Tag: cooking

Candied Fennel Stalks + Fennel Frond Salt

17 January 2014 by local kitchen

I’ve been on a bit of a fennel kick lately: not that I would ever consider the dreaded “D” word, but it’s nice to have something crisp and fresh and sweet yet mildly grassy after the excesses of the holidays. Fennel is pretty amazing in that every part of the plant is edible: bulb, stalks, fronds, seeds and pollen; and while they all have that distinctive licorice-y flavor, each part of the plant tastes subtly different, and the overall flavor is […]

Categories: fennel, preserving, quick & easy, spring, winter • Tags: cooking, food, local, preserving, quick & easy, recipes

Toasted Couscous Salad with Fennel & Kumquats

9 January 2014 by local kitchen

Can we talk about the tyranny of 5-ingredient recipes? I mean, what line of bullshit have we swallowed that makes us think that limiting a recipe to just five ingredients will make our lives better, simpler, or “down right irresistible?” Don’t get me wrong: we all know that the essence of good cooking is restraint. But to arbitrarily limit ourselves to only five ingredients (not counting salt, pepper, water, a splash of olive oil, a dash of lemon, a…..) out of […]

Categories: cabbage, celery, citrus, fennel, grains & legumes, quick & easy, salad, side dish, vegetarian, winter • Tags: cooking, food, local, quick & easy, salad, vegetarian, winter

White Bean, Leek & Preserved Lemon Soup

3 January 2014 by local kitchen

Winter storm Hercules was a bust, in my opinion. While my friends in Boston got hammered with a foot and a half of the powdery stuff, we’ve got a mere 7 inches here in New York: hardly Herculean amounts. All sorts of bluster and school closings and road closings and State of Emergency declarings for what was, once upon a time, simply…. winter. It is, however, very cold & blustery, with air temps in the single digits and wind chill standing […]

Categories: beans, citrus, grains & legumes, heirloom beans, leek, main course, soup, winter • Tags: beans, cooking, food, local, main course, soup, winter

Favorite Posts of 2013

2 January 2014 by local kitchen

Happy 2014! I know some of you are back at work today (and those of you in the Northeast are wondering if the year’s first #snowpocalypse will send you home early) while some of you may feel that vacation is just starting: no more parties, no more traveling, no more commitments, just you, the couch and a pile of movies to keep you company. So, whether you are bored at work, wishing you were home playing in the snow, or […]

Categories: holiday, year round • Tags: 2013, best of, cooking, food, local, recipes

Roasted Jalapeños With Goat Cheese & Smoky Chile Cherries

31 December 2013 by local kitchen

My New Year’s gift to you: an actual “quick & easy” recipe that is spicy, sweet, creamy, smoky & delicious. Suitable for a rollickin’ holiday party or a quiet nibble at home and easily adaptable to cheeses you have in the fridge and preserves in the pantry. Roasting the jalapeños mellows their spicy bite (or you can include a mix of milder small chiles, as I have below), while a short roast and quick broil browns the cheese while maintaining […]

Categories: appetizer, cherries, fall, holiday, hot chile peppers, winter • Tags: cooking, food, local, quick & easy, vegetarian

Foraging & Feasting + Giveaway Winner

12 December 2013 by local kitchen

Do you remember when I told you about a new foraging book, written by herbalist Dina Falconi and illustrated by artist Wendy Hollender, right here in Accord, NY? Well, I reached out to Dina and Wendy, who are also the publishers, Botanical Arts Press, and they were kind enough to send me a review copy and a copy to giveaway to one lucky reader. I was so excited to receive my copy and I was not disappointed: it is a […]

Categories: 100% local, foraging, wild foods • Tags: cooking, food, foraging, giveaway, local, preserving, wild food

Use It or Lose It! Finnish Jam Tarts

9 December 2013 by local kitchen

My great-grandfather emigrated from Finland. From which area of the country, I have no idea, since talking about our roots is not something that we really do in my family. Despite the fact that I remember him (although I thought, as a child of 3 or so, that he was my grandmother’s husband, not her father: there’s no difference between 60 and 80 years old when you are a kid, I guess), I know very little about him, save his […]

Categories: baking, dessert, holiday, Use it or Lose it!, whole wheat flour, winter, year round • Tags: baking, cookies, cooking, food, holiday, local, recipes

