summer |

Whiskey-Chile Fresh Ham Kebabs

19 May 2013 by local kitchen

So, here’s how this works: it’ll be sunny & 70 degrees for a week, I’ll make these fantastic, killer, hella-good whisky & smoked chile-marinated pork kebabs, then on the first grey, drizzly, chilly, raw day, the first day in weeks that you don’t want to grill, I’ll tell you about them. On a Sunday afternoon. When the recipe requires an overnight marinade. Oh, and I’ll include a bunch of ingredients you probably can’t find. Sound good? All indications to the […]

Categories: grill, main course, pork, summer, wine, beer & liquor • Tags: cooking, food, grilling, local, main course, pork, recipes

Spicy Indian Tomato Chutney

5 October 2012 by local kitchen

I know: I’m all down with the late-season tomato recipes this year, right? Actually, I made this one a few weeks ago, with the very last of my bushel of tomatoes from Fishkill Farms (and a couple of pounds very kindly gifted to us from Tai’s boss‘ garden), but I wanted to let it sit on the shelf for a while before I cracked a jar and tasted it. And my, does it smell amazing when you pop open that […]

Categories: canning, chutneys, condiments, preserving, summer, tomatoes • Tags: canning, condiments, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes, tomatoes

Leek & Tomato Tart

29 September 2012 by local kitchen

This tart, my friends: this tart is the shizzle. I’ve made four of these in as many weeks and they have all been fabulous: quick, easy, adaptable and the best way I know to celebrate the swan song of tomato season. And yet, I can’t take any credit for it: the deceptively simple yet gorgeously flaky tart dough comes to us from France, via David Lebovitz (naturellement), with allium and fresh herb inspiration from Todd & Diane at White on Rice […]

Categories: 100% local, appetizer, pizza, quick & easy, snack, summer, vegetarian • Tags: cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, summer, vegetarian

100% Local: Plums in Wine & Honey

18 September 2012 by local kitchen

As the nippy Fall air makes its way into New York, I heave a sigh of relief as I sense the urgency of the preserving season winding down. While I truly enjoy putting by the best of each season’s produce, even the most dedicated preserver can get a bit burnt out by the onslaught of summer produce, and I am feeling just a wee bit crispy at the edges. My back is sore, my fingernails are permanently stained red, and […]

Categories: 100% local, canning, fall, plums, preserves, preserving, summer, wine, beer & liquor • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, plums, preserving, quick & easy, recipes

Maple Bourbon Peach Butter

14 September 2012 by local kitchen

I’m very late to peaches this year: I picked up my first batch at last weekend’s farmer’s market and let them ripen for a few days on the counter while I thought about what I wanted to do with them. Since they were tiny, organic and late-season fruit, I couldn’t face peeling them: my 3 and 1/2 lbs must have been about 25 peaches. I decided on a peach butter, since I hadn’t made one in a couple of years, […]

Categories: 100% local, canning, peaches, preserving, spreads, summer, wine, beer & liquor • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, peaches, preserving, recipes, summer

Basic Red Salsa

6 September 2012 by local kitchen

I realized the other day, when in possession of a bushel of organically grown tomatoes from Fishkill Farms I started thinking about my must-haves for tomato preserving this year, that I had never published my basic red salsa recipe. There are lots of salsa recipes represented here at Local Kitchen, both fresh & canned: witness the ludicrously spicy 9-chile salsa, the smoky-sweet grilled corn salsa, a roasted tomato & chipotle salsa, and the my-Spanish-gender-agreement-sucks salsa rojo. There is the classic […]

Categories: bell pepper, canning, cilantro, hot chile peppers, preserving, salsa, summer, tomatoes • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes, summer, tomatoes, vegetarian

Chipotle Cornmeal Eggplant Fries

30 August 2012 by local kitchen

Eggplantocalypse 2012 continues: according to my farmer, Betsey, eggplants are “just at their peak” this week. Which might explain the 6 pounds that showed up in my CSA bag yesterday, to join the 1 and 1/2 lb monster already lurking in the fridge. I’ve learned, in the preceding 4- and 5- and 6-lb eggplant weeks, that I need to tackle them head-on, before they even reach the refrigerator, in order to have a hope of getting through them all before […]

Categories: eggplant, side dish, snack, summer • Tags: cooking, eggplant, food, fries, local, recipes, summer, vegetarian

Marinated Dried Eggplant

27 August 2012 by local kitchen

“Eggplant bacon.” The very words are enough to make me wrinkle up my nose in distaste. One, because I don’t agree with the basic concept of trying to make one food imitate another (I like veggie burgers as much as the next girl, but let’s be honest: they taste nothing like a beef burger), and two, because, well: eggplant is gross and bacon is BACON. I wish I liked eggplant, I really do. Especially this year: it seems to be […]

Categories: drying, eggplant, preserving, snack, summer • Tags: cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes, vegetarian

Garden Antipasto

19 August 2012 by local kitchen

Eggplant, eggplant, eggplant. Never have we received so much eggplant in the CSA: growing eggplants must be fond of torrential rain storms interspersed with bright, sunny days. The peppers have been no slouch either: pale green Cubanelles, tiny, dark purple bells, fat red and yellow sweet peppers, they’ve all been making their way into my meals of late, but there are so many that they need to find their way into my freezer and pantry as well. Enter canned antipasto: […]

Categories: appetizer, bell pepper, canning, condiments, eggplant, pickles, preserving, summer, thyme • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, quick & easy, recipes

Bruschetta Risotto

11 August 2012 by local kitchen

It happens the same way every year: you wait (and wait, and wait) for bright red, sun-warmed, bursting-with-flavor summer tomatoes. Basil shows up first: the small-leafed, pale-green, delicate basil of June. You buy some, just to inhale the heady fragrance, and dream of tomatoes. Then, sometime in July, you see the first pints of cherry tomatoes at the farmer’s market: they cost a fortune, and they’re not all that sweet yet, but still: tomatoes. Your spine tingles, your mouth waters: […]

Categories: appetizer, basil, main course, rice, summer, tomatoes • Tags: cooking, food, Italian, local, recipes, vegetarian

Nectarine Preserves with Watermelon & Mint

6 August 2012 by local kitchen

I love nectarines. I like them much better than peaches, for eating out of hand: I prefer the smooth skin to a peach’s fuzz; I like them firm, almost under-ripe, so that they crunch like an apple rather than smoosh like a peach; I love the gradations in color, of both the skin and the pinky-maroon flecks around the pit. Most of all, I love the taste: bright & tart, where the peach can sometimes be unctuously sweet, and with […]

Categories: canning, melon, mint, peaches, preserves, preserving, summer • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

100% Local: Fresh Corn & Herb Soup

31 July 2012 by local kitchen

If you take a look at the recipe index, you’ll spot in a second that I’m a soup girl: at last count there are 21 different soup recipes, with three versions of stock, and let’s not even talk about my somewhat random distinction between “soup” and “stew.” But it’s also clear that I like a hearty soup: number of stews aside, most of the soups are chock-a-block full of vegetables and beans, potatoes or pumpkin, something that thickens the broth […]

Categories: 100% local, corn, herbs, oregano, soup, summer • Tags: cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, soup, summer, vegetarian

Local cooking and eating in New York's Hudson Valley.

Category Archives: summer