Category Archives: meat & dairy

Smoked Chicken & Corn Soup

15 September 2011 by local kitchen

In the days following Irene, when no one in northern Westchester had any power, my neighbor (and landlord) did the smart thing: he fired up the Big Green Egg, pulled meat from the freezer and put it in to smoke. Lots of meat: two whole chickens, a couple of fat slabs of salmon, a bunch of steaks. And being the kind landlord (and neighbor) that he is, in addition to bringing us ice from the City, he gave us one of […]

Categories: 100% local, chicken, corn, main course, soup, tomatoes • Tags: chicken, cooking, corn, food, local, main course, Mexican, recipes, soup

100% Local: Zucchini & Chard Gratin

15 August 2011 by local kitchen

Two down, one to go: my quest to use up the CSA chard (before more gets delivered on Wednesday) is proceeding apace. This zucchini gratin recipe from Simply Recipes came across my reader the other day and well: cheese, bacon, onions, garlic? Even the zucchini-weary can get behind that plan. I made a few changes of course: I cut the recipe roughly in half, since only one of our household will consume the “Evil Weed.” (Since I do the cooking, […]

Categories: 100% local, cheese, kale & leafy greens, parsley, side dish, summer, year round, zucchini • Tags: cooking, food, local, recipes, sides, zucchini

Twice-Baked Potatoes with Chard & Garlic Scapes

8 August 2011 by local kitchen

I don’t know about you, but this time of year I usually start craving complex carbs like mad: bread, pasta, crackers; I can’t keep enough of them in the house. I think it’s because the vegetables just keep rolling in: the fridge is stuffed full of leafy greens, summer squash, bell peppers, green beans, and corn on the cob, not to mention the piles of tomatoes on the counter and the fruit! It’s an amazing time of year for a local […]

Categories: 100% local, appetizer, cheese, garlic, kale & leafy greens, main course, parsley, potato, side dish, summer, thyme, vegetarian, year round • Tags: chard, cooking, food, local, potato, recipes, vegetarian

Use It or Lose It! Jam + Cream Cheese Frosting

27 July 2011 by local kitchen

Nearly every year, I make at least two birthday cakes: one is for my friend Kami, a practically-grown-up girl of seven this April, and one is for Kami’s mother Nadine, who as of last weekend was old enough to have a seven year-old daughter but young enough to squeal with glee at the thought of birthday cake. I’ve had my trials (who can forget the Great Kami’s Birthday Cake Debacle of ’09) and my successes (the orange mousseline buttercream cake turned out particularly lovely) […]

Categories: baking, cake, cheese, dessert, jams, Use it or Lose it!, year round • Tags: baking, cake, cooking, dessert, food, frosting, local, quick & easy, recipes

Crock-Pot Roasted Chicken

20 July 2011 by local kitchen

It’s hot. Really hot. Maybe you’ve noticed? The 90+ degree days, the sticky, oppressive humidity, the languid, heavy-as-a-blanket air? While our friends in the Pacific Northwest shiver in the fog and rain, wondering if summer will ever come, here in the Northeast we are suffocating under a heatwave that is only the beginning: weather forecasts call for increasing heat & humidity until Sunday. I’m a Northern girl, of Northern peoples: my Scottish, Irish and Finnish grandparents did not provide me […]

Categories: chicken, citrus, crock-pot, main course, rosemary, summer, thyme, year round • Tags: chicken, cooking, crock-pot, food, local, recipes

Crispy Pork with Rhubarb Sauce

7 July 2011 by local kitchen

As if rhubarbaritas weren’t reason enough, I’m here to give you another excuse for squirreling away as much seasonal rhubarb as you can get your paws on: Crispy Pork with Rhubarb Sauce. The recipe was somewhat loosely adapted from this one by Jamie Oliver, who, now that I have made two of his recipes, I am declaring a genius: this dish is that good. A not-very-exciting cut of pork (he used pork belly, while I had a pound of Flying […]

Categories: herbs, lettuce, main course, pork, rhubarb, scallions, spring, summer, year round • Tags: chicken, cooking, food, jamie oliver, local, pork, recipes, rhubarb

Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps

27 June 2011 by local kitchen

Although the summer solstice is a few days behind us now, the vegetables in my CSA basket are still talking of late Spring: scallions, herbs, sugar snap peas and greens, greens, greens. As we do every year at this time, playing the waiting game before leafy things make way for firmer, rounder fruits from the garden, we are drowning in greens: bok choi, chard, kale, tatsoi, spinach, arugula, and more kinds of lettuce than you can shake a stick at. […]

Categories: Asian greens, chicken, lettuce, main course, spring, stir-fry, summer • Tags: Asian, chicken, chinese, cooking, food, lettuce, local, recipes, stir-fry, wraps

Bite-Sized Spaghetti Nests with Chard & Bacon

24 June 2011 by local kitchen

I’ve been participating in an informal food photography contest for a couple of months now on professional food photographer Dario Milano’s blog Food Pixels. Our growing crew of bloggers, photographers and foodniks is pretty talented and it’s always interesting to see how different people interpret each ‘assignment.’ The latest contest challenge is “spaghetti:” a broad topic to be sure, but also an interesting photographic challenge, as most spaghetti dishes are messy, saucy, ultra-casual. Since for the last assignment (“brown food“) I […]

Categories: 100% local, appetizer, cheese, holiday, kale & leafy greens, oregano, pasta, pork, year round • Tags: appetizers, bacon, cooking, food, greens, local, pasta, recipes

Fresh Chive Pasta

19 May 2011 by local kitchen

Rain. Rain, rain, rain. There’s been a lot of it. We are lucky in the Northeast not to be dealing with the floods that have ravaged the middle of the country, but still: rain. It gets you down when days and days go by with no sight of the sun and the incessant drip, drip, drip of rain off the eaves threatens to drive you ’round the twist. I firmly believe, however, that every cloud has its silver lining: the […]

Categories: 100% local, chives, eggs, main course, pasta, quick & easy, side dish, spring, vegetarian, whole wheat flour • Tags: chives, cooking, food, local, pasta, quick & easy, recipes, vegetarian, whole grains

Use It or Lose It! Meyer Lemon Pork Rolls

10 May 2011 by local kitchen

Earlier this year, when I was busily turning winter’s citrus into marmalades and jams, I lamented to Shae that I was a bit disappointed with my first foray into Meyer lemons. “I mean, they are nice enough,” I said, “but I don’t really see what all the fuss is about. I keep thinking I would like them better if they were more, well, lemony.” Shae responded that Meyers are quite soft-skinned and not as hardy as other citrus fruits, so they lose […]

Categories: citrus, main course, pork, spring, Use it or Lose it!, winter, year round • Tags: cooking, dinner, food, local, main course, pork, recipes

Ramp & Asparagus Frittata

2 May 2011 by local kitchen

Have you ever spent an entire day in a jumpy house with a 7 year-old? Let me just tell you, for the sake of science, that it is possible to pull every sinlge muscle in your body at the same time, especially when, inspired by giggling, 7 year-old cries of “Do it again!,” you demonstrate your NBA-style, windmilling slam dunk on the jumpy house baskbetball net about 847 times. My friend Kami celebrated her 7th birthday a couple of weeks ago […]

Categories: 100% local, asparagus, breakfast, cheese, chives, eggs, leek, main course, parsley, scallions, spring, vegetarian, wild foods • Tags: asparagus, breakfast, brunch, cooking, eggs, food, local, ramps, recipes, vegetarian

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

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