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

Dark Days: Apple Cider Chicken with Sage Mashed Potatoes

21 November 2009 by local kitchen

About a week ago, I signed up for the Dark Days Challenge, hosted by food blogger (not so) Urban Hennery, in which locavores strive to keep in touch with their local foodshed throughout the long, cold, dark days of winter and to “cook one meal each week focused on SOLE (sustainable, organic, local, ethical) ingredients” and write about it on their blogs. Shouldn’t be such a challenge for a self-styled Local Kitchen blogger, no? Well, you might be surprised. Atlhough I have a chest freezer stocked full […]

Categories: 100% local, apples, chicken, Dark Days Local, fall, main course, sage, tomatoes, whole wheat flour, winter • Tags: chicken, cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes

Local Thanksgiving

19 November 2009 by local kitchen

What are your Thanksgiving plans? Do you host a big dinner, take charge of the turkey, and pester the neighbors for extra dining room chairs? Do you travel to an aunt’s, uncle’s or grandmother’s house? Maybe you are in college and can’t wait to get home to Mom’s cooking (and to do laundry, of course). Maybe you are a newlywed and planning your first Thanksgiving dinner at home, for just the two of you. One of the nice things about […]

Categories: 100% local, fall • Tags: cooking, food, local, recipes

Cranberry Apple Butter

19 November 2009 by local kitchen

Really, I promise this is the last apple butter recipe. At least for this year. (It’s possible, just possible, that 110 lbs of apples was a wee bit insane ludicrous ambitious.) But this is an apple butter recipe I can get behind. It’s really a cranberry butter recipe; very tangy cranberry flavor with the apples lending their pectin and texture and a hint of sweetness. Again I dispensed with the cinnamon (lest I have to buy stock in Penzey’s), but […]

Categories: apples, canning, citrus, cranberries, fall, preserving, spreads, winter • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

Apple Rhubarb Chutney with Fennel & Cardamom

17 November 2009 by local kitchen

Yet another in the long line of apple recipes, I know, but this one is a definite keeper. This chutney is delicious, and that comes from someone who doesn’t like cooked apples. Not even apple pie, apple butter, applesauce or apple jam. Nope, I only seem to like apple chutney and I think I’ve found my new favorite: apple rhubarb chutney with fennel & cardamom. The sweetness of apples, the tang of rhubarb, the licoricey bite of fennel and the subtle, […]

Categories: apples, canning, cherries, chutneys, condiments, fall, preserving, rhubarb, spring, winter • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes, rhubarb

Winter Lager Mustard

16 November 2009 by local kitchen

I took a break from all sorts of apple recipes over the weekend to replenish Tai’s supply of my homemade mustard. We are down to one 4-oz jar of the last batch of cranberry habanero mustard, and the world knows no tragedy quite like the possibility of us running out of mustard, so a-mustard making I will go. Mustard is surprisingly easy to make. Although you need to soak the mustard seeds for a few hours, once that is done the whole process […]

Categories: condiments, mustard, non-local luxuries, wine, beer & liquor, winter, year round • Tags: canning, condiments, cooking, food, local, preserving, quick & easy, recipes

(Virtually) No Stir Apple Butter

14 November 2009 by local kitchen

As I mentioned in the previous apple butter post, I was looking to try a “no-stir” oven version of apple butter. I’ve heard good things about Crock Pot (sorry, “slow cooker” would be the PC terminology of the day, but I prefer the old-fashioned Crock Pot) apple butter, but as I do not own one, I had to try it out in the oven. There are a few recipes out there on the Interwebs for apple butter reduced in the oven; oven […]

Categories: apples, canning, fall, preserving, spreads, winter • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

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

Apple Parmesan Crumble

12 November 2009 by local kitchen

An apple a day keeps the doctor away! If that’s true, then Tai should be a very healthy boy. The apples are still flowing daily at our house; this recipe I’ve made three times now (in smaller, half-sized batches that I bake in a tart dish or small pie pan) and Tai is thoroughly enjoying it. This crumble is simple, relatively quick, and can be easily assembled while you are putting together dinner and popped into the oven in time for […]

Categories: apples, baking, dessert, fall, pie, whole wheat flour, winter • Tags: baking, cooking, dessert, food, local, recipes

