Longfellow Inn - Sudbury, Ma. ~

Isn't this gristmill just gorgeous?  I fell in love with it, even on a very drab March day.  I can't imagine how beautiful it will look in the summer, with lush green grass and trees all around.  On acres of untouched land with a walking trail all around it, inviting visitors to watch it working as it has done for hundreds of years.

Today I invited a friend to join me for lunch at the Longfellow Inn, rich in Colonial American history. A place from the 1700's, preserved in beauty, handmade furniture, good food and drink for any meal.  While here, you can only imagine it as it was for Longfellow himself, writing his poetry or Paul Revere stopping by on one of his rides.

Here's a little blip of it's history:

"Longfellow's Wayside Inn—a nationally significant Massachusetts Historic Landmark—is the oldest Inn still operating in the United States and has been serving travelers along the old Boston Post Road for almost 300 years. What began as a two-room home in 1707, the Howe family ran a successful tavern and innkeeping business on this site from 1716 to 1861.

From its Colonial roots as an important stagecoach stop, to Henry Ford's historic preservation of the property as a living museum of American history from 1923 to 1945, the Wayside Inn offers a unique experience of history. The Inn is the perfect backdrop for your own memory-making occasions, as well as a unique casual touring and educational destination.

Part of the Wayside Inn Historic Site, Longfellow's Wayside Inn offers informative exhibits as well as atmospheric dining and guest rooms for the visiting public. The Inn serves breakfast, lunch, dinner and brunch to compliment your exploration of the property's 125 scenic acres."

Driving up for lunch today, understated yet magnificant ~

This is the Tavern.   Don't you just love all of the pewter mugs on the ceiling?  The  Inn is maintained in most of it's original pieces and furniture.  It's understatedly simple, yet beautifully preserved.  

The small dining room, where we had lunch, a lovely spot.  The fireplaces are all wonderful. Large and warm, just perfect for a cozy drink or meal. The wide pine flooring is still lovely, even though very worn.  I was so happy that they maintain the Inn's flooring, yet don't add shellac and update them.  The ladder back chairs are so comfortable too.

And our lunch?  Delicious too.  My friend and I ordered the same thing for lunch and it was delicious.  It's the Nantucket Lunchbox.  A devine Lobster slider with a cup of their famous clam chowder.  Just perfect we said ~

On our way out, a last glimpse of the Inn for this day....

A parting view of the gorgeous gristmill.  Even with all of the clouds and no green grass, it is magnificantly beautiful.  Don't you agree?

I hope you enjoyed this little tour.  I totally loved my visit here today.

Happy St. Patrick's Day ~

This plaque hung in my mother's kitchen through all my years growing up.  And in true Irish tradition, we had a Boiled Dinner for our supper that night.  Smoked Shoulder, cabbage, carrots and potatoes cooking all day on the stove top.  It was a good, hearty meal that stretched the dollar fairly well.  Memories frm childhood are a very special part of our history, don't you agree?


So a very sentimental Happy St. Patrick's Day to all!

Same yummy dessert, different presentation ~

Lemon pudding cake, served cold and inverted.  Rich and decadent without the guilt.  Only 160 calories, yum.

Enjoy, either way ~

Everyday Food ~ Lemon Pudding Cakes ~

Lemon Pudding Cakes

I love the little magazine Everyday Food from Martha Stewart, and look forward to it's arrival every month. All of the recipes I have tried from it, have been wonderful.  This is another winner.  But that is no surprise now is it, as it comes from Martha's team.  I wanted to try these ever since I saw the picture in the magazine this month, because I love all things lemon.  And I had these great looking blackberries from my grocer's this week, so I paired them.  It worked very well as I am sure it would with any other berry too. 

These lemon pudding cakes make a nice treat for a week night dessert, with only 160 calories too.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more, room temperature, for ramekins
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 3 large eggs, separated
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest, plus 1/3 cup lemon juice (from 2 lemons)
• 1 1/4 cups whole milk
• Confectioners' sugar, for serving

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter eight 6-ounce ramekins or a 2-quart baking dish. Set in a shallow baking pan. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together egg yolks with 1/2 cup granulated sugar until pale and smooth. Whisk in butter, lemon zest and juice, milk, and flour mixture.
3. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat egg whites with 1/4 cup granulated sugar until stiff peaks form, 5 minutes; fold into batter. With a ladle, divide batter among ramekins, keeping sides clean. Pour enough hot water into baking pan to come halfway up sides of ramekins. Bake until cakes are puffed and slightly golden on top, 30 minutes*. Dust with confectioners' sugar and serve immediately.

When you take your first bite, make sure your spoon goes all the way to the bottom, there is a nice little lemon sauce just waiting for you there. Yum.

*Mine didn't turn golden brown, but with the confectioner's sugar it didn't matter.  These little treats are really, really good.

Enjoy ~

Himalayan Salt Cooking Stone ~

My youngest son gave me this very pretty Himalayan Salt Cooking Stone as part of my birthday present.  I had seen them before, but never used one.  And I didn't really know how to use them, but that never stopped me before.  So, I decided that baking salmon on it would be a great first try.  My stone is about the size of a brick and it's pretty heavy.  It's great for one, perhaps two pieces of salmon.  But, if I wanted to do more than that one would need either two stones, or a larger one.  Just remember, the larger they are, the heavier they are.  Which isn't a bad thing, it's just removing them from the oven might be.  They are extremely hot and very heavy.

