Category Archives: herbs

Apple Cabbage Pomegranate Slaw

14 December 2015 by local kitchen

This crunchy, sweet-sour, festively purple slaw has been in regular rotation since my new-found obsession with fresh pomegranate started a few weeks ago. And especially during the Crazy Season, it’s hard to beat: quick & easy to throw together (the biggest chunk of time is spent seeding the pomegranate); hits all the right notes of sweetness, acidity, bitterness, salt & crunch; and holds up equally well as accompaniment to a rich, fatty protein like these plum-glazed pork country ribs (you […]

Categories: apples, cabbage, cilantro, fruit, parsley, quick & easy, salad, side dish, vegetarian, winter • Tags: cooking, food, local, quick & easy, salad, vegetarian

fall-tabbouleh-with-pomegranate-and-feta

Late Fall Tabbouleh with Pomegranate & Feta

8 November 2015 by local kitchen

I bought a pomegranate at the supermarket the other day. Breaking news! Film at 11! I know: it’s hardly newsworthy. But it is a bit of a rarity around here; I don’t go to the ‘big’ market all that often, you see. Nearly all of my fresh food comes from a few local farms (Gossett Brother’s Farm Market, John Boy’s Outpost and Holbrook Farm being the biggies), while grains, nuts, oils, and the like I generally get at my little […]

Categories: fall, fruit, grains & legumes, herbs, mint, non-local luxuries, parsley, salad, side dish, vegetarian • Tags: cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, salad

Cucumber & Fennel Salad with Cuban Oregano

17 July 2015 by local kitchen

Do you remember that funky Cuban oregano plant I picked up a couple of months ago? The crazy I’m-an-herb-but-also-a-succulent plant? Well, it’s been growing like gangbusters in this New York summer of plenty of sun and lots of rain. I’ve been sort of loathe to touch it: with my black thumb, if a plant is doing well, I find it’s best to just sit back and stay out of its way. But I finally broke down, trimmed a couple of stems, […]

Categories: cucumber, fennel, herbs, oregano, salad, summer, vegetarian • Tags: cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, salad

Tailgate Mac & Cheese

12 July 2015 by local kitchen

Although the excitement of the Women’s World Cup reached a fever pitch with the US win, I’ve kept the soccer travels to a minimum this summer. After spending a good chunk of last summer in Brazil, I’m happy to watch more of my soccer on TV this year and focus my energies on other things: friends, family, cleaning the dad-blasted garage. But when the Gold Cup schedule came out and I saw that the US men’s team were scheduled to play […]

Categories: 100% local, cheese, kale & leafy greens, main course, oregano, pasta, vegetarian, year round • Tags: cooking, food, local, pasta, recipes, soccer, tailgating, vegetarian

Spring Wheat Berry Salad with Lemon Sumac Dressing

29 May 2015 by local kitchen

Variety is the spice of life. Or so they say. But if so, it’s funny how often we stick to the tried & true, the comfortable familiarity of our regular routine. There are over 4,000 varieties of potato, 40,000 of rice, 30,000 varieties of wheat alone. How many varieties have you had lately? I’ve never cooked wheat berries at home. I’ve had them, of course; at restaurants, at potlucks, at the Whole Foods salad bar. But not often, surely. And […]

Categories: citrus, grains & legumes, mint, peas, salad, side dish, spring, vegetarian • Tags: cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, vegetarian

How to Build a Basic Frittata

23 April 2015 by local kitchen

A good friend of mine had her second child back in March, a 9 lb 6 oz, 23-inch bundle of joy named Jordan. Since her first child is a daughter at the fun-but-exhausting age of 4 years old, I had promised ages ago that I would come down to her digs in Maryland and help her when the new baby was born. I was down in the DC area for three weeks, and while I managed to take in a […]

Categories: 100% local, cheese, eggs, herbs, year round • Tags: cooking, eggs, food, local, recipes

Cauliflower, Lentil & Rice Salad

9 February 2015 by local kitchen

Greetings from snowy, snowy Massachusetts. While I hear that very little in the way of snow is hitting the ground at home in New York, here in Gloucester, MA, the latest winter storm to assault the Northeast is alive and kicking. Hard. I’ve been here in my hometown, visiting my mother for a few days while she recuperates from a broken ankle (#snowmaggedon2015 strikes again!), and apparently the universe wants me to stay a few more days. Because I’m a […]

Categories: cauliflower, cilantro, citrus, cranberries, fall, nuts, rice, salad, side dish, vegetarian, winter • Tags: cooking, food, gluten free, local, recipes, vegan, vegetarian

