Category Archives: quick & easy

Easy Chicken Vindaloo

2 December 2009 by local kitchen

I love me a good vindaloo. Vindaloo is always spicy, but I like it really spicy: make me cry, but give me a flavor profile beyond just “hot,” and I’ll call it a success. I can rarely get vindaloo spicy enough in Indian restaurants (I suppose I can’t blame them when they look dubiously at my pale, freckled face and fuzzy red head, ordering my vindaloo “really spicy.” They just assume that I am not used to “Indian-spicy.” Little do they know!). But the […]

Categories: chicken, hot chile peppers, main course, potato, quick & easy, rice, stew, year round • Tags: chicken, cooking, food, Indian, local, quick & easy, recipes, spicy

Dark Days: Goat Cheese, Chive and Cranberry Scones

29 November 2009 by local kitchen

I had every intention of making a local dinner of Flying Pigs pork cutlets stuffed with CSA frozen arugula, Nettle Meadow chevre and Cranberry Hill organic cranberries. Tai was drooling at the mere thought. However, as the afternoon waned I realized that I was just not in the mood for meat, even though the pork was thawing away on the counter. So I stuck Flying Pigs back in the fridge for tomorrow and made the same basic flavors (and ingredients) into […]

Categories: 100% local, baking, breads, breakfast, cheese, chives, cranberries, Dark Days Local, fall, herbs, quick & easy, whole wheat flour, winter, year round • Tags: baking, cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, whole grain breads

Salt & Cocoa Pumpkin Seeds

13 November 2009 by local kitchen

Ah! Sweet mystery of life at last I’ve found you! I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before; I love pumpkin seeds, and make them every time I crack open a pumpkin. I love chocolate. And everyone knows that I’m a certified saltaholic. But somehow it’s never before occured to me to combine my three loves into one gorgeous, salty-sweet snack. Maybe it’s because I am making my pumpkin & kale mole for dinner with Amy tonight and I […]

Categories: chocolate, fall, non-local luxuries, quick & easy, vegetarian, winter, winter squash • Tags: cooking, food

Tabouli

9 October 2009 by local kitchen

In keeping with the Middle Eastern theme of late (oh-so appropriate while I am traveling through the wilds of the Canadian Rockies, I know, but there is not a lot of elk or bison to be had in Northeastern America), this is a tasty, cool salad, using up lots of end-of-garden parsley and mint with the zest of lemon and the heartiness of bulghur wheat. Simple and delicious. Adapted from Authentic Lebanese Tabouli at Epicurious ————————————————————– Tabouli INGREDIENTS 1 cup bulghur wheat […]

Categories: citrus, grains & legumes, herbs, mint, parsley, quick & easy, salad, side dish, summer • Tags: chicken, cooking, food, local, recipes

Quinoa and Black Bean Salad

2 October 2009 by local kitchen

Before tomatoes completely disappear, along with the sun and warmer temps, make this festive, easy and complete-protein salad for your next back-deck barbeque or weekend picnic in the park. Simple, stores well, and is equally delicious served warm, cold or at room temperature. Adapted from Quinoa and Black Bean Salad, Gourmet, July 1994 ————————————————————– Quinoa and Black Bean Salad INGREDIENTS 3/4 cup quinoa 1 and 1/2 cups cooked black beans, rinsed (or about 1, 15-oz can) 1 tbsp red wine vinegar salt and freshly ground black […]

Categories: beans, cilantro, citrus, corn, grains & legumes, quick & easy, quinoa, salad, side dish, summer, tomatoes, year round • Tags: beans, cooking, food, local, quick & easy, quinoa, recipes, salad, summer

Fresh Peach Salsa

13 September 2009 by local kitchen

Can you tell I’ve had a lot of peaches in the house? And there are still nectarines in the fridge… stay tuned. Tai’s first comment on tasting this salsa was “How can this be possible?” Followed shortly by “Maybe I’ve just never had a good peach before.” Granted, Tai is not difficult to please (one of the reasons he is so much fun to cook for), but I have to agree with him – this salsa came out really good. Fresh, […]

Categories: 100% local, appetizer, cilantro, citrus, fruit, hot chile peppers, peaches, quick & easy, side dish, summer • Tags: cooking, food, local, recipes

