Category Archives: wild foods

Ramp & White Bean Fritters with Sriracha-Marmalade Sauce

25 April 2014 by local kitchen

“Oh, ramps,” I hear you sigh, sniffing delicately. “That’s so last year.” To be sure, ramp mania seems to have dimmed somewhat, after a strong showing in the opening years of the decade, to be replaced by new must-have food items such as artisanal toast and eggs that are scrambled in the shell. Which is a good thing, really, as ramps have been dangerously over-harvested in recent years: perhaps everyone has finally gotten the message about sustainable ramp foraging? Or, perhaps, it […]

Categories: appetizer, beans, leek, snack, spring, vegetarian, wild foods • Tags: beans, cooking, food, local, recipes, spring, vegetarian

Foraging & Feasting + Giveaway Winner

12 December 2013 by local kitchen

Do you remember when I told you about a new foraging book, written by herbalist Dina Falconi and illustrated by artist Wendy Hollender, right here in Accord, NY? Well, I reached out to Dina and Wendy, who are also the publishers, Botanical Arts Press, and they were kind enough to send me a review copy and a copy to giveaway to one lucky reader. I was so excited to receive my copy and I was not disappointed: it is a […]

Categories: 100% local, foraging, wild foods • Tags: cooking, food, foraging, giveaway, local, preserving, wild food

Wild Blueberry Jam with Mint

27 August 2011 by local kitchen

I know what you’re thinking: blueberries are long gone from these parts, right? Well, I’ll be willing to bet that there are still some out there (although they may well be completely done after this weekend’s Big Blow). And it is still wild blueberry season in Maine (in fact, I’m also willing to bet that there are enterprising Mainers out in the fields right now, raking for all they’re worth, in advance of the storm). The blueberries I used in […]

Categories: berries, canning, foraging, jams, mint, preserving, summer, wild foods • Tags: berries, blueberry, canning, cooking, food, jam, local, preserving, recipes

Ramp & Asparagus Frittata

2 May 2011 by local kitchen

Have you ever spent an entire day in a jumpy house with a 7 year-old? Let me just tell you, for the sake of science, that it is possible to pull every sinlge muscle in your body at the same time, especially when, inspired by giggling, 7 year-old cries of “Do it again!,” you demonstrate your NBA-style, windmilling slam dunk on the jumpy house baskbetball net about 847 times. My friend Kami celebrated her 7th birthday a couple of weeks ago […]

Categories: 100% local, asparagus, breakfast, cheese, chives, eggs, leek, main course, parsley, scallions, spring, vegetarian, wild foods • Tags: asparagus, breakfast, brunch, cooking, eggs, food, local, ramps, recipes, vegetarian

100% Local: Maine Graple Syrup

11 October 2010 by local kitchen

More goodness from my haul of Concord grapes from Tai’s grandmom Louisa’s Downeast Maine grapevines: grape + maple = graple syrup! This syrup is like Voltaire: if it didn’t exist, someone would have to invent it. Mostly so that someone could run around the house singing “graple, graple, graple, I made you out of clay…graple, graple, graple, with graple I will play!” Until that someone’s husband shakes his head, rolls his eyes, says “You’re insane,” and escapes to the garage. This recipe […]

Categories: 100% local, canning, condiments, fall, foraging, grapes, preserving, sauces, wild foods • Tags: canning, condiments, cooking, dessert, food, local, preserving, quick & easy, recipes

Wild Purple Scones

29 August 2010 by local kitchen

Because woman cannot live on jam alone: wild & crazy purple scones for your Sunday morning. Made with wild black raspberries from my backyard, these delicious scones get their wild purple color (and flavor!) from slightly smushed black raspberries in the dough. Much like many of the area farms, we’ve had a terrible wild berry crop this year; I only saw a few black raspberries on the bushes, the wineberries came and went in a flash, and I haven’t harvested […]

Categories: baking, berries, breads, breakfast, citrus, milk, whole wheat flour, wild foods, year round • Tags: baking, berries, cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, whole grain breads

Mopane Worms

1 July 2010 by local kitchen

I’m back from South Africa, safe and (relatively) sound. I apologize for the lack of posts; cell-phone coverage was frustratingly inconsistent and wi-fi almost non-existent. It was nearly impossible to find a strong enough signal to upload a picture, let alone email an entire post. And, well – I was on vacation, on a fairly hectic scheduled dictated by soccer; I’m embarrassed to admit how many days went by in which I consumed nothing but Simbas and Savannah Dry Cider (the latter […]

Categories: 100% local, wild foods • Tags: cooking, food, local, south africa, wild foods

