Essays and Stories

Raisin Wine and Validation

Making homemade wines from raisins or other fruits instead of winegrapes can be just as satisfying as making a fine table red or a crisp white. Aged well, they can be a validation of sorts.

Wild Game

Sardinian Hare Stew

Hares and jackrabbits are almost always poor man's meat, and this Sardinian hare stew takes simple ingredients and makes them special. It's good cold weather food that can stretch a long way in tight times.

How-To (DIY stuff)

On Making Homemade Pasta

Making pasta at home is a soothing process I find utterly absorbing: knead, roll, cut, fill, shape. Pasta-making has become a journey for me, with endless combinations of flours and ingredients.

Preservation Recipes

Preserved Lemons

Preserved lemons are not just the province of Morocco. Methods of preserving or pickling lemons exist wherever they are grown, including 19th century America.

Recipe

Venison Swedish Meatballs

What could be better than authentic Swedish meatballs? Authentic Swedish meatballs made with moose meat and sauced with highbush cranberries and cream, that's what.

Foraging

Harvesting and Cooking Nettles

Stinging nettles are coming into season here in California, so it's time to play with the Weed That Bites. Nettle pasta, anyone? How about nettle pesto or nettle ravioli?

Italian

Duck Meatballs

How to make the quintessential Italian meatball, from any meat - including some wild ducks and geese not normally known for good eating. It's all in the method...

Venison

Portuguese Braised Deer Shank

Nothing like a nasty winter rainstorm to get me braising meats -- in this case a Portuguese style braised venison shank, with fresh nettles and celery root puree mixed with mascarpone cheese.

Recipe

The Mechanics of Eating Acorns

Everything you need to know using acorns for food. When to collect, what kind of oaks are best, how to leach out the bitter tannins, how to store the acorns, make acorn flour - and acorn flour pasta.

Foraging

Cooking Matsutake Mushrooms

After having never even knowing of their existence for the first 30 years of my life, I’ve recently been cooking…