Category Archives: grains & legumes

Creamy Goat’s Milk Spaghetti with Wild Garlic Chives

28 April 2011 by local kitchen

Pasta is one of those things: quick & easy “fast food” for a weeknight dinner, a great base for showcasing your summer preserving efforts, but, unless it’s homemade, I rarely consider it spectacular. Tasty, filling, comforting, yes; but impressive enough to convince dinner guests of my kitchen prowess (she says, oh-so modestly)? Not so much. Until now. Add to my list of picky-eaterisms cream sauces, or heavy cream in general, unless it is whipped, baked or frozen. I’m not a fan of cream-based […]

Categories: chives, citrus, garlic, grains & legumes, herbs, main course, milk, pasta, quick & easy, side dish, spinach, spring, vegetarian, wine, beer & liquor • Tags: cooking, food, garlic chives, local, pasta, quick & easy, recipes, vegetarian, wild foods

White Bean Pesto Pizza with Linguica & Garlicky Kale

25 April 2011 by local kitchen

When I soaked the cannellini beans for pasta e fagioli last week, I used a whole pound, not thinking about quite how big runner cannellinis get (they are huge once soaked, up to 1 inch long!). I used only half a pound in the soup, so I had a lot of cooked cannellinis in the fridge, waiting for their day in the sun. I don’t know when I first thought of a pizza. I was musing on the idea of […]

Categories: beans, garlic, grains & legumes, heirloom beans, kale & leafy greens, main course, pizza, pork, sausage, spring, whole wheat flour, year round • Tags: beans, cooking, food, local, pizza, recipes

Pasta e Fagioli

15 April 2011 by local kitchen

Back in my Boston days, I lived for several years in a tiny (300 square-foot) but adorable apartment in the North End, Boston’s version of Little Italy (but so much more charming, in my opinion, than NYC’s Little Italy). Boston’s North End was settled in the 1600’s and has all the requisite charm of history: twisty, cobblestoned streets, narrowly packed brownstones, tiny and ancient graveyards that pop out of nowhere, the Old North Church and Paul Revere’s house. Despite ongoing gentrification, and […]

Categories: beans, carrot, celery, grains & legumes, heirloom beans, main course, pasta, soup, tomatoes, vegetarian, year round • Tags: cannelini beans, cooking, food, Italian, local, pasta e fagioli, recipes, soup, vegetarian

Coconut Granola Bars

13 April 2011 by local kitchen

I’ve had this granola bar recipe sitting in my post queue for months now, waiting for me to get it right. Sadly, I’m still waiting. I’ve made it a few times, and tinkered quite a bit: thick bars, thin bars, more sugar, less sugar, different fats, different amounts of fruit & nuts. Don’t get me wrong, these are tasty: a lot less dry and sawdusty than your typical grocery store “health” bar, and a lot less sweet than the candy […]

Categories: breakfast, grains & legumes, nuts, oats, snack, year round • Tags: baking, cooking, food, granola, granola bars, local, quick & easy, recipes, vegetarian, whole grain

Chinese Orange Chicken

27 March 2011 by local kitchen

The interconnectedness of the Web never fails to delight me; in fact, “world wide web” was a prescient name back in the days when few people could foresee how it would change our world. The way that people end up here at Local Kitchen is always fascinating: the search terms, the links from other sites, the random surfing that led someone to a particular recipe (whether they were looking for it or not), but I’m also delighted by how I end […]

Categories: chicken, citrus, main course, rice, scallions, year round • Tags: chicken, chinese, cooking, food, local, main course, orange, recipes

Christmas Limas with Seared Pork Cutlets and Fresh Apple Relish

24 March 2011 by local kitchen

It’s just a week shy of April, yet temps hover near freezing and the snow still flutters down to add to the 3 – 4 inches that accumulated over night. So, as much as I want to be noshing on crisp pea shoots, chive blossoms, pungent ramps and mild green garlic, it seems that Mother Nature is conspiring against me. Have you had Christmas lima beans? They are big, meaty beans with a firm texture and a flavor of chestnuts. As wintry as […]

Categories: apples, beans, heirloom beans, kale & leafy greens, main course, pork, spring, winter • Tags: cooking, food, local, main course, recipes, winter

Chutney Rice Cake FAIL

22 March 2011 by local kitchen

It’s been a crazy couple of weeks: I’ve been working 12 – 15 hour days, I made a last-minute, whirlwind trip to Toronto for business, I caught a cold after a 9-hour airport odyssey trying to get home from Toronto; let’s just say that I haven’t had a lot of time to cook, and even less time to blog about it. Tai has been a trooper though: in order to prevent us living solely on popcorn and orange juice, he […]

Categories: chutneys, disaster, grains & legumes, rice, Use it or Lose it!, vegetarian, year round • Tags: cooking, disaster, FAIL, food, local, recipes, rice cakes, vegetarian

Use It or Lose It! Apple Walnut Parmesan Crumble

1 March 2011 by local kitchen

Sometimes I am lazy. Often, especially in late winter it seems, I just can’t work up the motivation to put together a fancy dessert, or even to roll out a pie crust (I blame the lack of Vitamin D). But, even in winter, friends come to visit, or Tai works a week of 15-hour days back-to-back and I can’t just crack open a box of Entenmann’s and say “Here you go, kids!” It’s just not my style. But I can do the next […]

