Category Archives: recipes

recipes

Cranberry Sauce

Cranberries are one of three fruits indigenous to North America. In case you were wondering, the other two are blueberries and concord grapes.

One of my “rules” for defining local is 100 miles. These cranberries come from just under 200 miles away so I’m calling them mezza-local.

This year, something bothered me about the typical fresh whole-berry cranberry sauce recipe: one cup of water, one cup of sugar, a bag of cranberries. Maybe because it was boring, or maybe it was the blatant and singular use of refined white sugar. (Not that I am swearing off refined white sugar–it just doesn’t grow near here…other sweetners do.)

So, I thought I’d try a local sweetner: maple syrup. Here’s the recipe and I thought it was pretty darn good.

1 – 12 oz bag of cranberries
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup apple cider
1 cinnamon stick

Bring the syrup and cider to a boil. Add the cranberries and cinnamon stick. Bring to a boil again until the cranberries stop popping. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove cinnamon stick. Serve warm or chill.

Some variations could include dried whole hot pepper along with the cinnamon, more syrup and less cider, maybe nuts…whatever strikes your fancy.

The cider and syrup are local. The cranberries are mezza-local. The cinnamon stick is the Marco Polo exception.

farms, recipes

Crunchy Granola

Making granola is one of the easiest things to prepare and it may even qualify as baking. Wonderful smells emanate from the kitchen. And it’s versatile: you can eat it right out of the bag, you can eat it like cereal, you can sprinkle it on yogurt or anything else that needs a crunch; the possibilites are nearly endless.

3 cups rolled oats
1 cup almonds
1/2 cup wheat germ
3/4 tsp salt
a sprinkle of cinnamon
1/2 cup plus 1 Tbsp Maple syrup
3 Tbsp vegetable or canola oil
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp water

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
Mix the dry ingredients.
Mix the wet ingredients.
Combine.
Let it rest for about 15 minutes.
Spread the mixture out on a cookie sheet.
Bake for about 45 -55 minutes, turning and stirring a few times in the middle.
It’s done when it’s golden brown and dry.
Cool completely.
You can add dried fruit at this point if you like.
Store in an airtight container.

I’ve been using this recipe since before and it needs to be localized. So far, only the water and the maple syrup are local. The water comes from my well, so that’s definitely local.

The maple syrup comes from the Sisters (the Community of the Holy Spirit, Bluestone Farm, Brewster, NY –20 driving miles from here). It is made with, as they say, nothing but sap, fire, and love.

Between Terri’s sprouts and my granola, I’m feeling a bit anachronistic. Think I’ll go to a peace rally!

farms, recipes

Pumpkins

The first local pumpkins of the season appeared on the scene. I found mine at Mason’s Farm Market. (They don’t have a Web site, but they’re on Route 25 in Monroe, Ct. at the Bradford Drive intersection. Map here.)

It turns out that pumpkins are quite nutritious; they’re rich in beta carotene, potassium, Vitamin C, calcium, and fiber.

I decided to attempt the pumpkin soup recipe (PDF) from Kingsolver’s book, which calls for cooking the soup and serving it in its own shell.

I was very careful scraping the inside flesh and I am quite certain that I did not breach the skin/shell, but alas, the pumpkin did collapse and I was unable to use it as a tureen.

As for the taste–delicious, though not exactly what I was expecting; this is pumpkin herb, not pumpkin spice.