Rosemary Roasted Cashews

23 November 2013 by local kitchen

Have you heard the news? Nuts will save your life. Literally. A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has analyzed nut consumption in nearly 175,000 health professionals over a span of 30 years. They found a 20% reduction in death from any cause in people who ate nuts every day. Twenty. percent. Let that sink in for a moment. Twenty percent lower incidence of heart disease. Of diabetes. Of cancer. Respiratory disease. Neurodegenerative disease. Stroke. Even infection. (How […]

Categories: appetizer, gifts, holiday, nuts, quick & easy, rosemary, snack, year round • Tags: cooking, food, local, nibbles, nuts, quick & easy, recipes, vegetarian

Roasted Fresh Ham with Red Currant Glaze

17 November 2013 by local kitchen

Did I mention that I’ve got a lot of pork? Yes, yes I do. And I’m trying to make some room in the very stuffed chest freezer for chicken stock, bell peppers, pumpkin purée; the last put-ups of the season, really, before the snow flies. One good way to clear out a chunk of freezer real estate is to cook a roast. “Fresh” ham is pork from the leg, but not cured or smoked (and hence not pink) like a […]

Categories: main course, pork, roasting, Use it or Lose it!, winter • Tags: cooking, food, local, main course, pork, recipes

Adobo Pork Chops

10 November 2013 by local kitchen

This year I joined my first meat CSA: in the spring, I paid for a portion of a pastured, heritage breed pig from Millstone Farm in Wilton, CT. They raised up our pigs all summer, and in August (conveniently while I was still in California) Tai went to the farm and picked up lots and lots of pork. And by lots, I mean lots: shoulder and fresh ham and roast and cutlets and bacon and sausages galore. And, of course, […]

Categories: main course, pork, roasting, year round • Tags: cooking, food, local, main course, pork, recipes

Use It or Lose It! Jam & Almond Crumb Bars

5 November 2013 by local kitchen

A few weeks ago, in the midst of birthday and anniversary celebrations, rock climbing, hiking and mountain biking excursions, and all around amazing-Fall-weather craziness, Tai & I went to a house party hosted by one of his colleagues and fellow rock climbing guides up in the Gunks. It was sort of a potluck, with friends requested to bring either a dessert or a side dish; Tai brags about my cooking to these guys all the time, so of course I […]

Categories: baking, breakfast, dessert, jams, nuts, snack, Use it or Lose it!, whole wheat flour, year round • Tags: baking, cooking, food, jam, local, quick & easy, recipes

Saffron & Meyer Lemon Roasted Chicken

23 October 2013 by local kitchen

I had every intention of sharing a different recipe with you this week: a jam & almond crumb bar that was a big hit at a party a few weeks ago, or a Thai green curry udon noodle dish that I keep meaning to make again. But some recipes are simply too good not to share right now: saffron & Meyer lemon roasted chicken is definitely on that list. I’m not sure why it’s taken me so long to roast […]

Categories: chicken, fall, main course, roasting, winter, year round • Tags: chicken, cooking, food, local, main course, recipes

Chuzos de Pollo

20 October 2013 by local kitchen

Most of the meals I had in Panama fell into one simple category: meat on a stick. While I can’t claim to be a big fan of Panamanian cuisine; it’s very meat & starch-centric, with lots of fried food and nary a vegetable in sight; I can say that when it comes to carne en palito, Panama knows its stuff. Incredibly tender and moist chunks of chicken or beef, marinated and flavorful and perfectly grilled over an open flame: it’s enough […]

Categories: chicken, citrus, grill, main course, parsley, year round • Tags: cooking, food, grilling, latin america, local, meat, recipes

Plum Jam with Preserved Lemon

6 October 2013 by local kitchen

Plums always remind me of my dad. He would eat them by bucketful in summer: if I think of him in summertime, I see a plum in his hand, one missing a great big Dad-sized bite. I sometimes wonder what he would think of this wacky preserving-canning creature I’ve become. He died many years ago, when I was just out of college and still finding my way in the world. I started cooking as a teenager, so I’m sure I […]

Categories: canning, fall, jams, plums, preserving, summer • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

Nectarine Meyer Lemon Butter

29 September 2013 by local kitchen

As promised, the nectarine Meyer lemon butter recipe. It’s a simple one: a nice pile of nectarines from the farmer’s market, a bit (a very little bit) of sugar, and two precious Meyer lemons, hoarded from my visit to Karen in August. This has become my preferred method for fruit butters: coarsely chop unpeeled fruit and soften at a low simmer until you can push it through a food mill; strain the juice from the pulp and reduce the juice […]

Categories: canning, citrus, fall, peaches, preserving, sauces, summer • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes