Tony and Sarah Nasello
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Soup season is here, and every fall we hail its arrival by preparing a big batch of Homemade Chicken Stock. Making stock from scratch is easy, affordable, nutritious and a great way to ensure that you have this pantry staple on hand whenever it's needed.
FARGO — The winter squash season is upon us, and butternut is our personal favorite among the varieties currently in abundance. Butternut is known for its quirky shape, sweet, nutty flavor and versatility. We often enjoy it pureed in soups or roasted in the oven, and this week's pan-sauce recipe for Butternut Bleu Cheese Sauce gives us another way to showcase it in style.
Baking is one of my passions, and I am always looking for an excuse to don my apron, heat up my oven and put my mixer to work. And when that excuse comes in the form of helping others, it's a win-win in my book.
All last winter I kept hearing about this amazing English Muffin Toasting Bread my parents were making while wintering in sunny Florida. Unable to find English muffin bread in any of their local stores, they set upon a mission to make their own version from scratch, with results so good that they couldn't stop talking about it.
A few summers ago, instead of planting our own garden, we joined a local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and began receiving weekly boxes of our "share" in the harvest, from June through October. That fall, we received a steady abundance of root vegetables and frantically began searching for new recipes to help us get through our supply.
When our 12-year-old son, Gio, suggested last spring that we should plant potatoes in our garden, I thought he was crazy. Undeterred by my skepticism, Gio hopped online and quickly discovered that all we had to do was to plant something called a seed potato, just below the surface of the soil, and the rest would take care of itself.
Zucchini didn't get planted in our garden until mid to late June this year, and for a while it looked like our plant wouldn't have enough time to produce anything worth harvesting. Fortunately, zucchini is as hearty as it is prolific, and I am now faced with the task of finding ways to use all of our bounty, especially those that have grown beyond a manageable size. Thankfully, this week's Zucchini Apple Bread is not only moist and delicious, but also easy to make—and it freezes beautifully, making it a perfect recipe for this occasion.
Eggplant is often overlooked in favor of more traditional vegetables, but this dark purple beauty is one of our favorite vegetables, and it's been a mainstay in our garden for years. We await its arrival each summer, eagerly anticipating its use in classic Italian dishes like eggplant parmigiana, caponata, braciole and grilled eggplant pasta rolls, all of which have been featured recipes in this column.
FARGO — Three summers ago, our son Gio and I were visiting my parents at Lake Sallie, Minn. Before I could even unpack my car, my dad approached me, waving a copy of a magazine open to a page of mouth-watering steak and tomatoes. "Can we make this together, Sarah?" he asked. Confronted with such enthusiasm, how could I say no?
FARGO — This week's recipe is inspired by what we are currently harvesting in our vegetable garden, or more appropriately, Gio's vegetable garden. Our soon-to-be teenage son has spent the summer lovingly tending his garden, which is now coming into August abundance with a bounty of sweet yellow onions, green bell peppers, mouth-watering tomatoes and a crazy amount of cucumbers. We've combined these garden-fresh ingredients with red kidney beans for protein and a zesty red wine and oregano vinaigrette to create our August Abundance Salad.