Category Archives: condiments

Baba Ganoush

27 July 2010 by local kitchen

Can it possibly be Tuesday again already?? Why yes, yes it can. So, in an effort to use up the three teeny, tiny, baby Japanese eggplants languishing in the fridge, in anticipation of getting three more teeny, tiny, baby Japanese eggplants in the CSA tomorrow, I give you: baba ganoush. There are lots of recipes for baba ganoush out there in Ye Olde Internets: most of them are pretty much the same, consisting mainly of roasted eggplant, tahini, and lemon juice. […]

Categories: appetizer, cilantro, eggplant, spreads, summer, vegetarian • Tags: cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, vegetarian

Blueberry, Lemon & Chile Jam

25 July 2010 by local kitchen

Run, don’t walk to your nearest blueberry patch and make this jam while blues are still in season. This one is classic Nischan: pure blueberry flavor, accented with the tang of lemon, and just enough sweetness to off-set the surprise heat of jalapeno and habanero peppers. So good that this is my second batch in as many weeks and I’m contemplating a third. Worth firing up the canner on a 90-degree, 99% humidity July Sunday – it’s that good. Adapted […]

Categories: berries, breakfast, canning, cilantro, citrus, hot chile peppers, jams, preserving, summer, year round • Tags: berries, blueberry, canning, chile, cooking, food, lemon, local, preserving, recipes

Can Jam: Pattypan Pickles

23 July 2010 by local kitchen

CanJam July #2: a quick mini-batch of pickles, or an attempt to deal with the metric tons of summer squash currently taking over my refirgerator. Do you know Patty? She’s round & bumpy, bright yellow (or sometimes green), looks like a flying saucer? Yes, that one. She and her entire extended family have moved into my fridge, lock, stock and two smoking 8-balls. When a house guest over stays her welcome, I say, pickle ’em! Brine propotions taken from Marisa’s […]

Categories: Can Jam, canning, pickles, preserving, summer, zucchini • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, quick & easy, recipes

Strawberry Syrup

20 July 2010 by local kitchen

I left for South Africa in early June, when strawberries were peaking here but I had six million other things that I needed to do before the trip. Tai spent an afternoon strawberry picking at Jones Family Farms up in Shelton and about all I had time to do was hull them and toss them in the chest freezer. Since I’ve been back I’ve managed to grab a little time, in between heat waves, to thaw a big bag of strawberries, collect the juice, […]

Categories: berries, canning, condiments, dessert, preserving, spring • Tags: berries, canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

Can Jam: Cantaloupe & Blackberry Preserves with Chardonnay

17 July 2010 by local kitchen

CanJammin’ July: it’s the height of summer and Northeast locavore livin’ is easy, right? Well, yes, it is: the berries are rolling off the bushes and vines, stone fruits are bursting out of the trees, and we’re all just waiting for the King of Summertime, the Almighty Tomato. But Gloria comes along and says “Given that we jammed ‘erries last month, this month I’m thinking… cucurbits.” (Gesundheit). Cucurbits are plants in the family cucurbitaceae, or squashes, cucumbers and melons. Gloria ruled out […]

Categories: berries, Can Jam, canning, citrus, melon, preserves, preserving, summer, wine, beer & liquor • Tags: berries, canning, cooking, dessert, food, local, preserving, recipes

100% Local: Apricot & Plum Preserves

15 July 2010 by local kitchen

Refined sugar? Bah. Commerical pectin? No way. California lemons? Not here, bub. This preserve is all local, all the time, down to the homemade white wine vinegar and the Rhode Island sea salt. Apricots and plums were purchased from Madura Farms at the Muscoot Farm market, the clover honey is from Rulison Honey Farms in Amsterdam, NY and the apple pectin stock was put up last winter. I must confess that I am not the biggest apricot fan; although I […]

Categories: 100% local, canning, plums, preserves, preserving, summer • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

Ginger Soy Pickled Radishes

12 July 2010 by local kitchen

I put these little beauties up right before I left for South Africa, since I knew that two big bunches of radishes would do nothing but wither and die in the crisper if they had to rely on my Darling Hubs to eat them. They have been pickling away, down in the relative coolness of the garage, for over a month now, so I figured it was about time for a taste test. First and foremost: I won’t pickle the long, […]

Categories: appetizer, canning, condiments, pickles, preserving, radish, spring • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, quick & easy, recipes

Swazi Sauce

10 July 2010 by local kitchen

Like my fellow foodie bloggers, I was delighted to return from South Africa to an email in my in-box inviting me to review The Lost Art of Real Cooking: Rediscovering the Pleasures of Traditional Food One Recipe at a Time, by Ken Albala and Rosanna Nafziger (A Perigee Book, published by the Penguin Group). A full review will follow, but first, I felt that I couldn’t in good faith review a cookbook, even a memoir-type cookbook, without attempting at least some […]

Categories: chicken, grill, main course, sauces, wine, beer & liquor, year round • Tags: chicken, cooking, food, grilling, local, recipes

