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

Lime & Peanut Cole Slaw

8 August 2009 by local kitchen

We’ve been drowning in cabbage this season; with the cool days and plenty of rain, cabbages are growing to enormous size and there is one nearly every week in our CSA. Today I had no less than 5 heads of cabbage in the fridge: one I gave to our neighbors, two I put into another batch of Christina’s soup (this one with lots of fresh cilantro, green beans and broccoli, yum), and with another I made Lime & Peanut Cole Slaw. […]

Categories: cabbage, cilantro, citrus, hot chile peppers, salad, side dish, summer, tomatoes, vegetarian • Tags: cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, salad, slaw

Freezing Vegetables

7 August 2009 by local kitchen

Summer has finally arrived and with it the farmer’s markets are exploding with the best of the season’s produce: kale, chard and other leafy greens have been around for months, but now we have sweet corn, green beans, zucchini, pattypan and other summer squashes, broccoli, cauliflower and even a few tomatoes. While canning, pickling and root cellaring are all good options for many vegetables, some are best stored frozen, and if you have the space, this is the time to […]

Categories: freezing, preserving, summer, techniques, vegetable • Tags: cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

Basil-Sage Pesto

6 August 2009 by local kitchen

I love me a good basil pesto. It is one of those recipes in which the sum is so much greater than the parts, as if somehow basil becomes that much more basily in the presence of oil, garlic and spices. It’s also one of those handy condiments that are endlessly versatile, handling a simple crostini or a gourmet pizza with equal ease. To top it all off, it freezes really well and nothing brings back summer in February like […]

Categories: condiments, freezing, garlic, preserving, sage, spreads, summer • Tags: condiments, cooking, food, local, preserving, quick & easy, recipes

Garden Update: Blight Edition

5 August 2009 by local kitchen

It seems I spoke too soon: my tomato plants have been infected with late blight. The fungus, which has been all over the news, is decimating the tomato crop in the Northeast and is likely to move on to potatoes next. As heartbreaking as this loss is to my little back-deck garden (15 plants and counting), I cannot imagine how area farmers feel: my CSA (Ryder Farm) has been hard hit, with her 700 heirloom tomato plants producing less than […]

Categories: gardening • Tags: gardening

Spicy Plum Sauce

4 August 2009 by local kitchen

I went over my friend Nadine’s last week; in addition to her birthday celebration, it was her turn to volunteer at her weekly CSA pick-up, and I had a play-date with her daughter Kami. When she returned from finishing up the CSA, she was nice enough to bring me lots of leftovers; chard, basil, scallions, anise, plums and peaches. I made a version of this plum sauce two years ago, using Damson plums from Jenkins-Luekens Orchards in New Paltz, NY. It […]

Categories: 100% local, canning, condiments, fruit, peaches, plums, preserving, sauces, summer • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

Nadine’s Birthday Cake

3 August 2009 by local kitchen

Nadine’s birthday was about a week ago and last week I went over to her place for a little birthday celebration: a few presents, a little play-time with her daughter Kami, and, of course, cake. I’m lousy at decorating cakes. Tai is the trained pastry chef at our house and he is great at it: he breaks out his cake turntable (yes, doesn’t everyone have one?) and makes a beautifully smooth frosting layer, pipes perfect litttle flowers and curlicues, and seems […]

Categories: baking, berries, cake, chocolate, dessert, eggs, summer, year round • Tags: baking, cake, cooking, food, local, recipes

Wild Wineberry Preserves

2 August 2009 by local kitchen

Rain, rain and more rain. What is it about rainy Sundays that makes me just want to curl up with a good book? Luckily, yesterday was a gorgeous day here in Westchester County; bright sunshine, cool breeze, 75 degrees. Tai & I took advantage and went to a nearby neighborhood street where wild red raspberries grow all along the sides of the road – thousands of crystal-red, delicious berries, ripe for the picking. The particular berries that line this Westchester backroad are […]

Categories: berries, canning, foraging, jams, preserving, summer • Tags: berries, canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

Cucumber Tomato Feta Salad

27 July 2009 by local kitchen

My cherry tomato plants are finally producing enough for a decent harvest. I collected two big handfuls (just under a pint) the other day and decided to make one of our summer favorites: crisp, cool and refreshing cucumber, tomato & feta salad. This salad is so simple that the ingredients completely make or break the dish: source the freshest, best-tasting vegetables you can find. Sample cherry tomatoes at the farmer’s market. Look for cucumbers that are firm and heavy for their […]

