Category Archives: summer

Can Jam: Charred Chile Barbecue Sauce

18 October 2010 by local kitchen

October’s Can Jam is chiles! I’m so excited to see the fabulous recipes that y’all come up with. I know you’re expecting some wacky jam or a crazy-too-hot salsa, but for this one, I tested out a new recipe, from my brand spankin’ new copy of Put ’em Up! (a birthday gift from my sweet hubs). I snagged some of the last fresh tomatoes of the season, from Madura Farms at my local farmer’s market, and had a pile of fresh chiles from […]

Categories: Can Jam, canning, condiments, hot chile peppers, preserving, sauces, summer, tomatoes • Tags: canning, condiments, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes, tomatoes

Purple Basil Vinegar

8 October 2010 by local kitchen

Purple basil is a lovely thing: a deep, dark, almost black purple, with that familiar basil flavor & aroma, but just slightly mellower; a little sweeter, a little less grassy, perhaps just a touch more refined. Dare I say regal? Must be the purple. Whenever I get some, I feel I must do something special with it, not just toss it into salads, bruschetta, pasta or pesto like most of the green basil that comes my way. Are you still […]

Categories: 100% local, basil, herbs, preserving, summer, vinegar • Tags: cooking, food, local, preserving, quick & easy, recipes

Tomato Jam

2 October 2010 by local kitchen

I was going to name this “Marisa’s Former Coworker John’s Wife Amy’s Tomato Jam” but it seemed a bit of a mouthful. No disrespect to Amy, or to Marisa, but this is one of those recipes that everyone seems to adore and I simply… don’t. Granted, I made a whole bunch of changes, so I can’t say that I really tested the original recipe, but it did start out somewhat close to the original – I just kept adding more & more […]

Categories: canning, jams, preserving, seasons, summer, tomatoes • Tags: canning, condiments, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

Roasted Tomato & Eggplant Soup

20 September 2010 by local kitchen

We’re off to Points North for a while; a stopover in Boston to visit friends, a trip to Maine to visit family and then over to Rumney, NH for some climbing and outdoorsy fun. Some husband of mine has a milestone birthday this week, so we are celebrating with good friends, family, outdoor time and, of course, good food. Since it’s always colder than you think in Maine, and I always do some cooking when we are up there, I’m […]

Categories: chickpeas, cilantro, eggplant, garlic, parsley, roasting, soup, summer, tomatoes, vegetarian • Tags: cooking, food, local, recipes, soup, vegetarian

Salsa Rojo

18 September 2010 by local kitchen

A basic red salsa with a nod to Mexico: grilled corn, guajillo chile, cumin and cilantro. Corn in salsa? Why, yes, thank you for noticing. I’m not sure why you never seem to find corn included in salsa recipes, since corn and tomatoes are such a natural pair. Maybe it’s because salsa always seems to be served with corn: corn tortillas, chips, nachos, etc. But I got it into my head to add some of Tai’s delicious grilled corn to […]

Categories: 100% local, canning, cilantro, corn, hot chile peppers, preserving, salsa, summer, tomatoes • Tags: canning, condiments, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes, tomatoes

Can Jam: Nectarine, Pear & Chile Jam

16 September 2010 by local kitchen

September already and three-quarters of the Can Jam entries tucked away in the pantry, dreaming of winter. Where did the year go? I have to admit that when Miss Kate over at Hip Girl’s Guide to Homemaking announced stone fruit as the September Can Jam fruit-of-focus, I’m sure I let out a huge groan. Having just preserved about a bizillion-and-one pounds of peaches, not to mention plums, apricots and nectarines, I thought that I was done with stone fruits for the season. […]

Categories: Can Jam, canning, fall, hot chile peppers, jams, peaches, pears, preserving, summer, wine, beer & liquor • Tags: canning, condiments, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

Fire Roasted Tomato & Ancho Chile Sauce

15 September 2010 by local kitchen

I think the Canning Gods have forgiven me for whatever transgression prompted the Great Green Ketchup Debacle of 2010, because this recipe? This recipe kicks ass. I can hardly describe the flavor to you without overusing rhapsodic superlatives (and “thaumaturgic” doesn’t quite seem to fit); it is rich, smoky, definitely a tomato sauce but halfway to a molé, with strong chocolate overtones and just a hint of capsaicin bite. In the space of 24 hours, we have already eaten it on […]

Categories: canning, hot chile peppers, preserving, sauces, summer, tomatoes • Tags: canning, condiments, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes, tomatoes

Watermelon Jelly with Balsamic & Mint

12 September 2010 by local kitchen

If there are still watermelons at your farmer’s market, this one is a keeper. I was intrigued, but a little dubious, about the amount of balsamic vinegar in this recipe, and we all know that I do not have the best luck with jelly. I have to say, however, that this turned out to be quite delicious in addition to being rather beautiful. Tai gave it his patented “This is horrible. Don’t even try it; I’ll suffer and eat it […]

