Category Archives: canning

Flaming Wing Sauce

28 August 2009 by local kitchen

Yet another great way to preserve tomatoes, especially when you are not in the mood for the usual suspects. This recipe has the benefit of limited prep time; no peeling or food milling of the tomatoes required, not nearly as much chopping as a pasta sauce or salsa, and can be easily doubled or tripled if you have a lot of tomatoes on hand. There is a long list of ingredients, but most of them are spices and the measuring […]

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

Peach Salsa

24 August 2009 by local kitchen

Note: Make sure to check out the updated version of this recipe, with tasting notes on the effects of shelf storage and mellowing. ————————————– I went out to Fishkill Farms the other day, to pick blackberries, and came home not only with 11 pounds of berries, but a big bag of peaches and some early Paula Red apples. Since the berries freeze well, while peaches do not, I decided to freeze most of the berries (the ones we didn’t eat!) […]

Categories: 100% local, canning, peaches, preserving, salsa • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, recipes, vegetarian

Canning Carrots

22 August 2009 by local kitchen

For the past week or two, I’ve noticed in the “search engine terms” section, where I get to see the sometimes wacky ways that people surf their way to my blog, multiple searches for “canning carrots hot water bath.” This concerns me, because, if people wanted to pickle carrots, I would think they would search for “pickled carrots” and other than pickling (and other high-acid jams/chutneys/preserves), there is no safe way to can carrots in a boiling water bath. Carrots, […]

Categories: 100% local, canning, carrot, dill, fall, preserving, summer • Tags: canning, cooking, food, homesteading, local, preserving, recipes

Fire Roasted Tomatoes

17 August 2009 by local kitchen

Although farm-fresh tomatoes are pretty scarce in the Northeast this summer, there are still some out there and they are as delicious as ever. While inexpensive, local, heirloom tomatoes are probably a pipe dream this year, now more than ever it is important to support your local farmers as they battle with the devastation of tomato, and possibly potato, crops ruined by late blight. With that in mind, I’ve bought a couple of 10-lb batches of tomatoes, in addition to what we […]

Categories: 100% local, canning, preserving, roasting, summer, tomatoes • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes, summer, tomatoes

Spicy Plum Sauce

4 August 2009 by local kitchen

I went over my friend Nadine’s last week; in addition to her birthday celebration, it was her turn to volunteer at her weekly CSA pick-up, and I had a play-date with her daughter Kami. When she returned from finishing up the CSA, she was nice enough to bring me lots of leftovers; chard, basil, scallions, anise, plums and peaches. I made a version of this plum sauce two years ago, using Damson plums from Jenkins-Luekens Orchards in New Paltz, NY. It […]

Categories: 100% local, canning, condiments, fruit, peaches, plums, preserving, sauces, summer • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

Wild Wineberry Preserves

2 August 2009 by local kitchen

Rain, rain and more rain. What is it about rainy Sundays that makes me just want to curl up with a good book? Luckily, yesterday was a gorgeous day here in Westchester County; bright sunshine, cool breeze, 75 degrees. Tai & I took advantage and went to a nearby neighborhood street where wild red raspberries grow all along the sides of the road – thousands of crystal-red, delicious berries, ripe for the picking. The particular berries that line this Westchester backroad are […]

Categories: berries, canning, foraging, jams, preserving, summer • Tags: berries, canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

Deli Dill Pickles

14 July 2009 by local kitchen

Have I mentioned that Tai loves pickles? I mean Loves them, with a capital L. I think making pickles last year may have been the best thing I’ve ever done for him. So, even though I despise pickles with a white-hot passion, when I saw Kirby cucumbers at the farmer’s market on Saturday, I simply had to pick up a bunch and start a batch o’ pickles brewing. Because, really, when it’s this easy to make someone happy, how can […]

Categories: canning, condiments, cucumber, dill, fermenting, pickles, preserving, summer • Tags: cooking, fermenting, food, local, preserving, recipes

Cherry Walnut Conserve

10 July 2009 by local kitchen

The sweet cherry recipes just keep rolling off the presses here at Local Kitchen. This jam is tangy, even a bit sour, from the addition of oranges and lemons, but it is sweet on the finish with a subtle hint of amaretto and a nice crunch from the walnuts. Nicely complex on toast and I’ll bet it will make an excellent quick marinade for chicken, pork or duck. So what is “conserve” anyway? Near as I can tell, it is […]

Categories: canning, cherries, citrus, jams, nuts, preserving, summer, wine, beer & liquor • Tags: canning, cherries, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

