Category Archives: grains & legumes

Dark Days: Apple Cider Chicken with Sage Mashed Potatoes

21 November 2009 by local kitchen

About a week ago, I signed up for the Dark Days Challenge, hosted by food blogger (not so) Urban Hennery, in which locavores strive to keep in touch with their local foodshed throughout the long, cold, dark days of winter and to “cook one meal each week focused on SOLE (sustainable, organic, local, ethical) ingredients” and write about it on their blogs. Shouldn’t be such a challenge for a self-styled Local Kitchen blogger, no? Well, you might be surprised. Atlhough I have a chest freezer stocked full […]

Categories: 100% local, apples, chicken, Dark Days Local, fall, main course, sage, tomatoes, whole wheat flour, winter • Tags: chicken, cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes

Apple Parmesan Crumble

12 November 2009 by local kitchen

An apple a day keeps the doctor away! If that’s true, then Tai should be a very healthy boy. The apples are still flowing daily at our house; this recipe I’ve made three times now (in smaller, half-sized batches that I bake in a tart dish or small pie pan) and Tai is thoroughly enjoying it. This crumble is simple, relatively quick, and can be easily assembled while you are putting together dinner and popped into the oven in time for […]

Categories: apples, baking, dessert, fall, pie, whole wheat flour, winter • Tags: baking, cooking, dessert, food, local, recipes

Winter Greens Risotto with Heirloom Pork Sausage

5 November 2009 by local kitchen

We had some friends over for dinner last weekend: cheeses from Plums Plums in Pound Ridge, bread from Wave Hill Bread in Wilton, curried apple chutney, roasted pumpkin soup, winter greens risotto and an apple tart. Phew! You can tell what kind of week I’ve had that I’ve only just managed to get one of these recipes up by Thursday night. Risotto is a wonderfully versatile dish and easy to make, despite its rather terrifying reputation. Yes, you have to stir […]

Categories: arugula, cheese, fall, grains & legumes, kale & leafy greens, main course, pork, rice, sausage, side dish, winter • Tags: cooking, food, local, pork, recipes

Spicy Black Bean & Chickpea Soup

2 November 2009 by local kitchen

When it comes to habanero peppers, I never seem to learn. I always think, “Well, it’s a small pepper, and I’ll take all the seeds out – it won’t be too spicy.” Yep. That’s what I always say, usually about an hour or two before I’m pawing through the cupboards, looking for an additional something that will absorb a bit of the excess heat. Tonight was no exception. I set out to a make a spicy, but not killer-spicy, black bean soup. […]

Categories: 100% local, beans, chickpeas, cilantro, fall, hot chile peppers, soup, tomatoes, vegetarian, winter, year round • Tags: black bean, cooking, food, local, recipes, soup, vegetarian

Linguica Pizza

29 October 2009 by local kitchen

I grew up in Gloucester, MA, at the tip of Cape Ann on Massachusetts’ North Shore, then mostly a commercial fishing town and a summertime escape for wealthy Bostonians. Like many fishing towns or villages in New England, Gloucester had, and still has, a large community of Portuguese immigrants and their Portuguese-American descendants. If you grew up in Gloucester, or New Bedford, Fall River or even East Cambridge, you already know the wonder that is linguica (pronounced “lin-GWEE-sa”). If you did […]

Categories: basil, cheese, main course, pizza, pork, sausage, tomatoes, whole wheat flour, winter, year round • Tags: cooking, food, local, pizza, pork, recipes, whole grain breads

Cherry Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies

26 October 2009 by local kitchen

We did a lot of driving on our honeymoon. 4300 kilometers to be exact (about 2700 miles). From Calgary down to Glacier National Park in Montana, back up again to Emerald Lake in Yoho National Park, then west to Revelstoke, Whistler, Squamish & Vancouver. From Vancouver we went further west to Vancouver Island and all the way out to “the end of the road,” Tofino; then worked our way slowly back to Calgary and our flight home. As always when […]

Categories: baking, cherries, chocolate, dessert, fall, nuts, whole wheat flour, winter, year round • Tags: baking, cooking, dessert, food, local, recipes

Easy Chicken Stew

23 October 2009 by local kitchen

We’re baaaaaaaaack! There’s just nothing wrong with a month-long honeymoon exploring the wonder that is British Columbia. Eventually, I have a post planned on all the various wonderful places we ate in BC, but for now, I am totally thrilled to be back in my kitchen. I really did miss cooking. Although we did rent a few places with full kitchens in our travels, there was just never time for real cooking in between the hiking, drinking, kayaking, partying, biking, […]

Categories: 100% local, beans, chicken, chickpeas, corn, fall, hot chile peppers, kale & leafy greens, main course, potato, rice, spring, stew, winter, year round • Tags: chicken, cooking, food, local, recipes

Tabouli

9 October 2009 by local kitchen

In keeping with the Middle Eastern theme of late (oh-so appropriate while I am traveling through the wilds of the Canadian Rockies, I know, but there is not a lot of elk or bison to be had in Northeastern America), this is a tasty, cool salad, using up lots of end-of-garden parsley and mint with the zest of lemon and the heartiness of bulghur wheat. Simple and delicious. Adapted from Authentic Lebanese Tabouli at Epicurious ————————————————————– Tabouli INGREDIENTS 1 cup bulghur wheat […]

