The Earthy Delights Recipe Blog
Celebrating wild harvested, traditional & artisanal foods
It’s often said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Mostly, we agree with that statement, except on weekends, when brunch is the most important meal of the day. Go ahead and have your coffee whenever you roll out of bed, then take your time and whip up something special – like this recipe for Poached Eggs & Ham with Porcini Mushroom Sauce on a Bagel. Why a bagel, you ask? Why not?! We like the firm, …
We’ve been looking for a good pawpaw chutney recipe for a long, long time. As large, sweet and tasty as it is, the North American fruit with the scientific appellation Asimina triloba would seem to be the perfect candidate for the tangy and spicy Indian condiment. Sure enough, a quick internet search will turn up many likely recipe candidates, but a closer read will reveal most of them to actually be papaya chutneys (apparently, the word “pawpaw” is synonymous for …
Confit: Anyone who has the vaguest interest in food and cooking has probably heard this word used (and misused) more than a few times. Many people, even experienced cooks, may be a little hazy about the meaning of the term. Is it a dish or a cooking method? Is it French or, heaven forbid, “fancy?” Does it make you feel uncomfortable and ignorant when your food snob friends use it casually in conversation? Let’s see if we can clear up …
Cherries are in season, and while it’s tempting to simply gobble them fresh by the handful, there are plenty of other interesting – and rewarding – ways to enjoy them. When sweet cherry varieties like Ulster, Cavalier, Hedelfingen and Regina ripen fully on the tree, they burst with deep, intense dark cherry flavor, making them excellent choices for use in recipes, both traditional and novel. The long history of cooking with sweet cherries is evident in the wide variety of …
This mellow mustard tastes like pure, sweet summer sunshine. It’s got that keen mustardy kick that every good mustard should have, but the bite is tempered with sunny sweetness of apricots and complex, nutty notes of chanterelle mushrooms. The familiar fruity-floral flavor and aroma of chanterelle mushrooms is often compared to – and paired with – apricots. The chanterelle’s distinctive flavor intensifies when the orange-yellow mushrooms are dried, becoming deeper, darker, richer and toastier. Here’s the tricky bit: dried chanterelles …
It’s not surprising that most classic recipes are built on the solid foundation of good old-fashioned country cooking. Ramp and Jowl Bacon Gravy is insanely good over hot, homemade biscuits (check our recipe for Ramp Buttermilk Biscuits), but would be equally at home gracing a roasted veal chop in a fancy white-tablecloth restaurant. No wonder that down-home ingredients like ramps have found their way onto the menus of so many upscale dining establishments! A spoonful or two of this rich, …
It’s now officially spring, and while winter weather is still hanging on across much of the country, we can’t help but anticipate warmer weather and all the wild spring bounty that comes along with it. Fresh ramps, or wild leeks as they’re known in the north, are beginning to shoot up and should be ready for harvest in a few more days, but in the meanwhile, we’re satisfying our cravings with plump, mellow ramp bulbs that were frozen at the …
The quickest, easiest and – some would say – best way to cook a steak is to pan-fry it. Certainly, this is an attractive option in the depths of winter, but the results are exceptional enough to make it a preferred method year round. After a quick sear on both sides, the steak can be cooked to perfection in 10 minutes or less without all the fuss and mess of a broiler or grill. With the steak right there in …
Until very recently, many classic Asian ingredients were practically unknown to Western cooks. That’s all changed now, with cutting-edge chefs introducing exotic flavors to an eager audience. Now the curtain has been pulled aside and some, at least, of the secret ingredients used in their culinary wizardry have been revealed. One of these is yuzu kosho. Yuzu kosho, a traditional condiment with an amazing 1-2-3 punch, comes from the southeastern corner of Japan. Originating in Kyushu prefecture (hence the name kosho), …
For the uninitiated, cooking – and eating – an artichoke may seem like a daunting task. The prickly, tough-textured outside of the artichoke doesn’t seem particularly appetizing at first glance. After all, the artichoke is a close relative of the thistle and shares many of its characteristics. But beneath the leathery leaves of the artichoke lies a tender treasure – the sweet flesh that covers the base of each leaf and, best of all, the large meaty base or “heart” …