Here is a picture of the salmon after it baked for 10 minutes at 400 degree farenheit.  I was nervous about putting it down somewhere, so I placed on an upside half sheet pan.  Can you see how juicy it is though?  Make sure you use heavy duty oven mitts to take the stone out of the oven.  It's extremely hot and stays that way for awhile.  So remove your protein from the stone immediately or it will continue to cook.

My salmon piece was an average size and I put lots of black pepper on it and let it sit.  What's really important about the stone is making sure it's really hot, sort of like a pizza stone.  So I put mine in the oven while I was roasting my vegetables for dinner.  Oh, the directions say to either put a drip pan underneath, or a piece of aluminum foil.  However, nothing dripped from mine, but I can see how it could.  I let the stone bake on it's own for 1/2 hour before I placed my salmon on it.

I had roasted yukon gold potatoes, and fennel together and made asparagus as well.  It made for a delightful dinner.  Everything was really yummy.  But the main thing was how wonderful and juicy my salmon was, without any butter or oil.  Can you see how lovely it looks?

If you haven't roasted fennel and yukon gold potatoes together, you are missing out.  Just chunk them up, toss with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and place in a baking dish for about 1/2 hour, at 425 F.  Halfway through, I turn everything over. 

Now, this dinner met all of my requirements, easy, delicious and low fat. 

Enjoy ~

Gorgeous stir fry! As colorful as Christmas ~

Vegetable Stir Fry

Some winter foods are so delicious and comforting, nice and hearty for a cold snowy night.    Here is one that is so gorgeous and yummy, but also low in fat and calories.

It's nothing revolutionary, but it does have tons of flavor and a bit of a kick too!

1 red pepper thinly sliced
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 cup of mung bean sprouts
1 cup of snow peas
1 small zucchini, diced
1/2 - 1 jalepeno pepper, minced (optional)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Tablespoon of kosher salt
1 teaspoon ketchup
1 teaspoon siracha or other hot sauce
1 teaspoon of soy sauce


In a large skillet or wok, heat oil on medium/high heat.  Add onion and red pepper, stir often and cook for 2 minutes.  Add snow peas and zucchini, jalapeno, cook for 2 more minutes.  Remove from heat  Add bean sprouts, ginger and garlic.  Stir quickly and cook for 1 minute longer.  Remove from heat, add ketchup and siracha, stir well.  Remove from heat.  Do not cover, you want your vegetables to have a crunch. 

Serving suggestion, add 1/2 cup of cooked meat or fish and either 1/2 cup of cooked rice or pasta.  Or for a complete vegetarian meal, serve on a pretty platter.  Voila, a beautiful and vibrant meal that will brighten up any table.

A pure taste of the rainbow ~

Ribollita ~

I love soup in the Winter.  And I love this Ribollita Soup.  It's easy to make, but it does take a lot of chopping.  So I make it when I know the weather will keep me inside for a few hours, like today.  The weather station is calling for a light snow for most of the day, not accumulating to a heck of a lot, but enough to make the roads slick.  So, I'll make the best of it ~

I first had this soup at a little Italian Restaurant in the North End, Antico Forno.  This isn't their recipe, but it comes close for me.  I read and tried lots of variations of this recipe. Some regions of Italy use bread in the soup, this one does not.  I like to thicken it with potato, which when diced really small so it disappears into the base of the soup when it's finished.

I have to say, I am very happy with the outcome of this dish.  Like most Italian soups, it's fabulous.

Ingredients

1/4 lb. smoked bacon, diced
2 onions, sliced thinly
4 carrots, diced
3 stalks of celery, diced
2 medium potatoes (yukon gold), diced finely (1/4 " inch thick)
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 (28 ounce) can of ground tomatoes (I use Pastene)
1 15 ounce can of small white beans, drained
1 whole bunch of kale, washed and chopped
1/2 large head of savoy cabbage, chopped
6 cups of good chicken stock
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes
Parmesan Cheese for sprinkling

Into a large dutch oven on medium heat, add oil and when it's hot, add bacon.  Saute bacon on low heat, until it's golden brown, remove and set aside.  Add onions, carrots, celery.  Saute on low to medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring every once in a while.  Add garlic, potatoes, reserved cooked bacon, salt and pepper.  Stir.  Cook for a couple of minutes and stir.  Add tomatoes and chicken stock and turn heat up to medium heat.  Bring to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes, stirring every once in awhile.  Add chopped kale and cabbage.  If you can't find savoy, just use any cabbage, except a red cabbage.  Place lid on the soup, but don't seal it.  Let simmer for another 15 minutes and add your drained beans.  Give every thing a stir and adjust your seasoning.  I like it a little kick in my soup, so I add a little extra pepper, both black and red.
Let soup simmer for about 10 minutes longer, turn off heat and let sit for a bit.  At this point,  I take my immersion blender and blend the soup so it's very chunky, not smooth.  And this step is up to you.  You don't have to thicken this soup at all, it's really thick enough.  But, I for one, like when soup is easy to eat, not just delicous.  So I blend it a bit. 

Serve hot with a big sprinkle of freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Oh, just so you get an idea of how you would like to eat this soup.  Here's a picture of it unblended and then again, once I have blended it a bit. 

Enjoy ~