Time for cooking, farmers markets

I'm going through cooking withdrawal. After two Saturdays on the road, I started the week with my cupboards bare, my kitchen eerily clean and my produce drawer empty. I haven't gotten my farmers market fix in weeks.


By Wednesday, after throwing together last-minute meals and having to hit the express lane at the 'Teeter, I was making notes on all the things I'm going to cook this weekend. Saturday night: Spaghetti with from-scratch meatballs, to answer a weeks-old request from my teenage son.

After cruising through the cookbook shelf, I settled on the version in Bill Smith's "Seasoned in the South." It's not Southern at all, it's a recipe he got from an Italian-American friend. But any recipe from Bill is a good thing.

I made the mistake of telling my cashew-mad husband about Bill Smith's recipe for Cashew Cake with Maple Frosting. Maybe, if there's time.


For Sunday night, I'm thinking it will be Chicken Marbella from "The Silver Palate." I've been hankering for it ever since co-author Sheila Lukins passed away. It takes a day to marinate, so I can start it Saturday. And maybe her Cornbread Dressing on the side, to get a jump on testing the Thanksgiving recipes. Ooh, and I have butternut squash -- how about butternut squash with proscuitto? Now, there's a feast.


Along the way, I pulled out a couple of recipes for staples that are running low, like Sofrito. Maybe I can fit them in on Saturday, too.


But it will have to start with a Trader Joe's run on the way home Friday night to begin pantry restocking, and an early Saturday farmers market run. Dean Mullis promises he has lots of eggs. Maybe that Cashew Cake will get made after all.