Tag: local

Peach Salsa

24 August 2009 by local kitchen

Note: Make sure to check out the updated version of this recipe, with tasting notes on the effects of shelf storage and mellowing. ————————————– I went out to Fishkill Farms the other day, to pick blackberries, and came home not only with 11 pounds of berries, but a big bag of peaches and some early Paula Red apples. Since the berries freeze well, while peaches do not, I decided to freeze most of the berries (the ones we didn’t eat!) […]

Categories: 100% local, canning, peaches, preserving, salsa • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, recipes, vegetarian

Tai’s Grilled Corn on the Cob

23 August 2009 by local kitchen

Last night, ignoring the threatening rumbles of thunder and the soggy deck furniture, we grilled. Bone-in chicken breasts with a teriyaki glaze, boneless chicken tenders in one of my classic “clean out the fridge” marinades (this one using up the dregs of various jars of apple raspberry jam, ginger rhubarb jam, strawberry rhubarb jam and curried apple chutney, all mixed together with a little orange juice, champagne vinegar and local chile powder), and spicy red banana peppers and corn on the […]

Categories: 100% local, corn, grill, side dish, summer • Tags: cooking, food, grilling, local, recipes, summer

Canning Carrots

22 August 2009 by local kitchen

For the past week or two, I’ve noticed in the “search engine terms” section, where I get to see the sometimes wacky ways that people surf their way to my blog, multiple searches for “canning carrots hot water bath.” This concerns me, because, if people wanted to pickle carrots, I would think they would search for “pickled carrots” and other than pickling (and other high-acid jams/chutneys/preserves), there is no safe way to can carrots in a boiling water bath. Carrots, […]

Categories: 100% local, canning, carrot, dill, fall, preserving, summer • Tags: canning, cooking, food, homesteading, local, preserving, recipes

Classic Bruschetta

19 August 2009 by local kitchen

Bruschetta is one of those dishes: it has as many variations as cooks who make it. I’ve seen recipes with bell peppers, capers, anchovies, olives, sage & thyme, cilantro and chives. In the end, I prefer a classic combination: fresh off the vine, sun-ripened tomatoes, garlic, shallot and basil. Since there are so few ingredients it’s imperative that each of them be at the peak of quality: I like this dish best with my own garden tomatoes, harvested in the afternoon when […]

Categories: 100% local, appetizer, basil, sauces, summer, tomatoes, vegetarian • Tags: appetizers, cooking, food, Italian, local, recipes, sides, tomatoes

Cantaloupe-Wineberry Granita

18 August 2009 by local kitchen

It’s hot. Really hot. Summer has come, at long last, obviously determined to make up for lost time. And although I’m happy for those who’ve been missing summer’s hot temps, and happy to get the sunshine to my sad looking garden, my Irish-Scottish-Finnish background just does not agree with 90 degrees and 90% humidity, especially in a house without air conditioning. Normally, in weather like this, I live on popsicles. In fact, I’ve been known to have nothing but popsicles […]

Categories: berries, dessert, freezing, fruit, melon, summer • Tags: berries, cooking, dessert, food, local, recipes

Fire Roasted Tomatoes

17 August 2009 by local kitchen

Although farm-fresh tomatoes are pretty scarce in the Northeast this summer, there are still some out there and they are as delicious as ever. While inexpensive, local, heirloom tomatoes are probably a pipe dream this year, now more than ever it is important to support your local farmers as they battle with the devastation of tomato, and possibly potato, crops ruined by late blight. With that in mind, I’ve bought a couple of 10-lb batches of tomatoes, in addition to what we […]

Categories: 100% local, canning, preserving, roasting, summer, tomatoes • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, recipes, summer, tomatoes

Sausage Bread Redux

14 August 2009 by local kitchen

OK, seriously, I know it’s hard to believe, but this bread tastes better than it looks. Scout’s honor. Spicy Italian sausages, sauteed onions & garlic, sun-dried tomatoes and fresh mozzarella, all wrapped inside herb-filled whole wheat bread. I’m drooling, but I can’t have any yet, because this bread is destined for a Very Special Occasion: my bachelorette party up in the Catskills this weekend. A dozen girls, (at least) a dozen bottles of champagne, a hot tub and sausage bread. And […]

Categories: baking, basil, breads, cheese, herbs, pork, sausage, tarragon, thyme, tomatoes, year round • Tags: baking, bread, cooking, food, local, recipes

Wild Blackberries

12 August 2009 by local kitchen

How cool is my yard? I’ll tell you how cool; I went out today and not only picked the last of the season’s wineberries, from a few canes that I discovered wrapped around a tree in the side yard, but the first of the season’s blackberries, from several fat canes that grow underneath our picture window. According to my trusty Wildman Steve Brill foraging guide, there are several species of blackberry that grow throughout North American. It appears that the […]

Categories: foraging, wild foods • Tags: cooking, food, foraging, local, wild foods

Fresh Cantaloupe Salsa

10 August 2009 by local kitchen

After a cool, damp weekend, with honking geese flying overhead each evening, it felt like an early winter was knocking at the door. Lo and behold my surprise to wake up this morning to sticky humidity and a forecast of 88 degrees! I guess summer is not completely done with us yet. This fresh salsa is exactly what the doctor ordered for a sticky, hot August summer day: cool, crisp, tasty and takes about 10 minutes to prepare, with not […]

Categories: 100% local, cilantro, hot chile peppers, melon, quick & easy, side dish, summer • Tags: cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, salad

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

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