a creamy, crumbly, jammy pie with a crisp, buttery crust. made this pie with a pint of buttermilk, a few lemons, and half a jar of tart jam. perfect treat for february blues.

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This January, the city of Somerville launched a winter farmers' market to bring fresh, local, healthy food to residents of this densely populated urban center. Jaime Corliss, director of the Shape Up Somerville Program, has been very happy with the response. And, vendors (selling everything from daikon radishes to cider doughnuts) are certainly finding this location worth the trip. More

Every now and then, you come across a recipe so ridiculously indulgent and unabashedly excessive that you simply must prepare it immediately. A perfect example? This recipe for homemade Kit Kat bars, adapted from Paula Deen, and loaded with peanut... More

When I lived in France, my host mother used to heat up purchased buckwheat crepes with ham and eggs as a dinner last resort, when she was short on time and ingredients. Though she was a good cook, I liked that simple meal as much as anything else she made. You can in fact buy pre-made crepes over here, too, but frying the crepes yourself adds only a little in the way of time and really nothing in the way of ingredients. If your appetite is hardy, you can also crack two eggs over each crepe without straying from the eight-buck budget. More

This spread is like Nutella for grownups. It's about half as sweet and just a little bit chunky. It will keep for up to a month in the refrigerator. Adapted from Nuts in the Kitchen by Susan Herrmann Loomis.... More

Flavored with plenty of pure maple syrup and just a hint of sea salt, these sensational (and seasonal!) caramels are simple to prepare and totally addictive.... More

This is pastry chef Elizabeth Falkner's recipe. It's bar-none the quickest, easiest, fudgiest frosting I've ever come across. Just make sure you get sweetened condensed milk, NOT evaporated (I've made that mistake plenty of times myself). This recipe makes enough... More

I had been trying my hand at French lentils with varying degrees of success for the past few years when I finally found the prefect recipe for Basic French Lentils in Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table. While I had always incorporated a combination of carrots, celery, and onions I was missing a few key ingredients—one lone clove, a bay leaf, a bit of cognac, and most importantly, plenty of stock to cook the lentils in. More

I have found that, stripped of its low carb associations, that cottage cheese can be a friend of one's tastebuds, and not just the waistline. If you can find whipped cottage cheese, it's positively decadent on a sliced banana, topped with honey, raisins and honey-roasted peanuts. (A delicious carb trifecta.) How else to use cottage cheese? More

A variation on pound cake that uses ground almonds and flour and a little more than a pound of butter, this nutty cake is studded with chopped pine nuts and is refreshingly lemony with just a hint of vanilla that can only come from using real vanilla beans. More

When seasonal veggies abound (such as, for example, now), it doesn't matter who you are, where you come from, or how good you are with a julienne attachment. Once in a while you're going to need a little help taking your produce to inspired heights. These ten websites, many of them lesser-known, are among my current favorites when I'm staring at a full crisper and need a little jolt of creativity. Behind each site is a person or team who knows how to find extraordinary beauty in ordinary vegetables. More

Six months ago Clover Food Lab was still something of a secret. The food cart, which opened quietly in 2008, still served a small selection of breakfast and lunch items to a crowd of mostly MIT students and professors, continuing a longstanding tradition of lunchtime food trucks at the university. The chef-owners were ambitious, conceiving a seasonal vegetarian menu that could be served within minutes after ordering, where no item topped the five dollar mark. More

[Photograph: pinkpucca on Flickr]... More

Opening a restaurant’s second location is like making a movie sequel. It should capture the feel, the look, and the ambience of the original—faithfully recreating everything that made it a hit in the first place. But it should also bring something else to the table. Move the story along. The Friendly Toast, just opened on Sunday (May 17) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, does so admirably. It’s hard to replicate the success of a local institution. Up in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the original Friendly Toast has earned lines out the door since 1994 for its mammoth pancakes, crazy egg dishes, and over-the-top kitschy décor. But from an airy space in Kendall Square, the owners have crafted a second Crayola-hued temple of... More