Cranberry Forsythia Scones

15 June 2010 by local kitchen

A basic cranberry scone recipe with a twist: Forsythia Syrup! I’m on the other side of the country now, on South Africa’s southwest coast, in Cape Town. And while I don’t think cranberries even grow in Africa, and I’m not sure that forsythia does either, I am wishing I had some of these scones to take with me on a hike of Table Mountain. Could you guys bake some up and drop them in FedEx for me? Thanks bunches, or as we say down […]

Categories: baking, breads, breakfast, cranberries, fall, milk, spring, whole wheat flour, wild foods, year round • Tags: baking, bread, breakfast, cooking, food, local, recipes, whole grain breads

Chicken Braised in White Wine & Ramps

1 June 2010 by local kitchen

Three years later, this dish hasn’t changed: it’s still wonderful, and apparently still being made with chickens that needed using up yesterday. Luckily for us all, my photography has changed for the better. Yes, I know ramp season has officially passed us by, what with the overabundance of lush, leafy green that is dressing the Northeast woods right now. However, I still had an (albeit fairly limp) bunch of ramps in the fridge that were just begging to be used, […]

Categories: braising, chicken, leek, main course, spring, wild foods, wine, beer & liquor, year round • Tags: chicken, cooking, food, local, main course, ramps, recipes, wild foods

Asparagus Risotto

25 April 2010 by local kitchen

It’s just barely asparagus season at home in New York, but down here in Asheville it is in full swing: I picked up a bunch of local asparagus at the West Village Market on Friday, then scored two more bunches at the Asheville City Market on Saturday. Can you tell I love the ‘sperge? There are a million lovely things to do with tender young asparagus, but, while at the West Village Market I also spied a ‘forest mix’ of […]

Categories: asparagus, main course, rice, spring, wild foods, wine, beer & liquor • Tags: cooking, food, local, recipes, vegetarian

Ramp & Cilantro Pesto

20 April 2010 by local kitchen

I’m down in a cold, misty, rainy Asheville this week, spending some time with Mom. On my list of things to do before I left for the week was to preserve anything in the fridge that Tai wouldn’t cook while I was gone (so, essentially, everything). After enjoying ramps in a lovely chickpea salad and a leeky-cheesey fritatta this week I still had a pile to use. Just a few days ago, I saw a recipe for Ramp and Parsley Pesto […]

Categories: cilantro, condiments, freezing, preserving, quick & easy, spring, wild foods • Tags: condiments, cooking, food, local, preserving, quick & easy, recipes, wild foods

Chickpea & Spring Green Salad with Lemony Vinaigrette

15 April 2010 by local kitchen

Just the thing for Tax Day: a low-stress, quick & easy, protein, fiber and vitamin-packed, cheap one dish meal. Oh, yes, and it’s delicious too! I threw this quick & easy salad together the other night, thinking I was making enough for lunch leftovers, but it was so delicious that Tai & I polished off seconds and the whole bowl disappeared in no time. Even though I’ve been doing quite well on my resolution to use dried beans, I used canned […]

Categories: beans, chickpeas, citrus, quick & easy, radish, salad, spinach, spring, vegetarian, wild foods • Tags: cooking, food, local, main course, quick & easy, recipes, salad, spinach, vegetarian, wild foods

Forsythia Syrup

13 April 2010 by local kitchen

When I was young, we had a huge lilac bush in the backyard, and nothing said “springtime” to me more than the heady scent of lilac drifting into newly opened windows. Here in the Hudson Valley, “spring” is all about forsythia, the yellow flowering shrub that seems to burst into color overnight, and nearly as quickly, loses its blooms and sprouts the first pale green leaves of the season. While researching recipes for this month’s Can Jam, the focus ingredient for […]

Categories: preserving, spring, wild foods • Tags: cooking, flower syrups, food, forsythia, local, preserving, recipes, wild foods

Ramps!

8 April 2010 by local kitchen

You know it’s April in the Hudson Valley when you see ramps pop up, in the farmer’s market or in the woods. Ramps are wild leeks, an allium related to onions, shallots, garlic, and of course, leeks, and they create quite a sensation each spring when the broad, waxy green leaves start popping up in the woods. With good reason: although some think we should just shut up about ramps, there is a reason that foodniks go a little mad […]

Categories: 100% local, foraging, leek, preserving, spring, wild foods • Tags: cooking, food, foraging, local, preserving, ramps, recipes, spring, wild foods

Wild Blackberries

12 August 2009 by local kitchen

How cool is my yard? I’ll tell you how cool; I went out today and not only picked the last of the season’s wineberries, from a few canes that I discovered wrapped around a tree in the side yard, but the first of the season’s blackberries, from several fat canes that grow underneath our picture window. According to my trusty Wildman Steve Brill foraging guide, there are several species of blackberry that grow throughout North American. It appears that the […]

Categories: foraging, wild foods • Tags: cooking, food, foraging, local, wild foods