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Downeast Beef Chili

4 December 2012 by local kitchen

As you might have heard, I’ve been staying with Tai’s grandmother Louisa, in Downeast Maine, since before Thanksgiving. Louisa is awesome: she is bright, warm, and generous, and has always made me feel welcome and an important part of this big, wacky family into which I married. But Louisa is 88 years old, and while she has maintained an amazing amount of independence and vitality throughout her ‘golden years,’ in the last six months or so she has suffered some […]

Categories: 100% local, beans, beef, bell pepper, carrot, heirloom beans, hot chile peppers, main course, stew, winter • Tags: beans, beef, chiles, cooking, food, local, recipes, winter

Blood Orange Black Bean Blini

28 February 2012 by local kitchen

Have you ever made blini? I must admit, other than knowing that they were vaguely pancake-like, mostly Russian, and usually served with caviar, I didn’t know much about them until yesterday. They are essentially a pancake, but one that relies on yeast for leavening, rather than baking powder or soda. Traditionally made with buckwheat flour, I nevertheless found a few recipes online for a cornmeal version which appealed (especially since I did not have any buckwheat flour in the house). And why, you ask […]

Categories: appetizer, beans, breakfast, cilantro, citrus, main course, vegetarian, whole wheat flour, winter • Tags: beans, cooking, food, local, recipes, vegetarian

100% Local: Brazilian Feijoada

7 January 2012 by local kitchen

I am an ornery cuss. Not only do I give you a hearty, wintry, braise-all-day-long meat & bean stew on a 60-degree Saturday in January, but I got dozens of great black bean ideas from you folks following my call for inspiration on the Facebook page, yet I ignored them all to try feijoada. Like I said: ornery. (Which must always be pronounced “orn-ree” for maximum authenticity.) Feijoada is a traditional meat and bean stew: according to Hank Shaw, black beans […]

Categories: 100% local, beans, main course, pork, sausage, stew, winter, year round • Tags: beans, cooking, food, local, main course, pork, recipes, stew

Chunky Black Bean Soup

2 November 2011 by local kitchen

How many black bean soup recipes does one blog need? Apparently at least one more. I made this soup on Sunday afternoon, in the midst of a (another) 3-day power outage from the latest freak storm, this one an October snow storm that dumped more than a foot of wet, heavy snow in our neighborhood. Tree branches cracked like gunshots, telephone poles snapped like toothpicks: our neighborhood is a mess. Most of Connecticut and our little swathe of New York […]

Categories: 100% local, beans, carrot, celery, garlic, green beans, scallions, soup, winter, year round • Tags: beans, cooking, food, local, main course, recipes, soup, vegetarian

Ayocote Beans with Chile Sauce & Roasted Cauliflower

19 October 2011 by local kitchen

It’s cold, grey, windy & rainy in New York: an excellent day for a warm & spicy bowl of beans! Despite very liberal applications of chicken soup, I still have a cold and I know I’m cranky, but doesn’t it seem that September and October have been very November-y this year? Cold, damp, grey. It’s getting dark by 4:30pm and we haven’t even hit the end of Daylight Savings time yet. I’m really hoping that November takes an “Indian Summer or […]

Categories: cauliflower, fall, heirloom beans, side dish, vegetarian • Tags: beans, cauliflower, cooking, food, heirloom, local, recipes, vegetarian

White Bean Pesto Pizza with Linguica & Garlicky Kale

25 April 2011 by local kitchen

When I soaked the cannellini beans for pasta e fagioli last week, I used a whole pound, not thinking about quite how big runner cannellinis get (they are huge once soaked, up to 1 inch long!). I used only half a pound in the soup, so I had a lot of cooked cannellinis in the fridge, waiting for their day in the sun. I don’t know when I first thought of a pizza. I was musing on the idea of […]

Categories: beans, garlic, grains & legumes, heirloom beans, kale & leafy greens, main course, pizza, pork, sausage, spring, whole wheat flour, year round • Tags: beans, cooking, food, local, pizza, recipes

Roasted Flageolet Beans & Vegetables with Preserved Lemon

8 February 2011 by local kitchen

Update: The original was good, but as I suspected, additional vegetables and preserved lemon take this dish over the top. Updated to detail the most recent version, this one with carrots, parsnips, leek + scallions, preserved lemon, dried mint and yes, more free spice mixes from Penzeys, this one Turkish Spice. Enjoy! ———————————————————– After the excess of “man-food” over Superbowl weekend (Why is it that men lay claim to meat & grease why women get salads & ‘light’ pasta? Food/gender […]

Categories: beans, citrus, garlic, heirloom beans, quick & easy, roasting, side dish, vegetarian, winter, year round • Tags: beans, cooking, flageolet, food, heirloom beans, local, quick & easy, recipes, vegetarian

Vaquero Bean & Chorizo Stew

6 January 2011 by local kitchen

Vaquero beans are so beautiful, I wish I had photographed some for you before I soaked them. They do, however, maintain their lovely markings even after cooking, along with their shape and a toothsome texture. This is a pretty classic bean stew: tomatoes, sausage, aromatic vegetables and a little cilantro or parsley to finish things off. Truly, any bean will work in this recipe, so why not take the opportunity to explore an heirloom varitety that you’ve never tasted? Rancho […]

