Tag: quick & easy

Make mud pies.

11 June 2014 by local kitchen

Have I mentioned that I’m going to Brazil? For the World Cup? In TWO DAYS? And this explains, in part, why it’s been so quiet around these parts of late: I’ve been absolutely buried under last-minute trip planning. Flights, hotels, game tickets, rental houses, travel visas, taxis, game-day buses, non-exorbitant Amazon jungle tours, new travel laptops, bikinis & straw sun hats: none of it comes easy, my friends. In addition, I’ve had lots of friends visiting over the past couple […]

Categories: community • Tags: cooking, food, local, quick & easy

Ramp & Yogurt Scones

18 May 2014 by local kitchen

In case you need some brain food for all that sugar talk. I know: another ramp recipe. And another scone recipe. I’m nothing if not predictable. Happy Sunday! Adapted from Whole Wheat Scones in Great Breads by Martha Rose Shulman Ramp & Yogurt Scones INGREDIENTS 9 oz (2 cups) whole white wheat flour 9 oz (2 cups) whole wheat pastry flour 4 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda 1 ½ tsp sea salt several grinds fresh black pepper 6 oz grated semi-hard cheese, like […]

Categories: 100% local • Tags: baking, cooking, food, local, preserving, quick & easy, recipes

Candied Ramp & Fennel Jam

13 May 2014 by local kitchen

Speaking of sugar: how about some candied ramp & fennel jam? Just a quick one today, as I am drowning in data and have been for days, but I took a half-hour lunch break to whip up this small-batch jam from a lovely bunch of ramps Tai brought home from Holbrook Farm the other day. With leaves finally filling out the trees, ramp season will soon be behind us as the sun gets blocked from the forest floor. I’m squeezing […]

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

Potato Ramp Soup

2 May 2014 by local kitchen

More ramps, you say? Don’t mind if I do! This one is a riff on the classic potato leek soup, but while that number is often loaded down with bacon & heavy cream, this version is light and Springy with lemon and just-barely poached ramp leaves. The wild, earthy ramp flavor is subtle (since I only had one bunch of ramps on hand) though distinctive, and I like the simplicity of flavors: potatoes, ramps, lemon, a touch of butter & […]

Categories: 100% local, leek, potato, soup, spring, vegetarian • Tags: cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, soup, vegetarian

Preserving By The Pint: Caramelized Shallot Jam + A Winner!

27 April 2014 by local kitchen

You all know that Marisa has published a new book, right? Preserving By The Pint: Quick Seasonal Canning for Small Spaces, was published by Running Press last month. I was lucky enough to receive an advance copy for review and I’ve been paging through it ever since. There was still snow, and lots of it, on the ground when I got my copy. Paging through the “Spring” section, with a steaming cup of coffee and a warm woolen blanket, such gems as […]

Categories: condiments, preserves, spreads • Tags: canning, cooking, food, local, preserving, quick & easy, recipes

Citrus Saltines

18 April 2014 by local kitchen

I get a lot of questions from people asking how I use my citrus salt. I’ve got to admit, they sort of baffle me because, well, how do you use regular salt? That’s how you can use citrus salt. Use it in soups or stews, season meat, add it to bread, muffins or scones, garnish a salad or a baked potato or chocolate chip cookies. The uses for citrus salt are nearly as endless as for salt itself. There are […]

Categories: baking, snack, whole wheat flour, year round • Tags: cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes

All The Crunchy Things

2 April 2014 by local kitchen

Red cabbage, radish, slivered Brussels sprouts, carrots, celery, flat-leaf parsley and Meyer lemon vinaigrette. Spring can’t come soon enough.

Categories: salad, spring • Tags: cooking, food, local, quick & easy

Homemade Instant Oatmeal

1 April 2014 by local kitchen

Twenty-four years ago or so, my parents moved back home to Boston after a brief stint in sunny Malibu. I had just come back home as well, after finishing up my senior year of college in not-so-sunny Syracuse, NY, and was living in my first official “adult” apartment, on not-nearly-so-trendy-at-the-time St. Botolph Street in Boston’s South End. While it was nice to be back home in New England, and to have the family all in the same state, not to […]

Categories: breakfast, oats, winter, year round • Tags: breakfast, cooking, DIY, food, local, quick & easy, recipes

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Preserved Lemon & Aleppo Pepper

2 March 2014 by local kitchen

Until a couple of years ago, I placed myself firmly and emphatically in the Brussels Haters Club. The sprout, not the city (although really, those Brussels Belgians give Parisians a run for their money in the pissy department). But then, on a whim, I tried the maple-glazed Brussels sprout salad from Kiss My Spatula, and my Brussels-hating days were promptly kaput. (Let’s all pause here for a brief moment of silence in honor of one of my favorite food blogs, […]

Categories: cabbage, citrus, fall, roasting, side dish, vegetarian, winter • Tags: cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, sides, vegetarian

Lazy Citrus Salt

20 February 2014 by local kitchen

For the past few weeks, I’ve had a series of small bowls living at the end of my counter. They each contain a different citrus salt: grapefruit, blood orange, Meyer lemon, Kaffir lime. The levels of each go up and down as I juice a lemon, or eat a grapefruit, and add zest and salt to the pile, or pull out a pinch of the fragrant zest to add to a soup, curry or batch of scones. It may seem […]

Categories: citrus, preserving, winter • Tags: citrus, cooking, food, preserving, quick & easy

Grapefruit & Walnut Tart

16 February 2014 by local kitchen

I’m having a tiny love affair with Johnny Weir & Tara Lipinski right now; their figure skating commentary has been one of the bright spots of these Olympics in Sochi and their Instagram feeds (including the combined @taraandjohnny feed) are not to be missed. I love the Olympics, but I loathe the 5:1 ratio of commercials and talking-head noise to actual sporting moments that dominates prime-time. The daytime coverage has, in general, been much more about sport and much less […]

Categories: baking, breakfast, citrus, dessert, winter • Tags: baking, cooking, dessert, food, local, quick & easy, recipes

Leftover Love: Chips + Dip

29 January 2014 by local kitchen

Well here we are folks: Day 7 of our Week of Leftovers. I’ve managed to post every day for a week, which is a small miracle in itself; and I’ve managed to come up with some inventive ways to fashion a week’s worth of meals out of celeriac soup, slow-roasted beef and a pot of beans. I hope you’ve enjoyed this little peek into my leftover-obsessed fridge. A week out, the last of the beef has gone into chili, the […]

Categories: appetizer, beans, condiments, parsley, snack, vegetarian, year round • Tags: beans, cooking, food, leftovers, local, quick & easy

Leftover Love: Huevos Rancheros

27 January 2014 by local kitchen

A quick one today, as our Sunday was all about leftover lasagna, sneaking bites of spicy beef from the fridge, and popping popcorn for a Downton Abbey-Sherlock marathon. I did, however, manage to whip up some huevos rancheros for lunch. Leftover corn tortillas, the leftover taco vegetables that were already sautéed and in the fridge, beans that I had cooked on Taco Day, salsa verde, and even the leftover egg white from yesterday’s Swiss chard pasta. It all came together […]

Categories: beans, breakfast, eggs, vegetarian • Tags: cooking, food, local, quick & easy, recipes, vegetarian

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