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Locavirgin: Roasted Cauliflower with Bacon

27 November 2010 by local kitchen

So, you get it right, the way this blog works? Every other cooking blog on the planet regales you with Thanksgiving recipes in the weeks prior to the event. Bah, I say. Humbug! Now that everyone else is featuring turkey tacos, turkey tamales and turkey tettrazini, I’ll give you… Thanksgiving dishes! The ones that were on my table. Because, you know that I love to test recipes on the fly (and making any of my Thanksgiving recipes in advance would […]

Categories: 100% local, cauliflower, fall, holiday, Locavirgin, pork, roasting, side dish, winter • Tags: bacon, cauliflower, cooking, fall, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, side dishes

Locavirgin: Spicy Garlic Sandwich Spears

13 August 2010 by local kitchen

We interrupt the onslaught of peach preserving recipes to bring you something completely different: pickles! OK, so not completely different. Beef tartare au gratin would be completely different (not to mention hilarious). But I don’t eat beef (Sorry, Julia) and what I have is a kitchen overflowing with summer produce. So: pickles it is. The first time I made pickles was two summers ago, which was also the first time I grew a garden. I had a very prolific cucumber vine, […]

Categories: 100% local, canning, cucumber, garlic, Locavirgin, pickles, preserving, quick & easy, summer • Tags: canning, condiments, cooking, food, local, preserving, quick & easy, recipes

The Myth of The “Perfect” Omelet

21 March 2010 by local kitchen

The omelet is one of those recipes: devastatingly simple, yet fraught with mystique and angst. There are hundreds of treatises out there, in various cookbooks and on the Web, discoursing on the One True Secret to the Perfect French Omelet. The advice is never-ending and largely contradictory: a large pan, a small pan, high heat, low heat (or broiler heat), cover, don’t cover, whisk eggs “barely” or for 80 strokes, whip in the pan with a fork, with chopstick, with […]

Categories: 100% local, breakfast, cheese, eggs, herbs, Locavirgin, quick & easy, year round • Tags: cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes

Locavirgin: Roasted Leek Confit

28 February 2010 by local kitchen

Roasted leeks: who knew they could be so awesome? In doing some advance research on allium recipes for the March Can Jam, I came across this recipe in The Glass Pantry for leeks, slow-roasted in olive oil. Simplicity itself: leeks, oil, salt, pepper. The roasting and the fat combine to extend the (already pretty impressive) storage time of the leeks, and the flavor? Outrageous. This is an easy way to work local foods into your diet even if finding […]

Categories: 100% local, appetizer, condiments, fall, leek, Locavirgin, roasting, spreads, spring, vegetarian, winter • Tags: confit, cooking, food, leeks, local, preserving, recipes, vegetarian

Locavirgin: Thick Cut Pork Chops with Simple Pan Sauce

19 February 2010 by local kitchen

Pork chops can be frustrating. In my opinion, few things are as simply, wonderfully good as a pan-fried pork chop. Simple, she says? Ah, therein lies the rub. As with so many “simple” recipes, it is all about the quality of the ingredients and the execution of the technique. When a recipe has only 3 or 4 ingredients, each of those ingredients really needs to shine. And, when the whole point of the recipe is to allow those beautiful ingredients to shine, there will be […]

Categories: 100% local, fall, herbs, Locavirgin, main course, pork, thyme, wine, beer & liquor, winter, year round • Tags: cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes

Locavirgin: Currant Sour Cherry Compote

21 July 2009 by local kitchen

My friend Nadine has been in Newfoundland for a few weeks and she kindly offered to let me pick up her CSA last week. She gets a fruit share in addtion to her weekly veggies, so I got sour cherries, red currants and black currants. This is one of the things that I love about getting a CSA: none of these fruits are something that I will typically buy; I like the taste, but not the texture of sour cherries, red currants, […]

Categories: 100% local, cherries, condiments, currants, Locavirgin, preserving, sauces, summer • Tags: cherries, condiments, cooking, food, local, recipes

Locavirgin: Local Crostini

15 June 2009 by local kitchen

Crostini are always much more impressive than store-bought crackers, yet they are extremely easy to make and you control the ingredients. It is much easier to find local artisinal bread, even those made with completely local flour, than it is to find local crackers (or even local crostini). In my area, there are a few local bakeries that can be counted on to provide wonderfully tasty artisinal loaves, many made with locally sourced flour: Ross’ Bread in Ridgefield, CT is […]

Categories: 100% local, appetizer, breads, herbs, Locavirgin, vegetarian, whole wheat flour, year round • Tags: cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, whole grain breads