Fresh Cantaloupe Salsa

10 August 2009 by local kitchen

After a cool, damp weekend, with honking geese flying overhead each evening, it felt like an early winter was knocking at the door. Lo and behold my surprise to wake up this morning to sticky humidity and a forecast of 88 degrees! I guess summer is not completely done with us yet. This fresh salsa is exactly what the doctor ordered for a sticky, hot August summer day: cool, crisp, tasty and takes about 10 minutes to prepare, with not […]

Categories: 100% local, cilantro, hot chile peppers, melon, quick & easy, side dish, summer • Tags: cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, salad

Radish Quinoa Salad

13 June 2009 by local kitchen

I was in the City last night, meeting the girls for drinks on the Rooftop Garden at the Met (as if the views from the roof weren’t reason enough, the Roxy Paine exhibit is outstanding and worth a visit), followed by a picnic dinner along the Hudson. Since we were picnicing, and I had a big bunch of radishes from this week’s first CSA of the season, I decided to make a quick & easy radish salad. Radishes are one […]

Categories: citrus, fall, parsley, quick & easy, radish, salad, scallions, side dish, spring, vegetarian, vinegar • Tags: cooking, food, local, radish, recipes, vegetarian

Pork Chop Heaven

19 May 2009 by local kitchen

I’ve found Pork Chop Heaven. This is one of those meals; one of those meals that made me start this blog, so I wouldn’t longingly remember Pork Chop Heaven, yet have no memory of how to get back there. One of those meals that makes me think I can never go totally vegetarian. One of those meals that makes me bless the noble pig: a magical, wonderful animal. One of those meals that makes Tai say “How do you do […]

Categories: chutneys, cranberries, garlic, jellies, main course, pork, quick & easy, rhubarb, spring • Tags: cooking, food, local, pork, recipes

Grilled Salsa Chicken & Fire-roasted Corn

16 April 2009 by local kitchen

Just in time for a gorgeous, sunny Spring weekend: quick & easy grilled marinated chicken and roasted corn – the flavors of summer (without the 98% humidity!). Given how simple this meal is, it’s unbelievable how flavorful it is. The corn is a revelation; pure summer, captured at it’s peak last August and roasted over smoky coals until the flavor makes you want to write an opera (Ode To Corn? A-Maizing Maize? Corn Cob Blues? OK, I’ll stop now). Seriously, […]

Categories: 100% local, chicken, fall, grill, main course, peaches, quick & easy, roasting, salsa, spring, summer • Tags: cooking, food, grilling, local, recipes

Spring Stir-Fry: Chicken, Radish & Green Garlic

30 March 2009 by local kitchen

I’m always on the lookout for interesting radish recipes. Radishes are one of the first things to show up in the farmer’s market in spring that is not a leek, squash, potato or leafy green, hence, I always pick some up (look! they’re pink! crisp! new!) and then, after about three fresh salads with sliced raw radishes, wonder what I’m going to do with the other dozen pink wonders. I was a bit suspicious of stir-fried radish, but this dish was […]

Categories: chicken, cilantro, citrus, garlic, hot chile peppers, main course, quick & easy, radish, spring • Tags: chicken, cooking, food, garlic, green garlic, local, main course, quick & easy, radish, recipes, stir-fry

Cheddar Scallion Scones

19 February 2009 by local kitchen

These cheddar scallion scones serve as my basic savory scone recipe and I’ve made dozens of different versions over the years. I’ve since come to believe that the scones turn out even better with just a little butter in the dough (duh) and so have updated the recipe below to include a small amount (2 tbsp) of butter. I still call these my “cheater” scones, as I don’t work the butter into the flour, just toss in small chunks and let them […]

Categories: 100% local, baking, breads, cheese, quick & easy, scallions, vegetarian, year round • Tags: baking, cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, spring, vegetarian, whole grain breads

Whole Milk Ricotta

9 February 2009 by local kitchen

Ricotta cheese is typically made from the whey that is leftover from making ewe’s milk cheese. This whole milk version is similar in technique, yet you can make it from milk that you pick up at the market (or farm) and it has a much higher yield than whey ricotta. Homemade ricotta is ridiculously easy to make, tastes delicious, and you control the texture; rich & creamy or drier with a more intense cheese flavor. The ingredients are exactly as […]

Categories: 100% local, cheese, meat & dairy, milk, preserving, quick & easy, vegetarian, year round • Tags: cooking, food, local, recipes