Tag: food

Dried Cherry Biscotti

9 July 2009 by local kitchen

I made these biscotti a few days ago, to package up and send off as a housewarming gift for my friends Evan & Kelly, who just moved to a new home in anticipation of their first baby’s arrival this Fall. Mom, Dad and Baby have received their package and the biscotti have received the Whitney Seal of Approval. Even the baby seems to like them, if excessive kicking can be intrepeted as “Mom, send more biscotti this way, please!” […]

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

Red, White & Black

8 July 2009 by local kitchen

One last recipe for the last days of strawberry season here in the Northeast. This strawberry, white balsamic vinegar and black pepper jam has a fantastic flavor profile; almost savory, with the balsamic vinegar kick, yet sweet enough to enjoy on a muffin or scone. Lovely flecks of crushed black pepper give it added zing and visual appeal. The set was very loose, almost a thick sauce more than a jam, likely due to my overly ripe strawberries and limited sugar. But even […]

Categories: berries, canning, condiments, jams, preserving, spring, summer • Tags: balsamic, canning, cooking, food, jam, local, preserving, recipes, savory, strawberries

Sweet Cherry Chutney

7 July 2009 by local kitchen

We enjoyed this tangy, flavorful chutney while picnicing in the park at Kensico Dam on July 3rd, listening to the Westchester Philharmonic and enjoying, in succession, a rainbow, a nearly full moon rising, and fireworks. As if the non-rainy weather, good company, and music were not enough, we also enjoyed Curried Apple Chutney, Flageolet and Roasted Garlic Spread, sugar snap peas from Alison’s CSA as well as some carrots, hummus, salsa, tortilla chips, and crackers. Quite the feast, rounded out by two local […]

Categories: apples, canning, cherries, chutneys, preserving, raisins, summer • Tags: canning, cherries, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

Homemade Berry Cordial

6 July 2009 by local kitchen

With the last two quarts of strawberries from the weekend’s picking, I decided to make some cordial. Last year I made a wild raspberry cordial (shown in the picture, mixed with seltzer), based on Leda Meredith’s recipe, that came out quite nicely. It’s a bit too sweet for me to drink on it’s own (one friend said that it tasted just like Manischewitz wine!), but it’s delightfully refreshing when mixed with seltzer or sparkling water and it adds a lovely berry […]

Categories: berries, fall, fermenting, preserving, spring, summer, wine, beer & liquor, year round • Tags: berries, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

Preserving Cherries

5 July 2009 by local kitchen

At last, the overdue post on preserving cherries; hopefully, here in time before the end of cherry season! After having picked 40 pounds of sweet black cherries, and then Googling about and looking in my many cookbooks for things to do with 40 lbs of cherries, I am convinced that sweet cherries get a bad rap. Everywhere you look it’s sour cherry-this and sour cherry-that; a few recipes call for “tart” cherries; other than clafouti, it seems that the world […]

Categories: 100% local, cherries, drying, fruit, summer • Tags: canning, cherries, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

Cherry Vanilla Preserves

2 July 2009 by local kitchen

Rollin, rollin, rollin, keep them cherries rollin, Rawhide! I’ve spent the week preserving cherries for all I’m worth; frozen cherries, dried cherries, cherry rhubarb pie filling, drunken cherries, cherry chutney, lemon cherry muffins and cherry vanilla preserves. I feel like a cherry-pitting machine. I’m whipping up cherry recipes so fast that I don’t have time to post them. It’s just the teeniest bit possible that 40 lbs of cherries was a wee bit ambitious. Shut up, you did not tell me so. […]

Categories: apples, breakfast, canning, cherries, citrus, dessert, jams, preserving, summer • Tags: canning, cherries, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes

Drunken Cherries

1 July 2009 by local kitchen

Two of my favorite things: local, sustainably-grown fruit, that I get to pick myself, while spending quality time with my sweetie, on a rare and gorgeous sunny summer day, and… booze. A match made in heaven! Adapted from Brandied Cherries in The Glass Pantry by Georgeanne Brennan ———————————————————- Drunken Cherries INGREDIENTS 4 lbs cherries (sweet, tart or sour) 1 cup sugar (organic evaporated cane juice) 1/4 cup filtered water 4 cups brandy, rum, Cointreau, or other liquor METHODS Sterilize 4 glass […]

Categories: canning, cherries, dessert, preserving, summer, wine, beer & liquor • Tags: booze, canning, cherries, cooking, food, liquor, local, preserving, recipes

