Category Archives: 100% local

100% Local: Leek, Potato & Delicata Squash Soup

25 September 2012 by local kitchen

I’ve never met a winter squash I didn’t like: pumpkin, butternut, Hubbard, Long Island cheese, even the fabulous fairy-tale pumpkins are tasty as well as gorgeous to look at. Strangely enough, I hated squash when I was young: my only experience with it was the stringy, watered-down, boiled-and-mashed variety that graced our Thanksgiving table each year. Blech. Then at some point, I’m not sure how, I discovered roasted squash; and squash soup; squash bread and muffins, stew and gnocchi and granola, […]

Categories: 100% local, fall, leek, potato, soup, winter squash • Tags: cooking, fall, food, local, recipes, soup, 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

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

Garlic Scape & White Bean Soup

5 July 2012 by local kitchen

It’s hot. So it would seem that a hearty, garlicky, potato + white bean soup is just the ticket, no? I didn’t think so either, and in fact, I made this soup simply to use up the two big bunches of garlic scapes that were in the fridge, anticipating yet another bunch in this week’s CSA. I thought I would simply make the soup and freeze it, assuming that a thick-n-hearty soup was not the thing to offset my popsicle-and-popsicle […]

Categories: 100% local, basil, garlic, herbs, main course, potato, quick & easy, soup, summer, vegetarian • Tags: cooking, food, local, main course, quick & easy, recipes, soup, vegetarian

Use It or Lose It! Ancho Braised Beef Tacos

18 May 2012 by local kitchen

Chapter 2 in The Beef Chronicles: spicy Mexican braised beef tacos. The last episode found our intrepid heroine eating beef for the first time in 25 years: specifically, berry-braised beef with blackberry reduction. And while that recipe was a resounding success in the husband-pleasing department, and our heroine managed to eat a bite or two without significant gastro-intestinal distress, it wasn’t the most enjoyable of meals. The rice and blackberry sauce were her favorite part. Fast forward nearly two months (Can you believe […]

Categories: 100% local, beef, bell pepper, braising, main course, tomatoes, Use it or Lose it!, year round • Tags: beef, cooking, food, local, Mexican, recipes

Chipotle Hash Browns

29 April 2012 by local kitchen

I am drowning in data. I am trying to wrap up a huge project at work, a study that has been going on for over a year and has produced reams and reams and reams of data (much of which came from yours truly); I’m now in the process of distilling it all down into some sort of meaningful conclusion. And while this is the most fun part: understanding how all the pieces come together into one overall picture of […]

Categories: 100% local, breakfast, potato, side dish, year round • Tags: breakfast, cooking, food, local, potatoes, quick & easy, recipes

The 3-Minute Burrito

25 April 2012 by local kitchen

Sometimes, when you return from a vacation to foreign lands, all you can think about is recreating some of the fabulous food you ate on your trip. A jaunt to Spain in the late ’90’s marked my first experiments with frittata, inspired by the many late-night tortilla española tapas I enjoyed there. Frittata has continued a staple recipe in my repetoire ever since. On the other hand, sometimes when you return, all you crave are familiar, comforting foods: dishes you missed while […]

Categories: 100% local, main course, quick & easy, vegetable, vegetarian, year round • Tags: cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, vegetarian

Savory Cheddar & Chive Bread

4 April 2012 by local kitchen

Did you catch the awesome deal on Amazon last week? Two of Dorie Greenspan’s books, Baking and Around My French Table, for $6! As soon as David Lebovitz posted it, I snapped up two sets of books: one for me, one for future gifting. And posted it to my Facebook page, whereupon some of you lovely people snapped up your own copies. This is what social media is all about: $3 cookbooks! (OK. Not really. But still: a nice perk.) […]

Categories: 100% local, baking, breakfast, cheese, chives, quick & easy, snack, whole wheat flour, year round • Tags: baking, cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, vegetarian, whole grain breads

Berry-Braised Beef with Herbed Chèvre Rice & Blackberry Reduction

27 March 2012 by local kitchen

The last time I ate beef was the summer of 1987. I remember it quite well: I was home from college, working in Boston as a temp secretary for a rather stuffy accounting firm down at South Station, and living out near Boston College with some friends. The father of one of my roommates was in town on business and decided to take “us girls” out to dinner. He chose Anthony’s Pier 4, which was a bit of a thrill […]

Categories: 100% local, beef, berries, braising, meat & dairy, parsley, Use it or Lose it!, wine, beer & liquor, year round • Tags: beef, cooking, dinner, food, local, main course, recipes

Use It or Lose It! Bean & Sausage Chili

22 March 2012 by local kitchen

It’s not like this site really needs another heirloom bean recipe; and I think I’ve fairly covered the spectrum of pork sausage possibilities. But this recipe isn’t really about beans, or sausage, or even chili for that matter: it’s about how “putting up” isn’t just about jam. And about how put-ups aren’t always meant to stand alone: while some, it’s true, are glorious on the oft-recommended cheese tray, I could eat a cheese tray for dinner every night of the […]

Categories: 100% local, beans, bell pepper, fall, heirloom beans, main course, pork, sausage, tomatoes, Use it or Lose it!, winter • Tags: chili, cooking, food, local, main course, recipes

Roasted Summer Vegetables

25 February 2012 by local kitchen

A week or two ago, my friend Crunchy Metro Mom posed a question on her blog: what one-off meals (that is, meals destined for one night only, with no leftovers) do you rely upon in your weekly meal planning and what tips do you have for quick & easy one-off meals that don’t rely heavily on prepared or processed foods? Now, there is no question that we can eat very differently here at Local Kitchen than they do at Crunchy Metro […]

Categories: 100% local, bell pepper, corn, roasting, side dish, vegetable, vegetarian, winter, year round, zucchini • Tags: cooking, food, local, recipes, sides, vegetables, vegetarian

Potato Leek Gratin

14 January 2012 by local kitchen

My girlfriend Christina grew up in Schoharie County, NY: home of Howe Caverns, tragic flood damage, and the Fabulous Beekman Boys. While she was home for the holidays, she picked me up the Beekman 1802 Heirloom Cookbook for Christmas. It’s chock full of seasonal recipes, using homegrown and local ingredients, handed down through the generations and adapted by the Beekman Boys, all on a farm only a couple of hours from here. Be still my local-girl heart. Coincidentally, I had recently read the […]

Categories: 100% local, cheese, fall, leek, milk, potato, side dish, vegetarian, winter • Tags: cooking, food, leeks, local, potatoes, recipes, vegetarian, winter

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

Chicken Pot Pasties

27 November 2011 by local kitchen

We visited family in Maine for Thanksgiving and while I was happy to leave the task of roasting a 30-lb turkey to Tai’s Aunt Sue, I’m sort of bummed that I don’t have mountains of turkey leftovers to work my way through. Because this recipe was fantastic with cooked chicken but I’m sure would be equally wonderful with turkey: and with leftover Thanksgiving turkey gravy, some roasted carrots, creamed onions, maybe slivered green beans, you could create the entire filling from […]

Categories: 100% local, carrot, celery, cheese, chicken, fall, main course, pastry, pie, snack, thyme, whole wheat flour, winter, year round • Tags: chicken, food, hand pies, local, lunch, pasties, pastry, recipes, turkey