Category Archives: tomatoes

Fire Roasted Tomato & Ancho Chile Sauce

15 September 2010 by local kitchen

I think the Canning Gods have forgiven me for whatever transgression prompted the Great Green Ketchup Debacle of 2010, because this recipe? This recipe kicks ass. I can hardly describe the flavor to you without overusing rhapsodic superlatives (and “thaumaturgic” doesn’t quite seem to fit); it is rich, smoky, definitely a tomato sauce but halfway to a molé, with strong chocolate overtones and just a hint of capsaicin bite. In the space of 24 hours, we have already eaten it on […]

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

Cherry Tomato Confit

5 September 2010 by local kitchen

About a week ago, I had a bowl of cherry tomatoes to use up and I wasn’t in the mood for bruschetta or cucumber salad. I decided on a confit, and as it was cooking, it smelled so heavenly that I had plans to eat it immediately over pasta; yet, by the time it was done, I was running out the door, so I just popped it into a jar and into the fridge. I’m so glad I did, because today […]

Categories: appetizer, basil, parsley, preserving, spreads, summer, thyme, tomatoes, vegetarian • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes, tomatoes, vegetarian

9-Chile Salsa

30 August 2010 by local kitchen

A spicy tomato salsa to liven up your Monday…2 months from now. If you haven’t noticed by now, I love the hot stuff: spicy salsa, Tabasco, wing sauce, soup, stew, BBQ and vindaloo. Even chiles in my jam! I’ve never met a chile pepper I didn’t like, not even that scotch bonnet I ate at House of Blues in Harvard Square back in ’92 (the waiter, looking appalled: “But it’s just a garnish! You’re not supposed to eat it!” “Then, why,” ask […]

Categories: 100% local, canning, cilantro, garlic, hot chile peppers, preserving, salsa, summer, tomatoes • Tags: canning, condiments, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes, tomatoes

Garden Vegetable Tomato Sauce

25 August 2010 by local kitchen

In honor of the Great Tomato Can Jam Round-Up of 2010, today we bring you Garden Vegetable Tomato Sauce. Let me warn you from the get-go: this is not a beginning canner’s recipe. The ratio of non-acidic to acidic ingredients is critical for canning safety, as are strict adherence to the methods (slicing, dicing & measuring) and processing instructions. Also, I’ve tweaked, more than a little bit, a published recipe (Italian-Style Tomato Sauce from the Ball Complete) in order to add […]

Categories: 100% local, basil, canning, carrot, preserving, sauces, scallions, summer, tomatoes, zucchini • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes, tomatoes

Peach Salsa for Canning, Revisited

23 August 2010 by local kitchen

Ironically enough, the day we went peach picking a couple of weeks ago at Fishkill Farm, we came home, had an impromptu barbecue with our friend Alison, and opened a jar of last year’s peach salsa (rather than boiling a big pot of water, peeling peaches, and making a fresh batch). While it is still quite tasty after a year on the shelf, the salsa has definitely mellowed (it seemed just a bit too sweet and not nearly spicy enough) and […]

Categories: 100% local, canning, cilantro, hot chile peppers, peaches, preserving, salsa, summer, tomatoes • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

Can Jam: Roasted Tomato & Chipotle Salsa

18 August 2010 by local kitchen

Tomatoes are amazing, aren’t they? Red, pink, orange, yellow… black, purple, green, striped, or volunteer, I love ’em all. And despite their precarious perch on the cusp of safe acidity levels for water-bath canning, there are a million lovely ways to preserve them: whole or crushed, basic pureé or fresh-herb sauce, fire-roasted or fiery wing sauce. And of course: salsa. I’ve preserved a few salsas in my time; it’s one of those recipes you have to be careful with, because […]

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

Seared Tomato Sauce

15 August 2010 by local kitchen

The third in my series of recipe reviews from The Lost Art of Real Cooking, by Ken Albala and Rosanna Nafziger (A Perigee Book, published by the Penguin Group), this recipe, another sauce from Ken Albala, was intriguing from the get-go. The recipe, Fresh Tomato Sauce, in Chapter 2, Fresh Vegetables and Legumes, starts off with: “This sauce probably defies everything you have ever read about a good tomato sauce.” With the gauntlet thus thrown, I could hardly avoid taking up the challenge, […]

Categories: main course, quick & easy, rosemary, sauces, summer, tomatoes, wine, beer & liquor, year round • Tags: cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, tomatoes

Tomato Purée for Sauce or Canning

1 August 2010 by local kitchen

It’s that time of year again: today is August 1st (can you believe it?) and August in the Northeast means one thing in local food circles: tomatoes. Last year was such a dismal tomato crop, what with all the rain creating ideal conditions for late blight, and with so many local farms losing hundreds if not thousands of tomato plants. As such, last year saw very little in the way of tomato preserving, and I am hoping for a bumper crop […]

