.

(scroll down for new blog posts)

What is dirt candy? Vegetables, of course. When you eat a vegetable you’re eating little more than dirt that’s been transformed by plenty of sunshine and rain into something that’s full of flavor: Dirt Candy. It’s also the name of my restaurant, which opened in October, 2008.

.

.

Read the rest of this entry »

Everyone loves Carnival Food, and in that spirit, the most recent addition to Dirt Candy’s dessert menu are Fennel Funnel Cakes. You can buy them off the menu, or at the stand down the midway right between “Mofongo: Gorilla of the Mind” and the Gravitron. They’re delicious! Mini Funnel Cakes served with mango and fennel sorbet and chocolate sorbet, and a caramelized mango and fennel salad on the side.

.

.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve crossed paths with the mighty zucchini before. It was last summer when the Dirt Candy menu featured the first dessert I came up with after my pastry chef left, Zucchini Ginger Cake with Cream Cheese Ice Cream. This summer, I knew zucchini would return, but a year later I wanted it on the menu as an entree and I wanted it on the menu looking sophisticated and chic. And so, please welcome Zucchini with Mint & Tarragon Pasta, Squash Blossom Relish and Yogurt & Saffron Sauce.

.

.

Why is zucchini back? Because, like the white whale, it is a challenging and elusive beast and I will hunt it again and again until I finally get it exactly right.

.

Read the rest of this entry »

And so, as spring ripens into summer, the Parsnip Gnocchi bids us all a fond farewell and we welcome Tomato and Toasted Coconut Spaetzle with Fried Green Tomatoes and Yellow Tomato Sauce.

.

.

Read the rest of this entry »

This is what it’s looked like outside Dirt Candy pretty much every day for the past three weeks:

.

.

Why? Because of the new addition to our Sprinter (half-spring, half-winter) menu, Barbecued Rainbow Carrot Buns:

.

.

With most dishes at Dirt Candy I can tell you exactly what the inspiration was, but with the Barbecued Rainbow Carrot Buns I have no idea. One day, buns and carrots were the furthest things from my mind. The next day, I was dead set on making Barbecued Rainbow Carrot Buns. Possessed by a hungry rabbit spirit? Mind controlled by an evil lagomorphic mastermind? It’s a mystery to me.

.

Read the rest of this entry »

Sprinter. That’s the situation the Dirt Candy menu currently finds itself in. Spring dishes are slowly coming on, winter dishes are slowly going away, but right now it’s in transition and so we’re half spring and half winter: Sprinter.

.

But it being spring, every young woman finds her thoughts turning to one thing: peas. Technically a fruit, peas are one of the first signs of spring, but for some reason the most popular pea dish, pea soup, is thick, heavy and usually served in the winter. So I wanted to do something new, I wanted to make a pea soup that woke you up the way spring shakes the dust from your bones and gets you up out of your winter cave. I wanted a pea soup that was light and refreshing. So please allow me to introduce you to Dirt Candy’s pea soup.

.

.

.

Read the rest of this entry »

Just wanted to throw a belated photo up on here of the mousse I made for Choice Eats last week. This is Acorn Squash Mousse with Maple Smoked Butternut Squash and Curried Pumpkin Seeds and this may be the last time I make it for a while because it’s incredibly labor-intensive.

.

.

It is pretty, though.

.

After surviving the deluge last week, it looks like Spring is actually on its way, which means that the Dirt Candy menu is changing. We don’t have them perfected yet, but here’s a sneak preview of a couple of new dishes that should be showing up soon. Keep watching this space.

.

.

.

I’ve been aware of a few people who weren’t happy about the basil broth that our eggplant fettuccine swims in. I like this broth as a broth – thin and delicate rather than thick and sticky. But folks don’t seem to be getting it. They expect pasta to be served in a thick sauce, like a tomato sauce, rather than in a broth like ramen. So about a month ago I changed the broth so that it’s thicker and richer. I also decided to stop making the eggplant fettuccine vegan. We still serve vegan eggplant fettuccine on request, but vegan pasta is something of an acquired taste. I like it, but some people who aren’t used to it find it a little soft.

.

.

So now, our fettuccine is non-vegan (unless you’re a vegan, in which case, no problem) and our basil broth is more of a sauce. The dish tastes great: much richer and with a few more layers of flavor and people seem to be loving it. See? Dirt Candy listens to you.

.

For Christmas this year I received one of the coolest and most baffling presents I’ve ever gotten. My sister-in-law and brother-in-law (sort of, they’re not married but have been together forever, plus they’ve got a fire pit behind their house and do yoga and ceramics together so that’s like being married) go down to Costa Rica all the time. They’re the kind of people who, instead of having a retirement plan they buy a plot of cheap land in Costa Rica, plant 1,000 hard wood trees, hire a family to live on the land and take care of it and plan to cash it in about 20 years from now when they’re ready to retire and the trees are mature. They’re like hippies who are good with money.

.

So while they were down putting in their tree farm this year, my brother-in-law bought this giant hunk of raw cacao paste.

.

.

He gave it to me for Christmas. It came wrapped in leaves.

.

.

It’s really awesome, but my question is: what do I do with it? It tastes bitter and dark and intense. I know what to do with it in general but I want to do something really fun with it. But what? I guess I could glue on two googly eyes and sleep with it like a teddy bear but I’d like to have a plan for it that involves cooking.

.

Raw cacao, you complete me.

.

The last new item on our winter menu are the Sweet Potato Puffs with Brown Sugar Ice Cream, Sweet Potato Sorbet and Sour Cream Ice Cream.

.

.

They’re more like tiny ice cream sandwiches than anything.

.

.

Read the rest of this entry »