While I have nothing against a warm doughnut or pain au chocolat, my heart has always belonged to the sticky bun. In my mind, it’s everything a breakfast pastry should be—gooey, cinnamony, and with so many layers to unearth, endlessly entertaining. (I started baking at age six with the sole intention of making my own super-gooey cinnamon rolls. Old habits die hard.) When I saw Joanne Chang out-bake Bobby Flay on the Food Network’s Throwdown, I knew I had to hit up her Flour Bakery in Boston the first chance I got. Flay’s needlessly experimental orange-almond rolls couldn’t hold a candle to Joanna’s “Sticky Sticky Buns,” doused in a brown sugar-honey “Goo.”... More

There are neighborhood cafés, and then there are neighborhood classics. The kind of local favorites where the staff gets to know your name, and you theirs. Where even though lines snake out the door, every regular considers the place his own unique find. And where the food is both honest and memorable, worth going back to—and not just because it’s around the corner. These institutions often take years to evolve. But Mike and Patty’s, opened eight months ago on a quiet corner in Boston’s Bay Village neighborhood, seems pretty close already. Its storefront may be tiny—an open kitchen behind the counter, one high table for a friendly six, and hardly enough room to turn around. What Mike and Patty’s... More

This Plum Biercake from The Boozy Baker by Lucy Baker is a dessert that brings together the summery flavors of sweet plums with the deep, wintry flavors of gingerbread. The thick batter is enriched with dark beer to make for an incredibly moist cake and an intriguing flavor that varies depending on the beer you use. More

It's pretty much impossible for me to pass up an olive oil cake, no matter if it's being offered at a restaurant, in a bakery, or in recipe form. There's something about the lightness of the cake combined with the green and fruity flavors that the olive oil lends—I find it absolutely irresistible. So when I came across this recipe for Orange-Glazed Olive Oil Cake with Fleur de Sel from The Perfect Finish by Bill Yosses, I made sure I had all the ingredients on hand, then made a beeline for the kitchen to start baking. More

My kitchen is pretty much at capacity, and purchasing more kitchen equipment is becoming borderline irresponsible. What I once thought was a spacious kitchen seems shrinking with each new addition. So, when I found this recipe for Blackberry Buttermilk Bundt with Orange Glaze from The Perfect Finish by Bill Yosses I was hesitant to go out and buy the Bundt pan this recipe called for. But the beautiful photo that accompanied the recipe and the wealth of blackberries at the market won me over and the pan was purchased. And, I have to say that I'm very pleased with my new Bundt pan and the first cake it baked. More

Brown sugar cakelets, also known as strawberry shortcake's brunchified cousins, provide an excellent opportunity for you to squeeze more dessert into your day and more strawberries into your summer. I split each cakelet and filled it with a schmear of improvised brown sugar cream cheese frosting and a spoonful of strawberries for a brunch dessert that doesn't feel too terribly over-the-top to indulge in midday. More

After one spoonful Jeni's won me over for life and, based on the spirited discussion in the comments section, I'm not the only ice cream lover who's wild for Jeni's. I thought it would be worth the trip to sample these seasonally inspired, locally sourced flavors as close to the source as possible. More

I first made Mark Bittman's chickpea soup with toasted breadcrumbs because it sounded fast and easy, but it earned its spot on my list of favorite recipes because it tastes so good. If you've cooked your chickpeas carefully and stored them in their broth, not much can go wrong with this soup. It's very receptive to experimentation with spices, herbs, and greens. The escarole, my addition, brought some nice flavor and texture to the dish. More

If you asked me ten years ago if I would ever consider becoming a vegetarian, my answer would have been, "Hell no," followed by a string of surprisingly vicious obscenities. You might have cried. And I wouldn't have felt bad about it afterward. But dishes like this West African Vegetable Stew are just as filling and flavorful as meaty ones. Healthy as hell and simple to make, it possesses a wonderful sweet heat and heartiness. More

If, like me, you always wish there were more topping in fruit crisp, you should get to know oatmeal shortbread. Other recipes I've seen involve oat flour or ground oats, but this one gets right down to sweet, buttery business with ingredients that are almost certainly waiting in your refrigerator and pantry. More

The French are renowned for their superior walnuts and almonds. This brittle coats the nuts in a sticky, crisp blanket of sweetness and spice...and everything nice. The heat of the quatre épices makes it perfect for an apéritif, and the sweetness for a dessert. A simple-to-make Jacques of all trades. More

[Photograph: Nick Ferrari]... More