our cooks
Anyone who’s eaten a meal at The Stone House falls in love with our cooks. They are some of the most nurturing and skillful people ever to move about a kitchen. We are grateful to our cooks – Noah Blose, Miriam Biber, Lizzie Jacobs, Kifu Faruq, Melanie Wilkerson, Cristina Rivera Chapman and Justin Robinson – for bringing so much goodness to life.
sample menus
We do a lot of customizing of menus here, depending on the size of the group, what’s in season, particular dietary needs and the nature of the program. Here are a couple of sample menus to give you a sense of what you can expect:
Sample lunch menus:
#1: Breaded tempeh, green beans, sweet potatoes, kale salad
#2: Red lentils, cabbage & potato stew, salad, injira
Sample dinner menus:
#1: Calzones, roasted root vegetables, sautéed squash, salad, desert
#2: Pad thai noodles, spicy coconut soup, green salad, desert
#3: Brazilian black beans, white rice, collards, black eyed peas, desert
favorite recipes
Fig Cheese Tart recipe
Crust
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
Filling
1/2 cup sugar
2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
about 3c fresh figs, sliced into rounds (about 15 figs)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Directions
Heat oven to 375°F.
For the crust: Combine the flour & sugar in a small bowl. Break the butter into pieces and blend it into the flour mixture with your fingers, a pastry blender, or a spoon. Add vanilla. Mix until it is a uniform dough. Press the dough into the bottom of a 10-inch springform pan and set aside.
For the filling: Combine the sugar and cream cheese, mixing until smooth. Slowly add the eggs and vanilla, mixing until smooth. Spread this mixture over the crust.
Sprinkle the filling with cinnamon and nutmeg. Arrange the figs artfully on top, pressing them only very lightly into the filling.
Bake for about 1 hour, or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely before serving.
African Sweet Potato Stew with Red Beans
4 tsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
4 c (1/2 inch) cubed sweet potato (about 1 ½ lb)
1 ½ c cooked small red beans
1 ½ c vegetable broth
1 c chopped red (or green) bell pepper
½ c water
1 tsp grated peeled fresh ginger
½ tsp salt
½ tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp black pepper
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, drained
1 (4.5 oz) can chopped green chilies, drained
3 Tbsp creamy peanut butter
3 Tbsp chopped dry roasted peanuts
6 lime wedges
Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; cover and cook 5 minutes or until tender. Place onion mixture in a 5-quart electric slow cooker. Add sweet potato and next 10 ingredients (through chilies). Cover and cook on low 8 hours or until vegetables are tender. If doing this on the stove, cook on medium-high heat for about 30-50 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Spoon 1 cup cooking liquid into a small bowl. Add peanut butter; stir well with a whisk. Stir peanut butter mixture into stew. Top with peanuts; serve with lime wedges.
