Holt Cuisine

It’s one of my favorite lines from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs II (it was boat in the movie). Leeks make great soup. If you go online and look for recipes, you get soup after soup, but not too much else. I suppose the reason for that is that leeks tend to be tough and require a long slow cook.  I bought a package of two leeks. One was medium and the other was large. I would recommend staying with smaller leeks because the big one tended to be more tough.  Trader Joe’s sells something they call Trimmed Leeks. These have the outer layers taken off and they are already down to the most tender parts. Lots of people like to use these. I went with the regular grocery store leeks.  One thing you always have to watch for is dirt. These things look like giant green onions, and kind of are. But those big leaves collect dirt. Be sure to cut the leek in half and separate all the layers. Wash each one to be sure all the dirt is out.  Then it is easy to lay them on the cutti...

Reading the history of the ramp was very interesting. They are common across the eastern United States and Canada. In fact there are many festivals and celebrations marking ramp season.  The Native Americans used ramps in their cuisine as well as their Medicine. The Cherokee used them as a spring tonic for colds and croup. The Iroquios used them to treat worms in children and as a “clean-out”. It was also used to treat insect stings.   Do you remember,  in the book Holes, the wild onions were what kept Stanley and Zero safe from the venomous lizards? Some legends hold that the ramp has almost magical powers.  So, with my two bunches of ramps I made the noodles I told you about last time, then I made a ramp pesto, which may have been my favorite application. With the second bunch, I did Instant Pot Pasta , but I made a few changes. I didn’t use onions, garlic or bell peppers, just a whole bunch of ramps cleaned and chopped along with the mushrooms. I really wante...

When we moved to the Carolinas I discovered that there was a seasonal favorite that was new to me. In the spring farmer’s markets all around start selling ramps. Sometimes someone will even set up a card table on the side of the road to sell them.  They are sold in a bunch, with the roots. The picture above is two bunches from the farmer’s market and cost $10.  Ramps are a wild woodland edible sometimes called a wild leek or wood leek. Their leaves are long, flat and very green. On the root end they look like a green onion. The smell is strongly onion, but also somewhat musty.  For my first Ramp application I decided to make some noodle dish for a bento box.  I washed and chopped about half a bunch of ramps, then sautéed them in sesame oil. While that was happening I took some instant noodles and soaked them in hot water with their flavoring packet.  Once the noodles were soft I transferred them into the skillet with the ramps using tongs so the soaking liquid w...

So many things have changed in the world since 2020 and pandemic. One of them that seems to be around to stay is online grocery ordering. Even now that I will go back into the grocery store, I still sometimes like to order my groceries.  Just the other day we were coming back from being out of town for a week or so and I knew that we needed eggs, dairy, bread and fresh produce. I also knew that I wasn’t going to have the energy after a day of travel to do a grocery run. So the answer was an online grocery order. I timed it so we could pick it up on the way home from the airport.  I learned early on that if I was going to be too picky about my groceries I’d just better suck it up and go into the store. I was ready to communicate with my shopper as they selected my items and gave me options on substitutions. Even then, I was surprised by some of the things that I received. The most surprising was the radishes.  I did order radishes. I thought I ordered one bunch of radishes...

So, the final bit of the butternut squash might have been the most delicious. I had decided to make a butternut squash curry from the last squash half from this post.  The bad part was the rice. I used one of those 90 second rice pouches. It was kind of hard and I couldn’t massage it apart like the package says to do before you microwave it. I thought I would just break it apart after it cooked. Oh, no. After it cooked it was welded together for life. We tried to eat it and it was really awful. So, note to self, if you can’t feel it separating through the package, don’t use it! In fact, I found a second package in the pantry with the same problem. It was the same brand and they were in date. Tossed it, anyway! Maybe they had been temperature abused in the store, but something was definitely wrong. Even with the rice kerfuffle, the curry was very easy and really good. I added a few extra veggies, especially a root vegetable. I think this helps curb the heat in a curry, but you coul...

My plan was to use the second half of the butternut squash I used to make Callaloo and make a sauce to serve on Gnocchi. It seemed like a good idea because I had gnocchi in my pantry.  Gnocchi isn’t something I usually keep in my pantry, but I read an article about the 10 things great chefs always have in their pantry. One of the items was shelf stable gnocchi. For the record, the chefs can keep it. It had a stale and taste and a stodgy mouthfeel. Maybe I just don’t like gnocchi that much or I need to try another brand, but I won’t make that one again.  The sauce, on the other hand was wonderful. I will be making butternut cream sauce again and putting it on another kind of pasta. I think it would be great on some Cavatappi and topped with braised spinach and mushrooms. I’ll work on that.  Anyway, here is the recipe I used for the pasta sauce.  Butternut Cream Sauce on Pasta (if you like gnocchi, don’t let me stand in your way – have at it‼) Yield: 2-4 servings Spec...