Sour Cherry & Almond Preserves

8 July 2010 by local kitchen

I got up at 6:30 am on Tuesday morning, when it was a mere 84 degrees outside, in order to make cherry preserves before the thermometer hit triple digits again. Why, you ask, am I making jam during a heat wave? Is it self-reliance or self-flaggelation? Is it a New England Yankee refusal-to-let-adversity-bring-me-down attitude or a belligerent New Yorker screw-you-weather-you’re-not-the-boss-of-me? Is it so that I can don my holier-than-thou, local-organic-sustainable hairshirt and proudly proclaim “I made jam during the Great Heatwave of […]

Categories: breakfast, canning, cherries, dessert, nuts, preserves, preserving, summer • Tags: canning, cherries, cooking, food, local, recipes

Honeydew Melon Jam with Forsythia & Citrus

5 July 2010 by local kitchen

I’ve been Ferbered again. It happened like this; Gloria announced the July Can Jam ingredient of the month: curcubits. (Curcurbits, curcurbits.. it’s just fun to say!) So, I was perusing my various preserving books for recipes using zucchini or summer squash (marrow, to Gloria and the rest of Europe, and South Africa, incidentally), cucumbers or melon. And I bookmarked a few fancy-sounding and lovely melon preserve recipes in Mes Confitures. Coincidentally, I arrived late in the day to my Saturday farmer’s market, […]

Categories: canning, citrus, fruit, melon, preserves, preserving, summer • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

Can Jam: Black Cherry, Rhubarb & Red Wine Preserves

24 June 2010 by local kitchen

You might think I’m stuck in a can-jammin’ rut: last month, strawberry, rhubarb & Amaretto sauce. This month, swap sweet black cherries for the strawberries, red wine for the Amaretto, and Bob’s your uncle, it’s practically the same recipe. Except it’s oh so not. When I think of preserves, this recipe is exactly what comes to mind: chunks of fruit, just barely broken down by a quick-as-you-can boil, suspended in a thick, syrupy glaze that is not stiff enough to […]

Categories: Can Jam, canning, cherries, dessert, jams, preserving, rhubarb, spring, summer, wine, beer & liquor • Tags: canning, cooking, food, preserving, recipes

Strawberry Rhubarb Preserves

26 May 2010 by local kitchen

How many strawberry-rhubarb recipes does one girl need? Apparently, you can never have enough. Or that’s what it seems like lately, with strawberry rhubarb crumble, strawberry rhubarb Amaretto sauce, strawberry rhubarb caramelized onion jam and today’s contribution, a Ferberesque strawberry rhubarb preserve. Not to mention last year’s contributions of a local, made-with-honey and a reduced-sugar jam. What I should be telling you about on the rhubarb front is the Sweet Cherry Rhubarb Pastry that I made yesterday for the US […]

Categories: 100% local, berries, citrus, jams, preserving, rhubarb, spring • Tags: berries, canning, cooking, food, preserving, recipes

Can Jam: Strawberry Rhubarb Amaretto Sauce

20 May 2010 by local kitchen

I had all sorts of plans for this month’s Can Jam: rhubarb fig jam, a macerated, jewel-like rhubarb a la Mme. Ferber, rhubarb with local white wine, rhubarb with last summer’s frozen blackberries… the possibilities were nearly endless. And then: I got a huge assignment from a client, my computer promptly exploded and I spent most of a week either 1) on the phone with Dell, 2) at Best Buy purchasing new laptop, 3) on the phone with Best Buy/Geek […]

Categories: berries, Can Jam, canning, condiments, preserving, rhubarb, sauces, spring, wine, beer & liquor • Tags: canning, condiments, cooking, dessert, food, local, preserving, recipes, rhubarb, sauce, strawberries

Pickled Chard Stems

9 May 2010 by local kitchen

Yesterday I scored a ridiculous amount of Spring bounty at the farmer’s market: asparagus and rhubarb, yes, but also ramps & fiddleheads, rainbow chard & curly kale, scallions, parsley & cilantro, two kinds of radishes (and of course the usual potatoes, onions and carrots). In addition to all that, thanks to Madura Farms’ greenhouses, I picked up the first Kirby cucumbers of the year, not to mention eggs, bread, butter, pork shoulder and sausage. Phew! I could barely stuff it all into the […]

Categories: canning, condiments, fall, kale & leafy greens, pickles, preserving, quick & easy, spring • Tags: canning, chard, condiments, cooking, food, local, pickles, preserving, quick & easy, recipes

Can Jam: Apple Cider Jelly with Rosemary & Peppercorn

22 April 2010 by local kitchen

I should have left well enough alone. After the glorious triumph of my Can Jam Lemon Lavender Marmalade, I should have known to just quit while I was ahead. Sadly, I so rarely take my own sage advice. There’s a reason why I never make jelly. Jelly is basically juice + sugar. Since there is no fruit pulp to round out the texture, a jelly really needs more sugar than a jam, or whole fruit preserve, in order to have any structure. There […]

Categories: apples, Can Jam, canning, fall, jellies, preserving, rosemary, spring, winter, year round • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes