Maryland’s Spa Cuisine by Ruth Paget
It is hard to think of Maryland as a place with spa cuisine when you think of the state’s famous crab cakes that you dunk in lots of tartar sauce made with dill and capers. Maryland’s cakes are really not spa cuisine either with their many layers separated by buttercream frosting.
However, on a trip to Maryland where I visited the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Fort Meade, and many grocery stores during a long stay, I saw that you could easily make what I consider home spa food with dishes described in Dishing Up Maryland: 150 Recipes from the Alleghenies to the Chesapeake Bay by Lucie L. Snodgrass. My home spa regime includes small portions of reward noshes (snacks), salads, soups, and one easy and terrific dessert.
The following recipes may not necessarily be spa food, but in small portions eaten throughout the day they promote health and happiness:
Reward Noshes
-shrimp pâté with crostini
-corn fritters – deep-fried spoonfuls of corn kernals held together with flour, egg, a little milk, and seasonings like horseradish. I have used canned and drained corn to make these.
-zucchini fritters
-spicy crab dip with shredded Jarlesberg cheese -blueberry buckwheat pancakes
-roasted turnips and rutabagas
-gratin dauphinois (scalloped potatoes made with gruyère cheese)
Salads
-asparagus salad with spring onions
-three-beet salad with dill and feta cheese
-cucumber salad with dill, feta cheese, and red onion
-carrot and fennel slaw
-creamy kohlrabi slaw
Soups
-cream of asparagus soup with rice
-cream of spinach soup with sesame seeds
-Solomons Island clam chowder – you can use canned clams for this dish
-Chesapeake oyster stew – you can use canned oysters for this dish
-cream of broccoli soup with parmesan cheese
-mushroom bisque
-curried pumpkin soup
Dessert
-stove-top rice pudding with maple syrup
If you would like a cookbook that has both spa cuisine and English fancy food, you might be interested in adding Dishing Up Maryland: 150 Recipes from the Alleghenies to the Chesapeake Bay by Lucie L. Snodgrass to your home cookbook reference shelf.
By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
