Seville oranges, also known as sour oranges, or marmalade oranges, are really only available in December, January and February. They make a fine, slightly sour-spicy sauce which balances the richness of a leg of lamb beautifully.

We planted our parsnips late this year; so when we went out and pulled up a bunch of them (during last week's deep-freeze, no less) we were surprised to find what a good size most of them were. They were also amazingly delicious - the freezing temperatures having done them nothing but good - and surprisingly tender considering how large they were. Success! This was a very simple treatment for them, but very well received. If you wanted them a little fancier, you could season them with a bit of finely grated nutmeg or orange zest before forming and baking the timbales.

I'm not sure what the pepper situation is out there if you have to buy them. I am STILL trying to clear all of ours off the counter, although they are finally dwindling fast. (Admittedly a number of them are going to the compost.) Good thing this turned out to be quite tasty, as I made a big batch to freeze.

Yes, I made that word up. The technique is the same as for making risotto or orzotto, but the end result here is not creamy, as quinoa is a sturdy little seed without loose surface starch. Nevertheless, we thought this was very good. It was certainly quick and easy, and I will definitely do it again with other leftover poultry. The nice thing about leftover turkey though, is there does tend to be a lot of turkey stock sitting around at the same time; this makes good use of some of it.

This is a slightly streamlined version of a traditional Mexican soup. The original is made with meatballs, but sausage makes the whole procedure so much quicker and easier, and is really just as good as long as you use a good quality sausage. If you can get a Mexican chorizo so much the better, but around here it's Italian sausage or Italian sausage

I have given instructions to can these for long-term storage (up to a year in a cool, dark place) but if you just want to can a couple of jars for consumption within a month, you could just put them in clean jars then store them in the refrigerator. They should sit for at least a week, in that case, before you open them.

Springtime is icumen in, loud sing kuku! In this case, not the bird, but the dish. From Persia (modern Iran) it is similar to an Italian frittata or Spanish tortilla. However, this contains far more in the way of fresh green herby flavors.

I have made this cake a couple of times this month and it has been a big hit. It's a little understated, yet somehow very luxurious. Beautiful fresh summer fruit helps! I've made it with peaches, as shown, but I think it's even better with blueberries. 

This is sort of a gloopy vegetable hash, which I have made a couple of times this week already, as we have dug up our first potatoes and the beans are still churning them out to the point that we are at a loss as to what to do with them all. Next year, I think we will plant one-third as many. The pole beans are crazy compared to the bush beans. Normally my go-to bean dish is this one, but our tomatoes are just starting to ripen, and I don't have gobs of them to throw around so I had to come up with something tomato-less. But with potatoes, which we now have in abundance.

This past weekend Mr. Ferdzy's clan gathered for our annual "Christmas in July" - a birthday party for everyone! Mr. Ferdzy is practically the only member of his extended family who wasn't born in July or August. Too bad, he has to get his presents in the summer like everyone else. What I'm getting at though, is that this is going to be another fairly dessert-heavy week on this blog. This is one I've posted before, but it's good enough to post again. It looks pretty different this time, doesn't it? But it's really the same thing, with a couple of key ingredients swapped out.