Category Archives: grains & legumes

Black Bean Vegetable Soup

6 May 2010 by local kitchen

Filling yet light, hearty yet summery, this soup is a study in contrasts. Most black bean soups make me think of winter or fall; thick, hearty soups flavored with ham hock or bacon, and blended unti they are almost a dip you can eat with tortilla chips. This black bean soup, in contrast, is light and summery, despite the fact that summer vegetables are still a couple of months away. I love meals like this: it makes me so happy […]

Categories: 100% local, beans, carrot, cilantro, corn, garlic, main course, soup, vegetarian, year round, zucchini • Tags: beans, cooking, food, local, recipes, soup, vegetarian

Quadruple C Cookies

4 May 2010 by local kitchen

Chocolate, cherries, cashews, coconut. Yum. I’ve been tweaking my chocolate chip cookie recipe for a while, trying to achieve the ultimate combination of texture (crispy outside, soft, chewy inside), sweetness (enough to satisfy the sweet craving, but not so much that you actually taste the sugar) and a good balance of flavors for all of the stuff that I can cram into a cookie. In this batch I eliminated granulated sugar altogether and repaced it with brown sugar; I also dialed back on the amount […]

Categories: baking, cherries, chocolate, dessert, quick & easy, snack, whole wheat flour, year round • Tags: baking, cherries, chocolate, cookies, cooking, dessert, food, local, recipes, whole grain

Cheddar Parsley Scones

27 April 2010 by local kitchen

Another riff on the always popular Cheddar Scallion Scones, this one with fresh, flat-leaf parsely and red onion. In this version, I replaced the scallions with 1/4 cup each of finely chopped red onion and chopped fresh parsley; swapped 1 cup of spelt flour for 1 cup of whole wheat, and added another 1/4 tsp of freshly ground black pepper. I also made these into mini-scones: separate the dough into two halves; shape each half into a rectangle about 4″ […]

Categories: 100% local, appetizer, baking, breakfast, cheese, parsley, quick & easy, whole wheat flour, year round • Tags: baking, bread, cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, whole grain breads

Asparagus Risotto

25 April 2010 by local kitchen

It’s just barely asparagus season at home in New York, but down here in Asheville it is in full swing: I picked up a bunch of local asparagus at the West Village Market on Friday, then scored two more bunches at the Asheville City Market on Saturday. Can you tell I love the ‘sperge? There are a million lovely things to do with tender young asparagus, but, while at the West Village Market I also spied a ‘forest mix’ of […]

Categories: asparagus, main course, rice, spring, wild foods, wine, beer & liquor • Tags: cooking, food, local, recipes, vegetarian

Chickpea & Spring Green Salad with Lemony Vinaigrette

15 April 2010 by local kitchen

Just the thing for Tax Day: a low-stress, quick & easy, protein, fiber and vitamin-packed, cheap one dish meal. Oh, yes, and it’s delicious too! I threw this quick & easy salad together the other night, thinking I was making enough for lunch leftovers, but it was so delicious that Tai & I polished off seconds and the whole bowl disappeared in no time. Even though I’ve been doing quite well on my resolution to use dried beans, I used canned […]

Categories: beans, chickpeas, citrus, quick & easy, radish, salad, spinach, spring, vegetarian, wild foods • Tags: cooking, food, local, main course, quick & easy, recipes, salad, spinach, vegetarian, wild foods

Boozy Baby Chocolate Cake

6 April 2010 by local kitchen

Because sometimes, summer is right around the corner, and you don’t want a whole cake sitting around the house for just the two of you. And because, the slices will be so virtuously small, you are perfectly justified in drowning them in booze. Happy Spring, everyone! Adapted from Whole Wheat Pastry Flour Chocolate Cake ————————————————————— Boozy Baby Chocolate Cake EQUIPMENT one 6-inch X 3-inch high cake pan (for the tall & small cake pictured here) OR one 8 or 9-inch cake pan (for a regular-sized […]

Categories: baking, cake, chocolate, dessert, eggs, spring, whole wheat flour, wine, beer & liquor, year round • Tags: baking, cooking, dessert, food, local, recipes

Gingery Almond Biscotti

2 April 2010 by local kitchen

I made a batch of these the other day, to send off as gifts: one as part of a belated birthday present, and another as a thank-you present to our wonderful friend Stan, who does our taxes. Of course, along the way there were several that were ‘mishapen’ or ‘too short’ or ‘too ugly’ to go in the gift packs (yet clearly not too short, ugly or mishapen to be eaten). Now I wish I had made a double batch. […]

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

Dark Days: Christmas Limas with Caramelized Onions & Bacon

30 March 2010 by local kitchen

Something a little special for the last Dark Days Challenge of the season: local heirloom lima beans! “Local” because I smuggled them home in my luggage after my trip to San Francisco last spring. “Dark” because it’s been raining for three days straight and the sun is a distant, fond memory. “Challenge” because, well – they’re lima beans. Let’s face it, the lima bean gets no love. I’m not even sure why. I can’t remember a single time that I even tried a […]

