wash the peeled asparagus quickly in cold water.
3. Drop into boiling water and cook until a fork pierces the butt
end easily. Do not allow to get limp, the stalks should be tender
crisp when served.
4. Drain and serve, either plain or with melted butter, lemon juice or
other sauce.
The stalks can be peeled a few hours in advance and kept refrigerated
wrapped in a damp towel.