Category Archives: preserving

Nectarine Meyer Lemon Butter

29 September 2013 by local kitchen

As promised, the nectarine Meyer lemon butter recipe. It’s a simple one: a nice pile of nectarines from the farmer’s market, a bit (a very little bit) of sugar, and two precious Meyer lemons, hoarded from my visit to Karen in August. This has become my preferred method for fruit butters: coarsely chop unpeeled fruit and soften at a low simmer until you can push it through a food mill; strain the juice from the pulp and reduce the juice […]

Categories: canning, citrus, fall, peaches, preserving, sauces, summer • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

Plum Pie Filling

21 September 2013 by local kitchen

Pie filling: some of the easiest preserving you’ll do, and my go-to when I have a lot of fruit that I need to put up in a hurry. Pie fillings are great because you don’t have to achieve a gel, so there are no limits on how much (or little) sugar you can add, how long you cook it for, whether you want to toss in some booze or juice or a bit of fancy flavored vinegar. You can simply […]

Categories: canning, fall, plums, preserves, preserving, summer • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, pie, preserving, recipes

Sriracha-Pickled Eggplant & Summer Squash

15 September 2013 by local kitchen

It’s been an easy eggplant year: we’ve only gotten a few pounds in the CSA this season, scattered over the last several weeks. After last year’s Eggplantocalypse, I’m grateful, especially with all of the traveling I’ve done this summer (although I have some friends who will lament the loss of quarts & quarts of eggplant bacon). Since Tai won’t eat it, and eggplant is not my favorite either, it’s a struggle to use it up when we get loads, but this […]

Categories: 100% local, canning, eggplant, pickles, preserving, summer, zucchini • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, quick & easy, recipes

Restaurant-Style Tomato Salsa

8 September 2013 by local kitchen

Every year it seems, I try out a new canned salsa recipe: one glance at the tomato page will tell you that plenty of them have made it to this space. Some, like salsa verde and grilled corn salsa, earn “instant classic” status and are a must-make on the yearly canning agenda. Others, like basic red salsa and roasted tomato & chipotle salsa, get tweaked slightly every year, depending on availability of ingredients, my schedule and mood. But despite having so […]

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

Indian-Spiced Pickled Green Beans

18 August 2013 by local kitchen

A couple of months ago, I bought an enormous bag of dried curry leaf from Mountain Rose Herbs. It was one of those things: I’m either just not thinking, or I forget how very light dried herbs are, and I buy a 4 oz bag only to end up with a bag of dried herbs bigger than my head. After the bag-of-oregano-the-size-of-my-torso incident, you would think I would learn. You would be wrong. The truly pathetic thing is, I know […]

Categories: canning, green beans, pickles, preserving, summer • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, pickles, preserving, recipes, summer

Cherry Key Lime Marmalade

7 August 2013 by local kitchen

Does anyone still have cherries? No? Me neither. Maybe Newfoundland? Or wait: my homies in Saskatchewan, this one’s for you! I’m late with cherries this year: as usual. Seems to be a recurring theme. (Another recurring theme? I think I’m going to miss blueberries this year. AGAIN. Sigh.) In happy news, Fishkill Farms finally had a productive cherry season: we’ve only been waiting four years. In unhappy news, they were charging $7/lb: for pick-your-own. And while I had lots of […]

Categories: canning, cherries, citrus, preserves, preserving, summer, year round • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes, summer

Black Currant Jam

11 July 2013 by local kitchen

Last summer at about this time, I drove up to Rhinbeck to hang out with Julia and help her out with a jam demo she was hosting at the weekend farmer’s market. She made a simple black currant jam that day. Simple, in that it consisted of only two ingredients and took about 10 minutes to make; but the flavor? The flavor was anything but. I dream about that jam: rich, complex, layered; sweet, savory, tart, spicy; almost umami in […]

Categories: canning, currants, jams, preserving, summer • Tags: canning, cooking, food, jam, local, preserving, recipes, summer

Honey-Sweetened Rhubarb Rosemary Jam

15 June 2013 by local kitchen

At the farmer’s market this morning, I convinced a woman to buy the last of the rhubarb and freeze it for a pie. She was hovering near the rhubarb box and asked the vendor how long rhubarb would be in season. The vendor (clearly not a farmer, and new to the stand) said she wasn’t sure, but she thought the season was short (it’s not). I told the woman that rhubarb likes cool weather, so when it gets really hot, […]

