Category Archives: fruit

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

Drink Week: Chellinis

28 July 2012 by local kitchen

Ages ago, I said I would participate in Drink Week, Marisa’s gathering of adventurous DIYers who don’t balk at a tipple or two with their preservy creations. I had grand plans: a local white wine sangria, with seasonal, local fruit; an herby-infused vodka, to go into a sophisticated, cucumber-and-something cocktail; or maybe something with foraged wild wineberries and local Tuthilltown whiskey. Alas, life happened, as it so often does: work appeared, in hunched-over-the-computer-’til-10 pm amounts; friends visited, birthdays popped up, […]

Categories: cherries, wine, beer & liquor • Tags: cocktails, drinks, food, local, quick & easy, recipes

Mint Chocolate Cupcakes with Red Currant Preserves

24 July 2012 by local kitchen

Today is my friend Nadine’s birthday. In addition to a yearly tradition of my suffering through an early-morning yoga class with her (this year at the Bedford Post Inn Yoga Loft, which I will admit is a lovely space), I usually make her a birthday cake. It’s always chocolate, since she is a certified chocoholic, and often incorporates a seasonal berry, because what’s a July birthday without wineberries or blackberries or currants? This spring and summer have been so busy for me […]

Categories: chocolate, currants, dessert, mint, preserves, summer, year round • Tags: chocolate, cooking, dessert, food, gluten free, local, quick & easy, recipes

Shiro Plum & White Corn Salsa

16 July 2012 by local kitchen

It’s getting hot again, my friends: 95 degrees is tomorrow’s forecast in my tree-lined corner of New York. To me, this is becoming an annoyingly recurring theme: I mean, there are only so many lime popsicles a girl can eat before she starts craving real food. Luckily, a few days ago when it wasn’t quite so hot (a mere 87 degrees!), I simmered up a big batch of chile verde, with Flying Pigs pork shoulder and chile verde base put […]

Categories: cilantro, corn, plums, quick & easy, salsa • Tags: cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, salsa, vegetarian

Heatwave Preserving: Crock-Pot Cherry Butter

30 June 2012 by local kitchen

The heat is upon us again, my friends: it’s 90 degrees in my neck of the woods this afternoon and it was 94 yesterday. Not nearly as drastic as most of the rest of the country (nor as frightening as the conditions in Colorado right now) but still: hot. Last week, in the midst of a few back-to-back 96-degree days, I brought home a boatload of sweet cherries, following a lovely, lazy afternoon visit with Julia, her son splashing in the […]

Categories: canning, cherries, preserving, spreads, summer • Tags: canning, cherries, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

Smoky Chipotle Cherries

26 June 2012 by local kitchen

Cherry season is upon us, coming and going fast & furious like nearly every other fruit in the short Northeast summer. And while cherries did not fare well in the Hudson Valley this year (again!), due to a warmer-than-seasonal March, followed by freezing temps and lots of rain in April, there are some out there to be found. Belltown Orchards in Glastonbury, CT is open for you-pick of both sweet & sour cherries (assuming they still have some left); I’ve […]

Categories: canning, cherries, hot chile peppers, preserves, preserving, summer, wine, beer & liquor • Tags: canning, cherries, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

Orange Rhubarb Butter + A Giveaway!

17 June 2012 by local kitchen

Can you believe that rhubarb is still with us? Believe it: I got those lovely stalks above just yesterday at the farmer’s market. Strawberries may get all the glory of Spring, but they are here and gone in flash. Rhubarb, now: rhubarb pokes its head up in early May and just keeps on keeping on, well into July. Is it any wonder that I love it so? You know what else popped up in May? Marisa’s new cookbook, Food In […]

Categories: canning, citrus, preserving, rhubarb, spreads • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes, rhubarb

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Rhubarb Cherry Ginger Crumble (Gluten-Free)

4 June 2012 by local kitchen

So, you know what happens now, right? Twenty-five pounds of rhubarb from Grandma’s garden that I need to work my way through means all rhubarb, all the time for the next 10 posts. I’m contemplating changing the blog name to Rhubarb Kitchen. I jest, I jest. Mostly. I know that some of you out there are not so fond of the pink stalks (perish the thought), so I will try not to deluge you with too many rhubarb recipes in a row. […]

Categories: baking, cherries, dessert, oats, rhubarb, spring, wine, beer & liquor • Tags: baking, cherries, cooking, dessert, food, gluten free, local, quick & easy, recipes, rhubarb

