Category Archives: condiments

Apple Bourbon Chipotle BBQ Sauce

6 October 2015 by local kitchen

Apples, apples, everywhere. I’m not sure there has been such an apple season in the Northeast in my lifetime. Maine was swimming in them: trees everywhere dotted with hundreds of red, green, or golden orbs; apples piling in drifts on the side of the road; apple trees you never even knew you had producing large, juicy, blemish-and-worm-free fruit; the air redolent with spicy, slightly fermenting, apples. The story’s no different in my own front yard: we have several 100-year-old, tall, […]

Categories: apples, canning, condiments, fall, preserving, sauces • Tags: apples, canning, condiments, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

Homemade Curry Powder

25 February 2015 by local kitchen

It’s a well known fact that the hardest part of making curry powder at home is digging the various whole spices out of whatever wacky spice storage solution you’ve got working. Especially when said spice storage solution involves a shoulder-deep cabinet with only one shelf, a door that will stay open only if propped on a wooden spoon, and is packed to the gills with pantry staples. But, once you bite the bullet and drag the Maldon salt, matcha, peppermint […]

Categories: condiments, quick & easy, year round • Tags: cooking, food, Indian, local, quick & easy, recipes

Nectarine Plum Butter

16 September 2014 by local kitchen

I have a confession to make: this fruit butter sat on my stove, in the Staub, for three days before I managed to cook it fully down and get it into jars. My friend Tanya had pointed me to a recent article on the Kitchn about when a health inspector visited Faith’s kitchen, and I had to laugh: I had a sponge near the sink, half an apple that had been sitting on my cutting board for hours, and a […]

Categories: canning, fall, peaches, plums, preserving, spreads, summer • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving

Roasted Heirloom Tomato Sauce

10 September 2014 by local kitchen

And the tomato recipes go rolling, rolling, rolling on. Last week I picked up a bushel of organic paste tomatoes from Fishkill Farms; at the same time, I got 20 lbs of heirloom paste tomatoes, a gorgeous red-and-yellow-stripey varietal with a deep magenta flesh, few seeds, and fantastic flavor. (I also grabbed some orchard nectarines, heirloom baby orange sweet peppers, NY maple syrup, and Flying Pigs‘ hot Italian sausage. Fishkill has a great year-round farm market, full of all sorts […]

Categories: canning, preserving, sauces, summer, tomatoes • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, summer, tomatoes

Curried Yellow Tomato Chutney

7 September 2014 by local kitchen

Rarely do I meet a chutney that I do not like. Which is strange, because chutney is basically a pickle and I hate pickles. Hmmm. The exception that proves the rule, perhaps? At any rate, this chutney – this chutney with its adorable, tiny, yellow peach tomatoes, its subtle hint of sweetness, its lightly curried Indian flavors and just enough heat on the finish – this chutney is no exception. It’s simply lovely. I have to give it up for […]

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

Garden-Busting Roasted Tomato Sauce

24 August 2014 by local kitchen

Is the garden erupting with end-of-summer bounty? Are the piles of CSA vegetables taking over your fridge and kitchen counters? Are you feeling as lazy about canning as I am this summer? Well then, you’re in luck! This easy-peasy roasted vegetable tomato sauce solves all those problems and more, in addition to the perennial question, “What’s for dinner?” While I am slowly (oh-so-slowly) surfacing from my post-World Cup funk (two loonnnnggg years before qualifying for 2018 starts), I can’t quite […]

Categories: 100% local, preserving, sauces, summer, tomatoes • Tags: cooking, local, preserving, recipes, summer, tomatoes

Candied Ramp & Fennel Jam

13 May 2014 by local kitchen

Speaking of sugar: how about some candied ramp & fennel jam? Just a quick one today, as I am drowning in data and have been for days, but I took a half-hour lunch break to whip up this small-batch jam from a lovely bunch of ramps Tai brought home from Holbrook Farm the other day. With leaves finally filling out the trees, ramp season will soon be behind us as the sun gets blocked from the forest floor. I’m squeezing […]

Categories: fennel, jams, leek, quick & easy, spring • Tags: cooking, food, local, preserving, quick & easy, recipes

Preserving By The Pint: Caramelized Shallot Jam + A Winner!