Categories: 100% local, beans, heirloom beans, main course, pork, sausage, stew, tomatoes, winter, year round • Tags: beans, chorizo, cooking, food, local, main course, pork, recipes, sausage, stew, tomatoes, winter

Smoky Black Bean Soup

8 November 2010 by local kitchen

We’re having truly New England weather today: daylight savings is barely 24 hours old, yet I woke up to dim, grey skies, a blustery Northeast wind (I keep expecting to see a witch fly by on a bicycle) and big, fat snowflakes. Followed rapidly by sleet. Or hail. Or freezing rain. Or all of the above (or my favorite weather euphemism “wintry mix.”). There is really only one thing to do when November is still in single digits, yet you […]

Categories: beans, carrot, fall, heirloom beans, hot chile peppers, main course, soup, tomatillos, vegetarian, winter • Tags: beans, black bean, cooking, fall, food, local, recipes, soup, vegetarian

Black Bean Vegetable Soup

6 May 2010 by local kitchen

Filling yet light, hearty yet summery, this soup is a study in contrasts. Most black bean soups make me think of winter or fall; thick, hearty soups flavored with ham hock or bacon, and blended unti they are almost a dip you can eat with tortilla chips. This black bean soup, in contrast, is light and summery, despite the fact that summer vegetables are still a couple of months away. I love meals like this: it makes me so happy […]

Categories: 100% local, beans, carrot, cilantro, corn, garlic, main course, soup, vegetarian, year round, zucchini • Tags: beans, cooking, food, local, recipes, soup, vegetarian

Dark Days: Christmas Limas with Caramelized Onions & Bacon

30 March 2010 by local kitchen

Something a little special for the last Dark Days Challenge of the season: local heirloom lima beans! “Local” because I smuggled them home in my luggage after my trip to San Francisco last spring. “Dark” because it’s been raining for three days straight and the sun is a distant, fond memory. “Challenge” because, well - they’re lima beans. Let’s face it, the lima bean gets no love. I’m not even sure why. I can’t remember a single time that I even tried a […]

Categories: beans, Dark Days Local, heirloom beans, main course, parsley, pork, side dish, vegetarian, winter, year round • Tags: beans, cooking, food, local, recipes, vegetarian

Flageolet Fritters

10 March 2010 by local kitchen

Eminently adaptable, thoroughly delicious, fried bean goodness. I don’t do much frying; it’s not the healthiest way to cook, and although I have none of the modern-day fatophobia, I think my love of all things bacon keeps me quite well supplied. Also, it’s the parsimonious Yankee in me: I hate waste, of any kind, and using a couple of cups of oil once, then simply throwing it away – well, let’s just say that I’ll generally try to find a […]

Categories: 100% local, appetizer, beans, cilantro, citrus, heirloom beans, parsley, vegetarian, year round • Tags: beans, cooking, food, local, recipes, vegetarian

Flageolet Beans with Sun-Dried Tomatoes

5 March 2010 by local kitchen

Flageolet beans are quite wonderful. They’re small and a beautiful mix of white and pale green when dried. Cooked, they hold their shape and color well and smell amazingly wonderful while simmering away on the stove. They have a slightly spicy, very distinctive, very hard-to-describe aroma and taste, that somehow reminds me of Spring. I was lucky enough to receive some Rancho Gordo flageolet beans for Christmas from my friend Christina (the gift that keeps on giving!) and they were […]

Categories: beans, heirloom beans, main course, quick & easy, side dish, spring, tomatoes, vegetarian, year round • Tags: beans, cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, vegetarian

Spicy Mexican Red Beans & Rice

1 February 2010 by local kitchen

My girlfriend Christina gave me the best Christmas present – Rancho Gordo beans and popcorn. She lives in San Francisco now, so while I don’t get to see her very often these days, the (albeit tiny) silver lining is that she is local to the fabulous Ferry Market and when she comes home to visit, she can bring me Rancho Gordo goodies and I can consider them ‘local.’ Because it’s local to her. And she flew to me. And just happened […]

Categories: 100% local, beans, celery, heirloom beans, hot chile peppers, main course, pork, rice, sausage, stew, year round • Tags: beans, chorizo, cooking, food, local, Mexican, pork, recipes, red beans and rice

Easy Homemade Hummus

14 January 2010 by local kitchen

I know what you’re thinking: “Hmmph. Easy. Says she of the 3-day pie crust and the day-long chicken pot pie.” But, really, this recipe is easy. Easy as pie. Well, way easier than pie, actually. Easy enough for Rachel Ray (although why make hummus when it’s so much more convenient to buy it in the store? And why do I pick on this woman when I’ve never even seen her show? I’m sure she’s a lovely person. Really.). Anyway, you […]

Categories: appetizer, beans, chickpeas, chives, citrus, herbs, quick & easy, spreads, vegetarian, year round • Tags: beans, cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, vegetarian

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