Categories: basil, cheese, cucumber, salad, side dish, summer, tomatoes • Tags: cooking, food, local, recipes, salad

Seriously Minty Mint Pesto

24 July 2009 by local kitchen

I’ve been quite overwhelmed with fresh mint of late (not mint from my garden of course, given my complete inability to grow anything resembling an herb; finicky heirloom tomatoes from [the country formerly known as] Czechoslovakia? Check. Basic garden basil? Not a chance.). Given all the rainy weather, it is not surprising that water-loving mint is doing well, but the big bunches keep coming in my CSA and there are only so many mojitos a girl can drink. I’ve dried […]

Categories: condiments, mint, sauces • Tags: cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

Battle of the Cake Flour Substitutes

23 July 2009 by local kitchen

My friend Nadine’s birthday is tomorrow; I’m going over to her place next week to celebrate, birthday cake in hand. After the Kami Cake Debacle, I decided that I would do a little advance planning, even though 1) the oven is now fixed, 2) I am the proud owner of an oven thermometer, and 3) presumably I can put together a simple butter cake without undue panic. Uh huh. Exactly what I thought. So, I decided to test out my […]

Categories: baking, cake, chocolate, dessert, eggs, year round • Tags: baking, cooking, dessert, food, local, recipes

Black Currant Scones

22 July 2009 by local kitchen

Those of you who have been reading for a while will know that I am practically in love with Rose Levy Beranbaum. So, with the last of Nadine’s CSA currants, I decided to forgo my usual scone recipe and try Rose’s currant scone recipe. This is a somewhat unusal recipe, as scones go; the butter is flattened into flakes and the dough is rolled out and folded, much like making puff pastry. Because you only do four turns (instead of […]

Categories: baking, breakfast, currants, summer, year round • Tags: baking, cooking, currants, food, local, recipes, rose levy beranbaum, scones

Locavirgin: Currant Sour Cherry Compote

21 July 2009 by local kitchen

My friend Nadine has been in Newfoundland for a few weeks and she kindly offered to let me pick up her CSA last week. She gets a fruit share in addtion to her weekly veggies, so I got sour cherries, red currants and black currants. This is one of the things that I love about getting a CSA: none of these fruits are something that I will typically buy; I like the taste, but not the texture of sour cherries, red currants, […]

Categories: 100% local, cherries, condiments, currants, Locavirgin, preserving, sauces, summer • Tags: cherries, condiments, cooking, food, local, recipes

So what? Soba Noodles.

17 July 2009 by local kitchen

Scene: Sitting around the dinner table at Nadine, Stan and Kami’s house. Tai & Kami are arguing about something silly, as they often do. Tai: So? Kami: So what? Soba noodles! We now say this constantly; taking our social cues from a 5 year-old is apprently how we get our jollies. And we do – we giggle every time we say it. Much like a 5 year-old girl. This salad is cool and refreshing, tart and crunchy with a […]

Categories: Asian greens, cabbage, carrot, chives, citrus, cucumber, main course, nuts, pasta, peas, salad, scallions, side dish, summer • Tags: cooking, food, local, recipes, salad

Lemon Black Cherry Muffins

16 July 2009 by local kitchen

More sweet cherry-lovin: a moist, lemony whole grain muffin with the pop! of fresh sweet black cherries. My first thought on tasting these muffins was: WOW! A literal taste explosion – this is not a cozy, down-home, Grandma’s apple pie kind of recipe. This is WOW. A wake-up-your-taste-buds, can’t-believe-how-good-it-is, let-me-freeze-half-this-batch-right-now-before-I-eat-the-whole-thing kind of recipe. These muffins are indulgent – what with the lemon zest, lemon juice and lemon extract, you might as well be munching on flatbreads and cherries, lounging under a […]

Categories: baking, breakfast, cherries, citrus, dessert, summer, whole wheat flour, year round • Tags: baking, cherries, cooking, food, local, recipes

Bone-in Chicken Breasts on the Grill

15 July 2009 by local kitchen

Let’s face it: there are few things more convenient than boneless, skinless chicken breasts. They even come in packages of chicken tenders: no slicing required! So easy. Yet, for me, that’s the basic definition of fast food: what you gain in convenience you sacrifice in flavor, not to mention all of the other good reasons to eat locally; supporting your farming neighbors, keeping open land from development, promoting sustainability. Most small farmers cannot afford to sell boneless, skinless chicken breasts: the extra processing […]

Categories: 100% local, chicken, grill, main course, summer • Tags: BBQ, bone-in, chicken, cooking, dinner, food, grilled, grilling, local, recipes, summer