Rhubarb Prosecco Jelly

30 May 2012 by local kitchen

Even before I brought home 25 lbs of rhubarb from Tai’s Grandma’s massive Maine rhubarb patch, I had begun the season’s rhubarbapalooza with about 8 lbs of gorgeous, fat and deeply magenta stalks courtesy of Madura Farm. Since the pale pinky-green stalks are far more common in New England, I pounced on these beauties, and knew that I would save them for preserves where color counts: rhubeena and jelly. Last year, when I was leafing through my new copy of Sherri Brooks […]

Categories: canning, jellies, preserving, rhubarb, spring, wine, beer & liquor • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes, rhubarb, spring

Maple-Glazed Brussels Sprout Salad

9 May 2012 by local kitchen

I hate Brussels sprouts. But as I say that, I realize: I’m not sure I’ve ever actually eaten Brussels sprouts before today. You see, most people generally boil them (why, oh why?) and is there anything more unappetizing than the smell of boiled cabbage? Are we living in Willy Wonka’s England? Am I Mrs. Bucket, trying to feed Charlie and Grandpa Joe and all of the other Buckets on single-leaf cabbage soup? No. No, I’m not. So why did I buy Brussels sprouts, […]

Categories: cabbage, cranberries, fall, nuts, salad, side dish, vegetarian, winter • Tags: cooking, fall, food, local, recipes, salad, vegetarian, winter

Blackberry Citrus Cake

15 April 2012 by local kitchen

Wow, did I put up a lot of blackberries last summer. I blame the gorgeous rolling hills at Greig Farm, and the excellent company, for picking, well, a whole lot of berries. Buckets and buckets. For which, now, I’m profoundly grateful: after berry-braised beef, and a blackberry-smothered birthday cake (with blackberry jam + cream cheese frosting!) for a certain newly-minted 8 year-old, not to mention jam and syrup and boozy berries galore, I’ve still got a couple of pounds in the […]

Categories: berries, breakfast, citrus, dessert, summer, whole wheat flour, year round • Tags: berries, cake, cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, whole grain

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

Cranberry Meyer Lemon Chutney

1 February 2012 by local kitchen

As promised, more citrus action: a take on my favorite cranberry chutney, this time with Meyer lemons. This recipe started out as a Meyer lemon marmalade; hence the marmalade-esque process of slicing, measuring, adding water, and simmering of the lemons. The next day I decided that I wanted to try a chutney instead, so I drained the lemons and adapted a cranberry chutney recipe. There may be no need for preparing the citrus pectin as described below, but I do […]

Categories: canning, chutneys, citrus, cranberries, hot chile peppers, preserving, winter • Tags: canning, chutney, citrus, cooking, food, local, Meyer lemon, preserving, recipes

Use It or Lose It! Cranberry Marmalade Sauce

24 November 2011 by local kitchen

For a truly last-minute cranberry sauce: bag o’ cranberries + jar o’ marmalade + 20-minute simmer = Thanksgiving cranberry perfection! If you have a jar of marmalade that set like a rock (like mine of last year), check out my recipe below. If yours came out a bit loose, check out Shae’s version, a cranberry-marm-apple relish. Either way, you can’t go wrong; cranberries are always good. Enjoy the day, everyone! ———————————————————– Cranberry Marmalade Sauce INGREDIENTS 2 cups cranberries, fresh or […]

Categories: cranberries, fall, holiday, preserving, sauces, Use it or Lose it!, winter • Tags: berries, condiments, cooking, cranberries, fall, food, holiday, local, preserving, quick & easy, recipes, thanksgiving

Cranapple Chutney

22 November 2011 by local kitchen

I still have to tell you about the super-quick-and-tasty cranberry marmalade sauce I made last week, but first: cranapple chutney. Oh so good. Easy. Quick, as chutneys go, with all that pectin from apples & cranberries setting up the preserve in no time. Nicely spicy but not killer hot. Tangy, oniony, gingery: hits every note. Tai ate nearly an entire jar for dinner last night, with a bag of tortilla chips. That good. Toss all the ingredients together, simmer for […]

Categories: apples, canning, chutneys, condiments, cranberries, fall, preserving, winter, year round • Tags: berries, canning, condiments, cooking, fall, food, holiday, local, preserving, recipes, thanksgiving, winter