27 April 2014 by local kitchen

You all know that Marisa has published a new book, right? Preserving By The Pint: Quick Seasonal Canning for Small Spaces, was published by Running Press last month. I was lucky enough to receive an advance copy for review and I’ve been paging through it ever since. There was still snow, and lots of it, on the ground when I got my copy. Paging through the “Spring” section, with a steaming cup of coffee and a warm woolen blanket, such gems as […]

Categories: condiments, preserves, spreads • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, quick & easy, recipes

Kumquat Habanero Marmalade

11 February 2014 by local kitchen

It appears that it is Kumquat Preserve Week on ye olde interwebs: not only my own modest contribution, but a straight-up kumquat marmalade from David Lebovitz, slow-cooked and with less sugar, and this rhubarb(!) and kumquat jam from Yossy via Blue Chair Fruit (who are teaching marmalade classes this month as well, if you live in the Bay Area and want to learn). Well, I have one more to add to the pile of kumquat love: kumquat habanero marmalade, originally made & […]

Categories: canning, citrus, preserves, preserving, winter • Tags: canning, cooking, food, marmalade, preserving

Kumquat & Meyer Lemon Marmalade with Chile & Kaffir Lime

7 February 2014 by local kitchen

It’s been all marm, all the time around here for the last week or two, what with Meyer lemons, Rio Red grapefruit, and blood oranges, kumquats and Kaffir limes all rolling around my counter tops. And trust me, there are worse things than having 40 lbs of California and Texas citrus perfuming the kitchen in the midst of a snowy, snowy Polar Vortex New York winter. I’ve been enjoying a lot of citrus fresh: grapefruit for breakfast, blood orange as an afternoon […]

Categories: canning, citrus, preserves, preserving • Tags: canning, cooking, food, preserving, winter

Leftover Love: Chips + Dip

29 January 2014 by local kitchen

Well here we are folks: Day 7 of our Week of Leftovers. I’ve managed to post every day for a week, which is a small miracle in itself; and I’ve managed to come up with some inventive ways to fashion a week’s worth of meals out of celeriac soup, slow-roasted beef and a pot of beans. I hope you’ve enjoyed this little peek into my leftover-obsessed fridge. A week out, the last of the beef has gone into chili, the […]

Categories: appetizer, beans, condiments, parsley, snack, vegetarian, year round • Tags: beans, cooking, food, leftovers, local, quick & easy

Use It or Lose It! Jam & Almond Crumb Bars

5 November 2013 by local kitchen

A few weeks ago, in the midst of birthday and anniversary celebrations, rock climbing, hiking and mountain biking excursions, and all around amazing-Fall-weather craziness, Tai & I went to a house party hosted by one of his colleagues and fellow rock climbing guides up in the Gunks. It was sort of a potluck, with friends requested to bring either a dessert or a side dish; Tai brags about my cooking to these guys all the time, so of course I […]

Categories: baking, breakfast, dessert, jams, nuts, snack, Use it or Lose it!, whole wheat flour, year round • Tags: baking, cooking, food, jam, local, quick & easy, recipes

Plum Jam with Preserved Lemon

6 October 2013 by local kitchen

Plums always remind me of my dad. He would eat them by bucketful in summer: if I think of him in summertime, I see a plum in his hand, one missing a great big Dad-sized bite. I sometimes wonder what he would think of this wacky preserving-canning creature I’ve become. He died many years ago, when I was just out of college and still finding my way in the world. I started cooking as a teenager, so I’m sure I […]

Categories: canning, fall, jams, plums, preserving, summer • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

Nectarine Meyer Lemon Butter

29 September 2013 by local kitchen

As promised, the nectarine Meyer lemon butter recipe. It’s a simple one: a nice pile of nectarines from the farmer’s market, a bit (a very little bit) of sugar, and two precious Meyer lemons, hoarded from my visit to Karen in August. This has become my preferred method for fruit butters: coarsely chop unpeeled fruit and soften at a low simmer until you can push it through a food mill; strain the juice from the pulp and reduce the juice […]

Categories: canning, citrus, fall, peaches, preserving, sauces, summer • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

Plum Pie Filling

21 September 2013 by local kitchen

Pie filling: some of the easiest preserving you’ll do, and my go-to when I have a lot of fruit that I need to put up in a hurry. Pie fillings are great because you don’t have to achieve a gel, so there are no limits on how much (or little) sugar you can add, how long you cook it for, whether you want to toss in some booze or juice or a bit of fancy flavored vinegar. You can simply […]

Categories: canning, fall, plums, preserves, preserving, summer • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, pie, preserving, recipes