August 2012

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

Plum, Nectarine & Chile Jam

25 August 2012 by local kitchen

I’ve been a slacker on putting up fruit this summer. Sure, I picked some strawberries: but I only got 10 lbs and I froze most of those (though I did make two small batches of jam, including a strawberry, rhubarb & ginger knockout that I never got around to telling you about). There was a ton of rhubarb, and 40 lbs of cherries, so maybe I just petered out early? Because blueberries have passed me by, except for a early, short […]

Categories: canning, hot chile peppers, jams, peaches, plums, preserving • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserves, preserving, recipes

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