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

CSA-Busting Vegetable Soup

21 July 2010 by local kitchen

It’s Wednesday, which means CSA day for many of you. On Tuesday nights at this time of year, I often get “CSA panic syndrome,” wherein I look in the fridge, see it overflowing with vegetables from the last week or two, and start frantically pulling things out and whipping up a recipe in an effort to make some room for tomorrow’s box. The weather has been good to area farmers this year (so far – knocking on wood!) and despite the lack […]

Categories: 100% local, cabbage, carrot, cilantro, garlic, green beans, main course, parsley, scallions, soup, summer, tomatoes, vegetarian, zucchini • Tags: cooking, CSA, food, local, recipes, soup, vegetarian

Chicken Braised in Tomato & Garlic

22 May 2010 by local kitchen

I tried another recipe from The Pioneer Woman and another chicken recipe at that. The first, a cajun chicken pasta, I made a lot of changes to, and frankly, wasn’t overly thrilled by my version. This one, I made only a few minor changes and… I wasn’t overly thrilled. Sigh. It seemed so promising; chicken, browned in butter & olive oil then slowly braised in my home-canned heirloom tomatoes, a nice Pinot Noir, plenty of fresh, farmer’s market garlic, and […]

Categories: 100% local, basil, chicken, garlic, main course, tomatoes, wine, beer & liquor, winter, year round • Tags: cooking, food, local, recipes

Flageolet Beans with Sun-Dried Tomatoes

5 March 2010 by local kitchen

Flageolet beans are quite wonderful. They’re small and a beautiful mix of white and pale green when dried. Cooked, they hold their shape and color well and smell amazingly wonderful while simmering away on the stove. They have a slightly spicy, very distinctive, very hard-to-describe aroma and taste, that somehow reminds me of Spring. I was lucky enough to receive some Rancho Gordo flageolet beans for Christmas from my friend Christina (the gift that keeps on giving!) and they were […]

Categories: beans, heirloom beans, main course, quick & easy, side dish, spring, tomatoes, vegetarian, year round • Tags: beans, cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, vegetarian

Cajun Chicken Pasta

25 February 2010 by local kitchen

While I read The Pioneer Woman’s blog regularly, and truly enjoy her writing and photography, I think this is the first time I have attempted one of her recipes. Well, let’s face it: she lives on a cattle ranch – I don’t eat beef. She cooks for Marlboro Man, her 4 kids, and various and sundry cowpokes, relatives, Ranch visitors, etc. – I cook for me and Tai. Last, but hardly least, there is nothing particularly seasonal about her cooking, […]

Categories: chicken, corn, garlic, hot chile peppers, main course, parsley, stir-fry, tomatoes, wine, beer & liquor, winter, year round • Tags: chicken, cooking, dinner, food, local, main course, recipes

Dark Days: Sausage & Pepper Pizza

28 December 2009 by local kitchen

Last night we had the happy coincidence of two friends traveling back home from Christmas celebrations, both of whom decided to stop and spend the night with us en route. We had a delicious, impromptu, and local dinner of sausage & pepper pizza, served up with Saranac ales, good conversation, and many laughs. Thanks, Frannie & Christina, for a great night! Happy holidays everyone! ————————————————————- Sausage & Pepper Pizza INGREDIENTS 1 recipe Quick(er) Whole Grain Pizza dough 1/2 lb smoked […]

Categories: 100% local, basil, cheese, Dark Days Local, main course, pizza, sausage, tomatoes, whole wheat flour, winter, year round • Tags: cooking, food, local, pizza, recipes

Black Bean Veggie Chili

27 December 2009 by local kitchen

As a nice respite from all of the rich, heavy holiday food, as well as a warm bowl of comfort food against the chill and dreary 39-degree rainy day, yesterday I made a big pot of chili. Packed full of veggies and protein-laden black beans, this dish is winter locavore cooking at its best: peppers chopped and quick-frozen back in August only need pouring into a measuring cup; sweet corn, blanched and cut off the cob, frozen at the peak of […]

Categories: 100% local, beans, carrot, celery, cilantro, corn, garlic, hot chile peppers, main course, parsley, stew, tomatoes, vegetarian, winter, year round • Tags: black bean, cooking, food, local, recipes

Sunday Spring Cleaning: Curried Pumpkin & Kale Stew

6 December 2009 by local kitchen

I’ve long been of the belief that, if you add enough curry to something, it’s bound to be good. This stew upholds the belief: nothing spectacular, just good, tasty, warm and comforting stew for a snowy New York Sunday. The bonus is that this was a freezer-clearing special: I used some cooked cranberry beans that were hanging out in the fridge, frozen pumpkin cubes leftover from this soup, frozen kale put-up this summer, plum tomatoes that I stuck in the freezer, whole, […]

Categories: beans, fall, heirloom beans, kale & leafy greens, main course, quick & easy, stew, tomatoes, vegetarian, winter, winter squash, year round • Tags: cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, vegetarian