| Local cooking and eating in New York's Hudson Valley.

Caramelized Pear Jam with Vanilla Bean

13 September 2010 by local kitchen

“Burnt” is such an ugly word. “Caramelized” is so much prettier, inspiring visions of caramel apples, gooey caramel melting into a sundae, or caramel candies festooned with America’s favorite pork product. Let’s face it, there is a fine line between “caramelized” and “burnt” and it is mostly one of taste: does it taste good (caramelized) or bad (burnt)? In fact, the very definition of ‘caramel’ can be “burnt sugar“ (although most do not put it quite so crassly). So why […]

Categories: breakfast, canning, fall, jams, pears, preserving • Tags: canning, condiments, cooking, dessert, food, local, preserving, recipes

Watermelon Jelly with Balsamic & Mint

12 September 2010 by local kitchen

If there are still watermelons at your farmer’s market, this one is a keeper. I was intrigued, but a little dubious, about the amount of balsamic vinegar in this recipe, and we all know that I do not have the best luck with jelly. I have to say, however, that this turned out to be quite delicious in addition to being rather beautiful. Tai gave it his patented “This is horrible. Don’t even try it; I’ll suffer and eat it […]

Categories: canning, jellies, melon, mint, preserving, summer • Tags: canning, condiments, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

Herbed Bacon Cheddar Quiche

10 September 2010 by local kitchen

I’ve made quiche a couple of times in recents weeks, having been gifted with some of Julia’s delicious backyard eggs, and wanting to do something a little more special with them than scrambling (although I’m here to report that Julia’s backyard eggs scrambled with my backdeck chives = heaven). I’ve been surprised by how easy quiche is: I’ve always thought of it as a bit fussy, a bit fancy. In reality, quiche is simply an omelet baked in a pie crust, as fancy or […]

Categories: 100% local, basil, breakfast, cheese, chives, main course, pork, whole wheat flour, year round • Tags: cooking, food, local, recipes

Spicy Green Ketchup PSA

8 September 2010 by local kitchen

This is a publice service announcement: do not make this ketchup. Do not even attempt this at home. We here at Local Kitchen are highly-trained professional Recipe Destroyers; we can’t take the responsibility for any destruction that may result from attempting this recipe in your home kitchen. Dreadful, disasterous, disgusting; none of these descriptors seem to adequately convey just how bad this ketchup is (oh, the travails of the food-blogger!). Really, the only word for this ketchup is god-awful (although that seems an […]

Categories: condiments, disaster • Tags: food, local, preserving, recipes, tomatoes

Pear Butter with White Wine & Fennel

7 September 2010 by local kitchen

A few weeks ago, when the weather was still hot & humid but the leaves were telling us that Fall was on the way, I went pear picking with Julia. She had connected with a lovely man who had three huge, old D’Anjou pear trees in his yard: more pears than any one family, no matter how pear-loving, could possibly go through in a season. He was nice enough to let us pick as many as we liked, hoping that […]

Categories: canning, fall, pears, preserving, spreads, summer, wine, beer & liquor • Tags: canning, condiments, cooking, dessert, food, local, preserving, recipes

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

Salsa Verde

2 September 2010 by local kitchen

All the cool kids are doing it. My version of salsa verde – long live the tomatillo! Adapted from Tomatillo Salsa in The Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, J. Kingry & L. Devine, eds. ——————————————————— Salsa Verde INGREDIENTS 4 cups (about 2 lbs husked) tomatillos, husked, rinsed and finely chopped 1/2 cup red onion, diced to 1/4-inch (about 1 tennis ball-sized) 1/2 cup Cubanelle peppers (or green bell peppers), diced to 1/4-inch 1/2 cup minced jalapeno & long green chile peppers, […]

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

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

Wild Purple Scones

29 August 2010 by local kitchen

Because woman cannot live on jam alone: wild & crazy purple scones for your Sunday morning. Made with wild black raspberries from my backyard, these delicious scones get their wild purple color (and flavor!) from slightly smushed black raspberries in the dough. Much like many of the area farms, we’ve had a terrible wild berry crop this year; I only saw a few black raspberries on the bushes, the wineberries came and went in a flash, and I haven’t harvested […]

Categories: baking, berries, breads, breakfast, citrus, milk, whole wheat flour, wild foods, year round • Tags: baking, berries, cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, whole grain breads

Peach Jam with Caramelized Onion & Basil

27 August 2010 by local kitchen

I was thinking of saving this recipe for the September Can Jam but; who am I kidding? We all know that I couldn’t wait that long. And it gives me the perfect excuse (as if I needed one) to dig in to peaches, plums and nectarines one more time before the season ends. This is another Michel Nischan preserve (he of Strawberry Rhubarb & Caramelized Onion Jam, Pickled Sweet Peppers and Blueberry, Lemon & Chilé Jam fame) and while, once again, there were […]

Categories: basil, canning, jams, peaches, preserving, summer • Tags: canning, condiments, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

Blue Leather

26 August 2010 by local kitchen

No, it’s not the sequel to Blue Velvet (but a girl can dream, right?). As promised, the recipe for sweet & sour blueberry leather, using the leftover pulp from infusing Blueberry-Basil Vinegar. Being congenitally incapable of throwing anything out, I clearly was not going to just discard perfectly good blueberries and basil simply because they had been sitting in vinegar in my garage for a month. But let’s use the term “recipe” in the loosest way possible, folks: basically, once […]

Categories: basil, berries, preserving, snack, summer • Tags: cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

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 Preserves with Forsythia & Chile

24 August 2010 by local kitchen

I know it’s Tuesday morning and all, but I need you to do something for me: run, don’t walk, to your nearest peach orchard or farm stand, grab a bag of peaches (before they disappear), and make this preserve. This, my friends, could very well be the perfect peach preserve: sweet yet tangy, beautiful texture of plump slices of fruit in a just-barely-set jam, just the right floral note from the forsythia and the sweet heat finish of fiery pequin peppers […]

Categories: breakfast, canning, dessert, peaches, preserves, preserving, summer • Tags: canning, cooking, dessert, food, local, preserving, recipes

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

Blueberry-Basil Vinegar

20 August 2010 by local kitchen

Can you believe that blueberries are still going? Well, they are, for today at least: Jones Family Farms (in Shelton, CT) has announced today is the last day for blueberry picking at the farm. And what better way to preserve your late-season haul than an infused vinegar? (Um… what?) OK, I’ll admit, there are a million lovely things to do with blueberries, including, but not limited to: pancakes, scones, tarts, (a blueberry-peach pie that I am making today for a […]

Categories: 100% local, basil, berries, condiments, preserving, quick & easy, summer, vinegar • Tags: condiments, cooking, food, local, preserving, quick & easy, recipes