Categories: apples, baking, cheese, dessert, fall, oats, quick & easy, whole wheat flour, winter, year round • Tags: apples, baking, cooking, dessert, fall, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, vegetarian, winter

Sausage & Swiss Chard Lasagna

26 February 2011 by local kitchen

Do you know how hard it is to take an appetizing picture of lasagna? Well, let me tell you: it’s hard. Especially in dreary, grey, rainy February afternoon “daylight.” There’s a reason that lasagna photos are always tarted up with fresh basil or a white-aproned chef, proudly bearing the baking dish: lasagna is ugly food. Lest that dissuade you from making this dish, however, let us remember The Kitchenette’s cardinal rule: ugly food is delicious. (And on a completely unrelated note, […]

Categories: 100% local, basil, main course, pasta, sausage, winter, year round • Tags: cooking, food, lasagna, local, pasta, recipes, sausage, winter

Bourbon-Glazed Cinnamon Buns

24 February 2011 by local kitchen

As promised, Bourbon-Glazed Cinnamon Buns! (Or, you know, cinnamon buns. Whether or not you dress them up with a boozy, sugary topping is entirely up to you. But I’ll never tell.) The bourbon glaze on these buns was entirely serendipitous: a friend of Tai’s has been visiting for a couple of days, so they could spend some quality time climbing frozen waterfalls in the Catskills before the dreaded Spring thaw. Last night, just as I was taking the buns out […]

Categories: baking, breads, breakfast, whole wheat flour, wine, beer & liquor, year round • Tags: baking, bread, breakfast, cooking, food, local, recipes, whole grain breads

Roasted Flageolet Beans & Vegetables with Preserved Lemon

8 February 2011 by local kitchen

Update: The original was good, but as I suspected, additional vegetables and preserved lemon take this dish over the top. Updated to detail the most recent version, this one with carrots, parsnips, leek + scallions, preserved lemon, dried mint and yes, more free spice mixes from Penzeys, this one Turkish Spice. Enjoy! ———————————————————– After the excess of “man-food” over Superbowl weekend (Why is it that men lay claim to meat & grease why women get salads & ‘light’ pasta? Food/gender […]

Categories: beans, citrus, garlic, heirloom beans, quick & easy, roasting, side dish, vegetarian, winter, year round • Tags: beans, cooking, flageolet, food, heirloom beans, local, quick & easy, recipes, vegetarian

Cajun Sausage & Flageolet Stew

27 January 2011 by local kitchen

Because clearly what this blog needs is another stew recipe. And I don’t have enough to say about heirloom beans. Because my personal Spice Rack Challenge is to use the free sample spice mixes from Penzey’s for something other than pumpkin seeds. Because I haven’t been to the farmer’s market in three weeks and I’m down to one lonely carrot, 4 pumpkins and a few Trader Joe’s onions (she hangs her locavore head in shame) in the kitchen larder. Or maybe […]

Categories: beans, heirloom beans, main course, pork, sausage, stew, tomatoes, winter, year round • Tags: Cajun, cooking, flageolet, food, local, main course, recipes, sausage, stew

Eggless Oatmeal Cookies

18 January 2011 by local kitchen

Hey, guess what? The weather is nasty. Well, it is winter after all, and it is the Northeast. Snow, sleet and freezing rain are to be expected, but a steady pummeling of “wintry mix” (that most cruel of winter weather euphemisms), temperatures hovering in the mid 20’s, and ice slicking the already-two-feet-worth of snow on the ground is reason enough to make me want to curl up on the couch with a mug of tea and a good book (or, in real life, a […]

Categories: baking, chocolate, dessert, oats, whole wheat flour, year round • Tags: baking, cookies, cooking, dessert, eggless, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, vegetarian

Dark Days: Local Corn Tortillas

16 January 2011 by local kitchen

I think next month’s Dark Days goal is going to be post two meals at least a week apart. Or maybe at least a post apart. Never let it be said that I cannot procrastinate with the best of ’em. Apparently, Arizona is still on my mind because I’ve been craving corn tortillas. I’ve wanted to try homemade corn tortillas for some time now, but there have always been a few problems with that plan: firstly, masa harina, the traditional corn […]

Categories: 100% local, breads, corn, techniques, year round • Tags: cooking, corn, food, homemade, how to, local, recipes, tortillas, vegetarian

Vaquero Bean & Chorizo Stew

6 January 2011 by local kitchen

Vaquero beans are so beautiful, I wish I had photographed some for you before I soaked them. They do, however, maintain their lovely markings even after cooking, along with their shape and a toothsome texture. This is a pretty classic bean stew: tomatoes, sausage, aromatic vegetables and a little cilantro or parsley to finish things off. Truly, any bean will work in this recipe, so why not take the opportunity to explore an heirloom varitety that you’ve never tasted? Rancho […]

Categories: 100% local, beans, heirloom beans, main course, pork, sausage, stew, tomatoes, winter, year round • Tags: beans, chorizo, cooking, food, local, main course, pork, recipes, sausage, stew, tomatoes, winter