Categories: beans, Dark Days Local, heirloom beans, main course, parsley, pork, side dish, vegetarian, winter, year round • Tags: beans, cooking, food, local, recipes, vegetarian

Chicken & Orzo Stew

29 March 2010 by local kitchen

As noted below, the original version of this recipe is what I call “restaurant fussy:” wherein almost every ingredient is cooked separately (using several pots & pans), then combined at the end. My tweaks made it not only easier to prepare, but tastier to boot: the orzo cooks in the chicken-wine broth, the chicken soaks up flavor from herbs & greens, the apple is added at the end for maximum crispness, and the whole thing comes together in a single […]

Categories: apples, chicken, herbs, kale & leafy greens, main course, pasta, spring, wine, beer & liquor • Tags: chicken, cooking, food, greens, kale, local, quick & easy, recipes

Heidi’s Peanut Butter Cookies

19 March 2010 by local kitchen

Quick & easy yet delicious and healthy peanut butter cookies. Twenty minutes from bowl to stomach – so you can get back outside and enjoy this amazing Spring weather! Happy weekend, everyone. Adapted from Peanut Butter Cookies by Heidi Swanson at 101 Cookbooks ————————————————————– Heidi’s Peanut Butter Cookies INGREDIENTS 1 cup (4.5 oz) whole wheat pastry flour 1/2 tsp baking soda 3/8 tsp salt 1/2 cup peanut butter 1/4 cup maple syrup 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed 3/4 tsp vanilla 2 […]

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

Dark Days: Crunchy Baked Chicken Strips

15 March 2010 by local kitchen

A little spice, a little crunch. A few minutes to put together and you have a simple lunch or dinner that even the kids might like. This was a very haphazard recipe; I had been planning on making spicy chicken strips, chicken breast fingers essentially braised in a hot sauce until cooked through. They are quite delicious and handy to have on hand for sandwiches, salads and snacking. Yet I felt the need for something crunchy. So I changed plans, […]

Categories: 100% local, appetizer, chicken, Dark Days Local, main course, quick & easy, whole wheat flour, winter, year round • Tags: chicken, cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes

Roasted Garlic & Walnut Tagliatelle

14 March 2010 by local kitchen

The flavor of this earthy peasant pasta dish is belied by the simplicity of its preparation: it is rich yet sutble, with a layering of fruity olive oil, sweet roasted garlic and just slightly bitter toasted walnuts, all blending to create a taste that is more than the sum of its parts. Homemade pasta and slow-roasted garlic make this a pleasant (and aromatic) lazy Sunday project; but if you have roasted garlic on hand, leftover, perhaps, from another recipe, and some good storebought pasta, this satisfying […]

Categories: appetizer, garlic, main course, nuts, pasta, vegetarian, winter, year round • Tags: cooking, food, local, recipes, vegetarian

Flageolet Fritters

10 March 2010 by local kitchen

Eminently adaptable, thoroughly delicious, fried bean goodness. I don’t do much frying; it’s not the healthiest way to cook, and although I have none of the modern-day fatophobia, I think my love of all things bacon keeps me quite well supplied. Also, it’s the parsimonious Yankee in me: I hate waste, of any kind, and using a couple of cups of oil once, then simply throwing it away – well, let’s just say that I’ll generally try to find a […]

Categories: 100% local, appetizer, beans, cilantro, citrus, heirloom beans, parsley, vegetarian, year round • Tags: beans, cooking, food, local, recipes, vegetarian

Flageolet Beans with Sun-Dried Tomatoes

5 March 2010 by local kitchen

Flageolet beans are quite wonderful. They’re small and a beautiful mix of white and pale green when dried. Cooked, they hold their shape and color well and smell amazingly wonderful while simmering away on the stove. They have a slightly spicy, very distinctive, very hard-to-describe aroma and taste, that somehow reminds me of Spring. I was lucky enough to receive some Rancho Gordo flageolet beans for Christmas from my friend Christina (the gift that keeps on giving!) and they were […]

Categories: beans, heirloom beans, main course, quick & easy, side dish, spring, tomatoes, vegetarian, year round • Tags: beans, cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, vegetarian

Cilantro & Mint-Infused Wheat Bread

2 March 2010 by local kitchen

This herb-infused wheat bread is lovely; soft, flavorful, excellent with dinner, as toast with butter, or on its own. I made two loaves yesterday, as part of the birthday dinner menu for our friend Alison. While it can be a bit of a challenge to knead (mostly because I am always too lazy to chop the pine nuts and they come popping out of the dough while kneading), it is an easy bread dough to make and a forgiving one […]

Categories: baking, breads, cilantro, grains & legumes, mint, whole wheat flour, winter, year round • Tags: baking, bread, cooking, food, local, recipes, whole grain breads