Categories: citrus, grains & legumes, herbs, mint, parsley, quick & easy, salad, side dish, summer • Tags: chicken, cooking, food, local, recipes

Quinoa and Black Bean Salad

2 October 2009 by local kitchen

Before tomatoes completely disappear, along with the sun and warmer temps, make this festive, easy and complete-protein salad for your next back-deck barbeque or weekend picnic in the park. Simple, stores well, and is equally delicious served warm, cold or at room temperature. Adapted from Quinoa and Black Bean Salad, Gourmet, July 1994 ————————————————————– Quinoa and Black Bean Salad INGREDIENTS 3/4 cup quinoa 1 and 1/2 cups cooked black beans, rinsed (or about 1, 15-oz can) 1 tbsp red wine vinegar salt and freshly ground black […]

Categories: beans, cilantro, citrus, corn, grains & legumes, quick & easy, quinoa, salad, side dish, summer, tomatoes, year round • Tags: beans, cooking, food, local, quick & easy, quinoa, recipes, salad, summer

Goat Cheese & Herb Gougeres

1 September 2009 by local kitchen

“Real” cooking: [reel kook-ing] adj., verb; techniques and skills used in preparing food that should have been learned, at culinary school, at your grandmother’s knee, from a dedicated chef-type friend or a really detailed cookbook, before you tried to wing it, in your usual slapdash fashion, without having a clue what you were doing. So, do you know what a gougere is? I didn’t. Not until some determined Googling informed me that a gougere is a savory puff pastry, made […]

Categories: 100% local, appetizer, baking, breads, cheese, parsley, pastry, year round • Tags: baking, cooking, food, local, recipes

Summer Tomato Risotto with Mint

26 August 2009 by local kitchen

I had a bunch of tomatoes, from the weekend’s farmer’s market, from the CSA, and a few stragglers from my garden that escaped the blight, but I just couldn’t get inspired by the thought of making a big batch of pasta sauce. So I did the next best thing, a light, delicious, summery risotto with fresh tomatoes and the zing of garden mint. This one’s a keeper! Adapted from Fresh Tomato Risotto in The New Basics by J. Rosso and […]

Categories: appetizer, basil, main course, mint, rice, summer, tomatoes • Tags: cooking, food, local, recipes, tomatoes

Sausage Bread Redux

14 August 2009 by local kitchen

OK, seriously, I know it’s hard to believe, but this bread tastes better than it looks. Scout’s honor. Spicy Italian sausages, sauteed onions & garlic, sun-dried tomatoes and fresh mozzarella, all wrapped inside herb-filled whole wheat bread. I’m drooling, but I can’t have any yet, because this bread is destined for a Very Special Occasion: my bachelorette party up in the Catskills this weekend. A dozen girls, (at least) a dozen bottles of champagne, a hot tub and sausage bread. And […]

Categories: baking, basil, breads, cheese, herbs, pork, sausage, tarragon, thyme, tomatoes, year round • Tags: baking, bread, cooking, food, local, recipes

So what? Soba Noodles.

17 July 2009 by local kitchen

Scene: Sitting around the dinner table at Nadine, Stan and Kami’s house. Tai & Kami are arguing about something silly, as they often do. Tai: So? Kami: So what? Soba noodles! We now say this constantly; taking our social cues from a 5 year-old is apprently how we get our jollies. And we do – we giggle every time we say it. Much like a 5 year-old girl. This salad is cool and refreshing, tart and crunchy with a […]

Categories: Asian greens, cabbage, carrot, chives, citrus, cucumber, main course, nuts, pasta, peas, salad, scallions, side dish, summer • Tags: cooking, food, local, recipes, salad

Lemon Black Cherry Muffins

16 July 2009 by local kitchen

More sweet cherry-lovin: a moist, lemony whole grain muffin with the pop! of fresh sweet black cherries. My first thought on tasting these muffins was: WOW! A literal taste explosion – this is not a cozy, down-home, Grandma’s apple pie kind of recipe. This is WOW. A wake-up-your-taste-buds, can’t-believe-how-good-it-is, let-me-freeze-half-this-batch-right-now-before-I-eat-the-whole-thing kind of recipe. These muffins are indulgent – what with the lemon zest, lemon juice and lemon extract, you might as well be munching on flatbreads and cherries, lounging under a […]

Categories: baking, breakfast, cherries, citrus, dessert, summer, whole wheat flour, year round • Tags: baking, cherries, cooking, food, local, recipes

Dried Cherry Biscotti

9 July 2009 by local kitchen

I made these biscotti a few days ago, to package up and send off as a housewarming gift for my friends Evan & Kelly, who just moved to a new home in anticipation of their first baby’s arrival this Fall. Mom, Dad and Baby have received their package and the biscotti have received the Whitney Seal of Approval. Even the baby seems to like them, if excessive kicking can be intrepeted as “Mom, send more biscotti this way, please!” […]

Categories: baking, cherries, dessert, whole wheat flour, year round • Tags: baking, cherries, cooking, food, local, recipes