Categories: canning, jellies, melon, mint, preserving, summer • Tags: canning, condiments, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

Pear Butter with White Wine & Fennel

7 September 2010 by local kitchen

A few weeks ago, when the weather was still hot & humid but the leaves were telling us that Fall was on the way, I went pear picking with Julia. She had connected with a lovely man who had three huge, old D’Anjou pear trees in his yard: more pears than any one family, no matter how pear-loving, could possibly go through in a season. He was nice enough to let us pick as many as we liked, hoping that […]

Categories: canning, fall, pears, preserving, spreads, summer, wine, beer & liquor • Tags: canning, condiments, cooking, dessert, food, local, preserving, recipes

Cherry Tomato Confit

5 September 2010 by local kitchen

About a week ago, I had a bowl of cherry tomatoes to use up and I wasn’t in the mood for bruschetta or cucumber salad. I decided on a confit, and as it was cooking, it smelled so heavenly that I had plans to eat it immediately over pasta; yet, by the time it was done, I was running out the door, so I just popped it into a jar and into the fridge. I’m so glad I did, because today […]

Categories: appetizer, basil, parsley, preserving, spreads, summer, thyme, tomatoes, vegetarian • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes, tomatoes, vegetarian

Salsa Verde

2 September 2010 by local kitchen

All the cool kids are doing it. My version of salsa verde – long live the tomatillo! Adapted from Tomatillo Salsa in The Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, J. Kingry & L. Devine, eds. ——————————————————— Salsa Verde INGREDIENTS 4 cups (about 2 lbs husked) tomatillos, husked, rinsed and finely chopped 1/2 cup red onion, diced to 1/4-inch (about 1 tennis ball-sized) 1/2 cup Cubanelle peppers (or green bell peppers), diced to 1/4-inch 1/2 cup minced jalapeno & long green chile peppers, […]

Categories: canning, cilantro, citrus, hot chile peppers, preserving, salsa, summer, tomatillos • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

9-Chile Salsa

30 August 2010 by local kitchen

A spicy tomato salsa to liven up your Monday…2 months from now. If you haven’t noticed by now, I love the hot stuff: spicy salsa, Tabasco, wing sauce, soup, stew, BBQ and vindaloo. Even chiles in my jam! I’ve never met a chile pepper I didn’t like, not even that scotch bonnet I ate at House of Blues in Harvard Square back in ’92 (the waiter, looking appalled: “But it’s just a garnish! You’re not supposed to eat it!” “Then, why,” ask […]

Categories: 100% local, canning, cilantro, garlic, hot chile peppers, preserving, salsa, summer, tomatoes • Tags: canning, condiments, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes, tomatoes

Peach Jam with Caramelized Onion & Basil

27 August 2010 by local kitchen

I was thinking of saving this recipe for the September Can Jam but; who am I kidding? We all know that I couldn’t wait that long. And it gives me the perfect excuse (as if I needed one) to dig in to peaches, plums and nectarines one more time before the season ends. This is another Michel Nischan preserve (he of Strawberry Rhubarb & Caramelized Onion Jam, Pickled Sweet Peppers and Blueberry, Lemon & Chilé Jam fame) and while, once again, there were […]

Categories: basil, canning, jams, peaches, preserving, summer • Tags: canning, condiments, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

Blue Leather

26 August 2010 by local kitchen

No, it’s not the sequel to Blue Velvet (but a girl can dream, right?). As promised, the recipe for sweet & sour blueberry leather, using the leftover pulp from infusing Blueberry-Basil Vinegar. Being congenitally incapable of throwing anything out, I clearly was not going to just discard perfectly good blueberries and basil simply because they had been sitting in vinegar in my garage for a month. But let’s use the term “recipe” in the loosest way possible, folks: basically, once […]

Categories: basil, berries, preserving, snack, summer • Tags: cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

Garden Vegetable Tomato Sauce

25 August 2010 by local kitchen

In honor of the Great Tomato Can Jam Round-Up of 2010, today we bring you Garden Vegetable Tomato Sauce. Let me warn you from the get-go: this is not a beginning canner’s recipe. The ratio of non-acidic to acidic ingredients is critical for canning safety, as are strict adherence to the methods (slicing, dicing & measuring) and processing instructions. Also, I’ve tweaked, more than a little bit, a published recipe (Italian-Style Tomato Sauce from the Ball Complete) in order to add […]

Categories: 100% local, basil, canning, carrot, preserving, sauces, scallions, summer, tomatoes, zucchini • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes, tomatoes