Category Archives: techniques

Orange-Kissed Chocolate (cup)Cake

14 February 2010 by local kitchen

Of all the dessert flavor combinations, orange and chocolate is by far Tai’s favorite. Anything orangey-chocolate, or chocolaty-orange, is sure to rate high with his tastebuds. Since it is Valentine’s Day (our first as an ‘official’ married couple) I wanted to make him something special and use his two favorite flavors. My first thought was of a Cointreau chocolate cake with Burnt Orange Buttercream. I’ve made the Burnt Orange buttercream before, and he loves it; I figured I could sneak some […]

Categories: baking, cake, dessert, eggs, whole wheat flour, year round • Tags: baking, cooking, dessert, food, recipes

Glazed Berry Tart with Sweet Ricotta Filling

8 February 2010 by local kitchen

This tart is a riff on my standard Glazed Blackberry Tart recipe, with an added sweet cheese filling and 100% local ingredients for our Northeast Dark Days gathering (Dark Days post to follow- stay tuned!). This is a lovely tart to make in the winter, when fresh berries are still months away, yet you can relive the taste of summer with berries from the freezer. It can easily be made with any frozen berries you have on hand, and a variety […]

Categories: 100% local, baking, berries, cheese, Dark Days Local, dessert, pastry, winter • Tags: baking, cooking, dessert, food, local

Sweet Ricotta Tart with Honey-Spiced Peaches

6 February 2010 by local kitchen

I’ve been dreaming of summer lately. Don’t get me wrong, I love the seasons, winter included. I love snow (and I wish we were getting the blizzard that DC is enjoying today, but we didn’t get a single flake). Despite my love of snow, I, like everyone else, get tired of the cold, the dark, the dry indoor air, the wearing of layers and layers to keep warm. That feeling that your core is always twisted into a tight little […]

Categories: 100% local, baking, cheese, dessert, pastry, peaches, whole wheat flour, winter, year round • Tags: baking, dessert, food, local, recipes

Flaxseed Sandwich Bread

4 February 2010 by local kitchen

Now with wings! I tried a new bread recipe yesterday, my first from Rose Levy Beranbaum’s Bread Bible. Though I bought the book last Spring, and I’ve read through several of the recipes, I hadn’t gotten around to actually trying any of them. And while I don’t bake a lot of sandwich loaves, preferring the chewy texture and hearty crust of a more artisan-styled hearth bread, I was looking for something that did not require an overnight rise, or a […]

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

Strawberry Balsamic Roasted Turkey

3 February 2010 by local kitchen

Remember summer? Remember bright blue skies, long green grass, hot sun, warm rain and… strawberries? Back in July I made this strawberry jam with the very last of the season’s strawberries: kind of sweet, kind of savory, and a loose set just perfect for turning into a quick and easy marinade on a winter’s Monday night. The smell of strawberry when I popped the top on the jar was incredible and instantly took me back to a hot summer’s day, in […]

Categories: berries, main course, roasting, turkey, Use it or Lose it!, vinegar, winter • Tags: balsamic, cooking, dinner, food, local, main course, recipes, strawberry, turkey

Dark Days: Roasted Green Beans with Potatoes & Bacon

31 January 2010 by local kitchen

I discovered last week that I am on my last bag of frozen kale, which shocks me; I feel like all I did last summer was blanch and freeze kale. As I uncovered things in the chest freezer (that had been buried under the avalanche of kale) I realized that I have a lot of frozen green beans. After calling for some green bean inspiration from my fellow Dark Dayers, I got a lot of great recipe ideas, and have […]

Categories: 100% local, chickpeas, Dark Days Local, green beans, main course, pork, potato, roasting, side dish, spring, winter, year round • Tags: cooking, food, local, recipes

Roasted Pepper, Onion & Sweet Corn Pizza

26 January 2010 by local kitchen

I know what you’re thinking: “Corn? On pizza? She’s crazy.” Crazy like a fox, I say. Or crazy like a person who enjoys crispy, chewy, sweet, spicy, savory, salivatingly (salivatingly? Oh, shut up I’m on a roll) good pizza. Corn is the key. Don’t get me wrong, roasted peppers & onions are lovely by themselves, but the corn! The corn added texture, a hint of smoky sweetness, a foil for the tomato sauce. Roasting brought out a flavor very much like grilled […]

Categories: cheese, corn, hot chile peppers, main course, pizza, roasting, vegetarian, whole wheat flour, winter • Tags: cooking, local, pizza, recipes

Dark Days: Herbed Whole Wheat Breadsticks

24 January 2010 by local kitchen

A local bread dough made with clarified butter, dried garden herbs and Wild Hive whole wheat flour makes a lovely bread. Cut into strips, given it a twist and a dip in 10-grain mix for some crunch, and 10 minutes later you have a delicious, crusty-on-the-outside, soft-on-the-inside breadstick, perfect for your Dark Days meal o’ the week. Served with 100% local Potato Leek Soup, this was a hearty but easy meal for a cold, drizzly Sunday night. Adapted from Quick(er) Whole Grain Pizza Dough; see that recipe […]

Categories: 100% local, appetizer, baking, basil, breads, Dark Days Local, herbs, mint, sage, side dish, whole wheat flour, year round • Tags: baking, bread, cooking, food, local, recipes, whole grain breads

Cranberry Apple Pie

23 January 2010 by local kitchen

Another riff on Rose’s famous apple pie. Having served many versions of this pie to friends over the past couple of years, I think I can say with confidence that this one is the crowd favorite; one of the first to disappear and the first to earn talking-with-your-mouth-full praise. This version I made in a 7-inch, deep-dish pie pan for a really stacked and fruit-packed slice o’ pie (it also uses less pastry for the carb- and butter-o-phobic). I also cut […]

Categories: apples, baking, cranberries, dessert, fall, pastry, pie, whole wheat flour, winter, year round • Tags: cooking, dessert, food, local, recipes

Orange Muffins with Blackberry Surprise

22 January 2010 by local kitchen

Deeeeelicious. These muffins defy the stereotype of ‘whole-grain muffin’ as heavy, gritty, dry, flavorless and yet “good for you.” (Remember the early 90’s when those brick-hard, dry-as-bone, tasteless bran muffins were all the rage? <shudder>). These muffins are light and fluffy, not overly sweet, with a citrusy tang and a surprise middle of gooey baked blackberry: in short, pretty darn close to Muffin Nirvana. And yet, they are good for you: whole grain flours from Wild Hive; organically-grown blackberries, packed full […]

Categories: baking, berries, breakfast, citrus, quick & easy, summer, whole wheat flour, year round • Tags: baking, berries, breakfast, cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes

Chickpea Stir-Fry

21 January 2010 by local kitchen

I must confess that it has never occured to me to stir-fry chickpeas (or any bean, for that matter). I had cooked chickpeas in the fridge, leftover from making hummus the other day and I was looking for something quick & easy, yet delicious, for dinner. I also had some romaine lettuce (clam-shell packed and shipped from California, which Mom left here at Christmastime) that needed using, but somehow I couldn’t work up any enthusiasm for month-old-California-lettuce-mid-winter salad. (Shocker, that.) Enter chickpea […]

Categories: beans, carrot, chickpeas, cilantro, garlic, grains & legumes, hot chile peppers, lettuce, main course, quick & easy, salad, stir-fry, vegetarian, winter, year round • Tags: cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, vegetarian

Blackberry Lime Jam

20 January 2010 by local kitchen

We all know I am pathological about wasting food, so I had to find a way to use the lime flesh leftover from the Can Jam Lime Curd recipe. I thought about simply juicing them and freezing the juice, but really, it seemed silly to use bottled juice in the curd and then freeze the fresh juice for something else. Call me wacky. Since I was kind of back in the swing of canning, I dug some blackberries out of […]

Categories: berries, canning, citrus, jams, preserving, summer, winter, year round • Tags: berries, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

Can Jam: Lime Curd for Water Bath Canning

19 January 2010 by local kitchen

Apparently it is Citrus Curd Week on the Interwebs – and no one told me! I’ve been thinking for a couple of weeks now about what I was going to make for Tigress’ January Can Jam; citrus is a lovely and broad category and there are so many choices! There are a couple of marmalades that I make each winter that Tai loves; one a pink grapefruit version with bourbon vanilla bean, the other a spicy orange marmalade with Arbol chiles. […]

Categories: Can Jam, canning, citrus, dessert, eggs, winter, year round • Tags: cooking, dessert, food, local, preserving, recipes

How to Make Clarified Butter

16 January 2010 by local kitchen

As part of my commitment to the Dark Days Challenge this winter, I’ve vowed to reduce my dependence on olive oil and other non-local cooking oils. For a locavore living in the Northeast this is not the easiest task; almost every winter dish seems to start with sautéing onions and garlic, or searing meat. You need some portion of liquid fat to make most quick-breads and granola. And while we all know how much I love bacon grease, and that bacon makes […]

Categories: 100% local, techniques, year round • Tags: clarified butter, cooking, food, ghee, local, preserving, recipes

Yogurt Cheese Scones with Lemon & Thyme

9 January 2010 by local kitchen

The latest entry in my scone obsession, these are a savory, tangy mini scone that I made to bring to dinner tonight at our friends Amy and Bob’s house. These are an appetizer scone, great nibbled with fresh slices of apple or a nice chutney. How lemony they taste depends on the depth of flavor in your cheese; a strong cheese will allow just a hint of citrusy freshness to come though, while with a milder cheese you will really taste the […]

Categories: appetizer, baking, breads, breakfast, cheese, citrus, quick & easy, thyme, whole wheat flour, year round • Tags: baking, cheese, cooking, food, local, recipes, whole grain breads