Categories: canning, jams, preserving, rhubarb, rosemary, spring • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes, rhubarb, sugar-free

Blubarb Jam

29 May 2013 by local kitchen

Blubarb. Bluuuuuuuuuuubarb. Sounds like a particularly dense cartoon pirate, doesn’t it? I picture Barney, in a white, puffy Seinfeld shirt and an eye patch. With a rakish sword at his side, of course (if he can find a sword belt to fit around that rather prodigious middle. He’s probably been eating too much blubarb jam.). So: blubarb. Blueberry + rhubarb = blubarb. Wild Maine blueberries, in this case, harvested last August, frozen, and sold to a grateful locavore, who missed […]

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

Meyer Lemon Cavatelli

22 April 2013 by local kitchen

I realize that I just talked about citrus-zest pasta a month ago, but I got such a lovely surprise in the mail last week: a big box of end-of-season organic Meyers from Karen at Lemon Ladies Orchard. Karen & I are by way of being friends: although we’ve never met in person, we interact frequently over social media, chat now and then on email, and when I confessed to her last year that I wasn’t quite sure what all the […]

Categories: citrus, drying, pasta, spring, vegetarian, winter • Tags: citrus, cooking, food, local, recipes, vegetarian

Put ’em Up! Fruit: Winner!

15 April 2013 by local kitchen

Congratulations to CINNAMON, commenter #22 and winner of a free copy of Put ’em Up! Fruit, courtesy of Storey Publishing. Like many of you, Cinnamon likes to use up the last bits of jam in the jar by stirring it into plain yogurt: The easiest “use it up” trick I have is adding my jams to plain yogurt for the kiddos. In fact, we only ever buy plain, because I know there is always something to put in it at […]

Categories: preserving • Tags: cooking, giveaway, preserving

Put ’em Up! Fruit: Classic Blueberry Jam, Pan-Roasted Chicken with Blueberry Reduction, and A Giveaway

11 April 2013 by local kitchen

By now, you’ve heard about Put ’em Up! Fruit, the new book from Sherri Brooks Vinton, right? I mean, Marisa was dishing about it, as was Sean, and Autumn made the glorious sounding lemon, red onion & oregano jam. And with giveaways all over the blogosphere for the next two weeks, surely it won’t be long before you have a copy in your hot little hands. Right? When Storey Publishing emailed to ask if I’d like to participate in a […]

Categories: berries, chicken, jams, main course, preserving, quick & easy, roasting, Use it or Lose it!, wine, beer & liquor, year round • Tags: canning, chicken, cooking, dinner, food, local, preserving, quick & easy, recipes

Salted Cranberry Grapefruit Jam

13 February 2013 by local kitchen

Cranberries. Rio red grapefruit. Salt. Booze. If I could somehow cram bacon and popcorn in there, I may just spend the rest of my life hiding in a closet with this jam. And a spoon. I almost forgot this year about my standing order of organic cranberries from Cranberry Hill Farm in Plymouth, MA; which seems crazy, considering how much I love them. But between work, the holidays, being in Maine with Grandma, and a few other curveballs that life […]

Categories: canning, citrus, cranberries, jams, preserves, preserving, wine, beer & liquor • Tags: berries, canning, citrus, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

Spicy Indian Tomato Chutney

5 October 2012 by local kitchen

I know: I’m all down with the late-season tomato recipes this year, right? Actually, I made this one a few weeks ago, with the very last of my bushel of tomatoes from Fishkill Farms (and a couple of pounds very kindly gifted to us from Tai’s boss‘ garden), but I wanted to let it sit on the shelf for a while before I cracked a jar and tasted it. And my, does it smell amazing when you pop open that […]

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

100% Local: Plums in Wine & Honey

18 September 2012 by local kitchen

As the nippy Fall air makes its way into New York, I heave a sigh of relief as I sense the urgency of the preserving season winding down. While I truly enjoy putting by the best of each season’s produce, even the most dedicated preserver can get a bit burnt out by the onslaught of summer produce, and I am feeling just a wee bit crispy at the edges. My back is sore, my fingernails are permanently stained red, and […]

Categories: 100% local, canning, fall, plums, preserves, preserving, summer, wine, beer & liquor • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, plums, preserving, quick & easy, recipes