No Peel ‘Em Apple Butter

10 November 2009 by local kitchen

I’ve made apple butter each autumn for three years in a row now. It’s truly a labor of love, as I don’t really like cooked apples (with one notable exception) of any variety. I make applesauce, for my friend Christina, for the many, many babies in my life, and for baking. I make apple pies for friends, holidays and for Tai. Apple butter is definitely the most labor-intensive of all of my apple-preserving tricks, due to the seemingly endless stirring, […]

Categories: apples, breakfast, canning, condiments, dessert, fall, preserving, spreads, winter • Tags: canning, condiments, cooking, food, local, recipes

Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Crispy Sage

8 November 2009 by local kitchen

I keep trying new pumpkin soup recipes, and I keep coming back to this one. Rich, hearty, creamy without a drop of cream, it derives it’s depth of flavor from the roasting of the vegetables, the interest of cardamom and cinnamon spice, and the lemony flavor and textural contrast of crispy sage leaf garnish. Delicious! Adapted (barely) from Pumpkin Soup with Crispy Sage Garnish in Homegrown: Pure and Simple by M. Nischan ————————————————————— Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Crispy Sage INGREDIENTS one […]

Categories: appetizer, fall, main course, sage, soup, winter, winter squash • Tags: cooking, fall, food, local, pumpkin, recipes, soup, vegetarian

Canned Apple Pie Filling

6 November 2009 by local kitchen

Updated 08 October 2011. The original recipe was a modified version of the Ball Book apple pie filling; this version reflects more closely how I make a fresh apple pie, with some added apple cider and ClearJel canning starch to provide the necessary liquid for canning. There are 2 pounds of apples packed into each quart of pie filling in this version, making this a very apply, not overly sweet, and not overly goopy filling. If you like a sweeter […]

Categories: apples, canning, dessert, fall, pie, preserving • Tags: apples, canning, cooking, dessert, food, local, pie filling, preserving, recipes

Winter Greens Risotto with Heirloom Pork Sausage

5 November 2009 by local kitchen

We had some friends over for dinner last weekend: cheeses from Plums Plums in Pound Ridge, bread from Wave Hill Bread in Wilton, curried apple chutney, roasted pumpkin soup, winter greens risotto and an apple tart. Phew! You can tell what kind of week I’ve had that I’ve only just managed to get one of these recipes up by Thursday night. Risotto is a wonderfully versatile dish and easy to make, despite its rather terrifying reputation. Yes, you have to stir […]

Categories: arugula, cheese, fall, grains & legumes, kale & leafy greens, main course, pork, rice, sausage, side dish, winter • Tags: cooking, food, local, pork, recipes

Apple Ginger Jam

4 November 2009 by local kitchen

Tai and I managed to squeak in an afternoon of end-of-season apple picking last week at Fishkill Farms in Fishkill, NY. For the very end of October, they still had plenty of apples in the trees; Red Delicious, IdaRed, Rome, Macoun and Mutsu were all plentiful. With a little bit more effort, we collected a bushel of Stayman Winesap apples, even though the orchard said that they were “done.” It’s also a lovely orchard with organically grown apples at $20/half bushel […]

Categories: apples, canning, fall, jams, preserving, winter • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

Spicy Black Bean & Chickpea Soup

2 November 2009 by local kitchen

When it comes to habanero peppers, I never seem to learn. I always think, “Well, it’s a small pepper, and I’ll take all the seeds out – it won’t be too spicy.” Yep. That’s what I always say, usually about an hour or two before I’m pawing through the cupboards, looking for an additional something that will absorb a bit of the excess heat. Tonight was no exception. I set out to a make a spicy, but not killer-spicy, black bean soup. […]

Categories: 100% local, beans, chickpeas, cilantro, fall, hot chile peppers, soup, tomatoes, vegetarian, winter, year round • Tags: black bean, cooking, food, local, recipes, soup, vegetarian

Linguica Pizza

29 October 2009 by local kitchen

I grew up in Gloucester, MA, at the tip of Cape Ann on Massachusetts’ North Shore, then mostly a commercial fishing town and a summertime escape for wealthy Bostonians. Like many fishing towns or villages in New England, Gloucester had, and still has, a large community of Portuguese immigrants and their Portuguese-American descendants. If you grew up in Gloucester, or New Bedford, Fall River or even East Cambridge, you already know the wonder that is linguica (pronounced “lin-GWEE-sa”). If you did […]

Categories: basil, cheese, main course, pizza, pork, sausage, tomatoes, whole wheat flour, winter, year round • Tags: cooking, food, local, pizza, pork, recipes, whole grain breads