Category Archives: vegetarian

Flageolet Fritters

10 March 2010 by local kitchen

Eminently adaptable, thoroughly delicious, fried bean goodness. I don’t do much frying; it’s not the healthiest way to cook, and although I have none of the modern-day fatophobia, I think my love of all things bacon keeps me quite well supplied. Also, it’s the parsimonious Yankee in me: I hate waste, of any kind, and using a couple of cups of oil once, then simply throwing it away – well, let’s just say that I’ll generally try to find a […]

Categories: 100% local, appetizer, beans, cilantro, citrus, heirloom beans, parsley, vegetarian, year round • Tags: beans, cooking, food, local, recipes, vegetarian

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

Dark Days: Roasted Leek Confit Pizza

28 February 2010 by local kitchen

This roasted leek confit was quite fabulous and formed the basis of an impromptu Saturday-night pizza dinner with friends, big and small. Handily for me, most of the elements of the pizza were also local, making it a perfect spotlight meal for this week’s Dark Days Challenge. I highly recommend it after a day of sledding and building snowwomen in the yard! ————————————————————- Roasted Leek Confit Pizza INGREDIENTS 1 recipe Quick(er) Whole Grain Pizza dough olive oil about 1 oz hard […]

Categories: 100% local, basil, Dark Days Local, leek, main course, pizza, vegetarian, whole wheat flour, winter • Tags: cooking, food, local, recipes, vegetarian

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

Nachos

11 February 2010 by local kitchen

Satisfying. That’s the word for these nachos. Basic, yes; merely four ingredients make up the basis of this dish; but endlessly versatile and oh-so satisfying. We’ve all had our share of nachos – they’ve practically become as American as hot dogs and apple pie. They are the easy bar food that everyone can agree upon; the post-soccer fuel that you shovel in with abandon; the football-watching crowd favorite. But how often have you had really good nachos? The kind with a perfect ratio of […]

Categories: 100% local, appetizer, beans, cheese, quick & easy, vegetarian, year round • Tags: cooking, food, local, nachos, party food, quick & easy, recipes, vegetarian

Refried Beans

10 February 2010 by local kitchen

Hands up everyone who knew that “refried beans” is a misnomer: frijoles refritos actually translates as “well-fried beans” (hat-tip to Elise at Simply Recipes for that handy piece of trivia). I certainly didn’t know (although the whole “re-fried” concept never made much sense to me, and frying twice, well, ew). I don’t even like refried beans, but then again, given the lame flavor and unpleasant, mealy texture of the dish that I think of as “refried beans” I doubt that I’ve […]

Categories: 100% local, appetizer, beans, heirloom beans, side dish, spreads, vegetarian, year round • Tags: cooking, food, local, recipes, vegetarian

Roasted Pepper, Onion & Sweet Corn Pizza

26 January 2010 by local kitchen

I know what you’re thinking: “Corn? On pizza? She’s crazy.” Crazy like a fox, I say. Or crazy like a person who enjoys crispy, chewy, sweet, spicy, savory, salivatingly (salivatingly? Oh, shut up I’m on a roll) good pizza. Corn is the key. Don’t get me wrong, roasted peppers & onions are lovely by themselves, but the corn! The corn added texture, a hint of smoky sweetness, a foil for the tomato sauce. Roasting brought out a flavor very much like grilled […]

Categories: cheese, corn, hot chile peppers, main course, pizza, roasting, vegetarian, whole wheat flour, winter • Tags: cooking, local, pizza, recipes

Chickpea Stir-Fry

21 January 2010 by local kitchen

I must confess that it has never occured to me to stir-fry chickpeas (or any bean, for that matter). I had cooked chickpeas in the fridge, leftover from making hummus the other day and I was looking for something quick & easy, yet delicious, for dinner. I also had some romaine lettuce (clam-shell packed and shipped from California, which Mom left here at Christmastime) that needed using, but somehow I couldn’t work up any enthusiasm for month-old-California-lettuce-mid-winter salad. (Shocker, that.) Enter chickpea […]

Categories: beans, carrot, chickpeas, cilantro, garlic, grains & legumes, hot chile peppers, lettuce, main course, quick & easy, salad, stir-fry, vegetarian, winter, year round • Tags: cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, vegetarian

Easy Homemade Hummus

14 January 2010 by local kitchen

I know what you’re thinking: “Hmmph. Easy. Says she of the 3-day pie crust and the day-long chicken pot pie.” But, really, this recipe is easy. Easy as pie. Well, way easier than pie, actually. Easy enough for Rachel Ray (although why make hummus when it’s so much more convenient to buy it in the store? And why do I pick on this woman when I’ve never even seen her show? I’m sure she’s a lovely person. Really.). Anyway, you […]

Categories: appetizer, beans, chickpeas, chives, citrus, herbs, quick & easy, spreads, vegetarian, year round • Tags: beans, cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, vegetarian

Dark Days: Handmade Whole Wheat Pasta

10 January 2010 by local kitchen

I’ve been meaning to make fresh pasta again for a while now; I probably would not have done it today if I had not remembered that it is Sunday and I hadn’t yet planned my Dark Days meal o’ the week. Thanks, Dark Days Challenge, for giving me a kick in the pants! The last time I made whole wheat pasta, I used all whole wheat bread flour (hard red spring wheat flour from Wild Hive) and the dough was so […]

Categories: 100% local, appetizer, Dark Days Local, eggs, main course, vegetarian, whole wheat flour, year round • Tags: cooking, food, local, recipes, vegetarian

Calypso Bean Minestrone

7 January 2010 by local kitchen

Calypso beans are so gorgeous. They are one of those fantastic heirloom varieties that you only see when you start searching out such a thing; a bean so gorgeous, you want to wear it as jewelry, so tasty that the unique flavor and texture are impossible to describe, so miraculous that if you push it into the soil, in Spring a plant will emerge. (That simple fact never fails to thrill me). Calypso beans, also called orca beans because of […]

Categories: 100% local, beans, heirloom beans, kale & leafy greens, main course, soup, vegetarian, winter • Tags: beans, cooking, food, local, recipes, soup

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

Dark Days: Swiss Chard Quiche Minis

21 December 2009 by local kitchen

Undaunted by the blizzard, a few intrepid souls made it to our annual Christmas party on Saturday night. Luckily for them, there was no shortage of yummy food on hand. My kitchen counter was groaning under the weight of this sausage bread, made with linguica and local smoked mozzarella, Wild Hive rosemary bread crostini with olive oil, garlic and basil, a selection of local cheeses, curried apple chutney, sweet cherry chutney, cranberry apple butter and cranberry sauce, homemade stuffed grape leaves […]

Categories: 100% local, appetizer, breakfast, cheese, Dark Days Local, eggs, kale & leafy greens, main course, vegetarian, whole wheat flour, winter, year round • Tags: baking, cooking, food, local, recipes, vegetarian

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

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