Posts under ‘recipes’

My Dark Days Challenge Meal #14 is chocolate chili with cornbread. I really am liking this recipe. I adapted it from another recipe and like how it has evolved. Of course, it’s not as adventurous as this chili, but it has its own merits. Food sources for the chili: While digging in my freezer, I [...]

They say, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. From that we can extract that when life gives you limes, make Margaritas. But when life gives you snow, then what? Make sno-cones! So, here’s a DDC bonus. The snow is local. I made the “syrup” from Jan Perkins’ (Stoneledge Farm, Southbury, CT) Berries Jubilee jam. [...]

I can’t believe it’s already time for the Dark Days Challenge and I can’t believe it’s already the 4th! Thanks Laura at (Not so) Urban Hennery for hosting this again. My first post of the challenge is an easy quiche, based on this recipe, designed for minimal kitchen prep time. I slowed the recipe down [...]

Sport Hill Farm has escarole! Escarole (that’s ‘scarole, in Bronx Italian) is a favorite of mine from childhood. Escarole is a broad, curly-leaf endive, high in vitamin A, iron, and potassium. For the past few years, I’ve been getting mine over the border since escarole is not as popular a vegetable here in CT as [...]

When it comes to comfort foods, hot cereal tops the list for me—year round. My absolute favorite is farina (cream of wheat for the non-Italians) but there isn’t a local source. A close second is oatmeal. Happily, there is a local source for oatmeal (my second favorite hot cereal): Lightning Tree Farm in Millbrook, NY [...]

This week’s Dark Days Eat Local Challenge meal was Red Wine Braised Short Ribs and the recipe was locally sourced as well as the food! (The recipe is from Fine Cooking, which is published by Taunton Press, a local business.) I was faithful to the recipe, substituting ingredients only to favor local, seasonal fare. beef [...]

Here’s another dish inspired by my great Puerto Rican vaycay: pumpkin fritters, also called Barriguitas De Viejas. I adapted my recipe from this one and this one. 1-3/4 cups cooked, mashed pumpkin. I used the remaining half of the Long Island Cheese Pumpkin squash I used for the Habichuelas. I suspect you can use nearly [...]

Happy Thanksgiving to all! I love this holiday—the connection and celebration between the farmers, eaters, and Providence. Doing a local Thanksgiving in New England should be like fishing in a barrel since Thanksgiving was invented in New England as a way of celebrating the bounty. This year, I was only slightly tempted to send the [...]

This week’s One Local Summer Challenge meal is escarole and bean soup. To make proper escarole and bean soup, you need cannellini beans (also called white kidney beans). You could use Navy beans or some other white bean, but it really isn’t the same. I’ve been looking to locally source cannelloni beans (or any bean [...]

A number of people have told me that they’d buy more greens from the farmers markets, but just don’t know how to prepare them. While there are lots of exceptional recipes out there, I generally default to my default method of cooking greens: sauté garlic in olive oil, add broth or water, add cleaned, cut [...]