Red, White & Black

8 July 2009 by local kitchen

One last recipe for the last days of strawberry season here in the Northeast. This strawberry, white balsamic vinegar and black pepper jam has a fantastic flavor profile; almost savory, with the balsamic vinegar kick, yet sweet enough to enjoy on a muffin or scone. Lovely flecks of crushed black pepper give it added zing and visual appeal. The set was very loose, almost a thick sauce more than a jam, likely due to my overly ripe strawberries and limited sugar. But even […]

Categories: berries, canning, condiments, jams, preserving, spring, summer • Tags: balsamic, canning, cooking, food, jam, local, preserving, recipes, savory, strawberries

Sweet Cherry Chutney

7 July 2009 by local kitchen

We enjoyed this tangy, flavorful chutney while picnicing in the park at Kensico Dam on July 3rd, listening to the Westchester Philharmonic and enjoying, in succession, a rainbow, a nearly full moon rising, and fireworks. As if the non-rainy weather, good company, and music were not enough, we also enjoyed Curried Apple Chutney, Flageolet and Roasted Garlic Spread, sugar snap peas from Alison’s CSA as well as some carrots, hummus, salsa, tortilla chips, and crackers. Quite the feast, rounded out by two local […]

Categories: apples, canning, cherries, chutneys, preserving, raisins, summer • Tags: canning, cherries, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

Cherry Vanilla Preserves

2 July 2009 by local kitchen

Rollin, rollin, rollin, keep them cherries rollin, Rawhide! I’ve spent the week preserving cherries for all I’m worth; frozen cherries, dried cherries, cherry rhubarb pie filling, drunken cherries, cherry chutney, lemon cherry muffins and cherry vanilla preserves. I feel like a cherry-pitting machine. I’m whipping up cherry recipes so fast that I don’t have time to post them. It’s just the teeniest bit possible that 40 lbs of cherries was a wee bit ambitious. Shut up, you did not tell me so. […]

Categories: apples, breakfast, canning, cherries, citrus, dessert, jams, preserving, summer • Tags: canning, cherries, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

Drunken Cherries

1 July 2009 by local kitchen

Two of my favorite things: local, sustainably-grown fruit, that I get to pick myself, while spending quality time with my sweetie, on a rare and gorgeous sunny summer day, and… booze. A match made in heaven! Adapted from Brandied Cherries in The Glass Pantry by Georgeanne Brennan ———————————————————- Drunken Cherries INGREDIENTS 4 lbs cherries (sweet, tart or sour) 1 cup sugar (organic evaporated cane juice) 1/4 cup filtered water 4 cups brandy, rum, Cointreau, or other liquor METHODS Sterilize 4 glass […]

Categories: canning, cherries, dessert, preserving, summer, wine, beer & liquor • Tags: booze, canning, cherries, cooking, food, liquor, local, preserving, recipes

Sweet Cherry Rhubarb Pie Filling

27 June 2009 by local kitchen

The first in a long list of cherry preserving recipes. My fingernails may be permanently dyed purple, but I’ve got 11 pounds queued up for the dehydrator, 3 pounds pitted and in the new freezer, and 3 batches of cherry rhubarb pie filling. I’ve also thanked various deities for this amazingly handy and effective cherry pitter – and thanked Amazon for cheap-o, overnight, Saturday delivery! More recipes to follow! Adapted from Cherry Rhubarb Lattice Pie in The Pie and Pastry Bible by […]

Categories: 100% local, canning, cherries, dessert, freezing, pie, rhubarb, summer • Tags: canning, cherries, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes, rhubarb

Preserving Strawberries

23 June 2009 by local kitchen

Twenty-five pounds of strawberries came and went pretty quickly; after tonight’s strawberry tart I’ve got less than a quart left. I think I might actually have to go picking again! Final totals: About 5 quarts frozen, 2 pints dried, 2 and 1/2 ice cube trays of purée, plus about 1 cup in the fridge, 3 and 1/2 pints of strawberry-rhubarb jam, one glazed strawberry tart and lots of random strawberry snacking – over ice cream, on granola, in salads, and out of the box. […]

Categories: 100% local, berries, canning, freezing, fruit, preserving, spring, summer • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes, strawberries

Strawberry Rhubarb Jam, Two Ways

20 June 2009 by local kitchen

This year marks my third season of canning to preserve the harvest, but only my second year of making jam. Since I am no longer a jam-newbie, I decided that this summer I would experiment with trying to make some completely local jams & preserves, using no refined sugar or commercial pectin. Due to the metric ass-load of strawberries I picked on Wednesday, and getting some more rhubarb in our CSA, I had enough to make two batches of strawberry rhubarb jam, and […]

Categories: 100% local, berries, breakfast, canning, condiments, dessert, jams, preserving, rhubarb, spring, summer • Tags: berries, canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes, rhubarb