Feta & Preserved Lemon Scones

11 December 2014 by local kitchen

My beloved New England Revolution played in the MLS Cup in Los Angeles last weekend. For the fifth time in a dozen years, the Revs battled it out in the championship game of Major League Soccer. For the fifth time, I jumped up and down in the stands; I clapped and sang, I rejoiced and cried. For the fifth time, I sat dejected in a stadium parking lot, nursing a beer with a few hundred die-hard New England fans, all of […]

Categories: baking, breakfast, cheese, citrus, parsley, snack, winter • Tags: baking, cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, vegetarian, whole grain breads

Preserved Lemon Hummus

23 October 2014 by local kitchen

Strange but true: I ate some of the best hummus in Brazil. Smack-dab in the middle of the Amazon jungle, to be exact, about 1000 miles from nowhere, otherwise known as Manaus. While I and my intrepid band of World Cup travelers endured a purgatorial stay at the Hotel Brasil (an establishment that made you wonder what heinous crime you committed in a previous life to get yourself stuck there) in advance of the second US match, we spent a […]

Categories: appetizer, chickpeas, grains & legumes, mint, quick & easy, snack, vegetarian, year round • Tags: cooking, food, quick & easy, recipes, vegetarian

Fattoush

17 August 2014 by local kitchen

Fattoush. Fattoush. Fattoush. It’s just fun to say, no? Traditionally, fattoush is a Lebanese mezze, a salad composed of tomatoes and cucumbers, often radishes and green peppers, and some form of greens, usually purslane. It was also a type of Middle Eastern panzanella: a way to use up day-old stale pita bread, which was fried into crispy croutons and then tossed with a fragrant salad, flavored with the distinctive sour note of a sumac, lemon & olive oil dressing. In […]

Categories: arugula, cucumber, mint, parsley, salad, summer, tomatoes, vegetarian • Tags: cooking, food, local, recipes, salad, summer

Traveler’s Vegetable Curry

9 July 2014 by local kitchen

I’m baaaaack! Did you miss me? I spent three & a half weeks in Brazil, but it seems like months: everything is so green and lush at home, strawberries have come and gone (and maybe cherries too?), when I left school was still in session, but now it’s after the 4th of July and summer is in full swing. First things first: did you see the game yesterday?? My, oh my, oh my. Poor Brazil. I feel somewhat guilty (like […]

Categories: cilantro, main course, quick & easy, vegetarian, year round • Tags: cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, vegetarian

Meyer Lemon Rosemary Mac & Cheese

18 February 2014 by local kitchen

I wasn’t going to do it, y’all. I mean, there are already three mac n’ cheese recipes on here: do we really need a fourth? But this one: this one was so good that I couldn’t keep it to myself. And since the end of Meyer season is upon us, I rationalized considered it my civic duty to make this one again, so I could photograph it and share it with you, gentle reader. It’s simple enough: a basic bechamel-based macaroni and cheese, […]

Categories: cheese, citrus, main course, rosemary, vegetarian, winter • Tags: cooking, food, local, pasta, recipes, vegetarian

Leftover Love: Chips + Dip

29 January 2014 by local kitchen

Well here we are folks: Day 7 of our Week of Leftovers. I’ve managed to post every day for a week, which is a small miracle in itself; and I’ve managed to come up with some inventive ways to fashion a week’s worth of meals out of celeriac soup, slow-roasted beef and a pot of beans. I hope you’ve enjoyed this little peek into my leftover-obsessed fridge. A week out, the last of the beef has gone into chili, the […]

Categories: appetizer, beans, condiments, parsley, snack, vegetarian, year round • Tags: beans, cooking, food, leftovers, local, quick & easy

Rosemary Roasted Cashews

23 November 2013 by local kitchen

Have you heard the news? Nuts will save your life. Literally. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has analyzed nut consumption in nearly 175,000 health professionals over a span of 30 years. They found a 20% reduction in death from any cause in people who ate nuts every day. Twenty. percent. Let that sink in for a moment. Twenty percent lower incidence of heart disease. Of diabetes. Of cancer. Respiratory disease. Neurodegenerative disease. Stroke. Even infection. (How […]

Categories: appetizer, gifts, holiday, nuts, quick & easy, rosemary, snack, year round • Tags: cooking, food, local, nibbles, nuts, quick & easy, recipes, vegetarian

Chuzos de Pollo

20 October 2013 by local kitchen

Most of the meals I had in Panama fell into one simple category: meat on a stick. While I can’t claim to be a big fan of Panamanian cuisine; it’s very meat & starch-centric, with lots of fried food and nary a vegetable in sight; I can say that when it comes to carne en palito, Panama knows its stuff. Incredibly tender and moist chunks of chicken or beef, marinated and flavorful and perfectly grilled over an open flame: it’s enough […]

Categories: chicken, citrus, grill, main course, parsley, year round • Tags: cooking, food, grilling, latin america, local, meat, recipes