renwald
Marisa Renwald
Marisa Renwald has been a food writer for the Post-Tribune since 2006, and her column “Comfort Food Quest” has been appearing in the paper since …Read More
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Renwald: Wild asparagus ready to pick along roads
Over 50 years ago, Newton and Jasper counties were the hubbub for asparagus farming. Hundreds of acres reserved for the coveted crop displayed the slender green stalks in masses every April. Taking a nice Sunday drive through the country meant seeing truckloads of asparagus from …Read More
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Marisa Renwald: Rhubarb-ginger adds new dimension
We’re so used to pairing rhubarb with strawberry that we sometimes forget that the flavor is quite extraordinary when it stands alone — or even better — when yoked to another complementary ingredient. In fact, the strawberry-rhubarb combo is actually an American invention and is …Read More
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Marisa Renwald: Delicious dandelion greens have spicy bite
When the warmer temperatures start luring out the first of spring’s edibles, they also summon the first of spring’s invaders, who often pop up in much more aggressive quantities. Dandelions. In a field of lush emerald, they stick out in bold yellow blossoms, dotting our …Read More
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Barbecue: The seasonal outdoor delight
I t doesn’t take a lot to bring you out of that winter cooking rut. In fact, if you stepped outside on the first day in spring when the weather tipped the mercury at 50-degrees, you probably could detect the long-familiar aroma of smoke and …
Marisa Renwald: Lavender a potent yet smooth edible flower
Lavender gets so little recognition for its overtime work — in the kitchen and elsewhere. Save for the few ardent groups that rally for its medicinal and hygienic properties, lavender is left to the gardeners. But they love it for a reason. Fields of purple …
Renwald: Make your own homemade marshmallow chicks
Propped high on a tower of chocolate bunnies and cream-filled eggs, they’re often the last to be gulped down in the days that follow Easter Sunday. While greedy hands pick out the more sumptuous treats, these marshmallow chicks fall to a demise of fossilization and …
Marisa Renwald: Holy Thursday meals are unique with tradition
Easter time in Germany is served to Deutschlanders and tourists alike with a mix of solemn veneration and a childhood chocolate fantasy. During Holy Week, the days leading up to Easter Sunday, the little shops that line the cobblestone walkways of Heidelberg, Dresden and Cologne …
Marisa Renwald: Asparagus headlines spring dishes
Even though there are plenty of greens that pop up in the spring, it’s odd that asparagus gets first props for headlining spring dishes. It could be its fleeting presence — the insatiable desire to taste its crisp tenderness before the stalks go woody. Or …
Marisa Renwald: Irish cheddar, a delightfully mild cheese
As much as we love St. Paddy’s Day, it’s hard to break away from the gimmickry and frippery of the holiday. Novelty hats and vibrant green hair spray bedeck the honorary Irish as they imbibe in typical celebratory fare. It’s true. Irish food reinvented by …
Marisa Renwald: Titanic’s last meal, Chicken Lyonnaise simple but elegant
In just about one month, the world will be grieving the century mark of the Titanic’s catastrophic capsizal. But with this 100th commemoration also comes the oddly macabre, yet still poignant, celebration of all the early 20th century Edwardian glamour that went down with this …
Marisa Renwald: Savory beignets taste less indulgent, perfect for Lent
In the regions of the United States where doughnuts and paczki are kings, we don’t get a chance to see too much of the iconic food that sweeps through the bayou and resurrects a sense of Parisian pride just about this time every year. The …
Marisa Renwald: Honest Abe liked simple, hearty food
Life just north of the Ohio River in the frontier of Indiana didn’t come with a whole lot of luxuries. For a 9-year-old boy, splitting wood and nursing a mother with milk sickness on her deathbed made frontier life that much more cruel. Peace came …
Marisa Renwald: Make cinnamon caramels for your sweetie
There could be perfectly logical reasons why cinnamon is such a fancied flavor on Valentine’s Day. It is, perhaps, the perfect marketing ploy to bring in big bucks during the February holiday. Cinnamon red? Spicy aphrodisiac? Of course. “Spice things up” and “Get a little …
Make tenderloin sandwich your game-day choice
February just isn’t the month to be a chicken. According to a new report by the National Chicken Council, Americans are expected to choke down 1.25 billion chicken wings on Super Bowl weekend. If you do the math, that’s about 100 million pounds. One hundred …
Marisa Renwald: Maple syrup dumplings brighten wintery days
During the long stretch of winter when the first thaw of spring seems years away, cabin fever gets the best of us. A garden brimming with ruby red tomatoes, leafy greens and a bumper crop of zucchini is something fashioned only in our dreams, while the …
Marisa Renwald: Make persimmon pie without pumpkiny spices
Sometimes overlooked for its archaic obscurity, the persimmon sneaks up to winter without the praise and ballyhoo of the pumpkin, the squash or even the apple. In late autumn, just as the earliest frost signals perfect pumpkin pie weather, Indiana persimmons fall ripe from the …
Marisa Renwald: Red rice, a staple of the Cotton Belt
Red rice is as old as a whispering willow tree in a Louisiana marsh, and as essential to the gastronomy of the Deep South as an instituted Southern expression. Is it the South’s oldest documented fare? It very well could be, with evidence of this …
Marisa Renwald: Locally sourced food is no fad
Hope you didn’t get a mini pie maker for the holidays. Or a cake pop maker. Or even a mini cupcake maker. Chances are, you did. Just before Christmas, the kitchenware sections of department stores offered these waffle iron-like contraptions made specifically for an intended …
Marisa Renwald: Nordic porridge warms on a wintery day
The smorgasbord. Leave it to the Scandinavians to outdo everyone else when it comes to the winter holidays. When the rest of us struggle to unearth some festive New Year’s tradition that will work on the dinner table year after year, they have been working …
Marisa Renwald: Add tzimmes to your go-to get-together menu
There are few recipes that transcend seasonal holiday tables. Fruitcake, of course, would never get a break on the Fourth of July. And, it’s difficult to picture a pumpkin pie or a roasted turkey with all trimmings during any season other than autumn. But then …