Pork Tenderloin on the Grill

30 June 2009 by local kitchen

It’s amazing what a few days of sun can do; my tomato plants and nasturtiums have burst into bloom, wild black raspberries are ripening in the backyard, and I am feeling motivated and productive. Could it be that summer is here at last? In celebration of summer-like temperatures and the complete lack of any sort of precipitation, Tai fired up the grill last night and we cooked some tiny little pork tenderloins from New England Farms. Although I often put […]

Categories: 100% local, grill, main course, pork, sauces, summer • Tags: cooking, food, grilling, local, pork, recipes

Christina’s Garden Vegetable Soup

29 June 2009 by local kitchen

I’m not the biggest cabbage fan; too many boiled dinners as a kid, I guess. However, every summer we get a couple of ridiculously huge cabbages from the CSA – we have one in the fridge right now that is the size of my torso. So, not liking cabbage in general, and defnitely not a fan of either sauerkraut or cole slaw, what’s a girl with a ton o’ cabbage to do? I posed this question a couple of years […]

Categories: 100% local, cabbage, carrot, dill, fall, parsley, soup, summer, vegetarian • Tags: cabbage, cooking, food, local, recipes, soup, vegetarian

Sweet Cherry Rhubarb Pie Filling

27 June 2009 by local kitchen

The first in a long list of cherry preserving recipes. My fingernails may be permanently dyed purple, but I’ve got 11 pounds queued up for the dehydrator, 3 pounds pitted and in the new freezer, and 3 batches of cherry rhubarb pie filling. I’ve also thanked various deities for this amazingly handy and effective cherry pitter – and thanked Amazon for cheap-o, overnight, Saturday delivery! More recipes to follow! Adapted from Cherry Rhubarb Lattice Pie in The Pie and Pastry Bible by […]

Categories: 100% local, canning, cherries, dessert, freezing, pie, rhubarb, summer • Tags: canning, cherries, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes, rhubarb

Behold The Glory…

27 June 2009 by local kitchen

…of our new chest freezer! Yes, despite our renter’s fear of “what if this couch/bookcase/kayak/chest freezer doesn’t fit in our next place?”, we bit the bullet and bought a small chest freezer this year, just in time for berry, cherry, and buttload-of-leafy-greens season. It’s tucked into the garage, nicely fitting between the shelving that holds canned goods, canning jars & supplies, and the bins that hold ice climbing & camping gear. My we are eclectic aren’t we? After three seasons […]

Categories: tools & gear • Tags: cooking, food, local, recipes

Popped Our Cherries

26 June 2009 by local kitchen

Tai had a surprise day off from work today, so the two of us took our chances with the weather and went cherry picking at Fishkill Farms in Hopewell Junction, NY. Fishkill Farms is a vegetable and fruit farm, and one of the few places in the area where you can find stone fruits grown using organic methods (although the farm is not certified organic). The farm itself is quite beautiful, with rolling hills packed full of diverse crops and […]

Categories: cherries, community, farmer's markets, fruit • Tags: cooking, farms, food, local, recipes

Fresh Strawberry Tart

25 June 2009 by local kitchen

My Mom has been visiting for the last couple of days, in the midst of her annual summer roadtrip from her home in Asheville, NC, up to our hometown of Gloucester, MA. Since I still had about a pound of berries left from last week’s big strawbery haul, I decided to make us a fresh strawberry tart for dessert. This tart came together quite easily as I used frozen pastry dough scraps, strawberry syrup garnered from the frozen/juiced/dried strawberries, and […]

Categories: 100% local, baking, berries, citrus, dessert, fruit, pastry, pie, spring, summer • Tags: cooking, dessert, food, local, recipes, strawberries

Preserving Strawberries

23 June 2009 by local kitchen

Twenty-five pounds of strawberries came and went pretty quickly; after tonight’s strawberry tart I’ve got less than a quart left. I think I might actually have to go picking again! Final totals: About 5 quarts frozen, 2 pints dried, 2 and 1/2 ice cube trays of purée, plus about 1 cup in the fridge, 3 and 1/2 pints of strawberry-rhubarb jam, one glazed strawberry tart and lots of random strawberry snacking – over ice cream, on granola, in salads, and out of the box. […]

Categories: 100% local, berries, canning, freezing, fruit, preserving, spring, summer • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes, strawberries

Local Potluck: Summer ’09

22 June 2009 by local kitchen

About three or four times a year, usually about once per season, some friends and I gather together for a completely local meal. We plan a menu based upon what is available at the local farmer’s markets, divide up the dishes between us, and gather at one of our homes for an afternoon of delicious, 100% local food & drink. Last weekend I was the host and we lucked out with a rare, 4-hour window of sun in the endless rainy weather. […]

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